The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1912-03-31

WIS blue. Mercury's color, and each or tts
sides measured 10 feet A cube OF Is feet
form'f the seventh story. and was covered
with plates Of silver, in honor Of the moon.
Marduk was the god OF Light, In the
beginning OF things he battled with the
dragon Of Chaos; and. to effect the capture
Of thai frightful creature he fastened
gigantic ct to the four corners OF creation
north, south, east and west. Then he
pierced the heart OF the dragon with his
lance and cut the beast in two. OF one
half he lade the roof Of Heaven. and OF
the other half made the earth. Heaven he
.nlaid with the sun. moon and stars. and
the Earth he covered with plants and ami
mails. Finally, he made the first man and
woman out Of clay and celestial blood.
The Babylonians divided history into two
great pc iods-before the Flood and AFTER
Theirs was land Of foods-low and bor-
dering on great rivers flowing into the sea-
Just what happened to 1t on the occasion
Of the storied DelugL may be known pretty
well by q cent occurrence Of the same
kind, so short time ago as the year 1876.
In that year tornado gathered in the
Bay Of Bengal and, amid the crash of thun-
Ger and violence 80 terrific as to dismasI
shi~ distant nearly 200 miles, approached
the delta Of the Ganges, met the ebbIng
tide and, engulfng 1t in its own huge tidal
wave. hurled an ocean Of water over 141
square leagues TO depth of forty-f1ve feet,
drowning 215,000 human beings, and losing
its strength only when 1t broke against the
foothills OF the mountains far beyond.
book found In the library OF Sardanap-
alus, at Nineveh. written on clay tablets,
about 1000 B. c., gives description Of the
Deluge which closely corresponds TO the
above, The sea plays the principal part In
It, and the Ark is cast back upon a spur OF
mountain
T., ynS- l.
and Is stated to have received from the god
of the watery deep a command to build
ship OF a certain pattern and dimensions,
30 coat ii with pitch, and to put his family
aboard. with the seeds OF all living
things" He enters the vessel. closes the
door ar the craft goes adrift on the
waves. On seventh day he releases a
dove. which. flying thther and yon and
finding no resting place. returns. Then q
swallow is sent forth, with like result. and
finally raven. which does not come back.
EisuthrC" thereupon abandons the vessel
and ofre. sacrifices on the summit Of tina
mountain.
It Is easy to understand that this story
must have travelled to Canaan long before
the Isr. iites settled in that country
Canaan was Babyloniau domain: and we
find Hezekiah the Jewish King paving
tribute 10 the Assyrlan monarch Sennach-
crib or. Kings. xviii. 11. at town called
Lacnish In southern Palestine. Curiously
enough. sculptured bas-rellef on Sargon's
palace in Nineveh, which has been dug up.
shows Hezekiah In the act of doing this
very thing, Sennacherib being enthroned
before tent. An accompanying inscrlp-
ton in uniform characters identifies the
rersoaageS concerned
The question still remains from what
source did The prehistoric Mayas OF Yucca
tar obtain their ideas for the construction
of temple crowned pyramids? Inasmuoh
rs these people certainly did not originate
I'm America. they must have brought their
notions OF architecture from somewhere
else The- are many we'll known reasons
for believing they were Asiatic By origin.
Such being the case, this close similarity
Of their pyramids 10 those of ancient Baby
Ion would seem obviously TO indicate AS
4vria as tho earlier home OF their race.
r-,-!Ner~rara they had. and their descend
ants to-day still possess. traditions Of
Deluge and Tower OF Babel-the story of
..,.e to.-a~ 6o'ng substantially the same as
that which has come down to US In the
Bible.
sun at Teotihuacan. Mexico, Show
ing It's Extraordinary Resem-
blance TO the Tower of Babel
and Other Similar Buildings
in BabvIonia. as Reconstructed
from Their Ruins.