Legends of Babylon and Egypt in Relation to Hebrew Tradition.pdf

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definitely made that the length and breadth of the vessel itself are to be the same;[2] and a later passage gives ten /gar/ for the height of its sides and ten /gar/ for the breadth of its deck.[3] This description has been taken to imply a square box-like structure, which, in order to be seaworthy, must be placed on a conjectured hull. [1] Cf., e.g., Jastrow, /Hebr. and Bab. Trad./, p. 329. [2] Gilg. Epic, XI, ll. 28-30. [3] L. 58 f. The /gar/ contained twelve cubits, so that the vessel would have measured 120 cubits each way; taking the Babylonian cubit, on the basis of Gudea's scale, at 495 mm. (cf. Thureau- Dangin, /Journal Asiatique/, Dix. Sér., t. XIII, 1909, pp. 79 ff., 97), this would give a length, breadth, and height of nearly 195 ft. I do not think it has been noted in this connexion that a vessel, approximately with the relative proportions of that described in the Gilgamesh Epic, is in constant use to-day on the lower Tigris and Euphrates. A /kuffah/,[1] the familiar pitched coracle of Baghdad, would provide an admirable model for the gigantic vessel in which Ut-napishtim rode out the Deluge. "Without either stem or stern, quite round like a shield"--so Herodotus described the /kuffah/ of his day;2[] so, too, is it represented on Assyrian slabs from Nineveh, where we see it employed for the transport of heavy building material;[3] its form and structure indeed suggest a prehistoric origin. The /kuffah/ is one of those examples of perfect adjustment to conditions of use which cannot be improved. Any one who has travelled in one of these craft will agree that their storage capacity is immense, for their circular form and steeply curved side allow every inch of space to be utilized. It is almost impossible to upset them, and their only disadvantage is lack of speed. For their guidance all that is required is a steersman with a paddle, as indicated in the Epic. It is true that the larger kuffah of to-day tends to increase in diameter as compared to height, but that detail might well be ignored in picturing the monster vessel of Ut-napishtim. Its seven horizontal stages and their nine lateral divisions would have been structurally sound in supporting the vessel's sides; and the selection of the latter uneven number, though prompted doubtless by its sacred character, is only suitable to a circular craft in which the interior walls would radiate from the centre. The use of pitch and bitumen for smearing the vessel inside and out, though unusual even in Mesopotamian shipbuilding, is precisely the method employed in the /kuffah's/ construction. [1] Arab. /kuffah/, pl. /kufaf/; in addition to its common use for the Baghdad coracle, the word is also employed for a large basket. [2] Herodotus, I, 194. [3] The /kuffah/ is formed of wicker-work coated with bitumen. Some of those represented on the Nineveh sculptures appear to be covered with skins; and Herodotus (I, 94) states that "the boats which come down the river to Babylon are circular and made of skins." But his further description shows that he is here referred to the /kelek/ or skin-raft, with which he has combined a description of the /kuffah/. The late Sir Henry Rawlinson has never seen or heard of a skincovered /kuffah/ on either the Tigris or Euphrates, and there can be little doubt that bitumen was employed for their construction in antiquity, as it is to-day. These craft are often large enough to carry five or six horses and a dozen men. We have no detailed description of Ziusudu's "great boat", beyond the fact that it was covered in and had an opening, or light-hole, which could be closed. But the form of Ut-napishtim's vessel was no doubt traditional, and we may picture that of Ziusudu as also of the /kuffah/ type, though smaller and without its successor's elaborate internal structure. The gradual development of the huge coracle into a ship would have been encouraged by the Semitic use of the term "ship" to describe it; and the attempt to retain something of its original proportions resulted in producing the unwieldy ark of later tradition.[1] [1] The description of the ark is not preserved from the earlier Hebrew Version (J), but the latter Hebrew Version (P), while increasing the length of the vessel, has considerably reduced its height and breadth. Its measurements are there given (Gen. vi. 15) as 300 cubits in length, 50 cubits in breadth, and 30 cubits in height; taking the ordinary Hebrew cubit at about 18 in., this would give a length of about 450 ft., a breadth of about 75 ft., and a height of about 45 ft. The interior stories are necessarily reduced to three. The vessel in Berossus measures five stadia by two, and thus had a length of over three thousand feet and a breadth of more than twelve hundred.
We will now return to the text and resume the comparison we were making between it and the Gilgamesh Epic. In the latter no direct reference is made to the appearance of the Sun-god after the storm, nor is Ut-napishtim represented as praying to him. But the sequence of events in the Sumerian Version is very natural, and on that account alone, apart from other reasons, it may be held to represent the original form of the story. For the Sun-god would naturally reappear after the darkness of the storm had passed, and it would be equally natural that Ziusudu should address himself to the great light-god. Moreover, the Gilgamesh Epic still retains traces of the Sumerian Version, as will be seen from a comparison of their narratives,[1] the Semitic Version being quoted from the point where the hurricane ceased and the sea became still. [1] Col. V, ll. 7-11 are here compared with Gilg. Epic, XI, ll. 133-9. SUMERIAN VERSION SEMITIC VERSION When I looked at the storm, the uproar had ceased, And all mankind was turned into clay; In place of fields there was a swamp. Ziusudu opened the opening of I opened the opening (lit. the great boat; "hole"), and daylight fell upon my countenance. The light of the hero, the Sun- god, (he) causes to enter into the interior(?) of the great boat. Ziusudu, the king, Bows himself down before the I bowed myself down and sat down Sun-god; weeping; The king sacrifices an ox, a Over my countenance flowed my sheep he slaughters(?). tears. I gazed upon the quarters (of the world)--all(?) was sea. It will be seen that in the Semitic Version the beams of the Sun-god have been reduced to "daylight", and Ziusudu's act of worship has become merely prostration in token of grief. Both in the Gilgamesh Epic and in Berossus the sacrifice offered by the Deluge hero to the gods follows the episode of the birds, and it takes place on the top of the mountain after the landing from the vessel. It is hardly probable that two sacrifices were recounted in the Sumerian Version, one to the Sun-god in the boat and another on the mountain after landing; and if we are right in identifying Ziusudu's recorded sacrifice with that of Ut-napishtim and Xisuthros, it would seem that, according to the Sumerian Version, no birds were sent out to test the abatement of the waters. This conclusion cannot be regarded as quite certain, inasmuch as the greater part of the Fifth Column is waning. We have, moreover, already seen reason to believe that the account on our tablet is epitomized, and that consequently the omission of any episode from our text does not necessarily imply its absence from the original Sumerian Version which it follows. But here at least it is clear that nothing can have been omitted between the opening of the light-hole and the sacrifice, for the one act is the natural sequence of the other. On the whole it seems preferable to assume that we have recovered a simpler form of the story. As the storm itself is described in a few phrases, so the cessation of the flood may have been dismissed with equal brevity; the gradual abatement of the waters, as attested by the dove, the swallow, and the raven, may well be due to later elaboration or to combination with some variant account. Under its amended form the narrative leads naturally up to the landing on the mountain and the sacrifice of thanksgiving to the gods. In the Sumerian Version, on the other hand, Ziusudu regards himself as saved when he sees the Sun shining; he needs no further tests to assure himself that the danger is over, and his sacrifice too is one of gratitude for his escape. The disappearance of the Sun-god from the Semitic Version was thus a necessity, to avoid an anti-climax; and the hero's attitude of worship had obviously to be translated into one of grief. An indication that the sacrifice was originally represented as having taken place on board the boat may be seen in the lines of the Gilgamesh Epic which recount how Enlil, after acquiescing in Ut-napishtim's survival of the Flood, went up into the ship and led him forth by the hand, although, in the preceding lines, he had already landed and had sacrificed upon the mountain. The two passages are hardly consistent as they stand, but they find a simple explanation of we regard the second of them as an unaltered survival from an earlier form of the story. If the above line of reasoning be sound, it follows that, while the earlier Hebrew Version closely resembles the Gilgamesh Epic, the later Hebrew Version, by its omission of the birds, would offer a parallel to the Sumerian Version. But whether we may draw any conclusion from this apparent grouping of our authorities will be best dealt with when we have concluded our survey of the new evidence. As we have seen, the text of the Fifth Column breaks off with Ziusudu's sacrifice to the Sun-god, after he had opened a light-hole in the boat and had seen by the god's beams that the storm was over. The missing portion of the Fifth
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Page 3 and 4: L. W. KING. LECTURE I EGYPT, BABYLO
Page 5 and 6: Palestine ran then as they do to-da
Page 7 and 8: interesting, for it is clearly the
Page 9 and 10: founded a Jewish colony beside a fl
Page 11 and 12: material effects upon the native po
Page 13 and 14: [3] Ezek. i. 1, 3; iii. 23; and cf.
Page 15 and 16: [1] See Breasted, /Anc. Rec./, I, p
Page 17 and 18: example, which preceded that of Nî
Page 19 and 20: may yet be accepted in a modified f
Page 21 and 22: and Enmerkar's father was high prie
Page 23 and 24: I may add that a parallel is provid
Page 25 and 26: Now the tablets from the Royal Libr
Page 27 and 28: including in addition to these two
Page 29 and 30: explicable only on that hypothesis.
Page 31 and 32: from it might well be referred to b
Page 33 and 34: [1] In Semitic-Babylonian the first
Page 35 and 36: after which the text continues: At
Page 37 and 38: It is an interesting fact that Zius
Page 39 and 40: employed for the flood both in the
Page 41 and 42: plan of the temple which he drew wa
Page 43: oth versions. We find an equally cl
Page 47 and 48: [1] Possibly to be translated "moun
Page 49 and 50: Gilgamesh Epic and in Berossus, tho
Page 51 and 52: evidence of a subsequent attempt to
Page 53 and 54: and up-stream of "Nimrod's Dam". Th
Page 55 and 56: terrestrial experience. To-day we w
Page 57 and 58: [1] This detail is not clearly pres
Page 59 and 60: God of Wisdom, he is not only the t
Page 61 and 62: [4] Cf. Tabl. VII, ll. 116 ff. [5]
Page 63 and 64: [4] i.e. the length of his pace was
Page 65 and 66: When in the height heaven was not n
Page 67 and 68: period when some progress in system
Page 69 and 70: First Dynasty, whose genius for met
Page 71 and 72: staff of the bread transgression! t
Page 73 and 74: in the first lecture we noted some
Page 75 and 76: of MAN Creation of MAN from Creatio
Page 77: [6] Eanna was the great temple of E

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