' narrative fills the gap.

It is noteworthy that this portion of the narrative has been preserved
by Abydenus, George the Syncellus, and Eusebius, in their quotations
from Berosus. According to this Chaldaean writer, there was a woman
named Omoroca, or, in Chaldaean, Thalatth (apparently a mistake for
Thauatth, i.e. Tiawath), whose name was equivalent to the Greek
Thalassa, the sea. It was she who had in her charge all the strange
creatures then existing. At this period, Belus (Bel-Merodach) came,
and cut the woman asunder, forming out of one half the earth, and of
the other the heavens, at the same time destroying all the creatures
which were within her--all this being an allegory, for the whole
universe consists of moisture, and creatures are constantly generated
therein. The deity then cut off his own head, and the other gods mixed
the blood, as it gushed out, with the earth, and from this men were
formed. Hence it is that men are rational, and partake of divine
knowledge.

A second creation.

This Belsus, "who is called Zeus," divided the darkness, separated the
heavens from the earth, and reduced the universe to order. The animals
which had been created, however, not being able to bear the light,
died. Belus then, seeing the void thus made, ordered one of the gods
to take off his head, and mix the blood with the soil, forming other
men and animals which should be able to bear the light. He also formed
the stars, the sun, the moon, and the five planets. It would thus seem
that there were two creations, the first having been a failure because
Belus had not foreseen that it was needful to produce beings which
should be able to bear the light. Whether this repetition was really
in the Babylonian legend, or whether Berosus (or those who quote him)
has merely inserted and united two varying accounts, will only be
known when the cuneiform text is completed.

The concluding tablet.

The tablet of the fifty-one names completes the record of the tablets
found at Nineveh and Babylon. In this Merodach receives the titles of
all the other gods, thus identifying him with them, and leading to
that tendency to monotheism of which something will be said later on.
In this text, which is written, like the rest of the legend, in
poetical form, Merodach is repeatedly called /Tutu/, a mystic word
meaning "creator," and "begetter," from the reduplicate root /tu/ or
/utu/--which