Transcriber’s Notes
Obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected. Variationsin hyphenation have been standardised but all other spelling andpunctuation remains unchanged.
In footnote 8 the star Benelnash is usually called Benetnash. This maybe an alternative spelling so is unchanged.
In Chapter XIV it is possible that “change” should read “chain” in 32.thou didst strike him; to a pillar thou didst change him,
The cover was created by the transcriber and is placed in the PublicDomain.
THE CHALDEAN ACCOUNT
OF GENESIS.
THE
CHALDEAN ACCOUNT OF GENESIS
CONTAINING
THE DESCRIPTION OF THE CREATION, THE DELUGE, THE
TOWER OF BABEL, THE DESTRUCTION OF SODOM,
THE TIMES OF THE PATRIARCHS,
AND NIMROD;
BABYLONIAN FABLES, AND LEGENDS OF THE GODS;
FROM THE CUNEIFORM INSCRIPTIONS.
BY GEORGE SMITH,
FORMERLY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ORIENTAL ANTIQUITIES, BRITISH MUSEUM,
AUTHOR OF “HISTORY OF ASSURBANIPAL,” “ASSYRIAN
DISCOVERIES,” ETC. ETC.
A NEW EDITION, THOROUGHLY REVISED AND CORRECTED (WITH ADDITIONS),
BY A. H. SAYCE,
DEPUTY-PROFESSOR OF COMPARATIVE PHILOLOGY IN THE
UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD.
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS.
NEW YORK:
CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS
743 and 745 Broadway.
v
PREFACE BY THE EDITOR.
It is now five years since the presentvolume was first laid before the publicby Mr. George Smith, just before settingout on his last ill-fated expedition to theEast. It naturally awakened extreme interest andcuriosity. The earlier chapters of Genesis no longerstood alone. Parallel accounts had been discoveredby the author among the clay records of ancientBabylonia, which far exceeded in antiquity the venerablehistories of the Bible. All those who had atheory to support, or a tradition to overthrow, turnedeagerly to the newly-discovered documents, whichpossessed an equal interest for the students of history,of religion, and of language.
The five years that have elapsed since the publicationof “The Chaldean Account of Genesis” havebeen five years of active work and progress amongAssyrian scholars. The impulse given to Assyrianresearch by Mr. Smith has survived his death; numberlessnew tablets and fragments of tablets have beenbrought to Europe from Assyria and Babylonia; freshstudents of the inscriptions have risen up in this countryviand on the continent, more especially in Germany; andthe scientific spirit which has been introduced intothe study of the A