Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1900-05-17
STORY OF THE FLOOD.
COMPLETE CONFIRMATION OF
THE MOSAIC ACCOUNT.
Fragment Discovered by Pere Scheil
Is Babylonian Version OF the
Ieluvc, Which Antedates Moses by
Eully Seven Hundred Years.

The announcement Of Pere Schcil, the
French AssyriolOgist. who has gwen SO
much time to study of the collections III
the museum at Constantinople, that he
had discovered Babylonian account
of the deluge much older than Moses,
was so interesting to the biblical stu
dent that we asked the discoverer for
nm account of it. He kindly consented.
and his account, the first thus far pup
lished in America, and. we think. III
Europe, will be of no little interest
Every biblical scholar knows that the
Hebrew account of the deluge, found
in Genesis, mas been paralleled by two
Rabylonian accounts, one that OF BerO-
sus, a Babylonan historian. whose mar
rative has been handed down to us by
early Greek Christian writer's. ana the
other that found OH Assyrian tablets
by George Smith. Both resemble. and
yet both differ. from the Genesis story.
Biblical critics have differed as to the
age of the biblical story. the more con
servative holding that being written by
Moses, 1t Is older than his time. ana
was Incorporated by him into the Book
of Genesis, while the newer school OF
critics was, until the discovery OF the
Tel-el- Amprnl tablets, inclined to De
lieve that the story was borrowed from
Nineveh or Babylon at the time OF the
captivity, or not long before 1t. at which
.,.,,. +l,., nnnl. r,f l,ApnSiS xVHS written.
The discovery by George Smith OF II
full poetical account of the dellge, on
tablets in King Assurbanipals library
Mt Ninevel, was of immense interest,
but 1t did not assure us of the age oI
the deluge story among the inhabitants
of the Euphrates Valley, for 1t was on
tablets written in Assurbanipals reign.
that Is scarce 600 years before CHRIST.
To he sure, these were said to be copied
from tablets in BnbylOnlan libraries,
but we did not know how old these
original tablets were. Besides, the del
uge story was on the eleventh tablet
In long poem, compiled in twelve
books, one for each month, In quite
artificial way, and might belong to
comparatively late period Of religious
and literary syncretism. The original
Babylonian tablets, from which the AS
syrian copies were made, We're mucn
desired.
Now pere Scheil has made the dis
cOyery, TO be sure the record on the
tablet does not amount to much, 1t Is
such fragmentary hit, but 1t is large
enough to make 1t sure that the tablet
contained the story OF the deluge. and,
most fortunately. the most importanT
part Of all Is preserved, the colophon.
with the date. 1t Is dated in the reign
Of Amlni- zaduga, King Of Babylon and
we know that he relgned about 214O h.
G. That Is, we have here precious bit
Of clay on which was written n pOetica!
story of the deluge, seven centuries be-
fore Moses and about the time OF Isaac
or Jacob. That is enough to make the
discovery memorable We learn posi-
lively that the story Of the deluge was
familiar to the common people Of Baby
lonia, and therefore Of all the east from
Syria to Persia.
Prof. Sayce has lately stated. misap-
pretending Pere Scheils oral an
nouncement, that the new text verbally
agrees with that discovered by George
Smith, showing the care and accuracy
with which the document was pre-
served from generation to generation,
with mo change even In the form, Of
single word" This is not the fact.
Pere Scheil suggests that different
cities would have their different pOeti-
cal editions of the story. This frag
ment belongs to the story current at
Sippara. where the fragment was
found: and we may suppose THAI the
account given by BerOsus was also
from the Sippara edition, for Berosus
tells us that Xisuthrus tNOah), before
the food. buried in Sippan the records
Of the worlds antediluvan history.
The cuneiform account discovered by
George Smith seems to have originated
in the city Of Surippak; at any rate, the
Noah Of that story came from the Sur
ippak There are In that account no
such passages rs we have in this new
fragment, which shows that we have
to do with another version, we do not
know how old COR II Ia itself a copy
from partly etfaced original.
This text is in poetry. 1t proves that
the poetic construction was fixed more
than two Thousand years before Christ.
Each line Is divided into two hem
istichs, as in Hebrew poetry. Literary
form was no unfamiliar thing in the
.ime Of Abraham.
We learn nothing more from this
fragment than we knew before ms to
the origin Of the deluge story. The his
tory neither of Egypt nor OF Babylon
finds any place for nm historical deluge.
The fragment is large enough to show
that 1t is poem full OF polytheistic
and mythical details. Of which the Gen
esis version has been thoroughly
purgcd, giving us a tale purely mono
thestic. absolutely ethical and tit to
give religious instruction to IN unscjen-
tifc people in the infancy OF civIliza-
York Independent.
RICH YIELD OF THE PACIFIC.
Everything, from Wheat to Pepper.