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BABYLONIAN -AND  ORIENTAL  RECORD. 

Contributors  are  alone  responsible  for  their  opinions  or  statements. 


SOME  UNPUBLISHED  CONTRACT-TABLETS. 

The  Pitt-Rivers  Museum  at  Oxford  contains  four  Babylonian  Contract- 
tablets,  numbered  93,  48,  52  and  77.  As  these  have  not  been  published 
I  send  copies  of  them  to  tlie  Babylonian  and  Oriental  Record,  They  are 
for  the  most  part  much  injured,  and  therefore  difficult  to  read.  I  liave 
transcribed  them  in  Assyrian  characters  ;  the  original  forms  of  the  cha- 
racters will  by  this  time  be  well  known  to  students  through  the  publications 
of  Dr.  Strassmaier. 

93. 

Obv.i.  <rr  .<y  V  !-ni  I  "v^  ^T  :^nT 

8.  t\  :in  ^^in 

Rev.  1.  ^^  >f  ^j[:1pI  "  M  n,  I  --1  "-  tV  -m  ^^' 

3.1^  <T^i  -^l  n  T -^i 

c. Vt  IV  r  ^:^'^^^  1^  ^^T  Tt 

7.  ^!  :^n  "V  !  p!  0)  •  •  •  •  ■' 

8. !  SL^!  V  <M  <;?  '^    V  I  -11  I  "7^ 

9.  ^!   XbZ] 

'  ,.      ^T     ,  "  m  Dkc,  1889. 

Vol.  IV.—No.  1.  LM  ' 


}  SOME     UNPUBLIPHKT) 

Obr.  1 .   Kaspa  s»  n.P.  Bil-su-nu  nia-khir 

-'.  bnsil    (?)   UHU  iiiu  qatr>  n.  [     I'-nui-ihas-si 
:>.  rna-khir  basfi  (?)  Ill  dhu  ina  qatii 

4.  D.  p.  Sn-la-a  abil-so  sa  v.v.  Sad  (?  -na-a 
o.  iiia-klilr  VllI  bilar  kaspi 

i),  ina  (jatji  D.r.  an  Kergal-bal-idli 
7.  abil-sli  sa  u.P.  A-du 

5.  nia-kliir-m. 

J?^v.  1.   Vll  HAR  DHU  ina  qata  d.p.  an  Sadii-rabii-yu-sir 

2.  uia-kliir  i;ak  ma-na  I  i>hu 

3.  sib-dhi  ina  qata  d.p na 

4.  al)il-?u  sa  d.  i-    Sadu-rabn-yu-sir 

5.  ma-kbir   XIII 

6 abil-su  sa  d.p.  Akbf-e-a 

7.  nia-khir  napkharis  I  ma  (?)... 

8.  I  DHU  sib-dbi  kaspi  sa  d.p.  r.il-su-n« 
!).  nia-kbir, 

There  is  no  indiration  of  the  temple  to  whicb  the  silver  was  '•  presented  "■ 
by  Bii-.-tuni. 

4S. 

3.  ^^i    <«i^^V  -i:^"y^QF5:^  ^U\^  <L< 

^-  <i?i  5^p  •  •  •  •  ?  ^4]  ^m  V-  II  -^  -T  --^T 

7-  n  I  V  -^   --I  <c^-^^  Vr  T  -^-  ^M^   ::^I^ 
2.   T  ^<Y  V  |j  y,  y .-  ..  «/  y  ^tyy  ..y  <-  ^y 

^-  n  •  •  •  V !  >-!  -n  -tt;  t  --t  h^it  4:4- 

6. !   t]  >-t]  y;  y;  y  s^y^  ^ty^  -  <i<  ^ptrrr  ^^^ 

7.  .-t:;  ti^r  ^  5:  ^^  ..T  <^yy  ^j?:  ^--^  >,ji 

<!l  .  ^^!rI?{J  [<r|T] 

Ohr,  1.    \'I  iii:i-ii:i  kaspi  sa  D.i-.  Ki-iia-a  altil-su  sa  D.r.  Irpiti 

1'.   in.H  cliiM'.  I'.an-ii  al>il-sn  sa  d'.p.  Na-din-abk  d.p.  Ki-su-a 
;'..  yiiiiMi  X  .W  KAN  sa  arklii  Nisanni  i-nam-din 


THE  GETTY  CENTER 


CuNTK.VCT    TABLETS.  3 

4.  ki-i  [la-a]  id-dau-nu  IV  s-an-na 

5.  eli  [I]  ma-ni-e  sussan  (?)  XII  sildi  kaspi 

6.  mukh-khi-su  i-rab-bi  d.p.  Kal-ba-a 

7.  abil-su  sa  d.p,  IsTadin-ManKliik  abil  d.p.  Pu-ra-tiiin 

8.  pu-ud  e-dhir-ru  sa  kaspi  iia-si 

Jieo.  1.  amil  mu-kin-nu  d.p.  Su-a  abil  (?)  sa  (?).... 

2.   D.p.  Ba-sa-a  aWl  d,p.  Nur-Sin  d.p.    su-Mariiduk 

8.  abil-[sa]..,...a  D.p.  Siri-aa-diu-zira 

•4.  abil !^a  d.p.  Bel-suR  abil  d.p.  Ilu-da-kin 

5.  u  amil  saugu  d.p.  Nabu-akhe-iddin-abil-su  sa 
G.  D.p.  Su-la-a  abil  d.p.  E-gi-bi  Din-Tir-Ki 
7.  arkha  Nisanna  sana  II  kan  Ncrgal-sarra-utsur  sar 
Din-Tir-[Ki]. 

It  will  be  seen/that  the  deed,  which  relates  to  the  loan  of  6  manehs  of 
gilverto  Bana  son  of  Nadin-abia,  son  of  Kisna  by  Kina  the  son  of  Irpiti, 
on  the  30th  day  of  the  month  Nisan,  has  been  recovered  by  "  the  priest 
Nebo-akhe-iddin,  the  son  of  Sula."  the  son  of  Egibi,  at  Babylon,  iu 
the  month  of  Nisan  the  2nd  year  of  Nergal-sharezer  king  of  Babylon." 

*    *  i 

52. 

2.  y  .^1  V  ]f  i;  ^r  ^.|    <^^  ^  ^.^j^   I  ^^y  ^^  yr  ^ 

3-  T?  I  T  !  ^  ^^  <  C-  -I  -<!  '^?T  5=15  ^-!C?)  MI(?)^ 

6. ^^  ^tn  >??^  . .  •  •  ^  t^-  !?  I.^T.  J  '4lf  ^T ^11 

7-  <rf  IK?)  JT  ^^(^) ^1  ^^  tEIT  <^^  ^-m<   ■ 

8.  Y  mi  ^;^  <K:IT  J^t-^HC?)  <T-S  JT«=  -g^T  <tn  ?  -^' 

9-  <--^T -4 ....  ^.y  <j^  ^'f  ^{,n  "411 

10 •■•  ■    -  <tt  ir  \^ 

11 <"    <T- 

12 l£l  HI  T  T  -^^  ^ 

1^ jrl^  --^T  -I?  \"  -411  ->f  -i^     ■  . 

u.  .  .  .^m  TU  ^(U  --^K?)::;  H^  -^Jbl'T^rr  5^-1^1 

15.  .  .  .  ^^r  .^.  ^p   _|  ^  y  :?  TTTpI  <^r^|  ..^|t  .  .  .  , 

16-  •  -  •  T^  ^!TT  I  ;^^  ^-  <r-  ^M  ^^^  ^r  . . 

17-  •  ■  •  <  ^:^  -\-^  m  y^  T  >^  --( 

1)    In  the  original    .<^+     r^y^J, 


4  Si»MK    UNPUI5MSHKD 

18 ^'^!  -n^I  I  -4-  -B  -^  >f  <!-'  <!- 

19 ]--]  <un  .eu  Tt  I  V 

20.  .  .  .  < 

21.  ^r«  Km iw  T 1 H  -II  ir^i  ^ 

21  LlM] <!K;^;r/Y-ll<I  Jits: 

In  spite  of  the  nmtilated  condition  of  the  tablet  we  may  gather  that 
a  piece  of  land  was  sold  to  Nadin-Mardnlc  the  son  of  Basa  the  son 
of  Nur-Sin  for  5  shelTels  of  silver  by  Nebo-bal-idin  the  son  of  Nadin- 
Suini  and  Ban-ehpak  (?)  tlie  daughter  of  Sauias-ibni  his  wife.  The 
deed  of  sale  was  registered  by  a  scribe  wlio  calls  liimself  the  son  of 
Bel-ibni  and  who  wrote  it  in  the  city    of   Sakluin  on  the  13th   day  of 

Adar  in  the   2nd  year  of   Nabonidus. 

«  »  » 


i  i 


X 


2. n --^.  -BJ t-::^x  n -^ ni T  T  J!  -^!  Vi 

^'.^^'i>  n  V  I  -!  -^!  -^^rl  C^B?I  <-  -I<h^ 

':•!!!  4-  II  "^Tf  4Jff-TI-m>-  5fc^ 

7.  ]  --T-H  ss;^'  !^<-  ^  ?^^  5rfiy  I  ^-  <rc:  --"!(?)  :^ 

0. .  •^-»' 

A. 

^•^r^-vynii-T^Kigf  H-^rJirr  ivT-!-H^5^n<T-M' 

- 1?  !^n  -!!A  :::  \  -1  -!H r;::!  -t^^^  Tt  I  7  !  -HI  U  J? 
-•  •  •  .  ^:^  jrin  T  .>•!  <^!r  '^^  t.^  i;^ !?  1 


90 


CONTRACT    TABLETS.  §) 

1.  ...[ma-]na  VI  sikli  kasi)\...iaa  ali  A-man-^Tiu-  [ki] 

2.  [n.i".    Nabu-]  aklie-iddin  al)il-sii  sa  d.p.  Sii-la-a 

3.  [aliil]  P.p.  E-L,n-bi  iiia  qata  d.p.  Ud-da-a 

4.  auiat  bit  Sag-gila  u  d.p»  Bel-semu  (?).,. 

5.  biniiti  .sa  p.p.  Sainsu-yu-dain-ini-iq 
fi.  Ill  BAR  sik-Si  im-khn-rii  ina  pa-n  i 

7.  p.p.  Nabii-akhe-iddin  pa-kid  d.p.  Khiim-mi-ba  (?)-am 

H.  amil  ku-mbs  sa  e-iir  a  (?)-iia  aklie-ga  (?)-nb  (.■*). 

y.  ina  lib-bi  X  sikli  kaspi  iddin 

10 

11.  ina  qatii  d.p.  [Xabu-]  akhe-idtiin  .  .  . 

12.  Din-tir-Ki  sa  sana  Vlll  kan  d  p.  J^abii-nahid-sar. 

13.  Din-tir-Ki  sa  d.p.  Nabu-akhe-iddin. 

14:.  amil  mu-kin-nii  d.p.  Itti-Samsi-baladliii   abil-su  sa  d.p.  Nabn-sumst 
esir. 

15,  abil  D.p.  E-gi-bi  d.p.  Nabn-yaliin-zira  abil-su  sa  d.p.  Bel-bal-iddia 

16.  .  . .  ni  a  .  .  .  te  lak  (  .')  abil-su  sa  i>.p.  Nalm-suu 

17,  ...  amil  imgu  d.p.  Nergal-yii-se-zib  abil-su 

18.  [sa  Bel-]  i-a  abil  d.p.  Su-klia-a 
ItK  .  .  .  [arklia]  Aba  yumu  XV  kan 

20.     [sana  VIII,  kan]  sa  d.p.  Nabii-naliid  sar  [Babili]. 

The  mention  of  the  "  woman"  or  ratlier  « liandmaid"  of  the  Temple  of 
Saggila  is  interesting.  The  ideograplis  ku-mes  are  probably  to  be  read 
zardtt  and  not  sabutl '' the.  tentmaker  who  binds  together  the  .  .  .  .* 
The  name  of  Belia  in  1.  18  is  restored  from  Dr.  Strassmaier's  tablet. 
It  will  be  noticed  that  the  name  of  his  father  Sukha  means  '•  th© 
Shnhite." 

*   »   •  • 

I  add   a   copy   of  a  tablet  in  my  own  possession   dated  in  the  22nd 
year  of  Darius. 
Obv. 

3.  <V  -^Vi  T  5^  'il  r^Is  '-!  -II  rS  V  !;J?  -^T--!  -0 
4. .  .^]  ^  ^T  i:^IE  Y  T  ^  -^^T  -1  -B  -^  T  T  ->f  4-  -  ^^n^ 
5.  t^i  1  ]  s+  <L<  -Jb  ->f  -II  -  iiTT  T  -!  <^IT  -^ll  ^^  ^  . 

Her. 

4- 1  --1  <--^I  -^  ^  -^  V!\"  <!-!(•)  ^4!  5^!!? 


6  SOME  UNPUBLISHEn  CONTRACT  TABLETS. 

5.  !r^  V  T  ^^<  tT?^(?)  t^;  y !.  ^  tin? 

9.  ^1  <^T  !r^  -^  «n  5.E? !  >:^n  -!T<!  x^Hh <  e:^^] 


i.  A        Jk-V 


Obr.  1.  XV  DHU  [kaspi  sa  ina]  IV  (?)  har  dhd  bit-gar 

2.  nu-ukh-ldin-tu  d  p.  Ki  (?  )-i-dhabbu-khn(?)-dhu 

3.  pan-n  w.p.  Ni-din-tum-Bilu  abil  sa  d.p.  Iddin-na-Nabu 

4.  ina  na-as-par  turn  sa  ^   Iddin-na-Nabu  abil  sa  d.p.  Uras-nadin- 

akhi 

5.  abu-su  D.p.  Ni-din-ium-Bilu  ina  qata  d.p.  Nergal-yu-se-zib 

6.  abil  sa  d.p.  A,b-la-a  abil  d.p.  Ga-su-ra  ma-khir 

Rev.  1.  amil  .iiu-kin-nn  d.p.  habn-napis-tim  abil 

2.  sa  d.p.  Edirn-Maruduk  abil  sa  d.p.  Se-rid  (?)-Bilu 

3.  D.P.  lUi-Nabu-balidh  abil  sa  d.  p.  Nergal-bal-idb 

4.  d.p.  Maniduk-sunia-ebris  abil  sa  D.P.Qur-di  (?)-emuqu 

5.  ahil  sa  d.p,  Zak-bit  (?)-babi  d.p.  Tab-ni-e-a 

6.  abil  sa  Ab-la-a  abil  d.p.  Ga-su-ra 

7.  d.p.  Su-zu-bu  airiil  sangu  abil  sa  p.p.  Ediru-Marnduk 
•8.-  abil  amil  sangu  Bili  Din-Tir-Ki  arkhei  Adarai  pan-u 

9.  yumu  XVII "ran  sana  XXII  ran  d.p.  Da-ri-us  [sar]  Babili 
u  matati. 


Accordingly  the  deeil  was  registered  at  Babylon  on  the  22nd  day 
of  the  "former  month  of  Adar  in  the  22nd  year  of  Darius,  king  of 
Babylon  and  tlie  provinces,"  and  in  the  presence  of  the  priest  Surub 
the  son  of  Ediru-Marduk  the  priest  of  Bel-Merodach.  The  month 
Adar  is  called  the  "  former"  in  order  to  distinguish  it  from  the 
second  or  intercalatory   Adar. 

By  way  of  supplement,  I  may  st  ite  that  the  Pitt-Rivers  Museum 
possesses  two  Babylonian  cylinders.  One  of  these  reads  (1)  Nu-ur-Nergal 
(an  DouR^,  (2)  son  of  Su-pu-lu,  (3)  servant  of  Nergal."  The  second 
contains  the  names  of  the  two  deities  Sa-pir  and  Nir-gal.  The  name 
of  Sapir   ••  the  sender"  is  new.  A.  H,    Satcb^ 


JATAKA      BAVEKU. 


jataka    havehu. 

(^Translated  from  the  original  Pali). 
(No.  B39.) 

'Until  they  saw  a  peacock.'  This  the  master  told  at  Jetaraux  about 
the  Sophists  who  had  lost  the  alms  and  honours  previously  bestowed 
upon  them.  For  the  sectarians  until  the  Buddha  had  arrived  received 
much  alms;  but  after  he  had  come  tliey  received  no  longer  either  alms 
or  honours,  but  became  Hke  glowworms  after  the  rising  of  the  Sun. 
Now  the  brethren  were  talking  in  the  meeting  hall  of  what  had  hap- 
pened to  them.  And  the  Master  coming  up  asked  them  what  they 
were  talking  about  as  they  were  thus  seated  together .  And  when  they 
told  him,  he  said :  ''  Not  only  now,  my  brethren,  but  formerly  also  have 
the  unworthy  received  alms  and  honour  so  long  as  the  worthy  had  not 
come  ;  but  after  the  worthy  had  arrived,  then  were  their  alms  and  their 
honours  alike  cut    off."     And    so  saying   he    recalled  the    past:  — 

Once  upon  a  time,  when  Brahmadatta  was  reigning  in  Benares 
the  future  Buddha  was  born  into  the  peacock  race,  and  in  due  course 
he  grew  up,  and  in  great  beauty  wandered  through  the  woods.  Now 
certain  merchants,  bringing  a  common  crow  with  them,  had  come  on 
board  a  ship  to  the  land  of  Biiveru.  At  that  time,  they  say,  there 
were  no  such  things  as  birds  in  that  land,  and  country  folk,  visiting 
the  ship  from  time  to  time,  when  they  saw  the  crow  perched  on  the 
mast  head,  began  straightway  to  praise  it  :  "Look  I  look  at  its  glossy 
colour,  at  its  beautiful  neck,  and  its  beak,  at  its  eyes  like  balls  of  gems!'' 
And  they  said  to  the  merchants  :  "  Good  Sirs,  do  but  give  us  this  bird, 
for  we  want  it  so  much  ;  and  you  can  get  another  when  you  get  home." 

'  Oh   you  may  have   it  if  you  like  to    pay  for  it,'   said  they. 

'Well   then,  sell  it  us  for  a  penny.'  (Kahapana). 

'  We  can't  part  with  it  for  tliat',  said  the  merchants,  and  kept  on  rais- 
ing the  price.  But  when  a  hundred  pieces  were  offered  they  said ; 
'  Well,  it  has  been  of  much  service  to  us  ;  but  we  want  to  be  good  friends 
with  you';  and  so  sold  it  for  the  hundred  pennies. 

And  the  others,  taking  it  away,  put  it  in  a  golden  cage,  and  fed  it 
upon  tit    bits  of  meat    and  fish,  and  on  fruits  and  seeds.     Thus  in  a 


o  JATAKA    BAVEnU. 

])laoe  wlierc  no  otlier  bird;*  were  found,   did  even  tlie  crow,  with  all  the 
ten    faults  lie  has,  enjoy  the   hi,c:hest  honour  and  the   best  of   alms. 

Now  those  merchants,  the  next  time,  got  a  tine  peacock  (a  peacock 
k'ln^)  and  trained  it  to  sing  in  heavenly  notes,  and  to  answer  to  the 
sound  of  the  clapping  of  their  hands,  and  I)rought  it  with  them  to 
the  land  of  Baveru.  When  the  people  of  the  place' had  gathered  to- 
<'ether,  the  bird  stood  on  the  forecastle,  spro^ad  out  his  feathers,  gave 
forth  sweet  sound,  and  danced  the  while.  When  the  folk  saw  that  they 
they    we  rehighly  delighted  and  said  : 

'  Good  Sirs  !  do  let  us  have  this  king  of  birds,  so  full  of  beauty,  and 
so  highly   trained.' 

'  We  had  a  crow  before  with  us,  and  that  you  took.  Now  that  we 
liave  a  peacock,  you  want  tliat  too.  No  one  with  any  kind  of  bird  can 
•come  to  this  land  of  yours.' 

'  Well,  be  it  so,  Good  Sirs.  But  you  can  get  another  in  your  own 
country.  You  might  let  us  have  this',  said  they  and  went  on  raising 
their  offers  till    they  got   it  for  a  thousand  pieces. 

Then  they  put  it  into  a  cage  inlaid  with  all  the  seven  kinds  of 
precious  gems,  and  tended  it  carefully  with  tit  bits  of  fish  and  flesh, 
Avith  fruits  and  seeds,  and  with  honey  too  and  fried  corn,  with  jiggary 
And   sweets   molasses. 

Thus  did  the  peacock  come  to  have  the  highest  honour  and  the 
best  of  alms.  And  from  the  day  he  iirrived  the  alms  and  honour 
pa'd  to  the  crow  fell  off.  till  no  one  even  so  much  as  cared  to  look 
at  him.  Then  the  crow,  no  longer  getting  his  supplies  of  food  either 
hard  or  soft,  hopped  off  crying  '  Karh  Karh',  and  perched  upon  the 
ilung  hill. 

It  was  after  the  Master  had  become  the  Buddha  that  he  brought  these 
two  events  together  in  the  verses  : 

1  Until  they  sr4W  the  peacock — so  well  trained, 
So  bciiutiful  in  song — they  honoured    there 
With  tit-bits  and  with  fruits   a  common  crow. 

But  wlien  the  peacock,  skilled  in  song    and   dance, 
Had  once  api)eared  in  Baveru,  the  old  crow 
Lost  at  a  stroke  his  food  and  honour  too. 

2  So  here  too  wlieu  no  Buddha  had  appeared 
The  king  of  righteousness,  the  Enlighfcener, 
Tiiey  honoured  J»ralimins,  or  the  Sophist  crew; 

But   wlien  the   Buddlia     came   and  in    sweet  tones,  \ 
Made  manifest  tlie   Truth,    the    sophist  tribe 
Lost  at  a    stroke  their  food  and  honour   too. 


JATAKA     HAVBRU.  9 

And  when  he  liacl  uttered  tliase  verses  the  Blessed  One  showed  the 
connection  between  the  tale  of  old  and  the  then  event  bv  saying  : 
'At  that  time  Nizantha  of  tlie  Natha  clan*  was  the  crow,  but  the 
peacock  was    I   myself/  T.  W.  Rhys  Davids. 


*  V 


Ihe  founder  of  the  Javu  sect. 


[This  jataka  has  been  done  into  English  for  the  readers  of  the  B.  (|-  0.  R. 
by  Prof.  T.  W.  Rhys  Davids  at  my  special  request,  for  the  very  reason 
that  the  land  of  Biiveru,  where  on  a  second  occasion  the  sea-merchants 
bring  from  India  the  first  peacock  for  sale,  is  probably  no  other  than 
Babylonia.  This  was  suggested  for  the  first  time  by  Prof.  J,  Minayeff. 
who  saw  in  the  Bavcrujataka,  the  oldest  direct  trace  in  India  of  Phoenicio- 
Babylonian  intercourse  (cfr.  B uddhistische  fragments,  p.  589,  in  Melanges 
Asialiques  de  St.  Petersbourg,  1871,  vol.  VI,  pp.  577-599),  The  present 
translation  differs  in  several  points  from  that  of  the  Russian  scholar. 
Prof.  A.  Weber,  3/.  K.  A.  W.,  1871,  613-632  has  remarked  that  ^am-w 
with  r  instead  of  I  militates  against  a  Phoenician  and  is  in  favour  of  a 
Persian  mediation  in  the  legend,  because  we  have  Babiru  in  the  old 
Persian  cuneiform  texts. 

The  amount  of  historical  truth  underlying  the  story  cannot  be  but  small, 
though  not  without  importance,  as  it  refers  to  the  beginnings  of  a  direct 
maritime  intercourse  not  long  before  the  Buddhist  era  between  India  and 
Babylonia,  while  previously  the  intercourse,  when  any,  was,  as  we  know, 
carried  indirectly  and  through  the  emporia  of  South  Arabia.     T.  de  L.] 


THE  GENUINENESS  OF  THE  CYLINDER  OF   UE-BAU. 


Doubts  having  been  cast  (as  I  understand)  on  the  genuineness  of  the 
well-known  cylinder  of  Ur-Bau,  which  was  presented  to  the  British 
Museum  by  C.  D.  Cobham,  Esq.,  H.  B.  M.  Commissioner  at  Lamaca, 
Cyprus,  in  1880,  I  venture  to  make  a  few  remarks  upon  the  subject, 
merely  observing,  by  way  of  preface,  that  I  have  neither  read  nor  heard 
anything  as  to  the  nature  of  the  arguments    wliich   have  been  brought 


IQ  THE  GENUINENESS  OF    THE 

against  the  genuineness  of  the  Cylinder.  My  judgement  is,  therefore, 
quite  independent,  and  if  it  coincides  with  any  conchision  that  has 
been  already  arrived  at,  such  coincidence  must  be  regarded  as  the  natural 
result  of  a  careful,  unbiassed  consideration  of    the   matter. 

The  cylinder  is  of  jasper,    of  a  dark  greyish   green  colour,    2  in.  and 
,1  high,    1  in.  and  .\  in  diameter.       It   is  nearly   a  perfect   cylinder,   the 
amount  of  concavity  or  gradual  thinning  down  in   the   middle  being  very 
slight  indeed.     It  is  chipped  on  both  the  upper   and  lower   edge  of   the 
cylindrical  part,    and   also    on  the  flat  part   at  the  top  and    bottom,  near 
the  edge,  a  good  sized  flake   having  disappeared  in  one    place.      On   the 
cylindrical    part,  ihe  border  only  has  been  injured   by  the  fragments  chip- 
ped  away.      The  work,  though    a    trifle    rough,  is  veiy  clean,  and  the 
inscription  is  very  clear  and  correct.     It  was  in    consequence  of  seeing 
this  cylinder  that  I  was  enabled,  on  its  coming  to  the  Museum  in  1880, 
to  read  Hashamer  instead    of  Kassimir  as    the  name  of  the  viceroy,  and 
I  believe  that  Prof.  Hommel    read  the  name  of  the  scribe  correctly   as 
Iskun-Sin  from  the   reproduction    given    in  the  Guide  to  the  Kouyunjik 
Gallery  (frontispiece),  printed  in    1883. 

The  style  of  the  work  is  pure  Babylonian,  the  figures  are  deeply  cut, 
but  the  edges  are  a  little  rounded.  At  the  top,  above  the  seated  figure, 
a  portion  of  the  border  is  rubbed  away,  and  the  same  thing  is  noticeable 
at  the  bottom,  but  to  a  much  greater  degree,  the  base  on  which  the 
chair  rests  having  been  ground  away,  together  with  one  of  the  legs 
of  the  seated  deity,  making  it  probable  that  a  comparatively  unskilled 
hand  has,  at  some  early  period,  tampered  with  it.  Apparently  he  had 
begun  to  reduce  the  surface  without  allowing  for  the  thinning  down  in 
the  middle.       The  whole  has  a  newish  appearance. 

Having  lately  had  an  opportunity  of  seeing  some  real  modern  forgeries, 
good  of  their  kind,  but  such  as  would  deceive  no  one  but  a  novice,  I 
have  come  to  the  conclusion,  that  this  cylinder  can  not  be  a  modern 
forgery.  (1)  The  figures  are  too  well  done  ;  (2)  they  show  too  much 
technical  skill  and  knowledge  of  Babylonian  art  ;  (3)  the  Babylonian 
style  is  perfect;  (4)  the  mscription  is  faultless;  (^5)  what  a  forger  could 
not  do  today  he  could  not  have  done  ten  years  ago,  and  (0)  still  less 
at  the  time  when  Ker  Porter  published  a  reproduction  of  this  object, 
in  his  book   (Travels,  Vol.   11.,  pi.  79,  6). 

This  being  the  case,  I  am  therefore  inclined  to  regard  the  object  either 

(1)  as  being    ancient,  and  of  the  date  of     Ur-Bau    and   Hashamer,  or 

(2)  as  being  an  ancient  BabyloniAU  copy,  made  before    500   b.c.     If  it 


CYLINDEU    OF    UR-BAU.  ll 

be  of  tlie  lime  of  Ur-Bau,  the  object  must  have  been  kept  very  care- 
fully aad  very  little  used,  and  this  is  not  impossible,  if,  as  is  likely,  it 
was  regarded  as  of  historical  interest.  Tliough  rare,  cylinders  of  green 
jasper,  apparently  of  about  the  same  date  as  that  of  Ur-Bau,  and  in 
as  good  a  state  of  preservation,  exist  in  various  collections,  and  the  Brit- 
ish Museum  possesses  an  ironstone  cylinder,  also  of  the  same  period, 
which  is  even  better  preserved.  If  the  object  be  an  ancient  reproduc- 
tion (whicli  I  am  inclined  to  doubtj,  its  excellent  state  of  preservation 
is  fully  accounted  for.  There  are  no  signs  (except  the  ground-out 
portions  above  referred  to)  of  its  being  an  ancient  cylinder  touched  up  or 
re-engraved  by  a  later  Babylonian  artist,  though  such  a  thing  could  have 
been    done,  and   with    great    success,  by  a  skilful  workman. 

TriEo.    G.  Pinches. 


M.  Joachim  Menant,  the  well-known  Assyriologist  and  author  of 
the  Recherches  sur  la  GlypUques  Orlentale,  2  vols,  1883—5,  in  two  com- 
mimications  to  the  Academic  des  Inscriptions  et  Belles-Lettres,  Aug.  2 
and  Sept  20  of  the  present  year,  has  contested  the  genuineness  of  this 
cylinder,  for  which  he  keeps  the  anciently-guessed  name  of  Urkham.  His 
objection  cannot  be  said  to  have  no  leg  to  stand  upon,  as  indeed  it  has 
one,  said  to  be  a  bad  one,  tlie  very  liiuder  leg  of  the  throne  figured  in 
the  design. 

M.  Menant  maintains  that  this  foot,  shaped  like  a  pied-de-biche,  is  ob- 
jectionable to  the  peculiar  art  of  the  time,  as  he  has  himself  never  met  any 
other  similar  instance. 

In  his  >ecoud  communication,  less  affirmative  than  the  fiz"st  and  made 
after  the  letter  of  M.  C.  Delaval  Cobham,  who,  writing  from  Lar- 
naca,  Cyprus,  Aug.  24,  stated  that  this  cylinder  was  handed  to  him  by  a 
legatee  of  the  original  owner.  Dr.  John  Hine,  the  French  scholar,  is 
ready  to  concede  that  the  fabrication  of  the  cylinder  may  be  much  older 
than  lie  supposed  at  first,  and  date  from  the  second  Chaldajan  empire. 

In  partial  support  of  the  latter  view  we  may  cite  a  chalcedony  seal  in 
the  British  Museum,  belonging  probably  to  one  of  the  Egibi  family  or  of 
that  period — say  700—050  A.c. — and  representing  an  eunuch  sacrificing 
before  an  altar  which  stands  on  feet,  two  visible,  shaped  as  pieds-de-biche. 
On  the  other  hand  is  it  quite  safe,  with  the  little  we  know  of  the  art  at  the 
time  of  Urban  (  =  Urkham,  Likbagas,  Urbagas,  Urbabi)  to  deny  abso- 
lutely the  possibility  of  a  sucli  shape  for  the  feet  of  a  throne  ?  A  con- 
nection lias  been  shown  between  the  ancient  art  of  Chakbra  and  tliat  of 


12  A    LIFE    OP    THE    BUDDHl. 

E»ypt.  Now  let  us  remark  that  the  wooden  throne  of  the  queen  Hatshop- 
sitn,  sister  of  Thothmes  III,  of  which  parts  are  now  in  the  British  Museum 
has  feet  exactly  simiiar  to  that  figured  on  the  monumental  cylinder.  The 
outcome  of  these  facts  viewed  with  the  criticisms  of  M.  Joachim  Menant 
and  the  remarks  of  Mr.  Theo.  G.  Pinches  is  that,  according  to  all  pro- 
baoilities,  there  was  a  cyliuder  made  in  the  time  of  Ilashamer  and  Urba-u , 
of  which  the  present  specimen  is  a  copy,  more  or  less  faithful,  and 
dating  of  the  second  Chaldean  empire.  T.   de   L, 


A  LIFE    OF    THE    BUDDHA  : 
translated  from  the  P'U-YAO  KING,  by  the  late 
Prof.  Dr.  S.  Beal. 
{Continued  from    Vol.  Ill,  j).  274). 

Section  III. 
The  Revelation  (of  Bodhisatwa)  under  the  form  of  an  Elephant. 

Buddha  thus  continued  his  discourse.  "  On  this  occasion  Bodhisatwa, 
with  a  view  to  the  conversion  of  the  Devas  who  had  attended  to  his 
discourse,  proposed  the  following  question  to  them.  "  Under  what  form 
should  {J)  descend  spiritually  into  the  womb  of  my  mother"?  Then 
some  replied:  "In  the  form  of  a  sage,"  others  said:  "in  the  form  of  Sakra 
or  Brahma"  others  said  "in  the  form  of  Mahervara,  others  said:  "in  the 
form  of  "  sih-i"  Devaraja  (Vaisravana?)  Others  said:  under  the  form  of 
an  Asura  or  a  Gandharva,  others  said  a  Kinnara,  or  Mahoraga,  or 
utider  the  forms  of  Surya  or  Chandra,  or  as  others  said,  under  the  form 
of  the  golden  winged  birds  (Garudas). 

On  this  occasion  there  was  a  certain  Deva  of  the  Brahmakayikas  whose 
name  was  (terrible-dignity)  Agratejas,  who  had  come  to  be  born  in  heaven 
after  birth  as  a  Rishi  on  earth,  having  almost  attained  to  Supreme  Wis- 
dom. This  one  adarcssed  the  Devaputras  thus  "  after  examination  had 
of  the  facred  writings  of  the  Brahmans  I  find  that  "  Bodhisatwa  ought 
to  des'ccnd  spiritually  into  the  womb  of   his  Mother,"  (i.e.  to  be  spirit- 


A    LIFE    OF    THE  BUDDHA.  13 

ually  incarnated) — and  if  it  be  asked  under  what  form  he  should  thus 
descend,  the  reply  is,  "  the  elephant  form  is  the  best.'" — This  form  by 
the  elephant  is  that  provided  with  6  tusks,  with  its  head  white,  and  its 
furm  altogether  graceful  and  dignified, — moreover  this  elephant  will  be 
marked  by  the  32  superior  signs,  as  an  indication  that  amongst  all 
creatures  that  cross  the  water,  the  white  elephant,  in  comparison  with 
the  hare  or  the  horse,  is  able  to  pass  over  on  foot  with  safety — which  is 
only  a  proof  that  the  Bodhisatwa  in  comparison  with  the  Sravaka  and 
the  Pratyeka  Buddha  is  like  the  elephant  able  to  pass  over  the  stream  of 
life  and  death — in   much  better  case   than  the  hare  or  the  horse. 

So   then  Bodhisatwa  residing    in   the   Tusita   Heaven   having   looked 
abroad  everywhere  through  the  world  moved  by  a  desire  to  descend  and 
to  be  incarnated  in  the  palace  of  the  King  Suddhodana.     At  this  time  in 
the  Palace  of  the  aforesaid   king   eight  miraculous  signs   appeared — the 
first  was  this — in  the  midst  of  a  dry  and    barren    land  suddenly  of  itself 
appeared  a  profusion  of  flowers,  perfumes  and  agreeable  herbs ;secondly,  all 
the  various  birds  that  inhabit  the  snowy  mountains  [names  given]  came  to 
the  Palace  of  the  king  and  perched  in  various  places  warbled  forth  their 
various  notes,  in  token  of  their  complete  happiness.     The  third  sign  was 
this — in  the  gardens  of  Suddhodana   raja  at  the  end  of  winter  and  com- 
mencement of  spring,  imnumerable  flowers  of  every  kind  burst  forth  into 
blossom. — The  fourth  sign  was   this,  that   on  the  various   ponds  which 
were  provided  with  houses  for   religious    contemplation    all  these  ponds 
spontaneously  brougth  forth  large  Lotus  flowers,  with  blue  petals,  large 
as  a  chariot  wheel,  the  petals  themselves  100,000  in  number.     The  5th 
sign  was  this — that  (whatever  provision  there  was  in  the  I'alace  of  the 
King)  whether  ghee,  oil,  honey,  or  other  kinds  of  food,  all  these  remained 
undiminished  (though   used.)      The    sixth  sign   was   this,   that  all    the 
musical  instruments   in  the  palace  of   the  King  discoursed  the   sweetest 
music  without  being   touched.      The  seventh  sign  was   this  that  all  the 
precious  substance,  (pearls,  diamonds,  &c.,)  and  jewelled  garments,  though 
concealed   in  the  Royal  treasure   house,  came  forth  and  presented  them- 
selves to  sight.   The   eighth  sign   was  that  with  within   and  without  the 
palace  there  was  diffused  a  light  more  brilliant  than  that  of  the  Sun  or 
the  Moon. 

(At  this  time  Maya  Devi)  surrounded  by  20000  attendant  women 
filled  with  joy  and  contentment  proceeded  to  the  place  where  the  king 
was,  and  beholding  him  seated  she  took  her  place  at  his  right  liand  on 
a  seat   ornamented    with    precious  hangings,    and  there  with  a  smiling 


14  A    LIFE    OP    THE    BUDDHi. 

and  joyous  countenance  she  addressed  him  thus:   "Hail  (Sadhu)  mighty 
king,  (maharaja)    deign  to  hsten  I     I*     have  undertaken  a    great    vow 
under  tlie  most  propitious  circumstances-,   and  on  this    account  I  am> 
filled  with  joy,  now  whilst  there  is  Peace  among  all  nations  it  is  right 
that  I  should    observe    a  strict    watchfulness    over    every  appetite'  and 
ceerish  in  myself  a  loving  heart,  permitting    no   angry  feeling  (to  dwell 
there),  instructing    myself  to    love  my  fellow    creatures^,    rejecting  and 
discarding  every  feeling   of  envy   or  jealousy,  cherishing  a  desire    to  see 
all  false  Teaching  (erroneous  views)  removed  or  corrected,  and  the  con- 
sequent evils,  the  confusion    and  discord  which    afflict   the   great   mass 
(of  men)   for  ever  terminated.     How  can  I  but  be    filled  with   joy  hav- 
ing entered  on  this  true  and  correct   line  of  action,  resolved  to  cherish 
no  feeling  of  hatred,    and  nut    to  allow    in  myself  either    of   the  ten  evil 
ways  of  conduct  which  are  common  in  the  world.     Virtuous  king  !  feel 
for   us !    estabUsh  us  to  the  utmost    to  give    up    every  impure    thought, 
not  for   a  moment    to   countenance  a  slanderous  word  or  a  double  tongue 
against  this  one  or  that.     My  desire  is  to   follow  the  strictest   rules    of 
abstinence,    to  suppress  every  evil  thought,   to    walk  uprightly   and    vir- 
tuously, to  find  my  delight  in  truth   (righteousness).     We  desire  also  to 
regulate  our  outward  life  according  to   right-rule,   to    do   away  with    all 
foolish   and   polluting    practices,  and  to  hold  fast  by  a  joyful  and  happy 
heatt,  and  to  this  end  we   would  remove    from  us  all  the  pleasures  that 
generally  surround  us  (dancing  and  music)  so  that  we  may  have  abiding 
rest ;  we  would  give  up    scattering  flowers   and  burning   perfumes.    That 
pleasures   shall  no  longer  distract  the  heart,  for   seven  days,  and    night 
by  night  I  desire  to  remain  at  rest  and  without  discomposure,  our  minds 
desire  no  more  the   gratification   of   sense  whether  of  sight    (beauty)    or 
sound,  or  smell  or  taste,  we  desire    only  and  covet  most  to  hear  the  good 
news  (voice)  that  men  and  women  are  ainiing  at  perfect  virtue  (or  becom- 
ingly perfectly   good),  even  as  the   gods    who  ever  go  about  rejoicing  to 
confer  benefits.     I  desire  not  cither  jewels  or  necklaces,  or  gaudy  couches 
or  sumptuous  feasts  at  the  hands    of    the  king.     I  would  keep   in    my 
heart   virtuous    meditations,   and    rejoice    continually  in  these,  at  perfect 
rest   and  free  from    all   distraction.      Now    then,  mighty  king  !  let  me 
regard  all  the   people   in    the    light  of  an   only  son.^" 

The  king  having  heard  these  words  was  filled  with  joy,  (and  said) 
♦'let  nothing  interfere  with  your  wish,  fulfil  thoroughly  your  vow.'- 
At  this  time  the  king  bestowed  upon  the  women  of  the  Palace  every 
kind  of  gift  as  they  chose,  he  commanded  that  (the    palace)  should  be 


THE      r'u      YAO      KING.  15 

perfectly  adoraed,  that  flowers  should  be  scattered,  and  perfumes  burnt, 
that  hangings  of  silk  and  streamers  should  be  suspended  (from  the  walls): 
and  moreover  he  appointed  20000  men  fully  armed  with  all  military 
accoutrements  to  keep  guard  on  the  right  hand  and  the  left,  whilst  their 
attendants  continued  to  sound  every  kind  of  musical  instrument,  to  pro- 
tect the  qu'^en  and  commemorate  her  vow.  Then  the  women  of  the 
Palace  gathered  around  (her  chamber)  ;ind  the  Apsaras  closed  about  her 
per.^on  bringing  with  thera  garments  sprinkled  with  heavenly  perfumes 
jewels  and  adornments,  whilst  concordant  music  sounded  forth  on  all 
sides.  The  queen  having  ascended  her  couch  (seat),  countless  thousands 
of  flowers  of  every  kind  fell  down  from  heaven,  and  covered  her  richly 
adorned  and  sumptuous  bed,  whilst  the  heavenly  visitors  gathered  close 
around,  holding  pitchers  full  of  perfumed  water,  and  scattering  flowers 
and  burning  incense. 

NOTES. 

1)  There  is  some  difliculty  here  in  the  construction,  it  might  be  ren- 
dered "Mahanija,  listen  to  the  words  of  your  of  your  wife  0  King  !  I 
have  undertaken  &c.,"  but  this  is  an  unusual  construction  of  a  Chinese 
sentence  so  that  I  prefer  taking  "  tsih  yen  wang"  as  a  repitition  "the 
wife  tlien  addressed  the  king,   I  &c." 

2)  The  ptopitious  circumstances  (sui  ying)  are  the  miraculous  events 
before  referred  to. 

3)  "pa  kwan,"  "the  eight  passes  of  tlie  body,"  The  version  of  M. 
Foucaux  is  altogether  unintelligible, 

4)  H  =  <)ther  than   myself. 

5)  The  Chinese  throughout  indicates  that  not  only  had  Naya  resolved 
n  this  abstraction    from    pleasure,  but  her  attendant  women  also, 

6)  It  might  be  the  queen  desired  the  king  so  to  regard  the  people 
but   the  continuity  of   of   construction  seems  not  to  admit  of  the  change. 

(2'o  be  continued). 


THE     DELUGE-TRADITION 
AND  ITS  REMAINS  IN  ANCIENT   CHINA. 

1.  The  only  historic  account  of  the  Deluge  is  that  of  the  Bible,  and 
whatever  may  be  attributed  in  it  to  the  moral  complexion  of  the  event 
which  the  author  had  in  view,  there  is  such  a  ring  of  truth  in  his  recital 
that  much  of  it  must  have  as  a  basis  the  genuine  tradition  of  a  moment- 
ous catastrophe  and  does  not  permit  us  to  accept  the  views  of  some  recent 
writers  who  have  looked  upon  the  whole  as  a  myth  susceptive  of  a  me- 
teorological explanation  of  the  solar  and  storm-theories.      Since  then,  an 


16  TUE  DELUGB-TKADITION  AND 

independent  testimony  lias  come  forward  from  under  the  dust  of  ages  in 
tlie  shape  of  a  single  lino  on  a  lung  list  of  early  Babylonian  kings,  where 
a  distinction  is  made  of  certain  kings  who  ruled  after  the  Flood}  This 
proves  that  such  an  event  was  looked  upon  by  the  Babylonians  as  a  fact 
of  importance  in  their  history^  and  not  at  all  as  a  poetical  legend'.  The 
statement  is  so  precise  that  it  must  cause  mythologists  to  pause  before 
persevering  in  their  fable-explanations. 

2.  On  the  other  hand,  and  the  fact  is  not  unimportant,  it  has  been 
often  stated  in  recent  years  that  no  account  of  the  Deluge  is  to  be  found 
in  Chinese  legends  or  traditions.  This  absence  haivng  been  supposed  to 
concur  with  a  paucity  of  similar  vestiges  among  the  yellowjace  at  large  and 
with  a  complete  lack  among  the  Negro  race  in  general,  speculations  have 
been  rife  to  explain  the  case.  The  suggestion  has  been  that  these 
two  races  were  not  represented  by  any  of  their  ancestors  at  the  time  and 
ill  the  neighbourhood  of  the  historical  event  of  the  Deluge  nor  of  the 
focus  from  where  the  tradition  was  spread. 

3.  With  reference  to  the  Chinese  these  conclusions  from  another  point 
of  view  would  be  very  remarkable,  and  would  deserve  the  special  attention 
of  Assyriologists  and  Sinologists  alike,  when  looked  upon  in  the  light  of 
recent  research.  It  seems  that  they  would  stand  in  opposition,  and  as 
one  extraordinary  exception  to  the  numerous  souvenirs  and  remains,  sur 
vivals  and  traces  that  we  are  now  enabled  to  disclose  in  Chinese  docu- 
ments from  olden  times  ;  many  of  these  souvenirs  and  legends  dating 
from  the  pre-Chinese  period  of  early  relations  with  western  culture  and 
early  intercourse  of  the  future  leaders  and  civilisers  of  the  Chinese,  the 
Bak  tribes,  when  in  the  vicinity  of  Elam,  with  the  countries  of  Baby- 
lonian civilisation. 

4.  But  has  the  proper  method  of  dealing  with  the  subject  been  followed? 
And  as  to  the  hasty  inferences  we  have  mentioned,  are  they  justified  ? 
Have  their  authors  taken  into  account,  the  respective  value  of  the  tradi- 
tions in  chronology  and  order  of  derivation?  We  are  afraid  not.  The 
problem  indicated  by  the  title  of  the  present  paper  requires  to  be  dig- 
cussed  more  scientifically,  and  at  some  length,  before  such  conclusions  may 
be  established  or  disproved. 

5.  Many  questions  come  to  the  front  and  trouble  the  enquirer  for  a 
solutinn  Do  the  various  forms  of  the  Deluge  traditions  refer  to  one 
nnd  the  same  event  of  which  some  of  them  would  be  independent 
souvenirs*  ?       Are  they  corruptions,  or  transformations   and  derivations 


ITS    REMU>fS    IX    ANCIUMT     CHINA.  17 

from  one  sole  aod  fixed  tradition  ?  Is  tlie  Biblical  account  on  historical 
souvenir  of  a  deluge  without  antecedents  1  Is  is  an  adaptation  of 
a  local  event  to  a  vague  souvenir  of  a  remote  catastrophe  which  was  dis- 
astrous to  mankind  ?  Is  it  not  possible  that  some  peculiar  traditions  of 
this  remote  catastrophe  should  have  been  transmitted  by  populations  in 
their  migrations  May  not  some  isolate  episodes  of  this  catastrophe  or 
of  the  Deluge  itself,  have  been  separately  spread  previously  to  their 
systematical  incorporation  into  late  accounts  and  traditions,  and  be  found 
as    survivals    in  ancient  literatures  We  hope  in   tlie    course  of   this 

paper  to  find  the  proper  auswei  to  some  of  these  doitbtful  points. 

Notes.  1  j  (Jn  the  first  column  of  the  tablet  of  sixty  lines,  the  first  thirty 
of  which  are  missing,  the  following  statement  occurs  on  the  51st  line 
between  two  linear  divisions  :  Annutam  sarri  sa  arkl  abubi  ona  satir 
aliamai  la  satrii  translated  by  T.  Gr.  Pinclies  :  "  These  are  the  kings 
who  after  the  flood  as  to  the  order  of  each  other  wrote  not."'  Cfr. 
Notes  on  a  new  list  of  early  Babylonian  kings,  in  I'roc.  S.B.A.,  11 
Jan.  '81,  p.  38.  W.  St.  Chad  Boscawen  translates  :  "  These  are  the 
kings  ruling  after  the  deluge  (abubi),  who  according  to  their  relative 
order  wrote  not."  Cf.  From  under  the  dust  of  ages,  1886,  p.  101. 
Prof.  Tr.  Hommel  translates  :  "  Die  sind  die  Konige,  welche  (von 
denen^  nach  der  Flut  in  (ehronologische)  Reihe  untereinander  nich 
gereiht  sind."  Cfr.  D';e  Semittschen  Volker  und  Sjirachen,  t.  I,  p.  o'dl. 
As  usual  on  similar  tablets  (cfv.  Proc.  S.B.A.,  Dec.  7,  1880),  pp. 
21,    2-!,  tlie  remark  must  apply  to  the  names  preceedmg  it. 

2)  M.  W.  S.  C.  Boscawen  was  I  think,  the  first  to  call  attention  on 
the  importance  of  the  statement.     Cf.  loc.  cit. 

3)  We  shall  have  to  speak  further  on  of  the  poetical  account  given  in  the 
Gi/.dhubar  epic  and  the  sort  of  confirmation  it  bears  on  the  Biblical 
triidition. 

Jr)  We  leave  entirely  aside  all  the  legends  which  may  receive  a  local  and 
ind'^pendent  explanation. 


I. 

G.  So  much  has  b^en  written  on  the  universality  or  non-universality 
of  the  Deluge,  and  the  importance  of  its  souyenir  for  primitive  humanity 
as  shown  by  the  supposed  cosmopolitan  character  of  its  tradition,  that 
the  various  aspects  From  which  the  question  must  be  studied,  have  been 
neglected.  Scientific  criticism  has  not  always  been  allowed  an  indei)end- 
ent  examination,  and  unhappily,  prejudiced  views  according  to  the  ad- 
vocacy of  the  writer  narrowly  clerical   or  systematically  antagonistic    to 


|g  THE  DELUGK-TRADITIOK  AND 

anv  thing-  that  cimccrns  the  Bible,  have  too  often  coloured  the  exposi- 
tion of  the  traditions  and  of  the   facts. 

First  of  all  let  us  sav  fur  the  satisfaction  of  many  of  our  readers, 
and  the  sake  of  our  independent  views,  that  the  credibility  of  the  Biblical 
report  is  in  no  way  correlative  of  the  conclusion  that  may  be  gained  from 
a  critical  study  of  the  distant  tradition  of  the  Deluge.  Ihe  veracity  of 
the  Flo(d  tradition  in  Genesis  rests  on  other  basis  than  the  shaky 
crntches  which  have  been  sought  for  it  in  the  legends  we  shall  have 
to  mention. 

7.  We  are  afraid  however,  that  those  who   attach  a  high  value  and  some 
importance  to  a  supposed  universality  in  this  tradition,  as  a  confirmation 
of  tlie  veracity  of  scripture,  run  the  risk  of  being  deceived  by  the  progress 
of  research. 5      An  existing  tradition   of  the  Deluge,  among   the  past  or 
present  lore  of  a  people,    is  not  necessarily  a  souvenir  of  their  own.     It 
has  been  too  easily  taken  for  granted  that  it  implies  the  direct  emigration 
of  the  ancestors  of  that  people  from   a  common  focus  with  other  nations 
in  possession  of  similar  traditions.    And  therefore  that  the  large  extension 
of  the  Deluge   tradition  is  at  the  same   time  a   double  proof  of  the  his- 
toricity of  the  event,  and  of  the   common   origin  of   mankind  from    one 
and  the  same  region  after   the   Deluge^.     Such    a    confusion    must    be 
avoided  and  the  independent  testimony  of  the  traditions  with  reference  U> 
the  historic  event  must  be  disentangled  from  this  imbroglio,  so  convenient, 
but  so  imscientific.     It  is  certainly   an  error  of  appreciation  and  a  delus- 
ion as  to  the  relative  value  of  things,  and  the  sooner  we  get  rid  of  it,  the 
better.     The  disappearance  of  an   error  is  a  progress  as  well  as  the  gain 
of  a  new  fact, 

8.  A  wonderful   phenomenon    it    would  be  that  the   independent   })re- 
servation  of  the  Deluge  tradition  by  the  descendants,  all  the  world  over, 
of  the  former  witnesses  of   the  event,  during  the   six  or  more  thousands 
of  years  which  have  elapsed   since  that  time.     Illiterate   and   rude,  how 
conld  tliese  men  have  kept   intact  more  or  less,  or  at  least  in  a   not  un- 
recognizable form,  a  souvenir  of  this  sort,  as  well  if  not  better  than  some 
more  fortunate  of  their  sister  races  who  were  enabled  in  olden  times  to 
cniliody  it  in  writing.     Tiiis  is  certainly  most  improbable,     Tlie  preserva- 
tion ill  America,  Polynesia,  Central  Asia  or  in  any  part  of  the  old  world, 
distant  from  t  haldea,  of  the  Deluge  tradition,  more  or  less  incomplete 
fragmentary  and  adulterated  by  influence  of  new  surroundings,  does  not 
imply  that  it  exists  in  direct  line  of  descent.     The  nations   in  possession 
of  it  are  not  necessarily  the  direct  descendants  of  those  who  have  witnessed 


ITS    REMAINS    IN    AVCIKNT  CHINA.  19 

the  event  or  were  made  acquainted  witli  it  by  their  immediate  ancestors . 
Should  they  be  such  descendants,  unless  they  could  write  df)wn  their  tra- 
ditions, it  is  difficult  to  believe  that  in  the  course  of  ages  and  their  own 
subsequent  displacements,  they  would  not  liave  forgotten  much  if  not  the 
whole  of  the  primitive  tradition,  in  the  same  way  as  they  have  generally 
forgotten  all  about  tlieir  beginnings. 

9.  With  the  superimposition  and  dislocation  of  races,  the  successive 
waves  of  migration  and  the  numerous  displacements  of  population  which 
have  taken  place  in  the  course  of  ages,  changing  their  horizon  and  modi- 
fying their  physical  surroundings,  not  much  could  have  remained  even  in 
remote  antiquity  of  the  arrangement  of  races  which  followed  the  period  of 
the  historic  Deluge,  and  by  whom  or  among  whom  its  primitive  tradition 
was  spread.  And  so  it  is  now  commonly  recognized  and  accepted,  tliat 
the  Deluge  was  confined  to  a  certain  region,  it  is  not  a  airect  consequence 
of  the  event,  that  its  knowledge  should  have  been  carried  away  in  the  age 
immediately  fallowing  it,  all  over  the  world.  The  tradition  must,  in  that 
respect  have  followed  the  fate  of  other  traditions  and  stories  which  have 
been  spread  all  round  according  to  chance  and  facilities.  And  therefore 
many  may  have  received  it  who  were  not  in  the  person  of  their  ancestors, 
witnesses  of  the  event. 

10.  Should  we,  as  we  believe,  be  right  in  these  premises,  many  of  the 
frigmentary  or  diverged  forms  of  the  Deluge  tradition  which  have  been 
found  here  and  there,  are  simply  traces  of  ulterior  intercommunicatloiis, 
direct  or  indirect,  occasional  or  regular,  with  one  or  the  other  of  the  two  or 
three  anc'ent  nations  lohich  hid  preserved  it.  Consequently  the  greater  is 
the  resemblance,  the  more  modern  is  the  borrowing;  the  greater  the  di- 
vergence, more  probable   is  a  connection  in  remote  times. 

11.  As  an  instance  of  the  false  conclusions  which  might  result  from  the 
system  of  reasoning  we  protest  against,  let  us  examine  what  would  hap- 
pen with  the  Biblical  traditions,  or  better,  the  traces  of  Biblical  traditions 
which  have  been  found  in  possession  of  the  Karengs  and  Karennis  of 
Burma.'  They  are  peculiarly  interesting  for  the  object  of  the  present 
paper  because  of  their  original  relationship  with  the  Chinese.  When 
Christian  missionaries  went  among  them,  some  sixty  years  ago,  they 
were  greatly  surprised  to  see  them  acquainted  with  tiie  creation  of  the 
world^  by  Ea-pay  (Yaveh)  the  stay  of  Tha-nai  (Adam)  and  E-u  (Eva) 
in  the  garden  of  Paradise, the  tree  of  knowledge,  temptation  by  the  dragon, 
the  Fall,  the  curse,  notions"  of  Satan  and  Angels,  and  of  the  dispersion, 
the  latter  only  in  a  somewhat    indistinct  allusion.     Now,  it  cannot  be 


20  TiiK    i)K[.l'<:e-tuaditiox  and 

(loulited  tlijit  tliese  legendary  accounts  are  derived  from  the  Biblical 
f  I'aditions,  and  from  none  other,  while  a  reference  of  an  uncertain  char- 
acter to  the  Deluge  cannot  be  ascribed  to  the  same  source^,  and  if 
genuine  is  a  secondary  derivation  of  an  episode,  from  another  form  of 
tlie  tradition. 

12.  Surely  we  shall  nut  infer  from  these  peculiarites  that  the  Karengs 
have  emigrated  from  the  Biblical  lands  some  time  after  the  loss  of  the 
Garden  of  Eden  and  long  before  the  Deluge.  It  is  quite  evident  that 
they  have  been  acquainted  with  the  Biblical  traditions  by  some  mission- 
ary teaching  or  other,  and  that  this  teaching  has  stopped  short  for  some 
Tmknowu  reason.  Those  traditions  have  been  brouglit  within  their  reach 
in  the  course  of  history,  thougli  it  may  be  difficult  in  the  present 
state  of  our  knowledge  to  point  out  exactly  through  which  source  they 
have  received  tliem.  It  was  not  previously  to  tiieir  settlement  in  Indo- 
China,  as  there  are  reasons  to  believe  that  their  migration  from  China 
took  place  before  the    Christian  era. ^"^ 

i;-).  Now  the  Jews    had  pe.ietrated    into    China,  i^  according    to  pro- 
Ijabilities  and  their  tradition  of  their  descendants  in    that  country,  about 
the  first  century  a.c,  i-  when  they  had  a  settlement  in  Central   Szetchuen 
not  far  from  the  supposed   original    seat    of  the  Karengs,' ^     The  date  of 
the  displacement    of   the  latter,  though  still  a  matter  of  uncertainty  may 
have  happened  long  before  the  arrival  of  the  Jews  should  certain  specu- 
lations be  verified  by    further   research.'*     Failing  the   influence    of    the 
sons  of  Israel  in  China,  the   Karengs  may   have  learned   the   traditions 
under  consideration,  i.e.  the  Biblical    notions  which   underly    them,   from 
Xestorian  teachings  in  their  present  demesnes, ^^  still  unknown  to  history. 
Once  fixed  in  Burma,  these  populations  stood  on  the  great  road  of  trade 
from  the  South  and  the  sea,  used  for  centuries  before  the  Christian  era 
and  afterwards    ^''',    and  therefore  have   been    since   within   the  reach  of 
enterprising  mi-ssionaries.  Christian    or  Mohanmiedan.^^       And    besides 
modern   spread  of  Christianity  began  before   1600,  and    we   hear   about 
1004    (if  a    hundred    thousand    converts   in    Southern    Burma^^     under 
Portuguese  pressure.     Therefore  there  was   no  lack    of  opportunities  for 
the   Karengs  to  become    acquainted    with  Biblical    lore.     And    no  other 
••(instruction  than  a    late  spread  of  this  lore  among  them  can  be  put  on 
their  possession  of  tliese  traditions. 

14.  That  wliicli  has  hajipened  with  the  Karens  must  have  happened 
^■Isewhere,  mut.  fis  mviavdis  ;  and  considering  the  migratory  habits  of 
man  and  the  hmg  series    of  ages   which  have  elapsed  since  the  time  of 


ITS    REMAINS    IN  ANCIENT  CHINA.  21 

the  Delngp,  many  intercommunications  which  have  taken  })lace  are  un- 
known to  history.  A  close  examination  of  tiie  e  »is  die  features  of  the 
traditions  and  their  prohable  transformations  in  comparison  witli  the 
numerous  legends  of  a  simihir  character,  may  enligliten  us  on  their  res- 
pective value.  Amthropologists^'^  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that  in 
former  times  man  has  always  travelletl  much  more  than  is  commonly 
supposed,  and  that  the  earth  is  inhabiti.d  but  by  colonists. 

5)  In  the  course  of  his  investigations  on  the  subject,  the  views  of  Fran- 
cois Lenonnant  who  was  one  of  the  foremost  amongst  the  scholars 
having  collected  the  Deluge  traditions,  have  undergone  a  serious  modi- 
fication. In  his  Es'^ai  de  conimentalre  siir  /e.<  jr<((/ni'7iffi  coamngonique^ 
de  Berose,  published  in  ls73,  he  says  :  "  La  tradition  du  deluge  est 
la  tradition  universelle  par  excellence,  parmi  toutes  celles  qui  ont 
trait  a  I'histoire  de  I'liumanite  primitive."  Several  years  later,  in  his 
Ortgin-s  de  C  histoire,  vol.  I,  pp.  489-491,  we  do  not  find  him  as 
affirmative.  Besides  its  absence  among  the  negro  race,  lie  admits 
with  Bunsen,  that  the  tradition  is  not  indigenous  among  the  yellow 
race,  that  its  existence  doubtful  in  Polynesia,  is  an  im[)ortation  in  the 
New  World.  And  finally  that  the  tradition  belongs  independently 
and  as  a  souvenir  .)f  former  times,  only  to  the  three  races,  Aryan, 
Syro-Arab  and  Kushite,  the  only  ones  men:ioned  in  the  Bible  as  the 
descendants    of  Noah. 

6)  Tlie  f(jllowing  opinion,  largely  different  from  that  that  of  Lenormant  ^is 
interesting  as  an  ingenious  attempt  at  explaining  away  the  discrep- 
ancies in  the  Deluge  legends.  M.  Stanislaus  Wfdsc,  in  his  Chuptei-a 
on  Man,  1858,  p.  268,  says:  "For  ahhough  this  flood  (the  Deluge) 
was  not  universal,  still,  as  it  was  a  central  one,  possibly  some  brancn 
of  every  race  then  existing  would  be  affected  by  it,  and  as  the  rem- 
nant of  each  race  would  escape  at  different  points  round  the  margin 
of  the  flood-basin,  the  incidents  of  the  escape  would  differ  with  each. 
Cut  off  from  all  other  human  beings,  evejyone  of  the  surviving  tribes 
would  suppose  themselves  to  be  the  only  remaining  inhabitants  on 
earth,  and  tlius  as  the  Semitic  race  thought  its  ancestors  alone  had 
been  saved  from  the  fury  of  the  Deluge,  so  the  1  apua  race  of  Australia 
have  the  same  opinion  as  to  themselves." 

7)  On  the  ethnic  position  of  this  race,  as  a  part  of  the  Kuenlunic 
family,  cfr.  The.  Languages  of  China  before  the  Chi?iese,  pp.  84-87 
and  l;^5  ;  and  for  a  description  of  them  A.  R.  McMahon,  2'he  Karens 
of  the  GoldenChersonese,  London,  1870  ;  also  H.  R.  Spearman,  Brit- 
ish Burma  Gazetteer,  vol.  I.  pp.  1G2-173. 

8)  The  Red  Karengs  or  Karennis  have  it  in  the  following  short  and 
striking  form  : 

'•  The  earth  at  its  origin,  Ea-pay  created. 

"  The  heavens  at  their  origin,  ...Ea-pay  created. 

"  Man  at  his  origin,  ...Ea-pay  created. 

"  The  sun  at  its  origin.  ...lOa-pay  created. 

"  The  moon  at  its  origin,  ...Ea-pay  created. 

"  The  trees  at  their  origin,  ...Ea-pay  created. 


J 2  THB    DELUOE'TRADITION    AND 

"The  bamboos  at  their  origin,  ...Ea-pay  created 

"The  grass  at  its  origin,  .„Ea-pay  created. 

"  The  cattle  at  their  origin,  ...Ea-pay  created." 

Another  version  runs  as  follows  : 

"God  created  heaven  and  earth. 

"The   creation  of  heaven   of  earth  was  finished. 

"  He  create!  the  sun.  He  created  the  moon.  He  created  the  stars.  The 
creation  of  the  sun,  the  moon  and  the  stars  was  finished.  He  created 
again — man,  and  of  what  did  He  create  man."  He  created  man  at 
fiist  from  tlie  earth.     The  creation  of  man  was  finished. 

•'  He  created  a  woman.  How  did  He  create  a  woman  1  He  took  a  rib 
out  of  the  man  and  cre..teJ  a  woman.  The  creation  of  woman  was 
finislied. 

"  He  (treated  again  life.  How  did  He  create  life  ?  Father  God  said, — 
*  In  respect  to  my  son  and  daughter,  I  love  them  ;  I  will  give  them 
my  great  life  !  He  took  a  little  piece  of  his  life,  breathed  into  the  nos- 
trils of  tlio  two  persons,  and  they  came  to  life  and  were  real  human 
beings.     The  creation  of  man  was  finislied. 

"  He  created  a^ain  food  and  drink.  He  created  Rice.  He  created  water. 
He  created  fira.  He  created  cows.  He  created  elephants.  He  created 
birds.     The  creation  of  animals  was  finished." 

All  these  and  other  traditions  are  given  in  Mason's  Burmah,  vol.  I. 
Cf.  also  in  McMahon,  The  Karens,  pp.  190,  196,  and  H.  R.  Spear- 
man, O.C,  pp.  Ifi4-165. 

a)  "  It  thundered,  tempests  followed.  It  rained  three  days  and  three 
niglits.  and  the  waters  covered  all  the  mountains.  "  Anciently  when 
the  earth  was  deluged  with  water,  two  brothers  finding  themselves  in 
difficulty,  got  on  a  raft.  Tiie  waters  rose  and  rose  till  they  reached  to 
Heaven  ;  when  seeing  a  mango  tree  hanginL^  down,  the  younger  brother 
climbed  up  it  and  ate  ;  but  the  waters  suddenly  falling  left  him  in  the 
tree."  Cfr.  McMahon,  O.C.  pp.  194-1?5.  We  must  see  here  ap- 
parently a  survival  of  an  episode  of  the  Hindu  form  of  the  legend. 

10)  Cfr.  T.  de  L.  :   The  cradle  of  the  Shan  race,  (1885),  p.  27. 

11)  Their  existence  at  Kai-fung  fu  in  Honan  was  made  known  in 
Europe  by  a  letter  of  P.  Gozani,  5th  Nov.  1704.  {Lettres  e'difi antes, 
VII,  1. — The  most  important  publications  on  the  subject  are  :  S. 
de  Sacy  :  Notice  d^mi  MS.  du  Pentateuque  conserve  dans  la  sj/nagogue 
des  Ja!fsdeCai-f.ng  fou.  Notices  et  Extraits  des  MS.  IV,  pp.  592- 
625. — E.  C.  Bridgman  ;  Jew-'i  In  China  ;  notices  of  those  in  the  East 
hy  Josej)hus,  Pentaol,  Benjamin  de  T  dehi  Manasseh  itnd  the  Jesuits, 
(Chin.  Rop.  Ill,  172  sq. — James  Finn  ;  The  Jews  in  China,  Lon- 
d(m,  1843,  12mo.-— Rov.  George  Smith  ;  The  Jeivs  at  ICae-fungfoo, 
Shanghae,  1851, — S.  W.  Williams:  A  Narrative  of  a  mission  of  Tn- 
(luirii  to  the  Jewish  Synaqogue  at  Kaifung  fu  (Chin  Rep.  XX,  436- 
46(5. — Facsimiles  of  the  Hebrew  manuscripts,  obtained  at  the  Jeivish 
Synagogue  in  K'ae-fung  foo.  Shanghae,  1851.  4to. — W.  R.  B.  :  He- 
brew M  SS.fr  am  K'ne-fuug  foo,  N.  and  Q.  on  Chin,  and  Jap.,  II,  57- 
69,  April,  1868,  describes  a  Ms.  on  skins  sewed  together,  ninety  five 
feet  long  and  probably  16  or  18  feet  longer  when  complete,  containing 
from  Genesis  XXIX,  30  to  the  last  verse  of  Deut.  XXXIV,  written 


ITS  RKMAINS  IN    ANCIKNT    CIIIVA.  23 

without  vowel  points  ncr  accents. — Rev.  W.  C.  Miine,  Life  in  C/iinn, 
Lomlon,  185"^,  pp.  403-410,  gives  in  fac-simile  a  fragment,  Exodus, 
XXXVIII,  21-23,  from  another  MS.  with  vowel-points. — Alex. 
Wylio  :  Israelites  in  China,  1863,  fTho  Chin,  and  Jap.  Repos.,  13.22, 
■43-52.)-  -G.  Pauthier,  annotated  a  French  translation  of  tiie  i)receding 
in  Annates  de  Philosophie  chretienue,  1864. —  Rev.  W.  P.  Martin  ; 
Account  of  a  vtsit  to  the  Jews  in  Honan,  Februar}',  1866,  in  Journal 
N.  Ch.  Br.  R.A.S.,  n.s.  Ill,  26-39  and  The  Chinese Jhen-  education, 
philosophy  and  letters,  London,  1881,  i>p.  287-306.  has  found  them 
impoverishing  and  on  the  way  to  disparition. — (J.  Lieberniannj  : 
Notes  on  the  Jews  in  China,  in  The  Jewish  Chronicle,  July  11,  1879. 
— W.  Williams,  '//le   Middle   A7«9^/o/rt,  R.E.,  II,  pp    271-27  4. 

12)  An  inscriptions  outside  the  gateway  of  the  synagogue  at  K'aifung 
fu  says  :  "  The  founder  of  this  religion  is  Abraham,  who  is  considered 
the  first  teacher  of  it.  Then  came  Moses,  w^ho  established  the  law 
and  handed  down  tlie  sacred  writings.  After  his  time,  during  the 
Han  dynasty,  this  relii^ion  entered  China,"  Cfr.  Milne,  0.(j.,  p.  409, 
and  furtlier  on  :  ..."  It  came  originally  from  India.  Those  who  intro- 
duced it  in  obedience  i^  God's   commands   were  seventy  clans "ibid. 

p.  410.  European  scholars  wanted  to  know  better  than  the  Chinese 
Jews  theraselv^es.  Mr,  Finn  in  his  special  work  (1843)  has  suggested 
that  they  belonged  to  the  restoration  from  Chaldea,  as  they  had  por- 
tions of  Malachi  and  Zecliariah,  adopted  the  era  of  Seleucus,  and  liad 
many  rabbinical  customs.  He  had  been  preceeded  in  this  view  by 
L'abbe  Sionnet  :  Epoque  de  Centree  des  juifs  en  Chine  ;  jivenves  qiiiU 
fl  portent  le  Pentateuque  au  Qe  siecle  nvant  notreere.  Ann.  de  Phil, 
chret.  'e  ser.  XIV  ;  also  Essai  sur  les  Juijs  de  la  Chi?ie  et  sia-  Vinflu- 
ence  q  ^ils  ont  eue  sur  la  litterature  de  ce  raste  ernpire  avant  Vere  chre- 
tienne,  Paris,  1837;  and  by  P.  Gaubil  :  Hist,  de  Vastron.  chin.  pp. 
413-414,  who  suggested  that  they  had  reached  China  during  the  period 
of  the  civil  wars  (481-249,  a.c.)  and  communicated  the  Chinese  some 
knowledge  of  western  astronomy.  But  these  speculations  made  before 
the  decipherment  of  the  inscription  quoted  above  are  baseless-  and  there 
is  no  reason  not  to  adopt  the  own  statement  of  the  China's  Jews,  viz., 
that  they  arrived  during  the  Han  dynasty  (a.c.  202-220  p.c. ,  in  the 
K  ingdom-Under-Heaven.  Their  having  possession  of  Hebrew  MS.  with 
vowel-points  shows  anyhow  subsequent  coumiunications  with  their 
brethren  in  the  West,  namely  after  the  Vlth  eentury,  since  the  inven- 
tion of  the  Masoretic  system  is  ascribed  to  Mokha  of  Tiberias,  (p.c. 
570)  and  hi?  son  Moses. 

13)  M.  Knowlt  in  remarks  in  the  Missionary  Magazine  for  September, 
1857.  "  We  have  discovered  evidence  of  the  existence  of  a  Jewish  colony 
in  Tcliengtu,  not  far  from  Lushan,  nor  yet  from  the  original  seat  of  the 
Kaieas,  a  century  before  our  era.     Cfr.  McMahon  :   O.C,  ]).  96. 

14  I  The  Karengs  were  part  of  the  great  Tsu  state  which  was  broken  up 
in  the  last  quarter  of  the  third  century  a.  c.  Cfr.  T.  de  L.  The  lan- 
guages of  China  before  the  Chinese,  pp.  56-61  and  Tlie  cradle  of  the 
Shan  race^  /).  17.  M.  Holt  Hallott  in  his  Ilistoric.d  Sketch  of  the  Shans, 
'^App.  to  Colquhoun's  Amongst  the  Shans,  pp.  :)27-37l)  looks  upon 
the  Karengs  as  settled  in  Indo-Chinn  jirior  to  the  arrival  of  the  Shans 
which   he  jtlaces  in  the  Vlth    century    a.c.   (O.    C.   {)p.  ;541-2),   in    a- 


24  THE     DELUGE-TRADITION. 

srreeinent  with  tlie  much  adorned  Shan  traditions  (ci'r.  'Nej  Elias 
Introductory  Sketch  of  the  hintory  >/  the  Shans,  Calcutta,  1876) 
but  which  tho  historic  annals  of  China  place  about  78  P.c.  f  Cfr.  The 
r  1 1! '.  p.  o2).  It  seems  anyhow  that  the  Kareng  displacement  to 
tlie  South  had  taken  place  bef  re  200  A..C.  Cfr.  <\\y  Origin  of  the 
mrlfi   Chinese  cirilizatinn,  VI  e  III  and  n.  280  ;  B.  &    O.    R,  III.  pp. 

15)  The  Nestorians  had   reached  China  by  tlie  N.   W.  in  G3G.    as  stated 
by    themselves    on    the     celebrated     inscription    of     Si-ngan-fn,     and 
flourished  there   until    1)87.       They    had  spread   largely  in   Asia    and 
settled  also  in  India.   Tlioir  patriarch,  a  contemporary  of  Mohammed, 
Jesu    Jabus     sent  missionaries    over  India    and  into    China.    Cfr.  J. 
S.  Assemani ;  Bihlioteca  OrientaJis  t.  IV,  p.  81;  G.  Pautliier:  Dela 
renlite  et  de  raiithcnticite    fie  Vhicriptlon    Nextorienne  de    Si-ncinn-fou 
pp.  72  and   1)5.    Some  Nestorians  appeared  again  in  China  under  the 
Yuen  dynasty    apparently    sent    by    Kubilai    Khan,    (cfr.    J.    Legge  : 
The   ISestorian  mouuinent  of  Ilsi-an  f}.    1888,  p.    51.)       Marco    Polo 
mentions  them   in  the  east  of  Cliina.  i.e.  Hokien  fu,  in  Tchihli,    Yang- 
tchou,    Tchinkiang  fu,    also    at     Hangtchou,    and    in  the    south-wes": 
in     Yun-nan.      Cf.   H.  Yule.  The  hook  of  Ser  Mnrco  Polo,    t.  II,  pp. 
115,  38,   162,   175,  and  52.—   The  Nestorian  was    not   the  first   in- 
troduction of  Christianity  in   China,  as   in   553,  the   15th  May,  accord- 
ing to    Procnpe.   monks  ]iresented    to  Justinian    seeds    of  silk-worms 
concealed  inside  of  their  ]Mlgrim    staffs.      M.  Colborne  Baber  has  found 
ancient  traces  of  Cliristi.uiity  in  south-western   China.  Cfr.  his  Travels 
and  Researches     (1882),  p.  18. 

16)  Cfr.  Origin  of  the  early    Ch'tnese  civilization  from  iveHern  so^irces  Yl 
el\  B.  &'  0  R.   Ill,   159,  160. 

17)  Though  the  free  use  of  the  name  of  Jehovah  (  =  Ea-pay  in  the  Kar- 
eng legends)  seems  to  suggest  that  they  are  not  due  to  Jewish  or  Mo- 
hammedan influence,  it  may  bo  as  well  to  notice  here  that  Arabs 
had  reached  Indo-China  and  China  long  before  the  Hjira.  An  unc'e 
of  Mohammed  was  in  China  in  that  time.  In  801  a  Mohammedan 
army  was  fighting  in  eastern  Yunnan.  Cfr.  S.W.  Bushell,  The  early 
history  of  Tibet,  1880,  n.  64. 

18)  A.  Phayre  ;  History  of  Bvrma,  pp.    127-9. 

19)  Cfr.  de   Qnatrefages  :  Ihiwmes  fossiles  et  hommes  sauvages,  p.  162  ; 
Introduction  a  V etude  des  races  humaines,  1889,    p.  147. 

Terrien  de  Lacouperie, 

{To  be  continued). 


ERRATA  in  "Vedic  Chips,"  Vol.  Ill,  No.  9. 

Page  196,  line  12,  instCcul  oi' ndredas,  vead  ncivedas;  p.  199,  1.  19,  before 
meaning  resi-d  original;  1.  20,  instead  of  kn  read /cm:  p.  200,  1.  15.  in- 
stead of  srnre  read  rnm\ 

I'KINTKD  AND  I'UBLISHP:D  I'OK  THE  PROPRIETOR  AT  Sg  ALBERT  SQUARE,  CLAPHAM 
ItOAD   :    AND  BY  D-   NUTT,  FOREIG^'  AND  CLASSICAL  BOOKSELLER,    270    STRAND 


THE 


BABYLONIAN  AND  ORIENTAL  RECORD. 

Contributors  are  alone  responsible  for  their  opinions  or  statements. 


A  BABYLONIAN  DUPLICATE   OF  TABLETS  L  AND  IL  OF 
THE    CREATION  SERIES. 

The  important  text  published  herewith  is  inscribed  on  a  small  fragment 
of  a  tablet  from  Sippara  or  Sepharvaira.  This  document,  the  colour  of 
which  is  very  dark  grey  or  black,  gives  the  upper  left-hand  corner  of 
the  obverse  and  the  lower  left-hand  corner  of  the  reverse,  tlie  former 
being,  as  far  as  it  is  preserved,  in  a  rather  better  condition  fclian  the 
latter,  and  also  better  written.  The  size  of  the  fragment  is  2;^  in. 
by  21   in. 

As  will  easily  be  seen,  the  obverse  of  the  text  does  not  add  much 
to  our  knowledge  of  the  Creation  legend,  but  it  furnishes  a  valuable 
completion  to  the  second  line,  and  some  interesting  variants.*  The 
reverse,  however,  is  duplicate  of  the  textt  published  in  part  by  Prof. 
Delitzsch  in  his  Assyrisches  fForterbuch,  i.,  p.  100,  and  repeated  in 
full  by  S,  A.  Smith  in  his  Miscellaneous  Assyrian  Texts,  pp.  i— 5,  and 
of  K.  4832,  published  on  pp.  8  and  9  of  the  same  work  and  of  which 
K.  3938  is  also  a  duplicate.  I  give  here  a  transcription  of  the  frag- 
.  ment,  and  a  tentative  translation  of  the  text  of  the  inscription  on  the 
tablet,  as  far  as  it  is  preserved,  including  completions  from  the 
Assyrian  duplicates. 


*  Compare  Mr.  George  Smith's  copy  in  the  IVth  Vol.  of  the  Transac- 
tions of  the  Society  of  Bblical  Archaeolgy,  and  Prof.  Delitzscli's  in  his 
Assyrische  Lesest'icke. 

fK.  3473,  joined  by  me  to  79-7-8,  296  and  Rm.  615.  See  Prof. 
Sayce's  translation  in  the  1st  Vol.  of  the  new  series  of  the  Records  of 
the  Past,  p.  127. 

Vol.   IV.— No.  2.  [25]  Jan.,  1890. 


26  A      BABYLONIAN     DUPLICATE 

A    BABYLONIAN  DUPLICATE  OF  TABLETS    I.  AND  II.  OF 
THE  CREATION-SERIES.     82-7-U,  402. 
Obverse. 

3  :BTy  ^^T  -ffif  ^yj^r  -^^r  -^  if?  <n  %\  - 

>-^  "^n-^  >4<  tTA-^  -^ -n  ^r  mi  ^^14  ^^n  "^^y  si  niu'^ 
y?  i^  ^i  "^{^  :^ii  ^i  «  1^  4  ^^^^  'ffi  "gy 

6  H^<j^  ^?  -^i  >-^i  -m  ^yy  ^  t^:^  ??  4--  -^y  ^  4>- 
:^?  >7^  H  ->f  J^  -^y  II  ^-  -ffl^  ^i  ^^  "ti 
%]  ^n  -^y  ^yy  ^i^  "^y  ^  <y-  -" 

9  HI  :Hy  -r  -5^  -+  ->f 
.>f  •pyyyy  >^  <  -Hf-  >^y  s<  >^  ^i  ^^y  -f -  ^fs^^^ 

%)      .'-:^/V^^A^-::^A.'^AwCA.  I  T         ^^^         '  ^7^A<-rt'^^;-;^A^^/^i-7^A^-s■A^;T4^^^AJ-^A^^Ai^'tV-;^A^^A>-^^^ 

Reverse. 


wn-  ^4  y]f  ^y  3fy  ^  <«  4fi^]?  >4<^m^^^^ 
^  .iy  ->f  ->f  ^-  ^t^  -yyi  ^y  v-  ^y4  j^yy^M^^ii 

..:^^'^I^II<^^J^5^n'^I';^>^4--J^^^^I^HIll 

:i4  ^^i  -^14  g<  n  :ff  ^i  :hv  :^  ^  -^11  ^^i  ^  hi  ^mmm 
^y  5?^y  I?  ;:^ycy  -  ^^ui  -+  ->f  -m^  tn  tz  ^w  "^y^^y^^^ 
liy  ^y  iH  "Ey  ^^y  y;  ^  4-  y?  4f  i  n  i^y  -ffl^  ^^ii  :mmm 

9  :^4i  iti  V,  m  w  M-  B  rh  'm  -^^  -^  <^t  ^  ^-  t^]t]  t^m 

ti^  .4^  -7^  ->f  W  tr^  "Ey  ^y  :r<r^  -^  ^  j^^y  t^^i  -^ 

Hf  ^y^  4-  E^  "^y  "^^  -4-  :^j:y  Hff^    ^^si 

^2  i^jfy-  JL  ^y  >^  <!!  H  -i^i^  gy^y  ^  m^s^^ 

^;^! :?:?  V-  ^y :?:?  \  i^y  <«  ^ff^y  "^y  >^y  ^^^^ii^ft 

^m  4-  y  -^y?^]^  ii  ^yy  x^  r:  y?  I  ¥  y  m^^^^mm 

1 5  V  ^y  y  n^y?.?.  4  inyy  JGL^  ^  y?  i  ¥  y  E^  -Hf-  r^y  y  -^yi^ 

^i!^M  y  -^  -yy^^i^i 


OF      CREATION     TABLETS.  27 

Transcription  of  the  Obverse,  completed  from  K.    5419.* 

1  E-iiu-ma  e-lis  la  na-bu-u  si-[tna-mu] 

-J  S:^p-lis  am-ma-tum  sj-mu^  la    [zak-rat] 

3  Apsu-u^    ris-tu-u  za-rn-[su-un] 

4  Ma-uui-uia  ti-amat   mu-um-ma-al-li-(ia-at3[gim-ri-sii-unj 

5  Me-su-un^  is-te-nis  [i-hi-kn-u-ina] 

6  Gi-par-ra^  la  ku-su-ru^  su-sa-'''    la  [se-  'u] 

7  E-nu-ma   ilaiii    la  [sii-pu-u  ma-n.a-ma] 

8  Su-um^  la    zi]-uki*-ku-ru    [si-matio    la ] 

9  Ib-ba-uu-uii  ilfmi  ....... 

10  D.p.  Lah-mu  u  d.p.  [La-ha-mu    us-ta-pu-u ] 

11  A-di-ii2  ir-bu-[n  .  .  .  d.p.    Bar  d.p.  ki-sar   ib-ba-nu-u  .  .  ] 

12  U-ri-kii3  ume  .   .   .   [sud]      .     .     .     . 

13  D.p.    A-iiuui  a-bu  (?) 

14  A-na^*  d.p.  A-nim    . 

15  .    .   .        A-nim 

Vartants  from  K.  5419:  ^  Jutna.  t|  ^f.  -  apsu-ma,  *~^]\  ttT  ^T 
3  muaUidat,  ^  -YTJ  ^^^t^]]^^\7  ^me-^sana,  ^  \^^^^  j  ^.  igi. 
para.  ^}^  ^  ^^yy.         6  Ussura,   <r|f   iz]    -J^-^   ^':^yy.  7    susd, 

t-^^^  ]]■   '^uma,    jyty.  '2ul;]^l    'o -;«a^«,  <y..  ^y  <-y  .     n  j,yyyt 
instead  of  ^,  followetl  by    ty    (ibbanu-mri).     i^  y^   <;y^,   a-di  for    a-d-i 
13  uniku,  l^y  ;\^l  Jgy.       '4  A?ia  omitted.     Line   11,  and  probably  also 
line  1-1.  each  form  two  lines  on  K.  511  9. 

Transcription  of  the  Reverse,  completed  from  K.  3473,  ^-c.  and    K.  4832.+ 

1  [Nn-as  kakke   la  pa-di-i]  la  a-di-ru    [ta-ha-za   ,   .     Gab-sate-ri-tu  sa 

la  ma-har  si-na  .   .  .] 

2  Ap-pu-na-a-ta'  is-tin^  es-ri-e-ti^  [kima  su-a-tii  us-  .  .   .] 

3  Ina  ilani  bn-uk-ri-sii-nu*  su-tu  is-[kun  si  .   .  .] 

4  U-sa-as-ka^  d.p.  Kin-gu  ina  bi-ri-sa-uu  [ns-rab-bi] 

5  [A]-li-ku-tu^    maliri''   pa-ni^    nm-ma-nu^    mu-'-ir-ru   ki-tu  (?)  .    ,  , 

[Na-se-  e"^  kakki  ti-iz-bu-ut-ti  a-na  ilu-ti] 

6  Su-tu    ta-am-ha-a-taii    rab^^   sik-kat-tu-tu^^.        Ip-kid-[ma  ka-tus-su 

u-se-si   ....    kar-ri] 
7    At-ta-a-kai^  ina  pubri  ilfini  u-sar-bi-ka.     Ma-li-ku-uti'  \\^^\  g^.Q^ir  ^  _ 
us-nial-li 

*  See  Delitzsch's  Lesestiicke,  3rd  Edition,  p.  93. 

f    S.  A.  Smith's  Miscellaneous  Assyrian  Texts,  plates  2  and  8. 


28 


A  BABYLOWIAN    DUPLICATE 


8  Lu-3u-uri6.ba-ta-a"ha-'-a-ri  si  (?)-du  (?)-u  at-ta.     [ Li-ir-tub-bu-u  zik- 

rn-ka uk-ki] 

9  Id-din^^-ma  dup  simati  i-rat^^-ku  u-sat-mi-ih.       Ka-at  [dug-ga-ka  la 

in-nin-na-a  li-kun  pi-i-ka] 

10  Tn-na-nu20     d.p,  Kin-gii  su-us-ku^i  ii-sat-ta-ku-u  [d.p,  A-nu-ti 

D.p.2^    Ilan,  marani-sa  si-ma-ta  is-ti-muj 

11  Ip-sa23  pi-i24_  ku-nu  d.p.  Bilgi"  [li-ni-ih-hu] 

12  Im-tuk'^  git-mu-m  ma-ag-sa-ru^^  [lis-rab-bi-ib]  " 

ISDuppu  E-nu-ma  e-lis  ur  es  ki-ma  la-[bi-n-su.     .     .  ] 
14Dup-pi  ^  Nabu-balat-3u-ik-bi   abli-sa  sa  Y  .... 
15  Sa  la  yNabu-balat-six-ik-bi  abli-sa  sa  TNa'id-Marduk     .... 

,     .     ,    bel  .     .     .     , 

Variants  from  K.  3473,  K.  4832,  and  K.  3938: 

1  K.3473  :  apinmnamma,^^]t^^^]^  ^^]  ^].  ^  estin,  «<  <][<• 
3  esrUum,  <«  ^f  J  ir!]g  .  ^  ^a,  ^.  ^  u^aski,  t^ftsr  V  ^  <&'  '  "i=^ ' 
kut,  for  l-ii-tu.  ^«-^JJ  >fjf-:)[,  mah-ri,  !or  ^t~- ma hri.  ^pa-an,  ^ ->^.  ^utn- 
mani,  ^]]]  ^]  ^  '«  So  K.  3988.  ^^  K.  3473:  tamhari,  '^^  ^^  ^^, 
^^ra-ab,  ^^]]  tzf:] .  I'K.  4832:  sikkatuti,  <f|  ^tH^EM!  <•-<!<• 
1*  K.  3938:  aditaka,  fj  <|j3f:  >^\]]  ^  "^-Idf-  ''  K-  ^938:  >->r,  kut, 
or  ^-u-M^.  16  K.  3938;  -y,  sm?- for  ««-wr.  '7^^,  ?«o.  for  ]],  a.  is  K. 
Zi73:  id(Iin-su7nma,  tH4l!  "^  t^  ^!'  K-  ^938:  iddin^u-ma,  ^^\ 
<I<  Jl  ^f.  19  K.  3437:  i-ra-[to],  Ct-ryTS  K.  4832:  [/-m]-<aP|i 
;^|^y.  20  K.  3938  :  eninna,  t|f  t^^^T  ^^!-  '^  ^^-  ^^'^^  "  3^  ""^"^""' 
(our  Babylonian  copy  has  ^,  probably  an  error  of  the  scribe).  ^Hn- 
stead  of  ►jJJ-,  which  I  have  regarded  as  the  d.p.,  at  the  l)eginning  of 
the  line,  K.  3938  has,  ^,  ina.  23  R.  3938  :  Y,  ,'«  (ipsa),  K.  3473  : 
^y,  SM  {Ip'sn).  24  K.  3473  leaves  out  the  t^  ?,  in  pi-kunu.  25  K. 
3473  gives  the  name  of  Bilgi  ideographically,  »">J[- t:|  >J|p.  26 r^  3473 
here  inserts  »^,  Ina  (ina  gitmuri).  ^^  K.  3473:  magsart,  ^|  ][3f  V  ^T'l. 
K.  4832  :  magsara,  ^^  H  V  ^"^H"  ""^  Neither  K.  3473  nor  K.  4832 
have  a  ruled  line  here,  but  K.  3938.  has  traces  of  one,  on  the  edge  of 
the  break. 

Transliition  of  the  obverse. 

1  When    on  high  the  heavens  proclaimed  not. 

2  Beneatli  the  earth  recorded  not  a  n.^me 
8  Tlie  primeval  abyss  brought  them  forth 

4  Mutnmu  Tiamat  was  she  who  begot  the  whole  of  them  ; 

5  'I'heir  waters  at  once  burst  forth,  and 

6  Cloud  was  not   compacted,  the  plain  was  unsought  ; 

7  When  none    of  the  guds  shone  forth 

8  A  name  was  not  recorded,  a  symbol  was  not  [raised?] 

9  Tlie  [great]  gods    were  made  : 


OP    CREATION    TABLETS.  29 

10  Lahinn  and  Lahamu  ahone    forth  [alone  ?] 

11  Until  [the  gods]  grew  up.     Sar  and  Kisar  were  m»de 

12  The  days  grew  long 

18  Ami,  the  father  (?) 

14  To  Anu 

16  .    .  Anu         

The  following  is  a  tentative  translation  of  the  reverse,  preceded  by  a 
rendering  of  the  33  foregoing  lines  found  on  K,  3473,  &c.  The  lines 
are  numbered  according  to  K.  3473,  and  the  Babylonian  duplicate  be" 
gins  witli  line  34,  and  ends  with  line  52.  The  correspondence 
of  tliese  lines  with  those  of  the  Babylonian  duplicate  of  each  is  in 
every  case  noted,  The  difficulty  of  giving  a  good  rendering  of  the 
text  is  greatly  increased  by  the  imperfect  state  of  the  inscription,  and  the 
fact  that,  in  certain  conjugations  of  the  verb  there  is  no  distinction 
between  the    1st   and  the  3rd  persons  of  the  preformative    tenses. 

Proiiislonal  Translation  of  the  Reverse,  completed  fro?n  K.  3473  dec. 

1   (Ansar)   opened  (his  mouth)  and^ 

;':    [to]  his  ...       he  utters  the  command 

3 pleasing  of  my   heart^ 

4 ,    as  for  thee,   let   me  send  thee 

5 consider  (?)    arise 

6  ,.,,,,.   thy     .  .  to  thy  presence 

7 their    course' 

8 let   them   be   satisfied  in   the   gardens 

9 let  them    pour  out*wine 

10 their  .  .  let  them  decide   the   fate 

11 their  position  (?)  fix  thou,  and 

13 repeat  to  them  thy  words  (?) 

18 urged  me  on. 

14  [The  desire  of  (his)  heart]    he  has  caused  me,  even  me,  to  consider 

15  [Thus:  "  Tiamat].     .     .     is  hostile  (?)  to  us, 

16  "  [She  has  convened  an  assembly  ,  and  angrily  she  is  devastating. 

17  "The  gods,  all  of  them,  have  gone  around  her  : 

18  "  '  Ye  have  made  her  agreement — go  to  her  side.' 

19  "  (Then)  they  left  (?)  his  side  and  Tiamat  they  approached." 

20  The  strong  one,  the  honourable  one,  not  resting  night  and  day,* 

21  Carrying  on  resistance,  destroying,  laying  waste  (?) 

28  Convened  an  assembly,  and  they  make  (ready  for)  battle. 


l)So  Prof.  Sayce.  2)  Or:  "mind,'"  literally,  "liver."  3)  Prof.  Sayce: 
"  their  divine  porter,"  he  apparently  regarding  nayah  as  the  same  as 
nigAb  or  neqab. 

4^,  Probably  Merodach  is  here  intended,  as  Prof.  Sayce  indicates. 


30  A    BABYLONIAN      DDPLTCATB 

23  '-Mother  Hubur,  tha  grasp  (?)  of  the  li^uiU  of  all(?)." 

24  •*  I  will    furnish  with  an  unrivalled   weapon,  it   shall  destroy     (?)  the 

great  serpent. 

25  "  (Though    )3harp  be  the  tooth,  relentless,  I  will  destroy  (?)  . 

26  "  I  will  cause  poison  to  fill  their  body  like  blood. 

27  "  I  have  clothed  the  dreaded  great  lone  ones  with  terrors, 

■..-8  •'  I  have  caused  them  to  arise  (in)  splendour,  they  rush  (?)  on  high, 

29  "  May  they  (?)  make  their  glorious   (?)  appearance   ( ?)  terrible  (?) 

30  "  May  they  make  their  body  perfect,    and  they  shall  not  change  their 

front. 

31  "I  have  set  up  Ba'smu,  Sir-hushfi,  and  Lnha\inu\ 

32  "  Utugallum^,  urbe,  and  the  scorpion-man 

33  "  Pestilential  days*,  the  fish-man,  and  the  Jcusarikku  fish 

34  '•  Bearing   weapons,  relentless,  not    fearing   battle,^ 

35  "  ....  from  before  them^ 

36  "Greatly  the  eleven  like  that  I  will  cause  to    .     .     .      / 

37  "Among  the  gods,  their^  chosen,  whom^  lie  has  established^^ 

38  "  I  raised  Kingu,  I  made  him  great  among  them."^ 

39  Those  going  before,  in  front  of  the  army,  leader  .    .      .  ^ 

40  Bearing  weapons  of  conqiiest  foi   divinity  ;2 

41  Those  who  (in)  battle  (are)  the  chief  spearmen,^ 

42  His    hand  appointed  also  andset(:)   for  defence  (?)  :* 

43  "  I  have  caused  thine  honour(')  to  be  great  in  the  assembly  of  the  gods 

44  "  With  the  dominion  of  all  the  gods  I   have   caused  [thy    hand]   to 

be  filled,^ 

45  "  Maye&t  thou   be  great,  for  a  noble  companion  ^rt   thou.  ^ 

46  "  Let  thy  manhood  be  increased     ...     .   "^ 

47  He    gave*    also  the  tablet   of  fate.     "  I  will  cause  thy   breast  to    be 

held   firm^ 


1)  K.  8524:  "hands."  2)  Apparently,  "the  coiling  snake.'  For  Lahamu, 
see  the  obverse,  1,  10.  3)  This  may  be  also  read  Ugallum.  It  means 
"  the  great  (=stormy  ?)  day, "probably  the  umu  rahutum  (Akk.  u-galgala) 
of  the  incantations.  See  the  next  line,  i )  See  the  foregoing  line,  5) 
First  half  of  1.  1  of  the  cuneiform  text  herewith.  6)  Second  half  of  the 
same.  7)  Line  2  of  the  cuneiform  text.  8)  The  Assyrian  copy  has 
"  her."  9)  The  Assyrian  copy  has  "  that  "  (Jutu,  perhaps  a  synonym  of 
so).  10)  Line  3  af  of  the  same.  11)  Line  4  of  the  same. 
*  The  Assyrian  copy  has  "he  gave  him." 

1)  Line  6  of  the  cuneiform  text,  1st  half.  2)  Do.,  second  half.  3)  Line 
6  of  the  cuneiform  text,  1st  half.  4)  Do.,  2nd  half.  5)Line  7  of  do.,  1st 
half.  6)  Do..  2nd  half.  7)  Line  8  of  do,,  1st  half.  8)  Do..  2nd  half, 
%)  Line  9  of  do.,    Ist  half. 


OF    CREATION    TABLETS.  81 

48  "  Thy   words  (?)  shall  not  be  changed — let  tliy  raouth  be  firm,"^ 

49  Again  Kingu  is  exalted  :   Have  I  not  burned  (for)   Anutu?*^ 

50  "  (O  ye)  t\yo  gods,  sons  who  have    decided  the  fates' 

51  "  Open  your  mouths,  let  Bilgi  be  at  ease,* 

52  "  He  has  spoken  pleasantly  ;  let  power  be  magnified  by  the  perfect  one."* 

Here  the  Babylonian  duplicate  ends,  and  has  the  following  colophon: — 

13  Tablet  "  When  on  high,"  &o.,  like  its  old  (copyj    [written  and  shown  ?J 

14  Tablet  of  Nabii-balat-su-ikbi  son  of    .... 

15  Who  is  not  the  Nabu-balat-su-ikbi  son  of  Na'id-Marduk  .   .  . 

K.  3473,  however,  continues  as  follows  :  - 

53  I    sent  and  Anu  did  not     .... 

54  Nudinimut   feared    and   turned   back  . 

55  Merodach    the  prince    urged  on  the  gods  ( ?). 

56  Hostilely  Tiamat  in  his  heart  .... 

57  He  opened    his  mouth,    he  said     .... 

58  "  If  also  /  (be)  the   one  who    brings    back  [a  benefit]     .     .     . 

59  "  I  will  enclose  Tiamat  and 

60  '•  Make  ye  also   a  gathering 

61  "  Behind  the  gathering  ...... 

62  "  I  have  opened  my   raouth  like 

63  "IN'othing  shall  be  changed,  (I  will  make)    .  .  . 

64  '•  May  I  not   turn  back,  may  I  not  change  the  festivalf  .   .  . 

65  "  Hasten  to  me  and  (your  symbols)   .  .   . 

66  "  Let  him  go  (let  him  meet  your  enemy)   .... 

67  Went  the  god 

68  Humbly (1)  the  god 

69  He  has  cause    to    fix   and    he     ...     . 

70  Direct    thou  (?)    the  .... 

71  Ansar^  the  son 

72  The   thought  (?)   of    [his]  heart      .... 

73  Thus  :    '•  Tiamat     .... 

74  "  She   has    convened  an   assembly,    &c. 

From  here  to  line  124  the  text  seems  to  have  been  exactly  the  same 
«s  lines  16-66,  except  fjr  a  few  phonetic  variants.  The  text  then 
continues: — 


1)  Line  9  of  the  cuneiform  text,  2nd  half.      2)  Line  10  of    do.,  1st 
half.      3)  Do.,   2nd    half.      4)  Line  11    of  do.     «)  Line   12  of  do. 

*  Anutu  seems  to  be  an  abstract  formation  from  the  Akkadian    (ui'i 
"heaven,  "  the  god  Anu." 
■\  So  Sayce  translates  the  word  sigar  (or,  perhaps  better,  sumgar). 
6)  It  is  possible  that  here,  and  in  other  places,  we  ought  to  rwid  Assur. 


32  A    BABYLONIAN    DUPLICATE 

125  Lahha'  and  Lahamu  heard,  they 

126  The  Igigi  all  of  them  she  had  nourished  (?),  the  son 

127  "  What  foe,  until  he  was  wise,  did    he   ,    ,     ? 

128  "  ]Ve  do  not  know   what  Tiamat 

129  "  They  have  become  multitudinous,  and  he  goes 

130  "The  great  gods,  all  of  them,  determiners  of  [fate?] 

131  "  They  have  entered,  and  like  a  vessel  (?)  Aniar  has  filled    .... 
LS-J    "  Violence  is  done  (?)  The  enemy  of  my  brother  (?)in  the    assembly 

133  The  tongue  has  made.     In  the  garden    the   god^     .... 

134  "  He  has  eaten  the  asnan,  he  has  separated 

135  "  Its  sweet    fruit    (?)  he    has   destroyed  (?)    .     .  [_it. 

136  "  The  strong  drink,  in  drinking,  injures  (?)    the   body  (?) 

137  "Greatly   the    sin  their...  has 

138.  "  For  Merodach,  their  avenger^,  he  determines  the  fate." 

139.  He  founded  for  him  also  princely  sanctuaries^. 

As  I  have  already  remarked,  the  above  translation  is  only  a  tentative 
one — indeed,  1  have  given  it  more  to  show  the  sequence  of  the  tablets 
of  this  portion  of  the  legend)  which  I  have  found  elsewhere  to  be  slightly 
confused)  than  to  present  to  the  public  anything  definite  in  the  way  of 
a  rendering  into  English.  At  some  future  time  I  hope  to  improve  the 
provisional  work  done  here. 

Apparently  the  Babylonian  duplicate   of  which  the  cuneiform  text  is 
published  herewith,   was    inscribed  with   the    contents   of   the  first   and 
second    tablets  of  the  creation-series,  as  is    indicated  by  the  fact,  that  it 
had  a  large  portion  of  the  text,  found  on  K.  3473,  &c.,   which  seems  to 
have  had  the   contents  of  the  second  and  third  tablets  of  the  series.  From 
this    we   see    that  after  describing    the    beginnings     of    the   gods,     the 
origin  of  evil  was  treated  of  in  the  account  of  the  fight  between  Merodach 
and  Tiamat^,  or  Bel  and  the   dragon — in  other  words,  the  struggle  be- 
tween   good  and    evil.     Tiamat,   the  great   water-flood,  or   the  chaos  of 
waters,  comes  devastating,  and   some  of   the  gods  seem  to  have  sworn 
allegiance  to  this  great  power.       Merodach  undertakes  to  defeat  them, 
»nd  in  a  series  of  long  descriptive  pieces,  some  of  which  are  spoken  by 
the  god,  the  preparations  to  this  end — the  unrivalled  weapon,  poison  in- 
stead of  blood  in  the  bodies  of  the   rebels,  and  the  living  creatures  men- 

1)  Probably  for  Lahma  or  Lalimu.  See  the  obv.  of  the  Babylonian  frag- 
ment 1.  10. 

2)  Or:  in  the  garden   (Hre)  of  the  god, 

3)  Literally:  bringer  back  of  the  benefit.     4)  This  ia  the  first  line  of 
the  next  tablet.    5)  Also  given  under  the  form  Ta'amat. 


OF    CREATION    TABLETS.  33 

tionod  ill  lines  27-34 — are  described.  Then  comes  the  mention  of  Kingni 
(who  is  elsewhere  called  the  husband  of  Tiamat)  of  wliom  the  god  says 
usaska  (variant  usaski)  Kingu,  ina  biri-sunu  usrabU,  "  I  raised  Kingu, 
I  made  him  great  among  them."^  Judging  from  the  raising  of  Kingu 
to  great  honour  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  and  from  his  later  hostility 
to  the  gods,  he  would  seem  to  be  tiie  leader  of  the  fallen  angels,  such  as 
are  treated  of  in  O^edmon  ana  Milton,  who  are  supposed  to  have  gotten 
their  materials  from  Avitus.  Thg  meaning  of  the  word  Kingu,  and  its 
etymology,  are  doubtful.  If  it  be  Semitic  Babylonian,  it  is  probably 
from  k  mdku,  "  to  seal  up  ;"  if  it  be  Akkadian,  it  may  be  a  nasalised  form 
of  kiku,  ior  gigu  or  gigi  (compare  sangu  from  sj,g  or  sagu),  and  would 
mean,  "  the  very  black,"  from  gi,  '■  night,"  "  darkness,"  "  dark,"  "  black." 
A  mutilated  portion  now  comes  (line  53),  in  which  Ann,  the  god  of 
the  heavens,  seems  to  have  been  unwilling  to  aid  Merodach  in  his  work, 
and  Nudimmut,  or  Ea,  god  of  the  waters,  became  afraid,  and  turned 
back.  Merodach  tries  (line  55-66),  to  encourage  the  gods,  and  after  this 
a  large  portiDU  of  the  text — that  referring  to  the  doings  of  Tiamat  and 
the  preparations  made  for  her  defeat,  are  repeated  (lines  73-1^4).  Then 
Lahha  (Lahma),  Lahamu,  and  the  Igigi,  or  spirits  of  heaven,  speak, 
seemingly  deprecating  hostile  action  against  Tiamat,  and  it  is  appar- 
ently with  the  words  of  these  deities  that  the  tablet  ends.  Then  follows 
the  first  line  of  the  next  tablet,  the  fourth  of  the  series,  the  text  of  which 
was  treated  of  by  Mr.  Budge  before  the  Society  of  Biblical  Archaeology 
in  Nov.,  1883,  was  translated  by  Prof.  Sayce  in  the  "  Hibbert  Lectures" 
for  1887,  pp.  379-384,  pubUshed  by  Mr.  Budge  in  the  Proceedings  of  the 
Society  of  Biblical  Archaeology  iov  Dec.  1887,  and  again  translated  by 
Prof.  Sayce  in  the  1st  Vol.  of  the  Records  of  the  Past,  new  series,  1888^. 

Theo.  G.  Pinches. 

•»*  In  Consequence  of  restriction  of  space,  some  additional  remarks, 
noticing  a  new  duplicate  (81-7-27,  80)  &c.,  have  been  unavoidably 
omitted.     The  article  will  probably  be  supplemented  in  the  next  number. 

1  Or  :  "  he  raised,"  "  he  made  great."  It  is  possible  that  all  the 
verbal  forms  (except,  perhaps,  one)  in  lines  24-38,  are  in  the  3rd  person 
instead  of  the  first. 

2  Part  of  an  Assyrian  copy  of  this  text  has  been  published  by  G. 
Smith  in  the  Transactions  of  the  Society  of  Biblical  Archaeology,  IV,  and 
by  Prof.  Fried,    Uelitzsch  in  his  Les^stiicke. 


34  THE    T5Al!Vr,ONlAN    AND 


THE     BABYLONIAN-     AND     JEWISH     FESTIVALS. 

In  the  study  of  the  various  developments  of  the  Semitic  religions  no 
section  is  more  important  than  that  which  relates  to  the  great  Festivals 
of  the  year.  These  special  feasts,  these  days  of  convocation  are  common 
to  most  of  the  various  sections  of  the  Semitic  religions  ;  and  therefore 
the  comparative  study  of  them  will  he  a  matter  largely  tending  to  the 
explanation  of  their  meaning  and  purport.  The  discovery  and  decipher- 
ment of  the  cuneiform  inscriptions  have  shown  us  that  festivals,  occur- 
ring at  almost  exacdy  the  same  annual  periods,  were  common  to  the 
Assvrians,  Babylonians,  Arameans,  and  Phoenicians  as  well  as  to  the 
Pre-Islamic  Arabs,  and  that  the  ceremonies  by  which  they  were  celebrated 
were  in  a  great  manner  of  the  same  character.  I  propose  therefore  in 
this  article  to  describe  the  principal  festivals  of  the  Babylonian  year,  and 
to  endeavour  to  show  their  close  resemblance  to  those  of  the  Sacred  Code 
of  the  Hebrews. 

The   comparison   of    the  sacrificial   codes,    the  festivals  and  the  cere- 
monials of  the  great  religions  of  the    Semitic  race,   is  now  no  longer  a 
matter  of  difficulty.     The  discoveries  in  Babylonia  and  Phoenicia   have 
shown  us  that  these  powerful  neighbours  of  the  Jewish  people  had  almost 
the   same   religions   regime  as   that  of  the   Priest    code.     It  becomes  no 
longer  a  matter  of  astonishment  that  the   Babylonian  colonists  imported 
in  the   cities    of  Israel  after  the  fall  of   Samaria   in     less   than    a    cen- 
turv  became  reconciled  to  the  Hebrew  ritual,  and  worshipped  Yahveh  '-the 
o-od  of  the  land"  with  the   same  zeal   and   devotion  as  that  with  which 
they  had  paid  honour  to  their  local  gods  in  Sippara  and  Kutha.  The  sac- 
rificial tablet  of  Nabu-apal-iddina  (n.c.  850),  and  the  numerous  documents 
of  a  later  date  from  the  great  temple  at  Sippara,  show   how  slight   was 
the  change  required  on   their  part.     In  the  same  manner  the  discoveries 
in  the  temple  libraries  of    Babylonia,   which  reveal  to  us  the  elaborate 
priestly  organisation  of  the    empire,  the  often  puerile  instructions  which 
occur    in    the   rubrics  throw  a  great    and    important    light     upon    the 
changes  which  were  produced  in  the  Hebrew  ritual  and  ceremonial  after 
the  time  of  the  Captivity.     The  earlier  religious  texts  dating  centuries 
prior  to    the  time  when  the   ancestors  of  the  Hebrews  left  their  home 
in  Chaldea  enables  us  to  study  the  simple  basis  of  Semitic  thought  upon 


JEWISH       FESTIVALS.  lib 

which  these  later  kws  and  ceremonials  were  based,  and  to  explain  much 
that  is  obscure  in  the  earlier  phases  of  Judaism, 

The  studies  of  Wellhausen  and  Professor  Robertson  Smith  have  done 
much  to  reveal  to  us  the  purer  basis  of  old  Arabian  pre-Islaniic  relig- 
ious thought,  upon  which  was  grafted  a  more  elaborate  ceremonial  after 
contact  with  the  city-dwelling  Sumerian  of  Babylonia.  With  this 
material  before  us,  therefore,  we  approach  the  subject  with  a  rich  store 
of  data  upon  vvhich  to  base  our  analysis  of  these  annual  festivals. 

Septennial  Arrangements. 

From  two  inscriptions,  tlie  ileuiorlal  tablet  of  Nabu-apla-idd'na  and 
the  tablet  containing  the  calendar  of  the  month  Elul,  we  learn  that  the 
greater  or  lesser  festivals  of  the  Babylonians  were  arranged  like  those  of 
the  Priest  code  of  the  Hebrews  upon  the  basis  of  a  septennial  scale. 

This  arrangement  is  as  follows  : 

1)  Sabbath  Day  on  7th,  14th,  21st   and  28th   days  of  the  month. 

2)  Sabbatical    Week  ending  on   19th   day  of  the  month   bring  the  49th 
day  (7-f-7th)  or  seventh  week  from  the  first  of  the  previous  month. 
This  feast  of  weeks   seems  according  to  the  Hebrew  code.    (Deut.  xvi. 

9-16)  to  have   followed  the   spring    feast  of  the   passover.     But  as  it  ap- 
pears in  the    calendar   of  a   month   which  was   of  no  great  religious  im- 
portance, it  would  seem  that  it  was  a  regular  festival  in  Babylonia. 
8)  Sabbatical     ^fonth.     The   seventh    month  Tasritum.        '"The     Huly 
Month  "  was  both  among  the   Jews   and  the  Babylonians  a  month   of 
special  sanctity.     Among  the  Hebrews  it  was  the  month  of  the  Feast 
of  Tabernacles  and  the  great  day  of  Atonement,  according  to  the  sac- 
rificial Tablet  from  Sippara.     The  7th  day  of  the  month  was  a  festival 
corresponding   t-)  tliat  on  the  7th  day  of  the  month  Nisan. 
4th)  The   Sabbatical   Year,      (Levit.    xxv.  3-8)  ;    during  which  the  land 
was  to  rest  although  no  mention  in   the   Babylonian   Calendars  would 
appear  to  correspond  to  the  Kar-ni  or  Cycle  mentioned  in  the  Eponym 
Canon  and  on  the  Obelisk  of  Shal-manesar. 

This  sacred  or  jierfect  character  attached  to  the  number  seven  is  a 
marked  characteristic  of  the  Babylonia  as  well  as  the  Hebrew  ritual  and 
religion. 

There  were  seven  great  gods,  opposed  to  the  seven  evil  spirits,  at  whose 
head  was  the  great  Serpent  of  the  Sea  (Tiamat)  with  seven  heads  and 
tails,  the  Hebdominal  Serpent  of  N'ight.  There  appear  to  have  been 
seven  creation  tablets  representing  seven  days  of  creation  action  toiniinai-^ 


36  THE    BABYLONIAN    AND 

ino-  in  the  "  rest  of  the  heart"  of  the  god— the  sabbath  as  in  the  Hebrew 
account.  (Gen.  ii,  2-3).  In  the  poem  of  the  Dehige,  every  stage  is 
marked  by  groups  of  seven  acts.  Seven  stages  in  building  the  ark,  seven 
times  is  the  vessel  tried.  Seven  days  mark  the  period  of  the  Eain, 
while  another  seven  days  are  occupied  ere  the  saved  Samas  Napisti  comes 
forth  from  the  ark.  The  victims  are  prepared  by  sevens,  and  the  «even 
great  gods  gather  round  the  altar. 

It  is  evident  from  this  that  the  number  seven  was  regarded  as  a  per- 
fect number,  and  the  Siibbatical  period  as  a  perfeet  period,  and  this 
seems  to  be  substanciated  by  the  explanation  of  the  word  Sabatum. 
In  W.A.I.  II,  14-6,  the  following  explanation  is  given  ^|  >^  .<^^>-yyy 
^11  y^  :</«'«,  nu-ukh  lib-bi  a  day  of  the  "  rest  of  the  heart,"  =Y  <y 
*~*yp  ,  sa-bdt-turn,  '•  a  sabbath."  This  explanation  is  quite  in  harmony 
with  the  frequent  expression  of  rest  and  satisfaction  in  the  hymns  and 
psalms.  In  Sumerian  ^^1^  -^]]  ^E^  Wl  ^}\  *'^^'^  genkue  ;  in  Assyrian 
It  nuUi  Ubbi-ka  "  may  thy  heart  rest." 

The  names  by  which  the  festival  is  designated  in  the  inscriptions  are 
of  particular  interest,  as  they  show  the  sacred  nature  and  divine  origin 
which  was  attibuted  to  them.  The  ancient  Sumerian  term  is  ^|  E^tJ, 
ul-sar,  literally  "day  of  sacrifice"  or  "  ordained  day,"  which  in  W.A.I 
IV,  24-2,  is  rendered  by  the  Assyrian  word  t'tT  >-*-^^  T^  >^^  ut,z-ka-ru^ 
"  a  commemoration  day,  "from  zakaru,  Heb.  '^^'j  "  to  commemorate." 
It  is  evident  from  the  inscription,  a  translation  of  which  I  append  to 
this  paper,  that  the  festival  was  regarded  as  of  divine  appointment  estab- 
lished in  heaven,  to  be  performed  on  earth  bv  men.  This  no  doubt  was 
a  later  developement,  but  a  natural  one  in  harmony  with  all  places  of 
Semitic  thought. 

Other  terms  applied  to  the  festival  were  ^y  ^y>-^J[yy  ud-khul  or  yum 
limnuti,  "an  evil  day,"  that  is,  a  day  on  which  it  was  evil  to  work,  or 
do  other  than  religio  is  acts  as  on  the  sabbath.  So  also  it  was  called 
*y  "j^  UD-SE-  or  UD-SE-GA,  vum  magiru,  "  a  holy  righteous  day."  As 
in  the  expression  so  often  used  in  the  cylinders  as  descriptive  of  the 
foundation-day  of  an  edifice  zna  yumi  magiru  inaarkhisulmi,  "on  a  holy 
in  a  blessed  month."  These  epithets  show  that  the  festival  day  was  a 
day  of  commemoration  and  sacrifice,  regarded  as  ordained  by  the  god 
himself  to  be  kept  by  men  on  earth  as  a  sabbath  with  sacrifice  and 
feasting. 


JEWISH       FESTIVALS.  37 

FESTIVAL  INSCRIPTION. 
(W.A.I.,  Vol.  IV,  pi.  25,  Col.  III). 

1  Yu-Jiu  ilu  ib-ba-nu-u  az-ka-ru  el-lu  us-tak-li  lu 

2  Ilu  us-ta-bu-n  ina  nap-khar  matati 

3  sa-lu-ma-tu  na-si  e-bi-lu-tu-su  su-um  e-bil  ir-ta  ga-mir 

4  mi-lam-mi-su  ta  as-khar  bu-un-na-ni  e-ra  ru-ba-tu  ra-mi 

az-ka-ru  e-lis  su-bu 

5  Ina  sarnie  ib-ba-nu  [Ina  ir-siti  ib-ba-nu.] 

6  Az-ka-ru  an-nu-u  ina  kis-sat  sarnie  u  irsiti  ib-ba-nu 

7  Bi-nu-ufc  ill  ip-sit  a-mi-lu-ti 

8  Ina  tak-ni-ti  ki-nis  su-uk-lu-ul  ' 

9  Ina-si-pir  ilu  su-ma  e-pu-us. 

10  An-nu-u  ina  la  ])i-it  pi-i  tar-ri-in  ? 

Translation. 

1  The  day  of  the  god  was  created,   the  holy  festival  was  made  perfect- 

2  The  god  has  gone  forth  among  all  lands  ; 

3  In  perfection  he  is  raised  up  in  his  lordship. ..oh  hero  of  the  perfect 
breast  I 

4  Let  glory  surround  his  form  and  terror  be  raised  ! 

5  Lightning  jflashes  the  festival  from  on  high  comes  forth. 

6  In  heaven  it  was  made,  on  earth  it  was  made  ; 

7  This  festival  was  created  for  all  the  hosts  of  heaven  and  earth — 
3   The  creation  of  the  god,  the  work  of  mankind, 

9  In  observation  firmly  cause  it  to  be  perfected  ; 

10  By  command  of  the  god  its  name  was  made, 

11  This  festival  when  the  month  is  not  opened  is.. ..and  when  food  is  not 
eaten. 

This  text  has  been  translated  by  Professor  Sayce  in  his  Hibhert  Lec- 
tures (pp.  68-69)  ;  but  he  has  translated  principally  from  the  Akkadian 
version,  hence  the  variations  from  my  rendering. 

There  does  not  appear  to  be  any  direct  trace  of  the  festival  of  the  new 
Moon  in  Babylonia,  but  the  care  with  which  its  appearance  was  observed, 
as  shown  by  the  report  tablet,  leads  us  to  suppose  that  it  was  in  certain 
cities,  at  least  those  dedicated  to  the  Moon,  accompanied  by  some  re- 
ligious festival.  Thus  we  read  :  "  The  Moon  in  the  month  Nisan. 
either  on  the  14th  or  the  15th,  was  not  seen,"  which  seems  to  indicate 
the  non-occurence  of  the  Equinox  (III  58,  4).  In  another  tablet  of 
the  same  class  we  read  :  "  The  Moon  in  the  Month  Tammuz  either  the 
14th  or  15th  day  with  the  Sun  is  not  seen.  On  the  I6th  day  the  Moon 
and  Sun  with  one  another  are  seen."    (Ill,  58,  2).     In  another  we  read  : 


38  A    LIFE    OF    THK    BUDDHA. 

^'  The  Moon  and  Sun  were  balanced  {sit  kulu)  (III.  58,  5).  It  is  to  be 
noticed  that  these  observations  occur  principally  in  the  months  in  which 
the  great  festivals  occur  and  usually  about  the  first  or  fifteenth  days  of 
the  month.  These  are  the  months  of  Nisan,  Tammuz,  Tasiitum  and 
Adiir. 

The  care  with  which  these  reports  are  drawn  show  that  most  of  the 
great  festivals  especially  the  Passover  at  the  Vernal  Ecpiinox  and  the  New 
Year's  festival  in  Tisri  were  regulated  by  Lunar  observance. 

In  my  next  paper  I  intend  to  deal  ia  fuller  detail  with  some  of  these 
festivals.  W.  St.   C.  Boscawen. 


A    LIFE    OF    THE    BUDDHA  : 

translated  from  the  FU-YAO  KING,  by  the  late 
Prof.  Dr.  S.  Beal. 

(^Continued from  p.  15). 

KlUEN       IT. 

Descending     Spiritually    to     be    Boun, 
{^Conceived  in  the  Womb). 

At  this  time  the  four  Maharajas,  Sakra,  the  Devaputras  of  the  Yama 
Heaven,  of  the  Tusita  Heaven,  of  the  Niruianarati  Heaven  of  the 
Paranirmita  Heaven,  the  Maradevaputras,  the  different  Devas  of  the 
Brahma  Heavens,  of  the  Prabhavyuha  Heaven,  of  the  Abhusvara  Heaven 
of  the  Manesvara-Suddhavasakayika  Heaven,  of  the  Suddhava  Heaven, 
up  to  theAkanislita  Heaven,  all  these  with  countless  thousands  of  others 
convening  an  assembly  and  noting  the  signs  (of  coming  events),  spoke 
thus  among  themselves:  "  Companions  !  if  we  permit  the  Bodhisatwa  to 
descend  alone  to  be  conceived  spiritually  in  his  mother's  womb,  un- 
attended by  any  of  ourselves,  this  would  be  irretrievable  loss  and  nn- 
grateful  conduct  on  our  part,  who  then  by  us  will  go  down  to  that  country 


THE  p'd  yao  kikg.  39 

to  await  his  spiritual  conception .?  and  then  in  sequence,  as  the  shadow 
follows  the  substance,  to  attend  him  till  he  completes  his  perfect  role  as 
a  Buddha,  hoving  overcome  the  hosts  of  ALlra,  and  turned  the  wheel  of 
the  Law,  and  possessed  of  the  four  harmonizing  qualities  of  love,  pity, 
joy  and  equanimity,  arrives  at  last  at  the  goal  of  deliverance,  (wlio  of  us) 
can  attend  him  thus  encouraging  him  in  sustaining  his  loving  purpose 
and  filling  his  heart  with  joy  and  peace  ?  not  long  hence  and  he  will  ac- 
complish his  solemn   vow,    and  so  the  Gatha  says: 

Who   now  is   able  to  undertake  the  office 

Of    attending  his  person  and  ever   comforting    his   mind, 

Who  is  prepared  tu  gain  for  himself  renown 

By  exhibiting  in  himself  this  power  of  constant  watchfulness. 

[Lacuna     3]. 
At  this  time  from  the  remotest  regions  of  the  Eastern  quarter  of  space 
came  countless  Devas  who  inhabited  the  different  Tusita  Heavens  of  tliat 
division  to  this    world    (collector   of    worlds  i.e.    our  system  ;  including 
the  earth  and  superposed  heaven  &c.)  to  do  honour  to  Bodhisatwa,  and 
so  likewise  from  the    South,  and  West  and    North,  and  the  intermediate 
regions,  as  well  as  from   the  Nadir  and  Zenith    fram  all    the    countless 
worlds  of  these  regions  there  came  innumerable  Bodhisatwas,  all  in  their 
last  form  of  birth,  and  occupying    the    different    Tusita    Heavens   af  the 
aforesaid  countless  system;?,  all  these  came  to  the  place  where  Bodhisatwa 
was  to  pay  him  homage.     And    so  also    84000   Apsaras  belonging    to 
the  Four  Heavenly  kings,  and  the  same  number  belonging  to  the  Tray- 
astrinshas   Heaven,  and  the  Yama  heaven,  and  the  Tusita  heavens,  and 
the  other  heavens    (named  before)  all  provided  with  musical  instruments 
(drums  and  lutes)  and  chanting  lays  as  they  came,  approached  this  system 
of  ours  and  appeared  in  the  place  where  Bodhisatwa  was  seated,  to  pay 
him  their  homage.     Then  Bodhisatwa  reclining  on  his  seat,  at  first^  con- 
cealed his  universally  diffused  qualities  (i.e.  excellences  of  person")    and 
wrapped  in  ecstacy  beheld   all  the  attendant  army  of  guardians  and  the 
innumerable  clouds  of  Bodhisatwas  and  Devas  who  surrounded  liim,  then 
the  Tusita  Heaven   was   shaken  with  a  violent  earthquake  and  afterwards 
from  his  body  there  shone  forth    such  glory  (rays    of  bright    light)    as 
filled  with  light  the  great  Chiliocosm  of  worlds,  such  as  had    never  yet 
been  seen.     Then  all  the  dark  places  of  the    earth    were  illumined,    the 
lustre  reached  to  places  where  never    penetrated  the    brightness  of    the 
Sun  or  Moon,  and  extended  down  even  to  the  shades  of  Hell,  and  where 
the  ghosts  (pretas)  and  beast-born  creatures,  dwell.     Amongst  men  this 


40  THE    P  U    YAO    KING. 

and  diffused  a  universal  joy,  and  wliere  it  shone  all  lustful,  hateful 
thoughts  were  drowned,  all  covetous  and  envious  feelings  fled,  and  a 
feelinf^  of  love  possessed  all  hearts,  which  made  men  look  on  one  another 
(as  bound  together)  like  children,  father,  mothers,  brothers,  sisters, 
and  now  from  .unseen  sources  there  resounded  forth  countless  hymns 
of  praise  all  mutualy  harmonious,  whilst  innumerable  Devas  engaged 
in  pious  reflections  guarded  that  heavenly  dwelling  (where  Bodhisatwa 
was)  from  harm.  Thus  a  hundred  thousand  Apsaras  with  drum  and 
lute  attended  behind  the  assembled  multitude,  and  as  they  sounded  their 
instruments  they  sang  about  the  accumulated  merits  of  Bodhisatwa  during 
bygone  ages — thus  : 

Because  of  the  accumulated  merits  of   past    ages, 

During  the  dreary  wastes  of  which  he  has  sought  deliverance, 

Employed  in  charity,  possessed  of  truth  and  rectitude. 

On  tliis  account  we  now  adore  and  reverence  (Thee). 

Becaitse  through  countless  ages,  the  Honourable  One 

Has  devoted  himself  to  charity,  from  love  to  humankind 

As  a  return  for  such  benevolence  (charity) 

There  rains  down  from  heaven  both   flowers    and    perfumes. 

He  gave   his  flesh,  weighing  it    out,    mangled  as   it   was 

Because  he  pitied  the  bird,   though  it  cost    him  dear. 

From  this   source   of   ungrudging  charity 

It  comes  that  the  hungry  ghosts  (pretas)  are  fed  with   broth. 

Our  honor'd  master  through  endless  ages 

Has  kept  without  fail    the  Moral    ruler  of   life. 

And  from  this  self  restraint  it  comes 

That  the  evil-born  escape  the  miseries  (entailed    upon  them) 

Our  Lord  through  countless  ages  past 

Practising  entire  patience  in  his  onward  course, 

As  the  result  of  this  Patience 

Has  with  loving  heert  been  moved  with  pity  towards  both  God  and  men 

Our  Lord  through  countless  ages    past 

Pressing   onwards    without    relaxation   of    effort 

By    this  unflagging    perseverance 

Has  gained  a  form    (strong)  as  mount  Sumeru, 

Our  Lord  through  endless   ages  past 

Lost  in    contemplation    and   putting  away  all  pollutions 

As   a  result  of  this  self-absorption 

Has  obtaimed  perfect  release  from  all  fleshly  desires. 

Our  Lord   through  endless   ages  past 

Practising   wisdom  and  estranged  from  covetousness. 

As  the   result  of   this  supreme  wisdom, 

Is  possessed  of    perfect  glory  of  person  and  parity  of  heart. 

We  adore  Him  armed  for   the  destruction  of  sin, 


THE    p'u   YAO    KIN'G.  41 

Full  of  cumpassion  mindful    of  all  that    lives. 
Enabled  by  his  virtuous  mind  to  crop  to  that    shore 
This   one  we  reverence  1  ure  and  at    perfect  Rest. 
Him,  the  one,  the    wide-shining   one, 
Who  has    put    away  every    remnant    of  sin 
Whose   eye    penetrates  through    the    universe.* 
Him   we  reverence  possessed  of  the  highest    wisdom. 
Fully  acquainted  with  the  powers  of    spiritual   ^flight 
Perfectly   informed  as   to  the  limits  of  all   knowledge 
Capable  of    converting  every  kind  of  living   thing 
We    bow  down   before    the  Master  of  the   Ship. 

[Lacuna  4  ]. 

Then    Buddha   addressed  all   the   Bhikshus,     and    said:  "  The  winter 

having  passed,  in  the  first  month  of  spring-time,    the  constellation  Vaisaka^ 

preparing  to  come  on'',  the  numerous  trees  first  beginning  to  bring  forth 

their  fruits,  it  being  neither  hot  nor  cold,  at  this  time  the  honoured  one  of 

the  three  worlds,  looking  through  the  indications  of  the  Heaven  of  the 

ten  regions  (i.  e.  the  Heaven  itself),  saw  that  the  star  Ponshya^  was  about 

to  culminate  (come  to  the  meridian  ?),  and  that  en  this  account  he  ought 

to  descend   (to  the  earth).    Then  he  descended  spiritually   from  Tusita 

Heaven  assuming  the  form   of  a  white  elephant,  his  mouth  having  six 

tusks,  all  his  mewbers  composed,   his  head   of   a  bright  glittering  colour 

beautiful  to  behold,  his  eyes  glittering  as  with  the  light  of  the  sun,  as 

such,  he  descended  into  the  womb  of  Ids  mother,  entering  by  the  right 

side — therefore   Bodhisatwa   ever  places   on  her   righi   hand   that  round 

wliich  he  goes,  and  not  his  left.     The  queen,  pure  and  lovely,  peacefully 

slumbering,  suddenly  and  instantly  perceived  this  white  elephant  king, 

brilliant  as   light,  coming  to   her  and  entering  as    aforesaid,  her    body 

perfectly  composed  and  peaceful  such  as  it  had  never  before  been,  her 

mind  tranquil  as  if  lost   in   perfect  contemplation,   ready  for  the  right 

perception  of  truth.     On  this  the  excellent  Queen,  the  nap  of  the  robes 

she  wore  having  become  erect,  she  smoothed  down,  and  having  sprinkled 

herself  with  perfume,  filled  with  joy  she  rose  from  her  couch.    Surrounded 

then    by  her  attendant   women   proceeding  from  the  hinder  part  of  the 

palace,  she  went  to  Asoka  grove,  and  there,  sitting  down  beneath  one  of 

the  trees,  she  sent  one  of  her  women  to  the  king  Suddhodana,  with  this 

message:   "  Will  the  mighty  king  (Maharaja)  condescend  to  come  and  to 

hear  something  that  will  give  him  joy"?     The  King,  filled  with  delighl 

«nd  accompanied  by  his  ministers,  repaired  forthwith  to  the  Asoka  grove. 

Not  being  able  to  enter  the  gate,   the  King  was  conscious  of  certain 


^42  A    LIFE    OF    THE    15UDDHA. 

thoughts  as  he  sat  in  his  loftv  elephant  cliariot— and,  thinking  thus,  he 
uttered  the  following  verses: 

"  Never  before  when  in  uiy  elephant  chariot 
Have  I  experienced  such  sensations^  as  these ; 
A  brilliant  light  enters  my  dwelling, 
And  I  ask,  Wijv  this  wonderful  chana;e"? 


At  this  time  there  was  a  Deva  dwelling  in  space  who  caused  half^*'his 
iTody  to  appear  (apparitionally),  and  then  for  the  sake  of  Siuldhodana 
uttered  the  following  stanzas : — "  Gifted  with  every  virtuous  trait  of 
<«nduct,  the  honoured  of  the  three  worlds,  filled  with  love  and  mercy, 
perfected  in  every  (religious  source  of)  liappiness — Bodhisatwa  trans- 
forming himself  and  descending  from  the  Tusita  Heaven,  as  a  Great 
Holy  One  has  descended  upon  the  virtuous  Queen  ;  you  sIkjuM  there 
fore  with  clasped  hands  worsliip  at  his  (or,  her)  feet.  The  highest 
Divinity  has  entered  that  abode  :  the  excellent  Queen  perceiving  his  })urp()se 
to  put  into  form  the  result  of  his  various  preceding  lines  of  conduct,  and 
to  take  upon  him  this  change  of  existence,  has  beheld  him  sur})assing 
all  miraculous  appearances,  passing  through  the  palace,  and  pure  as  the 
Snowy-Mountain-King,  brighter  than  the  Sun  and  Moon,  every  member 
of  his  body  glorious,  strong  and  mighty  as  the  great  elephant,  invincible 
as  the  diamond,  self  possessed  and  hi  conduct  unequalled,  he  has  en- 
tered the  womb  as  a  spiritual  incarnation.  On  this  account  accept  my 
words,  beholding  the  pollution  of  the  three  worlds,  for  countless  years 
(has  he  as  a)  Deva  longed  (sigiied)  that  it  might  be  recovered  from 
pollution  and  freed  from  anger  and  hate  his  heart  fixed  upon  tliis.  at 
perfect  rest,   (or  the  heart  (of  men)   fixed  and  at  perfect  rest).'" 

At  that  time  the  Queen  spake   thus    to  the  king. 

Maharaja  !  summon  the  Brahmacharins,  who  being  enlightened  may 
be  able  to  interpret  my  dream,  and  on  my  account  may  distinguish  tlie 
right  or  wrong  (the  meaning)  of  the  matter,  whether  it  forebodes  good 
or  evil  to  the  kingdom.  Maharaja  accept  my  words,  summon  the  Brah- 
macharins learned  in  the  sacred  writings  to  my  presence,  let  them  listen 
to  the  account  of  my  dream,  how  that  l)righter  than  the  glory  of  sun 
or  moon,  in  form  large  and  beautiful,  with  six  tusks,  as  a  male  (elephant) 
he  entered  my  womb,  let  them  therefore  listen  and  consider  the 
meaning  of  this." 


THE     p'u    YAO     KINO.  43 

Then  the  king  having  summoned  the  Brahmacharins  asked  of  them 
the  meaning  of  such  a  dream,  on  wliich  they  for  the  sake  of  the  king 
recited  tlie  following  Gatlins. 

''The  Brahmacliarins  having  heard  the  words  were  filled  with  joy 
because  the  good    omen, 

The  child  that  is  horn  possessing  the  superior  and  inferior  charac- 
teristic   works, 

If  he  leads    a  secular  life   will   be  a   Holy    King, 

But  if  from  pity  to  men  he  leaves  his  home, 

Then  he  will  become  Buddha  and  befriend  the   three  worlds. 

The  heavenly  dew  (drink  of  immortality  or  amrita)  will  every- 
where be  shed  on  the  poor'^ 

So    that   they    will  be  freed   from  the   net  of  every  doubt, 

Receiving  the  favourable  instruction  of  the  Brahmacharins, 

Without  any  anxious  fear  in  his  heart, 

As  to  clothing,  food  or  drink. 

His  body  will  ever  be  (or  he  will  ever  be)  at  rest  and  fixed." 

At  this  time  Suddhodana  raja  thought  thus  with  himself:  ••  What 
can  I  do  in  appointing  a  dwelling  place  for  the  excellent  Queen,  that 
she  may  have  perfect  peace  and  quiet  f 

Then  the  four  Heavenly  Kings  came  to  the  place  where  Suddhodana 
was  and  thits  addressed  him,  "  Be  at  rest,  Maharaja  !  now  will  we  dui- 
selves  make  a  fitting  abode  for  the  Bodhisatwa  !"  Then  all  the  Devas 
(from  Sakra  to  the  highest  of  the  Kamavatcharas)  ascending  to  their 
several  abodes  brought  a  palace  to  the  place  where  the  queen  was  in  which 
Bodhisatwa  might  reside,  and  entering  Kapilavastu  with  these  several 
palacfts,  with  one  heart  they  bowed  themselves  and  offered  them  to  Bod- 
hisatwa. At  this  time  Suddhodana  raja  also  founded  in  the  same 
place  a  sumptuous  palace  bright  as  those  of  the  Devas,  on  which 
Bodhisatwa  exercising  himself  in  the  meditation  (called')  great  purity 
caused  the  queen  to  appear  as  if  bodily  residing  in  all  these  })alaces  and 
bearing  Bodhisatwa  in  her  womb  in  each.  Then  tlie  Dovarajas  not 
seeing  the  other  pal.ucs,  each  one  thought:  Now  the  mother  of  llodhisatwa 
dwells  in  my  abode,  and  not  in  any  other,  and  then  IJu'ldiia  njcallcd 
these  Gathas: 

"  Fixed    in  the    Samadhi  of  great  purity 

By    the  spiritual  transformation,  not  explicable, 

He    caused    all    the    Devas    to    possess    all    their    minds    in    [icaco, 

By  tills     first    miraculous     appearance    (or,     by    this    first    nilracle.)'' 


44  A  LIFE  OF  THE  BUDDHA. 

NOTES. 

1,  ThU   i.  a  hazardous  translation.     M.    Foueaux  however   appears  to 
have  anticipated^the   descent   of    Bodhisatwa  m  the    L.\  . 

2)    Shen-pen,  virtuous -origin    i.e.  restoration    to  his  original  condition, 

3")  Yeh-sin.  .       ,  .       ,    .      ,  ,  .  , 

-t)  This  is  douhtful.      The   expression  in  the  orignal   is      san  tsm  ; 

three  thousand',  &c.   worlds.  ,         .        i  +•  . 

5^  The  power-;  of  '  irrdhi'  i.e.  miraculous  power  of  constant  locomotion. 

6)  The  orio-inal  has  only  "  she"  which  is  a  contraction  for  (Vai)sa(ka). 

7)  There  are  three  words  in  the  Text  "  chu"en  moh  hea"  which  ma,y 
refer  to  the  constellation  as  being  above  the  horizon  during  spring  till 
the  end  of  summer. 

On    Willi 

Q)  Mv   body,    or   person,  has  never  thus  weighed,    as   now.    _ 
10^  The  allusion  to  the  appearance  of  half  the  body  is  common  in  Bud- 
dhist Books.     It  is  probably  illustrated  in  the  Plate  xci  %.  4,  "Tree  and 
Serpent  worship"   (1st  Edn.) 
11)  The  common  people. 

{^To  be  continued). 


ASS  YRIO  L  0  GIGA  L      NO  TES. 

SALLARU,     KALAKKU. 

1.    Sallaru  has   certainly   not   the    meaning  of   mur.  parol,'"  (Latrille 
ZK,II,  344),  nor   that  of  '' Coupole"   (Oppert,   Ant.,    p.  229). 

We  shall  meet  it  Y.  64,   II,  6. 
Lni  si'Lar/,  kardni,  samni,  dispi  sallarsu  amhasma    ablultarahhui^. 

Neb.  II,  4(;,  Ehia,  pwpaha  bel  ildni  MarduL  usanbit  sassaniS ; 
soll«russu  hurdsu    rmsd  .  .  ,  usalbis. 

Neb.  Borsip.  I.  18.  Ekua,  papaha  belutitu  hurdsi  namris^iVLnrei  a-itakan, 

Asurb.  X,  83  ff.  Inasikariu  kardm  kalakkasu  ablul,  amhasa  sallarsu. 

How,  even  with  the  licence  of  hyperbole,  can  it  be  admitted  that  the 
wall  of  the  temple  and  the  enceinte  had  been  sunk  ?  And  still  more, 
how  can  we  admit  the  libations  of  Nabd-abil-iddin  :  Col.  IV.  33,  34. 
*'?■//((   dispi,  kordvi  u   (kv)  matqi  udahhlda  sigare  ?^' 


ASSYRIOLOGICAL    NOTES.  45 

We  should  like  the  following  values  to    be  noted  : 
-'^HT'  H^^  =  ^-allaru     V.  42,  27.  g. 
5^      "^T     ^=s?m     V.  32,  21,  a. 
sal  -  la-     ru 

-^H^!     >—  =s?rM       V.   42,  25,  g. 

Cf.^flL  —fl/jji      Bj.un_    9306. 

„  =c?iJw   Brun.    8859. 

„  ^tinuru     Bran.  8372. 

»  =duppu     Brun.  8360.   &c. 

All  these  words  are  explained  by  the  Hebrew. 

1.  '^■'D.  of.  Ps.  Ix.  8.   ''Moab  olla  («n^D)    lotionis  mece" 

2.  p[j^,     id. 

3.  T1~T,     olla,    corbis. 

4-  I'^^n,  brazero,  (see  for  the  many  meanings  of  this  word  Dvordk 
ZK,  T,  115fE. 

.<^.^  serves    sometimes  as  a   determinative   like  tfyv  karpdtu,   with 
another  shade  of  meaning.    Siru  passes   from   the  sense   of  flat  surface 
to  that  of  shelter;  cf.   V.  32,  48  ;   II,    24,  lQ  =  masallu. 

There  results  for  sallaru  a  general  meaning  of  plateau,  chdsse,  poele, 
bassin.  It  is  that  which  is  said  to  be  clad  in  gold  or  drowned  in  liquors 
in  the  Inscriptions.  Is  this  receiver  used  in  the  sacrifices,  or  does  it  con- 
tain and  cover  the  temen,  (cf.  V,  42,  8,  -<i»ff  ^J  y>-  >-JT)?  I  do 
not  know,  but  the  texts  where  Jallaru  is  spoken  of  are  always  a  fea- 
ture in  the    founding  of  the  temple. 

II.  Kalakku  has  not  the  meaning  of  "  Lattenwerk"  Del.  Gram.,  p. 
167,  20.  This  word  is  ideographically  rendered   by  : 

Ci\=pilsu,  suplu,  burn,  kalakku,  V.  36b,  24  ff. 

tT  4J^'-  t?^t=anl'«M.     "^,.  ^  y=amtM,  Brun.  7562,7563. 

py  ^]*~  =kussu  (gis  gal),  astu  (t^^JI  "^^  extend,  to  lengthen")  &c.  see 
Halevy.Z^.IV,  53. 

py  ^^^  ][][    serves  as  a'  generic  determinative  in  kalakku. 

tz^  may  point  out  another  thing  than  wood.  Cf.  v\ij,  manera, 
tT  JEJ  kakku,  &c.,  in  which  at  least  there  resides  the  determinative  of 
objects  which  were  primitively  of  wood. 

Kalakku  was  a  sort  of  altar  (hollow  ?  cf.  ^:=kalakku,  V,  36,  b,  30, 
proec.)  a  throne  in  the  form  of  a  pedestal,  and  may  have  been  the 
support  of  the  sallaru.   Cf.  ^wp.6^,  gradin.  socle,  piedestal,  autei. 


.46  ASSYRIOLOGICAL       NOTES. 

It  is  interesting    to  find  the    word   in    Gudea,    Sarz.    pi,    14,    col,    II, 
12,  13,    14,    15.      Ibid.  pi.  13,1,  Gud.  C,  Col.  II,  fonr  last  lines. 

-S^Idf   «=H   -^M  ka-al-ka 

t':^x  .^r :::!  --?  srs-ba-mui 

Gudea  determines  the  point  of    the    mubba  (coffer,    vase  ?  sallaru  ?) 
Might  kalka  not  be  halakku  ? 

(.->f  )  ^:5;57:J  =  (.^>f  )   =  nannaru 

C-frY>-»-I  =  nabdtu 

Kalakka  si's  tisan^i/ nearly  approaches  some  ordinary  formulas,  SaUia 
ijisapd  saruru  s'amhi;  ekua  utunbit   assanls,    &c. 

The  following  text  from  Gudea.  Sarz.,  pi.  Ill,  13,  14,  will  perhaps 
clear  up  the  foregoing. 

^^  <VI^!!  *^V^  *^^  V  1    (S^^'  ""^^'^  mu-gar 

He  has  caused  the  usuh  to  be  made, 
The  bricks  of  oblations  he  has  inscribed. 

Cf.  the   sign  for  brick    *^^^ 
ii]p  is  a  variant  of  >-»-  ^  =  sibtu,  "oblation,  offering,  sacrifice." 

III.  Taroi^  A  u  does  not  signify  Umschliessung  des  Thrones,  Umfassung 
Mauer  (Labrille),  nor  '•  Imprestion  de  la  plaque  4  timbrer  les 
yiques,"    (  Oppert) . 

This  word  appears  synonymous  with  kalakku,  with  a  more  Semiti 
aspect  :   cf.V.  64.  II  6. 

Cf.  '!^>-^^    J^*"1TT  =^''^^'"5  rakdhu,  and  tj  '^j^HT  =5'^^^*^w- 

(try  "^X  i[^}   j^»-  ^W  =ariktu  (ktissu),  kalakku. 

To  read  V.  64.  II.  6,  tarahhus  for  tarahhussu  or  to  restore  ta-ra- 
ah-hu-  J^  I  J  and  from  that  to  admit  an  irregular  form  for  tarhusu  from 
rahaiu  ;  cf.  Heb.  ^  -)-^,  and  jlUJn^O  ^^^^'  «^^««»  cacabus,  analogous 
to   Sallaru,     is  not  possible. 

ALLUHAPPU. 

We  find  this  word:  — 
II.   22,  25.    ^y    >-TTt  al-hap-pa=saqqu  sa  seim. 
II.  19,  <  8.  Litti  tahazi,  tT  ^^  aluhappu  mat  nukurtim  nastLku. 


ASSYRIOLOGICAL    NOTES.  47 

II.  -1:4,  60.  t|  >5*f    'il-hap=alluhappu. 

IV.  30b.  33,34.    -|^  <fET  <*£|f  <]^  =katama    Sb.  i.  9. 

tT  JrrJ  C:]^T  T""y  y^^l  kima  alluhappu. 

IV.  65,  30.       tTTT  ?  -tasa  alluhappu    ki 
kassat    .... 
rahissat  ma   muttabilat  marat   Anum 

sapta-a  ziqziqqumma   utabbaka 
nu'urat    kima   nesii  ? 
ustanalhab    kima    nesu? 

The  determinative  ^T  ^  ought  to  set  ua  on  the  track  of  the  mean- 
ing. There  can  be  no  question  here  but  of  a  fillet,  of  a  tissue  serving 
to  cover,  to  wrap,  to  bind.  Cf.  sannu,  abarru,  riksu,  setu,  iiu»gallu, 
^alhu,    etc. 

The  ideogram  analysed  gives  the  same  result.  ^1  ^  tM  appears    to 
have  a  proper   meaning,  as  in  the  ideograms  tesu,  azamillu  (Brun.  3130 
3131)    the  undetermined  meaning  (jf     '  thread,   net,   envelope,'    &c. 

rj  equals  on  ,the  other  hand  akaztu,  katu,  karu,  mekku,  rakdsu, 
&c.     But  the  equivalence  "  saqqu  sa  seim"  is  decisive. 

We  have  to  do  with  the  verb  or  with  an  analogue  of  the    verb    -;p5? 

^DD'  "m^IZ?    TEXUIT,  TEXIT. 

Cj\     Eg] a  ina  ihzi  urappiq, 

gannatu,  sikkat  musarie  usakkak; 

(See  Del.   W.B.  p.  297),   which  we  translate  : 

"  Das  Feld  schiitze  or  durch  eine  Umfassung 
Garten  und  Ueppigkeit  der  Gemlise  deckte  er." 

It  is  indeed  of  a  tissue,  of  a  net  used  to  cover  and  to  envelop 
the  things  planted  or  the  grains  in  the  soil  that  mention  is  made.  Cf.  pjj) 
e  jilis  contextum,  qualem  cribris,  saccis  adhibebant,  saccus;  there  was  then 
a  root  pj^jy  with  the  same  meaning  as  TJ^^?-  '^^^  same  object  might 
be  a  weapon  of  war  real  or  metaphorical. 

Azamillu,  which  precedes  alluhappu,  is  not  without  having  some- 
thing in   common  with  this   last  word. 

We  cannot  compare  this  azamillu  (ty  ,$7^)  ^^  »-^lII  '^^^^^  (  ^  \) 
^1  »^  JJJ  =  A'rt7i«i<  s«  se2»j  (see  Del.  W.B.v.  "asoTTH'/iu"),  cfr.  |^-t:  ?" 
cl   >3^  seta   &c.  cf.  V.  15,  47.   Kannutsa    haristi  ;  Ibid,  46,   kantni  'ia 

eri  ti,  and  note  '^^,  texit,     "^'^j  tegumentum  &c. 


48  AS3YRI0L0GICAL    NOTES. 

1   iJ'  nJD'  Ps.  Ixxx.  16.  "Protect  I"     71^:^3   "Jahve  protects,"  &c. 

There    is    here    again    mention   of    an    object   and    a    similar  custom. 

The  figure  and  the  reality  are  frequently  met  with  in  narratives  of 
battles. 

Samsi  R.  II,  56,  mat  !Nairi  kima  sa^iari  ashup. 

II,   67,  13.     Amelu  Puqudu  kima  saparl  ashup,  diktasunu  adfik. 

IV,  57,  47,     Kima  sett   ukattimu  qarradu. 

T.P.L.,  p.  92,  amelu  suatum  ina  bit  ramnisu  tesu  issahapsu. 

IV,  17,  13,  6,  Sahip  suskallaka  puhur  matati. 

In  the  account  of  the  Creation,  8th  tab.  5,  6,  ff.,  a  circular  fillet 
Sapara  sulvu,  forms  part  of  the  armour  of  the  god. 

It  is  difficult  not  to  attribute  to  anhnmi.  on  tbo  fnifli  rvf  -nrliof  i-ivono/lnq 
the  sole  meaning  of  "  to  cover,  to   envelope." 

Katihnu  and  sahdpu  interchange,  Sanh.  Tayl.  30,  41.  Cf.  Asurb.  I, 
84,  85. 

Cf.  Kima  imbaru  ashup  ! 

Kima    meli  nari   ashup  ! 

Likewise  the  text  II,  19,   68, 

Litti  tahazi,  alluhappu  mat  nukurtim  nasaku. 

This  may  be  rendered  thus  : 

"A  hero  (buffalo)  of  battles,  I  bear  the  net  which  envelopes  the  adverse, 
countries." 

Littu  is  not  a  weapon  (Boscawen)  Bab.  &  Or,  Eec,  III.  149,  &c. 
but  ought  to  be  interpreted  in  a  sense  parallel  and  analogous  to  the  pre- 
ceding verses,   that  is  to    say,  as  being  subject,  agent,  and   not  object. 

muabbit    sadi,  nasaku    (such    an  instrument), 
musaknis  sadi,  nasaku  (such  an  instrument), 
and  lastly,         littu  tahazi,  alluhappu  mat  nukurtim  nasaku, 

Alhappu,  on  its  part,  is  neither  a  "  flail"  '^Sayce)  nor  "  a  savage 
ox"  (Oppert). 

In  regard  to  littu  note  >-\\Xl  ^l"^!  ^Uttu,  the  only  known  equiva- 
lent) is  the  sign  silamu  which  itself  equals  urivvu,  (cf.  -^•i^^^plur.  Chald. 
n'l')*^^,    "lion"'^)   probably   a    play   on    the  words    ^    Z]*^    pu,     uru, 

It  t:  T  .  ••Ml 

or    by  adding    »-|y|f  =  litt.  "  with  many  heads"  (hydra)  or   "  the   great 
head."     Cf.    II,    166.  23    ff.,  "  urivvu    damiq  ina   niseya   gummuranni.'^ 

V.    SCHEIL, 


PRINTED  AND  PUBLISHED  FOR  THE  PROPRIETOR  AT  29  ALBERT  SQUARE,  CLAPHAM 
ROAD    ;    AND  BY  D.   NUTT,  FOREIGN  AND  CLASSICAL  BOOKSELLER?    270    STRAND. 


THB 


BABYLONIAN  AND  ORIENTAL  RECORD. 

Contributors  are  alone  responsible  for  their  opinions   or  statevients-. 


THE  DELUGE-TRADITION  AND 
ITS  REMAINS  IN  ANCIENT  CHINA. 

(Continued  from  p.  24), 

IT. 

* 

15.  Now  we  must  examine  the  remains  of  the  Deluge-tradition  in 
China.  In  the  present  chapter  we  shall  call  attention  to  six  of  them, 
spurious,  doubtful  and  probable.  The  two  first  were  mistakes  of  some 
ancient  Sinologists,  while  the  third  was  a  misapprehension  ;  and  it  is 
their  baseless  character  which  has  led  several  scholars  to  assert  that  the 
Chinese  never  were  acquainted  with  the  Deluge-tradition.  As  some 
recent  writers  are  yet  maintaining  their  genuineness,  we  could  not  help 
mentioniiig  them  in  order  to  show  once  for  all  their  valueless.  The  three 
other  fragments  of  traditions  here  examined,  liad  not  been  pointed  out 
as  yet.  and  we  give  them  only  as  probal)le.  In  the  next  chapter  we 
shall  study  an  important  legend,  hitherto  neglected,  which  will  prove  to 
be  a  genuine  echo,  ancient  and  remarkable  of  the  Western  tradition. 

16.  Some  ancient  missionaries  have  pointed  out  two  instances  of  what 
they  fancied  to  be  remains  or  allusions  to  the  Deluge  tradition  in  Ancient 
Chinese  lore.  Although  they  were  mistaken  in  their  opmion,  it  may 
be  as  well  to  record  the  cases  in  question,  which  could  not  have  occurred 
otherwise  than  in  the  infancy  of  Sinology,  and  nevertheless  are  still  met 
with  in  book.s  as  genuine  facts. 

A  curious  case  was  made  up  to    prove  that  the  Chinese  have  the  tradi- 
tion of  Noah's  ark^o  ;  the  character  j^  tchw'en  "a  boat"  for  the  sake  0{ 
the  ease,  was  supposed  to  be  composed  of  a  boat=^.,  eight  =  ^  and  mouth 
=  p  which  would  mean  "  eight  mouth's  boat  "  or  the  ark  in  wliich  Noah 

Vol.   IV.— No.  3.  [49]  Feb.,  1890. 


50  THE    DELUGE-TRADITION    AND 

and  the  seven  persons  of  his  family  escaped  the  Dehige  I^i  Now  it 
turns  out  that  mere  common  sense  throws  over  this  delirium  of  learning . 
The  character  is  not  primitive  and  has  nothing  whatever  to  do  with  the 
supposed  etymology  above  quoted.^^  It  is  an  ideo-phonetic  compound 
made  about  the  Han  dynasty  when  the  provincial  and  dialectal  words 
were  written  down  and  embodied  in  the  general  vocabulary, ^ 3  It  is 
mad«  of  the  ordinary  character  for  boat  as  a  silent  determinative  and  the 
irreducible  phonetic  184  O///.  which  gives  the  sounil.  To  say  more  on 
the  subject  would  be  mere  waste  of  time.  Such  nonsenses  must  be  re- 
legated for  ever  to  the  limbos  of  precritical  times. 

Notes  20  >  See  Lettre  de  Pelcin  sur  le  genie  c/''  Ja  Jangue  Chinoise... 
(Bruxelles,  lll?>,  8vo.),  pp.  3I-:^3,  (by  Father  Cibot)  ;  a  bad  compila- 
tion of  spurious  documents  of  which  the  authorship,  attributed  to 
Father  Amiot,  has  been  energically  denied  by  him.  See  his  protesta- 
tion and  his  severe  stricture  on  the  value  of  the  Lettre  in  Henri 
Cordier,  Bihltoteca  Sintca,  vol.  I,  793-794. 

21)  Analysis  uf  Chinese  characters,  p.  91.     See  note  24  below. 

22)  Several  fancifitl  etymologies  of  the  same  kind  have  been  reproduced 
seriously  by  V.  Perny,  Grammaire  Chinoise,  vol.  II,  (Paris,  1876,  8vo) 
p.  28,  from  the  Lettre  de   Pek'tn,  without  any  reference  to  the  source. 

23)  The  character  occurred  for  the  first  time  in  the  glossary  of  dialectical 
words  compiled  by  Yang-hiung  (a.c.  .53-18  p.c.)  wliere  it  is  said  to 
be  the  name  for  boat  in  the  West  of  the  Capital.  Cfr.  ICang-hi  tze- 
tlen,  137  +  5,  fol.  88;  and  on  the  work  of  Yang-hiung,  cf.  The 
Languages  of  China  before  the  Chinese,  sect.  42-53. 

*  * 

17.  A  survival  of  the  Deluge  tradition  has  been  supposed  by  Morrison^s 
to  exist  in  the  g  ^  Kcu-tcha  of  tradition  in  which  he  fancied  to  dis- 
cover an  allusion  to  the  Ark  of  Noah.^'*  Though  no  evidence  has  been 
pitt  forward  to  justify  this  surmise,  it  is  not  uninteresting  in  view  of 
further  investigation  and  probably  disclosures  from  Chinese  mythology, 
to  take  notice  of  the  statement  which  has  given  rise  to  this  opinion. 

In  the  Poh  louh.  tchi  (Illrd.  cent,  p.c.)  we  read  :  fllj  ^  ^B  '^  ^. 
which  means  that  '•  the  fairy-raft  crosses  {or  crossed)  the  (zodiacal  man- 
sions of  the)  Ox  and  (of)  the  Measure."^^ 

And  in  the  Shih  I  Ki  (IVth  cent.  P.c.)  is  a  longer  statement  as 
follows  :  In  the  time  of  Yao,  the  Great  Raft  floated  on  the  Western 
sea  during  twelve  years.  A  circuit  of  Heaven  is  called  the  lunar  raft 
that  goes  through  (i.e.  of  the  path  of  the  moon).^^ 

18.  Now  taking  these  various  statements  as  a  whole  they  seem  to  be 
nothing  else  than  chips  of  astronomical  lore.  Translated  as  did  Medhurst^'': 


ITS  EEMAINS    in    ANCIEKT  CHINA.  51 

"A  fairy   floating  oa  a    raft  came  across  niea-tea'''    the  first    of    these 
statements  is  turned  into  a  mythological  event.     But  we  consider  such  an 
as;if  ct  as  very  doubtful  and  we  feel  unsafe  in  trusting  it.     Several  remarks 
might  be  put  forward  to   justify   our  view,   and  exhibit  the  syncretism  of 
the  statements.    The  second  quotation  is    the    only   one   translated    by 
Medhursi  in  his  dictionary,  and  upon  it  rests  the  supposition  we  deal  with; 
but  this  ancient  Sinologist  has  dropped  the  end  of  the  Chinese  statement 
and  this  end  does  not   permit   the  same   construction   to  be  put  on  the 
whole  of  the  sentence  as  the  first  part  would  suggest.     If  the  expressions 
"  fairy  raft,"  "great  raft,"  lunar  raft  "  that  gies  through"  are  all  equi- 
valents,  it  is  obviously  of  a  series  of  qualities  which  would  be  recognised 
easily  by  astronomers  who  might  say  if  they  are  applied  to  the  Moon  or 
to  the  Milky  Way ;  the  West  Orientation  of  the  phenomenon,  the  order 
in  which  are  enumerated  the  9  and  8  mansions  inverse  of  their  appellative 
order,  the  lapse  of  12  years  which  recalls  the  Great  Year  or  the  Cycle  of 
Jupiter,    and  also    the    possible    connection  of  the  Star  of  the  Wood 
(Jupiter)  with  the  idea  of  the  raft,  are  the  various  elements  of  the  pro- 
blem which  does  not  seem  to  involve  any  survival  of  the  Deluge-tradition 
of  Genesis  or  of  the  Nimrod  epos  of   Assyro-Babylonia. 

Notes  24)  Morrison  says  :  g  g  Icew  cha  ;  great  raft,  probable  allusion  to 
the  Ark  of  Noah. — Medhurst,  Chinese  and  English  Did.  p.  475,  says: 
"The  Chinese  say  that  in  the  time  of  Yaou  b.c.  2,  296,  the  g  ^ 
Tceu  cha  or  the  great  raft  went  on  the  sea  for  the  space  of  1 .;  years, 
during  which  time  it  floated  round  the  world."  The  author  of  a  fan- 
ciful paper  Anaylsis  of  Chinese  characters  {The  Chinese  Recorder,  vol, 
IV,  Sept.  1871,  p.  91)  says:  "As  it  is  certain  that  there  was  no 
such  thing-  in  the  time  of  Yaou's  flood,  the  idea  of  theg  ^  is  doubt- 
less the  relics  of  the  tradition  of  the  earlier  flood." 

25)  The  Ox  and  the  Measure  are  the  9  and  8  siuh.  The  ^  and  the  ^ 
correspond  to  parts  of  the  Sagittarius, 

26)  Cf.  ICang-hi  Tze-tien,  s.v.  :  75  +  6  str.,  f.  26. 

27)  In  his  Dictionary  of  the  Hok-Ke'en  dialect,  p.  51. 

%   *   * 

19.  In  the  Chinese  Repository, ^^  a  legend  preserved  by  the  Taoists  has 
been  quoted  as  connected  with  the  Deluge  tradition.  Thus  we  are  told 
that  'One  extraordinary  antediluvian {1')'^^  saved  his  life  by  climbing  up 
a  mountain,  and  there  and  then  in  the  manner  of  birds  plaiting  a  nest, 
he  passed  his  days  on  a  tree,  whilst  all  the  country  below  him  was  one 
sheet  of  water.  He  afterwards  lived  to  a  very  old  age,  and  could  testify 
to  his  late  posterity  that  a  whole  race  of  human  beings  had  been  swept 
from  the  face  of  the  earth." 


52  THE  DELUGE-TRADITION     AND 

This  is  quoted  as  an  extract  from  the  Shin  sien  t'mig  klen^^  of  Sieh 
Tahiun,  a  large  work  of  60  books  published  in  1640,  giving  a  series  of 
biographical  sketches,  for  the  most  part  legendary  and  fabulous,  of  up- 
wards of  eight  hundred  saints,  sages,  and  divinities,  selected  chiefly  from 
the  ranks  of  Taoism,  with  some  Buddhist  characters  among  them.^'^ 
Unhappily  I  cannot  verify  the  translation,  which  looks  somewhat  fal- 
lacious, as  shown  by  the  last  sentence  and  also  by  the  word  I  have  un- 
derlined, and  is  so  obviously  garbled  that  we  cannot  see  its  purpose.  I 
hope  some  other  Sinologist,  in  a  better  position  than  we  are  in  Europe 
with  reference  to  that  book,  will  verify  tlie  stateuieiit. 

Notes  28)  Review  of  the  Shin  Seen  Tung  keen.—  A  General  Account 
of  the  Gods  and  Gewi,  in  22  vol.  From  C  Gutzlaff.  In  Chinese  Re- 
pository, vol.  VII  and  VIII.      Cf.   vol.   VII,  p.  117. 

29)  An  impossible  translation. 

30)  Prof.  R.  K.  Douglas  who  has  kindly  verified  the  case  for  me  writes 
that  the  work  does  not  exist  in  the  British  Museum. 

31)  A.  Wylie,  Notes  on  Chinese  Literature,  pp.  17-89. 

*  ♦  *  « 

20.  The  chapter  Yh  kung  of  the  Shu-king  presents  so  exaggerated  a 
picture  of  the  inundation  which  covered  a  part  of  China  at  the  time  of 
Yao,  that  several  of  the  early  Sinologists  have  concluded  its  identity 
with  the  Deluge  of  the  Bible,  wliile  others,  more  prudent  and  wise  in 
their  generation,  have  seen  in  its  exaggeration  an  influence  of  a  tradition 
of  the  earlier  flood.     They  may  be  right. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  inundation  which  occurred  in  the  time  of 
Yao  and  Yli  the  Great  was  very  extensive,  tlie  damage  done  very  con- 
siderable, and  the  labour  undertaken  to  restore  the  waters  to-  their  chan- 
nels very  great. -^^  fije  labour  had  to  be  continued  during  several  gen- 
erations, and  it  is  the  description  of  these  protracted  works  which  in  the 
Book  of  history  goes  under  the  name  of  Yii,^^  Yet  it  is  evident  that 
the  generally  received  accounts  of  Yao's  flood  were  greatly  amplified; 
and  it  is  a  question  to  know  if  this  exaggeration  may  not  have  arisen 
from  the  fact  that,  at  the  time  of  recording  that  inundation  in  China, 
there  was  still  lingering  some  knowledge  of  a  tradition  of  the  Deluge  of 
Noah  or  Hazisadra,  a  tradition  the  early  Chinese  rulers  might  have  learned 
at  the  same  time  as  they  did  their  stock  of  knowledge  from  S.W.  Asia. 2* 
As  time  passed  on  and  the  remembrance  of  Yao's  inundation  became 
shadowed  in  the  past,  the  two  traditions  got  merged  into  one,  and  some 
souvenir  not  yet  forgotten  of  the  Babylonian-Deluge  tradition  became 
lost  in  and  identified  with  the  more  precise  and  historical  report  of  the 
Chinese  event.  The  overflowing  which  happened  under  the  reign  of  Yao'^ 
was  a  flood  of  the  same  sort  as  occurred  over  and  over  again  since  that 


ITS    REMAINS  IN     ANCIENT  CHINA.  53 

time  during  all  the  course  of  the  history  oi  China,  and  which  caused  the 
Yellow  River  chief  cause  of  the  affair  to  be  called  the  scourge  of  China. 

KoTEs  32)  Vid.  J.  Legge,   Chinese  Classics,  vol.  Ill,  pp.  7-4-75,  proleg. 

33)  In  the  Chronicle  known  as  Tshuh  shu  hi  nien,  the  labours  of  Yii- 
the-Great  are  only  noticed  in  the  shortest  manner  :  In  the  57th 
year  of  Yao,  Yli,  the  superintendent  of  works,  regulated  the  Ho 
river." 

34)  M.  Charles  Gould,  Mythical  Monsters,  London,  1886.  in  a  special 
chapter  :  The  deluge  not  a  myth,  pp.  101-136  has  suggested  that  the 
Biblical  Deluge  and  the  Flood  of  Yao  were  one  and  the  same  event  : 
"  it  may  well  have  been  that  the  Deluge  which  caused  a  national 
annihilation  in  Western  Asia  was  only  a  national  calamity  in  the 
eastern  portion  of  it.  O.C.  p.  129.  The  author  supposes  that  the 
respective  dates  of  the  two  events  are  synchronous.  But  such  is  not 
the  case.  While  the  Chinese  overflowing  occurred  circa  2200  a. c, 
the  Deluge  of  Babylonia,  from  the  evidence  of  cuneiform  texts  hap- 
pened between  4000  ^  5000  a.c. 

35)  The  local  character  of  the  flood  of  Yao's  time  in  China  has  been 
recognized  for  long  by  several  scholars.  Cf.  fur  instance  F.  Lenoruiant, 
Origines  de  /'  histoire,  vol.  I,  pp.  383-385. 

*  *  •  *  # 

21.  In  the  original  notes  which  accompany  the  text  of  the  Tshuh  shu 
Ki  nien,  Part  I,  there  are  reported  two  episodic  circumstances,  which 
however  disconnected,  seem  to  be  derived  from  the -same  stock  of  tradi- 
tional lore,  as  that  which  compose  the  deluge  tradition  and  legends  of 
Assyria  and  Babylonia. 

They  are  referred  to  in  the  mythical  account  of  Hwangti  and  his 
deeds. 

"  He  could  oblige  the  hosts  of  spirits  (jp^)  to  eome  to  his  court  and 
receive  his  orders.  Yng-lung  attacked  Tch'i-yu  and  fought  with  the 
force  of  the  tigers,  panthers,  bears,  and  grisly  bears,^^  ....  By  means 
of  the  female  demon  Pat,  he  stopped  the  extraordinary  rains  (caused 
by  the  enemy). "^^ 

Further  on  another  curious  statement  is  worth  quoting  :  "  ,  .  .  .  the 
heavens  were  wrapt  in  mist  for  three  days  and  three  nights.  The  emperor 
asked  T  s  e  m-1  o,  L  e  k  m  u  h,  and'  D  z  u  m-t  a  n  h^^  what  they  thought 
of  it When  the  mists  were  removed,  he  made  an  ex- 
cursion on    the   Loll   river, and     sacrificed    to  it    with  five 

victims,  whereupon  torrents  of  rain  came  down  for  seven  days  and  seven 
nights "^^ 

22.  Let  us  comment  on  these  various  statements. 

The  female  demon  Pat  ^  ^  by  the  power  of  whom  the  extraor- 
dinary rains  which-  seem  to  have  resulted  from  the  great  fight  alluded 
to  in  the  text,  reminds  singularly  by  its  intervention  in  similar  occurreuce, 
the  arrival  of  Istar  the  great  Goddess  in  the  Chaldean  epiC*"     But  there 


54  THE  DELUGE-TRADITION  AND 

is  the  end  to  the  resemblance  as  Kwei-Pat  is  said  to  be  the  demon  of 
drought  although  the  attribution  of  such  a  virtue  may  have  its  origin  in 
the  statement  referred  to.  In  the  Book  of  Poetry  the  same  demon  is 
spoken  of  in  an  ode  attributed  with  some  apparent  reason  to  the  Vlllth 

century  a.c. 

The  drought  is  excessive 

Parched  are  the  hills,  and  the  streams  are  dried. 
The  demon  of  drought  exercises  his  oppression, 
As  if  scattering  Hames  and  fire.^^ 

The  demon  is  here  described  :  han  Pah  ^      ^  or  han  Kivei-pat,  the 
first  word  ha?i  meaning  by  itself  Drought  ;   wliile  in  the  Annals  of   the 
Bamboo    books,  as  we  have   seen,  it  is  called  iiiu  Fat,   female  Pat  ; 
but  there  is  no  occasion  to  suppose  that  it  is  not  the   same  demon  which 
is  spoken  of   in  the    two   texts      It  is  a  fact  that  very  little  is  known 
about  it.     The  "  Book  of   Spirits  "^2  by   Tung  Fang-so  (Ilnd  century 
a.c.)  or  at   least  the  book   of  the  same  title  which  was   made  up  of  its 
remains  in  the  fourth  century  of  our  era,  describes  it  as    follows  :  In  the 
southern  regions,  there  is  a  man,  or  a  human  being,  two  or  three  cubits 
in  height,  with  the  upper  part  of  the  body  bare,  and  the  eyes   in  the  top 
of  the  head.     He  runs   with  the    speed  of  the  wind,  and  is  named  Pat. 
In  whatever  region  or  state  he  appears,  there  ensues  a  great  drought.^^ 
It   likes    to  mix  up  with  the  crowd,  on  public  places  or  in  the  palaces. 
When  met  and  thrown  over  in  the  w.c,  it  dies   and  the  drought  ends."** 
Here  we  have  the  developement  of  a  mythological  notion  vague  in  former 
times,  into  a  fabulous  statement  of  uncertain  geography.     In  the  present 
day,  the  demon  P  a  t  is  still  feared  and  held  in  awe  and  veneration.** 
His  figure  in  paper  is  carried  on  in  the  streets  at  the  same  time  as  the 
figure  of  a  bird  omen  of  rain,  when   processions   are  made   at  Amoy  in 
order  to  obtain  the  cessation  of  a  drought.*^ 

2:3.  The  second  excerpt  stated  that  torrents  of  rain  came  down  for 
seven  days  and  nights.  This  is  no  doubt  a  survival  of  the  episode  of 
the  same  kind  which  occurs  in  the  Cfialdean  poetic  account  of  the  Deluge, 
where  the  Flood  went  on  ssix  days  and  seven  nights  and  did  not  stop 
until  the  seventh  day.*'^  This  survival  cannot  have  come  from  the  Bib- 
Ucal  account  as  the  latter  attributes  a  length  of  150  days  to  the  strength 
of  the  Deluge.*8 

The  three  names  of  advisers  to  the  sovereign  who  refers  to  their  opin- 
ion in  his  anxiety,  T  s  e  m-1  o,  L  e  k-m  u  h  and  D  z  u  m-t  a  n  h  form 
another  thread  of   Babylonian  affinities.   I  have  hardly  found  them  any- 


IT3  BEMAINS  IN    ANCIENT   CHINA.  $($ 

where  in  Chiaese  literature  ;  nothing  is  known  about  them,  and  their 
presence  in  the  legend  is  au  isolated  remnant  of  religious  lore.  The  way 
in  which  the  statement  is  put  forth,  suggests  more  of  a  prayer  to  deities 
than  a  demand  of  advice  from  living  sages.  Anyhow  we  must  not  see 
in  these  names  more  than  the  bare  statement  implies,  and  the  interest 
for  us  is  that  they  appear  to  be  survivals  in  personal  names  of  three 
deities  from  the  Assyro-Babylonian  pantheon.  T  s  e  m-1  o,  according  to 
appearances,  is  the  same  name  as  that  of  the  god  Samila'^^,  while  L  e  k- 
muh  reminds  the  Chtonian  Liikmu  w\io  with  his  consort  LaUiamu  a,^- 
pear  as  the  first  gods  evolving  from  the  chaos  in  the  cuneiform  text  of 
the  Assyrian  creation. ^"^  Dzum-tanh  is  Sam  Ian  the  Herakles  of 
the  same  pantheon.^ -^  The  three  names  are  therefore  identified  with 
some  probability  to  some  Assyro-Babylonian  prototypes  and  this  without 
great  pressure  nor  persuasion.  Nothing  shows  in  the  Chinese  documents 
that  such  persons  have  ever  existed  in  the  Chinese  world,  and  should 
they  have  existed,  and  their  souvenir  have  been  preserved,  they  would  not 
have  been  called  by  names  of  deities,  such  a  process  being  unusual  to  the 
Chinese  mind.  Their  appearance  in  the  notes  of  the  Annals  of  the 
Bamboo  Books  is  simply  the  result  of  a  rearrangement  of  old  souvenirs 
from  divine  names  once  known  to  the  western  teachers  of  the  Bak  families. 

Notes  36)    ^     %%    :^    m   ±   '^    J^Z    1^  .1    H    B   Wi    ^    1l- 

Dr.  James  Legge  Chinese  Classics,  vol.  Ill,  iutrod.  p.  108,  translates: 
"i/e  employed  Ying-lung  to  attack  Ch'e-yew,  the  fight  with  whom 
was  maintained  by  the  help  of  tigers,  panthers,  bears  and  grisly  bears." 
This  is  somewhat  stretched  as  the  words  do  not  say  more  than  I  give 
in  the  text,  second  sentence. 

37)  iiX  "icMi  ih'^^  M-  ^^'"  ^'  ^^oo^  reads  :  by  means  of  the  heavenly 
lady  Pa,  he  stopped... .&c.  Cf.  Chinese  Classics,  vol.  Ill,  introd.  p. 
108.  The  same  statement  from  the  Shan  hat  Icing  (which  cf.  Lib. 
XVIII  fol.  3,  4),  is  quoted  in  the  Tui  ping  yii  Ian,  Kiv.  882, 
fol.  3v.' 

38)  5^  ^,  'j^  ^,  ^  J5^,  in  modern  Mandarin  sounds:  T'sin-lao,  Lih- 
muh,  and  Yung-sliing. 

.  39)  Tchuh  shii  lei  nien.  Part  I.  3  ;  Chinese  Classics  vol.  Ill,  intr. 
p.  109. 

40)  Col.  III.  51    of  the  cuneiform  text. 

41)  Shi  King,  Ta  ya.  III,  od.  IV.  5  ;  .1.  Legge  :  Cliinese  Classics,  vol. 
IV.  p.  532.  Cf.  also  introd.  pp,  132-133  where  a  list  is  given  of 
the  various  instances  of  Spirits  mentioned  in  the  Book  of  Poetry. 

^2)  Jii$  ^  i^  quoted  in  Kang-ln  tze-tieu,  19-1-1-5.  fol.  67:  and 
by  K'ung  Yng-ta  a  celebrated  commentator  of  the  classics,  who  lived 
574-648. 

43)  J.  Legge,  Chinese  Classics,  vol.  IV,  p.  532,  note. 

44)  J.  J.  M.  de  Groote,  Les  fetes   a'nnvellemcnt  cclchrc'es  a  Emoui,  p.  71 


56  OBIGIN   AND    NATURE    OF    THE     PEHLEVI, 

(Annal.    Miisee  Guimet,  t.    XI,   1886).     Dr.  de  Groot  translate  the 
whole  notice  in  the  plural. 

45)  In  Formosa,  it  is  represented  with  a  mouth  like  a  bird  and  many 
eyes  on  the  head  and  hands,  having  a  fiery  red  sash  across  the  shoulder, 
Baldwin.  Chin.  Diet.   Foochow  dialect,  p.   649. 

46)  J.  J.  M.  de  Groot,  0.  C.  p.  70. 

47)  Cuneiform  text,  col.  III,  19-21. 

48)  Genesis,  VII,  24. 

49)  His  name  only  is  given  in  Fr.  Lenormant,  Chaldean  inagic,  p.  120. 

50)  Creation  tablets  ;  1st  tablet  10.— i?,  &  0.  R.,  1890  vol.  IV,  p. 
27-29. 

51)  Cf.  F.  Lenormant  :  Les  origines  de  V  histolre,  vol.  I,  p,  524  ;  Essai 
de  Commentaire  des  fragments  cosmogoniques  de  Berose,  pp.  93-124  ; 
G.  Maspero,  Histoire  ancienne  des  peuples  de  V  Orient,  Ed.  IV  pp. 
141,  294  ;  J.  Oppert,  in  Gottingische  gelehrte  Anzeigen,  1878,  pp. 
1044-1045. 

Tkrrien  de  Lacouperie. 

(To  be  continued). 


THE  ORIGIN  A^D  NATURE  OF  THE  PEHLEVI. 

I  FIND  myself  obliged  to  return  to  this  question,  because  a  typographical 
error  remaining  in  my  last  article  causes  an  opinion  to  be  attributed  to 
me  absolutely  the  contrary  of  my  own.  Towards  the  end  of  that  article 
in  the  conclusion  of  my  paper,  we  find  these  words  :  Fahlavi  was  to 
spoken  langunge.  It  ought  to  be  :  Pahlavi  teas  no  spoken  language.  It 
is  plain  that  Pehlevi  was  not  spoken  as  it  was  written  ;  but  it  was  not, 
because  of  this,  a  purely  ideographic  or  cryptographic  writing. 

Aramean,  Syriac,  was  spoken  at  court  under  the  Sassanians,  and 
probably  already  under  the  Pai;;thian  kings.  All  the  educated  people  in 
the  kingdom  of  Persia  understood  it.  In  that  way  many  Aramean  words 
were  introduced  into  the  ordinary  language  ;  this  custom  was  introduced 
into  the  style  of  writing,  but  there  it  took  an  extraordinary  extension  and 
an  uncommon  character  according  to  the  taste  of  the  Persians  of  that 
time  for  the  varied  and  idiomatic  writings.  The  authors  of  the  inscriptions, 
medals,  and  manuscripts  of  that  period  knowing  Syriac,  perfectly  com- 
prehended the  Aramean  words  which  they  employed,  and  wrote  them  a 


SOME    BABYLONIAN    TABLETS.  57 

first  with  all    the    letters  in  the    Semitic  style,   andwhen  they   did  not 
read    them,    but    substituted    for    them  their    Iranian    equivalents,   yet 
they  none  the  less  knew  both  the  sound  and  the  sense;   thus  in  the  in- 
scriptions on  the  medals,  cameos,  seals,  &c.,  each  chose  Semitic  words 
according  to  his  fancy.     If  that  is  true  of  the  Persians,  it  is  still  more  so 
of  the  Semite  subjects  of  the  great  King.     The  origin   of  the   Pehlev 
system  was  not  priestly,  but  royal;  that  is  incontestable.     It  is  not  crypto- 
graphic because  it  was  composed  of  letters  understood  by  the  litterati,  and 
the  'inscriptions  traced  in  this  method   were  addressed  to  the    people. 
Still    less  can  it  prove  the  new  importation    of  writing  into   Persia,    for 
the  P  ersians  knew  how  to  write   for   ages.      Daily   custom    alone    can 
explain  both  its  origin  and  itsadoption  under    the   conditions  indicated 
above. 

I  need  not  go  back  upon  the  proofs  of  these  assertions ;  Ijhave  done  so 
too  long  for  it  to  be  necessary  or  even  useful.  C.  de  Harlez. 


NOTES    ON    SOME     BABYLONIAN    TABLETS. 

In  Dr  J.  N.  Strassmaiers's  Babylonische  Texte,  Heft  V,  Nabuchod- 
nosor  Inschriften,  No.  222,  we  have  the  text  of  a  tablet  which  throw.s 
some  addition  allight   upon   a    word  of  considerable  interest. 

1  V  '^i  -^T  <v  fc  ^r 

s        "^  <«  -^ 

Transliteration. 

1  Arba     Ma-na     Si-in-dhu 

2  A-na     d.p.  Marduk     usur 

3  D.p.  Nagar     iddina 

4  Arakh      Tebitum     yum     XI 

5  Satti     XXX. 


58  SOME  BABYLONIAN  TABLETS. 

J'ranslation. 

1  Four     Mana     of     Sindhu 

2  To     Merodach     usur 

3  The     workman     wa3      given 

4  Month     Tebet     9th     day 

5  In     the     30th     year. 

In  the  important  list  in  W.A.I.  V.  28.  Col.  1,  19-20,  the  word 
Sindhu  IS  explained  as  Sipat  Karri  '  Cloth  of  Karri,'  and  by  adhu,  'a 
veil'  while  in  V.  14.  30,  it  is  equalled  with  the  Akkadian  j^JJ^ 
*  r;v,T|.  siK-URU,  which  I  should  render  as  'striped  cloth  ox 
ribbed  cloth.'  It  will  be  noticed  that  the  silk  is  sold  by  weight, 
''  four  manas.'  I  think  it  was  probably  the  unwoven  silk  which  was 
given  to  the  workman  to  weave.  The  Sinlhu  is  apparently  the  aivhwv 
of  the  Greeks  and  the  Sandin  of  the  Hebrews,  being  probably  connected 
with    Hindu,  as   suggested  by    Prof.   Sayce,  (Bibbert  Lectures,  p.  138). 

The  second  tablet  No.  238,  is  interesting  both  from  a  religious  and 
philological  point.  I  shall  not  give  the  full  text,  only  inserting  char- 
acters where   necessary. 

1  ]^xT^     ma-si-khi  sa  dispi  (t^^) 

2  Nabu-akhi-iddina  abil  Sula 

3  TgT    ^  ma-si-kh  E-ri-su 

4  Kalu  yy>-  ^<^^  mh-si-khi  dispi 
.5   Pan  Nabu-zira-ukin  abil-su-sa 
6  Marduk-sum-ibni, 

Here  as  the  total  amount  of  honey  given  is  130  measures,  it  is 
evident  that  T£|[  is  used  as  an  ideogram  for  60.  the  sos.  The  ideogram 
t^^  ^ak  is  explained  in  W.A.I.  V.  29,  67.  by  Di-is-pu  "  Honey.'' 
Honey  was  not  offered  in  the  Jewish  temple,  but  along  with  milk  it 
seems  to  have  been  a  frequent  offering  in  Babylonian  temples,  as  in 
the    India   Hou-se    Inscription    of  Nebuchadnezzar,    we  read  : 

dis-pa-am  Khi-me-tim  si-iz-bi  du-mu-uk  sa-am-num  ka-ra-nam  e-el-lu, 
"  Honey,  milk,  pure  butter,   oil  and  precious  wines,    (I  offered)." 

Covenant  of  Clothes. 
In  his  recently  published  work  on  the  "Religion  of  the  Semites," 
Professor  Robertson  Smith  (p.  317-18)  has  a  most  interesting  section 
devoted  to  the  subject  of  the  Covenant  of  Clothes.  This  covenant  is 
like  that  of  the  blood-covenant,  an  establishment  of  a  mutual  friend- 
ship by  the  interchange  of  garments,  or  even  by  the  touching  of  the  robes 
of  another.  One  of  the  earliest  examples  is  that  of  the  covenant  between 
David  and  Jonathan,  where  Jonathan  disrobes  and  disarms,  and  gives 
his  garments  and  his  weapons  to  David,  as  a  bond  of  friendship  (I.  Sam. 


A  BDDDHIST    REPERTORY.  59 

xviii.  3).     The  same   covenant  is   made  betveen    Glaucus  and    Diomede 
in  the  Iliad. 

The  existence  of  this  ancient  custom  seems,  however,  to  be  much  older 
and  to  explain  the  reason  for  certain  offerings  made  by  the  Babylonian 
Kings.  In  the  Sippara  inscription  of  Nabu-abla-iddinu  (W.A.I,,  vol. 
v.,  pi,  601,  we  read  that  the  king  presented  to  the  Sun-god  certain  sets 
of  robes  •/-  ][][]^  J[EJ  <^  V^y  V  *^Wy  *^*^'  ^«M«''«'s  VI  subati  damkati  sakal 
satti,  "In  all  six  beautiful  robes,  the  tale  of  the  year."  In  the  sam© 
manner  Aqu-kak-rimi  presents  robes  to  the  gods  with  crowns  and  other 
adornments.  The  explanation  of  this,  hhwever,  seems  now  to  be  proved 
by  a  passage  in  an  inscription;  of  Nebuchadnezzar  lately  published  by 
the  Rev.  C.  J,  Ball.  {Proc.  Soc.  Bib.  Arch.,  Vol.  xi.  p,  208,  line  24-25), 
As-sura  si-is-ki-tl  d.p.  Mar  Ink,  bel  ya  sab-ta-ku-u-md,  "  When  with  the 
robe  of  Merodach  my  lord  T  had  clothed  myself,  d.p.  Marduh  be-lU-u 
ia-ti  i-ra-ma-an-ni-ma,  (Then)  Merodach  my  lord  loved  me."  Here  then, 
I  think,  we  have  two  interesting  examples  of  this  kind  of  covenant 
between  man  and  his  god.  W,  St.  C.  Boscawbn. 


A  BUDDHIST  REPERTORY 
IN  SANSCRIT,   TIBETAN,  MANDCHU,  MONGOL  &  CHINESE. 

{Continued  from  Vol.  Ill,  p.  282). 

Section     V. 
Mi'san  hid  gsum.     The  three  Characters,  or  Distinct  Principles. 

1.  Parukcdayitalakshaxiam.^  Comprehension.  T.  Kun-rtags  pa,  general 
characteristic.  M.  Nature,  essence  performing  everything.  Ch.  ones 
own  nature    in  its  entirety. 

2.  Saratantralo.  [read  Para^^,  Principle  of  communication,  or 
relation.     T.    g:\in  giji  dhuhgi  'nxin-la,    characteristic  force  in  relations 

.  with  different  objects. 

3.  Parinishyantal^  .^  T,  Ions  su  grid  pa,  power  in  its  entirety  or  plen- 
itude; complete,  perfect    power. 

The  three  lakshanas. — These  laksJianas,  or  characteristic  signs,  or 
me;ins  of  judgement  belong  to  the  Yogacarya  school  of  the  INIahayana. 
Tlu\v   have  the  following  meanings  : 

Piirnkalpita  (formed,  represented  as — )  is  false  supposition,  er- 
roneous judgement,  error.  It  is  that  which  takes  the  non-existent 
for  tlie  existent,  the  apparent  for  the  real.     Paratantra,  (other,  strange 


^[)  A  BUDDHIST    REPERTORY. 

tissue),  is  tliat  which  serves  as  a  basis  for  error,  for  illusion,  or  for  false 
judgeniont.  It  is  that  wliich  is  perceived  and  which  gives  a  false  idea 
of  the  reality.  It  is  'other'  or  'strange',  because  all  beings  that  are 
perceived  are  composed  of  el<'nients  having  no  proper  or  real  nature  : 
they  are  objects  seen  in  a  mirror.  Paratantra  is  opposed  to  Svatantra^ 
'  having  its  own  nature,  its  tissue    in  itself.' 

Farirush/panna  (arrived,  accompliehed)  is  the  true  reality,  the  supreme 
good,  the  object  of  the  Law  and  of  the  journey  by  the  path  of  the  Law. 
It  is  the  supreme  void  in  its  ten  complete  aspects  (^see  Part  I,  Sect, 
xviii),  the  dka^-a  or  sum  of  all  the  elements. 

These  three  notions  may  be  summed  up  in  the  three  terms  "the  real' 
(No.  3),  the  illusory  (No.  2),  and  illusion'  (No.  1).  Nevertheless  they 
appear  here  to  have  another  mea  ning,  indicated  by  the  term  lakshana. 
They  appear  to  be  nature  in  its  essence — in  its  comprehension — in  the 
relations  of  the  elements.  There  would  then  be  a  question  not  of  logic, 
but  of  ontology. 

1)  Read  parikalpita 

2)  Read  parlnishtanta,  or  better  still  parinishpann,.,    and  see  above^ 

Section  VL 
Bso  naim  byyul  ba  hzi.    The  Four  Things  giving  Happiness,  or  Merit. 

1.  Danainayam  punyakrydvashi,  Good,  procuring  the  merit  or  happiness 
of  almsgiving  or  liberality. 

2.  Cilainuyam  p°-  Good  by  moral  virtues.  T.  ts'nl  khrims  lasbyed pahi. 
M.  by  mortification,  good  conduct. 

4.  BhdvLindmciyam  ^)o«    Good  by  contemplation.     T.  bsgom  pa  las  .  .  . 

M.  by  religious  practices. 
4.   Jepadhigam   po.  [Read  Jesh'ulig  1^ .^     T.  rdzas   las   byed    ...    by 

riches.     M.  Ch.  riches,  precious  goods. 

l^  Translated  and  corrected  according  to  the  M..  L'h.,  and  Mg.  The 
tnglot  lexicon  has  Jaltatriknm  (for  Jepddhighmn),  which  corresponds 
to  rdzas,  medicine  of  magic  power  prolonging  life.  M.  dnshadikam, 
medicinal. 

Section  VII. 
Ston  pa  nid  kyi  min-Ia.     Properties  or  qualities  of  the  Void, 

1.  Paramdrtha ;   (^)  Supreme    entity,    or  principle.     T.  don  dam    pa. 
Supreme  principle.     M.  true  principle. 

2.  Tattvam,  real  entity,  reality,  essential  being.     T.   de  go  nid  (de  kho), 
essence.    M.  fundamental  nattire. 

4.    Tathdtd.  Nature  as  it  is  iu  reality.    T.   Bzin  nid,  reality  (corrasponds 

to  tattvatd).     Ch.  M.  having  sudi  a  nature. 
4.   Ntrv'dna-.     T,  my  a  Han  las   'das  p  (   (gone  beyond,  escaped  from  the 

evils  and  miseries  of  existence).     M.  Mg.  id.     Ch.  transcribed'.     The 

place  where  one  arrives   by    this    passage,   the    Void  which  receives 

existences. 


A     BUDDHIST     REPERTORY.  61 

5.  Abhisamaya*^,  Clear  knowledge,  T.  mfiom  par  rtogs  pa,  complete, 
entire  ((/W*/)  intelligence.  M.  penetrating  and  lucid  intelligence,  clearly 
nnderstnod.    Ch.  certain  knowledge. 

1)  Paramartha  is  generally  opposed  ioSamvrtti.  The  schools  dispute 
about  the  sense  and  extent  of  the  comprehension  of  thase  terms,  but 
the  general  idea  is  everywhere  the  same.  Paramartha  is  the  real,  the 
permanent,  the  positive,  the  comprehensible,  the  concrete  ;  Samrrtti  is 
the  illusory,  the  false,  the  transient,  the  negative,  the  general,  the 
abstract,  the  name  or  word,  the  quality.  For  the  pure  Mahayanists 
the  Void  is  the  only  true  entity,  the  only  reality,  the  supreme  principle, 
the   only  conception  conformable  to  reality,   the  only    "  ist." 

2)  We  shall  refram  from  again  discussing  the  much-disputed  sense  of 
this  word,  which  would  lead  us  too  far.  It  suffices  to  indicate  the 
meaning    which  the   versions    attach    to    it. 

8)  Ch.  nieh-pvan,  which  W.  Williams  mistook  for  a  word,  and 
translated  "  muddy  vessel." 

4)  By  clear  and  perfect  knowledge  one  obtains  absolute  repose,  or 
void,  which  is  the  final  end.  Nirvana  is  certainly  not  absolute  annihilation. 

Section   VIII. 
Gsun  rab   Kyi  mifi-la.     Titles  of    the  Sacred    Books. 

1.  Bodhisattrapttaka})).  'Basket'  or  book  of  the  Bodhi.sattva,  T.  Bi/an 
chtb  sems  dpa  hi  sde  snom.  Instrument  of  the  race  of  Bodhisatva.  M. 
id.  of  Fousa.  Ch.  treasures,  mysteries  of  Fu-Sat. — A  book  teaching 
the  conduct  to  be  observed  in  order  to  become  a  Bodhisattva,  and 
citing  names  and  facts.  It  is  to  be  found  in  the  Bkti-'Gyur,  Section 
of  Dkon-tsegs,    1 1 . 

2.  LankdrataraPi,  descent  from  heaven  to  Lanka=Ceylon.  T.  Luiiysr 
g^egs-pa,    arrived  at  L.— M,  founded  at,    or  in  L. 

3.  Ghanavyuha,  Complex,  close  reasoning.  T.  Stug  po  hgon  pn,  thick 
forest,  hermitage.— A  Mahayanist  Sfitra,  treating  of  soul  and  body, 
vices,  Buddha  and  his  qualities,  tlie  dlai/a,  skandhas,  etc. — Bka-' gym- 
Section  of  Sxitras  (Mso)  VI.  1.  Cf.  Beal,  Chinese  Tripitaka,  p.  62,  7«. 

4.  Suvlkrdntav'tkranu,  Bravery  of  Suvikranta.  T.  Rba  kyi  rtsal  gyls  mam 
par  gnod  pa,  wounding,  crushing  with  great  force.  M.  striking  d<>wn 
strongly,  with  real   force.  Ch.  overcoming  by  great  strength. 

5.  Cdliptasambha  Kanva  [read  Cdlistambhaka,  or  pdlisambbava'\  bundle 
or  birth  of  rice-stalks.  T.  sa-lu  Ijah  pa,  green,  unripe  rice.  M.  book 
of  the  shorts  of  green  stalks.  Ch.  book  of  rice,  said  to  be  by 
Buddha. 

6.  Ratnolkd,  fire  brand  of  precious  stones.  T.  dkoii  mdzodtu  lain,  lamps 
of  the  treasure  of  precious  stones.  Ch.  id.  M.  lamps  of  procipus 
stones. 


62  A     BUDDHIST      REPERTORY. 

7.  Sarvavaidaljidsahgriha.  Collection  of  bamboo-leaves.^  T.  mam  par 
'shag-pa  thams-cad  ba  sdiis  pa,  perfectly  united  by  weaving  everything 
well  together.  M.  Summing  u[)  principles  by  explaining  them  well. 
Ch.  book  I'evealed  by  Buddha  causing  one  to  see  and  penetrate  the 
reriim  ciusas.  In  the  Bkd-'gynr,  Sutras,  1.  XVII.  8.  Discourse  of 
Buddha, 

8.  Sanghdtasutra.  Sutras  gathered  together,  collected,  or  abridged.  T. 
zungi  mdo,  collected  sutras.  M.  id.  Ch.  san-kia-to,  (transcribed). 
Collection  of  short  sutras,  like  the  Udana-sutra.  Cf.  Beal.  Chinese 
Tripitika,  35,   2. 

S.  Abhidhurvia^.  Supreme  (or  interior)  Law.  T.  c'os  mjion  ;)a,  evid- 
ent Liw,  (e\^ident=aM/).      M.  id.     Ch.  hopit'amo  c transcription), 

10.  Pinay  I  [read  Vinaya'].  T.  'dul-po.  Disciplinary  part  of  the  Budd- 
hist books.      M.  books  which  correct  and  ameliorate. 

11.  Prajndpti.  Acquisition  of  knowledge.  T.  gdags  pahi  gtsug  lag. 
M.  dissertation  defining  things.  Ch.  Science  of  names  and  phrases. 
The  I'jirajmxpti-Cstra  is  a  philosophical  treatise  composed  by  Maud- 
galyayana. 

12.  ^astra^.  Book  of  teaching,  or  doctrine,  T.  bstan-bcos,  scientific 
work,  M.  which  directs  and  shows.  V.  Daga  bhumividya  9astra  ; 
Sansparigrahagastra  ;  Alankarasutragastra,  etc.,  etc. 

13.  Dhdtukdya\  Body  of  fundamental  principles.  T.  lOmas  kyi  thogs, 
assemblage  of  principles.    M.  collection  of  fundamental  principles. 

14.  Vinayakshudrakam.  Little  book  of  discipline.  T.  'dul-phran  fsegs, 
id.  M.  id,  Ch.  Small  general  principles.  Part  of  the  Pratimoksba 
and  of  the  Vinayavastu,  treating  of  vows,  ordinations,  &c.  Bka-'gyur, 
Dulva,    xxi. 

15.  Uttaragrantha.  Final  collection.  T.  gz'im  bla-ma.  M.  superior 
principles.  Ch.  great  general  principles.  Last  work  (vols,  xii  and  xiii) 
of  the  collection  of  the  Vinaya  in  the   Bka-'gyur,  V.  yutpati,  48. 

16.  Arsha.  [?  Arya].  Sacred  books  proceeding  from  the  rishis.  T. 
gsf.ug-Ing,  sciences  and  letters.  M.  written  books.  Ch.  traditional 
books.  (Arya  is  a  qualification  applied  to  many  books,  e.g.  Arya-San- 
ghati-Siitra,  etc,) 

17.  Agamam.  Collection  of  the  Law  ;  spiritual  instructions.  T.  luh 
spiritual  instructions.      M.  bvangirlt  (transcription).     Oh.  a-han,  id. 

18.  ^ravacaranam  [Read  Pravacanam'\  Sacred   teachings,    T.   gsutb  rah 
do.-M.    superior    decree. — Mg.    holy    teaching.    Ch.    id.,    marvellous 


A    BUDDHIST    REPERTOKY.  63 

teachings. — Discourses  of  Buddha'and  other  doctors  of  the  law. 

19.  p?.«(0(a?n.  Collection  of  precepts,  T.  bstan-pa.  \d. — M.  Mg.  teaching, 
doctrine. 

20.  Siddhdnta,  attained  completion.  T.  gruh-pahi  mtha,  end  carefully 
attained. — M.  completed  decree. —  A  class  of  Buddhist  books  expository 
of  tlie  systems  of  the  different  schools. 

21.  Satam.  [?  read  Satyam]  Truth.  T.  lugs,  religion.  -  M.  Mg.  Ch. 
law,  principle. — Cf  the  Ari/a-Sati/atn  in  the  Bkd-'gijur  phal-chen  13. — 
M.  matam. 

22.  Samayam,  doctrine,  teaching.  T.  gsun  lugs.  M.  ciktan,  doro,  prin- 
ciple, law,  rule;  morals  and  rites. 

23.  Gdthd,  strophes  (of  four  verses  of  five  or  seven  syllables)  comprising 
a   chant   or  gdijd;  generally  placed  in   the  midst   of  prose   passages. 

T.  tsigs  bead  strophes.     M.  poetry.     The  Lalita-vistara,  for  instance. 

24.  Napdda.  Prose,  (\\tt.  sine  metro) .  T.  rgan-pa  {rhan)  .  .  M.,  Mg., 
Ch.  oi'dinary  words  or  discourses.  (M..  avavdda). 

25.  Migraham.  Mixture  (i.e.  of  prose  and  verse,  like  the  Lalita-Vistara), 
or  of  different  metres  in  one  piece.  T.  Spelma,  mixture. — M.  fujurim^ 
song  of  praise.  Mg.  Kobban.-Ch.  fu,  strophe  of  alternating  four-foot 
and    six-foot  verses. 

1)  Used  forMSS.  The  translators  here  shew  their  independence.    The 

Tartars  and  Chinese  see  vidt/d,  vid  in  ra/dab/d ;  the  Tibetans  make   out 

of  it  a  s'gnificative  verb  '  to  weave.'  Remusat  translates  "  book  containing 

the  totality  of  doctrines    bound  together,"    and    adds  :    '•  I    don't   know 

what   it  means." 

2)  Part  of  the  Southern  Buddhist  books,  one  of  the  Tripitakas,  treating 
of  philosophy.  The  treatises  comprising  it  generally  take  a  particular 
subject,  and  analyse  it  in  every  manner,  the  substratum  dates  from  the 
commencement  of  Buddhism,  but  has  been  amplified  and  developed  at 
a  much  more  recent  epoch. 

S)  The  Castras  are  philosophical  and  opposed  to  the  Sutras,  and  the 
Vinaya.  They  are  generally  composed  of  an  introduction  and  a  discourse. 
See  the  Vibhasha-^astra.  etc. 

4)  Exposition  oF  fundamental  [U'inciples,  a  work  of  Purna  or  Va9a- 
mitra,    belonging  to  the  Abhidharma. 

C.    DE    HaRLEZ. 

{To  be  contmued). 


64  THE    ASSYRIANS    AND    THE 


DID    THE    ASSYRIANS    KNOW    THE    SEXES    OF    THE 

DATE-PALMS?      NO. 

In  Nature  of  23rd  Jan.,  1890,  ji.  283,  there  is  a  note  of  Dr.  E.  B. 
Tyler's  theory  of  the  cone-like  object  presented  by  certain  figures  to 
the  sacred  tree,  and  also  to  the  king,  on  the  Assyrian  monuments.  He 
thinks  this  cone-shaped  object  held  in  one  hand  was  meant  to  represent 
the  male  inflorescence  of  the  date-palm,  and  the  bucket  or  basket  held  in 
the  other,  is  meant  to  indicate  a  further  supply  of  male  flowers,  kept  in  the 
bucket.  He  further  supposes  that  the  conventional  tree,  to  which  the 
cone-object  is  presented,  indicates  a  palm-grore,  and  that  the  genii  are 
in  the  act  of  fertilizing  the  female  flowers,  which  eventually  grow  into 
dates.  Tlie  note  further  says  that  "  this  practice  is  mentioned  by  Theo- 
phrastus,"  who  is  supposed  to  have  lived  between  373  and  288  b.c. 

The  sculptures  exhibiting  this  cone-object  are  put  down  in  the  British 
Museum  as  dating  about  880  b.c,  and  therefore  for  the  notion  of  arti- 
ficial fertilization  to  have  evolved  in  the  minds  of  those  people,  and  to  have 
crvstallized  in  the  heads  of  artists,  so  as  to  become  a  mode  of  wall-deco- 
ration  for  palaces,  we  must  suppose  that  this  interesting  discovery  of  the 
need  of  fertilization  must  have  been  put  into  practice,  and  was  common, 
long  before  the  date  indicated  in  the  British  Museum. 

Dr.  Tylors  theory  appears  plausible,  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  at  the 
present  day  artificial  fertilization  of  date-trees  is  practised  very  commonly 
in  Persia,  Tunis,  Algiers,  itc. 

Let  us,  however,  examine  first,  whether  in  the  days  of  the  Assyrians 
there  was  likely  to  have  been  any  need  for  tlie  practice  of  artificial  ferti- 
lization, and  second,  whether  there  be  any  collateral  evidence  to  support 
the  idea  that  artificial  fertilization  was  known  to  the  Assyrians  in  those 
days. 

In  the  Academn  of  8th  June  1889 — p.  396,  Dr.  Tylor,  referring  to  his 
theory,  writes:  "This  artificial  fertihzation,  indispensable  to  the  production 
of  a  crop  of  edible  dates,  is  the  operation,  which  the  winged  deity  is 
seen  sometimes  about  to  'perform,  sometimes  actually  performing  ;  and 
he  carries  a  fresh  supply  of  flowers  in  his  basket.  When  it  is  considered 
how,  in  such  regions  as  Assyria,  from  remote  antiquity,  the  prospenty, 
and  often  the  very  existence,  of  the  pojmlation  has  depended  on  the  date 


SEXES    OF    DATE-PALMS.  6^ 

crop,  and  therefore,  on  this  practice  of  fertilization,  it  is  seen  that  the 
prominence  given  to  it  in  the  religion  and  art  of  the  country  is  not  more 
than  its  due." 

There  can  he  no  doubt  about  the  antiquity  of  the  use  of  the  date 
fruit  for  food,  but  what  we  are  concerned  with  here  is  the  art  of  fertiliz- 
ing the  female  flowers,  with  the  pollen  of  the  male  flowers.  Have  we 
any  means  of  ascertaining  how  long  ago  this  art,  which  is  now  common- 
ly practised  in  Persia,  and  all  along  the  north  of  Africa,  has  been  known  ? 

Alph.  De  CandoUe  in  his  "  Origin  of  cultivated  plants  "  does  not  throw 
much  light  on  the  antiquity  of  this  art. 

From  the  writings  of  Herodotus  and  Strabo,  he  concludes  that  in 
Babylonia  and  Arabia  "  the  species  was  commoner  than  it  is  now,  and 
more  in  the  condition  of  a  natural  forest  tree."  De  CandoUe  further 
states  that  "  Later,  Herodotus  (who  is  supposed  to  have  visited  Susa 
and  Babylon  between  464  and  447  b.c.)  says  of  the  Babylonian  date 
palms  tliat  only  the  greater  part  produced  good  fruit,  which  was  used  for 
food.  This  seems  to  indicate  the  beginning  of  a  cultivation,  perfected 
by  the  selection  of  varieties,  and  of  the  transport  of  male  flowers  into 
the  middle  of  the  branches  of  female  trees,  but  it  perhaps  signifies  also 
that  Herodotus  was  ignorant  of  the  existence  of  the  male  plant." 

In  other  words  this  may  mean,  that  Herodotus  knew  that  some  palms, 
apparently  like  the  rest,  did  not  produce  fruit,  but  he  may  not  have 
known  why.  The  reason  why  may  have  been  because  these  trees  were 
males,  and  not  because  cultivation  had  begun  to  tell  on  the  fruit  of  the 
females.  Variations  in  the  fruit  must  have  always  occurred,  whether  the 
tree  was  cultivated  or  not.  Herodotus  may  have  been  ignorant  of  the 
existence  of  the  male  plant,  but  on  the  supposition  that  the  Assyrian 
monuments,  which  have  a  date  of  880  b.c.  represent  artificial  fertiliza- 
tion of  the  date  tree,  it  is  hardly  possible  that  Herodotus,  visiting  those 
places  some  400  years  after  that  date,  could  have  missed  knowing  of  a 
practice  so  common,  as  to  have  obtained  prominence  in  the  religion  and  art 
of  the  people.  It  is  reasonable  therefore  to  infer  that,  at  the  time  of  the 
visit  of  Herodotus,  the  Babylonians  themselves  were  not  acquainted  with 
fertilization. 

In  modern  times  the  Persians  make  plantations  only  from  the  offsets, 
which  grow  at  the  foot  of  female  trees,  because  this  is  the  only  way  of 
ensuring  dates  of  particular  good  vniieties  in  quantity.  And  in  orilor  (<> 
insure  a  crop .  in  such  a  plantatitm  of  fomalo  trees  only,  it  lias  become 
necessary  to  bring  male  flowers  from  a  distajice  and  attacli  them  to  the 
female    bunches. 


66  THE  ASSYKIANS   AND    THE 

It  does  not  follow  however  that  in  the  tinae  of  the  Assyrians,  880 
years  and  more,  b.c.  they  made  plantations  of  female  trees  only,  and  there 
appears  to  be  no  evidence  to  show  that  tliey  even  knew  liow  to  remove 
the  offsets,  and  make  them  grow  separately,  from  the  parent  tree.  The 
monuments  show  numerous  date  trees  with  offsets  at  their  foot,  as  they 
grow  naturally,  but  that  is  all. 

On  the  contrary,  it  is  more  likely  that  the  Assyrians  made  their  plan- 
tations (if  they  did  make  any  plantations  at  all)  of  trees  grown  from 
seed.  In  that  case,  the  males  would  have  been  largely  mixed  up  with 
the  females,  and  nu  arP'ficial  fertilization  would  have  been  needed,  as 
the  wind  and  the  insects  would  have  done  all  that  was  required  ;  that  is 
the  pollen  only,  and  not  the  flowers,  would  have  been  carried  to  the  females 
by  the  agency  of  the  wind  or  insects. 

In  the  Encyclop.  Brit.  Vol.  18,  p.  190,  I  find  the  following  ;  "  Owing 
to  the  sexual  arrangement  on  separate  trees,  the  pollen  has  to  be  trans- 
ported by  the  agency  of  the  wind  or  of  insects,  to  the  female  flowers. 
This  is  facilitated  sometimes  by  the  elastic  movements  of  the  stamens 
and  anthers,  which  liberate  the  pollen  so  freely  at  certain  times,  that 
travellers  speak  of  the  date  palms  of  Egypt  being  at  day  break  hidden  in 
a  mist  of  pollen  yrains." 

So  that  artificial  fertilization,  when  males  are  intermixed  with  females, 
does  not  appear  so  "indispensible  to  the  production  of  a  crop  of  edible 
dates  "  as  Dr.  Tylor  might  think. 

The  question  appears  to  be  restricted  to  whether,  in  the  days  of  the 
Assyrians,  they  grew  date  trees  from  seeds  only,  or  also  from  offsets,  as 
date  growers  do  now. 

The  practice  of  artificial  fertilization  may  be  entirely  an  application  of 
the  modern  knowledge  of  male  and  female  trees,  due  to  the  modern  mode 
of  cultivating  only  female  trees  for  the  raising  of  large  crops  of  good 
dates  for  commercial  purposes. 

It  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  at  some  period  of  Babylonian  history 
palm  groves  must  have  been  in  the  condition  of  natural  forests,  that  is 
of  trees  grown  from  seed  only,  with  an  intermixture  of  males  and  females, 
and  that  the  necessity  of  artificial  fertilization  is  of  comparatively  modern 
growth,  and  more  likely  to  have  arisen  contemporaneously  with  the  prac- 
tice of  forming  plantations  of  female  trees  of  the  best  kinds  only,  by 
means  of  their  offsets.^ 

1)  Vide  Sir  Lambert  Playfair's  Letter,    Journal  Soc.  of  Arts,  27  July, 
p.  945. 


SEXES    OF    DATE-PALMS.  67 

As  to  the  prosperity  and  often  the  very  existence  of  the  population  hav- 
ing been  dependent  on  the  date  crops,  tliere  is  evidence  that  this  could 
hardly  be  the  case.     The  date  crops  may  be    of  the   greatest   importance 
in  Arabia  at  present,  where  deserts   prevail  and  life  is  only    possible    in 
the  oases,  but  Mesopotamia   was  bounded  by  two  large   rivers,    and    the 
remains    of  the  extensive  Assyrian    system  of  irrigation-canals  does   not 
suggest   the  idea  that  they  could  have   depended    solely   on   dates  for 
their  existence.     Moreover  Assyria  was  a  corn  growing  country  and  no 
18  of  the  Nimrood  Gallery  shows  a  figure  holding  an  ear  of  corn.     And 
Prof,  de  Lacouperle  in  the  B.  &  O.  R.  has  also  shown  that  the    intro- 
duction of  corn  into  China  was  very  probably  due  to  an  importation  from 
Mesopotamia.      Tiien  again  the  monuments  give  abundant  evidence  that 
figs,  grapes,  goats,  sheep,  cattle  horses,  and  camels  were  common  in  those 
days.     Everything  shows  that  the   date  crop   may  have  only  occupied  the 
position  of  the  same   crop  in  Egypt  at  the  present  day.    That  the  date 
crop  then  may  have  been  imyortant   is  very  probable,   but  tliat  it  was  in- 
dispensable  to  the   existence   of  the   people   of  Assyria  does  not  appear 
more  likely,  than  that  the  apple  crop  is  indispensable  to  the  existence  of 
the  people  of  England. 

The  monuments  afford  no  evidence  that  those  ancient  people  had  any 
knowledge  of  artificial  fertilization  of  date  trees.  We  know  so  much 
about  male  and  female  organs  in  plants  now-a-days  that  this  knowledge 
may  suggest  the  fact  that  in  ancient  times  they  must  have  known  some- 
thing, or  a  good  deal  about  it,  but  beyond  the  supposition  that  the  figures 
holding  this  cone-like  object  are  performing  the  operation  of  fertilization, 
there  appears  to  be  no  foundation  for  such  extensive  knowledge  of  the 
sexes  of  plants  in  Assyrian  times.  The  meaning  of  these  figures  how- 
ever may  admit  of  being  otherwise  explained.  If  their  operation  of  fer- 
tilization were  so  common  and  were  yearly  performed  by  men,  it  is  reason- 
able to  suppose  that  the  Assyrian  artists  would  have  designed  ordi?iar>/ 
men  as  performing  this  operation,  and  not  lo'inged  men  and  loinged 
monsters.  The  very  fact  that  these  figures  have  been  given  wings  sug- 
gests the  idea  of  their  performing  some  spiritual  function,  and  not 
discharging  an  ordinary  annual  human  function.  Nevertheless  the  As- 
syrians may  liave  had  some  vague  knowledge  of  the  value  of  male  trees 
in  their  groves,  Su})po3ing  them  to  have  cut  down  some  of  those  ap- 
parently useless  trees  for  timber,  they  niiglit  liavo  discovered  Miat  tlie 
females  in  the  vincinity  became  either  less  productive,  or  entirely  l)arren. 
But  Dr.  Tylor's  theory  must  presuppose  that  those  i)eople  not  only  had 
a  vague   knowledge   of  the  value   of   the    male  tree,   but  that  they    had 


68  THE    A9&YRIANS    AND    TH.i 

been  long  acquainted  with  the  real  function  of  male  date  tre3s,  and  taht 
artificial  fertilization  had  been  consecrated  by  age  into  a  religious 
ceremony. 

The  large  majority  of  the  date  trees  shown  on  the  monuments  are 
undoubtedly  females.  For  below  the  head  of  foliage  on  each  side  of  the 
stem,  there  is  a  bunch  of  dates.  This  may  haye  a  meaning,  viz.  that  in 
the  eyes  of  the  sculptors,  and  therefore  of  the  people,  the  females,  or 
fruit-bearing  trees  were  the  all  important  ones. 

The  exceptions  I  find  are  the  central  date  tree  of  the  '  sacred  tree,'  and 
the  surrounding  heads  of  foliage,  all  which,  Dr.  Tylor  supposes,  was 
meant  to  represent  a  palm  groye.  There  are  some  other  trees,  also  with- 
out fruit,  on  the  obelisk  of  Shalmanesar  (No,  98,  Br.  Mus.)  On  one 
of  its  sides  there  are  lions  hunting  deer,  and  rudely  carved  date  trees. 
These  are  evidently  not  intended  to  indicate  a  grove,  but  wild  beasts,  and 
wild    date  trees  in  ■.'.forest  (b.c.  850). 

So  that,  had  the  Assyrians  such  an  accurate  knowledge  of  the  function 
of  male  trees,  as  Dr.  Tylor's  theory  presupposes,  it  is  not  clear  why  they 
should  not  have  introduced  more  frequently  male  trees,  that  is,  trees 
without  bunches  of  fruit.  This  omission  would  suggest  ignorance  of  the 
real  vaiue  of  the  male  element  in  their  date  trees.  On  the  other  hand 
we  must  not  lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  ivant  of  bunches  of  dates,  might 
not  only  mean  male  trees,  but  also  young  female  trees,  and  also  adult 
females  in  the  non-fruiting  season. 

The  sacred  tree  and  genius  Dr.  Tylor  would  perhaps  interpret  as  re- 
presenting the  act  of  fertilizing  the  female  trees,  which  have  no  fruit  yet, 
but  only  female  flowers.  But  that  same  sculpture  would  admit  of  a 
different  interpretation  viz.  the  ceremony  of  blessing  the  grove  before  it 
bore  fruit,  with  the  expectation  that  a  plentiful  crop  might  result  in  the 

coming  season.  This  would  mean  that  they  believed  in  prayers  and  bless- 
ings, which  is  not  at  aU  improbable.  In  olden  times  it  is  said  that  the 
people  of  England  prayed  for  a  good  crop  of  apples.  One  can  fancy  the 
people  of  India  in  the  present  and  former  days  doing  the  same  thing, 
when  all  the  mango  groves  are  in  full  blossom.  If  in  India  there  be  no 
public  ceremony  of  blessing  and  praying,  nevertheless  every  poor  person 
will  secretly  offer  a  prayer,  or  utter  a  wish,  that  storms  and  hail  may 
not  come  to  destroy  the  mango  crop. 

I  have  seen  two  renderings  of  this  supposed  act  of  fertilization  of  date 
groves,  which  at  first  sight  one  would  think  confirm  Dr  Tylor's  theory.  One  is 
PI.  8,  Louyre,  (Perrot  et  Chipiez  Hist,  del'art,  T.  2),  and  the  other  in  the 
NinuMod  Gall.  Br.  Mus.  No.  38.  Both  these  show  the  cone  as  if  introduced 


SEXES    OF    DATE-I'ALMS.  69 

among  the  foliage  of  the  palm-head.  One  might  suppose  that  here  the 
genius  is  in  the  very  act  of  sprinkling  pollen  on  tlte  female  flowers.  But 
in  interpreting  their  paintings  and  sculptures,  \ye  should  never  lose  sight 
of  the  ways  and  devices  of  those  self-trained  ancient  artists.  With  them 
the  rules  of  perspective  were  not  yefc  in  existence.  When  the  slab  of 
stone  was  large,  the  sculptor  had  full  scope  to  amplify  his  representation 
and  he  put  the  figure  of  the  genius  at  a  certain  distance  from  the  tree. 
When  the  slab  was  small  the  figure,  which  is  the  most  important,  en- 
croached upon  the  tree,  and  so  the  cone  was  made  to  appear  as  if  the 
genius  were  actually  thrusting  it  among  the  foliage  in  search  of  the  female 
flowers,  while  all  along  the  artist  may  have  meant  nothing  of  the  kind. 
The  smallness  of  the  slab  for  the  proper  display  of  the  whole  drawing,  as 
we  see  it  in  other  cases,  may  have  been  tlie  reason  for  its  having  been  so 
represented.  And  the  view  I  have  taken  of  it  is  especially  supported 
by  the  fact  shown  in  this  very  l^o.  38.  The  slab  was  so  small  that  the 
artist,  in  figuring  the  genius  with  the  usual  or  conventional  outstretched 
hand  holding  the  cone,  had  not  only  to  encroach  on  the  tree,  but  also  to 
cut  off  a  bit  of  the  feathers  of  the  wings,  as  the  edge  of  the  slab  did  not 
admit  of  their  being  fully  displayed  as  usual.  In  that  of  the  Louvre, 
the  edge  t)f  the  wing  touches  the  rim  of  the  slab,  and  probably  for  a 
similar  reason  the  cone  is  made  to  encroach  on  the  tree. 

The  same  thing  may  be  said  of  No.  40  of  the  Nimrood  Gall.  B.  M. 
where  the  cone  touches  the  king's  back  hair,  and  also  N'o.  2,  where  one 
cone  touches  the  King's  hair,  and  the  other  almost  touches  the  back  of 
his  hat.  In  both  these  cases  I  should  certainly  not  infer  that  the  genii 
were  doing  something  to  the  King's  head,  but  that  they  were  his  at- 
tendants, and  were  spiritually  protecting  him,  and  that,  for  want  of  space, 
the  artist  placed  them  too  close  to  the  King.  E.    Bonavia. 

{To  be  continued^. 


AMMATU^. 
(See  B.  ^-  0.  R.  for  Jan.,  1890). 

Dear  Prof,  de  Lacouperie, 

An  interesting  letter  from  the  Rev.  Owen  C.  ^Vhitehonse  having  ap- 
peared in  the  Academy  for  Feb.  22nd,  1890,  and  thinking  it  might  not 
be  uninteresting  to  the  readers  of  the  B.  &  0.  R.,  in  c(mnection  with  my 
article   on  the   duplicate  of  the  1st  tablet  of  the  Creation  Series,  I  beg 


70  AMMATUM, 

you,  if  you  liave  space  for  it,  to  be  kind  enough  to  reproduce  it  in  the  next 
number  of  the  Record, 

'•  In  the  last  number  of  the  Babylonian  and  Oriental  Record  Mr. 
Pinches  has  published  in  cuneiform  text  and  transcription  a  duplicate  of 
the  Babylonian  Creation  Legend  hitherto  known  from  K.  5-419,  34:73, 
and  4832,  &c.  Of  these  the  first,  with  which  I  am  now  concerned,  was 
reproduced  in  Delitzsch's  Assyrische  Lesestucke  (3rd  ed.,  p.  93),  while 
the  transcription  may  be  read  in  Schrader,  C.  0.  T.,  vol.  i.  p.  2. 

Now,  in  the  duplicate  just  published,  the  second  line  of  the  opening  of 
the  Creation  Legend  reads  thus  : 

"sap-lis  am-ma-tu™  su-mu  la  [zakrat]." 

Here  ammatum  lov  "ground,"  "land,"  "  earth"  stands  in  place  of  ma- 
tum  in  K.  5419.  It  might,  perhaps,  bethought  possible  that  by  a  very 
exceptional  combination  we  might  read  sap-lis-am.  This  would  indeed, 
be  a  most  unusual  mode  of  writing  in  place  of  sap-U-sam  ;  for  it  is 
notorious  that  the  Assyrians  avoided  writing  phonetically  in  a  word 
or  syllable  beginning  with  a  vowel  immediately  after  a  closed  syllable. 
There  are.  however,  more  examples  than  we  might  at  first  snspect  of  so 
exceptional  a  combination.  Delitzsch,  in  his  Assyrian  Grammar  (Reuther) 
S  17,  cities  a-sib-at  (II  Rawl.  66,  no.  1,  9)  :  and  this  peculiarity  appears 
most  frequently  in  the  case  of  accented  suffixes — e.g.  first  person  -an-ni 
in  Si7i  Sallim-cm-ni  and  other  proper  names  (see  Canon  of  Rulers  passim). 
In  the  Rassam-cylinder  of  Asurbanipal  I  have  noted  il-lik-am-ma  and 
u-bil-am-ma  and  other  forms  of  like  ending  (col.  i  62;  ii.  80,  102  ;  iii. 
19  ;  vii,  96,  100).  But  we  have  no  right  to  assume  here  anything  so 
unprecedented  as  an  adverbial  sip-lis-am  parallel  with  umisam  and  dar- 
sam  (or  with  fuller  termination  -im-ma,  as  in  s  ut-ti-s  am-md),  for 
these  endings  appear  to  belong  to  adverbs  of  time  (see  Delitzsch,  ibid.., 
§  80  b,  /3). 

Accordingly,  the  existence  of  a  word  arnmitu  is  warranted  by  the 
duplicate,  Tlie  confident  assertion,  therefore,  of  the  writer  E.  (in  the 
Expositor.^  August  1889,  p.  159)  that  no  such  form  exists  in  the  first 
Creation-tablet,  falls  to  the  ground.  This  word  is  obviously  Semitic  and 
appears  to  throw  light  on  two  Old  Testament  passages. 

1.  In  2  Sam.  viii.  1  occurs  the  somewhat  enigmatical  ??2g</«f<7 /la-ammaA 
Thenius,  indeed,  on  comparing  the  parallel  in  1  Chron.  xviii,  ]  and  the 
LXX  of  I  Sam.  viii,  1,  would  be  disposed  to  reject  the  Hebrew  text 
of  the  latter.  But  its  validity  seems  to  be  fairly  supported  by  the  ar- 
guments of  Canon  Driver  in  his  elaborate  and  instructive  word  Notes 
on  the  Hebrew  Text  of  the  Books  of  Samuel  (Clarendon  Press),  which 
has  recently  come  into  my  bauds.  If  the  metaphorical  use  of  the  Arabic 
zimdm  for  "  power,"  "  jurisdiction,"  satisfactorily  explains  the  use  of 
metheg  here,  may  not  the  Assyrian  ammatu  guide  us  to  the  correct  un- 
derstanding of  ammah  as  meaning  here  "land"  or  "district" — a  signi- 
fication better  suited  to  the  context  ? 

2.  And  similarly  in  Is.  vi.  4  we  would  connect  the  plural  ammoth, 
"  foundations,"  with  the  same  word  meaning  in  the  singular  "  land" 
or  "  ground." 

The  word  ammah,  ammatu  is  probably  derived  from  the  root  D^J^, 
signifying  "  mother".  The  primitive  connexion  of  earth  with  mother- 
hood needs  no  illustration.     Compare  Sayce's  Hibbert  Lectures,  p.  251. 


AMMATUM.  71 

For  Delitzsch's  assumption  (^Prolegomena  eines  neuen  Heb.  Aramdischen 
Worterbuch,  p.  109)  that  the  root  originally  meant  "  to  be  broad"  or 
''  roomy"  I  cannot  see  sufficient  evidence.         Owen   C.  Whitehouse." 

With  regard  to  the  reading  of  the  word  on  K.  5419,  it  is  to  be  re- 
marked, that  Prof.  Fried.  Delitzsch,  in  the  2nd  edition  of  his  Lesestii.cke, 
prints  's'ap-li^  EK]^]  ^I^  '  ["'?*]-^«^-  To  this,  in  my  copy  of  the  2nd 
edition  of  the  above  work,  I  have  made  a  note  to  the  effect  that  there 
was  "certainly  »— before  trsi-tum."^  What  I  then  (not  later  than  1885) 
regarded  as  *-^;  ina  ?,  however,  must  be  the  upper  of  the  two  initial 
wedges  of  J:^^  am,  the  Assyrian  form  of  *;ry.^ .  K.  5419,  therefore,  had 
the  same  reading. 

As  an  addition  to  Dr.  Whitehouse's  interesting  remark  concerning 
the  meaning  of  "  foundation,"  which  the  Hebrew  equivalent  r^S^^  lias 
(Isa.  vi.,  4),  the  question  naturally  arises,  whether  the  meaning  of  ■■'  cubit" 
does  not  come  from  the  idea  of  measuring  land,  rather  than  from  the 
meaning  of  "  forearm"  like  our  word  "  acre,"  which  originally  meant 
simply  "field"  ?  The  cUfti  which  is  generally  regarded  as  equivalent  to 
ammat,  "cubit",  was,  when  applied  to  living  things, 'a  measure  of  about 
12  inches  only.^  Og.  king  of  Bashan,  notwithstanding  the  reduction 
in  the  length  of  his  bedstead  which  such  a  reduction  in  the  cubit  might 
imply,  would  have  been  a  real  giant  to  require  one  even  of  only  nine 
feet  in  length.  The  "  cubit  of  a  man,"  and  the  Babylonian  ^1^!^  = 
ammat,  "  cubit",  were  possibly  identical.^  Theo.  G.  Pinches. 

^  In  the  3ru  edition  of  his  Lesestilcke,  Prof  Delitzsch  has  matum,  with 
a  query  over  the  ^|,  ma.  Evidently  he  regarded  the  wedge,  which  I 
had  noted  in  or  before  1885,  as  the  topmost  horizontal  wedge  of  that 
character. 

2  A  tablet  in  the  Museum  of  Edinburgh  speaks  of  "  an  ass  of  5  cubits" 
probably  =  5  feet  high. 

3  Corrections  have  been  made  in  Dr.  Whitehouse's  letter,  according  to 
the  errata  noted  in  the  Academji  for  March  1,  p.  156. 


THE  ETYMOLOGY  OF  KETCHUP. 

My  note  on  Ketchup,  catchup,  catsup  in  the  Record  of  last  NoTember^ 
pp.  284-286,  briefly  and  incompletely  noticed  in  The  Academy  of  Nov. 
30th,  has  been  the  occasion  of  a  letter  on  the  subject  by  the  Rev.  Hilderic 
Friend  and  published  in  the  same  periodical  of  Dec.  21st.      The  author 


72  THE  ETYMOLOGY  OF  KETCHUP. 

who  was,  I  think,  a  missionary  in  China  and  has  madehis  name  favourably 
known  by  a  work  on  the  Folklore  of  Plants,  has  treated  of  the  etymology 
of  Ketchup  without  having  read  my  special  paper.  Nut  having  met 
with  the  word  while  sojourning  in  the  Middle  Kingdom,  he  goes  so  far 
on  this  unsafe  ground,  as  to  deny  the  Chinese  origin  commonly  attri- 
buted to  it,  and  to  which  I  have  not  objected  without  considerable  re- 
servation. Taking  into  account  the  Chinese  spelling  |^  "^  kivai-tchap, 
(which  goes  partly  against  the  Rev.  H.  F.'s  contention),  and  the  char- 
acter somewhat  contemptuous  of  its  transcription,  I  expressed  my  im- 
pression as  follows  :  The  word  may  have  a  Chinese  origin,  but  not  from 
China  ;  it  may  have  come  from  Australasia  or  the  Malay  peninsula, 
where  the  Chinese  colonists  of  Southern  China  are  so  numerous  ;  the 
expression  may  have  been  may  ha^e  been  made  there,  with  a  local 
acceptation  unknown  in  the  mother  country. 

Ignoring  the  Chinese  term  and  its  peculiarities,  the  author  of  the 
letter,  however,  comes  next  to  my  opinion  in  suggesting  that  the  origin  of- 
the  word  be  sought  in  the  East  Indies  ;  but  lie  is,  I  think,  wrong  in 
stating  that  the  first  syllable  may  be  looked  for  among  the  Burmese  or 
Assamese.  Something  more  is  required  to  uphold  a  claim  in  favour  of 
these  languages  than  a  chance  similarity  between  the  first  syllable  of 
ketchup  and  that  of  the  Assamese  Kath-phuld,  mushroom  or  fungus, 
where  it  is,  perhaps,  simply  a  numeral  auxiliary. 

In  perusing  the  sections  about  meals  and  plants  in  the  anonymous 
work,  A  comparative  vocabulary  of  the  Barma,  Maldyu,  and  Thai  of 
(J.  Leyden)  (Seranipore,  1810)  since  my  note  was  published,  I  have 
found  two  terms,  Nos.  2199  and  1144,  where  appear  words  which  may  be 
connected  with  the  antecedent  of  ketchup,  if  not  this  antecedent  itself. 
In  Siamese  luk  kachap  (read  katchap\  where  luh  is  the  auxiliary  nume- 
rative,  is  a  sort  of  sweetmeat ;  and  p'hak  kachiap,  same  remarks  about 
reading  and  p'hak,  is  a  species  of  crotalaria. 

Should  this  surmise  be  verified,  the  word  originated  in  Siani  has 
received  its  Chinese  garb  from  the  Chinese  there ;  it  has  been  spread  by 
them  in  the  Indian  Archipelago,  and  even  carried  as  far  as  China  and 
Japan.  The  Europeans,  then,  must  have  learned  it  in  Indonesia.    T.  de  L. 


t 

PBINTED  AND  PUBLISHED  FOR  THE  PEOPRIETOE  AT  29  ALBERT  SQUARE,  CLAPHAM 
ROAD   ;    AND  BY  D.  NUTT,  FOREIGN  AND  CLASSICAL  BOOKSELLER,    270    STRAND, 


THB 

BABYLONIAN  AND  ORIENTAL  RECORD. 

Contributors  arc  alone  responsible  for  their  opinions  or  statements. 

THE     NATION    OF     THE     MARDS, 

The  first  scholars   who    sought    to  classify  in    a    rational   manner     the 
civilized  races  of  ancient  Asia,  admit  with  perfect  accord  that  idea,  that 
the  Semites    and  Indo-Europeans  have  come  from  distant  centre  which 
served  them  as  a  common  habitat  before  their  separation.     That  centre 
v^ould  have  been  the  plateau  of  Pamir  according  to  some,  the  basin  of 
Tarim  according  to  others.       The  foundation  of  that  theory  which  sup- 
j)oses  at  the  first  glance  the  primordial  contact  of  races  which  I  am 
al)out  to  mention,  has  been  upheld    by  some  philologists   of  great  au- 
thority, who  have  not  been  afraid   to  recognise  in    the  tongues  of  these 
races  mutual  borrowings  dating  from  the  first  formation  of  the  language. 
For  my    part,   I   have   decidedly  declared    myself  the  adversary  of  that 
kind  of  comparison,  superficial  for  the     most  part,  to  establish  a  point 
of  solid  datum,  and  beyond  all  dispute.     In  later  times,  the  idea  of  an 
habitat    common    to    the    Aryan    and  the  Semites   in   the   first   epochs 
of  their  existence  has  lost  much   ground.     There  is  rather  a    tendency 
to  separate  them    from  their  cradle,  for,  whilst  the  primitive  country   of 
the  Ar}'an    race   is  placed  in  the  centre  of  Iran,  or  even  in  Europe,  the 
Semitic  race  is  made  to  have  sprung  up  in  Arabia,  or  perhaps  in  the  valley 
of  the  lower  Euphrates.       I    do  not  at  this    time    treat  of   the  knotty 
question  of  origins,   but  I  believe  it    useful   to  elucidate   what  concerns 
the  point   of    knowing  at    what  epoch  the  contact  between    the   Aryans 
and  the  Semites  in  ancient  Asia  was  formed.  ;md    why  it   could   not  l»(^ 
effected  sooner. 
Vo,,.    IV.— No.  4.  [73]  Mahch,  1890. 


74  THE   NATION    OF 

Tlie  ancient  history  of  Assyria  being  very  nearly  unknown  to  us,  it 
is  impossible  for  us  to  ssay  whether  the  kings  of  the  ancient  empire  had 
made  attempts  to  subjugate  the  bordering  peoples  on  the  eastern  side» 
and  among  those  tie  peoples  of  western  Media.  All  that  we  are  at 
liberty  to  affirm  is,  that  Media  must  have  been  well  known  to  them, 
ieeing  that  Ramanirari  I.  (1320  n.c.  j  made  a  i)roclamation  that  there 
should  be  placed  in  towns  expressly  built,  people  from  the  Kassi, 
Kuti,  Lulume  and  Subari  (Mvkin  ma/tazi  nlrmuti  umimm  Kassi  Ku^f. 
Luhimei  u  Subari),  populations  of  which  the  greater  [lortion  formed  part 
of  southern  Media.  Nevertheless,  the  mention  by  name  of  Media  as 
t  tributary  country  figures  for  the  first  time  in  the  inscription  of  Shal- 
manesar  11,1.  13  9,  ff.  The^Assyrian  king,  after  having  taken  the  principal 
towns  of  Namri,  went  to  the  country  of  Parsua,-  where  he  received 
the  tribute  of  27  native  kings,  and  passed  thence  into  Media  (tnat 
Amadiia)  Aiazias  {mat  Arazias)  and  Harhai  (v}at  Harhar).  There  is 
no  ground  for  distinguishing  between  the  f,.rm  Amadaa,  and  that  more 
ordinary  Madaa.  Under  the  following  reigns  the  Assyrian  invasions 
in  Media  became  more  and  more  frequent.  All  these  facts  lead  us  to 
see  that  for  more  than  a  thousand  years,  at  the  very  least,  the  Assyr- 
ian possessions  reached  to  Media  and  often  even  exercised  a  real  domin- 
ion there.  There  is  then  reason  for  asking  how  it  comes  about,  that  the 
Assyrian  texts  are  entirely  destitute  of  any  element  whose  origin  can 
be  traced  back  to  the  Iranian  language  of  the   Medes. 

The  enigma  is  still  more  incomprehensible,  'as  the  Iranian  elements 
should  have  been  able  to  penetrate  even  into  Babylonia  by  another  way 
and  that  from  a  high  antiquity.  Thus,  as  we  have  seen  above,  the 
Namri  and  the  Kassii  or  the  Cossea  wore  situated  in  the  immediate 
neighbourhood  of  Media,  and  as  a  Cossean  dynasty  governed  Babylonia 
during  several  centuries,  the  Cosseans  would  not  have  failed  to  trans- 
mit to  the  Babylonians  some  terms,  or  at  least  some  names  of 
men  and  of  gods  of  Iranian  production,  borrowed  by  them  before  having 
quitted  their  native  country.  And  it  being  admitted  that  this  thing  did 
not  happen,  it  ought  therefore  to  be  concluded  that  the  Iranian 
influence  never  made  itself  felt  in  Cossea  itself.  Such  a  fact  ought  to 
have  its   raifon   d'etrf. 

Well,  I  believe  in  fact  that  the  total  absence  of  Iranian  influence 
o\or  the  Semites  of  the  valley  of  the  Tigris  and  the  Euphrates,  before 
the  C(  ming  of  the  Acliemenides,  is  the  consequence  of  a  state  of  things 
for  wliich  we  can  account  by  tlie  help  of  a  careful  study  of  the  cuneiform 


THE       MARD?.  75 

documents.  The  difficulty  pointed  out  has  its  source  in  the  erroneoua 
conception  we  have  of  the  geographical  distribution  of  the  Indo-European 
race  in  eastern  Iran. 

The  Greek  authors,  to  begin  with  Herodotus,  had  made  us  believe  tliat 
the  vast  chain  of  the  Zagros  was  the  primordial  seat  of  a  Persian  people. 
The  modern  Aryanists  have  still  surpassed  the  inaccuracies,  in  the  main 
excusable, of  the  Greeks,  in  affirming  through  the  errorjof  fictitious  etymo- 
logies, that  the  name  of  the  ancient  kingdom  of  Elam  was  notliing  else 
than  the  Zend  Airyana,  the  country  of  the  Aryans  par  excellence.  We 
know  to-day  tliaf.  that  is  not  so.  The  Susians,  properly  so  called,  were 
neither   Aryans  nor  Semites.  That    has   been   known    for    a     good 

number  of  years,  but  that  which  has  not  been  known  as  j'et,  and  that 
which  1  shall  try  to  make  clear  in  the  sequel,  is  the  exact  distribution  of 
races  in  that  imperfectly  known  region,  and  more  especially  the  consider- 
able importance  of  a  race  little  noticed  till  the  present  time,  the  race  of 
the  Amardians  or  Mards. 

In  a  recent  article  on  the  paternal  country  of  Cyrus  {^Revue  des  etudes 
jiiivef.  1889,  p.  174),  I  have  shown  that,  among  the  seven  Persian  tribes 
whom  Herodotus  affirms  not  to  have  belonged  to  the  nobilitv,  there  are 
distinguished  at  least  five  of  them  who  were  not  living  in  Persia,  in  the 
geographical  sense  of  the  word.  Thus  the  agricultural  tribe  of  the 
Germanians  appears  to  have  been  a  people  uf  the  plain  situated  to  the 
east  of  the  Tigris,  between  the  little  Zab  and  the  Diala,  the  Be{th)-Garme 
of  the  Syrians.  So  the  nomad  tribes  of  the  Sagartians,  of  the  Daians, 
and  of  the  Dropics,  dwelt  to  the  North  of  Persia  proper;  lastly,  the  Mards 
arc  plainly  indigenous  to  mountainous  Susiana,  the  Hop/rdi  of  the 
inscriptions  of  the  second  Achemenidian  language.  I  add,  that  of  these 
five  peoples,  the  Sagartians  alone  could  have  been  of  the  Iranian  race  and 
language.  As  to  the  other  four,  we  can  say  that  the  Germanians  were 
certainly  of  Semitic  origin,  whilst  the  Daans,  the  Dropics,  and  the  Mards 
were  Allophyles,  neither  Semites  nor  Aryans.  And  as  some  of  them 
were  found  in  Susiana  as  well  as  in  North  Media,  it  appears  legitimate  to 
couclude  from  this  that  they  occupied  the  greater  part  of  the  Zagros, 
after  the  limits  of  Persia  towards  the  North-west  of  Media.  Tiiese 
different  Allophyle  peoples  formed  the  groat  nation  of  the  Mards. 

Here  are  nearly  all  the  geographical  notions  which  are  acquired  by  study- 
ing the  cuneiform  texts.  All  the  plain  which  extends  between  the  Tigris 
*nd  turning  to  the  west  of  the  Zagros  was  peopled  by  Semites,  of  whom 
the  most  powerful  wero  the  Elymeans.  the  Chalda^ans,  the  Aramcans  on 


76  THE    NATION    OF 

the  South  ;  the  Assyrians  on  the  North.  The  m*  untainous  region,  on 
the  contrary,  appears  to  have  been  always  inliabited  by  the  Mards,  however 
with  the  exception  of  an  enclosed  spac«\  forming  the  country  of  the 
Cosseans,  who,  contrary  to  general  opinijn,  spnke  an  Assyrian  dialect. 
Perhaps  it  may  be  necessary  here  to  add  the  inhabitants  of  Namri,  to 
judge  of  them  by  the  names  of  their  principal  towns:  Sihi-salah,  Bit- 
tnmul,  Bit-sakhi,  Bit-sedi,  of  which  the  first  signifies  in  Cossean,  **  the 
sun  protects;"  tlie  others  in  Assyrian,  respectively,  "house  of  passage," 
"  house  of  chiefs,"  "  house  of  the  genii." 

The  exact  divisions  of  the  nation  of  the  Mards,  as  well  as  the  suc- 
cessive marshalling  of  the  tribes  of  that  vast  chain,  we  are  naturally 
ignorant  of.  Yet  certain  data  of  the  texts  permit  us  to  ijiagine  tlie 
following  sketch  : 

The  southern  portion  of^the  Zagros  comprised  i the  whole  of  the  ancient 
kingdom  of  which  Susa  was  the  capital.  Susiana  bears  in  the  ancient 
protocols  the  name  of  Ansan-.^usunqa,  the  meaning  of  which  is  not  clear* 
From  the  times  of  the  Achemenides,  the  indigenous  name  of  Susiana  is 
Hapirdi  of  which  the  Greeks  have  made  ^Kfiaphoi  or  Mapfoi. 
The  same  difference  which  concerns  the  labial  exists  also  in  ithe  name 
of  2/xe/i^*9  or  Mep^i^,  which  is  in  Persia  Bardh  ya,  in  Babylonian 
Barziya,  which  signifies  simply  ■•  the  Mard  (Ma/>^os  according  to  ^schy- 
lus),"  and  which  is  copied  from  the  before-quoted  Hapirdhi.  Tlie  name 
of  '•  Mard"  given  by  Cyrus  to  his  eldest  son  seems  to  indicate  that  he 
hud  him  by  a  Susian  woman  ;  his  other  son  Cambyses,  in  Persian 
Kambudjii/ii,  whose  name  signifies  "  descendant  from  Cambysena",  which 
is  a  province  of  Persia,  appears  on  the  other  hand  to  liave  had  a  noble 
Iranian  as  his  mother.  The  hatred  between  the  two  brothers  exactly 
reflected  the  hatred  between  the  two  races  in  the  heart  of  the  empire. 
We  understand  thus  how  the  death  of  Snierdis  was  not  displeasing  to 
the  Persians,  whose  supremacy  it  secured  over  the  non-Aryan  element, 
and  how,  after  having  trembled  a  moment  before  the  pretended  Smerdis, 
they  had  been  pleased  with  the  energy  displayed  by  Darius  in  freeing  them 
from  it.  Yet  in  spite  of  the  loss  of  its  privileges,  the  autocthonous 
element  would  often  kick  against  the  usurpation  of  the  Persians  and  thus 
draw  down  bloody  repressions  and  even  deportations  into  the  western 
provinces  of  the  empire. 

1  deduce  these  facts  from  a  curious  passage  of  Esdras  iv,  9-10,  which 
enumerates  the  signatories  of]  a  letter  sent  by  jthe  foreign  colonists  of 
Samaria  and  Syria  to  Artaxerxes  king  of   Persia,  warning  him  of  the 


THE       MAKDS  H 

clangers  which  would  result     to  the  empire  if  the  reconstruction   of    the 
temple  were  carried  out  by    the  Jews.  After  the  meiiti<.n  of  Rehilm, 

the  commandant  (^be'el  teem)  Simsai  the  secretary  (Jiipherd)  and  their 
other  colleagues,  men  of  the  law  {dindyejaud  of  autlu^rity  opharsathdye), 
Fersia.T\faristaka,  oomp.  Armenian  hrtstag,  "envoy,  messenger,  angel") 
are  placed  various  names  of  transported  nations:  Tarpelians,  {Tarpeldye), 
Apharsians  (Apharsdye),  Arkians  (Arkewdye),  Babylonians  (Babeldye), 
Susians  QSusanldye),  Dehaians  (Dehdye),  Eljmeans  {Elemdye),  and  the 
other  nations  which  the  great  and  illustrious  Asnappar  had  transported 
and  established  in  the  city  of  Samaria  and  in  the  rest  of  the  cis-Euph- 
rates."'  Of  those  nationalities  which  are  all  from  the  region  of  the 
Tigris  and  the  Euphrates  we  recognize  at  once  under  the  names  of 
Arkians,  Babylonians,  and  Elymeans  the  Semitic  inhabitants  of  Erech, 
Babylon  and  Elam.  Among  the  non-Semitic  tribes  the  Sti'sanLdye  are 
without  any  doubt  the  inhabitants  of  Susa.  It  must  only  be  remarked 
that  the  Aramean  term  is  connected  with  the  Mardian  form  susinak, 
and  not  with  Semitic  form  Susan.  It  is  equally  easy  to  recognize  under 
the  denomination  of  Dehdye  the  allophyle  nation  of  the  Daians,  which 
is  noticed  by  Strabo  in  the  Media  of  the  north-west.  Tlie  identifica- 
tion of  the  two  remaining  nations  is  not  so  easy,  but  we  shall  leturn  to 
it.  As  to  the  Apharsdye,  two  con-siderations  are  to  be  looked  at.  It 
is  in  the  first  place  certain  that  they  are  not  Persians,  those  self-called 
in  Aramean  Parsaye.  Then,  the  exile  of  the  I'ersian  tribes  to  a  great 
distance  is  little  likely.  The  matter  therefore  concerns  non-Iranians 
and  these  we  perceive  without  difficulty  that  Apharsdye  simply  forms 
the  pronunciation  in  Aramean  nf  the  indigenous  name  formerly  quoted 
/{apirdhi,  '•  Amurdian,"  after  the  fall  of  the  initial  //.  This  ortho- 
graphy preserves  the  primitive  p  instead  of  changing  it  into  h  as  the 
Persians  had  done,  like  the  Babylonians  in  Bardhiya,  Bar/Jya,  or  in  in 
like  the  Greek  (S)merdis,  Mardos.  On  the  other  hand,  it  renders  the 
consonant  d.  pronounced,  as  appears  thus(iA  by  s  instead  of  the  Baby- 
lonian z.  We  shall  see  presently  tliesame  sibilant  occur  again  in  an 
Assyrian    form. 

The  ethnic  name  Tarpeldye  does  not  apparently  ^recall  anything  al- 
ready known  Here  is  a  conjecture.  1  am  inclined  to  think  we  muat 
see  in  this  the  colony  of  the  Dropics,  in  Persian,  somewhat  like  Trau- 
paka  or  Draupaka,  copied  from  a  Susian  form  Darupair  or  Turupa(^ir). 
From  this  later  form  is  derived  in  a  direct  line  the  Aramean  Tarpe- 
ldye where  the  second  /•  is  represented  by  /.   a  change  which    wo   find   in 


78  TH        NATION    OP 

Agartel    (Esdras    i,    9)    for  tlie    Greek    Kfrn-n^p.  This     name     then 

completes  the  series  of  five  non-Iranian  tribes  which  the  father  of  history 
has  mentioned  as  united  to  tlie  Persians. 

To  tlie  north  of  Susiana,  we  find  mention  made  of  territories  little 
known,  like  EUipi,  Liduhi,  Harhar,  Huhuskia,  Arazias  and  others  yet 
Without  great  importance,  but  whose  inliabitants  were  by  no  means  Ar- 
yans: for  a  little  more  to  tbe  Nnrth  we  re-enter  a  country  unquestion- 
ably Mardian.  This  country  is  called  Parsaas,  Barsuas  or  Barsua,  and 
27  of  its  kings  or  clan-chiefs  paid  tribute  to  the  conquering  Assyrian. 
Several  towns  are  mentioned,  but  none  <»f  thnm  bears  an  Iranian  phy- 
siognomy. It  does  not  appear  doubtful  that  under  the  Assyrian  tran- 
scription which  is  above  quoted  we  liave  the  national  name  of  the 
Mards,  that  is,  the  southern  pronunciation  of  Hapirdhi ^=Amards.  The 
first  syllable  has  disappeared,  and  the  dh  aspirate  is  changed  into  s,  as 
fakes  place  in  the  Aramean  form  ^;>Aftrsa?/e  explained  above. 

Lastly,  in  regard  to  what  is  in  the  liigh  North,  Strabo  affirms  ex- 
plicitly that  Atropatene  as  well  as  Armenia,  were  in  their  mountainous 
regions  peopled  by  the  AnariansJ,  Tnon-Aryan  tribes)  by  Mards  and 
Amards  who  abandoned  themselves  to  brigandage.  Greek  geographers 
formally  attest  their  identity  with  the  Mards  of  Persia,  and  declare 
them  to  be  emigrants  come  voluntarily  from  other  countries.  The  truth 
is  that  they  are  the  Autochthones  of  Zngros,  quite  entirely  up  to  the 
neighbourhood  ofHyrcania,  where  their  presence  is  also  observable. 

The  geographical  distribution  of  the   Mardian  race,    which  I  have  been 
able  to  establish  by  the  aid  of  various  testimonies  of  antiquity,  explains  in 
a  simple  and  very  natural  manner  the   fact   pointed   out  above   regarding 
the  absence  of  all  intellectual  relations  between  the    Aryan  and  Semitic 
races  in  ancient  Asia,  before  the  coming  of   Cyrus  and  the  Achemeniidian 
dynasty.     The  intimacy    of  the    two    races    has,    since   the    highest  an- 
tiquity,   been    hindered    by  the  brave,  but   half    savage  peoples  of  the 
Zagros,   who   formed  a  veritable  living  Chinese  wall,  which  the  Assyrian 
kings  have  rarely  succeeded    in  breaking  through.     The  Mardian  tribes 
of  the  south    had  adopted   heartily  the  Babylonian  civilization,    and  had 
succeeded  in  founding  the  secular  State  of   Susiana,  and  of  extending 
their  doniination  over  the    Semites  of   Elymais,  in  several  instances  over 
Babylon  itself.     The  use  of   letters  was  also  expanded,    as  is  proved  by 
the  inscription  of  Mai  Amir.      The    Northern    Mards  who  had  on^y  for 
neighbours,  non-Semitic  peoples,    or    Semites   half-savage,    have  always 
remained  in  a  barbarous  condition,  for  the  Aryans  with  whom  they  were 


THE       MARD3.  79 

most  in  relation,  do  not  appear  to  have  had  much  to  instuct  them.    Media 
even  during  the  most  glorious  peri<  d    of  her  empire,  appears  to  have  re- 
mained illiterate  and  plunged  in  barbarism,    scarcely  toned  down    at  all. 
For  the  study  of  the  borrowings  vrhicli   the  peoples  of  middle    Asia    or  of 
the  exteme  East  have  been  able  to  make  from  the  Semites  of  Babylonia 
and  of  Chaldea,  the  result  of  this  article  cannot  be  without  some  interest. 
If  the  Chinese  possesses  some  scientific  or  mytliological  elements,  of  which 
lie  old  Semitic  origin  is  certain,  these  elements  have  not  reached  them  except 
through  the  medium  of  the  Mards   of   Susiana,^and   consequenlty  under 
a  sufficiently  altered  form.    Hence  this  inevitable  consequence;  every  bor- 
rowing which    recalls  too''much   the    Semitic    or   Babylonian    form   is    by 
that  evidence  of  a  recent  age,  and  in  every  case,  posterior  to  the  dynasty 
of  the  Achmenides.  It  was  only  at  the  advent  of   Alexander  that   the  na- 
tions of  upper  Asia  had  direct  relations  with  the  Semitic  peoples,  but  at 
that    moment   Babylonia   was   no  more    than  the   shadow  of  itself,    and 
could  not  but  transmit  some  remains  saved  from  the  imminent  shipwreck 
in  which  its  civilization  and  nationality  was  foundering.  J.  Halkvy, 

1)  It  is  remarkable  that  Prof.  Terrien  de  La'iouperie  had  been  in- 
duced, though  by  reasons  quite  different  from  mine,  to  search  in  Su- 
siana  for  the  point  of  encounter  between  the  civilization  of  China  and 
those  of  Chaldea.  See  his  very  suggestive  Early  History  of  the  Chinese 
civilizations,   1880,  p.  20,  27,  29,  32. 


THE  DELUGE-TBADITION  AND 
ITS  REMAINS  IN  ANCIENT  CHINA. 

{Continued  frovi  p.  56). 

III. 

# 
24.  The  most  remarkable  of  the  legendary  episodes,  survivals  in  Chin* 
of  the  Deluge-tradition  and  legends,  are  those  which  are  centred  around 
the  mythical  personage  of  N  ii  Kwa  of  ancient  Chinese  lore.  They 
are  found  by  fragments  only,  in  the  remains  of  old  works  such  as  the 
Kwei-tsang^^  and  Shan  Ilai  King^^,  partly  in  the  writings  or  excerpt- 
from  the  works  of  the  native  writers,  sueh  as  Lieh-tzc''*  (c.  398  A.c.^ , 
Hwai-nan-tze  (179-156  a.c),  Yng  ShaoS^  (c.  126-144  p.c),  Hwang 
Fu-mi56    (^215-282  p.c),   who  arranged   and  put  together  with  more  or 


80  THE  DELUGE-TRADITION   AND 

less  of  success  and^unhappily  with  the  addition  of  some  extraneous  matter, 
mucti  of  tliat  they  could  recover  from  the  traditions  and  legends  of  olden 
times,  without,  liowever,  discriminating  their  various  sources  and  ages. 
The  result  has  been  an  imbroglio. 

25.  Szeraa-Tch'eng,  when  supplying  in  the  seventh  century  of  our  era. 
the  lost  introductory  Book  of  Szema-Ts'ien's  Historical  Records,  has  co- 
ordinated some  of  the  various  Accounts  concerning  Xii-Kwa,  as  if  con- 
cerning a  liistorical  personage.  We  shalP^  res-mne  ihe  whole  as  clearly 
as  possible,  arranging  the  successive  statements  in  a  numerical  order  for 
easier  reference  : 

26. — I.  yu  Kwa  ;^  {^  or  25c  S^Cl^'  the  lady  Kwa,  also  called 
iVw  Hi  -hr  ^1^'*  \^l^o  succeeded  Fuh-Hi,^^  had  like  him  the  surname 
Fenq  ^.  Nu-kwa  had  a  body  enjoying  the  qualities  of  a  serpent^** 
and  a  liuman   head,  with  the  virtuous  endowments  of  a  divine  sage. 

II. — At  that  time  there  was  a  prince  of  Kong-Kong^^  whose  duty 
was  the  administration  of  the  criminal  laws. 

'  III. —  Violsnt  and  ambitious  he  became  a  rebel,  and  sought  by  in- 
fluence of  Water  to  rise  superior  to  that  of  Wood  under  which  Nii  Kwa 
reigned''^  ;  and  he  did  battle  with  Tchuk-dzunh^^  the  God  of  fire. 

IV. — Not  victorious  he  was  angered,  and  striking  with  his  head 
against  the  Imperfect  mountain,  \>u.  tchou  shan,  he  caused  it  to 
crumble  down,^* 

V. — The  pillars  of  Heaven  were  broken  and  the  four  cardinal  points 
of  the  earth    sundered^^. 

VI. — This  caused  the  heavens  to  fall  on  the  north-west,  and  con- 
sequently   the  sun,   moon   and  stars  move  to  that  point. 

VII. — The  earth  also  became  defective  on  the  soutli-east,  and  that  is 
the  reason  why  the  rivers  flow  to   that  direction. ^^ 

VIII. — The  nine  tchou,  i.e.  the  Chinese  lands,  were  rent. 
IX. — Fire   raged  and   did   not    die  out.     W\ater  overflowed   without 
stoppmg  ;  wild  beasts  devoured  eagerly  human    beings  while  wild    birds 
seized  with  their  claws  the  aged  and  weak  people.^' 
■     X. —  Hereupon  Nli-Kwa    melted  stones  of  five  colours  to   repair  the 
rent  in  the  azure   heavens. 

XI. — Cut  off  the  feet  of  a  large  ng<w  tortoise  to  establish  the  four 
extremities  of  the  world. ''^ 

XII. — Killed  tha  Black  dragon  to  relieve  t\w  country  of  Ki  (i.e.«» 
one  of  the  oldest  seats  of  the  Chinese  in  China), 

XIII. ---And  gathered  the  ashes  of  reeds  to  stop  the  flooding  waters 


ITS     KEMAIXS   IN      ANCIKNT   CHINA.  81 

And    thus  save  ^tlie    land.'*^ 

XIV.   From  tliiit  time  forward  the  earth  is  at  rest,   tlie  Heavens  com- 
plete, and  rlic  ancient  order  is  not  changed. 

XV. — Nil  Kwa  died  and  was  followed   hv  Shen-nuns'. — 

NoTKs  52)  Kiiji'i-t-^iiKj.w'cX^  tlie  title  of  a  very  ancient  work  coiisistin.ij;'  of  a 
large  nnmber  of  oracular  lines  used  for  divination ;  it  was  probahly  the  col- 
lection wiiicli  Nvas  ])reserved  in  the  Royal  Treasury  at  the  beginning  of 
the  Tchou  dynasty,  and  is  S])oken  of  in  the  Shu  Kinq,  V,  vi,  10-11. 
It  disappeared  in  the  political  troubles  which  ensued.  A  work  of  the 
same  name,  embodying  apparently  many  fragments  of  the  ancient  one, 
was  made  up  later  on,  and  is  sometimes  quoted  in  ancient  compilations 
such  as  the  Tai  ping  v/v  Jan  of  983  p.c.  These  quotations  consist  in 
short  statements  referring  like  ephemerides  to  some  historical  and  other 
events  of  ancient  times,  also  to  fabulous  sayings.  Cf.  on  this  work 
the  sect.  30  and  31  of  my  paper  on  The  Oldest  Book  of  the  Chinese 
and  its  authors,  1882.  The  oracular  lines,  ephemerides  like,  are  similar 
to  those  of  the  Babylonian  Table  of  portents  translated  by  Prof.  A. 
H.  Sayce,  The  Astronomy  and  Astrologt/  of  the  Babt/Ionians,  App.  1874, 
and  were  compiled  according  to  the  same  views  and  principles.  In  the 
Li  ki,  VII,  I,  5.  Confucius  states  that  he  found  the  ICivan  tchien  (same 
as  the  Kwei-tsang)  in  the  state  of  Sung,  when  enquiring  about  the 
records  and  traditions  of  the  Shang-yn  dynasty  which  had  been 
trusted  to  the  care  of  the  rulers  of  that  dukedom,  descendants  of  the 
Shang  family. 

53)  The  legends  do  not  appear  in  the  oldest  parts,  or  ch.  I  to  V,  which 
are  cluefly  geographical,  of  the  book  of  Lands  and  Seas,  Shan  ha'/  Ling, 
but  in  the  i)arts  written  towards  the  end  of  the  Tchou  dynasty.  On 
the  compositiim  of  this  work,  cf.  my  Origin  of  the  earl//  Chinese  civiliz- 
ation, note  i)l  [^B.  ij-  0.  li.,  vol.  Ill,  p.  83). 

54)  In  the  second  book  called  Hioiny-ti,  and  the  tifth  book  called 
T'avff  wan  of  his  work  called  Tchnng  hiu  tchin  King,  su  called  since 
712  ti.c,  Lieh-t<e  has  made  several  important  hints  about  Nii  Kwa 
which  show  that  he  was  acquainted  with  the  legends  concerning  her. 

55)  Yng  Shao  compiled  his  Fung  xnli  t'nny  y  about  popular  customs  on 
the  authority  of  ancient  works,  in  30  books  and  an  appendix,  but  only 
10  books  of  fragments  are  still  in  existence,  Cf.  A,  Wylie,  Notes  on 
Chinese  literature,  p,  131. 

56)  In  the  Ti  wang  she  ki,  or  History  of  the  Ancient  Emperors  by  this 
celebrated  scholar,  wlio  wrote  several  other  works. 

57)  Besides  the  various  texts  on  tlie  subject  here  mentioned,  which  are 
quoted  in  the  Tai  ping  'ifu  Ian  Cyclojia-dia  of  ',)S3,  Kiv.  78,  fol.  4,  5, 
and  the  text  of  S/.ema-Tcheng  with  commentaries,  I  have  also  at  hand: 
On  the  legends  relating  to  JSfn  Kwa,  by  Wni,  Fred.  Mayers  in  Notes  and 
Queries  on  China  and  Japan,  July,  1S68,  vol.  II  pp.  99-101,  where 
recent  native  writers  are  given. 

58)  The  variant  of  the  name  was  given  by  Hwang  Fu-mi. 

59)  Fuh-hi,\n  full  Tai  Hao  Fuh-hi,  anciently  great  Hob  T.  a  k  Ket, 
whom  I  have  suggested  to  iihMitify  with  Ur-Bagas,  is  tlie  oldest  mythi- 
cal ruler  in  the  Chinese  legends. 

60)  The  text  in  its  usual  concision  says  simply  "  had  a  seriient's  body." 
Lieh-tze  in  his  chapter  on   Hwang-ti  said:  "  Pao-IIi  (or  Fuh-hi)  Nil 


82  THE    DELDGE-TRADITION   AND 

Kwa,  Shen-nung,  Hia  How — these  had  the  bodies  of  serpents,  human 
faces,  the  heads  of  oxen,  the  muzzles  of  tigers.  Bodily  appearance  not 
as  of  oxen  had  these,  but  virtuous  endowments  of  the  highest  sages 
were  theirs."  In  his  commentary  on  this  passage  Tchang  Tchan, 
writing  about  the  fifth  century,  made  the  following  remark  :  -'It  is  well 
known  that  men  in  their  bodily  features  have  occasionally  some  re- 
semblance to  the  animal  creation.  Among  the  ancient  sages,  many 
were  distinguished  by  extraordinary  marks;  and  the  words  "  bodies  of 
serpents  and  human  faces"  do  not  ^signify  that  the  persons  of  whom 
this  is  said  were  clothed  with  scales,  crawled  on  their  bellies,  and  were 
destitute  of  limbs;  nor  do  the  words  "heads  of  oxen  and  muzzles  of 
tigers"  imi)iy  carrying  horns  and  dewlaps,  &c.  ifec."  Cf.  Wm.  Fred. 
Mayers,  np.  laud.  p.  99.  But  it  receives  a  better  explanation  as  an 
echo  of  lUbylonian  lore  and  iconography  as  we  shall  see  below. 

61")  Kunf/  Kung  she:  formerly  the  chief  of  the  clan  of  Kung  Kung 
which  may  be  a  name  of  countrv  as  we  shall  see  below. 

62)    Tl-\Vanff  she  Id. 

60)  ^  g^t.  The  first  of  the  two  words  was  phonetically  spelt  as  shown 
by  the  fact  that  jr;  or  ^  were  interchangeable  in  its  composition. — 
Cf.  on  the  personage  Wm.  Fred.  Mayers,  Chinese  reader's  Manual, ,  87 
and  121.  He  was  a  descendant  (.f  Tchuen-hiu,  and  this  is  why  the 
conmientary  on  Lieh-tze  cf.  Ta/  ]>ing  yil  Ian,  Kiv.  38,  fol.  4  mentions 
the  latter  name. 

^'^)    %      JrI      UJ    •    i"^^  tchou  shan. 

65)  lu  Szema-tc-heng's  account. 

66)  Lieh  tze,  Vth  book.  A  glance  at  the  map  of  China  shows  that  this 
remark  does  not  really  apply  to  the  direction  of  the  Chinese  rivers  which, 
within  China  proper,  flow  to  the  north  east. 

67;  Hwai-nan  tze, 

68)  In  the  Kwei-tsiang.  there  is  an  allusion  to  this  arrangement  by 
Nil  Kwa,  but  it  is  not  said  that  she  used  the  tortoise  feet  for 
that  purpose. 

69)  It  corresponds  generally  to  Tai-yuen  in  Shan-si. 

70)  Hwai-nan  tze, 

*  * 

27.  Let  us  examme  such  of  these  statements  in  which  are  visible 
obvious  survivals  of  the  western  traditions  and  legends,  or  at  least  of  the 
same  episodes  and  circumstances  as  those  which  compose  the  Babylonian 
legend  and  the  Biblical  tradition  of  the  Deluge.  A  special  colour  is 
apparent  in  the  Chinese  story,  and  must  be  taken  into  account  before  pro- 
ceeding to  any  examination  of  its  details.  The  events  are  presented  in 
a  different  way  than  in  the  West.  In  the  dim  recollections  from  western 
lore  which  are  clear  therein,  the  facts,  episodes  and  circumstances,  are 
told  in  sucli  a  manner  that  the  effect  is  put  for  the  cause.  An  air  of 
metonymy  has  pervaded  the  whole  account.  We  shall  follow  the  order 
of  the  narrative  and  the  numerical  arrangement,  in  <iur  remarks  and 
comments. 


ITS  REMAINS    IN    ANCIE.VT  CHINA.  83 

28.— I.  Nil  Kwa  who  appears  several  times  in  the  story,  -^x,  xi,  xii, 
xiii),  plays  the  part  of  the  Mother  Goddess  Ishtar  in  the  Chaldean  ac- 
count, although  she  is  given  here  a  prominent  position  which  she  lias  not 
in  tlie  latter.  Her  ophiomorphy  is  at  [)ar  with  the  old  Babylonian 
iconoplastics  as  exhibited  by  the  ancient  seals.  We  shall  examine  the 
matter  relative  to  her  in  the  third  section  (§§  41-48)  of  tlie  present 
chapter, 

29— TI.  In  the  Biblicul  tradition  the  cataclysm  is  a  punishment  for 
sin  ;  it  is  decided  upon  by  Jahveh  because  of  the  wickedness  of  man^'. 
It  was  at  first  wrongly  supposed,  or  better  guessed,  by  Assyriologists, 
that  a  certain  verse  of  the  cuneiform  account  referred  to  something  of  the 
kind,  but  the  revised  translation  has  cleared  up  the  obscure  sentence. 
There  was  no  such  allusion  at  the  beginning  of  the  Chaldean  reported 
tradition,  and  this  is  shown  by  the  double  silence  of  Sinliki  unnini  in 
his  poem  and  of  Berosos  in  his  history.  The  epic  says  simply  that  "  the 
city  of  Shurippak  was  ancient  when  the  gods  within  set  their  hearts 
to  bring  on  a  deluge,  even  the  great  gods  as  many  as  there  were  ;  their 
throne-bearer  Adar,  their  prince  Ennugi'*."  However  in  the  sequel  of 
the  story  Bel  the  counsellor,  appears  as  the  principal  incitor  of  the  catas- 
trophe, and  Ea  (whom  Sama?  Napisti  specially  worshipped),  interferes 
and  asks  Bel  to  relent,  saying  :  "  let  the  doer  of  sin  bear  his  sin,  let  the 
doer  of  wickedness  bear  his  wickedness^^,"  which  im])lies  that  the  flood 
in  their  opinion  was  inflicted  as  a  punishment. 

In  the  Chinese  legend  tlie  catastrophe  is  caused  by  Kong-kong, 
the  Great  Justiciar,  himself,  as  the  result  of  his  self-assertion  and  ire  in 
disagreement  with  another  prince  (or  god) .  His  quality  of  Great  Jus- 
ticiar is  apparently  all  that  remains  in  the  legend,  of  the  catastrophe 
considered  as  a  sin-pnnishment  in  the  original  tradition.  It  is  not  un- 
likely that  his  name,  as  that  of  a  country,  the  clan  of  which  he  was  the 
head,  conceals  a  forgotten  souvenir  of  a  geographical  region  connected 
with  the  earthquake  alluded  to  in  the  No.  IV  as  we  shall  see  below. 

80. — III.  This  looks  like  the  impersonation  and  description  of  a  storm, 
tramelled  with  the  notion,  so  deeply  impressed  on  the  Chinese  mind,  of 
the  elements  of  nature^^.  It  corresponds  to  the  lines  40-4(1.  col.  II  of 
the  Chaldean  document  where  the  storm  which  is  alluded  to  in  later 
lines'5^  is  described  as  follows  :— Then  arose  Mu-seri-ina-namari  (The 
Water  of  Dawn  at  Daylighlj^*' — from  the  horizon  of  heaven  (like)  a  black 
cloud. — Rammon  in  the  midst  of  it  thundered, — Nabu  and  Sliarru  (the 
Wind-god)  march  in  front,— the  throne-bearers  (storm  clouds^')  go  over 


84  THE    DELUGE-TRADITIOK    AKD 

mountain  and  plain  : — Nergal  the  migbty^^  brings  with  him  affliction'^ — 
Adar   (the  War-god)  goes   overthrowing  all  before  him. — 

Xu  such  thing  occurs  in  the  Hebrew  tradition  which  therefore  could 
not  liave  been  the  source  direct  r>r  indirect  of  the  Chinese  storA . 

31. — IV.  The  Puh  tchoudian,  the  Imperfect  mountain,  which  crumbles 
down  under  the  knock  of  Kong  Kong's  head  and  is  the  beginning  of 
the  cataclysm  and  the  material  cause  of  the  ensuing  flood  and  fire, 
suggests  an  earthquake.  It  corresponds  to  distinct  western  features, 
with  some  discrepancies  which  are  rather  important. 

The   Hebrew  tradition  ha?  it  :   •' all  the  fountains  of  the  great 

deep  broken  up,  and  the  windows  of  heaven*^  were  opened."'  (Gen.  ^'11. 
11)  and  therefore  the  'imperfect  mountain  '  of  the  Chinese  represents 
rather  unsatisfactorily  the  '  great  deep  '  of  the  Hebrew  account.  On  the 
other  hand  in  the  Koran  XI.  42  and  XXIII.  ^7)  we  hear  of  the  enig- 
matic tannur,  the  oven  or  recipient*^,  in  which  boiled  and  from  which 
boiled  over  water  all  around  when  the  Deluge  began*^.  This  diversity  of 
expression  points  to  the  existence  of  a  former  -tradition,  perhaps  lost 
already  when  and  where  the  Hebrew  account  was  committed  to  writing, 
and  a}iparently  preserved  by  folklore  elsewhere,  which  referred  to  the  idea 
of  a  special  spot  frfim  which  the  waters  of  the  deluge  had  flooded  over  the 
cuuutry.  The  Chaldn-an  account  has  nothing  of  the  kind,  but  col.  II. 
11.  47.  48,  :  •■  The  spirits  of  Earth — Anvunall — carried  tlie  destniction  : 
in  their  tembleness  they  shaken  the  land"*"^.  allude  undoubtedly  to  an 
earthquake,  which  is  also  suggested  in  tlie  Chinese  survival.  We  shall 
have  t(i  examine  this  interesting  and  perhaps  valuable  suggestion  in  our 
next  chapter. 

32.— -V.  The  j-iliars  of  Heaven  and  the  four  c-ardinal  points  do  not  ap- 
1  ear  in  the  Hebrew  and  Chaldean  accounts,  although  the  notion  of  the 
four  quarters  of  the  world  is  frequent  in  the  oldest  Babylonian  texts. 
We  sliall  refer  to  this  statement  \\\x]\  reference  to  the  Xlth.  in  next 
part  of  this  chaptf-r,  §f)l.  The  sundering  of  the  four  quarters  of  the  earth 
is  another  iniiniatiou  of  tlie  earthquake  alluded  to  in  the  previous 
paragra|ili. 

3:5.-— ^'1.  Here  is  one  more  allusion  to  the  earthquake,  or  I  should 
say  iitiiUhinalce.  and  at  the  same  time  a  reference  to  the  well  known  idea 
of  the  West  that  the  conjunction,  of  the  sun  moon  and  stars  in  the 
9-fx\w  jiart  of  the  lieavens,  was  connected  with  a  cataclysm.  But.  it  may 
ho  remarked  here  that  this  idea  niust  have  been  transmitted  to  the 
Chine-e   in   fddeti  times,  a^  it  had  not  yet   received    the   development  it 


ITS     RKMAINS     IN"    ANCIENT    CHINA.  85 

had  assumed  when  Berosus  made  known  to  the  Greeks  the  astrological 
Chaldean  speculations  of  that  kind  in  his  works  on  the  matter^^.  In 
these  late  speculations  the  moral  signification  UA  the  Deluge,  clearly 
visible  in  the  Chinese  form  of  the  legend,  had  altogether  disappeared,  as 
well  as  the  statement  concerning  no  farther  catastrophe,  which  occurs 
also  in  a  statement  (XIV),  of  the  Chinese  story.  Another  proof  of  the 
early  commtinication  to  the  Chinese  is  found  in  their  account,  where  the 
cataclysm  results  in  fire  and  flood,  while  the  later  astrological  specula- 
tions, we  have  alluded  to  in  the  West,  make  a  conflagration  the  restilt 
of  the  periodical  conjunction  (occurring  in  the  zodiacal  cancer,  and  a  flood 
when  occurring  in  Capricornus^^,  The  peculiar  orientation,  in  the  North 
west  for  the  falling  of  the  Heaven,  is  apparently  a  survival  of  the  old 
Akkadian  arrangement  of  the  quarters  of  the  world^^.  The  falling  of 
the  Heaven  there  indicates  perhaps  an  upheaval  of  the  earth  in  that  direc- 
tion. A  curious  coincidence,  if  nothing  more,  makes  the  name  of  the 
chief  of  K  u  n  g  k  u  n  g  who,  in  the  legend,  knocks  down  the  Imperfect 
mountain,  to  be  much  like  that  of  G  a  m  g  u  m^^,  a  country  in  the  North- 
west of  Babylonia.  Is  this  a  souvenir  of  an  earthquake  in  that  direction? 
We  shall  have  to  examine  that  curious  point  in  the  seqttel  of  this  paper 
(ch.  IV j. 

34. — VII,  VIII.  As  the  earth  became  defective  in  the  S.K.  tlic  rivt-rs 
flow  to  that  direction.  This  is  distinctly  a  feature  of  Mesopotamia, 
where  the  Tigris  and  Euphrates  pursue  their  course  from  N.W.  to  S.E. 
with  such  straightness.  comparatively,  that  it  could  not  have  escaped  the 
attention  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  country  from  olden  days.  I  have 
pointed  out  in  a  previous  paper  the  great  probability  that  their  course 
was  the  reason  of  the  old  diagonal  orientation  in  use  there,  as  the  direc- 
tion of  the  rivers  has  been  elsewhere  a  frequent  cause  of  the  local 
orientation****.  On  the  other  hand  the  N.W.  to  S.E.  direction  which  is  so 
well  fitted  to  the  hydrography  of  Mesopotamia,  does  not  apply  at  all  to 
tliat  of  China,  where  the  llwang-lio  and  the  Yang-tze  after  accidented 
courses,  run  from  S.W.  to  N.-East.  Therefore,  we  must  see  there,  a 
genuine  echo  of  a  Babylonian  tradition,  which  has  been  blindly  rei)eated 
by  the  Chinese  compiler  His  patriotic  spirit,  however,  had  its  revenge 
in  the  following  statement  (VIII),  which  is  simply  referring  tothe  Chinese 
lands  as  rent  by  the  cataclysm.  The  original  tradition  referred  probably 
to  the  land  in  a  general   way,  as  it  happens  in  several  verses. 

35. — IX.  The  double  calamity  of  raging  fire  :md  incessant  flood,  as  re- 
.«ults  of  the  earthquake,  which    iiiiiy  b.-  inferred  from  the  previous  state- 


86  THE    BELUGE-TRADITIUN    AND 

ments,  are  another  important  divergence  from  the  Hebrew  and  Chaldean 
accounts,  where  '  only  a  flood  occurs.  And  the  plague  of  the  wild  beasts 
and  birds'  appearance,  in  its  details,  show  that  there  is  no  question, 
in  the  legend,  of  a  wholesale  destruction  of  men  with  the  exception  of 
a  few  persons. 

36. — X.  In  "  the  melting  of  stones  by  Nli  Kwa^^  to  repair  the  rent 
in  tlie  azure  heavens  "  we  recognize  without  difficulty  a  gracious  metaphor 
of  tlie  Rainbow  episode,  so  told  in  the  cuneiform  account  :  "  there 
upon  the  great  goddess  at  her  approach  lighted  up  the  rainbow  which 
Ann  (the  God  of  Heaven)  had  created  according  to  his  glory***.  As  in 
the  Chaldean  epic,  the  Rainbow  here  is  not  made  a  symbol  of  future 
peace,  contrariwise  to  the  statement  of  the  Biblical  account.  It  is  most 
curious  that  none  of  the  various  Chinese  writers  who  have  examined  this 
episode  should  ever  have  thought  of  the  simple  explanation  we  give 
of  it,  instead  of  indulging  in  some  wild  speculations  shared  to  a  certain 
extent  by  european  scholars^^.  Its  genuineness  is  vouchsafed  by  the 
general  affinities  of  the  story  with  the  western  traditions. 

37. — XI,  XII.  There  we  have  to  deal  with  notions  foreign  to  the  ring 
of  ideas  in  common  with  the  Chaldean  and  Hebrew  traditions.  They 
come  from  other  quarters  as  we  shall  see,  section  III  of  the  present  chap- 
ter, par.  51  sq.  And  again  a  reference  to  the  purely  Chinese  land.  Both 
statements  have  been  introduced  by  the  native  compilers  and  combined 
with  the  original  story. 

38. — XIII.  The  episode  of  the  sacrifice  of  thanksgiving  is  singularly 
curtailed,  and  though  implied  rather  than  stated,  is  however  recognizable 
m  the  report  that  ]Sru  Kwa  "  gathered  the  ashes  of  reeds  to  stop  the 
flooding  waters."  Reeds  must  have  been  burned  before  their  ashes  be 
gathered,  and  therefore  we  have  in  the  Chinese  statement  a  vague  souv- 
enir of  the  sacrifice  described  in  the  cuneiform  account  which  states  that 
the  altar  was  laid  with  reeds,  pine-wood  and  spices  whose  sweet  odour 
reached  the  gods  who  gathered  like  flies  over  the  sacrifice^^^  j;n  \]^q  cunei- 
form and  Biblical  Accounts,  the  sacrifice  is  offered  because  tlie  Deluge 
had  ceased,  while  in  the  Chinese  legend  the  ashes  of  the  reeds  are  them 
selves  the  means  of  stopping  the  flood,  a  result  of  the  nietonymic 
character  given  to  the  whole  story,  as  pointed  out  previously. 
'  39. — XIV.  Here  again  there  is  an  agreement,  between  the  Chaldean 
and  Biblical  traditions  and  the  Chinese  legend,  which  although  remote  is 
no  less  real.  The  latter  states  simply  the  material  facts  that  "  from  the 
i\VL\Q  of  the  catastrophe  forward  the  Earth  is    at    rest,  the  Heavens  were 


ITS  BEMAINS   IN    ANCIENT   CHINA.  87 

completed  by  the  rainhoir,  and  tlu'  ancient  order  is  not  changed. 

40. — XV.  The  last  statement,  in  its  brevity  is  not  without  importance^ 
and  we  shall  have  to  enquire  in  our  last  chapter,  how  far  it  may  be  a 
distinct  survival  of  the  old  story.  The  legend  of  Shennung  of  the  Chinese 
mythical  period  has  been  shown  in  its  most  fmportant  features,  to  be 
the  same  as  that  uf  the  old  Sargon  of  Agade^^,  and  therefore  the  state- 
ment of  the  Chinese  legend  that  Nu-Kwa  contemporary  of  the  Deluge 
was  anterior  to  him,  would  so  far  agree  with  the  western   traditions. 

Notes  71)   Genesis,   VI,  5-7. 

72)  Col.  1,    12-16. 

73)  Col.  IV,    15. 

74)  Cf.  on  the  five  elements  in  the  Chinese  conception  of  nature,  B.  & 
O.J??.- voL  III,  pp.  121-223,  or  Origin  of  the  early  Chinese  civilisation, 
note  364. 

75)  Col.  Ill,  11.  20,  21. 

76)  One  of  the  personifications  of  the  r,\in,  says  Lenormant,  Origines 
de  r  histoire,  vol.  I   p.  396. 

77)  W.  8t.  Chad  Boscawen,  The  Chaldean  legends  of  the  Creation  and 
Deluge  (18S5),  p.  11. 

78)  The  Pestilence-god,  cf.  W.  St.  Ch.  B.,  l.r. 

79)  Haupt  and  Sayce  translate  :  .  .   .  removes  the  wicked. 

80)  Lenormant  has  translated   "  les  ecluses  duciel." 

81)  Palmer,  The  Quran,  I.  p.  209,  II.  p.  67,  translates:  "the  oven 
boiled,''  "  the  oven  bnils  over,"  and  in  a  foot-note  he  states  that  tannur 
oven  signifies  also  :  a  reservoir  of  water. 

82)  Cf.  Lenormant,  Origines  de  V  histoire,  vol.  1,  p.  421.— The  tannur 
is  a  hole  in  the  (ground  or  the  floor  of  the  room  and  lined  with 
pottery  in  which  fire  is  put.  Cf.  Robinson,  Biblical  Researches,  p. 
44;  C.  F.  Keil,  J/anwo./  of  Biblical  Archeulogi/,  (Edinburgh,  1888). 
vol.  II,  p.  128. 

83)  In  Lenormant's  translation  : — les  Archanges  de  1'  abime  Anunnaki 
apporterent  la  destruction, — dans  leurs  epouvantements  ils  agiterent  la 
terre.  Cf.  his  Origines  de  I'hisfoire,  vol.  I,  p.  397. — In  Prof.  Haupt's 
and  Prof.  Sajce's  translation  :  Tlie  spirits  of  earth  carried  the  flood  ; 
in  their  terribleness  they  sweep  througli  the  land  ; — Cf.  A.  H.  Sayce, 
Fresh  lights  from  the  Monuments,  p.  30. 

84)  It  is  well  known  that  these  speculations  were  the  basis  from  which, 
when  spread  in  India,  were  develo])ed  the  system  of  the  Afan- 
wantaras. 

85)  r.'f.  Lenormant,  Origines  de  Vhistoire,  vol.  I,  pp.  403-404. 

86)  Cf.  The  shfted  cardinal  points,  from  Elavi  to  early  China,  Part  1. 
sect.  Ill   or  B.&OJi.  dan.  1888,  vol.  II,  pp.  27-29.' 

87)  On  Gainguni,  cf.  Lenormant,  Origines,  vol.  II,  part  2,  pp.  211, 
264,  310,  32C. 

88  I    The  Shifted  Car  Jhuil  points,  I.e..  pp.  26,  27. 

89)  This  work  of  Nii  Kwa,  will  ])crniit  us,  furth'T  on  to  conipare  lier 
name  with  that  of  JV  a  n  a  a  r  the-L  a  d  v  -of-w  o  r  k,  tlic-m  i  a  h  t  v- 
w  o  r  k  w  o  m  a  n-of-h  e  a  V  e  n.  in  the  Babylonian  panllieoii.  Ci.  .\. 
H.   Sayce,    Ilibbert  lectures,  p.  67. 


88  THE    DELUGE-TRADITION  IN  CHINA. 

90)  Col.  Ill,  1.  51-52.  transl.  Haupt.  The  rainbow  is  indicated  by  a 
nietapbor  in  the  text,  and  the  earlier  translations  Imd  rendered  it  by 
'  tlio  srreat  zones  '  (Lenormant,  Boscawen,  &c.),  but  there  is  no  mis- 
take possible  that  the  rainbow  is  there  spoken  of,  as  Lenormant,  Orig/nes, 
1,  400.  had  already  suggested. 

'.U)  We  shall  return  to  the  subject,  further  on.  Cf.  §  49. — There  was 
no  primitive  symbol  for  rainbow  in  the  body  of  characters  whicli,  at 
tlie  beginning,  was  received  from  S.W.  Asia  by  the  Chinese.  The  idea 
of  a  b  o  w  (Assyr.  Kastu,  Hebew  Ksht,  Arab.  K6s  whicli  appears  in 
so  many  names  Semitic  and  Aryan  for  the  r  a  i  n  b  o  w  seems  to  have 
l)een  foreign  to  them.  They  had  a  loan  word  for  it,  t/'-tinig  with  whicli 
we  may  compare  the  Altaic  solongu,  Tibet,  ja-tson,  Burmese  thek-tan, 
and  of  which  the  ideographical  transcription  :  insect-girdle -|- insect-east, 
would  suggest,  "  g  i  r  d  1  e  o  f  insects  in  the  e  a  s  t."  This  refers 
to  their  old  popular  idea  that  the  rainbow  was  formed  of  small  ephe- 
mera' generated  in  the  ether,  (cf.  W.  Williams,  Sfill.  Diet.,  s.v.),  in 
opposition  to  the  other  view  which  regards  it  as  the  result  of  an  im- 
proper connection  between  the  yn  and  yang,  the  light  and  the  dark, 
the  masculine  and  feminine  principles  of  nature,  (cf.  Tai  ping  yiX  Jan, 
Kiv.  14.  fol.  fiv-9),  as  it  is  an  embleii  of  improper  connection  between 
men  and  women.  (Cf.  l-'^ggQ,  Chin.  Class,  vol.  IV,  p.  83,  n).  The 
word  ti-tung  may  have  been  introduced  with  the  Tchou  dynasty,  as 
there  is  no  Ku-wen  instances  of  it  in  the  palseographical  dictionaries 
(cf.  Min  Tsikih.  Lnh  shu  tung,  K.  VII,  fol.  1,  20).  It  occurs  in  the 
She  King,  Kwoh  feng  IV.  7,  in  an  ode  of  the  same  name  attributed 
to  the  years  a.c.  676-652,  where  it  is  said  : — There  is  a  t'l-tung  in  the 
East,  and  no  one  dares  to  point  to  it — referring  to  a  superstition  whicli 
Wells  Williams,  S;iU.  Dirt.  p.  880,  formulates  thus  :  When  the  rain- 
bow is  in  the  East  nobody  ventures  to  point  the  finger  to  it, — lest 
a  boil  grow. — In  the  She-king,  the  word  ti-tung  is  no  more  written  as 
we  have  described  ;  the  sign  ti-  is  written  i  n  s  e  c  t-c  o  n  n  e  c  t,  by  the 
change  of  the  symbol  for  girdle  which,  in  the  recast  of  the  writing 
by  She-tch'ou  about  820  a.c,  was  replaced  by  the  symbol  tchoh,  c  on- 
n  e  c  t,  (phonet.  443). — An  older  word  in  Chinese  for  rainbow  wa?' 
hung,  written  :  msect-hung,  the  meaning  of  the  latter  sign  which  is  the 
common  kung  ingenious  work  (phonet.  27,  Key.  48)  is  there 
doubtful  ;  in  the  reform  of  820,  the  latter  sign  was  leplaced  by  shen 
stretching,  whence:  insect-stretching,  but  the  change  was  not 
maintained  and  the  ancient  form  :  insect -f  ingenious  work,  has  re- 
mained. It  agrees  with  the  ])opular  view  we  have  indicated  pre- 
viously. 

92)  Col.  Ill,  46-50. 

93)  Cf.  W.  St.    Chad  Boscawen,  Shcn-nunq  and  Sargoii.  1888,  in  B.& 
.      O.R.  Ill,  208-2 09  :  T.  de  L.,  Traditions  of  Bnhyhmia  in  carhj  Chinese 

docximents,  in  The  Academy,  17  Nov.  1883,  p.  334  ;  and  \\  heat  carried 
from  Mesopotamia  to  earl//  China,  1888,  in  B.&  O.R.  Ill,  184-185. 

Terrien  de  Lacouperie. 

I^To  he  continued). 


THE    ASSYRIANS    AND    THE    DATE-PALMS.  89 


DID     THE    ASSYRIANS    KNOW    THE    SEXES    OF    THE 

DATE-PALMS?      NO. 

{Continued    from    p.    69). 

We  see  all  sorts  of  siaiilar  devices  in  these  Assyrian  sculptures,  owing 
to  a  want  of  knowledge  how  to  represent  a  whole  scene  in  its  proper  pro- 
portions and  perspective  on  a  small  flat  space.  We  see  the  artists,  in 
the  case  of  a  battle,  placing  dead  bodies  everywhere,  as  if  floating  in 
the  air,  above  the  heads  of  people,  and  other  dead  bodies  made  visible  at 
the  bottom  of  rivers,  as  if  there  were  no  water.  The  object  of  the 
artists  of  those  days  appears  to  have  been  not  to  represent  a  thing  as  it 
was  seen,  for  they  couldn't  do  so,  but  to  represent  the  main  idea  of  any 
given  fact.  They  had  in  other  words,  and  in  their  own  way,  on  stone 
and  in  a  limited  space,  to  suggest  ideas  of  the  reality,  and  this  they 
did  by  crowding  the  ideas,  and  representing  them  anywhere,  and  as  best 
they  could,  on  the  flat  and  limited  surface  before  them.  In  several  in- 
stances they  endeavoured,  in  one  limited  space,  to  tell  the  story  of  a  battle 
in  sections,  one  above  the  other.  It  often  requires  some  reflection  to  un- 
derstand what  they  could  have  meant. 

Tiierefore  in  the  two  sculptures  alluded  to,  I  think  we  ought  not  in- 
cautiously to  give  too  much  importance  to  tlie  artist's  having  thrust  the 
cone  into  the  head  of  foliage,  for  the  reason  of  this  may  be  totally  differ- 
ent from  what  the  modern  interpreter,  with  his  fine  knowledge  of 
perspective,  might  suppose. 

With  regard  to  the  vessel  held  by  tlie  genius  in  one  hand,  are  we 
justified  in  calling  it  a  '•  bucket  or  a  basket  ?"  Is  it  a  water  tight  metal 
or  wooden  bucket,  or  a  wicker  work  basket?  Whatever  it  may  be,  it  is 
a  constant  attendant  of  the  cone,  and  must  therefore  mean  something  in 
connection  with  what  the  genius  is  supposed  to  be  doing. 

If  we  attempt  to  classify  the  iiandled  vessels  we  see  on  the  monuments, 
we  find  that  fr  >u\  the  way  the  handle  is  fastened,  we  cannot  be  far  wrong 
in  looking  upon  the  majority  of  them  as  metal  buckets.  Of  this  kind 
are  all  those  of  the  British  Museum,  either  plain  or  decorated  round  the 
rim,  sucli  as  that  held  by  the  fish  god. 

In  Perrot  et  Chipiez's  Hist,  de  I'art,  Tom.  2,  pi.  28  there  are  two 
buckets  the  bottom  of  which  is  ornamented  with  a  lion's  head.  These 
a[)p(';ir  either  of  metal,  or  perhaps  ivory.  They  can  hardly  be  earthenware 
as  the    handles  look    movable,  and  in  this  material   the  fastenings  would 


90  THE    ASSYRIANS    AND    THK 

be  weak.  In  pi.  -9  of  the  same  work,  the  body  of  the  bucket  might  pass 
for  wicker  work,  but  the  handle  is  fastened  to  two  bird's  heads  with 
wings.  These  suggest  metal  work  und  therefore  the  body  of  the  bucket 
is  probably  also  of  metal,  embossed  in  imitation  of  wicker  work.  More- 
over the  zigzag  lines  on  its  surface  are  not  such  as  would  be  displayed  by 
a  woven  surface  of  wicker  work.  Therefore  this  specimen  leaves  the  im- 
pressitm  that  it  was  not  meant  for  ;i  basket,  but  that  it  was  of  metal 
only  embossed  with  a   basket  like  surface. 

In  p  1.123,  the  vessel  has  crossed  lines  on  its  body,  meant  perhaps  to 
indicate  wicker  work,  but  the  handle  is  fixed,  and  suggests  some  solid 
material  ornamented  with  diamond  shaped  geometrical  figures.' 

[n  pi.  124,  the  vessel  is  plain,  and  appears  all  solid,  with  a  fixed 
handle.  PI.  217  shows  a  vessel  also  with  crossed  lines.  PI.  226  (Louvre") 
is  more  like  woven  wicker  work  than  any,  with  the  rim  of  a  different 
pattern.  The  handle  is  not  shown  as  movable.  As  in  pi.  29,  we  see  here 
also  that  the  surface  is  done  in  imitation  of  wicker  work.  This  appears 
to  1)6  the  only  one  which  has  a  distinct  claim  to  be  called  a  basket,  and 
similar  ones  in  Lenormant,  Hist.  anc.  de  Vorient,  Tom.  5  pp.  268  and 
275  witli  movable  handles.  Although  much  better  done,  nevertheless  it 
also  may  be  a  metal  bucket,  ornamented  in  imitation  of  basket  work 
For  in  Tom.  TT.  pi.  162  of  Bo'^ta's  '■Monuments  de  Nmire,'  there  is  a 
similarly  surfaced  vessel,  which  leaves  little  doubt  as  to  the  nature  of 
the  material  tliis  kind  of  vessel  was  usually  made  of.  The  fastenings 
of  the  handle  are  two  whole  bird  figiires,  clasping  the  body  of  the  vessel. 
These  and  handle  have  all  the  character  of  metal  ;  and  if  so.  the  body 
of  tlie  vessel,  altliough  like  wicker  work,  must  be  metal  too,  for  they 
would  have  hardly  attached  a  metal  handle,  with  an  elaborate  metal 
fastening  to  a  perishable  wicker  work  basket. 

PI.  191  on  ivory  TB.M.)  has  the  vessel  plain,  and  the  handle  slu.wn 
is  solidly  fixed. 

At  pi.  395  Perrot  et  Cliipiez  give  a  vessel,  ^\itllouta  handle,  which 
is  much  like  the  body  of  many  of  those  in  the  hand  of  genii,  and  the 
authors  think  that  perhaps  this  and  others  ''were  of  pure  copper."  The 
also  say  that  those  in  the  hands  of  the  genii  were  "  certainly  of  bronze 
with  a  metal  hand](>."  Why  they  say  certainl/i  does  not  appear,  but 
that  shown  in  their  pi.  ;)9fi  (seau  de  metal)  looks  more  like  metal  than 
any  dtlicr.  and  tliis,  as  far  as  1  can  see  is  the  general  character  of  the 
vessels  shuwn  in  tlie  hands  of  the  genii.  Perrot  e(  Chipiez  thought  these 
vessels  suggest  some  religious  ceremony. 

We  know  that  thmiighout  India  brass  or  copper  vessels  are  universally 


SEXES    OF     THE    DATE-PALMS.  91 

used  fur  domestic  and  other  purposes,   when  mount  to  contain  liquids. 

I  have  entered  so  fully  into  the  question  of  whether  this  vessel  wa3 
intended  for  a  bucket  or  a  basket,  because  I  think  tliis  is  important.  If 
a  bucket,  it  is  more  likely  to  iiave  been  intended  to  convey  the  idea  that 
it  contained  a  liquid.  If  a  basket,  such  an  idea  must  be  excluded. 
Upon  the  Nvhole,  the  resulting  impression  is  tliat  this  vessel  was  intended 
for  a  water-tight  metal  bucket,  such  as  the  "dol"  of  India,  used  for 
drawing  water  out  of  wells. 

We  must  not  however  lose  sight  (jf  the  fact  that  they  had  baskets  in 
those  days,  and  river  banks  covered  with  reeds  to  supply  material  for 
making  them.  Moreover  Nos.  2,  57  and  6i  in  the  basement  of  the 
British  Museum  showing  figures  carrying  large  baskets  on  tlieir  heads, 
leave  no  doubt  about  this  point.  And  many  of  the  most  backward 
savages  of  the  present  day  are  acquainted  with  the  art  of  basket  making, 
so  that  everything  points  to  the  fact  that  the  Assyrians  had  baskets  )f 
different  kinds.  A  careful  examination  of  the  vessels  held  in  the  hand 
of  the  genii  however  leaves  a  strong  impression  that  in  such  cases  a 
metal  bucket  was  the  artists'  ideal,  and  tiiat  its  ideal  contents  were  a 
liquid.  And  certainly  the  figures  pointing  the  cone  towards  the  King, 
and  the  same  figures  at  the  entrances  of  their  palaces  and  cities  leave 
the  impression  that  the  cone-like  object  must  have  a  totally  difTerent 
meaning  from  what  Dr.  Tylor's  theory  requires. 

We  should  not  then  lose  sight  of  the  f.ict  that  the  tree  wliich  Dr.  Tylor 
supposes  to  be  a  conventional  representation  of  a  palm  grove  is  not  only 
made  up  of  j^alms,  but  has,  it  would  appear,  mixed  up  with  it  tlie  vine 
tree.  At  all  events  there  is  something  which  does  not  belong  to  the 
palm  tree  intertwined  among  this  conventional  palm  grove,  and  which  is 
likely  enough  to  have  been  intended  for  the  leafless  stems  of  the  vine,  it 
liaviiig  been  almost  indigenous  in  those  parts.  At  the  same  time  they 
admit  of  a  s'lnpler  interpretation,  sucli  as  meaningless  ornamental  scrolls, 
connecting  the  various  palm-heads,  and  making  one  picture  of  the  whole. 

Then  supposing  the  cone  to  represent  the  male  inflorescence  of  the  date 
palm,  we  iiave  in  plate  -t-i;-}  of  Perrot  et  Chipiez  O.C.  a  piece  of 
embroidery  representing  a  genius  fertilizing  a  number  of  cones  on  another 
kind  of  conventional  tree.  And  on  page  202  Lenormant's  Hist.  Anc, 
taken  from  Layard's  Culte  de  Mithra,  we  have  genii  doing  the  same  thing. 

So  that  Dr.  Tylor's  theory  appears  to  be  only  plausibly  applicable  wiien 
applied  to  the  genius  in  front  of  the  supposed  palm  grove.  When  a^jplied 
to  the  genius  in  the  same  attitude  and  holding  in  his  h.indsthe  .same  ob- 
jects but  in  other  situations,  this  theory  becomes  anything  but  satisfactory. 


92  THE    ASSYRIANS    AND    THE 

If  artificial  fertilization  was  known  to  the  Assyrians  from  a  remote 
period,  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  some  trace  of  this  ancient 
knowledge  would  be  found.  Yet,  in  the  Glyptique  Orientale  of  Joachim 
Menant,  no  sign  of  the  cone  and  tree,  &c.  is  to  be  found.  This  work 
represents  the  oldest  period  of  Assyro-Babylonidn  history. 

In  a  later  period  (Babylon,  and  ■  Assy r.  Seals,  by  Theo.  G.  Pinches) 
tliere  is  a  conventional  pomegranate  tree  with  a  king  on  each  side  and  two 
genii  with  cone  and  bucket,  going  through  a  similar  ceremony.  These 
seals  are  supposed  to  represent  a  period  of  between  1200  and  1500  years 
B.C.  So  that  at  this  period  this  ceremony  or  superstition  formed  a  part 
of  tlie  Assyrian  cult,  yet  artificial  fertilization  of  the  palm  tree  is  not  to 
be  traced  Nor  can  we  suppose  that  the  genii  are  fertilizing  the 
pomegranate  tree. 

There  are  now  several  theories  regarding  this  puzzling,  cone-like  object 
of  the  Assyrian  monuments. 

(((.)  The  fir  or  cedar-cone  theory  still  holds  its  ground.  The  cedar 
cone  was  supposed  to  bear  God's  name  inscribed  on  it,  and  was  placed  in 
the  hand  of  sick  persons  to  cure  them.  It  was  evidently  believed  to  have 
some  talismanic  virtue.  This  belief  appears  distinctly  made  known  from 
certain  cuneiform  inscriptions.  "  Prends  le  fruit  du  cedre,  et  presente  le 
a  la  face  du  uialade ;  le  cedre  est  I'arbre  quei  donne  le  charme  pur  et 
repousse  les  demons  tendeurs  de  pieges"  (Lenormant,  Origine  de 
VHistoire,  torn.  I,  8-1).  Moreover  No.  9,  in  tlie  .Assyrian  hall  of  tlte 
Louvre  is  a  figure  holding  in  the  hand  proportionally  a  much  smaller  cone 
than  that  of  the  British  Museum.  This  would  appear  to  indicate  that 
various  sizes  of  cones  were  used. 

{h.)  The  citron  theory  has  the  advantage  of  explaining,  by  its  digitate 
form,  another  cone-like  object,  carried  by  men  in  procession,  and  the  fact 
that  the  Jews  now  use  the  citron  in  their  religious  ceremonies  would  tend 
to  support  this  theory.  It  does  not  appear  applicable,  however,  to  other  cases, 
(c.)  The  bunch  of  grapes  theory  is  supported  by  the  fact  that  many 
bundles  are  cone-like,  and  many  objects  undoubtedly  intended  for  bunches 
of  grapes  are  often  shown  with  the  same  outline.  But  this  theory  appears 
to  iiave  no  meaning  in  the  case  of  the  cone  object  being  pointed  towards 
the  sacred  tree,  nor  would  ilie  u>e  of  the  bucket  in  this  case  be  plain 
even  if  wq  su})posed  it  to  ctmtain  icine. 

(d.)  The  date-raale-flower  theory  appears  plausible  when  the  cone  is 
pointed  towards  a  palm  grove,  although  one  does  not  see  what  place 
the  vine  stems  can  hold  in  such  a  theory,  but  it  appears  to  become  totally 
untenable  when  the  male  fiower  of  the  pul-.u  is  pointed  towards  the  king. 


SKXES    OF    THE    UATK-l'ALMS.  93 

nor  dues  one  see  why,  in  that  case,  a  water  tight  metal  bucket  should 
be  almost  invariably  used,  instead  of  a  basket.  Moreover  this  theory 
presupposed  a  vast  amount  of  knowledge  in  those  days  about  the  sexes 
of  trees  and  indispensibility  of  the  operation  for  the  production  of  a  crop. 

We  have  seen  that  artificial  fertilization  is  not  indispensable  to  the 
production  of  a  crop.  If  it  were  so,  the  separate  sexes  date  trees  could 
not  have  evoked  before  man  came  to  apply  the  pollen  of  the  one  to  the 
pistil  of  the  other  I  ' 

Apart  however  from  all  I  have  said  against  the  assumption  that 
artificial  fertilization  of  date  trees  was  then  commonly  practised,  there 
appears  sufficient  proof  that  the  Assyrians  or  Babylonians  did  know  of 
the  existence  of  male  and  female  date  trees. 

Mr.  Theo.  G.  Pinches  has  gi^^en  me  three  lines  from  W.A.I.  II.  pi. 
46,  in  which  appear  gisimmarn  the  date  palm,  and  :i-ka-[^ra-tu?]  the 
male,  and  sin-ni^  [_-tu],  the  female.  He  states  that  the  date  of  this 
Assyrian  fragment  is  about  650  k.c,  and  possibly  it  is  a  copy  of  a 
document  dating  back  to  about  2000  b.c.  He  wrote  to  Mr.  Rassam  to 
make  some  inquiries  about  date  trees  in  Assyria  in  the  vicinity  of 
Nineveh.  Mr.  Rassam  replied  that  it  grows  there,  but  does  not  fruit, 
Mr.  Pinches  from  this  would  infer  that  the  above  tablet  may  be  a  copy 
of  an  older  Babylonian  tablet. 

The  fact  that  the  date  tree  does  not  now  fruit  in  Assyria,  does  not 
quite  prove  that  in  Assyrian  times  the  date  tree  did  not  fruit  there.  We 
know  that  the  date  tree  is  often  killed  by  severe  frost,  and  that  it  is 
likely  to  suffer  in  northern  latitudes.  There  are  however,  hundreds  of 
varieties  of  date  trees,  and  it  dogs  not  follow  that  in  Assyrian  times 
they  may  not  have  had  varieties  there  that  did  fruit. 

Allowing  that  the  Assyrians  knew  the  sexes  of  date  trees,  it  does  not 
I  think  follow  that    they   practised   artificial  fertilization,  for   we  have 
seen  that  groves  containing  males  and  females  can  be  fertilized  by  nat- 
ural processes,  nor  does  it  follow  that  the  genii  holding  the  cone  object 
were  intended  to   represent  artificial  fertilization. 

(e.)  The  pine-apple  theory  appears  inadmissible,  as  the  fruit  is  of 
American  origin. 

(/.)   Now  in  cMubination  with  the  cedar-cone  theory,  that  of  holy  water 
in  the  bucket  might    perhaps  be'  advanced.       The    use  of   lioly     water 
appears    to    bo  of  very  ancient  date.      We  have  inherited  many  things 
from  Assyria,  and  the   holy  water  of  the  Church  of  Rome  (a  mixture  of 
consecrated  salt  and  water)    may  be  a  survival   of  some  ancient  Assyrian 
superstitiiii.  In  Assyrian  times  there  were  many  demons  and  other  bad 


•J-t  THK    ASSYRIANS    AND    THE 

spirits,  and  holy  witer  is  supposed  to  have  the  especial  merit  of  keeping 
off  harmful   demons   from   persons,    places,  and  things,    on  which   it    is 
sprinkled.     It  is  not  improbable  therefore  that    the  Assyrians  had   some 
similar  superstitious  custom,   and  may    have  used  the   cedar-cone — holy 
in  itself— as  an  "aspergillum,"  dipping  it  into  holy  water  and  sprinkling 
it  about.     If  this  supposition  be   tenable,  the    ever  present  bucket  would 
explain  tlie  need  of  a  water-tight  vessel  for  holdino-  holy  water.   Sprinkling 
holy  water  by  means  of  the  holy  fir  cone,  round   the  groves,   and  round 
the  king's  person,  and   at  the  entrance   of  the  palace  would  then  become 
sensible  enough.     Harm  and  demons,  and  other  bad    spirits   would    be 
kept  out  of  the  way.    The  only  objection  I  can  see  to  this  theory  is  that 
the  figure    sprinkling  this  holy  water  is  always  shown  with  wings,  which 
would  suggest  the  notion  of   an  invisible  guardian  angel   protecting  the 
plam  trees   and  the  king.      But  it  is    not    unlikely    that    the  Assyrian 
artists  embodied  these  spirits  and  gave  them  wings,  to  show  that  in  the 
sculptures  they  were  not  meant  for  ordinary  human  beings  of  flesh  blood, 
and  in  order  that  they  might  introduce  these  spir'tual  ideas  into  the  wall 
decorations  of  palaces  and  temples.     It  is  impossible  to  give  form  to  a 
spiritual  notion,  without  some  such  conventional  device. 

All  these  figures,  and  M'hatever  they  may  be  doing,  appear  to  have  a 
spiritval  meaning,  that  is   of  on   invisible  guardian  angel  or  being,  and 
not  that  of  any  operation  done  by  ordinary  men.     The  angels  of  Christian 
art,   with  their  invisible  fiddles,  trumpets,  lilies,  swords,   &c.  are  not  im- 
probably survivals  of  these  invisible  Assyrian  guardian  angels,  with  their 
invisible  bucket  of  holy  water,  and  invisible  "  aspergillum."     Tlie  winged 
beings  of  those  days,   and  the  angels  of  our  days  are  spirits,  humanized, 
^hat  is,  incomprehensible  things  expressed  in  human  ideas.     In  that  case 
we  must  suppose  that  the  use  of  holy  water,  sprinkled   by  means  of  the 
holy  cedar-cone,    was   a  part  of  the  machinery  of  Assyrian  priest-craft. 
The  evolution  of  the  idea  of  holy  water  may  after  all  be  simple   enough. 
Originally  there  may  have  been  some  natural  spring  of  water,  which  may 
have  been  discovered  to  possess   curative  or  tonic   virtues,   and  therefore 
considered  supernatural  and   holy.     There   are  many  waters  now  which 
are  supposed   to  have  these  virtues.      That    is  they  cleanse  and  renovate 
the  body.    The  priests  then  might  have  taken  up  the  idea  and  developed 
it  into  a  ceremony  for  religious  purposes,  and   so  the  notion  was  handed 
down  to  us,  as  holy  water  which  could  be  manufactured  out  of  ordinary 
water  by  sacerdotal  manipulations,  and  incantations.     In  this  connection, 
it  is  interesting  to  find  that  Botta  (Monum.  de  Ninive,  Tom.  I,    pi.  76), 
gives  a  number  of     figures  taking,  by   means  of  buckets,    some    liquid 


SEXES    OF    THE    DATE-PALMS.  ',).") 

from   what  looks    vemarkabbj    like   ajbnt,  such  as  is    used   uow  ia  man 
Eoman  Catholic  churches. 

Such  appears  to  be  the  most  rational  way  of  iuterpreting  the  spiritual 
idea  pictured  by  the  Assyrian  artists  on  their  sculptures.  It  is  one  which 
would  appear  to  meet  the  needs  of  all  cases  where  cone  and  bucket  are 
found  in  combination.  The  idea  that  the  holy  cedar-cone  should  be  used 
as  an  "  aspergillum  " — an  implement  for  sprinkling  the  holy  water,  '.be- 
comes then  natural,  and  in  its  proper  place. 

The  cedar-cone,  from  its  sacredness  and  scaly  irregular  surface,  would 
not  only  spiritually,  but  also  mechanically,  naturally  come  in  as  a  very 
handy  "aspergillum."'  The  stiffness  and  fixedness  of  the  outstretched  arm 
holding  the  cone  may  deceive  us  into  supposing  that  it  cannot  mean  the 
movements  made  in  the  act  of  sprinkling  holy  wter,  but  it  soon  becomes 
evident  that  in  sculpture  and  in  painting  such  an  operation  cannot  be 
represented  except  by  ?i  fixed  attitude. 

For  the  sake  of  those  interested  in  tliis  subject,  the  references  are  given 
below. 

Refei'ence  to  Herodotus   I,    193,  will  he  made  in  the  next  number. 

E,    BONAVIA, 

The  Academy  :  8  June  188G.  p.  ^90  :  Dr.  Edw.  Tylor  :  The  fertiliza- 
tion of  Date-palms. — 22  June,  p.  4;3i:  Prof.  Terrien  de  Lacouperie:  The 
Cone-Fruit  of   the  Assyrian  Monuments. 

Nature,  23  Jan.    1890  : 

B.  ij-  0,  R-  The  Cone  fruit  of  the  Afitiyrum  Monuments  May  1888,  p. 
170  and  July  p.  173. Prof.  Terrien  de  Lacouperie  :  The  Tree  of  Life 
and  the  Calendar  plant  of  Babylonia  and  China,  June  1888,  p.  155, 
note  5. 


NOTES  ON  THE  ASSYRIAN  SACRED  TREES. 

In  the  interesting  papers  which  Dr.  Bonavia  has  recently  published  in 
the  Rec  >Ri)  upon  the  subject  of  the  cone-fruit  of  the  Assyrians,  he  seems 
to  me  to  have  dune  much  to  clear  up  the  obscurity  of  the  nature  of  the 
sacred  tree  represented  upon  the  sculptures  from  Nimroud.  I  venture  to 
think  liowever,  that,  from  an  Assyriological  point  of  view,  there  are  some 
point?  which  require  further  consideration  and  explanation.  The  forms 
of  the  Assyrian  tree  as  known  to  us  are  all  of  late  date,  and  with  few 
exceptions  confined  to  the  work  of  Assyrian  and  not  Babylonian  artists. 
They  may  in  fact  be  all  grouped,  both  those  from  'N'iniroud  and  tlie  ex- 
amples from  Khorsabad  between  b.c.  850  and  li.c.  700.  Nd  trace  of 
this  object  was  found  in  the  palaces  of  Sennacherib  or  of  Assurbanipal. 
Thoy  are  all.  moreover,  niosl  conventional  and  seem  to  indicate  a  fusion 
of  more  than  one  traditional  sncrod  tree.  "We  have,  for  example,  tlio 
undoubted  fruit    of  some    cone-bearing  tree,   either   the  fir  or  tlie  cedar. 


96  ASSYRIAN   SACRED    TREES. 

combined  with  the  espalier  form    of    the     trained   vine,  and    the    whole 
supported  by  a  conventionalised  form  of  the  trunk  of  the  palm  tree. 

I  will  now  quote  a  few  examples  from  notes  made  at  vari<jiis  times  to 
show  that  all  these  three  trees  were  at  various  jieriods,  held  to  be  sacred. 
The  passage  so  often  quoted  from  the  old  hymn  from  Eridu  (W.A.I., 
IV.  15,  oh.  52-67)  seems  to  me  to  prove  very  little  as  the  Akkadian 
^¥  TE|J,  "  strong  or  established  wood,"  seems  to  be  properly  rendered 
by  kls-J:a-nu  "  stalk  or  tree  trunk,"  and  no  special  tree  seflns  to  be  im- 
plied. The  phrase  which  has  been  more  than  once  referred  to  in  the 
B.D.R.  reads  \_Inn]  Eridu  Kis-ka-nu  zal-mu  Irbl  ina  asm  ellu  ibbani. 
"  In  Eridu  a  dark  trunk  grew  up  ;  in  a  holy  place  it  was  created."  In 
the  inscriptions  relating  to  trees  and  plants,  the  determinatives  f:^  '  wood,' 
and  t^TTT-  '  plant,'  sometimes  interchange,  and  as,  Sayce  has  pointed  out 
{^Hib.  Led.  2'^8-2)  u.  Ki  is  explained  in  K.  165-22  hy  ges-fJin=z'' wood 
of  life  "  or  "  living  wood."  It  is  also  equivalent  to  retu  sute'tu  and 
retii  saharu  "  a  growing  branch  "  "  a  young  shoot."  As  Delitzsch  has 
shown,  however,  the  group  trj  <T<  (^Lesest.  1st  ed.  l^o.  (52)  is  equivalent 
to  "  the  vine."  The  description  of  this  sacred  tree  of  the  shrine  of  Ea 
certainly  does  not  resemble  the  vine.  "  Its  root  was  of  bright  crystal," 
penetrating  down  into  Absu  the  subterranean  abode  of  Ea,  while  its 
branches  cast  a  shade  like  a  temple  into  which  none  had  entered.  In 
its  branches  was  the  couch  of  Zikum  the  great  mother  goddess,  while 
within  it  dwelt  the  youthfui  Tammuz  Adonis.  These  two  last  ideas  at 
once  call  to  mind  the  sacred  fir  tree  of  Phrygia,  in  which  Atys  was  hidden, 
and  to  which  the  weeping  mother-goddess  yearly  turned.  The  fir-tree  is, 
however,  closely  associated  with  Ea  in  Babylonian  mythology.  Lenormant 
'{Begin,  of  Hist.,  p.  93)  has  quoted  a  passage  which  certainly  points  to 
its  as  a  life-giving  charm  {I'rini  esu  nadin  slptu  sllitiv),  '•  the  cedar  is  the 
wood  which  gives  the  holy  charm,"  and  in  the  magical  texts  (W.A.I., 
IV.  16,  30,  35),"  the  white  cedar  with  holy  water  {me-mulli)  is  part  of 
the  charm.  It  was  upon  the  centre  core  of  this  wood  that  the  naiue  of 
Ea  was  engraved.  (W.A.I.,  IV.  16,  II.  11)  "i>'a  Inn  libbi  sic  Ilu  Ea 
sumu  zakru^'  Upon  the  heart  of  which  Ea  his  name  has  recorded."  In 
another  liturgical  text  (IV.  64).  I  find  also  this  cap  of  the  holy  water 
of  Merodach  mentioned  :  "  May  the  cup  of  holy  water  of  Merodach  endow 
him  with  health."  So  that  sjme  such  ceremony  as  that  referred  to  by 
Dr.   Bonavia  was  known  to  the  Babylonians. 

The  following  extract  from  a  letter  recently  received  from  Cairo  seems 
to  show  that  the  custom  as  suggested  by  Dr.  Buna  via  still  exists  in 
the  East  :  "  Last  week  an  Oriental  showed  me  an  Arabic  book  he  was 
reading,  in  which  were  some  engravings  of  the  Assyrian  gods  from  the 
walls  of  the  British  Museum.  I  asked  him  what  fruit  he  thinight  was 
represented,  at  the  same  time  translating  to  him  the  discussion  in  the 
Record,  Vol.  II,  No.  7,  which  I  have  here.  He  laughed  out  quite 
merrily,  nt  the  idea  of  its  being  a  fruit  which  the  god  holds,  and  added: 
Had  not  I  and  people  in  England  noted  that  in  the  other  hand  the  god 
holds  a  water  basket  ?  He  maintained  that  the  cone  was  a  kind  of 
squirt  for  sprinkhng  hdly  water,  to  be  replenished  from  the  basket.  He 
added  that  by  some  Oriental  sects,  at  some  ceremonies  these  identical 
articles  are  still  thus  used,  and  promised  sometime  to  put  me  in  the 
way  of  seeing  the  cone  and  water  baskets  so  used."     W.  St.  C.  Boscawen. 

printed  AND  published  FOR  the  proprietor  AT  29  ALBERT  SQUAEE,  CLAPHAM 
ROAD   ;    AND  BY  D.   NUTT,  FOREIGN  AND  CLASSICAL  BOOKSELLER,     270    STRAND. 


THB 


BABYLONIAN  AND  ORIENTAL  RECORD. 

Contributors  are  alone  responsible  for  their  opinions  or  statements. 


PEHLEVI     NOTES. 
VI.      ORIENTAL      TESTIMONIES      REGARDING 
KHVETUK-DAS. 

TuK  object  of  the  present  Note  is  chiefly  to  call  the  attention  of  those 
interested  in  tlie  matter  to  two  further  confirmations  of  the  common  in- 
terpretation of  the  term  Khvetuk  das  as  '  incestuous  marriage,'  which  have 
u{)peared  in  the  last  volume  (xliii  of  the  Zeitschrift  of  the  German 
Oriental  Society.  It  would,  perhaps,  be  more  accurate  to  say  that  these 
testimonies  confirm  the  belief  in  the  actual  practice  of  such  incestuous 
marriages  by  the  Persians  under  the  Sassanid  dynasty,  and  thereby  afford 
support  of  an  important  kind  to  our  interpretation  of  KhvetCik-dat^, 
These  testimonies  are  exclusively  from  Oriental  sources,  and  therefore, 
further,  tend  to  add  credibility  to  the  evidence  of  the  Greek  and  Roman 
writers.  al)ly  impugned  in  the  work  of  Darub  Dastur,  before  referred  to 
in  tliese  columns. 

I.  Til  the  2ii(l.  uuiiiImu-  of  tlie  ZDMG..  Br.  11.  Hubschmann  of  Strass- 
l)urg.  (••  Ueber  die  persische  Verwandtenheirath  ")  brings  forward  im- 
portant Aiiuenian  testimonies.  We  ought  first  to  mention  that  Hiib- 
sciiniann  entirely  agrees  with  Darab  that,  as  far  at  least  as  the  Avesta 
itself  is  concerned,  tlie  Zend  term  (jaethvn-datha  has  by  no  means  been 
proved  to  l)ear  the  meaning  of  incestuous  marriage, — nay,  that  this  in- 
terpretatitm  is  '  not  oven  probable.'  This  he  proves  at  some  length  by  an 
examination  of  the  passages  wherein  it  occurs.  But  as  regard  the  evid- 
'!nce,  of  the  (jireek  writers  he  cannot  agree  with  the  Dastur  ;  for  he  finds 
iliem  siiongly  sujiported  by  the  independent  authority  of  "  two  Armenian 
authors   belonging   to   a  time    when  the  conversion  of    the     Armenian-; 

\',„^.   IV.— No.   ;■).  [97]  Ai'iUL,   1890. 


98  PEHLEVI       NOTES. 

from  the  Zoroastrian  religion  to  Christianity    had  only  just   taken  place 
and  was  by  no  means  universal." 

Faustus   of    Byzantium  (4th   century)   in    his  History    of     Armenia 
narrates  that  St  Nerses,   among   other    injunctions   to    the   Armenians, 
commanded  tliem  •'  ahove  all  to  abstain  from   conjugal  union  with  rela- 
tions and    kindred,  ^and    more    especially   from    those    with   related  (?) 
dano-hters-in-law,  and  whatever  else  of    the  kind   had  taken  place."     A 
later  writer  who  has  compiled  a  "  History  of  St.  Nerses  the  Parthian" 
quotes  the  same  prohibition   from  Faustus,  saying  "  the  Armenians  were 
still  given  to  heathenish  uses  .  .   .   also    they  married  with  kinsfolk  and 
blood-relations  for  the  purposes  of  preserving  unsullied  their  nobility  and 
their   inheritance ;    but    the    great    Nerses    abolished    this     among    the 
Armenians,  and  ordered  that  marriages  should  not  take  place  up  to  the 
fifth  degree."     It  is  noticeable  that  the  practice    seems  to  have  been  that 
of  the  nobility,  for  the  preservation  of  their  family  rank. 

The  next  writer  is  Eznik,  in  his  "Refutation  of  Heresies,"    This  author 
explicitly  declares  that  Zrdasht  (Zoroaster)  invented  the  legend  regard- 
ino-  the  birth  of  the  Sun,  Moon  and  Stars  from  incestuous  unions  with 
a  mother  and  a  sister,  "  in  order  that  the  people  in  view    of  this  might 
give    themselves    up  without   restraint    to   the   same  excess  ;"    and  this 
"  for  no  other   reason,  but  for  the  sake  of  sensuality  and  lust,"  because 
the  people  hearing  that  their  gods  practised  such  customs,  would  feel  less 
hesitation  in  giving  way  to  their  appetites,  &c.    All  this  may  be  calum- 
nious enough  as  regards  the  early  times  and  atithors  of  the  Mazdayasnian 
religion;  but  it  at  least  shows  that  (1)  at  the  writer's  time,  the  practice  of 
such  incest  was  an  acknowledged    fact  among  the  Persian  Zoroastrians, 
and  (2)  that  it  was  brought  by  them  into  connection  with  certain  mytholo- 
gical theories.     This  latter  fact  we  know  already  from  the  Pehlevi  testi- 
monies quoted  in  former  Notes  in  this  Journal. 

II.  In  the  last  number  (Ith)  of  the  same  volume  of  the  ZDMG.,  E. 
Kuhn  has  a  very  brief  note  throwing  further  side-light  from  a  Syriac 
writer.  In  the  Syriac  acts  of  the  Persian  martyr  Mihramgushnasp,  who 
became  a  Christian  under  the  name  of  Giwargis  and  suffered  martyrdom 
under  Chosroes  Parviz  in  a.d.  614,  it  is  stated  that  before  his  conversion, 
"  he  had  had  his  sister  for  wife,  according  to  the  scandalous  and  filthy 
custom  which  these  unbelievers  liold  as  legitimate." 

Further.  -:iyp  Kuhn,  "  an  indirect  testimony  in  the  same  sense  is  to  be 
found  in  the  fact  that  Bih-afrid,  who  in  the  latter  days  of  the  Omayyid 
dynasty  sought  to  reform  the  old   religion,  by  abolisliing  certain  usages 


KHVETUK        DAS.  99 

extromely  repulsive  to  the  Moslem,  wished  to  forbid  marriage  with 
mothers,  sisters,  daughters,  nieces  and  aunts  on  fatlier's  or  mother's  side," 
and  he  refers  to  tlie  Vienna  Zeitschrift  fiir  die  Kunde  des  Morgenlandes, 
iii.   33. 

Although  these  Armenian  and  Syriac  testimonies  have  been  published 
so  recently  and  in  so  easily  accessible  a  form.  I  think  it  right  to  brino- 
them  together  here,  so  as  to  complete  my  former  notes  on  this  curious 
subject. 

III.  Those,  again,  who  are  not  acquainted  with  Prof.  ItaloTizzi's  in- 
teresting book  on  the  manners  and  customs  of  the  heroic  age  of  Persia  as 
preserved  in  the  poem  of  Firdusi,  {IJEpopea  Persiana  e  la  Vita  e  i 
Costumi  dei  Tempi  Eroict  di  Persia,  Firenze  1888),  may  be  glad  to  see 
what  light,  in  the  opinion  of  the  Italian  Eranist,  is  cast  upon  the  subject 
by  national  I'ersian  tradition.  Pizzi  writes  on  p.  191 — after  stating  the 
motives  for  marriages  of  near  kindred  (i.e.  preservation  of  family  and 
nobility),  and  quoting  the  Greek  and  other  testimonies,— "  of  these 
marriages  among  relations  we  have  but  few  examples  in  Firdusi's  Book 
of  Kings.  But  the  traces  , of  them,  though  rare,  are  sufficiently  clear. 
Sudabeh  in  fact  proposes  to  the  young  Siyavish  marriage  with  one  of 
her  daughters.  In  that  case  the  bride  would  have  been  a  sister  of 
Siyavish,  at  least  on  the  father's  side,  as  King  Kavus  was  father  of 
Siyjlvish  and  husband  of  Sudabeh  (p.  386)." 

But  Sudabeli  went  much  further,  and  proposed  to  Siyavish,  with 
whom  she  was  in  love,  that  when  old  Kavus  died,  he  might  ask  her  for 
his  wife  and  thus  console  his  grief  ;  which  would  have  meant  Siyavish's 
marrying  his  iiiother-in-Iaw,  (p.  888).  Moreover  Rustem  had  married  a 
sister  nf  Ghev,  by  wlunn  he  had  a  son  Feramurz,  whilst  Ghev  was  the 
husband  of  BanCi  Gushasp,  Rustem's  daughter  (p.  781)  .  . .  King  Behmeh 
married  the  beautiful  Huuiay,  his  own  daughter  (p.  12-1:7). 

IV'.  1  think  it  right,  moreover,  to  slate  here  that  I  have  lately  ob- 
served, what  had  escaped  uiy  notice  before,  that  Spiegel  had  already 
remarked  the  probabiliiy  that  the  Vedic  hynni  (RV.  X.  1U  =  83G),  cer- 
tainingthe  Dialogue  between  Yauia  ami  Yami,  translated  by  me  in  this 
review  i^  August  1889),  "  may  have  been  a  protest  against  marriages  l)e- 
tween  brothers;  and  .sisters,  as  customary  in  Eran."  Tin'  reiiiark 
occurs  in  a  footnote,  p.  250,  cf  his  Arische  Pertode,  Leipzig,  1887,  and 
thus  affords  a  valuable  confirmation  from  an  eminent  authority  of  the  idea 
at  which  I  hinted  in  my  disseYtsxtion  (^Philoso2)hie  religleuse  du  Mazdeisme) 
in  1884. 


10(1  PEHLEVI       NOTES. 

\'.  It  is,  (if  course,  only  natural  that  the  ^earned  and  regretted  trans- 
lator of  my  bo(^k,  Dastur  Firoz  Jamaspji,  {The  PJiilosophy  of  the  Mazda- 
yamian  Religiuii  muJer  the  Sassamds,  Bombay,  1889)^,  should,  like 
Dastur  Darab,  >oek  to  impugn  the  evidence  adduced  by  European 
scholars  on  this  lioad.  In  two  long  footnotes  in  pp.  157  and  159-60 
of  liis  translation,  he  argues  against  (1)  the  passages  adduced  from  the 
Avesta.  (2)  those  from  the  Dinlcart.  On  the  former  count,  we  may 
}.orhaps.  like  West  and  Hiibschmann.  accept  a  verdict  of  not-proven. 
The  Avesta,  taken  by  itself  at  least,  is  not  sufficient  to  bear  out  the 
unfavourable  interpretation  of  qaethva-datha  as  'incestuous  marriage.' 
Under  the  second  head,  the  late  Dastur  Firoz  first  appeals  to  the  gen- 
eral obscurity  of  the  chapter  of  the  Dinkart,  and  then  offers  his  own 
interpretation  of  certain  parts  of  the  same  in  favour  of  his  point  of  view. 
He  says:  "  The  whole  chapter  in  which  the  question  occurs  is  very  obscure 

and  difficult It  cannot    then  be  positively  affirmed    whether 

Dr.  Casartelli  or  Dastur  Peshotan  is  right  in  his  reading  and  interpre- 
tation of  the  passage.  Either  of  them  followed  his  own  way.  I'erhaps 
a  third  gentleman  would  make  out  quite  a  different  sense  from  his  own 
]ioint  of  view  and  thus  ciiange  the  meaning  of  the  same  passage  alto- 
gether :  for  in  the  case  of  the  obscure  and  ambiguous  Pehlevi  it  often 
happens  that  one  and  the  same  passage  is  translated  by  different  eminent 
scholars  in  such  different  ways  that  it  becomes  quite  difficult  for  one  to 
say  whether  they  are  versions  of  one  and  the  same  passage  or  of  two 
altogether  distinct  ones"  (p.  ir)9).  It  is  well  to  remind  readers  that, 
obscure  us  ^^•hole  parts  of  the  chapter  in  question  are,  it  has  been  care- 
fully translated  in  full  and  as  literally  as  possible  by  the  most  eminent 
Pchlcvi  scholar  living,  Dr.  E.  W.  West,  occupying  pp.  400-410  of  tlic 
second  volume  of  h\s  Pahlari  Texts  (in  Sacred  Books  of  ike  East).  The 
umount  (if  obscurity  claimed  for  it  by  Dastur  Firoz  would,  therefore,  ap- 
])ear  to  be  exaggerated  :  the  general  purport  of  this  long  chapter  is  clear 
and  precise  enough.  It  is  only  one  of  several  passages  translatedU)y  West 
in  the  volume  of  the  text  ;  and  the  cumulative  evidence  of  them  all  seems 
quite  decisive  to  most  readers. 

A  word  must  be  said,  however,  of  Firoz's  suggested  translation  of 
,  wo  small  portions  of  the  chapter.  First  in  §  i;>  he  picks  out  words 
which  he  read  ar  r  i  resh,  and  declares  that  tliey  signify  "  quite  contrary 
to  tlie  law  !",  as  an  epithet  and  denouncing  "the  horrible  custom  of  next 
of  kind  marriages  ;  and  also  the  phrase  rdinishtii  niidishnl  orvdichma  Id. 
wliich  he  interprets  as  '•  having  no  pleasure,  praise  or  joy."    Now.  how  the 


KHVKTUK     })As.  lOl 

Hrst  tiiiee  words  quoted  can  bear  the  interpretation  suggested  is  a  mystery 
Uoe»  the  writer  take  vesh  as  signifying  •  law'  ?  If  so,  sucli  a  rendering- 
is  quite  unheard  of.  Nor  will  it  escajjo  tiie  reader  that  herein  he  contra- 
dicts his  brother  Dastur,  Darab  i'eshotan,  who  is  his  Next-of-Kln  Mar- 
liugefi  in  Ancient  frau  wishes  to  make /y'.<Z(  -^f^^\  into  ra-jch,  translating 

it  '  and  incestuous.'     But  more  remarkable  is  the  violent  manner  in  which 

Dastur   Firuz  cuts  up  the  I'ehlevi  text  to  get  in  the  meanings    he  gives. 

That  text,  as  given  in  a  former  one  of  these  notes  is  as  follows  : 

Hana-  rfici  vesh  riimishno  Litei-alli/:  H«c  via  plurimaj  voluptatis 

nyayishno    va  huravukhm^  benedictionis    et    gaudii 

la  va  ait  patash  hie  zy-  neque    est  inde   quidvis    damuitm 

ano  parae  men  cCito  laca  plus  quam  beneficium  neque 

ahuki  parae  men'^  peccatum  maius  quam 

khup-gar.  honestas. 

Ur,  in  Dr.  West's  version :  •'  This  is  a  way  of  much  pleasure  which  is  a 
blessing  of  the  joy,  and  no  harm  is  therein  ordained  that  is  more  than 
the  advantage,  and  no  vice  that  is  more  than  the    well-doing." 

It  will  be  seen  that  Dastur  Firoz  has  cut  oft"  the  final  vowel  of  the 
demonstrative  hand  (■  this')  and  tacked  it  on  to  the  next  word,  so  as  to 
make  ardgi.  Then  he  has  grouped  together  the  three  words  rdmishno 
iiijayishw  va  huravdkhm  and  appended  to  them  the  negative  Id  belonging 
to  the  ioUowing  phrase,  as  though  it  applied  to  the  preceding  words 
("  pleasure,  praise,  joy  not"), — quite  an  impossible  construction.  Besides, 
that  the  Id  belongs  to  what  follows  it,  is  shewn  by  the  close  parallelism 
of  the  two  passages  : 

Id  va  ait  patash  hie  zydno  jmrde  men  (^uto 
Id  \ca  ahuki  pardc  men  khup-gar. 

The  Dastur  treats  these  phrases  thus  :  He  reads  r«  at  patash  hie  zyan-l 
j'arh-i  men  gut,  va  Id-ea  jashnak-i  frah-i  men  hucihar,  and  translates  "in- 
stead of  bringing  any  advantage  it  does  nmch  harm,  and  of  however 
good  aspect  it  may  be,  it  is  yet  veiy  unpleasant."  Such  a  rendering,  I 
venture  to  say,  will  not  stand  a  moment's  criticism  :  it  docs  the  greatest 
violence  to  its  text,  which  happens  here  to  be  quite  simple  and  straight- 
forward. 

I  must  conclude  that  my  lamented  translator  has  not  been  any  more 
tortunatc  than  Dastur  Peshotan  in  evading  the  force  of  this  crucial 
passage,  or  in  challenging  Dr  West's  rendering  of  it. 

NOTES. 
1)   Dastur   Firoz  Jamaspji  was  the  accomplislitid  son  <-f  the  venerable 


102  THE    DELDGE-TRADITION  AND 

.and  esteemed  High  Priest,  TJastnr  Jamasp  Minocheherji,  so  \yell  known 
a  figure  in  Bombay,  He  died  suddenly  last  summer  at  the  early  age  of 
36,  before  his  translation  of  my  work  had  left  the  press.  He  was  a 
gifted  Or'ientel  scholar,  besides  having  a  perfect  acquaintance  with 
English,  French,  and  German.  For  a  most  interesting  and  full  account 
of  both  Dastur  Minocheherji  and  his  son  and  destined  successor  Firoz, 
("  una  vera  perla  di  figlio  "),  see  the  entertaining  volumes  of  De  Guber- 
natis  {Peregrinaziuni  Indianc,  3  vols.  1887),  which  deserve  to  be  better 
known  in  this  country  than  they  appear  to  be. 

2)  In  my  former  paper,  erroneously  printed  hama. 

3)  I  ventured  to  complete  this  word  as  huravdl;hm\ishno\  to  preserve 
the  parallelism;  it  is  not  however  necessary,  and  does  not  alter  the  sense. 
Huravakh  is  either  from  hu  with  ravdkh,  '  joy,'  corresponding  to  the  Zend 
ravank ;  or  is  a  form  of  the  Zend  word  urvdkhs,  '  joyfulness.' 

L.  C.  Casartelli. 


THE  DELUGE-TRADITION  AND 
ITS  REMAINS  IN  ANCIENT  CHINA. 

(Continued  from  p.  56), 

III.   (cont.) 
*   *  m 

41.  As  we  have  had  previously  §  28  occasion  to  remark,  the  part  of 
Nil  Kwa  in  this  legend  is  to  a  certain  extent  that  of  a  great  Goddess 
or  Mother  Goddess.  This  view  is  borne  out  more  fully  by  a  statement 
of  ancient  lore  preserved  by  Yng  Shao  in  his  Fiivg  su  t'ung,  a  work  of 
the  second  century,  which  we  have  already  quoted. ^^ 
— "It  is  commonly  said  that  when  Heaven  and  Earth  became  set  apart, 
and  before  human  beings  were  in  existence.  Ni\-Kwa  modelled  with 
her  hands  some  yellow  earth  and  made  man.  In  v'ew  of  increasing  its 
strength  she  lost  no  time  in  drawing  a  string  within  the  clay,  and  then 
lifted  it  up  that  it  should  become  a  man  ;  this  is  the  reason  why  the 
rich  and  honoured  are  men  of  the  yellow  land,  (i.e.  the  Chinese). 


ITS   REMAINS    IN    ANCIENT  CHINA.  103 

This  curious  account  ot  the  creation  of  man,  wliich  has  not  yet  re- 
ceived the  attention  it  deserves,  is  befitting  the  position  taken  by  Nu-Kwa 
in  the  Chinese  version  of  the  Dehige  legend.  It  justifies  plainly  the  com- 
parison we  have  established  between  her  part  in  that  legend  and  that  of 
Istar,  about  whom  the  Epos  of  Erech  says  :  .  .  .  .  Istar  cried  like  a 
mother  :  .  .  .  .  I,  their  mother  .  .  .  ."^ 

4:2.  The  name  of  Nii  Kwa  has  been  the  object  of  some  remarks  from  the 
native  scholar  Tchao-yi  we  have  already  mentioned  ;  for  him  the  char- 
acters, now  used  which  we_  have  given  previouslyj^*^  represent  merely 
a  -iraditional  sound  dating  from  ages  anterior  to  the  science  of  writing 
and  they  convey  no  genuine  reason  for  classing  Nii  Kwa  with  the  fe- 
male sex.^^  We  do  not  see  the  force  of  this  argument  and  there  is  no 
reason  to  reject  the  sex  indicated  by  the  first  symbol  which  always  re- 
mains unchanged  and  therefore  must  not  necessarily  be  taken  with  less 
than  its  ideographical  meaning. 

43.  The  same  remark  could  not  apply  to  the  second  symbol  of  the  name, 
since  there  is  for  it  a  variant  which  has  no  relation  of  meaning  with 
the  cliaracter  that  is  supposed  to  be  the  original  one  in  the  case,  viz.  jSj 
a  wiy  mouth. ^''^  But  it  is  very  doubtful  that  when  the  name  was  tran- 
scribed into  Chinese  characters,  the  scribe  had  in  view  any  other  value 
than  that  of  the  symbol  as  a  phonogram.  This  phonetic  value  was  oho,  oko 
or  oke  and  it  rhymed  with  noko  or  ucke  in  the  poetical  parts  of  the 
Yh-King.^^  The  variant  ^  hi,  thin  or  scarce,  was  not  a  single 
symbol  but  a  compound  character^'^"  phonetically  spelt,  and  composed 
of  ^  i/eu  small  anciently  0  h,  and  %^  i/u  \\  a  n  d  anciently  h  u,  placed 
over  the  first.  ^''^  According  to  the  laws  of  spelling  in  the  archaic  char- 
acters phonetically  composed^*^'-,  the  initial  is  suggested  by  the  lower  and 
the  final  by  the  upper  composing  sign,  which  arrangement  in  the  present 
case  must  have  given  Okhu,  a  sound  sufficiently  approximate  to  Oko  or 
Oke  of  the  other  symbol.  The  similarity  was  probably  more  close  in 
olden  times,  but,  in  the  present  state  of  our  scanty  knowledge  of  the 
Archaic  Chinese  spelling,  we  cannot  be  more  affirmative. 

44.  Therefore  the  two  symbols  Nii  Kwa,  or  Nii-Oku,  might  read  the 
"  Lady  Oko,"  or  perhaps  the  "  Mother  Oko  '*  as  the  symbol  ^  iiii  in 
olden  texts  and  compound  characters  often  stands  for  ^  viu.  It  would 
correspond  to  the  Cmuruk  or  Mother  of  Uruk^^^,  (the  Omuroca  of 
Berosus),  the  Goddess  Bahu  of  the  creati(;n  legend  in  tlie  Chalda'O-Baby- 
lonian  traditions.  But  the  matter  perhaps  lias  better  not  to  be 
pressed. 


104  THE    DEI.UGE-TUADITION    AND 

45.  There  is  another  tempting  assonance  of  name  which  requires  atten- 
tion as  it  might  lead  to  some  misapprehension.  It  cannot  be  denied 
that  tlie  Chinese  iVil-Oko,  or  Noko  ?  or  any  like  sounds,  is  much  similar 
to  the  Sumero- Akkadian  *f]f-][0  Ntczku^'^  which  Lenormant  has  translated 
the  upper  part  of  heaven,  name  of  a  god  personifying  that  part  of 
heaven,  and  which  became  Bel's  messenger^ '^^ ;  the  Semites  preserved 
the  ancient  name  and  afterwards  identified  it  with  Nebo.  According  to 
Prof.  A.  H.  Sayce,  Nuzku  probably  signified  in  Akkadian  "  the  brilliance 
of  the  day-break  ;"'  he  was  a  solar  deity,  one  of  whose  titles  was  "  lord 
of  the  Zenith/'  and  in  the  cuneiform  texts  his  name  is  often  used  to 
denote  the  zenith,  or  "  height  of  heaven  "  elat  same  in  Assyrian,  in  op- 
position to  the  god  of  the  horizon'*'^.  But  Nuzku  has  no  part  in  the 
Deluge  tradition,  and  besides  was  a  god,  not  a  goddess.  Therefore  the 
semblance  must  be  left  aside  as  a  delusive  coincidence.         i^ 

46.  In  the  Chinese  legend,  Nii  Kwa  works  hard  to  repair  the  Heavens, 
and  might  be  applied  the  qualifications  cf  "  mighty  workwoman  of  heaven" 
whicli  an  old  Akkadian  hymn^**',  gives  to  Nangar  (the  lady  of  work), 
a  goddess  of  the  Ancient  Babylonian  pantheon.  The  similarity  between 
her  name  Nan-gar,  where  Nan  means  lady,  and  that  of  the  Chinese 
Nil  Kwa,  where  Nil  means  woman,  cannot  fail  to  be  found  very  sug- 
gestive. 

47.  Nil  Kwa  is  depicted   has  having  the  body  like  a  serpent  and  a 
human   face.     Zoomorphous   and  ophiomorphous,  as  well   as  other  mon- 
strous, combinations  are  alluded  to  in  the    Chinese  legends,  as  peculiar 
to  the  mythical  beings  and  great  men  of  early  times.     They  are  without 
doubt  an   echo  of  the  views  of  the  same  kind   held  by  the  ancient  Chal- 
deans   in   their  cosmogonic  traditions,    formerly   known  to    us   only  by 
Berosus^*^^  and  now  largely  illustrated  by  their  texts  and  the  iconography 
of  their  most  ancient  archeological    remains,  seals  and  cylinders  recently 
discovered.     For  instance  the   god  Ea,  who  was  generally   represented, 
like   Cannes,   as  partly  man  and   partly  fish,   was  also  symbolised  by  a 
.snake"^^.     The   goddess  Bahu,  with   one  of  whose  surnames  we  have  al- 
ready pointed  out  a  resemblance  with  that  of  Nii  Kwa,  was  also  repre- 
^ftnt^d   ophiomorphous,     A    curious    boundary    stone,     dating   from  the 
]:^IIth  century   before   our  era,  presents  a  very  remarkable   figure  of  this 
;<iOiddGSS,  in  which  the  serpent  type  is  preserved,  the  body  being  that  of  ;i 
woman,   the  lower  extremities    replaced  by  the  coiled  tails  of  two  ser- 
pents^^*'.     The    Chinese  text    in    its    conciseness    does  not    say  if    the 
ophiomorphous  part  of  Nii   Kwa's    body    was  double  or   single,  but  the 


ITS  REMAINS   IN    ANCIENT   CHINA.  lUo 

likeness  is  obvious  under  that  respect  between  the  Chinese  semi-gcjddess 
and  the  Chaldean  goddess. 

48.  Therefore  the  similarit\^  of  souiul  between  the  ophiomorplums 
Nil  Kwa  and  the  alike  ophiormorpiius  Hindu  Nagas  is  nothing  far  from 
a  pittfall.  Tlie  conception  of  the  Nagas  was  developed  from  the  ancient 
and  native  worship  of  the  serpent  ;  they  are  usually  described  as  more 
or  less  invested  with  the  human  form,  ^and  endowed  with  knowledge, 
strength  and  beauty  ^^^  Contrariwise  to  the  Chinese  mythical  being, 
sole  of  her  nature,  they  are  very  numerous,  existing  in  the  regions  under 
the  earth,  instead  of  above,  and  far  from  ruling,  they  are  ruled  by  three 
principal  serpents^^'.  And  besides,  their  appearance  in  literature  shows 
them  to  have  been  conceived  in  the  Indian  imagination  in  comparatively 
late  times.  We  are  referred  to  the  writings  of  Varaha  Mihira  of  the 
Vlth  century^'^  for  a  curious  invocation  to  them.  Even  admitting,  as 
probable,  their  existence  some  time  before,  they  could  not  have  exercised 
any  influence  on  the  Chinese  story. 

Notes  94)  W.  F.  Mayers,  up.  land.  p.  101.  has  found  in  the  Kwarig  poh 
Willi  tchthh\  Tung  sze-tchang,  1607,  under  Shen  spirit,  an  excerpt 
purposing  to  be  from  the  Fung  su  fung,  but  singularly  corrupted  and 
not  found  in  the  modern  editions  of  the  latter  work.  ■  I  have  found  it 
given  in  full  in  the  Tai'  ping  yii  I -in  of  983,  Riv.  7v,  fol.  5,  from 
where  I  take  my  quotation.  In  the  Kwang  poh  louh  tchl.  there  is  a 
group  of  curious  statements  about  Nii  Kwa  who  is  represented  bv 
some  as  the  Empress,  by  others  as  the  sister  of  the  Divine  Fuh  hi. 
The  invention  of  certain  musical  instruments,  of  surnames  and  of 
regulated  marriages  is  ascribed  to  her.  Fuh-hi  is  generally  attributed 
the  tw.j  latter  inventions.  In  the  Shi  pen,  and  in  the  Li  Ki,  XII,  25, 
Nil  Kwa  is  attributed  tlie  invention  of  the  reed  organ, 

9;-))  Col.  III.  1.  8,  13  and  14. 

96)  For  tlie  Chinese  symbols  of  the  name,  cf.  §   26  supra. 

97)  W.  Fred.  Mayers,  o.c.  p.  100. 

98)  Shwoh  wen,  edit.  Chalmers,  No.  202. 

99)  Namely  with  ||,  according  to  Twan  yu-tsai,  XVII. — The  final 
vowel  was  dropped  in  course  of  time,  but  the  rhyme  shows  it  clearly. 

100)  This  is  one  of  the  numerous  mstances  wliere  the  author  of  the 
Shwoh  Wen  and  his  successors,  blind  with  their  pliilosophical  pre- 
judices, have  egregiously  failed  in  their  endeavour  to  discriminate  the 
etymology  of  a  character,  althougli  acknowledging  it  as  a  compound, 

101)  Cf.  Min  Ts'i-kih,  Luh  shn  t'uny  Kiv.  I,  "fol.  32.— Tung  Wci-lu, 
Tchwen  tze  wei,  sub.  verb. 

102)  Cf.  T.  de  L..  Le  non-monosyUnbi-'^me  du  Chino's  A'nti(/ui',  Paris. 
1889,  sect.  4. 

103)  Cf.  F.  Lenormant,  Essai  de  Commentairc  drs  fragments  Cosmo- 
goniques  de  Berose  ;  Les  Origines  de  VJustuire,  vol.  T,  p.  506.— Prof. 
A.  H.  Sayce,   Ihbbert   lectures,  p.  369,  has   not  made  any  remark  on 


106  THE     DELUGE-TRADITION    AND 

that  name  in  Berosus'  text. 

104)  In  Brunnow's  list  5682. 

105)  Glossaire  Accadiev.  sub.  verb.  No.  325:  &v.A\\\fi  Etudes  Accadi- 
ennef^,  vol.  Ill,  40,  48. — VA.  Cliossat,  Repertoire  Sumerien,  p.  168, 

106)  H.bhert  Lectures  on  the  ReUqio7i  of  the  Ancient  Babylonians,  p. 
118-119, 

107)  Translated  by  Prof.  Sayce,   Hihhert  lectures,  p.  67. 

108)  In  Alex.  Polyhistor,  Prof.  Sayce  has  translated  it  again  in  his 
Ilibbert  Lectures,  n.  369. 

109)  Cf.  A.  H.  Sayce  :  Hibbert  lectures,  pp.  133,  134.  116. 

110)  W.   St.  Chad  Boscawen,  From  Under  the  Dt/st  of  Ages,  p.  39. 

111)  A.  Earth,  The  Religions  of  India,  p,  265-266.— Such  a  conception 
is  found  elsewhere.  Herodotus  (VII,  9  ff.)  has  a  legend  of  the 
Mother  Ancestor  of  the  Royal  Scythians  (South     Russia)    who  was 

half-snake  and  half-woman. 

112)  Monier  Williams,  Hindiusm,  p.  170. 

113)  Yogoydtrd,  VI,  20-29  in  Ind.  stud.,  XIV,  329  ;  A.  Barth,  The 
Religions  of  India,  pp.  94,  254. 

49.  Native  commentators  and  rationalists  have  been  at  a  loss  to  suggest 
plausible  explanations  of  the  various  incidents  in  the  vague  and  floating 
tradition  we  have  reported.  The  most  ingenious  ideas  have  been  put 
forth  on  the  subject,  but  we  are  sorry  to  say,  until  a  comparison  with  the 
Chaldean  tradition  could  be  made  by  European  erudition  nothing  definitive 
could  be  expected. 

Tchao-y,  a  native  scholar  of  distinction,  in  his  Miscellanies  pub- 
lished in  1790,  thought  that  the  story  of  melting  stones  to  repair  the 
Heavens  is  wild  and  absurd  in  the  extreme;  but  he  pointed  out  that  it  is 
not  certain  that  this  showed  the  true  signification  of  the  words;  and  he 
quotes  an  opinion  of  the  writer  Lu  Shen,  to  the  effect  that  the  character 
translated  to  repair  might  be  taken  in  its  sense  of  to  supplement, 
and  that  the  passage  may  therefore  mean  the  burning  of  stones  of  five 
colours  to  supply  the  place  of  the  light  of  Heaven  during  darkness,  this 
being  first  done  by  Nii  Kwa  at  a  time  when  human  beings  were  altogether 
uncivilized  and  ignorant  of  the  uses  of  fire.     W.  F.  Mayers,  whom  we 
follow  in  this  analysis,  remarked  that  in  this  ingenious  theory  it  would 
almost  seem  as  if  Lu  Shen  suggests  the  discovery  of  eoal  as  the  true 
origin  of  the  myth  concerning  Nii  Kwa;  since  the  prismatic  hues  seen  in 
that  substance  might  well  obtain  for  it  the  name  of  "  stone  of  the  five 
colours. "1^*     Tchao-y  is  inclined  to  differ  from  the  authority  he  quotes,  on 
the   ground  that  the   function  of   Promethreus   is  already  ascribed   by 
Chinese  tradition  to  Sui  Jin,   a  predecessor  of  Nii  Kwa  and  Fu-hi;  but 
the  speculation  of  another  writer,  named   Hwang  Tchih-yii,  which  he 


ITS     RKMAINS    IN    ANCIENT    CHINA.  107 

adduces,  to  the  effect  that  perliaps  the  explanation  should  consist  in  Nil 
Kwa  having  been  the  Hrst  to  fuse  the  '-live  metals"'  for  the  use  of  man, 
supplying  in  tools  and  utensils  the  deticiencies  of  nature,  seems  even 
more  far-fetched  if  possible,  than  the  preceding  one.  The  caul  theory  is 
simply  unacceptable,  as  it  does  not  explain  any  of  the  pec  iliarities  of  the  case. 
All  tliese  attempts  must  be  finally  discarded;  the  Rainbow  being  un- 
doubtedly the  meteor  genuinely  described  by  the  metaphor  of  the  story." 

oU.  As  to  the  "cutting  off  the  feet  of  the  Tortoise  to  support  the  Earth, 
no  native  writer  has  ventured  upou  any  explanatory  suggestion.  The 
statement  is  found  in  Lieh-tze,^^^  but  Hwai-nan  tze,  who  wrote  later,  was 
not  as  precise  in  his  words,  and  only  said  that  Nu  Kwa  made  use  of  the 
feet  of  the  Tortoise,  &c.,  therefore  implying,  but  not  stating,  that  she  cut 
them  off.     Szema  Tcheng  repeated  ^^^  the  statement  of  Lieh-tze. 

51.  This  part  of  the  legend  had  its  source  in  Hindu  influenee.  Tlie 
idea  of  the  four  pillars  of  heaven  was  very  old  in  the  west ;  it  once  be- 
longed to  the  Egyptian  cosmogony  and  is  described  in  a  hieroglyphic 
inscription  of  Esneh,  where  it  is  said  that  Shen  "  hanged  the  ceiling  of 
heaven  on  its  four  pillars  '"^^^.  Such  views,  as  far  as  they  were  repre- 
sented in  jiopular  mythology,  were  carried  over  to  India  by  the  sea  trade 
in  the  Arabian  sea,  and  have  exercised,  in  the  same  way  as  several  other 
Egyptian  notions  ^l^  an  important  influence  on  the  Hindus,  infiuence 
which  has  crept  in  their  religious  literature.  The  feet  of  the  tortoise  to 
support  heaven  in  Lieh-tze's  account  were  a  poetical  conception  suggested 
by  some  Hindu  ideas  of  the  Kurma  avatara  of  Vishnu  or  tlie  embryonary 
ideas  afterwards  developed  into  it.  which  had  come  to  his  knowledge  in  a 
vague  and  loose  form^'^,  and  which  must  have  reached  China  by  the  east 
abng  the  Indian  Ocean  and  the  Yellow  Sea.  The  evidence  to  that  effect 
consists  in  the  superimposition  which'^as  made  of  these  ideas  of  Hindu 
mythology  over  the  romantic  geography  and  the  fabulous  notions  then 
current  about  the  Japanese  and  Liu-kiu  islands,  as  yet  almost  unknown'-'". 
As  the  little  of  navigation  at  that  time  was  in  the  hands  of  forc'gners, 
some  of  wliom  had  settled  on  the  sea-borders  of  Shantung  peninsula' ^i, 
no  positive  knowledge  was  in  the  reach  of  '•the  Chinese,  otherwise  than 
through  them. 

NoTKs  111)  On  the  legends  relatiiKj  to  N^l  Kwa,  I.e. — Tlie  curious  idea 
of  the  Rainbow  being  produced  by  insects,  which  we  have  reported  in 
a  previous  note  (91)  does  not  seem  to  appear  anywhere  else,  although 
the  phenomenan  is  connected  sometimes  with  living  beings.     In  Fin- 


108  THE    DELUGE-TRADITION    AND 

land,  the  R.  is  a  monster  drinking  (cf.  Aspelin,  col.  70,  JSIelusine,  II). 
In  Croatian  among  other  names  for  the  R.,  are  Duga:=doye,  Rodica:= 
small  stork,  3Mr?-«=black  cow  (cf.  Valjavcc,  Arkivga  prorfestnicu 
jugoslavensku,  1863,  t.  VII  ;  ibid.,  II,  col.  111).  In  North  Guinea, 
W.  Africa,  the  R,  is  called  AnyzVtro^serpent-of-the-north,  in  the 
Aongla  dialect  of  the  Ewe'  language.  (Cf.  R.  Basset,  col.  576,  Mel- 
usine,  torn.  III). — The  superstition  which  forbids  pointing  out  at  the 
rainbow,  which  in  the  same  previous  note  we  have  mentioned  from  the 
She  King  in  the  VII.  cent,  a.c,  is  found  also  in  the  Laivs  of  Manu, 
IV,  59  :  "  A  wise  man  if  he  sees  a  rainbow  in  the  sky,  must  not  point 
it  out  to  anybody."  (Cf.  transl.  G.  Buhler,  p.  188,  Sacred  Books  of 
■  the  East,  vol.  XXV).  And  also  in  Europe  ;  in  Harz,  the  culprit  of 
this  infraction  would  be  punished  by  God  ;  in  Bohemia,  he  would  lose 
the  finger  or  be  struck  by  a  thunderbolt.  (Cf.  Wuttke,  Deutsch. 
Abergl.,  13,184  ;  M  e  1  u  s  i  n  e,  torn.  II,  col.  108). 

115)  Chapt.  Tang  wan. 

116)  She  Ki  pti.  San  Hwang  pen  ki,  fol.  2. 

117)  C.  Brugsch,  Religion  und  Mythologie  der  alten  yEgypter  nach  den 
Denkmiilern,  Leipzig!  1884-1888,  pp.  207-209.— G.' ^  Maspero,  La 
Mtithologie  Egiiptienne,  in  Revue  des  Religions,  1888,  vol.  XVIII, 
pp.   266',  276. 

118)  For  instance  the  three  seasons  of  the  year;  the  system  of  up-right 
weaving  ;  (cf.  Wilkinson,  Anc,  Egypt,  85  ;  Ad.  Pictet,  Les  Aryas 
prim'ctifs,  vol.  11,174).  In  Egypt  they  divided  each  sign  of  the  zodiac 
into  nine  parts,  making  108  divisions,  which  became  the  Hinduic  and 
Buddhist  sacred  number  ;  (cf.  Ferguson,  Chinese  Cycles,  p.  201).  Col. 
Henry  Congreve,  in  his  articles  On  the  Origin  of  Brahnianism,  1861, 
and  On  Druidiccd  and  other  Antiquities  between  Mettapoham  in  Coim- 
batore  and  Karnuh  on  the  Tungabhadra,  1879,  has  pointed  out  some 
peculiar  similarities  in  Hindu  and  Egyptian  architecture. 

119)  At  the  time  of  the  ^atajmtha  Brdhmana,  (Vlllth  cent,  a.c.)  it  had 
not  yet  assumed  the  shape  under  which  it  was  spread  into  China  ;  the 
following  slight  allusion  only  exists  in  the  work,  VII,  5,  15  ;  Muir, 
Original  Sanskrit  Texts,  I,  p.  54  :  Pradjapati.  assuming  the  form  of 
a  tortoise  ('Kurma),  brought  forth  all  creatures.  In  so  far  as  he 
brought  them  forth,  he  made  them  (akarot).  and  because  he  made 
them  he  was  (called)  tortoise  (Kiumay  A  tortoise  is  (called)  Ka- 
shyapa,  and  therefore  all  creatures  are  called  Kashyapa,  tortoise-like. 
He  who  was  this  tortoise  (Kurma)  was  really  Aditya  (the  sun).  Cf. 
Max  Miiller,  India,  what  can  it  teach  us?  p.  138.^ — In  an  older  work, 

.  the  Taittiriya  Sunhitd  is  the  following  story  :  "  At  first  this  was  water. 
fluid.  Pradjapati,  the  lord  of  creatures,  having  become  wind,  moved 
en  it.  He  saw  this  earth,  and  becoming  a  boar,  he  took  it  up  (with 
his  tusks,  says  a  later  account).  Becoming  Vishvakarman,  the  maker 
of  all  things,  he  cleaned  it.  It  spread  and  became  the  wide-spread 
Earth,  and  this  is  why  the  Earth  is  called  Prithivi,  the  wide  spread." 
Cf.  Max  Miiller,  ibid.,  pp.  137,  369. — These  stories  were  embodied 
in  the.  third  and  second  avataras  of  Vishnu  and  connected  with  the 
deluge  legends.  In  the  first  avatar  Vishnu  became  a  Matsya,  the  fish, 
and  savi'd  Alanu  and  his  boat  from  the  Deluge.  In  his  second  avatar, 
lie  stationed    himself  as  a   tortoise   at  the  bottom  of  the  sea,  that  his 


ITS   KEMAINS    IN    ANCIRNT  CHINA.  Iflj 

back  might  serve  as  a  pivot  for  the  mountain  Maudara,  around  which 
the  gods  and  demons  twisted  the  groat  serpent  Vasuki,  churning  the 
ocean  for  the  recovery  of  fourteen  precious  things,  the  first  of  wliich 
being  i\\e.  Amrita,  or  beverage  of  immortality.  (Cf.  Monuier  Williams, 
Hindvhm,  p.  lOa  :  Edw.  Balfour.  C/ichpedia  of  Ivdia,  III  ed. 
vol.  II,  8^2,  III.  102l>  :  Edw.  Moor,  i'he  Hindn  Pantheon.  K.  Ed., 
p.  111. 

120)  It  is  difficult  not  to  recognize  an  influence  of  these  ideas  in  the 
statements  of  Ivieh-t'-ce  which  we  resume  here. — In  the  east  of  Puh-hai 
(gulf  of  Pehtcliili)  there  is  a  great  sea  in  tlie  middle  of  wliicli.  there 
are  mountains  called  :  Tai-yu,  Yuen-kiao,  Fang-hu,  Yng-tchov  and 
P'ung-lal  i-.-wher*^  is  found  a  fountain  of  life  which  preserves  from  old 
age  and  from  death.  (Cfr.  the  Amntu).  Tliese  islands  moved  with 
the  tide  (cf.  the  mountain  which  stands  on  a  pivot  j.  Under  the  guid- 
ance of  the  God  of  the  North,  a  great  tortoise  lifted  them  by  fifteen 
movements  of  the  head  upon  its  back  (Cf.  in  the  Hindu  account, 
Vishnu  in  his  avatars,  as  a  boar  taking  up  the  earth  with  his  tusks,  • 
and  as  a  tortoise  bearing  it  on  his  back,  to  get  the  fourteen  precious  things; 
cf.  also  P'ung-lai,  anciently  Bom-lal  with  Mandara).  The  same  stories 
are  found  in  other  Chinese  works  than  that  of  Lieh-tze.  For  in- 
stance, an  old  book,  the  Yuen  tchurig  ki  states  that  P'ltng  lai  rested 
on  the  back  of  a  great  tortoise.  Cf.  Trd  ping  yii  Ian,  Kiv,  38, f  ol.  8. 
Wang  Kia,  4th  cent,  in  his  Shih  y  Ki  has  reported  the  mythological  ac- 
count of  a  divine  tortoise  of  large  size,  which  was  west  of  Yuen-klao, 
one  of  the  five  isles  of  the  genii  quoted  above.  Two  of  these  isles 
according  to  Lieh-tze's  account  had  sunk  in  the  North  sea.  The  Shih 
tchou  k'  by  Tung-fang  So  (200  A.c.)  contains  most  marvellous  des- 
criptions, enlarged  upon  Lieh-tze's  work.  Cf.  also  for  European  resumes: 
W,  F.  Mayers,  Chinese  Readers  Manual,  1,  Nos.  l;-)2.  5.59,  617  and 
92o  ;  G.  Schlegel  Uranographie  Cht/inise,  p.  61  :  J.  J.  M.  de  Groot, 
Les  fetes  d  Emoni,  vol.  I,  p.  166  ;  N.  13.  Dennys,  The  Folklore  of 
Chiini,  p.  82. 

121)  On  this  ancient  maritime  trade,  cf.  my  Origin  of  the  early  Chinese 
civilisation  from  western  sources,  VI  c  ;  B.  4'  0.  R.,  vol.  Ill,  p. 
104. — The  existence  of  these  islands  however  was  not  unknown.  The 
ShKin  hai  king,  says  that  the  Pung-lai  island  was  a  fairy  land  in  the 
sea,  but  the  route  to  reach  it  was  not  known.  Szema  Ts'ien  in  the 
She  Ki  records  that  Siuen,  king  of  Ts'i  (455-404  a.c.)  and  afterwards 
Tch'ao,  king  of  Yen  (311-278  a.c.)  had  sent  envoys  to  P'ung  lai, 
Fang-tchang  and  Yng-tchou  from  where  they  had  the  greatest 
difficulty  to  come  back  and  about  which  tliey  told  many  marvels.  Cf. 
Tai  ping  yii  Ian,  Kiv.  38,  fol.  9.  In  219  a.c,  Siii-fuh,  obtained  from 
Slie  Hwang-ti,  then  residing  in  Shantung,  the  permission  of  starting 
an  expedition  towards  the  fariy  islands,  but  no  positive  account  has 
been  preserved  of  liis  venture  which  does  not  seem  to  have  l)een  suc- 
cessful, and  is  looked  upon  as  an  attempt  at  colonising  Japan. 

52.  At  a  much  later  period,  a  fragment  of  the  Indian  version  of  the 
deluge  has  been  carried  to  China  with  the  worship  of  the  god  Avaloki- 
teshvara^^^.  This  worship  was  grafted  on  that  of  a  former  deity,  also 
of  foreign  importation^^ "*    wlio  from  tiie  Xlltli  century  assunnid  the  ap- 


110  THE    DELUGE-TRADITION    AND 

pearance  of  a  goddess,    although    keeping    the     former    appeUative    of 

5;-5.  Tlie  Rev.  Dr.  C.  Gutzlaff  reports^-^  that,  in  one  of  the  temples  of 
Kwan-yn,  the  goddeas  of  Mercy,  he  saw,  in  beautiful  stucco,  the  scene 
where  the  goddess  looks  down  from  heaven  upon  tlie  lonely  Noah^^^  in 
his  ark,  amidst  the  raging  waves^^^  of  the  deluge,  with  the  dolphins 
swimming  around  as  his  last  means  of  safety  ;  and  the  dove  with  an  olive 
branch  in  its  beak,  flying  towards  the  vessel  ;  the  author  adds  that  noth- 
ing could  have  exceeded  the  beauty  of  the  execution. 

Tlie  Mann  of  the  Indian  tradition,  and  the  fishes,  must  be  recognized 
here.  Tlie  picture  was  obviously  that  of  an  episode  of  the  Matsyaka  story 
in  the  Mahabharata^^^  Manu  on  the  advice  of  the  fish  is  on  a  boat, 
everything  is  flooded,  neither  land  nor  sky  are  visible,  and  the  ship  tosses 
to  and  fro  on  the  raging  waves.  Then  the  great  fish  comes  forward  and 
tows  the  boat'^^.  The  dove  incident  hovi^ever  is  an  addition  in  con- 
firmity  with  the  original  tradition,  which  does  not  appear  in  the  Indian 
versions.  The  oldest  version  of  the  same  story  in  the  Catapatha  Brah- 
mana^^^  does  not  cunntain  it,  nor  do  the  other  versions  of  the  Bhdgavata 
Purdna^^^ ,  and  of  the  Matsya  Pwdna^^^.  This  influence  from  India, 
brought  in  by  Buddhists,  has  nothing  whatever  to  do  with  the  legend  of 
Nli  Kwa. 

54.  Nil  Kwa  playsher  part  of  grandmother  during  all  the  story.  For 
instance  verse  12th  deserves  more  attention  than  we  gave  to  i:  par.  37. 
She  is  said  to  have  killed  the  black  dragon  to  relieve  the  country  of 
Ki.  Nothing  is  said  of  this  black  dragon  previously  and  nothing  in  the 
legend  shows  what  the  monster  could  be.  The  incident  however,  is  a 
genuine  part  of  the  story  :  it  has  been  handed  down  by  several  ancient 
writers  and  notably  by  Liu  Ngan  otherwise  Hwai-Nan-tze.  But  if  we 
refer  to  the  Chaldean  legend  we  find  the  required  explanation.  It  says 
(col.  3,  11.  -0,  21)  that  Mu-seri-ina-namari  arose  from  the  horizon  of 
heaven  like  a  black  cloud.  Now  this  impersonation,  like  a  black  cloud 
source  of  the  rains  of  the  deluge,  is  the  l)lack  dragon  spoken  of  in  the 
Chinese  l"geAid,  and  killed  by  NU  Kwa  before  the  sacrifice  reported  or  al- 
luded to  afterwards.  Such  a  view,  connecting  a  black  dragon  with  the 
rain  and  floods,  has  pervaded  the  Chinese  mind,  and  numerous  legends 
stories  and  superstitions  have  grown  out  of  it.^^-s 

Notes  122)  On  this  deity,  cf.  E.  Eitel.  Handbook  of  Chinese  Buddhism, 
18-20.  And  also,  J.  J.  de  Groot,  Leg  fetes  Annuellemnd  cele'hre'es  « 
Emoui  {Anna.\.  Musce  Guimet,   vol.  XI,  XII),  part  T,  p.  178-200. 


ITS    REMAINS   IN     ANCIENT   CHINA.  11 J 

123)  Tho  worship  of  that   doity  was  introdnced   hy  tlio  sea  traders.      S. 

Beal,  Buddhism  in  China,  119-127,  has  made  some  suggestive  researches 

on  the  matter. 
12  0  J.  Edkins,  Chinese  Buddhism,  382. 
\'2'))   J'emitrks    an     the  present    state  of  Buddhism,  in   China,   p.    70  of 

J.R.A.S.,  vol.  XVI. 
126  J  Xot   Nouii,  but  Man u,  as  explained  in  the  text. 

127)  Kwan-yn.  is  sometimes  represented  in  eight  metamorphoses,  assumed 
for  tlie  purpose  of  saving  men  from  eight  kinds  of  siiff(>ring;  ship- 
wrecked sailors,  in  one  part  of  the  picture,  are  seen  reaching  the  shore. 
Cf.  .J.  Edkins,  Chinese  Buddhism,  245. — An  episode  of  the  legend  of 
Manu  was  grafted  on  this. 

128)  Vanaparva,  v.  1274  --12804. 

129)  Ad.   I'ictet,   Les  origines  hido-Europe'ennes,  II,  613. 

130)  I  Kanda,  8  Adhyaya,  1  Brahmana:transl.  Julius  Eggeling,  p.  216 
sq..  Sacred  B(H:)ks  of  the  East,  vol.  XII.  It  was  first  pointed  out  by 
Albr.  Weber,  Indische  studlen,  I,  161, — Cf.  Max  MuUer,  History  of 
Sanskrit  literature,  425. — J.  Muir.  Sanskrit  textx,  II,  324. — Ad, 
I'ictet,  Les  nri</ine»,  II,  615. — Max  Miiller.  India,  What  ran  it  teach 
m  ?  134-136. 

131)  YIII,  24,      Ed.  Burnouf,  II,  177,  and  transl.    191. 
13-')    H.  H.  Wilson,    Vishnu  Purdna,   pref.  51. 

133)  Such,  for  example,  the  feast  of  the  Vth  day  of  the  Vth  month, 
on  which  see  Dr.  J.  J.  de  Groot,  Le^  fetes  annuellement  relehrees  a 
Emoui.  vol.  I.  pp.  361-378. 

55.  The  connection  between  many  episodes  of  the  Chinese  story  with 
those  of  the  western  traditions  and  legends  in  the  Biblical  lands  is  so  close, 
that  a  general  relation  of  origin  for  them  all,  suggests  itself,  not  as  a  pro- 
babihty  but  as  a  fact.  Once  stripped  of  its  Chinese  and  Idimlu  additions, 
the  story  of  Nu  Kwa  exhibits  similarities  in  some  details  wliicli  indicate  a 
much  clos(T  connection  with  the  Chaldean  legend  than  witji  the  Hebrew 
tradition.  The  earthquake  episode,  not  visible  in  the  latttT,  and  somewhat 
toned  down  in  the  Chaldean  poem,  is  conspicuous  in  the  Chinese  legend. 
Some  other  discrepancies  are  important.  The  flood  in  the  Nil  Kwa  story 
has  not  the  prominent  place,  and  appears  only  as  secondary.  There  is-  no 
Ifuilding  and  floating  of  a  boat,  or  ark,  wiili  all  its  iletails,  and  tiiere  is  no 
rescue  of  one  or  several  people  with  or  without  divine  help,  all  circinnstancfes 
of  primeval  importance  in  the  Chaldean  ami  Hebrew  iraililions.  Thev  havi' 

th(    first  place  in  the  Indu  versions    which    therefore  laniiol     linve  I n  tho 

antecedent  of  the  Chinese  story.  We  shall  have  to  take  all  these  consider- 
ations into  account,  when  in  the  next  chapter,  we  di-av\  up  nur  coiiclusioiiH 
and  inferences  suggested  by  the  existence  of  these  curii)us  iinKiins  of  .the 
Deluge  tradition  in  China.  Tebkikn   hk    IjAcorpERiR. 

i^To  he.   continued) . 


112  A    BDDDHIST    REPERTORY. 

A     BUDDHIST     REPERTORY 
IN  SANSCRIT.  TIBETAN,  MANDCHU,  MONGOL  &  CHINESE. 

(Continued  from  p.  63). 

Section  VIII    (cont.) 

26.  Gadyam.  Recitation,  speech,  T.  rgi/aii  pa  [read  r^//aw].--M.  iklri- 
hithe,  disconvse,  simple  style,  Mg.  id.  without  mixture.  Ch.  Contin- 
uous discourse,  pruse,  (in  opposition  to  the  following,    §  27). 

27.  Chandas.  Poetry,  rhythmical  and  rhymed  compositions.  T.  stabs 
shyon.  poetic  measure.  M.  concordant,  rhyming,  well  harmonized 
sounds. 

28.  Danddkam}  T.  rgyud-c''aq^,  id.  M.  long  poem.  Ch.  long  com- 
position.    Mg.  id. 

29.  Samantakam.  Preparation.  T.  ner  brdons,  id.  M.  necessary 
preparation.     Ch.  entrance  into  meditation. 

30.  Mdulam.  Fundamental,  essential.  T.  dnos-nid.  Mg.  essential, 
])ersonal.  Ch.  correct,  principal  UJiing).  M.  having  a  perfect  mien 
or  exterior.  The  MCila-grantlias,  fundamental  collection  of  the  primitive 
siitras. 

1)  I),  is  a  particular  kmd  of  metre  and  composition,  or  else  the  name 
of  a  book  explaining  the  causes  of  existences  ■■  daiida  in  Buddhist 
terminology).  The  Tibetan  translation  would  seem  to  indicate  that  the 
true  reading  is  tantra.  The  tantras  ai"e  long  formulas  of  necromantic 
mysticism.  They  make  up  all  the  last  part  (22  volumes)  Rgyud,  of  the 
Bkd-^gfiur. 

The  names  enumerated  in  tIus  section  are  either  titles  of  special  works, 
or  qualifications  of  either  certain  kinds  of  compositions,  or  of  sacred 
books  in  general.     Several  have  been  explained  iu  the  text  itself  above. 

The  Lankarataram  (No.  2)  is  a  treatise  of  higher  philosophy,  mingled 
with  polemic.  It  treats  of  the  essence  of  being,  and  combats  heterodox 
views  regarding  niddna  and  nirvana.  It  belongs  to  the  Southern 
Malijlvanists.  and  its  author  was  Jfianavaira. 

The  Agamas  (No.  17)  are  collections  treating  of  the  precepts  ot  the 
Law.  They  form  several  treatises,  arranged  according  to  their  lengtii 
:vnd  the  form  of  their  instructions.  They  are  divided  into  four:  dgamu- 
catushtagoin.   thus : 

(i)  Dtrghdgamam  ("  the  Long  A.")  which  combats  error:  {\\\  Madhy- 
amam  /^"  The  Middle  A."),  which  explains  mysteries  ;  (iii)  Samyuktam 
(■'  The  Abl)reviated"),  which  is  occupied  with  contemplation  ;  (iv)  Kk- 
ottar  iin  ('*  One  and  Following"),  which  may  be  called  'numerical',  and 
which  arranges  the  subjects  according  to  the  number  of  points  or  objects.- 


A     BUDDHIST      REPERTORY.  113 

e.g.  2  virtues,  3  signs,  4  trutlis,  etc.  Burnouf  translates  the  name  by 
"  supplementary",  and  Remnsat  by  "  one  added".  It  belongs  to  the 
Sautrantist  Hinayana.  Beal  says  :  "  The  idea  is  taken  from  adding  one 
to  every  number  after  ten,  in  order  to  produce  the  text,"  Chcnesf 
Tripitaka,  36. 

No.  -t.  Suvikrdntavikramipar/prccha,  or  "  Questions  of  the  valiant  S." 
is  the  last  volume  of  ihePrajmijaramta,  or  Transcendental  Wisdom, 
attributed  to  Kagyapa,  the  disciple  and  successor  of  Buddha. 

No.  5.  Cdlisambkiiia  is  a  sutra,  being  10th  in  Vol.  xvi  of  the  su- 
tras  or  mido  of  the  Bka-gyur.  It  treats  of  the  mutual  concatenation  of 
causes  and  existences ;  and  the  growth  of  rice  serves  as  the  point  of  com- 
parison. 

No.  6,  the  Rsitnulkd,  Eatnakutd,  Ratnakotni^  form  sCitras  speaking  of 
the  Law,  the  Budhisatvas,  &c. 

The  Sanghata  Sutra  dharmapariyaya  (No.  8),  in  the  4th  book  of  the 
Sutras,  speaks  of  purification,  vows,  the  perfectioning  of  the  young. 

The  C.'stras  and  the  Qddfnias  are  numerous  ;  e,  g.  Vinaya-Anusara- 
CA^^tra,    VihhdshaCdstra,  Saddharma-prdkaga  gddana,  etc. 

Of  tlie  Samayas  we  will  mention  the  Mahdsramayam  treating  of  dha- 
rani  or  mystic  formulas  ;  the  Trisamaya  vyuha  tantra.  X  great  Samaya 
sutra  was  preached  by  Buddha  at  Maiiavanavihara  and  converted  millions 
of  devas  and  biahmins. 

The  greater  part  of  the  following  terms  designate  simply  styles  of  com- 
position. 

The  Prajndpttvadinas  are  spoken  of  as  heretics  in  the  list  of  68  false 
doctrines  which  sprang  up  in  the  midst  of  Buddhism  : — See  Burnouf, 
*  Lotus  de  la  Bonne  Loi,'  p.  357. 

Section  IX. 

Gsun  rah  yah  lag  hcu  gnis. 

The  12  parts  of  the  Sacred  Books. 

1.  Sutrisend.  [Read  Sutrasend]  Section  of  sutras.  T.  mdo  sde,  collec- 
tion of  sutras.  M.  Mg.  Suduri,  Sutur,  history,  (false  transcription). 
Ch.  principles  of  the  Law.      (Sutrdngena,  etc). 

2.  Geyasend.  Poetry,  canticles.  T.  dbyans  gyis  hsnan  pahi  sde.  M. 
section  of  rhythmical  expositions.     Ch.  prayers  of  praise  in  series. 

3.  Vydkaranamsend.  Preachings  and  avataras  or  births  of  Buddha.  T. 
Inh  bstan,  recalled  mysteiies.  M.  &  Mg.  transcribe  as  hiyangerii. 
Ch.  Ki,   relations. 

4.  Qdthdsend.  Gathas,  sacred  books  in  stanzas.  M.  Mg.  section  of 
poetry.     T.  ts'igs-su  bcad-pa,  stanzas. 

5.  Uddsenam  [read  Uddnasend'].  T.  c^ad-du  brz'od,  words,  sentences 
uttered  for  a  purpose.  M.  suitable  explanations  given  as  reasons  for 
a  thing.  Ch.  things  said  spontaneously,  without  interrogation  :  umh 
wen  tse  xhwoh. 

€.  Niddndm  Send.  ('  auses).  Treatises  explaining  ontological  canscs. 
T.  glen  gz'ihi  sde,  id.      M.   what  explains  causes. 


Il4  A    BUDDHIST    REPERTORY. 

7.  Avaddnam  Send.  Section  of  (siitras  in)  parables  and  comparisons. 
T.  rtogf.  pa  brjod  pa,  moral  legends,  (lit.  demonstrative  discourse).' 
M.  discourse  in  parables  and  comparisons.  Ch.  comparisons,  illus- 
trations. 

8.  Ativrttakdm  Send  [Itlvrttah'^.  Recitations,  (lit.  'thus  happened)'. 
T.  de  Ita  bu  byun,  recitals  made  in  this  manner.  M.  discourses  on 
things  suitable  in  this  manner.     Ch.  fundamental  or  primitive  things. 

9.  Jdtaldm  Send.  Birth-stories  of  Buddhas  and  Boddhisattvas  in  their 
anterior  existences.  T.  Skye-rabs  [written  scjyes^  kyi  sde,  series  of 
histories  of  anterior  periods.     Ch.  origins,  primitive  births. 

10.  Frt^'jin<??/fim.  Development.  H.  i/m  tu  rgyas  ba.  M.  Mg.  great  (wi) 
development.  Sutras  of  late  date,  developing  in  prolix  fashion  the 
ancient  doctrinal  treatises,  with  redundant  amplifications,  repetitions^ 
prophecies,  etc. 

11.  Adbhutadharma,  Books  of  marvellous  anecdotes,  prodigies  worked 
by  holy  persons,  &c.  T.  imud  byun  pa  hi  cos  kyi  sde,  section  of  the 
dharnia  of  wonderful  marvels.      M.  id,    Ch,  what  has  not  yet  existed^. 

12.  Upadega.  (Teaching,  advice),  Books  of  instruction^,  T.  gan  rnal 
pa  hi  bstan  pahi  sde,   doctrine   of  the  Yoga.     M.  book  of  secret,  or 

'  occasional  treatises,     Ch.  conversations. 

■■  1)  The  Ch.  has  taken  adbMta  [=atibMta?']  supernatural,  for  ahhuta, 
what  does  not  exist.  Dhanni  is  taken  in  tlie  sense  of  a  book  of  the 
Law. 

2)  The  Tibetan  refers  rather  to  the  tantras  of  the  Yogacaras,  a  sect 
which  mixes  up  Brahmanic,  Givaitic  and  Buddhist  doctrines,  and  is  pro- 
digal of  miracles  in  its  books.  These  are  also  the  parts  containing  dis- 
courses on  doctrine  or  principles. 

Indian  Buddhism  after  its  expulsion  from  India  became  concentrated 
specially  in  two  countries,  situated  at  opposite  extremities,  Nepal  and 
Ceylon,  where  it  forms  the  two  branches  of  the  great  doctrine  to  which 
h-ave  been  given  the  names  of  Northern  and  Southern  Buddhism  respec- 
tively. These  two  sects  have  very  important  differences  in  doctrine  and 
practice.  They  are  also  particularly  distinguished  by  this,  that  Northern 
Buddhism  remaining  more  Brahmanic  has  inherited  the  taste  of  Hinduism 
for  marvellous  legends  and  supernatural  beings,  so  that  it  has  created  for 
itself  a  complete  and  real  mythology  and  an  Olympus,  peopled  by  a  crowd 
of  saints,  Buddhas,  Bodhisattvas,  etc,  all  provided  with  histories  and 
honoured  like  divine  beings.  Each  sect  has  its  own  language  ;  the 
Northern  has  preserved  the  Brahmanic  Sanskrit,  the  Southern  has  clung 
to  Pali,  the  language  of  Lower  Magadha.  Their  books  are  not  identical, 
each  has  its  own,  although  many  are  extremely  similar.  The  complete 
collection  of  the  Southern  books  forms  what  is  called  the  Tripitaka  or 
'  Threefold  Basket,'  one  comprising  the  Sutras,  maxims,  sermons  preached 
by  the  Buddha  Cakyamdni  himself  to  the  crowd  of  liis  hearers  ;  the 
Vin^ya,  or   code   of  moral  and    disciplinary   rules,  principally  of  the  re- 


A    BUDDHIST    REPERTORY.  115 

ligious  ;  and  the  Abhidharma  (Superior  Law  j  or  Mdtri/cd  (?),  a  collection 
of  nietaplu'sical  theses  composed  bj  Buddlia's  disciples,  but  based  ou  the 
teachings  of  the  Master,  of  which  they  are  but  the  development. 

The  Nepalese  collection  is  not  divided  into  these  three  categories  of 
books,  although  it  speaks  incidentally  of  them.  It  has  another  kind  of 
more  extensive  division,  exposed  in  the  present  chapter,  and  comprising 
li  groups,  designated  as  Send  : — 

1.  Sutra  :  expositions  of  doctrine  emanating  from  Buddha.  They  are 
uot  limited  to  ethics,  parables,  etc..  but  comprise  evea  metapliysical 
treatises,  like  the  Prajfiixparixmita.  The  Northern  Buddhist  attact  to 
the  word  Sutra  tlie  meaning  oi  fundamental  books,  like  the  Vedas.  The 
earlier  ones  were  generally  brief,  and  v,e  still  possess  some  of  them. 

2.  Geya,  poetical  books  composed  in  honour  of  Buddhas  and  Bodhi- 
satvas.  The  N'epalese  list  of  Mr.  Hodgson  cites  the  GUa  pustaka.  From 
the  rest  of  our  list,  it  would  seem  that  we  ought  to  range  under  this 
head  only  the  works  entirely  rhythmical,  without  any  admixture  of  prose, 
or  at  least  the  rhythmical  parts  of  the  Buddhist  books. 

3.  Vi/dkaramty  explanation  or  narrative  of  the  deeds  exploits  of  Budd- 
has before  Nirvana,  and  of  Bodhisattvas.  According  to  some,  simple 
predictions  of  destiny  made  by  Buddha  to  his  disciples.  In  this  latter 
case,  there  is  question,  not  of  special  books,  but  of  parts  or  fragments  of 
books,  of  initial  expositions. 

4.  Gdtkd,  or  song,  desiirnates  the  strophes  found  in  narrative  or  other 
books,  which  are  a  kind  of  development  or  explanation  of  what 
precedes. 

5.  Uddna,  (lit.  '  aspiration  ')  is  interpreted  in  different  ways,  as  shown 
by  the  versions.  It  is  either  a  song  of  praise  or  exultation  in  Buddha's 
honour  ;  or  a  discourse  of  Bixddha,  called  forth  by  some  special  circum- 
stance or  event,  not  by  a  question,  but  by  an  inspiration  of  the  Tathagata, 
who  penetrates  the  secrets  of  hearts  and  sees  the  necessity  of  a  particular 
warning  or  teaching.  In  Nepal,  on  the  contrary,  it  is  a  dialogue  be- 
tween a  Buddha  and  a  monk  ;  or  else  a  piece  of  verse  summing  up  a 
teaching,  m  order  to  inculcate  it  better.  See  the  Uddnavarga.  The 
former  explanation  agrees  better  with  the  etymological  sense. 

6.  Niddni  treats  of  the  causes  of  events,  the  means  of  acquiring  virtues. 
It  is  an  explanation  called  forth  by  questions  of  the  disciples,  (tc. 

7.  Avaddnu.  lit.  act  of  delivering  or  rocounting  ;  legerul,  recital.  The 
object  of  the  Avadanas  is  specially  to  show  that  the  conditions,  natural 
qualities  and  acts  of  a  life  proceed  from  anterior  acts,  and  that  the  piesent 
life  will  determint!  future  conditions  and  acts.  The  Chinese  see  in  them 
particularly  comparisons,  as  these  are  the  ordinary  means  employed  in 
this  kind  of  text.  The  Nepalese  list  has  here  Iti/ukta,  (lit,  'said  thus'), 
or  cx{)lanation  of  a  preceeding  discourse.  The  Avadanas  from  the  11th 
section  of  it. 

8.  Ativrttaknm.  Judging  from  the  Tibetan  text,  we  have  liere  the 
lt)/ukt<tni  of  the  Nepalese.  The  Chinese  term  which  sur[irisod  Uurnouf 
might  be  referred  to  our  word  Ativrttu,  which  Burnouf  did  nut  know. 
(Introduction,  p.  54).  This  word,  in  fact,  may  signify  "  what  lias  hap- 
pened a  long  time  ago,"  Mr.  Rliys  Davids  (*'  Buddhism,"  20)  quotes 
"  ilivattaka  1 10  extracts  beginning :  thus  it  was  spoken  by  the  Blessed 
One." 


116  THE    ASSYRIANS    AND    THE 

9.  Jdtaka.  See  Fausboll's  "  Buddhist  Birth-Stories." 
10.  Vdipuli/a.  This  term  is  already  employed  in  the  'Lotus  de  la  bonne 
Loi,'  (Burnouf,  p.  15),  when  we  find  Manju^ri  exposing  the  Vaipulya- 
sfitras.  The  Lalita  Vistara  is  one  of  these.  Vaipulya  is  derived  from 
V/pula,  'extended.'  The  'extended  siitras  '  belong  to  the  Mahayana, 
and  are  especially  destined  to  exalt  Buddha  by  means  of  miracles. 

]  1.  Adbkuta,   narratives   of   miracles,  composed   at  an  epoch  somewhat 

distant  from  the  primitive  era.     Also  quoted  in  the  '  Lotus   de  la  bonne 

Loi,'  p.  -9-41,     Burnouf  does  not  seem  to  me  to  have  properly  grasped 

the    force    and    origin    of    the     Chinese    "  what   has  not  yet  existed," 

fu,wei, 

12.  Upadct^a,  lit.  instruction,  advice.  This  word  designates  almost  the 
same  thing  as  tantra.  The  Nepalese,  Tibetans  and  Tartars  see  in  it 
esoteric  instructions  ;  the  Chinese  simple  conversations,  those  parts  of 
the  sacred  books  wherein  doctrine  is  exposed  and  discussed  in  a  dialogue. 
They  are  analytical  examinations  of  doctrine.  See  the  Dharmacakrapra- 
vartanasutra  Upadega,   Beal,  77. 

It  will  be  seen  from  these  explanations  that  the  Nepalese  categories, 
with  the  exception  of  the  Silti-as,  Avaddnas,  and  perhaps  the  Jdtakas,  do 
not  designate  distinct  books,  but  styles  of  compositions,  of  which  several 
might  exist  in  the  same  work.  These  twelve  kinds  of  writings  form  the 
Dvada^adharmapravacanam.  C.  de    Harlez. 

{To  be  covtivued). 


DID    THE    ASSYRIANS    KNOW    THE    SEXES    OF   THE 

DATE-PALMS  ? 

Conclusion. 
Since  writing  my  paper  Prof.  T.  de  Lacouperie  communicated  to  me  a 
note  from  Dr.  E.  B.  Tylor,  dated  25th  March,  pointing  out  a  passage  in 
Herodotus  I.  193,  regarding  the  sexes  of  date  trees.  In  Rawlinson's  trans- 
lation III,  2nd  edit.  Vol.  1,  p.  317,  it  reads  thus:  "The natives  (of  Baby- 
lonia )  tie  the  fruit  of  the  male-palms,  as  they  are  called  by  the  Greeks,  to 
the  branches  of  the  date  bearing  palm,  to  let  the  gall-fly  enter  the  dates 
and  ripen  them,  and  to  prevent  the  fruit  from  falling  off.  The  male-palms, 
li|ie  the  wild  fig-trees,  liave  usually  the  gall-fly  in  their  fruit." 

In  note  I,  the  translator,  G.  Rawlinson,  observes:  "  Theophrastus  first 
pointed  out  the  inaccuracy  of  this  statement  (Hist.  Plant.  11,  9.)  Several 
writers,  among  them  Larcher,  and  Biihr.  have  endeavoured  to  show  that 
Herodotus  is  probably  right  and  Theoplu-astus  wrong.  Modern  travellers 
however  side  with  the  naturalist,  against  the  historian.  All  that  is  required 
for  fructification,  they  tell  us,  is  that  the  pollen  from  the  blossoms  of  the 
male  palm  should  come  in  contact  with  the  fruit  of  the  female  palm  or  date 
tree.  To  secure  this,  the  practice  of  which  Herodotus  speaks  is 
still  observed." 


SEXES  OF    THE    DATE-PALMS.  1 17 

From  this  )iassage  in  Herodotus  it  appears  that  there  can  be  no  doubt 
that  the  Babylonians  knew  that  tlie  male  llowers  had  some  influence  on  tho 
production  of  the  date  fruit,  but  evidently  they  did  not  attribute  that  influ- 
ence to  the  right  som'ce.  It  is  true  that  in  the  interior  of  figs  there  are 
little  galls,  wliich  give  forth  a  minute  fly,  supposed  to  be  the  carrier  of 
fertilization,  from  one  fig  to  another,  but  to  attribute  the  fertilization  of 
the  date  fruit  to  a  similar  process  appears  to  have  been  a  little  bit  of  '  a 
prion  fiction.  That  some  sort  of  fly  or  insect  carried  the  pollen  from 
the  male  to  the  female  flower  of  the  date  tree  is  probably  true  enough,  but 
it  is  not  known  0"'i'  '^  ''  necessary)  that  the  male  date  flower  gives  cover 
to  any  gall-producing  insect  for  the  purpose  of  ripening  the  date.  Even 
in  the  case  of  figs,  it  is  not  considered  that  this  minuto  fly  is  probably  un- 
necessary to  effect  maturation.  As  shown  by  Dr.  G.  King  (Sp.  of  Ficus, 
Indo-Malay,  and  Chinese  countries — 1887).  the  real  office  of  these  fig-gall- 
flies has  probably  yet  to  be  discovered. 

Fully  admitting  that  the  Babylonians  had  a  vague  notion  of  the  sexes 
of  date  trees,  and  of  the  importance  of  bringing  the  two  together,  which 
latter  practically  though  perhaps  unconsciously  amounted  to  artificial  fer- 
tilization, it  does  not  follow  that  the  genius  with  cone  and  bucket,  in  tli'e 
Assyrian  monuments,  has  anything  to  do  with  artificial  fertilization  of  date 
palms.  I  think  the  concluding  paragraph  of  W.  St,  Chad  Boscawen  in 
his  'Notes  on  the  Assyrian  Sacred  Trees'  {p.  950.  B.  4-  0  .R.  March  1890) 
greatly  strengthens  the  theory  that  the  cone  is  meant  for  an  '  aspergillum', 
and  the  bucket  meant  to  contain  some  sort  of  holy  water,  which  the  genius 
is  sjirinkling  by  means  of  the  cedar-cones,  used  as  an  '  as])ergillum.'  It  is 
probable  therefore  that  the  action  of  that  puzzling  figure  may  now  be  con- 
sidered to  be  disposed  of.  The  winged  figure  was  very  probably  meant  to 
convey  the  idea  of  a  guardian  angel,  peri'orming  a  ceremony,  with  a  holy 
water,  with  which  somehow  the  Assyrians  were  acquainted,  and  of  whicii 
the  custom  still  exists  among  some  oriental  sects  in  Egypt,  as  a  surviv:)! 
of  that  ancient  ceremonv,  E.    Bonavia. 


STRAY  \OTES    OA'    DATU- PALMS  IN  ANTERIOR  ASIA. 

Dr.   P.  Jensen,     De  tnnmtainentormii  Sumerico-Asf^i/riorum  aeriei  qvic 
dintur    '^  Hiirbu,"'  tabula   VI.     1,    in    Z^'itsrhi/t    fur    Keilsrhrifffhrsr/uivt/, 
vols.  I,  II.  1884-5,  has  the  following  passages  interesting  for  the  sul)j(>rt 
discussed  by  Dr.  Bonavia's  paper: — Incantamenta: 
Vol    I.  p.  285 — ...Dactylus  sicut  sicut  dactylus  ut  abscindatiir  I     iitin.uu 

abscindatior. 
p.  287." Sicut  dactylus  iste  abscinditnr  et  in  igncni   inicitur,  flaiiiina 

comburens  conburit  (eum),  in  spatham  is  (pii  carpsit  imn   restituet,  ad 


]18  CAMPAIGN    OF     SARGON    II. 

patinam  dei  regisve  non  suinetur." 
Vol.  II,  p.  25,  in  notes  upon  the  above  incantation:  '•  Viani  uionstrant 
(W.A.I.)  II,  (pi.)  15,  (1.)  24  ed  sqq.,  ubi  legimus,  gisimmaros  plantari. 
parvas  arbores  aqua  perfundi   (27)  circuui  nemus  aedificari  aliquid  (29), 
tricesimo   die  inensis   aruJisamna    ciistodem     nemoris    dactylos     ferre 
(40 — 47 )  videlicet    dactyli  fructus   sunt    nemoris    arborum  gisimmaru 
vocatarum  (of.   II,    15.  49:  sulup  gisimmarl  .     Ergo  gisimmaru  est 
"  palma  "  (quod  Oppertus  jam  cunjecit,  cf.  Zeitsch.  f.  Keilsch.  torn.  I, 
p.  55).      liecte  nos  judicasse,  confirmatur  loco  II,  46     ...    (as  above 
p.  93)   ..."  palma  masculina  "  et  '•  p.  feminina  " — et  loco  V.  26.  89 
seq.    efgh.    Restat    ut    disseramus    de    voce  ilia    quam     E.    Schrader 
(Monatsbericbte  der  Berl.  Akad.   d.    W.   5   Mai  1881)  "palmani'"  indi- 
care  judicavit,  mussukan  dico.      Eqnidem  cur  negem  non  habeo.       For- 
tasse  enim  voce  gissimmaru  solum  significabatur    "  palma  dactylifera "' 
cum  mussukan  omnia  genera  palmarum  coniplecterentur." 
The  following  notes  refer  to  the  growing  of  date  palms  in  later  times: 
Marco  Polo  reports  of  "  the  great  city  of  Bastra  surrounded  by  woods, 
in  which  grow  the  best  dates  in  the  world'"   (Bk.  I,  ch.  VI).    On  this 
passage  vSir  Henry  Yule  remarked:  Basua  is  still  noted  for  its  vast  date- 
groves.      Tavernier,  Bk.  II,  ch.  iii,  says:   "'the  whole  county  from  the 
confluence  of  the  Euphrates  and  Tigris  to  the  sea,  a  distance  of  thirty 
leagues,  is  covered  with  thest;  trees."     The  Venitian  traveller  going  east- 
wards to  Yezd  speaks  of  the  "many  fine  woods  producing  dates"  which 
he  saw  (Bk.  I,  ch.  xvi);  and  Mr.  Abbott  in  1849,  travelling  from  Yezd  to 
Kirman  by  a  road  through  Bafk,  says  tliat  Bafk  is   remarkable    for  its 
groves  of  date-trees,  in  the  midst  of  which  it  stands,  and  which  occupy  a 
considerable   space  (cf.  his    MSS.    Report   in   Foreign   Office,    quoted   in 
Yule's  Marco  Polo,  II  ed.,  vol.  I,  p.  91).    The  same  traveller  speaks  also 
of  "the  districts  (of  Kerman)  lying  towards  the  South,  which  are  termed 
the   Ghermseer  or  Hot  Region,  where  the  temperature  of  winter  resembles 
that  of  a  charming   spring,  and  where  the  palm,  orange,  and  lemon-tree 
flourish  "  {ibid.,  p.  101).  T.   de  li. 


CAMPAIGN    OF   SARGON  II.  (k.c.  712)    AGAINST  JUDEA. 

So  much  interest  has  been  excited  by  the  discovery  that  the  siege  and 
campaign  against  Jerusalem  and  Judea  referred  to  by  the  Hebrew  prophet 
Isaiah  (chap,  x,  xx,  &c.)  was  one  which  was  conducted  by  onlcr  of  Sargon 

and  not  by  Sennacheril)  that,  at  the  ic((iic>t  of  s.i F  (nir  readers.  I  pub~ 

lish  the  following  accdii II I  of  llif  rcvnii  nf  A^hdinl    IVmui    ;i    ex  Under    I'unnd 
at  Xineveh  by  llic  liiic  (icorgc  Smiili. 

In  the  large  slal)  tVom  Nint'vcli  pnlilishcd  liy  l^nyai'd  (///sr.  xxxiii)  the 
king  assumes  the  following  title:  ►-V  >;:j||»3f=  «  V  t^y][  tHf-  ^'^ 
V  Ty  ^HI  ^111  S^^^TT-  ^J^-  Mu-^iok-i^i'^  rnai  Y  -u-di  sa  a-sar  sn 
?■«>•?<,  "The  rediieer  i<'i  (he  land  of  .ludca.  whose  situation  is  remote."        The 


AGAINST       JUDEA.  119 

cylinder,  fragmentary  as  it  is,  explains  the  nature  of  the  war  uprm  which 
this  title  was  hased.  It  is  clear  that  the  outbreak  was  a  revolt  including  all 
the  States  of  Southern  Palestine,  Philistia,  Moab,  Edom,  and  assisted  by 
the  neighbouring  kingdom  of  Egypt.  It  is  interesting  to  notice  the  ex- 
pression applied  to  Pharaoh  by  the  Assyrian  king,  la-museslhi  sunu,  "lui- 
able  to  save  them,"  which  bears  a  curious  resemblance  to  the  "bruised  reed'' 
of  Isaiah  (ch.  xxx,  6).  The   text,  which  will  be  found   in    Winckler. 

h'eilschri/ttexte  Sargons,  pi,  44-45,   I   transliterate  as  follows  : 

1  Ina     IX  garri-ya     a-na 

2  (mar)  tiamti     rabati     a[lik] 

3  Alu     Asdudi 

4  ... 

5  as  -  su 

6  is  -  tu     alu  (') 

7  Akhi  -  miti 

8  akhu    talim  su   eli  sunn 

9  II  -  rab  -  bn    su    u 

10  biltii    niadatii 

11  kinia    sarrani    [makhruti] 

12  eh  -  su      askun 

13  limnuti    ina  [libbi  sina] 

14  ana   la    nasee    bilti 

15  {obliterated') 

16  maliki    sunu    sikhu 

17  .  .  .  .... 

18  u  -  se  -  su  -  su 

19  Yava-ni  (nis)    rabi 

20  Ana    s?rruti    oli    su-nu     [ina   kussi 
•Jl   bili     su     usesil) 

22  alu     .-u  -  nil 
23 

24  kiibiti 

25  u     uiitkliaris 
2(!    [aloni]   liviti   su 

27  XX    ka-n.'i    LX   ainmatu   a-na  supati 
IH  iksuddu    niie    uakbi    aua  (ali  ?) 

29  s'u  mat   Pilisti    (^    ^;   "^6)  mat  YaQdi  \^^^}\  *^]\\-  ^^) 

mar    uiiuiuiu  l  (ir^y^Tr  ^;l|      [>-''/]  ) 

30  uiai    Mfilti      '  ^y  Vy  rij'   iisibui    tlauiti   nfi*    bilti 

31  tanuirti    su    (\Y\)  Ausar    bili  -  y:i 

34  dvibibi    sjirrixte    la    menu    kiiuUati 

35  su  irtiya   ana  snnkuri  eli   Pi-ir-b-u   '  ^|»    ^^   ^^>^) 
3(!  sir  mat    Musri   Tiialku   la    muse/iliu-suuii 

37    Suiniaiin  suiiu  issu-uia   etirrisiV 
3S  kidiM    Viiaku  Sarru-ukin  rubu    kiuu 

39  ].alikli   ni.imit    Ilu      Nabu    llu    Manluk     uasini 

40  /.ikri   llu    Ausar  N:ir    Diglat  u  Nar    Puratu 

41  iii.i    Micli   kissati  edii  tuklat    [uniniani] 
\'l   napalis   useiik   u  su    Vavani 

1;!  s  UTU   sunu  sa    ina  (•[niuk  raiuaj-iii   su 


120  CAMPAIGN   OF  SARGON    II.   AGAINST    JUDEA. 

44  ittaklu  ma     ul[iknnsu]     ana     biluti     ya 

45  alik  girri  ya  ana   ruketi  isnienia 

46  namurat  ilu  Aiisar  bili  ya  iskhupsu  ma 
47-53       {much  broken)  innabit 
.54                                               Asdudi 

I'ranslation. 

1  111   my   ninth  campaign  to 

2  the  laud  of  the  great  sea  I  went 
;->  the  citv  (if  Ashdod 

4  ,.",.. 

5  1  carried  (?) 

6  from     tlie     city 

7  Akliimiti 

8  his     foster  -  brother 

9  I    had   raised    him 

10.  tribute    and    offering    .  . 

11  as  of   former    kings 

12  upon     him     I     appointed 

13  evil   in    their  hearts  they  iuiagined 

14  not  to  bear  tribute  they   (conspired  j 

15  {ohhteruted) 

16  their  princes  a  revolt  (made) 
18   and  drove    them  out 

I'J  Yavani    a     soldier 

20  to  royalty     over     them    on    the    throne 

21  of  his  lordship  they  caused  to   sit 

22  their     city 

23  .     .     . 

24  great 

25  and    together    with 

26  the  cities   depenbent   on  it 

27  sixty  cubits  to  the  depth 

28  they  brought  tlie  waters  of  the  fountains  of  the  city 

29  of  the  land  af  Phihstia,  Judea,  and  Edom, 

;]0   the  land  of  Moab  habitations  by  the  sea,  bearers  of  tribute 

3 1  and  presents  of  Assur  ray  lord  (who) 

iH  who  repeated  hostilities  without  number  and  evil  things 

35  against  me  to  cause  him  turn  away  to  Pharaoh 

36  a  king  of  Egypt,  a  prince  who  could  not  save  him, 

37  they  sent  their  peace-offering  to  him  and  desired  to  form  an  alliance. 
■58  with  a  covenant.  1,  Sargon,  the  legitimate  prince, 

o9  the  revereucer   of  the   oath  of  Nebt)  and  Merodach,  the  guardian 

40  of  the  renown  of  Assur.     The  river  Tigris  and  Euphrates 

41  in  their  gathered  floods,  witli  tho  pick  of  my  army, 

42  in  a  storm  I  caused  to  cross;  and  he.  Yavani, 

43  their  king  who  to  his  own  strength 

■1:4  had  trusted,  and  had  not  submitted  to  my  lordship 

45  of  (hr  appproach  of  my  army  from  afar  he  heard,  and 

46  the  glory  of  Assur  my  lord  overcame  him 
47-53    he  fled  away  54  Ashdod. 

W.  St.  C.    Boscawbn. 


I'lUNTED  AND  PUBLISHED  FORTUE  I'ROI'KIETOK  AY  -Jw  ALBERT  SQUARE,  CLAPHAU 
KOAB    ;     AND   BY  D.    NUTT.   I'oUKIGN   ANT)  CT-ASSICAl.   KOOKSEI.F.ERr      270    STRAND- 


THE 


BABYLONIAN  AND  ORIENTAL  RECORD. 

Contributors  are  alone  j-esponsible  for  their  opinions  or  statements. 


PURAMDHI   IS    THE   GODDESS    OF   ABUNDANCE    IN 

THE   RIGVEDA. 

SlycE  the  publication  in  tliis  Review  uf  iny  short  paper  on  "  Puramdhi 
the  goddess  of  Abundance  in  the  Rigveda"*  the  same  subject  has  been 
treated  by  Hillebrandt  in  the  Wiener  Zeitschrifi  fur  die  Kunde  des  Mor- 
genUmdes,  III  Band  2.  3  Heft,  and  by  Pischel  in  Vedische  Studien,  p. 
-02.  The  two  writers  have  arrived  at  conchisions  differing  from  each  other 
and  also  differing  from  mine,  as  regards  the  fundamental  character  of 
Puramdhi.  without  counting  a  large  number  of  passages  which  they  have 
interpreted  in  a  different  manner. 

Grave  reasons  had  led  me  to  admit  that  P.  is  primarily  '  abundance' : 

(1)  the  great  number  of  passages  wherein  she  appears  in  this  character; 

(2)  the  facility  with  which  the  other  meanings,  differing  only  by  shades. 
can  be  deduced  from  it  ;  (3)  the  comparison  with  the  Avestic  Pdrendi, 
with  which  the  points  of  contact  are  of  such  a  nature  that  it  would  be 
difficult  to  regard  them  as  fortuitous  ;  (4)  the  most  probable  etymology 
of  the  word. 

An  attentive  examination  of  Hillebrandt's  and  Pischel's  articles  has 
confirmed  me  in  my  first  opinion.  Tlie  latter  admits  that  P.  often  signi- 
fies 'abundance'  or  the  goddess  of  abundance,  but  he  would  derive  this 
meaning  from  that  of  ''  Befruchtung."  From  the  same  sense,  he  derives 
for  several  passages  that  of  'liberality  of  men  towards  the  gods,  offering.' 
Moreover  he  believes  tliat  the  word  is  sometimes  employed  as  an  adjec- 
tive, signifying  "  fruchtbar,  freigcbig,"— fertile,  liberal.  But  according  to 
him,  all  these  meanings  are  derived  from  a  still  more  fundamental  one, 
viz.  that  of  *  prolific  (wife').  Against  this  opinion  we  may  observe  that 
the  meaning  '  prolific    woman'   never   appears    with    certainty  anywhere, 


"  B.  &  0.  R.  vol  ii.  p.  245. 
Vol.  VI.— No.  6.  [121]  May,  I8i>0. 


122  PURAMDHI       IN 

whilst  that  of  '  riches,  ahundance,'  (whether  personified  or  not),  is  clearly 
to  be  found  in  a  great  number  of  passages,  as  we  have  shown,  and  as  the 
author  himself  admits. 

In  order  to  establish  the  meaning  '  prolific  wife'  Pischel  first  of  all  re- 
minds us  of  the  Classical  Sk.  puramdhi'i,  which,  however,  need  not  delay 
us,  for  it  proves  nothing  for  puramdhi. 


Next  he  finds  the  meaning  in  X.   80,    1  : 
(dadati)  agnlr  narim  inrdkukshim  puramdhim. 

Here  he  would  render  puramdhi  by  '  prolific,'  To  begin  with,  that 
would  be  a  tautology ;  but  that  is  not  unheard  of  in  the  Rigveda,  Only  we 
must  recollect  that  this  is  the  only  passage  where  the  proposed  mean 
ing  can  be  seen  with  anything  like  clearness.  But  it  may  just  as  well 
be  translated  "  Agni  (gives)  a  wife  bearing  a  son  in  her  womb,  a 
Puramdhi'"  (i.e.  a  source   of  wealth.   {See  further  on). 

As  for  V,   41,  6 

ishudydva  rtds(ipah,  puramdhir 
vdsrn  .  .  .  pdtnir, 

it  does  not  follow  that  because  jdnayah  pdtnlh  is  found  elsewhere  ;  or 
because  Ushas  is  once  called  jdnl,  another  time  puramdhi,  that,  we  must 
admit  the  equation  puramdhi :=jdnl.  The  comparison  merely  proves  the 
possibility  of  the  hypothesis.  Our  passage  is  rather  parallel  to  5b  :  rdyd 
eshe  ^vase  dadhita  dhih  :  "  May  Dhi  set  about  helping  (us)  in  the 
search  for  riches.'  Similarly  m  v.  6  it  is  asked  that  the  spouses  may  '  put 
the  suppliants  to  prayer,'  i.e.  make  them  pray  well.  Similar  requests  are 
often  addressed  to  the  gods.  In  this  way  we  do  not  depart  from 
tJie  general  spirit  of  the  passages  relative  to  Puramdhi.  P.,  in  fact, 
is  not  abundance  pure  and  simple,  but  the  principle  from  which  flow  the 
gifts  of  the  gods  to  men.  and  which  is  conceived  as  united  with  the  beni- 
ficial  deities  themselves.  We  particularly  recall  here  our  remark  (J5,  & 
0.  R.,  p.  248)  on  VII.  67,  5,  where  the  Agvins  are  asked  to  help  by  the 
Puramdhis  and  by  their  ^dcl,  and  are  called  at  the  same  time  ^acipati. 
Here  may  be  seen  the  germ,  or  one  of  the  germs,  of  the  ^aktis,  or  female 
energies,  of  the  later  Hindu  mythology. 

The  meaning  '  prolific  wife  or  mother',  according  to  Pischel  is  to  be 
found  also  in  IX,  90,  4.  He  applies  the  word  puramdhi  to  heaven  and 
earth,  as  we  did  also  (p.  247).  It  is  quite  true  that  heaven  and  earth 
aro  often  called  '  parents'  or  'generators'  ;  nay,  it  is  true  that  this  is  their 


THE     RIG -VEDA.  123 

principal  character.  But  they  often  appear  also  as  generous  'divinities, 
distributing  all  kind  of  goods.  It  is  in  this:  quality  tliat  they  take  their 
place  in  this  verse,  where  there  is  question  only  of  waters,  light 
or  riches  to  be  obtained.  The  poet  applies  the  name  of  the  Goddess 
of  Abundance  to  the  two  deities,  because  he  wishes  to  bring  out  the 
qualities  they  have  in  common  with  lier.  The  custom  of  thus  applying 
the  name  of  one  deity  to  another  is  frequent  in  the  Rigveda  ;  the  at- 
tributes characterising  the  divinity  whose  name  is  borrowed  are  thus 
attributed  also  to  the  one  Iteing  celebrated. 

In  the  A9vin  myths  P.  is,  according  to  lischel,  no  longer  the  '  pro- 
lific wife',  but  simply  the  '  wife'.  Certainly  the  passages  alleged  by  the 
writer  yield  a  good  sense  if  translated  in  this  way.  But  that  is  not 
enough.  We  have  no  right  to  depart  from  the  established  meaning 
without  good  reasons.  Now  1'.  is  'abundance'  in  a  number  of  passages, 
and  we  have  just  seen  that  the  proofs  in  favour  of  a  meaning  '  prolific 
wife"  are  null,  or  nearly  so.  And  will  not  the  ordinary  meaning  do  for 
the  verses  relating  to  the  Agvin  myth  1  We  believe  it  will,  and  we  pro- 
ceed to  prove  it.  The  passages  are  : 

I,   117,   19  :    (O   Agvins)    ye    have  come    to  the  help  of  Puramdhi  who 

was   calling  you. 
I,   IIG,  13:  "When   Puramdhi,    invoked    you,    ye    gave    Hiranyahasta 

to   (the  wife)    of  the   eunuch." 
I,   117,   24  :      \'e    have    given     a    son,     Hiranyahasta,     to    the  (wife) 

of    the  eunuch. 
X,  39,    7  :    "  Ye  have   come  at  the  call  of   the  (wife;   of   the    eunuch. 
Ye  have  given  a  fair  offspring  to    Puramdhi." 

In  all  these  passages  we  translate  P.  as  a  proper  name.  Why,  if  it 
be  merely  intended  to  say  '  a  wife',  is  Puramdhi  invariably  employed  ? 
Even  if  it  were  established  that  it  might  signify  '  Prolific  wife',  this 
fact  would  be  very  remarkable  ;  but  we  repeat,  the  meaning  has  not 
been   {)roved, 

Pischel  sees  herein  a  legend,  and  we  see  a  myth.  In  any  case,  this 
legend  contains  marvellous  elements  ;  why  tlien  cannot  P.  be  a  fabulous 
personage  ?  In  our  first  paper,  we  affirmed  that  1'.  is  here  the  genius 
of  abundance,  that  is,'  the  principle  fr.-ui  which  flow  the  gifts  of  the 
gods  to  men,  and  which  is  conceived  as  united  with  the  beneficent 
abundance  preceeding  from  the  gods,  made  fruitful  by  them.  If  the 
symbolical  sense  of  these  passages  be  admitted,  everything  is  clearly  ex- 
plained. We  have  admitted  this  sense,  because  Kakshivant  is  certainly 
a  mythological  or  legendary — in  any  case  a  fabulous — pernonage.  Thi.s 
deities  themselves.'  P.  is  not  simply  abundance,  abundance  by  itself,   but 


124  PURAMDHl     IN 

does  not  prevent  the  Rigveda's  knowing  another  Kakshivant  and  a  real 
one,  (cf.  Bergaigne,  Religion  Vedique,  II,  479-81).  To  the  present  day 
the  Hindus  have  their  Narayanas,  Vishnus,  Ramas.  just  as  the  French 
have  their  '  Achilles  '  and  '  Hercules.'  The  name  Hiraviyahasta  given 
to  a  son  of  Puramdhi  deserves  attention.  Like  hrranyabahu  (golden- 
armed),  the  word  is  an  epithet  of  the  sun,  '  golden-handed.'  N'ow,  the 
gifts  of  the  gods  are,  above  all,  water  and  especially  light.  It  is  another 
question  whether  the  myth  or  symbol  was  still  understood  by  those  who 
spoke  about  it.  The  passage  I,  116,  7,  would  seem  to  shew  that  it  was. 
The  verse  does  not  say  exactly  '  ye  gave  P.  to  Kakshivant  who  praised 
you,'  but  '  ye  opened '  (^rad).  Now  rad  means  properly  to  open  by  biting, 
gnawing,  splitting,  &c.  We  may  compare  the  Classical  Sk.  7'ada,  radana. 
Then  the  sense  is  extended  :  it  becomes  'to  open  a  road,'  (cf.  German 
'die  Bahn  brechen  ')  ;  '  to  open  the  road  of  the  waters,  or  rivers.'  Lastly, 
it  comes  to  mean  sometimes  simply  '  give,'  a  further  extension  of  the 
preceding  sense  :  to  open  or  give  waters,  than  goods  in  general.  Still 
the  context  nearly  ahvays  supplies  an  allusion  to  the  more  special  sense 
of  the  word,  eg.  I,  116,  7,  with  which  we  are  engaged  at  present : 

Kalcshlvate,  aradatam  pi'irmndhim 
Karota  rue  chapcd  dgvasya  vrshnah. 
^atdm  Jcumbhdii  asiflcatarii  si'irayah. 

"  Ye  broke  open  Puramdhi  (the  source  of  riches)  to  Kakshivant,  from 
the  sieve,  from  the  hoof  of  the  male  horse,  ye  caused  a  hundred  pitchers 
of  water  to  flow." 

The  second  part  of  the  verse  may  very  well  be  the  explanation  of  the 

first.     There  is  nothing  to  show  that  there  is    here    reference    to  twe 

exploits  of  the  Agvins,  but  we  acknowledge  that  it  is  impossible  to  provo 

the    parallelism.      We  are   inclined    to  admit  it,  both  because  of  all  the 

preceding  considerations  taken  together,  and  because  of  the  use  of   rad, 

and  a  comparison   of  I,  180,   6,   where  the  Acvins  are  said  :   upa   .  .   . 

trjathah  piirarhdhim.      Upa-srj  means  to  pour   out,  or  at  least  is  applied 

only  to  an  object  which  can  be  thrown  like  a  liquid  being   poured  out. 

It  will  be  seen  that  it  is  nowhere  necessary  to  translate  P.  otherwise  than 

we  proposed  in  our  first  paper.     The  meaning  '  woman,'  though  strictly 

speaking  possible,  cannot  be  allowed  because  the  context  demands  rather 

a  proper  name,  and  because  there  is  no  reason  to  oblige  us  to  abandon 

the  duly  established  meaning  of  '  goddess  of  abundance.' 

T  ischel  next  quotes  a  text  of  the  Yajurveda  where  the  phrase  p{iram- 

dhir  yosha,  may  signify  a  '  fruitful  wife.'     Can  this  meaning  be  transferred 

to  the  Rigvcda  ?     Here  we  meet  a  question  of  principles*.     We  answer: 

•Cf.  "  Les  Principes  de  I'Exegese  Vedique  d'  apres  M.M.  Pischel  at 
Geldner,"  in  the  Museon,  Avril,   1890. 


THE        RIG  -  VEDA. 


i2S- 


Yes,  provided  the  usage  of  the  Rigveda  does  not  oppose  it.  The  Yajur- 
veda  is  much  later  than  the  Rig ;  the  language  has  certainly  become' 
modified,  and  we  may  not  a  priori  identify  the  usages  of  the  two  docu- 
ments. This  is  not  exactly  what  Pischel  claims  to  do  :  but  he  is  in- 
clined, particularly  in  practice,  to  lose  sight  of  the  distance  which 
separates  the  language  of  the  Rigveda  from,  that  of  all  posterior  texts. 
The  use  of  pdra.udhi  in  the  sense  of  'the  fruitful  one'  may  very 
easily  be  derived  from  that  of  '  abundance'  deriving  from  the  action  of  the 
god  to  whom  she  is  united  ;  from  this  we  very  easily  arrive  at  the 
meaning  of  '  fecundity,  the  prolific  one.'  The  custom  of  linking  together 
synonyms  whose  meanings  are  mutually  complementary  and  one  of  which 
{3  equivalent  to  an  adjective  (dgni  sdpti)  is  quite  recognised  in  the 
Rigveda  and  there  is  nothing  to  prevent  us  seeing  here  an  apposition  of 
the  same  kind,  for  we  do  not  believe  in  an  adjectival  sense  of  puramdhi- 
As  for  the  etymologies  of  the  commentators,  we  may  be  permitted  to 
pass  them  over  in  silence,  in  spite  of  the  meaning,  '  body '  attributed  to 
pur,  pura.       Is  not  this  a  simple  metaphor  ? 

The  fundamental  meaning  we  have  admitted  for  Puramdhi  is  con- 
firmed by  the  A. vesta.  The  Avestic  religion  is  profoundly  different  from 
that  of  the  Rigveda,  as  Geldner  admits  at  last,  and  with  him  Pischel. 
But  this  does  not  prevent  the  Avestic  -system,  which  is  by  no  means 
homogeneous,  from  preserving  very  ancient  elements  of  Aryan  naturalism, 
all  the  more  precious  because  the  Avesta  has  not  developed  them.  When 
it  does  modify  them,  it  is  in  a  monotheistic  or  dualistic  sense.  When 
it  preserves  them,  it  is  to  embalm  them  after  the  fashion  of  mummies. 
For  this  reason  the  naturalistic  details  of  the  Avesta  are  exceedingly 
valuable.  It  is  true  enough  that  neither  Puramdhi  nor  Pareiidi  is  purely 
naturalistic.  But  the  coincidence  is  all  the  more  remarkable  for  that. 
Both  have  relations  to  riches  ;  both  accompany  the  beneficent  deities  ; 
both  are  invoked  together  with  goddesses  belonging  to  the  ])ublic  worships. 
Such  coincidences,  rendered  more  striking  by  the  etymology  of  the  two 
names,  cannot  be  accidental.  How  I'ischel,  who  translates  stryomayao 
pdrefidis  by  '  die  in  Frauen  bestehende  Geschenke  (Fiille),'  can  find 
herein  a  confirmation  of  the  primitive  meaning  *  fruitful  wife,'  I  cannot 
understand.  On  the  contrary,  the  common  character  of  the  two  goddesses 
viz:  that  of  goddesses  of  riches  and  abundance,  favours  our  opinion.  It 
is  not  at  all  likely  that  these  two  deities,  so  similar  in  name  and  nature, 
should  have  had  their  origin  independently  one  of  the  other  :  that  would 
be  allowing  two  much  to  mere  hazard.     It  is  true,  the  transition  of  mean- 


126  '  PURAMDHI       IN 

ing  proposed  by  Pischel  may  have  taken  place  before  the  separation  of 
the  two  peoples,  or  even  have  been  worked  out  in  an  independent  manner, 
without  leaving  any  traces  in  the  Avesta,  or  even  certain  ones  ia  the 
Rigveda.  But  these  are  mere  hypotheses,  to  which  a  scientific  method 
obliges  us  to  prefer  conclusions  drawn  from  the  certain  data  we 
possess. 

In  my  first  paper  I  laid  much  stress  on  the  distinction  between  Pu- 
ramdhi  and  Prayer,  to  which  Bergaigne  assimilates  her  (Op.  cit.  II,  477 
eqq").  But  I  did  not  lay  emphasis  on  another  and  more  real  assimila- 
tion, viz  :  that  of  Puramdhi  and  the  offering.  Still,  on  pp.  248  and  249 
several  passages  were  indicated  where  the  offering  is  called  puravidhi  by 
metaphor.  The  offering  is  then  considered  as  the  source  of  riches,  like 
abundance  itself.  Among  the  passages  wherein  Pischel  recognizes  this 
sense,  we  must  put  aside  I,  123,  6  :  134,  3  ;  and  particularly  III,  62 
A  word  of  discussion  is  necessary  for  I,  181,  6  : 

Yuva^  piishevaqtnnd  puramdhir 
Agntm  usha'ii,  nd  jarate  havishmdn  ; 

which  have  been  translated,  according  to  Ludwig's  construing  : 
0  A^vins  (saying)  "you  are  like  Piishan  and  Puramdhi  " 
The  offering  man  praises  you  like  Agni  and  Ushas. 

Pischel  renders  it  : 

To  you,  0  A9vins,  come  the  oblation  like   Piishan 
(to  y>'u)  the  offering  man  like  Agni  to  I^shas. 

To  justify  this   version,   he   admits   that    Agnim  is  for   the   nominative. 

Nor  is  this  arbitrary,  for  he  seeks  to  prove  the  existence  of  this  '  species 

of  attraction'  {Vedische  Studiemp.21),  but,  in  my  opinion  without  success* 

Piishan  appears   more  than  once  with    Puramdhi.       The  construction  we 

have  admitted  may   perhaps    be  reproached  as    rather    far-fetched  ;  but 

I  ischel's  is  none  the  less  so.     Piishan  appears  with  P.  in  VI,  21,  9.  II, 

31,  4.     Pischel  on  the  other  hand,  makes  use  of  these  passages  to  show 

that  jmramdkt  is  employed  as  an  adjective.      Here  will  be  the  right  place 

to  make  a  digression  on  this  question. 

The  verse  X,  64,  7,  has  been  translated  (p.  253)  thus  : 

Put  forth  by  your  hymns  Vayu  who  yokes  the  chariot, 

Puramdhi 
Piishan. 


•See  my  article  "  Les  Principes  de  I'Exegese  Yedique  d'apres  MM.  Pis- 
chel et  Geldner  "  in  the  forthcoming  Muse'on,  June,  1890. 


THE      RIG- VEDA.  127 

But  the  text  must  be  considered  as  a  wliolc  : 

prd  vo   Vavuih  rathayujam  pi'ira  mdhlm 
stSmaih  krnudlwa'h  sakht/di/a  pushdiiam. 

Observe,  firstly,  that  Piiramdhi  appears  for  certain  as  a  goddess  in  the 
company  of  Pushan  and  other  deities  in  VI,  21,  9  ;  and  VII,  36,  8. 
She  is  wakened  by  Vayu  in  I,  134,  3,  She  may  therefore  be  a  distinct 
personage  here  as  well.  But  Pischel  contends  that  the  usage  of  the  Vedic 
language  requires  the  word  to  be  referred  to  Pushdnam  :  if  Puramdhim 
were  a  third  deity,  prd  would  have  to  be  repeated  before  Puramdhi,  All 
this  is  very  explicit,  but  we  take  the  liberty  of  not  accepting  it  at  all. 
Here  are  a  few  constructions  to  show  that  the  Vedic  language  is  very 
free  on  this  iDoint  : — 

II,  38,  10 ;  bhdgam  dhiyam  vajdyantah  piiramdhim.\ 
VIII,  67,  20  :  nuf  no  hetlr  tdvdsvata  |  dditi/dh  krtr  ma 
garuh  'I  purd  nu  jardso  imdhlt. 

I,  136,  1  Prd  S7C  jye'shthdni  nicirabhydm  hrhdn  ndmo 

huvydm  mntiih  hharatd. 
Ill,  4,   8  :«  bhdratl  hhdratibhih  sajosha 
I'la  devalr  numushyebhir  agnlh 
sdrasratl  sd>'usi'atebhir  aH'^k 
tisrf'i  det'/r  barhlr  e'ddm  salantti. 

Is  d    repeated  in  this  invocation  ? 

There  is  no  more  reason  to  make  puramdhi  an  adjective  in 

II,  31,   4  :  .   .   .  JMJurnd  rdtham 

I'U'i  bhdyo  hrhaddirotd  rodasl 
pUshiT  piirathdhir  agi^imiu  ddha  pdtt. 

Here  the  Agvins  receive  the  epithet  pdtl,  and  in  my  opinion  Pushan  re- 
ceives none,  just  like  Ila,  etc.  The  Rigveda  is  not  very  strict  in  making 
the  members  of  an  enumeration  correspond.— -According  to  Pischel,  the 
meaning  of  />  ramdht  would  be  '  fruitful,  giving  freely,'  because  Piishan 
is  called  rich,  giving  riches  in  abundance  {pHrd/u,  I,  42,  9)  ;  giving, 
daughters,  engendering  riches.  But  Piishan  receives  many  other  epithets 
as  well,  and  he  shares  his  generosity  with  most  of  the  other  gods.  It 
is  true  he  is  specially  the  god  of  prosperity/,  and  we  see  herein  a  good 
reason  for  his  appearing  in  company  of  the  goddess  of  abundance.  The 
same  remark  may  be  made  for  the  Agvins  and  for  Bhaga,  for  they  are 
also  beneficent  and  generous  deities. 

There  is  therefore  no  reason  to  admit  the  existence  of  an  adjective  puram- 
dhi. But  to  return  to  our  subject.  Puramdhi  is  the  olTering  in  IV.  34,  2, 
VIII,  69,  I;  IX,  72,  4  ;  X    112.  H  ;   :ind  also— I  now  think,  contrary 


128  PURAMDHI      IN 

to  the  opinion  expressed  in   the   first  article — in    IX,  110,  3.     I  thought 
we  might  translate  gojlra   by  '  who  has   swift    cows,'  taking  pra   as  an 
abstract  noun  (velocitate,  i.e.  '  velocibus  vaccis  praedita  ').     I  should  now 
prefer  to  translate  '  making  the  cows  move   rapidly.'     Still  there  is  evi- 
dently question  of  the  heavenly  Soma,  and  only  of  the  sacrificial  Soma  by 
allusion.     But  it  is  well  known  that  the  sacrificial    Soma  becomes  effica- 
cious only  by  mixing  with  milk,  &c.      In  like  manner  the  gods  become 
generous  only  by  their  Puramdhi ;  at  least  that  is  one  manner  in  which 
the  rishis  conceived  their  beneficent  action.     Is  it  not  by  this  road  that 
Puramdhi  has  come  to  be   assimilated  to  the  offering?     In  fact  VIII, 
69,    1,  which   is    the  only    passage   where  this  assimilation  is  absolutely 
certain,   shows  her  together  with  Prayer  as  the    complement  of  Soma. 
The  third  passage,  X,  112,  5  is  rather  more  open  to  discussion,  (see  our 
first  article).     These  considerations  seem  of  such  a  nature  as  to  make  us 
prefer  the  ordinary  sense  in  II,  38,  10,  and  X,  39,  2,  which  are  doubt- 
ful ;  and   to,  change  our   mind  about  VII,  32,  20,  where   tardnir  may 
very  well  apply  to  Indra,  "  the  impetuous  one  acquires  booty  with  Pur- 
amdhi his  ally." — P.  appears  with  Indra  in  IV,  22,  10. 

So  far  nothing  has  been  said  of  the  difficult  passages,  IV,  26,  7  ;  27, 

23,  where  Pischel  translates  2mramdhi  as  an  adjective,  '  generous,  liberal.' 

We  see  no  reason  to  depart  from  the  above-stated  interpretation.      But 

the  proof  of  this  assertion  must  be  reserved  for  a  special  study  on  these 

difficult  hymns. 


Hillebraiidt  in  apostscript  to  his  study  on   Puramdhi  (op.  cit.  p.  273) 
remarks   that   his  method  and  results  differ  entirely  from   mine.     Quite 
true.     It  was  the  study  of  hymns  IV,  26  and  27,  which  led  me  to  study 
this  word.     But  was  it  necessary  to   attach  the  enquiry  to  those  hymns 
of  which  the  sense  will    probably  never  be  definitely  fixed  ?     It  seemed 
to  me  preferable  to  consider  all  the  passages,  and  to  distinguish  first  of 
all  tiiose  where  the  obscure  word  presented  a  certain  sense.     Now  the 
only  passages  of  this  kind  are  those  more  or  less  numerous  ones  where 
most    authors    admit  P.  to   be  a  noun  signifying     '  abundance,  riches.' 
Comparison  with  the    Avesta  and  my  etymology — which  M.   A.  Barth 
recognised  as  the  most  plausible  of  all  yet  proposed — confirm  this  mean- 
ing and  make  it  appear  the  primitive    one.     It    then   remained  to   see 
whether  the  sense  thus  obtained  would  suit  everywhere  wtthout  violence; 
for,  in  this  respect,  I  agree  altogether  with   the    method    followed  by 


THE       RIG -VEDA.  1:^9 

Bprgaigne,  but  wliich  he  himself  pusliod  too  far, — I  mean  that,  side  by 
side  with  n  duly  recognised  sense,  otliers  ought  net  to  be  admitted  ex- 
cept for  positive  reasons.  I  think  I  have  sliewn  that  these  reasons  do 
not  exist.  To  start  from  the  most  diflficult  passage  to  explain  an  obscure 
word  appears  to  me  a  dangerous  method,  the  result  of  which  is  often  to 
obscure  clear  and  easy  passages  on  which  the  meaning  so  obtained  must 
be  forced.  A  verse  is  obscure  because  the  context  is  vague,  because 
certain  parallels  are  wanting.  Thereupon  it  is  explained  by  passages 
whose  parallelism  is  doubtful,  or  by  subjective  considerations.  It  can- 
not be  wondered  at.  if  solutions  thus  obtained  lack  consistency  and  certi- 
tude, and  differ  with  different  writers.  Pischel,  as  well  as  Hillebraudt. 
is  a  profound  student  of  Hindu  literature.  But  with  a  view  to  ex- 
plaining R.  V.  X,  80,  1,  the  former  has  discovered  that  w'th  the  Hindu 
the  ideal  of  a  wife  is  '  the  one  who  gives  a  male  child,'  the  second  will 
have  the  good  wife  to  be  first  and  foremost  '  a  good  housekeeper.'  I 
fancy  it  might  just  as  correctly  be  maintained  that  she  is  the  obedient 
and  submissive  wife.  My  opinion  is  that  all  these  three  qualities  were 
higlily  appreciated,  though  I  do  not  dare  to  decide  which  took  prece- 
dence of  the  others  in  the  mind  of  the  Vedic  Aryas.  We  think  therefore 
that  we  have  a  right  to  choose  in  X,  80,  1,  any  one  of  the  three 
qualities,  or  even  others,  if  the  meanivg  of  pt'iramdhi  were  not  fixed 
otherwise.  In  the  present  case  we  consider  ourselves  bound  by  the 
recognised  meaning  ol  '  abundance,'  which  at  the  same  time  avoids  the 
tautology  of  Pischel  : 

Agni  gives  a  fruitful  wife  (bearing  a   son),  a  Puramdhi,  i.e.    a  wife 
like  Puramdhi,  a  source  of  wealth. 

It  is  from  this  passage,  so  indecisive  in  itself,  that  Hillebrandt  derives 
the  meaning  'active  (good  housekeeper)',  which  he  then  applies  sometimes 
as  an  adjective,  sometimes  as  a  noun.  The  preceding  considerations 
about  methods  give  us  a  right  to  reject  these  interpretations  a  priori ; 
besides  the  discussion  above  renders  any  further  controversy  superfluous. 
We  admit  indeed  that  very  often  this  meaning  lends  itself  well  to 
passages  wherein  we  recognize  quite  a  different  signification  of  puramd/ii; 
but  it  would  be  difficult  for  Hillebrandt  to  show  that  our  meaninir  is  not 
equally  well  suited.*  On  the  other  hand,  he  admits  the  sense  of  *:il)iiii- 
dance '  in  several  passages  where  it  is  impossible  to  maintain  that  of  '  ao- 

*0n   p.   2fi7,   Prof.   Hillebrandt  says  :   "In  VII,  35,    2,   pnraVhlln  is 
separated  from  rhyah,   wealth.     That  would  be   impossible  if  Puramdhi 


130  PnRXMDHI    IN    THE    BIG-VEDA. 

! 

tivity.'  We  will  conclude  with  a  remark  on  tlie  use  of  pr'iramdhi  as  an 
adjective.  The  fact  is  that  all  compouad  words  in  dhi  (weak  form  of  dha) 
are  nouns,  generally  with  a  very  precise  meaning.  They  are  :  upa-, 
pra-,  a-,  ni-,  api-,  pari-dhi  ;  then  the  category  in  which  we  place  pur- 
amdhi,\  viz  :  garbha-,  tula-,  geva-,  oshu-,  utsa-dhi.  As  for  dadhl,  the 
formation  is  different,  but  it  can  also  be  taken  as  a  noun.  We  see  in 
this,  from  the  point  of  view  of  method,  a  powerful  motive  for  rejecting 
an  adjectival  ^J<ra??jrfAi,  which  Hillebrandt  admits  for  numerous  passages, 
but  wliich  the  context  nowhere  renders  necessary. 


*     * 


These  considerations  seem  to  me  to  justify  and  confirm  the  sense  ad- 
mitted ioT ptiramdhi  in  my  first  article,  to  which  we  may  add  the  mean- 
ing of  '  offering.'  But  its  employment  in  this  latter  is  so  rare  or  so 
doubtful,  and  where  it  is  certain  it  is  so  close  to  the  Puramdhi  of  the 
heavenly  Soma,  that  we  think  it  much  more  prudent  not  to  note  this 
meaning,  which  may  have  existed  merely  by  virtue  of  the  speculations  of 
some  isolated  rishi.  Ph.  Coliket. 

were  the  goddess  of  abundance."  This  must  simply  be  denied.  The 
use  of  synonyms  in  the  Vedic  enumerations  is  frequent  ;  nor  is  tauto- 
logy rare.  We  need  not  hesitate  for  that  reason,  when  the  sense  of  a 
word  is  well  established. 

f  The  gloss  of  Sayana,  V,  66,  4,  purbhir  purahcUh  stavalh  is  not  exactly 
sufficient  to  establish  the  existence  of  a  ;jMr:=plenitude  /  but  at  least  it 
deserves  consideration.  Tiiere  are  not  wanting  compound  M'ord,  the  ele- 
ments of  which  no  longer  exists  in  the  language,  eg.  (Krtd)  dhvaj,  duly 
(agni),  &,c.  Moreover,  might  we  not  think  of  tracing  the  word  in  pur, 
a  fortified  magazine,  a  place  of  refuge  for  riches  during  tlie  attacks  of 
the  enemy.? — A.  vov^  on  jmramdhri.  The  term  belongs  to  classical  Sk. 
If  it  is  sufficiently  proved  that  its  proper  meaning  is  '  fruitful  wife,'  we 
might  think  of  decomposing  it  into  pura  +  dhr  +  i  (suffix).  Pwra  might 
have  the  meaning  of  '  body,'  which  might  be  traced  back  to  a  metaphor 
from  pur,  pura,  '  fortress  ;'  or  again,  separate  it  from  the  latter,  and  com- 
pare it  vi'iih.  purusha.  The  sense  would  then  be  :  '  virum  vel  corpus  (in 
utero)  tenens  femina.' 


A    BABYLONIAN   TABLET,  131 


A     BABYLONIAN    TABLET    DATED     IN     THE    REIGN 

OF    ASPASINE. 

By  the  kindness  of  W.  Lucas,  Esq.,  in  whose  possession  the  tablet  is, 
I  am  allowed  to  publish  this  most  interesting  and  valuable  text,  which 
I  copied  some  weeks  ago,  and  have  since,  off  and  on,  been  engaged  in 
studying.  Notwithstanding  the  attention  which  1  have  given  to  it,  I  am 
conscious  that  the  translation  is  not  so  sure  and  perfect  as  might  be 
wished.  Nevertheless  it  may  be  taken  as  giving,  fairly,  the  sense  of 
the  whole.  A  few  notes  at  the  end  explain  the  more  doubtful  ex- 
pressions. 

Transcription. 

1.  Sa     u-ba-' 

2.  Nabu-sum-usnr,  d.p.  sa[-tam] 

3.  Ultu    im-si-ri 

4.  Arah  Simmani,  I'lmu  salasserit,  sat'l^u 

5.  ^  As-pa-si-ni-e,  sarni     , 

6.  Arah  Aaru,  unui  esra-irbu,  sattu  estin  me  (samna-haniiit)  [^  As-pa-si-] 

7.  y  Bel  -  uiahar,    ^is  sa-tam  E-sag-gil  u  ^^s  Babilaa        [ni-e,  sarru. 

8.  ^iipuhru  sa  E-sag-gil  it-ti  a-ha-wes  im-niil-ku-u 

9.  u  ik-bu-u  um-ma  y  Itti-  >->|-Marduk-balatu,    ^s  Gal-du 

10.  eh  ali  ^i:  ub-bu-di-e-tu  sa  betani  ilani 

11.  ^:i  rit-tu  An-na  El-lil-la,  ablu  sa  |  Iddin-Bel 

12.  sa  ina  pana-ma  a-na  itti  |  As-pa-si-ni-e,  sarru, 
13 pu-ru  sa  hi-sih-ti  ina  hub  sarri 

14 -u  u  en-na  a-ga-a  i-ba-as-si 

15.  [Bel-ahi]-usur  u  f  Nabu-musetik-urri,  ^r^able-su 

16.  .  .  iiia-ia  na-sa-ri  sa  na-sar  ma-su-u 

17.  .   la-si  in-da-sal  ina  pa-ni  j  Bel-niahar  an-na-a 

18.  n  ^^  Bi'ibilaa     ^:=  puliru  sa  E-sag-gil 

19.  sa  ultu  iimu  an-na-a  sa  sattu-us-su 

20.  estin  nia-na  kasjti  kurmati  |  Itti-Marduk-balatu  a-na 

21.  ^=i  tibi-su-nu  a-na  |  Bel-ahe-usur  u  y  Nabu-umsctik-urri 

22.  ultu  hi-Bih-ti-ni  ni-nam-din-nu  lib-bu-u 

23.  mim-ma  sa  y  Itti-Marduk-balatu  ^:^  abi-sa-nu  is-su-u 

24.  sa  na-sar  i-na-as-sa-ru-u  u  tir-se-c-tu 

-5.  Sa  sattn-us-su  i-nani-din-nu-u.     lui  y  Beli-su-nu, 

26.  y  Nu-ur,  y  Mu-ra-nu,  y  Iddin-Bel,  y   Bcl-ahi-su, 

27.  ^  rit-tu  An-na  El-lil-la  u  ^>  rit-tu  An-na  El-lil-la 

.;8.  sa-nu-u-tu. 

( X  verv  indistinct  seal-impression.) 


13::!  A   BABYLONIAN  TABLET 

A     BABYLONIAN*  TABLET     DATED     IN     THE     REIGN 

OF     ASPASINE. 
Obversk. 

I      >^|FF    "^    JLa^    ^^    i2:i^-ry'A-r/C^r/Cy;ry^0ry'C^-r/A^^^^^ 

r  -.^TIKT-  ;^  «r  4  :t?T  ^r^T  U  <  ^ :?:?  ^  :[^ 
9  <  X^  1i-  -^  ^U  -^T  T  ^  ->f  I  V  ^  IT-  4^ 

<::^rcr  ^]]  ^  t^  ir  ^^}  ii"^  ^}  n--^  n- 

•^TIL  4f  -4-  ^I  -.^Ul  J^^ir  TMr^  ^  ¥  r  >^  ^>^Ul 
^^  ?  -  <r-  ^T      Tr  ^I  ^T<T  T  -^??  ?r  "r^y  j^.  ^?  j^ 

li^iMif^    <    -;i  Vy     yr    >^^    yr    ^    ;^y    y^    <y. 

'5  y  '^^rii  J...  m.  ^.^  <  T  -.^r;:y^r  m  4  ty<y  ^  y?  i^  i 


.-^  A  ."-^  A  ^-rr  A 


■  ^i^y  -^y  ^y  ]]  >yu  ?  ^y  fey  ^^y  im  -^^i 
li-^y  <y- 1>  'ty<yt^^  ^  j^iy  >;^yu  <y-  -4-  ^yi^ 

i8  <  ^  ^r  ^  i^  ^  .^y^  y  :^y  :^y^  n 

i\  K  V  F  Tl  '^  R 

¥  :^^y  4  ^  ->f  .4  y?  ¥  >^^  -Hh  ^4  ^Jfi  ^yy 
yy  "^y  ^4  ii^y  <¥  ^ti  y  ^  -4- 1  v  y?  ^ 
2 1  ^  -p-iy  I  «7^  y?  .4  y  ^^y;;.  ^.^  ^^.^<}  *;^y^y^y  ©  4  H^y 

2ff^y  4  ^"5:?  hK  j:^  j^  Hfft  V  -7^  «y  -^-  -^ 

tr  tT  ¥  y  4Py  -+1  \"  ^  •^'iT  I  -7^  j^yy  igy  -m 
-4  ¥  .^  in^iy  ^  ^y  ^^y]  v,^'m<  ^^?  ^y  ^?  4 
¥  -^  -+  ^y  1HZ  ^yy  ^  >yit  v  ^  -^  ^  y  -;u  -v^ 

y  >/■  IH  y  >^  ff  y  y-  y  >^  -y;j^  y  -yj;  ^^.  | 

2  7  ^  s^yiL  4  -4-  ^4f  ^.^yu  ^yy  y<  <  ^  ^.yiL  4  -4-  ^y  *;^yzi  ^yy  y< 


OF    ASPASINE  S    UEIGN.  133 

Tra7islation. 

1  Who  soim'ht 

2  Nal)u-surn-asur,    'sa[tam   of  E-saggil]    .... 

3  since  he  has 

4  Month   Sivan,   13tli  clay,  year 

5  Aspasine,   king •   •  •  • 

6  Month  lyyar,  day  24th,  year  185th,   [Aspasijne,  king 

7  Bcl-mahar,  satam  of  E-saggil,  and  the  Babylonians, 

8  the  CDngregation  of  E-saggil,  took  counsel  together, 

9  and  said  thus  :  Itti-Mardnk-balatu,   the    Galdu 

10  over  thecity  of  the  ministers  (or  temple-servants)  of  the  housesof  the  gods 

11  the  priest  of  Anu  (and)  Bel,    the   son  of  Iddin-Bel, 

12  wlio  formerly  at  the  side  of  Aspasine  the  king 

13  [stood?],  who  want   in  the  gate  of  the  king, 

14  [relieved?],  and  therefor  it  is 

\b    [that   Bel-ahe]-usur  and  Nabu-nuisetik-nrri,  his  sons 

16  [they  ?]    all   the    keep   which  he  keeps  find 

1 7  [thus  ?]   was  it  delivered  (?)  before  this  Bel-mahar 

18  and  the  Babylonians,  the  congregation   of  E-saggil 

19  that   '•  from  tliis  day  of  this  year 

20  one  mana  of  silver  for  the  sustenance  of  Itti-Marduk-balatu,  to 

21  their  father,  foi-  Bel-ahe-usur  and    Nabu-musetik-urri, 

22  from  om-  need  we  will  give."   The  amount 

23  as  much  as  Itti-Marduk-balatu,,  their  father,  has  taken, 

24  for  (his)  keep  they  shall  keep,  and  the  grant 

25  for  this  year  they  shall  give.     With  Beli-sunu  : 

26  Nur:  Muranu;  Iddin-Bel;  Bel-ahi-sunu; 

27  tin>  priest  of  Ann  (and)  Bel ;  and   the   priest  of  Anu    (and)    Bel 

28  the  second. 

Free  rendering  (without  the  five  mutilated  lines  at  the  beginning). 

"In  the  month  lyyar,  the  24th  day,  year  185th,  Aspasine  (being)  king, 
Bel-mahar,  director  of  E-saggil,  and  the  Babylonians,  the  congregation  of 
E-saggil,  took  counsel  together  and  said  thus  :  '  Itti-Marduk-balatu.  the 
Galdu  over  the  city  of  the  servants  of  the  houses  of  the  gods,  the  scribe  of 
Anu  (and)  Bel.  the  son  of  Iddin-Bel,  who  formerly  [stood  ?]  at  the  side  of 
Asjiasine,    tlie    king,  (and)    who    [relieved?]  want  in  the  gate  of  the  king 

(and  therefore  it  is  tiiai  [Bel-ahe]-usur  and  Nabii-musetik-urri,  his  sons. 
fiml  all  his  keep)  [thus  be  it  enacted]  in  the  presence  of  the  aforesaid 
,  Bcl-mahar  and  the  liabylonians,  the  congregation  of  E-saggil,  that  "  from 
this  (l;iy  of  this  year  we  will  give  one  mana  of  silver,  the  sustenance  of  Itti- 
Marduk-balatu,  for  their  father,  to  Bel-ahe-usur  and  Nabu-musetik-urri, 
from  our  [own]  necessities.  The  food,  as  much  as  Itti-Marduk-balatu, 
their  father,  has  taken,  they  shall  keej)  for  his  keep,  and  they  shall  give 
the  grant  for  this  year.'  (Done  in  company)  with  Beli-iunu;  Nur;  Muranu: 
Iddin-Bel  ;  Bel-ahi-sunu  :  the  priest  of  Anu  and  Bel.  and  the  second 
priest  Anu  and   Bel." 

The  translation  lien;  given  is,  of  course,  only  a  tentative  one, — the  mn 
tilation   of  the  first    five  lines,  and  the  incomplete  state  of  lines  13-17,  na- 
tural!"   make  the   sense  somewhat  uncertain,      1  believe,  liowever,  that  the 
drift  of  the  whole  is  correctly  made  out. 


184  A    BABYLONIAW   TABLET 

Galdu  (better,  perhaps,  Kaldu)  in  line  9,  is  generally  translated 
■"  Clialdean."  It  has  lost  its  original  signification,  and  here  indicates 
simply  an  order  of  priests. 

Ubbudetu,  in  line  10,  is  probably  from  the  same  root  as  dhdu  "  servant." 
From  this  it  would  seem  that  the  termination  -viu,  generally  used  to  denote 
classes  of  persons,  had  been  changed  (at  least  in  this  case)  io-etu.  Ubbu. 
detu  might,  liowever,  mean  the  female  temple-servants,  but  these  one  would 
hardly  expect  to  have  a  city  exclusively  for  the.iiselves,  as  the  words  imply. 
Anna  Ellilla(I)  {=Ana  ElliUa  )  I  have  translated  (lines  11,  26,  &  27) 
as  "  Anu  (and)  Bel,"  but  it  is  possible  that  it  is  a  compound  name,  Alia- 
Bel,  indicating  a  confusion  of  these  two  deities.  Or  can  it  signify  "  the 
divine  Bel"  or  "  heavenly  Bel"  ?  Ana  EU'dla  are  Akkadian  words. 

The  characters  ^^^'-^f  ^*-  ^^  'tl^T'i^  ^^  *^^®  beginning  of  line  17  I 
cannot  translate.  The  rendering  that  I  have  given  is  therefore  enclosed 
in  brackets. 

Tirsetu  in  line  24  I  have  regarded  as  being,  possibly,  for  tirsetu,  from 
rasa  "  to  have"  ("to  grant").  Though  interchange  between  pand  ^  takes 
place  sometimes,  yet  it  is  not  by  any  means  certain  in  this  case. 

In   consequence  of  the  type  being  unsuitable,   many  of  the  characters 
could    be  only  approximatively  given.     Thus  the  character  si  (lines  3,  5, 
12  and    24)  should  have  been  printed  with   the  lower  horizontal  wedge 
touching  the  left-hand  upright  one,  and  the  three  horizontal  wedges  of  as 
(1.  14)  should  also  touch  the  upright.     The  form  of  im  should  be,  through- 
out, more  like  that  of  lines  11,  12,  &c.,  though  this  is  not  quite  correct- 
Characters  which,  in  older  inscriptions,  are  generally  written  with  a  hor- 
izontal  wedge   at  the  top,  have  this  wedge  omitted  in  the  present  text 
(ffil,   I.  7,   &c.  ;    ku,   1.  8  ;  iim,  1.  9  ;  sar,  1.   16  ;   &c.)      I  believe,  there, 
fore,  that  I  have  copied  the  lu  (=7nusetik),  in  line  21,  incorrectly.    The 
character  lal    (la  in  Ellilla)  ought  to  have  a  large  wedge  slanting  down- 
wards, not  a  "  corner-wedge."      The  character  for  din,  though  something 
like  mat  on  the  original,  yet  differs  somewhat  from  it.      This  peculiarity, 
also,  conld  not  be  reproduced. 

The  end  of  this  enactment  was  apparently  to  relieve  Bel-ahc-fisur  and 
Nabfi-musetik-firri  from  the  burden  of  keeping  their  father,  apparently  an 
old  and  respected  member  of  the  priesthood,  who  had  the  royal  favour  of 
Aspasine,  and  who,  being  of  a  charitable  nature,  had  impoverished  him- 
self in  ministering  to  the  needs  of  the  poor  of  the  Babylonian  congrega- 
tion, which  had,  most  likely,  experienced  very  hard  times  in  consequence 
of  the  many  vicissitudes  which  they  must  have  gone  through.  The  con- 
gregation felt  it  to  be  their  duty  to  help  him,  and  they  decided  to  do  so, 
stipulating  only,  that  his  two  sons  should  keep  their  father  for  the  re- 
mainder of  the  year  (11  months)  out  of  what  he  had  collected  for  him- 


135  OF  aspasink's  reign. 

self,  and  they  were  probably  also   to  make  up  any   deficiency  that  might 
exist. 

With  regard  to  the  question  when  this  contract  was  drawn  up,  it  is  to 
be  noted  that  Vespasian  reigned  from  69  to  79  a.d.,  and  the  date  of  this 
tablet,  if  Aspasine  is  to  be  identified  with  him,  therefore  falls  between 
these  limits.  I  have  been  unable  to  find  out,  however,  to  what  era  the 
year  185  refers,  and  put  forward,  therefore,  the  conjecture  that  it  means 
tiie  185th  year  after  the  reconstitution  of  E-s^aggil  at  Babylon.  Pro- 
b.ih'iy,  however,  some  chronologist,  well  acquainted  with  that  period, 
may  be  able  to  give  a  better  solution. 

The  form  of  the  name  of  king  Aspasine  agrees  with  that  of  the 
later  (Rabbinic)  Hebrew  form  of  the  name  of  Vespasian,  OIJ'^'^DCDi^  ^^^ 
C  "l^i^'^DCD^^i -A-ramaic  Qoni  tfr>'^{T)(.  The  Assyrians  and  Babylonians  had 
a  dislike  for  an  initial  v  or  w,  hence  the  absence  of  that  Ittter.  It  is  more 
difficult,  though,  to  account  for  the  ending -ine  instead  of -mno^  (in  Baby- 
loni  in  it  would  be  -ianus  or  -ianussu,  a  form  which  may  yet  be  found) 
Tlie  long  e  at  the  end  is  possibly  compensation  for  the  change  of  ia 
into  simple  i  before  the  last  consonant.  Theo.  G.  Pinchks. 

•^•Thinking  at  first,  though  not  satisfied,  that  .\spasine  was  Vespasian, 
I  (;oii>iiltt!d  several  learned  friends  on  thesiibject,  and  tliey  all  unanimou^^ly 
agreed  that  this  identification  was  correct.     I  had  looked  through  a  great 
many  biographical    dictionaries  without   finding  any  name   which  agreed 
better.     Philological  reasons  alone  kept  me  from  looking  under  the  head- 
ing "  Hys,"   under  which,  in  Pape's    Worterhuch  dcr  gr/echischen  Eigen- 
nnmen,  the  name  Hyspasines*    (see  Prof,  de   Lacouperie's   valuable  and 
exliaustive  article)  is  duly  registered.     From  the  style  of  the  tablet,  and 
and  the  date  (year   185)  which  it  bear;?,  it  ought  to  be  of  the  Selencian 
era.     If,  however,   Aspasine  be  really    Hyspasines,  the  Babylonian  form 
seems  to  be  irregular.     Hystaspes,  for  instance,  appears  in  Babylonian  as 
Udtfis/ii  ■''the  first  sibilant  corresponds  with  the  Hebrew  ?^),  not  Astaspi. 
Even  if  Aspasine  be  regarded  as  derived  from  the  shortened  form  Spasines, 
it  is  still  irregular,  for  according  to  the  analogy  of  istaterranu,  "  staters," 
the  initial  vowel  ought  to  be  I   (Ispasine)  rather  than  a.     I  have  there- 
fore modified  the  above  article  so  far  as  to  leave  tlie  identification  of  the 
king's  name  doubtful.        I  believe,  however,  that   Prof,    de   Lacouperie 
is  riglit.  T.  G.  p. 


•■' 'Yff7r«<7/)//;v,  king  in  Charar,  by  the  Red  Sea,   .  .  .  see  ^Traatvn^  and 
aaivri<i. 


186 


HYSPAOSINES       AND 


HYSPAOSTNES,     KHARACENIAN     KING     OF    BABYLON, 

ON  A  BABYLnNIAN  TABLET  DATED  127  a.  C,  AND 

THE     A RS AC/AN     ERA,     248    a.  c. 

1.  The  number  185  for  the  year,  joined  to  the  name  of  A  s  pas  i  n  e  being 
then  king,  on  a  Bab\'lonian  tablet^  which  my  learned  coHaborateur,  Mr. 
Theo,  G.  Pinches,  has  justpubhshed  in  the  B.  &  O.R.,  suggests  to  me  that 
we  ought  to  recognize  it  simply  as  another  instance  of  the  Seleucian  Era, 
and  therefore  that  we  have  here  a  new  fact  of  a  little  known  period  of 
the  history  of  Babylon.  The  Seleucian  era  is  known  to  have  been  long 
in  use  in  Babylon,  where  it  was  established  on  the  first  of  October  312 
a.  c.  by  Seleucus  I.  on  the  occasion  of  the  event,  important  for  him,  of 
his  conquest  of  the  famous  city.  Numerous  inscriptions  hitherto  described 
or  translated  are  dated  after  it. 

Another  era  has  been  used  also  on  some  Babylonian  tablets,  namely  that 
of  the  Arsacida?,  but  it  is  of  no  avail  in  the  case  as  no  name  of 
king  would  suit.  Should  I  be  right,  as  the  sequel  of  this  too  long  note 
will  show  to  my  readers,  the  date  of  this  tablet  shall  have  to  be  added 
to  the  few  data  we  now  possess  on  the  founder  of  the  Kharacenian  kingdom. 
This  state,  the  capitalcity  of  which  was  Spasinou  Kharax  on  the  Tigris  near 
the  Persian  Gulf,  was  established  in  129a.c.,  and  lasted  until  228  of  our  era- 
It  was  a  part  of  the  Mesene,  which  extended  from  the  Persian  Gulf  to 
Seleucia.  In  history  they  cannot  always  be  separated  easily  from  one 
another.^  So  little  is  known  about  that  history  beyond  the  scraps  of  in_ 
formation  gathered  from  several  classical  and  Oriental  authors',  that  the 
exact  names  and  series  of  the  kings  could  be  learned  only  from  the 
evidence  of  their  coins.'* 

2.  For  the  sake  of  our  readers  interested  in  chronology,  it  should  be  re- 
membered that  the  Seleucian  era  (October  312  a.c.,)  was  used  in  Babylonia 
from  the  beginning^,  as  in  the  other  countries  of  the  great  empire  of 
Alexander  :  but  from  about  the  year  123  until  80  a.c,  the  Arsacian  era, 
younger  by  64  years,  was  conjointly  mentioned  in  the  inscriptions,  and 
succeeded  eventually  the  Seleucian  era.  Let  us  illustrate  these  state- 
ments by  a  few  instances  where  we  shall  see,  at  the  same  time,  that  the 
Babylonian  calendar  remained  in  use^  notwithstanding  the  adoption  of 
these  foreign  eras. 


THE      ARSACIAN      ERA.  137 

8.  One  of  the  best  testimonies  consists  in  a  chronological  tablet  which 
Mr.  T.  G.  Pinches  has  deciphered  and  published  in  188-4.^  It  gives  a 
series  of  dates  from  42-t  to  190  a.c,  the  latter  being  the  "213tli  year  mark- 
ed-SV,  ai)ndged  form  of  Siluku  <ir  Seleucns.  They  are  arranged  by  intervals 
of  18  years  as  for  the  calcnlatioii  of  a   cycle  of  that   length. 

The  years  are  the  I'.ttli  of /)(i/'a?'«3,  or  Darius  II,  405  a.c;  the  «th 
and  26th  <  f  Artaksatf't,  or  Artaxerces  II,  387  and  369  a.c.:  the  8th  year 
of  Urasu,  or  Ochos.  351  a.c  :  tin'  3r(l  year  of  Daravu's,  or  Darius  IJI, 
333  a.c,  the  3rd  year  of  Antigu,  or  Antigonus  315  a.c:  the  next  entries 
are  XV,  XXXIII,  LI,  and  LXIX  Si  for  Siluku,  thus  making  312  for 
the  Hrst  year  Si,  i.e.  the  Seleucian  era;  the  other  entries  are  LXXXVII, 
CV  and  so  forth  until  CCXIII;  but  after  the  year  LXIX  or  243  a.c. 
unto  the  end,  i.  e.  until  the  year  CCXIII  or  99  a.c,  there  is  no  such  sign 
as  Si.  Tiie  continuation  of  the  addition  of  years  shows  that  the  Si  era 
was  still  employed;  although  the  non-repetition  cf  Si  seems  to  indicate  an 
liesitation  from  the  scribe  when  stiliing  tha  tablet,  as  if  something  had 
happened  between  the  years  243  and  'J  2  5.  Unless  it  be  simply  because  he 
has  left  his  tablet  unfinished,  as  the  lapse  of  Si  just  occurs  from  the  first 
line  of  the  reverse.  I  understand  the  hesitation  possible,  because  a  new  era 
had  been  started  by  the  Arsacidae  from  248  a.c,  in  competition  with  the 
Seleucian,  and  the  Babylonian  scribe  must  have  been  acquainted  with 
this  fact. 

4.  Taking  our  examples  from  tlie  British  Museum  Guide  to  the  Nim- 
roud  Central  Saloon,**  and  from  a  few  others,  we  find  a  sufficient  num- 
ber of  instances  to  illustrate  the  matter  and  make  it  clear  with  reference  to 
the  Aspasine  document. 

\  tablet  No.  109,  p.  123  is  dated,  in  the  fifth  year  of  Antigunusu,  the 
chief  of  the  people,  (notthe  king),  i.e.  Antigonus,  313  a.c* — As  Seleucus 
was  then  contesting  Babylon,  which  he  won  from  Antigonus  a  year  after- 
wards, this  circumstance  explains  probably  the  peculiar  title  attributed  to  An- 
tigunusu. Then  N.).  36,  ii.73,  a  tablet,  referring  seemingly  to  the  calculation 
of  e-.-lipsesand  some  astrological  matters,  mentions  the  following  years:  the 
Xlth  year,  .SV  (Seleucus)  beingking  "(301  a.c.)  the  LlXthyear  An.  t  Auti- 
ochus)  being  kijig"  (253a.c)  and  "the  CXXXlVth  year.  Si  (Seleucus 
being  kiiig"(178  a.c).  A  broken  tablet.No.  28,  p.  70,contains  ajiparently 
astrological  calculations  for  the  34th  and  35th  years,  probably  of  the  Sel- 
eucian era.  (i78and  277  a.c)  the  23rd  year  (289  a.c)  Seleucus  and  An- 
tiochus  being  then  kings,  and  the  98th  year  (214  a.c.)  being  during 
the  reign  oi  Antiochus  the  Great.^** 


lo'>  HYSPAOSINES    AND 

No.  Ill,  p.  123.  a  tablet  from  Warka,  is  dated  "  Erech,  18th  day  of 
Nisan.  G.'^tli  year,  Siliiku  king,"  or  Soleucus  II,  244  a.c.  Another  tablet, 
No.  112,  p.  124,  from  the  same  place  is  dated:  "  Erech,  27th  day  of  Ni- 
san,  78tb  year,  Sihiku,  king."  or  April  234  a.c,  tlie  12th  year  of  Se- 
leueu-;   If. 

A  loan  of  silver,  tablet  No.  ll;'>.  p.  124,  was  made  to  be  returned  on 
the  2nd  day  of  Ivyar,  in  the  94th  year,  Anti'okkusu  being  then  king,  or 
in  218a.c.under  Antiochus  III. 

'l"o  resume,  we  have  liitherto  seen  a  series  of  dates  undoubtedly  Seleu- 
cian.  running  fmm  XI  to  '■  XXXIV  Sel.,  or  301  to  178  a.  c. 

5.  Our  next  documental  evidence  about  elironolugy  is  a  Babylonian  ta- 
blet publisbed  liy  the  Rev.  P.  N.  Strassmaier,  and  dated  in  the  year  108, 
Arsaka,  hfing  king.  The  era  cannot  be  but  Arsaoian.  In  the  108th 
Seleuci.'in  year,  or  -'04  a.c,  Bal)ylon  was  in  the  liands  of  the  Seleucida- 
anil  iiticelius  the  Great  was  tlie  king,^iwhile  the  Parthian  ruler  Pria- 
patius  wa>  still  very  far  from  the  Chaldean  city  where  the  name  of  Arsace 
was  yet  unknown.'^  Tliis  new  chronological  departure  is  liiglily  interest- 
ing, and  confirms  an  important  historical  event. 

All  this  period  of  the  history  of  Babylonia  is  eventful  and  intermixed. 
In  161-160,  Timarchus,  a  satrap  of  Media  had  proclaimed  himself  king 
of  Babylon^-^  Inscriptions  of  his  time  would  be  worthy  of  attention  un- 
der that  res]iect. 

Later  on,  during  the  years  153  to  ]  39  a.c.  the  great  Parthian  King 
Arsaces  VI  or  Mithridates  I,  bad  subjected  all  the  country  east  of  the 
Euphrates,  including  Persia,  Elym.-^a  and  Babylonia.  The  tablet  just 
referred  to  and  dated  in  \08  of  the  Arsacian  era,  or  in  140  a.c,  as  we 
sliiill  see  furtlier  on.  was  without  doubt  inscribed  in  liis  time.  It  is  the 
first  instance  wfc  bavc  board  of  it  in  Babylonia,  and  therefore  it  deserves 
to  be  specially  noticed.  Indeed  we  could  not  expect  that  the  proud  and 
independent  Arsacian  monarch,  full  of  his  successes,  after  having  estab- 
lislied  liis  power  in  tlie  very  focus  of  the  Seleitcidae,  would  have  contin- 
U'll  tht'Ti'  to  date  his  years  from  an  era  started  from  the  most  glorious 
feat  of  bis  vanquished  foes  the  Seleucida\  Therefore  the  anamolous  <lat- 
ifg  of  that   talilet    is  easily  explained. 

The  Mesene  and  Oharacene  regions  had  thus  become  parts  of  the 
doiiiinii'iis  of  Mithridates  :  but  this  Arsacian  occupation  did  not  last 
4ong,  as  all  his  new  conquests  returned  after  bis  death  in  136  a.c.  to 
tbe  Seleucidiv^'^.  Antiochus  Sidetes,  136-129  a.c.  had  in  the  ^Icsene  a 
governor  named  Nuiiienius.  ^•''  At  the  death  of  that  Seleucian  king  the 
Kharacene  became  independent^''. 


THE  ARSACIAX  KRA.  130 

6.  It  was  only  a  supposition  that  the  Mcsene  had  also  at  the  same  date 
thrown    away  the   yoke  of  the  Seleucidse.     The  statement  of  the  Baby- 
lonian tablet  which  is  the  occasion  of  the  present  note,  if  I  understand  it 
rightly,   malves   tliis  supposition  a  certainty,   in   connection  with  several 
of  the  documents  previously  referredto.   In  129  a  c.  a  satrap  of  A.ntiochu3 
in  charge  of  the  provinces  near  the  Tigris,  and  named  H n  s p  n  o  .<  i  n  e  .<?, 
the  Spascnes  of  the  classical  authors^'',  son   of  Sogonadaces,    seized  all 
the  towns  of  Kharacene,  and  a  part  if  not  the  whole  of  Mesene,  and  es- 
tablished a  new  kingdom  with  Antiochia  as  its  capital  city.     This  town, 
was  the  old  port  of  Alexandria,  which  Antiochus  III  had   rebuilt  about 
20+  a.c.   after  its  destruction  by  the  waters  of  the  river,  and  called  An- 
tinchia^^.     Partly  destroyed   again  by   the  same  causes,  it  was  rebuilt  by 
Hyspaosines   who  called  it  Spasinou-Kharax,  a  name  preserved  by   the 
classical  writers^^,  and  meaning  the  "  stronghold  of    Spasinou^^."      It  is 
said  to  be  the  modern    Muhammrah  near  the  Karun  river.^^ 

The  exact  spelling  of  his  name  has  been  disclosed  only  in  1866  by 
one  of  his  coins,  published  by  M.  de  Prokesch-Osten,^^  and  dated  in  the 
year  188  Sel.  or  124  a.c.  The  Babylonian  tablet  fits  in  most  satisfac- 
torily, with  its  date  of  the  I85th  year,  or  127  a.c.,  namely  two  years 
after  the  foundation  of  his  kingdom.  It  shows  that  Hyspaosines 
or  As pasine  Vmi^  at  Babylon  in  127  a.c.  according  to  its  Seleucian  date, 
the  only  one  which  a  Seleucian  officer  could  employ.  It  shows  also 
that  127  a.c.  was  not  his  first  year  of  royalty  at  Babylon.  Itti  Marduk 
Baladu,  in  whose  favour  the  contract  object  of  the  inscription  was  made, 
is  described  as  the  Kaldu,  or  Chaldean,  -'who  formerly  (stood  ?)  at  the; 
side  of  Aspasine  the  king."  This  may  liaTe  begun  while  Aspasine  was 
still  tlie  Satra])  of  Antiochus  ;  but  there  is  another  proof.  The  five 
mutilated    lines  at    the  beginning    refer    to  the   '"  13th     day   of    Sivan 

year  .' ,  Aspasine  king,"  while    the   second    statement  is    dated 

tlie  24th  day  of  lyyar  ;  therefore  the  first  month  named,  Sivan,  must 
belong  to  a  ))revious  year,  the  preceeding  one  at  the  least. 

My  identification  of  the  A."  p  a  sine  of  the  Babylonian  tablet  with  H  }i- 
s  p<(  0  H  i  n  I'  s  of  the  coin,^''  considering  that  the  first  is  the  cuneiform 
and  tlie  second  the  Greek, -^  and  taking  into  account  the  Palmyrenian 
spelling    A  s pa  f<  i  n  a,  is  sufficiently  close  not  to  be  doubted. 

7.  The  domination  of  Aspasine  or  Hyspaosines  over  Babylon,  any- 
how, did  not  last  long,  (two  years  at  the  utmost)  as  the  Parthians  recov- 
ered at  that  time,  their  lost  power  on  the  famous  towt).  We  know  t]:at 
the  Ar.sacian  king  Phraates  II  established  then  as  governor  of    i3abylon  a 


140  HYSPAOSINES     AND 

vicekriHs'^^  uained.  Hiaierus.  He  is  described  bj  Pusidonius  as  jou  jupawT^- 
aavTu  jia^vXwviwv  under  Phiaates.^'  Himerus,  in  his  turn,  assumed  at  a 
certain  dale  after  127  a.c.  tlu'  title  of  king  of  Babylon,  with  the  qualifica- 
tion of  Arsacian,  and  during  his  few  years  of  royalty ,  i.e.,  until  123 
a.c.  he  put  ti)  fire  and  sword  the  Mesene  and  Kharacene,^^  The  chro- 
nological statements  of  another  series  of  Babylonian  tablets  come  here 
to  the  rescue,  and  show  that  in  128  a.c.  the  Arsacean  era  had  been  re- 
established  in  Babylon,  not  alone  but  concurrently  with  the  Seleucian,  and 
this  was  the  work  of  Himerus. 

8.  The  tablet  next  in  date  to  those  we  have  quoted  from  the  Guide,  is 
the  No,  20,  p.  70,  and  contains  this  important  evidence.  It  was  written 
in  "the  125th  year,  which  is  the  189th  year,  Arsaka  king,"  thus  indi- 
cating two  eras,  the  Arsacian  and  Seleucian,  at  64  years  distance  the  one 
from  the  other.-^"  The  year  named  first  must,  as  a  matter  of  course, 
have  been  the  most  im])ortant  of  the  two  with  reference  to  the  Arsacian 
king,  and  therefore  must  be  Arsacian  and  not  Seleucian  ;  on  the  other 
hand  the  second  figure,  which  is  given  like  a  confirmation  required  by  an 
ancient  liabit  of  reckoning  differently,  caimot  be  other  than  the  Seleuc- 
ian. The  year  referred  to  is  thus  123  a.c.,*^^  which  fits  perfectly  well 
y\ith  our  previous  knowledge  of  Himerus  Arsaces  then  king  in  Babylonia. 

Another  tablet,  No.  116,  p.  125,  dated:  12th  day  of  Sebat,  15lth 
year,  which  is  tlie  218th  year,  Arsaka  king,"  is  another  instance  29  later 
of  the  use  of  the  double  era.  A  third  case  is  that  of  the  astronomical 
tiiblet  translated  by  Dr.  J.  Oppert.  which  is  dated:  13th  Nisaii,  in  tlie 
year  IdSth  which  is  tlie  252nd,  under  an  Arsaka  king.^-  The  dates  of  the 
two  latter  tablets  were  therefore  94  atid  80  a.c,  covering  with  the  first 
a  lapse  of  at  least  44  years  during  which  the  double  era  was  in  use  at 
Bab3d()ii. 

No  doulit  reiuaius  in  our  mind  that  this  chronological  equivalence  is 
the  inio  one.  The  extra  evidence  here  adduced  is,  however,  conclusive. 
Tlie  highest  numbers,  189,  218  and  232  in  the  three  tablets  cannot  indi- 
cate the  Arsacian  era,  or  •59,  *53,  and  *lfJ  a.c.  As  the  smaller  figures 
125,  125,  154.  16!)  could  not  then  be  Seleucian  and  refer  lo  a  common 
imaginary  date  •IHI  a.c,  when  tlie  Arsaciau  had  not  yet  yet  been  heard 
of  ill  Babylon.  As  to  a  new  era,  it  is  out  of  the  question,  as  in  that 
year  and  afterwards  the  Seleucian  era  was  in  full  swing,  as  shown  plainly 
by  the  ohrouological  talilet.  and  also  an  asirological  one  (No.  30)  referred  to. 

',).   Therefore  ii  is  clear  from  the  v.irious  evidence  adduced  and  tlie  testi- 


THE    AR8ACIAN     KRA.  HI 

mony  of  the  tablets  themselves,  that  the  smaller  figures  are  those  of  the 
Arsacian  era,  64  years  younger  than  the  Seleuciaii,  i.e.,  248  a.c.  Ihat 
year  248  a.c,  is  one  next  to  that  of  the  Consuls  C.  /  tilius  Regains  and 
\j.  Munlins  Valso  in  504  of  Rome,  whom  Justinus  corrected  has  mention- 
ed'^   with  reference  to  the  beginning  of  the  Arsacida». 

This  unequivocal  appearance  of  the  Arsacian  era  is  peculiarly  interesting 
as  the  Arsacidai  themselves  did  not  use  it,  so  far  as  goes  the  testimony 
of  their  coins*^ ;  their  legends  are  in  (Jreek.  tht^  dates  are  marked  in 
Greek  letters,  the  era  is  the  Seleucian,  and  the  Macedonian  months  are 
those  referred  to  on  the  tetradrachms  from  Phraates  IV.  An.  276  Sel. 
and  afterwards.  Therefore  the  Arsacian  era  cannot  have  been  established 
in  Babylonia  but  on  tlie  occasion  of  some  momentous  circumstance.  And 
this  momentous  circumstance  we  have  seen  to  be  the  capture  of  Babylon 
by  the  Arsacian  Mithridates    I. 

10.  After  the  year  80  a.  c,  date  of  the  last  quoted  tablet,  the  system 
of  dating  with  a  double  era  was  soon  given  uj),  as  shown  by  the  fol- 
lowing inscriptions,  and  the  Arsacian  era  was  employed  henceforth  alone. 

A  tablet.  No.  27, p.  70,  refers  to  the  145th  and  I76th  years  and  is 
dated  in  the  "•  194th  year,  Arsaka  king",  or  73,  72  and  54  a.  c. 
Another  tablet,  No.  25,  p.  70,  is  dated  "201st  year,  Arsaka  king,"  or 
47  a.  c.  A  third  tablet  mentioned  in  the  same  work,  No.  117,  p.  12t!, 
is  dated  :  "  30th  day  of  lyyar,  219th  year,  Arsaka  king  of  kings, "^^  or 
29  a.  c.^**  The  exact  date  of  these  various  tablets  is  tlius  far  well  es- 
tablished, as  shows  this  simple  remark  that,  if  the  figures  were  Silencian, 
their  dates  would  be  118,  111  and  93  a.  C,  just  within  the  period  wli'-n 
tlie  double  era  was  employed  at  Babylon. 

11.  To  resume.  From  the  documental  evidence  we  have  been  able 
to  adduce  here,  it  appears  that  in  Babylonia  the  Selucian  era  1st  Oct, 
312  a.  c.  was  employed  without  interruption  until  178  •■>.  C,  Further 
evidence  is  required  to  show  between  that  date  and  140,  when  it  ceased  to 
be  used,  as  in  140  a.  c.  under  the  reign  of  Mithridates  I,  in  Babylon, 
the  Arsacian  era  was  in  use.  In  129-127  a.  C,  Hypaosines.  a  king  ol' 
Seleucian  origin,  revived  the  Seleucian  era.  But  in  123  a.  o,,  when  tiic 
I'arthian  rule  had  been  reestablished,  tlie  two  eras  Seleucian  312  a.  c.  and 
Arsacian  248  a,  c.  were  employed  conjointly  until  80  u.  c.  and  perhaps 
a  little  later.  From  73  to  29  a.  c.  the  last  dated  of  the  tablets  we  have 
referred  to,  the  Arsacian  era  alone   was  in  current  use. 

The  satisfactory  manner  with  which  tliese  various  data  fit  one  anotiicr 
historically,  permits  me  to  believe  that   I  am  right  in  identifying  Aspasin.' 


^  \2  HYSPAOSINES    AND 

king    at  Baliylon    in    the    I85th    year  (Sel.  or   127  a.  c)   with    Hyspao- 
*ines  or  Aspasiiia,   the  Kharaceniau  kiii.^'  who  began  liis  rule  in    129  a.c. 

Trrrikn  de  Lacouperie. 


NOTE  8. 

1)  Dated  :  "In  the  nMiith  lyyur,  the  24th  ilay,  year  I8r)th,  Aspas- 
ine  kina^. 

2)  Of.  Saint  Martin,  RecherrJwf^  .<ur  rhistoire  et  la  geoqmphte  de  la 
Me'seae  et  de  la  Chnraoenr.,  Paris,  188S;  J.  T.  Reinaud,  Memolre  ■'^w  le 
commencement  et  la  fin  du  Royaume  de  la  Mesene  et  de  la  Characene^ 
Paris.  IBfil  ;  and  1864  with  additions  ;  also,  G.  Rawlinson,  in  his 
work  on  The  sixth  Great    Oriental   Monarchy,  1873. 

8)  Such  as  Pliny,  Strabo,  I'tolemy  ;  and  Tabari,  Hamzah  Ispahani, 
Ibn-el-Athir,  Yacut,  Abulfeda. — Lucian.  Josephus,  Dion  Oassius  have 
preserved  in  an  altered  form  the  names  of  several  of  their  kini,'s,  which 
had  to  be  rectified  by  numismatic  deciphermenrs. 

4)  On  the  numismatic  evidence  cf.  Visconti,  Iconographie  Ancienne, 
l811,  who  was  the  first  to  identify  Kharacenian  coins  ;  Victor  Lang- 
lois,  jSfumi/^matique  de."  Arabes  avant  Vlslamisme,  4to,  Paris,  1859, 
acd  his  Lettre  to  R.  Ch?lon  sur  des  Medailles  des  Dynastes  de  la  Mesene, 
Bruxelles,  1862  ;  W.  Wad'lington,  Melanges  de  Numismatique,  t.  Il, 
1866,  sq.  ;  De  Prokesch-Osten  :  Ntimisinatische  Zeitschrift,  Vienna, 
1869,  ^c.  ;  A.  do  Longperier  :  Revue  Numrsmutique,  1863,  1874  ; 
Von  Sallet  :  Zeitschriftfilr  Numismatik,  Berlin,  t.  VITT,  1881,  p. 
215-239.  M.  E.  Drouin  has  lately  published  Revue  de  Niimismatiqae, 
Paris,  1889,  pp.  211,  o61,  sq.  a  decipherment  of  the  Semitic  legends 
on  the  coins  of  t'le  successors  of  the  Greek  kings  at  Kharax  ;  and  in 
a  more  recent  paper  iVotice  historique  et  geographique  sur  la  Chara- 
cene  :  Le  Museon,  April,  1890  and  Reprint,  Paris,  Leroux,  24  pp. 
he  has  given  a  clear  resume  of  the  subject. 

5)  We  give  beilow,  §4,  an  instance  of  the  Xlth  year  Seleucian.  Dr.  J. 
Oppert,  Inscription  d'Antiochus  I.  Soter:  Melanges  Renier,  1886,  pp. 
217-231,  and  Recaed  d,^ Assyriologie,  t.  I,  p.  102,  has  published  an  in- 
scription dated  in  the  43rd  year,  20 th  day  of  Adar,  Anti'  ku-us  being 
king. — therefore  in  269  a.  c. 

6)  And  it  remained  so,  long  afterwards.  At  Zurich,  where  it  is  jireserved. 
The  latest  Assyrian  inscription  :  J.  Op})ert  :  Records  of  the  past, 
1878,  ■".  XI,:  is  still  so  dated  :  "  Babylon,  in  the  month  of  Kislev,  the 
3rd  day,  in  the  Vth  year  of  Pikharis,  king  of  Persia,"  or  December 
81  p.c,  under  Paorus  II  of  Persia.  Cf.  J.  Oppert,  L'lnsrnpfion 
cnneiforme  la  plus  moderne  connue  :  Melanges  d'Archeologie  Egypt- 
ienne  et  Assyrienne,  Nov.  1872,  t.  i,  pp.  23--J9  ;  also,  A.  H.  Sayce, 
Lectures  upon  the  Assyrian  language,  1-^77,  p.  41-42. 

7)  Proc.  Soc.  Bihl.  Arch.,  May  6,  1884,  pp,  202-204;  and,  Guide  to 
the  Nimroud  Central   Saloon,  p.  70,  p.  31. 

8)  Compiled  by  M.  Theo  G.  Pinches  and  published  in  1880. 

9)  A  tablet  No.  108,  ''p.  l.:3,  is  dated,  IVth  year  Fillipsu  king.— 
Another  one,  No.  110,  p.  123  is  dated:  Fourth  day  of  Sivan,  sixth  year 
of  Alexander,  son  of  Alexander. 


THE    AKSACIAN     ERA.  148 

10)  I  quote  from  the  desoription  given  l)y  Mr.  T.  G.  1  indies  in  the  above 
Guide,  where  iiowever  i  substitute  Antiochus  the  Great  for  Antioeiius 
Theos,  as  the  latter  was  not  ruling  at  the  time. 

11)  A  tablet  No.  12  in  P.  Strassmaier's  publication  is  dated  in  the  94th 
year,  Antiochus  king,  ir21"  a.c.  Another  tablet,  (No.  2-\  Guide, 
p.  70)  quoted  above  is  dated  in  the  9oth  year,  Antiochus  king,  or  214 
a.c.     A  later  one.  also  Seleucian,  is  dated  in  the  I34tli  year,  or  178  u.c. 

12)  Cf.  tlie  just  remarks  of  Dr.  J.  Opjiert  in  his  paper,  IJ'eclipse  Innaire 
de  Van  232  r/c  Vere  <let^  Arsacidcs:  Zeitschrift  f.  Assyriologie,    IV.  17(5. 

13)  Some  coins  have  been  issued  by  this  usurpator  witli  the  title  Basileus 
megas.    Cf.  E.  Drouin,  Notice,  p.  17. 

14)  This  implies  the  restoration  of  the  Seleucian  ern. 

15)  According  to  the  statement  of  Pliny. 

16)  The  date  has  been  fixed  by  Saint  Martin  in  the  Recherches  quoted 
previously,  note  2. 

17)  Lucian.  Macroh.  IG.  says  that  Spasines,  King  of  Charax  and  countries 
neighbouring  the  Erythean  sea,  died  very  old,  which  statement  does 
not  prove  that  he  reigned  very  long.— -Pliny  states  that  he  was  a 
king  of  the  neighbouring  Arabs,  ''  rex  finitimorum  Arabum."  As 
a  fact  his  dynasty  was  Aramean  as  stated  by  the  Arab  authors.  Cf. 
E.  Drouin,  Notice,  p.  17. 

18)  According  to  Phny,  lib.  VI,  cap.  XX  VII.  Cf.  Saint  Martin, 
Rechrrches,  p.  148;  E.  Drouin,  Notice,  p.  15. 

19)  J'liny,  Josephus,  Ptolemy.  Lucianus.  In  the  Palmyrenian  inscriptions, 
it  appears  as   Karak  Aspaslnd. 

20)  Quatremere:  Journal  des  Savants,  1857,  p.  628.  has  explained  it  by 
the  Aramean  Karah,  Karla,  which  means,  stronghold,  fortified 
town.     Of.  Drouin,  Notice,  p.  7. 

21)  W^iljiam  Francis  Ainsworth,  The  River  Karun.  London,  1890,  p.  5. — 
J.  W.  McCrindle.  The  Commerce  and  Navigatio7i  of  the  Erythrcnan 
Sea.  Calcutta,  1879.  p.  103. 

22)  W.  Waddington,  Numi miatique  et  Chronolof/ie  des  Rois  de  la  Chara- 
cene.  Revue  Numismatique,  1866,  and  also  Melanges  de  Numismatiqne,  t. 
II,  79;  E.  Drouin,  Notice,  p.  17. 

23)  Hyspaosines  was  not  the  original  form  of  the  name  Imt  was  noth- 
ing else  than  a   Grecian    ]mronomasia. 

24)  Attempts  have  been  made  at  explaining  that  name.  M.  Wadding- 
ton. o.c,  has  found  it  either  Semitic  or  Persian  like  the  following 
names  of  the  same  dynasty,  but  not  Greek.  Hyspaosnies  should  be  a 
Persian  word  beginning  with  Axpu-,  like  Aspasianos.  or,  according  to 
M.  de  Vogue,  C,  R.  Acad.  Inscr.,  1886,  p.  19(1,  a  compound  of  Siti, 
the  Moon-god,,  meaning  Sin  Auxit.  The  Assyrian,  Palmyrenian 
and  classical  spfdlings  show  that  clenily,     Cf.  the  preceding  note. 

25)  He  seems  to  have  ruled  in  Kharacene  much  longer,  as  the  numisinaiic 
evidence  which  follows  his  own,  is  that  of  .Apodaces.  .03  Sel.,  or  109 
a.c.  Cf.  the  statement  of  Lucianus.  note  17  sup. 

26)  According  to  Justin,  XLIII,  2.  sec.  8. 

27)  Edward  Thotnas,  Parthian  and  Indo-Sassanian  Coint<,  Hertford, 
1883,  p.  7. 

28)  Which  may  be  disclosed  by  further  Habvlonian  tablets. 

29)  Cf.   E.   Drouin,  Notice,  p.  17. 

30)  As  justly  remarked  by  Mr.  T.  G.  Pinches  in  1883,   Guide,  p.  126. 


14-1  BAKYLONIAN    NOTE. 

31)  Not  187  A.C.,  as  stated  in  the  Guide  wliere  the  year  has  been  calcu- 
lated on  the  Arsacian  instead  of  the  Seleucian  figure.  The  year  of  the 
tablet  cannot  be  Arsacian,  since  tlie  latter  influence  did  not  begin  before 
tlie  conquest  of  Babylon  by  Mithridates. 

32)  J.  0|ij)ert,  Triscr'jitioii  /lorntui.t  Ics  (htail''  (Puve  ecU'psi'  de  Ivue:  C.  R. 
hel)d.  Acad,  de  Scienc,  ;}rd  Sppt.,  1888,  t.  CVII,  p.  A%l-<i,.—U eclipse 
binoire  de  Va  "232  de  Vere  des  Arsac/den  (23  Mars  24  a.c.)  :  Zeitschr. 
f.  Assyriol.,    t.  IV,  pp.  174-185. — L'ere  des   Armcides  Jixee    par    vn 

teate  cvnei/orme  :  jt/urnal  Asiatique,  t.  Xlll,  |i.  XG—S.—rlnsa-tption 
Ai'syrienne  relatant  un  eclipse  lunaire,  ibid.,  1889,  t.  XIII,  pp.  5C5-7 
509,  511-14. — The  great  Assyriologist  liad  assimilated  the  lunar  eclipse 
described  in  the  inscription  with  the  eclipse  which  astronomical  calcula- 
tions indicate  for  the2;^rd  of  Marcli.  24  a.c,  and  thouglit  that  2o2-(-24 
=256  a.o.  was  the  era  of  tlie  Arsacidae.  But  taking  the  year  232  of 
the  tiibletas  Seleucian  or  ''0  a.C,  it  corresponds  also  to  a  lunar  eclipse 
wliicli  astronomical  calculations  indicate  for  11  April  79-80  a.c,  ac- 
cord to  P.  Jos.  Epping,  Astronomisclie  Enthidlvngcn,  and  Zeit- 
achnft  fur  Assyrinlogie.  torn.  IV,  p.  78  sq.  Prof.  Oppert  contests 
the  accuracy  of  the  latter  calculations,  and  we  are  not  able  to  judge 
between  the  two.  But  when  we  remember  how  uncertain  are  still  con- 
sidered by  many  astronomers  th(>  calculations  referring  to  the  lunar 
librations,  however  great  has  been  tlie  advance  made  in  that  direction, 
we  may  let  them  fight  their  own  battle,  and  as  to  ourselves  be  satisfied 
with  the  historical  eridence  for  the  solution  of  the  little  problems 
studied  in  the  present  paper. 

33)  Justin,  lib.  Xlil,  caj).   4. 

34)  E.  Drouin,  Vere  de  Yezdeqerdet  le  Calendrier  Perse,  Paris,  Leroux, 
1S89.  p.  50. 

35)  This  first  ap])earance  of  'king  of  kings'  must  be  noticed  with  reference 
to  the  remarks  of  M.  E.  Drouin,  La  numismatiqiie  Arameenne  sous  Ics 
Armcides  en  Mesojyotanne,  pp.  7-11  (Journal   Asiatique,  188i^. 

36)  The  latter  monarch  w'js  Arsaces  XV  Phraates  IV,  the  victor  of  the 
Roman  triumvir  Marcus  Antonius  in  36  a.c. 


NOTE.— .1  DAUGHTER  OF  NABONIDUS. 
In  No,  1043  of  tlie  inscriptions  of  Nabonidus  published  by  Dr- 
Strassmaier  we  have  the  name  of  a  Babylonian  princess  preserved. 
The  tablet  relates  to  the  jiayment  of  two  thirds  of  a  mana,  seven  shekels 
of  silver  asthe  tithe  (esru)  of  the  woman.  <jV  ^^  ^y  ^irTy^:  ^\  llcfl 
>-Ty<?  V"?  Ino  Bit  Saggil  tuklat,  "In  BitSaggil  is  trust."  I  am  not  certain 
as  to  the  last  part  of  this  name,  as  there  is  a  break  there.  This  tithe 
was  received  at  tlie  hands  of  Belshazzar.  We  have  here  another  jiroof 
of  tlie  interest  he    took  in  religious  ceremonies    neglected  by  his  father, 

W.St.  C.  B. 


PKINTED  AND  PUBLISHED  FOB  THE  PROPRIETOR  AT  2o  ALBERT  SQUARE  CLAPHAM 
ROADi  AND   BY    D.  NUTT  FOREIGN  AND   CLASSICAL  BOOKSELLER   27o  STRAND. 


THB 


BABYLONIAN  AND  ORIENTAL  RECORD. 

Contributors  are  alone  responsible  for  their  opinions  or  statements. 


ASTODANS,     AND     THE     AVESTTC     FUNERAL 
PRESCRIPTIONS. 

I. 

Whilst  lately  reading  the  Hon.  John  Abercromby's  interesting  Trip 
through  the  Eastern  Caucasus  (London,  Stanford,  1889),  I  was  strnck 
with  a  passage  in  his  description  of  the  curious  'art-village'  of  Kubachi. 
Mr.  Abercromby  quotes  what  the  medieval  Arab  \\Titers  have  to  say  about 
the  place  and  its  inhabitants,  and  among  others  Abu  Hamid  el  Andalusy 
of  the  12th  century,  after  Dnrn  (^Melanges  Asiat'tques,  torn,  vi,  1871). 
This  author  says  : 

'•  They  have  no  religion  and  pay  no  taxes.  If  a  man  dies  they  hand  him 
ovei  to  men  in  houses  under  the  earth^  who  cut  up  the  members  of  the  de- 
ceased, remove  the  flesh  entirely  from  the  bones, "^  collect  it  together  on  one 
side,  and  give  it  to  ravens  to  devour."  A  similar  account  is  given  of  the 
disposal  of  women,  whose  flesh,  however,  is  reserved  exclusively  forvultures. 
Further  on,  the  writer  tells  us  what  was  done  with  the  fleshless  bones. 
"  They  withdraw  th<^  bones  of  the  dead  and  lay  them  up  in  the  houses. 
These  they  also  lay  in  the  sacks  of  the  rich  and  of  lords.''  Their  sacks  are 
of  gold  embroidered  or  Greek  silk-stufl  ;  those  of  servant-men  and  women 
of  unbleached  cloth.  They  hang  them  up  in  the  houses,  and  write  on  each 
sack  the  name  of  the  person  to  whom  the  bones  belonged.  This  is  indeed 
very  extraordinary."  (Abercromby,  p.  291).  Mr.  Abercromby  adds: 
"  What  amount  of  credit  is  to  be  attached  to  the  alleged  custom  of  the 
men  of  Kubachi  with  regard  to  their  preserving  tlie  bones  of  their  deceased 
relations  in  properly  lal)elled  sacks,  after  allowing  the  flesli  to  be  eaten  by 
birds.  I  cannot  say.  Arab  writers  are  not  very  reliable  authorities  .  . . 
On  the  other  hand,  the  custom  may  really  be  founded  on  fact,  and  <'aii 
be  accounted  for.  It  undoubtedly  savours  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Avesta, 
Vol.  IV.— No.  7.  [145]  June,  1890. 


146  ASTODANS,  AND  AVESTIC 

and  points  a  a  belief  in  the  earth  being  too  holy  to  be  desecrated  by  the 
reception  of  a  dead  body.  It  may  therefore  be  an  importation  from  Persia. 
I  have  already  mentioned  that  at  the  beginning  of  the  sixth  century 
famihes  were  removed  from  Khorassan  and  settled  in  Kaitach  and  Kubiiclii. 
This  colony  might  well  have  brought  some  of  the  practices  inculcated  by 
Zarathustra  to  their  new  home,  where  they  became  incorporated  in  time 
with  local  usages,  and  evidently  received  a  different  colouring  from  those 
of  their  promulgator.  For  the  incident  of  preserving  the  bones  in  sacks 
was  never  a  practice,  I  believe,  of  the  cidhereMs  of  Zoroaster,  either  in 
Persia  or  in  India"  (op.  cit.,  pp.  292-3.  Italics  mine). 
Is  this  last  statement  correct  ? 

II. 

The    question    ha?    been    ])rought  forcibly    to    my   mind    by    a    small 

pamphlet  kindly  sent  me,   together  with  some  others  of  his  writings,  by 
Mr.  Jivangi  Jamsedji  Modi,  B.  A.,  a  prominent  Parsi  scholar  of  Bombay, 
and  entitled  Astoddn  (Bombay,   1889).      In    this  pamphlet,   Mr.    Modi 
discusses  a  so-called   "  old  Persian   Stone  Coffin"    which  had  been    sent 
to  the  Anthropological   Society    of    Bombay,    from   Bushire   in    Persia. 
This  small  stone  receptacle,    filled  with  human  bones,  is  one  of  a  large 
number  of  similar  vessels,  which  have  been  from  time  to  time  observed 
V)y  travellers  in  various  parts    of    Persia,    e.g.    Sir   John  Malcolm,    Sir 
Henry    Layard,  &c.      Sometimes  they  take  the  form  of  earthenware  jars, 
or  vases,   or  urns.       Mr.   Modi  has    no  difficulty    in   showing  that    (1) 
these   so-called  coffins  are  not  coffins  at  all    •'  in  the  sense  in  wliich  we 
generally  understand  them,  i.e.  a   case  in  which  a  dead  human   body  is 
enclosed  for   burial";  but  that  (2)   "it  was  an   old  rehgious  [Mazdean] 
custom  among  the  ancient  Persians,   the  ancestors  of  the  present  Farsees 
to  make  small  structures  of  this  kind  for  the   preservation   of  the  bones 
of  the  dead," — that   is,    after  the  flesh  liad  been  removed.      In    fact,  the 
Bushire  "  stone  coffin"  examined  is  only  big  enough  for  the  burial  of  an  in- 
fant, whilst  the  bones  inside  are  those  of  an  adult  of  sixty.  In  other  words 
these   stone  or  earthenware  vessels  are  Astoddns.      The  word  is  a  Pehlevi 

one,   ^y*Q^(VJ4JU.  a^'toddno,  or  'bone-receptacle.' 

The  custom  is  recorded  in  the  Avesta,  Vendidad,  vi.  In  this  chapter 
instructions  are  first  of  all  given  for  placing  dead  bodies  in  elevated  places 
where  the  carnivorous  birds  and  animals  may  see  them  and  devour  the 
flesh  ;  the  bodies  to  be  so  securely  fastened,  that  these  creatures  may  not 
carry  away  any  ])art  of  the  bones  (§§  44 — 48).  Next  follows  the  double 
question:  "Creator  of  the  world!  whither  shall  we  carry  the  bones  n't  Ww 


FUNERAL    PRESCRIPTIONS.  147 

deceased  ?  where  shall  we  place  them  ?"  Kva  narani  irigtanam  azdeb/shar- 
ania  ?   .  .   .   Kva  iiidatharaa  ?     §-19). 

Ahiira  Mazda  answers  the  double  question  :  tlie  locality  to  wliich 
the  bones  are  to  be  taken  must  be  a  lofty  2)lace  or  edifice  (uzddnem),  out 
of  reach  of  dog,  fox,  wolf,  or  rain  (§  50)  ;  and  there  the  Mazdoans 
must  place  them  (paitl  nidaithita)  in  certain  receptacles  of  which 
a  clioice  is  given.  "  If  they  are  able,"  or  rich  enough,  it  is  to  be  "  v^zi 
a^anaeshva  yezi  vi.cicaeshva  yezi  tutukh!<hvaJ\--"'Qii\\Qv  in  stones,  or  id 
mortar  (?),  or  in  tutaks  (?)."  If  the  faithful  are  not  able  to  do  this,  they 
may  leave  them  exposed  on  their  bed-clothes,  covered  by  nothing  but 
fresh  air  and  sunlight  (§  51).  In  other  words,  instructions  are  here 
given  for  the  disposal  of  the  bones  in  some  kind  of  an  ast6dd?i.  as  It  was 
subsequently  called. 

III. 

Before  discussing  the  obscure  words  in  the  passage,  it  is  as  well  to 

point  out  that  European  translators  and  commentators  have  in  some  cases 
been  misled  as  to  the  meaning  of  the  instructions.  In  his  version  of  the 
Vendidad  in  the  '  Sacred  Books  of  East,'  vol.  IV,  M.  Darmesteter  has' 
quite  missed  the  point.  To  the  word  uzdunem  of  §  50,  he  appends  the 
explanation  *  the  Dakhma,'  and  in  §  51  he  speaks  of  '  laying  down  the 
dead  man  on  the  ground.'  He  states  that  "  §§  44-47  refer  to  the  place 
where  the  corpse  must  be  laid;  the  following  (§  49-51)  refer  to  the 
building,  which  must  be  erected  in  that  place,  to  receive  the  corpse.' 
This  is  clearly  untenable.  M.  Darmester  has  confounded  the  two  distinct 
processes, — the  laying  out  of  the  corpse  (tanu,  kerefs)  for  the  purpose  of 
having  the  flesh  eaten  off,  and  the  final  disposal  of  the  flesh-stripped 
skeleton  (azdebts);  in  other  words,  the  use  of  the  dakhma  and  the  use  of 
the  astoddn.  M.  de  Harlez  seems  also  to  have  been  led  into  the  same 
error.  Indeed,  he  states  in  a  note  that  the  second  passage  (§§  101—106 
=g^  49—51  in  the  other  editions)  "betrays  by  its  contents  its  recent 
date;  it  contradicts  the  preceding  one.  ...  It  appears  to  have  been 
inserted  at  a  time  when  dakhmas  were  beginning  to  be  made  in  the  shape 
of  high  towers.  .  .  .  The  dead  is  therein  laid  upon  a  small  bed  made  of  a 
mattress  and  cushion  "  (Avesta  Ti-aduit,  p.  71). 

The  difficulty  had  not  escaped  the  perspicacity  of  S]>iegel,  who  in  a  note 
to  this  passage  in  his  translation  of  tlie  Avesta  (vol.  I,  p.  122)  remarks 
that  the  difficult  azdehis"  although  traditionally  translated  "  body,"  hardly 
appears  to  be  suitably  rendered  by  that  terra,  "  as  there  has  already  been 
question  of  the  disposal  of  the  body  above."     Justi,  in  his  Handbuch, 


148  ASTODANS,    AND    AVESTIC 

under  the  words  in  question,  has  the  correct  sohition  of  the  case,  and 
gives  the  Pehlevi  equivalent  of  uzddnem  as  agtuddn,  thougli  I  am  not 
quite  sure  that  this  is  exact.  Geiger,  also,  has  entirely  the  riglit  expla- 
nation {Ostiranische  Kultur,  pp.  2G8— 270),  carefully  distinguishing  the 
treatment  of  the  "  Korper"'  at  the  dakhma,  and  that  of  the  •  Gerippe'  at 
the  '  Beinhaus.' 

IV. 
Turning  now  to  Parsi  literature  and  tradition,  the  authoritative  passage 
on  the  subject  is  quoted  by  Mr.  Modi  from  the  DdiJistdn-l  Dtnik,  of  the 
High  Priest  of  Fars  and  Kirman,  Manuscihar,  written  in  a.d.  881,  and 
therefore  representing  officially  "  the  state  of  the  Zoroastrian  religion  a 
thousand  years  ago;  and  it  may  be  presumed  from  the  importance  and 
influentialness  of  [the  writer's]  position,  that  his  representations  can  be 
implicitly  relied  upon  "  (West).  We  shall  here  quote  the  translation  of 
the  passage  by  Dr.  West  in  the  second  part  of  his  Pahlnvi  Texts,  form- 
ing Vol.  XVIII  of  the  Sacred  Books  of  the  East,  The  passage  is  to  be 
found  in  Chapter  at  Question  XVIII^  §§  3-4,as  follows: — 

"  When  the  corpse-eating  birds  have  eaten  the  fat  [flesh^]---  then 
they  shall  properly  convey  the  bones  (a^'i)  away  to  the  bone-receptacle 
{aqtoddnn)  which  one  is  to  elevate  so  from  the  ground  and  over  which  a 
roof  (dshkupo)  so  stands,  that  in  no  way  does  the  rain  fall  upon  the 
dead  matter  (naqdi),  nor  the  water  reach  up  to  it  therein,  nor  the  damp 
make  up  to  it  therein,  nor  are  the  dog  and  fox  able  to  go  to  it,  and  for 
the  sake  of  lisjht  coming  to  it  a  hole  is  made  therein. 

"  More  authoritatively  (dugtobarihd)  it  is  said  that  the  bone-receptacle 
{a(jtdddrio)  is  a  vault  (KataJco)  of  solid  stone,  and  its  covering  (nihiim- 
hdko)  one  is  to  construct  also  of  a  single  stone  which  is  cut  perforated 
(^(juldk-hnmand)  and  around  it  one  is   to  fill   in    with   stone  and   mortar 

The.  question  arises,  upon  reading  this  passage,  whether  the  name 
Oftodan  is  applied  properly  to  the  small  receptacle,  coffin,  jar,  or  vessel 
which  actually  contains  the  bones,  or  to  the  building,  grave,  or  vault  in 
which  the  vessel  is  stored  ?  There  is  here  a  discrepancy  between  Dr. 
West  and  Mr.  Modi.     The  former  has  distinctly  "  the  agtodan  is  a  vault 

(h'nlnf.o)  of  solid    stone,"    reading     ^^f^^    .i  word  meaning  pn'mnrily  a 

'  liouse,  dwelling,  habitation.'  corresponding  to  the  Zend  '*'(^'*'^.  which 
in  A^eurl.  v.  10,  11  is  used  of  the  small  mud  construction  (the  modern 
Parsi  zdd-7riaT(/),  in  which  the  corpse  is  temporarily  deposited  before  being 


FUNERAL     PRESCRIPTIONS.  149 

taken  to  the  dakhraa.  Elsewhere — Vend,  ii,  69  and  perhaps  xix,  4 — it 
appears  to  mean  '  lioiise.'  Indeed,  it  is  probable  that  sucli  is  the  original 
meaning,  of.  the  Modern   Persian    j^^  ^j^     and   especially  the  Pehlevii 

Katak-KMitn  =  ^o^\.  Pers.,  \j^j^,  'householder,'  Also  the  Zend 
KaU  (Yagna,  ix,   73)  has  the  same  meaning  of  householder. 

But  Mr.  Modi  has  a  different  reading,  viz.  :  the  past  participle  karto, 
instead  of  Katak,  so  that  the  phrase  runs  "  zak  agtodano  aito  karto  min 
acvak  yag,"  "  this  a^todan  is  m  tde  of  a  single  stone."  The  difference 
is  one  which  depends  upon  MS.  authorities,  and  I  can  therefore  offer 
no  opinion  on  it. 

But  even  supposing  Dr.  West's  reading  to  be  correct,  I  should  be  in- 
clined to  ask  whether  Katak  might  not  (like  the  German  "  Hauschen,") 
also  mean  'receptacle,  vessel,  box?"  lu  that  case  I  should  refer  §4 
above  more  particularly  to  the  jar  ur  vessel  for  holding  the  bones  ; 
which  itself  is,  according  to  §8,  to  placed  '  under  a  roof,'  i.e.  in  some 
roofed  place  or  vault.  This  would  preserve  to  the  word  a^tudan  its 
actual  traditional  meaning,  as  given  by  Mr.  Modi.  At  the  same  time, 
it  would  not  be  impossible  for  the  word  to  have  been  used  in  two  signi- 
fications. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  we  have  information  concerning  the  usages  of  the 
old  Persians  from  accounts  of  the  remains  still  found.  Thus,  Mr.  Mal- 
colm of  Bushire,  who  sent  the  '  stone  coffin  '  to  Bombay,  in  a  letter  to  Mr. 
Modi,  dated  August   5,  1888,  says  : 

"  The  said  coffin  was  accidently  found  in  a  vault  about  5  or  G  feet  bo- 
low  the  surface  ....  among  others  deposited  there,  and  covered  with 
the  debris  of  parts  of  the  vault  that  had  fallen  in  from  the  effects  of  rain 
....  About  three  miles  from  the  site  of  the  vault,  there  is  a  small 
plain  within  two  or  three  feet  of  the  surface  of  which  there  were  found, 
some  forty-five  years  ago,  and  may  still  be  found,  barrel-shaped  coffins  of 
haked  earth,  containing  also  human  relics  st  owed  away  in  the  same  fash- 
ion." {^Astoddn,  pp.  2,  3).  Moreover,  "about  forty  years  ago,  not  far 
from  the  site  where  the  jar  coffins  were  found,  and^  on  an  elevated  ground, 
was  to  be  seen  a  large  heap  of  bleached  human  bones."  (ib.  p.  3). 
Very  similar  evidence  from  other  travellers  is  quoted  by  Mr.  Modi. 

Here,  then,  we  have,  carried  out  in  full,  the  injunctions  of  both  thf 
Avesta  and  the  Dddistdn-i  Dimk.  We  iiave  the  subterranean  vault  for 
well-to-do  people,  the  uzddnem,  or  structure  of  the  x\ vesta,  protected  by 
a  roof  from  cariiivorou*!  animals  and  from  rain,  and  sheltering  the  bone- 


150  ASTODANS,    AND    AVESTIC 

receptacles,  whether  of  stoae, — (these  are  i^ery  rare,  Modi,  p.  6), — or  of 
coarse  earthenware  ('  well-baked  coarse-grained  sandy  clay  '  says  Erskine, 
Modi  p.  6).  Some  of  these  vaults  appear  to  be  '  family  vaults,'  contain- 
ing urns  or  jars  for  children,  as  well  as  for  adults  (ib).  Whilst  for  poor 
people,  at  no  great  distance,  there  is  an  '  elevated  ground,'  on  which  the 
stripped  bones  could  be  merely  laid  on  bed-clothes  '  covered  with  nothing 
but  fresh  air  and  sunlight.' 

V. 
Working  back  from  these  archseological  evidences   to  the  Avesta,  we 

may  hope  to  shed  some  light  on  certain  obscure  words  of  Vend.  vi.     It 
is  there   said  that  in   the  uzddnem,  (which   I  consider  to  mean  the  built 
vault  or  structure),  the  bones  may  be  placed  according  to  choice  in  one  of 
three  kinds  of  receptacles,  "  yezi  aganaeshva  yezi  vicicaeshva  yezi  tutukh- 
shva," — all    three  in   the  locative  plural      The   first  word  clearly  means 
'  stone,'  and  I  suggest  that  what  is  referred  to  here  is  the  use  of  stone 
'  coffins,'  jars,  or  urns,  such  as  the  one   lately  described  by  Mr.  Modi  in 
Bombay.     The  plural  form  would  thus  also  be  satisfactorily  accounted  for. 
The    vide  t  is   traditionally    rendered    by    the    Pehlevi  gacin  and  the 
Modern  Persian  gac,   signifying    '  mortar,    plaster.'        The  etymological 
connection  is  doubtful,  in  spite  of  the  frequent  equivalence  between  Mod. 
Persian  initial  g  and  Zend  initial  v  ;  for  vi  generally  gives  gu  (see  Dar- 
mesteter's   Etudes  Iraniennes,  pp.   58,  59).     Still,    it  is  perhaps  not  in>_ 
possible.      But  «iS,  to  the  meaning,  I  am  disposed  to  find  in  it  something 
corresponding  to   the  earthenware  or  baked  clay  jars,   of  which  we  have 
heard  above.     There  is  perhaps  even  sufficient  generic  connection  between 
the  idea  of  earthenware  or  pottery  and  that  of  concrete,  plaster  as  '  mor- 
tar,'— something  as  in  the  case  of  the  Mexican   '  adobe,' — to  allow  even 
the  etymological  connexion  of  the  two. 

The  third  word  is  apparently  the  plural  of  a  term  ttituk  or  tutuc.  Spiegel 
and  Roth,  followed  by  Justi  and  Geiger  surmise  '  carpets.'  De  Harlez, 
too,  opines  for  'tenture,' — tapestry,  hanging.  Darmesteter,  who  marks  the 
word  as  'doubtful,'  for  some  unexplained  reason  translates  it  'earth.' 
Modi  in  one  place  renders  it  by  '  coarse  cloth '  and  in  another  by  '  an 
inferior  material.'  There  is  thus  an  apparent  consensus  in  favour  of  the 
word  signifying  some  textile  stuff. 

And  this  brings  me  back  t  o  Mr.  Abercromby  and  his  Caucasians  at 
Kubachi.  Here  we  have  evidence  of  a  people,  traditionally  of  Persian 
origin,  using  as  astoddiis,  '  properly  labelled  sacks,' — some  be'longing  to 
the  rich   being  beautifully  embroidered  in  gold  or  made  of  'Greek  silk,' 


FUNERAL    PRESCRIPTIONS.  151 

others  for  the  inferior  class  of  plain  unbleached  cloth.  This  harmonises 
exceedingly  well  with  the  supposed  meaning  of  tutuk  or  tutuc,  which 
would  therefore  appear  to  signify  some  kind  of  woven  material,  or  bag 
made  of  such  material  ;  perhaps  an  embroidered  or  ornamented  one. 

Mr.  Modi  appears  to  me  to  be  quite  wrong  in  looking  upon  this  usage 
as  intended  only  for  cases  '  of  extreme  poverty.'  In  the  A  vesta  itself  the 
three  kinds  of  receptacles — a9ana,  vicica,  tiituk — are  classed  together 
as  for  those  Mazdayasnians  who  can  afford  them  ('  yezi  tavdn  aete  Maz- 
dayagna  '),  whilst  for  those  who  cannot  ('  yezi  noit  tavdn  ')  there  is  the 
mere  laying  out  of  the  naked  bones  on  the  bedclothes  in  an  elevated 
place.  Nor  is  he  right  in  calling  tutuk  '  coarse  cloth  '  or  '  inferior 
material.'  I  do  not  see  a  word  to  justify  this  in  the  text.  On  the  con- 
trary, according  to  the  testimony  of  the  Arab  writer  El-Andalusi,  we 
have  seen  that  these  cloth  (or  even  silk)  astoddns  were  often  gold-em- 
broidered, and  marked  with  the  names  of  the  deceased.  It  is  a  pity  that 
Mr.  Abercromby  did  not  get  to  see  some  actual  specimens  of  the  bone- 
bags,  if  any  still  exist.  And  I  think  what  has  gone  before  will  show 
that  he  was  misled  in  believing  that  this  custom  of  preserving  the  bones 
was  '  never  a  practice  of  the  adherents  of  Zoroaster.' 

As  regards  the  etymology  of  tutuk,  Roth,  followed  in  this  by  Spiegel 
and  others,  has  suggested  a  connection  with  the  modern  Persian  tushak, 
'  carpet.'       This    etymological    derivation    does    not    appear 


very  obvious  ;  and  de  Harlez's  suggestion  seems  decidedly  happier.  He 
connects  the  word  with  the  modern  Persian  tutuq^  ..  ••  ••  which  is 
practically  identical  in  form,  and  means  'curtain,  veil.'  Although  a  root 
tuk,  tuc  in  this  connexion  does  not  appear  to  be  forthcoming  in  Sanskrit 
or  Zend,  one  is  irresistilly  reminded  of  the  Slav  root  1  tuk-  whence  Old 
Slav  tukatt,  to  weave,  Russian  tkat\  Polish  tkac  (Miklovich,  s.v.),  and 
the  Latin  tec,  tex,  as  in  texo,  *tec-la  (tela).  The  original  idea  might 
therefore  be  that  of  •  a  textile  fabric  '  of  any  kind  ;  and  so  suited  to 
either  silk  or  linen. 

In  conclusion,  I  should  thus  render  the  Avestic  injunction  of  Vend, 
ri,  49-51. 

"  Creator  of  the  Corporeal  Worlds,  Holy  One  !  Whither  shall  we 
carry  the  skeleton  {azdebts)  of  dead  men  ?  Where  shall  we  place  it  (.ni 
dathdma)  ? 

"  Then  quoth  Ahura  Mazda:  Let  there  next  be  made  a  structure 
(ueddnem)   out  of  reach  of  (upatri)  dog,  of  fox,  of  wolf,  that  cannot  be 


152  ASTODANS,       ETC. 

rained  upon  above  by  the  rain-water. 

"  If  these  Mazdayasnians  are  able,  let  them  deposit  (i.e.  the  bones,  ni 
daithita),  either  in  stone-urus,  or  in  concrete  (or  adobe)-urns,  or  in  cloth- 
bags  (or  embroidered  cloths  ?)  ;  or  else  if  such  Mazdayasnians  be  not 
able,  upon  (the  deceased's)  own  bed  and  own  bedding,  clothed  with 
heaven^s  light  and  looking  to   the  Sun." 

It  seems  to  me  that  this  gives  a  satisfactory  sense  to  the  Avestic 
passage^  and  also  reconciles  Parsi  traditions  with  arch  geological  evidence 
of  actual  usage. 

Of  coarse,  owing  to  the  different  way  of  constructing  dakhmas  in 
modern  times,  with  the  large  ossuary  or  bone-pit  in  the  centre,  all  kinds 
of  astoih'ns  have  now  fallen  out  uf  use. 

L.  C.  Casartelli. 

NOTES. 

1)  May  this  perhaps  be  a  confusion  with  the  Katas  or  mud-huts  pre- 
pared for  the  dead  body  before  its  disposal  at  tiie  dakhma  ?  (See  Vd.  V, 
and  further  on  in  this  paper). 

2)  This  cutting-up  the  corpse  and  removing  the  flesh  for  the  benefit 
of  the  vultures  by  a  professional  sapareu  or  corpse-butcher  is  actually 
carried  out  to  the  letter  by  the  Siamese  Buddhists  to  the  present  day. 
See  the  truly  horrible  scene  described  by  an  eye-witness,  Abbe  Chevillard 
in  his  very  interesting  book  Siam  et  les  Siamois  (Paris  :  Plon,  1889), 
pp.  70-72.  The  only  difference  between  this  Buddhist  custom  and  that 
of  thel  presumed  Mazdayasnians  of  Kubachi,  as  described  by  El-Andalusi, 
is  that  in  the  former  case  the  fleshless  bones  are  carried  to  the  vat-saket 
or  crematory,  and  burned. 

3)  Ought  this  not  to  be  :  "  Those  of  the  rich  and  of  lords  they  iay 
in  sacks  ?" 

4)  Modi  numbers  it  as  question  XVII. 

5)  The  word  apparently  means  all  the  soft  parts  of  the  body,  for  in 
Chap.  XVII,  9,  it  is  explicitly  said:  "  The  body  of  men  is  formed  out 
of  hard  bone  and  soft  fat,"  i.e.  hard  and  soft  parts. 

6)  It  will  be  noted  that  according  to  this  the  double  question  of  §49 
receives  a  double  answer.  In  §50,  Ahura  Mazda  tells  the  Mazdayasnians 
where  they  are  to  carry  (bar )  the  bones,  viz.  to  the  uzddnn  ;  in  §51  he 
answers  the  question  '  where  are  we  to  place  (Kva  nidathama^  them  ?' 
by  ordering  them  to  be  placed  (ni-dalthita)  in  certain  kinds  of  astoddns, 
or  else  on  bedding  in  the  open  air. 


PHARNABAZUS   AND    TISSAPHERNES.  153 


PHARN-ABAZUS   AND  TISSAPIIE  RNES  MENTIONED    ON 
THE  GREAT  STELA    OF  XANTHUS. 

The  principal  monument  of  the  Lycian  epigraphy  is,  as  everyone  knows,  a 
^'uperb  monolitli  of  white  marble  about  13  feet  in  height  by  5  feet  to  5  feet 
7  inches  in  width^  :  we  call  it  indifferently  by  the  name  of  the  Obelisk  of 
Xanthus,  to  make  it  clear  perhaps  that  it  is  not  to  be  classed  among  the 
funereal  monuments,  and  the  stela,  being  led  to  this  by  the  allusion  in  the 
2nd  Greek  verse  of  its  north  face: 

ojfoe?   TTtv    KvKiwv   aTi'jXrjv    ToiavBe   fivedrjK{e)v 

corroborated  by  the  lines  5  and  7  of  the  same  face.^ 

UToNA:    STTATI  :    STTALA  :  oTT:   MALIYAHI: 
=      Otanes  erects  the  stela  in  the  name  of  the  the  elders. 

STTATIM6:  STTALA.  :  oTLVL  AHI— Bi  YEHE: 
=      We  erect  the  stela  in  the  name  of  his  relatwes. 

Here  it  will  be  remarked  that  sometimes  a  certain  Otanes  separately 
and  before  all  the  others, ^  sometimes  the  princes  (xBIDE)  united,  ad- 
vanced int  >  the  midst  "of  the  agora  of  Xanthus  to  erect,  not  numerous 
stelas,  but  the  stela  par  excellence,'^  that  upon  which  we  read  with  more 
or  less  facility  the  history  of  Kreis,  son  of  Harpagos,  an  incomparable 
warrior,  guided  by  the  great  goddess  of  Athens. 

This  section  of  the  Xorth  Face  which  immediately  precedes  the  Greek 
epigram  contains  not  a  few  surprises  througli  its  proper  names  of  person- 
ages famous  in  history ;  when  by  a  quite  extraordinary  intuition  Dr. 
Deecke  discovered  under  the  fragments  of  words  or  under  a  complete  word, 
but  apparently  very  little  significant,  the  names  of  Pharnabazus,  that  of 
his  father  PAamaces,  and  lastly  that  of  Tissaphemes,^  this  conjecture  found 
men's  minds  badly  prepared  :  no  one  would  be  concerned  as  to  what  might 
be  contained  in  this  text  engraved  on  the  four  faces  of  the  noble  obelisk, 
and  the  preceding  attempts  had  been  so  unfortunate  that  no  other  im- 
portance was  attached  to  what  might  be  produced  in  the  future.  The 
r.ycian  fibelisk  was  purely  and  simply  condemned ;  it  was  forgotten 
among  the  ruins  of  Xanthus  ;  the  British  Museum  possesses  a 
plaster  cast  of  it,  but  it  was  almost  agreed  upon  that  it  sh(mld  m.t 
be  spoken  of ;  visitors  departed  from  the  Bloomsbury  establishment  with- 
out having  seen  the  monument  ;  those  who  persisted  were  informed  that 


154  PHARNABAZUS  AND  TISSAPHERNES 

the  cast  was  in  the  cellars,  and  that  it  was  absolutely  necessary  to  be 
armed  with  a  lantern  to  study  it  with  any  comfort.^  This  disdain,  this 
forgetfulness,  are  unjust.  I  shall  do  my  best  to  prove  this,  by  confirm- 
ing Deecke's  discovery,  and  by  making  known  the  brilliant  suggestion 
of  my  learned  friend,  Mr.  Arkwriglit  of   Newbury. 

NOTES. 

1)  The  two  editions  of  the  text  of  this  stela  hava  been  published  ac- 
cording to  the  copies  taken  from  the  monument  still  standing  in  Asia 
by  Sir  Charles  Fellows,  ("The  Inscribed  Monument  of  Xanthus," 
No.  XXX  of  the  Transactions  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Literature,  Ilnd 
series,  vol.  I,  London,  J.  Murray,  1843),  and  by  Prof.  Sch»3uborn  of  Posen 
C''  The  Lycian  Inscriptions  after  his  accurate  copies,"'  edited  by  Moriz 
Schmidt,  Jena,  1868,  Hermann  Dufft,  4  plates,  VII,.  Fellow's  edition 
is  enriched  by  a  fine  engraving  representing  a  view  of  the  ruins  ;  behind 
the  monolith  are  outlined  the  benches  of  a  theatre  ;  to  the  left  is  seen 
the  Harpy  tomb,  and  near  this  monument  a  sarcophagus  in  Gothic  styles 
and  in  every  way  contemporaneous  with  the  obelisk  and  the  Harpy  tomb. 

2)  W.  Deeckfi.  Lykische  Studlen,  I.  p.  134,  but  I  cannot  agree  to  di- 
vide in  two,  as  that  scholar  proposes,  the  word  STTATIMo  which  is  al- 
ways found  without  the  separation  STTATI(:^Mo  proposed  by  the  author. 
Deecke  has  compared  Mo  (as  if  isolated)  to  fuav,  IV.  240  and  II.  323), 
iiTi  to  av7l,  a  preposition  which  governs  the  genitive  (II,  3-4:=  av-rl 
Twv  uTTor'/oi'ivv  ea'f)  and  STTATI  (  =  er  stellt  auf  J  from  the  Doric  "ffruTi, 
classical  Greek  lajqai,  (II.  23_).  STTATiMo  rendered  by  "  we  place" 
's  due  to  Major  Conder;  cf.  The  Academy,  Jan.  25,  1890,  No.  925,  p.  ?. 
— Savelsberg  translated:  "  die  feststehende,"  a-raalfiov,  which  once  before 
misled  me. 

3}  He  is  certainly  a  Persian  of  a  very  high  rank;  upon  the  Brhistuu 
inscription,  Otanes,  one  of  the  magnates  sworn  with  Darius  against  the 
Magi  is  named  in  Persian  Utclna,  in  Median  Hutdna.  The  Lycians  have 
a  tendency  to  transform  the  medial  a  into  o;  is  thus  they  write  ATo- 
NAS  and  AT6NAZI,  in  the  same  way  as  MILAS6>TRA  (foi  MeXe- 
aavcpo'i'). 

4j  Major  Conder  thought  that  STTALA  was  analogous  to  the  I'crsiun 
ftdna,  and  was  derived  from  it.  I  believe,  on  the  contrary,  that  in  tlie 
only  circumstances  in  which  the  Persians  wished  to  call  by  its  teclmicil 
name  a  stone  polished  to  receive  an  inscription,  they  had  recourse  ti> 
the  Greeks  for  this  ;  in  fact  Xerxes  asserts  that  his  father  ordered 
this  stela  to  be  cut  in  the  rock,  by  employing  the  word  qtana,  which  sig- 
nifies a  spot,  a  site  ;  yet  he  claims  for  it  in  imitation  ol'  the 
Greeks,  a  meaning  altogether  new,  see  Oppert,  Le  peuple  et  la  laiujxu: 
des  Medes,  p.  226.  The  stela  generally  signifies  a  tomb  stone  : 
five  stelas  were  on  the  tomb  of  Alyattes.  The  base  of  the  column  found 
at  Corfu  and  studied  by  Mr.   Egger  bears  the  words  in  retrograde  letters: 

ffTfiXo      SePapeov      tou      Me/f/os      e//t       eVt      tvjuiu       =     "I   am    the    steia 

placed  upon  the  tomb  of  Xenares,  son  of  Meixis  ;"  (quoted  by  Schliemann 
Ithaqus,  le  Peloponnese  et  Troie,  Paris,  1869,  page  7).  In  spite  of 
this,  the  savants  give  the  name  of  stela  to  the  non-funereal  raunuments  ; 


ON  THE  XANTHIAN  STELA.  155 

to  name  an  example.  Sir  Charles  Newton  describes  "  a  stela  of  blue  marble 
which  measures  4  ft.  uy  1  ft.  7  in.  by  1)  in.,"  the  monolith  decorated  on 
its  four  faces,  like  that  of  Xanthus,  with  a  Greek  inscription,  which  has 
for  its  object  to  assure  to  the  citizens  of  Halicarnassus  the  peaceable 
possession  of  the  property  acquired  by  them,  following  doubtless  upon 
confiscations.  ("Essays  on  Art  and  Archceologv,"'  London,  1880,  pp. 
106  and  Appendix").  As  in  STTATI,  the  Lycian  word  STTALA  has 
two  Ts;  the  reduplication  of  certain  consonants  is  a  custom  in  this 
writing. 

5)  W.  Beecke  announced  his  discovery  in  the  Berliner  Philologische 
Wochenschrift,^o.  of  30th  June,  1888  Column  S28  ("Zur  Deutang  der 
Stela  Xanthica"j,  and  in  the  4th  part  of  his  "Lykische  Studien,"  p.  192. 

6)  Mr.  Pinches,  who  was  anxious  to  see  the  monument  on  my  account, 
writes  to  me:  "I  examined  what  I  am  told  is  the  Xanthian monolith-,  with 
the  aid  of  Mr.  Biagiotti  and  a  lantern !"  The  lantern  was  also  in  the 
hands  of  Mr.  Arkwright,  when  he  went  to  assure  himself  as  to  the 
readings  PINA[R]E  instead  of  PINANE  (East,  30)  and  KA[P]IKA 
(North,  23)  which  advantageously  rej^laces  my  awkward  KAIPKA. 

2. 

Before  going  further,  I  believe  it  will  be  useful  to  reproduce  the  20 
ines  of  the  Kizzaprnna  section  by  using  the  Latin  characters  generally 
which  my  alphabet  gives, ^      ]_See  next  page]. 

NOTE, 
1)  Bah.  &  Or.  Record,  No.  11,  vol.  iii.,   Oct.,   1889,  pp.  254-5.     When 
R  precedes  a  redoubled  consonant,  and  does  not  follow  a  vowel  it  must  be 
read  («)r  :  Kizzaprfina=/v7cca/>araa;  Fidrrmah=  17r/a7-na^.       Here  nN, 
mM,  are  for  two  Ns  and  two  Ms. 

3.    Pharkabazus. 

A  single  glance  cast  upon  this  inscription  will  enable  one  to  judge 
better  than  all  argument,  of  the  difficulties  which  await  rash  decipherers. 
Only  to  speak  of  the  first  2  lines,  it  seems  impossible  to  discover  a  meaning 
in  them,  and  yet  some  have  .attempted  to  do  it,  and  have  been  successful 
after  many  efforts. 

Savelsberg  {Beiiriige  .  .  .  2nd  vol.  Bonn,  1879,p.  :i'10)  separates  the  five 
letters  PRnNA,  wliich  he  reads  prma,  and  he  connects  this  fragment  with 
n  verb  prcnavata  wall  known  to  signify  :"  er  baute."  But  wlio  builds 
here  ?  Tlic  conjecture  of  the  German  Professor  is  that  he  is  Otozizes 
(t^ToZISA). 

I  make  here  a  jiarciithesis  to  prove  that  everywhere  here  there  are  sug- 
gestive errors:  OToZISA,  subject  of  the  phrase,  is  a  windfall  ;  it  has  been 
too  quickly  abandoned,  bnt  on  the  other  hand  the  word  i'RNNA[FATE 
must  disappear. 

Moriz  Sclimidt  combatted  the  restitution,  otherwise  incomplete,  of  Savols- 


156 


PHARNABAZUS    AND  TISSAPHERNE3 


•'OC 

«  P 

A^  pa 

.--   N3 

•.o  P5 


P 

l-H 

H 


«    .;: 

«    H 

>^  h' 

SI     3 

PQ    N 

cq  < 


<3l 


3 

< 


P    < 


(«=5 


H 


H  .p  P 

P  ec  -g 

p  X  ?^ 

fin  W  02 

P"  CO  p 

ffl  *^  ffi 

■<lj  ^  r^ 

|H  'S  1^ 

^  K  ^ 

P  K  « 

^  P  -' 

g  P  w 

.:-■  TXi  <J 

H  :0  P 

■O  ^> 

<  P  •'^' 

P  ^  H 

<  P  --^ 

H  P  -< 

H  ^  P 

CC  t-H  "<i 

.-•  2  H 

H  n;  ^ 

<jj    <J  oo 

02  Sj  ^ 

-^  :0  H 

^  CL.  ^ 

3  H  H 

H  P  ^' 

P  Q  CO 


•c   P 

o  p 
p  f^ 


« 


X 


p 


'-'  -—  p 

P    H    H 


P  -o 

p  hJ 

<i  «_ 

H  P 

«  P 
X-P 

f-^n  .  - 

r-l  .3 

CO  g 

P  l-H 

K  H 

p  <1 

^  H 

P  H 

H  CO 

P  P 

:^  P 

P  P 

CO  p 

P  P 

<  ^' 


CO 

p 


:0 


P 
P 


Si 


H    ^ 
:0 

P    ^ 

P   H 

CQ     CO 

pj  ;^ 
bS 

&  ^ 

I — I 

:v3      3 

rW     I I 

"  '  M 
Q 

.  < 
P^ 

P     " 
<lj    P 

N!    H 
S]    H 

P    f^ 


3 
P 
> 
1— I 

K 
P 

M 

S! 

:0 

P 
P 

H 


^ 


P  H 

P  P 

=  ^  P 

P  '« 

m  P 
p  ^ 

ifl  ^^ 

w    OS 

p  <1 

p  p 
p  p 

p"a2 
(^  P 

P    H 

^    ^ 
H    P 


P    'S 


^  \a  'iM 


p 

2  ;^  P 

'^  p  M 

«  125  HH 

P^  OQ  P 

-<  p  H 

S]  p.  HH 

^  <i  << 

'^  HH  P 

^  m  p 

1-^  a  p 

•  P  H 


S5    H 


< 

P 


h- ( 
P 
P 

P 

r/2 
W 


X  p  P  M  « 

M  ^  P  g     P 

p  ^  H  -    ^ 

H  irt  "d  ;.^   |T 

W  rt  P  P      . 

ii  P  °^  -      ' 

<i1  <ii  <ii  H 

"^  ^  X  • 

\C,  ^  <  ■ 

P  ^  3  • 

-^  ^  S  • 


CO 

CO 
CO 

(M 

eo 


o 
CO 

c-i 

oc 

CM 

in 

CO 

(M 
C4 


(M 


W    o 

(M 


P 


CIS 


P 

X 

I— i 

:0     P 
:C>     CO 

P     -< 

P        X 
P     < 

•     P 


N]  CO 

P  ^ 

r— I 

p  12 

-,i  CO 

-<  :: 

!^  2 

'«  <r. 

P  00 

<  ^ 

P  «o 

S  ^- 

'5  -t 


tC 


c! 

'5 

S 

03 


OC 


l^ 


a: 


O 


ON  THE  XANTHIAN  STELA.  157 

berg,  in  his  judicious  Commentatio  de  Columna  Xanthica,' Jena,,  1881,  p. 
4.  He  also  had  an  unfortunate  idea  in  dismissing  the  separation  which  Sa- 
velsberg  proposed,  in  favor  of  hisown:  UTo  +  ZiSAPRNNA.  He  observed 
that  farther  off,  and  no  less  than  thrice,  the  word  KIZZAPRnNA  (KIZ- 
ZAPRnNo)  was  written;  thenceforth  this  was  like  a  passion;  the  Carian 
word  r^cfftra  signifying  "  3tone."  there,  for  Schmidt,  is  a  XiOo^oo^,^  How- 
ever, I  hasten  to  recognize  that  he  guessed  the  meaning  of  SE  PARZZA 
;^BIUE="  et  I'ersarum  rex,"  which  removes  it  farther  away  still  from  the 
Otozizes  of  Savelsberg. 

Dr.  Deecke  tries  to  see  it  more  clearly  ;  the  personage  so  qualified  by 
"the  Persian  king"  was  son  (TIDEIMI)  of  ..  .  HE,  a  genitive  ending. 
Tosuppose  ERTAxSSIRAZAHE  i=Apra^ep^ov)oT  hTARIYEUSEHE 
(Aa/Jetor)  who  are  mentioned  in  11.  57-60of  the  East  face,^  was  impossible; 
the  first  of  these  names  has  a  letter  too  many,  the  second  has  a  letter 
too  few,  and  then  even  if  this  could  be  arranged  with  these  examples,  what 
would  become  of  UToZISA?  In  the  midst  of  these  experiments,  Dr* 
Deecke  had  a  happy  idea  ;  j^B  IDE  perhaps  signifies  king^,  but  it  perhaps 
also  extends  itself  to  a  feudatory  of  the  crown  of  Persia,  a  royal  vassal* 
of  Persian  origin  ;  Diodorus  relates  that  the  sovereigns  of  Cappadocia 
were  Achemenides  of  a  collateral  line.  Let  us  try  then  the  names  of 
^apvafia.^o'i  and  of  ^apvdxov,  which  in  Lycian  could  scarcely  have  been 
otherwise  written  than  PRSNAB  AZA  and  PRnNAKAHE;  the  conjecture 
exactly  solves  the  problem;  even  the  number  of  the  letters  and  the  phrase 
lend  themselves  quite  alone  to  the  translation,  if  it  were  not  for  this 
enigmatical  6T0ZISA  which  precedes. 

Are  we  then  in  a  condition  to  complete  the  first  line  ?  I  believe  we 
are.  In  fact,  when  we  run  through  the  text,  we  are  struck  with  the  first 
part  which  is  played  by  an  unknown  personage  of  the  name  of  Otanes  ; 
he  appears  the  first  to  erect  the  .stela;  line  5,  SE  |  t>ToNA:STTATI:STTA- 
L.V:oTi:MALIYAHI.  It  is  not  till  afterwards  that  there  is  mention  made, 
not  indeed  of  a  single  prince,  but  of  princes  SE  ^l^iDE:  STTATlMo: 
SlALLA=and  (we),  princes,  we  erect  the  stela,"  which  they  do,  they 
say,  in  the  name  of  their  relations,  the  elders,  and  the  warriors  (?)  and 
the  royal  hyparchs  oTi  :  VLAHIBIYEHl  :  SE  MALIYAHI  : 
SE  MERTEMEHI  :  SE  x^TAFATEHI  :  yBi  l>o:;NEHI.  After 
them  follow  the  priests  pronouncing  the  good  formula  :  SE  DDEFl'': 
STTATlMo  :  URUBLIYii:MElTI:  =  -  and  (we)  i)riest3,  we  erect 
the  coronation  here;"  I  believe  it  concerns  the  platform  whi(  h 
surmounted  the  whole  monument,  and  which  bore  three  figures,  a  female 


158  PHARNABAZUS    AND    TlSSAPHERNEg 

sphinx  between  two  lion?.  It  is  at  least  the  aspect  which  a  quad- 
rangular stela  presents  which  decorates  tlie  centre  of  a  besieged 
town  in  a  frieze  of  the  Xereid  -  monument.  Note  t)ie  con- 
traction of  the  word  (E)  BIYEHI  =  suorum*;  in  line  12,  a  con- 
traction or  even  two  contractions  are  visible  :  SEFERIY  -  AM6NA 
is  in  reality  three  words,  SE +  EFE  +  ERIYAM6NA  =and  himself 
Airyamana,  TELoZlYEHI:  VLAoES(E)  ARsNAS  =  (understanding 
under  the  preposition  oTi  which  governs  the  genitive)  ["  in  the  name] 
of  the  militia-men  of  the  Xanthian  race."  Airyamana,  (ERIYAM6NA) 
disoovered  by  Mr.  Arkwright^,  is  a  personage  known  to  history  ;  it  is 
Hieramenes  of  the  treaty  of  411  between  the  Lacedemonians  and  the 
satraps  of  Darius  (Thucydides,  VIII,  58).  According  to  Xenophon, 
Hellenka,  II,  1,  9,  Hieramenes,  whose  name  appears  to  be  Grtecized, 
was  the  brother-in-law  of  the  great  King. 

But  is  it  not  surprising  that  we  are  in  presence  in  these  20  lines 
ajone  of  the  highest  personages  of  Asia  Minor?  of  Tissaphernes,  as  to  whom 
it  will  remain  to  me  to  speak  in  §4,  of  the  son  of  Pharnaces,  of  Hieram- 
enes 1  there  wants  no  more  than  the  Spartans  and  the  brothers  of 
Pharnabazus  to  give  the  illusion  of  the  treaty  transcribed  on  the  Xan- 
thian marble.     The  Spartans  really  figure  here. 

M.  Moriz  Schmidt  has  shewn  perfectly  that  the  East  face  immediately 
precedes  the  North  face.^  The  last  word  of  the  East  face  is  SPPART 
consequently  the  ending  AZI  of  that  ethnic  ought,  as  the  learned  Hellenist 
of  Jena  said,  to  begin  the  text  of  the  North  face.  But  I  think  that  the 
stone-cutter  has  omitted  a  letter,  and  that  only  ZI  ought  to  be  restored.'' 
Now  there  remain  Tissaphernes,  KIZZAPRnNA,  which  gives 
10  new  letters,  and  the  sons  of  Pharnaces  (i^apvaKov  iraicai)'^ :  is  that 
to  throw  out  the  conjecture  that  to  try  here  the  name  of  Utona,  that 
personage  who,  related  perhaps  more  closely  to  Kreis,  should  be  also  a 
brother  of  I'harnabazus  ?  With  the  restoration  SE  UToNA  I  have  a  very 
instructive  phrase  :  spparta  \  zi  :  Kizzaprnna  :  se  Utona  (^C)  Utozisa 
prnnabaza  prnnakahe  tideimi  ■:  se  parzza  :  ■^hlde  =  Spartans, 
Tissaphernes  and  Otanes,  utozises,  Pharnabazus  sons^  of  Pharnaces  and 
Persian  dynasts  .  .  .  The  3ri  line  can  only  be  arbitrarily  restored,  since 
we  do  not  know  any  Athenian  of  the  name  of  Silana  1  Klitahe  ?  2tXi;i/os 
KXtTou.  Dr.  Deecke  supposes  that  this  host  of  the  Persians  was  an 
outlaw,  and  he  translates  :  "  from  the  city  Athen"  the  word&  TRBBI 
AT6NAS.9 


159  ON  THE  XANTHIAN  STELA. 

NOTES. 

1)  On  7/ffffa  see  Neue  lykisclie  Studien  of  Moriz  Schmidt,  Jena,  lb69, 
p.  84,  7-erho  KIZ/^APRnNo;  The  Kariicii  Laiciuage  and  Inscriptions,  h\ 
Prof.  Sayce,  1887,  p.  6,  (where  this  term  is  suljmitted  to  a  learned  dis- 
cussion), and  Deecke's   Lykische  Studien,   i.,  p.  135. 

2)  Savelsberg,  I  believe,  first  annoimctHl  the  name  of  Darius  in  the  word 
"nTARIYEUSEHE"  ('Beitrage  zur  Entzifferungder  lykischen  Spraeh- 
denkmiller,"  Bonn,  1874,  i.,  p.  5),  but.  as  he  says  very  loyally,  the  dis- 
covery of  the  name  of  Artaxerxes  goes  as  far  back  as  Sir  Charles  Fel- 
lows, who  published  it  in  his  Lycian  Coins,  1855,  p.  16.  Moriz  Schmidt 
had  misunderstood  it  in  his  i^'eue  lykische  Studien,  and  lastly  Major  Con- 
der,  in  bis  article  The  Lycian  Language,  without  rejecting  the  translation 
of  Fellows  and  Savelsbarg,  has  thought  that  the  group  razahe  which 
completes  the  name  ERTA^tSSIEA^AHE  ought  to  be  separated  from  it, 
and"to  mean  something  like  "  ruling'*;  (cf.  The  Academy,  25  Jan.  1890, 
No.  9-'5,  p.  68,  2nd  col.).  I  do  not  share  his  opinion  on  that  point, 

3)  Deecke  admits  the  meaning  which  Schmidt  assigns  to  ;;^BiDE,  and 
he  translates  xBID;x[NE]HI  by  "regiorum,"  Lyk.  Stud.,  I,  140,    141. 

4)  See  what  Deecke  says  of  it,  IV,  Lyk.  Stud.,  no.  19,  p.  20>'\  Moriz 
Schmidt  dedicated  to  the  study  of  the  Lycian  contraction  (me  of  his  most 
important  chapters  in  his   Commentatio  de  hiscnptioiiibus  nonnullis  lycils, 

5)  Mr.  Arkwri;:ht,  who  was  good  enough  to  announce  to  me  this  dis- 
covery in  his  amiable  letter  of  ISth  April,  1890,  makes  the  remark  that. 
there  never  had  been  any  letters  engraved  between  FERlY  and  AMoNA. 
any  more  than  between  KEHI^  and  nTA,  between  E  and  PRITI, 
between  STEP  and  I  (the  preposition  STEPI  =  evOa  )  between 
TIDEIMI  and  EHBI,  of  the  following  lines  ;  the  stone  presenting  in 
this  portion  a  cracked  surface  which  certainly  did  not  invite  the  lapicide 
to  inscribe  anything  there.  The  word  SEFERIYAM6NA,  whatever  may 
be  the  translation  decided  on.  is  complete.  By  this  observation  alone 
which  suggests  to  the  mind  the  treaty  of  the  year  411,  the  work  of 
decipherment  has  realized  a  remarkable  advance. 

6)  Read  especially  the  paragraph  which  commences  with  these  words, 
'*  aocedit  altera  caussa  ,  .  ."  in  the  Commrntatio  de  Columna  Xanthica. 
Jena,  1881,  page  5,  But  I  am  not  yet  persuaded  that  the  North  face 
may  not  be  the  last  page  of  this  gigantic  inscription  ;  the  engraver, 
after  the  Greek  epigram,  has  compressed  his  text,  as  if  he  feared  he 
should  want  space,  and  there  are  some  lines  of  40  characters,  when 
everywhere  else  lie  does  not  go  beyond  34,  and  often  does  not  reach  this 
number. 

7)  Thucydides  informs  us  as  to  the  name  of  the  father  of  Pharn.ibazus, 
it  was  I  liarnaces,  (quoted  in  the  treaty  of  the  year  Xlil  of  Darius, 
(fiVfuCe^  T(y<f  (iavTwu  dfKpoTepot  TVapa  (bapvatiatt^  tu'  (haPvaKov  icaToiicovm'es:) 
Thucydides,  VI LI,  6. 

8)TIDE1M1  can  be  perfectly  in  the  plural  ;  some  epitaphs  appear  to 
give  it  in  the  nominative  plural,  but  with  an  aS  at  the  end  ;  it  may  be 
that  the  regular  termination  was  in  fact  SE  TiDEIMISE,  abridged 
to     TIDEIMIS     and     TIDEIMI). 

9)  This  is  the  commencement  of  tiiis  treaty  of  alliance  between  the  J'cr- 
aians  and  Sparta: 


160  pharnabazus  and  tissaphernes 

€v  AaKecai'fiovi,  ^vvOrjKai  iyeuovTo  ev  Maiavcpov  TreSi'tv  Aaice^ai/ioviwi/  ical 
rwv  ^Vfifia')(^u}v  irpo^  TiaGn(f)epvrj  ical  'lepa/ieyrj  Kal  Toi's-  ^apvuKov  iralhas, 
ctX. 

4.    Tissaphernes, 

At  the  same  time  as  Deecke  discovered  Tt(Tffa^epvt)<t  and  Tiaaaffiepv-qv 
in  Kizzivprnna  and  Kizzajirnno,  I  was  fortunate  enough  to  recognise  the 
adversary  of  this  satrap,  that  is  to  say  A.morges,  in  HUMR;)^;;to  (South 
50).  Identification  facilitated  by  the  verb  TABoNA  signifying  "to  conquer." 
"We  are  then  most  certainly  in  one  of  the  years  413,  412,  or  411,  under  the 
reign  of  Darius  II,  who  perhaps  associated  in  his  crown  his  oldest 
son    Artaxerxes. 

The  name  of  the  satrap  is  complete  ;  three  passages  contain  it,  and 
one  of  them   by  superaddition  gives  us  the  name  of  his  father  : 

Line  11-12.         KIZZAPRSNA:  .Fr[DR]  |i  uNAH 
:=Tissaphenes,  son  of  Hydarues, 
line  14.  KIZZAl  RnNA  not  distant  from  the  mention  of  SE 

I'ARZA:  MEnLE,  which  I  dare  not  translate  "and    the 
Persian  men."(?) 
line   15  KIZZAPRnNo  in  the  accusative,  preceded  by  the  pre- 

position iiTEPI     apud  ?  (PI  is   the    enclitic  of  another 
preposition  HRPPI=for. 

The  information  as  to  the  name  of  Tissaphernes  does  not  in  any  way 
disarrange  our  ideas,  and  in  fact  no  one  had  dreamt  of  taking  this  high 
dignitary,  the  rival  of  Pharnabazus,  for  a  sou  of  Pharnaces.  The  treaty 
recorded  by  Thucydides  separates  the  son  of  Pharnaces.  from  Tissapher- 
nes and  from  Hieramenes.  Therefore  in  introducing  KIZZAPRnNA. 
immediately  after  the  Spartans  and  before  SE  .  ..  PRSNAKAHE  TIDE- 
IMI,  I  have  acted  conformably  to  all  the  data  of  history  and  epigraphy.  Is 
it  not  strange,  however,  that,  while  the  name  (so  instructive  for  us)  of 
PRnNAKAHE  had  disappeared,  the  name  of  the  father  of  Tissaphernes, 
which  history  does  not  disclose,  hastens  from  itself  before  our  eyes  ? 
There  are  wanting  two  letters,  of  which  the  one,  R,  is  quite  in- 
dicated before  nN,  and  the  other  D,  presents  the  resource  of  reconsti- 
tuting a  very  Persian  name  Fidrfinah=:  Vidarnahya.  F  is  the  dig- 
amma  which  the  Greek  replaces  by  u  :  TEFINEZoI  of  Telmessus  3 
bear  the  same  name  as  Tevivaaov  7ov  Kivhavv^ov,  Xanthus  C.  I.  G. 
4315,  h.  The  inscription  of  the  stele  quotes  the  descendant  of  Hystaspas, 
nnder  the  form  of  FIZTTASPPAZI  that  is  to  say,  with  FI=Per3ian 
VIshtaspa,    Greek    'Y<naa7nj^.       Ctesias   writes  the  name    of  Vidarna, 


161  ON  THE  XANTHIAN  STBLA. 

Icepfij''  :  Herodotus,  YBapvq^,  and  Xenophon,  or  rather  the  un- 
known hand  wlilch  has  added  to  the  Anabasis  the  nomenclature  of  the 
satraps  of  the  period  of  that  expedition,  would  appear  to  give  the  sama 
name  under  the  form  Ae/Ji'^s-,  as  Mr.  Noldeke  conjectures. 

At  first  sight,  and  if  we  do  not  suppcsa  a  Persian  prototj'pe  Cissa- 
frdna,  one  is  astonished  at  this  that  liaaacpein'  //could  have  become  in 
Lycian  KIZZAPRSNA:  either  we  deceive  ourselves  in  our  identifica- 
tion— but  I  believe  that  the  other  evidences  lend  us  a  strong  support — or 
the  Greek  has  been  badly  reproduced  and  contains  a  '  gamma'  instead  of 
a    •  tau':  rifftmr/iepuriv  would  be  quite  near    Kizzaprfina. 

The  Hellenists  will,  however,  refuse  to  make  this  change;  it  would,  in- 
deed be  very  extraordinary  if  the  copyists  of  the  different  Greek  histor- 
ians should  be  agreed  upon  the  classical  reading  ;  besides,  Tissaphernes 
is  quoted  in  Justin  :  "  Darius  quoque,  rex  Persarum,  memor  paterni  a- 
vitiqne  in  banc  nrbem  odii,  facta  cum  Laceda?moniis  per  Tissafernem, 
pra>fectum  Lydife,  societate,  omnem  sumtum  belli  pollicetur  .... " — 
"...  Alcibiades  ...  ad  Tissafernem.  prjefectura  Darii  regis,  profugit 
.  .  ."  "  Igitur  persuadet  Tissaferni  ne  tanta  stipendia  clasj^i  Lacedae- 
moniorum  pr^eberet  ..."  "  Grata  oratio  Tissaferni  fnit  .  .  ."  "  et  in 
locum  Tissafernis  Darius  rex  Persarum  filium  suum  Cyrum  loniie  Ly- 
dijeque  pr£eposnit .    ."  (Histoi-ice,  Liber  V,  1,  2,  5). 

I  prefer  to  hold  by  the  idea  of  the  Persian  prototype  Cissafrana,  where 
c'  corresponds  to  the  Greek  t  or  0  and  to  the  Latin  q  ;  for  example, 
r'a  the  conjunction  is  to  be  compared  with  the  enclitic  re  (in  Asia 
Minor  Ke),  and  with  the  Latin  que.  Caispis  the  Achemenidian  became 
Tcz'ffTTiyv  in  Herodotus,  Aspacana  KaTradivrif  (cf.  C'issantakhma  = 
Tpncivjaixfirfi  of  j^schylus.)  The  Lycians  had  quite  a?  good  a 
right  as  the  Greeks  to  adopt  a  reading  which,  after  all,  approaches  still 
better  to  Cissafrana,  KIZZAPRN:NrA. 

NOTES. 
1)  See  Moriz  Schmidt,  KOnig  Perlkles  in  the  Zoitschrift  hersggb.  von 
Kuhn.  1879,  page  45o.  TABoNA  is  the  verb  TEBETP]  "  devinxit"; 
TERfi  is  doubtless  the  army,  exercituin.  On  the  campaigns  of  the  son 
of  HarpagOte- and  tlie  data  othis  stele,  read  Deecke's  article  already  quoted, 
zur  Deutnng  der  stela  Xain^hica. 

Here  then  retranscribed  and  completed  as  far  as  I  am  capable  of  doing, 

the  Kizzaprfina    section  ;     I  do  not   attempt  to  write  the  letters  under 

each  other   : 

1     sppart  I  [(r/)    zi  (:)  Kizzaprfina  (:)  se    Utona']  utozisa,  prhna\bat 
[a  :  prnnaka']  he  :  tideimi  :  se  parzza  :  \bide  :  se  si 


162  PHARNABAZUS    AND    TISSAPHERNES 

lana   A']  li  [f]  ahe  :  trbbi  :  Atonas  :.  ^XTif'^*^  '•  ^^^^  '•    '^^ 

\it'\    e.  mu  «T(a?;'o  :  maraz  '  :  meubuMito  :  kbiyoti :  se 
5      Utona  :  sttati  :  sttala  :  otl  :  maUyahi  :  pddoti 

ddefo  z\')^azdineune  :  miisefeh  :   mmi  :  se  -xbide 

sttatimo  :   sttala  :  otl  vlahi  (e)  biyehi  :  se  malt — 

i/ahi :  se  mertemehi  :  se  \ntafatelii  :  -xbidofi  [nej — 

hi  :   sf  ddefe  :  sttatiinii  :  urubliyo  :  meiti  :  ^m/"  [*] — 
10     ti  :  azzalo  d  .  .  .  deu  trbbeit  :  e/tto  :  esbote  :    x^{^ — 

afatedi :  un  .  .  .    abornme  se  mo  Kizzaprmia  :  Ft  [c?r]  — 

nnah  :   se  {e)fe  {E)  riyamona  teloziyehl  :  vlSa  {es — 

Ariinas  :  Keh\nta  :  erbbedi  ntuhe  oer  {per') 

Kizzaprnna  :  epriti  :  se  parza  :   mehJe  :   [ntlrn'\ 
15     7r)o  :     ax<^  '•      ^^     ntepi     Kizzaprniw :     ttli\_di 

.  ,  .     tideimi     ehbi  Arusri  :  nene  ^^'^[i""  •  •• 

.   .   .  dice     nteJe    aiti  :     tike  :     ziim.  .  .  , 

felo  :     6  .  .  .  - 

paxn-  se  i  \^e 

20     ntl'mme  :  Arnnate:   Sepuzeh.  .  .  . 

What  is  it  that  this  signifies  ?  ^xx^^^  appears  to  point  out  a  verb 
having  the  meaning  of  "  to  disembark"  or  '-to  reembark;"  ddefo  2xv«- 
zdlnemit    would  be  the  "  sacred    ships." 

Line  15  :  ttlidi  has  the  acceptation  of  reckoning  money  ;  it  would  there- 
fore have  to  do  with  a  payment   of  troops. 

Arusn   named  elsewhere  (East,  6)  would  be  Tissaphernes'    son. 

Lastly,  as  at  every  grand  fastival  there  must  be  a  poet,  so  here  our 
epigrammatist  Indalmos,  son  of  Sepouzis,  Xanthian  by  birth;  ^he  has 
pillaged  Simonides  for  the  occasion,  and  his  first  verse  has  been  for  a  long 
time  compared  to  that  which  opens  the  epigram  in  honour  of  Cimon,  and 
of  the  warriors  in   the  passage  of  Eurymedon. 

I  am  very  pleased  to  give  here  a  translation  of  this  piece.^ 

"  Since  the  sea  separated  Europe  from  Asia,  among  the  Lycians,  no  one 
ever  yet  erected  a  similar  stela  before  the  twelve  gods,  in  the  consecrated 
enceinte  of  the  agora,  an  imperishable  monument  of  challenges  and  wars. 

"  Kreis,  son  of  Harpagos  was  superior  in  ever}^thing.    in    the  struggle 
by  hands  among  the  Lycians  of   that   time    flourishing  there    in    youth." 
Ft    is  ho    who,    Athene,  taker    of    cities  by    his   side,    took    numerous 
citadels, 

Giving  to  his  relations  a  part  of  the  empire. 


ON  THE  XANTHIAV  STELA.  163 

•'  They  do  not  forget  the    Iramortal^^    in    their  righteous  recognition, 

"It  is  he  who.  in  one  day,  killed  seven   Arkadian    hoplites. 

"  Ah  !  assuredly  among  all  human  beings  he  lias  ])resented  before  Zeus 
the  most  numerous  trophies  ! 

"  Ah  I  assuredly  he    has    crowned  with  very  rich    crowns  the  race  of 
Karikas  !" 

Too  much  importance  had  been  made  of  this  poetical  accessory,  by 
in  it,  as  it  were,  a  resume  of  the  text  of  the  obelisk.  At  this  moment 
Mr.  Arkwright's  discovery  gives  an  openmg  for  conclusions  of  the  gravest 
character.  M.  Six.  for  example,  considers  the  presence  of  the  high 
personages  of  the  Empire  at  Xanthus,  on  the  morning  of  the  death  of 
Kreis,  as  dictated  less  by  the  desire  to  celebrate  the  memory  of  the  deceased 
hero  than  to  arrange  the  conditions  of  an  intimate  alliance.  Lycia  re- 
pudiated the  Athenian  friendship;  she  placed  herself  under  the  protection 
of  Tissaphernes,  happy  to  see  herself  flattered  by  those  the  empire 
regarded  as  the  greatest,  by  Pharnabazus  and  his  brothers,  and  by  the 
Spartans.  Understood  in  this  way,  th's  document  goes  beyond  the 
interest  which  would  attach  to  a  simple  narrative  of  campaigns  by  sea  and 
undertaken  for  a  petty  Lycian  sovereign. 

We  must,  however,  conclude;  and  our  conclusion  is  to  invite  the  friends 
of  antiquity  to  search  among  the  ruins  of  the  ancient  metropolis  of  Lycia 
the  debris  of  the  obelisk,  and  to  secure  to  all  the  pleasure  of  having  the 
last  doubts  as  to  our  readings  removed.  This  task  well  becomes  Fellows' 
fellow-countrymen,  who  never  refuse  their  money  to  any  scientific  mission 
with  an  object  always  so  great;  does  there  not  exist  under  the  shadow  of 
the  fl>jurishing  Palestine  Exploration  Fund  a  society  which  is  devoted  to 
the  excavations  of  Cyprug  ?  Would  it  not  be  meeting  a  real  necessity  of 
our  historical  knowledge  to  create  a  Lycia  and  Caria  Exploration 
Fund  ?     May  this  appeal  be  answered  ! 

NOTES. 

1)  This    is   the   opinion    of  Moriz    Schmidt,    Neue   li/kische  Studied, 
p.  129,  note. 

2)  See  the  text  in  the  Museon,  t.  VIII,  1889,  pp.  422-42?..  The 
epigram  attributed  more  or  less  justly  to  Simonides,  and  which  has 
inspired  the  Xanthian  poet,  is  in  Diodorus  Sicuhcs,  XI,  62,  and  Anthology, 
VII,  296.  J.  Imbkrt. 


A    BUDDHIST    REPERTORY.  164 


A  BUDDHIST  REPERTORY 
IN  SANSCRIT,  TIBETAN,  MANDCHU,  MONGOL  &  CHINESE. 

{Continued  from  p.   116). 

Section  X. 
Sbyafis  pahi  yon  tan  hcu  gnls.    The   12  Virtuous  Acts  of  Purity. — ^^I. 
The  12  Virtues  of  Purificatory  Exercises. 

1.  Sdmpukulida  [read  Pa^M^uZz'^a].  T.phyag-dar  khrod  pa,  wearing  gar- 
ments made  of  gatliered  rags.  M.  T,'g.  to  wear  dark  and  poor  clothes. 
Ch.  to  wear  dirty  clotliea  which  have  been  cleaned  (i.e.  begged  for, 
gathered  up  dirty  and  then  cleaned  to  be  worn). 

2.  Trdicwarika^,  wearing  the  three  garments  of  mendicant  monks. — T. 
c'os  gos  gsum  pa,  the  three  garments  of  the  Law,  or  of  the  canonical 
books.     I\I.  &c..  id. 

3.  Numatika.  Wearing  hair  (i  e.  skin)  garments. — T.  pkt/in  pa  can,  id., 
or  of  coarse  felt. — Ch.  coarse,  torn  garments. 

4.  Pintapdtika  [_1  Pindap^.']  Having  ones  food  whilst  going  along  the 
road.---T.  hson  snoms  pa,  begging  alms. — M.  going  here  and  there 
begging. — Ch.  always  going  round  begging  food. 

5.  Ekdpanika^  [read-joaHi/^a].  Having  only  one  spoon.  T.  stan  gcig  pa, 
and  M.  having  only  one  mat.     Ch.  having  only  one  kind  of  food. 

K.   Khalupa^vdddhaktinka^  .  .... 

T.  zas  phyis  mi  len  pa,  who  after  eating  accepts  no  more  ;  M.  who  hav- 
ing eaten  (once)  does  not  eat  a  second   time. 

7.  Ardnyakam.  Dwelling  in  a  furest. — T,  dgon-pa-ha,  do  in  a  desert. — 
Ch.  to  inhabit  mountains,  monasteries,  (jan  yen  of  Tibet), 

8.  Vrksharnulikam.  Dwelling  at  a  foot  of  a  tree.  T,  gifi  drim  pa,  at  the 
foot  of  a  tree. — ^jVi.  under  a  tree. 

9.  Ahhyavakd^ikci.  Dwelling  in  an  uncovered  place,  under  the  open 
sky. — T.  hlag  pa  med  pa,  with  nothing  to  lean  on^. — M.  inhabiting  a 
shelterless  place.     Ch.  do.  uncovered,  exposed  to  rain. 

10.  pmdgdnika.  Inhabiting  cemeteries. — T.  dur  khrod  pa. — M.  id.— 
Ch.  among  tombs. 

11.  Ndishadhika.  (Not  lying  down,  but)  standing  up  (all  night).  T. 
tsog  bu  pa,  to  remain  sitting  with  legs  folded  under  one^. — M.  to  re- 
main sitting  without  lying  down. — Ch.  to  sit  only  and  not  lie  down. 


A    BUDDHIST     REPERTORY.  105 

12.  YiUhd  pantari.  Goii)g  by  the  roads  (to  beg)  as  is  fitting.  ("In 
turn,"  adds  the  iVIandchu).  Mg.  Ch.  going  to  beg  in  turn  (and  :  as 
is  fitting). — T.  gzi  bz'in  pa,  inhabiting  a  fitting  phxce^. 

The  nomenclature  gives  here  a  summary  table  of  what  are  called  the 
dfiutiingas,  or  rules  of  ascetic  life,  (lit.  '  kinds  of  things  rejected),'  It 
passes  over  in  complete  silence  the  community  or  monastic  life,  the 
viiiara  and  all  that  concerns  it.  It  seems  to  put  the  hiM-niit  above  the 
mtnik,  which  is  contrary  to  the  general  ideas.  An  allusion  to  conununity 
life  may  be  seen  perhaps  m  Part  I. 

We  have  here  the  rules  according  to  the  Northern  books;  the  Southern 
Buddhists  have  8.  Kern  and  Spence  Hardy  treat  specially  of  these  latter. 
See  Eastern  Monasticisni,  pp,    73,  97  sq.,  107,  118,  183  sqq. 

1.  Fimgiikulika  signifies,  according  to  Burnouf,  'garments  covered  with 
dust';  Spence  Hardy  explains  it  imperfectly.  Pdftgukula  is  a  heap  of  dust, 
soil,  swept-up  filth;  pdfi^ukula  is  the  high  road.  The  whole  means  one  who 
goes  upon  the  dust-heaps  or  on  the  road  to  seek  for  castaway  rags.  The 
Buddhist  yramanas  clothe  themselves  with  garments  made  of  rags  they 
have  picked  up,  with  shreds  of  worn-out  clothes.  Thes-c  garments  are 
made  of  from  5  to  27  pieces,  according  to  the  school. 

2.  Trdivtcanka.  The  three  garments  are  a  short  petticoat,  bands  of 
linen  cloth  at  the  lower  part  of  the  legs,  and  a  cloak;  the  whole  of  yellow 
colour,  as  being  the  Ime  of  unbleached  linen  of  the  coarsest  kind.  New 
clothes  received  as  gifts  had  to  be  torn  up  and  sewn  together  again,  so  as 
to  resemble  those  made  of  rags  collected.  Whilst  the  ascetic  is  washing 
his  three  garments  he  must  remain  naked,  if  alone. 

3.  Ndmutika.  Burnouf,  being  unable  t(j  explain  this  word,  alters  it  to 
Kdmbalika.  The  skin  garments  of  the  bhikshus  are  mentioned,  for  instance 
in  the  Adanavarga. 

4.  Burnouf  and  Hardy  interpret  pivda  and  pdta  as  throwing  or  fall  of 
bread  given  in  alms.  According  to  the  versions,  it  ought  to  be  read 
piiidiipdthika,  which  gives  a  better  meaning. 

5.  Tin;  Tibetans  have  followed  the  reading  Ekdsanika,  having  but  one 
seat,  remaining  on  the  same  whilst  taking  the  same  and  not  going  to 
eitlier  side.  The  Chinese  have  read  Ekd^anika,  and  it  is  from  this  that 
Heniusat  has  got  his  translation,  and  not  from  a  textual  correction. 

G.  'I'his  word  has  greatly  embarrassed  Burnouf,  who  corrects  to  svddnap- 
agcddhhaktikufi,  which  is  not  very  likely.  Hardy  takes  khal/i  in  a  pro- 
hibitive sense,  "  prohibited  after  the  time"  {hhutta,  a  period  of  timeV  He 
makes  two  different  things  out  of  the  two  readings,  khalupagcdhhattikn 
and  khal npb(^rddhaktinka,  giving  to  this  latter  the  value  of  "  that  the 
food  begged  should  be  divided  into  three."  Khalu,  forbidden,  is  not 

very  piobable  ;  no  example  of  it  is  cited.  I  would  prefer  to  read  Khalv- 
pagcddvKl/haktikd.       Perhaj)S  the  n  of  7ia  has  slipj)ed    into  bhaktinka   — 

The  Buddhist  interpreters  are  equally  embarrassed,  as  may  be  seen  in 
Childer's  Pali  Dictionary,  s.v. 

11.  Hardydistinguishes  the  twoidentical  Pali-Sanskrit  forms  neshdjjitu 
and  ndiahiidhika. 

12.  Tlie  versions  indicate  a  text />(/7i/A«ri,  Iroxw  pantha  voa^X.  Tlie  Pali 
list    would    indicate    ?/rt^/ia6'«?i.<)?a777<a,  'who  keeps  his  carpet  as  it  is  with- 


166  A    BUDDHIST  REPERTORY. 

out   changing  it,'  according    to   Burnouf.  Hardy  sees   in  it  '  one  who 

takes  the  first  place  vacant,  (without  seeking  a  better  one  '). 

The  two  lists,  ISTorthern  and  Southern,  have  notable  differences.  There 
is  a  13th  term  pattapindika  according  to  Kern,  etc.;  but  this  is  the 
equiivalent  oi  pindapatika.  No.  4  on  the  Southern  list  is  sapadanacarlkn, 
going  from  house  to  house  to  beg  food,  according  to  Kern,  who  adds  that 
this  term  is  wanting  in  the  Xorthern  list,  so  that  two  terms  woidd  be  miss- 
ing therein.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  this  is  the  only  one  missing.  The  order 
of  the  two  lists  is  quite  different  ;  but  tliat  if  of  slight  im])ortance. 

One  who  lives  under  a  tree  must  not  heed  rain,  the  fall  of  birds'  dung, 
etc.  Tlie  dweller  in  the  forest  must  always  keep  at  a  certain  distance 
from  all  houses,  etc.  etc.  But  in  all  this  there  is  both  a  strict  and  a  lax 
observance,  and  these  prescriptions  concern  only  those  who  desire  to  be 
more  perfect.  One  may  arrive  without  this  at  Nirvana.—  These  rules  giv 
rise  to  numerous  details  of  prescription,  which  it  would  be  too  long  e 
enumerate  here,  and  which  may  be  found  in  Hardy,  I.e. 

1)  "To  be  sitting  on  one  leg'  is  not  quite  accurate.  (Burn.  Introd. 
274). 

2)  And  not  'who  remains  where  he  is  '  (ib.  277).    M.  ydthdsahstavika. 

3)  Burn.  Lotus,  I.  309,  'absence  of  all   comfort '(?) 

Section  XI. 

'Jig-rten  gyi  mifi-la.     Names  of  the  Exterior  or  Visible  World. 

1.  Sahasracuti/alokadhdtv}  Element,    region   of   the   world  of  the   small 
thousand.     M.  ston  sphye-phud, 

2.  Dvipdhasrodhyamolokadhdtu    [read     dvisdhasromadhya  Z.]    world    of 
the  second,  middle  thousand. — T.  ston  gnis  pa  bar. 

8.  Trisdhasro?nahdsdhasroIdkadhdtu.    World  of  the  third,  great  thousand. 

T.  Ston  gsum  gyi  .Hon  e'en  ha  .  .  . 
4.   Samalokadhatu.     The  entire,   universal   world,   [read  sahaloka  ?]     T. 

nu  mzed  'jig  rten. — M.  Ch.  the  world  which  can  bear,  patience  in  evila, 

(reading    saha). — The  sahaJSka  is   the  inhabited    part  of  the    worlds, 

consequently  the  part  where  there  is  suffering. 

1)  The  three  first  terms  have  reference  to  the  division  of  the  visible 
world.  The  Universe  is  composed  of  an  infinite  number  of  small  worlds 
called  (^akvala  and  each  comprising  an  Earth,  with  its  sun,  moon,  and 
stars,  besides  its  heavens  and  hells.  The  whole  is  limited  by  a  girdle  of 
rocks.  A  thousand  (^akvalas  from  the  small  thousand,  Sahasrocyuta. 
One  million  (or  ten  lacs)  of  gakvahis  make  tlie  middle  thousand  madhy- 
amn.  One  hundred  crores  constitute  the  great  thousand.  Tlie  whole 
together  is  the  Samalokadhatu,  essence  or  constituent  of  the  entire 
world. 

Section     XII. 
Gltn  bz'i  pn-hi  min-la.     NameSjof  the  Pour  Dvipas^ 
1.  Purvavideha.     Eastern  videha.     T.  car  kyi  his  'phags,  elevated  (vi) 
or  sacred  country,  corporal  world  of  the  East.     M.  great  bodied  astern, 


A    BUDDHIST    REPERTORY.  167 

(lib.     Ch.  the  island  of  the  subdued  (vi)  body. 

2.  Deha.     The  bodily.     T.   lus,  body.     M.  dip,  corporeal. 

3.  VideJia.  Without  body.  T.  las  'phac/s,  elevated  (rt)  body.  M.  id. 
Ch.  subdued,  despoiled  body. 

4.  Jambudnpa.  Dvipa  of  the  jambu  tree.  '  T.  Jnmbu  hi  glin.  M.  dip 
of  the  jambu,  Southern. 

5.  Cdmara.  Dvipa  of  the  ox  Camara  (i.e.  the  yak).  T.  rna  yah,  lit. 
'drumstick.'  M.  dip  of  arfa  (oats).  Mg,  of  the  yaktail  fly-flap.  Ch. 
siao  fi'h. 

6.  Avaracdmara.  Lower  Camara.  T.  r/la  yab  gz'an,  the  other  rna  yab 
M.  the  othei  arfa.  Mg.  the  other  fiy-flap.  Ch.  with  the  marvell- 
ous/« A. 

7.  Avaragotanyatn  [read  aparagudnniya,  or  godhdnyam^,  rich  in  oxen, 
to  the  West. — T.  7iuh  kyi  lain,  spyod,  whose  action  takes  place  in  the 
West.  M.  dip  where  the  western  (  para)  oxen  are  employed. — Mg. 
id. — Ch.  where  trade  is  dune  in  oxen  of  (to)  the  West, 

8.  (7di/ia  [read  edit'],  T.  gyo-ldan,  moving  dvipa.  M.id.'  Ch,  Dvipa 
which  moves,  goes  a  little. 

9.  Uttaramantrina.  Perhaps  the  same  as  uttaramandra.  T.  lam  moq 
'gro,  who  goes  the  best  way.  M.  Dip,  where  one  follows  the  best  way. 
Ch.  id. 

10.  Uttara  Kuru.  Septentrional  Kuru.  T.  Byan  spra  ml  mam.  With  the 
disagreeable  sounds  of  the  north.    M.  id.  Ch.  Island  Kulo  of  the  north. 

11.  Kuriiva.  Land  of  the  Kurus.       T.  sgra  mi  snam.    With  bad  soundsJ 
Ch.,  superior  to  land  of  the  flatterers,  where  flattery  reigns. 

12.  Kduriiva.  id.     T.  sg7-a  mi  snan  kye  zla,  Island  of  the  friends  of  bad 

voices.     Ch.  Island  of  the  extreme  superiority,    ts'ui  shing. 

I)  /)/•?/<«= Island.  M.  Mg.  dip  (transcribed).  Ch.  tcheou,  island. 
The  Hindus  divided  the  world  into  dvipas  or  great  continents  surrounded 
by  water  and  each  having  one  extremity  touching  I\rount  Meru.  Their 
names  and  number  vary  with  the  books  :  the  Maluilihurata  has  4  ;  the 
Vishnupfirana  also  4  ;  others  13  or  even  18.  Generally  seven  are  recog- 
nised, viz  :  .Jaml)udvipa,  with  India  in  the  centre  ;  around  this  are  ranged 
the  rest, — Gotnedaka,  (jrdmala,  Kusa,  Kraunca,  Caka  and  Pusldcara. 
The  names  of  our  bnok,  which  are  quite  different  are  partly  geographical. 
Videha  was  to  the  North  of  the  Ganges,  the  actual  Bihar.  Purvavideha 
is  the  Eastern  part  of  it.  Deha  is  merely  an  artificial  creation,  obtained 
by  suppressing  the  prefix  r/ of  the  first  word.  Deha  mems  'body'; 
hence  all  tlie  etymological  explanations  in  the  versions. — Jambudvipa  re- 
presents India  which  it  contained.  Its  name  is  derived  from  the  Jambu 
tree:  [^Eugenia  jamhoJanal!)  which  grows  there  in  great  abundance;  or 
from  the  leaves  of  this   tree,  whose   shape  resembles  that  of  the  Trans- 


168  A    BUDDHIST    REPERTORY. 

gangetic  peninsula. — The  Uttaraknru,  partly  mythical  and  partly  geogra- 
phical, occupies  the  Northern  extremity. — The  Kuruvas  and  Kaurava  are 
mere  abtractions  from  it. — Madra  is  the  North  of  India;  Uttaramadra  (?) 
would  be  its  n(jrthern  extremity — Camara  is  in  the  country  where  the 
yak  is  indigenous,  as  the  Aparagodanya  in  the  pastoral  countries  to  the 
West. 

The  title  of  the  section  speaks  of  four  dvipas,  because  such  was  the 
consecrated  number  among  many  of  the  Buddhists.  The  four  dvipas 
surround  Mount  ]*J era,  affect  semicircular,  triangular,  circular  and  square 
forms.     Tlie  inliabitants   have  similarly  formed  faces. 

Section     XIII. 

Khams  (/sum.     The  Three  Worlds. 

1.  Kdmadhdtu.     World  of  desire.     T.   r do  pa  hi  khams. 

2.  Rupadhdtii.     World  of  visible  forms.     T.  gzugs  khi/i  khams. 

3.  Arupadh  tic.    World  of  (beings)  without  perceptible  forms.     T.  gziigs 

c'odpahi  khams. 

Section  XIV. 
'Dad  Iha  drug  gi  rnin  la.    Nouns  of  the  genii  of  desire. 
M.  Names  of  the  six  Worlds  of  desire. 

1.  Caturmahdrdjakdyiha.  Corporeal  world  of  the  4  great  kings  protectors 
of  the  world  and  of  the  gods  against  evil  spirits;  they  dwell  under 
Mount  Meru.  T.  rgyal  en  bz^ihi  rigs,  family  of  the  4  great  kings,  &c- 
M.  Ch.   the  4  great  kings  of  heaven. 

2.  Trayastrlnga.  The  group  of  the  33  gods.  T.  sum  c'u  gsum  pa,  id. 
Ch.  M,  the  33  heavens  (abka).     Mg.  the  83  tekin. 

3.  Tdm';.  World  of  Yama.  T.  '  thab  zal,  the  desert  of  combat^.  M. 
heaven  of  combat.      Ch.  ya-mo,  transcribed. 

4.  Tushita.  (Heaven  of  joy),  joyous,  rejoiced.  T.  dya  ld<m,  which  is  in 
joy.     M   rejoicing  heaven.     (Wanting  in  Minaieff). 

5.  Nirminaratitas.  (M.  -rataya)  rejoicing,  delighting  in  miraculous 
transformations,  T.  ■  phrul  dga,  do.  by  wonders.  M.  Mg.  id.  Ch. 
by  creations. 

6.  Paran?rmitava<;avarttita  [read — ttind\  proceeding  at  will  by  miraculous 
transformations. 

I)  An  etymological  error,  from  yam  to  overcome.         C.   de   Harlez. 

(T'o  hi'  continued). 


Note  to  the  Tablet  of  Aspasine. — From  texts  which  I  have  exam- 
ined during  the  last  few  days,  I  find  that  "^fH  ^f"-  ought  to  be  read 
£el-Iuniar.  Substitute,  therefore,  Bel-lumur  for  Bel-mahar  wherever  the 
latlc:-  occurs,  T.G.P. 

For  the  name  of  the  daughter  of  Nabonidus,  see  Mr.  Pinches'  article 
"  Belshazzar"  in  the  New  York  Independent  for  August  15,  1889,  p.  15, 
where  the  tablet  in  question  is  translated  in  full.     T.  de  L. 


PRINTED  AND  published  FOE  the  PROPRIETOR  AT2»  ALBERT  SQUARE  CLAPHAM 
ROAD,    AND    BY    D.    NUTT  FOREIGN  AND   CLASSICAL   BOOKSELLER   27o  STRAND. 


THB 


BABYLONIAN  AND  ORIENTAL  RECORD. 

Contributors  are  alone  responsible  for  their  opinions  or  statements. 


BANANAS  AND  MELONS    AS  DESSERT  FRUITS  OF 
ASSYRIAN  MONARCHS  AND  COURTIERS. 

V.  E.  Botta  in  his  Monuments  de  Nmive  pi.  64,  Tom.  I,  gives  a  set 
of  men  at  a  feast.  They  are  dressed  in  long  tunics.  tasseUed  at  the 
edges,  and  the  men  are  seated  on  richly  ornamented  chairg.  In  one 
hand  they  are  holding  a  goblet  which  may  be  of  metal  or  ivory. 

Before  them  is  a  richly  ornamented  table,  and  on  it  are  two  things. 
The  one  looks  like  a  large  slice  oi  melon,  and  the  other  looks  like  a 
small  cluster  of  bananas — sliowing  7  distinct  large  fruits,  clustered 
together. 

PL  65  of   the    same  Tome  gives  another  set  of  similar  drinkers.      On 

the    table  before  them   is   repeated    the    melon-like  object,   and  another 

squarish  object  which  is  defa'ied  and  not  recognizable.     Behind  them  is 

an  attendant,  holding  a  fly-flapper,  which  would  appear  to  mean  that  the 

persons,  who  are  feasting,  are  either    members    of  the    royal  family,  or 

persons  of  rank.     Behind  the  attendant  again  are  two  men  standing,  with 

short  tunics  and  swords.     In  one  hand  they  hold  a  staff  of  office,  and  in 

the  other  a  goblet.     Between  them  on  the   ground  is   a  tray,  with  some 

sort  of  vessel,  and  a  small    cluster  of  banana-like  objects.       Six  distinct 

fruits  can  be  seen  in  a  row  and  all  have  the  usual  banana-CM77'e.     These 

figures  must  also  be  intended  For  persons   of  some  rank,  as  in  another 

place,  similar  figures  have  near  them  an   attendant,  holding  a  fly-flapper. 

The  banana-like  objects    are    repeated  in    PI.   63,  Tom.  I,  and  in  PL 

113,  Tom.    II,  and   are   placed   on  similar  tables.       In  one   of  the  latter, 

there  are  signs  of  two  rows  of  fruits  on  the  cluster. 

PL  146,  Tom.  II,  gives  a  fortress,  with  the  king  standing  in  his  tent, 
and  outside  of  it  wliat  is  probably  meant  for  the  king's  dining  table, 
surrounded  V)y  the  ensigns  of  royalty — two  globes,  and  a  red  cone.  On 
the  table  is  a  cluster  of  banana-like  fruits— five  large  ones  in  a  row. 
Close  by  are  two  attendants,  one  of  whom  holds  a  bucket  in  one  hand. 
Vol.  IV.— No.  8.  [169]  Jdlv,  1890. 


170  DESSERT    FRUITS    OF 

In  Br.  Mus.  basement,  No.   121  has  the  same  chister  on  a  table  close  to 
a  reclining  figure  of  Sardanapaliis. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  all  these  clusters  have  the  same  character — 
viz.  a  number  of  parallel  long  objects,  with  a  thick  line  across  them,  not 
far  from  their  base.  Like  bananas,  in  one  case  they  have  a  distinct 
curve,  and  in  another,  they  present  an  indication  of  two  rows.  Now 
can  these  objects  have  been  intended  for  bananas  ?  Can  they  have  been 
jntended  for  anything  else  ?  Considering  the  way  in  which  they  are  de- 
lineated, I  am  inclined  to  think  them  meant  for  clusters  of  bananas, 
and  nothing  else.  There  appears  nothing  in  the  origin  and  geographical 
distribution  of  this  plant,  which  militates  against  the  notion  that  the 
Assyrians  knew  of  it,  and  used  its  fruit  on  the  royal  tables,  although  it 
may  not  have  been  then  growing  in  Babylonia  or  Assyria. 

The  ordinary  banana  or  plantain  is   the  Musa  Sapientum,  L.     As  to 
its  botanical  character,  the  fruit    is  in  large  bunches,  as  we  see  them  in 
the  London  shops.     On  the  main   stem  are  arranged  clusters  of  bananas 
with  two  rows  in  each  cluster.     The  number  of  rows  varies  according  to 
the  variety  and  species,  and  the  number  of  bananas  in  each    row  varies 
also.     On  the  tree,  the  bunch  hangs  point   downwards,  and  each  cluster, 
when  in  flower,  is  protected  by   a  large  leathery  bract,  which,  in   some 
species,  is  of    a    very    brilliant    color.     This  bract  falls  off,   and  as  the 
ovaries   mature,  they  usually  curve  upwards,  tliat  is  towards  the  base  of 
the  bunch.     When  the  bract  falls  off,  a  scar  of  the  whole  breadth  of  the 
cluster  is  left  on  the  upper  side  near  its   base.     This  scar  appears  like  a 
dark  thick   line.     The  attachment   of   each  individual  fruit  to   the  stem 
varies.     In  some  kinds,  each   banana  is  separately  attached  to  the  stem. 
In  others,  the  peduncles  become  partially  confluent,  that  is,  the  stem-half 
of  each  peduncle  adheres  to  its  neighbour,  so  as  to  form  a  sort  of  flat,  or 
fasciated  branch,   from  which    the   individual    bananas    spring.     At  the 
junction  of  the  peduncles,   there  is  often  a  distinct  thick  hne  more  or  less 
undulating  which  is  the  scar  of  the  fallen  bract,  and  in  cases  of  confluence, 
there  are  often  distinct  marks  on  the  fasciated  part,  which  are  indicative 
of  the  peduncles  having  been    once  separate,  throughout   in  some  other 
variety. 

In  Botta's  plates  a  distinct  thick  line  is  shown  near  the  base  of  each 
cluster  of  banana-like  objects,  and  it  is  curious  to  note  that  thi>  thick 
line  is  mostly  on  the  concave  side  of  the  cluster  as  in  the  banani'.s  of  the 
shops.  Considering  the  interesting,  tho'rough  details,  with  which  the 
Assyrian  sculptors  often  represented  things,    this   line   may   have   been 


ASSYRIAN    MONARCHS.  171 

meant  for  that  which,  on  the  real  cluster,  often  separates  the  fasciated 
from  non-fasciated  parts  of  the  peduncles  ot  the  fruits,  and  is  the  scar 
of  the  fallen  bract. 

As  to  the  number  of  ovaries  m  each  cluster,  Musa  Zebrina  (Van 
Houtte)  Flore  de?  Serres — has  single  rows,  varying  from  1  to  7  in  each 
row.  Musa  Superha — 3850.  Bot.  Mag,  has  the  line  near  the  base  of 
the  ovaries,  and  a  fasciated  parr  which  attaches  the  cluster  to  the  stem. 
Musa  rosacea,  Bot.  Mag.  lias  only  2  or  3  ovaries  under  each  bract.  In 
Musa  paradisiaca,  one  of  tlie  cultivated  kinds-  there  are  two  rows  of 
bananas,  but  each  banana  is  separately  attached  to  the  stem.  All  the 
cultivated  kinds  of  Musa  sapientum  which  1  have  seen  had  two  rows  of 
fruits,  the  number  in  a  row  varying.  The  insertion  of  the  fruit  on  the 
stem  varies  also.  In  some,  the  fasciated  part  is  short  ;  in  others, 
longer. 

In  the  Natural  History  Museum  at  S.  Kensington,  there  is  an  original 
colored  drawing  of  a  yellow  variety  of  banana,  made  by  John  Reeves, 
who  resided  some  time  in  Canton.  The  drawing  has  some  Chinese 
characters,  which  probably  are  its  native  name.  It  has  two  rows  in 
each  cluster,  and  curiously  enough,  it  has  seve?i  bananas  in  each  row. 
The  peduncles  or  stalks  are  confluent  at  the  base,  the  confluent  part 
showing  marks  of  the  separate  origin  of  the  peduncles.  This  Chinese 
variety,  as  also  most  of  those  seen  in  the  London  shops,  has  the  curve 
in  its  indiAndual  bananas,  of  which  an  indication  is  given  in  pis.  63  and 
65,  Tom.  I.  of  liotta's  Mon.  de  Ninive. 

Another  original  drawing  has  red  fruit,  and  the  individuals  are 
straight. 

The  bunch  of  plaintains  nr  bananas  is  too  large  and  heavy  to  be 
handled,  and  offered  as  a  whole.  And  so  by  means  of  a  knife  it  is  di- 
vided into  clusters,  such  as  are  seen  in  the  shops,  and  such  as  are  hawked 
about  in  India,  and  served  at  tables. 

I  think,  botanically  speaking,  the  rude  representations  on  the  Assyrian 
sculptures  can  stand  for  clusters  of  bananas. 

As  to  the  origin  and  geographical  distribution  of  the  banana,  this  is, 
what  I  find  in  Alph.  de  CandoUe's  work  on  the  "  Origin  of  cultivated 
plants." 

"The  bananas  3{usa  sapientum  and  M.  paradisiaca  Linn.)  were 
generally  considered  to  be  natives  of  Southern  Asia,  and  to  have  been 
carried  to  America  by  Europeans,  imtil  Humboldt  threw  doubts  up->n 
their  purely  Asiatic  origin.    He   asserts  that  on  the  banks  of  tlic  Orinoco 


172  DESSERT    FRUITS    OF 

in  the  midst  of  the  thickest  forests,  almost  everywhere  plantations  of 
manioc  and  bananas  are  found,  altlio'  the  Indian  tribes  had  had  no  rela- 
tions with  European  settlements.  He  thought  that  there  must  be  some 
kmds  of  bananas,  which  are  indigenous  to  America. 

Other  authors  consider  the  bananas  of  the  old  and  new  world  as 
belonging  to  the  same  species,  and  divide  them  into  large  fruited 
(7  to  15  inches  long)  and  small  fruited  (l  to  6  inches  long). 
Brown,  moreover,  states  that  no  one  pretends  to  have  found  in  Am- 
erica in  a  wild  state  varieties  with  fertile  fruit,  as  has  happened  in 
Asia.  Others  consider  that  the  banana  was  introduced  into  Brazil  from 
the  Congo.  The  assertions  of  Caldcleugh  that  the  banana  was  known  to 
the  American  Indians  before  communication  with  the  Portuguese,  and 
that  its  leaves  were  found  in  Peruvian  tombs  are,  according  to  de  Candolle 
vitiated  by  the  statement  that  he  saw  also  beans  in  the  tombs — a  plant 
which  undoubtedly  belongs  to  the  old  world. 

Botanists  unhesitatingly  say  that  no  real  Indian  names  for  this  plant 
exist  in  the  languages  of  Peru  and  Mexico.  But  even  if  they  did,  it 
would,  I  think,  be  no  evidence  that  the  banana  was  not  introduced.  In 
my  studies  of  the  native  names  of  the  oranges  and  lemons  of  India  and 
C/'eylon,  I  found  many  undoubted  Sanskrit  names  attached  to  certain 
varieties  of  citrus,  but  they  were  mostly  descriptive  of  some  of  the  char- 
acters of  the  fruit,  such  as  "full  of  seeds,"  "round  as  a  moon,"  and  so 
forth,  many  of  these  Sanskrit-named  fruits  being  undoubtedly  introduced. 
It  is  curious  to  trace  the  wanderings  of  a  plant,  but  just  as  curious  to 
trace  the  wanderings  and  transformations  of  the  names  that  stick  to 
it. 

De  Candolle  says: — "The  antiquity  and  wild  cluiracter  of  the  banana  in 
Asia  are  incontestable  facts.  Its  generic  name  musa  is  from  the  Arabic 
Mouz,  which  is  found  as  earlv  as  the  13th  centurv  in  Ebn  Baithar.  But 
the  Hebrews  and  ancient  Egyptians  did  not  appear  to  know  this  plant, 
and  therefore  he  concludes  that  it  did  not  exist  in  India  from  a  veiy 
remote  period,  but  was  first  a  native  of  the  Malay  Archipelago.  It  bears 
distinct  names  in  the  most  separate  Asiatic  languages,  Chinese,  Sanskrit, 
and  Malay,  and  there  is  an  immense  number  of  varieties  in  Southern  Asia. 
So  that  its  existence  there  must  have  been  of  great  antiquity. 

Botanists   have  found   it  growing  wild  in  many  parts  of  Asia— Chitta- 
gong,  Khasia,  Ceylon,  Philippine  Islands,  Siam,  Cochinchina." 

So  that  whether  in  America  the  banana  may  or  may  not  have  been  also 
indigenous,  matters  little.     There  is  ample  evidence  to  show  that  in  Asia 


ASSYRIAN     MONARCHS. 


17a 


it  was  known  from  the  remotest  antiquity.  It  is  however  a  mistake,  I 
think,  to  f'incy  that  the  cultivated  seedless  varieties  will  not  run  to  seed 
if  neglected.  For  in  Lucknow  natives  say  that  when  left  in  one  place, 
and  the  plants  not  shifted  and  well  manured,  the  plantain  seeds.  I  have 
3een  plants  of  it  in  one  of  the  king's  gardens,  after  the  capture  of  Luck- 
now  in  1858,  which  had  been  neglected  for  several  years.  Tlieir  fruit  was 
full  of  seeds,  and  had  little  or  no  pulp.  This  seedful  fruit  natives  call 
Kdrrur.  So  that  its  having  been  found  by  botanists  in  various  places 
wild  and  producing  seed  does  not,  it  appears,  necessarily  mean  that  it  got 
there  by  transportation  of  seed.  My  experience  of  this  plant  is  that  it 
is  very  hardy.  When  once  introduced  and  established  it  is  difficult  to 
eradicate,  and  that  where  found  growing  wild,  it  may  have  been  originally 
brought  there  as  offsets  by  settlers,  who  afterwards  may  have  died  off,  or 
emigrated,  or  they  may  have  been  exterminated,  while  their  banana  plants 
remained  there,  and  eventually,  thro'  neglect,  produced  fruit  full  of  seeds, 
which  helped  the  further  multiplication  and  dissemination  of  this  plant. 

Whatever  may  have  been  its  origin   in   the  wild   state,  the  following 
points  appear  tolerably  certain  : 

(a)  That  it  was  known  in  S.  Asia  from  a  very  remote  period,  and  that 
the  Arab  and  Persian  traders  must  have  been  early  acquainted  with  it. 

(b)  That  probably  it  was  grown  in  S.  Arabia,  and  S.  Persia.     Its  rooted 
stumps  can   easily  be  carried  to.  a   distance,  and    will  strike  and    grow 


Botta    " Afo/vurrtents  da  J^tnicrf 


7 

Ft  n:i,   Torrx.n. 


Pi  Ho',   Tor^ir. 


Fl  63,  Tcurx   I         /Y  GA.  7%,n.  I        Fl  e^,  To*^  l 


174  DESSERT      FRUITS    OF 

readily  under  favorable  conditions. 

(c)  The  frnit  might  have  easily  been  carried  from  S,  Arabia,  and  S, 
Persia  to  Babylonia  in  trader's  coasting  ships.  It  admits  of  being  cut 
green  in  bunches,  and  ripening  off  the  plant  afterwards.  In  going  from 
Bombay  to  Ceylon  in  one  of  the  coasting  steamers,  we  had  bunches  of 
plaintains  in  the  green  state  hung  on  deck,  and  served  in  clusters  as  they 
ripened.  There  can  hardly  be  much  doubt  that  in  Assyrian  times  the 
Persian  and  Arab  seamen  did  the  same,  taking  in  fresh  supplies  from  the 
coast  they  touched  at  until  they  brought  their  last  lot  to  Babylon. 

(d)  That,  although  the  Assyrians  might  have  got  the  banana  fruit  now 
and  again,  it  must  have  been  only  as  a  rare  thing  to  be  presented  to  the 
king  and  people  of  rank.  This  would  account,  perhaps,  for  the  Hebrews 
and  ancient  Egyptians  not  mentioning  it,  and  for  the  fruit  only  appearing 
at  Royal  banquets  on  the  monuments,  and  not  the  plant  itself.  For  the 
plant  to  fruit  and  flourish  a  tropical  climate  is  required  for  most  varieties. 
I  could  never  get  the  red  plantain  of  Bombay  to  fruit  in  Lucknow,  although 
there  are  a  few  hardy  varieties  that  will  fruit  there.  Both  a  cold  tempera- 
ture in  winter  and  a  hot,  dry  wind  in  summer  injure  it;  and  probably  in 
Assyria  they  had  both.  It  may  have  been  possible  for  traders  in  those 
days  to  hav6  carried  banana  fruit  to  Babylon,  but  it  may  not  have  been 
possible  to  carry  it  further,  as  it  decays  after  a  time. 

So,  upon  the  whole,  it  appears  sufficiently  probable  that  the  objects 
indicated  in  the  plates  alluded  to  were  meant  by  the  Assyrian  sculptors 
for  clusters  of  bananas,  What  else  they  could  have  been  meant  for  is 
not  clear. 

The  other  object  which  accompanies  these  clusters  of  bananas  is  so  much 
like  a  slice  of  melon  that  it  can  hardly  be  meant  for  anything  else.  It  is, 
however,  impossible  to  say,  from  these  sculptures,  whether  the  figures  were 
intended  for  an  ordinary  melon  (cucumis  melo,  Linn.),  or  for  a  water- 
melon (citrullus  vulgaris,  Schr.) 

Of  the  melon  proper  a  number  of  wild  varieties  are  found  in  India,  but 
there  are  others  which  jirobably  belong  to  Africa.  Alph.  De  Candolle 
says  that  "the  culture  of  tlie  melon,  or  of  different  varieties  of  the  melon, 
may  have  begun  separately  in  India  and  Africa. 

Of  the  cultivated  melon  the  varieties  are  innumerable  both  in  Central 
Asia,  in  Persia,  and  in  India,  and  the  fine  kinds  they  have  in  Central 
Asia  and  in  Persia  indicatii  a  cultivation  of  very  ancient  date.  V.  Helm 
in  the  "  Wanderings  of  1  lants  and  Animals,"  p.  238,  mentions  that 
Marco  Polo  says  of  the  country  west  of  Balkh  :    '  Here  grow  the  best 


175  ASSYRIAN    MON'ARCHS. 

melons  in  the  world; "  that  Vambery  says  of  Khiva,  that  it  has  no  rivals 
in  melons  ;  and  that  at  the  present  day  in  Persia  the  melon,  of  which 
there  are  many  varieties,  is  a  very  important  fruit."  It  is  said  that  in 
Persia  they  keep  flocks  of  pigeons  for  the  express  purpose  of  using  their 
"guano,"  as  manure  for  growing  melons.  in  Afghanistan  they  also 
have  the  noted  "Sarda'*  melon.  Naudin,  who  is  the  gresU  author: tv  on 
the  Cucurbitace*  gives  "  rouges  de  Perse"  as  one  of  his  groups. 

Hehn  says  that  the  Tartar  name  for  the  melon  is  "  Khirimz  "  or 
KaprusT     The  Indian  name  ofcucumis  melo  is  ^^r-Kliarbuza" 

Upon  the  whole  there  does  not  appear  much  difficulty  in  crediting  the 
Assyrians,  not  only  with  having  known  the  melon,  but  also  with  having 
grown  it.  They  may  possibly  not  have  had  the  same  fine  varieties  that 
the  Persians,  and  Khivans  have  now,  but  they  may  have  had  in  the  days 
of'  Niniveh,  kinds  sufficiently  choice  to  place  before  kings  and  persons  of 
rank. 

As  to  tlie  water  melon  (citruUus  vulgaris,  Schr).  De  Candolle  says — 
"  it  was  found  indigenous  in  tropical  Africa,  on  both  sides  of  the  equator. 
Livingstone  saw  districts  literally  covered  with  it,  and  the  savages  and 
several  kinds  of  wild  animals  eagerly  devoured  the  wild  fruit."  He  adds 
that  the  species  has  not  been  found  wild  in  Asia. 

The  best  and  sweetest  water  melon  I  ever  tasted  was  in  Egypt — a  red 
variety  with  black  seeds.  There  are  red  varieties  with  red  seeds  and  also 
wliito  varities  with  either  black  or  red  seeds.  DeCandolle  says  in  Con- 
stantinople it  is  called  '  Karpus.''  In  India  natives  call  the  water  melon 
'  tarbiij.^  i  never  saw  one  there  of  this  kind  fit  to  eat.  While  of  the 
ordinary  melon  (eucumis  melo)  in  Lucknow  during  the  kings'  time,  they 
grew  a  delicious  white-fleshed  variety — small,  very  sweet  and  green  spotted 
exteriialiy,  called  •'  chitla." 

Although  the  Assyrians  may  have  been  acquainted  with  the  water- 
tiif'lou.  it  is  more  probable  that  the  one  they  represented  on  their  monu- 
ments was  some  fine  kind  of  cucumis  melo,  such  as  are  still  grown  in 
Persia  at  the  present  day. 

The  evidence  from  all  directions  points  to  the  probability  that  Assyrian 
Qionarchs  and  persons  of  rank  regaled  tliemselvea  witli  both  melons  and 
bananas.  The  latter,  from  their  frequencv  on  royal  tables,  would  i-pjtear 
to  have  been,  in  the  eyes  of  the  sculptor,  the  fruit  most  suited  to  indi- 
cate a  royal  refreshment,  and  tlierefore  the  conclusion  would  probably  be 
that  bananas  were  rare,  and  not  easily  grown  in  Assyria,  but  brouglii 
from  foreign  countries.  E.  Bonavia. 


176  ON      A     LYCIAK 

ON  EASTERN  NAMES  OF  THE  BANANA. 

The  Banana  was  introduced  into  China  from  the  South  some  time 
before  the  Christian  era,  and  was  first  mentioned  by  Szema  Siangju,  a 
native  of  Shnh  (modern  Szetchuen),  who  died  in  126  B.C.,  and  v.ho  called 
it  Pa-tha  (Basil.  2397 — 14j  afterwards  pronounced  Pa-tsiu,  and 
written  Pa-tsiao  (8841-9186  for  9066-9186).  The  K  wang-tchi, 
a  work  of  the  Liang  dynasty  (502  to  556  A. n.)  calls  it  Kan-tsiao 
(6145—9186),  and  says  that  it  came  from  (or  through)  Kien-ngan  of  the 
Kiao-tchi,  i.e.  modern  S.  Kuang-si  (cf.  Tai-ping-yii-lan,  Kiv.  975,  fol.  1). 
It  was  cultivated  in  the  Imperial  Park  Hwa-lin-yuen,  of  the  Tsin  dynasty, 
265 to 420  A.D- (cf.  Tsin  kung  koh  ming,  ibid.) under  the  name  of  Pa-tsiao. 
This  word  may  be  taken  as  a  link  to  the  original  home  of  the  banana, 
from  whence  it  was  spread  in  these  regions.  As  the  Annamese  word  is 
c  h  u  0  i,  it  cannot  be  from  there.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Malay  name  for 
t  is  pi  sang,  from  which  the  Chinese  Pa-tsiao'is  not  a  distorted, 
transcription,  since  the  older  form  of  that  name  in  Chinese  was  Pa-tha 
which  looks  like  an  alteration  of  the  Teluga  P  a  n  d  a  r.  In  Tamil  it  is 
P  a  1 1  a  m,  the  same  as  the  P  al  a  mentioned  by  Pliny,  who  says  that  the 
Greeks  of  the  expedition  of  Alexander  saw  it  in  India  {Hist.  lib.  XII, 
cap.  6).  The  Chinese  Kan-tsiao,  Javanese  G  a  d  a  n  g,  Maldivian 
Q  u  e  1 1  a,  Hindi  K  e  1  a,  may  all  be  traced  back  to  the  Sanskrit  k  a  d  a  1  a. 
The  Arabic  m  a  w  z,  Hindi  m  o  u  z,  are  in  the  same  way  traceable  to 
another  Sanskrit  name,  mocha,  of  the  same  fruit  for  which  an  Indian 
origin  would  thus  far  be  indicated.  As  to  the  word  Banana  itself, 
Prof.  Robertson  Smith  has  rightly  suggested  that  the  similarity  with  the 
Arabic  ba  n  a  n,  "  fingers  or  toes,"  and  banana,  "a  single  finger  or 
toe,"  can  hardly  be  accidental.  T.  de  L, 


ON    A     LYCIAN     INSCRIPTION. 


The  epitaph  known  as  Pinara  2  is  in  English  letters,  as  follows: — 

1.  ehoiJnd  prnna?>u:  mot:  prnnavato   ddarsslKa:  padrmmah:  tid[^eimi^ 

2.  hrppi  prnnezi:  ehbt:  orebillaha:  trmmisn:  yntebete  ter\^:se'\ 

3.  arttomjKira:  &c. 


IXSCRIPTION.  185 

This  is  translated  by  Prof.  Deecke  {Lyki)<che  Studien,  IV,  4.): 

1.  Dieses  grabs^ebaude  hier  baute  sich  Ddarssiiima,  des  Padrmuia  sohn, 

2.  fiir  haiislor  seinen   Oriibellaha  aus  Termessos  :  mit  schliigt  er  das 

heer  uud 

3.  den  Arttompara,  &c. 

Now  there  is  a  very  grave  objection  to  joining  Oreb'dlaha  trmmii>v  with 
prnnezi  ehbi,  namely  that  hrpiji  is  invariably  followed  by  the  Dative  case, 
and  trmmisn  has  been  showi:  by  Professor  Deecke  himself  to  bo  an  Accu- 
sative (Bezz.  Beitr.  13,  134).  Nor  is  the  difficulty  satisfactorily  overcome 
by  saying  'The  preposition  hrppi  here  undoubtedly  governs  the  accusative.' 
An  explanation  that  is  in  .contradiction  to  all  other  known  facts  can  surely 
only  be  admitted  if  no  other  construction  is  possible.  But  that  is  not  the 
case  liere,  for  we  have  the  Accusative  substantive  tern  clamouring,  so  to 
speak,  for  its  proper  adjective  trMmisn.  It  can  only  have  been  by  an 
oversight  that  they  were  separated. 

This  word  trmmsn    has    been  shown    by    Professor  Deecke,   with  his 
usual  sagacity,  to  mean  '  of  Telmessus,'  in  Lycia,  and  not  '  of  Termessus » 
in  Pisidia.     His   view   is  confirmed  by  a  passage  on  the  Xanthian  stele, 
(E.  29,  30),  which  has  not,  to  my  knowledge,  received  enough  attention 
It  runs  thus  in  Schmidt's  edition, 

trMmisz  p{o) 


*    »   •   • 


nna  pina(n')e  tlava  vedre 


An  examination  of  the  cast  in  the  British  Museum  shows  that  there  is 
no  warrant  for  reading  a  second  n  in  the  moxA  pina{n)e  ;  and  as  the  o 
at  the  end  of  the  line  before  is  quite  uncertain.  I  have  little  hesitation 
in  reading 

trniinisz  (or  trmisfh)  pt 
\_tarii  a~\rnna  pinai-e  tlava  vedre 
and  translating,  "The  states  of  Telmessus,  Patara,  Arna  (Xanthus), 
Pinara,  and  Tlos,'  that  is,  a  complete  list  of  the  chief  towns  of  the 
Cragus  division  of  Lycia,  in  geographical  order  proceeding  from  the  coast 
inland.  As  Kreis,  in  whose  honour  the  stele  was  erected,  was  ruler 
of  Xanthus,  and  had  apparently  extended  his  rule  over  other  towns 
(Six,  Monnaies  Lyciennes,  No.  178 — 183),  but  is  not  known  to  have 
made  any  acquisitions  in  the  Massicytus  district,  this  list  probably  re- 
presents the  extent  of  his  dominion. 

It  may  therefore  be  taken  as  almost  certain  that  trmmisTi  tern  means 
'  the  Telmessian  army.'  But  though  trmmisn  must  not  be  joined  witli 
hrppi  prnnezi  ehhi,  it   is  still  possible    that  OrehUlaha   may  be  taken  in 


186  ON    A    LYCIAN 

connexion  witli  those  words,  for  it  may  (as  I  liope  to  show)  be  a  Dative. 
Nevertheless  I  think  it  should  be  separated  from  them  and  taken  as  the 
beo^inning  of  a  new  sentence,  for  the  following  reasons  : 

The  Accusative  of  Arttompara  is  undoubtedly  found  in  Limyra  16, 
and  it  is  ArttompariL  This  being  the  only  fact  we  have  to  ^o  upon,  it 
is  better  not  to  take  Arttompara  in  tlie  present  passage  as  an  Accusative. 
if  it  can  be  explained  in  any  other  way.  But  Arttompar-a  is  preceded  by 
fe.  "  and,"  unless  tlae  restoration  is  incorrect.  And  the  restoration  is 
almost  certainly  correct,  for  there  is  only  room  for  a  word  of  2  letters 
(see  Benndorfs  copy.  Reisen,  p.  54),  and  it  would  be  hard  to  suggest 
any  other.  Now  '  se  Arttompara,''  '  and  Artembares,'  must  be  joined 
•with  some  other  word.  This  word  cannot  be  the  Accusative  tern.  It 
must  therefore  be  Orebillaha,  which  has  the  same  termination,  and  is 
likely  to  be  in  the  same  case.  Therefore  we  must  put  a  stop  after 
prnnezi,  a  division  which  may  find  some  furtlier  support  in  the  analogy 
of  a  rather  similar  passage,  Xan.    8.) 

1  ebonno  :  prnnavii  :  mcite  prnnavato:   merehl,   etc. 

2  hrppi  pnrnezi,  and  :  -^^ntavatr.  xer{i{_-;^elie. 

■  The  sentence  to  be  translated  runs  therefore  thus,  '  Orebillaha  trmmlsn 
\nehete  tern  se  Artto'rnpara.''  It  is  natural  to  take  Orebillaha  and 
Arttompara  as  Nominatives,  and  to  translate,  Orebillaha  and  Artembares 
did  something  to  the  Telmessian  army.  But  this,  though  an  interesting 
fact,  would  have  no  very  obvious  connexion  with  the  previous  statement, 
that  Ddarsilima  built  the  tomb  for  his  prnnezi.  The  alternative  is  to 
translate,  '  he  did  something  to  the  Telmessian  army  for  Orebillaha  and 
for  Artembares  ;'  which  grives  very  good  sense.  But  is  this  grammatically 
possible?  Apparently  it  is,  for  though  almost  all  known  Datives  Sin- 
gular of  proper  names  end  in-ye,  yet  we  find  one  undoubtedly  ending  in 
— a,  (Hmpriima,  Xan.  2).  We  do  not  in  fact  know  enough  about  the 
Lycian  declension  to  be  able  to  determine  a  priori  the  precise  force  of  a 
form  which  has  no  exact  parallel.  In  such  cases  we  must  be  guided  by 
the  meaning,  and  here  the  meaning  certainly  leads  us  to  take  Orebillaha 
and  Arttompara  as  Datives.  The  subject  of  the  ferl)  would  in  thatcase 
no  doubt  be  Ddarssmma  and  not  his  nameless  prnnez/. 

What  was  it,  then,  that  Ddarsmma  did  to  the  Telmessian 
army  for  Orebillaha  and  Artembares  ?  This  depends  on  the 
reading  of  the  word  -xnteMte  or  -xntevete.  For  Professor 
Deecke  states  (Lyk,  Stud.  IV.  188)  that  he  began  by  reading  ^(T.tevete 
and  connecting  it  as  anyone  naturally  would,  with  y^taimta  (Xanthus  8 


INSORIPTION.  187 

etc).  It  must  have  been  tlie  impossibility  of  reconciling  the  meaning 
'  relation/  which  he  gave  to  ■)(iT'tavat'(,  witli  the  present  passage,  that  made 
him  prefer  the  far  less  natural  constrnctidn  of  -^n-tebete  as  a  compound 
of  tebete  'he  defeated.'  Against  this  rendering  may  be  urged  the  absolute 
lack  of  any  evidence  that  such  a  form  is  even  pcssibl(>.  For  while  some 
dozen  words,  which  might  be  compounds,  begin  with  -^hta-,  x"^^-?  ^iid 
Xnt-,  only  one  {^xhna,  in  '^r.nalii,  Xanthus  -i,  etc.)  begins  with  ^^i-only. 
and  that  cannot  be  a  compound  ;  and  the  existence  of  a  word  -xyAa  is 
shewn  by  the  compound  proper  name  j/^f/c/M-^^iiia  (Pinara  i)  and  the  word 
Kehi--j(nta  (stele,  North  13).  Thus  the  facts  before  us  warrant  us  in  di- 
viding yiite-vete  and  ^ta-rata,  and  as  the  former  is  a  verb  and  the  latter 
a  substantive,  we  may  compare  for  their  form  the  verb  ^)^_yei(>■  (Xanthus 
etc.)  and  the  noun  plyato,  (Ant.  4). 

As  for  the  clifficulty  of  translating  x^i^eyeie,  it  disappears  when  we  find 
that  there  is  no  reason  whatever  for  rendering  ^ntavata  by  'relation.'  M. 
.).  Imbcrt  in  this  Magazine  (Vol.  II,  No.  12,  Nov.  1888),  has  shown  by 
reasons  quite  unconnected  with  the  present  passage,  that  the  word  means 
I'Trapxoi,  a  subordinate  commander,  lieutenant,  p.  281,  "  unfortu- 
na  ely  the  meaning  attributed  to  yj^.tujatd  by  the  Dutch  scholar"  (Six 
descendant),  "  has  nothing  real  in  it,  and  other  examples  where  the  word 
is  found  make  it  probable  that  it  signifies  '  hyparch,  or  an  officer  under 
the  orders  of  such.'  " 

P.  'd22.  "The  phrase  of  Limyra  38  has  since  appeared  to  M.  Six  to 
■signify  :  he  (the  defunct)  was  hyparch  of  Pericles  :  6n6  yvtafata 
Periklehr 

It  is  unlikely  that  anyone  should  dispute  this  rendering  of  yntavata  ; 
and  we  may  confidently  translate  the  present  passage,  '  lie  was  an  ofticer 
in  the  Telmessian  army  under  Orebillaha  and  Artembares,"  or  '  He  com- 
manded the  Tdmessian  army*  under  them.  In  this  case  Orebillaha  and 
Artt'mbares  must  have  been  the  rulers  of  that  city.  Even  if  it  be  not 
considered  as  proved  by  other  passages  that  yntavata  =  I'nntjjxos,  the 
the  present  passage  would  show  that  it  must  have  some  such  meaning. 
For  the  word  undenialily  denotes  a  friendly,  not  a  hostile  relation  ;  and 
if  we  ask  what  friendly  relation  Ddarssmma  can  liave  borne  to  the  Tel- 
messian army  for  Orebillaha  and  Artembares,  we  can  hardly  avoid  the 
conclusion  that  he  served  in,  or  commanded  it,  and  also  that  they  were 
the  rulers  of  Telmessus. 

This  last  conclusion  is  made  almost  a  certainty  by  the  comparison  of  the 
known  facts  that  Artembares  was  ruler  of  some  Lycian  city,  (Six,  Mon- 


188  OK    A    LVCIAX 

naies  Lyciennes,  No.  22i);  that  Pericles  defeated  Artembares  (L\m.  IG); 
and  that  Pericles  conquered  Telmessiis  (Tlieopompus,  fragment  111). 

And  it  is  again  confirmed  by  the  study  of  Limyra  IG,  the  other  inscrip- 
tion which  mentions  Artembares.  The  passage  is,  ese  perikle  tebete 
arttomparli  se  [mparahe]  teluziyo.  The  bracketed  word,  as  Professor 
Deecke  points  out,  may  be  a  contraction  for  Arttompai-ahe  ;  or  it  nuiy  be 
simply  a  blunder.  But  a  reference  to  Fellows's  plate  (Lycia,  p.  207) 
whicli  represents  the  whole  monument,  and  is  in  several  points  more  cor- 
rect  than  Schonborn's  (who,  e.g.  has  pttompariX  for  Fellows,  arttorhparil, 
teluziy  for  teloziyu,  pavMarato  for  pr'Sncwato)  shows  that  mparahe  may 
easily  belong  to  the  3rd  column  of  writing,  and  the  half-word  ai'tto — be 
lost  at  the  end  of  line  2. 

Teloziyo  is  probably  the  Accusative  Singular  of  telozi.  For  since  by  the 
side  of  tideime  we  find,  not  ehbe,  but  i-hbiye  ;  by  the  side  of  atlahi,  not 
malahi,  but  maliyahi  ;  of  onehi,  not  prnnezehi,  but  prnneziyehi  ;  of 
'X_rovata,  not  araiiaza,  but  aravaziya;  it  may  be  concluded  that  some 
words  ending  in  -i,  and  especially  in  -z\,  cannot  change  the  -i  into  another 
vowel,  but  simply  add  that  vowel  joined  by  the  usual  connecting  semi- 
vowel y.  So  teloziyo  probably  stands  for  telozo,  and  may  be  compared 
with  the  Accusative  Singular  ebdnno. 

Now  telozi  is  rendered  by  Professor  Deecke  '  miles,'  or  by  preference 
'  comes  ;'  as  the  telozi  was  evidently  an  important  person,  and  yet  not 
of  the  very  highest  rank,  perhaps  '  lieutenant '  or  '  second  in  command  * 
gives  its  meaning  best  in  Enghsh.  So  we  learn  that  Pericles  defeated 
Artembares  and  his  lieutenant.  It  is  natural  to  ask,  was  this  man  the 
same  as  Ddarssmma?  It  is  not  at  all  unlikely,  for  at  the  beginning  of 
tlie  next  column,  immediately  after  teloziyo,  is  a  fragmentary  word  of 
which  only  the  first  few  letters  are  certain,  and  which  Schonborn  read 
(J(](us-\-ea  and  Fellows  (hlaiynie.  In  Lycian  letters  these  come  very  neaj- 
to  Ddarssmma,  and  considering  that  the  word  has  always  been  taken  for 
a  [iroper  name,  and  that  in  both  the  inscriptions  Pinara  2  and  Limyra  16, 
Artembares  is  associated  with  a  name  beginning  with  dda — ,  it  is  not 
very  rash  to  read  Ddarssmmil,  and  to  translate  '  Pericles  defeated  Artem- 
bares and  his  heutenant  Ddarssmma.' 

We  have  now  the  two  statements  that  Ddarssmma  served  in  or  com- 
manded the  Telmessian  army  under  OrebiUaha  and  Artembares,  and  that 
Pericles  defeated  Artembares  and  his  lieutenant  Ddarssmma  :  while  Tlieo- 
pompus informs  us  that  the  Lycians  under  their  king  Pericles  besieged 
and  reduced  Telmessus.     By  piecing  together  these  scraps  of  information, 


INSCRIPTION.  181 

we  get  a  very  satisfactory  little  bit  of  history.  Artembares  either  pre- 
ceded or  more  probably  succeeded  Orebillaha  as  dynast  of  Telmessus,  and 
as  he  employed  an  officer  who  was  presumably  a  native  of  the  neighbour- 
ing Pinara.  be  may  have  been  master  of  that  city  also.  But  he  was 
attacked  and  his  city  taken  by  Pericles,  who  though  probably  origilnally 
a  ruler  of  Limyra.  where  alone  his  name  is  mentioned,  succeeded  in 
becoming  king  of  all  Lyciiv.  W.  Arkwright. 


AN  UNKNOWN  KING  OF  LAG  ASH, 

FROM  A  LOST  INSCRIPTION 

OF  6000  YEARS  AGO. 

1.  Lagash  the  modern  Tell  Loh  is  now  known  to  be  the  same  as  Shir- 
pur-la,  Sir-pur-ila,  Sir-bur-la,  Zir-gul-la,  Sir-tel-la,  Sir-xil-la,  the  former 
attempts  at  deciphering  that  name  by  the  separate  sounds  of  the  three 
ideograms  employed  in  its  rendering.  Mr.  Theo.  G.  Pinches  has  found 
proofs^,  and  Prof.  Fritz  Hommel  confirmatory  evidence^  that  the  usuaj 
reading  of  the  group  was  that  which  we  have  just  mentioned.  I  find  in 
this  reading  one  more  instance  of  the  curious  phenomenons  of  transcrip- 
tion backwards-  which,  may  perhaps  be  looked  upon  as  a  survival  of  a 
former  period  of  the  cuneiform  writing  and  its  adaptation  from  one  race 
by  another.  It  deserves,  any  how,  more  attention  than  we  are  able  to  give 
to  it  in  a  passing  remark^. 

2.  Two  dynasties,  at  the  least,  of  Kings  and  Priest-Kings  or  Patcsi-s^, 
have  ruled  successively  from''  Telloh  or  from  its  vicinity,  over  a  region 
which  varied  in  extension  and  is  as  yet  very  little  known  in  its  limits.  No 
other  source  of  information  about  them  is  at  hand,  except  tlie  fragments 
of  their  inscriptions  liitiierto  discovered.  And  although  the  decipherment 
of  these  remains  lias  disclosed  the  erection  by  certain  monarchs  of  temples 
to  gods  and  goddesses,  numerous  names  of  these  deities,  construction  of 
public  works  and  monuments,  also  trade  routes  by  land  and  sea  and  many 


182  AN  UNKNOWN    KINO 

other  precious  details,  tlie  very  lists  of  these  rulers  are  not  known.  In 
some  cases  the  reading  of  the  symbols  representing  proper  names  or  per- 
sonal epithets  is  doubtful  and  the  quality  of  the  person  named  is  not  as- 
certained. The  parentage  of  these  monarchs,  their  number,  their  chrono- 
logical order,  the  exact  extent  of  their  dominion  and  their  date  are  still 
more  or  less  unknown,  and  much  more  light  is  required  from  further 
discoveries. 

3.  In  the  introductory  note  to  his  translation  of  The  Inscriptions  of 
Telloli^,  and  in  his  later  article  on  Sirpourla,  d'apres  les  inscriptions  de  la 
collection  De  Sarzec^,  our  lamented  friend  and  collaborateur  Arthur  Ami- 
aud,  who  had  made  of  these  epigraphical  discoveries  his  special  field  of 
research,  has  given  the  list  of  the  names  he  knew  of  these  Kings  and 
Patesis,  arranged  according  the  order  he  thought  befitting  to  the  proba- 
bilities suggested  by  the  inscriptions.  We  shall  follow  chiefly  his  ar- 
rangement in  the  lists  we  quote  below. 

Notes— ^ — 

1)  From  syllabary  Sp.  11.  26  and  from  a  bilingual  tablet  K.  4871.  Cf. 
his  note  in  the  B.&O.R.  Dec.  1883,  vol.  Ill,  p.  24,  and  his  previous 
statement  in  1883,  Guide  to  the  Kouyunjik  Gallery,  p.  7. 

2)  B.&O.R.,  ibid. 

3)  The  aforesaid  name  was  written  with  three  signs:  siru  which  has  the 
sound  of  SHIR  and  sir  ;  burn  which  has  the  sounds  of  pur,  bur  and 
GUL  ;  and  at  last  the  sign  lalu  which  has  the  sound  la.  Cf.  Brunnow's 
class.  List.  Nos.  es^-o.'^eaey,  6971-2,  and  1648.  Reversing  the  ordei, 
we  have  La-yul-shir  of  which  Lagash  is  apparently  a  simple  corrup- 
tion. In  a  note  on  The  name  of  Cannes  in  the  cuneiform  texts  :  The 
Academy,  9th  June,  1888,  p,  399,  I  have  quoted,  as  cases  of  similar 
reading  backwards,  the  Assyrian  antecedents  of  the  Grecized  Cannes 
and  Xisuthros.  The  most  convincing  eases  are  those  of  ffibil,  absu, 
Ingal,  ushnmgal  which  are  written  bllgi,  zuah,  gallu,  galushum.  With 
special  attention  a  non-inconsiderable  number  of  such  cases  could  be  put 
forward.  Cf,  T.  de  L.,  Akkadian  and  Sum  rlan  in  c  mparative  Phil- 
oiogy,    §7,    B.&O.R.,    vol.1.,   p.   2. 

4)  Tills  peculiarity  might  finally  prove  to  be  connected  with  an  original 
and  different  position  of  many  characters  whose  pictorial  nature,  when 
not  entirely  lost,  protests  through  their  later  forms,  against  their  syste- 
matical arrangement  into  the  perpendicular  columns  of  the  early  though 
not  primitive  inscriptions  from  Telloh.  The  list  I  have  given  in  my 
paper  on  The  old  Babjjlonian  characters  and  their  Chinese  derivates 
(B.&O.R.  March  1888,  vol.  II,  pp.  73-99),  in  §  43  was  perhaps  prema- 
ture, but  it  remains  true  for  the  larger  number  of  instances,  cf.  alsu  § 
41,  42,  and  10-14  on  the  various  directions  of  the  original  hiero- 
glyphics 

5)  Amiaud  remarks  that  the  other  instances  of  the  use  of  the  title  of 
patesi,  lend  it  the  sense  of  lieutenant  before  the  name  of  a  country. 


OF        LAGASH.  188 

or  vicar  before  a  divine  name.  Cf.  Records  o/the  Fa.<t,  N.S.  l-'^SS, 
vol.  I,  p.  54,  Prof.  A.  H.  Sayce,  Reliyion  of  the  Ancient  Bah/lonuais, 
p.  f)0,  observes  that  the  old  rendering  oi  patesi  by  viceroy  rested  on 
a  mistake  and  h.>  suggests  that  it  should  be  rendered  by  high-pri  est. 

6)  Is  it  possible  that  Telloh  should  be  simply  the  mound  of  loh,  a  worn- 
out  fonn  of  LAGASH. 

7)  Records  of  the  Past,  X.S.  18S9,  vol.  I,  pp.  42-77. 

8)  Rerue  Archeologique,  1888;  same  paper  as  the  preceeding,  but  in 
french  with  numm-ous  additions,  and  without  the  translation  of  the  in^ 
scriptiuus. 

II.  The  Kings. 
4.   They  are  older  than  the  Priest-kings.     Mons.  L.  Heuzey  has  shown 
beyond  doubt  in  liis  article  on    Les  Rois  de   Tello  et  la  periode  archaiqm 
de  Vart  Chaldeen^  and  in    other  papers   that  their  monuments   and  theix 
writing  are  more  archaic.     Only  a  few  names  are  known. 

?  I  ff  l-g  i  n  n  a,   i.e.  'hewhogoes  before.' 
?  Ni  n  i-g  h  a  l-g  in?,     father  of  the  followingi*^ 

U  r-Ni  n  a,  i.e.  'Man  o  f  N  i  n  a.' 

A-A'u  r-g  a  I  i.e.  '  S  o  n  0  f  B  e  1,'   son  of  preceding. 

U  r  u-Ka  gi  na. 

*T  "  It  al-ku  r-g  alia. 

*U  r  sa  g-g  i  n  a,  i.e.  the  e  s  t  a  b  1  i  s  h  e  d  h  e  r  o. 

The  two  first  names  are  doubtful  as  to  the  character  of  the  persons 
who  may  not  have  l)een  kings,  and  in  the  case  of  the  second,  the  reading 
is  probably  different. 

The  first  of  these  names  is  mentioned  in  the  stela  of  the  Vultures,  and 
Amiaud,  in  his  valuable  paper  on  Sirpurla  previously  quoted,  has  declared 
that,  as  tlie  words  are  followed  with  the  qualification  of  king,  there  is  no 
reason  why,  we  should  not  place  before  Ur-Nina  the  name  they  imply. 
The  second  name,  the  reading  of  which  is  more  than  doubtful  is  not  men" 
tioned  with  the  title  of  king  in  his  son  TJr-Nina's  inscriptions.  The  reign 
of  a  a-k  ur-gal  is  entered  after  that  of  Ur-Nina  on  the  stela  of  the  Vul- 
tures. Finally  the  reign  of  U  r  u-Ka  gin  a  must  be  more  recent  than 
the  others,  as  shown  by  the  lesser  archaism  of  his  writing^^  The  two 
last  names  marked  with  a  star  did  not  appear  in  the  list  of  Amiaad  as 
we  shall  see  further  on.  and  most  probably  do  not  occupy  here  their  riglit 
place.    Their  entry  is  provisional. 

o.  How  many  more  names  are  wanting  in  the  list  to  have  it  ctimplcte, 
we  do  not  know.  The  only  point  that  is  certain  is  that  some  more  names 
are  wanting. 


184 


AN    UNKNOWN    KING 


Prof,  Sayce  in  his  Lectures  on  the  Religion  of  the  Ancient  B.:bylonians^^ 
says  that  one  of  the  earliest  of  the  monarchs  whose  names  are  found  at 
Telloh  is  called  Taltal-kur-galla  i.e.  t  h  e-wi  s  e-on  e-of-t  he-g  reat-m  o  un- 
t  a  i  n,  but  he  does  not  give  the  source  of  his  statement. 

And  Amiaud  himself  had  remarked  that  a  fragment  of  inscription^^  in 
the  same  archaic  style  of  writing  as  that  of  the  monuments  of  Ur-Nina, 
And  where  the  personal  name  is  missing,  -si  only  remaining  in  the  line 
where  the  title  usually  is,  seems  to  be  that  of  a  patesi  of  Sir-pur -la-ki^* . 
As  if  Piitesi-a  had  existed  contemporaneously  or  previously  to  that  well- 
known  king. 

6.  The  prmcipal  object  of  this  unassuming  notice  is  to  call  attention  to 
the  name  of  a  King  of  Sirpurla  which  does  not  appear  on  the  above  list, 
and  of  whom  we  have  only  heard  hitherto  but  through  the  unknown  in- 
scription of  a  seal  -  as  follows  : 

UR     SA  G 
GI     NA 
LUGAL 


^>      ^ 


i 


SIR     LA 


PUR     Kl 


of    L a g a s h . 


it  mav  be  the  title  of  A 


Translation:   Ursaggina,  King 

As  Ursaggina  means  the  established  her( 
king  whose  personal  name  is  lost.^^ 

7.  This  inscription  was  communicated  to  me,  ten  years  ago  (Ist  July, 
1880),  in  his  room  at  the  British  Museum  by  my  learned  friend  Theo.  G. 
Pinches  who  had  just.seen  a  manuscript  copy  of  it  made  by  an  Arab  trader* 
Therefore  the  name  cannot  be  entered  on  the  list  of  the  Kings  of  Lagash, 
otherwise  than  in  a  provisory  manner,  as  the  genuineness  of  the  cylinder 
cannot  be  proved  although  a  forgery  is  most  improbable  in  such  a  case. 
Besides,  sliould  the  original  be  genuine,  the  Arab  copyist  may  have  made 
k  mistake  in  his  copy.  I  find  on  my  note  on  the  subject,  written  at  the 
said  date,  that  M.  Pinches  thought  that  this  King  ought  to  have  lived 
some  300  years  before  Gudea. 

The  wedges  are  perhaps  more  distinctly  drawn  on  the  manuscript  copy 
than  they  were  on  the  original.      A.  peculiarty  of  the  inscription  is  the  ar- 


OF       LAGA8H.  185 

rangement  of  the  cliaracters  for  Sir-pur-la-ki,  which  contrariwise  to  the 
other  lines  of  tlie  writing,  are  placed  in  two  columns  of  two,  instead  of  two 
lines  of  two.  As  to  the  decipherment,  there  is  little  to  say.  The  first 
symbol  reads  Tas  or  Ur.  It  is  that  whicli  is  read  Ur  by  A.  Amiaud  in 
the  name  of  Ur-Niva,  &c.  Although  in  sutli  cases  it  isplaecd  behind,  and 
on  the  inscriptions,  the  names  appear  written  Nina-Ur,  «fec.,  it  is  not  im- 
probable that  the  present  seal  was  that  of  U rsaggina  and  not  of 
Tassagghta. 

NoTKS 

9)  Revue  Archeologique,   Nov.  1882,  pp.  271-9. 

10)  In  his  Dynastic  tables.  Prof.  Sayce  (Herodotus,  p,  477)  gives  the 
name  of  Khal-an-du  for  the  father  of  Ur-Nina.  And  .\miaud,  Sir- 
pourla,  p.  9,  declares  that  the  lecture  Ghal-gin  est  inexacte. 

11  )  Cf,  L,  Heuzey.  Un  Nouveau  roi  de  Tello,  in  Revue  Archeologiqiie, 
lb84. 

12)  1887,  p.  29,  note. 

13)  E.  De  Sarzec,  De'couvertes  en  Chalde'e,  pi.  2,  n.  3. 

14)  A  Amiaud.   Sir  pour  la,  p.  10,  n. 

15)  T.  G.  Pinches,  ^\.s.  note.  .    * 

III.  Thk  Patesis. 

8.  The  chronological  order  of  these  rulers  is  not  known  and  their  ar- 
rangement which  we  give  below  according  chiefly  to  the  researches  of 
Amiaud,  is  provisional,  and  based  only  upon  the  relative  archaism  of  their 
inscriptions.    It  is  also  highly  incomplete. 

E  n-t  a-n  a  or  En-anna-tumma 

E n-a  nna-tumma  or  En-te-na 

En-t  e-n  a  or  En-anna-tumma 

*E  n-a nn  a  or  Enn-anu. 

Ur-Ba-u,le.  ManofBau 

*  Nam-lugh-ni 

*  Ur-ninshagk,  or  Ur-Papeukal, 

son  of  the  preceeding 
Gudea,\.e.  The  elect  son  of  Ur-PapaukaU*. 
U  r-N  i  n-g  ir  8  u,  i.e.  His  supremacy. 

N a m-m aghdni,  i.e.  His  glory. 

9.  The  three  names  marked*  do  not  figure  on  the  Amiaud's  list.  The 
first  of  these  three  has  been  read  by  George  Smith^'  on  a  fragment  still 
unpublished,  so  that  its  relative  archaisja  cannot  be  ascertained  ;  the 
form  of  the  name  would  suggest  its  place  with  the  others  beginning 
with  En. 

The  two  latter,  in  the  opinion  of  Prof.  F.  HommeU*  were  older  than 
Qudea,  but  as  their  names  are  known  only  from  cylinders,  and  their  de- 


186.  AN    UNKNOWN    KING 

cipherment    still  expects  t^jntirmationi^,  they    cannot     be    entered  with 
certainty. 

iNoTKS- 

16)  T.  G.  Pinches,  Guide  to  the  Konyiinjik  Gallery,  1883.  p.  7,  after  his 
examination  of  the  monuments  in  the  Louvre  give  the  following  names 
as  those  which  he  had  deciphered  :  En-temena  and  his  son  En-ana- 
gin,  Ri-nita-ni,  Ur-Papsnkal  and  his  son   Gudea. 

17)  Early  history  of  Babylonia  :  Trans.  S.B.A.  I,  p.  32:  A-  Amiaudj 
Sirpovria,  ]>.  11, — Cf.  also  G.  Smith,  The  History  of  Babylonia,  edit. 
Sayce,  p.  11. 

1?)  Die  Semitischen  Volker  und  Sprachen,  vol.  I,  pp.  v.,  486;  Geschichte 

Babylomens  und.  Assyriens.  pp.  2tJ0,  293. 
19)  A.  Amiaud,  Sirpoiirla,  p.   11  ;   The  Jnscriptions  of  Telloh  :  Records 

of  the  Past,  n.s.,  vol,  I,  p.  52. 


IV.  Their  Date. 

10.  The  archaic  character  of  the  monuments  and  of  the  inscriptions 
from  Lagash  claim  for  them  an  older  antiquity  than  that  of  Sargon  I, 
whose  son  Naram-sin  was  King  of  Agade,  in  3750.  B.c..  as  stated  by 
Nabonidus  in  the  cyhnder  which  Mr.  T.  G.  Pinches  deciphered  for  tlie 
first  time  in  1882^0.  The  difference  of  time  cannot  Le  great  as  the  huge 
clay  cylinders  inscribed  nnder  the  reign  of  Gudea  display  in  their  writing 
the  apex  of  the  cuneiform  strokes  which  was  supposed  to  have  developed 
but  long  after  the  hieratic  style  of  characters  of^  the  stone  inscriptions. 
Before  and  after  4000  B.C.  is  therefore  the  most  probable  period^^  of  the 
dynasties  of   Tell  Lob. 

11.  Synchronistic  details  of    the  dynasty  of   Patesis    may  help  in  the 
future  to  ascertain  its  date  with  a  greater  precision. 

A  cylinder  of  a  KiluUa  guzala   or  throne  bearer,  son    of    Urbabi, 

mentions  his  ]\oma,ge to  Meshlatn^aea.   i.e.,   The-god-who-come-forth-from- 

the-fruit-of-the-mes^-tree,   a  god  of  Lagash.  for  Dungi,   King  of  Ur^^. 

Now    Urbahi  is  the  same  name    as     Ur-hati.  according   to  Mr.    T.   G. 

Pinches  who  suggests  that    Urbabi  is    for  Urbatn  (Bawi)  in  consequence 

of  the  phonetic  influence  of  the  following  genitive  suffix  f?^^^.    Now   Ur- 

hau^^  was  the  father  of   Dungi.  and   fa-  this  we  have  the  testimony  of 

Nabonidus^^,   but  Dungi   was   not  the  father  of   Gudea  as  was  wrongly 

supposed  from  a  misread  seal  of  the  Museum  of  La  Haye-^.     On  the  other 

hand  KiluUa  (/uzala  seems  to  have  been    simply    a  younger  brother  of 

Dungi   the   king,  and  Lukani,  the  last  named  of  the  Patesis,  and  a  ruler 

whom  we  have  been  made  acquainted  with  by  Mr.  Leon  Heuzey^'^,  had 


■?•■ '  •  r 

OF       LAfiASII.  187 


a  son  Ghala-lamma,  who  does  not,  like  liis  father,  take  the  title  oi  patesi\ 
but  who  offers  homage  in  an  inscription  on  the  fragment  of  a  statue  to 
Dungi,  King  of  Ur^^. 

,12.  Ihe  synclironisms  of  the  Rule  of  several  of  the  patesi-s  with  the  reigu 
of  iDungi  are  therefore  pretty  clear.  Unhappily  we  must  expect  that 
further  disclosures  permit  to  ascertain  the  exact  date  of  this  great  Mon- 
arch, and  at  the  same  time  furnisli  tlie  right  explanation  of  a  difHculty 
wliich  we  cannot  understand  but  by  a  conjecture. 

Some  confirmatory  evidence  as    to    the    fourth    milleniuni  will    result 
from  our  investigation  in  the  next  section. 

Notes 


20)  Proc.  S.  B.  A.,  1882-3,  pp.  5-12. 

-1)  Such  is  also  the  view  of  Prof.  Sayce,  lielig.  Anc.  Bab.  p.  137. 

22)  Cf.  W.  A.  T.  IV,  35,  n.  2.  Arthur  Amiaud,  ^inscription  JI  de 
Goiulea  :  Ztschr.  f.  Assyriol.,  vol.  II,  p,  293,  has  published  this  cylin- 
dor,  but  with  several  misreadings  for  tlie  correction  of  which  I  am  in- 
debted to  a  Ms.  note  of  our  collaborateur  Mr.  T.  G.  Pinches.  For  a 
reproduction  of  that  seal  cf.  his  notice  on  The  Babylonian  and  Assyrian 
cylinder-seals  of  the  British  Museum,  pi.  I,  fig,  3  :  The  Journal  of  the 
British  Archoelogical  Association,  1885. 

23)  T.  G.  Pinches,  Ms.  note. 

24)  Amiaud  wanted  Urbnbi  and  Urban  to  be  two  different  persons,  but 
there  is  no  sufficient  reasf)n  to  introduce  this  new  complication,  as  the 
identity  is  otherwise  more  than  probable  and  the  explanation  offered  by 
Mr.  T.  G.  P.  disposes  of  the  case. 

25)  In  a  cylinder  severally  translated  by  Dr.  Opi)ert,  Talbot,  F.  Delitzsch, 
Menant  and  Fritz  Honunel.  Cf.  the  latter's  Die  semitischen  Volker, 
pp.  208,  457. 

26)  In  J.  Menant,  Catalogue  des  Cylindres  Orientaux  dti  Cabinet  Royal 
des  Medailles  «'  La  Haye,  J  878,  p.  59, — Cf.  the  refutation  by  Prof.  J. 
Oppert,  Bullet.  Acad.  Inscript.  &  B.-L.  25  Jan.  1S86,  and  MS.  note 
on  V Olive  de  Gudea  :  Z  f.  A.  I,  439. 

27)  In  his  article  on  Le  roi  Dounghi  a  2^ello  :  Revue  Archeologique, 
Avril  Mai,  1886. 

28)  Several  Assyriologists  look  upon  Kilulla  guzala  nut  as  a  ])roper 
name  followed  by  a  title,  but  as  a  two-worded  title  of  Dungi  liimself, 
a  view  wliich  seems  me  rather  difficult  to  accept,  as  he  could  not  have 
sacrificed  under  one  name  for  himself  under  another. 

Tkrrikn  de  Lacoupkrie. 
(7o  be  continued). 


188  A    BODDHIST    REPERTORY. 


A  BUDDHIST  REPERTORY 
IN  SANCSRIT,  TIBETAN,  MANDCHU,  MONGOL  &  CHINESE. 

{Continued  from  p.   168). 

Section    XV. 

Biam  gtan  dafl  pahi  Iha    gsum.     The  tliree  Heavens  of  first  contempla- 
tion (r/Aj/rfna).— M.  the  three  Heavens  of  the  first  Samadi  of  the  World 

of  Forms. — Ch.  id. 

1.  Brahmaparipatyas.  Surrounding  Brahma  as  their  master.  T.  is'ons 
'khor,  entourage  of  Brahma.  M.  tribe  of  Ersun.  Ch.  id.  (M. 
pariahadyu). 

2.  Brahmapurohita,  Sacrificial  assistants  of  Brahma,  T.  t^sans  pa  mdunna 
'don,   chaplain  of  B. — .  his  employe. — Ch.  his  assistant. 

3.  Mahdbrahand  [read  brahmdna']  the  Superior  Brahmas.  T.ts'anspa 
e'en  po,  Great  Brahma.     M.  Ch.  id. 

Section  XVI. 
Bsam  gtan  gnis  pahi  Iha  gsum.     The  3  heavens  of  second  Contemplation. 

1.  ParirtabhAs,  of  feeble,  moderate  splendour  (passed).  T.  '■od  cun, 
small  light.    M.  Ch.   slight  splendour,    [read  parttta']. 

2.  .Apramdnbhi,  light  without  measure  or  limit.  T.  ts'ad  med  'od,  id. 
M.  Ch. 

8.  Abhdsrara,    Resplendent  light.     T.    'od  gsal.  brilliant  light.     M,  id. 
Ch.    heaven  luminous  of  sound. ^ 
1 )   Svara,  '  3ound'  for  svar,  brilliancy. 

Bsam  gtan  gsum  pahi  Iha  gsun.      The  3  heavens  of  third  Contemplation. 

1.  Paj'trta^'ubh  I   [read   pantta'] —  inferior  (passed,   lessened  felicity). 
T.  dge  c'u,    slight  felicity.     M.  id.  Ch.  inferior   purity^. 

2.  Apramdna^ubha.  l^Ieasureless  felicity.  T.  ts^ed  med  dge  [read  ts'ad'] 
id.      Ch.  unlimited  purity. 

3.  Cubhakrt '.  Completed  felicity.  T.  dge  rgyas,  id.  M.  happiness  in 
everything  and  everywhere.  Ch.  purity  everywhere  complete.  [M. 
AVfs/id]. 

1)  Cubha  has  also  this  meaning. 


A     BUDDHIST    REPBRTORV.  189 

Section  XVIII. 
Bsam  gtan  bzi  pahi  Ihan  dgu  ni.      The   9  Heavens  of  foarth  Contem- 
plation. 

1.  Anabhraki.     Cloudless.      T. 

i.  Punyaprapavd  [read — prasa?'d'\  engendering  merit,  or  felicity.  M.  id. 
T.  bsod  nas  skyeds,  life  of  merit. 

3.  Pohatatyaphala  [read  Brhatphala]  with  enormous  fruits  of  merit). 
T.  'bras-bu  c'e,  with  great  fruit.  Ch.  with  immense  fruit.  M.  with 
enormous  reward, 

4.  Avrta.  Without  obstacle,  [al.  Arvha,  Lai.  Vist.]  T.  mi  c'e,  M. 
without  great  occupation.     Ch.  -without  preoccupation. 

5.  Atapa.  Without  evil  or  pain.  T.  mi  gdun.  M.  without  cause  of 
complaint. 

6.  Pudrgd  [read  Sudrg\.  Beautiful  to  behold,  brilliant.  T.  gya-nom 
man,  happy  splendour.    M.  Marvellous  splendour.    Ch.  seeing  well. 

7.  Puladargana  [read  Vipula.—a\.  sud-].  With  vast  splendour;  show- 
ing itself  over  a  vast  extent.  T.  cin-tu-mthon,  seen  greatly  [vipula) . 
Ch.    beautiful  brilliancy   \_su\. 

8.  Akafiishiha.  Not  being  the  smallest,  superior.  T.  'og  min,  id.  M. 
superior  heaven,  a  top  of  all.  Ch.,  sse  k'eu  king,  whose  colour  or 
form   is  effaced  (?j     M.   Aganishthd). 

9.  Mahdgvarwasan  im.  Dwelling  in  vast  light  [read  svari.^  T.  dbun 
phyuy  e'en  po-hi  gnas,  residence  of  the  great  king  [reading  Mahcg- 
varawvasanam'].  M.  most  powerful  heaven.  Ch.,  subsisting  pow- 
erfully by  itself  (ta-tse  tsai),  reading  Mahdsvanivasana.  M.  Maham- 
ahegrardyatani). 

Section  XIX. 
Gjtigs  med  pa  hzi-ni.     The  4  Heavens  of  (the  Worlds)  without  any  form. 

1.  Akdgdnantj/dyatam,  Infinite  space  of  the  Empyrean.  T.  nam- 
mkha  mtha  yas  skye  mts'on,  endless  space  of  heaven. — M.  where  the 
plenitude  of  void  without  limit  is  produced. — Ch.  heaven  of  the  un- 
bounded space  of  void. 

2.  Vijndnantydyatanam  [anantya]  indefinite  extension  of  inteUigence. 
T.  matn-^;e8  mtha  yas,  etc.  id.      M.  Ch.  as  in   l*^.  "  of  intelligence." 

3.  Akincanavydyatanam.  Space  where  there  is  nothing  at  all.  T.  ci  yah 
med  pahi  skye  mts'on,  id. 


190  A    BUDDHIST    REPERTORY. 

4.  Na>  rasanjndndsanjndyatanam.  Space  where  there  is  neither  knowledge 
nor  absence  of  knowledge.  T.  'du  ges  med  'du  ges  med  min  sh/e 
mts'on,  id. 

Notes— §XIII-§XIX. 

These  Seven  Sections  expound  the  contents  and  degrees  of  the  celestial 
world.  This  world  is  divided  into  three  principal  and  superimposed  parts — 
(I*')  the  world  of  desire,  the  lowest  and  most  imperfect,  which  is  still 
subject  to  affections,  and  of  which  our  earth  is  a  part,  Sect.  XIII  and 
XIV  ;  ('2")  the  world  of  form,  inferior  to  the  following,  since  it  still  pos- 
sesses individual  forms  the  results  of  acts  and  of  affections  which  pro- 
duce them,  but  superior  to  the  preceding  because  the  affection  now  exists 
only  in  their  fruits  and  there  is  no  longer  any  passion  or  sexual  desire  ; 
(3°)  the  formless  world,  superior  to  all,  because  delivered  from  all  im- 
pei'fection  proceeding  from  desires  and  forms.  Here  unconsciousness 
reigns,  but  also  merits  are  impossible. 

The  whole  of  this  celestial  sphere  rests  on  Mount  Meru  which  is  its 
base  and  beginning. 

I.  The  World  of  Desire  has  six  degrees,  exposed  in  Sect.  XIV. 
There  are  (1)  firstly  those  of  the  four  great  kings,  representing  the  four 
regions  surrounding  Mount  Meru,  viz.,  Drshtarashtra  to  the  east,  Virud- 
haka  to  the  south,  Virupaxa  to  the  west,  and  Vai^ravana  to  the  north; 
each  ruled  by  special  genii,  good  or  bad,  and  with  a  splendid  capital. 
Their  soil  is  respectively  of  silver  (east),  precious  stones  (west),  gold 
(south),  and  crystal  (north).  They  protect  the  men  of  the  countries 
situated  in  their  respective  directions,  and  each  has  a  life  of  40  millions  of 
haman  years.     Their  region  has  a  height  of  42000  yojanas. 

(2)  On  the  summit  of  Meru  are  the  33  gods,  ancient  genii  of  the  Vedic 
race,  with  Indra  at  their  head.  Each  slope  of  the  summit  of  Meru  contains  8, 
whilst  Indra  or  Cakra  dwells  on  the  top,  in  his  capital  Surdayana  ("  belle 
vue  ").  Who  the  32  other  gods  are,  cannot  be  stated  with  certainty.  This 
number,  which  is  found  both  in  the  Vedas  and  in  the  Avesta,  has  some- 
thing mythical  and  artificial  about  it  which  has  probably  never  corresponded 
to  a  real  number.  For  the  Northern  Buddliists,  they  are  the  32  com- 
panions whom  Indra  joined  to  himself  when  lie  took  up  an  ascetic  life,  and 
who  after  their  death  were  born  again  as  gods  in  the  region  at  the  top  of 
Meru.  Their  books  assign  to  Indra  1000  heads  and  1000  eyes;  a  wife 
Cakti  ("the  mighty  one,"  feminine  of  Cakra),  and  110,000  concubines 
with  whom  he  enjoys  all  pleasures.  This  does  not  prevent  his  watching 
over  the  progress  of  holiness  on  earth  and  employing  the  four  Maharajas 
for  this  purpose.     The  33  gods  live  36,000,000  years, 

(3.)  The  heaven  of  Yama,  160,000  yojana  above  the  heaven  of  the  33 
gods.  Yama  is  here  not  the  god  of  Hades,  but  of  the  heaven  of  the  dead, 
the  region  without  darkness,  which  contains  all  treasures.  Life  there  lasts 
144  millions  of  years.  The  name  of  Yama  is  here  interpreted  in  quite  a 
different  manner  to  that  of  the  books  whence  Eitel  has  extracted  his 
explanations.  Here  it  is  not  time,  nor  the  heaven  of  good  time,  but  the 
heaven  of  combat,  T.  Hhab,  M.  dain,  Ch.;  the  translators  have  deduced 
this  sense  from  the  root  yam,  to  overcome, 

(4.)  At  a  distance  of  320,000  yojanas  above,  is  the  heaven  of  the 
Tushitas,  or  joyous  ones,  where  are  born  again  the  Boddliisatvas  before 


A     BUDDHIST    REPP^RTORY.  191 

arriving  at  the  State  of  Buddha.  At  their  head  is  Miiitreya,  wlio  labours 
from  tlli^^  place  to  diffuse  the  Law.     Life  is  there  for  576  millions  of  years. 

(5.)  640,000  yojanas  higher  up  is  the  heaven  of  the  Nirmunaratayas, 
or  genii  who  can  transform  themselves  at  will  to  satisfv  their  desires,  and 
who  live  2.304.000,OCO  years. 

(6.)  At  tiie  sumuiit  of  this  world  and  at  a  heiglit  of  l,28U,0OU  yujanas, 
we  arrive  at  the  Paranirmanavayav^rtinas  who  transform  at  will  not  only 
themselves,  but  all  exterior  beings,  and  make  them  subserve  their  enjoy- 
ments.    Their  life  lasts  0,216,000,000  years. 

II.  Would  of  Form.  This  begins  2,560,000  yojanas  above  the  last 
named  region,  and  is  composed  of  18  heavens,  divided  into  four  parts 
according  to  the  nature  of  tlie  contem]ilation  (dJn/chvi)  more  or  less  per- 
fect practised  therein.  All  the  inhabitanis  have  the  same  form  :  there  is 
no  sex.  and  they  arc  clothed  without  garments.  £ach  heaven  is  called 
Brahmaloka.  or  world  of  Brahma,  by  reason  of  the  holiness  of  its  in- 
habitants. 

The  first  contemplation  has  also  three  degrees  :  the  servants  of  Brahma 
(the  people)  ; — the  sacrificers  (the  nobles  and  ministers)  ; — the  kings 
and  princes.  The  duration  of  their  lives  is  in  the  proportion  1:2:3 
(i.e.  ^,   1,  1^  Kalpas).     Sect.  XV. 

The  second  contemplation  has  also  three  heavens,  whose  names  indica- 
tive progressive  increase  of  splendour  in  these  regions.  The  progress  of 
life  is  in  the  proportion  1:2:4  (i.e.  2,4,8  Kalpas).    Sect.  X.VI. 

The  thiTd  contemplation  has  also  three  stages,  pr  gressing  according 
to  the  measure  of  holiness  and  purity.  Duration  of  life,  16.  32,  34  Kal- 
pas.    Sect.  XVII. 

The  fotirth  contemplatiou  has  nine  heavens,  whose  names  are  given  in 
Sect.  XVIII.  They  indicate  the  degrees  of  light,  of  brilliancy  of  these 
regions.    Life  therein  progresses  from   125  to  16,000  Kalpas. 

III.  The  Formless  World  has  four  heavens,  whose  names  are  given 
in  Sect.  XIX.  Tliey  show  us  void  developing  itself  so  as  to  become  freed 
not  only  from  all  object  and  all  knowledge,  but  also  from  all  absence  of 
knowledge.  As  is  evident,  we  have  again  here  that  speculating  on  words, 
without  heeding  the  sense  they  can  l)ear,  to  which  the  Brahnians  were 
only  too  fond  of  having  recourse.  The  Buddhists  were  no  less  fond 
of  them. 

All  these  heavens  have  also  their  particular  dimensions,  accurately  de- 
termined. They  are  leckoned  in  millions  of  yojanas  ;  but  their  enumera- 
tion is  tedious  and  offers  no  interest. 

After  having  created  all  these  sujjraterrestrial  abodes,  it  liecame 
necessary  to  assign  to  them  an  end  and  iniiabitants.  Therefore,  according 
to  the  Buddhist  doctors,  they  form  an  ever-increasing  series  of  places  of 
reward  for  merit  ac(juired  in  preceding  existences.  We  thus  arrive  by  as- 
cent after  ascent  at  the  Summit  of  the  Scaffolding.  A  few  examj)lt'S  will 
suffice  to  ex])lain  the  system.  One  wlio  has  not  violated  the  proliibition 
of  killing  and  stealing,  is  born  again  among  the  Trayastriil9at  (1.  2.)  If 
in  addition  he  has  not  committed  adultery,  he  will  go  to  the  Yamas.  If 
he  has  neither  lied  nor  spoken  ill,  he  will  rise  to  ilw.  heaven  of  the  Tus- 
hitas. — For  having  moreover  honoured  Buddha  and  observed  the  seven 
duties  of  tiie  body,  he  will  lie  admitted  among  the  Nirmanaratayas  and 
even  the  ParanirmanavayaYartinas. 


192  A    BUDDHIST   REPERTORY. 

Section    XXVIi. 

Shje  gnns  bzi-hi  min-la,     Names  of  the  4  Manners  of  Birth.     [Matrices, 

Cdturyoni."] 

1.  Jardyuja.     Womb-born  (i.e.  viviparous).     T.   uinal  las  skye  ba. 

2.  Andaja.     Egg-born  (oviparous).     T.  sgo  na  s.b. 

3.  Pamverajn,  [read  pivarajci].  Moisture-born.  T.  drod-gger  las,  of 
warm  humidity.  M.  of  moisture.  Ch.  id.  (shih). — (M.  sumsvedaja, 
born  of  humours,  perspiration,  &c.) 

4.  Upapdduka.  Born  suddenly,  spontaneously.  T.  rdzu  (text  rjus)  te 
s.b.,  born  by  magic  operation,  supernatural  transformation.  S.  rddlus. 
M.  Kobulin.     Mg.  Knbilyn  toroku.    Ch.  TX^ 

1)  We  have  here  Bmhmanism  mixed  up  with  Buddhism.  TheNyaya, 
reproduced  by  the  Manavadharina^astra,  distinguishes  5  modes  of  birth: 
from  a  womb,  from  an  Q^^,  (as  here)  ;  then  from  secretion  or  humour, 
8^^eda  ;  from  heat,  ushnin  ;  and  from  budding,  udbhid.  (Man  I.  43-45). 
The  Pali  texts  recognise  our  four  modes  and  another  wlierein  pokkhara 
(sk.  pushkara)  replaces  ptvnra.  But  tliere  is  tlie  question  of  the  super- 
natural birth  of  the  Bodhisattvas. 

[The  Sections  XXVIII  to  XXX  and  some  others  are  omitted,  be- 
cause they  contain  ndy  a  useless  vocabulary  of  profane  objects  without 
any  relation  to  religion,  viz.:  members  of  the  human  body,  professions  of 
men,  colours,  &c.] 

Section     XXXI. 

Mi  khom  pa  brgy  d  kyl  min-la. — Names  of   the  8  Unfavourable  Things, 
causing  obstacles. — Ch.   difificulties,  or  perils. — M.  leaving  no  facility,  or 

well-being. 
].  Naraka^.     Hell.     T,  dmyal-ba.     M.  Ch,  Subterranean  prison. 

1)  Naraka,  hell,  a  brahmanic  term  and  concept  admitted  by  Buddhism. 
Naraka  is  a  place  of  darkness  and  torment,  situated  under  the  earth,  be- 
neath Jambudvipa.  Every  world  has  its  hell.  It  is  composed  of  8 
different  regions,  ranged  one  over  the  other,  with  four  gates  and  four  an- 
te-chambers to  each  gate.  There  are  desides  8  hells  of  ice,  beneath  ihe 
extremities  of  the  universe  in  the  eight  directions  ;  and  more  towards  the 
centre,  8  others  of  absolute  darkness  ;  morecjver,  an  infinitude  of  others. 
The  torments  vary  with  the  localities  :  in  one  part,  burning  iron  chains 
embrace  the  condemned  ;  elsewhere  mountains  dashing  together  and 
breaking  ;  a  fire  throwing  out  continual  fiames  ;  incessant  births  and 
deaths  which  allow  no  repose  nor  alleviation.  Elsewhere  icy  winds  and 
intense  cold,  causing  the  flesh  to  swell  and  harden,  strijtping  their  bones, 
or  rendering  the  victims  incapable  of  pronouncing  any  words  but  atata, 
ahaha  or  ababa,  according  to  the  locality. 

Yama  and  his  sister  Yanii  preside  over  those  tortures,  one  for  men,  the 
other  for  women.  The  damned  have  also  their  bodies  cut  to  pieces,  sawn 
asunder,  torn  with  pincers,  etc.  C.   de   Harlez. 

[To  be  continued). 

PRINTED  AND  PUBLISHED  FOR  THE  PROPRIETOR  AT2U  ALBERT  SQUARECLAPHAM 
BOAD,  AND  BY    D.  NUTT  FOREIGN  AND  CLASSICAL    BOOKSELLER   270    STRAND. 


THE 


BABYLONIAN  AND  ORIENTAL  RECORD. 

Contributors  are  alone  responsible  for  their  opinions  or  statements. 


AN  UNKNOWN  KING  OF  LAG  ASH, 

FROM  A  LOST  INSCRIPTION 

OF  6000  YEARS  AGO. 
(Continued  from  page  187). 

V.    Foreign  and  Maritime  Relations. 
13.  The  most  remarkable  of  the  disclosures  resulting  from  the  study  of 
the  monuments  brought  to    light  by  the  excavations   made   at  I'ell  Loh 
are  certainly  tliose  concerning  the  relations  of  this  state  of  Lagash  with 
distant  countries. 

Ur-Nina,  tlie  most  genuine  Monarch  of  the  dynasty  of  kings,  records 
in  one  of  his  inscriptions^^*  that  "  From  Magan  the  country,  all  sorts  of 
timber  lie  has  imported." 

The  same  name  appears  several  times  in  the  inscriptions  of  the  Patesi 
Gudea, 

On  the  back  of  one  of  his  statues,  a  passage  of  the  inscriptions  states 
that  "  in  that  year  from  the  mountains  of  the  country  of  Magan  he  luid  a 
block  of  precious  stone  brought,  and  he  had  it  carved  for  his  statue^^." 
On  another  statue,  we  find  a  similar  statement  :  "  From  the  mountain  of 
the  country  of  Magan  he  had  a  block  of  precious  stone  brought,  and  he 
had  it  carved  for  his  statue^o,"  Five  otlier  of  his  statues  bear  the  same  de- 
claration. Now  these  statues  are  in  diorite,  a  sort  of  stone  largely  found  in 
the    Sinai'tic    peninsula. 

The  inscii])tion  of  another  of  the  statues  of  the  same  Priest-King, 
states  that  :  "  By  tli''  [lOwer  of  Nina  and  of  Ningirsu,  to  Gudea  who  holds 
his  sceptre  from  Ningirsu,  the  countries  of  Magan,  of  Molukhkha,  of  Giibi 
and  of  Nituk,  rich  in  trees  of  all  varioties,  have  sent  to  him  to  Laga.sh 
vessels  laden  with  trees  of  all  sorts ^i."  And  in  a  passage  of  the  cylin- 
VoL.IV.— No.  9.  [193]  Aug..  1890. 


194  AN   UNKNOWN    KING 

der  A,  it  is  said  :  "  From  Magan  and  from  Melukhkha.  countries  which 
possess  all  sorts  of  trees,  to  build  the  temple  of  Nin-girsu,  Gudea  has 
had  trees  of  all  sorts   sent  to  his  town  of  Girsu-ki^s." 

14.  These  various  statements  compared  together  are  important  as  they 
show  at  that  earliest  of  the  known  periods  of  history,  the  existence  of  a 
commercial  intercourse  and  of  circumnavigation  around  Arabia  between 
Clialdea  and  Egypt.  The  various  names  quoted  are  as  many  emporia  of 
that  primitive  route  of  commerce.  A^ i  tuk  was  well  known  as  the  Isle  of 
Tilmunin  the  Persian  Gulf^^.  Mdgan^^  and  Me  lu  khkha^^mwld  not 
be  anywhere  else  than  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Sinaitic  peninsula.  Magan 
was  the  country  of  cofper  and  as  we  have  seen,  jalso  of  diorite,  while  Me- 
lukhkha was  the  countrj'  of  turquoises,  all  products  of  that  region,  known 
to  the  Chaldeo-Babylonians  alsjin  the  time  of  Naram-sin  son  of  Sargon 
I,  (3800  i!.c.)  who  carried  his  arms  thus  far^*'.  Gubl  completes  the 
series,  as  happily  suggested  by  Amiaud  who  has  proposed  its  identifi- 
cation with  Coptos^^,  the  Ancient  Gubti,  the  Egyptian  town  whose 
commerce  was  already  important  as  testified  by  the  special  route  made 
between  it  and  the  Red  sea  by  Pepi  I,  the  second  king  of  the  sixth 
dynasty. 2^ 

15.  These  various  peculiarities  imply  a  synchronism  which  we  must 
notice.  Snofru  of  the  third  dynasty  had  opened  the  works  of  the  copper 
and  turquoises  mines  of  the  Sina'i  after  having  driven  back  the  Mentiu 
or  nomadic  tribes  on  the  Asiatic  borders.  Khufu,  the  pyramid  builder 
had  kept  up  the  struggle,  but  his  successors  were  not  as  successful,  and 
the  Sinaitic  mines  were  lost.  They  were  not  recovered  before  the  sixth 
dynasty  under  the  reign  of  Pepi  I,  and  then  only  during  few^  reigns;  for 
the  same  dynasty  was  not  ended,  that  the  mines  had  again  passed  to  the 
hands  of  foreigners  where  they  remained  until  the  Xllth  dynasty  who 
conquered  them  once  more^^.  The  conquest  by  Naramsin  of  the  land  of 
INIagan*"  should  we  trust  the  chronology  of  Mariette^',  must  have  been 
made  during  the  Vth  dynasty,  when  the  Sinaitic  peninsula  was  no  more 
an  Egyptian  possession.  And  the  relations  of  Kings  and  Patesis  of 
Lagash  with  the  quarries  of  diorite  and  the  cojiper  mines  of  the  penin- 
sula and  \\\x\\  Egypt  must  have  taken  place  during  the  IVth  dynasty. 

IB.  Till'  statues  of  Lagash  remind  to  an  extraordinary  extent  the  great 
diorite  statue  of  King  Khafri.  the  builder  of  the  second  pyramid  of  Gizeh, 
jiiid  the  (•lii<'f  oTTiament  of  the  Museum  formerly  of  Bulak  and  now  tliere. 
*'  The  Babylonian  execution  is  infinitely  inferior  :  but  the  attitude,  the 
pose,  the  general  effect,  and  to  a  certain  extent  the  dress,  are  remarkably 


OF        LAGASH.  195 

alike"-*",  says  Prof.  A,  H.  Sayce,  in  his  Lectures  on  tJie  Religion  of  the 
Ancient  Bah/lonians.  Another  proof  is  that  Diorite  is  as  foreign  to  the 
soil  of  Egypt  as  it  is  to  that  of  Babylonia.  And  that  which  finally  makes 
the  relations  of  the  Lagash  rulers  with  Egypt  certain*^  ^t  that  period,  is 
that  the  standard  of  measurement  marked  \ipon  the  plan  of  the  city, 
which  one  of  the  figures  of  Tell  Loh  holds  upon  his  lap,  is  the  same  as 
the  standard  of  measurement  of  tlie  Egyptian  pyramid  builders^*. 

Notes 

28*)  Inscript.  T,  col.  IV  Cf.  A.  Amiaud,  The  inscriptions  of  Telloh, 
I.  c.  p.  65. 

29)  Inscript.  G.,  col.  III. — A  Amiaud,  U inscription  G.  de  Goudea,  pp. 
26,  3s  :  Ztschr.  f.  Assyriol.,  vol.  III. 

30)  Inscript.  H,  col.  II. — A.  Amiaud,  V inscription  H  de  Goudea,  pp. 
288-9  :  ibid.  vol.  II,  and  The  Inscriptiorts  of  Telloh  (cont.j  :  Records 
of  the  Past,  n.s.,  vol.  II,  1890,  pp.  75,  83,  88,  91,  97,  100,  103  ; 
inscriptions  of  the  A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H  statues  of  Gudea. 

31)  Statue  D.  col.  4. — A.  Amiaud,  Sirpourla,  p.  7  ;  Records  of  the 
Past,  N.S.,  vol.  I,  p.  52. 

32)  Cylinder  A.,  col.  XV,  1.  4  sq. — A.  Amiaud,  Sirpourla,  p.  7.  The 
various  sorts  of  wood  imported  for  Gudea  are  specified  on  the  inscrip- 
tion of  his  statue  B,  Cedar  wood  from  Amanu  (cf.  infra  §  30)  in 
joists  of  70,  50  or  25  spans.  Zabanmn,  shaku,  tubulum  and  gin  trees 
from  Ursu,  both  places  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Upper  Euphrates  ;  Kala 
trees  from  Melukhkha,  and  Ghaluku  trees  to  make  pillars  from  Gubia, 
in  the  Red  sea. 

33)  Tlie  exact  identification  of  this  island  which  was  said  to  be  at  30 
kasbu  of  the  coast  in  the  Mar?-atu  or  I'ersian  Gulf,  is  no  more  an  open 
(picstion.  [)r.  J.  Oppert  had  proposed  the  Tylos  of  Classical  Geo- 
graphy, the  Samak  Bahrein  of  modern  maps.  Cf.  his  paper  on  Le  siege 
primitif  des  Assi/riens  et  des  Pheniciens  :  Journal  Asiatique,  1880,  t. 
XV,  pp.  90-92,  349-350;  Maspero,  Histoire  Ancienne.  ed.  IV,  {>.  138. 
—  Francois  Lenormant,  Essni  sur  un  document  matheniatique  Chaldeen, 
1869,  pp.  123-145,  a  nd  Essal  de  commentaire  des  fragments  cosmogoniqnes 
de  Br'rose,  1872,  had  identified  it  witli  Bender- Dilloun  and  Prof.  Fr. 
Uelit/.sch,  Wo  lag  das  Parodies  ?  ]).  229-30,  suggested  an  island  now 
absorbed  by  the  alluvions  of  posterior  ages. — Sir  Henry  Rawlinson,  in 
his  .Votes  on  Capt.  DuranVs  Report  upon  the  islands  of  Bahrein  :  .1. 
R.A.S.,  April,  1880,  vol.  XII,  pp.  -JOl-227,  lias  fully  identified  it 
with  Bahrein.  On  the  ruins  there  and  excavations,  cf.  Capt.  Durant's 
Extracts  from  Report  on  the  Island  and  Antic/uities  of  Bahrein:  ,].R. 
A.S.  ibid.  pp.  139-201  ;  and  on  further  excavations  there,  the  dis- 
covery of  Piiouiician  remains  and  of  ivories  carved  like  those  of  Assyria, 
by  M.  J.  Tlieodore  Bent,  cf.  The  Mounds  of  Bahrein  :  The  Athenieum, 
No.  319,  p.  38,  July  6,  1889,  and  his  comnuuiical ion   to  the  R.Cir.S. 

34)  Magan.  Cf.  the  Makna  of  Ptolemy,  in  10.  liehatsek,  Emporia, 
chieflii  ports  of  Arab  and  Indian  internatiowd  commerce,  before  the 
Christian  era  :  J.  Bombay  Br.  R.A,S.,  1881,  vol.  XV,  p.  il4,  and 
also  R.  Burton,  The  gold  mines  of  Midian,  1878.      Lenormant,  Oppert, 


196  AN    UNXNOWN    KING 

Sayce,  Dalattre,  Amiaud  have  all  placed  it  in  the  Sinaitic  peninsula. 
Cf.  a  refutation  of  other  views  in  A.  Amiaud.  The  names  of  Sumer 
and  Akkad.  pp.  130-133:  B.&O.E.,  July  1887,  vol.  I;  and  A.  F, 
Sayce,  Relig.  Anc.  Bab.,  p.  32,  n.  Amiaud  ^compares  the  V^y^  of 
Judges  V,  12. 

35)  While  Migan  was  the  eastern  side  of  the  peninsula  and  prol)ably 
also  Midian,  the  country  of  Melukhkha  seems  to  have  been  the  western 
side  and  part  of  Egy})t.  Prof.  G.  Maspero,  Hlstoire  ancienne,  ed.  IV, 
p.  430,  identifies  the  latter  with  that  part  of  the  Delta  which  is  situate 
on  the  two  sides  of  the  Canopic  branch,  with  probably  the  addition 
of  Sais.  It  has  been  thought  by  several  scholars  that  (in  the  later 
times  of  the  Assyrian  Monarchy)  Melukhkha  may  have  been  the  Libyan 
portion  of  lower  Egypt.  Cf.  F.  Lenormant,  Revue  ArcMologique,  Jan. 
1^72,  p,  26  :  Trans.  S.B.A.,  t.  VL  pp.  348-353,  and  399-401.— Sir 
Henry  Rawlinson,  J.R.A.S.  188C,  vol.  XII,  p.  212,  claims  to  have  been 
the  first  to  identify  Milukh  with  Meroe,  in  his  Illustixitions  of  Egy})tinn 
history  from  the  Cuneiform  Inscriptions  :  Trans.  Roy.  Soc.  Lit.  Feb. 
1861,  a  view  proposed  also  by  Dr.  J.  Oppert.  But  Prof.  G.  Maspero, 
Histoire  Ancienne,   ed.    IV,  p.  430,    n.,  has  remarked  that  the  exact 

■  name  of  Meroe  Avas  Beroua  without  any  final  h  or  kh.  Pat.  A.  J. 
Delattre,  V Asie   Occidentale  dans   les  Inscrijjtions  Assyrienyies,  1885, 

■  has  proved  that  Melukhkha,  which  is  constantly  associated  with  Magan, 
was  the  desert  district  immediately  to  the  south  of  the  Wadi-el- 
'Arish. 

36)  Cf.  A.  H.  Sayce,  The  Ancient  empires  of  the  East,   p.  370. 

37)  A.  Amiaud,  SirpourJa,  pp.  12-13.    Cf.  the  Gub  of  Ezekiel  xxv,   5. 

38)  Cf.  G.  Maspero,  Histoire  ancienne,  ed.  IV,  p.  81. 

39)  G.  Maspero,  ibid.,  p.  59,  65,  93  and  121. 

40)  A  tablet  giving  an  account  of  the  great  Sargon's  career  says  that 
the  king  readied  the  lower  sea  or  Persian  Gulf,  and  the  country  nf 
the  Black  heads,  and  also  reduced  Nidukki  and  another  sea-})ort 
of  which  the  name  is  incomplete.  In  what  appears  to  be  the  continua- 
tion of  the  same  campaign  on  another  tablet,  Sargon's  son  Naramsin, 
is  paid  to  have  conquered  Risk  B  manu,  the  king  of  A[)irak,  and  his 
allv  the  King  of  Magan.  whose  name  however  is  lost.  Cf.  Trans. 
S.B.A.,  vol.  L  pp.  iC),  51  :  J.R.A.S.,  n.s.,  vol.  XII,  ]..  214.  Prof. 
F.  Delitzsch,  Parodies,  p.  231  and  131  has  Apirah-  in  South 
Babylonia. 

41)  Aper^u  de  Vhistoire  d' Ugypte,  \).  65;  Ilird  dynasty,  4449  ;  IVth 
42  85  :  Vth   3951:  Vlth  3703. 

42)  A.  H.    Sayce.  Rel.    Aric.  Bab.  p.   137,  and  p.  33. 

43)  A.  H.  Sayce,  op.  laud.  I.e. 

44)  As  observed  by  Mr.  Flinders  Petrie,  in  Nature,  Aug.  9,  1883,  p. 
341  ;  the  cubit  of  20-63,  quite  different  from  the  later  Assym-Baby- 
lonian  cubit  of  21 'G. — M.  Leon  Heuzy,  Un  PaJais  ChaJdeen.  1888.  p. 
11,  states  that  the  graduate  rule  has  a  length  of  37  cent.(_  =  10'63 
inch).     Dr.  J.    Opjjert  as   early  as  1872,    Uetalon  des  measures  a>isyrir 

evnes  :  Journal  Asiatique,  Aug.  Sept.  p.  157,  sqq.,  had  ventured  to 
])rove  that  tlie  unit  of  measurement  of  the  Chaldeans  was  27  cent.,  the 
half-cubit  or  span.  His  reasoning  was  based  upon  his  own  and  others 
nii-asureiiieiil  of  tlic  wall  of  Khonabad.  i.e.    6790  m.,  compared  to  the 


OF     lagash.  197 

statement  of  Sarijon  liimself,  that  the  circumference  of  the  wall  was 
24740  imits.  therefore  Oni  274  mm.  Cf.  his  paper  Sur  (pieUjiies  nncs 
des  inscriptions  cuneiforfnes,  noiwellernent  decouvertes  en  Chaldce,  ]).635: 
Actes  VI,  Congr.  Orient.  Leide,  18-3,  Part  II,  1  :  and  al?..  BuUpt. 
Soc.  Philologiqve,  '25  Avril,  1882,  p.  243. 


17.  An  extremely  interesting  feature  of  these  disclosures  nl-dut  tlie 
relations  by  sea  at  that  time  between  the  Persian  Gulf**  and  the  Red  sea*® 
consists  in  the  inkling  they  give  of  the  early  maritime  commerce  which 
has  occupied  so  important  a  part  in  the  primitive  spread  of  civilisation. 
The  statement  of  Gudea  that  the  countries  of  Magan,  Melukhkha, 
Gubi  and  Nituk  hare,  sent  to  him  ships'^''  laden  with  trees  of  all 
kinds,  seems  to  show  that  the  ships  did  not  belong  to  Gudea  himself  nor 
to  his  people,  and  therefore  that  this  sea-trade  was  in  the  hands  of 
others.  This  fact  was  already  well  known  although  not  as  far  remote  in 
antiquity'**'.  Having  no  timber  the  Chaldeo-Babylonians  themselves 
could  not  build  sea-faring  ships  of  large  size.  l\ven  in  later  times  their 
boats  remained  generally  smalH^,  as  convenient  for  their  use  on  tlie  rivers 
nuicli  more  than  on  the  sea. 

18.  Many  of  the  crafts  represented  on  the  monuments,  carrying  logs 
of  timber  or  towing  a  few  of  tliem,  are  river  boats'^''.  Other  ships  are 
tigured  on  the  basreliefs  oi  Nimroud^'  ;  theyare  certainly  better  fitted 
than  the  others,  for  the  creeping  along  the  coasts  sort  of  navigation, 
which  was  then  the  only  possible  feat  of  the  sea-farers  ;  but  none  of  them 
has  the  size  or  appearance  of  the  large  vessels  built  for  the  Egyptian  Queen 
Hatshopsitu  of  the  eighteenth  dynasty^^^  foj.  navigation  on  the  Red  sea 
in  concurrence  to  those  belonging  to  the  sea-faring  race  then  and  there 
in  ])OSsession  of  the  maritime  commerce.  And  yet  the  unseaworthiness 
of  these  Egyptian  ships  lias  been  pointed  out,  and  we  may  remark  that 
their  dimensions  were  apparently  double  of  those  figured  on  the  Assyro- 
Babyloiiian  monuments,  nine  centuries  later^^ 

19.  But  the  statements  of  the  king  Ur-Nina  and  those  of  the  patesi 
Gudea,  refer  to  a  period  much  older  than  anything  that  had  been  heard 
of  previously  about  this  early  sea-trade.  And  the  special  enumeration  of 
tlie  emporia  and  countries  visited  at  the  time  of  Gudea,  shows  that  this 
coasting  trade  had  not  yet  assumed  the  same  importance  as  it  did  many 
centuries  afterwards.  The  simple  statement  refeiing  to  [Magaii  in  I'r- 
Nina's  inscription  must  he  conijiared  tcj  those  equally  sim])le  of  (Judea. 
and   does    not    however  prove  that  this  place  was  tlie  only  one  with  which 


198  AN    UNKNOWN    KING 

an  interconrso  was  carried  on  as  yet  in  hisreign.  Magan^^is  quoted  alone  be- 
cause it  was  from  there  that  the  diorite  required  for  tlie  statue  had  been 
brought,  and  there  was  no  occasion  to  mention  any  other  place. 

20.  There  is  however  a  curious  sentence  in  one  of  Giidea's  inscriptions 
wliich  deserves  special  attention.  It  seems  to  speak  of  a  ship,  which  by 
the  protection  of  the  Goddess  Ba'u,  did  go  out  of  the  great  sea  and  went 
away.  She  reached  the  sea  of  Kansurra,  and  yet  her  crew  was  not  dis- 
couraged and  remained  faithf uP^ .  Although  the  translation  is  apparently 
provisional  and  will  require  some  amends,  the  statement  should  it  be 
verified  looks  like  an  attempt  by  Gudea  at  doing  by  his  own  people  that 
for  which  he  was  previously,  like  his  predecessors,  indebted  to  others.  The 
sea  of  K  a  ns  u  r  r  a  (?)  being  the  Bed  sea,  the  ships  which  used  to  carry 
the  diorite  from  Magan  in  the  Sinaitic  peninsula  were  already  navigating 
a,ll  its  length.  Therefore  the  attempt  of  Gudea  looks  like  those  of  Queen 
Hatshopsitn  and  of  Kings  David  and  Solomon  in  the  after  centuries. 

21.  We  are  not  yet  sufficiently  enlightened  from  epigraphical  evidence, 
to  know  if  the  attempt  of  Gudea  was  continued  and  the  actual  begin- 
ning without  subsequent  interruption  of  a  Chaldean  navy  of  sea-going 
ships.  In  the  enumeration  of  the  maritime  stations  which  we  have  quoted 
from  his  inscriptions,  prominence  is  given  to  N  i  t  u  k  or  Dilmun,  in  the 
Bahrein  islands  as  if  this  was  the  central  port  and  the  home  of  the  sea- 
faring race,  the  most  probably  ancestor  of  the  Phoenicians,  as  shown 
by  the  recent  archaeological  discoveries  made  there^^.  The  Minajans^' 
and  Omanites  had  not  yet  established  their  emporia  on  the  Southern 
coasts  of  Arabia,  which  a  thousand  years  or  more,  afterwards,  were  the 
centre  of  trade  and  the  self-imposed  intermediaries  between  Egypt, 
Ethiopia  BabyLmia  and  India^^.  And  although  the  circum-navigation 
between  the  Persian  Gulf  and  the  heads  of  the  Red  Sea  could  not  be 
carried  without  numerous  callings  and  stoppages  along  the  coast,  the 
silence  of  the  cuneiform  documents  as  to  the  names  of  important  ports  is 
rath<'r  significant  as  to  their  non-existence. 

22.  The  continuous  association  of  the  three  names  of  Nituk,  Magan 
and  Melukhkha  had  suggested  a  geographical  proximity  between  them,  and 
the  two  latter  had  been  unsuccessfully  sought  for  in  the  low  lands  of 
Babylonia^^.  Another  suggestion  was  tliat  Magan  and  Melukhkha 
should  'be  found  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Bahrein  islands^^.  Both  hypo- 
theses admitting  later  western  as  well  as  an  early  eastern  existence  of 
the  two  countries,   and  their  locations  in   the    Red   Sea.     But  none  of 


OF       LAOASH.  199 

them  could  be  effectively  supported  ;  and  they  have  been  cleared  away  by 
close  criticism^i  ,jud  progress  of  knowlodge^^^  j^  |g  qj^jj-g  certain  that  the 
earliest  Magaii  and  Melukhkha  were  situated  in  the  Sinaitie  peninsula, 
and  therefore  that  tiie  circum-navigation  from  the  Persian  Gulf  to  the 
Red  Sea  was  regularly  established  six  thousand  years  ago. 

23.  The  bilingual  list,  Akkado-Sumerian   and  Assyrian,  of  names  of 
ships  and  marine  terms^^,   which   has  been  referred  to  in  the  Magan  eon- 
troversy,  shows  the  subsequent  existence  of  a  Chaldean   navy.     The  taiilet 
cannot   be   older  than   the   period  of  literary  activity  about    liie  time  of 
Khammurabi.     It  may  be   of  later  date^*.   There  is  no  doubt  that  native 
ships  besides  the  river  boats  existed  at  the  time.     The  list  includes  sliips 
of  Ma-uru,  or  s  h  i  p-c  i  t  y,  a  designation  of  Snr.ppak^^,  of  Assur,  of  Ui\ 
of  iXititk,  of  Magan,  and  of  Melukhkhi^^.     It  will  be  remarked  that  this 
list  is  arranged  in  geographical  order  and  that  the  three  latter  uames  re- 
mained associated  as  in   primitive  times,  suggesting  that  it  had  come  to 
pass  to  designate  all  the  commercial  navy  of  the  race  of  sea-traders  simply 
by  the  names  of  their  three  most  ancient  and  important  ports  of  the  two 
extreme  points   of   the  circumnavigation  they  use  to  carry   on.     Assur 
must  necessarily  refer  to  the  fluvial  boats,  and  U  r  may  also  be  understood 
as  partly   referring  to    the  same  navigation  which   from  olden  times  was 
that    with  which   the   Chaldeo-Babylonians  were   best  acquainted.      The 
8umero-Akkadian  hymn  which  describe  the  cedar  ship  of  Hea  does  not 
mention  its  going  otherwise  than   on   the  canals  and  rivers^^.     But  the 
river  towns  of  Lower  Babylonia  were  also   reached  by  sea-going  vessels. 
A  legendary  fragment   which  at  one   time  had  been  erroneously  included 
into  the  Nimrod-Epos^^   speaks  of  ships  coming  up  the  Euphrates  as  far 
as  Erech,  the  modern  Warka, — that  is   about  120  miles  above  Kurna, 
where  the  river  now  joins^^. 

24.  Shurippak'''^*,  which  is  spoken  of  as  late  as  the  time  of  Kham- 
murabi but  not  later,  was  apparently  the  maritime  place  par  excellence. 
Its  epithet  of  s  h  i  p-c  i  t  y  had  apparently  been  won  from  its  navigation 
pursuits.  Even  in  the  earliest  times  of  known  history  it  was  too  far  inland 
to  be  concerned  with  sea-going  vessels,  and  its  nary  could  be  but  fluvial. 
Its  position  near  Sippara  on  the  banks  of  the  Euphrates^i  was  well  suited 
for  the  purpose,  and  it  seems  to  have  been  from  there  that  Sin-liki-ini, 
the  Chaldean  poet  who  wrote  the  Nimrod-Epos  about  the  twenty  third 
century  B.C.  did  get  his  maritime  information''*.  The  Imilding  and  float- 
ing of  the  ship  of  Samash-Napishtu  are  placed  by  him  there,  as  in  tlie 
greatest  historical  port  of  Babylonia,  and  he  w.is  thus  able  to  give  to  his 


200  AN    UNKNOWN    KING 

poetical  recit  under  that  respect,  an  appearance  less  unhistorical.  Un- 
happily the  mutilated  condition  of  the  tablet  has  not  permitted  as  yet  the 
decipherers-Assyriologists  to  agree  on  the  signs  half  obliterated  and  the 
inferences  to  l)e  drawn  from  them  as  to  the  last  parts  which  refer  to  the 
measures  and  other  peculiarites  of  the  ship^*^,  and  therefore  ought  to  be 
most  interesting.  But  we  must  expect  further  decipherments  and  elucida- 
uions  to  be  enlightened  on  the  subject. 

Other  names  Of  places  with  reference  to  ships,  which  appear  on  the  lists 
above  quoted,  are  those  of  Nisin,  the  Sumero- Akkadian  for  Kharrak, 
the  Karaka  of  the  list  of  Darius,  and  the  Kharax  of  Aspasine  (cf. 
B.&O.R.,  vol.  IV,  p.  139)  near  the  mouth  of  the  Euphrates  ;  and  of  the 
Khatti  on  the  upper  course  of  the  latter  river. 

25.  The  bilingual  list,  desides  the  names  f  places  gives  the  special 
terms  wliicli  we  have  mentioned,  for  various  ships  and  parts  of  a  ship  in 
the  two  languages,  Sumero- Akkadian  and  Assyrian.  As  the  most  im- 
portant of  these  have  been  pubHshed  in  the  B.&O.R.^^,  by  Mr.  Theo.  G. 
Pinches  iit  his  paper  on  The  Babylonians  and  Assyrians  as  n  aritlme 
nations,  it  is  needless  to  mention  them  here  again;  although  the  larger 
part  of  the  names  refer  to  small  boats  such  as  those  required  for  river 
craft,  there  are  a  few  words  of  part  of  ships,  which  cannot  apply  but  to 
vessels  of  some  size  at  the  ancient  time  when  the  list  was  framed'^.  Boats 
and.  ships  existed  of  all  dimensions  from  6  to  60  gnr''^  in  tonnage. 

Notes 

45")  Called  in  Assyrian  Marratu.  Cf,  F.  Delitsch,  Wo  lag  das  Para- 
dies  1  p.  180. 

46)  Perhaps  called  under  Gudea  Kan  surra,  in  Sumero-Akkadian;  cf.  E. 
Babelon-Lenormant,  Histoire  ancienne,  t.  IV,  p.  85. 

47)  Statue  D,  col.  4,  and  cyhnder  A,  1.  4  sq.  Cf.  supra  §  13.  And  A. 
Amiaud,  The  Inscriptions  of  Telloh  (continued^:  Kecords  of  the  Past, 
n,s.  vol,  II,  1890,  p.  91. 

48)  Cf.  T.  de  L„  The  Kushites,  who  were  ihey  ?,  §§  4,  6,  7  ;  B.&0,R. 
vol,  I,  pp.  25-27. — Lcpsius,  Nubische  Grammatih.  Enleitung,  p.  95, 
says  that  they  were  tlie  first  sea-faring  people  of  the  Ancient  world, 
and  controlled  by  their  ships  the  coasts  of  the  Red  Sea  and  Indian 
Ocean  to  the  Persian  Gulf,  and  also  the  coasts  of  India  to  Ceylon  and 
not  only  exchanged  the  products  of  these  distant  lands  but  also  intro- 
duced the  sciences  and  arts  they  learned  in  their  visits. — But  Lepsius  , 
was  mistaken  in  his  views  about  the  Kushites  whom  he  looked  upon 
as  everywhere  and  regularly  black,  while  all  the  evidence  that  we  possess 
shows  that  the  historical  Kushites  were  a  race  hybrid  and  irregulaily 
mixed,  as  we  shall  have  occasion  to  indicate  further  on. 

49)  A  bilingual  list,  prol)al)ly  of  the  time  of  Khammurabi,  quoted  by  M. 
Theo.  G,  Pinches,  The  Babylonians  and  Assyrians  as  maritime  nations: 


OP     lagash.  201 

B,&O.R.  vol,  I,  pp.  41-42,  indicates  the  tonnage  of  the  ships  varying 
from  5  to  60  gurru  or  gurri.  Now  this  measure,  if  it  is  the  saine  as 
the  Kor,  being  equivalent  to  about  400  lit.  (exactly  393-66  accordino- 
to  Aures,  Essai  sur  le  systemi'  metrtque  Asxyrien,  the  largest  of  these 
ships  had  only  a  capacity  of  24  tons,  and  tlie  smallest  :  2  tons.  Dr. 
J.  Oppert  :  Les  signes  numerlques  des  mesures  Babyloniennes  de  capa- 
cite:  Ztschr.  f.  Assyriologie,  18S9,  vol.  IV,  p.  372.  sats  :  "nous 
savons  seulement  que  la  troisieme  partie  du  garse  nommait  un  lunner, 
en  assyrieu  iinei-u.'''  But  this  gur  cannot  be  that  which  was  used  to  de- 
fine the  capacity  of  ships,  as  tlie  homer,  according  to  Aures  was  equiv- 
alent to  3  lit.  936  only.  The  first  would  be  too  niucli,  the  second 
too  little. 

50)  They  are  not  longer  than  the  timber  they  carry  or  tuw,  and  tlie 
largest  have  five  men  on  board.  Of.  their  representation  on  tlie  monu- 
ments, as  for  instance  on  a  bas-relief  from  the  Sargon  palace  at 
Khorsabad  ;  in  Vigouroux,  La  Bible  et  lev  decouvertea  modernes,  ed. 
IV,  1884,  t.  ril,  p.  374,  and  Lenormant  Babelon,  Histoire  Ancienne 
de  rOrient,  ISbS,  ed.  IX,  t.  IV,  p  231. — There  are  also  representa- 
tions of  rafts  supported  by  inflated  skins  to  carry  large  stones.  Cf. 
Lenormant^Babelon,  0.6'.,  t.  IV,  p.  86. 

51)  Represented  on  the  Bas-reliefs  of  Nimroud  ;  they  were  biremes  with 
seven  or  eight  oars  each  row,  and  two  oars  at  stern  for  rudder,  havino' 
on  board  at  the  utmost  forty  men    all   told,  including    soldiers  ;    one 
pole    mast    only   with   a    square  sail.     The   upper  part  of  the  prow  is 
shaped   as    a   horse  head    or  perhaps  a  hip])ocampus,    (Cf.    the    illus- 
tration   in   Lenormant-Babelon,    O.C.  t.   V,  p.  105).   which  mav  have 
been  not   uid^uowii  to  tlie  navigators   in  these  south  seas.     A  list  of 
terms  referring    to    the  various   parts  of  a  ship,    (B.&O.R.,     I.    42) 
gives  the  expression  emeri  elippi,  which  M.  Tlieo.  G.  Pinches  has  trans- 
lated the  a  s  s  o  f  a  s  h  i  p,  perhaps  the  ]irow  (jr  figure  head.     The  Assv- 
rian   imeru,   Sum.-Akk.  anshu,    originally  an   Ass,  or   beast  of  burden, 
may  also  have  been  simply  a  horse.     Cf.  Pr.  Homniel,  Die  Semitischen 
Voll-er.  p.  403  ;   and    also,  however,  my  remark  n.  2.  BMO.R.,  vol.  I, 
p.  42.      Sir  George  Birdwood  has  informed  me  that  the  native  ships  in 
the  Indian  seas  have  as  yet  the  habit  of  carrying  a  she-ass  on  board. 
Other  sorts  of  ships,  different  altogetlier  and  without  anyaiiiin.il  heads 
at  the  stern,  are  figured   on  later  monuments.      Cf.  the  same  work,  t. 
IV,  PI).  2.">8.  259,  and  T.  G.  1  inches.  Giu'de  to  the   Kou//iiiijik  Gallen/, 
pp.  48-49.     The  earliest  boats  on  the  cylinders  and  seals,  which  see  in 
Menant's  Gly/itiipie   On'eritale,  vol.  I,  pp.   65   and  99,   roughly  drawn, 
liad  a  crescent  ajipearance  seen  also  on  the  ships  of  the  bas-reliefs,  and 
still    jireserved   by   boats  trading    between   Bagdad   and  Bnssorah,  on 
which  cf.  Ed.  IJalfour,  Cyclopedia  of  India,  ed.  Ill,  vol.    I,  p.  393,— 
We  must  remember  that  all    these  representations  of  ships  belong  to   a 
period  of  more   than  three  thousand  years  later   than  that  of  the  sea- 
faring mentioned  in  the  inscriptions  of  Lagash. 

52)  This  Great  Queen,  elder  sister  of  Thotmes  III  and  regent  duriiit,' 
liis  minority  had  a  fleet  built,  of  five  ships,  which  are  figured  on  the 
monuments.  Cf.  a  sailing  ship  of  this  fleet,  p.  15,  of  G.  Maspero, 
De  quehjues  nariyations  des  Egyptien-s  sur  les  cotes  de  la  mer  Krythree: 
Revue   historique,   Jan.   1879,    and  another  one  taking    her  cargo,  p. 


202  AN  UNKNOWN    KINO 

572  in  Vigouroux,  La  Bible  et  les  decouvertes  modernes,  t.  III.  These 
shi})s  were  about  seventy  feet  in  length,  with  one  pole-nia-^t  26 
feet  liigh  ;  one  row  of  15  oars  on  each  side,  two  oars  as  rudders,  and 
a  crew  of  39  men,  all  told.  Cf.  also  Dumichen,  Die  Flotte  einer 
(iguptischen  Ko7iigin,  and  B.  Graser,  Das  seewesen  des  Alien  yEgi/pter; 
G.  Maspero,  Htstoirc  ancienne,  pp.  195-6  ;  and  besides  :  J.D.C.  Lie- 
blein,  Handel  und  Srh/jfart  auf  dem  rothen  Meere  in  alien  Zeifen, 
Christiania,  188G,  a  most  important  monograph.  llie  Egj'ptian  name 
of  SL'i-farin"j^' ships  was  me  nshu  {V.  Pierret,  Vocahulaire  Hie'roglyji- 
hique,  p.  216)  which  has  perhaps  survived  in  the  Man  die  uf  the 
West  coast  of  India,  on  which  cf.  E.  Balfour,  Cyclopedia  of  India,  ed. 
Ill,   vol.  II,  pp.  838-9. 

53)  Eighteenth  dynasty:  170;o  - 1462  b.c.  (Mariette). — Sargon  II: 
7-2-705  B.C.  (Sayce). 

54)  Magan,  being  written  with  two  ideograms,  the  first  of  which  is  ma 
boat  was  translated  accordingly  with  reference  to  navigation  in  anci- 
ent Assyriology,  but  graphical  etymologies  in  ideographic  writings  are 
always  a  snare.  Magan  is  simply  a  foreign  name  with  the  unavoidable 
inconvenience  of  an  ideographical  meaning.  As  in  Chinese  the  ideo- 
grams were  itsed  phonetically  for  the  transcription  of  proper  names,  but 
their  meaning  could  not  be  dropped  :  the  scribes  were  compelled  to 
make  a  suitable  choice  among  the  homonymous  ideograms  and  therefore 
to  make  up  a  graphic  etymology  which  must  not  be  mistaken  for  the 
historical  etymology  of  the  name,  and  be  carefully  avoided, 

55)  Dr.  J.  Oppert,  Communication  i  V Acadeirde  des  Inscriptions,  Jan.  23, 
1882  :  Babelon-Lenormant,  Histoire  anciehne,  t.  IV,  p.  83. — A  pos- 
thu:ue  translation  of  this  inscription  by  the  lamented  A.  Amiaud,  has 
just  appeared  in  tlie  latter  part  of  his  article  'L'he  inscriptions  of  Telloh  : 
Records  of  the  past,  n.s.,  vol.  II,  1890,  pp.  89-92.  It  is  the  Nr.  4, 
statue  D,  and  the  })assage  we  refer  to  is  the  following  :  "  In  this  temple 
the  offerings — of  the  goddess  Ba'u — his  lady — lie  has  regulated. — His 
favourite  bark  .  .  .  named  Kar-min-ta-ea—he  has  caused  to  be  made  ; 
on  the  Kur-zagin-kd-siirra — he  has  placed  it. — ^Tlie  crew  of  this  hark... 
and  its  captain — he  has  organised." 

56)  Cf.  swpra   §  14,  note  33^ 

57)  On  the  importance  of  this  race,  cf.  the  recent  work  of  Edward 
Glazer,  Skiz:e  der  Geschichte  Arable. /s  ron  don  altesten  zeiten  his  zum 
Froplieten  jUuhammad.  Munich,  1890.  The  learned  autlior  tries  to 
prove  from  inscriptions  brought  from  Arabian  countries  by  him  and 
Prof.  Euting  of  Strasburg,  that  the  Mina^an  (of  Ma'in)  rulers  can  be 
traced  nearly  to  the  year  JOOO  B.C.,  and  that  their  inscriptions  which 
are  in  Phu^nician  characters,  are  not  of  much  later  date.  The  Minanxns 
were  conquered  by  the  Sabean  dynasty,  of  whom  we  possess  the  Himy- 
aritic  inscriptions.     The   Athenanun   3250,  Feb.  8,  1890,  p.  179. 

58)  The  earliest  evidence  of  Indian  products  reaching  Egypt  consists  in 
the  Ceylonese  sliell  of  mother-of-pearl  engraved  with  the  cartouche  of 
Usurtasen  of  the  Xllth  dynasty,  ch-cd  3O0O  li.c,  and  brought  back 
from  Egypt  by  Prof.  Sayce  in  1883.  Cf.  B.&O.R.,  \o\.  I,  p.  -9,  n. 
28.     I  liave  not  heard  that  this  evidence  should  be  above  suspicion. 

59)  F.  Delitsch,  Wu  lag  das  Paradiesi  p.  139.— and  before  Eberh. 
Schrader,  litdinschrlften  und,  Geschichtsforschung,  p[).  282--".)9. 


OF        I>Ar,ASH.  203 

60)  Sir  Henry  Rawlinson,  The  islands  of  Bahrein,  I.e.  p.  2  12  sqq. — For 
otlier  views  cf.  >tu/ird,  notes  33,  34,  35. 

61)  Cf.  J.  Hak'vy,  Melanges  de  critique  et  d'histoire,  p.  152. — Arthur 
Amiand,  The  various  names  of  Sumer  and  Akhad  ''n  the  cuneiform 
texts:  B.&O.R..  V)l.  I,  p.  13C  sq. — F.  Li'normant,  Origines  deVhis- 
toire,  t.  II,  p.   532. 

62)  The  deeipherinent  of  Gudea's  inscriptions  and  the  evidence  of  re- 
ktions  with  Ea,-ypt. 

63)  W.AJ.,  II, "46. 

64)  M.  Theo.  G.  Pinches  mentions  2500  b.c.  Cf.  B.&O.R.  vol.  I,  42. 
A.  Amiaud  says  :  of  a  time  long  before  that  of  Sennacherih.  ihid, 
p.   132. 

55)    F.  Delitzsch,  JFo  lag  das  Paradles  1    pp.  224-225. 

66)  M.  Theo.  G.  Pinches,  I.e.  p.  41,  thinks  that  each  of  these  places  most 
likely  had  a  distinct  build  of  ship. 

67)  W.  A.  I.,  t.  \N,  2  5. — Partly  translated  in  F,  Lenormant,  Chaldean 
Magic,  p.  160. 

68)  li,  3200.     By  George  Smith. 

69)  W.  St.  Ch.  Boscawen,  From,  under  the  dust  of  Ages,  p.  113. 

70)  Near  Sippara,  the  Larancha  of  Berosus.  Cf.  F.  Lenormant,  La 
langue  primitire  de  la  Chaldee,  p.  342. — Dr.  P.  Jensen,  Die  Kosmo- 
logie  der  Babglonier,  p.  387  quotes  the  Armenian  version  of  the  chron- 
icle of  Eusehius,  ed.   Schoene,  p.  1). 

71)  As  stilted  in  the  Deluge  episode  of  the  Nirnrod-Epos,  1.  H. 

72)  Especially  in  lines  23-25,  54-.i6  all  mutilated.  Particulars  had  heen 
guessed  there  as  to  the  measurements  of  the  ship,  the  number  of  its 
ribs.  &c.  which  have  all  disap{)eared  with  the  progress  of  decipherment, 

73)  Dr.  Haupt,r//("  dimensions  (f  tlw  B(d)iilonian  Art  :  American  dournal 
of  Philology,  vol.  IX,  ])p.  419-424,  had  thought  a  decipherment 
justified  which  would  have  indicated  for  the  Ark  a  displacement  of 
more  than  SUUUO  tons  or  three  times  the  size  of  the  Great  Eastern. 
But  this  reading  is  not  ascertained,  cf.  P.  Jensen,  Die  Kosmologie  der 
Bahylonier,  p.  371. — We  shall  liave  to  deal  with  the  subject  in  a 
forthcoming  part  of  our  paper  on  I'he  Deluge  Traditioii,  and  its  remains 
in  Auric  id  China.  A  comparison  of  the  ancient  versions  of  G.  Smith, 
witli  those  of  Haupt  and  Sayce  (Fresh  light /'mm  the  ancient  monu- 
ments, p.  29),  Jensen  (k'osmologie  i  will  show  how  difficult  it  is  to 
reach  at  the  final  trutli  in  the  inter[)retation  of  the  mutilated  parts  of 
the  Nimroil-Ei)os. 

74)  Vol.  I,  pp.  41-42.— Cf.  also  W.  St.  Cliad.  Boscawen,  From  under 
the  dust  of  Ages,  p.  114. 

75)  As  to  the  dinu'nsion  of  shijis  in  later  times,  we  may  quote  two  con- 
tract tablets  of  494  and  504  B.c.  about  the  sale  of  ships  at  Babylon, 
wliich  give  some  indication  as  to  their  size  :  A  shi]i  of  six  cubits  above 
the  hol(H?i  broad,  and  twenty  cubits  draught  (lit.:  twenty  by  tlie 
cubit  the  seat  of  its  waters),  for  four  mana  of  silver  (and)  ten  shekels 
of  silver  which  are  not  struck  with  the  birdstail  (.name  of  a  plant) — 2^: 
A  new  ship,  covered  (decked),  of  eight  (cubits  j  wide  above  the  hold  (?) 
for  eight  mana  of  white  silver,  coined,  which  is  by  the  one- 
shekel  piece.  Cf.  Theo.  G.  Pinches,  Guide  to  the  Nimroud  Central 
Sdoon,  pp.  115,  113,  ISTos.   92  and  86. 


204  AN    UNKNOWN    KING 

*  •  m 

26,  It  is  not  without  astonishment  that  we  miss  in  the  names  of  places 
concerning  the  early  sea-trade,  any  indication  of  a  direct  commerce  with 
India  or  any  land  eastward.  All  the  names  refer  chiefly  to  the  circum- 
navigation of  the  Arabian  peninsula  from  the  Persian  Gulf  to  the  Red 
sea,  or  to  the  inland  river  navigation.  As  the  latter  names  are  not 
doubtful,  and  as  all  their  identifications  are  pretty  well  ascertained,  whil« 
the  names  concerning  the  sea-trade  have  also  been  identified,  it  is  clear  that 
no  maritime  relations  at  that  time,  i.e.  4000  years  before  our  era,  existed 
between  Lower  Babylonia  and  any  country  lying  in  the  East,  such  as 
India.  The  matter  is  not  without  importance  for  the  history  of  expansion 
of  civilisation.  Immature  speculations  have  fancied  an  early  influence  of 
Babylonia  on  India  through  the  activity  of  these  unproven  maritime  rela- 
tions''^, but  the   whole  is  moonshine. 

27.  The  little  of  influence  which  Assyro-Babylonia  has  had  on  India 
belongs  to  a  much  later  date,  in  fact,  as  may  be  easily  shown''^,  not 
earlier  than  the  ninth  century  B.C.  and  through  inland  trade  only.  The 
luai'itime  commerce  was  monop.)lised  entirely  by  the  sea-traders  of  the 
coasts  of  Arabia  who  used  to  travel  direct  to  tlie  Indian  ports,  and  to 
store  in  their  own  emporia  products  of  the  various  countries  to  exchange 
and  export  them  elsewhere.  It  is  through  tlieir  channel  tluit  a  few 
Egyptian  notions  and  ideas  have  flowed  into  the  civilisation  of  India.  But 
all  this  refers  to  much  later  times  than  that  of  the}donarchs  of  Lagash. 
Should  relations  however  indirect  have  existed  with  India  during  the  reigns 
of  Ur-Nina  or  of  Gudea,  when  timber  was  so  much  required  by  them  <hat 
the  latter  endeavoured  to  get  some  from  everywhere  tliey  had  connec- 
tions, South  and  south-west,  as  well  as  North  and  north-west  as  we  shall 
see  further  on,  it  is  most  probable  that  they  would  have  been  able  to  pro- 
cure teak  wood  from  the  Indian  coast  where  the  forests  of  its  trees,  so 
precious  for  building  purposes,  are  so  extensive^^.  But  the  careful  exca- 
vations of  Tell  Loll  have  not  disclosed  that  this  indestiuctible  wood  bas 
ever  been  used  there,  and  this  negative  argument  concurs  with  the  silence 
of  the  inscriptions.  Timber  was  required  from  foreign  countries  all  over 
Babylonia  for  constructions,  and  remained  during  many  centuries  an  im- 
})oi-tant  element  of  trade^^.  However,  with  the  exception  of  a  most  doubt- 
ful case  of  a  late  date,  no  teak  wood  has  been  found  in  any  of  t  he  numerous 
archeological  excavations  of  its  monuments.  And  the  statement  to  the 
cc)ntrary  which  has  been  often  repeated  of  late  and  has  given  rise  to  some 
wonderful  hypotheses  on  historical  matters,  is  simply  a  misconception  as 


OF    LAGASH.  205 

we  shall  sec  rapidly. 

28.  The  supposed  relations  of  Babylonia  and  India  six  thousand  years 
ago  rest  upon  the  assumption  that  teak  wood  lias  been  found  in  niins  of 
Ur  belonging  to  that  time,  and  that  the  word  Kindu  found  in  a  list  of 
cloths  of  unknown  date,  is  the  name  of  India^^.  As  to  the  latter  word,  I 
have  shown  in  another  paper^-  that  it  belongs  to  a  rather  late  time; 
and  therefore,  whatever  may  have  been  its  meaning  direct  and  indirect,  it 
cannot  have  anything  to  do  with  the  question  three  thousand  and  more 
years  previously.  The  other  point  has  no  greater  bearing  on  tlie  case.  In 
1854:,  Mr.  J.  C.  Taylor,  making  excavations  in  the  ruins  of  Ur*^^,  dis- 
covered two  rough  logs  of  wood,  apparently  of  teak^'^,  and  these  logs  he 
discovered  with  a  cylinder  of  Senakherib  (b.c.  704-630).  We  are  thus 
very  far  of  the  fabulous  calculations  quoted  before,  and  we  must  thus  con- 
clude that  there  is  not  a  single  tithe  of  evidence  in  favour  of  early  rela- 
tions by  sea  at  the  time  of  the  kings  and  patesis  of  Lagash,  between 
Babylonia  and  India. 

29.  Another  feature  not  devoided  of  interest  in  all  of  these  ancient 
notices  of  the  Chaldean  navy,  is  their  complete  silence  about  Eridu' 
the  Holy  city*^^,  which  recent  speculations^^  had  supposed  to  have 
been  a  maritime  port  of  importance,  because  of  its  proximity  at 
that  time  to  the  sea-board  of  the  Persian  Gulf.  It  was  situated 
on  the  banks  of  the  Euphrates,  and  not  far  to  the  south  of  Mug- 
heir  or  Ur,  where  it  is  represented  by  the  mounds  of  Abu-Shahrein.  It 
was  the  centre  from  which  the  ancient  culture  and  civilisati(jn  of  the 
country  made  its  way,  and  it  was  there  that  in  primitive  times  had  landed 
the  sea-faring  civilisers  arriving  from  somewhere  in  the  South  or  West^^ 
who  were  in  after  times  fabled  into  the  legend  of  Oannes  or  Hea^^.  This 
silence  is  rather  significative  as  to  the  non-existence  of  sea-faring  com- 
munity and  navy  at  Eridu,  considering  that  ships  of  Ur  and  other  places 
higher  on  the  river  are  mentioned  in  the  forequoted  lists,  and  that  Eridu 
(Sum.-Akk.  Num-ki)  is  mentioned  in  the  texts  of  Gudea,  as  a 
town  only^^. 

Notes 

7C)  Cf.  supr^,  note  49. 

77)  Notably  bv  Mr.  J.  F.  Hewitt,  Notes  on  the  early  hntory  of  Northern 
India  :  J.R.A.S.  1889,  vol.  XXI,  i)p.  204  sq. 

78)  This  question    is  examined  by   us   in  another   paper  on    Thr   trade  of 
Chinese  silk  at  the   time  of  Nebuchadvezur. — C'f.    siiprii  note   58. — On 
a  legend  supposed  to  indicate  the  introduction  of  peacock  in  Babylonia, 
of.   the    Bareru  jataka,  transl.    Ehys  Davids,   in  BAO.hWor.    ISS9. 


206  AN     UNKNOWN    KING 

vol.  IV,  pp.  7-y.— Prof.  Alb.  Weber,  H'lstori/  of  Indian  Literatvre,  p. 
30,  says  tliat  the  Naksbatras,  or  Lunar  Mansions,  are  enumerated 
singly  in  the  Taittirya-Sanihita,  and  tlie  order  in  which  they  occur  is 
one  which  must  necessarily  have  been  established  somewhere  between 
1472  and  .o3()  li.c.  The  same  scholar  has  found  that  the  whole  cha- 
racter of  Indian  astrology  (it  can  hardly  be  called  astronomy)  was  purely 
Chaldaic  before  its  contact  with  the  Greeks.  M.  J.  F.  Hewitt,  the 
most  recent  writer  on  the  subject  up.  cit.  I.e.  p.  247,  and  ^^02,  claims 
for  the  Nakshatras  ii  Babylonian  origin,  and  says  rather  inconsider- 
atedly  that  it  is  to  the  Semite-Accads  ( !)  that  the  importation  into 
India  of  astronomical  knowledge  and  the  art  of  writing  is  due,  and 
the  Greeks  had  nothing  to  do  with  this  !  !  !  The  writer  who  is  fully 
at  liome  when  dealing  with  the  social  status  of  the  ancient  and  modern 
Non-Aryan  population  of  India,  has  not  made  himself  sufificiently  ac- 
quainted witli  the  other  parts  of  the  subject  he  wanted  to  treat  of  in 
his  Notes.  The  Greek  origin  of  Indian  astronomy  is  a  fact  glaring  to 
the  face  and  beyond  dispute.  Cf.  Max  Muller,  India,  what  can  It 
teach  tis?  p.  321  sq.  ;  A.  Barth,  Religions  of  India  p.  253,  and  the 
full  demonstrations  of  Lassen,  in  his  Indisch.  Alterthnmslc.  The  North 
Indian  writing  rests  on  a  Semitic  basis  through  the  cursive  writing  of 
the  Persians  of  which  a  specimen  has  been  found  on  a  tablet  of  the 
time  of  Artaxerces.  Cf.  my  paper  Did  Cyrus  introduce  icritmy  into 
India}:  B.&O.R.,  Feb,  1887,  vol  I,  pp.  88-64,  where  the  scientific 
facts  and  probabilities  of  the  case  have  been  put  forth, — As  to  the  lunar 
mansions,  they  do  not  appear  in  Babylonia  earlier  than  on  astrono- 
mical tablets  of  the  Greek  period,  namely  on  calendaric  tablets  of  122 
and  100  B.C.  Cf.  their  names  in  Pater  J.  Epping,  Astronomisches  aus 
Babylon,  pp.  117-133  :  Ergiinzungshefte  zu  den  "  Stimmen  aus  Maria- 
Laach."  44  ;'  Freiburg,  1889.  Dr.  P.  Jensen,  Die  Kosmologle  des 
Bubyloriler,  Strassburg,  1890,  has  nothing  important  on  the  subject. 
The  Babylonian  names  in  21  cases  out  of  28  are  purely  descriptive  ; 
for  instance  :  II,  mahru  sha  rishu  ku,  i.e.  W  e  y  t-o  f-t  he-head-o  f 
ku,  or  /3  Aries;*  III,  Arku  sha  rishu  ku,  i.e.  E  a  s  t-o  f- 1  h  e- 
head-of-ku.  or  Aries  ;  XXI,  Muru  shi  shiltu,  i.e.  South-of-Nuru, 
or  a  Libra ;  &c.  and  these  descriptions  show  that  the  knowledge  of 
these  28  lunar  mansions  were  a  foreign  importation  in  Babylonia, 
grafted  on  their  own  previous  knowledge  of  ecliptical  constellations. — 
1  rof.  W.  Whitney,  in  his  studies  on  the  Nakshatras  published  in  the 
Journ.  Am.  Orient.  Soc.  in  1866,  has  come  to  the  conclusion  that, 
considering  the  concordances  existing  among  the  three  systems  "  of  the 
Hindoos,  (  hinese,  and  Arabians,  it  can  enter  into  the  mind  of  no  man 
to  doubt  that  all  have  a  common  origin,  and  are  but  different  forms  of 
one  and  the  same  system,"  (cf.  B.  4-  0.  7?.  vol.  Ill,  pp.  98,  218,  221  in 
my  researches  On  the  Early  Chinese  civilisation.')  These  concordances, 
coupled  with  the  foreign  character  and  late  appearance  of  the  lunar 
mansions  in  Babylonia  and  the  ancient  existence  of  such  a  system  with 
the  old  Ivhorasmian  astronomers,  points  to  the  latter's  country  as  the 
focus  from  where  it  spread  to  China  and  through  the  channel  of  the  Per- 
sian dominion,  to  India,  Babylonia,  Arabia  afterwards.  Such  is  the 
solution  we  hav^e  advocated  in  the  last-quoted  work. 


OF       LAG ASH.  207 

79)  Cf.  tlie  maps  of  the  forest  trees  of  India,  arranged  by  species,  by 
Trelawny  Saunders,  in  Statement  of  the  progress  of  India  in  1882-3, 
part  II,  pi.  XI. 

80)  As  shown  l^y  tlie  bas-reliefs  representing  boats  carrying  logs.  cf. 
supra,  §  19,  note  50. 

81)  A.  H.  Sayce,  Religion  of  the  ancient  Babi/Ionians,  pp.  18,  I'Sl-S. 

82)  See  note  78. 

8'5)  Notes  on  the  ruins  of  Mugei/er,  u.  264:  J.  R.  A.  S.  1855,  vol.  XV. 
Ko  other  specimen  of  the  same  wood  has  been  found  in  any  of  the 
numerous  excavations  which  have  been  carried  on  in  that  country. 

84)  Tliese  are  the  very  words  of  the  discoverer,  w^hich  therefore  are  very 
guarded,  and  ought  not  to  have  been  taken  as  a  positive  statement. 
Should  it  be  acknowledged  that  these  two  logs  were  really  teak  wood, 
it  does  not  follow  that  this  teak  must  have  come  from  India,  even 
through  the  emporia  of  Nituk-Dilmun.  as  a  sort  of  teak  grows  in 
Western  xA.frica,  and  may  have  been  carried  from  there  to  Babylonia  by 
the  same  traders.  Sir  Henry  Rawlinson,  in  J.  R,  A.  S.  April,  1880, 
vol.  XII,  p.  225,  had  thought  that  the  group  Gish-mesu-ma-gan-na 
was  a  name  for  teak-wood  brought  from  India  through  Magan,  which 
he  placed  in  tiie  Bahrein  island.  But  the  reading  now  ascertained 
(cf.  Brunnow,  Class.  List,  5965 — 3693)  to  be  A  la  11  u  Magan 
means  simply  papyrus  of  Magan. 

85)  The  modern  Ab  u-Shahrein.  It  was  called  also  the  good  city,  the 
lordly  citv,  the  land  of  the  sovereign,  (cf.  F.  Delitsch,  Wo  lag  das 
Paradies'?  pp.  227-228. 

86)  A.  H.  Sayce,  Relig.  Anc.  Babyl.,  p.  134  sq. 

87)  A.  H.  Sayce,  ibid.,  p.  135. 

88)  Diodor.  SicuL,  Lib.  I,  cap.  2,  has  the  positive  statement  that 
Babylonia  was  civilised  by  a  colony  from  Egypt.  Tlie  statement  is 
probably  an  exaggeration,  as  we  shall  see  further  on. 

89)  Like  alsi)  Larrak  (Bar-bar-ki)  and  Kinunir-ki.  Cf.  A.  Amiaud, 
Sirpourla,  p.  14. 


*    *   *    ^ 

30.  Southern  intercourse  was  not  the  sole  opening  of  the  activity  of 
the  Kings  and  Patesis.  On  the  statue  B  of  Gudea,  the  inscription  says  : 
'"  After  he  had  caused  the  temple  of  Nin-Girsu  to  be  built,  Nin-Girsu,  the 
|ord  beloved  by  him,  has  forcibly  opened  for  him  the  roads  from  tlie  sea 
of  the  highlands  to  the  lower  sea."  As  remarked  by  .\..  Amiaud  when  he 
translated  this  passage,  the  sea  of  the  highlands  is  evidently  the  Per- 
sian Gulf,  and  it  is  impossible  to  doubt  that  by  lower  sea  is  intended 
the  Mediterranean**". 

31.  Several  names   of   countries  which  must  be  identiticd  in  the  nurih, 
appear  in  tlie  inscriptions  from  Lagash^^     Such  is  Martu,   i.e.  i'liu-nicia 
and  Syria;   from  where   the    A  man  us    mountain  furnished  them   wiiii 
cedar  wood  and  other  trees,  and. two  other  mountains  Susa  11a  and  Tid- 


20o  AN    DNKNOWH    KING    OF    LAGASH. 

anum  with  two  sorts  of  stones  ;  also  from  a  mountain  of  Ba  rsip,  which 
was  probably  n  ear  the  Syrian  city  of  T  i  1-B  a  r  s  i  p,  they  derived  certain 
stones  which  were  conveyed  in  vessels,  and  therefore  had  only  to  descend 
the  Euphrates.  Two  other  places,  the  town  of  Ursu-ki,  in  the  moan- 
tains  of  Ibla,  or  better  Ti  11a  or  Dalla  (=:Urtfi)  furnished  them  with 
wood,  and  they  did  get  stones  from  Sham  anum,  in  the  mountains  of 
Menu  a  ;  both  places  may  be  sought  for  near  the  sources  of  the  river^^. 
The  Patesi  Gudea  says  also  that  he  received  some  gold-dust  from  the 
mountain  of  G  ha  ghum^^,  some  copper  from  the  town  of  Abul-abisu 
or  Abu  Hat  near  the  mountains  of  Kin  ash,  and  another  product  pro- 
bably bitumen  from  Magda  in  the  mountains  of  the  Gurruda  river. 
The  three  latter  places  have  not  yet  Iteen  satisfactorily  identified  8*. 

32.  The  campaign  of  Gudea  in  Elatn  and  his  conquest  of  the  town  of 
Ansan^^,  is  the  only  fact  known  of  the  military  feats  of  these  princes. 
The  unavoidable  relations  which  ensued  tliat  conquest  are  therefore  the 
eastern  complement  of  the  foreign  relations  of  the  rulers  of  Lagash. 

Notes 

90)  Sirpourla,  pp.  14-25,  or  Records  of  the  Past,  I,  57. 

■91)  On  these  cf,  A.  Amiaud,  SirpourJa.  pp.  13—14 — Fr.  Hommel, 
Geschichte  Bahijloniens  unci  Assi/riens,  p,  329  sqq. — Amanu  is  called 
the  mountain  of  cedars  in  Inscription  B  of  Gudea.  Cf.  Records 
of  the  Past,  n.  s.  vol.  II,  p.  79. 

92)  A.  Amiaud,  Sirpourla,  p,  14. 

93)  Is  this  not  the  Gaga  ma  of  the  conquests  of  Ramses  III ;  (cf. 
Brugsch,  History  of  Egypt  under  the  Pharaohs,  t.  II,  p.  153  ;  F. 
Lenormant,  Origines  de  Vhistoire,  t.  II,  part  II,  p.  -64),  and  the  Gam- 
gum  of  the  Assyrian  documents  under  Salmanazar  II  and  Tiglathpha- 
iasar.  In  his  inscription  of  854  b.c.  Salmanazar  mentions  gold 
among  the  tributes  of  Gangum.  (Cf.  A,  H.  Sayce,  Records  of  the  past, 
t.  Ill,  p.  98  ;  F.  Vigouroux,  La  Bible  et  les  decourertes  modernes,  ed. 
IV,  vol.  IV,  p.  5). 

94)  The  name  of  Abullat  or  a  similar  one  is  written  Kagal-auda-ki. 
The  mountains  of  Kim  ash  recall  the  land  of  Mash  or  Arabia 
Petra,  the  Mash  of  Gen.  X,  23.  From  Ki-mash  was  derived  the 
Assyrian  Kemassi  copper.  (Cf.  A.  Amiaud,  The  inscriptions  of 
Telloh  (cont.)  :  Records  of  the  Past,  n.s.,  vol.  II,  1890,  p.  81.— 
Magda  is  perhaps  the  Makta  (Megiddo)  of  the  campaigns  of  Thout- 
mes  III,  on  which  cf.  Burgsch.  History,  t.  I,  p.  328,  and  R.  Conder, 
Megiddo  :  Quarterly  statement  of  the  Palestine  Exploration  Fund, 
Jan.  1877,  p.  13  sqq.,  who  has  proposed  its  identification  with 
Mejedda,  near  Beth-Shean. 

95)  Mentioned  in  the  inscription   of  statue  B.  col.  VI.  Records  of  the 
Past,  1890,  11,  82. 

Tkrrikn  de  Lacouperie. 

(To  be  continued). 


THE    TRADITIONAL    DELUGE.  200 


THE      TRADITIONAL     DELUGE 

AND 

ITS     GEOLOGICAL      IDENTIFICATION. 


The  object  of  this  paper  is  to  define  a  problem,  and  to  urge  research, 
and  not  by  any  means  to  solve  a  problem,  or  even  to  a&rm  that  the  prob- 
lem stated  is,  as  yet,  capable  of  solution.  But  it  seems  important  clearly 
to  define  the  problem  of  the  identification  of  the  traditional,  with  a  geo- 
logical Deluge  for  two  reasons  more  particularly :  First,  because,  both  in 
its  coincidences  with,  and  its  variations  from  the  Chaldean  Deluge-tradi- 
tion, the  Chinese  tradition  discovered  by  Dr.  de  Lacouperie,  so  remarkably 
indicates  an  extraordinary  convulsion  of  Nature  ;  and  Secondly,  because 
it  seems  desirable  to  pnjtest,  in  the  name  of  Historical  Research,  against 
Dr.  Huxley's  confidently  dogmatic  assertion  in  the  July  number  of  the 
Nineteenth  Century,  that  the  Deluge-episode  of  the  Chaldean  Epic  is 
nothing  more  than  "'one  of  the  oldest  pieces  of  purely  fictitious  literature 
extant,'"  and  had  no  more  of  fact  at  the  root  of  it  than,  perhaps,  an 
overflow  of  the  Euphrates.  And  an  indication  of  my  reasons  for  think- 
ing scepticism  justified  as  to  the  affirmed  "  purely  fictitious  "  character 
of  the  Deluge-story,  will  naturally  lead  to  such  a  definition  of  the  Deluge- 
problem  as  it  is  the  object  of  this  paper  to  state. 

Now,  in  the  first  place,  I  mast  observe  that  nothing,  perhaps,  has 
been  more  characteristic  of  modern  research  than  the  demonstration  of 
historical  fact  at  th(!  root  of  stories  hitherto  deemed  "  psrely  fictitious." 
I  need  here  refer  only,  for  instance,  to  the  "  tale  of  Troy  divine,"  and 
to  the  story  of  thi'  Amazons,  and  particularly  to  the  justification  of  the 
latter  !)y  the  discovery  of  such  an  important  historical  institution  as 
Matriarchy.!  And  licnce,  considering  how  many  stories  confidently  qualified 
as  "  purely  fictitious  "  have  been  shown  to  have  had  important  historical 
facts  at  the  root  of  them,  I  venture  to  think  that,  to  say  the  least, 
scepticism  is  justified  as  to  the  "  purely  fictitious  character  "  of  the  Deluge- 
episode  of  the  Chaldean  Epic. 


210  THE  TRADITIONAL  DELUGE. 

Secondly,  we  must  note  the  very  important  distipction  between  the 
representation  of  historical  events  in  early  Folk-tradition,  and  their  re- 
presentation in  late  Cultnie-poetry.  An  apt  illustration  is  afforded  by 
•the  Arthurian  traditions  and  Romances  respectively.  In  the  earliest  tra- 
ditions, Arthur  is  hardly  named  at  all,  or  only  as  a  Guledigov  Dux  Bellorum. 
The  historical  conflict  and  defeat,  however,  of  the  Sixth  Century  recorded 
in  these  traditions,^  made  so  great  an  impression  on  the  popular  imagination 
that  it  not  only  was  reme'mbered  for  a  thousand  years,  but  was,  in  the 
course  of  these  thousand  years,  elaborated  and  mythicised  almost  out  of 
all  resemblance,  not  only  to  the  original  historical  facts,  but  to  the  earliest 
traditions  of  these  facts.  It  was  this  elaborated  and  mythicised  tradi- 
tional material  that  the  Trouveres  and  Minnesdnger  of  the  Twelfth 
Century  made  use  of,  and  still  further  transformed  in  their  Arthurian 
Romances.  And  the  Chaldean  Epic,  and  particularly  its  Deluge-episode, 
I  would  look  upon  as  a  similar  poetical  transformation  of  a  similarly  age- 
long process  of  the  elaboration  and  mythicising  of  Folk-traditions  of  an 
actual  historical  event.  Hence  I  should  expect  a  Culture-poet's  account 
of  the  Deluge  (supposing  there  was  such  an  historical  event)  to  differ  as 
completely  from  the  original  simplicity  of  the  tradition,  as  the  Culture- 
poets'  account  of  Arthur  differs  from  the  original  simplicity  of  the 
Arthurian  Tradition.  So  far,  therefore,  from  the  mythical  personages 
associated  with  the  Chaldean  account  of  the  Deluge  making  it  incredible, 
as  Dr,  Huxley  thinks,  that  any  greater  event  than  an  overflow  of  the 
Euphrates  was  a  t  the  root  of  the  story,  our  inference  must  be  precisely 
the  reverse.  The  mythical  Deluge-story  of  the  Chinese  is  quite  distinct  from 
their  matter-of-fact  tradition  of  the  Deluge  caused  by  the  overflow  of  the 
Hoang-ho  in  the  reign  of  Yu  in  the  Third  Millennium  b.c.  And  the  later 
results  of  historical  research  appear  clearly  to  show  that  it  is  only  an 
event  (or  person)  of  a  quite  extraordinary  character,  and  one  powerfully 
affecting  the  popular  imagination,  that  becimies  the  nucleus  of  an  elabo- 
rated mythical  narrative. 

Not  only,  however,  are  we  thus  led  from  the  character  of  the  nar- 
rative itself  to  think  it  likely  that  an  important  historical  event  was 
at  the  root  of  it,  but  that  the  former  existence  of  a  Central  Asian 
Mediterranean  is  certain  ;  it  is  at  least  probable  that  more  or  less 
sudden  upheavals,  depressions,  and  earthquake  -  rifts  were  the 
causes  of  the  draining  off  of  this  Inland  Sea  in  widespread  deluges 
affecting  both  Northern  Asia  and  the    coasts  of    the   ^gean^  ;    and  it 


THE    TUADITIOXAL    DELUGK.  I'll 

is  at  least  not  disproved  that,  in  connection  possibly  with  thes3  northern 
convulsions,  there  was  an  upheaval  of  the  bed  of  the  Persian  Gulf,  of 
which  the  result  would  have  been  a  Deluge  in  tlie  Euphrates-valley,  of  an 
incomparably  more  serious  character  than  one  caused  by  an  overflow  of 
the  river,  and  such  as  to  drive  refugees  northeastward  towards  the  moun- 
tains of  Kurdistan  which  appear  to  be  indicated  by  the  Deluge-story.^ 
Such  a  cause  would,  at  all  events,  be  in  accordance  with  that  remark  of 
Strabo's,®  "  the  profoundness  of  which,"  as  Sir  Charles  Lyell  said,^  "  mo- 
dern geologists  are  (miy  beginnmg  to  appreciate."  But  in  suggesting 
saeh  a  cause  of  un  actual  Deluge  in  the  very  country  where  it  was  located 
by  the  Epic,  it  must  be  added  that  even  were  such  a  Deluge  in  the  Eu- 
phrates-valley disproved,  a  Folk-tradition  of  such  a  Deluge  in  the  North 
would  still  remain  possible  ;  seeing  how  free  is  the  use  made  by  Culture- 
poets  of  traditional  material,  and  how  probable,  therefore,  that,  if  the  fact 
did  not  suit  the  artistic  design  of  the  author  of  the  Epic,  it  would  only  1)0 
so  much  the  worse  for  the  fact.^ 

And  now  we  may  be  in  a  position  more  clearly  to  define  the  problem  of 
the  geological  identification  of  the  traditional  Deluge.  The  composition 
of  the  Chaldean  Epic,  which  contains  as  an  episode  that  oldest  Deluge- 
story  of  which  all  others  appear  to  be  variants,  seems  to  date  from  about 
2300  B.C.,  iir  say,  generally,  the  Third  Millennium  B.C.  But  the  mythical 
character  of  this  episode  shows  that  the  event  which  it  records  probably 
occurred  millenniums  before  the  composition  of  so  poetical  a  narrative. 
And  tlie  Delnge-problem  may  be  thus  definitely  stated:  Can  evidence  be 
found  of  geological  changes  Deluge-accompanied  io  the  Euphrates-valley  or 
elsewhere  in  Asia,  witliin  the  possibility  of  human  memory  and  historical  re, 
cord  ?  Were  such  a  question  to  be  verifiably  answered  in  the  affirmative, 
much  more  would  result  than  the  geological  identification  of  the  tradi- 
tional Deluge,  important  as  this  would  be.  A  geological  Deluge  thus 
traditionally  remembered  would  also  probably  be  found  to  account  for  the 
Chaldean  myth,  of  which  there  are  sc)  many  variants,  of  a  War 
uf  Gods  of  Chaos  and  of  Harmony,  of  wliich  all  current  explana- 
tions appear  to  be  entirely  inadequate.  And  suppose  that  this  geological 
Deluge  was  but  one  event  in  a  cycle  of  traditionally  remembered  geological 
convulsions,  the  origin  of  the  ancient  philosopliical  theory  of  Periods  of 
Destruction,  and  of  Regeneration — a  theory  wliich  is,  in  fact,  but  a 
prose  version  of  the  mythological  War  just  referred  to — would  be.  perhaps, 
more  adequately  explained  than  hitherto.''^ 


i  12  the  traditional  deluge. 

Notes 

1)  I  may,  perhaps,  be  permitted  also  to  refer  to  the  evidence  I  have 
collected  to  show  that  the  primitive  Paradise-stories  were  traditions  of 
actual  earlier  homes  of  the  White  Colonisers  of  Egypt  and  Chaldea.  See 
Traditions  of  the  Archaian  White  Races.   Trans,  of  the  R.  Hit<t.  Sac,  1889. 

2)  See  Encyc.  Bnt.  sub  voce  Arthur,  where  I  have  siinmiarised  the 
facts  and  argument  of  my  Essay  on  Arthurian  Localities,  now  long  out  of 
print. 

•    8)   See,  for  instance,  Lj'ell,  Principles  of  Geology/,  chap.  VIII,  and  Map. 

4)  See  generally  L'anglebert,  Elements  de  Geologie,  p.  54;  and  compare 
De  I'apparent  Truite  de  treo/o^z'e--"  Tableau  resume  des  epoques  geolo- 
giques";  see  also  Scrope,  T'o/cano(?s— and  particularly  p.  390  on  the  Trans- 
European  volcanic  band  from  Hungary  across  the  Danube,  through  Servia 
and  Roumelia  to  the  Bosphorus,  and  thence  into  Asia  Minor— and  compare 
Daubeny.  Volcanoes,  pp.  334,  &c.  As  to  the  evidence  of  a  flood  in  Nnrthern 
Asia,  see  Howorth,  The  Mammoth  and  the  Flood.  As  to  Asia  Minor 
generally,  see  the  three  geological  volumes  of  Tchihatcheff's  Asie  Mineure. 
And  as  to  Thessaly  and  Tempe  more  particularly,  see  Kriegk,  Geographie 
von  Hellas — Das  Thessalische  Tempe ;  Biornstiild,  Briefe  aus  seinen 
auslandischen  Reisen,  B.  VI,  Heft.  1,  §§  215—18:  and  the  Tiarels  of 
Holland,  pp.  280-361,  and  <.f  Walpole,  p."  534. 

5)  Prof,  de  Lacouperie  informs  me  that  a  theory  to  this  effect  has  been 
actually  worked  out;  but  I  have  not  seen  the  book,  nor  do  I  know  whether 
the  assumed  causes  have  been  connected,  as  above  indicated,  with  the 
Soidevement  du  Tenure  and  other  ascertained  convulsions  of  nature  in 
Southern  Europe  and  Northern  Asia. 

6")  "  Restat,  ut  causam  adscribamus  solo,  sive  quod  mari  subest,  sive 
quod  inundatur;  potius  tamen  ei  quod  mari  subest.  Hoc  enim  multo  est 
mobilius,  et  quod  ob  humiditatem  celerius  mutari  possit."  Geog.  Edit. 
Almelov,  Amst.  1707,  lib.  I. 

1)   Principles,  chap,  II,  Theory  of  Strahu. 

8)  Thus,  for  instance,  the  later  poets  located  the  wars  of  Arthur  in  the 
south,  though  the  earliest  traditions  agree  with  historical  facts  in  placing 

these  barbarian  conflicts  in  Y  Gogledd,  or  "  the  North."   See  Skene,  Four 
Ancient  Books  of  Wcdes. 

9)  Cf.  Benoit,  Fragment  d'un  Voyage  entrepris  dans  VArchipel  Grec  en 
1847.  Archives  des  Missions.  '"  II  me  semblait,  en  lisant  Hesiode  dans 
une  crevasse  du  volcan  de  Santorin,  que  les  anciens,  guides  seulement  par 
nn  merveilleux  instinct  avaient  pressenti  souvent  ce  que  le  savant  moderne 
n'a  decouvert  que  longtemps  apres...Le  noir  cratere  qui  m'environnait,  cette 
nature  bouleversee  par  les  puissances  infernales,  ces  roches  brulees,  battues 
l)ai  une  mer  furieuse,  m'expliquaient  niieux  le  vieux  chant  mythologique 
dupoete  d'Ascra  que  touslescommentaires,"  p.  631.  Cf.  Hiis\o(\.,  Theoq., 
643-78  and  714;  Scholion  on  Pindar  Pyth.  4,  246;  and  Philostrstus, 
Icon.'i,  17,  p.  835. 

10)  As,  for  instance,  by  the  observation  merely,  as  suggested  by  Sir 
Charles  Lyell,  of  "the  marks  of  former  convulsions,"'  and  "the  remains  of 
marine  animals  embedded  in  the  sohd  strata." — Principles,  chaj).  II, 
Oriental  Cosmogony. 

J.  S.  Stuart-Glennie. 


A    BUDDHIST    REPERTORY.  213 


A  BUDDHIST  REPERTORY 
IN  SANCSRIT,  TIBETAN,  MANDCHU,  MONGOL  &  CHINESE. 

(^Continued  from  p.   168). 

Section  XXXI  (cont.) 

2.  Tlryanca^,    (lit.    'going  across');    animal,  animality.      T.    dud-g'ro, 
animal,    M.  Cli.  domestic  animal,  cattle.    Mg.  aloko  son. 

3.  Pretd^.      Ghost,  dead  returning  to  earth,  spiritof  the  dead.     T.   dvans, 
S(jul.     Not  therefore  here  the  purified   soul,  (cf.  Jaeschke,   p.  241),  b). 
M.  spirit  of  the  dead,  famished.     Ch.  id.     Mg.  b/n't. 

4.  D'lrghdyusluA  devd.  Long-lived  spirit  or  deity.  M.  Ch.  Mg.  id. 
(abka,  Vien,  tengsi ).     T.  Ihatse  rin  po. 

5.  Pratyantajdnapada  [_pati'\  neighbouring  country.  T.  mtha  'khob  kyl 
mi  land  adjoining  a  barbarous  (non-Buddhist)  country.  M.  extreme, 
frontier.  Ch.  pifi  tn  hia  tsin,  neiglibouring  land  deserving  contempt. 
(The  neighbourhood  of  unbelievers  is  dangerous  for  the  faith;  besides 
which  these  infidels  persecute  the  believers). 

6.  /7id7-iyai\iikalyatn  ^intiiya^  Defect  of  senses.  T.  dban  bo-ma  ts'an  ba\ 
Ch.  incomplete  sense.     M.  defect,  weakness  of  sense. 

7.  Mishyadargana  [imthi/dd].  Intelligence  subject  to  error  and  false 
doctrine.  T.  khog  par  Ita  la,  intelligence  in  state  of  decrepitude.  M. 
bad,  spoiled  or  wicked  intelligence.  Mg.  id.  Ch.  of  a  wordly  or  de- 
ceitful wisdom. 

8.  Tathdgatdndm  anutyd  [read  anutpattydT]  dhdt'i  [^jdtal]  Born  when 
no  Tathagata  (Buddha)  existed.  (M.  reads  tmutpddatd).  T.  de  bzHn 
ggegs  pa  mans  ma  byufi  ho,  id.  M.  born  when  Fucihi  had  not  yet  ap- 
peared.— Ch.  anterior  or  posterior  to  Fo. 

2)  Tiryinca.  This  word  designates  either  the  animal  passions  which 
are  obstacles  lo  self-denial,  the  practice  of  the  law  ;  or  else  earthly  goods 
(see  Chinese-  Mandcliu),  the  desire  of  whicli  causes  similar  obstacles  :  or 
else  the  condition  of  animality  in  which  these  are  born  who  have  lired 
ill  ;  or  else  simply  an  irregular  life.  Here  it  is  tht^  state  of  l)eing  born 
again  under  animal  form. 

8)  Preta  (lit.  'gone  beyond'")  was  originally  the  soul  of  a  dead  ptT- 
son.  Afterwards  in  consequence  of  the  idea  ol'  a  malicious  and  malig- 
nant ghost,  it  became  an  evil  genius,  famished  like  souls  to  whom  no 
offering  of  food   have  been   made  and   who  hence  become  miseraljle  and 


214  A   BUDDHIST    REPERTORY. 

malicious.  Finally  it  come  to  mean  famished  demons,  ever  seeking  to 
do  harm,  some  living  on  earth,  but  visible  only  at  night ;  others  dwelling 
in  hell,  and  acting  as  Yama's  executioners. 

4)  Dtrghih/us,  a  deva  who  is  such  and  remains  such  for  millions  of 
ages.  As  the  devas  cannot  attain  to  Bodhisattvam  or  Nirvana  without 
becoming  men,  to  remain  among  them  is  a  thing  to  be  feared. 

These  four  first  terms,  therefore,  indicates  unhappy  re-births  ;  the  8th 
is  an  unfavourable  religious  condition  ;  the  other  three  are  physical 
defects. 

Section  XXXII. 
Una  non  drug.     The  six  fundamental  or  essential  defects^. 

1.  Raga.  Passion.  T.  'clod  c'ags,  carnal  passion.  M.  desire.  Ch. 
passion  directed  towards  an  object. 

2.  Pratigha.  Feeling  of  anger,  hostility.  T.  khofi  khro,  internal  anger, 
resentment  passion  which  separates  and  causes  to  act  against  one.  It 
is  the  opposite  of  mditrt. 

3.  Manas.  Pride.      T.  na  rgyal,  id.,  arrogance. 

4.  Avidi/d.     Ignorance,  stupidity.    T.  ma  rig  pa,  want  of  intelligence. 

5.  Drshti.     Peculiar,    incomplete,  erroneous  view. — T.  Ita  ha.    id.      Ch. 
•   M.  false  view. 

6.  Vicikitpd  [read  sa]  doubt,  want  of  faith.     T.  th     ts'om. 

I)  The  Vinaya,  or  Buddhist  code  of  morals,  is  specially  concerned 
with  the  life  and  perfection  of  the  monks,  to  whom  it  desires  to  secure 
peace  and  joy,  by  teaching  them  how  to  repress  passions  and  increase 
devotion,  so  as  to  be  free  from  all  re-birth.  But  it  is  especially  nega- 
tive ;  it  f  -rbids,  rather  than  prescribes.  250  vows  of  abstention  are 
reckoned.  It  distinguishes  unpardonable  and  venial  sins.  For  this  reason, 
our  vocabulary  is  occupied  with  faults  rather  than  with  virtues. 

Section    XXXIII. 
Ne-non  \n-^uhi  mih-la.      The  20  accessory  defects. 

1.  Kroddha.     Wrath.     T.  khro  ba. 

2.  Upnddha.    Hostility,  internal   malevolence.     T.  'khon  'dzin.    (M.  up- 
andha). 

ii.  Mraksha.     Hypocrisy.      T.    'ah-ba,   hidden  (character).      M.  hidden 

evil  desires.     Ch.  malicious  hypocrisy. 
4    Praddca  [read  praddha'\  barning  passion.     T.  'tjrg.     'M.fancara,  in_ 

ternal  burning  of  any  passion.     Oh.  irritation. 
.').   Irshijd.     Jealousy.     T.  phrag-dog,  id. 
6.    Mdtpatya  [read  Mdpatya,  supidity  ;    Mdtsarya,    envy  ?]     T.  sersna. 


A    BUDDHIST  REPERTORY.  215 

avarice. — M.  avidity,    in^moderate   desire. — Mg.    greediness  ;  Cli.     id. 
(M.  mdtsaryam). 

7.  Md;id.  Deceit,  artificial  or  deceitful  character.  T.  sgyn,  id.,  im- 
posture. 

8.  Cdti/am.     Deception.     T.  glo. 

9.  Mada.  Drunkenness,  mad  desire.  T.  rgjiags-pa.  M.  bragging,  big 
talk.     Ch.  id.— Mg. 

10.  }"thinsd.     Injury,  desire  tu  injure.     T.  mam  7s V. 

11.  Ahnkyafn.  Shamelessness.  T.  na-t.ia  med  pa,  id.,  who  does  not 
blush  at  his  faults,  and  thinks  lightly  of  them, 

12.  Anapatrdsyam.  Without  fear  (of  evil  or  shame).  T.  khral-med  pa. 
without  shame  or  modesty.     (M.  anapatrdri/rijn). 

13.  Stydnam.  Heaviness,  coarseness.  T.  rmiigs-pa,  tepidity,  heaviness. 
M.  weakness. — Ch.  heaviness,  darkness  of  mind. 

14.  Oddhatyvm.  Agitation,  turbulence.  T.  rgoA  pa,  savage  or  rude 
manners.  M.  turbulence. — Ch.  causing  trouble ;  unquiet,  agitated 
mind. — Pdli,  udacha. 

15.  Agraddha.     Want  of   faith.     M.  ma-dad  pa. 

16.  Gdupityam.      \_Kdusidyam.'\    T.  le-lo,  indolence,  idleness,  negligence. 

17.  Pramdd'i.  Given  up  to  passion  ;  too  easy  -  going  of  conduct.  T. 
bag  med  pa,  without  care,  unprincipled.  M.  without  fear  of  evil;  too 
free  morality. — Ch.  like  Sk. 

18.  Mushitasmrtitd.  With  memory  taken  away,  forgetful.  T.  brjed  pa, 
forgetful.     M.  much-forgetting.      Oh.  having  lost  ones  memory, 

19.  Vakshepa  [avakshepa']  trouble,  (^rikshepa).  T.  mam  gijo,  moveable, 
never  at  rest.  M.  troubled.  Ch.  troubled,  confused. — Troubled  mind^ 
confused  in  its  ideas,  ever  agitated. 

20.  Asamprajndnam.  Whose  mind  is  not  fully  present  oi  sane. — T.  ges 
bzin  min  pa. — Ch.  intelligence  not  firm  or  right.  [M.  iisampra- 
janynm\. 

Notes   to    §§xxxii  &  xxxiii. 

We  have  here  a  special  list  of  defects  and  passions,  rather  Rrahmanic 
than  Buddhist.  It  forms  part  of  the  Sankhdrakhaudo  of  the  Pali  liooks 
(Sans-kdraskandha),  which  reckon  52  or  55  faculties,  virtues  or  vices. 

All  these  terms  scarcely  need  explaining.     The  six  first  (§  XXXII; 
refer  to  general   tendencies   without    a})plication  to   any  jjarticular  objects 
and  are  the  sources  of  the  rest,  or  passions  witli  s|)ecial  object.     They  are 
here  enunciated  witliout  order  or  plan  :    and   only   two   deserve    special 
note,  viz.  It  and  15  of  §   XXXlII. 

Oddhatyam,  a  form  not   used  in  classical  SansUrit,  probably  from  a  + 


216  A  BUDDHIST  REPERTORY. 

i1A(or  vadh),  a  form  teiuling  towards  Pali,  (^vlz.  uddhacca),  wliich  is  ren- 
dered by  "  vanity,"  or  more  correctly  by  "  disquietude,  agitation  of 
mind." 

GdupUynrh  is  still  harder  to  explain.  In  the  Pali  texts  its  equivalent 
is  mijja  (middha)  indolence,  negligence  ;  or  else  Kuhkucca,  (cf.  Sanskrit 
Kduhkat/ca,  hypocrisy),  malevolence,  morseness. 

The  Lalita  Vistara  and  the  Pali  books  have  another  list  of  10  faults  or 
defects,  partly  corresponding  to  these  two  sections  XXXII  and 
XXXIII. 


Section    XXXIV. 
Phi/ogs  mth'ams  kyi  min-lu.    Names  of  the  Directions  and  Regions'. 

1.  Aiqdnt.  Region  of  the  Supreme  Lord,  (iqa,  tgvara,  Civa).  T,  Dbafi 
Itan  phyogs.  powerful  region.  ]M.  id. — Ch.  region  of  the  great  T'ien 
self-subsistent.     (Apparently  the  NE). 

2.  Agneyi.     vVgni's  region,  (spirit  of  tire),     T.  me-lha  hi  phyogs.     M.  Ch. 
.    of  the  spirit  of  fire. — (SE). 

3.  Vdyathi  [read  vi]  Region  of  Vayu,  the  wind. — T.  rlun  Iha  hi  phyogs 
M.  Ch.  of  the  spirit  of  wind,— (NW). 

4.  Ndirfti.  Region  of  Nirriti^,  the  genius  of  destruction  and  error' 
(SW). — T.  bden  bral. — M.  Mg.  distant  from,  deprived  of  truth  ; 
region     of    error. — Ch.     region    of    the    convents    of    the     Law  (i.e. 

Buddhist). 
h.  Aindrd.     Region   of  Indra. — T.  dban  po,  of    the   powerful  One,    the 
Lord.    M.  of  Hormuzd. — Mg.  of  Erketu. — Ch.  Ti  Shi  of  the  Supreme 
Buddha.      (E). 

1)  The  text  gives  first  of  all  the  names  of  the  8  principal  and  inter- 
mediate directions, — N.,  S.,  &c.,  'N.K.,  N.W.,  occ.  ;  then  the  'up'  and 
the  'down'  (zenith  and  nadir);  then  repeats  the  8  first,  giving  them  the 
names  of  the  gods  whom  the  Brahmans  looked  up(m  as  their  special  genii. 
Brahma  is  not  one  of  them.  We  are  here  in  full  Brahmanism,  or  rather 
pre-Buddhistic  Civaisin  of  Western  India.  The  sea  is  to  the  W.  ;  fire  or 
light  to  the  SE  ;  to  the  N.  the  bases  of  the  vast  mountian  ranges  are  the 
storehouse  of  wealth  ;  the  great  wind  comes  from  the  NW.  ;  the  seat  of 
error  is  the  SW.  All  this,  for  the  rest,  is  in  the  midst  of  the  non-re- 
ligious part  of  our  vocabulary. 

2)  Nirriti,  as  its  etymology  shows,  is  Destruction.  Already  in  the 
Vedas  it  is  personified  as  such.  Its  abode  is  in  the  abyss  .  Morally,  it 
is  destructive  error.  C.    de  Harlez. 

{To  he  continued). 

printed  and  published  FOETHE  proprietor  at  2«  ALBERT  SQUARE  CLAPHAM 
ROAD,  AND  BY    D.  NUTT  FOREIGN    AND   CLASSICAL    BOOKSELLER  270  STRAND. 


THE 


BABYLONIAN  AND  ORIENTAL  RECORD. 

Contributors  are  alone  re'^ponsihlt'  for  their  opinions  or  statemerds. 


THE    CALENDAR    PLANT    OF    CHINA 

THE     COSMIC     TREE 

AND 

THE     DATE-PALM     OF    BABYLONIA. 

1.  In  my  researches  on  Tlie  Tree  „f  [Jfe  <nid  the  Calendar  Plant 
of  Babi/lonia  and  China,  published  in  The  Babylonian  and  Orien- 
tal Record^i,  about  two  years  ago.  several  inaccuracies  and  mis- 
prints liave  occurred  which  require  rectification,  wliih;  i^oine  papers 
previously  published'^  ought  to  liave  be3n  mentioned  therein.  As  some 
interesting  articles^-"^  and  la^uograplis-''-*  have  appeared,  since  then,  and 
must  be  referred  to,  I  take  this  opportunity  to  return  to  the  subject,  in 
order  to  correct  and  complete  several  statements  of  my  former  paper  in 
some  respects.  Three  chief  subjects  demand  once  more  our  consideration, 
the  calendar  plant  of  China,  the  mytliic  world-tree,  and  the  names 
of  the  date-palm  in  early  Chaldea. 

Notes 

51)  June  1888,  vol.  II,  pp.  J  49-159. — We  continue  here  the  numeral 
series  of  the  notes  for  easier  references. 

52)  Prof.  Eberhard  Schrader,  Ladanum  und  Palme  auf  den  Assyrischen 
monumenten,  with  ])late  :  Monatsber.  d.  Berliner  Akad.  d.  Wiss. 
5  May,  1881,  i)p.  -413-428.-11.  P.  Jensen,  Ztsehrlt.  i.  Keilsehriftfors- 
chung,  I,  285,  II,  25.  Cf.  B.cjO.R.  IV,  117-118:  T.  de  L.,  Stray 
notes  on  ancient  Date  Palms  in  Anterior  Asi't. — Sir  George  Birdwood' 
The  kjiopand  fiotver  pattern  ;  ])p.  :-)25-344  of  his  interesting  work:  IVie 
Industrial  uirts  of  India,  1884,    South   Kensington    Museum. 

53)  Dr.  E.  Bonavia,  Sacred  tre'S  of  the  Assyrian  Monuments;  B.&O.II. 
Ill,  7-12,  35-40.  5G-81  ;  Did  the  Assip-ians  know  the  sexs  of  date 
palms:  ibid.  IV,  04-69,  89-95.  116-1 17.— M.  W.  St.  Chad  Boscawon, 
Notes  on  the  Assyrian  sacred  trees  :  ibid.  IV.  96-9G.-— Dr.  E.  B. 
Tylor,  The  fertilisation  of  date  palms  .  The  Academy,  S  dune,  1889, 
and  Nature,  23  Jan.  1890.  And  also  : — T.  de  L.,  The  cone  fruit  of 
the   Assyrian  ^fonuments  :    The  Academy,  22  June   18)^9. — 

54)  Rev.    William    Hayes    Ward,  The  asserted  sevenfold  dirision    of  the 

Vol.  IV.— No.  10.  [217]  Skpt.,  1890. 


218  THE    CALENDAR    PLANT. 

Sacred  Tree  of  the  Babylonians :  Journ.  Soc.  Bibl.  Lit.  and  Exegesis, 
June-Dec.  1888,  p.  151-5. — J.  Edkins,  Ancient  Symbolism  among  the 
Chinese,  Shanghai,  188!), — Cte.  Goblet  d'xilviella,  Les  Arbref<  Pnra- 
disiaques  des  Semites  et  des  Aryas :  Bullet.  Acad.  Roy.  Belgique,  3°  ser., 
t.  XIX,  1890,  pp.  68o-679.— J.  G.  Eraser,  The  Golden  Bough.-  a 
study  in  comparative  religion.  2  vols,  Macniillan  (London,  1890). — 
E.  Bouavia,  Bananas  and  Melons  as  dessert  fruits  of  Assyrian  monarrhs 
and  courtiers:  B.  &  0.  R.  July  1890,  vol.  IV,  j)p.  1G9-173.— T.  de  L., 
On  Eastern  names  of  the  Banana:  ibid.  p.  17G. — A.  de  Gubernatis, 
Mytholoyle  des  Plantes,  2  vols. — Richard  Folkard.  jun.,  Plant  Lore, 
Legends  and  Lyrics ;  embracing  the  Myths,  Traditions,  Superstitions, 
and  Folk-lore  of  the  Plant  kingdom.  1884. — Hilderic  Friend,  Flowers 
and,  Flower-lore,  1884,  2  vols. — James  Fergusson,  Tree  and  Serpent 
worship,  2nd  edit.  1873.  (some  wild  speculation  spoils  this  work). — 
C.  F.  P.  von  Martins,  Die  Verbreitung  der  Palmen  in  der  alten  Welt 
mit  besonderer  Ruksicht  auf  die  Floren-Reiche.  Munchen,  1839. — 
Wilhelm  Mannhardt,  Der  Baumkultiis  der  Gernianen  und  ihrer  Nach- 
harstammc,  Berlin,  1875;  Antike  Wald-und  Feld-kulte  cms  nordeuro- 
pa'ischer  ueber  lieferung  erliiidert.  1877. — C,  Botticher,  Ueber  den 
Baumkultus  der  Hellenen  und  Romer,  Berlin,  1856. — A.  Bastian,  Der 
Baum  in  i)ergleichenxler  Ethnologie  :  Ztschr.f.  Volkerpsychohgie,  l'""6^. 
vol,  V. — F.  Lenormant,  Origines  de  I'histoire,  1880,  t.  I,  pp.  74-9G. 

The  Chinese  CALENnAR-PLANT. 

2.  In  my  report  of  the  Chinese  tradition  about  the  calendar  plant  of 
Yao's  palace,  a  full  line  was  dropped  by  the  printer  in  the  making  up  of 
the  page  containing  it,  and  this  misprint  has  thoroughly  altered  the  cal- 
endaric  character  of  the  plant  which  it  was  so  important  to  put  forward. 
Therefore  I  am  compelled  to  reproduce  it  in  full. 

When  the  Emperor  Yao  had  been  on  the  throne  seventy  years,  .... 
a  kind  of  plant,  called  lik-kiep  the  calendar  plant,  grew  on  each  side  of 
the  palace  stairs.  On  the  first  day  of  the  month  it  produced  one  pod, 
and  so  on,  every  day  a  pod  to  the  15th,  while  on  the  16th  one  pod  fell  q^, 
und  so  on,  every  day  a  pocV"^,  to  the  last  day  of  the  month  ,-  and  if  the 
month  was  a  short  one  (of  29  days),  one  pod  shrivelled  up,  without 
falling^". 

3.  The  description  is  so  precise  that  no  misunderstanding  is  possible  as 
to  the  peculiar  nature  of  this  fairy  shrub,  growing  pods  for  a  fortniglit, 
and  dropping  them  the  following  fortnight,  in  accord  with  the  waxing 
and  waning  moon.  The  denomination  of  lik-kiep  or  calendaric  })lant 
given  to  it  in  the  Chinese  folk-lore  shows  how  well  understood  was  its 
character  from  the  calendaric  aspect. 

Some  monumental  representations  of  that  tree  sliow  seven  buds  on  each 
sidc,'^'^asthe  total  of  fourteen  is  there  connected,  not  with  the  seven  days  of 
the  week  twice  repeated,  but  witli  tlie  fourteen  days  of  the  half-moon,  and 


•     THE    COSMIC    TItKE.  219 

no  doubt  can  be  entertained  as  to  the   symbolical  views  underlying  this 
iconography,  and  loan  from  the  West. 

4.  The  most  important  feature  is  tlic  regular  number  of  the  pods  wliioh 
does  not  look  anythnigjelse  than  a  direct  loan  from  the  Assyro-Baby Ionian 
imagery  of  sacred  trees.  Nowhere  does  exist  a  similar  legend  which 
might  have  been  the  prototy^ie  of  the  Chinese,  urits  immediate  antecedent, 
or  the  intermediary  between  it  and  the  original  pictures  from  where  it  has 
been  first  evolved. 

The  Persian  artists  in  all  that  they  have  borrowed  from  Babylonia  and 
Susiana,  although  reproducing  the  pattern  of  the  sacred  tree,  have  not 
attached  any  importance  to  the  number  of  branches,  boughs  or  pods  of 
the  tree  as  having  any  symbolism  of  calendar.  Far  from  that,  so  far  as 
they  ever  preserved  a  regularity  in  the  number  of  the  buds,  leaves  or 
fruits  of  the  tree,  they  seem  to  have  had  a  preference  for  the  number  nine 
which  appears  from  time  to  time  on  the  Assyrian  iconography,  and  their 
reason  for  that  may  be  the  resemblance  with  the  regular  number  of 
nine  petals  or  Hower  leaves  of  the  lotus  in  Egyptian  decoration.  The 
influence  of  Egypt  on  Persia  is  well  knowu.^^ 

5.  Therefore  it  cannot  be  through  the  channel  of  Persian  imagery 
that  the  Chinese  have  been  made  acquainted  with  that  peculiarity  of  sym- 
bolical iconography.  It  must  have  come  to  them  in  olden  times,  when 
the  symbolism  was  in  force  in  Assyro-Baby  Ionia,  and  most  likely  at  the 
same  time  as  so  many  other  items  of  their  early  civilisation. 

in  the  oldest  figuration  of  the  Babylonian  sacred  tree,  the  outlines  are 
rough,  and  the  fixed  number  for  branches  and  offshoots  are  not  strictly 
observed.  The  symbolism  had  not  grown  as  yet  to  command  the  icono- 
graphy ;  but  this  was  only  so  in  the  primitive  times,  and  the  sacred 
numbers  of  seven,  or  fourteen,  or  twenty  eight,  of  twelve  or  fifteen  became 
afterwards  gradually  paramount.  And,  as  we  are  now  well  aware  that  the 
Elamo-Babylonian  civilisation  was  spread  to  China  but  some  twenty- 
seven  centuries  or  thereabout  later  than  the  ancient  monuments  of  Baby- 
lonian cuhure  hitherto  known,  namely  those  of  Lagash  rircii  4000  u.c. 
there  was  consequently  plenty  of  time  for  the  calendaric  symbolism  to 
have  assumed  its  developement  and  have  imposedits  sway  on  Art. 

Notes 

55")  TIie.«e  underlined  words  are  those  wl:ich  wore  drop])ed  l)y  the  jirinters. 
The  incomplele  passage  is  uniiappily  tliat  has  been  referred  to  by 
Count  Goblet  d'Alviella,  Les  Arbres  Paradisintiue>',  \>.  (i6!). 

56)   Tclm  shu  ki  men,   Part  IT.  1.— The  /ut7i</  kien  //  tchi  Ink  states  that 


220  THE    CALENDAR    PLANT, 

the  event  took  place   in  the  4.'ith  year  of  the  reign  of  Yao. — Cf.  also, 
H^^ang  Fu-mi,  Ti  wavg  she  Id  :   Tai  ping  yu  Ian,  k.  lY.  fol.  7  verso. 

57)  Fung  yen-hai  and  Fung  Tsih-hien.  Kin  fhih  so. 

58)  Some  traces  of  this  jlgyptian  influence  in  Persia  lla^'e  been  pointed 
out  in  my  work  on  the  Origin  of  the  early  Chinese  Civilisation,  Note 
364:  B.ctO.R.,  vol.  Ill,  p.  222:  &ni\' The  Deluge  tradition  and  its 
remains  in  ancient  China,  ^  51.  note  118  :  B.&O.E,.,  vol.  lY,  pp. 
109,  110. 

The  Cosmic  Tree. 
0.  The  ty-^jJ^L-  Gishkin  in  Sumero-Akkadian  and  A7s/i/ia??w^^.  in  Assyrian 
successively  had  been  supposed  to  bo  a  pine  tree^*^,  and  a  palm-tree^^, 
and  we  had  looked  npcm  it  with  the  latter  meaning  in  our  paper^^,  but 
this  view  must  be  reconsidered,  as  this  so-called  tree  does  not  seem  to  be 
open  to  any  botanical  identification. 

7.  The  first  verse  in  the  bilingual  liymn.  where  it  is  mentioned,  has 
been  rendered  variously  by  several   Assyriologists  : 

For  instance  : 
"  In  Eridu  a   stalk  grew  overshadowing  ;   in  a  holy  place  did  it  become 
green^^." 

We  have  objected  to  the  rendering  here  of  Kish-kanu  by  stalk  as  being 
not  sufificient. 

A  more  recent  version  is  tlie  following  : 
"  In  Iridti  wiichs   ein   dunkler  A'^s7l■rt?^^7-Baum  enipor.  wurde  geschaffen 
an  einem  herrlichen  (hchten  ?)  Orte^*." 

We  may  compare  with  these  the  two  older  versions,  which  follow  : 
"Dans  Eridou  a  cru  un  pin  noir,  dans  im  lieu  pur  il  a  ete'  forme,"  where  Fr. 
Lenormant,  autlior  of  the  version^^,  has  remarked  that  liis  rendering  of 
the  second  part  of  the  verse  is  made  quite  safe  by  the  Akkadian  text. 
"  In  Nun-ki  (Eridu)  wuchs  aus  ein  dunkler  7un-Baum,  an  einem  reinen 
Ort  wurde  er  geschaffen,"  by  Prof.  Fritz  Hommel.^^ 

Whatever  may  l»e  the  slight  discrepancies  between  the  different  render- 
ings we  have  quoted,  it  is  (M'ident  that  no  botanical  characteristics  may 
be  made  out  from  them. 

8.  The  hieroglyphical  etymology  of  the  word,  so  far  as  it  can  be  un- 
derstood from  the  hieratic,  does  not  mean  much,  as  we  have  no  evidence 
that  the  actual  signs  of  the  combination  Gissu  +  Kil-kinu,  are  identical, 
save  the  difference  of  style  in  the  writing,  with  those  of  the  hieratic 
period,  neither  are  we  certain  that  the  primary  iiieaniiig  of  the  symbol 
read  A' ami  was  still  known  at  the  time  of  formation  of  the  complex 
ideogram.  We  do  not  even  know  if  the  combination  existed  at  all  in 
liierntie  times''^.     Therefore    anv  attempt  at  hieroolvphical  etvmologv  in 


THE    COSMIC    THEE.  221 

this,  as  ill  the  similar  cases,  must  he  taken  with  some  reservation.  It  is 
made  of  the  sign  for  wood  Gissu.  the  same  that  is  employed  frequently 
in  later  (?)  times  as  a  silent  determinative.  The  second  syiiilml  Kikkinu 
looks  like  a  corruption  of  a  pictorial  sign  of  an  enclosure  filled  u}>  or  with 
inside  partitions.  It  has  nine  non-Semitic^^,  and  no  less  than  twenty- 
two  Semitic  values^^,  with  a  general  idea  underlying  them  of  circular 
foundation. 

Coupled  together,  they  form  a  complex  ideogram  for  which  two  read- 
ings are  indicated  :  Klshkanu  and  UsurtiJ^  ;  the  latter  indicates  a  born 
or  a  foundation.  Joined  with  the  necessary  words  this  compound 
ideogram  appears  in  a  list^^  as  Kishkami  pi-^i(,  Kishlanu  salmi  and 
Kishlcanu  mmi,  otherwise,  Kishkanv  white,  black,  and  blue. 

9.  Therefore  the  Kishkanu  cannot  be  a  tree,  and  the  composition  of  the 
expression  by  which  it  is  called  shows  itself  not  to  have  been  framed  in 
view  of  designating  a  real  tree.  The  decipherers  Assyriologists  will  have 
to  reconsider  their  rendering  of  the  verse  we  have  quoted,  so  far  as  it  was 
understood  as  referring  to  the  growing  of  a  tree.  The  Kishkanu  was 
most  probably  a  central  pole,  (like  that  of  a  tent,  foi  a  tent-inhabiting 
population),  whence  lit  was  taken  to  be  tlie  main-staff,  and  in  mythology 
the  central  pillar  (of  the  world}.  Its  conception  in  that  sense  is  fully 
explained  by  the  following  statements,  of  the  bilingual  hymn  previously 
referred  to,  as  follows  :  "  Its  fruit''*?  was  of  (jade'^^  or")  white  crystal  which 

stretched  towards  the  deej)  !" "  Its  seat  was  the  (central)  place  1 

of  the  earth  ;   "Its  foliage  (?  or  summit)  was  the  couch   of  Zikum^*  the 

l^prim^val)  mother." (There  is  the  home)  of  the  mighty  mother 

who  passes  across  the  sky.  In  the  midst  of  it  was  Tanunuz.  There 
is  the  shrine  ?)  of  the  two  (gods''''.") 

10.  No  possible  doubt  can  remain  now  that  the  Kishkanu  is  not  the  tree 
of  life  that  is  figured  on  so  many  monuments  of  Babylonia  and  Assyria. 
It  is  the  world-tree,  the  pillar  of  the  word,  the  great  shaft  which  unites 
heaven  and  earth  in  tlie  mythological  conceptions  of  more  than  one  of  the 
nations  of  old.  Its  nearest  congener  were  the  star-bearing  world-tree  of 
the  Finns^''  and  the  similar  conception  though  of  late  derivation  of  tlie 
Tartar  tribes  of  Minussinsk''''. 

11.  The  mythical  view  of  the  thaldeiui  poet  was  apparently  the  outconre 
of  a  popular  idea,  current  in  liis  time,  which  in  a  les  er  state  of  develoji- 
ment  was  brought  into  the  country  by  the  Altaic  speakmg  SunuTians. 
Once  embodied  into  poetry  and  therefore  more  easily  present  to  the  mind 
of  cultured  people,  its  infiuence  on  the  folk-lore  and    formation  of  myths 


^22  THE    CALEKDAR     PLANT. 

amongst  other  nations  was  possible,  imd  in  that  respect  it  may  have  fol- 
lowed the  spread  of  the  Chaldajan  civilisation.     We  may  be  sure  that  it 
spread  further  still,  as  experience  has  shown  that  mythology  and  folk-lore 
being  among  the  most  subtle  parts  of  a  civilisation,  travel  wide  and  afar 
much  more  easily  than  the  other  parts,  which  more  substantial  so  to  speak, 
cannot  be  grasped  with  the  same  facility.    And  as  the  communications  by 
chance  or  sought   for,  isolate  or  repeated,   which  have   happened  in  the 
course  of  ancient  times  from  one  to  another   part  of  the  world  are  not 
known  all,  it  is  sheer  imprudence  to  speak  of  the  independent  rising  and 
appearance  of  identical  conceptions  and  myths  in  various  countries''*'.'     In 
the  immature  state  of  our  knowledge  of  antiquity,  before  inferring  from 
such  a  similarity  some  big  conclusions  as  to   the   nature  of  the  human 
mind,  it  would  be  much  wiser  by  far  to  be  satisfied  with  the  ascertaining 
of  the  facts. 

12.  The  world-tree,  or  heaven's-pillar  of  Eridu,  seems  to  have  worked 
upon  the  Egyptian  conception  of  the  Tat-pillar^^  and  the  matter  deserves 
to  be  the  object  of  further  investigation.  In  the  same  way  a  Chaldtean 
influence  may  be  thought,  either  for  the  source  or  the  cause  of  trans- 
formation of  former  and  more  rude  ideas,  in  many  cases  of  mythological 
conceptions,  folk-lore,  and  of  tree-worship.  But  the  distinction,  although 
often  forgotten,  must  be  preserved  between  the  notion  of  the  world-tree 
and  that  of  the  tree-of-life.  At  first  the  notion  was  indistinct,  and  the 
Chaldsean  conception  in  the  hymn  of  Eridu  belongs  to  that  period.  But 
a  distinction  grew  gradually  in  considering  tlie  cosmic  tree  under  these 
two  aspects^",  and  although  the  distinct  conceptions  of  a  world-tree  and  of 
a  tree  of  life  have  always  shown  a  tendency  to  fuse  together,  they  have 
also  been  preserved  more  or  less  apart  in  some  mythologies. 

13.  Let  us  remember  here  as  instances  of  world-tree^^: 

The  Khanbe  of  the  Airyana-Vaedja,  begirt  with  the  starry  girdle  of  the 
Iranians^-;  the  world-pillar  of  the  Rig-Veda^^;  the  star-bearing  ashrattha 
of  the  Hindus,  whose  original  symbolism  seems  to  be  lost;^*  the  winged 
oak  of  the  Phoenicians,  as  described  by  Pherecydes^^;  the  yggdrasil  of 
Norse  mythology^^;  the  Irmensul  of  the  ancient  Saxons 8^;  and  others. 
The  antecedent  of  these  conceptions  is  found  in  the  cosmic  tree,  so  repre- 
sented with  the  winged-sun  above  it,  on  the  cylinders  and  on  the  monu- 
ments of  Khorsabad^^. 

14.  So  far  as  we  know,  the  Chaldean  conception  is  the  oldest.  Em- 
bodied in  literature,  it  has  been  spread  largely,  and  thus  far  has  given  rise 
to   several   conceptions   somewhat   similar,    which     nceptions   spread   in 


THE    COSMIC    TUEE.  223 

tlicir  turn  have  suggested  elsewhere  rilated  luytlis,  and  so  forth  further  on 
with  gradual  divergences  leading  to  final  discrepancies;  we  cannot,  ho\y- 
ever.  as  yet  maintain  that  it  is  the  parent-stem,  or  the  prototype,  direct  or 
indirect,  of  every  one  of  the  many  myths  of  the  kind,  found  so  extensively. 
The  matter  requires  more  extensive  research  and,  to  begin  witli,  a  chrono- 
logical and  genealogical  classification  of  the  world-tree  myths  hitherto 
known. 


KOTES 


59)  R.  Brunnow,  Classified  List,  No.  8536. 

60)  By  F.  Lenormant,   Les  origines  de  ridstolre,  II,  104. 

61)  By  Prof.  Fritz  Hommel,  Die  Semitischen  Volher,  I,  406,  who  com- 
pared witli  name  that  of  mushu-kanna  of  Prof.  Eb.  Schrader,  as  a 
dialectal  variant. 

62  j  Part  I,  and  notes  4  sq. 

63)  A.  H.  Sayce,  Hlbbert  Lectures  on  the  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Baby- 
lonians, p,  238. 

64)  P.  Jensen,  Die  Kosmologie  der  Babylonler,  p.  2-49.  The  learned 
author,  Ihid,  has  endeavoured  to  show,  from  phonetic  affinities,  his  rea- 
son to  look  upon  it  as  an  '  Orakelbaum .' — Dendrolatry  had  led  to  phil- 
omancy  which  was  a  part  of  Chaldean  mantology. 

65)  Les  Origines  de  Vhistoire,   1882,  t.  II,   p.  104. 

66)  Die  Semitschen  Volher  und  Sprachen,  p.  4C6. 

67)  There  is  no  such  endence  amongst  the  inscriptions  from  Lagash. 

68)  The  non-semitic  are  :  gur,  ghar,  ghir,  ghur.  ir,  ur,  kin,  hikkin  and 
muT. 

69)  The  Semitic  values  are  the  following  (with  probable  meanings); 
m'«?i,  vault  ;  eseru,  bracelet:  ghdru,  ?  to  dig  ;  ghaldsu,?  tower,  cita- 
del; gharrit,  cavern,  hollow  ;  ghashU,  liver  ;  ghubiilu,?  valley,?  pledge; 
kabidu,  r  considerable  ;  kadddu,  ?  signature  ;  kajyru,  great,  high  ; 
kima,r  thus,  so  ;  kirbit,  centre  ;  kishkdnu  ;  libbu,  heart  ;  pardsu,  com- 
mand ;  ramimu,  greater ;  shemiru,  diamond  ;  tertu,  body  :  tulimu, 
tultu  ;   lunma  sha  ei-e  ;   ?;.s2<r/M.  born,  foundation. 

70)  R.  Brunnow,  Class.  List,  Nos.  8536  +  8545. 

71)  JF,AJ.   IT,  45,  52-55. 

72)  Prof.  Sayce  reads  {sur)  sum  and  translates  root.  Cf.  his  edition  of 
G.  Smith's  Chaldean  Account  of  Genesis,  p.  87,  and  Lect.  llelig.  Anc. 
Bab.  p.  233,  Frangois  Lenormant  understood  fruit  instead  of 
root,  cf.  his  Origines  de  Vhistoire,  i.  XL,  p.  104,  and  his  translati(.n  is 
supported  by  the  parallelism  of  the  following  verses.  Mr.  St.  Cliad 
Boscawen:  Modern  Thought,  July  l8  83,  p.  327,  reads  also  fruit. 

73)  Cf.  note  49  of  my  first  paper. 

74)  The  mother  of  Ea  was  Zikum  or  Zigavum,  the  heaven  (W.A.I.  II, 
48,  26;  50,  27).  whom  a  mythological  list  describes  as  "  the  mother 
that  has  begotten  heaven  and  eartli"  (W.A.I.  II,  54,  18).  Vid.  A. 
H.  Sayce,  Lect.  Jtelig.  Anc.  Bab.  pp.  374-5.  The  same  scholar,  ibid. 
has  suggested  the  identification  of  Zikum  with  the  known  goddess 
Bahu. 


'2'24:  THE  CALENDAR  PLANT. 

75)  A.  H.  Sayce,  ibid.  p.  238. 

76)  In  the  Kalfrala,  trans.  A.  Schiefner,  Helsingfors,  1852,  Rune  X, 
31-42  ;  W.  F.    Warren,  F,(rad'se  found,  p.  376. 

77)  A.  Schiefner,  Helderisage7i  der  Minussinischen  Tataren,  p.  62  sq.  ; 
Lenormant,  Origines,  t.  I,  p.  76. — Of.  also  among  Ugrian  tribes,  0. 
Peischel,  Racei^  of  nian,  p.  406. — It  is  not  unlikely  that  such  notions 
were  introduced  there  through  the  Iranians  and  afterwards  through 
the  Buddhists. 

78)  Part  similarities,  resemblances  and  coincidences  are  too  often  looked 
upon  as  identities.  Yet  it  is  certainly  an  exagerated  opinion  of  their 
knowledge,  this  view  of  many  a  folk-lorist  of  the  present  day,  when,  be- 
ing apparently  satisfied  that  they  know  the  last  word  of  ancient  history 
with  regard  to  intercommunications,  migrations  and  displacements  of 
po[mlations,  they  think  possible  to  draw  conclusions  as  if  unheard  -  of 
interchanges  were  historically  proved  to  be  impossibilities. 

79)  On  which  cf.  C.  P.  Tiele,  History  of  the  Egyptian  Religion,  pp. 
46-47  ;  Bnigsch.  Astronomische  and  Astrologische  Inftclinften,  p.  72.— 
L)r.  W.  F.  Warren,  Paradise  found,  p.  265,  has  rightly  objeated  to  the 
cloud  interpretation  proposed  by  Mr.  LePage  Renouf,  in  his  paper  on 
Egyptian  Mt/tJwIo  /y,  purticnJarly  with  reference  to  Mist  and  Cloud  ; 
Trans.  S.B.A.  1884,  pp.  217-220. 

80)  For  instance  in  Genesis  II,  9  there  are  two  trees,  while  in  H,  17 
and  III,  d  6,  there  is  only  one. 

81)  As  instances  of  the  Tree-of-life,  let  us  remember  the  following  :  "  the 
fig-tree  which  distils  the  soma."  and  "  the  tree  of  life,  ilyorrikshah,"'  of 
the  celestial  world,  in  the  Tchandogya  (VHI,  5.  3)  and  the  Kanshitaki 
(I,  3)  Upanishads  ;  the  KalpavriLslins  of  the  classical  literature  of 
India  ;  and  the  Djamhu  tree,  south  of  the  Meru,  whose  knowledge  has 
been  carried  to  China  by  the  Buddhists,  the  BodJu  tree  of  the  latter  ; 
the  Setarran  of  the  Mendaites  ;  &c. 

82)  Bundehesh,  XXIX,  XXX;  Homa  yasJd  26. 

83)  Cf-  Rig-Veda.  X,  81,  4.  and  other  passages  on  which  cf.  Julius  Grill, 
Die  Erzvater  'der  Menscheit,  Leipzig,  1875,  vol.  T,  pp.  358-9. 

84)  Guigniaut,  Religions  de  V  Antiqtdte,  vol.  I.  p.  157,  and  vol.  IV,  pi. 
11,  fig.  16. 

85)  A.  Maury,  Religions  de  la  Grece  Antique,  vol.  Ill,  p.  253. — Lenor- 
mant, Origines  de  Vhistoire,  t.  I,  p.  96. 

8f5)  Cf.  C.  F.   Keary,   Outlines  of  Primitive  Belief,   1882,  p.  57. 

87)  Cf.  J.  Grimm,  Deutsche  Mythohgie.  p.  759. — Thorpe,  Northern 
Mythology,  vol.  I.  p.  155. — Finn  Magnusen,  De7i  Aeltre  Edda.  Copen- 
hagen, 1822,  vol.  IE,  p.  61. — Hindu  and  other  influ<mcps  in  occurrences 
unknown  to  history  have  carried  similar  conceptions  of  a  world-tree  and 
tree  of  life  in  Indonesia  and  Polynesia. 

88)  Perrot  &  Chipiez,  Histoire  de  Vart,  t.  II.  fig.  343.~Lajard,  Quite  de 
Mithra.  pi.  49,  fig.  9,  pi.  61,  fig.  6. 

89)  Ibid.  t.  II,  fig.  444  ;  from  Lavard,  Monuments  of  Nineveh,  ser. 
I,  pi.  51. 

90)  Prof.  Finzi,  Ricercke  per  lo  studio  delV  Antichifd  Assyria,  Turin, 
1872,  p.  553,  n.,  has  suggested  an  Aryan  and  particularly  an  Iranian 
influence  for  the  origin  of  the  sacred  tree  of  the  Assyrian  monuments. 
But  since  then  the  progress  of  research  has  shown  that  this  view  is 
untenable. 


the  cosmic  tree.  225 

The  Names  op  the  Date-Pai.m  in  Ancient  Cualuma.. 

15.  The  symbol  "^^MU,  which  in  its  hieratic  form  represents  visibly  a 
tree^^  with  its  branches  and  with  offsets  at  the  foot,  as  is  tlie  case  with 
female  date-palms^-,  was,  it  seems  to  me,  the  original  sign  fur  date-palm 
tree. 

A  tablet,  from  the  library  of  Assurbanipal,  published  in  the  collection 
of  the  British  Musenm^^  g^^^  perhaps  a  copy  of  a  much  older  document^^  : 
of  about  2000  i?.c.,  already  referred  to  in  the  B.kO.R.,  gives  the  words 
zikaru  for  male  and  zlnnishtu  for  female  date-palms^^.  Glshimtnaru, 
aswe  shall  see  below,  is  a  general  name  for  date-pal  m  without  distinction 
of  sexes,  and  a  name  whose  written  form,  far  from  being  primitive,  is  a 
late  one.  It  has  the  two  readings  just  quoted  only  when  written  in  com- 
bination and  with  the  addition  of  the  determinatives  nitaghu  for  male, 
and  GiMU  for  female,  which  themselves  arerespectively  read  thus  zikuru, 
and  zinnishtu^^  and  give  their  sounds  to  the  group,  while  gishimmaru  is 
silent. 

Mo,  on  the  other  hand,  has  a  primitive  form  whose  hieratic  shape  is 
known  and  represents  a  tree  ;  two  of  his  readings  are  zikaru,  zikru^'' , 
same  as  that  of  the  lae  compound  ideogram  for  male  date  palm,  afore- 
said. The  general  range  of  its  meanings  implies  greatness  and  famous- 
ness;  heaven,  king,  name,  rise  are  amongs  tits  acceptations,  and 
zikaru  by  itself  means  famous,  great,  and  male. 

16.  It  seems  therefore  that  the  date-palm,  in  its  quality  of  the  tree 
par  excellence  of  the  country  was  looked  upon  in  early  times  as  the 
kingly,  heavenly,  great  and  renowned  tree,  and  accordingly  received  from 
the  Semitic  populations^  the  name  of  zikaru.  From  the  pictorial  evi- 
dence this  sign  MU  was  applied  more  especially  to  the  fruit-bearing  or  female 
tree,  as  we  may  infer  from  the  offsets  carefully  drawn  at  the  foot,  al- 
though the  non-figuration  of  the  hanging  fruits  suggests  tliat  it  may 
have  been  as  well  applied  to  the  male-tree.  This  would  refer  to  a  time 
anterior  to  the  knowledge  of  the  distinctiim  of  sexes  which  had  not  been 
reached  as  yet  during  the  Pre-seraitic  period  of  Clialdaean  civilisation. 
The  Sumero-Akkadian  word  was  Mu. 

17.  Some  confirmatory  evidence  of  this  view  may  be  found  in  the  fol- 
lowing facts.  At  Bussorah,  a  word  for  date-palm,  according  to  Niobtihr'", 
is  aschkar  which  may  be  compared  to  the  Assyrian  zikaru.  in  tlie 
Mekrau  dialect,  E.  of  the   Persian  gulf,  the  general  word''**^  is   Mof^h   or 


226  THE    CALENDAR    PLANT. 

Moc?i,  while  at  Bagdad  one  of  the  terms  used  is  Mekkarri  ;  hoth  names 
remind  the  Sumerian  Mu. 

In  his  Glossatre  Assyrien,  Fr,  Lenormant  has  rendered^*'^  a  word  sigaru 
as  date-wine. 

Nu  is  the  initial  symbol  of  Musukkan,  palm-tree  as  we  shall  see 
farther  on. 

18.  A  name  for  palm-tree  in  general  seems  to  have  been  Musukkan 
^y  >^  yrtT  t:^  which  occurs  in  the  inscriptions  discovered  in 
the  foundations  of  Khorsabad  Palace.  It  was  translated  at  first  by 
tamarisk^^^,  but  subsequently,  this  rendering  was  objected  to,  and  it 
was  suggested^°^  that  the  tree  thus  named  was  the  palm-tree.  The 
spelling  of  Musukkan  is  late  and  entirely  Assyrian  ;  it  may  be  a  corrup- 
tion or  a  Semitised  form  of  an  old  Sumerian  word. 

It  has  been  looked  upon^o*  as  a  late  alteration  of  a  dialectic  variant  of 
kishkanu.  A.n  objection  to  this  view  would  be  that  the  latter  word  was 
not  a  name  for  the  palm-tree  ;  but  it  is  not  impossible  that  the  word 
may  have  been  occasionally  applied  to  that  tree  in  after  times  because  of 
its  great  importance  for  the  population  of  the  country.  The  explanation 
being  unsatisfactory,  it  has  been  suggested  that,  the  regular  name  for 
date-palm  being  now  known  as  gishiinmaru,  the  word  musukkan  was 
simply  a  name  for  the  palm-tree  in  general^^^^.  Let  us  remark  in  favour 
of  this  view  tha:  the  initial  syllabic  sign  oi  Musukkan  is  no  other  than 
the  symbol  Mu  which  we  have  come  to  consider  as  the  original  one  for 
the  date-palm. 

11),  On  the  other  hand  the  sign  gigu  »-yy-^^**^  which  I  had  suggested 
to  be  a  palm-tree,  with  reference  to  its  use  with  the  sound  gi  in  Ki-en- 
gi^^"^  turns  out  to  be  only  a  part  of  the  tree,  and  especially  the  trunk  of 
the  palm-tree  as  we  shall  see  below.  It  is  roughly  figured  on  ancient  cylin- 
ders^^^,  and  the  comparison  of  the  monuments  from  Tclloli,  shows  that 
the  original  position  of  the  symbol,  as  adverted  by  M.  Pinches  was  left 
to  top,  the  upper  pai*t  being  the  horizontal  stroke,  and  not  the  reverse. 

Its  identification  is  difficult.  When  preceded  of  the  determinative  of 
trees,  it  was  read  A  h  u^^^.  The  meanmg  of  the  latter  being  generally 
'  father,'  it  is  difficult  to  explain  how  it  could  be  so  in  the  present  case, 
unless  it  be  as  a  descriptive  term  of  the  father  as  the  trunk,  or  better  the 
main  stay  of  a  family,  because  the  symbol,  among  (jther  readings  has 
those  of  kdnu,  read,  sabatu,  staff,  shimtu,  foundation,  &c. 


THE    COSMIC    TREE,  227 

20.  Now  examining  its  oldest  graphical  form^^"  from  the  pictorial  as- 
pect, it  seems  probable  that  it  wa~!  intended  to  represent  a  tree  with  the 
upper  part,  i.e.  the  leaves  cut-off  and  the  offsets  grown  at  the  foot ^'', 
while  the  dates-fruits  which  stand  under  the  leaves  are  left  for  easier  iden- 
tification of  the  image,  and  a  top  line  horizontal  endingthefigure  shows  the 
special  object  of  the  pictogram  toibe  the  trunk,  and  not  the  whole  tree;  with 
its  branches.  On  some  cylinders  this  top-line  is  shaped  like  a  crescent, 
of  the  moon  ?  in  religious  scenes^^^,  as  if  taken  for  a  figure  of  the  world 
tree  and  pillar  of  heaven,  for  which  KtshkCinu  was  the  special  tenn. 

In  itself  the  symbol  Gigu  meant  simply  at  the  beginning,  the  trunk  or 

stem  of  a  palm  tree,    and  a  confirmatory  evidence  is  given  by  the  symbol 

GTL,  which   was  formed    originally  of   two  Gigu   crossing  one  the  other 

obliqnely^^^,    and  meant    agu  upwards,   napraku,   cross-bar,    sikuru 

enclosing,  among  others ^^*. 

Notes 

91)  Amiaud — ^]\rechineau,  Tableau  compare,  No.  12. — T,  de  L.,  The  old 
Babj/loniun  characters  and  their  Chhiei<e  derivates,  1888,  par.   36. 

92)  Cf.  E.  Bona  via,  Did  the  Assyrians  know  the  sexes  of  the  date-palms^ 
pp.  65-66  :  B.&O.R.  1890,  vol.  IV. 

93)  W.A.I.,  II,  46,  1.  29,  30.  — R.  Briinnow,  Classified  List,  7293-4. 

94)  Theo.  G.  Pinches,  MS.  note,  22  March,  90. 

95  j  They  are  indicated  by  the  ideogram  otherwise  read  gishimmar  (cf.  § 
21)  with  the  addition  of  the  determinative  for  male  or  that  for  female, 
and  the  silent  prefix  of  trees. 

96)  R.  Brunnow,  Class.  List.  1-237-8. 

97)  R.  Brunnow,  Class.  List.  5048-9,  10920. 

98)  A.  V.  Kremer,  Semitische  Culturentlehmmgen  atis  dem  Tier-  und 
Pflanzen-reiche  :  Ausland,  1875,  has  shown  that  the  Semites  before 
tlieir  dispersion  were  acquainted  with  the  camel,  but  that  the  palm  and 
ostrich  were  unknown  to  them. 

99)  Reiseheschreifmng,   1778,  t.  II,  p.  225-226. 

100)  C.  Ritter,  Erdkunde,  XIII,  p.  788. 

101)  Glossaire  Assyrlen,  p.  268  ;  E.  de  Chossat,  Repertoire  As^synen, 
p.   151. 

102)  J.  Oppert,  Expedition  scienUfique  en  Me'sopotamie,  1858,  t.  II, 
p,  344. 

103)  By  Prof.  Eberliard  Scbrader  :  Mo7iatsber.  der  Berl.  Akad.  d.  W, 
5  Mai,  1881. 

104)  By  Prof.Fr.  Hommel,  Die  Semitischer   Volker,  p.  406. 

105)  By  Dr.  P.  Jensen,  De  incantamentortm  Siimerico-Assi/rionm  serict 
quae  dicitur  '  surhu'  tabula  VI:  Ztschrft.  f.  Keilschriftfors.,  1885.  vol. 
II,  p.  25. 

106  j   R.  Brunnow,   Class.  List,  No.  2383  sq. 
107)   The  tree  of  life,  note  2. 


228  THE    CALENDAR    PLANT. 

108)  Cf.  for  instance,  Longperier,  Notice  des  Monuments,  No.  540. — J. 
Menant,  Glyptique  Orientale,  vol.  I.  fig.  71  ;  Catalogue  de  la  Collec- 
tion De  Clerg,  t.  I,  pi.  31,  fig.  330. — Inscription  of  Uru  Kagina  and 
of  Gudea,  in  Amiaud-Mechineau,  Tableau  compai'e,  No.  267. 

109)  Brunnow's  List,  No.  2386. 

110)  Cf.  Amiaud  et  Mechineau,    Tableau  compare,  No.  267. 

111)  Cf.  supra,  par.  15, — These  offsetts  are  shown  to  be  blown  partly  off 
in  the  symbol  zi  spirit,  derived  from  the  proceeding,  and  where  the 
wind  is  shown  browing  on  them.  Cf.  the  oldest  form  in  Amiaud, 
O.C.  No.  269. 

112)  Cf.  J.  Menant,  I.e.  note  siiprj. — Perrot  and  Chipiez,  Histoire  deV 
Art,  t.  II,  pi.  342. 

Ho)  Amiaud  and  Mechineau,  Tableau  Compare,  No.  268. 
114)   Brunnow,  Class.  List,   1386-1401. 


-1.  We  have  already  mentionedi^^  that  gishimmaru  ^^  fiKH  has 
been  recugnized  as  the  most  common  appellative  of  the  date-palm.^^'' 
It  lias  two  general  meanings  ;  that  which  was  supposed  to  be,  a  stem, 
or  trunk  of  a  tree,^^^,  previously  to  its  final  recijgnition  as  a  date-palm, 
agreeably  with  a  suggestion  of  Dr.  J.  Oppert'^^^,  and  of  which  the 
Sumero-Akkadian  value  was  gishimviar'^'^^.  The  other  meaning  was  that 
of  auspiciiius,  fortunate,  good,  which  alone  occurs  in  the  inscrip- 
tions of  XJrba'u  and  of  Gudea^^",  and  of  which  the  readings  were  shmga, 
shag  in  Sumero-Akkadian  and  damdku,  damiu  and  dumku  in  Assyrian. 
Shanga  was  however  applied  to  the  date-palm  by  the  Tre-Semites,  as 
shown  by  the  fact  that  such  readings  was  applied  to  this  symbol  when 
prefixed  with  the  determinative  gish  of  trees^^^  The  auspicious  tree 
was  indeed  a  proper  appellative  for  a  tree  which  was  so  valuable  for  the 
population  of  the  country. 

22.  The  oldest  form  known  of  this  symbol  is  not  primitive  like  that  of 
Mu^22_  5uf  a  complexly 3  apparently  of  two  signs;  as  they  are  rather 
fused  together,  we  may  not  venture  to  mention  them  otherwise  than  as  a 
suggesti<in.  They  are  placed  one  above  the  other.  The  upper  one  seems 
to  be  an  old  form  of  ^^  sa'^^  which  is  a  frequent  initial  symbol  of 
complex  ideograms  for  names  of  trees,  parts  of  trees  and  the  like'^*. 
The  Sun^erian  value  sa  is  explained  by  the  words  kurnu  and  shetu^^-^  ; 
tlic  first  appears  in  the  Sunierian  term  kurnu  gi,  i.e.  the  land  of  no  re- 
turn, where  gi=\a,nd,  in  Assyrian  irsit  Id  tdrat^^''  ;  the  second  has  been 
shown  to  be  connected  with  Hebrew  shed,  idol  and  the  Syriac  shidd, 
denion^-^.  The  second  and  lower  symbol  of  this  oldest  form  is^-^ 
^•^  GAu,  orTU(!H^3u  wliicli  mean  breast,  to  split,  to  deliver,  half, 
with  the  former  and  to  show  with  the  latter  sound,  but  gab  was  certainly' 


THE   CuSMlG    TREE.  229 

that  in  view  when  the  coiupiex  ideogram  wiis  framed.  Now  let  us  re- 
mark thai  this  sound  was  also  a  Semitic  reading  for  this  symbol,  and 
that  the  Ass^'rian  word  gab  means  to  speak,  word,  promise^^^  lic. 
Sa  -|-  oa,  the  latter  suggested  by  gab,  weie  therefore  the  plionetic  indica- 
tion of  the  aforesaid  readings  shanga  or  shag  for  the  wiiole^^-.  We  must 
take  this  apparently  as  another  instance  of  the  system  of  approximative 
renderings  in  phono-ideograms  which  we  are  accustomed  with  in  the 
ideographic  writing  of  the  Chinese.  The  identity  of  the  Su.iierian  and 
Chinese  processes  which  has  been  already  pointed  out  in  several  of  my 
works,  is  the  regular  outcome  of  the  derivation  of  the  early  Chinese  writ 
ing  from   the  xYrchaic  Babylonian. 

2o.  A  singular  resemblance  witli  China  calls  here  our  attention.  It 
occurs  witli  the  names  of  the  calendar  plant  in  China  Lik-kep  and 
Mik-kep   described  in  our  former  paper  or  the  subject,  fpart  **). 

The  sounds  of  the  two  component  parts  of  the  ideogram  shanga,  we 
have  just  examined,  present  the  affinities  in  question.  The  first  sa  has 
among  other  Assyro-Babylonian  readings  those  of  rihsa.  and  markasu^^'' ^ 
bond  or  lien,  and  the  second  whose  old  forms  are  much  like  a  repre- 
sentation of  shrubs ^^*  \s  gab  or  kap.  Now  folk  etymology  in  its  happy- 
go-lucky  ignorance  among  the  less-cultured  populations  of  the  eastern 
part  of  the  country,  seems  to  have  made  light  of  the  reasons,  undoubtedly 
strong,  which  caused  the  scribes  to  read  shanga  or  kishimmaru  the  com- 
plex ideogram  formed  with  tlie  twu  symbols  aforesaid.  Markasu-kap 
and  Riksu-Rap,  shortened  by  the  simple  dropping  of  the  final  syllable 
su  of  the  first  word,  make  Murk-k  'p,  and  Rik-kap,  and  were  so,  most 
probably  the  antecedents  of  the  terms  learned  by  the  bak  families  civilisers 
of  the  Cliinese,  which  we  have  found  as  Mlk-kep  and  Lik-kep  anci- 
ently in  the  Flowery  land,  with  the  unexplained  meaning  of  Auspicious 
or  felicitous  plant.  As  we  have  hadbefore  several  occasions  to  ascertain 
tliat  the  Chaldaso-Elamite  civilisation  was  learned  by  the  civilisers  of  the 
Chinese  from  popular  intercourse  and  not  from  scientific  -teaching,  the 
present  case  cannot  be  a  coincidence,  considering  the  large  number  of 
proofs  of  various  kinds  which  has  established  the  historical  fact  of  a  con- 
siderable loan  of  culture  from  Babylonia  and  i'^lani  in  tlie  early  Chinese 
civilisation. 

24.  Let  us  return  to  the  word  shavga.  Its  meaning  has  tlius  l)een  made 
pretty  clear  in  the  sense  of   Auspicious  or  good  omen  whieh  we  had 


230  THE    CALENDAR    PLANT. 

seen  before,  and  its  application  to  the  valuable  date-palm,  the  most  use- 
ful tree  of  the  land,  shows  that  its  importance  was  fully  appreciated  by 
the  scribes'^  ^^. 

Tlie  palm-tree  seems  to  have  always  been  the  object  of  a  special  cult  in 
S.W.  Asia.  Its  sacred  character  among  the  Assyro-Babylonians  is  plainly 
^hown  by  the  name  we  have  just  seen  given  to  it.  And  the  fact  that  we 
have  been  able  to  show  three  names  for  it,  a  primitive  symbol  Mu  or 
Zikaru,  besides  the  qualitive  term  shanga  or  Gishimmar,  and  another 
word  7nusukkun  for  palm-tree  in  general,  is  significant  with  regard  to  the 
great  value  attached  to  it  by  the  founders  of  the  Chaldajo-Babylonian 
civilisation. 

The  Phoenicians  appear  to  have  worshipped  it  to  a  certain  extent^  3^, 
but  it  is  chiefly  in  St-uthern  Arabia  that  its  cult  was  the  most  deeply 
established.     It  lasted  until  the  time  of  Muhammed^  ^'. 

Notes 

115)  Cf.  supra,  par.  15. 

116)  Theo.  G.  Pinches,  Sign-List,  No.  24g. — P.  Jensen,  Ztschriftf., 
Keilschriftf.,  t.  II,  p.  -5.—B.  ^  0.  R.,  vol.  IV.  p.  118. 

117)  A.  H.  Sayce,  Assyrian  Gramniar,  No.  319. — Fr.  Lenormant,  Glos- 
saire  Assyrien,  No.  232. 

118)  Ztschrft.f.  Keilschriftf.,   I,  p.  55. 

119)  R.  Brunnow,  Class.  List,  No.  7284,  sq. 

120)  On  a  statue  of  Urba'u,  col.  5,  1.  9  :  Records  of  the  Past,  N.  S., 
vol.  I,  p.  77;  on  Gudea's  statue  D,  col.  3,  1.  14:  ibid.  vol.  II,  p.  91;  on 
statue  E,  col.  1,1.-:  ibid.  p.  92;  on  statue  H,  col.  1,  1.  2:  ih  d.  p.  103. 

121)  R.  Brunnow,  Class.  List,  No.  7285. 

122)  Supra,  par.  15,  16. 

123)  Amiaud-Mechineau,  Tableau  compare.  No.  278. 

124)  Amiaud,  0.  C,  No.  128. 

125)  R.  Brunnow,  Class.  TJst,  sign.  Gitu,  Sagitd,  No.  3068.  It  occurs 
in  twenty  such  cases. 

126)  R.  Brunnow,  Class.  List,  Nos.  3070,  3077,  3083. 

127)  W.  A.  /.,  II,  32,  19:  48,  7  //  IV,  31,  la  ;  P.  Jensen,  Ae  KoSmo- 
logie  der  Babylonier,  pp.  218,  232. 

128)  F.  Hommel,  Semit.  Volk.,  p.  368. 

129)  Cf.  the  oldest  form  in  Amiaud  et  Mechineau,  Tableau  compare',  No.  45. 

130)  R.  Brunnow,  Class.  List,  Nos.  4469-4492. 

131 )  G.  Schrader,  Assyr.-Babyl.  Keilinschr.  p.  186;  J.  Menant,  Grammaire 
Assyrienne,  p.  171,  205;  J.  Oppert  and  J.  Menant,  Documents  jundiques, 
p.  47;  E.  de  Chossat,  Repertoire  Assyrien,  p.  79. 

132)  It  is  not  uninteresting  to  remark  that,  although  the  word  intended 
to  be  suggested  phonetically  is  Altaic,  the  script-play  was  made  by 
Semites. 

133)  Brunnow,  Class.  List.  Nos.  3080-3082. 

134)  Amiaud,  Tableau,  No.  45. 


THE    YEMISSKI    INSCRIPTIONS.  231 

135)  On  the  great  usefulness  of  the  date  palm  tree,  cf.  E.  Bonavia,  The 
sacred  trees  of  the  Assi/rian  monument :s  B.  &  0.  R.,  Ill,  9  and  59. 

136)  W.   Baudissin,    Studien   zur  Semiti  schen   Religionsgeschichte,  t.  II, 
p.  201  sq.,  211  sq. 

137)  Caussin   de   Perceval,   Histoire   des   Arabes  avant  Vislamisme,   t    I 
p.  125,  236;  Osiander.  Ztschrft.  d.   D.  M.  G.,  t.  VII,  p.  481;  Krehl'. 
Ueher  die  Religion  der  vor-islamischen    Amber,   p.   73   sq.;   Dozy,  Dit 
Israeliten  zuMekka,  p.  19;  Fresnel:  Journal  Asiatlque,  Jan.-Fev.  1871, 
p.  51  sq.;  Fr.  Lenonnant,  Origiues  de  Vhistoire,  t.  I,  p.  82. 

Terrien  de   Lacoui'kkii:. 

{To  be  continued). 


THE   7ENISSEI  INSCRIPIONS.—Fakt  I. 

I. 

The  Archjeological  Society  of  Finland  may  well  be  congratulated  upon 
the  admirable  manner  in  which  they  have  published  the  very  interesting 
Yenissei  Inscriptions^,  32  in  number  and  written  in  a  script  and  langu- 
age as  yet  undeciphered  and  untranslated.  The  work  consists  of  a  pre- 
face by  Professor  Aspelin,  an  account  of  the  finds  and  of  some  formei' 
speculations  on  the  characters,  of  copies  of  the  32  Inscriptions  together 
with  certain  signs  used  by  the  writers,  of  a  list  of  the  forms  employed, 
and  of  some  excellent  photographs  of  various  Inscriptions,  and  is  further 
enriched  with  15  engravings.  At  the  instance  of  Professor  Stevens  of 
Cheapinghaven  I  have  made  some  examination  of  this  mysterious  writing, 
and  have  in  consequence  arrived  at  certain  conclusions  whicli  I  have 
briefly  indicated  elsewhere^  ;  and  in  the  present  article  I  propose  to  oil'cr 
a  few  observations  on  the  script,  avoiding  for  the  sake  of  brevity  a  more 
comprehensive  discussion  of  the  subject,  which  is  many-sided  and  as 
difficult  as  it  is  interesting. 

The  first  letter  in  Prof.  Aspelin's   list  is  ^,  which  also  appears  in  tin 

variants ^,  >^,  and  ^C;  ^,  ^^  ^.  and  ^  are  also  simpler  forms  of  \\\r 
same  character,  and  in  these  one  half  of  the  X  has  been  omitted,  'i'hi?- 
letter  is,  T  think  clearly  derived  from  the  (inthic  Rune  othil,  ^,  o,  cb,  from 


232  THE    YENISSEI    INSCRIPTIONS. 

which  it  differs  only  by  the  lengthening  of  the  A  over  the  X-  The 
form  ^,  ^  (="))  in  Ulphilas,  is  derived,  as  Canon  Isaac  Taylor  has 
shown',  from  the  Thrakian  12  (w)  ;  so  that  we  have  H — ft—^,  Thrak- 
ian — Gothic — Yenisseian.  Next,  remembering  that  the  Uigur  and 
Mongol  alphabets  are'  derived  from  the  Syriac,  and,  like  their  prototype, 
contain  variant  initial,  medial,  and  final  forms  of  the  same  letter,  we 
notice  from  the  Inscriptions  that  the  Gothic  Rune  0,  which  is  not  found 
\n  the  Scandinavian  rune-forms,  has  been  adapted  to  this  peculiarity  ; 
and  that  ^  is  used  as  an  initial,  >^  as  a  medial  and  final  form,  e.g.. 
^X^  B^  (Ins.  iii.  1.  2  ;  xii.  4,  etc.  r The  script  is  read  from  right  to 
left  . 

Here  ^  is  the  Gothic  Rune  here,  ^,  b,  and  X  is  the  Gothic  Rune 
gebo,  X  ,  g  ',  so  that  the  word  in  question  is  oebcegoe,  or,  in  Mong.  which 
as  no  ce  diphthong,  abaga,  'grandfather,'  '  ancestor.'  If,  therefore,  the 
oregoing  suggestions  are  correct,  we  obtain  from  this  example  alone  the 
ource  whence  at  all  events  an  important  part  ot  the  Yenissei  script  is 
derived  :  namely,  the  Gothic  (not  the  Scandinavian)  Runes.  That  a 
form  of  writing  used  by  the  Goths  of  the  Borysthenes  (Dnieper)  Valley 
should,  in  the  course  of  some  centuries,  have  penetrated  as  far  north 
eastwards  as  Yenisseisk  is  natural  enough  ;  and  it  is  equally  natural  that 
the  language  of  Yenissei  Inscriptions  should  be  either  Turko-Tatar, 
Mongol,  or  some  other  Turanian  dialect  or  dialects .  Strahlenberg  re- 
marks that  many  'characters,'  which  he  defines  as  "such  a  kind  of 
writing  which  no  one  can  understand  but  he  that  hath  the  key  to  it," 
"  are  to  be  found  in  Siberia  and  Tartary,  upon  rooks  and  stones,  either 
carved  or  painted,"  some  of  which  "  either  are  burnt  in,  or  written  with  a 
red  indelible  colour,''  and  specimens  of  these  '  characters '  "  were  found 
in  the  further  part  of  Siberia,  between  the  cities  of  Crasnoyahr  and  Aba- 
kan, uj)on  the  Eocks  which  are  on  the  Banks  of  the  Elver  Jenisei^.^' 
"  This  was  a  famous  place  belonging  to  the  Mongols^  ;"  and  to  make 
such  Inscriptions  "  was  a  general  custom  with  Tamerlane,  whose  officer's 
engraved  characters  higher  in  the  north  than  the  Irtish^."  "  Although 
many  of  the  Inscriptions  in  Siberia  are  known  not  to  be  very  ancient,  no 
one  has  been  able  to  decipher  them.  This  was  probably  a  custom  adopted 
in  the  north  of  Asia,  to  designate  a  country  of  which  possession  was 
taken'."  and  may  be  compared  with  the  practice  of  the  Hittites  and  others. 
If,  then,  the  Inscriptions,  or  most  of  them,  are  Mongol,  they  cannot 
well  be  placed  prior  to  the  Xlllth  century,  the  era  of  Mongol  great- 
ness under  Djingghiz  and  his  immediate  successors. 


THE     YENISSEI    INSCRIPTIONS.  233 

II. 

The  fact  that  the  Yenissei  Inscriptions,  unlike  the  Gothic,  read  from 
right  to  left,  points  to  the  inference  that  the  inscribers  were  already  ac- 
quainted with  a  similar  system  of  writing,  e.g.,  the  Syriac  (in  a  derived 
form)  ;  and  just  as  the  Mongghds  adopted  the  Estranghelo-Nestorian 
script  with  a  difference,  i.e.,  they  changed  the  horizontal  lines  to  perpen- 
dicular, so  in  this  adoption  of  the  Gothic  script,  a  difference  has  been 
introduced,  i.f.,  many  letters  are  indifferently  used  both  in  an  original 
and  in  a  reversed  form,  e.g.,^  =  ^,  Si  =  ff ^  ^=^'^=^^  (Ins.  xii.  2 
withxiv.  1),  /\=  V,  <=-•>,  0=0'  d  =  '^'  C=3'  C'=0'  f=^, 
fi—  X,  ^=f,  />=«•,  r  (at  thm>s)=1  (Ins.  viii.  3  with  x.  1) 
K=W'     J^=%^    !=/>    "1  =  ^,  (Ins.   viii.   3    with  xii.  4),    1,.=,*,, 

X<-)Y  Ki=n  o=^,  (=3,  ^-=1  ?)  =  ((<  1=^,  l=i,  t=4,, 
Y=A,  Y=Y,  I'*  =%  T=X'  ^^^^  S=M- 

',•  and  I'j  are  least- effort  variants  of  }^  and  J^  (cf.  Ins,  i.l  with  xii.  1), 

t,    4, 1   =the  Runic  t,1,^. 

[*  =  the   Runic    j|^,  I,  at  times   J,  by  reversal  (cf.  Ins.   i.  2  with  v.  1; 
ix.  2  with  xiv.  1). 
{    =  the  Runic  |    i. 

|j,   J^  ^  the   Gothic   Runic,   non-Scandinavian   "1,    f*,  which    has   the 
values  i,  ih,  eo. 

/\,   \/=the  Runic    /\,   u. 
^  ,   ^  =the  Runic  ^,c,  k. 

0,  (J  —  the  Runic    t\,   K  which  has  the  value  e,  but  must  have  an- 
other value  in  Mong. 

H-   H=tl^6  Runic   H)  ^' 
A=the   Runic  ^,  a,  ce. 

^=the  Gothic  Runic  ^,  s.     The  Scan.  Rune-form  for  s  is  ^.     So  far 
we  have  obtained  13  characters  obviously  Runic  in  origin. 

Word-examination  shows  that  certain  signs  are  used  more  or  less  inter- 
changeably, as  having  the  same  or  a  slightly  different  value.     Thus  : — 
/\=Y=Y  (I^"^-  ^'  1;  ii-  ^  with  x.'.3).    But  /\=h;  therefore  T' X 
3C  (the  same  form  doubled),^  (the  same  form  with  the  .top  reversed),  y 
and  A  (cf,  the  Thrakian  y,  «)  =«,  ou,  &c. 

^=*f  (Ins.  iii.  6;  xii.  2,  with  xviii.  4).  Prof.  Aspelin  groups  4|'  rf '  ^ 
and  i  as  variants;  ^  is  a  Runic  w^-variant^  and  Olaus  Wormius  gives 
^  as  a  Runic  /j-variant^.     Respecting  these  characters  I  will  merely  here 


234  THE    YENISSEl    INSCRIPTIONS. 

remark  that  such  a  peculiar  Sign  as  (f*,  thus  common  to  the  Runes  and 
and  to  the  Yenisei  script,  is  in  all  probability  derived  from  the  former, 
and  neither  of  independant  origin,  nor  elsewhere  obtained  by  the  Ye- 
nissei  writers. 

^  =^  (Ins.  iii.  1,  4  with  xiv.  2,  xviii.  1). 

1^=  A  (Ins.  vii.  1  with  xii.  1,  xviii.  2).  Various  forms  are  doubled, 
a  process  probably  connected  with  emxihasis.  Thus  /\  reappears  as  ^,   ^ 

as  we  have  seen,  /\  and  A  each  =u;  therefore  ^  and  ^=  u,  ou. 

T  ='^  (Ins.  i.  2  with  v.  1).  This  is  in  accordance  with  the  previous 
equivtious. 

f/=  ^     (Ins.  xxxii.  4  with  5), 
^  =  y  (Ins.  viii.  3  with  x.  I). 
fi  =^    (Ins.  i.  2  with  v.  1) . 
'  ^  =/J  Ins.  xviii.  ]  with  6). 

The  special  Mong.  interpunction  forms  ^,  %;&,  and  *l*  occur  in  the  In- 
scriptions. Words  are  sometimes  undivided;  The  interpunction  form 
(.)  and  (:)  are  also  used,  as 'n  Etruscan.  The  Inscriptions  are  alpha- 
betic, not  syllabic,  and   are  not  written  Bovajpocjujcov. 

III. 

Ins.  xxxii  consists  of  5  short  lines,  2  of  which  only  contain  one  word 
each,  and  is  written  in  connexion  with  "  scenes  de  chasse,  scenes  d'anim- 
aux  "  on  a  rock  at  Karaious,  Souliek.  It  is  not  continuous,  but  is  com- 
posed of  distinct  descriptive  statements.  The  first  scene  represents  a 
bowman  on  horseback  at  full  gallop  in  pursuit  of  soine  animal  ofthe  deer 
kind.  In  the  now  extinct  Arintzi  dialect  which,  as  I  have  shown^^,  bears 
such  an  extraordinary  resemblance  to  Etruscan,  and  some  words  of  which 
have  fortunately  been  preserved  by  Strahlenberg,  'elk'  is  okaeschi.  The 
Inscription  reads  ;  - 

Linel.     J'dHK^  1^ 
t-X^s-h-  e  -  a  -k  -0 

Line  4.     iOHK  1i>^ 
elk 

Line  5.     I(J  -    1  )  1  >^ 

*"X*'  ~     e  -a  -k-  0 
i.  e.,  okaeschi,  the  form  given  by  Strahlenberg  to  a  letter. 


THE  YENISSEI    INSCRIPTIONS.  235 

<f^  the  initial,  ^  the  non-initial  form. 

^  =  1^,  the  Rune-form  k.  /.-.  I  think  tliat  1'  ='N  (cf.  Ins.  viii.  3  with 
X.   1). 

^,  H-  /and  i  have  ab-eady  been  referred  to.  It  will  be  observed  that 
the  passage  absolutely  confirms  the  powers  attributed  to  them.  J*,  ar^  of 
course,  =  /  (Vide  sup.). 

^  thus  =f ,  =  v^.  This  ft  appears  t<.  be  the  Gothic  Rune  A/,  y;  \/ 
reminds  us  of  the  Anglian  Rune-form  |^.  r^  simplified.  The  equation  is 
thus  (V  :=  y. 

(J,  th  in  Irolhic,  will  thus  be  sx  in  tlic  North  Asian  dialects. 

^=>^,  as  noticed,! 

^  we  observe  must  have  the  value  a;  at  present  I  can  only  remark  that 
«i  is  the  Indo-Bactrian  a;  >l^  a  Kypriote  form  of  a;  and  )  the  Lykian  u. 

Whether  these  combinations  in  connection  with  the  drawing,  and  viewed 
m  the  light  of  the  previous  evidence  can  be  accidental,  or  whether  the 
rendering  here  given  is  the  true  one,  the  reader  will  judge. 

The  second  scene  in  the   Inscription   represents  the  Bactrian  camels, 
animals  "of  which  two  are  their  backs,"  as  an  Assyrian  scribe  puts  it, 
8ta:iding  opposite  each  other,  and  apparently  about  to  fight.     The  two 
humps  are  very  clearly  shown,  and  the  Inscription  reads.— 
Line  2.-I    H   ','    r   O    n  O  H    I     h 
z-l-m-t-o-m-u-k-i-k 
two  -  camels  -  humped   -    two 
=;  "  a  couple  of  two-humped  camels." 

^=1^,  the  Rune-form  Ic.  So  the  Anglian  ^  =the  Scandinavian  j', 
k.  Ki — '  2';  so  the  Yen.  ki-na,  Arintzi  hi-n^Q,  and  Etruscan  ci-ne,  ci, 
'  2.'     Cf.  the  Zyrianian  kl,   "  the  hand." 

j^.  A  considerable  amount  of  evidence  tends  to  show  that 
this  character  has  a  k,  q,  or  ^-  sound.  Professor  Aspelin 
places  the  forms  f^  and  y^  together,  and  the  former,  it  may  be 
remarked,  is  all  but  absolutely  identical  with  the  Bactrian  k  ;  but,  from 
a  comparison  of  Ins.  iii,  1  with  V.  1,  it  is  more  than  probable  that  ^  = 
y  {k,  q),  and  this  is  confirmed  by  the  present  passage,  the  first  and 
last  words  in  which  are  almost  certainly  identical.  Throughout  tl>« 
Inscriptions  variant  forms,  and,  in  some  cases,  different  spellings  occur 
nmch  "  according  to  the  taste  of  fancy  "  of  the  inscriber  ;  for  we  cannot 
reasonably  expect  to  find  in  such  records  either  high  art  or  great  con- 
sistency, though  an  apparent  inconsistency  might  in  some  cases  disappear 


236  THE    YENISSEI    INSCRIPTIONS. 

in  the  light  of  more  accurate  knowledge.  But  further  :  Canon  Isaac 
Taylor  observes,  "  about  the  7th  century  a.d.  the  c  rune  ^  was  supplanted 
in  Scandinavia  by  the  rune  \^ ,  can,  ken,  chen,  chon,  qhon,  and  had  the 
power  of  c,  k,  and  q^^,"  f\  is  merely  p  reversed,  nor  do  we  know  that 
the  form  p  was  confined  to  Scandinavia^^. 

Q.  This  character  is  certainly  o.  cf.  the  Thrakian  n,  O  {o,  w)  ;  Qand 
O  are  also  Italic  o-forms^*,  and  an  open  form  of  0  appears  in  the 
Kaunian  text  of  Kryassos'*. 

n  .  A  simplified  form  of  the  Gothic  Runic  and  non-Scan.  (>^,  m. 
OnO/^.  X*o/no,  represents  a  widely-spread  and  interesting  Turanian  word; — 
Akkadian  gam,  "to  circle,"  Gam-gam,  "the  Circler,"  i.e.,  the  ostrich^^  ; 
Uigur  hom-ar,  '  amulet,'  i.e.,  that  which  is  round  ;  Tchagatai  kom, 
"  camel's  hump  "  (the  word  in  question),  kombul,  '  knob,'  etc.  As  m- 
final  at  times  changes  to  n  (e.g.,  ^om-kun),  and  n  into  r^'',  the  Ak.  gam, 
and  Turko-Tataric  kom,  komb,  reappear  in  the  Lapponic  j'o-r-ba.  '  rotun- 
dus,'  and  the  Magyar  gor-he,  '  carvus^^ ' ;  and  so  we  find  the  Magyar 
gomb,  "  a  sphere,"  the  Zyrianian  (jror-byltny,  '  bent,'  etc.  etc.^^  As  of 
course,  the  use  of  the  Yenissei  script  is  by  no  means  absolutely  confined 
to  the  ^longolian  language. 

^.   r.  As  noticed,   f*  at  times  =  "I  . 

•|'.  M.  As  I  liave  noticed  elsewhere,  forms  similar  to  those  occurring  in 
what  Prof.  Sayce  styles  the  '  Asianic '  system  of  writing,  appear  in  the 
Yenissei  script  to  a  considerable  extent,  e.h.,  the  Kypriote  forms  for  e' 
u,  ko,  ta,  pi,  re,  ru,  ma,  je,ji,  va,  and  to.  The  Yenissei  variants  */,  j',, 
,M'  )^6M-  )^'  fin^i  parallels  in  the  Kypriote  (Asianic)  y(,)^{,va,  y(,ma, 
etc.  They  do  not  appear  to  be  either  Eunic  or  Indo-Bactrian.  )l(is 
the  Asianic  r^,  y(=zma  in  Kappadokian.  It  wiU  be  remembered  that 
even  certain  Greek  letters,  0,  ■^,  vp,  and  sampi  are  non-Phoenician  and 
Asianic.  The  connexion  between  m,  v,  and  w  is  familiar  ;  in  Assyrian 
and  Akkadian  they  are  almost  equivalents,  and.  again,  in  Etruscan  m  at 
;times=2'20.  Such  study  as  I  have  given  to  the  Yenissei  Inscriptions 
satisfies  me  that  ','  and  its  variants  have  an  m-sound.  jThe  abbreviated 
i^ord  tm^=.t  (e)  m  (w)   or  themce,  which   Strahlenberg  gives  as  Mong.  for 

■^  camel,'  the  modern  Monj?.      lb 

IH,  h-='2.' 
The  numeral  KI.     This  interesting  word  ki,  ci,  xh  is  capable  of  further 
illustration  from  the  Inscriptions.     We  find  the  forms  ; — 


THE    YENISSEI    INSCRIPTIONS.  237 

T  r^^:  J'H    a^s.  i.  1). 

u-  1  -e  -a  :    ?  -  x 

-'^4  1'^    (Ins.  V.  1). 
u-l-e -a 

"V  r   ©  (       (Ins.  xvii.  8) 
e-l  -  0-  a 

^  is  the  Thrakian  ^  (6),  tlie  Gr jtliic  Runic   p(,p).  ^  =:^-f  (Vub  .</</).)  ^ 

O,  0'  ©'  O,  O,  art'  variant,  forms  of  o.  O=o  in  the  alphabet  of  Halikar- 
nassos,  and  in  an  alphabet  found  at  Cfere  in  Ebruria.  0=o  in  an  alpha- 
bet of  Nola. 

j  =  ^=rt.     (Vide  sup.) 

The  Yen,  x«-«e^«*=the  Tchagatai  i-ke-ole,  "  tons  les  deux,"  '  both,'  i-ki 
meaning  {2)  and  ike o  "the  pair."  The  Tchagatai  numerals  closely  re- 
semble the  Mong.  numerals^i,  and  the  Tcha.  «^eo;e=the  Mong.  xueghole, 
'  both.'  On  Yen.  form  is  aole,  and  ahke  in  Yenissei,  Mongolian* 
Axintzi,  and  Etruscan  the  initial  i  has  been  dropped,  whilst  it  appears  in 
the  Yakute   ikki  and  the  OsmanH  iki,   '2.' 

In  further  illustration  I  add  an  Etruscan  example  of  the  use  of  ci  '  2." 
Aleenas  -  V.  V.   Oelu  :      zila9  .  parxis     zilaO 

Alethnas  V.  V.  Thelu,  an-Asylas22  (and)  thc-desoendant  of-an-A.syla^ 
eterai^     .     CT     .     Acnanasa       vlssi         Gelusa     .     ril 
(and  my)  children    2        of- Acnanasa  my-consort,  Celusa       aged 
XXAIIII  Papalser  ^jZS 

29         (and)     Papalser  (aged )  6, 


NOTES. 

(1)  Inscriptions  de  VIe'nissei  (Helsingfors,  1889).  (2).  Vide  R.  B., 
Jr.,  in  The  Academy,  1^'90,  Feb  8.  p.  103  ;  March  22,  pps.  208-9. 
June  28,  p.  448.  (3),  Greeks  and  Goths, ^^A-b.  (4).  Description  of  Siberia. 
Eng.  Trans.  1738,  p.  347.  (5).  Ranking,  Wars  and  Sports  of  the 
Mongols,  216.  (G).  Ibid.  209,  214.  (7).  Ranking.  Historical  Re- 
searches on  the  Conquest  of  Peru,  etc.  217,  The  Author's  theory  that 
the  Mongols  made  extensive  conquests  in  America  in.  the  XHIth 
century   is,  of  course,    merely  amusing.      (8).      Vide  Stephens,    Runic 


238  A    BUDDHIST  REPERTOKY. 

Monuments,  149.  (9).  Runir  sen  Danica  Literatura  Antiguissima, 
1651,  p.  60.  (10).  R.  B.  Jr.,  The  Etruscan  Numerals.  (In  the  Arch- 
ceoloffical  Review,  July,  1889).  (H).  The  dot  indicates  that  the  letter 
is  considered  by  the  Authors  of  tlie  Ins.  de.  VIenlssei  to  be  doubtful. 
I  entertain  no  doubt  of  tlie  correctness  of  this  Inscription.  (12  J.  Greeks 
nnd  Goths,  86.  (18).  I  cannot  further  discuss  here  the  general  question 
of  Rune-progress  eastward.  (14).  Vide  Fabretti,  Primo  Supplemento, 
Pt.  ii,  Fas.  i,  pps.  193-4.  (15).  Vide  Sayce,  in  Trans.  Soc.  Bih. 
Archcenl.  ix.  136.  (16).  Vide  in  T.  de  Lacouperio,  Early  History  of 
the  Chinese  civilisation,  1880;  comparing  the  Ak.  gam  and  Old  Chinese 
.gam,  ''curved."  (17).  Vide  Schott,  Das  zahlwort  in  der  tschudischen 
sprachendasse  etc.  20  ;  R.  B.  Jr.,  The  Etruscan  Numerals,  28.  (18). 
Vide  Budenz,  Magyar-Vgor  Oss.  Szotdr,  61.  (19).  Vide  R.  B.  Jr., 
Remarks  on,  the  Tablet  of  the  Thirty  Stars  (In  Proc.  Soc.  Bib.  Archceol. 
Feb.  1890).  (20).  Vide  Mliller-Deecke,  Die  Etrusker,  ii.  425.  (21), 
Vide  Vamb^ry,  Cdqataische  Sprachstudien,  16-17.  (22).  Vide  Vergil. 
^n.  X.  175-7;  R.  B.  Jr.,  in  The  Academy,  May  4,  1889,  p.  308.  (23). 
Fabretti,  Terzo  Supj)lemento,  No.  327.  p.  125. 

Robert  Brown,  Jun. 


A  BUDDHIST  REPERTORY 
IN  SANCSRIT,  TIBETAN,  MANDCHU,  MONGOL  &  CHINESE. 

(^Continued  from  p.  216). 

Section    XXXIV    {cont.) 

6.  Varum.  Region  of  Varuna,  god  of  waters.  T.  c'm  Iha, — M.  Mg. 
Ch.  of  the  genius  of  water,  of  the  Ocean  (W). 

7.  Ydmyd.  Region  of  Yama,  king  of  hell.  T.  ggin  r;e,  of  the  king  of 
the  dead. — M.  il-mun  han.  Mg.  Erlik,  id. — Ch.  Ya-mo  (trans- 
cribed).    (S). 

8.  Kduverl^.  Region  of  Kuvera,  god  of  earthly  treasures.  T,  Lus  nan, 
region  of  the  miserable  body.  M.  yakca,  of  the  Yakshas,  (genii  who 
help  Kuvera  to  guard  the  treasures).  Ch.  ya-ca  id, — M.  region  of 
the  bad  and  small.     (N). 


A     BUDDHIST      REPERTORY.  239 

3)  Kduveri. — The  T.  is  taken  from  the  etymology  of  Kuvera  =  'evil 
body,'  which  had  caused  him  to  be  represented  in  India  as  deformed,  with 
three  le^'S  and  oiglit  teeth. 


Section  XXXVI. 

Dge-hn  dan  res  ha.      Moyons   of   Happy    Augury. — M.     TTdtnh  fcksen.—, 
Ch.  Fuh-teh  kih  tsiang,  H.ij.py  Augury  producing  welfare  or  riches. 

1.  A(;iri-dda.     Words    of  blessing,    good    wishes.     T.   (^es-par   hzjon  pa 
words  of  goud  wishes. — M.  wishes  of  happiness. — Ch.  good  words. 

2.  Agishaa.  Prayers  of  blessing. — T.  legs  susnom  pa,  prayer  of  desire 
for  happiness. — M.  id. — Ch.  ample  wishes. 

3.  Vandavddt.  Speaking  with  praise.  T.  bsnags  smarba,  eulogistic  word. 
M.  Mg.  Ch.  id.  (M.  varnavddi). 

4.  Cn.  Prosperity.  T.  dhah  gijan.  M.  prosperity,  favour,  (pv,  the 
goddess  of  prosperity  among  the  Brahmans,  has  been  introduced  as 
such  into  the  Buddhist  pantheon.) 

5.  Mangnlain,  Good  omen,  augury  of  felicity;  good  wish  or  prayer  for 
happiness.  T.  hicra  ^-/.s  paJu  Has,  propitious  omen.  ]\I.  another  sign  of 
prosperity,  Ch.  (The  Mangalya-lakshanas,  or  happy  marks,  indicated 
the  destiny  of  Cakyamuni). 

6.  Kuruhaiam  [road  Kut'thdJarn]  prodigy,  marvel  of  good  omen.  M.  id. 
T.  dge  mts''am  nam  Had  m.^,  happy  sign,  heavenly  prodigy. 

7.  Pragasta.  Praised,  encouraged,  happy.  T.  dges-cig,  felicity.  M.  may 
prosperity  be  confirmed.    Ch.  to  augment  prosperity. 

8.  Svasti.  Happiness,  prosperity,  good  fortune.  T.  bde  legs  sma  dge, 
well-being,  prosperity.  M.  place,  good,  prosperity.  [Employed  cither 
as  a  common  noun  or  as  an  exclamation:  '  Happiness  to  so-and-so  !' 
e.  g.  Svasti  to  us,  o  Sudra  ! "  R.  V.  I,  89,  5.] 

9.  Svastydfjanam.  Happy  life,  wish  of  prosperity.  T.  bde  legs-su  g//ur 
pa,  arriving  at  well-being.  M.  may  it  turn  out  well,  at  peace.  Ch. 
peace,  joy.     (Simple  common  noun). 

10.  Qughfiam  [read  SuUiam^  welfare.  T.  legs-ba,  id.  [Perhaps  also 
^ubham.  happy,  favourable.     M,  gldghija^, 

11.  Kupalam  [read  Kugalam']  healthy,  haj)pv.  T.  mlchas  pa.  M.  Ch. 
wise,  Ku^ala  is  all  that  is  exempt  from  physical  or  moral  evil  or  blame, 
and  that  procures  merit  or  reward]. 

12.  Vashatf     [Another  exclamatory  term,  already  used  in  the  Rig  Veda 


240  A    BUDDHIST    REPERTORY.'* 

at  the  moment  of  casting  the  offerings  into  ihe  fire.  According  to  the 
translations,  the  idea  attached  to  it  was  of  a  wish  of  prolongation  of 
happiness.  "Vashat  to  thee!"  was  the  phrase.  The  Buddhistg 
employ  it  also  in  their  invocations.  It  is  a  3rd  pers.  sing.  Subjunctive 
of  a  lost  verb,  perhaps  related  to  valcsli] .  T.  gz^i  mi  grib  pa.  State  or 
situation  which  does  not  diminish  or  gi'ow  less.  M.  state  not  dimi- 
nished.    Ch.  perpetuity  without  diminution. 

13.  Om!  Exclamation  of  respect.  T.  rab-snags,  magic  formula.  M. 
profound  veneration,  praise  !    Mg.  id.  Ch.  perfectly  beautiful,  admirable. 

14.  Svdhdf  happiness  (to  N.)  T.  gzH  isw/icf,  foundation,  sure  or  well- 
established  position.  M.  ]\Ig.  id,  Ch.  Kieh  wen.  [An  indeclinable 
word,  constitutmg  a  formula  of  good  wishes,  and  employed  in  the  Vedas 
at  offerings,  .eg.  "Drink,  6  Sudra,,of  this  juice,  Svdhd  !  May  it  bring 
thee  weKare!"  The  Brahmans  employed  it  chiefly  at  the  end  of  sacri~ 
ficial  ceremonies,  and.  the  Buddhists  pronounce  it  at  the  end  of  their 
prayers,  formulas,  and  litanies. 

Among  these  terms  some  are  simple  common  nouns,  others  interjec- 
tional  formula?,  employed  in  direct  address.  They  are  easily  recognisable: 
Svasti  (lit.  'bene  est')  belongs  to  both  categories;  Svdhd  seems  to  signify 
•  bene  dicit.' 

Om  was  probably  at  the  beginning  nothing  more  than  a  simple  respectful 
affirmation  ;  perhaps  a  contraction  of  an  obsolete  or  lost  word,  avam,  a 
demonstrative.  (Compare  also  avas,  satisfaction,  enjoyment,  happiness). 
It  was  employed  in  liturgical  tormulge  before  the  names  of  the  gods  prayed 
to;  hence  the  word  obtained  a  sacred  character,  as  representing  the  divine 
name  and  the  divinity  itself.  Its  absence  of  signification  caused  a  mystic, 
profound,  incomprehensible  sense  to  be  attacked  to  it:  it  was  pronounced 
only  in  a  low  voice  and  with  profound  respect.  Being  made  up  of  three 
letters  (a,  u.  in)  it  was  proclaimed  as  representing  the  supreme  Brahmanic 
trinity,  Brahma,  Civa,  and  Vishnu.  The  Buddhist  adopted  it  as  the 
expression  of  a  sacred  and  mystic  concept,  as  profound  as  incompre- 
hensible. They  employed  it  in  another  magic  formula,  which  is  repeated 
without  being  understood,  as  a  magical  incantation.  Om  mahi:  padme . 
hun ;  and  which  in  reality  refers  to  Brahma, — "  Om  !  the  pearl  in  the 
lotus,  hum  !" — but  which  they  refer  to  Buddha.  Hum/  is  an  interjection 
that  is  taken  in  either  a  good  or  a  bad  sense,  especially  as  a  sign  of 
approbation,  consent,  or  leave-taking.  It  thus  suitably  closes  the  formula. 
Om  is  employed  in  worship  as  an  offering  agreeable  to  Buddha. 

^  C.  DE  Harlez. 

The  End. 

-— f— .  _ 

PRINTED  AND  PUBLISHED  FOB  THE  PROPRIETOR  AT  29  ALBERT  SQUARE  CLAPHAM 
EGAD,  AND  BY    D.  NUTT  FOREIGN    AND    CLASSICAL    BOOKSELLER  27  0  STRAND. 


TBS 

BABYLONIAN  AND  ORIENTAL  RECORD. 

Contributors  are  alone  responsible  for  their  opinions  or  statements. 

SIR  HENRY  PEEK'S   ORIENTAL   CYLINDERS. 

We  can  always  expect,  even  m  a  small  collection  of  Oriental  cylinders, 
to  find  some  new  and  valuable  help  to  elucidate  what  was  before  dark. 
Such  help  I  find  in  the  collection  of  Sir  Henry  Peek,  so  admirably  figured 
and  described  by  Mr.  Pinches  in  his  catalogue  of  them  just  issued.*  His 
descriptions  and  notes  leave  little  to  be  desired,  so  far  as  they  go.  Some 
other  fresh  points  of  interest  I  may  venture  to  suggest. 

The  important  thing  in  figure  1,  to  which  Mr.  Pinches  gives  a  date 
soon  after  ;>000  b.c.  is  that  it  affords  us,  so  far  as  I  know,  the 
earhest  examples  of  what  liad  come,  as  early  as  2  000  b.c,  to  be  the 
usual  conventional  form  of  representing  the  Sun.  On  the  great  Abu- 
habba  bas-relief  we  have  an  unmistakable  and  enlarged  figure  of  the 
Sun,  as  a  circle,  with  four  acute  rays,  the  quadrants  between 
them  occupied  by  waving  lines  indicating  that  the  Sun-god  in 
the  heavens  supplies  the  fertilising  rains.  This  is  the  same  idea, 
only  reduced  to  a  conventional  emblem,  which  we  find  on  the  earliest  cyl- 
inders, some  of  them,  I  believe,  as  early  as  the  archaic  Gisdubar  seals,  ex- 
pressed by  streams  eachside  of  the  seated  Sun-god.  About  the  time  that  the 
seated  Sun-god  lost  the  streams,  and  kept  only  the  vase  out  of  which  they 
originally  flowed,  we  begin  to  find  the  streams  put  into  the  star  emblem 
which  originally,  1  am  inclined  to  think,  designated  the  Sun  and  not  Venn 
Ishtar.  In  figure  13  of  the  Peek  Catalogue,  which  seems  to  be  one  of 
the  latest  and  crudest  of  the  archaic  period  which  preceded  the  fine  hema- 
tites of  2000  B.C.,  we  have  the  seated  Sun-god,  with  the  two  rain-streams 
still  surviving,  and  the  emblem  of  the  Sun  with  rays,  but  without  streams, 


*  "  Babylonian  and  Assyrian  Cylinder-seals  and  Signets  in  the  possession 
of  Sir  Henry  Peck,  Bart."     London :  -ito.,  17  pj).  and  plate. 

Vol.  IV.~No.  11.  [241]  Oct.,  1890. 


242  SIR    HENEY    peek's 

enclosed  in  the  solar  disk.  Tlie  extremely  interesting  representation  of 
this  Sun  in  figure  1  lias  a  small  central  disk,  and  the  pointed  rays  of 
light,  and  the  alternating  and,  in  this  earliest  example,  scarcely  waving 
\Yater  streams  around  it.  It  had  not  yet  occurred  to  the  artist  to  put 
the  disk  r.round  the  rays  and  streams,  much  less  to  enclose  the  sun  in 
the  moon's  crescent,  as  was  always  done  in  the  period  of  later  conven- 
tional art  to  whose  best  specimens  Mr,  Pinches  gives  an  approximate  date 
..f  2000  B.C. 

Anotiier  interesting  and  unusual  point  about  this  same  cylinder  is  that 
it  gives  us  the  buffalo  and  the  bull  on  the  same  seal.  It  is  another  evi- 
dence, I  think,  that  Mr.  Pinches  is  right  in  putting  tliis  'cylinder  rather 
late  in  the  archaic  period.  The  animal  attacked  by  the  left  hand  lion  has 
the  long  corrugated  horns  of  the  bubalus,  retreating  far  back  toward  the 
neck,  while  the  right  hand  lion  has  pushed  down  on  his  haunches  a  bos, 
the  7^eem  as  I  understand  it,  of  the  Hebrews.  The  buffalo  is  an  im- 
mense water  animal,  living  now  in  his  perfection  in  the  marshes  of  lower 
Chaldea,  and  must  have  been  the  most  dangerous  to  attack  of  all  the 
wild  beasts  known  to  the  earliest  inhabitants  of  Southern  Mesopotamia. 
Accordingly  Gisdubar,  when  accompanied  by  Heabani,  fights  the  buffalo, 
and  leaves  the  lion  to  his  companion.  The  bull,  or  reein,  witli  his  shorter 
and  more  upright  horns,  and  his  smaller  body,  inhabited  the  forests  in  the 
hills,  and  was  less  familiar  to  the  people  who  made  the  earliest  cylinders. 
Yet  even  they  knew  him,  if  we  may  judge  from  the  fact  that  Heabani  is 
himself  half  bull  and  half  buffalo.  On  this  cyhnder  we  have  both  the 
buffalo  and  the  bull.  The  former  probably  became  extinct,  as  a  wild 
beast,  very  early  in  the  history  of  Babylonia,  and  the  later  art  only  knows 
the  bull,  until,  five  or  six  hundred  years  b.c,  the  Indian-humped  cattle 
began  to  appear,  and  after  some  centuries  came  to  be  predominantly  if 
not  exclusively  employed  on  the  Sassanian  seals. 

The  Peek  Collection  is  rich  in  having  two  peculiar  seals  not  easy  to 
classify.  These  are  numbers  2  and  18.  The  former  presents  us  a  lion 
and  a  bull,  both  rampant,  and  ready  for  a  fight.  Between  their  upper 
legs  is  a  heart-shaped  object  which  is  unique,  I  believe.  Below  it  a  frag- 
ment of  a  bird,  and  also  a  Phoenician  inscription.  The  art  looks  to  me  more 
Persian  than  Phoenician,  and  the  inscription  does  not  militate  against 
a  Persian  provena?ice.  I  am  not  ready  to  suggest  that  it  is  a  Sabean  seal, 
although  I  have  lately  come  into  possession  of  a  large  and  very  interesting 
cylinder,  as  yet  unpublished,  which  much  reminds  me  of  this,  and  which 
gives  us  a  naked  hero-attacking  two  lions,  and  a  bird  much  like  that  on 


ORIENTAL       CYLINDERS.  243 

Sir  Henry  Peek's  cylinder,  and  which  contains  a  Sabean  (or  Himyaritic) 
inscription  of  a  dozen  letters.  In  M.  Mcnant's  very  complete  work 
■'  Pierres  Gravees,"  he  makes  no  mention  of  any  Sabean  cylinder.  The 
style  seams  to  be  more  Persian  than  Babylonian. 

Still  more  peculiar  and  interesting  is  number  18.  It  lias  escaped  Mr, 
Pinches'  notice  that  I  have  published  a  figure  of  this  cylinder  in  The 
American  Journal  of  Avchoiologii,  Vol.  II,  !No.  1,  in  connection  with 
another,  somewhat  longer  and  fuller  of  details,  but  so  much  like  it  that 
both  would  seem  to  have  come  from  the  same  workshop.  I  published 
my  copy  from  an  ink  impression  which  I  obtained  from  the  dealer  in 
Baghdad  through  whom  it  passed  to  Europe.  The  other  similar  cylinder 
I  saw  in  the  possession  of  a  gentleman  in  Semawe,  a  town  South  of 
Baghdad,  who  allowed  me  to  take  a  wax  impression  of  it.  and  who  re- 
ported it  as  having  come  from  Niffer.  It  is  one  of  the  largest  and  most 
curious  of  the  hard  black  serpentine  or  "altered  basalt"  cylinders  that  I 
have  seen;  its  height  is  one  inch  and  eleven  sixteenths.  It  is  very  for- 
unate  that  one  of  these  two  cylinders,  previously  known  only  from  a 
poor  paper  impression  after  the  rude  Turkish  fashion,  has  now  turned  up 
in  the  possession  of  a  man  who  has  given  it  to  the  world  in  so  admirable 
a  reproduction. 

A  comparison  of  the  two  will  elucidate  some  points  that  were  doubtful, 
but  will  not,  I  fear,  make  the  subject  clear.  Both  cylinders  are  seen  to 
have  come  from  Southern  Mesopotamia,  and  it  is  not  likely  that  there  is 
any  Western  Semitic  influence  about  them.  At  the  same  time  they  are 
utterly  unlike  the  usual  Babylonian  cylinders.  On  both  of  them  appears 
the  extraordinary  figure  of  the  naked  human  figure  astride  the  bird,  and 
with  two  dogs  under  it  and  looking  upward  at  it.  Mr.  Pinches  ingeni- 
ously suggests  that  this  may  be  a  form  fif  the  winged  sacred  disk.  That 
would  make  these  cylin<lers  the  product  of  a  late  period  when  the  origin  of 


this  divine  emblem  had  been  forgotten,  and  its  idea  quite  changed.     The 


244 


SIR    HENRY    PEEK  S 


naked  personage  astride  the  bird's  back  and  holding  on  to  its  neck  cannot 
be  a  sapreme  god  as  in  the  Assyrian  and  Persian  cases,  in  whicli  one,  or 
three,  divine  faces  or  forms  are  enclosed  in  the  disk  or  rise  above  the 
wings.  At  the  same  time  the  attitude  of  the  two  dogs  and  of  the  worship- 
ping shepherd  with  the  pail,  probably  of  goat's  milk,  in  the  Peek  cylinder 
shows  that  the  bird,  apparently  an  eagle,  with  the  man  or  hero  being 
carried  to  the  skies,  like  Ganymede,  was  an  object  of  reverence.  We 
must  wait  for  Eastern  mythological  literature  to  offer  us  its  variant  or 
original  of  the  Ganymede  myth. 

In  the  Peek  cylinder  the  eagle  with  the  man  astride  is  the  central  object 
of  attention  by  the  two  dogs  below,  the  worshipper  with  the  pail,  the 
kneeling  person  with  the  rectangular  object  before  him,  and  the  second 
shepherd  behind  his  flock.  But  in  the  other  cylinder  the  eagle  appears  a 
second  time  between  the  two  divergent  branches  of  a  tree,  but  without  a 
rider;  and  it  is  this  second  eagle  toward  which  the  worship  seems  to  be 
directed.  A  lion  stands  each  side  of  the  trunk  of  the  tree,  one  of  them 
standing  up  on  his  hind  legs  looking  up  at  the  bird,  while  the  flock  of  sheep 
approaches,  led  by  a  goat,  as  on  the  Peek  cylinder,  and  with  a  shepherd 
in  front  with  one  hand  lifted  in  worship,  the  other  carrying  a  staflf,  and  a 
second  shepherd  follows  behind  with  a  whip.  Instead  of  the  two  persons 
sitting  one  each  side  of  the  large  vase  we  have  in  this  cylinder  one  sitting 


I^D^^-^vS) 


on  one  side  of  it,  and  the  vase  tipped.  The  personage  kneeling  and  "  pre- 
senting a  square  object  with  indications  of  characters  upon  it,"  also  appears  ; 
btit  in  this  case  the  square  object  is  a  square  arrangement  of  round  dots  ; 
and  underneath  a  scribe  appears  to  be  writing  on  a  tablet,  as  if  he  were 
making  a  record  of  the  heap  of  round  objects  and  of  the  flock  of  sheep. 
Besides  these  there  is  a  gridiron-shaped  object  which  I  doubt  not  is  the 
gate  of  the  enclosure  into  which  the  flock  is  being  led. 


ORIENTAL     CYLINDERS.  245 

These  two  very  curious  cylinders  must  he  compared  wirh  a  third,   mat- 
erial and  ownership  unknown,  figured  in  Lajard's  "  Culte  de  Mithra,"Pl. 


XII.  5,  from  an  impression  received  from  Constantinople.  This  is  a  mere 
pastoral  scene,  but  it  is  in  the  same  general  style  of  art,  and  has  on  it  a 
flock  of  three  sheep  led  by  two  goats  and  driven  by  a  man  with  a  whip; 
also  a  man  seated  before  a  large  vase  tipped  partly  over;  also  a  dog,  and  a 
gridiron-shaped  gate  arranged  to  swing  on  its  post.  An  upper  register 
has  a  flock  of  goats,  one  of  which  is  being  milked,  and  a  crouching  figure 
reaching  out  to  a  square  collection  of  round  objects,  evidently  the  same  as 
on  the  two  cylinders  we  have  been  considering.  But  most  important  is 
^  line  of  Babylonian  writing  in,  I  should  judge,  quite  an  archaic  style,  which 
Mr.  I  inches  can  read  with  more  certainty  than  I  can.  The  material  of  the 
two  first  cylinders,  and  the  shape  of  all  three  would  agree  with  an  old 
period,  more  than  2000  b.c,  if  the  inscription  on  the  Lajard  cylinder 
would  allow  it.  The  free  drawing  and  the  nudity,  or  semi-nudity,  of  the 
figtires  would  also  point  either  to  an  early,  or  to  a  nou-Babjdonian  origin,  if 
the  inscription  did  not  settle  the  provenance  of  the  third.  The  other  two,  as  I 
have  shewn,  came  from  Babylonia,  but  have  little  in  common  with  Babylon- 
ian art,  indeed  seem  more  Egyptian  in  drawing  and  feeling,  as  seen  es- 
pecially in  the  Lajard  cylinder. 

In  my  description,  four  years  ago,  of  the  cylinder  of  which  I  took  the 
impression  at  Semawe,  I  made  the  mistake  of  seeing  and  drawing  but 
seven  dots  in  the  square  heap  of  round  objects  towards  which  the  crouch- 
ing figure  is  reaching.  I  now  see  several  more  in  the  imi)ression.  The 
emblem  of  seven  dots  would  indicate  a  much  later  period  and  an  Assyrian 
or  Hittite  origin.  William  Hayes  Ward. 


246  THE     CALENDAR    PLANT. 


THE    CALENDAR    PLANT   OF    CHINA 
THE    COSMIC     TREE 
AND 
THE     DATE-PALM     OF    BABYLONIA. 


(^Continued  from  page  231). 


35.  Clialdsea  has  never  been  a  richly  wo  )ded  land,  and  the  oldest  in- 
formation we  gather  from  the  inscriptions  about  the  trade  of  the  country 
concerns  chieiiy  the  importation  of  timber.  In  the  various  texts  inscribed 
on  his  statues,  Gudea,  the  Patesi  of  Lagash,  in  the  fourth  millennium 
B.C.,  boasts  of  his  deeds  under  that  respect^*'^.  Cedar  wood  or  erimi,  from 
Amanu  in  ^Northern  Syria  was  sent  to  him  in  joists  of  70,  50  or  25 
spans.  Zabanum,  shaku^'^^,  tubuluvi  and  giii  trees  were  cut  for  him,  near 
the  city  of  Ursu,  in  the  regions  of  the  Upper  Euphrates.  Kula  trees^^**, 
from  Melughgha,  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Sinaitic  peninsula,  and  ghaJutu 
or  gha/uj)^'^^  wood,  to  make  pillars,  from  Qubin  in  the  Red  sea,  were  sent 
to  him^*2.  All  this  shows  how  these  rulers  in  Chaldcea  were  little  pro- 
vided with  the  wood  and  timber  required  for  their  constructions. 

26.  Examined  critically  from  a  botanical  standing^*^  the  iconography 
of  the  sacred  trees  on  the  monuments  of  Assyro-Babylonia  exhibits  six 
forms  of  them  ;  but  as  the  artists  have  greatly  indulged  upon  their  crea- 
tive imagination  in  often  amalgamating  the  characteristics  of  the  various 
sorts  of  trees  with  which  they  were  acquainted,  none  of  their  figures  are 
true  to  nature.  The  task  of  a  botanist  was  therefore  difficult  in  dissas- 
sociating  that  which  the  artists  had  so  cleverly  woven  together.  We  are 
indebted  to  Dr.  Bonavia  for  his  researches  in  that  direction.  From  his 
remarks  we  know  now  that  the  Assyro-Babylonians  were  well  acquainted 
with  three  sorts  of  trees,  the  palm-tree,  the  vine,  the  pomegranate,  and 
that  besides  they  had  a  slight  knowledge  of  the  fir-tree^**. 

;:7.  The  palm-tree  has  been  largely  dealt  with,  but  we  have  still  to 
examine  the  Vine  in  its  relation  with  the  Tree  of  life.  Premature 
speculation  had  seen  in  the  name  geshtin  a  comiponnd  expression  of  wood, 
tree  gesh,  gish,  and  Viie  tin,  and  therefore  the  proper  term  tree-of-life 
supposed  to  have  been  abusively  applied  to  the  vine  ^''5.     But  now  we 


THE    COSMIC    TREE.  247 

know  that  the  real  etymology^of  geshtin  wi  ne,  both  in  script  and  sound 
is  Drink  of  life,  gesli  drink  and  tin  as  abuve  explained ^^''.  The  name 
of  the  vine  Mj-rtWM  in  Assyrian^^^  is  written  g:|  ^y<i^^  ideographically 
tree  of  the  drink  of  life.  The  symbol  ^1T<  geshtin  is  formed  of  ^^ 
Kash,  Gash^^^  which  originally  represented  a  tilled  up  jug^^o^  ^^^l  implies 
an  intoxicating  drink^^^  ;  joined  to  tin,  din  JT^  life,  a  symbol  whose 
pictorial  value  is  not  apparent  through  its  hieratic  and  apparently  cor- 
rupted forni^^^.  The  compound  name  shows  that  the  vine  wasnot  known 
to  the  creators  of  the  Babylonian  writing,  although  they  must  have 
learned  to  know  it  in  comparatively  ancient  times  as  shown  by  the  fact 
that  in  the  Nimrod-Epos,  Deluge  episode,  it  is  stated  that  Wine  was 
among  the  stores  of  the  ship-^^^.  These  creators  could  not  therefore  have 
lived  within  the  limits  where  the  vine  grows  spontaneously,  namely, 
south  of  the  Caucasus,  S.W.  of  the  Casj)ian  sea^^*. 

28.  Pomegranate  tree  is  another  of  those  which  are  said  to  have  been 
indigenous  in  Assyro-Babylonia,  or  at  least  in  a  surrounding  country, 
but  we  do  not  know  the  proper  name  for  it-^^^.  On  the  monuments  it 
appears,  so  far  as  we  know,  in  a  few  cases  only,  and  in  late  times^^'',  such 
as  the  age  of  Sargon  II,  i.e.  the  Vllltli  century. 

-9.  Iconography  shows  that  the  Assyro-Babylonians  had  but  a  scanty 
knowledge  of  the  fir-tree,  and  we  do  not  know  the  name  they  eventually 
gave  to  it  ^5^.  Such  a  result  of  recent  research  shows  how  baseless  were 
the  previous  speculations  attaching  great  importance  to  that  special  tree 
among  the  conceptions  of  the  early  Babylonians.  As  a  fact  they  were 
not  acquainted  with  it  until  the  campaigns  of  the  Assyrian  con- 
querors in  Urartu. 

30.  Another  tree  which  is  distinctly  mentioned  in  the  texts  as  shown 
in  our  former  paper  (note  5)  is  the  cedar  tree,  erinu^^^,  l^l.lh'^}'^V^^- 
Its  knowledge  was  not  a  primitive  one  for  the  creators  of  the  Babylonian 
writing  and  civilisation,  as  proved  by  the  fact  that  its  name  is  written 
with  a  complex  ideogram.  This  peculiarity  has  been  rightly  pointed  out 
in  the  same  place,  but  the  explanaton  we  had  suggested  must  be  recon- 
sidered. Gudea  the  patesi  of  Lagash  had  cedar  wood  imjtortcd  for  him 
from  the  Amanus  mountains  in  North  Syria^'"'",  and  the  archaic  form  of 
the  symbol  figured  in  his  inscriptions  permits  us  a  more  correct  insight 
on  its  ideographical  etymology  than  was  possible  before^''^  It  is  com- 
posed of  the  signs  KIN  writing,  explanation  j^il^^"-  and  ATA'' 
Ruler,  I'rince  Jlf'f*'*^.  This  peculiar  meaning  shows  that  the  cedar 
tree  was  looked  upon  as  something  far  distant  and  unreal,  not  at  all  as  a 


248  THE    CALENDAR   PLANT. 

tree  actually  growing  under  the  eyes  of  the  scribes  who  were  the  first  to 
frame  the  complex  ideogram. 

31.  The  sense  they  have  endeavoured  to  inculcate,  by  an  appropriate 
selection  of  two  simple  ideograms  foitnerly  in  use.  corresponds  unto  a  cer- 
taid  extent  to  the  mythical  ideas  which  are  exposed  in  a  magic  text  bilin- 
gual. Ea  describes  to  Merodach-^^*  the  means  whereby  he  is  to  cure  a 
man  who  is  possessed  of  the  seven  evil  spirits,  and  advises  him  to  go  first 
to  the  cedar  tree  •'  upon  whose  core  the  name  of  Ea  is  recorded. "^^^ 
These  notions  and  ideas  must  have  been  brought  into  civilised  Babylonia 
from  the  North  under  Sumerian  influence,  and  the  special  character  we 
liave  described  was  composed  accordingly.  The  idea  still  prevalent  with 
several  writers  that  the  cedar  tree  was  the  tree-of-life  has  not  been  con- 
firmed by  a  botanical  examination  of  the  iconography  of  the  sacred  trees. 
Confirma'^ory  evidence  of  the  non-primitiveness  of  the  idea  amongst  the 
Babylonians,  shows  that  tlie  documents  where  the  cedar  is  looked  upon  as 
endowed  with  so  great  a  virtue  do  not  belong  to  nor  represent  the  earliest 
views  of  the  Chaldaeo-Babylonians. 


Notes 

138)  Notably  in  his  inscription  B.  Cf.  A.  Amiaud,  Inscriptions  of  Telloh, 
pp.  79-82  :  Records  of  the  Past,  N.  S.,  vol.  II. 

139)  In  Assyrian  ashuhu. 

140)  In  Assyrian  tishu. 

141)  In  Assyrian  hulvppu.  None  of  the  names  in  Sumero-Akkadian  are 
written  with  single  or  complex  ideograms. 

142)  We  had  already  occasion  to  mention  this  in  our  paper  On  an  un- 
known King  of  La  gash  o/'6000  jiears  ago,  the  primitive  commerce  and 
beginnings  of  the  Chalda^an  civilisation — S  13,  n.  32:  B,  &  0.  R.  IV, 
193-195. 

143)  By  a  learned  collaborateur  and  botanist,  Dr.  E.  Bonavia  in  his 
paper  on  The  sacred  Trees  of  the  Assyrian  Documents  :  B.  &  0.  R.  III. 

144)  E.  Bonavia,  /.  c,  pp.  7,  10,  38,  56. 

145)  F.  Lenormant,  Etude  snr  quelques  parties  des  syllabaires  cunei- 
formes,  ch.  X;  Origines  de  Vldstoire,  t.  I,  p.  85. 

146)  Cf.  T.  G.  Pinches,  Sign-list,  No.  76,  76  a. 

147)  Cf.  Egyptian  Kerama,  Hebrew  Karmu,  vineyard,  Greek  Karoinou. 
also  E.  de  Rouge,  Origine  de  Valphabet  Phenicien,  p.  46. 

148)  Brun.  5007. 

149)  Brun.  5118. — Amiaud,  Tableau,  No.  75. 

150)  Cf.  our  Chips  of  Babylonian  and  Chinese  Palceography,  III,  when 
the  Chinese  derivate  character  is  indicated. 

151)  Shikaru,  previously  quoted  in  these  pages  (§  16)  and  which  Prof. 
vSayce,  Assyrian  Grammar,  No.  197  translates  beer,  while  Mr.  T.  G. 
Pinches,  Sign-list,  76,  makes  it  (intoxicating)  drink. 


THii    COSMIC   TREE.  249 

152)  A.  Aiiiiaud,   Tableau,   No.   115. — Briin.    9852. —  Unless   it  may  be 
explained  by  a  comparison  in  Simeone  Levi's  list  of  hieratic  signs,  No.  98. 

153)  Col.  II,  1.  17.    In  several  forms.    Cf.  P.  Jensen,  Die  Kosmologie  der 
Babylonier,  pp.  375,  411,  412. 

154)  A.  Griesbach,  Die  Vegetation  der  Erde,  I,  323,  holds  that  the  dense 
forest?  of  the  Pontus  and   Thrace  up  to  the  Danube,  a  district  par- 
ticularly rich    in  creeping  plants,  were  the  original  home  of  the    riti^ 
vinifera,  from  where  it  would  have  been  carried  east.    A,  De  Candolle, 
Origin  of  cidtivated  plants, .\).  194,  at  a  later  date,  insists  on  the  Trans- 
caueasian  provinces  of  Russia,  where  it  is  found  wild  and  indigenous. — 
For  its  representation  in  the  Assyro-Babylonian  monuments,  cf.  Perrof 
et    Chipiez,     Histoire    de    V Art,    t.    II,    fig.    212,     237,     -07,    317 
The  Bak  families,  civilisers   of  China,  seem  to  have  carried  away  with 
them  a  sort  of  vine,  that  which  grows  in  the  north  of  China  and  which 
Regel,  Acta  Hortis  Imp.  Petrop.  1873,  considers  as  identical  in  species 
with  our  own  vine.     It  is  named   Vitis  Amurensis,  Ruprecht,  and  its 
appearance   differs.     Cf.  A.  de  Candolle,    Origin  of  cultivated  Plants, 
j:).  194.     The  cultivation  of  this  vine  was  not  encouraged  and  did  not 
develope  in  China,  as  shown  by  the  following  legend  which   is  given  in 
the    Tclien  Kivoh   ts'eh,  a   work   partly   older  than   the    Han   dynasty. 
"  The  Emperor's  (Shun)  daughter  ommanded  I  Ti  to  make  wine,  and 
it  was  good.    She  gave  of  it  to   Yii  (the   Great),  who,   when  he  had 
tasted  of  it,  poured   the   liquid   u})on   the   ground,  and  sent   I    Ti  in 
banishment,  and  forbade  the  knowledge  of  wine."     Cf.  flayers'  Chinese 
R.  M.  I,  230.    The  invention  of  wine  from  the  grain  of  rice  is  attri- 
buted   in   China  to   a  certain   Tu    K'ang,    whose  name  is    sometimes 
confounded  with  that  of  Shao  K'ang,  of  the  Hia  dynasty,  0.  C .  682. — 
The  introduction  of  the  real  vine  from  the  west  was  made  by  Tchang 
Kien  in   122  e.g.,  who  said  that  its  name  was  [ru-tao;  this  is  a  tran- 
scription, approximate  as  Chinese  orthographj'  permits,  of  a  loan  word 
belonging  to  the  same  group  as  Zend  raeti,  Huzvaresh  7'it,    Latin  vitis. 
On  tlie  latter  words  cf.   Spiegel  in  Kuhn's  Ztschr.  V,  320;  A.  Pictet, 
Les  Aryas  Primitifx,  I,  253. 

155)  In  Arabic  RUman,  Hebrew  Rimmnn,  whence  Portuguese  Pumaas; 
Greek  Poia,  sidai,  Albanian  Sige;  Turk,  andr,  Hindi  Aiviar,  Persian 
Annar ;  Sanskrit  Darimba ;  Hindi  Darim,  Telugu  Dadima,  Malay 
Dalima,  Tantil  Madalum;  Singhalese  Delunghidie;  Javanese  Gangsalan; 
Chinese  NganshiJdiw,  &c. 

156)  In  three  cases  only.  On  a  basrelief  Sargon  is  figured  holding  a 
branch  of  three  pomegranates.  A  full  tree  with  fifteen  fruits  is  figured 
on  a  cylinder  of  a  certain  Musesinip  of  the  same  period.  Cf.  Perrot  ot 
Chipiez,  Histoire  de  Vurt,  t.  II,  fig.  235,  343.  A  siuiilar  tree  appears 
on  a  cylinder  in  Lajard,  C^dte  de  Mithra,  49,  9. 

157)  Cf.  supra,  §  6. 

158)  Arabic  sarwat,  Turkish  serr  azad. 

159)  Brun.  10802,  Amiaud  295,  Sayce  493. 

160)  Inscriptions,  statue  B,  col.  5,  1,  19,  28,  29.  31.  45;  statue  1),  col.  2, 1. 
10.  xVnd  suprd,  §  25. 

161)  In  suggesting  that  a  comparison  was  made  between  the  minute  and 
numerous  foliage  of  the  cedar  and  the  appearance  of  the  warp  and  wo  )f, 
we  were  guided  by  the  cuneiform  style  of  the  character  whose  first  part 


2.50  THE    CALENDAR   PLANT. 

looks  like  the  sign  SIG  cloth,  Bnm.   10775.    It  is  one  more  proof 
that  no  etymologies  can  be  established  on  that  style  of  writing. 
162)   Brun.  10747,  Amiaud  294,  Sayce  485,  Pinches  229.    Cf.  T.  de  L., 

TJie  old  Bahj/lonian  cJuirttcters  and  their  Chinese  derirates,  par.  .S8. 
168)  Brun.  2620,  Amiaud  29,  Sayce  66,  Pinches  42.    The  archaic  form  of 
the  cliaracter  must  not  be  mistaken   for  that  of   Urash     J^],     Brun. 
10474,  Am.  277,  Sayce  483,  Pinches  219. 

164)  A.  H,  Savce,  Beli.  Anc.  Babylon,  p.  240. 

165)  W.  A.  L.^IV,  15,  rev.  10-13  ;  cf.  IV,  16,  2  ;  IV,  29,  1,  29-31.— 
Cf.  Fr.  Lenormant,  Origines  de  lldstoire,  I,  84-5,  note. 

Conclusions. 

32.  The  results,  we  have  arrived  at  in  the  foregoing  pages,  must  be 
viewed,  with  reference  to  our  former  paper  on  tlie  same  subject,  from  the 
double  stand  point  of  our  researches,  so  far  as  they  suggest  or  confirm 
anything  new,  or  rectify  any  previous  opinion,  concerning  :  1*^)  the 
beginnings  of  the  Babylonian  culture,  and  2^)  the  later  loan  of  some  items 
of  that  culture  to  the  ancient  Chinese. 

33,  The  Chinese  feli  citous  pla  nt  mlk-kep  or  lik-kep  has  been  shown 
to  be  more  completely  a  calendar  plant  than  the  quotation  of  the  legend' 
truncated  by  misprint  in  our  first  paper,  had  lead  my  readers  to  expect 
(§§  1-5).  And  the  curious  resemblance  which  those  name  bear  with  two 
possible  readings,  probably  regional  of  the  Babylonian  name  of  the  date- 
palm,  enhance  the  testimony  of  iconography  as  to  the  derivation  of  the 
Chinese  notion  from  S.W.  xisia.    (§  23). 

34,  Furthermore,  as  the  Bak  families  civiHsers  of  China,  did  carry  with 
them  the  knowledge  of  a  sort  of  vine,  and  as  this  knowledge  was  not 
primitive  amongst  the  Babylonians,  it  follows  that  they  did  not  migrate 
eastwards,  from  the  neighbourhood  of  the  Chaldaso-Elamite  cultured  pop- 
ulations, previously  to  the  spread  of  that  knowledge  among  the  latter. 
(§  27  and  note  154). 

35.  With  reference  to  the  beginnings  of  Babylonian  civilisation,  our 
results,  chiefly  of  a  botanical  and  palseographical  character,  fully  confirm 
oar  views  as  to  the  Southern,  and  not  Northern  origin,  of  the  creators  of 
ilie  Chaldfean  culture.  Kishkin  has  proved  to  be,  not  the  date  palm 
as  we  had  suggested,  but  the  very  term  for  a  central  }iillar.  and  in  myth- 
ological conceptions  the  Tree  of  the  world  (§§  6-14).  Gigu,  whose 
nature  had  been  left  uncertain,  has  been  shown  to  be  the  trunk  of  the 
l)alm-tree  (§§  19-20;  while  Musukkati  was  a  general  name  for 
that  tree  itself  i  §  18),  and  Shanga  or  Gishimmaru,  for  the  date- 
palm  in  general  (§§  21-2,  24),  the  original  name  and  primitive  pictorial 


THE     COSMIC     TRRE.  261 

character  for  that  tree  being  Mu  wliich  therefore  was  known  to  the  creators 
of  the  writing,  (§§  ln-17).  On  the  other  hand,  the  Vine  and  the 
Cedar  are  represented  l)y  comi)ound  characters  and  do  not  belong  to  the 
primitive  period  ;  in  the  same  way  the  pomegranate  and  the  fir-tree  were 
only  known  in  later  times  ;  all  this  fonning  undoubtedly  one  more  link 
of  arguments  in  favour  of  the  view  that  the  first  founders  and  creators  of 
the  Chald»o-Babylonian  writing  and  civilisation  were  not  originally  from 
the  North  or  North  East,  but  from  the  South, 

Addenda  and  Corrigenda 

Note  b^.  Add:  McLennan,  Worship  of  plants  and  animals;  Yoxim^htij 
Review,   1869-70. 

Par.  3.1.  8.  Read:  and  the  total  instead    /'as  the  total. 

Par.  5. 1.  8.  Read  and  Add:  observed,  but  the  number  seven  is  more  fre- 
quently met  with  tlian  any  other. 

Par,  14.1.  3.  Read:  which  conceptions  instead  q/"  which  nceptions. 

Par.  15.  1.  18.   Read:  the  late  instead  o/the  la  e. 

Par.  17.  1.  9.  Read:  Jfu  is  instead  o/Nu  is. 

Par.  22.1.20.  after  phono-ideograms   add:  similar  to  those. 

Terrien  de   Lacouperie. 


THE    BABYLONIAN    LEGEND    OF    THE    SERPENT- 
TEMPTER. 

Had  the  Babylonians  a  legend  of  the  Temptation  and  Fall  of  the 
human  race  in  any  way  resembling  that  which  we  find  in  the  Hebrew 
writings  ?  This  is  a  question  which  has  long  excited  attention  among 
Assyriologists,  but  which  has  had  no  satisfactory  reply.  Mr.  George 
Smith,  in  the  first  issue  of  his  Chaldivan  account  of  Genesis,  was  of  the 
opinion  that  a  tablet  which  he  placed  in  the  Creation  series  contained 
some  traces  of  this  story;  but  he  seems  to  have  been  in  error  as  to  th<' 
nature  of  the  text,  but  not  as  to  a  slight  reference  to  the  subject;  and  the 
publication  by  liim  of  a  curious  seal,  bearing  figures  of  a  male  and  female 
seated  beside  a  tree,  was  also  considered  to  show  traces  of  this  important 


252  THE   BABYLONIAN    LECJEND    OF 

story.  Without  any  such  direct  evidence,  I  think  it  may  be  possible  by 
an  examination  of  various  passages  and  the  deductions  which  may  be  made 
from  them,  to  find  traces  of  the  existence  of  such  a  legend. 

In  the  Creation  legend  of  Kutha  we  find  the  epithet  of  Musenik,  "  the 
nurse  or  suckler,"  replacing  that  of  muallidat,  "the  bearing  mother,"  of 
the  first  tablet  of  the  Babylonian  series^,  and  in  this  aspect  we  See  her 
represented  with  full  breasts  similar  to  the  figures  of  the  Hittite  goddess 
at  Carchemish,  and  the  Ephesian  Artemis,  or  the  Phosnician  Astaroth. 
In  this  form  she  is  the  nourishing  moisture,  the  fertile  source  of  all 
nature  rather  than  an  evil  creation.  It  is  when  slie  becomes  associated 
with  Kin-gi,  her  liusband,  whom  Mr.  Pinches^  has  rightly  regarded  as  the 
demon  of  darkness,  that  she  becomes  the  opponent  of  the  gods.  She  may 
be  compared  witii  the  Egyptian  serpent  Apepi,  who  bears  the  name  of 
Hemhemte,  "the  Roarer,"  a  title  which  plainly  recalls  to  mind  the  shrill 
cries  of  Tiamat,  itrura  isdasa.  We  find  Apepi  described  as  "the 
Roarer  before  whom  Ra  is  in  a  flutter,  and  Seb  standeth  still  in  terror, 
and  the  company  of  the  mighty  gods  is  in  a  quake."  Apepi  is  at  last 
overcome  by  the  flint  sword  of  the  sun-god  and  forced  back  into  his  cavern, 
and  over  him  is  placed  a  stone,  a  culmination  of  the  nature-war  which 
closely  resembles  the  defeat  of  Tiamat  by  the  sword  of  Merodach  and  the 
binding  of  Tiamat  and  her  allies  in  the  pit  of  Arali.  This  is  the  same 
nature-myth  which  we  find  in  the  legends  of  Vishnu,  Ahuramazda. 
Apollo,  Heracles,  and  many  others;  and  it  is  not  unknown  in  the 
mythologies  of  the  New  World. 

The  famous  seal  published  by  Mr.  Smith  in  his  Chaldean  account  of 
Genesis  (p.  88),  has  long  been  supposed  to  represent  the  scene  in  the 
Garden,  but  this  has  been  much  contested.  The  evidence  which  I  have 
been  able  to  gather  is  from  various  passages,  and  especially  from  the 
Third  Creation  Tablet  where  the  passage,  though  mutilated,  seems  to 
clearly  indicate  the  existence  of  a  Temptation  in  the  Garden. 

In  the  first  place,  we  have  to  see  what  evidence  we  have  of  tlie  char- 
acter of  evil  attributed  to  Tiamat.  In  several  inscriptions  the  Serpent 
is  mba  Hani,  "the  enemy  of  the  gods",  and  upon  a  boundary-stone  of 
the  twelfth  century  before  the  Christian  era  the  Michaux  Stone,  the  writer 
says  :  "  The  emblems  of  the  great-gods  and  the  serpent  upon  this  written 
stone  are  engraved".  Also  upon  the  memorial  stone  of  Nebuchadnezzar 
I.,  king  of  Babylon,  e.g.  1140,  this  Serpent-god  is  mentioned  by  name. 


1)  B.  0.  R.  IV.  26,  line  4,  2)  Ibid.,  p.  33. 


THE     SERPENT-TKMPTKR.  253 

and  is  called  sHp»,  evidently  tlie  Hebrew  vt^j  "to  tjIiJe",  "smooth."  In 
the  Akkadian  inscriptions  we  find  tlic  A>syn.in  aibu,  equalled  by  the 
word  Erem  and  Erema,  which  seems  to  me  most  certainly  to  be  a  borrowed 
word,  on  account  of  its  close  resemblance  to  the  Hebrew  Zj^'^  VL^-^d. 
in  Genesis  (HI.  1).  with  the  sense  of  '-Subtile",  and  the  root  Q"^*;  ^^^'^ 
the  meaning  "  to  stay  by  subtilty  or  guile".  The  Hebrew  name  of  the 
serpent  Nakht's  jynj'  ^^i^^^  ^*^  cognates  Nal-hson  "diviner"  (Numb. 
i.  7),  are  both  connected  with  the  root,  ^nj  the  Assyrian  Nakn-ni, 
which  has  th«  meaning  "  to  remove  by  subtilty",  and  has  an  undoubted 
magical  signification^  occurring  in  such  phrases  as  :  "  observed  times 
and  used  enchantments"  (-  Kings  xxi.  6)  '•  neither  shall  ye  use  enchant- 
ments" (Lev.  xix,  26),  to  "  seek  for  enchantments"  (Numb.  xxiv.  1) 
"We  can  now,  [)y  the  aid  of  the  inscriptions,  see  the  force  of  the  words 
in  Gen.  iii.  1:  "The  Serpent  (Nakhas)  was  more  subtle  (rtroMj  than 
any  beast  of  the  field."  If,  as  is  most  probable,  tlie  words  here  are 
connected  with  magic  and  divination  we  see  the  force  of  the  words 
"The  serpent  beguiled  me  and  i  did  eat."  In  the  magical  inscriptions 
the  Lu  Erim  or  Erima  or  magician  was  the  greatest  foe  of  man,  and 
this  word  is  equivalent  to  albu  "  foe".  In  the  same  way,  the  Nam 
Erima  was  the  equivalent  of  tlie  Mumit  or  "  Fate"  "the  evil  curse 
arrat,  or  the  "  Evil  Fate"  like  the  Ate  oi  the  Groeks.  The  serpent  was 
regarded  as  associated  with  both,  with  darkness  and  death,  being  called 
binut  Arali  or  bit  muti  "  the  house  of  death."  This  connexion  between 
magic  and  death  is  shown  oy  the  sign  for  sorcerer  whicn  is  "  the  one 
in  whose  mouth  is  death."  and  the  bite  of  the  Serpent  is  called  "  a  touch 
of  the  mouth  of  death."  The  important  question  now  arises  :  Have 
we  any  trace  of  the  story  of  the  Fall  in  the  Babylonian  inscription,  and. 
if  so,  is  it  in  any  way  associated  with  death  ?  The  first  indication  is 
afforded  by  the  seal  figured  in  Mr.  George  Smith's  Chaldean  Genesis 
(p.  88),  in  which  a  scene  in  many  ways  resembling  the  fall  is  represented 
A  man  and  woman  are  seated  on  eitlier  side  of  a  tree  from  whose 
branches  hang  rich  bxmches  of  fruit ;  and  behind  the  woman  a  serpent 
is  rearing  up.  The  Garden  of  the  gods  is  represented  upon  several  seals, 
notably  one  in  the  Hague  Museum,  and  some  in  tlie  Cesnola  collec- 
tion. Now.  in  the  mythological  tablet,  which  is  tlie  Ilird  of  the  Cre- 
ation series,  and  which  descril)cs  the  various  wicked  acts  of  the  Ser- 
pent Tiamat,  we   read  : 

"  The  great  gods,  all  of  them  determiners  of  fate, 


254  THE    BABYLONIAN    LEGEND    OP 

They  entered,  and.   d<\itli-lik(',   the  god   Sar  filled. 

In  :?in  one  with  the  other  in  compact  joins. 

The  command  was  estahlished  in  the  garden  of  the  god. 

The  Asnan  (fruit)  they  ate,    tliey   broke  in  two, 

Its   stalk   they  destroyed  : 

The  sweet  juice  which  injures  the  body. 

Great  is  their  sin.       Themselves  they  exalted. 

To  Merodach  their  Redeemer  he  appointed  their  fate." 

It  is  ahnost  impossibla  not  to  see  in  this  fragment  the  pitli  of  the  story  of 
the  Fall,  while  the  last  line  at  once  brings  Merodach  before  us  as  the  one 
who  would  defeat  the  tempter  and  restore  the  fallen.    The  expression  used 
is  mutlr  giinili  su-nu,   'restorer  of  their  benefit."     This  is  one  which  calls 
for  more  than   passing  comment.    It  reminds  us  at  once   of  the  often- 
repeated   expression    tir   glmili,    "  to  obtain   satisfaction,"    and   certainly 
places  tlie  demiurgos  Merodach  in  the  position  of  the  Redeemer.     The 
more  we  examine  the  position  of  Merodach  in  the  Babylonian  mythology' 
the  more  we  see  how  closely  it  approaches  the  Hebrew  conception  of  the 
Messiah.     He  was  the  son  of  the  great  earth-mother  Dav-kina,  the  wife 
of  Ea,  and  bore  as  his  own  name  that  of  Mar-dugga,  ''  the   Holy  Son." 
He  was  the  mediator  between  gods  and  men,  healing  sickness,  forgiving 
sin,  raising  the  dead  not  by  his  own  power,  but  by  that  of  his  father  Ea, 
and  now  we  find  him  acting  as  the  redeemer  of  the  fallen  pair,  we  may  be 
sure  that  the  importance  of  this  small   fragment  to  Biblical  students  is 
very  great  indeed. 

The  discovery  of  this  important  legend  even  in   the  fragmentary  state 

in  which  we  find  it  here  is  of  considerable  importance,  inasmuch  as  it  has 

been  the  custom  rather  to  regard  the  story  of  the  Fall  as  being  due  to 

Persian   influence.     We  must  noAv,  I  think,  abandon  this,  and  see  that 

both  the   Hebrew  and  the  Persian  traditions  found  in  the  Zend-Avesta, 

and,   later  still,   in  the  Bnndahesh,  are  now  to  be  traced  to  Babylonian 

sources.    In  the  name  given  to  the  sacred  tree,  or  rather  the  tree  of  which 

the  inmates  of  the  garden  partook,  we   have  also,  I   believe,  a  valuable 

point  raised.     The-tree  is   called    tlie   "Asnan  ^  >-^|  >->[- tree."    1  have 

already  in  my  paper  on  the  Babylonian  Canals  named  some  remarks  upon 

this  word,  which  is  a  derivative  from  tlie  root    V^l^}    "  to  repeat,"  and 

means  the  double   fruit  or  double  tree.     May   not  this   account   for  the 

mention  of  the  two  trees  in  the  garden,  and  also  for  the  double  form  given 

to  the  tree  in  the  sculptures. 


THE       SERPENT-TKMPTER.  255 

The  expression  used  in  the  mention  of  the  gt)d<  entering  the  garden  is 
also  worthy  of  comment,  Tlie  gods  entered  and  ?nuttis  "in  a  death-like 
manner,"  being  an  adverbial  form  of  miitii,  "death,"  seems  to  iinplv  the 
same  association  witli  death  as  that  in  the  Hebrew  account,  "  In  the  daj 
that  thou  eatest  thereof  ye  shall  surely  die "  (Gen.  ii.  17),  and  this  is 
supported  by  a  repetition  in  ivnotluM-  line  whicli  reads,  "which  injures" 
khabisu,  from  the  roottJiabas  wliich  means  "  to  press,"  to  crush  down.  It 
would  seem  that  we  Inive  here  all  the  essential  features  of  the  Fall  story. 
If,  as  it  seems  to  me  impossible  to  doubt,  the  story  of  the  Fall  was  one  of 
those  traditions  which  among  the  Hebrews  received  its  literary  form  after 
the  Captivity,  we  may  account  for  this  wonderful  agreement  not  only  in 
general  details,  but  in  this  case  in  manifest  verbal  similarities  which 
cannot  have  been  preserved  during  the  long  period  of  centuries  which 
elapsed  since  their  first  sojourn  in  Chalda?a. 

W.  St.  C.  Ijoscawex. 


Oriental  Explorathixs. — The  great  success  which  has  attended  Mr. 
Flinders  Petrie's  explorations  on  the  site  of  the  ancient  city  of  Lachish 
has  served  to  prove  that  the  work  carried  out  by  the  I'alestine  Explora- 
tion ^Fund  would  result  in  a  rich  harvest,  were  the  necessary  firmans  for 
excavations  granted.  It  is,  however,  extremely  important  to  note  that 
these  works  have  excited  great  interest  in  the  Jewish  community,  and  a 
proposal  is  now  on  the  tapis  to  raise  funds  to  ^carry  out  explorations  on 
those  sites  most  associated  with  Jewish  history.  The  two  places  at  jne- 
sent  selected  are  Hebron  and  Kharran.  At  the  former  no  doubt  valuable 
results  await  the  exylorer,  as  the  Tel-el- Amarna  tablets  have  shown  its 
importance  in  pre-Hebrew  times;  and  the  ruins  of  Eski-Harran  or  old 
Kharran  have  long  been  looked  upon  as  a  most  fruitful  field.  The  in- 
fluence of  the  Jewish  community  should  certainly  be  able  to  overcome  the 
difficulty  of  obtaining  the  necessary  permits  from  the  Porte,  and  result 
in  valuable  and   interesting  discoveries. — W.  St.  C.  B. 


2it6  NAI 


HWAN(;-TI 


THE     ON 0 MAS  TIC     SIMILARITY     OF 
NAI    HWANG-TI     OF    CHINA 

AND 

NAKHUNTE     OF    SUSIANA. 


Some  views  with  regard  to  the  name  of  Nakhuute,  opposed  to  those 
of  the  present  writer  and  of  tlie  grouj)  of  scholars  who,  after  criticism 
and  close  verification,  have  come  to  share  them,  have  been  lately  put  forth 
in  a  popular  paper  and  unscientific  language  by  the  venerable  Prof.  J, 
Legge  of  Oxford  on  Chinese  Chronologji^ 

The  writer  of  the  present  note,  standing  on  a  purely  scientific  ground, 
is  at  a  disadvantage  in  answering  a  certain  part  of  the  said  paper,  which 
paper  not  a  few  will  rather  object  to  consider  otherwise  than  as  a  flimsy 
production.  Not  having  the  experience  of  the  venerable  Sinologist,  he 
cannot  indulge  in  the  unparliamentary  expressions  which  shine  therein, nor 
in  the  pleasure  of  putting  in  English  verses  an  epitome  of  his  views  and 
their  proofs,  in  the  same  way  as  the  venerable  Sinologist,who  in  the  same 
paper  has  put  in  English  ver.ses  an  epitome  of  the  Chinese  dynasties. 
Therefore  he  nmst  be  satisfied  with  plain  i^nglish,  and  he  hopes  his 
readers  will  not  object  to  these  unsatisfactory  conditions, 

2.  Tlie  author  does  not  quote  my  name  in  his  libellous  criticism  of  my 
identification  of  the  appellation  of  Nakhunta  of  Susiana  with  that  of 
Hwang-ti  or  Yu  Nai  Hwang-ti  of  China.  His  blunt  and  imprudent 
remarks,  which  show  that  he  was  stepping  into  a  field  of  research  still 
untrodden  by  himself,  are  directed  against  the  anonymous  author-  of  an 
article  on  Chinese  and  Babylonian  literature  published  in  the  Quarterly 
Review  of  July  1882,  where  several  of  my  disclosures  on  ancient  Chinese 
history  were  mentioned  and  explained.  Prof.  R.  K.  Douglas,  Professor 
of  Chinese  at  King's  College,  London,  who  wrote  this  article,  and  whose 
name  to  that  effect  has  already  been  disclosed  in  print,  had  carefully 
considered  the  matter  before  committing  himself  as  he  did,  and  T  am 
aware  that  for  long  he  had  taken  the  care  of  verifying  and  controlling 
every  one  of  my  statements  and  suggestions. 


AND       NAKHUNTE.  257 

3.  The  similarity  of  the  twi)  names  was  pointed  out  by  me  in  a  locturc  on 
China  and  the  Chinese,  their  earh/  history,  ^-c,  which  appeared  in  the 
Journal  of  the  Society  of  Arts  of  July  16,  1880,  and  was  reprinted  the 
same  year  with  addition?  in  a  pamphlet  form  under  the  title  :  Early 
history  of  Chinese  civilization:  a  Lecture  (London,  1880)^. 

As  I  am  the  responsible  author  of  the  identification,  the  sliot  was 
aimed  at  myself,  and  therefore  it  is  my  duty  to  show  that  the  gunner  had 
smoky  powder  and  no  projectile  in  his  weapon,  and  that  his  criticism  is 
the  remarkable  instance  of  Jmmana  incur m  he  has  spoken  of.  The  best 
and  sole  means  open  to  me  is  the  exact  statement  of  the  philological  and 
pnlseographical  reasons  which  have  led  me  to  the  identification. 

Since  1880,  this  similarity  has  been  indicated  after  me  by  several 
scholars,  and  I  have  had  but  little  to  change  in  my  original  statements. 
In  a  resume  of  the  proofs  that  the  ancient  civilisation  of  China  came  from 
Babylonia  and  Elam,  which  I  am  publishing  in  The  Babylonian  and 
Oriental  Record,  I  had  the  occasion  in  the  March  number  of  1889  to 
come  again  to  the  point. 

4.  Referring  especially  to  the  connection  with  Elam,  among  other 
pecuHarities,  I  resume!  the  fact  as  follows: 

"  The  name  of  the  ruler  of  the  Bak  tribes,  when  they  arrived  in  the 
N.W.  of  Cliina  proper,  was,  Nakhunte,  modern  ^Nai  Hwang  ti,  which 
was  evidently  taken  in  imitation  of  the  kings  of  Susiana,  whose  generic 
appellative  at  least  for  many,  was  Nakhunte,  in  honour  of  their  chief  of 
the  gods."  And  I  appended  as  a  note  to  Nai  Hwang  ti:  The  full  name 
may  be  yu  Nai  Hwang  ti,  old  Ku-Nalc-Khun-te,  but  yu  may  be  a  prefix, 
and  Nakhon  appears  written  in  one  single  group  in  the  Ku-wen  style  of 
writing*. 

NOTES- 


1)  ^   paper    read  at  a   meeting   of  the  Victoria   Institute,  March  3id, 

1890. 
2")  In  his  paper  which  has  been  kindly  communicated  to  me  by  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Syle  and  by  Mr.  W.  St.  Chad  Bi^scawen,  Prof.  J.  Legge  accuses 
the  author  of  the  article:.  r\  of  a  baseless  and  amusingly  wrong  assertion 
when  stating  that  the  distinctive  name  of  Hwang-ti  was  N<ik,  because 
tliis  character  thus  read  by  him  has  only  the  sound  Ifsiunq  (in  Ihe 
modern  Pekinese  corru))ted  phonetics)  ;  2^*,  of  what  seemed  to  him 
(Prof.  Legge)  "to  verge  on  literary  dishonesty"  till  he  liappened  to 
find  the  same  reading  Nai  in  the  late  Mr.  Mayers'  works  ;  3"  :  of 
liaving  never  looked  at  the  Chinese  character  ;    A'\     of  having  copied 


258  NAI       HWANG-TI 

Mr.  ]!.Iayers'  humana  incitna. — Now,  we  leave  to  our  readers  to  judge 
after  liaving  read  the  present  notice  how  far  the  venerahle  Sinologist 
was  justified  in  his  statement. 

3)  With  a  plate  of  ancient  Babylonian  and  early  Chinese  characters. 

4)  Cf.    Fu    Lwan-siang,    Liih  shu  fun    luy,    s.v.  ;  and    Tung    Wei-fu 
Tchuen  tzc  tvei,  s.v. 


5.   Huaug-ti,  as  the  central  figure  of  Chinese  beginnings  half  lost  in 
the  mists  of  remote   ages,   has  been  made  the  subject  of  many  kgeudary 
accounts.    Recollections  of  distant  times  turned  out  into  fables  and  mixed 
up  with  marvellous  adornments  have  been  piled  up  over  his  head,  and 
many  deeds  of  several  personages  have  been  attributed  gratuitously  to  him. 
The    various    legends    centred  around  his  name  have  been  collected  and 
arranged  together  by  several  scholars,  notably  by  Lo-pi,  the  erudite  author 
of  the   Xlth  century.       Several  earlier  scholars  had  specially  studied  the 
subject,  and  foremost  amongst  them  are  Hwang  P'u-mi  in  his  Ti  wang  she 
Tci  (215-282   b.c.)  and   Szcma  Tsien  in  the  She  Ki  (circa  163-85  B.C.). 
A   complete  biography  of  his  was  written   under  the  T'ang  dynasty  by 
Wang  Kwan,  under  the  title  of  Hien  Yuan  pen  /./,   but  it  seems  to  hare 
been  lost  long  ago.     In  the   Tai  ping  yil  Ian  cyclopaedia  which  was  com- 
piled in  the  years  977-983  by  a  committee  of  scholars  who  had  access  to 
many  works  which  are  no  more  to  be  had,  and  were  enabled  to  collect  ex- 
cerpts from    thirty    different   authors    about    Hwang-ti,    the    just  quoted 
biography  does  not  figure  in  the  list. 

Apart  from  the  references  made  to  Hwang-ti  in  the  sacred  books^  and  a 
certain  number  of  minor  works  such  as  the  Shan  hai  King^,  the  Kivei-tsang, 
&c. ,  the  principal  writers  quoted  who  lived  before  the  Christian  era,  from 
the  Xlth  century  downwards  are:  Yli  t7,e  (dawn  of  the  Tchou  dynasty); 
Kwan  tze  (died  645  b.  c,  );  Lieh  tze  (early  in  the  IVth  cent. ) ;  Tchwang 
tze  i.IVth  cent  B.C.);  She  tze  (about  280  b.c.) ;Han  tze  (Ilird  cent. 
B.C.);  Han  ying,  ILin  she  ivai  ^c^«a?^  (  178-156  b.c);  Hwai-Nan  tze 
(1).  122  B.C.);  also  the  Tchun  tslu  yueu  mm^  ^^ao,  a  part  of  the  Tchun 
tsin  wai  shu  I  written  in  the  1st  cent,  b.c)  And  besides  the  works  of 
our  era  previously  cj^uoted,  we  may  also  refer  to  Tsiang  tze:  Wan  ki  lun; 
Pao-po-tze  (died  330  a.d.);  Sun  Tch'oh  tze;  Fu  tze  ;  Lmig  yii  Hotu 
(of  the  Vth  cent,  or  earlier)  and  others. 

6.  This  name  of  the  first  of  the  Chinese  rulers  exhibits  indeed  the  most 
striking  resemblance  with  that  of  the  chief  of  the  gods  of  Susiana,  as  I 
pointed  out  ten  years  ago.^         The    evidence   is  multifold    and    may    be 


AND  'nakhunte.  259 

resumed  as  follows: — 

Nakhunte,  as  the  god,  with  Shusliinka  as  liis  goddess,  were  the  supreme 
deities  of  the  Elamite  pantheon,  and  we  are  made  aware,  by  an  inscrip- 
tion of  Asshurhanipal,  that  his  statue,  hidden  in  tlie  sacred  grore  of  Susa, 
was  curried  away  to  Babylon  by  tlie  Assyrian  conqueror,  at  the  same  time 
as  a  statue  of  the  goddess  Nana,  which  had  been  looted  from  Babylon  by 
the  Elamite  king  Kudur  Nakhunte  1635  years  before.^  This  statement 
takes  us  back  to  229-i:  k.c,  for  the  invasion  of  Babylonia  by  tlie  Elamite 
king. 

7.  It  was  the  habit  for  the  kings  of  Susa  to  wear,  like  the  Babylonian, 
and  afterwards  the  Assyrian  kings,  an  appellative  embodying  the  name  of 
a  god.  Kudur,  which  has  been  explained  as  meaning  sert;ant,^  is  pre- 
fixed to  several  names  of  other  deities,  in  royal  names,  besides  Kudur- 
Nakkundi,  such  as  Kudur  Lagamar,  Kudur  Mabug,  Kudur  Karbi.  But 
i!^akhunte  which  is  variously  transliterated  Nahkundi,  Nankhundi,  Na- 
hunta,  Nakhkhunte,  &c. ,  by  the  Assyriologists,  reappears  more  often  as 
befits  his  high  rank  in  the  Pantheon.  In  the  Elamite  royal  names  hither- 
to known  which  contain  a  name  of  a  god,  !N^ahkunte  appears  three 
times  out  of  seven.  The  canon  of  those  kings  is  not  known,  with  the 
exception  of  those  few  names,  and  between  the  Khedorlaomer  (Kudnr- 
Lagamar)  of  the  Bible  and  the  time  of  Sargon  II  of  Assyria,  there  is  a 
blank.  A  Sutruk  Nahkunte,  King  of  Susiana,  son  of  Halludns,  and 
father  of  a  Kudur  Nalikunte  who  ruled  after  liini,  was  contemporary  of 
the  Assyrian  monarch  just  named.  Therefore  the  name  of  the  Elamite 
chief  god  had  remained  prominent  and  was  still  in  use  1580  years  after 
tlie  first  king  of  the  same  name  known  to  history '^^.  Consequently  we  are 
justified  in  assuming  that  Nahkunte  was  the  most  venerated  name  of 
God  which  the  Elamite  rulers  liked  to  choose  as  their  protector. 

8.  InNahkuute  orNankundi,  yah  or  Nnn  was  not  necessarily 
an  integrant  part  of  the  name  and  Kunte  could  as  well  be  used  by  iiself 
or  mentioned  ahme.  Tlie  Assyrian  inscriptions  give  us  an  instance  of 
thecase^'.  Sutrul-  X'l  t hi' hunt ehiishxs  name  written  Is t ((7-  Khundu 
in  the  text  known  as  The  Babybuiian  chronicle.  As  to  the  mean- 
ing of  the  word  among  the  Elamites,  nothing,  or  very  little  if  any,  seems 
to  be  known.  It  is  not  unlikely  that  the  name  was  an  ancient  adapta- 
tion of  the  epithet  Nuldmmut,  an  Akkadian  title  of  Ea^'-,  We  are  well 
aware  that  the  country  of  Ehm  was  at  a  very  early  date  occupied  by  the 
Babylonians  in  several  cases,  and  that  the  civilisation  of  the  country  was 
an  offshoot  of  the  old  Babyloniani^.     x^e  old  Sargon  of  Akkad  "  marched 


260  NAI        HWA.SG-Tl 

against  the  country  of  Elaui  and  subjugated  the  men  of  Elam  "  some 
3800  years  b.c.^*  :  Gudea  the  Priest-king  of  Lagash,  ^Yho  hved  about 
the  same  time,  made  also  a  can^paign  iu  Elam,  in  the  course  uf  which  the 
city  of  Anshan  was  captured^^.  As  the  writing,  and  the  civilisation  were 
derived  from  those  of  Babylonia i^,  so  were  the  gods.  In  the  cuneiform 
texts  the  Elamite  Sutruck  is  rendered  by  Istar  ;  and  we  surmise  that  the 
Babylonian  gods  Lakhamu  and  Nukimmut  were  the  prototypes  of  Laga- 
mar  and  Nahkhunte.  En  its  Llamitic  garb,  the  latter  was  obviously 
altered  in  view  of  a  popular  etymology,  which  may  be  explained  by  further 
disclosures  resulting    from  new  decipherments  and  excavations. 

Notes 


5)    Yh  King,  Hi  tse  II,  15. — Li  ki,  &c. 

6  j  Shan  1ml  King.  Bks.  14,  16,  17  and  IS,  ^jia*-.*. 

7)  Early  history  of  the  Clnnese  civilisation,  p.  2  7. 

8)  G.  Smith,  History  of  Assurhanipal,  p.  251. — On  the  certainty  of 
this  date,  cf.  J.  Oppert,  La  plus  anciente  date  de  l' hi  stair  e  :  Bullet, 
de  I'Athenee  Oriental,  Nov.  1871,  p.  40;  J.  ilenant,  Glyptiqtie  Orien- 
tate, 1883,  vol.  I,  p.   103. 

9)  First  by  Talbot  and  afterwards  by  Finzi,  Rlcerch  per  lo  studio  delV 
<in'cchita  Assira,  p.  205,  who  have  compared  it  to  the  Samoyed-Ostiak 
Kote,  Tshaia  Kotu,  Ketsh  Kotte,  &c.  It  is  translated  in  Assyrian  by 
tuklat.  Cf.  Cuneiform  inscriptions  of  Western  Asia,  vol.  II,  pi.  65,  1. 
2. — In  his  paper  on  The  Inscriptions  of  Mai- Amir  and  the  language 
of  the  second  column  of  the  AUuvmenian  Inscriptions,  Act.  VI  Congr. 
Inter.  Orient.,  Leide,  1883,  sect.  II,  p.  741,  Prof.  Sayce  gives  :  Mai- 
Amir  Kutur,  a  servant  ;  Susian,  Kutir  and  Kutur  ;  Amardian  Kuti, 
to  carry. 

10)  Cf.  A.  H.  Sayce  :  The  languages  of  the  cuneiform  inscriptions  of 
Elam  and  Media,  in  Trans.  S.B.A.  1874,  t.  Ill,  p.  4G5-485.~J. 
Ojjpert;  2-es  inscriptions  en  langue  Susienne  ;  Essai  d'  inter i>retatlon, 
in  Cte  R.  I.  Congr.  Int.  Orient.  Paris,  1873-76,  t.  II,  p,  179. 

11)  Cf.  Records  of  the  Past,  N.S.  1888,  pp.  24-25.— An  identification  of 
the  same  sort  suggests  itself  between  the  Babylonian  Lakhamu  and 
the  Elamite  Lagamar. 

12)  It  has  passed  into  the  Assyrian  language  and  occurs  frequently  in 
the  texts,  according  to  Lenormant,   Chaldean  Magic. 

13)  Sir  Henry  C.  Rawlinson,  in  G.  Rawlinson's  Herodotus,  vol.  I. 

14)  A.  H.  Sayce  :  Translation  of  the  Annals  of  Sargon  of  Accad  and 
Naram-sin,  p.  37  of  Records  af  the  Past,  N.S.   1888,  vol.  I. 

15)  Arthiir  ^Vmiaud  :  Sirpulla,  d'apres  les  Inscript  ons  de  la  collection 
de  Surzec,  p.  13:  Revue  Archeologique,  1888;  and  The  Inscriptions  of 
Telloh,  p.  54,  of  Records  of  the  past,  1888. 

16)  Cf.  T.  de  L.  :   Chips  of  Babylonian  and  Chinese  palceographt/.  III. 
B.&O.R.   October,  1888j. — The  original   meaning  of  the  name  Nak- 
hunte  is  altogether   unknown  and  the  unripe   speculations  made  about 
it   must  be  left  aside  altogether. 


261  AND        NAKHCNTE. 

9.  Nai  is  said  to  be  the  name  of  the  principality  whicli  Hwang-ti  in- 
herited of,  and  wliicli  caused  him  to  be  called  Yu  Nai  Hwang-ti  and  also 
Yu  Niii  she^\  by  the  usual  prefixing  of  Yu  :^  and  the  occasional  suffixing 
of  she  ^  which  are  nu  integral  part  of  the  name.  Placed  before  a  geo- 
graphical name  Yu  emphasises  its  meaning  as  that  of  a  state  and  also 
with  reference  to  its  holder  or  sovereign  ;  and  she  which  is  added  to  them 
when  used  separately  as  a  personal  appellative  corresponds  pretty  well  to 
The  in  such  names  as  Tlie  O'Connor,  The  McDermott,  &c. 

10.  The  symbol  Nai  has  several  sounds  ;  the  most  common  is  Uung  ; 
yng,  and  Nai  (anciently  Nak)  are  also  indicated  by  the  authorities  quoted 
in  the  Khang  hi  t:e  tien  dictionary.  The  last  named  Nai  is  the  oldest 
of  which  any  instance  is  given,  as  the  reader  is  referred  for  it  to  the 
Tso  tchuen,  Duke  Tchao,  year  VII  i.e.  535  B.C.,  where  it  is  said  that  the 
Marquis  of  Tsin  dreamt  thata  yellow  7tai  or  bear  entered  the  door  of  his 
chamber  1^. 

The  spelling  by  the  fan-tsieh  process  is  *  +  ^  or  N(««(7-0AI=Naii9, 
which  is  upheld  by  another  and  older  spelling  from  the  Shoh  iven,  where 
it  is  written  by  the  same  process  ^^  +  ^  N(o-OAI=Nai.  The  hrst 
of  the  two  instances  is  however  the  only  one  which  is  said  to  be  identical 
to  |g,  otherwise  [gj  |g^".^  Now  the  character  /a«  which  is  here  employed 
to  suggest  the  final  in  the  two  spellings,  has  lost  a  final  —k  which  was 
still  felt  if  nut  altogether  pronounced  at  the  time  of  the  older  of  these 
spellings,  and  therefore  the  ancient  sound  of  Nai  should  have  been 
NAK^'i, 

11.  The  character  ^|  as  we  have  just  seen,  was  said  to  be  identical 
with  H  of  which  it  is  a  derivative,  being  composed  of'  f^  as  a  primitive 
with  the  determinative  fire  under  it.  This  primitive  has  several  sounds 
such  as  neng,  nai  and  nak  ;  the  latter  in  composition  is  given  in  the 
Kwang-ya,  a  dictionary  of  the  Ilird  century,  with  tlie  sounds  added  under 
the  Sui  dynasty  (581-617). 

In  the  improved  edition  of  the  Shwoh  wen  of  100  a.d.  pubUshed  in 
1833,  it  is  stated  t\\Si.t  "^  neng ,  an  animal  like  a  bear  with  a^deer's  feet, 
was  anciently  pronounced  nai^'^.  The  reason  why  they  did  not  say  nalc, 
is  that  in  no  case  have  the  authors  of  this  learned  work  taken  into  ac- 
count any  of  the  finals  which  have  decayed  and  disappeared  in  the  course 
of   time.       Neng  is   simply  a  variation,  with  a  twang,  of  the  older  Nak. 

*Key  30  +  19  str.    Nang  :  No.  1497  Basil.;    Plionet.  1038   Gallery  ; 
Medhurst,  Clun.  Hag.  Diet.  p.  119. 


262  NAI        HWANG-TI 

The  derivative  of  this  character,  which  appears  as  the  complementary  ap- 
pellative of  Hwang-ti,  was  written  in  the  oldest  or  Ku-wen  style  of 
writing  with  two  signs. '|^  NaJc  at  the  right  of  J{f  ^tra??^,  formerly  hnng^^ 
and  still  more  anciently  Kn7i  or  Kho7i  according  to  the  rude  phonetic 
speUing  of  the  Kii-won  period^*.  Read  from  right  to  left  according  to 
the  Chinese  system,  the  two  characters  make  NAK  KHON,  as  I  briefly 
pointed  out  before.  The  Ku-wen  form  here  described  is  given  in  the 
learned  palcTOgraphic  works,  the  Liih  fihu  fun  luy  of  Fu  Lwan-siang 
(1751),  the  Tckwen  tze  wei  ol  Tung  Wei-fu  (,1691  >  and  also  in  the  K'ang 
hi   tzc  tifii. 

12.  The  late  William   Frederick  Mayers   has   read  this  character  Nai  in 
relation  with  the  name  of  Hwang-ti.    And  the  insistence  with  which  this 
careful  and   competent   scholar  has   repeated  his   reading,  shows  that  he 
had  duly  studied  the  matter.     In  the  first  publication  of  his  Chronological 
Tables  of  Chinese  (h/iiasties  in  the  second  volume^^  of  Doolittle's  Vocabu- 
larij  and  Handbook,  (1872),  the  lamented  scholar  had  given  the  vulgar 
reading  Hiung.    But  in  his  Chinese  Reader's  Manual  '^1874)  he  reads  it 
Nai,  and  he  has  taken  care  as    it  were  to  show  that  he  bad  paid   special 
attention  to  the  matter.     In  the  biographical  notice  of  Hwang-ti,    which 
he    has  obviously  worked  out    with    the  attention    it  required,  he  says  : 
"He  (Hwang-ti)  was  also    surnamed    KungSun    5^  ^   in  virtue  of 
his  descent  ;  whilst  from  the  fact  of  his  inheriting  the  principality  of  Nai 
]|| — the   Bear   (country) — he   was  also  denominated     W    ^    -K     (-^°' 
225,  p.  71),     In   the  chronological    tables    appended    to  the   same  work, 
Mayers  has  repeated  his  reading  Nai  so  far  as   concerns   Hwang-ti  ;  and 
in  the  final   index  of  Chinese  characters,  the  sign  ^  is  given  with  two 
sounds  Nai   and   hiung,    referring  to  two  Nos.  of  articles,  viz.   225  that 
on  Hwang-ti,  for  Nai,    and  947  for  hiung  in  the  name  of  Yu-hiung  com- 
monly Yii  tze,  a  writer  of    the  XIIEth  cent,   B.C.       Such  being  the  case 
for  W.   F.  Mayers,  it  is   clear  to  any  impassionate  reader,  tliat  he  had 
carefully   studied   the  point  at    issue    as    otherwise    he  would    not  liaye 
modified  his  former  readino:^^. 

18.  In  the  T.so  ff/me??,  Hwang-ti  was  also  called  ^i,^;  now  read  Hung, 
which  as  a  separate  appellative  was  arranged  into  'j^  'i^Pi  -K''^  '^'^^ 
read  Ti  Hung  she. 

The  symbol  here  read  hung,  and  meaning  generally:  a  s^tork,  is   not   the 
deo-phonetic  character  which  it  seems  to  be;namely  a  compound  of  the  pho- 
netic 'l\  Kiang  with  the  mute  determinative  or  key  for  birds  {niao).  and  can- 
not rank  with  the  complex  including  the  keys  118, 140, 142, 184, 196,  which 
are  the  genuine  derivatives  of  this  phonetic^^.  The  determinative  water  is 


AND       NAKHUNTE.  263 

an  addition  to  the  character  which  was  previously  written  in  one  group, 
niao-kung,  the  bird  hung  such  as  is  shown  by  tlie  ancient  forms  of  the 
symbol  in  the  older  or  ku-wen  style  of  writing  illustrated  in  the  palfeogra- 
phical  dictionaries  such  as  the  Tchuen  tze  wei  of  Tung  Wei-fu,  and  the 
Luh  shu  fun  luy  of  Fu  Lwan-siang-^.  Instead  of  Nlao,  the  other  de- 
terminative for  birds  ^^  tclmi,  short  tailed  bird  was  also  employed  at 
will,  but  in  this  appellative  of  Hwang-ti,  the  compound  niao-kung  was 
specially  used.  Now  without  going  into  the  particulars  of  legendary 
character  which  have  led  to  this  curious  soubriquet,  I  cannot  help  think- 
ing that  the  selection  of  this  symbol  with  its  special  composition  was  due 
to  the  approximate  sounds  of  its  parts  with  the  name  of  Yu  Nai 
Hwang-ti. 

14.  I  bring  these  notes  to  a  close  as  my  sole  purpose  was  to  give  the 
proof  of  the  similarity  in  names  of  Nahkunte  of  Susiana  and  Nai  Hwangti 
of  China.  The  story  of  the  latter  is  greatly  fabulous  and  the  amount  of 
real  events  concerning  him  is  at  minimum  in  the  compiled  nar- 
ratives made  by  the  various  writers  we  have  mentioned  above. 

It  is  more  than  probable  that  when  his  legend  is  critically  examined, 
scholars  will  be  able  to  disentangle  its  fabric  and  separate  that 
which  belongs  to  a  genuine  leader  of  the  Bak  families  who  had  received 
or  taken  the  name  of  Nakhunte,  in  Chinese  sounds  Nak  Konti\  in  iui- 
tation  or  souvenir  of  the  rulers  of  Susiana  with  whom  they  were  acquainted. 
Among  the  extraneous  matter,  souvenirs  will  be  found  which  relate  to 
some  or  other  of  the  Susianian  kings  themselves.  I  have  began  the 
task   some  years  ago.     {The  Chinese  mythical  kings  and  the  Babylonian 

Canon,    1883.)     And   I  intend  to  continue   it  some   day  should  leisure 
and  eye-sight  permit  me. 

NOTKS 

17)  She  ki,   IVa  ti  hi,  in   Ivang  la  tze  tien,  sub.  verb.,  86-1-  10,  fol.  33 

Hwang  Fu-mi,  Ti  Wang  she  ki. 

18)  Cf.  J.  Legge,  Chinese  Classics,  vol.  IV.  p.  G13,  C(.I.  3,  for  tlie 
Chinese   text,  and  p.  617  for  the  translation. 

19)  In  tlie  Tsih  yim  of  Sung  Tclii  (1035)  ;  also  in  the  Luy  juen  of  Szema 
Kwang  (1009-1086). 

20)  ICanghi  tze  tien,  sub.  verb. 

21)  The  final  — k  is  proved  by  the  rhymes  of  the  Odes  as  shown  by 
Twan  yu-tsai.  Cf.  J.  Edkins,  Introductinu  to  the  study  of  Chinese 
characters,  p.  88,  No.  409  ;  and  J.  Chalmers  :  The  Rhymes  of  the  Shi 
King,  til,  c. 

22)  Cf.  John  Chalmers,  An  account  of  the  structure  of  the  Chinese  char- 
acters under  300  primary  forms:  after  the  Shwoh-wun,  IOC,  a.d.,  and 
the  Phonetic  Shwoh-wan,  1833,  (London,    1882),  i)p.   21.  102.  120. 

23)  Cf.  Amoy  ho7ig,  Tsiang-tsiu  hong,  SiiKj-Acn.  hoang. 

24)  It  was  written  :  Ko,   fire  ^  under,  for  the  initial  anJ-[['Nliap,  20 


264  GISTUBAR, 

over  it  for  the  final,  by  AcroLgy.  The  symbol  thus  written  was  for 
bright;  for  the  meaning  yellow,  another  sign  Kn,  long  time 
was  added  to  strengthen  the  initial.  No  confusion  must  be  made  be- 
tween this  old  character +  20 and  the  signs  dfc  and  -p-f- which  are  some- 
what similar  to  it  only  in  their  modern  form,  as  their  older  shapes 
were  quite  different. — On  the  curious  and  imperfect  system  of  phonetic 
spelling  in  Ku-wen,  T  have  given  some  information  and  instances  in 
several  of  my  works  :  The  oldest  books  of  the  Chinese  (1882),  par.  23  ; 
The  old  numerals,  the  counting  rods,  and  the  Swan-pan  in  China 
(1882),  pp.  21,  and  25  ;  Beginnings  of  writing  around  Tibet,  par.  50  ; 
The  oldest  Booh  of  the  Chinese,  pp.  33,  34,  104,  105,  117,  123.  &c.  ; 
The  tree  of  Life  of  Babylonia  and  China,  (1888),  p.  10;  Le  non- 
monosyllabisme  da  chinois  antique  (1889),  pp.  3-6  ;   &c. 

25)  Vol.   II,  p.  239. 

26)  And  the  subsequent  writer  we  have  referred  to,  was  not  entitled  to 
criticise  and  still  less  to  abuse  the  departed  scholar,  unless  he  had  shown 
clearly  in  black  and  white  that  he  is  himself  in  the  right,  and  this  he  has 
neither  done  or  attempted  to  do. 

27 )  In  the  Tso  tchuen,  Duke  "Wan,  year  XVIII,  par.  9. — Hwang  P'u- 
rai,    Ti  Wang  she  hi. 

28)  Cf.  the  list  in  Kang-hi's  concise  dictionary  by  the  Rev.  J.  Chalmers. 

29)  It  is  specially  labelled  Ku-wen  in  the  latter  work. — The  Luh  shu 
tung  of  Min  Tsi-kih,  I,  6  has  not  the  form. 

Terrikn  de  Lacouperie. 


EXIT      GISTUBAR! 


It  has  been  found  at  last,  the  long  wished-for  reading  of  the  name  of 
the  well-known  hero,  and  it  is  neither  Gistubar,  nor  Gisdubar,  nor  Gisdu- 
barra,  nor  Izdubar,  nor  finally,  Namrasit,  but 

GILGAMES. 

The  text  which  gives  it  is  from  Babylonia,  and  is  numbered  82-5-22,  915. 
There,  in  the  fourth  line  of  the  obverse,  we  have  it  : 

D.P.    GlS-GAN-MAS  D.P,    Gl       -    IL    -      GA  -   MES. 

Gilgames  is,  of  course,  for  Gisganmas,  and  is  composed  of  three  ele- 
ments, namely,  'pj  (.</?«)>  ]^tJJ  {gin  or  gan),  and  Jf-  (mas).  Gis  has 
changed  into  gil  before  the  following  consonant.  Assyriologists  may  con- 
gratulate themselves  upon  having  been,  mostly,  practically  right  with 
regard  to  one  syllable  out  of  the  three,  for  most  of  them,  I  take  it,  re- 
garded Gistubar,    Gisdubar,  &c.,  as  provisional  readings  merely. 

Notwithstanding  the  ending  -as  or  -es  I,  for  one,  am  not  at  present 
inclined  to   regard  the  name  as  Kassite.  Theo.  G.  Pinches. 

PRINTED  AND  PUBLISHED  FOR  THE  PROPRIETOR  AT2«  ALBERT  SQUARE   CLAPHAM 
ROAD,  AND  BY    D.    NUTT,  FOREIGN    AND  CLASSICAL   BOOKSELLER  270  STRAND. 


THE 


BABYLONIAN  AND  ORIENTAL  RECORD. 

Contributors  are  alone  responsible  for  their  opinions  or  statements. 

THE    DOG     AND     DEATH. 

The  Dog  is  in  many  mythologies  and  folk-lores  connected  in  one  way 
or  another  with  Death  and  the  Spirit-world. 

In  the  Veda,  Yama's  two  broad-nosed  (urunasa'),  iouY-Qyedi{caturaksha) 
brindled  (j^abala)  dogs,  sit  at  the  entrance  of  heaven  to  keep  out  the 
godless  (RV.  X,  14,  10,  11).  These  hounds  also  go  about  among  men 
to  seek  out  those  destined  to  die  and  conduct  them  to  Ytinia,  the  death- 
god  (RV.  VIII,  6,  15,   16  ;  V,  4,  22.) 

Numerous  writers  have  shown  the  connection  between  these  dogs  and 
the  Greek  and  Latin  Kep/Bspo's,  and  even  the  etymological  affinity  of 
the  latter  name  wdth  the  Sanskrit  epithet  ^abala,  (through  the  Prakrit 
Cabbala  ior  *  Car  bala,  *Carbara),  to  say  nothing  of  the  form  Karbura, 
with  the  same  meaning,  {Kumcira-Sambhava,  iv,  27).  The  best  summary 
of  all  that  has  been  said  on  this  subject  is  in  Van  den  Gheyn's  admirable 
httle  monograph  "  Cerbere  :  Etude  de  Mythologie  comparee,"  (Brux- 
elles,  1883). 

The  Scandinavian  hell  had  also  its  guardian  dog  at  the  gates,  Garmr, 
who  like  the  Hindu  or  Greek  hounds,  had  to  be  quietened  with  food. 
An  exactly  similar  .])elief  is  stated  to  have  existed  among  the  North 
American  Indians,  where  the  Algonquins  had  a  '  river  of  the  dead,' 
crossed  by  '  a  snake  bridge,'  and  guarded  at  the  extremity  by  a  great 
dog  (Tanner,  and  Schoolcraft,  quoted  by  Rajendralala  Mxir a,  Indo- Aryans, 
vol.  ii.  p.  158). 

There  is  no  trace  of  dog  or  dogs  guarding  the  Spirit  world  in  Avestic 
sources.  We  now  know,  that  the  Zarin-gosh,  or  yellow-eared  hound, 
guarding  the  Cinvat  bridge,  exists  only  in  a  later  poetical  Persian  ver- 
sion of  t\\Q  Ardd-i    Virdf  Ndmeh,  and  not    in  the  original  of  that  work 

Vol.  IV.— No.  12.  [265]  Ncv.,  180u. 


266  THE    DOG    ANn    DEATH. 

though  Darmesteter  also  quotes  the  tradition  trom  the  Grand  Ravaiet,  p. 
592,  and  sees  alhisions  to  it  in  Vd.  XIII,  9,  and  XIX,  30.  Indeed  the 
commentary  to  XIII;  9,  says  :  "  There  are  dogs  who  watch  over  the 
earthly  regions  ;  there  are  others  who   watch  over  the   fourteen  heavenly 


regions. 


But  the  dog  is  distinctly  brought  into  connexion  with  death  in  the 
Mazdayasnian  religion,  though  in  a  quite  different  manner.  The  dying 
believer,  with  the  modern  as  with  the  mediaeval  I  arsis,  has  to  undergo 
the  rite  of  the  sagdid  or  "  dog-gaze.''  A  dog  is  brought  to  the  bed  of 
the  dying  person  and  placed  so  as  to  look  straight  into  his  eyes,  for  the 
gaze  of  the  dog  puts  the  demons  to  flight. 

In  the  Avesta  itself,  the  gaze  of  the  dog  is  used  to  put  the  Na9us,  or 
death  demon  to  flight,  either  from  the  corpse  itself  (Vend.  VII,  '2,  3), 
or  from  one  deflled  by  contact  with  a  corpse  (Vend.  VIII,  35  seq=lll 
sq.),  or  from  places  so  defiled  (Vend.   VITI,  16-18=41-47).       In  the 
last  case  these  hounds  must  be  "  four-eyed,"  (cathrucashma)  like  Yama's 
in  the  Veda,   and  •'  white   with  yellow  ears."     Otherwise,  however,  it  is 
not  easy  to  see  what  connexion  the  Mazdayasnian  demon-chasing  dog  can 
have  with  the  hounds  of  Yama  or  the  Hellenic  Cerberus.     An  interesting 
question  was   started    in   these  pages  by  I'rof.  de  Harlez  regarding  the 
origin  and  meaning  of  this  curious  Avestic  prescription  of  the  use  of  the 
"  four-eyed  "  dog  in  purificatory  rites.     As  the  employment  of  such  a  dog 
is  actually  enjoined,  it  is  clear  that  some  kind  of  real  dog  is  referred  to  ; 
and  that  in  any  case  the  "  four-eyed"  dog  of  the  Avesta  cannot  be  the 
same  as   the  mythical  "four-eyed"  hound  of  Yama.      In  his  article  in 
Vol.  I  of  this  review,  (B.O.R.,    Jan.  1887,  pp.  36-38),  de  Harlez  shews 
this  very  convincingly  and,  with  Spiegel,  prefers  to  seek  the  explanation 
of  the  "  four-eyes  "  in  Mazdayasnian  tradition.     That   tradition,  which  is 
explicit   and   unhesitating,  affirms  that  the  kind  of  dog  referred  to  was 
one  with  a  spot  over  each  eye,  giving  the  appearance  of  four-eyes .     This 
traditional  interpretation   is    powerfully  confirmed  by  the  Mandchu  word 
cited  by  de  Harlez,  durbe,  which  according  to  the  authorities  appealed  to 
by  him  (the  Manju-gisun-i  BuJeku   Bithe,  a  native  dictionary,  the  Tsing- 
wen-weishuh,  etc.),  means  "  a  dog  with  four  eyes,  a  dog  which  lias   two 
yellow    or   white    spots    above  the  eyes."     Nay  more,    in    a  subsequent 
number  of  B.O.R.,  it  will  be  remembered,  Miss  A.  Smith  of  Kingston-on- 
Tiiames.   bears   witness  that  she   actually   possesses  such  a  dog, — in  this 
case  indeed  with  liright  yellow  spots  under  the  eyes,  "  resembling  spectacles 
or  extra  eyQ?'"  {XiA.  I,  p.  64).      And  this  dog  is  from  Lapland, — a  Tur- 


THE    DOG    AND    DEATH.  267 

anian  country.  De  Harlez  seems,  tljorefore,  justified  in  concluding  from 
those  facts  that  the  Avesta  has  here  absorbed  a  Turanian  or  Tartar  be- 
lief. How  legitimate  this  inference  is,  may  be  seen  from  the  fact  that 
several  other  characteristic  usages  ami  doctrines  of  the  Avesta  are  of 
Turanic  origin,  e.g. — (1)  the.  exiDOSure  of  corpses  to  birds  and  beasts  of 
prey ;  (2)  the  extravagant  religious  respect  for  the  dog  ;  (3)  the  extreme 
veneration  for  fire,  and  the  fear  of  sullying  it  by  the  breath,  (I.e.,  p.  ;;8). 

Turning,  now,  to  another  variety  of  superstition,  we  find  the  belief, 
still  so  common  in  England,  that  the  howling  of  a  dog  at  night  near  a 
house  is  a  presage  of  the  nearness  of  Death.  Everybody  living  in  this 
country  can  bear  witness  to  this  superstition.  The  same  is  the  belief  of 
the  Arab.  "  Most  people  beheve,"  says  the  late  regretted  Burton,  "  that 
when  a  dog  howls  near  a  house  it  forebodes  death,  for,  it  is  said,  a  dog 
can  distinguish  the  awful  form  of  Azrn'd  the  Angel  of  Death,""  {Arabia, 
Vol.  I,  p.  290;.  De  Giibernatis  cites  the  superstition  for  Russia  and 
Italy  ;  and  further  remarks  that  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Florence  it  is 
considered  a  sign  of  death  even  to  dream  about  a  dog.  This  superstition, 
he  reminds  us  is  referred  to  also  by  Terence.  In  all  these  cases  the  dog 
is  closely  connected  with  death,  (Die  Thiere  in  der  indogerm.  Mytho- 
logie,  p.  368). 

But-  perhaps  the  most  interesting  parallel  is  that  quoted  by  a  recent 
writer  from  the  beliefs  of  the  Philippine  Islands.  Isabelo  de  los  Reyes, 
in  his  valuable  studies  "  Religion  de  los  antiguos  Tagalos  6  Filipinos," 
has  the  following:  "The  alalia  is  a  real  ghost.  On  the  third  and  ninth 
day  after  its  death,  it  visits  its  home  and  all  the  places  it  used  to  frequent 
in  life.  The  howling  of  dogs  announces  the  lyresence  of  an  invisible  spectre: 
and  in  order  to  see  it,  one  micst  smear  ones  eyes  loith  the  humour  from 
the  e/ies  of  a  dogT  (Las  Misiones  Catolicas,  aiio  X,  No.  233, 
p.  335). 

Now  this  Philippine  belief  appears  to  me  of  the  greatest  value,  and  to 
hold,  if  I  may  so  say,  the  key  to  the  cycle  of  superstitions  regarding  the 
Dog  and  Death.     I  shall  therefore  venture  to  examine  it  in  detail. 

Perliaps  I  need  scarcely  call  attention  to  the  mention  of  the  third  and 
ninth  day  after  death, — dates,  which  with  the  thirtieth  day  or  '  mouth's 
mind,' — play  a  significant  part  in  the  beliefs  regarding  Dcatli  and  the 
disembodied  spirit  in  more  than  one  part  of  the  world.  For  instance, 
in  the  Avesta  and  Mazdayasnian  literature  the  Death-spirit  hovers  about 
the  house  for  three  days,  and  the  ghost  of  the  deceased  remains  three 
days  seated   by  the  head  of  the    corpse  ;     (see  Ardix-i    Viraf  cliap.  iv.. 


268  THE  DOG    AND  DEATH. 

Mainyo-i  Khard,  c.  ii,  Dinkart,  ii,  c.  75  ;  also  cf.  S.'ddar,  73 ;  all  being 
developments  of  the  Avosta,  Vend,  xix,  and  Yashfs  xxii  and  xxiv.) ; 
whilst  the  death-defilement  lasts  nine  days,  at  the  end  of  which  the  bar- 
ashnum  nu  shaba,  or  "nine  nights'"  purificatory  service  is  to  be  performed 
(Vend.  ix. — Parallels  might  be  adduced  from  the  Hindu  and  other  rites ; 
but  I  pass  on). 

In  tlie  Tagalo  (Philippine)  superstition  we  find  that  (1)  the  dogs  howl 
at  tlitadvent  of  the  alalia,  or  ghost  ;  evident!)'  (2)  because  they  are 
gifted  with  sight  keen  enougli  to  see  spirits, — just  as  in  the  Arab  belief 
we  cited,  they  can  see  AznVil,  the  Death-Angel  (Burton,  I.e.)  ;  also  (3) 
this  power  of  seeing  spirits  can  be  communicated  to  the  human  eye  by 
anointing  with  the  humour  of  the  dog's  eye,  in  which  apparently  the 
virtue  resides. 

This  belief  in  the  keenness  of  tlie  dog's  gaze,  even  into  the  spirit- 
world,  evidently  underlies  the  world-wide  connexion  between  the  prox- 
imity of  death  and  the  howling  of  dogs.  I  would  venture  also  to  suggest 
that  it  underiies  also  the  Vedic  myths  of  Yama's  gabala  hounds,  and  the 
classic  myth  of  Cerberus,  and  the  Turano-Eranian  rites  of  the 
sa(/dtd. 

The  epithet  '  four-eyed '  (caturaksJia)  given  to  the  Vedic  hounds  is 
rightly  interpreted  by  de  Harlez  as  implying  originahy  nothing  more 
than  sharp-sighted  or  '  seeing  on  all  sides,'  or,  I  suppose,  seeing  at  all 
four  points  of  the  compass;  and  indeed  the  like  name  is  given  to  Agni 
also,  (RV.  I,  31,  13),  thus  indicating  that  "  the  poet  desires  only  to  give 
it  to  be  understood  that  these  supernatural  personages  see  on  all  sides 
and  that  nothing  escapes  their  observation "'  (B.&O.R..  vol.  I,  p.  37  ;  so 
too,  Rajendralala  Mitra,  op.  cit,,  p.  163.)  ISTo  doubt  the  extreme  keenness 
of  vision  of  the  dog  would  be  one  of  the  qualities  which  most  struck  the 
first  peoples  who  domesticated  or  employed  him. 

And  we  can  quite  understand  that  among  other  and  independent 
peoples  a  similar  epithet  of  '  four-eyed  ' — whether  suggestive  of  a  double 
supply  of  eye-power,  or  of  seeing  all  round, — may  have  been  appropriated  to 
the  keen-eyed  hound  ;  and  it  is  very  easy  to  conclude  that  the  dog's  sup- 
posed power  of  'seeing  sijirits  '  may  have  had  a  similar  origin.  If  in 
time  this  very  simple  origin  of  the  epithet  '  four-eyed '  became  forgotten, 
we  can  very  well  understand  subsequent  attempts,  especially  in  ritual,  to 
find  a  plausible  realistic  exi^lanafcion.  Hence  the  application  of  the 
Mandchu  du?-be  and  the  Mazdayasnian  Cathrucashna  to  such  dogs,  with 
spot«  under  or  over  the  eyes,  as  tradition  refers  to  and  as  Miss  A.   Smith 


THE    DOG    AND    DEATH.  209 

actually  possesses.  F.^r  otherwise  ivh/  shoald  Mazdayasnian  ritual,  or 
even  the  Turanian  rites  which  it  may  have  absorbed,  have  fixed  upon  such 
a  peculiar  kind  of  dog  ? 

To  sum  up,  I  should  thus  correlate  tbe  various  traditions  and  ueliefs 
referred  to  in  this  paper  concerning  the  Dog  and  Death  : 

(1)  It  was  observed  tliat  the  Dog,-.especially  in  hunting  and  in 
watching  tlie  house,  (cf.  Avesta,  Vend.  XIII.  39),— is  gifted  with  ex- 
traordinary keenness  of  vision. 

(2)  Hence  a  popular  belief  that  he  could  see  even  what  was  beyond 
human  ken, — such  as  ghosts,  spirits,  the  angel  or  demon  of  death,  (Eng- 
land, Philippine  Islands,  Russia,. Italy,  Arabia,  Persia,  &c.) 

(3)  Hence,  too,  his  supposed  use  by  analogy  to  guard  the  gates  of  the 
spirit-realm  against  intrusive  ghosts  (Rig- Veda  ;  later  Mazdayasnian 
literature;  Scandinavians;  North  American  Indians); — as  well  as  to  see 
and  frighten  off  the  death-demons  from  the  living  and  from  the  corpse 
(Avesta),  or  to  similarly  frighten  off  the  demons  from  the  dying  man's 
side  by  the  sag-did  (later  Mazdayasnian  belief). 

(4)  Hence,    also,  an   epithet   appropriated    to  him,   i.e.   '  four-eved,' 

indicative  of  extreme  keenness  of    vision,  {Caturaksha  of  Veda,  Cathm- 
cashma  of  Avesta  ;  Turanian  durbe). 

(5)  The  latter  epithet  eventually  gets  taken  in  a  literal  sense, — the 
Vedic  hounds  are  depicted  as  actually  having  four  eyes.  Turanian 
and  Eranian  rites  requiring  the  actual  presence  of  a  dog,  the  difficulty  is 
met  realistically  by  fixing  upon  a  dog  so  marked  as  to  appear  to  have 
four  eyes,    owing  to  spots  on  the  face  above  described. 

(6)  The  furthest  extension  of  the  idea  appears  in  the  Philippine  belief, 
that  the  very  humour  of  the  canine  eye  is  able  to  communicate  the  spirit 
seeing  power. 

(7)  Meanwhile  the  Dog  and  Death  have  become  so  intimately  united 
in  the  popular  mind,  that  the  mere  howling  of  the  former,  or  ones  dream- 
ing about  it,  is  a  warning  of  the  approach  of  the  latter. 

•:^OTE. 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  theory  above  sketched  differs  from  that  ably 
put  forward  by  Dr.  Rajcndralala  Mitra, in  his  Indo-Arijanfi,  Vol.  II,  ])p. 
156-165.  (Calcutta  and  London,  1881).  The  Indian  savant  rightly  re- 
jects the  'solar-myth'  explanation  of  Max  Miiller,  which  is,  of  course, 
as  in  other  cases,  carried  to  still. more  unwarrantable  excess  by  De  Guber- 
natis  in  his  Zoological  Mf/tJndogi/.  The  learned  I>i-ahiuin's  own  sugges- 
tion has  the  merit  of  simplicity :  he  traces  the  connexion  of  the  ideas  of  the 
dog  and  of  death  to  a  jirimitive  custom  of  disposing  of  the  bodies  of  the 
deceased  by  giving  the    flesh  as    prey  to  the  dogs.       Such  a    usage  is 


270  THE   SILK    GODDESS 

vouched  for  among  the  Persians  by  Herodotus;  by  Strabo  and  Cicero  for 
Sogflians,  Bactrians,  Parthians,  and  others.  Modern  evidence  to  its  use 
in  Mongolia  and  Tibet  is  supplied  by  I  rjevalsky,  della  Penna  and  Abbe 
Hue.  Dr.  R.  Mitra  thinks  the  Parsi  sagdid  a  remnant  of  a  similar 
custom.  This  theory  is  ingenious ;  but  I  do  not  think  that  it  sufficiently 
covers  all  the  ground  occupied  by  these  various  superstitions  I  have  de- 
tailed, and  others  akin  to  them,  and  therefore  prefer  tlie  evolution  of 
beliefs  which  I  have  endeavoured  to  trace  out  in  the  preceding  pages. 

L.  C.  Casartelli. 


THE     SILK     GODDESS    OF    CHINA 
AND     HER     LEGEND. 


SUMMARY.       IXTKODDCTORY. 

§1.  Present  worship  of  Si-ling  she. — 2.  Is  no  proof  of  its  genuineness. 

I.  Ancient  Geography  of  Sericultdre. — 

§3.  Silk  industry  indigenous  in  China. — ^.  Attributed  to  Si-ling  she 
Lui-tsu  yuen-fei. — 5.  Silk  of  Shan-tung  in  the  Shu  king. — 6.  Silk 
mentioned  in  the  Yh  king. — 7.  The  Tribute  of  Yli,  the  oldest  des- 
cription of  China. — 8.  Products  of  four  provinces. — 9,  Products  of  five 
provinces. — 10.  Candid  view  to  be  taken  of  these  statements. — 11. 
Silk  and  cloth  from  Tsiu-tchou  '.ind  Yang-tchou. — 12.  Stuff  and  silk 
from  King-tchou  and  Yu-tchou. — 13.  Four  instances  only  of  silk  in  the 
Eastern  provinces. — 14.  West  and  Central  China  had  no  silk. — 15. 
Shan-si,  the  Chinese  focus  had  silk  on  the  East. — 16.  Late  allusion 
in  the  Shi-king  as  to  S.  Shensi. — 17.  Poetical  description  of  sericul- 
ture,— 18.  It  had  been  mtroduced  from  the  East.  — 19.  It  developed 
there  under  the  Mongols  and  disappeared. — 20.  The  Tchou  li  mentions 
silk  only  in  Honan  and  N.  Shansi. — 21.  The  sericulture  of  Sze- 
tchuen  is  not  primitive. 

II.  Calendaric  Rules,  Rites  and  Customs. 

§22.  Entries  about  silkworms  in  the  Brief  Calendar  of  the  Hia  dynasty. — ^ 
23.  In  the  Ritual  of  the  Tchou  dynasty  {Tchou  U).—2^.  In  the  Yueh 
ling  of  the  Li  ki,  witli  reference  to  a  sacrifice  to  the  ancient  Em- 
perors.— 25.  On  the  Rojvil  culture  of  silkworms. — 26.  The  Princesses 
like  the  Queen  must  attend  to  silkworms. — 27.  Silkworms  and  silk  in 
the  Shi  king. — 28.  No  souvenir  of  their  discovery. 


OF       CHIXA.  271 

III.  Various  tutelary  Spirits  and  Goddesses  op  silk. 

§  29.  Discovery  of  silk  not  mentioned  in  tlie  Ili-tze  nor  in  the  Nuin  hai 
king. — 'dO.  Rationalised  tableau  of  savage  life  in  the  -^Li  hi. — 31.  Sa- 
crifice to  the  Sien  Ts'an  or  First  silkworms  mentioned  in  a 
spurious  passage  of  the  same  work. — 82.  Sacrifice  for  silkworms  to 
the  Land  deity,  Ilird  cent.  a.d. — 33.  Sacrifice  by  the  Ts'in  Empress 
in  the  IVth  cent,  to  Tsan  shen  i.e.  tlie  Tutelary  Genius  of  silkworms. — 
34.  Official  ceremony  in  460  a.d. — 35.  Yague  statement  of  the  T'ung 
Kien  Kang  Muh.— t36.  Nothing  known  by  tradition  as  to  a  real  in- 
ventor.— 37.  Tchou  site,  wife  of  Wu-ti,  141  b.c,  worshipped  in  the 
Yth  century, — 38.  Yuen  yil  and  Yu  ^/je  worshipped  in  the  Xlth  cent, 
— 39,  They  belong  probably  to  the  Ilnd  cent,  a.d, — 40.  No  ancient 
traces  of  the  goddess  Si-ling  she  Lui  tsu, 

IV.  Formation  op  the  Legend  of  the  Goddess  Si-ling  she  Lui  tsu. 
§  41,  Lui  tsu ^   a  bare  name  in  the  She  ki. —  42.   Its  analysis  developed 

into  a  mythological  statement, — 43,  Given  as  an  historical  fact  in  the 
Xlth  century, — 44,  Quite  imknown  in  earlier  times. — 45.  Shen-nung 
as  inventor  of  silk. — 46.  Lui-tsu,  a  daughter  of  the  Si-ling  clan. — 
47.  Interest  at  identifying  the  Si-ling. — 48.  Described  in  the  Er-ya. — 
49.  They  were  in  Kan-suh, 
Conclusion,  §50,  Lui  tsu  is  a  case  of  mythography,  and  sericulture  was 
a  pre-Chinese  industry. 


Introductory. 

1.  In  the  grounds  of  the  Imj)erial  Palace^  at  Peking  is  an  altar  forty 
feet  in  circuit  and  tour  feet  in  height,  surrounded  by  a  wall-  and  also  a 
temple  called  the  ts'en-tsan-tao,  "  Tlie  early  silk  worms'  altar  in  the 
vicinity  of  which  a  plantation  of  mulberry  trees  and  a  cocoonery  are 
maintained.  It  is  dedicated  to  Yuenfei  otherwise  First  wife  in  her 
quahty  of  discoverer  of  the  silkworms,^  and  annually  in  April,  the  Em- 
press worships  and  sacrifices  to  her,*  The  same  goddess  has  several 
important  temples  in  Tchehkiang,  one  of  the  provinces  where  the  silk  in- 
dustry flourishes,  but  I  have  no  evidence  to  adduce  as  to  her  probable 
Worship  elsewhere.  As  we  shall  see  further  on,  Yuen-fei  is  said  to  be  the 
name  of  Si-ling-she,  first  wife  of  Huang-ti  the  leader  of  the  Bak  families 
who  civilised  China. 

2.  However  deeply  rooted  tliis  belief  may  be  in  tlie  mind  of  the  Chinese 
people,  it  cannot  necessarily  be  looked  upon  as  a  proof  of  historical  veracity; 
and  some  more  proofs  are  required  for  it  being  accepted  as  a  fact  that  the 
first  leader  of  the  Chinese  and  his  wife,  on  the  North-west  cf  China  proper, 
some  twenty-threo  centuries  before  our  era,  had  taught  the  inhabitants  of 
the  Middle  Kingdom,  the  rearing  of  silkworms  and  the  silk  industry. 

Is  there  any  truth  in  the  legend,  and  if  not  wliat  is  the  origin  of  tlie 
belief  ? 


272  the  silk  goddess 

Notes 

1)  North  of  tlie  bridge  leading  to  the   Kiung  hwa  tao  island. 

2)  The  present  enclosure  was  put  up  under  Yi;ng  tching  in  1742,  but  its 
buildings,  savs  W.  Williams.  II,  23,  are  now  much  dilapidated. 

S)  W.  Williams,  Mddle  Kingdom,   R.  Kd.,  vol.  I,   p.   71  ;  II,  33. 

4,1  J.  H.  Gray,  China,  vol.  II,  p.  2  20.  On  a  fortunate  day  in  the 
spring  of  each  year,  her  state  worship  is  duly  solemnized  by  the  Man- 
darins.— In  the  interesting  description  of  Peking  by  the  Rev.  Joseph 
Edkins,  printed  in  A.  Williamson  :  Joxirneiis  in  North  China,  1870, 
vol.  II,  we  find  the  following  statements  :  "  On  the  North  side  (of  the 
lake)  is  a  hill  on  an  island  called  Kiung  hwa  tao,  capped  by  a  white 
pagoda  or  dagoba.  Here  there  is  an  altar  on  the  hill  side  to  the 
originator  of  silk  manufactiires  and  to  the  presiding  genius  of  the  silk- 
worm ;  the  altar  wall  is  1600  feet  round  and  the  altar  itself  forty  feet 
in  circuit,  and  four  feet  high.  Round  it  are  mulberry  trees,  and  near 
it  a  tank  for  washing  the  worms.  The  Empress  comes  here  annually 
t.^  feed  the  silkworms,  which  are  kept  in  a  house  suitable  for  the  pur- 
pose :  she  thus  sets  an  example  of  industry  to  the  w  orking  women  of 
the  empire."  Of.  p.  335. — "  On  a  fortunate  day  of  the  ninth  month, 
the  empress,  either  personally  or  by  proxy,  accompanied  by  a  train  of 
princesses  and  honourable  ladies,  repairs  to  the  altar  sacred  to  the  dis- 
coverer of  silkworms.  After  sacrificing,  the  empress  with  golden,  and 
the  princesses  with  silver  implements,  collect  the  mulberry  leaves  to 
feed  the  imperial  silkworms.  They,  then,  wind  off  some  cocoons  of 
silk,  and  so  end  tiie  ceremony.  This  very  ancient  festival  is  considered 
as  the  counterpart  of  the  agriculture  one,  observed  by  the  emperor  in 
the  spring."  M.  Murrow.  Hongkong  Chronicle  and  Directory  for  1865, 
in  J,  H.  Gray,  China,  vol.   K,  p.  220. 

I. 

3.  Silk  industry  is  indigenous  in  China  as  the  silkworm  itself.  It  has 
not  been  brought  into  the  country  by  its  ancient  civilisers  the  Bak  tribes, 
neither  by  any  of  the  other  races,  like  the  Jungs,  who  also  immigrated 
into  Cliina  in  remote  times.  We  cannot  be  surprised  therefore  if  the 
Chinese  traditions  about  the  silkworm  rearing  and  the  silk  industry  are 
by  far  the  oldest  and  hitherto  the  only  ancient  ones  on  the  subject. 

4.  Legend  attributes  the  art  of  winding  the  silkworms'  cocoons  to  the 
time  of  the  first  leader  of  the  Pre-Chinese  Bak  tribes,  while  they  were 
established  as  yet  on  the  North-west  borders  of  present  China  proper. 
This  leader  commonly  known  as  Hwang-ti,  but  whose  complete  name  was 
Nakhunte^  xn-xxneA  four  wives;' the  first  of  them  from  the  clan  of  S  i- 
ling,^  and  named  ^^|§,  Lui-ts  u,9is  the  one  Avho  is  said  to  have  begun 
to  rear  silkworms.  She  has  been  deified  and  she  is  still  worshipped  for 
that  reason  at  the  {'Xr-)  Sien-tsan  or  ancient  silkworms'  altar.^<>  She  is 
also  called  ^  ^g,  Yuen-fei  or  first  wife."      We  shall  examine  these  various 


OF      CHINA.  273 

appellatives  further  on  (§§40-45),  so  far  as  they  cenfirm  or  weaken  the 
veracity  of  the  legend,  and  we  shall  see  that  it  is  nothing  more  than  an 
instance  of  mythology  caused  by  the  ideographism  of  the  written  charac- 
ters. 

5.  The  first  reference  to  silk  or  better  silk-cloth  in  historical  documents 
is  that  which  occurs  in  the  second  chapter  of  the  Book  of  History-*, 
the  Canon  of  Shun,  where  the  Chinese  ruler  is  said  to  have  made  a  tour 
of  inspection    among   the  fiefs  eastward  as  far  as    the  mountain  of  Tai, 
otherwise  the  Tai  sha  n  in  Shantung  W.,  the  most  famous  of  the  sacred 
hills   of  China.     Shun  made   there  a  certain  number  of  regulations,  in- 
cluding one  concerning   the  sa/ijueA  or  three  sorts  of  silks.      The 
text  there  is  apparently  corrupted  and  contains  a  difficulty  which  has  not 
been  cleared  off  either  by  the  natiye  commentators  or  the  Sinologists  who 
have  translated   it.     But  this  does  not  affect  the  san  peh,    as  tliey  are 
mentioned  at  the  same  time  as  the  five  classes  of  rites  to  be  observed,    the 
five  orders  of  gem-tokens,  and  the  other  articles  which  prepared  the  way  to 
the  princes  for  their  audience  from  the  Chinese  ruler.     The  oldest  sons  of 
chiefs  were  bound  to  hold  silk  of  a  deep  red,  the  sons  of  the  three  highest 
officers  silks  of  a  reddish  black,  and  the  chieftains  of  small  attached  terri- 
tories yellow  silks.     There  is  perhaps  in  this   explanation  much  of  later 
rites,  although  a  distinction  of  some  sort  was  then   and  there  established 
for  three  sorts  of  plain  silk  cloth  as  articles  of  introduction,  and  the  un- 
paralleled stableness   of  the  rites    and  institutions  of  the  Kingdom  Be- 
neath-Heaven    allows    tlie    explanation    of    many  ancient    manners    and 
customs  by  the  peculiarities  of  the  later  ones.     An  interesting  character- 
istic of  the   foregoing  statement  of  the  Shu  King  is  that  the  regulatiiin 
concerning  the  three  classes  of  silk's  presents  was  made  when  the  Chinese 
ruler  went    to  the  East   of   his  dominion,  in    the    modern    province   of 
Shantung  which  has  always  been  known  for  its  silk  industry,  as  we  shall 
see  further  on. 

6.  An  older  reference  to  peh  or  plain  silk,  if  no  substitution  of 
character  has  been  made  in|the  text  since  antiquity,  would  be  that  which 
occurs  in  the  Book  of  Changes,  Chapter  XXIP^,  concerning  the 
symbol  P/  and  Fen,  where  it  is  spoken  of  ehuh  peh,  bundle  of  silk 
cloth, 

7.  The  }'m  Kung,  or  Tribute  of  Yu,  the  oldest  geographical  document 
of  Chinese  literature,  describes  the  chief  products  of  the  country  acconl- 
ing  to  its  divisions  under  and  outside  the  Chinese  rule,  Tiiis  distinction 
which  has  not  as  yet  received  the  attention  it  deserves  is  somewhat  con- 


274  THE     SILK    GODDESS 

cealed  from  view,  and  the  nine  tchou  are  all  enumerated,  as  if  to  convey 
the  idea  that  every  one  in  its  entirety  was  under  the  Chinese  dominion. 
The  sole  difference  consists  in  the  use  of  one  or  the  other  of  two  words 
when  speaking  of  the  products  of  the  land,  Wu  and  Kung^*.  The  first 
means:  revenue,  contribution  of  revenue,  assess;  while 
the  second, A' M?J^,  is  to  present  as  tribute  to  a  superior,to 
offer  up:  sliowing  therefore  that  the  products  which  are  ww  are  those 
of  Chinese  or  others,  subjects  to  the  dominion  of  the  son  of  Heaven 
while  the  products  which  are  Kung  come  from  foreigners  and  non-subjects 
and  may  or  may  not  be  brought  according  to  treatiefe,  homage,  conveni- 
ence or  for  trade  purposes. 

The  I'm  Kung,  once  noticed  this  distinction,   is  most  instructive  about 
the  real  extension,  limited  at  that  time,  of   the  dominion  of  the  Chinese 
and  it  shows  which  products  and  industry  were  then  in  the  hands  of  the 
native  population,  and  those  of  the  Chinese  themselves. 

8.  In  the  province  of  Kitchou,  i.e.  roughly  the  present  Shansi,  and 
the  real  seat  of  the  Chinese  no  special  products  or  industries  are 
spoken  of. 

In  Yentchou,  to  the  east  of  the  preceding,  a  part  of  Tchihli  W.  and  C, 
the  offerings  consisted  of  lacquer,  silk  and  ornamented  stuffs  ^^  in  round 
bamboo  baskets. 

In  Ts^ingtchou,  roughly  Shantung,  salt  and  a  fine  grass  cloth  were 
presented  from  the  sea-shore,  silk-^^  and  hemp  from  the  valleys  of  the 
Tai,  and  baskets  of  silk  of  wild-silkworms^^  from  the  Lai  tribes. 

In  Tsiutchou,  i.e.  Shantung  S.,  and  Kiangsu^^,  the  aboriginal  tribes  of 
the  Hwai  brought  oyster  pearls  and  fish,  and  baskets  of  reddish  black 
and  undyed  fine  fabrics^^. 

9.  In  Yangtchou,  i.e.  the  region  around  and  south  of  the  mouths  of 
Yangtze,  the  articles  presented  were  various  and  included  fabrics  and 
cauries^'^. 

In  Kingtchou,  W.  of  preceding,  i.e.  Hupeh  and  the  adjoining  South, 
the  offerings  included  baskets  of  reddish  black  and  crimson  stuffs^*,  witli 
trings  of  irregular  pearls* 2. 

In  Yutchou,  corresponding  to  Honan,  baskets^^  filled  with  fine  fabrics, 
and  fine  floss-silk,  were  presented^^. 

In  Liangtclwu,  which  corresponded  to  the  W.  of  Honan  and  Hupeh 
with  the  North  of  Szetchuen,  there  were  no  offers  of  silk,  although  other 
products  were  numerous-^. 

The   same  thing   may  be   said  of  the  last  province,   Yungtchou,  com- 


OF       CHINA.  275 

prising  Shensi  and  the  adjoining  west  which  produced  no  silk,  nor  other 
products  worth  mentioning,  with  the  exception  of  several  sorts  of  precious 
stones  ;  offers  (jf  hair-cloth  and  skins  were  made,  but  only  by  the  foreign 
tribes  of  the  mountainous  west^^. 

10.  The  present  resume  is  an  unsopliisticated  account  of  the  textile 
industry  in  the  parts  of  China  proper  known  to  the  authors  of  the  Yii- 
Kung.  It  is  by  far  less  glowing  a  description  than  some  published 
translations  would  lead  their  readers  to  suppose.  The  cause  •)f  this 
difference  is  not  far  to  seek.  We  have  confined  ourselves  to  the  bare 
statements  of  facts,  without  indulging  into  inferences  which  are  not  sup- 
ported by  positive  words  to  that  effect.  Although  the  terseness  and 
vagueness  of  the  Chinese  texts  leave  much  to  the  reader's  mind  to  infer, 
we  are  of  opinion  that  it  is  a  great  error  to  develope  the  meaning  of  the 
characters  beyond  their  natural  and  commonly  received  acceptation.  We 
must  not  follow  the  Chinese  commentators  in  their  erroneous  system  of 
considering  and  interpreting  all  the  ancient  statements  in  a  roseate  and 
glowing  view.  In  Yentchou,  for  instance,  the  offers  consisted  of  lacquer, 
se  or  silk  and  tchehio en  or  woven  ornaments.  This  is  the  literal 
translation,  but  native  commentators,  in  their  constant  endeavoiirs  to 
beautify  and  make  the  utmost  of  all  that  concerns  the  deeds  of  their 
ancients,  have  suggested  that  these  words  implied  fabrics  of  the  highest 
quality  as  liandiwork  and  matcrial^^. 

11.  In  Tsiu-tchoti  we  have  noticed  offers  by  the  native  tribes  of  tlie 
Hwai  of  fine  fabrics  reddish  black  and  undyed.  The  terms  are  Jiiuen 
sienkcio,  meaning  litteraliy  :  red  di  sh  iilack^^  fine  fabrics  and  raw. 
Slen  is  properly  small,  fine  like  silken  fibres^^,  and  it  applies  also  to  a 
cloth  wove  with  a  black  warp^^,  and  white  woof^^.  Now  commentatort) 
of  the  Shu  King  have  improved  upon  that  and  we  find  these  three  words 
magnified  into  black  silks  and  ch  eque  red  sarcenets  inMedhurst's 
32and  by:  deep  azure  silks,  and  other  silken  fabrics,  chequered 
and  white  in  Legge's  translation^^. 

In  Yang-tchoxL  tlie  region  bordering  the  maritime  provinces  of  the 
south  east,  the  text  says  that  the  offers  consisted  in  tcheh  pei,  fabrics 
and  cauries,  which  are  magnified  into:  woven  ornamented  sil ks 
in  Legge's  translation^^,  and  more  soberly  rendered  by  :  w  e  a  v  i  n  g  c  o  1 1  o  n 
in  Medhurst's**. 

12.  Offers  were  made  from  King-tea'  u  in  hiuen  hiun  or  reddish  black 
and  crimson  stuffs.  The  two  Chinese  symbols  mean  simj^ly  deep- 
azure  and   bright-red-three-times-dyed'^",  and   there  is  no  statement  as  to 


276  THE    SILK     GODDESS 

what  application  tliese  colours  had  received.  Commentaturs  of  course 
made  it  to  be  silk  and  accordingly  we  hear  of  reddish-black  and  purple 
silken  fabrics'  and  of  '  black  and  red  silk  '  in  Legge's  and  Medhurst's 
renderings'^ 

From  lutchou,  offers  were  made  in  Sien  Kw\mg  or  fine-fabrics 
and  fine-floss-silk.  The  proper  meaning  of  sien  has  previously  been 
ascertained,  and  as  to  that  of  kw'ang  there  is  a  sufficient  amcmnt  of 
proofs  independent  of  this  very  case  to  justify  the  ff)regoing  rendering'*. 
In  Medhurst's  translation  the  two  words  become  :  different  coloured 
floss  silk  and  silky  cotton,  and  in  Legge's  :  finesilkenfabrics 
and  finefloss  sil  k'^. 

13.  This  critical  survey  shows  how  the  four  genuine  statements  con- 
cerning production  of  silk  referred  to  in  the  Yii  Kung,  have  been  magni- 
fied into  nine  by  uncritical,  if  patriotic,  commentators  whom  several 
European  scholars  have  blindly  followed.  A  criticism  of  the  original 
Chinese  texts  according  to  western  method  is  the  first  thing  to  be  done 
by  Sinologists  before  trusting  statements  of  native  scholars  of  the  Middle 
Kingdom. 

14.  Silk  rulture  was  then  restricted  to  a  much  more  limited  area  than 
is  commonly  believed,  and  flourished  only  in  the  East.  The  present 
provinces  of  Sliensi,  S;ietchuen,  Hupeli,  &c.  were  not  sill'-producing 
regions,  although  in  the  last-named  province  the  weaving  industry  was 
re-known,  and  may  have  employed  silk  in  the  manufacture  of  its  famous 
cloth,  reddish-blacH  and  crimson,  while  in  the  two  first-named  provinces 
woollen  cloth  was  the  object  of  a  regular  industry.  Tchihli,  Shantung, 
and  Honan  were  producing  silk.  In  the  two  first  provinces  silk  was  an 
indigenous  product,  especially  in  the  east  of  Shantung,  where  it  was  in 
the  hands  of  the  aboriginal  population. 

15.  It  is  worth  noticing  that  Shansi  province  does  not  appear  in  the 
preceding  list,  as  producing  or  non-producing-silk.  The  negative 
evidence,  however,  is  no  proof,  as  the  whole  province  was  then  the 
real  seat  of  the  Chinese,  and  no  list  whatever  of  products  is  given  there- 
from, perliaps  because  they  were  all  assessed  or  wn  goods.  We  do  not 
feel  justified  to  infer  from  that  silence  that  the  Chinese  of  the  region  were 
uo  silk  culturists.  The  im])ortance  they  attached  to  silk  vouches  of  their 
sure  efforts  at  introdticing  silkworms  in  Shansi  should  they  not  have 
found  some  therein.  In  the  same  document  we  have  just  examined,  there 
is  a  positive  statement  to  that  effect  with  reference  to  a  part  of  Yentchou 
(Tchihli  W.  and  C):  "the  mulberry  ground  having  been  supplied  with 


OF      CHIKA.  277 

silkworms,  the  people  descended  from  the  hills  and  dwelt  in  the  plains."*^ 
16.  The  Book  of  Poetry  might  be  referred  to  as  a  proof  that  silk  culture 
was  in  olden  times  a  regular  occupatioiiin  the  south  of  Shensi,  in  the 
P'in  and  K'i  countries,  the  seats  of  the  Tchou  tribes  for  some  five  hundred 
years  previously  to  the  establishment  of  their  dynasty  eastwards  at  Hao- 
King,  later  Si-ngan,  and  at  Loh-yang.  The  celebrated  Duke  of  Tchou 
wrote  a  long  ode  describing  the  ancient  manners  and  ways  of  his  country- 
men.^^ The  tale  is  supposed  to  be  told  by  an  aged  yeoman,  but  no  allusion 
is  made  to  the  date  nor  to  the  name  of  the  region  of  the  scene.  But  as 
the  spokesman  alludes  to  the  Fire-star  or  Heart  of  Scorpiu  passing  the 
meridian  in  the  seventh  month,  an  astronomical  fact  which  was  correct  in 
the  twelfth  century,  while  it  was  not  so  600  years  previously,  and  as  the 
numeric  order  of  the  months  quoted  therein  is  yet  that  of  the  Hia  dynasty, 
if  follows  that  the  descriptions  in  the  Ode  refer  to  the  condition  and 
occupations  of  the  Tchou  people  during  the  age  immediately  preceding  the 
foundation  of  their  dynasty. 

The  verses  concerning  the  silk-culture  are  interesting  to  read: — 

With  the  spring  days  the  warmth  begins 

And  the  oriole  utters  its  song. 

The  young  women  take  their  deep  baskets, 

And  go  along  the  small  paths 

Looking  for  the  tender  (leaves  of  the)   mulberry  trees. 

.....•♦ 
lu  the  silkworm  month  they  strip  the  mulberry  branches  of  their  leaves. 
And  take  their  axes  and  hatchets, 
To  lop  off  those  that  are  distant  and  high; 
Only  stripping  the  young  trees  of  tlieir  leaves. 
In  the  seventh  month  the  shrike  is  heard. 
In  the  eighth  month,  they  begin  their  spinning: 
They  make  dark^^  fabrics  and  yellow. 
Our  red  manufacture  is  very  brilliant, 
It  is  for  the  lower  robes  of  our  young  princes. 

18.  The  song  of  the  Oriole  gave  notice  of  the  time  to  take  the  silk- 
worms in  hand,  and  the  note  of  the  shrike  was  the  signal  to  set  about 
spinning.  The  expression  used  here  for  that  operation,  t8i^i,{8i)04:)  is  that 
specially  appropriate  to  the  twisting  of  hemp.  The  commentators  explain 
the  following  verse  as  referring  to  the  dyeing  operations  on  both  the  woven 
silk  and  the  cloth^^.  But  as  silk  work  was  an  occupation  more  noble,  so 
to  say,  than  hemp  and  dolichos  work,  it  was  to  be  expected  from  llie 
commentators  that  they  should  impress  upon  ilieir  readers  that  silk  watj 
alluded  to  in  the  passage  in  question.  Anyhow,  in  face;  of  i)roof  to  the 
contrary  derived  previously  from  the  1  i'l-kung,  it  cannot  be  inferred  from 
these  verses  that  silk  culture  was  indigenous  in   Shensi,  and  known  there 


278  THE    SILK    GODDESS 

in  the  most  ancient  times,  as  it  may  have  been  and  most  probably  was 
introduced  theaein  from  tlie  eastern  provinces  by  tlie  Chinese  as  they 
did  in   Shansi. 

19.  ?.rarco-Polo  ("1265-1289)  mentions  repeatedly  abundance  of  silk  in 
Shansi  and  Shensi,  whereas  now  there  is  next  to  no  silk  grown  in 
these  districts.*'*  In  the  highly  interesting  Reports  on  Silk  drawn  by  the 
officials  of  the  Chinese  Imperial  customs,  hardly  any  reference  is  made 
to  silk  of  these  provinces.  The  change  of  climate  which  has  been  spoken 
of  Shensi  in  and  southern  Shansi  by  geologists*^  may  have  caused  this  r«- 
sult.  A  commercial  change  may  have  come  to  the  same.  The  climate  of  the 
two  aforesaid  provinces  apparently,  was  not  at  any  time  favourable  to  the 
spread  of  silk  worms  unless  specially  reared  and  this  may  be  the  simple 
explanation  of  the  divergence  in  the  statements. 

20.  The    Ritual  of  the   Teh  on    dynasty  has  a   special  book, 
the  33rd,  concerning  the  officers    in  charge   of  the  different   regions   of 
the  dominion,  and  in  which  the  various  products  of  the  nine-provinces  are 
enumerated.     It  is  the  counter  part  at  a  later  date  of  the  statements  on 
the  same  subject  which  we  have  found  in  the  Yii  Kung.     The  information 
therein  confirms    the  facts  elicited,  from  our   unsophisticated    resume  of 
the  older  document,  on  the  limited   area  of  silk  culture  in  ancient  times. 
Of  the  nine  provinces,   two  only  were  producing  the    precious    textile. 
Ya-t  cho  u  corresponding  to    the  same  province  than  that  of  the  same 
name  in  the  Yil  Kung  i.e.  roughly  to   Honan,  continued  to  prodtice  silk 
and  also  lacquer,  and  hemp,  with  the  addition  of  bamboo.  Ping  t  c  h  o  u*^ 
corresponding  to   N.   Shansi    and  previously   included  in  Ki  tcliou  pro- 
duced linen  and  silk*'^.     And  this  is  all*^.     The   culture  of  silk  in  the 
hands  of  the   native  tribes  mentioned  in  the  Yu    Kung  are  ont  of  reck- 
oning in  that  work. 

21.  The  Szetchuen  province  has  been  for  long  a  silk  producing  land 
as  shown  by  the  liistory  of  the  country*^  written  about  the  Christian  era 
by  Yang-Hiung  the  philologist^"  who  was  himself  a  native  from  there. 
One  of  the  early  kings  is  called  the  s  i  1  k-w  o  rm  s  r  e  a  r  e  r^^  and  there- 
fore might  be  looked  upon  as  having  introduced  theai  in  his  country. 
He  liad  easily  obtained  some  from  the  Chinese.  This  king  seems  to 
have  lived  some  five  hundred  years  before  the  Christian  era.  The 
geography  of  the  Han  period^^  mentions  a  Tsan  ling  or  Silkworm's 
range  in  the  Shuh  Kiun.  which  shows  that  silk  culture  had  became 
prosperous.  The  silence  of  the  Yii  hung  showing  the  absence  of  silk  pro- 
ducts in  the  Liang  tchou  combined  with   the  information  to  be  derived 


279  OP     CHINA. 

from  the  statements  just  quoted,  must  be  taken  togetlier  as  a  precise 
indication  that  sericulture  was  not  practiced  in  that  part  of  Cliina 
proper  during  the  earliest  period.  Therefore  it  was  special  only  to  the 
eastern  part  of  the  country. 

Notes  — 

5)  Cf.  Tso  chuen  Siang  Kung,  year  xiv,  1.  and  The  Languages  of  Cliina 
before  the  Chinese,  par.  28  and   89. 

6)  On  this  name  cf.  my  special  paper  :  Onomastic  similarity  of  Nakhunte 
of  Susiana  and  Nakhunte  of  China:  B  &  O.R.   IV.  pp.  250-204. 

7)  Hwang  P'u-mi,r«  wang  she  ki, — Taiping  yii  Jan,  kiv.135,  fol.7  verso. 
Hwang-ti  had  twenty  five  children  by  his  four  wives.  In  the  Persian 
legends  Kaioiuars,  the  first  king,  had  also  twenty  five  children,  according 
to  the  Bundehesh. 

8)  ,S7-/%,  (9852-11803)  i.e.  W  es  t  Hills.  The  Nos.  in  brackets 
are  throughout  those  of  the  Chinese  characters  as  arranged  in  the  old 
Dictionary  of  Basile  de  Glemona edited  by deGuignes  ("181;^).  and  in  the 
Dictionarium  Linguoe  Sinicce,  A.M.D.G.,  Ho-kien,  Jan.  1877.  It  is  the 
most  convenient  system  of  indicating  the  characters  when  they  are  not 
available. — The  Si-ling  have  not  been  identified  as  yet,  because  those 
of  central  China  have  no  possible  relation  with  the  former,  as  they  wero 
so  named  as  late  as  the  Han  dynasty.  The  Si-ling  of  Nakhunte's 
time  must  be  looked  for  along  the  Kuenlun  range. 

9)  Litt.  Grand-moth  er  of  thread,  a  rather  ominous  meaning, 

10)  W.  Williams,  Middle  Kingdom.  Rev.  Edit,  I.  71,  II.  33.— It  must  be 
remarked  that  Lui-tsu  was  the  mother  of  Tchang-y,  who  was  sent  away 
near  the  Job  water,  as  reported  by  Szema-Tsien's  She-Jci.  and  other 
works. 

11)  In  Hwang  P'u-mi's  work  quoted  supra,  note  7. 

12)  Sh'i  King,  Shun  tlen,  8. 

13)  Yh  King,  Kwa  XXII.     The  character  is  (10450). 

14)  fflj  ^^  ^"^^  ^    Kung. 

15)  Written  :   ^^  se  and   ^   ^  tcheh  wen. 

16)  Written:  se  (7853)as  in  preceding  note. — Also:  lead,  pine-trees,  and 
curious  stones. 

17)  Written:  r'<?«-se.(  1076-7853).  Such  worms  exist  as  yet  in  theprovince* 
Cf.  Dr.  Fauvel  :  The  wild  sUkworms  of  the  Province  of  Shantung,  in 
China  Review,  vol.  VI,  p.  89. 

18)  Its  articles  of  tribute  were  earth  of  fire  different  colours  ;  with  the 
variegated  feathers  of  pheasants  from  the  valleys  of  the  Yu  ;  the  soli- 
tary dryandra  from  the  South  of  Mount  Yh  ;  and  the  sounding  stones 
that  seemed  to  float,  near  the  banks  of  tlie  Sze. 

19)  Written  :  hiuen  sien  kao  (6051-8078-12656), 

20)  Written:  Tcheh  Pei  {^02\-l()i()9:). — And  also:  gold,  silver  and  co]i- 
per;  yao  (5981)  and  kuen  (5948)  stones;  bamboos  small  and  large  ;  ele- 
phants' teeth,  hides,  feathers,  hair  and  timber  ;  and  from  islanders, 
garments  of  grass.      Also  small  oranges  and  pummeloes. 

21)  Written:   hiuenhinn   (0051-8087). 

2-)  Also  :  feathers, hair,  ivory  and  hides  :  gold,  silver  and  copper  ;  the 
tch'un  tree,  wood  for  bows,  cedars  and  cypresses  ;  A'loVn  and  lu  bam- 
boos, hoo-tree  wood,  three-ribbed  rush,  &c. 


280  THE    SILK    GODDESS 

33)  And  also  lacquer,  hemp,  a  finer  and  coarser  liempen  cloth  ;  also 
occasionally  stones  for  polishing  sounding-stones. 

24)  Written  .  (8078-2568)  Sien  kwang. 

25)  The  offered  products  consisted  in  sonorous  stones,  iron,  silver,  steel, 
stones  for  arrowheads,  and  sounding  stones,  skins  of  bears,  great 
bears,  foxes,  jackals,  and  articles  woven  with  their  hair. 

26)  The  sole  articles  offered,  were  hair-cloth,  and  skins  from  the  tribes 
of  Kuenlun,  Sihtche,   and   K'iuson. 

27)  Meddhurst,  The  Shoo  King,-g.  92.  translates  .  stuffs  of  various 
colours. — Legge,  Chinese  Classics,  vol.  III,  p.  99,  has:  woven 
ornamental  fabrics. — Panthier,  Chine  Anctenne,  p.  48,  translates  : 
'  tissus  de  diverses  couleurs.' 

28)  Hiuen  is  properly  a   black  hue  with  a  flush  of  red  in  it. 

29)  Shivoh  Wen,  sub  verb. 

30)  Wells  Williams,  Si/ll.  Diet.  p.  8  GO. 

31)  K'anghi  tze  tien,  120  +  17  fol.  65  verso,  quoting  the  Li  Kien  ichuan, 
a  late  work.  A  commentator  of  the  Tsien  Han  Shu  explains  it 
as    :   fi  n  e  c  1  o  t  h. 

32)  The  Shoo  King,  p.  96. 

33)  Chinese  Classics,  vol.  III,  p.  107. — Pauthier,  Chine,  p.  48,  trans- 
lates :  'sole  rouge,  noire,  et  blanche.' 

34)  Ibid.  p.  111. 

35)  The  Shoo  Kmg,  p.  98. 

36)  Cf.  Er-ya — Shwoh  Wen. — Tchou  li,  Kao  hung  ki. 

37)  Chinese  Classics,  vol.  Ill,  p.  116. — The  Shoo  Icing,  p.  101.  Pauthier, 
Chine,  p.  49,  translates  :   '  pieces  de  soie  noire  et  rouge.' 

38)  The  Shwoh  wen  explains  it  by  Na.  ravelled  silk,  and  the  Yii 
pienhyMieu,   new  silk.     CL  luwghi  tzetien,  120  +  15,  io\.  63. 

39)  The  Shoo   King,  p.  102— Chhicse   Classics.  yn\.  Ul,  y>.    119.— Pa- 
thier.   Chine,  p.  49,  translates  :  '  toiles  fines  et  fil  de  coton,' 

40)  Shu  King,  Yu  Kung,  III, 

41)  This  Ode  Tsih  yueh  classified  in  the  She  King  as  the  first  among 
those  of  Pin,  is  supposed  by  the  commentators  to  refer  chiefly  to  the 
manners  of  the  first  settlers  in  Pin  under  the  rule  of  Duke  Liu.  But 
the  piece  does  not  bear  any  internal  evidence  of  this  contention. 
Neither  Pin  nor  the  Duke  Liu  are  mentioned  therein, 

42)  The  term  hiuen  hore  translated  dark  isjthe  same  as  note  28. 

43)  Cf.  James  Legge,  Chinese  Classics,  vol.  IV,  pp.  228-9,  and  notes. 

44)  In  Shansi,  only  little  silk  is  produced,  namely  about  700  piculs 
annually  in  Raw  silk,  of  which  500  piculs  are  wild.  Cf.  China.  Im- 
perial Miritime   Customs  II. — Special    Series  :  No,  3,  S^lk,  1881,  pp. 

■  20-21.  Nothing  is  said  of  silk  in  Shensi.  M,  Natalis  Rondot  of 
Ly.in,  in  the  statistics  he  has  compiled  from  older  documents  for  the 
Exhibition  of  1878  in  Paris  has  included  the  names  of  Shansi  and 
Shensi  in  his  figures.  The  latter  province  however  is  referred' to  only 
for  Oak  silkworms. 

45)  Notably  by  F.  von  Richtofen  ;  cf,  H.  Yule.  The  book  of  Ser  Marco 
Polo,  vol.  II,p.l8. 

46)  Tchou-li,  Tch'ih  fang  she,  XXIII,  fol,  17,— Ed.  Biot,  Le  Tchou-li 
ou  Rites  des  Tche'ou,  1851,  vol,   II,  p,    269, 

47)  The  commentary   of  Y-fu  says  that  this  province  which  existed  at 


OF     cnixA.  281 

the  time  of  Slum  when  lie  devided  the  Empire  in  12  provinces,  was 
included  by  the  great  Yii  in  flic  Ki  tohou.  and  restored  by  the 
Tchou. 

48)  Ibid,  fill:  40,  and  page  275.  Jj[.  Hint,  forgetting  the  previous 
statement  about  the  Yu  tchou.  remarks  how  curious  it  is  that  silk 
should  be  attributed  only  to  the  North  of  the  Empire,  and  supposes 
that  it  may  indicate  an  exportatioi  of  silk.  The  learned  author  was 
labouring  under  the  glowing  and  exagerated  explanation  put  forth  by 
the  conmientators  i>f  Mie  Yu  hmg.  and  the  wrong  impression  that  silk 
culture  was  much  luore  extensive  than  it  really  was  in  oldoii  times. 

49)  Shuh  wang  pen  /</. — Cf.  also  the  Tcherog-tu  ki. 

50)  On  this  great  scholar  cf.  T.  de  L.,  Th'  languages  of  China  be/ore  the 
Chinese,  §§  42-53. 

51)  Tmng  t'siing  s/ie  (9628-1 108-4S JO). 

52)  Tsien  Han  shu,  T'i  li  tchi. 

II. 

Calendaric    Rules.  Rites  and  Customs. 

22.  A  remarkable  document,  the  Brief  Calendar  of  the  Ilia  (lynastfi^'^, 
which  internal  evidence  shows  to  have  been  compiled  about  2000  a.c, 
proves  how  great  was  already  at  that  time  tlie  importance  attached  to 
silkworm  rearing.    There  are  in  it  three  special  entries,  as  follows  : 

1,30.  "  r  In  the  second  month).  Is  plucked^^  the  Ailanthits  glan- 
dulosa^^.  Multitudes  of  small  insects  (silkworms  ?)  tap  the  eggshells 
(which  contain   them). 

1.   38.     In  the  third   month,  gathered  are  the  mulberry  leaves. 

1.   44.     Lasses  and  Lads  begin  attending  the  silkworms. 

1.  45.      And  take  in  hand  the  rearing-house  _business^^." 

These  calendaric  statements  of  olden  times,  assumed  afterwards  the 
value  of  official  regulations. 

23.  The  Ritual  of  the  Tchou  dynafty^'^,  which  we  have  i)reviously 
quoted  rules  that  "  in  the  middle  of  spring,  the  Nei-tsai  invites  the 
Queen  to  inaugurate  the  rearing  of  silk-worms  in  the  Northern  suburb 
to  make  the  sacrificial  robes'^^."'  Nei  tmi  is  the  title  of  the  special  oflici^r 
of  government  in  charge  of  the  part  of  the  palace  occu])ied  by  the  queen, 
wives  and  concubines  of  the  Son  of  Heaven,  There  are  besides  two 
officials,  the  ]\I  a  n  a  ge  r  o  f  s  i  1  k  or  Tien  se  and  the  M  a  n  a  g  e  r  o  f  fl  a  x 
or  Tien  si,  who  keep  these  textiles  in  stores  and  distribute  them  for  (em- 
broidering and  wearing,   and  receive  tiiem  when  worked  out-'''*. 

24.  in  the  third  century  n.c,  Lii  I'u-wei  (1).  237  r..c.)  or  on(>  of 
his  collaborateurs.  compiled  for  his  collection  entitled  Tchun  tsiu,  tiie 
monthly  reguhitions,  similar  to  the  Brief  Calendar  of  the  Hia  dynasty,  but 
with  all  the  modifications  and  additions  which  had  occurred  in  the  mean- 
time.    This  pnecious  record,  named   Fm<'//. /m^  or  M  o  n  t  li  ly    rules  was 


2T4:  THE     SILK    GODDESS 

afterwards  introduced  into  the  Record  of  Rites  or  Li  kl.  where  it 
forms  the  fourth  book^^,  by  a  renowned  scholar  named  Ma  Yung  (79-166 
A.D.)  "In  tlie  last  month  of  spring*^^, — the  son  of  Heaven  presents 
robes  yellow  like  the  young  leaves  of  the  mulberry  tree  to  the  ancient 
Ti  or  divine  ruler^^."  As  the  queens  were  not  called  Ti,  this  may  in- 
dicate a  sacrifice  nut  to  the  queens,  but  to  the  ancient  Emperors,  if  not 
perhaps  to  Huangti  himself,  looked  upon  as  the  initiator  of  the  silk-worm 
industry.  "  In  thr  same  month, — the  queen  after  vigil  and  fasting, 
goes  in  person  to  the  eastern  fields  to  work  on  tla'  mulberry  trees.  She 
orders  the  wives  and  younger  women  (of  the  palace)  not  to  wear  their 
ornamented  dresses,  and  to  suspend  their  woman's  work,  thus  stimulating 
them  to  attend  to  the  business  with  the  worms.  When  this  has  been 
completed,  she  apportions  the  cocoons,  weighs  out  (afterwards)  the  silk, 
on  which  they  gcK  to  work,  to  supply  the  robes  for  the  solsticial  and  other 
great  religious  services,  and  for  use  in  the  ancestral  temple;  not  one  is 
allowed  to  be  idle^^.'" 

"  In  the  first  month  of  summer, — when  the  work  with  the  silk -worms 
is  over,  the  queen  presents  her  cocoons  ;  and  the  tithe-tax  of  cocoons 
generally  is  collected,  according  to  the  number  of  mulberry  trees  ;  for 
noble  and  mean,  for  old  and  young  there  is  one  law.  The  object  is  with 
such  cocoons  to  provide  materials  for  the  robes  to  be  used  at  the  sacrifices 
ill  the  suburbs  and  in  the  ancestral  temple^*." 

25,  Other  parts  of  the  same  Ritual,  the  Li  Li,  refer  to  sericulture. 
They  are  not  uninteresting  to  read.  In  the  chapter  on  Tsi-i/  or  M  e  a  n- 
i  n  g     of    sacrifice  s^^,  it  is  said  : 

Anciently  the  Son  of  Heaven  and  the  feudal  lords  had  their  own  miil- 
berry  trees  and  silkworms'  house  ;  the  latter  built  near  a  river,  ten 
cubits  in  height,  the  surrounding  walls  being  topped  with  thorns  and 
the  gates  closed  on  the  outside.  In  the  early  morning  of  a  very  brighf 
day,  the  ruler,  in  his  skin  cap  and  the  white  skirt,  divined  for  tlie  most 
auspicious  of  the  honourable  ladies  in  the  three  palaces  of  his  wife,  who 
were  then  employed  to  take  the  silkworms  into  tlie  house.  They  washed 
the  seeds  in  the  stream,  gathered  the  leaves  from  the  mulberiy  trees,  and 
dried  them  in  the  wind  to  feed  the  worms. 

When  the  (silkworm)  year  was  ended,  the  honourable  ladies  had 
finished  their  work  with  the  insects,  and  carried  the  cocoons  to  show 
them  to  the  ruler.  They  then  presented  them  to  his  wife,  "  Will  not 
these  supply  the  materials  for  the  ruler's  robes  ?"  She  forthwith  received 
them,  wearing   her  head    dress  and  the  robe  with   pheasants  on  it,  and 


OF       CHINA.  275 

afterwards  caused  a  sheep  and  a  pig  to  be  killed  and  cooked  to  treat  (the 
ladies).  This  probably  was  the  ancient  custom  at  the  presentation  of 
the  cocoons. 

Afterwards,  on  a  good  day,  the  wife  rinsed  some  of  them  thrice  in  a 
vessel,  beginning  to  unwind  them,  and  then  distributed  them  to  the  aus- 
picious and  honourable  ladic-^  nf  hor  three  palaces  to  (complete)  the  un- 
winding. They  then  /lyed  the  tliread  red  and  green,  azure  and  yellow, 
to  make  tlie  variously  coloured  figures  on  robes.  When  the  robes  were 
finished,  the  ruler  wore  iliem  in  sacrificing  to  tlie  former  kings  and 
dukes  ; — all  displayed  the  greatest  reverence. 

26.  In  the  following  cliapter  7's?  t'rnig  containing  a  s  u  mm  a  ry  ac- 
count o  f  sacrifices,  it  is  said^^ :  " the  Son  of  Heaven  him- 
self guided  the  plough  in  the  Southern  suburb,  to  provide  the  grain  for 
the  sacrificial  vessels  ;  and  tlie  cpieen  looked  after  her  silkworms  in  the 
Northern  suburb,  to  provide  the  cap  and  robes  of  silk.  The  princes  of 
the  States  guided  the  plough  in  their  eastern  suburb,  also  to  provide  the 
grain  for  the  sacrificial  vessels,  and  their  wives  looked  after  their  silk- 
worms in  the  northern  suburb,  to  provide  the  cap  and  robes  of  silk." 

27.  Although  silkworms  and  silk  are  not  unfrequently  mentioned  in 
the  Book  of  Poetry,  no  allusion  appears  anywhere  to  a  Tutelary  spirit  of 
silkworms. 

Silk  was  a  groat  luxury  and  its  cultivation  cannot  have  been  exten- 
sively used.    It  is  severally  spoken  of  as  the  material  of  embroideries. 

In  Tchih-li,  great  officers  wore  lamb-skius  and  sheep-skins  with  five 
braidings  of  white  silk''^,  while  young  princes  are  said  to  have  been  ang- 
ling with  lines  made  of   silk  tliread^^, 

A  Marchioness  of  Wei  (S.  Shansi)  about  750  b.c.  wears  a  green 
upper  robe  in  silk  with  a  yellow  lining^".  Great  officers  of  the  same  state 
liave  pennows    on  staffs   with  ox-tails  and  white  silk  cords  or  ribbons^*^. 

Silk  was  used  also  for  girdles''^,  and  occasionally  for  string  of  bows'"  ; 
reins  are  praised  wlieii  they  are  glossy  like  silk''^.  Officers  wore  silk 
robes  for  sacrificial  ceremonies'*. 

In  all  these  cases  the  written  symbol  to  denote  silk  is  the  special  one 
for  it,  i|^7853)  se  and  no  misapprehension  is  })0ssible.  But  there  are  otlier 
terms  which  also  appear  in  the  Bo  o  k  of  P  o  e  try. 

A  dress  of  thin  u  n  d  y  e  d  s  i  1  k  ^j^  ^^'do  is  spoken  of  once  in  an  ode 
where  the  poet  speaks  of  his  lady-love  :  she  in  the  thin  s  i  1  k  a  n  il 
the    light   1)1  ue    coiffure'". 

Princes  of  state   in  sacrificing  wore  an    inner  robe  made  of  wliitc  silk, 


284  THE    SILK    GODDESS 

with  a  vermilion  collar.  On  this  were  embroidered  the  axes  of  authority. 
and  it  was  fitted  also  with  a  hem  or  edging  of  vermilion  coloured  silk^^, 
S  u  (7786)  white  si  1  k  is  the  expression  used  in  the  ode  speaking  of  this 
robe,  and  also  in  another  ode  to  describe  the  strings  in  white  silk  of  the 
ear-stoppers  of  a  bridegroom''^. 

28.  These  various  references  show  how  important  was  the  valueiattached- 
to  silk  and  silkworms  amongst  the  ancient  Chinese.  Should  any  inven- 
tion or  discovery  of  the  sort  had  been  made  by  them  at  a  certain  time, 
the  souvenir  of  the  event  would  have  preserved  in  one  or  the  other  of 
these  ancient  books.  But  nothing  is  said  as  if  silkwcn-m  rearing  had  eTer 
existed. 

Notes 

53)  The  Li-k'i.  Bk.  ^  II  or  LI  i/un,  sect.  I,  jiar.  o.  jiuts  in  the  words 
of  Confucius  that  he  found  himself  ''The  Seasons  of  Hi  a"  a 
work  which  was  preserved  in  the  state  of  ICi  in  charge  of  the  traditions 
and  sacrifices  concerning  the  Hia  dynasty. 

!-4:)  This  grammatical  cunstruction,  peculiar  as  it  is,  is  that  which  is  re- 
ferred to  in  Les  langnefi  de  In  chine  arant  les  chino?".  par.  12. 

55)  It  was  used  at  sacrifices  and  as  food  for  silkworms. 

56)  Hia  siao  tcheng.  Cf.  U.K.  Douglas:  Early  Claite><e  texts.  I.  The 
Calendar  uf  the  H'ui  dt/n((st//,  IRR2,  pp.  21),  32  and  Di.  The  end  of 
the  last  statement  is  translated  :   .   .   .   .  the  rearing-pahice  matters. 

57)  Tchuu-h\  Yil,    10  :  trad.  Biot  ;   vol.  I.  i^.  U6.  '' 

58)  The  commentators  infer  from  this,  in  comparison  with  the  statements 
of  the  Ilia  siao  tcheng,  and  of  the  Yiieh  Ung  which  see  iiifrd,  that  there 
existed  since  olden  times  an  official  building  for  the  silkworms,  other- 
wise an  official  Magnanerie. 

59)  Tchou  Li,  YII,  36-41. 

60)  The  Li  Id,  trad.   Legge  :  introd.  pp.  7  and  20-21. 

61)  On  the  third  day  of  the  third  montli  ;  according  to  Dr.  .1.  de  Groote,. 
cf.  following  note. 

62  Yueh  ling,  III,  6;  in  L!  hi.  trad.  Legge,  vol.  I,  p.  263.  Dr.  J. 
J.  de  Gro.ite  :  Les  fetes  annuellement  celebre'es  //  Emoui/,  vol.  I,  p.  2011 
translates  it  to  the  plural.  The  Chinese  texts  quoted  in  Dr.  Groote, 
says  simply  that  the    Son  of  Heaven   offers  Kiiih  robes  to  the  ancient 

Ti(s?):     L)e  Groote  translates  ....  vetements  couleur  d'aster 

Dr.  Eitel,  Cantonese  dictionari),  p.  296,  explains  ICiih  as  •  clothes 
made  of  the  fibres  of  the  yellow  mulberry.'  Where  they  not  the  robes 
made  with  the  silk  of  the  preceding  year? 

63)    Yueh  ling.  III,  12  :  ibid.  ]>.  265." 

65)  LI  ki,  XXI,  sect.  II.   par.  7  :   Legge's  translation,  p.   2_3. 

66)  Li  l-i.  XXII.  5.— Legge,  o.c.  p.  239.— Mencius,  (37  -289  u.c.)  in 
his  book  II.    part  2,  ch.  Ill,  par.   3,  quotes  the  same  iiassagc  in    his 

usual  loose  manner, 

67)  She  l.-lng  ;   Kivoh  Jung  ;  Odes  of  Tcliao  Nan.  VII. 

68)  Tbid.  Ode  XIII,  3. 

69)  Ibid.  Odes  of  Vet,  II,  3. 


OK       CHINA.  285 

70)  Ihid.  Od.s  of  Yung.  IX.  1-3.— The  iourth  of  the  Odes  of  Wei  in 
the  same  part  of  the  Slie  King,  contains  an  allusion  to  a  lad  who  came 
to  exchange  cloth  or  //«  against  silk  or  se  :  which  the  critic  ex- 
plains by  woven  silk  and  raw  silk. 

71)  Ibid.  XIV,  Odes  of  Tsao,  III,  2, 

72)  She  King,   Part   III,  div,   3,  Ode  II,   9. 

73)  She  Ktng,  Part.  II,  div.    1,  Ode  III,  3. 

74)  She  King,  Part.  IV,  div.  1,  sub.  div.  Ill,  Ode  VII.— Edward  Biot 
in  liis  valuable  Recherchei^  sui  les  mceurs  anciennes  des  Chinois,  (T 
apres  le  Chi  king,  1843,  states  that  in  Shensi  the  King  of  Ts'in  wore 
a  garment  of  fox-fur,  with  one  of  broidered  silk  over  it,  and  refers  to 
I.  xi.  V;butithe  expression  used  is  sintply^^  >J$  kin  y,  broidered 
robe,  witliout  reference  to  the  material  of  the  cloth.  The  Ode  I.  iii. 
XII,  also  quoted  as  showing  that  similar  garments  of  fox-skins  were 
worn  at  the  court  of  P'ei  by  the  officers,  does  not  speak  of  silk  at  all 

75)  I.  xix.  7,  XX. 

76)  I.  x.  One  IV. — J.  Legge,  Chines     Classics,  vol.  IV,  p.   179  note 

77)  Ode  III,  1  of  I,  viii. 


III. 

Various  tutelary  Spirits  and  Goddesses  of  silk  and  Silkworms. 

29.  No  allusion  is  made  to  the  invention  of  silk  among  the  many  dis- 
closures attributed  to  the  early  rulers  in  tlic  great  a  piiendice  to  the 
Yli-king  where  a  not  unconsiderable  amount  of  ancient  lore  has  been 
piled  up.  The  authorship  of  the  document  is  attributed  to  Confucius,  and 
it  would  have  been  pencilled  down   by   one  of  his    disciples. 

The  same  silence  occurs  in  tlie  various  fragments  of  olden  times  which 
have  been  added  to  the  Book  o  f  M  o  nt  a i n  s  and  Seas,  under  the  Han 
dynasty. 

30.  But  if  there  is  no  allusion  to  the  invention  of  silk  in  these  ancient 
documents,  theisame  condition  rather  ominous  exists  no  morein  late  works. 
The  Li  ki  or  Record  of  Rites  has  a  curious  passage  sketching  a 
period  of  savage  life  in  the  history  of  the  people^^. 

"  Formerly  the  ancient  kings  had  no  liouses.  In  winter  they  lived  in 
caves  which  they  had  excavated,  and  in  summer  in  nests  which  tliey  had 
framed.  They  knew  not  yet  the  transforming  power  of  fire,  but  ate  the 
fruits  of  plants  and  trees,  and  the  flesh  of  birds  and  beasts,  drinking  tlie 
blood,  and  swallowing  the  hair  and  feathers  (^as  wellV  They  knew  not 
yet  the  use  of  flax  and  silk,  but  clothed  tluinselves  with  feathers  and 
skins. 

"The  later  sages  arose,  and  men  ncarned)  to  take  advantage  of  the 
benefits  of  fire.      They  moulded  the    inelnl   and   fashioned  clav,  so  as  to 


'2.7S  THE    SILK    GODDESS 

rear  towers  with  structures  on  them,  and  liouses  with  windows  and  doors. 
They  toasted,  grilled,  boiled  and  roasted.  They  produced  must  and 
sauces.  They  dealt  with  the  flax  and  silk  so  as  to  form  linen  and  silken 
fabrics. 

No  deity,  or  presiding  genius  of  silk  culture  seems  to  have  been 
known  at  the  time  of  the  foregoing  text. 

:>].  It  is  liowever  in  the  same  work  that  a  statement  which  has  been 
expurgated  from  the  received  edition,  refers  to  the  Sien  Ts'an  (580-9628)  as 
Tutelary   Genii  in  the   following  terms  :   "  In  the   first  month  of   spring 

the  Hou  fei,  i.e.  the  wife  of  the  King  or  Frince,  after  having 

fast  of  animal  food,  offers  a  sacrifice  at  the    Sien   Ts'an   or  First  Silk- 
worms,     &c."The  passage  is  quoted  in  a  cyclopedia  of  the  Xth  century ^^• 
And  a  gloss    in  the  same  work   explams  Sien  Ts'an   by  T'ien   sze^*^,  the 
quadriga  of   heaven  which  consists  of  four  red  stars  of  the  Scorpio; 
this  was   one   of  the  many  names  of  fang  the    fourth  of  the  28  zodiacal 
eonstellations,  and  the  most  important  of   spring.      It   was  looked  upon 
as  announcing   the  forthcoming  harvest.     The   commentary  is  important 
as  it  tends   to  show   that  Sien   Tfan  was  not  a  proper  name  and  simply 
an   appellative    of  season.     And  the   statement  does    not  say   to  which 
tutelary  god  or  spirit  the  sacriffce  was  offered.     We  do  not  find  however 
confirmation  of  this  identification  of  the  Q  uadri  ga-of-heaven  with  the 
Sien  Ts^an  in   any  of    the   many  appellatives  of   that  group  of  stars^^. 
The  commentator  was  ill-informed,  or   the  appellative  was  a  popular  one 
which  has   not  found  its  way  in  astronomical   literature.     It   is  only  the 
Niii  siu,  the  third   constellation  of  winter  which  shows  some  references  to 
silk    culture.     A  secondary    star-group  within,   tlie  Fit  Kivung  or  The 
B  ai  k  e  t-w  i  th-h  a  n  d  1  e  s   is  said  by  the  B  o  o  k-o  f-S  tars    to  preside 
at  the  rearing  of  silkworms^^.     As  the  B  ook.of-s  ta  r  s  although  based 
upon  an  older  work  of  the  same  title,  has    been  recast  at  the  time  Of  the 
T'ang  dynasty  (618-906)  the  selection  of  this    presiding  star-group  may 
be  nf)t  much  older  than  that  period.     It  does  not  appear  in  the  short  list 
of  stars  given  in  the  Er-ya  of  the  Confucian  era. 

?>'l.  iVnother  interesting  statement  concerning  the  part  played  by  the 
Emperor  himself  with  reference  to  th"  Sericulture  is  made  by  Tchang 
hwa  (,232-300  a.d.^^),  in  his  'Records  of  remarkable  things,' 
where  he  states  that  in  the  first  months  (of  the  year)  of  thr*  Tchou,  the 
Ti,  or  Emperor,  did  make  the  census  of  the  silkworms,  and  presented  it 
with  the  proper  sacrifice  (te)  to  the  tutelary  deities  of  the  land  {she) 
that  thev  would  be  favorable  to  the  seeds  of  the  silkworms^^. 


or     CHixA,  279 

No  reference  is  made  in  these  quotations  of  ancient  times  to  any 
special  god  or  goddess  of  silkworms.  They  only  show  how  great  was  the 
importance  attached  by  the  government  to  sericulture.  We  see  by  tlu; 
Tchou-U  and  the  TA  Id  that  there  was  in  the  capital  a  .^tate  Magnanerie 
in  olden  times.  The  inference  is  not  deprived  of  evidence.  A  descrip- 
tion*^ of  the  public  buildings  in  Tchang-ngan,  the  ancient  metropolis  dur- 
ing tlie  Han  dynasty  mentions  a  kien  kioaii  or  cocoonery  within  the 
grounds  of  the  Shang-I/n  park,  and  al'sun  shell  or  silkworms'  house  whicli 
gave  its   name  to  a  street  of  the  capital. 

33.  We  cannot  positively  say  that  the  state  inauguration  by  the  Queen 
and  Empress  of  the  silkworm  season,  which  is  regulated  bv  the  two 
rituals,  we  have  quoted,  was  solemnized  regularly  and  without  intercep- 
since  Antiquity.     But  there  are  occasionally  statements  about  it. 

lu  the  Dynastic  Annals  of  the  Tsin  dynasty  (265-419  p,c.)  Section 
of  Rites,  we  find  stated  that  the  Empress  drove  to  the  silkworm  mansion 
in  the  Park  of  tlie  eastern  suburb  and  sacrificed  to  the  (God  or  God 
dess  of  silkworms  (9628-705),  Tsan  shen^^.  We  know  that  the  Empress 
of  Kang-ti  (343-344)  renewed  the  observation  of  ancient  rules*^,  the 
silk-worm  ceremony  was  probably  one  of  them.  Who  was  then  desig- 
nated as  the  goddess  of  silkworms  does  not  appear.  It  may  have  been 
one  of  those  whose  names  appear  in  later  statements.     (Cf .  §§  37,  38). 

34.  Under  the  Sung  dynasty  of  the  Vth  century,  in  tlie  reign  of  Hiao 
Wu  ti,  year  460.  there  is  a  special  entry  in  the  Dynastic  Annals  stating 
that  the  Empress,  in  the  thu-d  month  ordered  that  the  ceremony  of  feed- 
ing the  silkworms  should  be  solemnized,  and  was  herself  present*^. 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  temporary  breaks  in  the  celebration,  wc 
have  seen  that  the  ceremony  is  still  solenuiized  now  a  days. 

35.  The  I'ung  Lien  kaiic/  muh  or  Synapsis  of  history,  states  tliat 
several  Empresses,  after  the  time  of  Si-ling  she  gave  llieir  patronage  to 
sericulture,  but  it  does  not  subsiantiate  the  statement.  The  {)robabiHties 
are  that  the  silk  industry  was  indeed  taken  care  of  by  the  soverign  and 
his  queen,  but  no  personal  names  are  quoted  with  or  without  prominence 
with  reference  to  it*^. 

35.  Sericnlture  was  then  and  has  remained  since  a  national  indu-try 
of  paramount  importance.  But  no  reference  occurs  in  any  of  these  quo- 
tations from  the  classics  as  to  whom  was  the  creator  or  at  lea^t  thi- 
teacher  of  the  industry  for  the  Chinese.  Doubts  seem  to  have  been  en- 
tertained, by  the  people,  about  the  departed  personage,  who  in  her  lift- 
time  had  taken,  more  than  any  other,  interest    in   tlie  m;ittt>r  and   who^c 


288  TfLE    SILK    GODDKSS 

tlie  spirit  was  presiding  over  the  silkworms  rearing  and  silk  industry. 
One  thing  only  was  certain.  As  it  was  a  feminine  occupation,  the  tute- 
lary jle.ity  could  not  be  a  man. 

37.  In  the  Vth  century,  Tch'en-yoh  a  celebrated  scbohn  in  a  curious 
work  now  lost,  called  The  harmonious  Record  of  Ts'i,  an  ex- 
tract of  w  ich  I  find  in  a  cyclopedia  of  the  Xth  century,  makes  a  distinct 
reference  to  a  tutelary  godde>s  of  silkworms.  He  says  that  :  "  In  the 
middle  of  the  first  month  (of  the  year,  the  spirit  {7025  shen)  comes  down  to 
the  grave  of  Tchen  she  (11788-4820).  She  is  our  own  Tutelary  goddess  of 
silkworms  and  knows  to  appreciate  the  sacrifices  (offered  to  Ikt^^). — Now 
Tchen  she  was  the  familv  name  of  the  first  wife  of  Wu-ti  the  grreat  ruler 
of  tlie  Han  dynasty^ ^,  who  had  married  her  before  he  ascended  the 
throne,  140  b.c.  This  is,  as  far  as  I  am  aware,  the  oldest  statement 
quoting  a  proper  name  for  that  deity. 

38.  We  must  come  to  a  much  later  time  to  find  onother  instance. 
Lo-yuen  of  the  Xllth  century,  in  his  work  called  Er-yu  v/  or  Wings 
of  the  Er-ya,  states  simply:  Now  the  Tsan  shen,  i.e.  spirits  of  the 
silkworms,  are  two,  and  called  YUEN  YU  fu  jin  and  YU  SHE  kung 
tchu^^.  No  information  as  to  the  identification  of  these  two  persons  is 
given  therein,  but  the  description  words  which  follow  each  name  are  most 
precise.  Fu-jin  means  simply  the  woman  and  Kung-tchu  is  a  term 
apply  to  the  daughters  of  the  Royal  House  since  centuries  before  the 
Christian  era^^.  Tliere  is  no  intrinsic  evidence  that  these  deities  were 
ancient.  It  is  improbable  that  these  two  names  slioiild  be  imper- 
sonations of  the  spirits  of  all  the  women  and  Royal  or  Imperial  I'rincesses, 
who  by  duty  bound,  and  from  olden  times  had  attended  the  rearing  of 
silkworms. 

39.  They  refer  more  likely  to  some  once  renowned  females  for 
their  devotion  to  silk  culture,  whom  we  know  perhaps  nndcr  different 
names.  The  Imperial  princess  Yil  she  is  ppobably  the  heroine  of  the  'fol- 
lowing story  ; 

In  the  first  part  of  the  second  century  of  our  era  a  Chinese  princess  of 
the  Imperial  house^*  was  married  to  Vijayajaya,  the  king  of  Khotan.^^  On 
the  demand  of  her  future  lord  as  formulated  by  a  special  messenger  who 
informed  her  that  his  country  had  neither  silk  nor  silken  stuffs,  she 
secretly  procured  the  seed  of  the  mulberry  and  silkworms'  eggs,  and  con- 
cealing them  in  her  headdress,  was  thus  enabled  to  escape  the  search  of 
the  guard  at  the  frontier.^*^  It  was  then  strictly  forbidden  to  carry  any 
out  of  the  country.      Her  difficulties,  however,  did  not  finish  there.^^" 


OF      CUIN-A.  289 

Once  in  her  new  countrr,  the  Priucesp-queen  began  to  raise  silk-worms  at 
Ma-dya,  situate  south  ef  the  capitaL  But  the  Chinese  delegates  seeing 
this,  led  the  king  to  believe  tliat  tliese  worms  would  become  venomous 
snakes  which  would  ravage  the  land.  Vijayajaya  gave  orders  to  have  the 
snake-raising  house  burnt  down.  The  queen,  however,  managed  to  save 
some  and  reared  them  secretly;  after  a  time  she  had  procured  silk  and 
could  wear  silk  garments  which  she  showed  to  the  king,  who  regretted 
w  hat  he  had  done,  and  henceforth  favoured  the  silk  culture. 

Unhappily  for  the  proposed  identification,  we  are  not  in  a  position  to 
carry  it  positively  further,  as  we  do  not  know  the  exact  name  of  the 
princess.  The  Bstan-7igi/ur  gives  it  as  F u-ni/e-shar,  which  may  mean 
the  house-wife  of  the  east,  and  therefore  is  no  name.  On  the  other 
hand,  Hiuen-Tsang,  the  Buddhist  pilgrim  speaks  of  Lii-shi,  litt.  stag- 
pierced,  as  the  convent  founded  by  the  above  Princess-queen,  and  this 
name  has  been  gratuitously  supposed  to  l)e  hers,  or  as  the  meaning  does 
not  fit,  a  transl'teration  of  it.  There  is,  however,  an  equation  of  meaning 
between  Pii-ni/e  as  house-wife  and  Yil-she  which  suggests  the  idea  of  a 
person  residing,  the  resident.  Sucli  is  apparently  the  clue  to  the 
identificatitui. 

As  to  the  other  goddes-,  1  iian  yu  kivei  jin.  we  have  no  clue  about  her; 
she  may  have  been  a  Lady-in-waiting  to  the  above  Prince.«s.  Acting  on 
this  suggeston  ]  i'lan  would  have  been  her  name,  and  Yii  kivei  jin  would 
be  her  description  as  a  woman  of  Yil,  widch  was  the  name  of  a  district  in 
the  nortli  of  S  hen-si  under  the  Han  dynasty.^^  The  fact  that  tliey  were 
Worshipped  and  enumerated  together  must  be  taken,  into  consideration, 
and  speaks  in  favour  of  this  view. 

40.  It  is  important  to  remark  that  in  noxw  of  the  statements  here 
collected.  111)  reference  whatever  has  been  made  to  the  ]iart  attributed  to 
tSi-hng  s/ii',  alias  Lni-t.sn.  Sim  txaii,  alias   Yucnfoi. 

Nol'ES 

78)  y.//i/  Vll:    Li    miii,   scot.   I.  |i;ii-.  S  niid    !).  —  .!.  Leggo,    The  Li  hi, 
p.  ;3Gi3. 

79)  'J'ai    ping  yil  Ian,  Kiv.  D'i;").  f()1.7. 

80)  In   the  Kr-ya,  sect,  of  T'ien   it    is   iiKMilitiiicd  that  Tten  sze  is  Fang. 
It  consists  of  /3,  c,  tt.  /j. 

?1)    Soiiic    interesting     rcuiaiks   on    this    constellation   are  given    in     (i. 

Sclik'gcl   :    (■raiiograjihic  Cliinoise,\i\\  UH-llS. 
82)  Sing  King. — G.    Schlegel,    Urauognip/i/r  Chiunisr,   p.  20."),   quoling 

also  the  Tien  huang  hwey  tang. 
8:3)  ^Mayers,  Chinese  T\.  I\l.,  I.  Hi. — A.    W  \\u'.  \"i'>-  "»  Clnnfur  litrni- 

ture,  p.  \h?i. 


290  THE    SILK    GODDESS    OF    CHINA. 

84)  Poh    Wuh  tchi. —  Tai  ping  yu  Ian,  kiv.  532.  fol.  8. 

85)  The  San  fu  Jiwang  fu,  anther  unknown  but  commentated  upon  by 
Kwoh-P'oh  (•276-3->4  a.d.)      Cf.   kiv.  6,  fol.  6  verso. 

86)  Tsinshu.   Li  tchi. — Kang  hi  tze  tien,    142,  18.  fol.  71  r^rso. 

87)  She  is  called  Kang-ti  TcJiu  Hwo.ng-hou,  and  her  biography  from  the 
Tsin  tchimg  tien  shu,  is  mentioned  in  I'cii  ping  yu  Inn,  kiv.  138,  fol. 
9  verso. 

88)  Lih  tchao  Ti  W  ng  men  piao;  Nan  Peh  tchao  ;  Sung,  Hiao.Wu-ti, 
4th  year  ta  ming. —  Tung  kien  kang  viuh  ;  l)e  Mailla,  tom.  V.  p.  111. — 
A  quotation  of  the  Sung  shu  in  th  Tai  ping  yii  Ian,  kiv.  142,  fol.  8 
states  that  the  Empress,  in  the  said  year,  presided  personally  over  s/o; 
mansions  for  the  gathering  of  mulberry  leaves  in  the  western  suburb. 

89)  De  Mailla,  O.C.  ibid. 

90)  Tchenj^  yueh  p'an  yu  shen  kiang  Tchen  she  tchi  tcheh  yun,  wo  she 
tsan  shen  neng  kien  tsih.  Cf.  Tai  ping  yil  Ian,  kiv.  825,  fol. 
4  verso. 

91)  Of.  Tsien  Hen  shu,  biography  of  Hiao  Wa  Tchen  hwang  hou  :  Tat 
ping  yii  Ian,  kiv.  186,  fol.  4. — Szema  Tsien,  She  kl  :  b.ogr.  of  Tohen 
hwang  hou  ;  kiv.  49.  fol.  10. 

92)  Kin  Yu^'ii  Y^f''^''ji^Yushekung  tchu  ICanghi  tze  tien,  key  14-1  +  18, 
fol.   71   vers.    On  yuen   as  a  proper  name  cf.   140+5  fo^.  12  vers. 

93)  It  occurs  for  instance  in  the  commentary  of  the  Tchan  tsiu  by  Kung- 
yang  in  the  third  century  b.c.  Cf.  Tai  ping  yu  Ian,  kiv.  152,  fol. 
1  verso. 

94)  Named  Pu-nye-shar  according  to  the  Bstan-hgyur,  vol.  94(m)  Ll- 
yul-gyi  Lo-rgyus-pa,  fol.  433a;  Woodville  Rockhill,  The  early  history 
of  Li-yul  {^Khoten~)  forming  chap,  VIII  of  his  work.  The  Life  oj  the  Bud- 
dha, from  Tibetan  sourees,   18^4,  p.  238. 

95)  Of.  A.  Remusat,  Histoirc  de  la  ville  de  Khotan,  p.  53. — De  Rosny, 
Traite  de  V education  des  vers  a  soie  au  Japon,  1869,'  says  419  of  our 
era,  which  seems  too  late  by  far,  r>s  th  event  happened  under  the  11th 
reign  after  Vijayasambhava,  who  ascended  the  throne  of  Li-yul  or 
Khotan  (Chin.  Li-kwei,  ^  ii-tien)  1G5  years  after  the  foundation  of  Li- 
yul.  The  latter  event  is  fixed  by  Tibetan  sources  at  234  years  after 
Buddha's  Xirvana  (477  b.c.)  or  iu  248  B.C.  Therefore  185  + 24C  (= 
12  reigns  of  20  aver.)  wou'd  lead  to  162  a.d. 

96)  As  recorded  by  Hiuen-tsang,  the  Buddhist  pilgrim. — S,  Beal.  Si-yx- 
k{,  vol  II.  p.  319.— Stanislas  Julien,  \o.^ages  des  Fele''his  Bouddhistes, 
vol  III.  p.  238. 

97)  The  following  comes  from  Tibetan  sources,  in  W.  Rockliill,  Op.cit. 
p.  239.  —  Fa-hieii  the  Chinese  Buddhist  pilgrim,  Ctrc.  400.  mentions 
silk  in  Khotan;  cf.  S.  Beal,  Si-yu-ki,  vol.  1,  introd.  p,  26. —  The 
Chnose    aniials  Peh-she    (386-581)  mentions    mulberry  tiees  in    the 

'     same  country.     Ci.Tii  p'.ng  yil  Ian,  Kiv.  792,  fol.  6. 

98)  Cf.  Playfair,  The  cities' and  towns  of  China,   No.  8819. 

Terrien  de  Lacoupesie. 
{To  be  continued). 

End  of  Vol.  IV. 


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