Page:The Chaldean Account of Genesis (1876).djvu/193



Account of Deluge.—Nimrod.—Izdubar.—Age of Legends.—Babylonian cylinders.—Notices of Izdubar.—Surippak.—Ark City.—Twelve tablets.—Extent of Legends.—Description.—Introduction.—Meeting of Heabani and Izdubar.—Destruction of tyrant Humbaba.—Adventures of Ishtar.—Illness and wanderings of Izdubar.—Description of Deluge and conclusion.—First Tablet.—Kingdom of Nimrod.—Traditions.—Identifications.—Translation.—Elamite Conquest.—Dates.

legends, which I discovered in 1872, are principally of interest from their containing the Chaldean account of the Deluge. I have published the most perfect portions in various forms since, the most complete account being in my "Assyrian Discoveries." These legends have also been commented upon by M. Lenormant in his "Les Premières Civilizations," and by Mr. Fox Talbot in the "Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archæology."

The Izdubar legends give, I believe, the history of the Biblical hero Nimrod. They record the adventures of a famous sovereign of Babylonia whom I provisionally call Izdubar, but whose name cannot at