Something for another forum

[ninurta2008]

Somebody brought up the Chaldean Accounts of Genesis by George Smith as proof that the Babylonians had a "tower of Babel" story, and I wanted to find a more up-to-date translation of the text. As I know that where he wants to say "tower", what is actually meant is "wall".

I know its in a book by Thorkild Jacobsen (I think), but I forgot the story's name and what book it was in. Anyone know where I can find it?

The story I'm referring to is below:
www.sacred-texts.com/ane/caog/caog13.htm

[darkl2030]

I really have no idea what text it is he "translates" for this supposed tower of babel myth, but there's practically no chance of it being at all an accurate translation. The flood story of "Atar-pi" we now read as Atra-hasis, and the edition is by Lambert, but I have no idea where this supposed tower story comes from or what it really is. "Strong place" I'm guessing might be "dunnum" which is translated more as "fortress" or similar. SinceSmith doesn't give a reference, museum number, etc, I don't really know one would go about figuring out what it really is, since the translation is so archaic. You really can't rely on sources this old, they are purely of historical interest and their contents cant be trusted at all.

[madness]

Museum number K3657

[darkl2030]

Here's a translation, but it looks like the tablet itself is unpublished:

books.google.com/books?id=SCb0iI4S2VMC&lpg=PA244&ots=Lx0PTkvL7B&dq=k%203657%20publication%20tablet&pg=PA220#v=onepage&q=k%203657&f=false

[us4-he2-gal2]

Ninurta2008:







Have to say, this one is a nightmare to investigate in some ways. I mean we are dealing with the translation of a guy who died in 1876: brilliant as Smith was, there is room for doubt and it's quite difficult to qualify his translation. Most of the journals which may have peer reviewed this work weren't even in existence at the time of publication! Fortunately for us, there have already been some breaks.


Just for reference, George Smith was the self taught genius who is responcible for the discovery of the Mesopotamian flood narrative (the one found in Gilgamesh), a discovery which made him world famous at the time. We can see therefore that he was capable of making the right connections sometimes, although that doesn't mean the interpretation is correct in this case. His works can be downloaded at the links found in reply#1 of an earlier thread.


Madness your eye is as sharp as ever - so we know that the museum number of the tablet is K 3657. As Darkl2030 mentions, CDLI indicates that the tablet is not edited (CDLI entry here.) Perhaps they have discounted or overlooked Smith's work. And as Darkl2030 also pointed out above, L.W. King gives a mention of the tablet and it's translation in his 1902 work on the Seven tablets of creation (click for a link).


If you download King's work on pdf, King is already discussing this in terms of 'Smith and others once thought' and he states "there is no mention of a tower or building of any sort." In other words, this idea was old news already in 1902, and this is why we have problems finding anyone who bothers to mention it now.


However, for perhaps the closest Mesopotamian parallels to the Tower of Babel story, see material relating to the so called "Spell of Nudimmud" . Most of this has more to do with a confusion of tongues than any particular attempts to build a tower.

The Spell of Nudimmud occurs in the text Enmerker and the Lord of Aratta (available at ETCSL). It is discussed extensively by Vanstiphout in his Epics of the Sumerian Kings: The matter of Aratta (quoted on this enenuru thread, post 1); Kramer discusses it in his History Begins in Sumer..., pg. 255. Since it involves Enki, it is probably effectively discussed in the Espak Enki thesis. Should caution though, there are of course disagreements over the interpretation of this text. But this is natural - there are disagreements over every text! 0_0

[ninurta2008]

Thanks Ushegal, very informative. Thanks guys.

Ushegal, I ask because I knew that there was something, couldn't exactly remember what or where I read it, wrong with the interpretation that it represented a story similar to the tower of Babel. Thanks.