STORY OF THE FLOOD.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 995, 23 May 1911, Page 4

STORY OF THE FLOOD.

At a recent meeting of the Victoria Institute, London, Professor T. G. Pinches spoke of the little fragment, containing a version of the Deluge, which has been found and translated by Professor H. V. Hilprecht.

This fragment (says The Times) was found in a low stratum in what is known as “ Tablet Hill,” at Niffer, identified with the Biblical Calveh—one of Nimrod’s cities, where the excavations made by the Americans have a considerable amount of success. It measures only 3)4iu. by 2)4in., and its greatest thickness is seveneighths of an inch. The colour of the tablet is described as being dark browtr, and the clay unbaked, as is frequently the case with tablets from Babylonia Originally it was inscribed on both sides, but on one of them the writing has practically disappeared, the ends only ot three or four lines being visible on the edge. Professor Hilprecht has come to the conclusion that the well preserved side is the reverse. The characters are archaic, and in Professor Hilprecht’s opinion (in which he is supported by several well-known Assyriologists), it belongs to the period between 2137 and 2005 k.C. It is a mere scrap, having only the latter part of 14 lines of writing. The following is a free rendering of the latter, with attempts to fill in the gaps, partly in accordance with Professor Hilprecht’s indications : (On the day) of my descent (?), (which 1 have announced to) thee, I will loosen (the confines of heaven and earth ; I will make a flood, and) it shall sweep away all men together ; (but seek thou life) before the deluge coruelh forth ; (lor over all living things) as many as there are, I will bring overthrow', destruction, annihilation Build a great

ship, and let its structure be (as one which is) all divisions, (As for) that (ship), let it be a houseboat carrying what has been saved of life cover (it) with a strong deck. (The ship which) thou shalt make, enter into it and bring therein every beast of the field (and) bird of the heavens —(all of them) instead of the number (which I have fixed), and (thou shall bring therein) thy family. . . . and t?) . . . Professor Pinches said that there was no doubt that his text of the Flood contained a goodly number of parallels with the version in Genesis. It was not only exceedingly important in itself, but it also gave promise of more material of the same character. We saw, moreover, how rich Assyuo-Babylonian literature was in Flood stories, as it seemed certainly to have possessed three, and might even have had four. The Assyrio-Babylo-nians certainly had at least three Creation stories, all of them of considerable interest, though their differences were much greater than were to be found in the versions of the Flood which formed the subject of his paper.