Page:The Chaldean Account of Genesis (1876).djvu/102

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BABYLONIAN LEGEND

to the creation of man. In this tablet, K 63, the creation of the human race is given to Hea, and all the references in other inscriptions make this his work.

In considering the next fragments, those which really relate to man, there is great difficulty; for, in the first fragment to be noticed, on one side the mutilation of the tablet renders the sense totally uncertain; in the space lost there may be a string of negatives which would entirely reverse the meaning. It is probable that the other side of the fragment is a discourse to the first woman on her duties. I think it to be the reverse of the tablet which, so far as it can be translated, appears to give the speech of the deity to the newly created pair (man and woman) instructing them in their duties.

K 3364 obverse.

(Many lines lost.)

1. evil . . . .

2. which is eaten by the stomach . . . .

3. in growing . . . .

4. consumed . . . .

5. extended, heavy, . . . .

6. firmly thou shalt speak . . . .

7. and the support of mankind . . . . thee

8. Every day thy god thou shalt approach (or invoke)

9. sacrifice, prayer of the mouth and instruments . . . . . .

10. to thy god in reverence thou shalt carry.