T. G. PINCHES, LL.D.. M.E.A.S., ON VERSIOXS 



E-sagila, "the house of head-raising " within the Abyss, ^nd 

 Babylon with the E-sagila there, were bnilt and completed, and 

 the gods and the Anunnaki, or spirits of the great waters, were 

 created. Merodach then dammed back the waters and made a 

 foundation — the tract wherein Babylonia lay, that the gods 

 might dwell in a pleasant place — the land of their temples and 

 their worship. 



Then, as the most important thing, he made mankind, and the 

 goddess Aruru — the u mother-goddess," whom we shall meet with 

 farther on under various names — made the seed of mankind with 

 him He made likewise the beasts of the field and the living 

 creatures of the desert, and he set the Tigris and the Euphrates 

 in their place — " Well proclaimed he their name." After this 

 he produced the plants, the verdure of the plain ; lands, marsh, 

 thicket,, cattle, plantations and forests: and wild animals, 

 typified by the wild goats. Lastly he made everything which 

 had not yet been brought into being — the plant and the tree : 

 the brick and the beam : the house, the city, and the community ; 

 Niffer, Erech, and their temples. 



Here the text breaks off, which is exceedingly unfortunate, as 

 we should all like to know how this story of the Creation formed 

 the introduction to the incantation of which the end is given 

 on the reverse. Were it complete, there is every probability 

 that we should see the plan upon which it was written, and 

 the principle underlying it. Naturally it is less important than 

 the longer Semitic story of the Creation, the more especially so 

 in that its great value lay, seemingly, in the magic power 

 attached to the story, to its words, and its phraseology. But 

 perhaps many would regard it as more important on this 

 account. 



Coming to the best-known Flood-story— that first translated 

 by the late George Smith, we find here something so wonder- 

 fully like that given in the sixth and two following chapters of 

 Genesis, that we recognize at once the identity of the two 

 accounts, notwithstanding their many variations. Let us go 

 over the main features of this narrative. 



The hero Gilgames, king of Erech, had lost Enki-du, his dear 

 friend and companion, and desired to bring him back from the 

 abode of the dead. To all appearance, moreover, Gilgames was 

 suffering from some dire malady, for which he wished to find 

 a cure. In his wanderings, he reaches the place where dwelt 

 Ut-napisti", otherwise Athra-hasis, the Babylonian Xoah, who 

 bad attained to immortality, like the Biblical Enoch, without 

 passing the gates of death. Gilgames asks Ut-napisti" how he 



