The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-02-13
OLDEST FLOOD STORY
As Told by a BabyIonian Brick
of2140 B. G..
AGES ERE MOSES LIVED
Was it the Origin of the Bib
liCal Narrative?
AGES ERE MOSES LIVE[

inscribed clay tablet giving an entirely
new version of the story of the flood
- Is believed to antedate all other &C
counts by many centuries.
The text is written in the cuneiforu
Characters. and is dated, according to the
inscription, the twenty-eighth day o.
the month Sebat, in the year when Kins
Ammizaduga built the fortress of A1umi.
zadugaki, at the mouth of the Euphra.
les. Professor Pere Scheil, the famous
r. French Assyriologist, is the discoverer o,
Ahe tablet. His description, together with
translation Of the inscription, and also
me opinion Of DR.. William Hayes Ward
The well known Biblical scholar, on the
discovery are given herewith.
Among the many ancient Biblical cities
whose ruins dot the Babylonian plain
and lie buried deeply in the sands of
shat historic soil is one that for years
Gas been looked upon by scientists as
probably holding within its depths many
tecrets of the past-secrets of the dawn
mankind. 1t is the city of Sippara, OF
whose ruins nothing now remains but a
few crumbling walls in the last stages of
decay. In this city, so Berosus, the great
ancient historian, tells US, Noah previous
TO the food buried the records of the
worlds antediluvian history. Ages have
passed since then, but those records have
hot yet come to light.
Now. however, from the ruins of this
very city comes a clay tablet telling a
rev story of the flood itself-a story which
fac ho
brew account as contained in the Bible.
yet gives a fuller and much more detailed
Version than the modern world has ever
had. The tablet is twenty-five cent?
metres inheight by twenty in breadth. Ac-
eording to its deciphered inscription. it
was written about the year 2140 B. c., or
shortly after the time Hebrew chronology
Gays the deluge occurred.
The tablet was originally almost square
md inscribed on each side, with four
columns to a side. It has so crumbled
with age that only portions of the first,
econd, seventh and eighth columns are
left, but they are the most important
part of the whole inscription.
Professor Pere Schiel. the discoverer
and decipherer of the tablet, says:
This fragment that is preserved to
us shows that the tablet had four COL
urlns on each side, and in reading il one
must pass from column four on the one
eide to column five on the other. so that
the end is directly opposite the beginning.
This end is the most important part of
the whole writing. and very fortunately
this part of the document has been pre-
served TO us Unlike the inscriptions on
81,
time to time have been unearthed. the
writing on this one appears to have been
made with great care. It is for the most
part exceedingly well written, and the
dgns. although a little worn, are still
1ecipherable.
THE writing is in the cuneiform scrip
md the characters are cut deeply into
.he clay. After each ten lines the writer
lightly marked the sign for ten in the
yargin of the column and the total Of the
column at the foot, and finally the total
1umber of lines at the end of the tablet
in all 439 lines. The tablet is dated in
he reign of Ammizaduga, the twenty
Eighth day of the month Sebat, in the
rear when King Ammizaduga built the
fortress OF AmmizadugaH, at the mouth
If the Euphrates.' This gives us definite
5poch-about 2l4O B. c.
Professor SchieTs discovery is OF the
utmost Importance from the fact that
'ome years ago George Smith, the great
English Assyriologist, discovered a tablet
il the ruins of Nineveh giving a full
account of the deluge and dated 600 B. c.
This was the oldest account of the flood
that had ever been unearthed, but the
closing paragraph Of the tablet said that
it was only a copy of n still older docu-
nlent that had been lost centuries before.
Ever since then scientists and Biblical
Jcholars the world over have been vainly
searching for these older tablets. Profess
For Schiel has now recovered one Of them
and in it the original account Of the great
event from which the other versions are
supposed to have been taken.
WHAT DIR. WARD SAYS.
DR.. William Hayes Ward. the distin-
puished American assyriologist. says OF
the value Of Pere ScheIs discovery of the
ancient Babylonian tablet:
"Pere Schelrs discovery of tablet con-
tanning a BahyIonian account of the del
uge much older than that of Moses is in |
teresting not only to scholars but to all
J q
cf the deluge found in Genesis has so far !
been paralleled by two BabyIonian &C
eounts-one that of BeTosus. a Babylonian |
historian, whose narrative has been hand |
81 down TO us by early Greek Christian |
writer's. and the other found on Assyr- |
in tablets deciphered by George Smith. !
Eotn resemble and yet both differ from |
tle Genesis story.
Biblical critics have differed as to the !
fge OF the Biblical story, the more con- |
serrative holding that, being written by t
Noses. il is older than his time ana was |
Incorporated by him into the book of Gen |
esiS while the newer school OF critics gen |
orally believed that the story was bor- |
rowed from Nineveh or Babylon at the /
time OF the captivity or not long before |
it. at which time the book Of Genesis was |
written.
The great thing lacking in the tablets |
:ound by George Smith in King Assur- |
ranipaTs library ar Nineveh was that /
they have not assured us of the age of the |
deluge story among the inhabitants Of the /
Euphrates valley. The inscription said |
that they were copied from still older /
IA 5lets in Babylonian libraries, but we did |
not know how old these original tablets /
we're. These original Babylon!an tablets /
kave therefore been much desired
"Pere Schell has now made this dis /
oovery. To be sure, the tablet is very |
fragmentary bit. but it is large enough |
Tor US TO make sure Of the story that il /
contained, and most fortunately the most /