Page Eight
JULY 1925
THE UNITED AMERICAN
made public by Dr. Chiera, consists of the following
lines:
“Mankind, in the day of their appearance.
“Bread for eating they knew not.
“Garments for wearing they knew not.
“The people walked with the (four) limbs upon
the ground.
“They ate grass with their mouths like sheep.
“They drank water from the ditches.”
Developments in the tale unfolded by the ancient
tablets must be left more or less to the imagination
because of the damaged condition of one of the tablets,
although Dr. Chiera found it possible to decipher the
beginnings of a number of lines which speak of white
and black grapes, and of wine which apparently was
made immediately after the appearance of the grapes.
Lines toward the close of the poem, which mention
various kinds of instruments and metal objects
and show that civilization had become completely
established, also are legible.
♦
*
* .
As translated by Dr. Chiera, the entire story told by
the Sumerian theologians follows:
For the god of the cereals they establish a house. (They
made a granary.)
To the workmen they give the plow and the yoke.
The god of the flocks stands in the sheepfold,
The shepherd donates overabundance to the sheepfold!
The god of the cereals stands in the ear,
The green maiden brings overabundance!
In her lifting up her head from the field
Comes the abundance from heaven (i. e., the rain).
The gods of the flocks and of the cereals came out in
splendor.
They gave abundance to the gatherings (of men),
They brought into existence living creatures in the land.
The laws of the gods they established.
The storehouses of the land they filled with food.
They increased the fertility of the land.
And the fallen dwelling, which was in dust upon the ground,
They raised up, they filled with abundance.
Wherever the feet of these two gods stood,
In that place the food was greatly increased.
♦
*
*
The first important tablet of the six was published
by Dr. George T. Barton, Professor of Semitics at the
University of Pennsylvania, while the second important
one was found by Dr. Chiera in the Museum of Antiqui
ties in Constantinople. Four other fragments, all
belonging to the University of Pennsylvania Museum
collection, also were identified by Dr. Chiera, who made
In the mountain of heaven and earth,
from them a composite translation which was edited
When the god Anu had given birth to the Annuna,
Then the god of the cereals had not yet been born, had in Babylonian publications of the Crozer Theological
not yet become green,
Seminary, Volume 1.
The people of the holy mountain had not yet fashioned
The tablets were made of soft clay upon which the
Takku (Eve),
Sumerians wrote with a wooden stilus, leaving a series
For Takku they had not yet heaped up a foundation,
A ewe did not exist, a lamb had not yet been dropped.
of impressions resembling nail marks. By combining
A she-goat did not exist, a kid had not yet been dropped,
groups of marks, special signs or characters were
The ewe had not yet given birth to her lamb,
formed
in the clay. When the tablets were completed
The she-goat had not yet given birth to her kid,
they were left to harden, usually by drying in
At that time, the Annuna, the great gods, had not yet known
The god of the cereals and the god of the flocks.
thé sun.
The grain which matures in thirty days did not exist,
The story told by the tablets is staged in the
The grain which matures in fifty days did not exist,
Mountain
of Heaven and Earth, the seat of the gods
The very small grain, the mountain grain, the shining
and close parallel to the Olympus of Greek mythology.
grain did not exist.
In fact, the Sumerian mountain and Olympus might
Garments for wearing did not exist. .
Takku had not yet been brought forth, she had not yet prove to be one and the same because of the likelihood
worn a tiara,
of finding Sumerian influence in Greek religion, accord
The lord of the horned crown, the powerful lord, had not
ing to Dr. Chiera.
yet been brought forth,
Geographically, the Mountain of Heaven and Earth
Girpamashkimma had not yet come out,
Mankind, in the day of their appearance,
cannot be placed, although the old Babylonians may
Bread for eating they knew not,
have thought it was somewhere to the north near
Garments for wearing they knew not,
Kurdistan or even on the Caucasus range. Close to
The people walked with the (four)- limbs upon the ground,
the mountain may be placed the Garden of Eden.
They ate grass with their mouth like sheep,
They drank water from the ditches,
In that day the gods of the cereals and of the flocks
Made beautiful the holy ground, the place of generation of
the gods,
They completely covered the dwelling with the foods of
the gods.
Out of thé abundance of flocks and grain
The Annuna, in their holy mountain,
Ate abundantly and were not satiated.
Of the excellent milk of their sheepfold
The Annuna, in their holy mountain,
Drank abundantly and were not satiated.
For the good of their (i. e., the Annuna’s) holy sheepfold
Mankind were brought into existence.
At that time the god Enki spoke to the god Enlil:
Father Enlil, flocks and grain
Have made joyful the holy mountain,
They have greatly multiplied in the holy mountain,
We, Enki and Enlil* by our holy command,
We will cause to come out of the -holy mountain the gods
of the flocks of the cereals.
The gods of the flocks (they place?) in the sheepfold,
The green plant they give to the mother,
The old question about a business man being able to be
a Christian is losing all point, because business is getting
organized more and more on simple Christian principles and
is being leavened by the leaven of the Gospel about as fast
as the rest of the “hump.” Its aim is to render unselfish
service for the common good of all mankind. —John L. Cole.
ROADSIDE
Sarah Bixby Smith, in “My Sage Brush Garden”
There is a roadside I know Where cat-tails grow,
And on its bank
Soft tufts of feathering anise stand,
Emerald and' rank,
Amid the silvering wild oats, fanned
To a flutter by the wandering wind,
And there I find
Reddening, seed-hung, sprays of dock,
Gay wild things that make mock
Of conquered fields.
Where barley grows.
And sugar beets in long straight rows.