Noah's and Other's Ancient Arks.
I think this got wiped out in some computer problem. It was a great Topic.
Will try to reconstruct it.
I had posted lots of info from a site called Sacred Texts.
There is evidence in ancient Chaldean tablets of a Great Flood in a time period earlier than the flood mentioned in the ancient Torah...Old Testament.
"Cory's Fragments" refer back to an even more ancient time.
http://www.sacred-texts.com/http://www.sacred-texts.com/ane/chad/index.htm Yowbarb Note: This is just a taste of the a translation of the ancient texts carved in stone. Dot dot dot means the stone is damaged there...
http://www.sacred-texts.com/ane/chad/chad.htmThe eleventh tablet opens with a speech of Izdubar, who now asks Sisit how he became immortal, and Sisit, fit answering, relates the story of the Flood and his own piety as the reason why he was translated. The following is the translation of this tablet:
1. Izdubar after this manner said to Sisit afar off,
2. ". . . . . . Sisit
3. The account do thou tell to me,
4. The account do thou tell to me,
5. . . . . . to the midst to make war
6. . . . . . I come up after thee.
7. say how thou hast done it, and in the circle of the gods life thou hast gained."
8. Sisit after this manner said to Izdubar,
9. "I will reveal to thee, Izdubar, the concealed story,
10. and the wisdom of the gods I will relate to thee.
11. The city Surippak the city which thou hast established . . . . . . . . . placed
12. was ancient, and the gods within it
13. dwelt, a tempest . . . . . their god, the great gods
14. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Anu
15. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bel
16. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ninip
17. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . lord of Hades
18. their will revealed in the midst of . . . . .
19 . . . . . . . hearing and he spoke to me thus
20. Surippakite son of Ubaratutu
21. make a great ship for thee . . . . . . .
22. I will destroy the sinners and life . . . . .
23. cause to go in the seed of life all of it, to preserve them
24. the ship which thou shalt make
25. . . . cubits shall be the measure of its length, and
26. . . . cubits the amount of its breadth and its height.
27. Into the deep launch it."
28. I perceived and said to Hea my lord,
29. "Hea my lord this that thou commandest me
30. I will perform, it shall be done.
31. . . . . . . . . army and host
32. Hea opened his mouth and spake, and said to me his servant,
33. . . . . . . . . thou shalt say unto them,
34. . . . . . . . . he has turned from me and
35. . . . . . . . . . . . .fixed . . . . . . . . . .
Here there are about fifteen lines entirely lost. The absent passage probably described part of the building of the ark.
51. it . . . . . . . .
52. which in . . . . . . . .
53. strong . . . . . . I brought
54. on the fifth day . . . . . it
55. in its circuit 14 measures . . . . its sides
56. 14 measures it measured . . . . over it
57. I Placed its roof on it . . . . . I enclosed it
58. I rode in it, for the sixth time I . . . . . . for the seventh time
59. into the restless deep . . . . . for the . . . . time
60. its planks the waters within it admitted,
61. I saw breaks and holes . . . . . . my hand placed
62. three measures of bitumen I poured over the outside,
63. three measures of bitumen I poured over the inside
64. three measures the men carrying its baskets took they . . . . . fixed an altar
65. I unclosed the altar . . . . . the altar for an offering
66. two measures the altar . . . . Pazziru the pilot
67. for . . . . . . . . slaughtered oxen
68. of . . . . . . . . . in that day also
69. . . . . . . . . . . . altar and grapes
70. . . . . . . . . . . . like the waters of a river and
71. . . . . . . . . . . . like the day I covered and
72. . . . . when . . . . . covering my hand placed,
73. . . . .and Shamas . . . . the material of the ship completed,
74. . . . . . . . . . strong and
75. reeds I spread above and below.
76. . . . . . . went in two thirds of it.
77. All I possessed I collected it, all I possessed I collected of silver,
78. all I possessed I collected of gold,
79. all I possessed I collected of the seed of life, the whole
80. I caused to go up into the ship, all my male and female servants,
81. the beasts of the field, the animals of the field, and the sons of the army all of them, I caused to go up.
82. A flood Shamas made, and
83. he spake saying in the night, 'I will cause it to rain from heaven heavily;
84. enter to the midst of the ship, and shut thy door,'
85. A flood he raised, and
86. he spake saying in the night, 'I will cause it to rain from heaven heavily.'
87. In the day that I celebrated his festival
88. the day which he had appointed; fear I had,
89. I entered to the midst of the ship, and shut my door;
90. to guide the ship, to Buzursadirabi the pilot,
91. the palace I gave to his hand.
92. The raging of a storm in the morning
93. arose, from the horizon of heaven extending and wide
94. Vul in the midst of it thundered, and
95. Nebo and Saru went in front;
96. the throne bearers went over mountains and plains;
97. the destroyer Nergal overturned;
98. Ninip went in front, and cast down;
99. the spirits carried destruction;
100. in their glory they swept the earth;
101. of Vul the flood, reached to heaven;
102. the bright earth to a waste was turned;
103. the surface of the earth, like . . . . it swept;
104. it destroyed all life, from the face of the earth . . . . .
105. the strong tempest over the people, reached to heaven.
106. Brother saw not his brother, it did not spare the people. In heaven
107. the gods feared the tempest, and
108. Sought refuge; they ascended to the heaven of Anu.
109. The gods, like dogs with tails hidden, couched down.
110. Spake Ishtar a discourse,
111. uttered the great goddess her speech
112. 'The world to sin has turned, and
113. then I in the presence of the gods prophesied evil;
114. when I prophesied in the presence of the gods evil,
115. to evil were devoted all my people, and I prophesied
116. thus, 'I have begotten man and let him not
117. like the sons of the fishes fill the sea.'
118. The gods concerning the spirits, were weeping with her:
119. the gods in seats, seated in lamentation;
120. covered were their lips for the coming evil.
121. Six days and nights
122. passed, the wind tempest and storm overwhelmed,
123. on the seventh day in its course, was calmed the storm, and all the tempest
124. which had destroyed like an earthquake,
125. quieted. The sea he caused to dry, and the wind and tempest ended.
126. I was carried through the sea. The doer of evil,
127. and the whole of mankind who turned to sin,
128. like reeds their corpses floated.
129. I opened the window and the light broke in, over my refuge
130. it passed, I sat still and
131. over my refuge came peace.
132. I was carried over the shore, at the boundary of the sea.
133. For twelve measures it ascended over the land.
134. To the country of Nizir, went the ship;
135. the mountain of Nizir stopped the ship, and to pass over it, it was not able.
136. The first day and the second day, the mountain of Nizir the same.
137. The third day and the fourth day, the mountain of Nizir the same.
138. The fifth and sixth, the mountain of Nizir the same.
139. On the seventh day in the course of it
140. I sent forth a dove, and it left. The dove went and searched and
141. a resting place it did not find, and it returned.
142. I sent forth a swallow, and it left. The swallow went and searched and
143. a resting place it did not find, and it returned.
144. I sent forth a raven, and it left.
145. The raven went, and the corpses on the waters it saw, and
146. it did eat, it swam, and wandered away, and did not return.
147. I sent the animals forth to the four winds I poured out a libation
148. I built an altar on the peak of the mountain,
149. by sevens herbs I cut,
150. at the bottom of them, I placed reeds, pines, and simgar.
151. The gods collected at its burning, the gods collected at its good burning.
152. the gods like flies over the sacrifice gathered,
153. From of old also, the great God in his course,
154. the great brightness of Arm had created; when the glory
155. of these gods, as of Ukni stone, on my countenance I could not endure;
156. in those days I prayed that for ever I might not endure.
157. May the gods come to my altar;
158. may Bel not come to my altar
159. for he did not consider and had made a tempest
160. and my people he had consigned to the deep
161. from of old, also Bel in his course
162. saw the ship, and went Bel with anger filled to the gods and spirits;
163. let not any one come out alive, let not a man be saved from the deep.
164. Ninip his mouth opened and spake, and said to the warrior Bel,
165. 'who then will be saved,' Hea the words understood,
166. and Hea knew all things,
167. Hea his mouth opened and spake, and said to the warrior Bel,
168. 'Thou prince of the gods, warrior,
169. when thou art angry a tempest thou makest,
..
The Chaldean Account of the Deluge by George Smith [1873]
A historic article in which the discovery of the Babylonian Deluge account was announced, an episode from the Gilgamesh myth.
The Enuma Elish (The Epic of Creation)
translated by L. W. King [1902]
The Babylonian creation saga.
