New Britain herald., 1922-10-25
ADAMS FALL WAS
 THE WRATH OF GOD
Babylonian Tablet Of 21O0 B. C.
 Parallels Genesis

Philadelphia. Oct e5.-Dr. Edward chleria, assistant professor of Assy- riooGy Of the University of Pennsyl- Nania, has deciphered Babylonlan clay tablet of about 2lo0 R. C. which contained an account of the fall of man paraleling the account in Gen osis In many particulars.
 The account Is in the form Of a dialogue between a man and god. II resembles the Biblical story In ref erences 10 a forbidden food, to the dis obedience of man. to mans unlawful attainment of knowledge, 10 his being driven into a desert and compelled to labor, His adoption of clothing as a result of knowledge is also indicated.
 The god-whtch Rabylonian god is not indicated-drives man away In self defense rather than as punish ment. Man is accused Of aspiring to place with the gods. theme which has been treated in other Babylonian literature.
 A Babylonian Promcthcus
 The moral consideration is un- Important in the Babylonian legend, mans position being like that of Prometheus, who a criminal in the eyes Of a god, but a patriot from the point of view of man.
 There ia no allusion in the dialogue just deciphe&ed to the serpent or the tempter; but. according to Dr.sChieria, the serpent was an honest friend and counselor of man, as the Babylonians looked at 1t. Other Babylonian texts tell of a god who befriended and ad- vised man, Such a counselor of man has been metamorphosed into the ser pent in later versions of the fall, or of the break between man and the gods, according to the theory Of pr. Chieria.
 "The date of this tablet is about I210o or 22o0 B. c." said Dr. Chieria.
 The writing of the Hebrew account took place, according to the best au- thorities, at some later date than 1000 B. C."
 The Flood Story
 The flood story in Genesis has been shown to be closely parallcled in the Babylonian epic, but this parallel Is established with the help of records in the library of Assur- ban-i- i-pal, who lived long after Genesis had been written. and it has been contended by some scholars that the Babylonians took their story from the Hebrews. According to Dr. Chieria parts of the epic have been found in writings far anterior to Genesis. apparently es- tablishing the priority of the Baby lonian account.
 Tablet Is From the Nippur Library
 The tablet is in the Sumerian lang uage and formerly belonged to the library of the temple of Nippur. from which excavations for the University |of Pennsylvania Museum have re- covered several thousand tablets. The jest language of the country. and with lthe Egyptian to be the earliest writ Iten language, it's progress from pic lure writing to the use of an alphabet having been clearly traced.
 Since the deciphering of this tab. let. Dr, Chieria has discovered other fragments apparently belonging to the same legend or cycle of legends in which there are references to the in vention of writing and to the begin ming Of civilization These, however, have not been fully translated Twelve or thirteen other tablets have been found with similar characteristics and words showing them to be of mytho- logica character. They are believed to develop further the early Baby lonian mythology. and Dr. Chieria has started work on them.
 According to the Assyriologist, the ancient Babylonian story was ap- parently taken over by the Hebrews and adjusted 10 fit their monotheis- tic system