OF THE BABYLONIAN CREATION AND FLOOD STORIES. 327 



ventured to differ from Professor Sayce : — Professor Sayce considered 

 that the accounts of the Creation and Deluge in Genesis were 

 derived from the Babylonian stories. Why should they he ? 

 Might it not have been the other way about? Could not God 

 have given the account of Creation to Adam 1 could not Noah have 

 written the account of the Flood"? Genesis as a whole was no doubt 

 written by Moses, but these two accounts may have existed in 

 written form before him. In his view these portions of Genesis 

 were earlier than the Babylonian accounts ; it was undeniable that in 

 simplicity and dignity of language, Genesis far excelled any 

 Babylonian account. It is a common characteristic of tradition 

 that it becomes encumbered, by lapse of time, with accretions and 

 embellishments ; the language becoming of that kind which we 

 associate with myths. Evidently this has been the case with the 

 Babylonian narratives. In these narratives the simple " ark " of 

 the Genesis record appears as "the ship " and "the mighty boat"; 

 and, to bring an interesting story more fully up to date, the " ship " 

 is supplied with a " pilot " (introduced to us by name), and the 

 swallow — sacred bird of the Chaldeans — takes his place with the 

 raven and the dove. 



How did the idea originate that the Babylonian account was 

 earlier than that of Genesis? Probably from a supposition that 

 the Genesis account was not anterior to the time of Moses, — a 

 supposition inconsistent with facts. 



The command given to Moses to write "in the Book"* may be 

 fairly taken as indicating that before that early time a Bible record 

 was in existence. 



The Chairman asked the Meeting to express their great indebt- 

 edness to Dr. Pinches for his important paper ; and Professor E. 

 Hull proposed a hearty vote of thanks to Professor Sayce for 

 coming to take the Chair that afternoon. Both votes were carried 

 by acclamation. 



The Meeting adjourned at 6.25 p.m. * 



Note by the Lecturer. 

 Professor Stephen Langdon's monograph not having appeared at 

 the date of correcting the above paper, I find myself unable to 



* See the Hebrew in Exodus xvii, 14. 



