Legends Of Babylon And Egypt

L >> Leonard W. King >> Legends Of Babylon And Egypt


(1) See, e.g. Marett, _Anthropology_ (2nd ed., 1914), Chap.
iv, "Environment," pp. 122 ff.; and for earlier tendencies,
particularly in the sphere of mythological exegesis, see S.
Reinach, _Cultes, Mythes et Religions_, t. IV (1912), pp. 1
ff.

In a land such as Egypt, where there is little rain and the sky is
always clear, the sun in its splendour tended from the earliest period
to dominate the national consciousness. As intercourse increased along
the Nile Valley, centres of Sun-worship ceased to be merely local, and
the political rise of a city determined the fortunes of its cult. From
the proto-dynastic period onward, the "King of the two Lands" had borne
the title of "Horus" as the lineal descendant of the great Sun-god of
Edfu, and the rise of Ra in the Vth Dynasty, through the priesthood of
Heliopolis, was confirmed in the solar theology of the Middle Kingdom.
Thus it was that other deities assumed a solar character as forms of Ra.
Amen, the local god of Thebes, becomes Amen-Ra with the political rise
of his city, and even the old Crocodile-god, Sebek, soars into the sky
as Sebek-Ra. The only other movement in the religion of ancient Egypt,
comparable in importance to this solar development, was the popular cult
of Osiris as God of the Dead, and with it the official religion had to
come to terms. Horus is reborn as the posthumous son of Osiris, and Ra
gladdens his abode during his nightly journey through the Underworld.
The theory with which we are concerned suggests that this dominant trait
in Egyptian religion passed, with other elements of culture, beyond the
bounds of the Nile Valley and influenced the practice and beliefs of
distant races.

This suggestion has been gradually elaborated by its author, Professor
Elliot Smith, who has devoted much attention to the anatomical study of
Egyptian mummification. Beginning with a scrutiny of megalithic building
and sun-worship,(1) he has subsequently deduced, from evidence of common
distribution, the existence of a culture-complex, including in addition
to these two elements the varied practices of tattooing, circumcision,
ear-piercing, that quaint custom known as couvade, head-deformation, and
the prevalence of serpent-cults, myths of petrifaction and the Deluge,
and finally of mummification. The last ingredient was added after an
examination of Papuan mummies had disclosed their apparent resemblance
in points of detail to Egyptian mummies of the XXIst Dynasty. As a
result he assumes the existence of an early cultural movement, for which
the descriptive title "heliolithic" has been coined.(2) Starting with
Egypt as its centre, one of the principal lines of its advance is
said to have lain through Syria and Mesopotamia and thence along the
coastlands of Asia to the Far East. The method of distribution and the
suggested part played by the Phoenicians have been already criticized
sufficiently. But in a modified form the theory has found considerable
support, especially among ethnologists interested in Indonesia. I do
not propose to examine in detail the evidence for or against it. It will
suffice to note that the Deluge story and its alleged Egyptian origin in
solar worship form one of the prominent strands in its composition.

(1) Cf. Elliot Smith, _The Ancient Egyptians_, 1911.

(2) See in particular his monograph "On the significance of
the Geographical Distribution of the Practice of
Mummification" in the _Memoirs of the Manchester Literary
and Philosophical Society_, 1915.

One weakness of this particular strand is that the Egyptians themselves
possessed no tradition of the Deluge. Indeed the annual inundation
of the Nile is not such as would give rise to a legend of
world-destruction; and in this respect it presents a striking contrast
to the Tigris and Euphrates. The ancient Egyptian's conception of his
own gentle river is reflected in the form he gave the Nile-god, for Hapi
is represented as no fierce warrior or monster. He is given a woman's
breasts as a sign of his fecundity. The nearest Egyptian parallel to
the Deluge story is the "Legend of the Destruction of Mankind", which
is engraved on the walls of a chamber in the tomb of Seti I.(1) The late
Sir Gaston Maspero indeed called it "a dry deluge myth", but his paradox
was intended to emphasize the difference as much as the parallelism
presented. It is true that in the Egyptian myth the Sun-god causes
mankind to be slain because of their impiety, and he eventually pardons
the survivors. The narrative thus betrays undoubted parallelism to
the Babylonian and Hebrew stories, so far as concerns the attempted
annihilation of mankind by the offended god, but there the resemblance
ends. For water has no part in man's destruction, and the essential
element of a Deluge story is thus absent.(2) Our new Sumerian document,
on the other hand, contains what is by far the earliest example yet
recovered of a genuine Deluge tale; and we may thus use it incidentally
to test this theory of Egyptian influence, and also to ascertain whether
it furnishes any positive evidence on the origin of Deluge stories in
general.

(1) It was first published by Monsieur Naville, _Tranc. Soc.
Bibl. Arch._, IV (1874), pp. 1 ff. The myth may be most
conveniently studied in Dr. Budge's edition in _Egyptian
Literature_, Vol. I, "Legends of the Gods" (1912), pp. 14
ff., where the hieroglyphic text and translation are printed
on opposite pages; cf. the summary, op. cit., pp. xxiii ff.,
where the principal literature is also cited. See also his
_Gods of the Egyptians_, Vol. I, chap. xii, pp. 388 ff.

(2) The undoubted points of resemblance, as well as the
equally striking points of divergence, presented by the
Egyptian myth when compared with the Babylonian and Hebrew
stories of a Deluge may be briefly indicated. The impiety of
men in complaining of the age of Ra finds a parallel in the
wickedness of man upon the earth (J) and the corruption of
all flesh (P) of the Hebrew Versions. The summoning by Ra of
the great Heliopolitan cosmic gods in council, including his
personified Eye, the primaeval pair Shu and Tefnut, Keb the
god of the earth and his consort Nut the sky-goddess, and Nu
the primaeval water-god and originally Nut's male
counterpart, is paralleled by the _puhur ilani_, or
"assembly of the gods", in the Babylonian Version (see Gilg.
Epic. XI. l. 120 f., and cf. ll. 10 ff.); and they meet in
"the Great House", or Sun-temple at Heliopolis, as the
Babylonian gods deliberate in Shuruppak. Egyptian,
Babylonian, and Hebrew narratives all agree in the divine
determination to destroy mankind and in man's ultimate
survival. But the close of the Egyptian story diverges into
another sphere. The slaughter of men by the Eye of Ra in the
form of the goddess Hathor, who during the night wades in
their blood, is suggestive of Africa; and so too is her
drinking of men's blood mixed with the narcotic mandrake and
with seven thousand vessels of beer, with the result that
through drunkenness she ceased from slaughter. The latter
part of the narrative is directly connected with the cult-
ritual and beer-drinking at the Festivals of Hathor and Ra;
but the destruction of men by slaughter in place of drowning
appears to belong to the original myth. Indeed, the only
suggestion of a Deluge story is suggested by the presence of
Nu, the primaeval water-god, at Ra's council, and that is
explicable on other grounds. In any case the points of
resemblance presented by the earlier part of the Egyptian
myth to Semitic Deluge stories are general, not detailed;
and though they may possibly be due to reflection from Asia,
they are not such as to suggest an Egyptian origin for
Deluge myths.

The tablet on which our new version of the Deluge is inscribed was
excavated at Nippur during the third Babylonian expedition sent out by
the University of Pennsylvania; but it was not until the summer of 1912
that its contents were identified, when the several fragments of which
it was composed were assembled and put together. It is a large document,
containing six columns of writing, three on each side; but unfortunately
only the lower half has been recovered, so that considerable gaps occur
in the text.(1) The sharp edges of the broken surface, however, suggest
that it was damaged after removal from the soil, and the possibility
remains that some of the missing fragments may yet be recovered either
at Pennsylvania or in the Museum at Constantinople. As it is not dated,
its age must be determined mainly by the character of its script. A
close examination of the writing suggests that it can hardly have been
inscribed as late as the Kassite Dynasty, since two or three signs
exhibit more archaic forms than occur on any tablets of that period;(2)
and such linguistic corruptions as have been noted in its text may
well be accounted for by the process of decay which must have already
affected the Sumerian language at the time of the later kings of Nisin.
Moreover, the tablet bears a close resemblance to one of the newly
published copies of the Sumerian Dynastic List from Nippur;(3) for both
are of the same shape and composed of the same reddish-brown clay, and
both show the same peculiarities of writing. The two tablets in fact
appear to have been written by the same hand, and as that copy of the
Dynastic List was probably drawn up before the latter half of the First
Dynasty of Babylon, we may assign the same approximate date for the
writing of our text. This of course only fixes a lower limit for the age
of the myth which it enshrines.

(1) The breadth of the tablet is 5 5/8 in., and it
originally measured about 7 in. in length from top to
bottom; but only about one-third of its inscribed surface is
preserved.

(2) Cf. Poebel, _Hist. Texts_, pp. 66 ff.

(3) No. 5.

That the composition is in the form of a poem may be seen at a glance
from the external appearance of the tablet, the division of many of the
lines and the blank spaces frequently left between the sign-groups being
due to the rhythmical character of the text. The style of the poetry
may be simple and abrupt, but it exhibits a familiar feature of both
Semitic-Babylonian and Hebrew poetry, in its constant employment of
partial repetition or paraphrase in parallel lines. The story it tells
is very primitive and in many respects unlike the Babylonian Versions
of the Deluge which we already possess. Perhaps its most striking
peculiarity is the setting of the story, which opens with a record of
the creation of man and animals, goes on to tell how the first cities
were built, and ends with a version of the Deluge, which is thus
recounted in its relation to the Sumerian history of the world. This
literary connexion between the Creation and Deluge narratives is of
unusual interest, in view of the age of our text. In the Babylonian
Versions hitherto known they are included in separate epics with
quite different contexts. Here they are recounted together in a single
document, much as they probably were in the history of Berossus and as
we find them in the present form of the Book of Genesis. This fact will
open up some interesting problems when we attempt to trace the literary
descent of the tradition.

But one important point about the text should be emphasized at once,
since it will affect our understanding of some very obscure passages, of
which no satisfactory explanation has yet been given. The assumption has
hitherto been made that the text is an epic pure and simple. It is quite
true that the greater part of it is a myth, recounted as a narrative in
poetical form, but there appear to me to be clear indications that
the myth was really embedded in an incantation. If this was so, the
mythological portion was recited for a magical purpose, with the object
of invoking the aid of the chief deities whose actions in the past are
there described, and of increasing by that means the potency of the
spell.(1) In the third lecture I propose to treat in more detail the
employment and significance of myth in magic, and we shall have occasion
to refer to other instances, Sumerian, Babylonian, and Egyptian, in
which a myth has reached us in a magical setting.

(1) It will be seen that the subject-matter of any myth
treated in this way has a close connexion with the object
for which the incantation was performed.

In the present case the inference of magical use is drawn from certain
passages in the text itself, which appear to be explicable only on that
hypothesis. In magical compositions of the later period intended
for recitation, the sign for "Incantation" is usually prefixed.
Unfortunately the beginning of our text is wanting; but its opening
words are given in the colophon, or title, which is engraved on the
left-hand edge of the tablet, and it is possible that the traces of
the first sign there are to be read as EN, "Incantation".(1) Should
a re-examination of the tablet establish this reading of the word,
we should have definite proof of the suggested magical setting of the
narrative. But even if we assume its absence, that would not invalidate
the arguments that can be adduced in favour of recognizing the existence
of a magical element, for they are based on internal evidence and enable
us to explain certain features which are inexplicable on Dr. Poebel's
hypothesis. Moreover, we shall later on examine another of the
newly published Sumerian compositions from Nippur, which is not only
semi-epical in character, but is of precisely the same shape, script,
and period as our text, and is very probably a tablet of the same
series. There also the opening signs of the text are wanting, but far
more of its contents are preserved and they present unmistakable traces
of magical use. Its evidence, as that of a parallel text, may therefore
be cited in support of the present contention. It may be added that in
Sumerian magical compositions of this early period, of which we have
not yet recovered many quite obvious examples, it is possible that
the prefix "Incantation" was not so invariable as in the later magical
literature.

(1) Cf. Poebel, _Hist. Texts_, p. 63, and _Hist. and Gram.
Texts_, pl. i. In the photographic reproduction of the edges
of the tablet given in the latter volume, pl. lxxxix, the
traces of the sign suggest the reading EN (= Sem. _siptu_,
"incantation"). But the sign may very possibly be read AN.
In the latter case we may read, in the traces of the two
sign-groups at the beginning of the text, the names of both
Anu and Enlil, who appear so frequently as the two presiding
deities in the myth.

It has already been remarked that only the lower half of our tablet
has been recovered, and that consequently a number of gaps occur in
the text. On the obverse the upper portion of each of the first three
columns is missing, while of the remaining three columns, which are
inscribed upon the reverse, the upper portions only are preserved. This
difference in the relative positions of the textual fragments recovered
is due to the fact that Sumerian scribes, like their later Babylonian
and Assyrian imitators, when they had finished writing the obverse of
a tablet, turned it over from bottom to top--not, as we should turn a
sheet of paper, from right to left. But in spite of the lacunae, the
sequence of events related in the mythological narrative may be followed
without difficulty, since the main outline of the story is already
familiar enough from the versions of the Semitic-Babylonian scribes and
of Berossus. Some uncertainties naturally remain as to what exactly was
included in the missing portions of the tablet; but the more important
episodes are fortunately recounted in the extant fragments, and these
suffice for a definition of the distinctive character of the Sumerian
Version. In view of its literary importance it may be advisable to
attempt a somewhat detailed discussion of its contents, column by
column;(1) and the analysis may be most conveniently divided into
numbered sections, each of which refers to one of the six columns of the
tablet. The description of the First Column will serve to establish
the general character of the text. Through the analysis of the tablet
parallels and contrasts will be noted with the Babylonian and Hebrew
Versions. It will then be possible to summarise, on a surer foundation,
the literary history of the traditions, and finally to estimate the
effect of our new evidence upon current theories as to the origin and
wide dispersion of Deluge stories.

(1) In the lecture as delivered the contents of each column
were necessarily summarized rather briefly, and conclusions
were given without discussion of the evidence.

The following headings, under which the six numbered sections may be
arranged, indicate the contents of each column and show at a glance the
main features of the Sumerian Version:


I. Introduction to the Myth, and account of Creation.

II. The Antediluvian Cities.

III. The Council of the Gods, and Ziusudu's piety.

IV. The Dream-Warning.

V. The Deluge, the Escape of the Great Boat, and the Sacrifice to the
Sun-god.

VI. The Propitiation of the Angry Gods, and Ziusudu's Immortality.




I. INTRODUCTION TO THE MYTH, AND ACCOUNT OF CREATION

The beginning of the text is wanting, and the earliest lines preserved
of the First Column open with the closing sentences of a speech,
probably by the chief of the four creating deities, who are later on
referred to by name. In it there is a reference to a future destruction
of mankind, but the context is broken; the lines in question begin:

"As for my human race, from (_or_ in) its destruction will I
cause it to be (. . .),

For Nintu my creatures (. . .) will I (. . .)."

From the reference to "my human race" it is clear that the speaker is a
creating deity; and since the expression is exactly parallel to the term
"my people" used by Ishtar, or Belit-ili, "the Lady of the gods", in the
Babylonian Version of the Deluge story when she bewails the destruction
of mankind, Dr. Poebel assigns the speech to Ninkharsagga, or Nintu,(1)
the goddess who later in the column is associated with Anu, Enlil, and
Enki in man's creation. But the mention of Nintu in her own speech
is hardly consistent with that supposition,(2) if we assume with Dr.
Poebel, as we are probably justified in doing, that the title Nintu
is employed here and elsewhere in the narrative merely as a synonym of
Ninkharsagga.(3) It appears to me far more probable that one of the two
supreme gods, Anu or Enlil, is the speaker,(4) and additional grounds
will be cited later in support of this view. It is indeed possible, in
spite of the verbs and suffixes in the singular, that the speech is to
be assigned to both Anu and Enlil, for in the last column, as we shall
see, we find verb in the singular following references to both these
deities. In any case one of the two chief gods may be regarded as
speaking and acting on behalf of both, though it may be that the
inclusion of the second name in the narrative was not original but
simply due to a combination of variant traditions. Such a conflate use
of Anu-Enlil would present a striking parallel to the Hebrew combination
Yahweh-Elohim, though of course in the case of the former pair the
subsequent stage of identification was never attained. But the evidence
furnished by the text is not conclusive, and it is preferable here and
elsewhere in the narrative to regard either Anu or Enlil as speaking and
acting both on his own behalf and as the other's representative.

(1) Op. cit., p. 21 f.; and cf. Jastrow, _Hebrew and
Babylonian Traditions_, p. 336.

(2) It necessitates the taking of (_dingir_) _Nin-tu-ra_ as
a genitive, not a dative, and the very awkward rendering
"my, Nintu's, creations".

(3) Another of the recently published Sumerian mythological
compositions from Nippur includes a number of myths in which
Enki is associated first with Ninella, referred to also as
Nintu, "the Goddess of Birth", then with Ninshar, referred
to also as Ninkurra, and finally with Ninkharsagga. This
text exhibits the process by which separate traditions with
regard to goddesses originally distinct were combined
together, with the result that their heroines were
subsequently often identified with one another. There the
myths that have not been subjected to a very severe process
of editing, and in consequence the welding is not so
complete as in the Sumerian Version of the Deluge.

(4) If Enlil's name should prove to be the first word of the
composition, we should naturally regard him as the speaker
here and as the protagonist of the gods throughout the text,
a _role_ he also plays in the Semitic-Babylonian Version.

This reference to the Deluge, which occurs so early in the text,
suggests the probability that the account of the Creation and of the
founding of Antediluvian cities, included in the first two columns, is
to be taken merely as summarizing the events that led up to the Deluge.
And an almost certain proof of this may be seen in the opening words
of the composition, which are preserved in its colophon or title on the
left-hand edge of the tablet. We have already noted that the first two
words are there to be read, either as the prefix "Incantation" followed
by the name "Enlil", or as the two divine names "Anu (and) Enlil". Now
the signs which follow the traces of Enlil's name are quite certain;
they represent "Ziusudu", which, as we shall see in the Third Column,
is the name of the Deluge hero in our Sumerian Version. He is thus
mentioned in the opening words of the text, in some relation to one or
both of the two chief gods of the subsequent narrative. But the natural
place for his first introduction into the story is in the Third Column,
where it is related that "at that time Ziusudu, the king" did so-and-so.
The prominence given him at the beginning of the text, at nearly a
column's interval before the lines which record the creation of man, is
sufficient proof that the Deluge story is the writer's main interest,
and that preceding episodes are merely introductory to it.

What subject then may we conjecture was treated in the missing lines of
this column, which precede the account of Creation and close with the
speech of the chief creating deity? Now the Deluge narrative practically
ends with the last lines of the tablet that are preserved, and the lower
half of the Sixth Column is entirely wanting. We shall see reason
to believe that the missing end of the tablet was not left blank and
uninscribed, but contained an incantation, the magical efficacy of which
was ensured by the preceding recitation of the Deluge myth. If that were
so, it would be natural enough that the text should open with its main
subject. The cause of the catastrophe and the reason for man's rescue
from it might well be referred to by one of the creating deities in
virtue of the analogy these aspects of the myth would present to the
circumstances for which the incantation was designed. A brief account
of the Creation and of Antediluvian history would then form a natural
transition to the narrative of the Deluge itself. And even if the text
contained no incantation, the narrative may well have been introduced
in the manner suggested, since this explanation in any case fits in with
what is still preserved of the First Column. For after his reference to
the destruction of mankind, the deity proceeds to fix the chief duty
of man, either as a preliminary to his creation, or as a reassertion
of that duty after his rescue from destruction by the Flood. It is
noteworthy that this duty consists in the building of temples to the
gods "in a clean spot", that is to say "in hallowed places". The passage
may be given in full, including the two opening lines already discussed:

"As for my human race, from (_or_ in) its destruction will I
cause it to be (. . .), For Nintu my creatures (. . .) will
I (. . .).

The people will I cause to . . . in their settlements,

Cities . . . shall (man) build, in there protection will I
cause him to rest,

That he may lay the brick of our houses in a clean spot,

That in a clean spot he may establish our . . . !"

In the reason here given for man's creation, or for his rescue from
the Flood, we have an interesting parallel to the Sixth Tablet of
the Semitic-Babylonian Creation Series. At the opening of that tablet
Marduk, in response to "the word of the gods", is urged by his heart to
devise a cunning plan which he imparts to Ea, namely the creation of man
from his own divine blood and from bone which he will fashion. And the
reason he gives for his proposal is precisely that which, as we have
seen, prompted the Sumerian deity to create or preserve the human race.
For Marduk continues: