hich appears to
signify "the very shrewd," and is explained by the skill
with which he interpreted the oracle of Ea. Khasisadra is
most probably the form which the Greeks have transcribed by
Xisuthros, Sisuthros, Sisithes.

*** The account of the Deluge covers the eleventh tablet of
the poem of Gilgames. The hero, threatened with death,
proceeds to rejoin his ancestor Shamashnapishtim to demand
from him the secret of immortality, and the latter tells him
the manner in which he escaped from the waters: he had saved
his life only at the expense of the destruction of men. The
text of it was published by Smith and by Haupt, fragment by
fragment, and then restored consecutively. The studies of
which it is the object would make a complete library. The
principal translations are those of Smith, of Oppert, of
Lenor-mant, of Haupt, of Jensen, of A. Jeremias, of
Sauveplane, and of Zimmern.

[Illustration: 045.jpg Page with ONE OF THE TABLETS OF THE DELUGE
SERIES.]

Facsimile by Faucher-Gudin, from the photograph published by
G. Smith, Chaldaean Account of the Deluge from terra-cotta
tablets found at Nineveh.

He confided to a hedge of reeds the resolution that had been adopted:*
"Hedge, hedge, wall, wall! Hearken, hedge, and understand well, wall!
Man of Shurippak, son of Ubaratutu, construct a wooden house, build a
ship, abandon thy goods, seek life; throw away thy possessions, save thy
life, and place in the vessel all the seed of life. The ship which thou
shalt build, let its proportions be exactly measured, let its dimensions
and shape be well arranged, then launch it in the sea." Shamashnapishtim
heard the address to the field of reeds, or perhaps the reeds repeated
it to him. "I understood it, and I said to my master Ea 'The command,
O my master, which thou hast thus enunciated, I myself will respect it,
and I will execute it: but what shall I say to the town, the people and
the elders?'" Ea opened his mouth and spake; he said to his servant:
"Answer thus and say to them: 'Because Bel hates me, I will no longer
dwell in your town, and upon the land of Bel I will no longer lay my
head, but I will go upon the sea, and will dwell with Ea my master. Now
Bel will make rain to fall upon you, upon the swarm of birds and the
multitude of fishes, upon all the animals of the field, and upon all
the crops; but Ea will give you a sign: