Atlanta Georgian., 1914-04-05
PTTHE Oldest story yet found of the Creation
of Man and of the Deluge has been dis

HNvered upon an ancient baked clay tab
let at tne University of Pennsylvania The
tablet is one dug up at Nippur, in ancient
Babylonia, some years ago by one of the mu-
suem expeditions. It has just been translated
by DR. Arno Poebel, the distinguished Oriental
scholar. The tablet goes back at least to the
time of Abraham (2l00 b. CO. and perhaps
earlier, and differs in many ways from the
story heretofore known as the Babyonian
Creation Story, and much more from the Bibli-
cal account.
The striking novel features are these:
That it was a female deity who created
mankind, known as the blackheaded," from
the color Of the hair.
That new deities or new characteristics of
the goddess are discovered in the original
documents. although they have been hinted al
in other ways. The character Of the female
goddess is now made important from the earl
est time and equal with the two male ruler
gods. Later tablets speak OF them as unih
portant.
That the first seven prediluvian cities and
the special god of each are discovered.
That the older Babylonian name of the.
Scrptural Noah is Ziugidda. ~
That deluge ruins Of the prediluvian cities
were not all destroyed some not until neo-his
toric times. There is historic basis to much OF
the statement in this epic.
Farallelisms with the story found in
Genesis are
The Creation is according to the second ac.
count, as found in the second chapter of
Genesis. beginning with verse 3. whereby man
Is created first then the ground and then the
beasts The ancients always mentioned the
most important things in order and thus re
versed our ideas of evolution.
The wickedness of man caused determine
tion by the gods upon the destruction of the
race, but Ziugdda was saved because he was
a pious man
The race was saved by one man building
ark in which he collected men and animals.
Although in Genesis God is represented as
deliberately saving Noah, in this tablet the re
spite of mankind is through the agency of one
of the gods, who informs Ziugdda of his i'm
pending fate who thus is enabled to prevent
mankind from disappearing. Other important
features will be shown later
This tablet belongs to the period of Ham
murabi (the Amraphel of Genesis contem-
porary of Abraham, and is especially import
ant as it offers a new chronology for the world
When taken in connection with another tablet
which states that 100000 years elapsed be-
tween the Creation and the Flood, and the state
ment made on this tablet that 32223 years had
elapsed between the food and an event pre-
ceding the reign of Hammurabi by 230 years,
we get an enormous total for the time in which
mankind has existed one that is much more
in accord with the conclusions of science than
any heretofore suggested. The total TO our
time would be 515366 years from the Creation
About thirty-seyen years ago George Smith,
the English scholar and explorer brought back
from Babylonia the cylinders which gave a
Babylonian account Of the origin of mankind
and much of his earlier history, and these not
only excited great interest in the scholastic
world. but had a profound effect upon the theo
logical teachings. The parauelism between the
Babylonian story and that of Genesis devel
oped a new school in theological criticism.
But the cylinders of Smith only dated back to
the reign of Assurbanpa in the seventh CEN
fury, B. c.
The new cylinder is written in Sumerian, the
ancient language of the country that existed
before the Babyonians occupied it.
The tablet is badly broken. Originally It
was about seven inches square This would
seem a small space to write history of the
Creation and the Destruction of Man. but by
the use of what is called ideographic signs
that is characters which convey not merely
letter but a whole sentence, the ancients could
write on very small surfaces a whole epic
poem And that is what this tablet contains,
According to this story, the great black
headed goddess, Nintu was the creator of all
things.
Like the first chapter of Genesis the story
opens, judging from the first lines under the
broken top, on the origin Of the heavens as
we'll as the earth.
1t is curious feature of Babylonian my
thology that the gods are represented as eX
listing before there was either a heaven or an
earth Ii appears that Nntu the female god
created mankind and she is now found lament
ing that the other gods seem bent on their
destruction. She speaks Of the human beings
as my creations" Mention is made Of the or
der the gods gave that they shall build the chief
cities that they build cities clean and pre-
serve in a certain spot the holy places for the
temple where the gods to be worshipped
The missing words make it difficult to supply
all ideas. but apparently It is Ninu who has
provided men not only with existence but with
spiritual aspirations that they may commune
with the gods and temples where they may
learn the sublime commandments and pre-
cepts she made perfect therein
i appears that Anu and EMIL were the chief
gous of power although they we're among
seven of equal rank the first being male god
OF heaven and the latter female god OF earth.
Ninth was not only the creator Of mankind ou
very properly the patron goddess Of the mar
riage bed and the procreation Of the human
race. Then comes the story of the Creation.
"Nintu created the backheaded' thuman
race) The fields Of the ground produced
abundance the cattle and the fourlegged beast
Of the field artfully they tthe gods called mo
existence"
Ihe beginning Of the second column OF the
tablet Is missing, but apparently the poem
deals with the early history of mankind and
especially OF the activity of the gods since
when we come to the portion which survives
we read that the gods were ~ first satisfied
with things and the two chief gods created
seven cities over which they put seven gods
As in the narrative IN Genesis the gods are
represented as coming down TO earth and
working with their hands.