 Section 5 of Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern, Volume 1. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Alan Winteroud. Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern, Volume 1. Section 5, Essay on Akkadian Babylonian and Assyrian Literature by Crawford H. Toy. Recent discoveries have carried the beginnings of civilization farther and farther back into the remote past. Scholars are not agreed as to what region can lay claim to the greatest literary antiquity. The oldest historical records are found in Egypt and Babylonia, and each of these lands has its advocates who claim for it priority in culture. The data now at our command are not sufficient for the decision of this question. It may be doubted whether any one spot on the globe will ever be shown to have preceded in time over all others. Whether that is, it will appear that the civilization of the world has proceeded from a single center. But though we are yet far from having reached the very beginnings of culture, we know that they lie farther back than the wildest dreams of half a century ago would have imagined. Established kingdoms existed in Babylonia in the fourth millennium before the beginning of our era. Royal inscriptions have been found, which are with great probability assigned to about the year 3,800 B.C. These are, it is true, of the simplest description, consisting of a few sentences of praise to a deity or brief notices of a campaign or of a building of a temple. But they show that the art of writing was known and that the custom existed of recording events of the national history. We may then infer the existence of a settled civilization and of some sort of literary productiveness. The Babylonian Assyrian writings with which we are acquainted may be divided into two classes of prose and poetry. The former class consists of royal inscriptions relating to military campaigns and the construction of temples, chronological tables, eponym canons, legal documents such as sales, suits, etc., grammatical tables, paradigms and vocabularies, lists of omens and lucky and unlucky days, and letters and reports passing between kings and governors. The latter class includes cosmogonic poems, an epic poem in 12 books, detached mythical narratives, magic formulas and incantations, and prayers to deities belonging to the ritual service of the temples. The prose pieces, with scarcely an exception, belong to the historical period and may be dated with something like accuracy. The same thing is true of a part of the poetical material, particularly the prayers. But the cosmogonic and other mythical poems appear to go back at least so far as their material is concerned to a very remote antiquity and it is difficult to assign them a definite date. Whether this oldest poetical material belongs to the Semitic Babylonians or to a non-Semitic Sumerian-Icadian people is a question not yet definitely decided. The material which comes into consideration for the solution of this problem is mainly linguistic. Along with the inscriptions, which are obviously in the Semitic Babylonian language, are found others composed of words apparently strange. These are held by some scholars to represent a priestly cryptographic writing by others to be true Semitic words in slightly altered forms and by others still to belong to a non-Semitic tongue. This last view supposes that the ancient poetry comes in substance at any rate from a non-Semitic people who spoke this tongue. While on the other hand it is maintained that this poetry is so interwoven into Semitic life that it is impossible to regard it as a foreign origin. The majority of Semitic scholars are now of the opinion that the origin of this early literature is foreign. However this may be it comes to us in Babylonian dress. It has been found elaborated by Babylonian hands and then found its way into the literature of other Semitic peoples and for our purposes may be accepted as Babylonian. In any case, it carries us back to very early religious conceptions. The cosmogonic poetry is in its outlines not unlike that of Hesiod, but develops the rooter ideas at greater length. In the shortest, but probably not the earliest form of the cosmogony, the beginning of all things is found in the watery abyss. Two abysmal powers, Tiamat and Apsu, represented as female and male, mingle their waters and from them proceed the gods. The list of deities, as in the Greece cosmogony, seems to represent several dynasties, a conception which may embody the belief in the gradual organization of the world. After two less known gods, called La Mu and La Hamu, come the more familiar figures of later Babylonian writing, Anu and Ea. At this point the list unfortunately breaks off and the creative function which may have been assigned to the gods is lost or has not yet been discovered. The general similarities of this account and that of Genesis 1 is obvious. Both begin with the abysmal chaos. Other agreements between the two cosmogonies will be pointed out below. The most interesting figure in this fragment is that of Tiamat, who shall presently see her in the character of the enemy of the gods. The two conceptions of her do not agree together perfectly and the priority and time must be assigned to the latter. The idea that the world of gods and men and material things issued out of the womb of the abyss is a philosophic generalization that is more naturally assigned to a period of reflection. In the second cosmogonic poem, the account is more similar to that of the second chapter of Genesis and its present form originated in or near Babylon. Here we have nothing of the primeval deep, but are told how the gods made a beautiful land with rivers and trees, how Babylon was built and Marduk created man and the Tigris and the Euphrates, and the beasts and cities and temples. This also must be looked on as a comparatively late form of the myth, since its hero is Marduk, god of Babylon. As in the Bible account, men are created before beasts, and the region of their first abode seems to be the same as the Eden of Genesis. Let us now turn to the poem in which the combat between Tiamat and Marduk forms the principal feature. For some unexplained reason, Tiamat rebels against the gods. Collecting her hosts, among them frightful demon shapes of all imaginable forms, she advances for the purpose of expelling the gods from their seats. The affrighted deities turn for protection to the high gods, Anu and Eya, who however recoil in terror from the host of the dragon Tiamat. Anshar then applies to Marduk. The gods are invited to a feast, the situation is described, and Marduk is invited to lead the heavenly hosts against the foe. He agrees on condition that he shall be clothed with absolute power, so that he shall only have to say, let it be, and it shall be. To this the gods assent, a garment is placed before him, to which he says, vanish, and it vanishes, and when he commands it to appear, it is present. The hero then dons his armor and advances against the enemy. He takes Tiamat and slays her, routes her host, kills her consort, Kingu, and utterly destroys the rebellion. Tiamat he cuts in twain, out of one half of her he forms the heavens, out of the other half the earth, and for the gods Anu and Belle and Eya he makes a heavenly palace, like the abyss itself in extent. To the great gods also he assigns positions, forms the stars, establishes the year and month and the day, at this point the history is interrupted, the tablet being broken. The creation of the heavenly bodies is to be compared with a similar account in Genesis 1. Whether this poem narrates the creation of the rest of the world, it is impossible to say. In this history of the rebellion of Tiamat against the gods, we have a mythical picture of some natural phenomenon, perhaps of the conflict between winter and the enlivening sun of summer. The poem appears to contain elements of different dates. The rude character of some of the procedures suggests an early time, Marduk slays Tiamat by driving the wind into her body. The warriors who accompany her have those composite forms familiar to us from Babylonian Egyptian statues, paintings and seals, which are the product of that early thought for which there was no essential difference between man and beast. The festival in which the gods corrals is of a peace with the divine Ethiopian feasts of Homer. On the other hand, the idea of the omnipotence of the divine word when Marduk makes the garment disappear and reappear is scarcely a primitive one. It is substantially identical with the biblical let it be and it was. It is probable that the poem had a long career and in successive recensions received the coloring of different generations. Tiamat herself has a long history. Here she is a dragon who assaults the gods. Elsewhere as we have seen, she is the mother of the gods. Here also her body forms the heaven and the earth. She appears in Genesis 1-2 as the Tehorn, the primeval of this. In the form of the hostile dragon, she is found in numerous passages of the Old Testament, though under different names. She is an enemy of Yahweh, God of Israel, and in the New Testament, Revelations 12, the combat between Marduk and Tiamat is represented under the form of a fight between Michael and the dragon. In Christian literature, Michael has been replaced by St. George. The Old Babylonian conception has been fruitful of poetry representing as it does in grand form the struggle between the chaotic and the formative forces of the universe. The most considerable of the Old Babylonian poems, so far as length and literary form are concerned, is that which has been commonly known as the Ibdubar epic. The form of the name is not certain. Mr. Pinches has recently proposed on the authority of a Babylonian text to write it Gilgamesh, and this form has been adopted by a number of scholars. The poem, discovered by George Smith in 1872, is inscribed on 12 tablets, each tablet apparently containing a separate episode. The first tablet introduces a hero as the deliverer of his country from the Elamites, an event which seems to have taken place before 2000 BC. Of the second, third, fourth and fifth tablets, only fragments exist, but it appears that Gilgamesh slays the Elamite tyrant. The sixth tablet recounts the love of Ishtar for the hero, to whom she proposes marriage, offering him the tribute of the land. The reason he assigns for his rejection of the goddess is the number and fatal character of her loves. Among the objects of her affections were a wild eagle, a lion, a war horse, a ruler and a husbandman. And all these came to grief. Ishtar, angry at her rejection, complains to her father Anu and her mother Anatu, and begs them to avenge her wrong. Anu creates a divine bull and sends it against Gilgamesh, who, however with the aid of his friend Imbani, slays the bull. Ishtar curses Gilgamesh, but Imbani turns the curse against her. The seventh tablet recounts how Ishtar descends to the underworld, seeking some better way of attacking the hero. The description of the Babylonian sheol is one of the most effective portions of the poem. And with it, George Smith connects a well-known poem which relates the descent of Ishtar to the underworld. The goddess goes down to the house of darkness from which there is no exit, and demands admittance of the keeper, who, however, by command of the queen of the lower world, requires her to submit to the condition imposed on all who enter. There are seven gates, at each of which he removes some portion of her ornaments and dress. Ishtar, thus unclothed, enters and becomes a prisoner. Meanwhile the upper earth has felt her absence. All love and life has ceased. Yielding to the persuasions of the gods, Ea sends a messenger to demand the release of the goddess. The latter passes out, receiving at each gate a portion of her clothing. This story of Ishtar's love belongs to one of the earliest stages of religious belief. Not only do the gods appear as under the control of ordinary human passions, but there is no consciousness of material difference between man and beast. The Greek parallels are familiar to all. Of these ideas we find no trace in the later Babylonian and Assyrian literature, and the poem was doubtless interpreted by the Babylonian sages in allegorical fashion. In the eight to ninth tablets, the death of Yabani is recorded and the grief of Gilgamesh. The latter then wanders forth in search of Hasasadra, the hero of the flood story. After various adventures he reaches the abode of the divinized man, and from him learns the story of the flood which is given in the eleventh tablet. This story is almost identical with that of the book of Genesis. The god Bell is determined to destroy mankind, and Hasasadra receives directions from Ea to build a ship, and take into it provisions and goods and slaves and beasts of the field. The ship is covered with bitumen. The flood is sent by Shamash, the sun god. Hasasadra enters the ship and shuts the door. So dreadful is the tempest, that the gods in a fright ascend for protection to the heavens of Anu. Six days a storm lasts. On the seventh comes calm. Hasasadra opens a window and sees the mountain of Nazir, sends forth a dove which returns, then a swallow which returns, then a raven which does not return. Then knowing that the flood has passed, sends out the animals, builds an altar and offers sacrifice over which the gods gather like flies. Ea remonstrates with Bell and urges that hereafter, when he is angry with men instead of sending a deluge, he shall send wild beasts who shall destroy them. Thereupon Bell makes a compact with Hasasadra, and the gods take him and his wife and people and place them in a remote spot at the mouth of the rivers. It is now generally agreed that the Hebrew story of the flood is taken from the Babylonian, either immediately through the Canaanites, for the Babylonians had occupied Canaan before the 16th century BC, or immediately during the exile in the 6th century. The Babylonian account is more picturesque, the Hebrew more restrained in solemn. The early polytheistic features have been excluded by the Jewish editors. In addition to these longer stories, there are a number of legends of no little poetical and mythical interest. In the cycle devoted to the eagle, there is a story of the struggle between the eagle and the serpent. The latter complains to the sun god that the eagle has eaten as young. The god suggests a plan whereby the hostile bird may be caught. The body of a wild ox is to be set as a snare. Out of this plot, however, the eagle extricates himself by his sagacity. In the second story, the eagle comes to the help of a woman who is struggling to bring a man-child, apparently Itana, into the world. In the third is portrayed the ambition of the hero Itana to ascend to heaven. The eagle promises to aid him in accomplishing his design. Clinging to the bird, he rises with him higher and higher toward the heavenly space, reaching the abode of Anu and then the abode of Ishtar. As they rise to height after height, the eagle describes the appearance of the world lying stretched out beneath. At first, it rises like a huge mountain out of the sea. Then the ocean appears as a girdle encircling the land, and finally, but as a ditch a gardener digs to irrigate his land. When they have risen so high that the earth is scarcely visible, Itana cries to the eagle to stop, so he does, but his strength is exhausted and the bird and man fall to the earth. Another cycle of stories deals with the winds. The god Zu longs to have absolute power over the world. To that end, he lurks about the door of the sun god, the possessor of the tablets of faith whereby he controls all things. Each morning before beginning his journey, the sun god steps out to send light showers over the world. Watching his opportunity, Zu glides in, seizes the tablets of faith, and flies away and hides himself in the mountains. So great horror comes over the world. It is likely to be scorched by the sun god's burning beams. Anu calls on the storm god, Raman, to conquer Zu, but he is frightened and declines the task as do other gods. Here, unfortunately, the tablet is broken, so that we do not know by whom the normal order was finally restored. In the collection of cuneiform tablets, disinterred at Amarna in 1887, was found the curious story of Adapa. The demigod Adapa, the son of Aya, fishing in the sea for the family of his lord, is overwhelmed by the stormy south wind and cast under the waves. In anger, he breaks the wings of the wind that it may no longer rage in the storm. Anu, in forms of the south wind no longer blows, summons Adapa to his presence. Aya instructs his son to put on a peril of mourning, put Anu's gate, and there make friends with the porters, Tamuz and Ezzida, so they may speak a word for him to Anu. Going into the presence of the royal deity, he will be offered food and drink which he must reject, and raiment and oil which he must accept. Adapa carries out the instructions of his father to the letter. Anu is appeased, but laments that Adapa, by rejecting heavenly food and drink, has lost the opportunity to become immortal. This story, the record of which is earlier than the 16th century BC, appears to contain two conceptions. It is a mythical description of the history of the south wind. But its conclusion presents a certain parallelism with the end of the story of Eden in Genesis, as there Adam, so here Adapa, fails of immortality because he infringes the divine command concerning the divine food. We have here a suggestion that the story in Genesis is one of the cycle which deals with the common earthly fact of a man's mortality. The legend of Dabara seems to have a historical basis. The god Dabara has devastated the cities of Babylonia with hostile wars. Against Babylon he has brought a hostile host and slain its people, so that Marduk, the god of Babylon, curses him. And in like manner, he has raged against Erek and is cursed by its goddess Ishtar. He is charged with confounding the righteous and unrighteous in indiscriminate destruction. But Dabara determines to advance against the dwellings of the king of the gods, and Babylonia is to be further desolated by civil war. It is a poetical account of devastating wars as the production of a hostile deity. It is obvious that these legends have many features in common with those of other lands, myths of conflicts between wind and sun, and ambition of heroes to scale the heights of heaven. How far these similarities are independent products of similar situations, and how far the results of loans cannot at present be determined. The moral religious literature of the Babylonians is not inferior in interest to the stories just mentioned. The hymns to the gods are characterized by a sublimity and depth of feeling which remind us of the odes of the Hebrew Psalter. The penitential hymns appear to contain expressions of sorrow for sin, which would indicate a high development of the religious consciousness. These hymns, apparently a part of the temple ritual, probably belong to a relatively late stage of history, but they are nonetheless proof that devotional feeling in ancient times was not limited to any one country. Other productions, such as the hymn to the seven evil spirits, celebrating their mysterious power, indicate a lower stage of religious feeling. They are largely visible in the magic formulas, which portray a very early stratum of religious history. They recall the shamanism of Central Asia and the rights of savage tribes, but there is no reason to doubt that the Semitic religion in early stages contained this magic element, which is found the world over. Riddles and proverbs are found among the Babylonians as among all peoples. Comparatively few have been discovered, including a peculiar interest. The following may serve as specimens. What is that which becomes pregnant without conceiving fat without eating? The answer seems to be a cloud. My coal-brazier clothes me with a divine garment. My rock is founded in the sea, a volcano. I dwell in the house of pitch and brick, but over me glide the boats, a canal. He that says, I had exceedingly avenged myself, draws from a waterless well, and rubs the skin without oiling it. When sickness is incurable and hunger unappeasable, silver and gold cannot restore health nor appease hunger. As the oven waxes old, so the foe tires of enmity. The life of yesterday goes on every day. When the seed is not good, no sprout comes forth. The poetical form of all these pieces is characterized by that parallelism of members with which we are familiar in the poetry of the Old Testament. It is rhythmical, but apparently not metrical. The harmonious flow of syllables in any one line, with more or less beats or cadences, is obvious. But it does not appear that syllables were combined into feet, or that there was any fixed rules for the number of syllables or beats in a line. So also strophic divisions may be observed. Such divisions naturally resulting from the nature of all narratives. Sometimes a strophae seemed to contain four lines, sometimes more. No strophic rule has yet been established, but it seems not unlikely that when the longer poetical pieces shall have been more definitely fixed in form, certain principles of poetic composition will present themselves. The thought of the mythical pieces and the prayers and hymns is elevated and imaginative. Some of this poetry appears to have belonged earlier than 2000 BC. Yet the Babylonians constructed no epic poems like the Iliad, or at any rate, none such has been found. Their genius rather expressed itself in brief or fragmentary pieces, like the Hebrews and the Arabs. The Babylonian prose literature consists almost entirely of short chronicles and annals. Royal inscriptions have been found covering the period from 3000 BC to 539 BC. There are eponym canons, statistical lists, diplomatic letters, military reports, but none of these rise to the dignity of history. Several connected books of chronicles have indeed been found. There is a synchronistic book of annals of Babylonia and Assyria. There is a long Assyrian chronicle and there are analistic fragments, but there is no digested historical narrative which gives a clear picture of the general civic and political situation or any analysis of the characters of kings, generals and governors, or any inquiry into causes of events. It is possible that narratives having a better claim to the name of history may yet to be discovered, resembling those of the biblical book of kings. Yet the book of kings is scarcely history. Neither the Jews nor the Babylonians and Assyrians seem to have great power in this direction. One of the most interesting collections of historical pieces that recently discovered at Amarna, here out of a mound which represents a palace of the Egyptian king Amenhotep IV, were dug up numerous letters which were exchanged between the kings of Babylonia and Egypt in the 15th and 16th centuries, and numerous reports sent to the Egyptian government by Egyptian governors of Canaanite cities. These tablets show that at this early time, there was lively communication between the Euphrates and the Nile, a vivid picture of the chaotic state of affairs in Canaan, which was exposed to the assault of enemies on all sides. This country was then in possession of Egypt, but at a still earlier period, it must have been occupied by the Babylonians. Only in this way can we account for the surprising fact that the Babylonian cuneiform script and the Babylonian language formed the means of communication between the east and west, and between Egypt and Canaan. The literary value of these letters is not great. Their interest is chiefly historic and linguistic. The same thing is true of the contract tablets, which are legal documents. These cover the whole area of Babylonian history and show that civil law attained a high degree of perfection. They are couched to the usual legal phrases. The literary monuments mentioned above are all contained in tablets, which have the merit of giving in general the contemporaneous records of the things described. But an account of Babylonian literature would be incomplete without mention of the priest Berosis. Having as priest of Bell access to the records of the temples, he wrote a history of his native land, in which he preserved the substance of a number of poetical narratives, as well as the ancient accounts of the political history. The fragments of his work, which have been preserved, see Corey's ancient fragments, exhibit a number of parallels with the contents of the Cuneiform tablets. Though he wrote in Greek, he lived in the time of Alexander the Great and was probably trained in the Greek learning of his time, his work doubtless represents the spirit of Babylonian historical writing. So far as can be judged from the remains which have come down to us, its style is of the Analystic sort, which appears in the Old Inscriptions and in the historical books of the Bible. The Babylonian literature above described must be understood to include the Assyrian. Civilization was first established in Babylonia, and there apparently were produced the great epic poems and the legends. But Assyria, when she succeeded to the headship of the Mesopotamic Valley in the 12th century BC, adopted the literature of her southern sister. A great part of the old poetry has been found in the library of Azar Bernanapal at Nineveh, 7th century BC, where a host of scribes occupied themselves with the study of the ancient literature. They seem to have had almost all the apparatus of modern critical work. Tablets were edited, sometimes with revisions. There are bilingual tablets presenting in parallel columns the older text, called Sumerian Acadian, and the modern version. There are numerous grammatical and graphical lists. The records were accessible and often consulted. Azar Bernanapal, in bringing back a statue of the goddess Nanna from the Elamites region, says that it was carried off by the Elamites 1,635 years before. And Nebonidus, the last king of Babylon, circa BC 550, a man devoted to temple restoration, refers to an inscription of king Naram's sin of a gain, who he says, reigned 3,200 years before. In recent discoveries made at Nipur by the American Babylonian expedition, some Assyriologists find evidence of the existence of a Babylonian civilization many centuries before BC 4,000. The dates BC 5,000 and BC 6,000 have been mentioned. The material is now undergoing examination, and it is too early to make definite statements of date. See Peter's in America, Journal of Archaeology for January, March, 1895, and July, September, 1895, and Hellprecht, the Babylonian expedition of the University of Pennsylvania, Volume 1, Part 2, 1896. The Assyrian and Babylonian historical inscriptions, covering as they do the whole period of Jewish history down to the capture of Babylon by Cyrus, are of very great value for the illustration of the Old Testament. They have a literary interest also. Many of them are written in semi-rhythmical style, a form which was favored by the inscriptional mode of writing. The sentences are composed of short parallel clauses, and the nature of the material induced a division into paragraphs which resemble strophes. They are characterized also by precision and pithiness of statement and are probably as trustworthy as official records ever are. End of Section 5 Recording by Alan Winterout BoomCoach.blogspot.com Section 6 of Library of the World's Best Literature Ancient and Modern, Volume 1 This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Lucy Perry Library of the World's Best Literature Ancient and Modern, Volume 1 Section 6 Excerpts of Acadian-Babylonian and Assyrian Literature Translated by Crawford H. Toy 1. Theogony In the time when above the heaven was not named the earth beneath bore no name when the ocean the primeval parent of both the abyss Tiamat the mother of both the waters of both mingled in one no fields as yet were tilled no moors to be seen when as yet of the gods not one had been produced no names they bore no titles they had then were born of the gods Lakmu Lakamu came into existence many ages past Anshar Kishar were born many days went by Anu Here there is a long lacuna the lost lines completed the history of the creation of the gods and gave the reason for the uprising of Tiamat with her hosts what it was that divided the divine society into two hostile camps can only be conjectured probably Tiamat who represents the unfriendly or chaotic forces of nature saw that her domain was being encroached on by the like gods who stand for cosmic order two revolt of Tiamat to her came flocking all the gods they gathered together they came to Tiamat angry they plan restless by night and by day prepare for war with gestures of rage and hate with combined might to begin the battle the mother of the abyss she who created them all unconquerable warriors gave them giant snakes sharp of tooth pitiless in might with poison like blood she filled their bodies huge poisonous adders raging she clothed them with dread filled them with splendor he who sees them shuddering shall seize him they rear their bodies none can resist their breast vipers she made terrible snakes raging dogs scorpion men fish men bearing invincible arms fearless in the fight sterner her commands not to be resisted of all the first born gods because he gave her help she raised up King Gu in the midst she made him the greatest to march in front of the host to lead the whole to begin the war of arms to advance the attack forward in the fight to be the triumphor this she gave into his hand made him sit on the throne by my command I make thee great in the circle of the gods rule over all the gods I have given to thee the greatest shout thou be thou my chosen consort be thy name made great over all the earth she gave him the tablets of fate laid them on his breast thy command be not gained said thy word stand fast thus lifted up on high endued with the news rank among the gods her children King Gu did bear rule the gods dismayed first appealed to Anno for aid against Tiamat but he refuses to lead the attack Anshar then sends to invite the gods to a feast Anshar opened his mouth to gaga his servants spake he go oh gaga my servant thou who delightest my soul to Lakmu Lakamu I will send thee that the gods may sit at the feast bread to eat wine to drink to give the rule to Marduk up gaga go to them and tell what I say to thee Anshar your son has sent me told me the desire of his heart he repeats the preceding description of Tiamat's preparations and announces that Marduk has agreed to face the foe I sent Anu nor can he against her Nudimud was afraid and turned carrying back Marduk accepted the task the ruler of gods your son against Tiamat to march his heart impels him so speaks he to me if I succeed I your avenger conquer Tiamat and save your lives come ye all and declare me supreme in upsunk and knaku enter ye joyfully all with my mouth will I bear rule unchangeable be whatever I do the word of my lips be never reversed or gain said come unto him give over the rule the team may go and meet the evil foe gaga went strode on his way humbly before Lakmu and Lakamu the gods his fathers he paid his homage and kissed the ground bent lowly down and to them spake Anshar your son has sent me told me the desire of his heart gaga then repeats Anshar's message at length and the narrative proceeds Lakmu and Lakamu heard and were afraid the Igigi all lamented so what changes come about that she thus hates us we cannot understand this deed of Tiamat with hurry and haste they went the great gods all the dealers of fate with eager tongue sat themselves down to the feast bred they ate wine they drank the sweet wine entered their souls they drank their fill full were their bodies in this happy state they were ready to accept Marduk's conditions to Marduk their Avenger they gave over the rule they lifted him up on a lofty throne above his father's he took his place as judge most honoured be thou among the great gods unequalled thy rule thy word is anew from this time forth thy command be not gained said to lift up and cast down be the work of thy hand the speech of thy mouth stand fast thy word be irresistible none of the gods shall intrude on thy domain fullness of wealth the desire of the temples of the gods be the portion of thy shrine though they be in need Marduk, thou, our Avenger thine be the kingdom over all forever sit thee down in might know will be thy word thy arm shall never yield the foes they shall crush O Lord, he who trusts in thee him grant thou life but the deity who set evil on foot her life pour out then in the midst they placed a garment to Marduk their firstborn thus spake they thy rule, O Lord, be chief among the gods to destroy and to create speak and let it be open thy mouth let the garment vanish utter again thy command let the garment appear he spake with his mouth vanish the garment again he commanded and the garment appeared when the gods his fathers saw thus his word fulfilled joyful were they and did homage Marduk his king on him conferred scepter and throne gave him invincible arms to crush them that hate him now go and cut short the life of Tiamat may the winds into a secret place carry her blood the ruler of the gods they made him the gods, his fathers wished him success and glory in the way on which he went he made ready a bow prepared it for use made ready a spear to be his weapon he took the seized it in his right hand bow and quiver hung at his side lightning he fashioned flashing before him with glowing flame he filled its body a net he prepared to seize Tiamat guarded the four corners of the world that nothing of her should escape on south and north on east and west he laid the net his father Anu's gift he fashioned the evil wind the south blast the tornado the four and seven wind the wind of destruction and woe sent forth the seven winds which he had made Tiamat's body to destroy after him they followed then seized the lord the thunderbolt his mighty weapon the irresistible chariot the terrible he mounted to it four horses he harnessed pitiless fiery swift their teeth were full of venom covered with foam on it mounted Marduk the mighty in battle to right and left he looked lifting his eye his terrible brightness surrounded his head against her he advanced went on his way to Tiamat lifted his face they looked at him at him looked the gods the gods his fathers looked at him at him looked the gods and nearer pressed the lord with his eye piercing Tiamat on Kingu her consort rested his look as he so looked every way he stopped his senses Kingu loses vanishes his thought and the gods his helpers who stood by his side saw their leader powerless but Tiamat stood not turning her back with fierce lips to him she spake then grasped the lord his thunderbolt his mighty weapon angry at Tiamat he hurled his words when Tiamat heard these words she fell into fury beside herself was she Tiamat cried wild and loud till through and through her body shook she utters her magic formula speaks her word and the gods of battle rushed to arms then advanced Tiamat and Marduk the ruler of the gods to battle they rushed come on to the fight his wide stretch net over her the lord did cast the evil wind from behind him he let loose in her face Tiamat opened her throat as wide as she might into it he sent the evil wind before she could close her lips the terrible winds filled her body her senses she lost wide open stood her throat she seized his spear through her body he ran it her inward parts he hewed cut to pieces her heart her he overcame put an end to her life cast away her corpse and on it stood so he the leader slew Tiamat her power he crushed her mighty destroyed then the gods her helpers who stood at her side fear and trembling seized them their backs they turned away they fled to save their lives fast were they good escape they could not captive he took them broken pieces their arms they were caught in the net sat in the toils all the earth they filled with their cry their doom they bore held fast in prison and the eleven creatures clothed with dread a herd of demons who with her went these he subdued destroyed their power crushed their valor trod them underfoot and Kingu who had grown great over them all him he overcame with the god Cougar took from him the tablets of fate which were not rightfully his stamped there on his seal and hung them on his breast when thus the doubty Marduk had conquered his foes his proud adversary to shame had brought had completed Anshar's triumph over the enemy had fulfilled Nuddimud's will then the conquered gods he put in prison and to Tiamat whom he had conquered returned under his foot the Lord Tiamat's body trod with his irresistible club he shattered her skull through the veins of her bloody cut commanded the North wind to bear it to a secret place his father saw it rejoiced and shouted gifts and offerings to him they brought the Lord was appeased seeing her corpse dividing her body wise plans he laid into two halves like a fish he divided her out of one half he made the vault of heaven a bar he set and guards he posted gave them command that the waters pass not through through the heaven he strode viewed its spaces near the deep place Nuddimud's dwelling and the Lord measured the domain of the deep like-it-esh-harrow he built the palace-esh-harrow which he fashioned as heaven therein he made anu, bell and ear to dwell he established the station of the great gods stars which were like them constellations he set the year he established marked off its parts divided twelve months by three stars from the day that begins the year to the day that ends it he established the station near beer to mark its limits that no harm come no one go astray the stations of bell and ear be set by its side great doors he made on this side and that closed them fast on left and right the moon god he summoned to him committed the night here the account breaks off there probably followed the history of the creation of the earth and of man three fragments of a descent to the underworld to the underworld I turn I spread my wings like a bird I descend to the house of darkness to the dwelling of Urkala to the house from which there is no exit the road on which there is no return to the house whose dwellers long for light dust is their nourishment and mud their food whose chiefs are like feathered birds where light is never seen in darkness they dwell in the house which I will enter there is treasured up for me a crown with the crowned ones who have old ruled the earth to whom Anu and Bell have given terrible names carrion is their food their drink stagnant water there dwell the chiefs and unconquered ones there dwell the bards and the mighty men monsters of the deep of the great gods it is the dwelling of Etana the dwelling of Nur the queen of the underworld her I will approach and she will see me Ishtar's descent to the underworld after a description substantially identical with the first half of the preceding poem the story goes on to the gate of the underworld Ishtar came to the keeper of the gate her command she addressed keeper of the waters open thy gate open thy gate that I may enter if thou open not the gate and let me in I will strike the door the posts I will shatter I will strike the hinges burst open the doors I will rise up the dead devourers of the living over the living the dead shall triumph the keeper opened his mouth and spake to the princess Ishtar he cried stay lady do not thus let me go and repeat thy words to Queen Linkigall he goes and gets the terrible queen's permission for Ishtar to enter on certain conditions through the first gate he caused her to pass the crown of her head he took away why, O keeper, take Ishtar away the great crown of my head thus, O lady, the goddess of the underworld doeth to all her visitors at the entrance through the second gate he caused her to pass the earrings of her ears he took away why, O keeper, take Ishtar away the earrings of my ears so, O lady, the goddess of the underworld doeth to all that enter her realm and so at each gate till she is stripped of clothing a long time Linkigall holds her prisoner and in the upper world love vanishes and men and gods mourn Ea sees that Ishtar must return and sends his messenger to bring her go forth, O messenger toward the gates of the underworld set thy face let the seven gates of Hades be opened at thy presence let Linkigall see thee and rejoice at thy arrival let her heart be satisfied and her anger be removed appease her by the names of the great gods Linkigall, when this she heard, beat her breast and wrung her hands turned away, no comfort would she take go, thou messenger, let the great jailer keep thee the refuse of the city be thy food the drains of the city thy drink the shadow of the dungeon be thy resting place the slab of stone be thy seat Linkigall opened her mouth and spake to Simtar her attendant, her command she gave go, Simtar, strike the palace of judgment pour over Ishtar the water of life and bring her before me Simtar went and struck the palace of judgment on Ishtar he poured the water of life and brought her through the first gate he caused her to pass and restored to her her covering cloak and so through the seven gates till all her ornaments are restored the result of the visit to the underworld is not described four, the flood the hero Gilgamesh, Isdbar wandering in search of healing for his sickness finds Hasisadra, Sithythros the Babylonian Noah who tells him the story of the flood Hasisadra spake to him, to Gilgamesh to thee I will reveal Gilgamesh the story of my deliverance and the oracle of the gods I will make known to thee the city of Suripak which as thou knowest lies on the Euphrates bank already old was the city when the gods that therein dwell to send a flood their heart impelled them all the great gods, their father Anu their counsellor the warlike bell Adar their throne-bearer and the prince Anuji the lord of boundless wisdom Ea sat with them in council their resolve he announced and so he spake O thou of Suripak Sanavubaritutu leave thy house and build a ship they will destroy the seed of life do thou preserve in life and hither bring the seed of life of every sort into the ship here follows the statement of the dimensions of the ship but the numbers are lost when this I heard to Ea my lord I spake the building of the ship O Lord which thou commandest if I perform it people and elders will mock me Ea opened his mouth and spake spake to me his servant the text here is mutilated Hasisadra is ordered to threaten the mockers with Ea's vengeance thou however shut not thy door till I send thee word then pass through the door and bring all grain and goods and wealth family, servants and maids and all thy kin the cattle of the field, the beasts of the field Hasisadra opened his mouth to Ea his lord he said O my lord, a ship in this wise hath no one ever built Hasisadra tells how he built a ship according to Ea's directions all that I had I brought together all of silver and all of gold and all of the seed of life into the ship I brought and my household, men and women the cattle of the field, the beasts of the field and all my kin I caused to enter then when the sun was destined time brought on to me he said it even fall destruction shall the heaven reign enter the ship and close the door with sorrow on that day I saw the sun go down the day on which I was to enter the ship I was afraid yet into the ship I went behind me the door I closed into the hands of the steersman I gave the ship with its cargo then from the heaven's horizon rose the dark cloud Raman uttered his thunder Naboo and Saru rushed on over the hill and dale strode the throne-bearers Adar sent ceaseless streams floods the Anunnaki brought their power shakes the earth Raman's billows up to heaven mount all light to darkness is turned brother looks not after brother no man for another cares the gods in heaven are frightened refuge they seek upward they mount to the heaven of Anu like a dog in his lair so cower the gods together at the bars of heaven Ishtar cries out in pain loud cries the exalted goddess all is turned to Maya this evil to the gods I announced to the gods foretold the evil this exterminating war foretold against my race of mankind not for this bear I meant that like the brood of the fishes they should fill the sea then wept the gods with her over the Anunnaki in lamentation sat the gods their lips hard-pressed together six days and seven nights ruled wind and flood and storm but when the seventh day broke subsided the storm and the flood which rage like a mighty host settled itself to quiet down went the sea ceased storm and flood through the sea I rode lamenting the upper dwellings of men were ruined corpses floated like trees a window I opened on my face the daylight fell I shuddered and sat me down weeping over my face flowed my tears I rode over regions of land on a terrible sea then rose one piece of land twelve measures high to the land nizir the ship was steered the mountain nizir held the ship fast and let it no more go at the dawn of the seventh day I took a dove and sent it forth hither and thither flew the dove no resting place it found back to me it came a swallow I took and set it forth no resting place it found and back to me it came a raven I took and sent it forth forth flew the raven and saw that the water had fallen carefully weighed on but came not back all the animals then to the four winds I sent the sacrifice I offered an altar I built on the mountaintop by sevens I placed the vessels under them spread sweet cane and cedar the gods inhaled the smoke inhaled the sweet smelling smoke like flies the gods collected over the offering nizir then came ishtar lifted on high her bow which Anu had made these days I will not forget will keep them in remembrance them I will never forget let the gods come to the altar but let not bell to the altar come because he heedlessly wrought the flood he brought on to destruction my people gave over thither came bell and saw the ship full of anger was he against the gods and the spirits of heaven what soul has escaped in the destruction no man shall live then a jar opened his mouth and spake spake to the warlike bell who but Ian knew it he knew and all he had told then ear opened his mouth spake to the warlike bell thou art the valiant leader of the gods why hast thou heedlessly wrought and brought on the flood let the sinner bear his sin the wrong doer his wrong yield to our request that he be not wholly destroyed instead of sending a flood send lions that men be reduced instead of sending a flood send hyenas that men be reduced instead of sending a flood send flames to waste the land instead of sending a flood send pestilence that men be reduced the council of the great gods to him I did not impart a dream to Hasissadra I sent and the will of the gods he learned then came right reason to bell into the ship he entered took my hand and lifted me up raised my wife and laid her hand in mine to us he turned between us he stepped his blessing he gave human Hasissadra has been but he and his wife united now to the gods shall be raised and Hasissadra shall dwell far off at the mouth of the streams then they took me and placed me far off at the mouth of the streams five the eagle and the snake to Samas came the snake and said the eagle has come to my nest my younger scattered see you Samas what evil he has done me help me thy nest is as broad as the earth thy snare is like the heavens who can escape out of thy net hearing the snake's complaint Samas opened his mouth and spake get thee on thy way go to the mountain a wild ox shall be thy hiding place open his body tear out his inward parts make thy dwelling within him all the birds of heaven will descend with them will come the eagle then hurrying on the flesh she will swoop thinking of that which is hidden inside so soon as he enters the ox sees his wing tear off his wing feathers and claws pull him to pieces and cast him away let him die of hunger and thirst so as the mighty Samas commanded rose the snake went to the mountain there he found a wild ox opened his body tore out his inward parts entered and dwelt within him and the birds of heaven descended with them came the eagle yet the eagle, fearing a snare ate not of the flesh with the birds the eagle spake to his young we will not fly down nor eat the flesh of the wild ox an eagle at keen of eye thus to his father spake in the flesh of the ox lurks the snake the rest is lost six the flight of a tanner the priests have offered my sacrifice with joyful hearts to the gods oh lord issue thy command give me the plant of birth show me the plant of birth bring the child into the world grant me a son Samas opened his mouth and spake to a tanner away with thee go to the mountain the eagle opened his mouth and spake to a tanner wherefore art thou come a tanner opened his mouth and said to the eagle give me the plant of birth show me the plant of birth bring the child into the world grant me a son to a tanner then spake the eagle my friend be of good cheer come let me bear thee to anew's heaven on my breast lay thy breast grasp with thy hands the feathers of my wings on my side lay thy side on his breast he laid his breast on his feathers he placed his hands on my side he laid his side firmly he clung great was his weight two hours he bore him on high the eagle spake to him to a tanner see my friend the land how it lies look at the sea the ocean girded like a mountain looks the land the sea like petty waters two hours more he bore him up the eagle spake to him to a tanner see my friend the land how it lies the sea like the girdle of the land two hours more he bore him up the eagle spake to him to a tanner see my friend the land how it lies the sea like the gardener's ditches up they rose to anew's heaven came to the gate of anew bell and ear come my friend let me bear thee to ishtar to ishtar the queen shout thou go and dwell at her feet on my side lay thy side grasp my wing feathers with thy hands on his side he laid his side his feathers he grasped with his hands two hours he bore him on high my friend see the land how it lies how it spreads itself out the broad sea is as great as a court two hours he bore him on high my friend see the land how it lies the land is like the bed of a garden the broad sea is as great as a two hours he bore him up two hours he bore him on high my friend see the land how it lies a tanner frightened begs the eagle to ascend no further then as it seems the bird's strength is exhausted to the earth the eagle fell down shattered upon the ground end of section 6 recording by Lucy Perry in Bath on February 21st 2010 section 7 of Library of the World's Best Literature ancient and modern volume 1 this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information auto-volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Lucy Perry Library of the World's Best Literature ancient and modern volume 1 section 7 excerpts of Akkadian, Babylonian and Assyrian literature translated by Crawford H. Toy 7 the god Zoo he sees the badges of rule his royal crown his raiment divine on the tablets of fate of the gods Zoo fixes his look on the father of the gods the god of Duankee Zoo fixes his gaze lust after rule enters into his soul I will take the tablets of fate of the gods will determine the oracle of all the gods will set up my throne all orders control will rule all the heavenly spirits his heart was set on combat at the entrance of the hall he stands waiting the break of day when Baal dispensed the tender rains sat on his throne put off his crown he snatched the tablets of fate from his hands seized the power the control of commands down flew Zoo in a mountain he hid his anguish and crying on the earth Baal poured out his wrath Anu opened his mouth and spake said to the gods his children who will conquer Zoo great shall be his name among the dwellers of all lands they call for a man the mighty a new son to him gives a new command upra man my son, thou hero from thine attack desist not that thy name may be great in the assembly of the great gods among the gods thy brethren non shall be thy equal thy shrines on high shall be built found these cities in all the world thy cities shall reach to the mountain of the world show thyself strong for the gods strong be thy name to Anu his father's command Ramana answered and spake my father who shall come to the inaccessible mound and liken to Zoo among the gods thy sons the tablets of fate he has snatched from his hands seized on the power the control of commands Zoo has fled and hides in his mountain the rest is lost 8. Adapa and the south wind under the water the south wind blew him sunk him to the home of the fishes oh south wind ill hast thou used me thy wings I will break as thus with his mouth he spake the wings of the south wind were broken seven days long the south wind over the earth blew no more to his messenger Illa Abrat Anu then spake thus why for seven days long blows the south wind no more on the earth his messenger Illa Abrat answered and said my lord Adapa, he his son hath broken the wings of the south wind when Anu heard these words aha he cried and went forth Illa the ocean god then directs his son how to proceed in order to avert Anu's wrath some lines are mutilated at the gate of Anu stand the gods Tamuz and Izida will see thee and ask why lookest thou thus, Adapa for whom wearest thou garments of morning from the earth two gods have vanished therefore do I thus who are these two gods who from the earth have vanished at each other they will look Tamuz and Izida and Lament a friendly word they will speak to Anu Anu's sacred face they will show thee when thou to Anu comeest food of death will be offered thee eat not thereof water of death will be offered thee drink not thereof a garment will be offered thee put it on oil will be offered thee anoint thyself therewith what I tell thee neglect not keep my word in mind then came Anu's messenger the wing of the south wind Adapa has broken deliver him up to me up to the heaven he came approach the gate of Anu Atanu's gate Tamuz and Izida stand Adapa they see and aha they cry oh Adapa wherefore lookest thou thus how a peril of mourning from the earth two gods have vanished therefore I wear a peril of mourning who are these two gods who from the earth have vanished at one another look Tamuz and Izida and Lament Adapa go hence to Anu when he came Anu at him looked saying oh Adapa why hast thou broken the south wind's wing Adapa answered my lord for my lord's house I was fishing in the midst of the sea the water was smooth then the south wind began to blow under it forced me to the home of the fishes I sank by this speech Anu's anger has turned away a beaker he set before him what shall we offer him food of life prepare for him that he may eat food of life was brought for him but he ate not water of life was brought for him but he drank not he put it on oil they gave him he anointed himself therewith Anu looked at him and mourned and now Adapa wherefore hast thou not eaten or drunken now canst thou not live forever he and my lord commanded me thou shalt not eat nor drink nine penitential psalms one the suppliant I, thy servant of sin, cry to thee the sin as earnest prayer thou dost accept the man on whom thou locus lives mistress of all queen of mankind merciful one to whom it is good to turn who acceptest the sigh of the heart the priest because his gods and his goddess are angry he cries to thee to him turn thy face take his hand the suppliant beside thee there is no god to guide me look in mercy on me accept my sigh say why do I wait so long let thy face be softened how long, oh my lady may thy kindness be turned to me like a dove I mourn full of sighing the priest with sorrow and woe his soul is full of sighing tears he sheds he pours out laments two oh mother of the gods who performest the commands of bell who makest the young grass sprout queen of mankind creator of all guide of every birth mother Ishtar whose might no god approaches exalted mistress mighty in command a prayer I will utter let her do what seems her good oh my lady make me to know my doing food I have not eaten weeping was my nourishment tears were my drink my heart has not been joyful nor my spirits glad many in my sins sorrowful my soul oh my lady make me to know my doing make me a place of rest cleanse my sin lift up my face may my god the lord of prayer before thee set my prayer may my goddess the lady of supplication before thee set my supplication may my god the lord of prayer before thee the intercession of a number of gods is here invoked let thy eye rest graciously on me turn thy face graciously to me let thy heart be gentle thy spirit mild three oh lady in sorrow of heart sore oppressed I cry to thee oh lady to thy servant favor show let thy heart be favorable of sorrow show thy pity turn to him thy face accept his prayer four to thy servant with whom thou art angry graciously turn may the anger of my lord be appeased appeased the god I know not the goddess I know the goddess I know not the god who was angry with me the goddess who was angry with me be appeased the sin which I have committed I know not may my god name a gracious name my goddess name a gracious name the god I know the god I know not name a gracious name the goddess I know the goddess I know not name a gracious name pure food I have not eaten pure water I have not drunk the wrath of my god though I knew it not was my food the anger of my goddess though I knew it not cast me down oh lord many of my sins these phrases are repeated many times the lord has looked on me in anger the goddess punished me in wrath the goddess was angry with me and hath brought me to sorrow I sought for help but no one took my hand I wept but no one to me came I cry aloud there is none that hears me sorrowful I lie on the ground look not up to my merciful god I turn the feet of my goddess I kiss to the known and unknown god I loud do sigh to the known and unknown goddess I loud do sigh oh lord look on me hear my prayer oh goddess look on me hear my prayer men are perverse nothing they know men of every name what do they know do they good or ill nothing they know oh lord cast not down thy servant him plunged into the flood seized by the hand the sin I have committed turned out a favour the evil I have done may the wind carry it away tearing pieces my wrongdoings like a garment my god my sins are seven times seven forgive my sins my goddess my sins are seven times seven forgive my sins known and unknown god my sins are seven times seven forgive my sins forgive my sins and I will humbly bow before thee five may the lord, the mighty ruler adar, announce my prayer to thee may the suplean tillaging the poor announce my prayer to thee may the lord of heaven and earth the lord of Uraidu announce my prayer to thee the mother of the great house the goddess Damkina announce my prayer to thee may Marduk, the lord of Babylon announce my prayer to thee may his consort, the exalted child of heaven and earth announce my prayer to thee may the exalted minister the god who names the good name announce my prayer to thee may the bride, the first born of the god announce my prayer to thee may the god of storm flood the lord Hosaga announce my prayer to thee may the gracious lady of the land 10. Inscription of Senakarib Taylor Cylinder BC 701 CF Two Kings 1819 Senakarib, the great king, the powerful king the king of the world, the king of Assyria the king of the four zones the wise shepherd the favourite of the great gods the protector of justice the lover of righteousness the giver of help the destroyer of the weak the perfect hero the stalwart warrior the first of princes the destroyer of the rebellious the destroyer of enemies Assyria, the mighty rock a kingdom without rival has granted me overall, who sit on sacred seats he has exalted my arms from the upper sea of the setting sun to the lower sea of the rising sun all the black-headed people he has cast beneath my feet princes shun battle with me they foresook their dwellings like a falcon, which dwells in the clefts they fled alone to an inaccessible place to the city of Ekron I went the governors and princes who had done evil I slew I bound their corpses to poles around the city the inhabitants of the city who had done evil I reckoned to spoil to the rest who had done no wrong I spoke peace Paddy, their king I brought from Jerusalem I made him the tribute of my lordship I laid upon him as a chire of Judah who had not submitted to me 46 of his strong cities small cities without number I besieged casting down the walls advancing engines by assault I took them 200,000 150 men and women young and old horses, mules, asses camels, oxen sheep I came out and reckoned to spoil Hezekiah himself I shut up like a caged bird in Jerusalem his royal city the walls I fortified against him whoever came out of the gates I turned him back his cities which I had plundered I divided from his land and gave them to Mittenty King of Ashtad to Paddy, King of Ekron and to Sylval, King of Gaza to the former tribute paid yearly of my lordship and laid that upon him Hezekiah himself was overwhelmed by the fear of the brightness of my lordship the Arabians and his other faithful warriors whom, for the defense of Jerusalem his royal city he had brought in, fell into fear with 30 talents of gold and 800 talents of silver precious stones couches of ivory thrones of ivory and his daughters, his women of the palace the young men and the young women to Nineveh, the city of my lordship I caused to be brought after me and he sent his ambassadors to give tribute and to pay homage 11. Invocation to the goddess Balthus to Balthus the great lady, chief of heaven and earth queen of all the gods mighty in all the lands honoured his her festival among the Ishtars she surpasses her offspring in power she, the shining one like her brother the sun enlightens heaven and earth mistress of the spirits of the underworld first born of anew great among the gods ruler over her enemies the seas she stirs up the wooded mountains tramples underfoot mistress of the spirits of upper air goddess of battle and fight without whom the heavenly temple none would render obedience she, the bestower of strength grants the desire of the faithful prayers she hears supplication receives entreaty accepts Ishtar the perfect light all powerful who enlightens heaven and earth her name is proclaimed throughout all the lands Issa Haddon king of lands fear not to her it is good to pray 12. Oracles of Ishtar of Arbila BC 680 to 668 Issa Haddon king of lands fear not the lord the spirit who speaks to thee I speak to him I have not kept it back dynanemies like the floods of Sivan before the flea perpetually I the great goddess Ishtar of Arbila have put dynanemies to flight where are the words I spoke to thee thou hast not trusted them I Ishtar of Arbila thy foes into thy hands I give in the van and by thy side I go fear not in the midst of thy princes thou art in the midst of my host I advance and rest Oh Issa Haddon fear not 60 great gods are with me to guard thee the moon god on thy right the sun god on thy left around thee stand the 60 great gods and make the centre firm trust not to man look thou to me honour me and fear not to Issa Haddon my king long days and length of years I give thy throne beneath the heavens I have established in a golden dwelling thee I will guard in heaven guard like the diadem of my head the former word which I spake thou didst not trust but trust thou now this later word and glorify me when the day dawns bright when the day dawns bright to complete thy sacrifice pure food thou shalt eat pure water's drink in thy palace thou shalt be pure thy son thy son's son the kingdom by the blessing of Nurgal shall rule thirteen an Erechites lament how long, oh my lady shall the strong enemy hold thy sanctuary there is one tinnareck thy principal city Nielbar the house of thy oracle he has kindled and poured out fire like hailstones on all thy lands my lady sorely am I fettered by misfortune my lady, thou hast surrounded me and brought me to grief the mighty enemy has smitten me down like a single reed not wise myself, I cannot take counsel I mourn day and night like the fields I, thy servant, pray to thee let thy heart take rest let thy disposition be softened End of Section 7 Recording by Lucy Perry in Bath on July 2nd, 2010aniary of the world's best literature Ancient and Modern Volume 1 Section 8 Letters to Her Husband by Abigail Adams Abigail Adams, 1744-1818 by Lucia Gilbert Runkel The Constitution of the State of Massachusetts adopted in the year 1780 contains an article for the encouragement of literature which, it declares, should be fostered because its influence to continents and inculcate the principles of humanity and general benevolence, public and private charity, industry and frugality, honesty and punctuality in dealings, sincerity and good humor, and all social affections and generous sentiments among the people. In these words, as in a mirror, is reflected the Massachusetts of the eighteenth century, where households like the Adamses, the Warrens, the Otuses made the standard of citizenship. Six years before this remarkable document was framed, Abigail Adams had written to her husband, then engaged in nation-making in Philadelphia. I most sincerely wish that some more liberal plan might be laid and executed for the benefit of the rising generation, and that our new constitution may be distinguished for encouraging learning and virtue. And he, spending his days and nights for his country, sacrificing his profession, giving up the hope of wealth, writes her. I believe my children will think that I might as well have labored a little night and day for their benefit. But I will tell them that I studied and labored to procure a free constitution of government for them, to solace themselves under, and if they do not prefer this to ample fortune, to ease and elegance, they are not my children. They shall live upon, thin diet, wear mean clothes, and work hard with cheerful hearts and free spirits, or they may be the children of the earth, or of no one for me. In old Weymouth, one of those quiet Massachusetts towns, half-hidden among the Umbrages Hills, where the meeting-house and the school-house rose before the settlers' cabins were built, where the one-elm-shaded main street stretches its breath between two lines of self-respecting isolated frame-houses, each with its grassy door-yard, its lilac bushes, its fresh-painted offices, its decorous woodpile laid with architectural balance and symmetry. There in the dignified parsonage on the 11th of November of 1744 was born to parson William Smith and Elizabeth, his wife Abigail, the second of three beautiful daughters. Her mother was a Quincy of a distinguished line, and her mother was a Norton of a strain not less honorable, nor were the Smiths unimportant. In that day girls had little instruction. Abigail says of herself in one of her letters, I never was sent to any school, female education in the best families went no further than writing an arithmetic in some few in rare instances music and dancing. It was fashionable to ridicule female learning, but the household was bookish. Her mother knew the British poets and all the literature of Queen Anne's Augustan Age. Her beloved grandmother Quincy at Mount Woolston seemed to have had both learning and wisdom, and to her father she owed the sense of fun, the shrewdness, the clever way of putting things which makes her letters so delightful. The good parson was skillful in adapting scripture to several exigencies, and throughout the revolution he astonished his hearers by the peculiar fitness of his texts to political uses. It is related of him that when his eldest daughter married Richard Cranch he preached to his people from Luke, 10th chapter, 42nd verse, and Mary hath chosen that good part which shall not be taken away from her. When a year later young John Adams came courting the brilliant Abigail, the parish which assumed a right to be heard in the question of the destiny of the minister's daughter, grimly objected. He was upright, singularly abstinious, studious, but he was poor. He was the son of a small farmer and she was of the gentry. He was hot-headed and somewhat tactless and offended his critics. First of all, he was a lawyer, and the prejudices of colonial society reckoned a lawyer hardly honest. He won this most important of his cases, however, and Parson Smith's marriage sermon for the bride of nineteen was preached from the text, for John came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and ye say he hath a devil. For ten years Mrs. Adams seems to have lived a most happy life either in Boston or Braintree, for greatest grief being the frequent absences of her husband on circuit. His letters to her are many and delightful, expressing again and again, in the somewhat formal phrases of the period, his affection and admiration. She wrote seldom, her household duties and the care of the children of whom there were four in ten years occupying her busy hands. Meanwhile, the clouds were growing black in the political sky. After Adams wrote arguments and appeals in the news journals over Latin signatures, papers of instructions to representatives in the general court, and legal portions of the controversy between the delegates and Governor Hitchenson. In all this work Mrs. Adams constantly sympathized and advised. In August of 1774 he went to Philadelphia as a delegate to a general council of the colonies, called to concert measures for united action, and now begins the famous correspondence which goes on for a period of nine years, which was intended to be seen only by the eyes of her husband, which she begs him again and again to destroy as not worth the keeping, yet which has given her a name and place among the world's most charming letter writers. Her courage, her cheerfulness, her patriotism, her patience never fail her. Braintree, where with her little brood she is to stay, is close to the British lines. Raids and foraging expeditions are imminent. Hopes of a peaceful settlement grow dim. What course you can or will take, she writes her husband, is all wrapped in the bosom of futurity. Uncertainty and expectation leave the mind great scope. Did ever any kingdom or state regain its liberty when once it was invaded without bloodshed? I cannot think of it without horror. We are told that all the misfortunes of Sparta were occasioned by their too great solicitude for present tranquility, and from an excessive love of peace they neglected the means of making it sure and lasting. They ought to have reflected, says Polybius, that as there is nothing more desirable or advantageous than peace when founded in justice and honour, so there is nothing more shameful and at the same time more pernicious when attained by bad measures and purchased at the price of liberty. Thus, in the high-robin fashion she faces danger, yet her sense of fun never deserts her and in the very next letter she writes, parodying her husband's documents, the drop has become very severe. My poor cows will certainly prefer a petition to you setting forth their grievances and informing you that they have been deprived of their ancient privileges, whereby they are become great sufferers and desiring that these may be restored to them. More especially as their living, by reason of the drawth, is all taken from them and their property which they hold elsewhere is decaying. They humbly pray that you would consider them, lest hunger should break through stone walls. By mid-summer the small hardships entailed by the British occupation of Boston were most vexatious. We shall very soon have no coffee, no sugar, nor pepper, but wortelberries and milk we are not obliged to commence for. She writes, and in letter after letter she begs for pins. Needles are desperately needed, but without pins how can domestic life go on and not a pin in the province? On the fourteenth of September she describes the excitement in Boston, the governor mounting cannon on Beacon Hill, digging entrenchments on the neck, planting guns, throwing up breast-works, and camping a regiment. In consequence of the powder being taken from Charlestown she goes on to say a general alarm spread through all the towns and was soon caught in brain-tree. And then she describes one of the most extraordinary scenes in history. About eight o'clock on Sunday evening she writes to her husband, at least two hundred men, preceded by a horse cart passed by her door in dead silence, and marched down to the powder-house. Once they took out the town's powder, because they dared not trust it, where there were so many Tories, carried it into the other parish and there secreted it. On their way they captured a notorious king's man and found on him two warrants aimed at the commonwealth. When their patriotic trust was discharged they turned their attention to the trembling Britain. Profoundly excited and indignant though they were they never thought of mob violence, but true to the inherited instincts of their race they resolved themselves into a public meeting. The hostile warrants being produced to an exhibited it was put to a vote whether they should be burned or preserved. The majority voted for burning them. Then the two hundred gathered in a circle round the single lantern and maintained a rigid silence while the offending papers were consumed. That done the blazing eyes in that grim circle of patriots watched the blazing writs. They called a vote whether they should, who's ah, but it being Sunday evening it passed in the negative. Only in the New England of John Winthrop and the Mathers of John Quincy and the Adamses would such a scene have been possible. A land of self-conquest and self-control of a deep love of the public welfare and a willingness to take trouble for a public object. A little later Mrs. Adams writes her husband that there has been a conspiracy among the Negroes, though it has been kept quiet. I wish most sincerely, she adds, that there was not a slave in the province. It always appeared a most iniquitous scheme to me to fight ourselves for what we are daily robbing and plundering from those who have as good a right to freedom as we have. Nor were the sympathies of this clever logician confined to the slaves. A month or two before the Declaration of Independence was made, she writes her constructive statesman. I long to hear that you have declared independence, and by the way, in the new Code of Laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make, I desire you would remember the ladies and be more gracious and favorable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the husbands. Remember all men would be tyrants if they could. If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice or representation. That your sex, or naturally tyrannical, is a truth so thoroughly established as to admit of no dispute, but such of you as wish to be happy willingly give up the harsh title of master for the more tender and daring one a friend. Why then not put it out of the power of the vicious and lawless to use us with cruelty and indignity with impunity? Men of sense, in all ages, abhor those customs which treat us only as the vassals of your sex. Regard us then as being placed by providence under your protection and, in imitation of the supreme being, make use of that power only for our happiness. A declaration of principles which the practical housewives follow by saying, I have not yet attempted making salt peter, but after salt making believe I shall make the experiment. I find as much as I can do to manufacture clothing for my family which would else be naked. I have lately seen a small manuscript describing the proportions of the various sorts of powder fit for cannon, small arms and pistols. If it would be of any service your way, I will get it transcribed and send it to you. She is interested in everything and she writes about everything in the same wholehearted way—farming, paper money, the making of molasses from corn stalks, the new remedy of inoculation, common sense and its author, the children's handwriting, the State of Harvard College, the rate of taxes, the most helpful methods of enlistment, Chesterfield's letters, the town elections, the higher education of women, and the getting of home spun enough for Mr. Adams' new suit. She manages with astonishing skill to keep the household in comfort. She goes through trials of sickness, death, agonizing suspense, and ever with the same heroic cheerfulness that her anxious husband may be spared the pangs which she endures. When he is sent to France and Holland, she accepts the new party as another service pledged to her country. She sees her darling boy of ten go with this father, aware that at the best she must bear months of silence knowing that they may perish at sea or fall into the hands of privateers. But she writes with indomitable cheer, sending the lad tender letters of good advice—a little didactic to modern taste, but throbbing with affection. Dear, as you are to me, says this tender mother, I would much rather you should have found your grave in the ocean you have crossed than see you in a moral, proplicate, or graceless child. It was the lot of this country's parson's daughter to spend three years in London as wife of the first American minister, to see her husband vice-president of the United States for eight years and president for four, and to greet her son as the eminent Monroe's valued secretary of state, though she died seventy-four years young before he became president. She could not, in any station, be more truly a lady than when she made soap and chopped kindling on her brain-tree farm. With brain-tree she was no more simply modest than that at the court of St. James or in the Executive Mansion. Her letters exactly reflect her ardent, sincere, and energetic nature. She shows a charming delight when her husband tells her that his affairs could not possibly be better managed than she manages them, and that she shines not less as a statesman than as a farmeress. And although she was greatly admired and complimented, no praise so pleased her as his declaration that for all the ingratitude, calamities, and misunderstandings that he had endured, and they were numberless, her perfect comprehension of him had been his sufficient compensation. To her husband, brain-tree, May 24, 1775, my dearest friend. Our house has been upon this alarm in the same scene of confusion that it was upon the former. Others coming in for a lodging, for breakfast, for supper, for drink, et cetera. Sometimes refugees from Boston, tired and fatigued, seek an asylum for a day, a night, a week. You can hardly imagine how we live, yet. To the houseless child of want our doors are open still, and though our portions are but scant we give them with good will. My best wishes attend you, both for your health and happiness, and that you may be directed into the wisest and best measures for our safety and the safety of our posterity. I wish you were nearer to us. We know not what a day will bring forth nor what distress one hour may throw us into. Neither too I have been able to maintain a calmness and presence of mind, and hope I shall let the exigency of the time be what it will. Adieu, breakfast calls. Your affectionate, Portia. Weymouth, June 15, 1775. I hope we shall see each other again and rejoice together in half your days. The little ones are well and send duty to papa. Don't fail of letting me hear from you by every opportunity. Every line is like a precious relic of the saints. I have a request to make of you. Something like the barrel of sand, I suppose you will think it, but really of much more importance to me. It is that you would send out Mr. Bass, and purchase me a bundle of pins and put them in your trunk for me. The cry for pins is so great that what I used to buy for seven shillings and six pence are now twenty shillings, and not to be had for that. A bundle contains six thousand for which I used to give a dollar. But if you can procure them for fifty shillings or three pounds, pray let me have them. I am with the tenderest regard, your Portia. Brain, tree, June 18, 1775. My dearest friend. The day, perhaps the decisive day, has come on which the fate of America depends. My bursting heart must find vent at my pen. I have just heard that our dear friend, Dr. Warren, is no more, but fell gloriously fighting for his country, saying, Better to die honorably in the field than ignominiously hang upon the gallows. Great is our loss. He has distinguished himself in every engagement by his courage and fortitude, by animating the soldiers and leading them by his own example. A particular account of these dreadful but I hope glorious days will be transmitted to you, no doubt, in the exactest manner. The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but the God of Israel is he that giveth strength and power unto his people. Trust in him at all times, ye people, pour out your hearts before him. God is a refuge for us. Even as late in ashes, the battle began upon our entrenchments, upon Bunker's Hill, Saturday morning about three o'clock, and has not ceased yet, and it is now three o'clock Sabbath afternoon. It is expected they will come out over the neck tonight, and a dreadful battle must ensue. Almighty God, cover the heads of our countrymen, and be a shield to our dear friends. How many have fallen we know not. The constant roar of the canyon is so distressing that we cannot eat, drink, or sleep. May we be supported and sustained in the dreadful conflict. I shall tarry here till it is thought unsafe by my friends, and then I have secured myself a retreat at your brothers, who has kindly offered me part of his house. I cannot compose myself to write any further at present. I will add more as I hear further. Your Portia Grain Tree November 27, 1775 Colonel Warren returned last week to Plymouth, so that I shall not hear anything from you until he goes back again, which will not be till the last of this month. He damped my spirits greatly by telling me that the court had procured your stay another month. I was pleasing myself with the thought that you would soon be upon your return. It is vain to repine. I hope the public will reap what I sacrifice. I wish I knew what mighty things were fabricating. If a form of government is to be established here, what one will be assumed? Will it be left to our assemblies to choose one? And will not many men have many minds? And shall we not run into dissensions among ourselves? I am more and more convinced that man is a dangerous creature and that power, whether vested in many or few, is ever grasping and, like the grave, cries, give, give. The great fish swallow up the small, and he who is most strenuous for the rights of the people, when vested with power, is as eager after the prerogatives of government. You tell me of degrees of perfection to which human nature is capable of arriving, and I believe it, but at the same time lament that our admiration should arise from the scarcity of the instances. The building up a great empire, which was only hinted at by my correspondent, may now, I suppose, be realized even by the unbelievers. Yet will not ten thousand difficulties arrive in the formation of it? The reins of government have been so long slackened that I fear the people will not quietly submit to those restraints which are necessary for the peace and security of the community. If we separate from Britain, what code of laws will be established? How shall we be governed so as to retain our liberties? Can any government be free which is not administered by general stated laws? Who shall frame the laws? Who will give them force and energy? It is true your resolutions as a body have hitherto had the force of laws, but will they continue to have? When I consider these things, and the prejudices of people in favor of ancient customs and regulations, I feel anxious for the fate of our monarchy, or democracy, or whatever is to take place. I soon get lost in the labyrinth of perplexities, but whatever occurs may justice and righteousness be the stability of our times, and order arise out of confusion. Great difficulties may be surmounted by patience and perseverance. I believe I have tired you with politics. As to news, we have not any at all. I shudder at the approach of winter when I think I am to remain desolate. I must bid you good night, to is late for me, who am much of an invalid. I was disappointed last week in receiving a packet by post and upon unsealing it, finding only four newspapers. I think you are more cautious than you need be. All letters, I believe, have come safe to hand. I have sixteen from you, and wish I had as many more. Your Porsche. Brain Tree, April 20, 1777 There is a general cry against the merchants, against monopolizers etcetera, who, tis said, have created a partial scarcity. That a scarcity prevails of every article not only of luxury but even the necessities of life is a certain fact. Everything bears an exorbitant price. The act, which was in some measure regarded and stemmed the torrent of oppression, is now no more heated than if it had never been made. Indian corn at five shillings, rye, eleven, and twelve shillings, but scarcely any to be had even at that price. Beef eight pence, veal six pence, and eight pence butter, one and six pence mutton, none lamb, none pork, none meat, mean sugar, four pounds per hundred, molasses none, cotton wool none, New England rom, eight shillings per gallon, coffee, two and six pence per pound, chocolate three shillings. What can be done? Will gold and silver remedy this evil? By your accounts of board, housekeeping, etcetera, I fancy that you are not better off than we are here. I live in hopes that we see the most difficult time we have had to experience. Why is Carolina so much better furnished than any other state, and at so reasonable prices? Your Porsche. Braintree, June 8, 1779. Six months have already elapsed since I heard a syllable from you or my dear son, and five since I have had one single opportunity of conveying a line to you. Letters of various states have lain months at the Navy board, and a packet and frigate, both ready to sail at an hour's warning, have been months waiting the orders of Congress. They no doubt have their reasons, or ought to have, for detaining them. I must patiently wait their motions, however painful it is, and that it is so your own feelings will testify. Yet, I know not, but you are less a sufferer than you would be to hear from us, to know our distresses and yet be unable to relieve them. Universal cry for bread to a humane heart is painful beyond description, and the great price demanded and given for it verifies that pathetic passages of sacred writ. All that a man hath will he give for his life. Yet he who miraculously fed a multitude with five loaves and two fishes has graciously interposed in our favor and delivered many of the enemy's supplies into our hands, so that our distresses have been mitigated. I have been able as yet to supply my own family, sparingly, but at a price that would astonish you. Corn is sold at four dollars, hard money, per bushel, which is equal to eighty at the rate of exchange. Labor is at eight dollars per day, and in three weeks it will be at twelve, it is probable, or it will be more stable than anything else. Goods of all kinds are at such a price that I hardly dare mention it. Linnons are sold at twenty dollars per yard. The most ordinary sort of calico is at thirty and forty. Broadcloths at forty pounds per yard. West India goods full as high. Malasses at twenty dollars per gallon. Sugar four dollars per pound. Bohit tea at forty dollars. And our own produce in proportion, butchers meat at six and eight shillings per pound. Board at fifty and sixty dollars per week. Rates high. That I suppose you will rejoice at, so would I, did it remedy the evil. I pay five hundred dollars, and a new continental rate has just appeared, my proportion of which will be two hundred more. I have come to this determination to sell no more bills unless I can procure hard money for them, although I shall be obliged to allow a discount. If I sell for paper, I throw away more than half, so rapid as the depreciation, nor do I know that it will be received long. I sold a bill to Blodgett at five for one, which was looked upon as high at the time. The week after I received it, two emissions were taken out of circulation, and the greater part of what I had proved to be of that sort, so that those to whom I was indebted are obliged to wait, and before it becomes due or is exchanged it will be good for as much as it will fetch, which will be nothing. If it goes on as it has done for this three months past, I will not tire your patience any longer. I have not drawn any further upon you. I mean to wait the return of the alliance, which with longing eyes I look for. God grant it may bring me comfortable tidings from my dear friend, whose welfare is so essential to my happiness that it is entwined around my heart and cannot be impaired or separated from it without rending it asunder. I cannot say that I think our affairs go very well here. Our currency seems to be the source of all our evils. We cannot fill up our continental army by means of it. No bounty will prevail with them. What can be done with it? It will sink in less than a year. The advantage the enemy daily gains over us is owing to this. Most truly did you prophesy when you said that they would do all the mischief in their power with the forces they had here. My tenderest regards ever attend you. In all places and situations know me to be ever, ever yours. End of Section 8, Recording by J. Martin.