OF THE BABYLONIAN CREATION AX I) FLOOD STORIES. 303 



the stars, the planets, and the moon to rule the night, with its 

 sabbath-rest in the middle of the month. The sixth tablet 

 records the creation of man with the help of Merodach's own 

 lil not I, but there is much that is wanting at this point, and it is 

 probable that numerous other acts of creation on his part will be 

 h >und recorded when we have the legend complete. The seventh 

 tablet contains a list of the glorious names conferred upon him. 

 Many of these are of a mystic nature, and one seems to refer to 

 the creation of mankind as having for its object the redemption 

 of the rebellious followers of Tiawath. 



Such is, in short, an outline of this remarkable composition — 

 a composition full of poetry, if we could only translate it worthily, 

 like the Hebrew Bible or the classics of Greece and Home. It 

 is a legend complete in itself, intended, apparently, to teach 

 definite doctrines — the twofold principle of the universe; the 

 origin of the gods, by evolution, from that chaotic twofold 

 principle ; its defeat, in the person of Tiawath, Kingu, and 

 their followers, by Merodach, their descendant ; the ordering of 

 the world and the creation of mankind to be the £C redeemers," 

 so to say, of the rebellious gods ; and the reign of Merodach 

 evermore as king of the gods and divine head of the Babylonian 

 people — even as Yahwah was the heavenly king of Israel. 

 Whether the monotheistic idea is intended in the seventh 

 tablet, or not, is uncertain, but it may be noted that the giving 

 of their names, by the gods, to Merodach, identified them with 

 him, and it is in this way that they became his manifestations, 

 as indicated by the tablet published by me in the Journal of this 

 Institute, in 1895. 



Another story of the Creation, unfortunately incomplete, is a 

 comparatively short one ; but that, too, has for its theme the 

 glorification of Merodach. This is the now well-known 

 bilingual version, prefixed to an incantation for the purification 

 and hallowing of the great temple of Nebo at Borsippa — E-zida, 

 " the everlasting house." This does not describe the creation of 

 the heavens and the earth, and has no mention of Tiawath and 

 Apsu as personages, but simply states that (in the beginning) 

 nothing existed — neither the glorious house of the gods (the 

 heavens), nor a plant, nor a tree, nor a brick, nor a beam, nor a 

 house, nor a city, nor a community. Niffer and its temple, 

 Erech and its temple, the Abyss and the sacred city Eridu, had 

 not been constructed, but 



The whole of the lands were sea. 



When, however, movement came into that sea, Eridu and 



