The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria

[844] See above, pp. 245-247.

[845] Or Gishdubar or Gishtubar.

[846]Babylonian and Oriental Record, iv. 264. For previous readings of the name, see Jeremias' article on 'Izdubar' in Roscher's Ausführliches Lexicon der Griechischen und Römischen Mythologie, ii. col. 773, 774.

[847]Historia Animalum, xii. 21.

[848] See p. 524.

[849] In the Oriental legends of Alexander the Great, this confusion is further illustrated. To Alexander are attached stories belonging to both Izdubar and Etana. See Meissner's Alexander and Gilgamos, pp. 13-17 (Leipzig, 1894).

[850] See, e.g., Perrot and Chiplez, History of Art in Babylonia and Assyria, i. 84.

[851] Article 'Izdubar,' col. 776; see Delitzsch, Handwörterbuch, p. 678. Hommel (e.g., Altisraelitische Ueberlieferung, p. 39) regards Gilgamesh as a contraction from Gibil (the fire-god) and Gam (or Gab), together with ish, an 'Elamitic' ending. If the name is Elamitic, one should hardly expect a Babylonian deity entering as one of the elements.

[852] See above, p. 167.

[853] See above, p. 284.

[854] Haupt's Das Babylonische Nimrodepos, p. 93.

[855] Lit., 'he who is applied to for giving a decision.'

[856]Ta-par-ra-as.

[857]Das Babylonische Nimrodepos (Leipzig, 1884-91). This edition includes all but the twelfth tablet, which was published by Haupt in the Beiträge zur Assyriologie, i. 48-79. For other publications of Haupt on the Gilgamesh epic, see the Bibliography, § 6. The identification with the Biblical Nimrod is now definitely abandoned by scholars, though the picture drawn of Nimrod is influenced by the traditions regarding Gilgamesh. See p. 515.

[858] The best general work on the epic (based on Haupt's edition) is A. Jeremias' Izdubar-Nimrod (Leipzig, 1891), a reprint with additions, of his article on 'Izdubar' in Roscher's Ausführliches Lexicon der Griechischen und Römischen Mythologie ii.

[859]Vorgeschichte der Indo-Europaer, p. 112.

[860] The words for 'city' in the Semitic languages embody this idea.

[861]Old Babylonian Inscription, i. 2, p. 48.

[862] IIR. 50, 55-57; VR. 41, 17, 18. An interesting reference to the wall of Frech occurs Hilprecht, ib. i. 1, no. 26.

[863]Kosmologie, p. 172.

[864] Jeremias' Izdubar-Nimrod, p. 15, conjectures that the death of the king has evoked distress, but that is highly improbable. That the fragment under consideration belongs to the beginning of the epic is tolerably certain, though not absolutely so.

[865] Sixth tablet, l. 192. He brings offerings to Lugal-Marada, i.e., the king of Marada—a solar deity. See p. 486.

[866] Heuzey, Sceaux inédits des Rois d'Agade (Revue d'Assyriologie, iv. 3, p. 9).

[867] See above, p. 448.

[868]Anu here used in the generic sense of 'lofty,' 'divine.' The phrase is equivalent to the Biblical 'image of God.'

[869] A phrase in some way again indicative of Eabani's likeness to a deity.

[870] That Gilgamesh undertakes this, and not the gods acting in the interest of Uruk (as Jeremias and others assume), follows from a passage in Haupt's edition, pp. 10, 40.

[871] Eabani.

[872] Identical with our own word "harem."

[873] Perhaps "ensnarer."

[874] So in the "Dibbarra" legend. See p. 531 and Delitzsch, Handwörterbuch, p. 41.

[875] Sixth tablet, ll. 184, 185.

[876] Book 1. §§ 181, 182, 199.

[877] See Jeremias' Izdubar-Nimrod, pp. 59, 60; Nikel, Herodot und die Keilschriftforschung, pp. 84-86.

[878] The protest of the Pentateuch (Deut. xxiii. 18) against the K'deshâ, as also against the 'male devotee' (Kadesh), shows the continued popularity of the rites.

[879] It is to be noted that in the Yahwistic narrative, Adam is in close communication with the animals about him (Gen. ii. 20). It is tempting also to connect the Hebrew form of Eve, Khauwâ (or Khauwat) in some way with Ukhat, not etymologically of course, but as suggestive of a dependence of one upon the other,—the Hebrew upon the Babylonian term. Professor Stade (Zeits. f. Alttest. Wiss., 1897, p. 210) commenting upon Gen. ii. 20, points out that Yahwe's motive for asking Adam to name the animals was the hope that he would find a 'helpmate' among them. In the light of the Babylonian story of Eabani living with animals, Stade's suggestion receives a striking illustration.

[880] See Trumbull, The Threshold Covenant, p. 239.

[881]Kharimtu. In Arabic the word is likewise used for 'woman' in general.

[882] The temple at Uruk is meant.

[883] Jeremias translates 'seeks a friend,' and refers the words to Gilgamesh, but there is nothing in the narrative to justify us in assuming that Eabani was thinking of the hero.