The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1872-12-07 00:00:00

THE CHALDEAN ACCOUNT OF THE

DELUGE.

Mr. George Smith, of the British Mugeinn, read his
promised paper, on Tiiesday evening, bsfore the
Society of Biblical Archaeology, upon a Cuneiform
Inscription, containing the Chaldean amount of the
Deluge. General Sir Henry R awlinson presided, and
among those present were Mr. Gladstone, Mr.
Childers, the Dean of Westminster, and Lady Augusta
Stanley, Mr. S. Birch, the Rev. J. M. Rodwell, Mr.
Deutsch, and many others.

- •
Sir Henry Thswiinson, in introducing the lecturer.
slid that some fifteen years ago, during the excava-
tions of the site of the old palace of Nineveh, the
debris of the Royal library was found. In anima
days books were merely inscribed on clay tablets, and
a areat many of these were discovered among the ruins
in as perfect a state of preservation as they had been
2,500 years previously. They were deposited in the
British Museum, and had since furnished a mine of
resource to all Assyrian scholars, of whom Mr. Smith
was the first of the day. Sir Henry pledged his repu-
tation that the translation of the inscription which
would be given by Mr. Smith would be as generally
perfect as could p issibly be.
Mr. Smith, before proceeding to examine the bear-
ings of the details of the tablet on our existing records
of the flood, gave an outline of the Mosaic account as
contained in Genesis, and cited the text of the Chal-
dean history $l4 given by Berosus—which weigns
Xisuthrus as the name of the builder of the Ark,
Crone as the name of the Deity who commanded him
to build it, five stadia long and two broad as its dimen-
sions, and the land of Armenia as its resting-place.
The Cuneiform account agrees with the Biblical narrative
in making the Deluge a Divine punishment for the wickedness
of the world : this point is omitted in the Greek accouuts of
&ramie The dimensions of the vessel in the inscription
are unfortunately lost by a fracture which 11.1 broken off
both numbers; the passage, which is otherwise coinpli te,
shows that the dimensions were expressed in cubits, as in
the Biblical account; bat, while Genesis makes the ark fifty
cubits broad and thirty cubits high, the inscription states
that the height and breadth were the same. Some details of
the launching of the Ark, such as that .1 leaks being stopped
by bitumen, nave no parallel either in the Bible or in Bernell. ;
but the description of the hiring of the Ark generally agrees
with the two other accounts -though differing from
Genesis in not mentioning the sevens of clean animal.,
end in including others besides the family of the
builder. The date of the Deluge's commimc meat, given
by the Bible sod Berme., is 11.. t mentioned so ale tablet.
With regard to its duretimi, there epeeists a seniors litter.
mice between the Bede and the luseription. According to
the account in Genesis. the Flood commenced on the seven-
tcshth d .y of the secomi moth, the Ark rested on Ararat
after one hundred and fifty days on the seventeenth day ef
the seveoth month, end the complete drying up r.f the
Flood was not until the twenty-ievelith day of the second
mouth in the following year. The inscription, en the other
heed, states that the Flood abated on the mow !th .lay, and
that the ship remoter d seven days on the mountain before
tee mend eg out nt the birds. On this bidet it must be re-
marked that some Bihlic el critics consider that there are
two versions of the Flood story in Gmesis It,. If, and that
these two differ as to the duration of the Flood. The Greek
account of Beretta is silent an to the duration. Pursuing his
examination, Mr. Smith finds differences lathe accounts auto
theniountain on which the Ark rested, end the test of birds, by
which the abatement of the Flood was ascertained ; while ou the
on. ding of the altar sni the sacrifice after leavlug the Ark,
all three secennts agree. On reviewing the evidence, Mr.
Smith coolkned, It is apparent that the events of the Flood
narrated lathe Bible and the inscription are the same, and
occur in the tame crier; but the minor differences in the
details show that the inscription emhelite a &stunt and in-
' dependent tradition. In spite of a striking similarity in style,
which shows itself in several places, the two narratives belong
to totally distinct peoples. The Biblical account is the err-
0n of an Inland people, the name of the Ark In Genesis
r mem clieat or box, and not • ship then bno notice

of the sea or of Winching, no pilots see spoken of,
no navigation is mentioned. The inscription, on the
other hand, belongs to • maritime people, the Ark is
called • ship, the ship is launched into the sea trial Is
made of it, and it is given In charge of a pilot. Mr. Smith
points out circumstances which suggest the question whether
the Chaldean narrative itself may not have been compiled
from two distinct and older accounts: and notes it as re-
markable that the oldest traditions of the early Babylonians
, seem to cent.° round the Persian Galt In conclusion, he
remarked that this account of the Deluge opened a new field
of inquiry in the early part of the Bible history. The ques-
tion has often been asked, " What is the origin of the ac-
counts of the antedilaviane, with their long lives so many
times greater than the longest span of human life ? Where
was Paradise, the abode of the first parents of mankind;
Whence comes the story of the Flood, of the Ark, of the
biris The Cuneiform inscriptions axe now shedding new
light on these questions, and supplying material which
future scholars will have to work out.