AKKADIAN GENESIS
CTambritigr :
PHINTKD BY C. J. CLAY, M.A. AND SONS,
AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS.
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I III
AKKADIAN : : GENE S S
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OR
THE INFLUENCE OF EARLY BABYLONIAN
RELIGION ON THE LANGUAGE AND
THOUGHT OF GENESIS
BY
EDW. G. KING, D.D.
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SIDNEY SUSSEX COLLEGE.
LOlDON: GBOEGE BELL AND SONS
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PREFACE.
THERE are times when it requires more faith to give up than to
hold fast. The Sadducee in every age will hold to the past
just in proportion as/he disbelieves God's guidance in the
present. Every gain in the history of the Church has begun in
the pain of giving up some cherished belief. .. ~
The gain of the present age has come through a deeper
realization of the true humanity of our Lord but how great
were the searchings of hearts wherewith that truth was ushered
in I The gain of the next age will, I think, come from a reali-
zation of the perfect humanity of the Written Word of God.
Those who dare to proclaim it must expect now to be branded
as heretics. The humanity of the Divine Word and of the
Written Word are correlated truths ; the second could not have
been revealed until God had shewn us something of the first.
Without the doctrine of the Kevaxris 1 the discoveries of
criticism must have imperilled the Christian faith. If our
Lord, during His life of trial had had perfect knowledge His
life would not have been truly human, faith for Him would
have been impossible, His life would have had no meaning for
ourselves. The Scripture tells us that He "grew in wisdom
and knowledge": we have no right to confine that statement
to the opening years only of His life.
During the whole of that trial-life we may say with reverence
that He " grew in wisdom and knowledge ". That Life was at
every stage perfect for the purpose of the Father : to reveal
His character; but questions of Biblical criticism were not
1 Phil, ii. 7.
VI PREFACE. j
within its scope. The objection will doubtless arise "Where |
then is our faith to find rest if our Master could (speaking with
all reverence) hold views on critical and scientific subjects
which a fuller knowledge would displace as for example with
respect to the prophet Jonah or the date of the Pentateuch or
even the historical existence of the Patriarchs"? The answer,
full and complete, is to be found in the fact that the Christ we
worship is not the Christ of the /eez/coa-t? but the Risen Christ in
glory who himself is leading His Church from truth to truth,
each age having its special lesson. Therefore on all points of
Old Testament criticism we are free, and, if loyal to the Eisen
Christ, we may boldly say with St Paul " Wherefore we hence-
forth know no man after the flesh : even though we have known
Christ after the flesh, yet now we know him so no more the
old things are passed away ; behold, they are become new : but
all things are of God..." (u Cor. v. 1618).
In the pages which follow I have shown that a large portion
of Genesis has its origin in what is generally called " Natural
Religion". This will give offence to some. For my part I
cannot imagine how a primitive Revelation can come in auy
other way than through nature (Rom. i. 20).
The Magi may be mistaken in their star-gazing but where
else should God meet them ? If Christ be the " Light of the
World " must not every law of Light speak of Him ? If He be
the "Sun of Righteousness" must those Lights which God
created "for signs and for seasons" have no deep lessons for
men ? Nay, if it be true that God did not create at random
(H^li ^Iflfl K? Is. xlv. 18) but in and for His Son, so that
" without Him was not anything made. That which hath been
made was life in Him 1 " then every created thing must tell of
Him if only we had eyes to see its inner law. The common-
place of earth may well become the poetry of Heaven. Nothing
more is needed than the open eye. While then I claim for
criticism perfect freedom I claim also for Revelation Continuous
direction. The written Word of God may be compared to some
vast Cathedral which. has expressed in many centuries the best
1 St John i. 3. E.V. margin.
PREFACE. Vll
thoughts of many minds yet has maintained through every
change a unity of its own life far stronger than the individuality
of any of its builders. The Archaeologist may tell us the dates
of each several part but the poet only will see the inner law,
the upward spiral whereby that Building grew. Now the critic
is the archaeologist. He may help us to determine the dates of
the several Scriptures but, if he be nothing more than a critic,
the inner law by which the whole is "fitly framed and knit
together " will be hidden from him ; his very knowledge of the
structure may hinder him from perceiving the life. My own
work on the present occasion is merely that of the critic. Some
facts which I have collected must greatly modify not only
popular views but the views of scholars on the origin of Genesis.
I have been able to a certain extent to determine the
quarries from which the stones were brought for the Building.
I would say here once for all that many of my remarks apply to
them only as stones in the quarry. I should have spoken
differently of them as stones in the Temple. I am prepared to
believe that there is an inspiring direction over even the
mistakes of men. If the critic could (for example) prove to me
that Psalm xix. was compounded of two separate Psalms, verses
1 6 being the work of an Elohist while verses 7 14 was the
independent work of a Jehovist, I will gladly listen to all he
can teach me but nothing that he can say can touch the fact
that they are now one. In that fact I read God's direction : I
am entitled therefore to the deep lesson which the interchange
of the names Elohim and Jehovah conveys in that Psalm.
Let the preacher boldly use the Word of God as it is but
let the critic have equal freedom to determine if he can the
processes whereby it has come into its present shape.
MADINGLEY VICAJRA.GE,
May, 1888.
AKKADIAN GENESIS.
I PROPOSE to trace the influence of the Akkadian and Baby-
lonian Theology on the language and thought of Genesis, and
shall begin by shewing that God was worshipped by the Is-
raelites under the name of An or On up to the days of the
Captivity, and that, in several passages, the Hebrew text has
been altered with a view to avoid this name which, like Baal,
had become associated with heathen rites and especially with
Moloch- worship.
Of the Babylonian settlers in Samaria we read that "the
people of Sepharvaim. burnt their sons in fire to Adrammelech
and Anammelech Cl?^^) the gods of Sepharvaim" (2 Kings,
xviii). We know from the Inscriptions that Sepharvaim was
specially devoted to the worship of the sun-god. Anammelech
should rather be written Anu-maliJc, i.e. "Anu is prince,"
Ann being the Semitic form of the Akkadian An, " Heaven,"
"God 1 ." But An worship was no novelty to Palestine in the
days of the first Samaritan settlers. We find clear traces of
it among the Canaanites.
Semitic deities have their female counterparts. The counter-
part of Anu is Anafh.
A city Beth-Anaih is mentioned twice (Josh. xix. 38 ;
Judg. i. 33), both times in connexion with a Beih-Shemesh or
" House of the sun-god." It is specially recorded of these cities
that from them the Canaanite was not expelled. It is evident
that they were centres of sun-worship.
1 See Schrader, English Translation, Vcpl. i. p. 272 ff.
K. 1
2 AKKADIAN GENESIS.
We pass now to consider some traces of An worship amongst
the Children of Israel, and for this purpose we will begin with
Hosea and work backwards to Patriarchal times.
Hos. iv. 15. "Though thou, Israel, go a whoring,
yet let not Judah be guilty;
and come ye not unto Gilgal,
neither go up to Beth- An" (J1X J"lVl, LXX. rov
QIKOV
Hos. v. 8. "Sound an alarm in Beth-An" (LXX, ev ra> o'lfcep
Hos. x. 5. "Unto the calves of Beth-An the inhabitants, of
Samaria (come with) fear." LXX. again, "house
of An."
Hos. x. 8. "And the high places of An, who is the sin of
Israel, shall be destroyed." LXX. @ copal *lv.
Hos. xii. 5. " He wept and made supplication unto Him,
At Beth-El, he findeth Him." LXX., for Beth-El,
read " house of An."
I suggest that the LXX. has here preserved the right reading
and that Beth-On was the ancient name of Bethel. The
ordinary theory of a substitution of Aven for Beth-El here falls
to the ground, since there is no reference whatever to idolatry.
Next in order we will take Amos, whose special mission
seems to have been the denunciation of An-worship. [See
Amos iii. 14 ; iv. 4 ; v. 5 ; vii. 13.]
For our present purpose the most interesting passage is
Ch. v. 5. " Seek not to Beth-El, and come not ye to Gil-
gal ........ "
rfei
Here the original reading must have been |^ JT^l for the
parallelism clearly suggests a play on the names of both
places, thus :
ki hngilgal gqloh yigleli,
u loeih-Aun yihyeh 1' Aven.
AKKADIAN GENESIS. 3
I suggest that Amos only knew Beth-El under the name
Beth- An and that wherever the former name occurs in his
writings, it is due to later correction. This -view is confirmed
by an examination of the names Beth-Aven (? Beth- An) and
Beth-El in the historical Books. Thus :
Josh. vii. 2, we read that Ai was " near Beth-Aven east of
Bethel." This is clearly a conflation of two readings. The
LXX. has only the single reading Kara Batfl^X. Some MSS.
however for Bat^X read J$ai6avv, which represents I believe,
the original text.
This passage is purely historical, there could be no motive
for changing Beth-El (house of God) into Beth-Aven (house of
idol worship). Beth-Aven is indeed a pure invention. It
should always be pointed Beth-An (jitf fVi).
Josh, xviii. 12. "The wilderness of Beth-Aven" (LXX.
rightly Baidavv). The position here agrees well with the site
of Beth-El and bears out my theory that Beth-Aun was the old
name.
We have already seen that An signifies merely " God,"
Beth-An would therefore naturally be replaced by Beth-El
proyided there were any reason for rejecting the former name.
The Moloch worship of An to which we have already alluded
would form good reason for rejecting this name of God just
as the Baal name itself had been rejected. Thus, in Jer. xlviii;
13 we read
" And Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house
of Israel was ashamed of Beth-El (? Beth-An) their
confidence."
The modern name of Bethel is Beitin, which thus preserves
the original form of the name.
The difficult words jltf IHiib Is. Ixvi. 3 may very probably
refer to this form of worship ; certainly the LXX. (o$9 /8\a<r^i?/o?)
regarded J1K as God; blessing God being a euphemism for
blasphemy. The present pointing jlfct is a mere Rabbinic fancy
(cf. Ezek. xxx. 17 where the well-known city On, or Heliopolis,
is also pointed Aven).
We have traced the divine name An among the Canaanites
12
4 AKKADIAN GENESIS.
and amongst the Israelites, in the former case jjj, in the latter
Jfc.
Both forms are derived from the Akkadian AN. The Ca-
naanites represent a migration from Babylonia at a much earlier
date than the migration of Abraham. This may alone account
for the variation in the spelling. Abraham certainly must have
been as familiar with the name AN as with that of its synonyme
EL
We find the name also known to the Egyptians in Joseph's 1
time, probably through the Semitic invasion. Joseph himself
married a daughter of the "priest of On QIK)." We can
scarcely suppose this priest to have been an idolater. Joseph
like Abraham doubtless worshipped God under this name long
before it had become degraded through the associations of Sun-
worship. If this be so we should however expect to find the
name An entering into the composition of proper names in the
patriarchal times. This, as we shall shew, is actually the case.
First we take the derivation of Simeon.
In Gen. xxix. 34 [ijW is derived from JljH* $&& Sub-
stitute for this (or jjj) jitf yfcW " God hath heard."
All then becomes clear. The Jehovist finding in his record
the name AN, God, felt himself at liberty to substitute another
divine, name though by so doing he lost the play upon the
name Shiine-An.
It does not necessarily follow that the name Shime-An is
derived from y&W to hear: indeed it is much more probably
connected with Shem "heaven" (see below, p. 27, note).
Next we will take the name Reuben.
Gen. xxix. 82 " She called his name Reuben, for she said
"jya nvr HNI 3
;*t ; T I T T
Here the Tetragrammaton interrupts the sense. Josephus
(Ant. I. 19 7, quoted by Gesen. Thes. s. v. plNI) has the
reading 'Pou/S^Xo?.
This clearly points to a derivation 7^ fl^l "The Lord
(Bel) hath looked."
1 I use the names of the Patriarchs without prejudging the critical question
of the date of Genesis. This point will be considered in the sequel.
AKKADIAN GENESIS.
The Peshitta also reads
I suspect therefore that the original text ran as follows :
" She called his name Reu-Bil, for she said
Bil hath looked [on my affliction],
Now will my husband love me."
She feels that she is accepted by the Lord (Bil) and also
accepted by her husband (ba'l).
Possibly the present Hebrew text is a compound of two
original records, one of which spelt the name Reuben and de-
rived it from fjj3 ^JO "Accepted of God," the other using
the form Reu-bil and deriving it from 7*i TlW\
T T
The Jehovist has here set aside two divine names, Bil
" Lord " and An " God," which, though absolutely necessary for
the explanation of the text, he is forced to reject owing to the
heathen thoughts with which, in his days, those names had
become associated. Once more the reader is asked to bear
in mind that these so-called derivations are merely to the ear ;
the first syllable of Reu-bil may possibly have had no original
connexion with T\W\ "to see," but may have been identical with
the name Eeu (1SH), which occurs in the genealogy of Seth
(see below, p. 12). Reu-bil might then lend itself to the inter-
pretation " Husband-lover" cf. " Now will my husband love me."
But this treatment of the original record is not peculiar to
the Jehovist. The Elohist does the same.
We have a very similar case in Gen. xxx. 20, in the deriva-
tion of
" And Leah said,
-DT
It is obvious that a double play upon the name is here in-
tended. Now the proper name TO112T " quern dedit Baal " is
actually found (see Gesen. Thes.) 7-13 and 7*3 being only
6 AKKADIAN GENESIS,
.-.*"
shortened forms of 7J73 Let us then suppose that Leah's
words were as follows ;
-DT Tlfc ft* 713 "I1T
I -T
i.e. "The Lord God (or Lord of Heaven) hath awarded me a
good dowry. Now will my husband exalt me 1 , for I
have borne him six sons."
The play upon the name has been obscured by the 'Elohist'
with a view to avoiding the names of Baal and An. In short
the Elohist has done for Zebulon exactly as the '.Tehovist' has
done for Simeon.
Before leaving this Chapter we must refer to another
instance of double derivation in verses 23 and 24 in the case
of Joseph.
" And she conceived and bare a son ; and she said,
01 "* Elohim hath taken away (asaph) my reproach.
. J And she called his name YosSph, saying, Jehovah
1 [ will add (yoseph) to me another son."
The Elohist has, I think, in this instance, preserved the
truer derivation, as will be seen, p. 29, meanwhile it may be
mentioned that two Canaaiiite cities bearing the names of
Taqab-el and Iseph-el were captured by Thothmes III. more
than two centuries before the date of the Exodus 2 . The names
of Jacob and Joseph were therefore known to the Canaanites as
divine names in very early times.
Scholars are beginning to recognize the fact that several of
the proper names in Genesis which have hitherto been re-
garded as Semitic must now be derived from the Akkadian or
Assyrian.
Thus Prof. Schrader and others have shewn that
Abel is not from 73H "vanity" but from habal, "son";
Eden ............... y "pl easure " ............ Zw, "a field."
1 See below, p. 43.
2 Sayce, Hilbcrt Lectures,. p. 51.
AKKADIAN GENESIS. 7
This principle will however have to be carried mtich further,
especially in derivations of names compounded with a Divine
name, since, as we have already seen, the revisers of Genesis
had a motive for changing any such names or titles as might
seem to point to polytheism among the Patriarchs.
An example of this is found, I think, in the derivation of
Mahanaim in Gen. xxxii. 1, 2.
"And Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met
him; and when Jacob saw them, he said, This is God's
camp: and he called the name of that place Mahanaim
(the two camps)."
First the expression "the angels of God met him" implies in
the original a hostile meeting (cf. the general use of ^Jl) with 13).
Now the Akkadian im denotes "wind," "storm," "terror;"
im is the ideogram for the storm-god who is known by many
names, such as Raman, As, Didu, &C. 1
im passed into Semitic and is twice found in Biblical
Hebrew; viz. Ps. Ixxxviii. 16 "Thy terrors," and Jer, 1. 38
where it is used of false gods.
In early times, im was doubtless used by the family of
Abraham as a name for God under the aspect of fear. If this
be so the original text of Gen. xxxii. 2 would run thus :
"And when Jacob saw them, he said, This is the. Camp
of God (Mahane-Im); and he called the name of that
place MahoLne-Im."
The eddying of a storm might well suggest the thought of a
camp as it certainly does in Is. xxix. 1 3; and of a dance, as
it seems to do in Cant. vii. 2, "like the dance of Mahanaim."
I suspect that the true derivation of Jerusalem is ero-shel-im,
"the city of the Storm-God." One of the names or titles of this
God is Didu or Dud, a name which is almost identical in form
with the name David. Thus David is not really giving the
city a new name but changing the meaning of the old one, as
though he had said "This city-of-Dud (the Storm-god) shall
now be the City-of-David." See 2 Sam. v. 69.
1 See Menant's Syllab. No. 185, and cf. Lenormant, La Langue primitive &c.
p. 303, where this root is traced through many branches of the Turanian lan-
guages.
8 AKKADIAN GENESIS.
'The exceeding difficult passage here respecting the "blind
and the lame" probably refers to the Jebusite cultus of this
God. I am not prepared to offer a translation, though I suspect
that in the 8th verse, *1H is the divine name and not the name
of David, for if the "blind and the lame were hated of David's
soul" why should it have given rise to the saying "the blind
and the lame must not enter into the Temple (JVSTI LXX. OIKOV
Kvpiov)"?
This divine name Dud will explain Is. xxix. 1,
-rn run wp
i.e. "Ho Ariel, Ariel, City of the Storm-God's Camp."
Isaiah doubtless had in his mind the derivation of Jerusalem
i.e. "city of the storm-god." The thought of God camping
against her like a storm is seen in verse 3, while in verses 5
and 6 God becomes the storm-God against her enemies.
The three great Gods among the Akkadians, or rather the
three great names for God, were Bel, An and Ea. Now we
have already seen (p. 4) that Leah names her first born after
Bel, Reu-bel; her second son she names after An (or On),
Simeon: consequently, when Judah is born we might expect an
allusion to Ea. And so indeed there is.
The present text Hapaam odeh Taveh(J) is certainly quite
inconsistent with the words which follow,
" therefore she called his name Yehudah."
-If however, for the Tetragrammaton we substitute Ea
(n*tf) all becomes clear. Yehod-Ea, signifies "the praise of Ea."
The name Ea (JTX) would easily become H* and that name
being found in the original text would be replaced by the
so-called Tetragrammaton.
The name Ea has I believe given rise to many "Jehovistic"
passages, thoxigh I have already shewn that the Tetragramma-
ton has been substituted also for An and for other names of
God.
Another strong argument for connecting Ea with Yah may
be found by comparing the Elohist with the Jehovist in the
genealogies of Seth and Cain.
AKKADIAN GENESIS. 9
: A comparison of these genealogies suggests at first sight a
common origin.
TABLE I.
Elohist, Jehovist.
1 Adam 1 Adam
I I
2 Seth 2 Cain
3 Enosh 3 Enoch
! I
i Cainan O^p) 4 Irad n*VJ?)
5 M'hallel-el (MaXeXe^'X) 5 M'chai'el (S M n/!3 and
6 Tared
7 Enoch ("TOPI) 6 Metho-sa41 (Ma^ovcraXa)
8 Metho-shelach (Ma^ovo-a'Xa) 7 Lamech
9 Lamech Three sons and a daughter
10 2SToah Na'amah
Three sons
On comparing these two lines we find the names Enoch and
Lamech common to both. The Yared of the Elohist is clearly
the same name as the Irad of the Jehovist.
The LXX. assimilates the genealogies still further, giving the
names MctXeXe^X and M.adov<rd\a as also common.
The relation between the genealogies gives therefore some
ground for the belief that the Elohist and the Jehovist have
worked up a common tradition each for his own purpose.
This belief is confirmed by comparing the language of the
two Lamechs on the birth of their sons.
Thus the Elohist Lamech of his son Noah (Gen. v. 29)
"This one shall comfort us CDfcrtt*)" &c.
While the Jehovist Lamech playing on the names of his
children nfcjtt fp ^IM hw hi* [the sound of which might
signify " Exceeding vengeance shall be brought for Cain "] says
" If Cain be avenged (root Dpi) sevenfold, then Lamech seventy-
and-sevenfold."
10 AKKADIAN GENESIS.
Thus both the Elohist and the Jehovist play on the word
NACHAM 1 one making it QH^ comfort, the other Dpi vengeance.
Again, there is a correspondence between the words used of
Enosh (? Seth) and of Cain, both patriarchs being closely con-
nected, I had almost said, identified, with the Name nW [cf.
Gen. iv. 26 and iv. 1]. This will be explained in the sequel.
Thus, from internal evidence, we are led to the conclusion that
the Elohist and the Jehovist have made use of a common tra-
dition, each employing it for a separate purpose. The purpose
of the Jehovist seems to be to trace the effect of sin [see
M. Lenormant's Les Origines de I'Histoire, Vol. I. chap. v.]. Thus
from the murderer Cain he passes to the savage murderer
Lamech with his prophecy of sevenfold vengeance.
The city-building of Cain (Gen. iv. 17) and the polygamy of
Lamech may very possibly be retained for the same purpose
(see Lenormant). The object of the Elohist on the other hand
is apparently to trace the line of promise ; for which purpose he
retains allusions to (a) the worship of the Lord in the days of
Enosh, (/3) to Enoch who " walked with " God, and (7) to the
promise implied in the words of Lamech on the birth of his son
Noah 8 .
1 The origin of this word NACHAM will be seen on page 40.
2 Throughout the early chapters of Genesis the motive of the Elohist and
of the Jehovist may be distinctly traced. The Elohist traces the upward course
(the Promise). The Jehovist traces the downward course (Sin and its conse-
quences). Thus :
' Gen. i. ii. 4 [The Creation Man in the Image Sabbath].
v. [The line of Seth].
vi. 9 22 and some verses of vii. viii. ; ix. 1 17 [The
The Elohist 1 Deluge and Noah].
x. [The line of Noah],
xi. 10 26 [The line from Shem to Abraham].
xii. 27 32 [The migration of the Terahites].
- Gen. ii. 4 25 [The creation of man and woman].
iii. 1 24 [The first sin and loss of Paradise].
iv. 1 25 [Cain to Lamech ! or bad to worse !].
, T vi. 14 [The sin of the "sons of God "with the" daugh-
The Jehovist 1 tare of men"].
,, vi. 5 8; vii. 1 10 and parts of viii. [The Deluge].
ix. 18 27 [The curse on Canaan],
xi. 19 [The building of Babel].
AKKADIAN GENESIS. 11
Again, in the Biblical story the same words are used of Enoch
and Noah "he walked with God." In the Chaldean legend
both the Enoch and the Noah are taken to live with the gods
" at the mouth of the rivers." [See the whole story Light from
the Ancient Monuments, pp. 39, 40.] It is hardly probable that
the details of the Chaldean legend could have been suggested
by such an incidental allusion in the Biblical writer. There is
therefore reason to believe that the Babylonian story, though
not necessarily in its present form, is the older of the two; Enoch
lives 365 years, while his Babylonian counterpart is admitted to
be a solar hero. I shall assume therefore, merely as a working
hypothesis, that the Elohist and the Jehovist, each for a separate
moral purpose, adopted and modified a legendary or mythical
genealogy which was current in Babylonia. This theory if true
would not affect the spiritual lesson conveyed in Genesis any
more than the lesson of the Pilgrim's Progress would be affected
in the eyes of a child who should discover for himself that the
characters were not historical.
Now if we glance at the Table of Assyrian Months given by
M. Lenormant, Les Origines &c. Vol. I. p. 598, we see that there
is as he suggests some 1 connexion between these months and
the list of Antediluvian patriarchs.
Thus the first month is consecrated to Anu and Bel, and is
associated with the "Creation ou organisation du monde."
The 2nd month, zodiacal sign the Ox, is consecrated to "Ea,
seigneur de 1'humanite," and is associated with the "Creation
de 1'homme."
The 3rd month, whose Akkadian name is the month of the
fabrication of bricks, zodiacal sign the Twins, is associated with
" Les deux freres ennemis et la fondation de la premiere ville,"
i.e. Cain and his city Enoch.
The 6th month, Assyrian Ouloul, zodiacal sign the Virgin, is
consecrated to Ishtar, and may very possibly be connected with
the name Mhallel-el, cf. the name Hdlel (Is. xiv. 12) for " the
star of the morning." Not that M'hallel-el represents the
original reading, for it will be seen by-and-by that the Septua-
1 .1 merely give now the connexion provisionally : it will be seen presently
that- my view differs considerably from that of Lenormant.
12 AKKADIAN GENESIS.
gint has, in this case, preserved an older tradition." I merely
suggest that, at .a certain period, the association with Hdlel
may have influenced the spelling. Be this as it may, the
argument will not be affected.
The 9th month, zodiacal sign Sagittarius, is consecrated to
" Le grand heros, Nergal," who would agree well with Lantech.'
The llth month bears an Akkadian name which signifies
" the curse of rain." Its zodiacal sign is Aquarius, It is con-
secrated to the storm-god Ramman, and is associated with the
Deluge.
The 12th month, "La deposition des semailles," is connected
with " Reprise de la culture de la terre apres le cataclysme."
Table II. (see end) will serve to make this connexion
clear.
It will be observed that the order of the names is that of
the Elohist. The order of the Jehovist * will be explained by-
and-by, and also the meaning of the arrows. Any unprejudiced
scholar who will bestow an hour's thought upon this Table must,
I think, come to the conclusion that the Biblical antediluvian
story is designed for a moral purpose like a modern allegory,
and is founded on traditions which in their origin are connected
with the signs of the zodiac.
Before proceeding further it will be necessary to consider
briefly two genealogies ; the genealogy of Shem (Gen. xi. 10
26) and the genealogy of the sons of Jacob which is found in
three lists (Gen. xxxv. ; xxix. and xxx. ; and xlix.) which differ
considerably.
The genealogy of Shem is as follows :
1 Shem
2 Arphaxad
3 Shelach.
4 Eber
5 Peleg [" In his days was the earth, divided, and his bro-
ther's name was Yoqtan " (x. 25).]
6 Reu (IJH)
7 Serug
1 See the names in square brackets in the Table,
AKKADIAN GENESIS.
13
8 Nahor ' . -
9 Terah
10 Abram
The Septuagint has a remarkable reading (verses 13 15)
introducing the name KaiVav between Arphaxad and Shelach.
The name Cainan which the Septuagint has thus introduced
into this genealogy is identical with the Cainan of the Elohist
in the Adam-genealogy. It would however be absurd to say
that it had been, copied from that genealogy, for what motive
could there be ? The LXX. therefore had authority for this name
Cainan.
Again 'we see that, according to the LXX. (verses 13 15),
loth Cainan and Shelach had their first son at the same age
(130 years), and both lived after that event for the same period
(330 years). When we add to this remarkable coincidence the
fact that Cainan signifies a shoot and that Shelach also signifies
a shoot we are justified in bracketing them and placing both in
the same sign in Table III. It will be observed as significant
that this sign is Gemini.
We now pass to the genealogy of the sons of Jacob, which is
as follows :
Gen. xxxv.
Gen. xxix. and xxx.
Gen. xlix.
1 Reuben
1 Reuben
1 Reuben
2 Simeon
2 Simeon
.
2 Simeon
3 Levi
3 Levi
Jehomst
3 Levi
4 Judah
4 Judah'
4 Judah
5 Issachar
5 Dan 1 "
IfiiFhah 5 Zebulun
6 Zebxilun
6 Naphtali 2
; 6 Issachar
7 Joseph
7 Gad 3.
I Zilpah
7 Dan
8 Benjamin
8 Asher 4
' Elohist
8 Gad
9 Dan )
9 Issachar 5
9 Asher
10 Naphtali j
10 Zebulun 6
10 Naphtali
11 Gad " % i
11 Dinah 7 .
11 Joseph
12 Asher )
12 Joseph 8 JeJtovist & 12 Benjamin
Elohist
On comparing these lists we observe (a) that the first four
names are the same in each and belong to a Jehovist record;
14 AKKADIAN GENESIS.
(/3) that the children of the concubines, i.e. Dan, Naphtali,
Gad and Asher, form a second group of four :
(7) that this second group begins the Elohist record in
Chapter xxx. We remember also that Dan is specially con-
nected with the number one, "Dan shall judge his people as one
(*"ll"!tf) of the tribes of Israel " (Gen. xlix.). In Ezekiel xlviii.
1 8 we have also a tribe-list beginning with Dan. The im-
portant position assigned to Dan is borne out by the fact that
the Camp of Dan is one of the four Camps (Numbers ii. 25 31).
This is the more remarkable inasmuch as the Tribe of Dan
plays no important part in the history of Israel. Dan is con-
nected with Judah in the ' Blessings/ Thus, of Judah it is said,
" Judah is a lion's whelp " (Gen. xlix. 9), and of Dan it is said,
" Dan is a lion's whelp" (Deut. xxxiii. 22).
It may be observed, in passing, that the City Dan was called
Laish (i.e. " the lion ") in early times by the Canaanites.
A Je wish tradition (Yalkut on Gen. xlix.) states that Mes-
siah's father shall be from Judah and his mother from Dan. It
is clear that the position assigned to Dan is due to some cause
not explained in Biblical history. What this fact was will
appear by-and-by.
Again we observe that Zebulun and Issachar change places
in the second and third lists ; in Gen. xxx. Zebulun is specially
connected with the number six "for I have borne him six sons/' 1
while in Gen. xlix. it is Issachar who comes sixth. Table III.
will explain this fact.
We now construct Table III. (see end) as follows :
The outer circle contains the names of the genealogy of
Adam in the order in which they occur in the Elohist (i.e. the
Sethites).
The inner circle follows the order of the Jehovist (i.e. the
Cainites) .
The colours are those of the seven stages of the Temple of
the "Seven Lights" or seven spheres 2 .
1 If the Elohist portion of this list, beginning with Dan, be treated as an
independent record Zebulun is the sixth son.
3 For a description of this Temple see G. Kawlinson, Five Monarchies, Vol.
in. pp. 380387.
AKKADIAN GENESIS. 15
colour dedicated to
1st (uppermost) stage denoting Heaven, silver, Moon (Aku)
2nd bhie, Mercury (Nebo)
3rd pale yellow, Venus (Ishtar)
4th bright Sun (Samas)
5th ,, red Mars (Nergal)
6th ,, ,, orange Jupiter (Gad)
7th black Saturn (Adai')
There is however another order of the spheres which is most
important for our purpose.
According to Macrobius (In Somn. 8cipionis, 1, 21, 24, quoted
by Lenormant) there was an ancient tradition among the Baby-
lonians that at the day and hour when the motions of the
heavenly bodies first commenced
The sign of Aries was meridian.
The moon in Cancer.
The sun in Leo.
Mercury in Virgo.
Venus in Libra.
Mars in Scorpio.
Jupiter in Sagittarius.
Saturn in Capricorn.
I have marked the planets in this their traditional position
in Table III. in the outer circle.
Where two colours occur under one sign of the zodiac, they
will be seen to indicate these two traditions.
Thus, in the outer circle under Leo we have bright yellow
(i!e. Sun) Macrobius-tradition, and blue (i.e. Mercury) Temple-
of-Bel-tradition.
The order Moon, Sun, Mercury, &c., is probably the older of
the two, I have therefore, in each circle, placed it nearest to the
circumference as being most important for our purpose.
If now we follow the indication of the dotted lines in Table
III., we see that there is clearly some relation between the
16 AKKADIAN GENESIS.
Jehpvist Adam and Elohist JSnosh
Cain Gainan
Enoch Mul-lil 1
Irad ' Tared
,, Mul-lil ,, Enoch
Metho-shelach Metho-shelach
Lamech Lamech.
After a careful study of this Table, comparing it with the
Babylonian traditions and with the Akkadian names of the
months (Table II.), I came to the conclusion that many of these
traditions could only have arisen when Taurus was in the Yernal
Eqviinox (B.C. 4450 B.C. 2450). This result is embodied in
Table IV., where Taurus is supposed to be in the Vernal Equi-
nox, though for convenience of comparison Aries is retained at
the top of the map. The next step was obvious; to turn the
inner (Jehovist) circle backwards through 60, i.e. through two
signs as indicated by the dotted lines in Table IV,, so that
Adam coincided with Enos in Cancer
Gain Cainan in Leo
Enoch Mul-lil in Virgo
Irad ,, Tared in. Claws
Mid-lil Enoch in Scorpio
Matho-shelach Matho-shelach in Sagittarius
Lamech Lamech with Capricorn.
The true meaning of the Macrobius-tradition would then be
seen. At the time of Creation Cancer was in the Vernal Equi-
nox. The precession of the Equinox has turned this sign
through an angle of 90 since the traditions first began.
It was in B.C. 2450 that the entrance of the sun into Aries
first began to coincide with the Vernal Equinox. Now the rate
of precession of the equinox requires about 2000 years for each
sign of the zodiac, consequently a tradition with Cancer in the
Vernal Equinox would represent a date between B.C. 6450 and
B.C. 8450 2 .
1 Mul-lil, "the lord of the ghost-world," was the Akkadian name of the
"Old Bel" (Hibbert Lectures, p. 148 ff.}. I suggest that the name of the
Patriarch MaXeXeTjX was originally Mul-lil.
2 I have thought it best to put the reader in possession of my results at
one step though I reached them myself only by approximations. First, I saw
AKKADIAN GENESIS. 17
Such a startling result is not to be admitted without due
evidence. I ask the reader therefore to accept it only, in the
first instance, as an hypothesis and to consider how it meets
the difficulties one by one.
M. Terrien de La Couperie has proved the common origin
of the Akkadian and early Chinese civilizations. The early
Chinese names of the seven planets are identical with the
Akkadian names, with the exception of Mercur}^ which ap-
parently had not been discovered at the time of the immigra-
tion into China. The names of the months are also very
similar to those of the Babylonian Calendar, but there is one
remarkable difference. M. de La Couperie says :
" The names of the four cardinal points, and, what is very
remarkable, the hieroglyphic signs by which they are expressed,
are in a certain measure the same in the Akkadian and Chinese
cultures.... But that which is here important to note is the
displacement of the geographical horizon produced in the
establishing of the Pih-sing. The south, which was so termed
on the cuneiform tablets, corresponds in Chinese to the east,
the north to the west, the. west to the north, and the east to
the south 1 ."
M. de La Couperie attempts to explain this geographically
by an eastward migration, so that the west had become the
back (this being the name for the north}. Such an explanation
is, I think, a failure. The cardinal points were fixed not by
geographical considerations but by the constellations. Thus,
once more to quote the article to which we have alluded, an
ancient Chinese king, Yaou (B.C. 2356-2255), directed "four
men of the names Hi and Ho to determine by personal ob-
servation in the four quarters of the empire the equinoxes and
solstices, and he assured them that at the Vernal Equinox they
would find the star in Niao, and at the Autumnal Equinox in
Hsu; at the Summer Solstice the star in 'Hwo, and in the
that some of the traditions arose when Taurus was in the Vernal Equinox.
Prof. Sayce has recognised this fact in his Hibbert Lectures, p. 398. I need
not therefore detail the arguments by which I arrived independently at the
same conclusion. Secondly, I found evidence for a still earlier calendar with
Cancer, which was adopted under Taurus, and finally under Aries.
1 Quoted in Quarterly Rev. 1882, " Chinese Literature," &c., p. 138.
K. 2
18 AKKADIAN GENESIS.
Winter in Mao." Brit, as has been pointed out by Dr Legge,
" Niao is the general name for the seven mansions or constella-
tions belonging to the southern (i.e. summer) quarter; Hwo is
an old name of what is now called Fang, the central constella-
tion of the eastern (i.e. spring) quarter ; Hsu and Mao are the
central constellations of the northern (i.e. winter) and southern
(western, i.e. autumnal ?) quarters respectively. Here we have
in each case a displacement of a quarter of a circle."
Now it is evident that no geographical considerations could
affect such a displacement. If, however, the migration into
China had taken place when Cancer was in the Vernal Equinox
the whole difficulty is solved. Thus :
East-;
[Constellation Hsu] \ [Constellation Nido]
North (Chinese West) South (Chinese East)
-VWest
The Akkadian language was soon lost in China, but the
characters were retained under the Aries system, which had
belonged to the earlier system under Cancer.
This fact confirms the opinion which I have already ex-
pressed and at which I arrived before I was aware of the
connexion between the Akkadians and the Chinese.
Fortunately the Babylonians were in the habit of arrang-
ing their legends in Tablets, each Tablet corresponding to a
sign of the Zodiac to which it was closely related. Of these
legends the series known under the name of the Izdubar
legends is very important for our present purpose. In its
present form it has come down to us only through Assyrian
translations (vilth Cent. B.C.) made from an Akkadian original
which Prof. Sayce assigns to B.C. 2000.
If these Tablets be studied they will be found to bear out
my theory. The following is a brief outline of the contents of
each Tablet.
Tablet I. A mere fragment. Probable subject the birth
[Aries.] of Izdubar.
AKKADIAN GENESIS.
19
Tablet II. Izdubar at Erech the "Eternal City," probably
[Taurus.] Heaven or Paradise 1 , has a strange dream of
falling stars and of a lion-like monster (? Death)
which stands over him. He sends for Ea-bani,
the seer, to interpret. Ea-bani, though at first
unwilling, is induced to come.
Tablet III. Recounts the wisdom of Ea-bani and the seduc-
[Gemini.] tions employed to draw him from his solitude
which was "in the land where the Flood
happened 2 " (line 48), i.e. in the mythical land
at the 'mouth of the rivers.'
Tablet IV. Izdubar and Ea-bani start on an expedition
[Cancer.] against Khumbaba whose home is in the forest
of pines 3 . Izdubar sacrifices to the sun -god for
victory.
Tablet V. Defeat and death 4 of Khumbaba.
[Leo.]
Tablet VI. Istar 5 seeks the love of Izdubar, but is rejected
[Virgo.] with taunts respecting her many lovers. Istar
appeals to her father Anu to avenge her. The
"bull of Anu" is created but is slain by
Izdubar and Ea-bani.
Tablet VII. (Replaced by the Descent of Istar to Hades 6
graphic description of Hades.) The sun-god
entreats Ea to release Istar. For this end Ea
1 See below, p. 31.
2 Ea-bani is, I think, a personification of the Dawn of the Year, which is
new-horn in the Winter Solstice.
3 Cf. the pine forest of Eridu, which, as the home of fire, belongs to the
Summer Solstice.
4 Evidently the Summer Solstice, and therefore originally the fourth month.
5 Month of "the errand of Istar," originally the fifth month.
6 The reason for this will be understood from Tables II. and III. At the
time when the Legends were first arranged the seventh month had no connexion
with Istar but with the "Sun-god" and the "Man-lion" (Table HI.). When,
however, the re-arrangement took place under the Babylonian Calendar the
Seventh month was no longer in Scorpio but in the Claws of Scorpio > with Istar
as the presiding deity. Thus Tablet VII. is an Istar-legend, while it brings in a
reference to the "Sun-god" and to the "Man-lion" which belonged to the earlier
system.
22
20
AKKADIAN GENESIS.
Tablet VIII.
[Scorpio.]
Tablet IX.
[Sagittarius.]
Tablet X.
[Capricorn.]
Tablet XL
[Aquarius.]
creates the " man-lion," whose name is Atsu-
sunamir, i.e. " Go forth, cause it to be light ! "
a poetic name for the Dawn.
(Only fragments preserved. Arrangement un-
certain.) A strange dream. ^la-bani is unable
to interpret it. Death of 1j]a-bani *. Izdubar
stricken with leprosy.
Izdubar laments the loss of Ea-bani. Sick at
heart he starts 2 to visit the Babylonian Noah
(Xisuthrus). He meets the Scorpion-men
who reach from Hades to Heaven. He tells
them his object in seeking "his father"
Xisuthrus. His road lies through trees which
bear wonderful fruits of precious stones.
Izdubar is now beside the sea of " the waters of
Death." He meets Siduri and Sabitu who
inform him "There was no crossing (of the
sea), Izdubar, at any time, and no one from
remote times onwards has crossed the sea."
He is however informed of Ur-Ea s , " the boat-
man of Xisuthrus" who conveys him "a journey
of one month and fifteen days,"- and, on the
third day they reach "the waters of Death*."
Izdubar having reached the Land " at the mouth
of the Eivers," seeks from Xisuthrus, who has
become immortal, the healing of his leprosy 8 .
1 The death of Ea-bani belongs to Scorpio, once the virth (i.e. Autumnal
Equinox), but now the vmth Sign.
2 Izdubar is now entering the "Camp of Death." He must face its terrors
alone. The "Camp of Death "= three signs (ef. "three days") from Equinox to
Winter Solstice. See Note A.
3 Lit. "The lion of Ea." This is Nergal, who presides over Capricorn, i.e.
Death, here regarded in a favourable light as the boatman (Charon). Compare
the position of Noah in Table III.
4 Capricorn was originally the month of Nergal, the god of Death (Table II.).
The goat was the emblem of the god of death, cf. Sayce, Hibbert Lectures,
p. 284.
5 The feeble light of the Sun during the Winter months is pictured under the
image of leprosy. He is then regarded as being "beneath the waters," i.e. the
AKKADIAN GENESIS. 21
Xisuthrus replies by giving him an account of
his own salvation through the Flood, the
waters of which are evidently regarded as the
purgation of sin. After the story of the Flood
Izdubar is committed to the "boat-man of Ea"
to be purged by water. His healing and
immortality being thus effected he returns to
Erech (the Heavenly Dwelling), while at his
intercession Ea sends Maroudouk (his own son)
to bring the soul of Ea-bani out of Hades and
to make him also immortal.
There is an interesting passage in Hippolyt., Philosophumen.
y. 13 ; p. 125 ff. ed. Miller (quoted by Lenormant, Les Origines,
Vol. I. p. 594), from which we learn that the Chaldeans
regarded those Signs which are exactly opposite to each other,
e.g. Gemini and Sagittarius, as twin signs (Sto-oyta). The
bearing of this on the Biblical narrative will at once be evident.
These twin signs I shall, in future, term polar signs. The rela-
tion between them is generally one of antithesis, as might be
expected from their positions in the year. It will be observed
that the Six Seasons (see Table II.) are mentioned in polar
order in Genesis viii. 22. The Chaldeans also paid special
regard to four points in the circle, viz. the Equinoxes and the
Tropics. These four points gave rise to the four Ghaioth or
' Living Creatures,' which Ezekiel adopted 1 from Babylonia.
The first is the Ox (Taurus), another indication that Taurus
was once in the Vernal Equinox. Opposite to Taurus comes
Scorpio with the star Mars (i.e. Nergal, the Lion, see Table III.).
These four points in the solar circle form a natural division,
but it has been asked, How catne the Akkadians to subdivide
whole Winter is a Night. At the Winter Solstice, however, he is new-born ; he
rises from the waters to new life. The Solstice is indeed the Sunrise of the year,
the natural type of regeneration.
It need scarcely be said that Tablet XI. belongs to the sign Aquarius, as
coinciding with the Solstice, i.e. under the Taurus-system. The Talmudic
tradition of the leprosy of the Messiah is of Babylonian origin and may possibly
be related to the old Akkadian story.
1 This symbolism was older than the time of Moses : its occurrence in Num-
bers, chap. ii. is therefore in itself no proof of the late date of that Book.
22 AKKADIAN GENESIS.
each quarter into three parts ? The answer is I believe to
be found in their three names for God, An, Ea and Bel. Each
day the sun rose and spoke to them of the Fatherhood of God,
i. e. of God under the aspect of An. Each day the sun put
forth his power in the zenith and spoke to them of the Power
of God, i.e. of God as Ea. Each day also the sun set and
by its seeming death brought rest and refreshment to the weary
earth, thus speaking of God as the Giver of Life through
death, i.e. of God as Bel 1 (Mul-lil).
The Vernal Equinox (1st month) as the Sunrise of the Tear
would naturally be associated with An (Heaven). The sum-
mer solstice, the zenith of the year, with Ea (the dual 2 God
of the higher and lower water) : and the Autumnal Equinox,
the death of the old year and the birth of the new, with Bel.
These three points being once fixed the space between each
would naturally be subdivided also into three parts. The
second month being dedicated to Ea is, I believe, a survival
of this notation.
We are now in a position to consider the four chief points
of the Solar Circle, viz. the Vernal and Autumnal Equinoxes
and the summer and winter Solstice. And first we must
investigate three points in the Circle which from the very
earliest times bore the Akkadian names of E-SAR, E-A and
E-KUR:
E-SAR is the House of Host of Heaven (the God AN),
E-A House of the Water (the God EA),
E-KUR House of Earth (the God BEL, the Akkadian
MUL-LIL).
Lenormant has shewn that in early times the Temple and
the God were considered as identical (Lettres Assyriologiques,
t. II. p, 151 ff.). Thus the three " Houses" or Temples repre-
sented the deification of Heaven, Water and Earth. E-SAR
was naturally associated with the sunrise, the "silver mountain,"
the " mountain of the East," the abode of the Gods, the Vernal
Equinox, while E-KUR was the sunset, the " golden mountain,"
1 Must not be confounded with Bel (Merodouk).
2 See p. 51 under Sign Gemini. .
AKKADIAN GENESIS. 23
"the west/' the " Arali 1 " or Hades, whose emble,m is the Lion,
and which answers to the Autumnal Equinox. EA, on the
other hand, represents the thought of water as the primal
element of all things, i.e. the High Heaven, with special re-
ference to the Ocean-stream which was supposed to encompass
the world. Ea is thus the God of the upper and lower abyss,
the God of the upper and lower waters (A A). Lenormant has
however shewn that, in somewhat later times, E-SAR and
E-KUR became synonyms, or at least were confounded (Les
Origines &c., as quoted above).
This, I think, may be connected with the fact that in one
part of Babylonia the year began with the Vernal Equinox
while in another it commenced with the Autumnal, so that An
and Bel both became associated with the first month (Table II.).
Thus Bel An, i.e. the "Lord God," is the presiding deity over
the month of the " Creation of the world" (Table II.). But it
is a remarkable coincidence that the Second Record of Creation
in Genesis is distinguished by this very name "Lord God"
(Gen. ii. 4 iii. 24).
Again, Reuben belongs to this month, and we have (p. 5)
seen reason to believe that in Genesis xxx. there was a double
derivation of Reuben, viz. ~Rea-Bil and Reu b' An.
From the foregoing remarks we gather that while E-SAR is
properly the " mountain of the East," we need not be surprised
if we find E-KUR occasionally bearing the same significance.
There is no need whatever to localise the " Mountain of the
East." It is in the east because the sun rises in the east. The
thought is a religious one, and must not be used to prove the
Eastern origin of the Akkadians. The Mountain of the East
represents the " First day of Creation 2 " the birth of Light (cf.
root ur). It is sometimes called ."the golden land," "the silver
mountain 3 ." Here are "the stones of fire" (Ezek. xxviii. 14,
16), precious stones of every hue a thought which is reduced to
1 Les Origines de Vhistoire, t. 11. 1st part, p. 232 ff.
2 Gesenius derives Nisan from two Persian words signifying "the new day."
If this be correct it is but another expression of the same thought.
3 Records of the Past, in. p. 133. " And after the life of these days, in the
feasts of the silver mountain, the heavenly courts, the abode of blessedness
may he dwell."
24 AKKADIAN GENESIS.
plain prose in Gen. ii. 12, " And the gold of that land is good.'..
onyx stone."
The facts collected by F. Delitzsch [Wo lag das Pafadies?
p. 117 122] abundantly prove that this "Mountain of the
East" was identified with Arali, the Paradise of the Babylo-
nians. The truth is that the Akkadian regarded both the
sunrise and the sunset as types of Heaven. Thus in a very
ancient Akkadian poem we read, " those seven (evil spirits) in
the mountain of the sunset were begotten : those seven in the
mountain of the sunrise did grow up. In the deep places of
the earth they have their dwelling, in the high places of the
earth they have their name." [Sayce, Bab. Literature, p. 36.]
This point was represented in the Babylonian Ziggurats or
Temples by the topmost stage which denoted the pillar round
which the highest heaven, or sphere of the fixed stars, revolved 1 .
The opposite point of the Circle which also bore the name
of E-KUR (and E-SAK) is of course the West (Martu), the
home of the setting sun, the Land of Death over which Mul-lil
presided in Akkadian times. One name of this underworld was
Ashur* (I^X). It is needless to say that Ashur was also a
name of God.
The god Ashur, or Asshur, for the name is spelt both ways,
was the Akkadian (AN) SAR whose title in Assyrian was ilu
tabu " the good god." The god An-sar was " the god of the
hosts of heaven," his name was also written Sar s . Now E-SAR
is only the "House of Sar" or the "House of Ashur."
The reader will remember that the third " River" of Paradise
" goeth eastward of Ashur." We shall see presently that this
was the River of Death, meanwhile it must be observed that in
Table III. this River runs eastward of E-SAR and of the tribe
ofAsher
1 Of. " The Story of the Nations," Chaldea, p. 153 and 276.
2 Lenormant, Essai de Comment, des frag, de Berose, pp. 113, 391 396. If
Prof. Sayce be right in connecting the name of the seventh month Tisri, As-
syrian Esritu, "a sanctuary," with the Heb. mt2>tf (Trans. Bib. Arch. Vol. in.
p. 163), then we have another instance of a relation between the' Autumnal
Equinox and the root "It^X.
3 Sayee's Hib. Lectures, p. 124 ff., and Schrader, Vol. i. p. 10, Eng. transla-
tion.
AKKADIAN GENESIS. 25
When the Vernal Equinox was in Taurus the Autumnal
would of course be in Scorpio and it would certainly seem from
the names of the Signs of the Zodiac that they were fixed at
that epoch.
Thus the Akkadian name of the Gemini month is Kas,
which signifies " two," or " division," being written with two
wedges. [See Menant's Syllabary, No. 2. The single wedge is
the symbol of An 1 , and denotes either one or sixty, sixty being
the unit.] In other words Kas = second month, which of course
implies that the year began with Taurus.
This however is not quite certain for Kas may have been
used in its other signification of "division." See below, page 49.
With regard to Scorpio the case is still clearer. There was
obviously a time when Scorpio was in the Autumnal Equinox,
i.e. when it began the new year.
" M. Ernest de Bunsen has shown that Scorpio was taken as
the starting-point of the primitive calendar."- [Sayce, Trans.
Soc. Bib. Arch. ill. p. 163].
Again, Mr Robert Brown has abundantly proved that " the
Scorpion represents the western-darkness, the original Erebos...
' The place-where-.one-bows-down,' for this expression is clearly
originally the west, where the sun daily 'stoops his anointed,
head as low as death,' being each evening seized and stung
fatally, deeply wounded like Arthur, by his Scorpion daughter,
the Darkness" [Law of Kosmio Order, p. 56].
It is strange that Mr Brown having gone thus far should
not have gone further, and observed that the sign Scorpio
belonged originally not to the eighth but to the seventh
month, and represented Darkness (west), as the pole of Light
(east).
The Akkadian name for Scorpion is Gir-tab, which occurs as
1 I think it probable that the earliest names of the months were simply
numerical. Thus: Single wedge, one (or An] "first" month; two wedges, Kas,
" second " month ; three wedges (also a symbol for thirty, and thus denoting the
moon) "third" month (consecrated to the moon-god); four wedges (compare
the four wedges in the name ]3a) "fourth" month (consecrated to Ea whose
sacred number is forty and to whom the fourth month was specially dedicated
as the "House" (Solar) ^/es (of. Sayce's Syllab. no. 167 and 384) which is also
V of Ea).
26 AKKADIAN GENESIS.
a zodiacal sign on a fragment of a circular planisphere now in
the British Museum.
Gir-tab is from gir a ' blade/ ' sting,' or ' pointed tail,' and
tab, to 'seize' [Law ofKosmic Order, p. 54].
Thus the word denotes the ' Seizer-and-Stinger/ or pos-
sibly ' Sting-tail.'
The Hebrew for Scorpion is inpjk which Gesenius derives
from *)py, to ' wound/ and 3DJ? ' the heel ' or ' end ' of a
thing.
The Akkadian word, of which Gesenius was ignorant, con-
firms this derivation. The Serpent of Light is ever pursuing
the Serpent of Darkness (cf. Is. xxvii. 1). This also explains
Gen. iii. 15, and Ps. cxxxix. 11.
i.e. (a) "It (the Seed of the Woman under the type of the
Serpent of Light) shall seize thee (Satan, as the
Serpent of Darkness) by the head, while thou shalt
seize him by the heel."
(6) "When I said surely the darkness will seize upon
me..."
Compare St John i. 5 "And the Light shineth in the Dark-
ness and the Darkness never seized upon it " (ov KaTe\af3ev).
Thus according to Akkadian thought Darkness seized upon
the heel of Light only to be vanquished by the Rising Sun.
The seventh month (Scorpio) was to them the sabbath of the
year, denoting as it did the Rest of Death issuing in New Life.
In the still earlier Calendar when Gemini was in the Vernal
Equinox the Autumnal Equinox would coincide with Sagittarius
and the Tribe Gad (Planet Jupiter, i.e. Maroudouk). This fact
explains the difficult words Gen. xlix. 19
-\y Kim inw mi *u
i.e. "Gad shall be grievously wounded but he shall wound
the heel" [or, possibly "wound (them) at the last"].
Maroudouk, the Son of Ea, is the friend of man, who
AKKADIAN GENESIS. 27
fights against the Dragon of Darkness and prevails at
the last.
The words should be carefully compared with Gen. iii. 15.
When Gad occupied this position (Autumnal Equinox in
Sagittarius) we should expect to find him associated with the
Lion of Death (Nergal) and with the thought of judgment in
" New Year." There is a reminiscence of this thought in
Deut. xxxiii. 20 *.
" And of Gad he said,
Blessed be He that enlargeth 2 Gad,
he dwelleth as a lion...
And he provided the first place (JT?JO) for himself
for there was the portion of the Lawgiver. . .
and he executed the justice of the Lord and His judg-
ments with Israel."
When however Aries was in the Vernal Equinox we find
Dan in the Autumnal Equinox (Table III.). ,
If then our theory be correct the ^pj?~1py tradition ought
to have left its trace here also.
Now the blessing of Dan (Gen. xlix.) is as follows :
r " Dan shall judge his people
^ a ' Las one PlK of the tribes of Israel.
1 Whatever be the date of Deuteronomy this chapter contains some of the
very oldest traditions.
2 The word "enlargeth" reminds us of the very similar phrase used in the
blessing on Japhet (Gen. ix. 27), " God shall enlarge (nflS) Japhet." The three
sons of Noah represent the three cardinal points, Shem (i.e. Heaven), the
Vernal Equinox (East), Ham (i.e. Heat), the Summer Solstice (South), and
Japhet, the Autumnal Equinox (the West). It is true that the word translated
enlarge is different in the two passages, still the thought is the same. The
Autumnal Equinox was the "opener" of the year. We have seen (p. 20) that,
according to the Babylonian tradition, Ea-bani dies in this sign but is enlarged
and made to dwell in the Heavenly City. Such is the primary thought of the
tradition upon which Gen. ix. 27 is founded, " Elohim shall enlarge Japhet (lit.
" open the Opener") so that he may dwell in the tents of Shem (lit. " tents of
Heaven ")."
This thought, like many others which we have considered, took shape
probably a thousand years before Moses was born, but he puts a wholly new
meaning into it ; it becomes a prophecy which has been wonderfully fulfilled in
the history of the Nations.
28 AKKADIAN GENESIS.
r Let Dan be a serpent- in the way
I an adder in the path
V 3 ' 1 Which biteth the heels (3pS?) of the horse
I so that his rider falleth backward."
We have here two independent traditions ; (a) Defers to the
Sun-god who was called in Assyrian Dayan, i.e. " the Judge,"
especially in the seventh month, i.e. the "New Year," when as
Nebuchadnezzar relates " On the great festival at the beginning
of the year, on the eighth and the eleventh days, the divine
king, the god of heaven and earth, the lord of heaven, descends,
while the gods in heaven and earth, listening to him with
reverential awe and standing humbly before him, determine
therein a destiny of long-ending days, even the destiny of my
life." (Hib. Lectures, p. 95, cf. p. 64.) We have here the
counterpart of the Jewish RoshHa Shanah. The seventh month
is the first month and therefore Dan is the one, though we shall
presently see that Dan was Echad " the one " in quite another
sense.
With regard to the second tradition which we have marked
(/3) I would suggest that Dan is associated with Tan, the dragon,
or serpent, who seizes the heel. This would account for the
words which follow, " I have waited for Thy salvation Lord,"
i.e. I have waited for the old promise of One who shall seize
the heel of Evil and overcome it at the last.
A divine name Tan is of frequent occurrence in the Phoeni-
cian inscriptions where it has become Semiticised into a feminine
deity . and is occasionally written with a single letter ft [see
Corp. Insc. Semit./asc. quartus, Nos. 395, 396, 400].
Thus in Gen. xlix. 16 " Dan shall judge his people..." we have
a quasi-derivation of Dan from din to "judge," while in the
following verse " Let Dan be a serpent &c.," we have a remini-
scence of another derivation from Tan both being explained
from the Zodiac. To this name Tan we shall have occasion to
return.
Thus we see how deeply the thought of iptf " the heel " or
"end" has imprinted itself on the traditions of the Autumnal
Equinox. It was in this month that the ancient feast of Asipjt
AKKADIAN GENESIS. 29
or dsepli (fclDK) was held 1 . The Asiph was the feast of " in-
gathering." It is impossible not to connect this feast with the
name Joseph, especially when we observe, how Joseph's place
coincides with the end of the year in the lists (Table IV.). If
this be so we should expect to find in the " Blessings " of Joseph
allusions to fruitfulness. And so it is. We take Deut. xxxiii.
13 16 first as being the most ancient :
"And of Joseph, he said, Blessed of the Lord be his land
with the precious gifts from heaven, from the dew,
from the Deep that croucheth 2 beneath
and from the precious produce of the Sun and from
the precious outcome of the months, &c."
1 See Exod. xxiii. 16 ; xxxiv. 22, and Mic. vii. 1.
2 " The Deep " is the Tiamat, the great dragon-serpent (Tan) that " crouches "
(f2">) beneath. Of. Ezek. xxix. 3, "Behold I am against thee, Pharaoh king
of Egypt, the great dragon (D\JD) that croucheth amid his rivers."
The Babylonian thought is expressed on the stone of Merodach-Baladan I.
(see Hist, of Art in Chaldaea, Perrot, p. 73). This stone is divided into three
compartments, the upper, with the Planets represents Heaven, the middle,
Earth, and the lower, with the great horned serpent crouching under, is the
Under-world (Hades). Assyriologists would do well to study this stone. It
seems to me that it refers to the twelve months or signs of the Zodiac, four
being represented in each compartment, but in such a way that the fourth sign
is in each case repeated as the first of the next compartment. Thus the first
compartment after representing Moon, Sun, Mercury (?) and Cancer (a creature
midway between a crab and a scorpion) in the upper line, writes underneath
them four emblems, the fourth, answering to Cancer, is a bird. Compare the
.zw-bird which was the emblem of the solar solstice. This bird is repeated as
the first emblem in the second compartment or sphere. The second emblem in
this compartment is an ass crouching under the burden of a gigantic pair of
hooks (ef. QjnQKJEn, Gen. xlix. 14 with Ezek. xl. 43, where the word seems to
have the meaning of hooks).
The next figure is somewhat similar, but is crouching under a gigantic spear.
These two figures represent, I think, the two Istar-months, i.e. the fifth and
sixth months, which were dedicated to Allat and Istar. The pair of hooks I
cannot explain, but the spear would well agree with Allat, who is called "the
Lady of the Spear."
The seventh sign, which ought therefore to answer to the seventh month, is
a Temple in four stages, thus answering exactly to Tasritu, "the Sanctuary,"
the Assyrian name for the seventh month.
This Temple, or Altar, seems to be repeated in a conventional form in the
first sign of the third compartment, but the emblems in this lower sphere are
not so clear, the second, which ought according to our theory to be a scorpion,
30 AKKADIAN GENESIS.
The thought of the Oseph or ingathering of the fruits of the
earth has certainly given colour to these words.
We now turn to Gen. xlix. 22 ff.
Here the LXX. seems to have read
'Ml tpV *|DN p
This was probably the original text since the present Hebrew
text contains a play on the name Ephraim but none on the
name Joseph.
Be this as it may the blessing concludes (vv. 25, 26) with
allusions to fruitfulness of every kind, the fruitfulness .being
attained through suffering.
These two thoughts of life and fruit through death are
certainly the two thoughts of the " end of the year."
It is impossible to read the words
" the archers sorely grieved him and shot at him...
but his bow abode in strength
without being reminded of the very similar words respecting
Gad which we have traced to the influence of the contest of
Light with Darkness. The word JJVN should also be noted for
this seventh month is the month Ethanim (1 Kings viii. 2).
See also below p. 48 on Bel-Ethan.
We have already seen (p. 6) that the names Jacob and
Joseph were used as divine names among the Canaanites in
very early times. I would suggest that both originated in the
ipy month or month of the "end," "heel," Jacob 1 being E-qb
and Joseph E-Oseph.
Just as E-KTJR the earth-god becomes E-SAR the god of
the Host of Heaven, so Jacob becomes Israel (i.e. E-SAR,- EL).
But S AR is " the God of Hosts." Hence the close connexion
between the name Israel and " the God of Hosts." The Joseph-
month is not a month of EA but of Mul-lil, consequently we
should expect the Joseph story in Genesis to be Elohistio. And
is much broken, but a portion of it seems to answer to the tail of a scorpion.
In any case the horned serpent (Leviathan) reaches from end to end of this
third sphere and forms the foundation upon which the other figures are treading,
thus answering to the idea of the " serpent that crouches beneath."
1 See note B. .
AKKADIAN GENESIS, 31
thus it is. The name Jehovah is not once found upon the lips
of Joseph ; he always uses Elohim.
If ever the Babylonian record of Joseph be found it will
probably be amongst the records of the city Cutha or of Erech.
Under the Taurus-system E-KUR is in Scorpio with Mars and
Enoch.
Nergal, the god of Hades, was the god of Cutha. Nergal is
also the god of the planet Mars.
Nergal is ne-uru-gala, i.e. "the Lord of the Great City,"
Hades being regarded as "the Great City" and sometimes as
the "Eternal City" (unu-uk), cf. Hebrew D^ty ft*S. Other
cities besides Cutha were named after Hades; thus the ancient
name of Erech (or Ourech) is Uru-uk, "the Eternal City" (La
Langue primitive, p. 437) ; another title of the same city being
" CTmt-ki," "the dwelling" par excellence ; just as Ea himself
signifies "the dwelling" (Heaven). Now Enoch belongs to this
7th month. I would suggest that Enoch is Unu-uk, "the
Eternal dwelling" or "unu-M," "the dwelling." One of the
titles of Mars was "Nu-mia," the Assyrian baluv, "the star
which is not" or "is wanting," "referring to the fact that Mars
recedes from the earth until it is almost invisible." (Sayce,
T. S. B. A. Vol. m. p. 171.)
Lenormant \Les Origines &c..Vol. I. p. 254] has called atten-
tion to the connexion between Maroudouk and Enoch, Marou-
douk being a corruption of the Akkadian Amar-outouki, "e'clat
du soleil." Of Maroudouk it is said "I am the first-born of Ea,
his messenger,"..."! am he that walks before Ea..." [Cuneif.
inscr. of West Asia, t. iv. pi. 30, 3, verso, 1. 42 45. Quoted
by Lenormant.] Lenormant also mentions the coincidence of
Enoch's 365 years.
The thoughts which gather round the Autumnal Equinox
may be summed up as follows :
The West or the Heaven of the dying Sun The Golden,
Land of Sunset, Arali [V ara, yellow, golden ; whence "Api??].
Mar-tu "the West" as the "path" (or "dwelling") of the
setting Sun. [cf. Vedic Maruts and Latin Mars.]
The planet Mars associated perhaps with the sunset because
of its golden colour. Nergal, the god of Death, and of the
32 AKKADIAN GENESIS.
planet Mars, also called Aria 1 , semiticised into ("P'lK " the
Lion".
Enoch, as "the Dwelling" (Unu-ki or Unu-uk, afterwards the
name of city Erech). Berosous Patriarch ETEAflPAXOS,
Eved-Ourech, or possibly ETEAHPAXOS; i.e. Abel-Oureeh,
"Son of the Dwelling," cf. Son of Ea (the Dwelling) i.e. Amar
Outouk. Many other thoughts are well worth working out,
especially the connexion between this seventh month and the
Day of Atonement. The Assyrian name Tasritu signifies the
sanctuary, and indicates the consecration of the seventh day of
Creation, "the place of God's Rest."
Nergal as the Lion Colossus agrees with the position of the
Lion amongst the four Chaioth or 'Living Creatures.' It
will be remembered that, in the Vision of Ezekiel the Lion is
opposite to the Ox.
The four signs Capricorn, Sagittarius, Scorpio, Claws, have
all, in their turn, been in the Autumnal Equinox ; the tra-
ditions of Death cling more or less to them all; the Camp of
Death containing three signs is presided over by the Lion.
We now pass to the four 'Rivers' of Paradise.
Delitzsch suggests the Akkadian pi-sa-an-na, Assyr. pisdnu
"reservoir" as the origin of the river Pishdn [see also Schrader
on Gen. ii. 11]. If this be so it would lead us to connect the
first river with the god Ea. According to the Babylonian
thought the earth came forth from the waters and rested upon
the waters ; this unseen kingdom of the god Ea was called Abzu
(Assyr. Apsu) ; it represented the abyss of wisdom and was also
called gura, -gura [Del. Paradies, p. 112]. These two words
dbzu and gura carry us at once to the two cities Eridu and
Nippur, the former representing the abyss of the upper waters
(Apsu) of heaven while the latter is the personification of the
lower waters of the underworld. The deity of Nippur was Gur
"im letzten Grunde der personificierte Ocean oder apzu"
(Parodies, p. 221). Gur in Sumerian signifies "the deep," en-gur
" lord of the deep" being one of the titles of Ea (W.A.I, ii. 58,
53) [Sayce, Hibl. Lect., p. 196, cf. p. 375].
1 For the Biblical word Ariel see Note C.
AKKADIAN GENESIS. 33
Eridu is the city of Ea 1 .
The Akkadian name of Eridu was Rat or Ratu, of which
Lenormant says [La Langueprim. p. 430] :
" L'autre nom, dont la forme complete et e*tymologique est
Ra-tu, a trait egalement aux mythes du dieu Ea et de la ville
d'Eridou ou Rata, au grand bassin, zuab 2 , image de I'Oce'an, qui
y existait et y e'tait le principal monument sacre (A. E. II. I, p.
323); ra-tu signifie en effet 'le flot qui entre'." The root ra
signifies a " flood," and is so translated in Assyrian [La Langue,
p. 36]. Eridu was situated near the mouth of the Euphrates
(the Flood, par excellence); the Euphrates being the special
river of Ea and of the Sun.
The influence of this thought will be seen when we consider
the name, Noah.
Eridu was called " the good," " the blessed," a name which
still exists under the modern title Thib (root iltO). It is known
traditionally as the City of Seth 3 (Sir H. Rawlinson, Jour. R.
Asiatic Soc. xn).
Mr Pinches*, commenting on the word ma-dudu, which he
translates ferryman, states that "A god named In-ab (' Lord of
the Deep [?] ') bears the title of Madudu of Eridu (In-ab
madudu Gurudugakit) probably the Babylonian Charon, who
may have been regarded as ferrying the souls of the dead over
to Guruduga or Eridu. The god In-ab is perhaps to be
identified with Ea ..The Eridu above mentioned is probably
not the well-known city of Southern Babylonia of that name,
but simply the 'Good City,' the abode of the blessed in the
world to come."
Mr Pinches derives madudu from ma, a ship' and dudu,
' to go (often) '. But du-du, as a strengthened form of du, ' to
go,' would rather denote 'to cause to go', Ho drive.' Didu
1 Wo lag, &c. p. 228. The names Irad, Tared may be far older than the
city, since the name of the city itself is connected with the emblem of Ea, i.e.
E-ratu "the house of the Abyss." Compare the "molten sea" in the Temple
of Solomon (1 Kings vii. 23 ff.)
2 This word should be read ab-zu, not zu-ab. See Prof. T. De Lacouperie
Bab. and Orient. Record, Nov. '86, p. 2. It signifies the abyss.
3 I.e. Ea as Sidi (Set. ?), Shadai.
4 Bab. and Orient. Record. Jan, 1887, p. 41.
K. 3
34 AKKADIAN GENESIS.
signifies 'storm,' 'rain' 1 , and is a title of Ramman, 'the in-
undator ' who presides over Aquarius 2 (see Table II), and may be
regarded as driving the Ship of the Sun. The sign Aquarius
is indeed once represented by " le dieu Ramman, coiffe' de la
tiare, qui verse les eaux" (Lajard, Gulte de Mithra, pi. xxxv,
No. 4, quoted by Lenormant, Les Orig. Vol. I. p. 237). Aquarius
is the pole of Leo, and was once the winter solstice. This
accounts for the relation between Irad (Eridu, the ' city of the
blessed ') and Noah. Eridu is closely connected with legends
of the Waters of Life and with the ' tree ' as symbol of Life
(Sayce, Bab. Lit. p. 39). It was in the forest of Eridu that
Tammuz met his death a poetic representation of the summer
solstice. Leo is the 'solar house,' and here as might be expected
we find the sun (Table IV.). Leo is also the fourth sign count-
ing from Taurus, and if we turn to Gen. i. 16 we find that the
work of the ' fourth day ' is to make ' the two great lights, the
greater light to rule the day and the lesser light &c.'
The summer solstice represents the second of the four car-
dinal points ; it ought therefore to correspond with one of the
four Ghaioth and also with the second of the 'rivers' of Paradise.
In Gen. ii. 13 we read : " And the name of the second river is
Gihon, that is it which compasseth the whole land of Kus."
The Babylonian Kus is Kas*.
The syllable Kas is written with two wedges, and signifies
' two ' or ' division ' [see Syllabary and compare La Langue, &c.
pp. 139, 150, 154, 163], This name Kas (Kush) would agree with
the "second" cardinal point. Kas is also found as a divine
name in T.S.B.A. III. 375, where I think it may very possibly
denote Ea as the dual god of heaven and earth, or rather of the
upper and lower abyss.
Certainly Kas, the ' twins,' is the origin of Gemini, originally
the ' second ^ month, a month dedicated to Ea. This point
will be further considered when we speak of Cain.
1 See Syllab.
2 Probably in earlier times Eamman belonged to Pisces. Since, however,
the Babylonian traditions end with the Winter Solstice we cannot be sure as
to the llth and 12th signs.
3 The oldest Babylonian Mngs bear the title of ' King of Kas and Akkad ',
4 See E. Brown Laic of Kosmic Order, p. 44,
AKKADIAN GENESIS. 35
In any case the ' rivers of Paradise ' and the lands which
they encompass must not be interpreted geographically. They
are religious symbols and are connected with the four points
now under discussion.
Tammuz is as we have seen closely connected with Eridu
and with the solstice. Now the name Tammuz has recently 1
been derived from Tarn, represented as an oval, and denoting
I think the sun's noonday power [see the figure xxvm (f 221 A)
given by Mr R. Brown, Archaeologia, Vol. XLVII. p. 338] and zu
' the eagle,' as the emblem of Heaven, Spirit. If this interpre-
tation of Capt. Gender's be correct we have the origin of the
eagle as presiding over the summer solstice, which agrees exactly
with the position of the eagle 2 amongst the four 'Living Crea-
tures' (ChaiotJi) in Ezekiel.
The name Kas " two" probably led to the river being con-
sidered as the "second" River, for originally there was only one
River of Paradise (cf. Joel iv. 18), though that River might be
conceived as flowing east and west (Zech. xiv. 8). The later
thought of the River encompassing north, south, east and west
is found in its germ in Ezek. xlvii.
The third River (Table III.) is " Hidekel, this is it which
goeth eastward of Asshur."
The point at which the River issues is E-KUR at the end of
the year, the seventh day, the western darkness (Erebus), the
rest of death.
We have already seen (p. 24) that Asshur in this passage
is the underworld; the position of this third River is in the
Autumnal equinox (Table III.) ; the River is the River of Death 3 .
The reader will remember that in the Izdubar legend the
"Waters of Death" are in the 10th month, i.e. in the Winter
Solstice (Capricorn). This is explained by our theory, since
Capricorn was originally in the Autumnal equinox.
1 ,Capt. Oonder, Altaic Hieroglyphics, p. 82.
2 Since writing the above I have noticed the following passage in Sayee's
Edition of Chaldee Genesis (p. 246, note) : " Tillili was the wife of the Sun-god
Alala symbolized by the Eagle, which, we are told, was 'the symbol of the
southern ' or ' meridian sun.' "
3 I suspect that its original Akkadian name was Hid-gal, i.e. "the great
river," and that this name became assimilated to the "Hidekel" or Tigris.
32
36 AKKADIAN GENESIS.
The fourth River of Paradise is but briefly mentioned,
" and the fourth river is Euphrates (HIS)."
It belongs to the Winter Solstice in which the Sun is accord-
ing to the Babylonian thought new-born from the Waters.
This thought passed from the Babylonians to the Persians and
from the Persians to the Romans, who observed the 25th
December as Dies natalis Solis Invicti. (Of. Les Origines, &c.
Vol. i, p. 258.)
The Euphrates is designated by an ideogram which denotes
the city Sippara "the city of the Sun" (Schrader on Gen. ii. 14).
If the Elohist tribes commencing from Dan in the Claws be
written in Table IV. in the order in which they occur in Gen.
xlix. it will be found that Joseph coincides with Aquarius and
the River h*")). This may explain the difficult reading
py ^y J" 1 " 13 p *I DV rns p
which is usually translated
" Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a spring."
The " fourth river " Euphrates is, as we have seen, the river
of Sippara, or the river of the Sun, Sippara itself being the
"City of the Sun" the 'EDuW TroTu? of Eusebius and Berossus
(cf. Schrader, Vol. I. Engl. transl. p. 272). Thus we are led
to connect fHlJ with the Sun, in which case Ephrath (mSiS)
would be E-PR@. But E "house" is a synonym with Beth and
in Gen. xxxv. 19 we read
TO in
" E-prath which is Beth-lehem."
Again in Psalm cxxxii. 6 we read
" We heard of it (the Ark) in Ephratha &c."
where Hupfeld has suggested on quite independent grounds
that Ephratha must have been Beth-Shemesh. (i.e. House of
the Sun). This bears out the derivation I have suggested.
The connexion between Ephraim and Ephratha is well
known, the words are indeed the same. The Elohist tribe
Ephraim was the home of Sun-worship.
AKKADIAN GENESIS. 37
We are then justified in connecting the name E-phrath not
merely with the town Beth-lehem, but with the whole religious
conception embodied in the fourth river, the waters of Noah 1
and of Kegeneration, when the Sun rises from its Winter-death
and is as it were new-born in the Solstice. It is, I believe, to
this mystical sense that Micah alludes in Chap. v. 1, "And
thou Bethlehem Ephratha, small to be reckoned among the
thousands of Judah, from thee shall go forth for Me one who
becomes a Kuler in Israel, whose goings forth have been from
of old from the days of Eternity." Compare the expectation of
a " Conquering Saviour" in the Zarathustrian Eeligion (Tiele,
Outlines of hist, of ancient religions, Eng. trans, p. 176) where,
though the date is uncertain, the allusion to the restitution of
all things prophesied by the Winter Solstice is, I think, evident.
The prophet Micah, of course, goes far beyond this; he
takes a thought of natural religion and in his hand it becomes
a special revelation.
Our next point must be to consider the "six days" of
Gen. i. First we note that the "Days" of Creation could
only have originated with Taurus in the Equinox (Table IV.)
Thus
" Day One." Taurus. The Creation of Light (ur).
"Day One" was divided between An, heaven (Light) and
Bel, the underworld (Darkness).
Second Day. Gemini. The Akkadian name of this month
is Kas, which is written with two wedges and signifies either
two or division; from whence we learn incidentally that the
Akkadian names of the months belong to the Taurus-system.
The work of the Second Day is the creation of Firmament
to divide the upper waters from the lower waters. The dual
Heaven is the work which answers to Gemini 2 . The single
wedge denotes "heaven" "the deep" while the two denote
" division," the connexion of thought is therefore obvious. See
also p. 45 where the name Gain is shewn to have been con-
nected with the Firmament.
1 Of. is. liv. 9.
2 The usual formula " God saw that it was good " is not used with respect to
this day.
38 AKKADIAN GENESIS.
Third Day. Cancer. Akkadian name of the month "the
benefit of seed." So the work of the Third Day is " Let the
earth bring forth grass, herb yielding seed, fruit tree yielding
fruit after its kind whose seed is in itself" &c., the word seed
being mentioned six times.
It is a singular fact that Cancer and the Claws, i.e. the
third and sixth months of our Taurus-series, are closely related.
Both seem to be connected with the thought of Seed. The
gift of Seed is, in Genesis i. only mentioned with respect to
these two "Days," viz. Third Day in verses 11, 12, Sixth Day
in verses 29, 30. It will be observed that each is connected
with the name Shelah (i.e. "the 'Shoot"), the 3rd month in the
genealogy of Shern and the 6th in Matho-shelah (i.e. Man-
shoot"). See Table IV. The Third Day represents God's gift of
the Seed of the Earth, the Sixth His gift of the Seed of the
Woman. On each of these two Days the formula " God saw
that it was good " is used twice.
Fourth Day. Leo, " the Solar House." The Summer Sol-
stice. The work of the Fourth Day is the Creation of the
"two great Lights, the greater light to rule the day and the
lesser light to rule the night." *
The Macrobius-tradition which assigns the Sun to Leo
at the moment of Creation can only be explained on the
assumption that the Creation-records date from the Taurus-
system.
Fifth Day. Virgo. The Tan or Dragon (see p. 28). The
work of the Fifth Day is the creation of swarming life of fish
and fowl but especially of "the great dragons" d^fiil HK
(v. 21). The use of the def. article seems to show that the
writer had certain associations in his mind connected with
Tannim. This allusion is only understood on our assumption
that the year then began with Taurus.
1 It is interesting to observe that in the Babylonian record of Creation, which
is arranged in Tablets corresponding to the "Days" of Creation, ike fifth Tablet
answers to the fourth "Day" of Genesis, being wholly taken up with the crea-
tion of the Lights of heaven. This fact is easily accounted for. The Biblical
tradition is the earlier one and is connected directly with the fourth sign Leo ;
afterwards, under the Babylonian Calendar Leo became the fifth sign. The
extreme antiquity of this portion of the Biblical narrative is therefore evident.
AKKADIAN GENESIS. 39
Sixth Day. Claws. The work of this day is the creation
of man in the Image (tzelem) of God and the gift to man
of seed and of the fruits of the earth. Thus we have three
thoughts connected with this day man, seed, tzelem. The first
two are combined in Matho-shelah (i.e. man-shoot) the Jehovist
patriarch, who corresponds to this month (Table IV.). The
Assyrian tzalmu signifies "darkness" (cf. Heb. J"Vlft75f)- I
suspect that the Biblical writer changed the meaning of the
original record, as though he had said, 'God did not create
man in the tzelem or darkness, as the old legends relate, but in
His own tzelem or Image' (cf. Is. xlv. 18).
Seventh Day. Scorpio. The Akkadian Sabbath commemo-
rated rather the rest of death than the rest of Creation (see
p. 40). Lamech and Enoch with the star of death (Table IV.)
exactly answer to the original thought. The Biblical writer
changes death into God's rest. The old Akkadian name of the
seventh month signified "the Sanctuary" (Table II.). This
thought is retained : God " sanctifies " the seventh day.
The coincidences we have pointed out justify us in assigning
the record which underlies Gen. i. ii. 1 3, to the Taurus-
system (B.C. 2450 4450).
This record is Elohistic, the reason probably being that the
name An " God " was found in the original.
The results at which we have at present arrived may be
summed up as follows :
The. tribes Dan, Naphtali, Gad and Asher, coincide with
Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, i.e.
Dan (originally Tan) with Venus.
Naphtali " the warrior " with Mars.
Gad (the Phoenician God of prosperity, cf. Is. Ixv. 11)
with Jupiter (Maroudouk), and
Asher with Saturn (i.e. 'Adar' the Assyrian god of
war) and with Ashur.
We have traced the effect of the precession of the equinoxes
on the traditions which relate to the Tribes Dan, Naphtali
and Gad as recorded in the "Blessings." Again the words
respecting the two Lamechs are accounted for on our sup-
40 AKKADIAN GENESIS.
position. For, though both the Lamechs originally belonged
to Saturn (Table IV.) , yet under the Aries-system (Table III.)
the Elohist Lamech is in Jupiter a star of good omen while
the Jehovist Lamech is in Saturn the dark star of Death
(Table III.).
The original Lamech was in the seventh month (i.e. the
Autumnal Equinox) originally Capricorn, the goat being the
emblem of death (see above p. 20).
The number seven has left its impress in Lamech's age
which is 777 years (Gen. v. 31) and in the " seventy-and-seven-
fold " vengeance that he proposes to take (iv. 24). The seventh
month is the seventh "Day" of Creation. The seventh day
was called by the Akkadians sdbattuv rQE> i.e. " day of rest,"
and is specially explained in Assyrian by um nuh. libbi i.e.
137 Dli DV "day of rest of heart." 1 It was however regarded
by them as "an evil day." We have seen (p. 9) that both in
the Jehovist and in the Elohist Lamech plays upon a word
Nacham, or Ndh-ham; but Nuh-hain would signify Rest of
the Sim, a not improbable name for the Autumnal Equinox.
Lamech's son is Noah, i.e. Nuh, " rest." At his birth Lamech
says : "This one shall comfort us CDfon^P, LXX. "give us rest")
from our work and from the labour of our hands, from the
ground which the Lord hath cursed." These last words I
would explain as follows : Under the Taurus-system (Table IV.)
Noah would have been in Aquarius, month Sebat*, whose
Akkadian name was "the curse of water" or "the curse of
the water-god" i.e. of Ea. Thus the Tetragrammaton is in
this, as in many other passages, due to the fact that Ea or A 3
was found in the original record.
This verse is therefore not to be ascribed to the Jehovist :
it is part of the Elohist record.
The water (god) has cursed the ground but now, with the
Winter Solstice, new life begins; there is "comfort from the
ground." The other thought of "rest from the labour of our
hands" is due to the earlier system when, Cancer being in
1 See Schrader on Gen. ii. 3.
2 Of. mfe? as above.
3 A being the Akkadian for water.
AKKADIAN GENESIS. 41
the Vernal Equinox, Capricorn (with Lamech) was in the
Seventh (i.e. Sabbath) month (Table IV.). The original Jehovist
record had no Noah, for there the seventh name was Lamech.
Noah thus becomes "the eighth person," being developed out
of the seventh to express the thought of Regeneration and
Resurrection. The precession of the Equinox from Taurus
to Aries would of course change Noah from Aquarius to Capri-
corn, while the still greater change from Cancer to Aries would
change Lamech (Noah) from Capricorn to Claws. This accounts
for the relation between Enoch and Noah. The same confusion
is found in the Babylonian Legend of the Flood where the
Babylonian Enoch and the Babylonian Noah are both trans-
lated to Heaven " the land at the mouth of the rivers."
Thus we obtain another confirmation of the truth of our
theory.
Lamech is as we have seen related to the planet Saturn, one
of whose Akkadian names was mi "black." This word mi is
translated in Assyrian by tsalmu "Shade" (black) "sunset"
(Sayce's Syllab. p. 32, no. 374). Cf. the Hebrew tselem in Ps.
xxxix. 6(7), "man walketh in darkness (D/2f E.V. 'in a vain
show,' marg. 'an image')".
The Hebrew WKtf "darkness" is constantly used of death,
the usual translation "shadow of death" being correct in thought
though faulty as a derivation.
So too in Amos v. 26, I would translate
"Ye took up Sakus your king (or Moloch) and Caivan
your tselem (or dark-god)."
The Akkadian Sakus is identical with Assyrian Gaivanu as
a name or title of the planet Saturn (cf. Syllab. p. 13, no.
130 a).
But, as in Hebrew so in Assyrian, tsalmu signifies both
darkness and image, being used to translate the Akkadian Alam
"an image" (Syllab. p. 27, no. 309). This Alam may possibly
be the origin of the name Lamech. As to the word naqam
'vengeance' upon which the Jehovist Lamech plays it would
easily arise from the Akkadian Sabbath "rest of heart." Com-
42 AKKADIAN GENESIS.
pare the very ancient Akkadian poem, the Erechites lament,
line 21,
" Let thy heart take rest, let thine anger be softened "
(Bab. and Orient. Journal, Dec. '86, p. 22).
Once more turning to Table IV. and counting the original
Jehovist list (Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah) from Aries to
Cancer we see that the four corresponding names in the Elohist
list (Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher) come exactly in the four polar
months. Thus the children of Leah answer to the Spring, the
children of the "handmaidens" to Winter. This cannot have
been the original thought for the list of twelve names grew out
of an earlier seven-name list, as may be seen by a glance at the
Table. Thus counting from Cancer, Judah and Dan both be-
longed to the Solar Solstice in Claws, while
Naphtali ("the warrior") was with Mars (in Scorpio),
Gad with Jupiter (in Sagittarius),
Asher with Saturn or Adar (in Capricorn).
When (B.C. 4450 2450) this system was adopted xinder the
Taurus-system Judah and Dan would both be in the Solstice
(in Leo), Naphtali, Gad and Asher would correspond with Virgo,
Claws and Scorpio respectively (see the inner circle, Table IV.),
while the Elohist list with Dan in Claws, &c. (see outer circle),
would live on independently representing the earlier tradition.
The change of the Equinox from Cancer to Aries involves
the intercalation of the two names between the four Jehovist
and the four Elohist months. Thus we find Issachar and Zebu-
lun, who though not in the Jehovist list (Chap, xxix.) are, by
the Elohist, assigned to Leah (Chap. xxx.). We thus get a list
as in Genesis xlix. The change however was not made from
Cancer to Aries but, in the first instance, from Cancer to Taurus,
accordingly when Taurus was in the Vernal Equinox there would
have been one name between Judah in Leo and Dan in Claws.
That one name was Zebulun, for Issachar would not be known.
We have I think a trace of this in the ancient blessing, Deut.
xxxiii. 18,
AKKADIAN GENESIS. 43
" And of Zebulun he said, Rejoice Zebulun in thy going
out ; and Issachar, in thy tents."
If however we omit the letters which I have placed in
brackets we should read
" And of Zebulun he said, Rejoice Zebulun in thy going
out and exult in thy tents 1 ."
Surely the parallelism requires some such reading.
A Hebrew editor has felt the omission of Issachar and has
changed J>J" " exult," into ""QG?B?* ; in short he has done just
what some copies of the LXX. have done in verse 6 of the same
chapter where Simeon is introduced though he has no place in
the original text.
The name Zebulun is best explained from 1 Kings yiii. 13,
where Solomon says :
"The Eternal said He would dwell in the High-abyss
(hsnp). Surely I have built a BSth-Zebul for Thee,
a habitation for Thy eternal dwelling."
This Beth-Zebul is identical with the name 73T *tf, which
also signifies " the House of Zebul " or the High Temple.
Schrader (1 Kings viii. 13) translates 7^T J"l^ "house of
height," " house of exaltation," "exalted palace," " corresponding
to the Assyrian Mt-zabal = 6^-SAK-IL (perhaps more correctly
Bit (I)-Sag-ga, see P. Haupt, Akkadische und Sumerische Keil-
schrift, p. 23, no. 453). For the equation SAG . GA = zabal, see
II. Eaw. 15, 45." Of. Sayce, Hib. Lectures, p. 94.
E-Sag-ga was the Akkadian name of the great temple of
Maroudouk at Babylon, which in Semitic became 7^! *&$,
hll JV3, or ^T "the high (dwelling)."
Zebulun is thus a Solstice name signifying the high dwelling
of the Sun and is connected with the great temple of Bel.
We have a similar thought of Zabal as the high heaven in
Hab. iii. 11,
" the sun and the moon stood in mid-heaven (rf?UT)."
1 Cf. Ps. xix. 5, 6, where KK and ?ntf are both used of the gun.
44 AKKADIAN GENESIS.
Thus Zebulun "the dwelling" (Solstice) is, in. meaning, identi-
cal with Enoch, which also signifies "the Dwelling."
There is clearly a close relation 1 between Zebulun and Issa^
char who are both regarded as the sons of Leah and who come
together, though not in the same order, in all the lists.
We have seen that Judah and Dan were originally both in
the Claws, that sign being then in the Summer Solstice. This
being so we should expect to find points of similarity in the
traditions and thoughts which have gathered round these Tribes.
And so it is. We have alreadj^ (p. 14) seen that Dan and Judah
are both called " a lion's whelp." The Lion is the emblem of
death and was naturally associated with the devouring heat of
the Solstice, or Tammuz month. In the Taurus-system Judah
and Dan are both in Leo which is then in the Solstice.
We have also seen that Dan was once connected with Tan
whose emblem is the letter D and that he is specially "the One,"
"Echdd." The weeping for Tammuz as Yachid "the only One "
was at the Summer Solstice. Lagarde is right in identifying
Yachid with Echdd "the One" in Is. Ixvi. I 1 ?. I would
translate this latter passage as follows :
" Those that consecrate themselves and purify themselves
for the gardens after Echad (i.e. the One, or Tarn-
muz) with the mark (lit. thav, J"|)."
The n r mark is, I believe, here an allusion to the practice
of mourners cutting z themselves (see Jer. xvi. 6, Deut. xiv. 1,
&c.). This gives an additional meaning to Ezek. ix. 4, where
God's mark is put upon His mourners, i.e. on those who " sigh
and cry for the abominations that are done."
But Judah is also related to the Tammuz. When, in very
early times, the Tammuz legend passed into Phoenicia it was
related that " Kronos or Ea had taken Yeud, his ' only begotten
Son,' and arraying him in royal robes had sacrificed him on an
altar in a season of distress 3 ." Prof. Sayce derives Yeud from
1 On this relation see below, p. 50, on the Gemini-month.
2 The technical term for this cutting is 773, which is sometimes wrongly
translated " assemble in troops." Gad is a name of the Maroudouk, the Son of
Ea, as the Planet Jupiter ; Tammuz is also the Son of Ea.
3 Sayce, Hibbert Lect. p. 235.
AKKADIAN GENESIS. 45
Assyrian edu, "only one," aMiadu and edu being synonyms.
If this be so Judah may be due to Yedd, in other words the
Jehovist tradition may have come through the same channel as
the Phoenician, so that Dan and Judah are both "the One,"
both having relation to the Tammuz.
The position of priority which Dan holds amongst the
Elohist Tribes may perhaps account for the fact that there was
a. priesthood and a sanctuary in Dan up to the time of the
Captivity (Judges xviii.).
Under the Taurus-system Cainan is in the Leo-solstice with
Judah, but the fourth month of the Taurus-system is the second
month of the Cancer-system, i.e. Cain and Cain-an were origin-
ally one (Table IV.).
Tammuz is called " ablu kinu" i.e. the " Only Son" (Sayce,
Lectures, p. 28), or the "eternal son." The primitive root
GIN signifies "to exist," "to be." Its use in Greek (yev)
is well known; but it has the same meaning in Akkadian
and in the other Turanian languages (cf. Lenormant, La
langue primitive &c. p. 307, 175 &c.). Thus ki-gina is "the
eternal place," or the "place of eternity," i.e. the grave;
the Assyrian translation being kibiru (whence Heb. lip) (see
La langue prim. p. 429). Kibiru is literally the "place of
habitation," so that gina = biru. The root GIN or GAN has
passed into Hebrew in the form jp or jp. Thus Gen. vi. 14,
" kinim (D*3p) shalt thou make (in) the Ark." These kinim are
"chambers" or "buildings." So Cain (j*p) is the first builder
and the father of builders (cf. Gen. iv. 20, where j"|Jp& does not
refer to 'cattle' but to 'buildings'). As in Greek ^l^vo^ai
(jivo/jiat) 'to be,' 'to be born,' and 76^05 'offspring,' 'a child,'
are both from /Jgen, so, in Hebrew, j*p *ft*3p signifies " I have
given birth to a child." Gain is indeed ryevos, and is so called
in the Phoenician cosmogony of Sanchoniathon, thus : " Those
that were born of them (i.e. of the first pair) were called Genos
and Oenea (i.e. Cain and Cainath), who dwelt in Phoenicia.
Oppressed by the burning heat they lifted up their hands to
heaven to adore the sun, whom they held to be the only god
and master of heaven" (Les Origines &c., Vol. i. Append.
46 ' AKKADIAN GENESIS.
p. 538). Such being the signification of the name Cain the
thought of artificer naturally follows. The race of Cain are the
first smiths. The Hebrew H3p is used of God as the Creator
or Artificer, "the creator (Hip) of Heaven and Earth" (Gen.
xiv. 22). We are now in a position to explain Gen. iv. 1 :
"And she conceived and bare Gain, for she said, I have
framed a man the Lord."
These last words Min 1 * Dtf W*tf *JV3p cannot possibly have
formed the original text. Perhaps for niil* J"1X we should read
etkan " eternal," which would give one of the meanings of the
VGIN, while An might easily become D 1 ))"!*- Be this as it
may, the root of the name Cain is identical with the supposed
root of the Tetragrammaton. Both signify to exist, to be
(eternal), to frame, &c. The name of Tammuz as Ablu Kinu,
must, I think, be interpreted in the same way, "the eternal
son." The name Cain is in the original identical with that of
the Kenite tribe (j*p). Every scholar knows the strange con-
nexion between the Kenites and the tribe of Judah 1 .
Our hypothesis explains this connexion. But to return to
Cain. The genealogy of Shem in the LXX. proves an early
connexion between the names Cainan and Shelach 2 . Both
words may be translated " the shoot." The idea of Tammuz
is capable of a very true and poetical significance. It pictures
the beautiful outcome (Shelach) of the Spring as the eternal
promise of God's redemption. The Prophets have embodied
the same natural picture in the word H/b as a name of the
1 . - V
Messiah. Probably they had a reason for not using the older
word Shelach (cf. Ezek. viii. 17). That the word Shelach was,
however, used in a mystical sense is clear from Is. viii. 6, " the
1 Cf. 1 Cbron. ii. 55, where they are actually included in the tribe of Judah,
and compare also Exod. ii. 15, 16 ; iv. 19 ; 1 Sam. xv. 6 ; Numb. xxiv. 21, 22 ;
1 Sam. xxvii. 10 ; Judg. iv. 11, &c. The Zenites are mentioned amongst the
families of Judah to whom David sent portions of the spoil of Ziklag (1 Sam,
xxx. 2630).
2 See above, p. 13. There is also a connexion between Judah and Shelah
(rbw), Shelah being a "son" of Judah (Gen. xxxviii. 5; xlvi. 12; Numb. xxvi.
20, &c.). This Shelah I take to be merely a softened form of Shelah.
AKKADIAN GENESIS. 47
waters of Shelach which flow softly" are a type of Immanuel.
Of. John ix. 7, where Christ applies the name to Himself.
The name Shelach may perhaps give the key to the vexed
passage Gen. xlix. 19 :
" The sceptre shall not depart from Judah nor the scribe
from between his feet until Shiloh (H^B? ?rPfe?)
come."
The original Cain belonged to the second month, the month
of Ea, and doubtless had a good significance. This second
month was originally in the sign Leo ; but under the Taurus-
system Leo had become the burning Summer Solstice. When
therefore Cain was transferred to Gemini he carried with him
some of the sinister traditions of the Tammuz month. Seth
also belongs to the second month, the month of Ea, and it is
interesting to observe that it was in his 1 time that " men began 2
to call upon the name of the Eternal (HliT)-" Here we have
another proof of the connexion between Ea and the Tetra-
grammaton.
One of the Akkadian names of this second month is gud
sidi from gud " an ox" and sidi " to prosper." 3
This word sidi "to prosper" is I think the origin of the
divine name El-sidi ('12^ 7tf). El-sidi is the ' Giver of pros-
perity.' I have shewn in my book on the Names of God, pp.
57 59, that in every passage in the Pentateuch in which this
name is used there is a reference to God as the giver of prospe-
rity, whereas in the later books quite another sense has been
forced upon the word ; I was not however aware at that time of
the true derivation from sidi " to prosper." The month of Ea is
gud sidi, and 'Hfey 7^ is a name of JllJT- Seth belongs then to
the Sidi-monfh. May there not have been an original identity
between Seth* and Sidi! Such a derivation would throw light
on Gen. iv. 26 :
1 In the Aries-system under which the Genesis records were collected Enosh
was in Gemini, Seth however properly belongs to this sign as the second month
under the Taurus-system.
2 Compare the words of the Phoenician tradition quoted at page 45.
3 See La Langue primitive, p. 444, for the word sidi .
4 On Seth as a divine name see Les Origines de VHistoire, Vol. i. p. 217 219.
48 AKKADIAN GENESIS.
n, , . , , . ("And she called his name Seth (f\^) for
Elohist deriva- I ,- -, ,-, /( _ M , N ,, ,
~ 7 -{Elohim hath given (n2/) me another seed
tion of Seth . , , , . , , ' ~ . , , .
[in the place ot Abel for Cam slew him
[and to Seth, he too, there was born a son and
he called his name Enosh].
Jehovist deriva- (Then began (men) to call upon the Eternal
tion of Seth.
If this latter verse be, as I believe, a second derivation of
Seth it would imply that his name was so called because in his
day was the worship of El-sidi.
It will be observed in Table IV. that, in the Jehovist (or
inner) circle Mercury is in the Second month (Gemini) while in
the Elohist circle Mercury is in the Third month (Virgo), in
other words there are two traditionary orders, the older being
Moon, Sun, Mercur}', Venus, &c., while the later is Moon,
Mercury, Venus, Sun, &c.
But we have seen (p. 17) that at the time of the Chinese
migration Mercury was not yet discovered; the two orders
would therefore be
Jehovist Elohist
(( (Taurus) (J (Cancer)
9 (Gemini) (Leo)
(Cancer) 9 (Virgo).
Mercury was inserted in each case before the Planet Venus,
in other words the sign in which Venus originally came was
divided to make room for the newly-discovered planet ; in such
a case the traditions which belonged to the Venus-sphere would
be divided between Venus and Mercury. Under the Cancer-
system Venus was in Virgo. The patriarch Maleleel, whom we
have called Mul-lil may therefore originally have been "the
bright shining" (i.e. M'haM). Mul-lil (?"the star of night")
the Lord of the Underworld was not originally a baal or sun-god
but was Be7UTo.ya9 (Bel-e'than), the planet Venus 1 . His sphere
included the Underworld and the Earth.
Evidently when Mercury was discovered, Venus was divided,
i.e. the names belonging to that sign were in part transferred to
1 See Note E,
AKKADIAN GENESIS. - 40
the next sign. This is the "division" of which a dim tradition
still lived in the words of Gen. X; 25 respecting Peleg,
" In his days was the earth divided."
It will be seen that, counting from Taurus, Peleg belongs to
this sign (Virgo) while, if we count from Cancer, we have in
Virgo the pair Shelach and Kaivav, indicating this month as
the original Gemini or Kas or ' Month of division. 3 Bel-Ethan
who presides over this sign is the Lower World E-KUR, the
" old serpent" of the Lower Abyss, who became in later time
the Tiamat or the Dragon, but who was originally "the pri-
mordial abyss out of which both earth and heaven were produced.
Possibly an old myth may have related that she was torn asunder
when the present world was made, the upper half of her be-
coming the sky and the lower half the earth. This at least is
what we may gather from the story given by Ber6ssos " (Sayce,
Hib. Lect., p. 375, cf. p. 262).
One of the names of this " old serpent" is Leviathan
"the crooked serpent" (Is. xxvii. 1). The word Leviathan is
probably Levi-tan, i.e. Levi "a band" and Tan "a serpent" or
" dragon 1 ." But the tribe Levi answers to the third month
originally Virgo, and Dan or Tan we have already connected
with the sign Claws. Thus the division of the " lower world,"
the sphere of Mul-lil, gave rise to the names Levi and Dan.
This relation between the Tribes may possibly account for the
fact that there was a Sanctuary and a priesthood in Dan up to
the time of the Captivity (Judges xviii.).
The connexion of Levi with the sphere of Mul-lil (Venus) is
borne out by the following considerations :
The sphere of Venus (Virgo) is the sphere of the stars, the
order being Moon, Sun, Stars corresponding with the Earth,
Heaven, Under-world respectively, and dating from a time when
probably the Planets had not yet been grouped into spheres.
In the Legend of Er (Plato, Republic, Book x.) it will be
remembered that the outermost sphere (of the stars) " exhibits
1 This serpent with horns seems to be depicted on the stone of Merodach-
Baladan I., where it occupies the lowest place in the third compartment which
represents I think the third sphere. Compare figures 10 and 162 Perrot's Hist.
of Art in Chaldaea, Vol. i. pp. 73 and 351.
K. 4
50 AKKADIAN GENESIS.
a variety of colours." So too in Ezekiel xxviii. the 'Angel' of
Tyre is likened to Lucifer (i.e. Mul-lil, Venus) and of him it is
said (v. 13)
" Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God ;
Every precious stone was thy covering,
sardius, topaz and diamond ;
beryl, onyx and jasper ;
sapphire, emerald and carbuncle ;
and gold."
Each one of these stones is found on the breast-plate of the
high-priest (Exod. xxviii. 17 20). It is true that the order is
different "and three stones named in Exodus (the third row) are
wanting." Yet "the LXX. make the two passages coincide"
(Speakers Commentary}.
The word and in the Ezekiel passage groups the stones in
rows of three exactly as in Exodus, while the abrupt "and gold"
compared with the word "gold" in Exod. xxviii. 20 suggests that
a fourth row has fallen out and that the LXX. text may very
probably be correct. Thus it will be seen that there is a close
connexion between the "Urim and Thummim" of Levi 1 and the
sphere of the Stars, i.e. of Mul-lil (Virgo, Venus).
The effect of the month Kas ("division") upon the traditions
is so remarkable that it will be well to sum it up briefly thus:
(a) Under the Cancer-system Division of the sphere of the
Under-world in third month (Virgo), Table IV., but possibly in
second 2 month, cf. Table III. Biblical Peleg, " In his days was
the Earth divided, and his brother's name was Yoqtan," i.e. the
thought of Gemini attaches to this sign. Cf. the LXX. Kalvav
and
1 Cf. Deut. xxxiii. 8, "And of Levi he said, Let thy Thummirn and thy
Urim be with thy Holy One, &c." The idea is uot peculiar to Judaism, see note
D (at end).
2 We have seen that the two traditions vary in the order of the spheres, one
(Jehovist) giving Moon, Venus, Sun... while the other (Elohist) gives Moon, Sun,
Venus;... consequently, Venus being the sphere which was divided, the division-
month may be either the second month or the third. The relation between
Zebulun and Issachar (p. 42 44) may possibly be due to the division-month in
Leo as second month of the Cancer-system. In that case I should be tempted to
connect the name Issachar with Iskhara a name of Istar (Hib. Lect. p. 301, 257).
AKKADIAN GENESIS. 51
(/3) The Second river of Paradise encompasses the "Land
ofKas."
(7) Under the Taurus-system Kas the Akkadian name
of the Second month (sign Gemini). " Division" of the waters
from the waters is the work of the Second Day.
The effect of Kas (Gemini), division, twins, may be seen not
only in Cain and Abel, Kaivav and "S,a\a, Levi and Dan, but
also probably in the words (Gen. xlix. 5) " Simeon and Levi are
brethren...! will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in
Israel." The words ^YlSJJ ^njpS? (v. 6) are a reminiscence of a
tradition which will be understood from Table IV. On the
word IpJ? compare p. 26.
A in Akkadian signifies "water," which was regarded as
occupying two spheres, the upper waters, heaven, and the lower
waters, earth (cf. 2 Peter iii. 5).
The division-month may therefore be represented by AA.
So, in Gemini we find that the " waters which were above the
firmament" were divided from the " Avaters which were below
the firmament."
But Ea signifies merely "the House (or temple) of A
(water)," the prefix E (house) being sometimes omitted so that
he is called merely the God A. His realm however extended
over both the upper waters and the lower waters (p. 32), con-
sequently he was A- A the God of Heaven and Earth. Sir
H. Rawlinson has maintained that in early Babylonia there
was a small section of monotheists who worshipped Ea as the
one true God. In that case nothing would be more natural,
than that He would be called A- A, i.e. the God of the Heaven
(upper waters, A) and of the Earth (lower waters, A). A name
of the sound A-A is absolutely required by the context in
Exod. iii. 13 15 where God reveals Himself by the name Eh' eh
ftsher Eli eh. The name of Ea was a hidden name among the
Babylonians just as the Tetragrammaton among the Jews: it is
found not only in the form A " water" but also simply E, i.e.
" the house" (god).
Consequently we get the following equations :
E = " house" = Beth (if translated),
42
52 -AKKADIAN GENESIS.
E = "house" = ^ (if reproduced in Semitic).
We should expect therefore to find God known to the Patri-
archs by the title " House-God" (Beth-el) and also to find the
symbol *tf used to represent Him as the " House."
Let us take these two points separately.
In Jer. xlviii. 13 we read
' And Moab shall be ashamed of Kem6sh as the House
of Israel is ashamed of Beth-el their confidence."
The context clearly requires Beth-el to be a divine name
just as Kembsh is a divine name.
Hos. x. 15
" Each one of thy fortresses is destroyed as Shalinan.
Beth-Arbel destroyeth in the day of war... So too
hath Beth-el done unto you because of your great
wickedness."
Shalman was certainly a divine name (cf. Sayce, Hibbert
Lectures, pp. 57, 58) known both to the Babylonians and to the
Jews. Prof. Sayce thinks that he may have been identical
with Ea himself. Probably at an early period it was so ; but
Ea as the God of the Under-world (Shalman "rest," "peace")
was gradually differentiated into Nergal the God of the " rest
of death," hence "God of war." So we read of "the temple
of Shulim, in the Sanctuary of Nergal " (ffibbert Lectures, p. 372,
note).
Bearing these facts in mind the words of Hdsea might be
paraphrased thus
" Thy Beth-el, thy God of Peace, hath become a God of
War, and, as a God of War shall he destroy you."
Even in Genesis, in spite of its revisions, Beth-el is once
found as a divine name.
Gen. xxxi. 13
" I am the God Beth-el."
The Sancttiary and the God were originally identical (cf.
p. 22).
AKKADIAN GENESIS. 53
In the above passages the argument is unaffected whether
we consider the name to have been Beth-el or Beih-an (cf. p..
2) since El and An both denote God; not so however the
divine name Beth-ul, one of the great gods among the Phoe-
nicians mentioned by Sanchoniathon 1 .
It is clear that amongst the Phoenicians the House-God in-
stead of representing the whole Temple of Nature had degene-
rated into a mere Beth-ul represented by a stone.
We now pass to the word 'X "house," which according to
our theory ought also to have been used as a symbol for Ea
and therefore for the Tetragrammaton. The Akkadian E
"house" is used to denote Ea. The Akkadian E "house" is the
origin of the Semitic ^ "house," so that SlT *K = ^IT JTS.
Compare the Hebrew names Ity *tf (Numb. xxvi. 30),
tf (1 Sam. iv. 21), and Phoenician (Punic) names
3 h-b* K, Bhfi ', all of which are names of cities
* T ; TT '
(Fuerst's Concordance, p. 1296). In the Old Testament ^ is
often wrongly translated "island." A better translation would
be " homes," " countries" ; the word had, by this time, diverged
from its original synonym B&th, though it had left its trace in
certain proper names, e.g. .SeiA-lehem and ^-phrath (see above,
p. 36). Some years ago, when writing on the Names of God
(Chap. IV. pp. 42 44), I was struck with a fact which I could
not then explain. I observed that in a very large number
of passages where the Septuagint and other versions differ from
the Hebrew text in the reading of the Divine Name, the
various readings would be explained on the assumption that the
letters *fc$ stood in the original text and was developed as an
abbreviation.
Thus : " God of Israel"
" God of Jacob"
" Mighty one of Jacob"
1 See the passage quoted in Les Origin, de I'Eistoirc, Append. G, p. 542.
54 AKKADIAN GENESIS.
title "'God oflsrael" is very remarkable, but I shall not
repeat the references which I gave in my "Names of God.' 1 ''
The title "Mighty one of Jacob" occiirs in the following
four passages :
(i) Gen. xlix. 24 (LXX. Bwda-rov 'Ia/cw/3, observe also the
strange expression in the parallel member of the verse
E.V. "the Stone of Israel," LXX. 6
(ii) Is. xlix. 26 (LXX. tV^t/o? 'Ia/c<afi).
(iii) Is. Ix. 16 (LXX. 6>eo9 'Icrparjk, i.e. 7JJ$ instead of
> and 7frTl^ instead of 3pJ^).
(iv) Ps. cxxxii. 2, 5 (LXX. T&> 0e&> *Iatcca/3 ...... ).
There is one other passage in which *TOi$ occurs, viz.
Is. i. 24, but with Israel instead of Jacob, and here the LXX.
has a very interesting reading for 7fc$*lS5^ TiN> VIZ - O^ a * ot '
ia-xyovre? 'la-par'i\. This is clearly a conflation of tAVO readings,
Oval being a translation of the original letters *J$, as in Eccles.
iv. 10 and x. 16, in both of which passages ^ is translated
Oval.
The other reading oi to-^uoi/re? 'lo-pcwjA. is of course due to
the early gloss 7^")&? v TOK.
Thus we have clear proof that ^ was used as -a divine
name.
If the original meaning of the symbol *fc$ ("the House" or
" Temple") had been forgotten, or if it was concealed as a
mystical name, it would be natural to interpret it by a gloss,
e.g. as mj-p ^&> <> r 3pf TOK or ^WP *1^N & c -
Thus we obtain another link in the chain of evidence con-
necting Ea with the Tetragrammaton.
In Assyrian the letter i, Hebrew Tod, bears the name Tahu,
and when this letter is repeated it is a divine name whose
1 See my Names of God, p. 23 ff. , where I have shewn that this name had no
place in the original text.
AKKADIAN GENESIS. 55
Akkadian pronunciation would be Hi, but whose Assyrian equi-
valent is not known. Cf. Sayce's Syllab. p. 13, Nos. 139, 140.
Thus Schrader admits, "when we take into account the
circumstance that the sign for Hi, viz. NI (which in the- re-
duplicated form NINI' certainly means "god"), is explained in
the Assyrian column by ja-u Jahu, it cannot be deemed
impossible that the name (Jahve) is to be regarded as an
Assyrian one (compare Ramman-E,imm6n) that has found its
way both among Hebrews and Aramaeans" (Eng. transl. p. 25).
The Babylonians frequently repeat a divine name. Thus Me-
roudouk is called AN-AN, i.e. 'the very high God.'
Ea is called TAL-TAL, the Air-god is called Mer-Mer ;
indeed it will be observed that many of the ideograms which
denote Babylonian deities are reduplicated forms (see Syllabary).
Keduplication was the natural mode of expressing greatness or
intensity. In my Names of God I have given several reasons
for believing that in ancient times the Tetragrammaton was not
written j"fiPP but H W, that it was indeed a reduplicated form.
The only seeming proof to the contrary is the occurrence of
fY)rV on the Moabite stone. Unfortunately the context is much
defaced though there is no doubt whatever as to the word nlfl*.
It may however be interpreted in other ways and I have given
reasons (see note C) for believing that it has no connexion
whatever with the Tetragrammaton.
We are in a position to determine the origin of the Baby-
lonian Elohist and Jehovist.
We have already seen that the three great points of the
Akkadian Year, i.e. the Vernal Equinox (the sunrise of the
year) the Summer Solstice (the zenith of the year) and the
Autumnal Equinox (the death of the year) were associated with
the three great names of God, viz. An, Ea and Bel respectively.
Each of these three points was also presided over by one of the
three original presiding genii or colossi who were, as we have
seen, the origin of the Cherubim. Of these three colossi Schrader
says: .
" The Assyrian names for these bull- (and lion- ?) colossi are
sidu = Hebrew 7$, and lamassu (of doubtful origin), see
N orris p. 88. Now we have an amulet whereon is inscribed a
56 AKKADIAN GENESIS.
talismanic incantation in the ancient Babylonian Sumiro-
Akkadian language (Lenormant, CJioiso de textes cundiformes
p. 89). In. this incantation, after an invocation of the evil
spirits, (Obverse 1 4) the good spirits are invoked with the
words 5 7: sidu damku, lamassu tabu, utukku damku
i.e. "exalted bull-god, propitious lion-god (?), exalted genius."
Instead of the ideogram, viz. the Sumiro-Akkadian word repre-
sented by sidu, there appears, according to Lenormant, upon
an unedited parallel inscription, in the possession of M. de
Clercq in Paris, the legend (AN) kiru-bu damku "exalted
Cherub" (see my remarks in the Jenaische Literaturzeitung
1874 p. 218 b)."
AVe are justified therefore in connecting the names of the
three colossi with An, Ea and Bel.
Now the three colossi are represented by two very similar
characters in the cuneiform, each having the determinative of
deity [see Sayce's Syllabary, p. 2]. Thus (omitting the cunei-
form characters)
PHONETIC VALUE
(Akkadian word).
Alat, Alap
Alat
Lam ma
ASSYRIAN BENDEHING.
Sedu 1
buhidu
lamassu
MEANING.
spirit (divine bull)
colossus
colossi(,s
If the reader will now insert the Akkadian names of the
three Colossi in Table iv. placing Alap, Alat (Assyrian Sedu) in
Taurus (Vernal Equinox) he will see at once the origin of
Taurus and of the Hebrew Alep " the Ox ". The name Seth
(Table in.) should also be compared with Sedu and the Akka-
dian name of the month gud sidi (Table II.)
The second Colossus Aleut must be placed in the Summer
Solstice, which, in Table iv. is in Leo. Here again we obtain
a coincidence, for Alat was in later Assyrian times regarded as
the presiding deity over the Leo month (see Table II.)
1 Often used in the old Magical texts e.g. "May the divine spirit (sedu) and
the divine colossus (lamassu) the givers of blessings alight upon his head"
(Quoted in Sayce's Hib. Lectures Append, in. p. 445 cf. p. 446 and 449). Com-
pare my remarks on HEJ* 7^ p. 47. The same cuneiform character denotes
AJat and Lainnia. .
AKKADIAN GENESIS. 57
The third Colossus Lamma must be placed in the Autumnal
Equinox which, in Table IV, is in Scorpio. Once more we obtain
a coincidence, for Lamma (Assyr. Lamassii) thus coincides with
Lamech. But there is a further coincidence which is still more
remarkable.
The reader will now observe that the double name, Alap,
Alat in Taurus exactly corresponds to the double name of the
presiding deity, i.e. An and Bel in Table 11. This is the more
remarkable, inasmuch as we have reason to connect Alat with
Bel (i.e. Mul-lil) the Lord of the under-world, the world of
spirits (Akkadian Ala "spirit" cf. Sayce, Hib. Lect. pp. 196,
290). Alat was indeed the Great Spirit who, in later times was
regarded as the feminine reflex of Mul-lil, and thus the pre-
siding deity of the fifth month (Table II.).
Doubtless there was a time when Alat, the Great Spirit,
was identical with Mul-lil. This was probably when Gemini
was in the Vernal Equinox, and consequently Alat with Virgo
in the solstice (compare Tables II. and IV.). The title of Mul-
lil was Beli-tan or Bel-Ethan. The title E-tan was Akkadian
(see page 28) ; when however it was adopted by the Semites
it was inevitable that it should be connected by folk-etymology
with' Athan, " an ass." Thus Allat seems to be represented as
an ass crouching under a pair of hooks (?) on the Stone of
Merodach-Baladan (p. 29, note), and Issachar, who belongs
either to Leo or Virgo, is compared to "an ass crouching
between two hooks?" (Gen. xlix. 14).
It is worthy of note that in the magical texts when the
Colossi are invoked in blessing (p. 56) Alat is not invoked but
only the two who belong to what I shall now call the months of
ascent, i.e. the months during which the Sun is ascending.
These of course are the three months from the Vernal Equinox'
to the Summer Solstice, and (?)the three months from the
Autumnal Equinox to the Winter Solstice. During the first
period the sun is rising to the zenith. During the second he is
rising from his death in the Autumnal Equinox. Alat, on the
other hand, presides over the three months of descent during
which the sun having reached the upper waters was descending
to the lower waters. Alat is therefore fitly represented by AA,
58 AKKADIAN GENESIS.
i.e. the upper and lower waters. Alat was associated with
death, and therefore it is that Sedu and Lamma are invoked as
" the givers of blessings." They belong to the ascending series,
which I shall presently shew to have given rise also to the
Elohist.
If we turn to the Syllabary (Sayce's Grammar, p. 39), we
see that the Akkadian i or ya is written with five wedges
and translated in Assyrian by nalidu, " glorious," while with a
different arrangement of the five wedges it signifies "sunrise"
(Syllab. p. 16). But the character i or ya in its reduplicated
form signifies God (i.e. Hi} " and is explained in the Assyrian
column by ja-u = Jahu" (Schrader on Gen. n. cf. Syllabary, p. 13,
No. 139), i.e. ii = ili - " God " or "Elohim."
I will now ask the reader to place the letter i at each of the
equinoxes and the letter a (which signifies "water") at each
of the solstices in Table IV. Then ,the equation to the equi-
noxes is ii, which certainly signified Elohim. The equation to
the solstices is aa, i.e. the upper and lower waters. We have
already seen reason to associate a with the solstice. The reader
may also compare the remarks of Prof. Sayce, Hib. Lect. p. 178,
on the Akkadian god A, " originally a male divinity representing
the solar disk."
Now the cuneiform emblem for water (A) when doubled is
ai pronounced aya (Sayce's Gram. p. 47), but this same cha-
racter ai is translated in the Assyrian column by Abu " father"
(Syllab. p. 38).
The Semitic name of the Leo month was Abu "father."
This confirms our. hypothesis, for it is in Leo (Tabls IV.) that we
have placed the symbol AA, i.e. Aya, which is the Akkadian
equivalent for Abu "father."
.'"* /~^
If now in Table IV. we read the letters i, a, i, a in the
^~
direction of the Sun's apparent motion we get, for the three
months of ascent ia which is identical with ya (Assyrian Yahu).
For the three months of descent we get ai, whose ideogram
signifies water, water and which may be read either Aya or
translated "father." Lastly from the Autumnal Equinox to
the Winter Solstice we again read ia.
If however we read the letters i a i a simply as symbols of
AKKADIAN GENESIS. 59
the four points we have, I believe, the origin of the Tetragram-
maton PPIT-
At first sight it seems strange that the name ya (Yahu)
should belong to the Elohist and not to the Jehovist Camp.
The truth is that the name Ya (j^p) signifies God and has no
original connexion whatsoever with the Tetragrammaton.
Ya belongs to the Camp of the Ox, the Elohist Camp. Ya
is a synonyme with Hi, being adopted from the Akkadian just in
the same way as ^ is a synonyme with ^3.
The name Yaliu thus belongs to the dispensation of El Sidi.
The other name AA (aya) which signified the Fatherhood of
God, especially as bringing life out of death, was not known to
the Patriarchs (Exod. vi. 2, 3). I doubt whether the Tetra-
grammaton ever had, strictly speaking, a pronunciation. It is a
mystical symbol of the four Chaioth which may be expressed
either by the Elohist equation
vi or ii = Ya = God,
or by the Jehovist equation
aa or Aya = Father.
The Jew, who being asked by Theodoret how to pronounce
the Tetragrammaton, "answered Ya and wrote Aya" gave I
believe the only possible answer to the question (cf. Names of
God, p. 38). The Jew wrote aya because it was the more
sacred of the two Names.
It is certain that the revelation in Exod. iii. 14, i.e. "I am
that I am" (Hebrew aya asher aya} absolutely demands the
pronunciation aya. Such a mystical name was in existence, as
we have seen, long before the time of Moses.
The four Camps evidently existed at least as early as the
Taurus-system.
ALAP presides over the Camp of the Ox.
ALAT Eagle.
LAMMA Lion.
The order therefore is the same as in Ezekiel i. 4 10.
The tribal names however seem to be much earlier ; they must
60 AKKADIAN GENESIS.
date from a time when Cancer was in the Vernal Equinox for
thus only could Levi-Tan come in Virgo with Mul-lil 1 .
If then the Babylonian Elohist represents an ascending
series while the Babylonian Jehovist represents a descending
series, we should expect to find the impress of that fact upon the
character of the traditions in Genesis, which according to our
contention have their origin in Babylonia. And so it is (see
page 10, note). This however by no means explains all the
facts of the case : the two traditions must have come through
two distinct channels. May it not be that the Northern Tribes
(the Jacob-Israel) preserved the Elohist traditions, while Judah
(the Eber-tribe closely related to the Cain or Kenite branch of
the Canaanites) preserved the traditions which the Canaanites
had brought from Babylonia at a still earlier period ?
1 The order then being Moon, Sun, Venus, the sphere of the latter having not
yet been divided to make room for Mercury.
APPENDIX.
NOTE A.
ON THE "CAMP OF DEATH."
THE four " Camps " which play such an important part in the
mystical writings of the Jews have their Biblical origin in Numbers ii.,
where it will he observed that the Gamp of Judali " on the East
side " corresponds with the three Spring l months from the "Vernal
Equinox to the Summer Solstice, while the Camp of Ephraim " on
the west side " answers to the three polar months, i.e. the Autumn
months, from the Autumnal Equinox to the Winter Solstice. These
three months I have called the Camp of Death because they are all
associated with Death in the Babylonian Legends.
During these three months the Sun was regarded as being
"beneath the waters" i.e. the Autumn was a night from which he
rose new-born in the Winter Solstice.
These three months were also the months of seed. They seem
also to have been the unhealthy months in Babylonia.
The legends of Cutha speak of a trinity of death Aria, Laz and
Debera (i.e. sword, famine and pestilence, see Plague legends of
Chaldea in Bab. and Orient. Record, No. I.)
The reader will observe that in Table iv. the three signs between
the River of Death and the River of Resurrection are Scorpio,
Sagittarius and Capricorn.
Scorpio we have already seen to be connected with Aria, the
Akkadian Mars or Nergal (p. 31), and with the "sting" of Death,
while the Assyrian name of the tenth month seems to be none other
than Deber " the pestilence " (see Table n).
1 This was not the original order ; for under the Cancer system, the three
months of Ascent were Elohist (see p. 58). The change may have been due to
the rising influence of Judah (i.e. the Jehovist tribes) which caused the leading
Camp of the Ox to be transferred to the Jehovist.
62 APPENDIX.
This trinity of death "the sword, the famine and the pestilence"
is constantly mentioned by Jeremiah (xxi. 9; xxiv. 10; xxvii. 8, 13;
xxix. 17, 18 ; xxxii. 24, 36 ; xxxviii. 2 ; xlii. 17 ; xliv. 13) : they
represent God's three judgments.
But when Aries became the sign of the Vernal Equinox the sign
Claws would become the first sign in the Camp of Death while the
traditions relating to Scorpio, Sagittarius and Capricorn would, more
or less, remain unchanged.
Thus four signs would be connected with the thought of Death ;
hence God's judgments are sometimes spoken of asfour, e.g. Ezek. xv.
21 "my four sore judgments... the sword and the famine, and the
noisome beast, and the pestilence." The very .colours are not without
their influence on Biblical thought (Zech. i. 8 ; vi. 2 8 ; Rev. vi.
4 8), while the Scorpion-men who are the guardians of Hades in the
Babylonian legend (see p. 20) are reproduced in Rev. ix. 7 11.
Even in the Biblical writings Deber (the Pestilence) Qeteb (the
Sting of Death) and Resheph the burning fever (?) are almost
personified.
e.g. Hab. iii. 5- "Before Him goes the Pestilence (I??.) and
Reshepli goes forth at His feet."
Vulg. "ante faciem ejus ibit mors ; et egredietur diabolus
ante pedes ejus."
Cf. LXX. and Tulg. on Deut. xxxii. 24.
Consequently the words in Hos. xiii. 14 imply a conquest of all
the powers of Death, "I will be thy Pestilence (~\y~i) O Death, I will
be thy Sting O Hades."
The Camp of Death commences with the Asiph or Ingathering of
the fruits of the Earth, the same word (t]DN) being constantly used as
a euphemism for death, e.g. "he was gathered to his fathers."
(Compare the name Joseph, the type of the suffering Messiah).
The Cainp of Death commences with the Seventh Month which is
also the "New Year" month. So Death is a Sabbath (rest) and a
New Year. The Day of Atonement fitly conies in this Sign.
The thought of Resurrection on "the third day" is a lesson learnt
not only from Revelation but from Nature, of. Hos. vi. 2, " He will
revive us after two days. On the third He will raise us up and we
shall live before Him... like the dawn His coming is sure, And He
shall come like the rain for us, Like the latter-rain which waters the
earth."
When we considered the Elohistic and the Jehovistic portions of
NOTE B. f)3
the genealogy of the twelve patriarchs in Gen. xxix. and xxx. we
found that the Jehovist portion corresponded with the signs from the
Vernal Equinox to the Summer Solstice, while the Elohist portion
with the sons of the hand-maidens answered to the Camp of Death.
The worship of God as Elohim probably had its home in the
Ephraim-tribes and, as we know from the Prophets, it was closely
related to Sun-worship, i.e. the worship of An.
Jehovistic worship on the other hand seems to have had its home
in the Judah-tribes and was, as I believe, a development of the pure
worship of Ea.
NOTE B.
ON JACOB AND ISRAEL.
The Akkadian SAB, is translated in Assyrian by cissatu-sa same
i.e. "legions of heaven" (see Schrader in Gen. i. p. 10, English
translation). The ideogram which denotes SAR, may also be read
IM (cf. Sayce's Syllab. p. 36) IM being the name of the Akkadian
Storm-god, from which I have derived Mahana-im (p. 7).
There is a close connexion between Jacob's vision of Mahana-im
and his change of name.
The original context probably ran thus :
Gen. xxxii. 1. " And Jacob went on his way and the angels of God
met him (in a hostile manner cf. yja with 3).
2. And when Jacob saw them he said this is Mahana-
im (i.e. the Camp of the Storm-god or the Camp of
the legions of heaven : see above) and he called
the name of that place Mahana-im.
24. And Jacob was left alone ; and there wrestled one
with him until the breaking of the day.
25. And when he saw that he prevailed not against him
he touched the hollow of his thigh ; and the
hollow of Jacob's thigh. was out of joint, as he
wrestled with him.
26. And he said, Let me go for the day breaketh. And
he said, I will not let thee go except thou bless
me.
60 AKKADIAN GENESIS.
date from a time when Cancer was in the Vernal Equinox for
thus only could Levi-Tan come in Virgo with Mul-lil 1 .
If then the Babylonian Elohist represents an ascending
series while the Babylonian Jehovist represents a descending
series, we should expect to find the impress of that fact upon the
character of the traditions in Genesis, which according to our
contention have their origin in Babylonia. And so it is (see
page 10, note). This however by no means explains all the
facts of the case : the two traditions must have come through
two distinct channels. May it not be that the Northern Tribes
(the Jacob-Israel) preserved the Elohist traditions, while Judah
(the Eber-tribe closely related to the Cain or Kenite branch of
the Canaanites) preserved the traditions which the Canaanites
had brought from Babylonia at a still earlier period ?
1 The order then being Moon, Sun, Venus, the sphere of the latter having not
yet been divided to make room for Mercury.
APPENDIX.
NOTE A.
ON THE "CAMP OF DEATH."
THE four " Camps " which play such an important part in the
mystical writings of the Jews have their Biblical origin in Numbers ii.,
where it will be observed that the Gamp of Jiidah " on the East
side " corresponds with the three Spring * months from the Vernal
Equinox to the Summer Solstice, while the Gamp of Ephraim "on
the west side " answers to the three polar months, i.e. the Autumn
months, from the Autumnal Equinox to the Winter Solstice. These
three months I have called the Camp of Death because they are all
associated with Death in the Babylonian Legends.
During these three months the Sun was regarded as being
"beneath the waters" i.e. the Autumn was a night from which he
rose new-born in the Winter Solstice.
These three months were also the months of seed. They seem
also to have been the unhealthy months in Babylonia.
The legends of Cutha speak of a trinity of death Aria,, Laz and
Debera (i.e. sword, famine and pestilence, see Plague legends of
Chaldea in Bab. and Orient. Record, No. I.)
The reader will observe that in Table iv. the three signs between
the River of Death and the River of Resurrection are Scorpio,
Sagittarius and Capricorn.
Scorpio we have already seen to be connected with Aria, the
Akkadian Mars or Nergal (p. 31), and with the "sting" of Death,
while the Assyrian name of the tenth month seems to be none other
than Deber " the pestilence " (see Table n).
1 This was not the original order; for under the Cancer system, the three
months of Ascent were Elohist (see p. 58). The change may have been due to
the rising influence of Judah (i.e. the Jehovist tribes) which caused the leading
Camp of the Ox to be transferred to the Jehovist.
62 APPENDIX.
This trinity of death " the sword, the famine and the pestilence "
is constantly mentioned by Jeremiah (xxi. 9; xxiv. 10; xxvii. 8, 13;
xxix. 17, 18 ; xxxii. 24, 36 ; xxxviii. 2 ; xlii. 17 ; xliv. 13) : they
represent God's three judgments.
But when Aries became the sign of the Vernal Equinox the sign
Claws would become the first sign in the Camp of Death while the
traditions relating to Scorpio, Sagittarius and Capricorn would, more
or less, remain unchanged.
Thus four signs would be connected with the thought of Death ;
hence God's judgments are sometimes spoken of &four, e.g. Ezek. xv.
21 "my four sore judgments... the sword and the famine, and the
noisome beast, and the pestilence." The very .colours are not without
their influence on Biblical thought (Zech. i. 8 ; vi. 2 8 ; Rev. vi.
4 8), while the Scorpion-men who are the guardians of Hades in the
Babylonian legend (see p. 20) are reproduced in Rev. ix. 7 11.
Even in the Biblical writings Deber (the Pestilence) Qeteb (the
Sting of Death) and Eesheph the burning fever (?) are almost
personified.
e.g. Hab. iii. 5- "Before Him goes the Pestilence ("Q?.) and
Resheph goes forth at His feet."
Vulg. "ante faciem ejus ibit mors; et egredietur diabolus
ante pedes ejus."
Of. LXX. and Vulg. on Deut. xxxii. 24.
Consequently the words in Hos. xiii. 14 imply a conquest of all
the powers of Death, "I will be thy Pestilence (nil) O Death, I will
be thy Sting O Hades."
The Camp of Death commences with the Asiph or Ingathering of
the fruits of the Earth, the same word (s]Dtf) being constantly used as
a euphemism for death, e.g. " he was gathered to his fathers."
(Compare the name Joseph, the type of the suffering Messiah).
The Camp of Death commences with the Seventh Month which is
also the "New Year" month. So Death is a Sabbath (rest) and a
New Year. The Day of Atonement fitly comes in this Sign.
The thought of Resurrection on "the third day" is a lesson learnt
not only from Revelation but from Nature, cf. Hos. vi. 2, " He will
revive us after two days. On the third He will raise us up and we
shall live before Him... like the dawn His coming is sure, And He
shall come like the rain for us, Like the latter-rain which waters the
earth."
When we considered the Elohistic and the Jahovistic portions of
NOTE B. 63
the genealogy of the twelve patriarchs in Gen. xxix. and xxx. we
found that the Jehovist portion corresponded with the signs from the
Vernal Equinox to the Summer Solstice, while the Elohist portion
with the sons of the hand-maidens answered to the Camp of Death.
The worship of God as Elohim probably had its home in the
Ephraiin-tribes and, as we know from the Prophets, it was closely
related to Sun-worship, i.e. the worship of An.
Jehovistic worship on the other hand seems to have had its home
in the Jnclah-tribes and was, as I believe, a development of the pure
worship of Ea.
NOTE B.
ON JACOB AND ISRAEL.
The Akkadian SAR is translated in Assyrian by cissatu-sa same
i.e. "legions of heaven" (see Schrader in Gen. i. p. 10, English
translation). The ideogram which denotes SAE, may also be read
1M (cf. Sayce's Syllab. p. 36) IM being the name of the Akkadian
Storm-god, from which I have derived Mahana-im (p. 7).
There is a close connexion between Jacob's vision, of Mahaiia-im
and his change of name.
The original context probably ran thus :
Gen. xxxii. 1. " And Jacob went on his way and the angels of God
met him (in a hostile manner cf. JQ with 3).
2. And when Jacob saw them he said this is Mahana-
im (i.e. the Camp of the Storm-god or the Gamp of
the legions of heaven : see above) and he called
the name of that place Mahana-im.
24. And Jacob was left alone- and there wrestled one
with him. until the breaking of the day.
25. And when he saw that he prevailed not against him
he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the
hollow of Jacob's thigh . was out of joint, as he
wrestled with him.
26. And he said, Let me go for the clay breaketh. And
he said, I will not let thee go except thou bless
me.
04 APPENDIX.
27. And lie said unto him, What is thy name 1 ? And
he said, Jacob.
28. And he said, Thy name shall be no more Jacob but
Israel, for thou hast had power ($r-itha) with
Elohim (i.e. the Angel host Akk. SAB.) and with
men. thou shalt prevail "
That Elohim here denotes the Angel host is evident from
Hos. xii. 4, 5.
" In the womb he supplanted (^i?^) his brother and in his
virile strength lie had power (Sar-a) with Elohim. Yea he
had power (Ya-$ar) over the Angel and prevailed..."
The word "Angel" is often used for the Angel-host [e.g.
Ps. xxxiv. 7, (8)]
I conclude therefore that in the original Babylonian record from
which this chapter was derived, the one with whom Jacob wrestled
was SA"R-el, the personification of the "legions" or "hosts of heaven"
who had met him. in a hostile manner at Mahana-im. Jacob having
conquered takes the name of his opponent, whose strength passes into
him. Thus Jacob becomes E-SAR-EL.
The verses which I have omitted (Gen. xxxii. 4 24) clearly
belong to another iecord which gave a different interpretation of
Mahanaini, explaining it as a dual form "the two bands" (see
verses 8, 11).
NOTE C.
I. Ariel. This is not originally a Semitic but an Akkadian
word. Arali signifies death, Hades 1 . The Semitic Babylonians
adopted the word and used it sometimes (a) for heaven, as " the
mountain of the north," "the Golden Land" (Paradise), "the mount
of assembly," i.e. the Babylonian Olympus 2 , the abode of the gods,
and sometimes (6) for Hades, " the great City," " the eternal home,"
the abode of the dead 3 . The Biblical writers have borrowed this
thought; Mount Zion is for them "the recesses of the North," "the
1 See Syllab. in Sayce's Assyr. Gram. p. 19.
2 Of. Is. xiv. 13, &c.
3 See Wo lag das Parodies ? p. 117122.
NOTE C. 65
city of the great King 1 ." Isaiah (chap. xxix. 1 ff.) has both thoughts
(a) and (Z>) in his mind ; Zion is, for him, the Mount of God, but it
is to become a Hades; still in the end it is to become a Hades not
to its inhabitants but to those that encamp against it, thus :
" Ho Ariel, Ariel, city where David 3 (?) encamped !
Add year to year ; let the Feasts go their round ;
Then will I distress Ariel, and there shall be moaning and
groaning
And she shall become to me as Ariel (i.e. Hades)
And I will camp in a ring around thee
And lay siege to thee with a mound ;
And raise against thee siege-works,
And thou, laid low, shalt speak from the ground,
Thy speech shall come thin from the dust,
Thy voice shall become like a ghost's from the ground,
And thy speech shall chirp from the dust," &c.
There is no reference here to 'altar' or 'hearth of God,' and
I am glad to see that this fact is recognised by Prof. Cheyne.
We now turn to Ezek. xliii. 15:
"And the Arel (^Kin) four cubits (in height?),
And from the Arel (Stf'lN) upwards are four horns,
And the Arel (^Kix) is twelve in length and
Twelve in widthj squared as a perfect square."
The Altar is the emblem of Heaven, the " City of God" which
" lieth four-square" (Rev. xxi. 16) and which in the Hevelation also
has the measurement of twelve for each side. The word Arel, i.e.
Paradise, Heaven being connected, but not by derivation, with
' the Mount of God' would easily become !?&ort in Semitic, i.e.
' Mount of God'; the true spelling is however i>JON.
The above passage in Ezekiel has therefore no reference to an
" altar-slab" but simply to the Altar as the emblem of Heaven under
the Babylonian name Arel.
Those who maintain that Arel on the Moabite Stone signifies
"Altar-slab" have founded their arguments on the two passages
which we have discussed. If the interpretation I have given be
correct there can certainly be no reference to an altar on the
Moabite Stone, unless we are prepared to maintain that the mystical
1 Ps. xlviii. 2 (3), &c.
2 Bather "City of the Storm-God's camp," see page 7.
K. 5
66 APPENDIX.
thought of the Prophets was common to the worshippers of Chemosh.
There are however three other Biblical passages in which Arel
occurs, in all of which it signifies hero. These are they :
2 Sam. xxiii. 20 (and 1 Chr. xi. 22), " He slew two lion-like
men of Moab,"
and Is. xxxiii. 7, "behold their valiant ones (o'pN'lN) ciy
without," &c.
If the interpretation I have given be correct it ought to account
for this widely-different meaning of the word. And so it does.
According to Babylonian thought Hades is the "strong man armed."
Nergal, the god of Hades, is the "lion-like" man, being represented
as a lion with a man's face. This imagery may very possibly have
arisen from the Akkadian Arel being, in sound, identical with the
Semitic Ari-el, i.e. "Lion-god." Be this as it may, the fact is
beyond question that Death, Hades, i.e. Arel, was, by the Babylo-
nians, regarded under the image of " the strong man armed." What
then would be more natural than that the name Arel should come
to signify "hero 1 ?" The word seems specially iised to denote fighting-
men as opposed to the peaceable townsmen. Thus :
Is. xxxiii. 7, " Behold the fighting-men (Arelini) cry without,
The peaceable messengers weep bitterly," &c.
I conclude therefore that, on the Moabite Stone, the word can
only signify " heroes," " fighting-men."
I now proceed to consider the words mn (line 12) and nin
(line 18) on the Moabite Stone, and hope to shew that neither of
them is a divine name.
II. mn. It is quite true that there is a deity Dad, probably
identical with Kamnian, the Storm-god 1 , called by the Syrians
Hadad. The Syrian city Kar-Dadda or Kar-Hamman is mentioned
by Delitzsch, Wo lag das Paradies ? p. 277. If this name had been
intended on the Moabite Stone it would have been written *n 2 , for
even if we assume the Moabite pronunciation of the name to have
been Dudo, the middle vowel would not have been written, the
1 See Schrader, Cuneiform Inscriptions, Eng. transl. p. 197.
2 I observe with pleasure that M. Haldvy has felt the difficulty of the popular
interpretation of this passage : " L'hypothese d'apres laquelle le scribe aurait
ajoute" au nom de TH un n gratuit est trop dtrange; n'y insistons pas. La
verite est que le sens de mil ?X^X nous est inconnu." (Rev. des Etudes Juives ,
1887, p. 317.)
NOTE C. 67
Mesha inscription being by no means partial to matres lectionis, even
BN being written 52>X, &c. The name Dad is found in the proper
name Bildad ("H^n) and also possibly in the name Dedan (jTl) 1 .
Now this last name occurs twice in the 31st line of the Moabite
Stone, where it is written p*1 as in Biblical Hebrew.
The final n is regularly used on the Moabite Stone for the 3 s.
pronominal affix where Biblical Hebrew would have had 1 (vav).
The medial vav in mil proves that it is from the root in "love"
The Biblical name David (Til) is only a shortened form of HTlT or
Tin i.e. "his love" or "God's love," doubtless a very common name.
The passage in line 12 might therefore be translated in two ways,
either
" And I led captive from thence the hero Dudo (David),"
or, more probably,
" And I led captive from thence its choicest heroes 2 (lit. the
heroes of its love)."
This idiom is very common in Biblical Hebrew. Thus :
Jer. xii. 10 "my desirable portion,"
lit.
" The portion of my desire 'mon npVn."
Is. xxi. 4 " My much loved eventide,"
lit.
" The eventide of my desire ^pKTl f)tja"
Compare also the many passages in which "chosen men," "chosen
warriors" are spoken of. The context points to this latter inter-
pretation; before however we offer a translation we must consider
the closely related passage in the 18th line which turns xipon the
interpretation we give to the letters n)!"P.
III. mil*. In my book on the ' Names of God' I have given
several reasons for my belief that the Tetragrammaton was, in
Biblical times, never written niiV.
These arguments I shall not now repeat but shall merely con-
sider the word nin 11 in the 18th line of the Moabite Stone.
The root av or ab, which is common to the In do-Germanic and
Semitic, has the sense of loving, longing, cherishing, and it will be
1 Wo lag, d-c. p. 298.
2 Talcing Arel as a noun of multitude just as 1J E>N (line 13) "men (lit. man)
of Gad." .--..
68 APPENDIX.
seen from the following that the letters 1 and 1 constantly inter-
change. Thus mK and niK "to desire," 2HK "to love" an* (Ps. cxix.
131) "to long for."
The substantive 3D. 1 ! Ps. lv. 23 probably signifies "wish" "desire."
" Cast upon the Lord thy desire."
The verb Kin (COT. Xey.) in Job xxxvii. 6 should, I think, be trans-
lated cherish. Thus :
"For unto the snow He saith; Cherish the earth
Now we have shewn that, in this sense of desire, the letters
1 and 1 constantly interchange.
We have also shewn that the substantive 2rp. signifies desire. It
is therefore very probable that the word in* also signifies desire,
or love. Now the 3 s. m. pron. affix on the Moabite Stone is, as we
have seen, always written with n. nw would therefore signify "his
desire" and would exactly correspond with nin "his love" in
the parallel passage.
We will now give a translation of lines 10 18 :
"And the king of Israel built for himself Ataroth and I
fought against the town * and I took it and I slew all the
townsmen (lit. 'men of the town' as distinguished from
the ivomen who were not killed and from the warriors or
Jtffhting men who are mentioned below) as a well-pleasing-
offering to Chernosh and to Moab : And I transported 2
(lit. "led captive") from thence its choicest warriors 3 and
I hewed-them-in-pieces 4 before Chemosh in K'rijoth. And
I transported 2 thither the men of Sheran and the men of
1 Kir is properly the town while Eer ("MJ) is a fortified city.
3 The '-warriors' or 'armed men' are here, as in Is. xxxiii. 7, distinguished
from the peaceable citizens. The blood of the latter is sh.ed on the spot as a JV")
blood-libation (cf. nil in Is. xxxiv. 7) while the armed men are led captive for
sacrifice.
4 This word 3fiD is used of dogs tearing (Jer. xv. 3 ; cf. xlix. 20 ; 1. 45) also
on torn clothes (Jer. xxxviii. 11, 12). It may be compared with the air. Xe-y.
^DC? 1 Sam. xv. 33, "And Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before the Lord."
Lit. "tore him in pieces," Targ. nB>Q. The word undoubtedly denotes a human
sacrifice. It is true that in 2 Sam. xvii. 13 it is used, by a strong figure of
speech, of tearing a city stone from stone. Thus: "And if he betake himself
to a city then all Israel shall bring to that city ropes and we will tear it to the
valley, so that there shall not remain of it even a heap ("Il"l) ". Such a passage
. NOTE D. 69
Mochrath. And Chemosh said unto me Go, take Nebo
from Israel. And I went by night and I fought against
it from the rising of the dawn until noontide. And
I took it, and I slew them all, even seven thousand,
of grown men and boys, and women l also and girls
and female children, because to Ashtar-Chemosh I had
devoted it. And I took from thence its chosen warriors
and I hewed-them-in-pieces before Chemosh."
I maintain therefore that the Moabite Stone contains no reference
whatever either to "altar-slabs" or to the god Dadda or to the
Tetragrammaton.
NOTE D.
There seems to be an. allusion to something very like the Urirn
and Thummim, or the Stones of the High Priest's breast-plate, in
the following words of an Akkadian Hymn which is translated in
Sayce's Appendix iv. Hib. Lectures, p. 490. I would call special
attention to the fact that these Stones are here also connected with
Mul-lil, i.e., according to my theory, with Venus. The passage is as
follows :
19. "the great stones, the great stones that are made beautiful
with rej oicing,
20. that are fitted to become the body [" flesh " in the Assyr.
version] of the gods,
21. the porous-stone (khulal) of the eyes, the porous-stone of the
snake's sting, the porous-stone, the turquoise, the crystal,
22. the gubsu stone, the precious stone, glass completely
doubled,
23. its sapingu stone, (and) 2 gold must be taken,
can never justify the translation of Professors Smend and Socin, "und ich
brachte zuriick von dort den Altaraufsatz DWDH'S und schleppte ihn von
K e in6s." There is indeed a mistake here in almost every -word. Why should
3>NV in line 12 be from root QIK* "I brought back" -while the very same word
in the very next line is to be taken from root 2,W> "und ich siedelte darin"!
Again, if Arel could have signified here "Altar-slab" the verb DriD would denote
not dragging or even "eine bestimmte Form der Darbringung" but tearing,
rending, hewing in pieces.
1 In the former case the women were not killed but here he seems to have
been enraged by the more stubborn resistance.
2 These words should be compared with the passage I have quoted from
Ezekiel on page 50.
70 APPENDIX.
24. to be set on the pure breast of the man for an adornment.
25. The pure god who is exalted afar, the supreme bull of Mul-
lil purifies 1 and enlightens."
&c. &c. &c. &c. &c.
The whole passage is worth reading, and it is the more remark-
able because the reference to the stones on the breast-plate evidently
never occurred to the translator.
The question natui'ally arises why should the Priesthood be
connected with Venus and Mul-lil ?
Undoubtedly at a later time the Babylonian Venus was Istar
but I do not associate the origin, of the Jewish priesthood with
Istar ; it is due to a far earlier time, when Mul-il's kingdom was the
Under-world of Death pictured in the many-coloured stars of night.
That the Priesthood should be connected with the thought of Death
is only natural.
The precious-stones are the emblems of the many mansions in the
World beyond.
The fact that the Temple of GUK. at Nippur was originally
dedicated to Ea and afterwards to Mul-lil (see p. 32) seems to shew
a close connexion between these deities, which indeed we might have
expected. Perhaps this relation might be expressed by saying that
while the Sphere of Mul-lil is A, i.e. the lower-waters, the Sphere of
Ea is A A, i.e. the Upper and Lower waters.
Compare (page 57) on the original connexion between Ala (the
Great Spirit) Mul-lil and Ea.
NOTE E.
ON MUL-LIL.
That Mul-lil was originally connected with the planet Venus as
the morning-star is evident from the Hymn to Mul-lil translated in
Sayce's Hib. Lectures, p. 498.
"O Mul-lil, mighty is thy power,
lord of the morning-star mighty is thy power."
1 Compare the supposed derivation of Urim and Thummim, i.e. " lights and
perfections/'
PRINTED BY C. J. CLAY, H.A. AND SONS,
AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS.
Season
Patriarch (Elohist)
Berossus Patriarch
j.
Sign of Zodiac |
i
Presiding deity of Month
Qagir -|
1 Adam
[Adam]
AAOPO2
Aries >
Anu and Bel (the demiurge)
X
bara
(o
I
2 Seth
[Cain]
AAAHAPOS
Taurus
Ea (the Lord and Creator
of man)
gud
(or A
Qaig <
3 Enosh
[Enoch]
AMHAON
^ / ;
Gemini
Aku (or Sin)
(Mi
\Ka
(
4 Cainan
[Irad]
AMMENON
^Cancer /
Adar, "the Sun of the
South "
X
Sul
Horn <
5 M'hallel-el
[MaXeAeiyA.]
MEPAAAPOS
^ /
Leo ;
Allat (a name of Istar in
the lowei' world) .
dhe
or /
i
6 Yared
[Metho-sal,
AAO2
l
Istar (the "Lady of the^
Holy Mountain ")
Zera' J
7 Enoch
[Lamech]
EYEAOPAX02
Claws of Scorpion
The Sun-god
Tul
]V
I
8 Metho-shelach
AMEM^INOS
Scorpio
Maroudouk (the son of Ea
and Mediator between
Api
/
' Him and Man) N.
Horeph \
9 Lamech
. OTIAPTHS
Sagittarius
^Nergal (or Lainmas), guai-d-
ian of Hades
gem
I-
L
10 Noah
aniepoa
Capricorn us
Papsoukal (messenger of
Anu and Istar)
abb
(
11
Aquarius
Ramman, "the inundator,"
the storm god
as .
(
12
i
Pisces J
The seven great gods
se i
Aries
bai
2ST.B. It will be seen in the course of our investigations thttt the precession of the Equino
mei
TABLE II.
deity of Month
Akkadian name of Month
Aramaic Month
Assyrian Month
Event
si (the demiurge)
X
bora ziggar, "altar of the Demiurge (Bel)"
(or " altar of Righteousness ")
Nisan
Nisannu
Creation of the Wo
^.
>rd and Creator
\.
gud sidi } "propitious bull" (or "direct-
(or khar sidi)f ing bull," sc. of the firmament)
lyyar
Airu
Creation of Man bj
-X
)
\
(Murga, " making of bricks "
[Kas, "the Twins"
Sivan
Sivanu
The two brother en
city Enoch with
First-fruits cf.
le Sun of the
X"
Su kulga, " the benefit of seed "
Tammuz
Duzu
This month is nam
x
ame of Istar in
r world)
dhe dhegar ") " fire making fire "
or Ab ab-gar]
Ab
Abu
Called by Assyrian
arad is not unllk
"Lady of the^
ountain ")
X
Ki Gingir-na, " the errand of Istar "
Elul
Ululu
Assyrian month o
Istar) and Patri*
Dd
x
Tul M, "The holy Altar," or the "Holy
Mountain "
Tisri
Tasritu (i.e. "the Sanc-
tuary ")
Autumnal equinox
newal" Feast (
month New Ye
i (the son of Ea
ediator between
i Man) \.
'\^
Apin dua
Marchesvaii
Arakh-samna (i.e. " 8th
month ")
Metho-shelach " m
Then "man of
Lammas), guard-
!ades
gangana, " the thick clouds " (cf. Heb. root
pi;)
Chesleu (^DD,
" strong ")
Ouzalhi (or Kisiliv)
Assyr. month JfisB
jxist," a name (
Saturn, so calle
called Saturn tl
(messenger of
I Istar)
abba uddu, "the cave of the rising sun"
Tebet
Dhabitu (The Pestilence?
cf. Heb. Deber)
?'?7t among the
In Syrian Calenda
"the inundator,"
oa god
as A, AN (sur), " the curse of rain " (?)
Sebat
Sabatu
The Deluge
great gods
se kin-tar, " the sowing of seed "
Adar
Addaru
The restored earfclB
bara ziggar (as above)
ssion of the Equinox has more than once changed the relation of the names to the signs of the Zodiac;
merely the first approximation to the truth.
TABLE II.
;n of Zodiac
Presiding deity of Month
Akkadian name of Month
Aramaic Month
Assyrian Mi
Arm and Bel (the demiurge)
Ea (the Lord and Creator
of man)
bara ziggar, "altar of the Demiurge (Bel)"
(or " altar of Righteousness ")
gud sidi "("propitious bull" (or "direct-
(or khar sidi}$ ing bull," sc. of the firmament)
Nisaii
lyyar
Nisannu
Airu
ni
Aku (or Sin)
Adar, "the Sun of the
South "
(Murga, " making of bricks "
{Kas, "the Twins"
Su kulga, " the benefit of seed "
Sivan
Tammuz
Sivanu
Duzu
Allat (a name of Istar in
the lower world)
Istar (the "Lady of the*
Holy Mountain ")
dhe dhegar } " fire making fire "
or Ab ab-garj
Ki Gingir-na, " the errand of Istar "
Ab
Elul
Abu
Ululu
of Scorpion ;
LO
The Sun-god
Maroudouk (the son of Ea
and Mediator between
^ Him and Man)
Tul M, "The holy Altar," or the "Holy
Mountain "
Apin dtia
Tisri
Marchesvan
Tasritu (i.e. "tl
tuary")
Arakh-samna (i
month ")
rarius
;ornus
^Nergal (or Larnmas), guard-
ian of Hades
Papsoukal (messenger of
Anu and Istar)
gangana, "the thick clouds" (cf. Heb. root
abba uddu, " the cave of the rising sun "
Chesleu
" strong ")
Tebet
Cuzallu (or Kisi
Dhabitu (The PC
cf. Heb. J)eb&.
1US
Raniman, "the inundator,"
the storm god
The seven great gods
as
A. AN (sur), " the curse of rain" (?)
se kin-tar, " the sowing of seed "
bara ziggar (as above)
Sebat
Adar
Sabatu
Addaru
ptigations that the precession of the Equinox has more than once changed the relation of the names to the
merely the first approximation to the truth.
Assyrian Month
Events and traditions connected with each month
Nisannu
Airu
Creation of the World Vernal equinox Passover
Creation of Man by Ea the Creator and Friend of Man
Sivanu
Duzu
The two brother enemies Building the first city For identification of Cain's
city Enoch with Erech (i.e. Ourouk) see;below p. 31. Pentecost or Feast of
First-fruits cf. the offerings of Cain and Abel
This month is named Douz or Tammuz The Tammuz-myth Summer Solstice
Abu
Ululu
Called by Assyrians " the month of the descent (arad) of (the god) fire" This
arad is not unlike Biblical Tared.
Assyrian month ouloul (Heb. ehll), cf. Heb. Halel "the morning star" (i.e.
Istar) and Patriarch M'hallel-el, the bright shining (?)
Tasritu (i.e. " the Sanc-
tuary ")
Arakh-samna (i.e. " 8th
month")
Autumnal .equinox Old Heb. month Ethanim, "perennis," cf. Enoch "re-
newal " Feast of Trumpets [Judgment Day] Day of Atonement on 10th of
month New Year
Metho-shelach "man shoot" (cf. shelach, "a shoot," Cant. iv. 3; Is. xvi. 8)
Then "man of the dart." Maroudouk is always represented as armed
Ouzallu (or Kisiliv)
Dhabitu (The Pestilence?
cf. Heb. Deber)
Assyr. month Kisiliv (cf. Heb. Kesil) Arabic month Khawdn (cf. fVO) "the
just," a name of Saturn, Amos v. 26. Akkad. Sak-us=Assyv. Kaivanu =
Saturn, so called because he is the leading (or first) Planet The Akkadians
called Saturn the leading ram among tie Planets, just as Aries is the leading
ram among the Signs of Zodiac [Les Origines, <&c., p. 263 note]
In Syrian Calendar Kannn II.
Sabatu
Addaru
The Deluge
The restored earth after Deluge
the names to the signs of the Zodiac ; the arrows must therefore be regarded as
The colouring of the Tables III. an<d V. would have
delayed the issue of this pamphlet. Eac'h reader will easily
supply the colours for himself.
T
TABLE III.
Mul-lil
feley
ISSACHAR
ZEBULUN
ZEBULUN
ISSACHAR
2. drjrft, ai-ad
HAxw_fl
i /, . Q
g *, .p.
irt i e M
'^OA'V'?''
*' i.
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