Legends of Babylon and Egypt in relation to Hebrew tradition | Page 2

of interest to observe
how the same problems were solved in antiquity by very different races,
living under widely divergent conditions, but within easy reach of one
another. Their periods of contact, ascertained in history or suggested by
geographical considerations, will prompt the further question to what
extent each body of belief was evolved in independence of the others.
The close correspondence that has long been recognized and is now
confirmed between the Hebrew and the Semitic-Babylonian systems, as
compared with that of Egypt, naturally falls within the scope of our
enquiry.
Excavation has provided an extraordinarily full archaeological
commentary to the legends of Egypt and Babylon; and when I received
the invitation to deliver the Schweich Lectures for 1916, I was
reminded of the terms of the Bequest and was asked to emphasize the
archaeological side of the subject. Such material illustration was also
calculated to bring out, in a more vivid manner than was possible with
purely literary evidence, the contrasts and parallels presented by
Hebrew tradition. Thanks to a special grant for photographs from the
British Academy, I was enabled to illustrate by means of lantern slides
many of the problems discussed in the lectures; and it was originally
intended that the photographs then shown should appear as plates in
this volume. But in view of the continued and increasing shortage of
paper, it was afterwards felt to be only right that all illustrations should
be omitted. This very necessary decision has involved a recasting of
certain sections of the lectures as delivered, which in its turn has
rendered possible a fuller treatment of the new literary evidence. To the
consequent shifting of interest is also due a transposition of names in
the title. On their literary side, and in virtue of the intimacy of their
relation to Hebrew tradition, the legends of Babylon must be given
precedence over those of Egypt.

For the delay in the appearance of the volume I must plead the pressure
of other work, on subjects far removed from archaeological study and
affording little time and few facilities for a continuance of
archaeological and textual research. It is hoped that the insertion of
references throughout, and the more detailed discussion of problems
suggested by our new literary material, may incline the reader to add
his indulgence to that already extended to me by the British Academy.
L. W. KING.

LEGENDS OF BABYLON AND EGYPT
IN RELATION TO HEBREW TRADITION

LECTURE I--EGYPT, BABYLON, AND PALESTINE, AND SOME
TRADITIONAL ORIGINS OF CIVILIZATION
At the present moment most of us have little time or thought to spare
for subjects not connected directly or indirectly with the war. We have
put aside our own interests and studies; and after the war we shall all
have a certain amount of leeway to make up in acquainting ourselves
with what has been going on in countries not yet involved in the great
struggle. Meanwhile the most we can do is to glance for a moment at
any discovery of exceptional interest that may come to light.
The main object of these lectures will be to examine certain Hebrew
traditions in the light of new evidence which has been published in
America since the outbreak of the war. The evidence is furnished by
some literary texts, inscribed on tablets from Nippur, one of the oldest
and most sacred cities of Babylonia. They are written in Sumerian, the
language spoken by the non-Semitic people whom the Semitic
Babylonians conquered and displaced; and they include a very
primitive version of the Deluge story and Creation myth, and some
texts which throw new light on the age of Babylonian civilization and
on the area within which it had its rise. In them we have recovered

some of the material from which Berossus derived his dynasty of
Antediluvian kings, and we are thus enabled to test the accuracy of the
Greek tradition by that of the Sumerians themselves. So far then as
Babylonia is concerned, these documents will necessitate a
re-examination of more than one problem.
The myths and legends of ancient Egypt are also to some extent
involved. The trend of much recent anthropological research has been
in the direction of seeking a single place of origin for similar beliefs
and practices, at least among races which were bound to one another by
political or commercial ties. And we shall have occasion to test, by
means of our new data, a recent theory of Egyptian influence. The Nile
Valley was, of course, one the great centres from which civilization
radiated throughout the ancient East; and, even when direct contact is
unproved, Egyptian literature may furnish instructive parallels and
contrasts in any study of Western Asiatic mythology. Moreover, by a
strange coincidence, there has also been published in Egypt since the
beginning of