The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-08-09
ATE THE APPLE,
EVE NOT TO BLAME
Tablet in Pennsylvania Uni
versity Museum Vindicates
Adam Also.
RECORD 1000 YEARS OLD

Eve did not eat the apple. She did
not give Adam any to eat and thus
bring about the fall OF man from a
state Of innocence. II was Noah who
fell. He was ordered not to eat Of
the cassia tree in the Garden OF Para
disc. but he did. and then the curse
came upon him. The curse was that
he should have III health and an early
death instead Of living to be $4,000 years
old. like his ancestors. These state
ments are according to the Sumerian
theology and are found In a tablet writ
ten before the days Of Abraham. TIT
tablet Is now In the University Mu-
scum, Philadelphia.
A hint of this was given more than
q year & when DR.. Steven Lansdon.
professor Of Assyrioiogy at oxford. an
nounced thai he had translated a part
OF a tablet which he had copied while
In tho University Museum. Since
then he has compared the tablet
with every other known tablet and his
torical account. including the Book OF
Genesis. DR.. Lansdon says this tablet
Is at least a thousand years older than
the Genesis account.
1t was written moro than 1000 years
q and evidently records a tradition
which goes back to the early history
Of man. The Babylonian and Sume-
rian ccoun place the flood At some
thing like $4,000 3. c. and the lapse
of time between the creation and the
flood Ia filled by ten kings who reigned
altogether $4,000 years. an average Of
$4,000 years each.
Narrative written as Hymn.
DR.. Lansdon's book will be issued
by the museum to-day. The tablet Is
nearly complete and It's story is in tho
form OF a hymn, In much the same style
as the Hebrew poetry of the Bible.
Enki, the water god, and his consort.
Ninelia, ruled over mankind in Para
disc. here called Dilmun. or the east
coast OF the Arabian Gulf. about a
hundred miles from the mouth OF the
Tigris-Euphrates sy stem.
70 some reason. however, man dis
pleased the gods. Apparently he did not
worship them with sufficient fervor.
Now It was Nintu. a goddess. who had
created men out of clay. She distinctly
said they were her creations. She could
not save all men. but by craft managed
to save the king. who Is here called
Tagtug. which is v~ariously rendered
Ziugiddu and Utnapishtim. and is an
equivalent. according to Or. Langdon,
OF the Sumerian Nauh. which 10 one
other than Noah. So a ship was pre-
pared for the king and his companions.
The Hood lasted nine months and man
dissolved in the waters like tallow and
fat"
After the flood Nintu, introduced Tag
tug. or Noah to the god Enki. ex-
planned how she saved him and certain
pious ones. and Enki took him TO the
temple and revealed secrets. Tagtug
became a gardener and was instructed
In plant life by Nintu. but was ordered
not to eat of the cassia. But TaGtug. or
Noah. disobeyed. He ate OF the cassia.
whereupon Nintu afflicted him with
bodily weakness. All his descendants
died comparatively early deaths. Ac-
cording to the tablets In the University
deciphered by Or. Foebel. only
a few of this Tagtug's successors ruled
more than a normal number of years.
Divine Beings Taught Noah.
In the Biblical narrative Noah sinned
by getting drunk. The gods sent eight
divine patrons to teach men the arts
OF wisdom. There are ten such patrons
mentioned In Genesis. The Hebrew
gives these as descendants Of man. but
the Nippur tablet here translated makes
them divine beings.
DR.. Langdon looks upon the nara
tives In the Bible concerning the crea-
ton. flood and fall Of man to he IAN
other product evolved from the Baby
doctrines" As to the early chap
tiers Of Genesis he says:
W are. l believe, on safe grounds
In assuming that in agreement with the
sages who wrote our epic OF the fall OF
man there was In Babylonia a deeply
rooted tradition that the greatest OF all
catastrophes. the loss OF long Vie. over
took man only after he had lived
In Paradise for many ages. Such ! be-
lieve to have been the doctrine adopted
by the scribe to whom We owe the
priestly narrative In Hebrew. He surely
pursued his Investigations beyond Sc
mitic poems Of Rabylonia, rehearsed by
the C%anaanites before the Hebrew oc-