Page:The Chaldean Account of Genesis (1876).djvu/97

 between the gods and the powers of evil, but all of these are very mutilated, and no number can be positively proved beyond the fifth tablet. There is, however, fair reason to suppose that there was a close agreement in subjects and order between the text of the Chaldean legend and Genesis, while there does not appear to be anything like the same agreement between these inscriptions and the accounts transmitted to us through Berosus (see pp. 37-50).

The fifth tablet commences with the statement that the previous creations were "delightful," or satisfactory, agreeing with the oft-repeated statement of Genesis, after each act of creative power, that "God saw that it was good." The only difference here is one of detail. It appears that the Chaldean record contains the review and expression of satisfaction at the head of each tablet, while the Hebrew has it at the close of each act.

We then come to the creation of the heavenly orbs, which are described in the inscription as arranged like animals, while the Bible says they were set as "lights in the firmament of heaven," and just as the book of Genesis says they were set for signs and seasons, for days and years, so the inscription describes that the stars were set in courses to point out the year. The twelve constellations or signs of the zodiac, and two other bands of constellations are mentioned, just as two sets of twelve stars each are mentioned by the Greeks, one north and one south of the zodiac. I have translated one of these names