# The Chaldean Account of Genesis

New York: Scribner, Armstrong, page Img
THE CHALDEAN ACCOUNT OF GENESIS.
BY THE SAME AUTHOR.
ASSYRIAN EXPLORATIONS AND DISCOVERIES.
By GEORGE SMITH, Of the Oriental Department of the British Museum.
One vol., 8vo, cloth, with numerous illustrations, maps, photographs, plans, etc., $4.00.
Sent, post-paid, on receipt of price by the Publishers,
SCRIBNER, ARMSTRONG & CO., 743 & 745 Broadway, New York.
THE
CHALDEAN ACCOUNT OF GENESIS,
CONTAINING THE DESCRIPTION OF THE CREATION, THE FALL OF MAN, THE DELUGE, THE TOWER OF BABEL, THE
TIMES OF THE PATRIARCHS,
AND NIMROD: BABYLONIAN FABLES, AND LEGENDS OF THE GODS;
FROM THE CUNEIFORM INSCRIPTIONS.
BY GEORGE SMITH,
OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ORIENTAL ANTIQUITIES, BRITISH MUSEUM, AUTHOR OF "HISTORY OF ASSURBANIPAL,"
"ASSYRIAN DISCOVERIES," ETC., ETC.
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS.
NEW YORK: SCRIBNER, ARMSTRONG & CO. 1876.
TO
SIR HENRY CRESWICKE RAWLINSON,
K.C.B., D.C.L., ETC. ETC. ETC.,
MY TEACHER AND PEEDECESSOR IN MY PRESENT
LINE OF RESEARCH,
IN REMEMBRANCE OF MANY FAVOURS,
THIS WORK IS
Dedicated.
INTRODUCTION.
OME explanation is necessary in introducing my present work. Little time has elapsed since I discovered the most important of these inscriptions, and in the intervening period I have had, amidst other work, to collect the various fragments of the legends, copy, compare, and translate, altering my matter from time to time, as new fragments turned up. Even now I have gone to press with one of the fragments of the last tablet of the Izdubar series omitted.
The present condition of the legends and their recent discovery alike forbid me to call this anything more than a provisional work; but there was so general a desire to see the translations that I have published them, hoping my readers will take them with the same reserve with which I have given them.
I have avoided some of the most important comparisons and conclusions with respect to Genesis, as my desire was first to obtain the recognition of the evidence without prejudice.
​The chronological notes in the book are one of its weak points, but I may safely say that I have placed the various dates as low as I fairly could, considering the evidence, and I have aimed to do this rather than to establish any system of chronology.
I believe that time will show the Babylonian traditions of Genesis to be invaluable for the light they will throw on the Pentateuch, but at present there are so many blanks in the evidence that positive conclusions on several points are impossible. I may add in conclusion that my present work is intended as a popular account, and I have introduced only so much explanation as seems necessary for the proper understanding of the subject. I have added translations of some parts of the legends which I avoided in my last work, desiring here to satisfy the wish to see them as perfect as possible; there still remain however some passages which I have omitted, but these are of small extent and obscure.
October 26, 1875.
CONTENTS.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
RONTISPIECE, Photograph. Izdubar (Nimrod) in conflict with a lion, from an early Babylonian cylinder.
2. Reverse of inscribed terra cotta tablet, containing the account of the Deluge, showing the various fragments of which it is composed, 10.
3. Oannes and other Babylonian mythological figures, from cylinder, 39.
4. Composite animals, from cylinder, 41.
5. Fight between Merodach (Bel) and the dragon, to face p. 62.
6. Sacred tree or grove, with attendant cherubim, from Assyrian cylinder, 89.
7. Sacred tree, seated figure on each side and serpent in background, from an early Babylonian cylinder, 91.
8. Bel encountering the dragon, from Babylonian cylinder, 95.
9. Merodach or Bel armed for the conflict with the dragon, from Assyrian cylinder, 99.
10. Fight between Bel and the dragon, from Babylonian cylinder, 102.
11. Eagle-headed men, from Nimroud sculpture, to face p. 102.
12. Sacred tree, attendant figures and eagle-headed men, from the seal of a Syrian chief, ninth century B.C., 106.
13. Men engaged in building, from Babylonian cylinder, 158.
14 and 15. Men engaged in building, from Babylonian cylinders, 159.
​16. View of Birs Nimrud, the supposed site of the Tower of Babel, 162.
17. View of the Babil mound at Babylon, the site of the temple of Bel, 163.
18. Tower in stages, from an Assyrian bas-relief, 164.
19. Izdubar strangling a lion, from Khorsabad sculpture, to face p. 174.
20. Migration of Eastern tribe, from early Babylonian cylinder, 188.
21. Bowareyeh Mound at Warka (Erech), site of the temple of Ishtar, 237.
22. Izdubar and Heabani in conflict with the lion and bull, 239.
23. Izdubar, composite figures, and Hasisadra (Noah) in the ark, from early Babylonian cylinder, 257.
24. Composite figures (scorpion men), from an Assyrian cylinder, 262.
25. Hasisadra, or Noah, and Izdubar, from an early Babylonian cylinder, 283.
26. Mugheir, the site of Ur of the Chaldees, 297.
27. Oannes, from Nimroud sculpture, to face p. 306.
This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.
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