Genesis and Semitic Tradition

This historic book may have numerous typos or missing text. Not indexed. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1894. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... xn THE DELUGE In the autumn of 1872 Mr. George Smith, while at work in the British Museum examining the clay tablets which had been exhumed at Nineveh, read, on a large fragment which he picked up, the words: "The mountain of Nizir stopped the ship. I sent forth a dove and it left. The dove went and turned, and a resting-place it did not find, and it returned." Perceiving at once the resemblance to the story of Noah, he began a search to find the remainder of the tale--a search which he prosecuted unweariedly for two years, not only among the thousands of broken tablets in the Museum, but also, through the liberality, first, of the proprietors of the Daily Telegraph, then of the trustees of the Museum, on the site of ancient Nineveh itself. Success crowned his efforts. Two years after the discovery of the first fragment he had secured portions of three distinct copies of the tale, had established an almost complete text, and had produced a fair translation. Since his lamented death several additional fragments have happily come to light to add to the completeness of the text and to assist in its interpretation. The story, as the tablet on which it is recorded itself states, forms the eleventh episode of a national epic in celebration of the deeds of Izdubar, or, as there is some reason to pronounce the name, Gilgamesh, king of Erech. The great hero of the tale, having been smitten with a torturing disease on account of his insolence toward the gods, resolved to seek his ancestor, Tsitnapishtim, who had been translated to the gods, was then dwelling "at the mouth of the rivers," and had knowledge of life and death. After a long and toilsome journey he finally reached the desired locality, and Tsitnapishtim stood before him--a man of a generation long past, ...