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LECTURE I.
39
Nothing can be at first sight more senseless and confused than this Babylonian version of the genesis of the earth and of man; yet, if we examine it more carefully, we can still distinguish the following elements :
1. In the beginning there was darkness and water.
In Hebrew: Darkness was upon the face of the deep.
2. The heaven was divided from the earth.
In Hebrew: Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters ..... And God called the firmament Heaven; ..... and God called the dry land Earth.
3. The stars were made, and the sun and the moon, and the five planets.
In Hebrew: And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night; he made the stars also.
4. Animals of various kinds were created. 5. Men were created.
It is in the creation of animals in particular that the extravagant imagination of the Babylonians finds its widest scope. It is said that the images of these creatures are to be seen in the temple of Belus, and as their description certainly agrees with some of the figures of gods and heroes that may now be seen in the British Museum, it is not unlikely that the Babylonian story of the creation of these monsters may have arisen from the contemplation of the ancient idols in the temples of Babylon. But this would still leave the original conception of such 'monsters unex
plained.
The most important point, however, is this, that
