Sumerian Epic of Paradise, the Flood and the Fall of Man (Classic Reprint)

Book excerpt: Excerpt from Sumerian Epic of Paradise, the Flood and the Fall of ManIn the autumn of 1912 the author copied, among about fifty others, a triangular fragment of a tablet in the Nippur collection in the Museum. This fragment, which had been numbered 4561, can be distinguished clearly in the right upper corner of the obverse and right lower corner of the reverse Of the restored tablet shown in Plates V and VI which Show the tablet in its natural size. The contents of this fragment were first mentioned by my colleague, professor sayce, at the June meeting of the Society of Biblical Archaeology in Lon don, at which our lamented friend, professor R. F. Harper, was present and contributed memorable remarks.1 An epit ome soon afterwards appeared in the London Times. Later the Museum authorities found other portions of this remark able text which obviously contains a Sumerian version of the Flood and the Fall of Man, antedating by at, least a thousand years the version in Hebrew. The photograph will Show how well the Museum authorities have succeeded. To my original fragment they have added one large fragment'and one small one which practically restores this large six column tablet. This edition has been made from my copy of the original frag ment and photographs of the later joins.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.