Part 14 (2/2)

The people were not to be recognized. In heaven The G.o.ds feared the flood, and They fled, they ascended to the heaven of Anu.

The G.o.ds kenneled like dogs, crouched down in the enclosures.

The G.o.ds had crouched down, seated in lamentation, Covered were their lips in the a.s.semblies, Six days and nights The wind blew, the deluge and flood overwhelmed the land.

The seventh day, when it came, the storm ceased, the raging flood, Which had contended like a whirlwind, Quieted, the sea shrank back, and the evil wind and deluge ended.

I noticed the sea making a noise, And all mankind had turned to corruption.

I noted the regions, the sh.o.r.e of the sea, For twelve measures the region arose.

The s.h.i.+p had stopped at the land of Nisir.

The mountain of Nisir seized the s.h.i.+p, and would not let it pa.s.s.

The first day and the second day the mountains of Nisir seized the s.h.i.+p, and would not let it pa.s.s.

The seventh day, when it came I sent forth a dove, and it left; The dove went, it turned about, But there was no resting-place, and it returned.

I sent forth a swallow, and it left, The swallow went, it turned about, But there was no resting-place, and it returned.

I sent forth a raven, and it left, The raven went, the rus.h.i.+ng of the waters it saw, It ate, it waded, it croaked, it did not return.

I sent forth (the animals) to the four winds, I poured out a libation, I made an offering on the peak of the mountain, Seven and seven I set incense-vases there, In their depths I poured cane, cedar, and rosewood (?).

The G.o.ds smelled a savour; The G.o.ds smelled a sweet savour.

The G.o.ds gathered like flies over the sacrificer.

Then the G.o.ddess Sirtu, when she came, Raised the great signets that Anu had made at her wish: 'These G.o.ds--by the lapis-stone of my neck--let me not forget; These days let me remember, nor forget them for ever!

Let the G.o.ds come to the sacrifice, But let not Bel come to the sacrifice, For he did not take counsel, and made a flood, And consigned my people to destruction.'

Then Bel, when he came, Saw the s.h.i.+p. And Bel stood still, Filled with anger on account of the G.o.ds and the spirits of heaven.

'What, has a soul escaped?

Let not a man be saved from the destruction.'

Ninip opened his mouth and spake.

He said to the warrior Bel: 'Who but Ae has done the thing?

And Ae knows every event.'

Ae opened his mouth and spake, He said to the warrior Bel: 'Thou sage of the G.o.ds, warrior, Verily thou hast not taken counsel, and hast made a flood.

The sinner has committed his sin, The evil-doer has committed his misdeed, Be merciful--let him not be cut off--yield, let not perish.

Why hast thou made a flood?

Let the lion come, and let men diminish.

Why hast thou made a flood?

Let the hyena come, and let men diminish.

Why hast thou made a flood?

Let a famine happen, and let the land be (?) Why hast thou made a flood?

Let Ura (pestilence) come, and let the land be (?)'”[176:1]

Of the four records before us, we can only date one approximately. The constellations, as we have already seen, were mapped out some time in the third millennium before our era, probably not very far from 2700 B.C.

When was the Babylonian story written? Does it, itself, afford any evidence of date? It occurs in the eleventh tablet of the _Epic of Gilgamesh_, and the theory has been started that as Aquarius, a watery constellation, is now the eleventh sign of the zodiac, therefore we have in this epic of twelve tablets a series of solar myths founded upon the twelve signs of the zodiac, the eleventh giving us a legend of a flood to correspond to the stream of water which the man in Aquarius pours from his pitcher.

If this theory be accepted we can date the _Epic of Gilgamesh_ with much certainty: it must be later, probably much later, than 700 B.C. For it cannot have been till about that time that the present arrangement of the zodiacal signs--that is to say with Aries as the first and Aquarius as the eleventh--can have been adopted. We have then to allow for the growth of a mythology with the twelve signs as its _motif_. Had this supposed series of zodiacal myths originated before 700 B.C., before Aries was adopted as the leading sign, then the Bull, Taurus, would have given rise to the myth of the first tablet and Aquarius to the tenth, not to the eleventh where we find the story of the flood.

<script>