ommerce and diplomacy--was added to the number of
subjects which the educated class was required to learn. Under the
Seleucids Greek was introduced into Babylon, and fragments of tablets have
been found with Sumerian and Assyrian (_i.e._ Semitic Babylonian) words
transcribed in Greek letters.

_Babylonian Literature and Science_.--There were many literary works the
titles of which have come down to us. One of the most famous of these was
the _Epic of Gilgamesh_, in twelve books, composed by a certain
Sin-liqi-unninni, and arranged upon an astronomical principle. Each
division contains the story of a single adventure in the career of
Gilgamesh. The whole story is a composite product, and it is possible that
some of the stories are artificially attached to the central figure. (See
GILGAMESH, EPIC OF.)

Another epic was that of the Creation, the object of which was to glorify
Bel-Merodach by describing his contest with Tiamat, the dragon of chaos. In
the first book an account is given of the creation of the world out of the
primeval deep and the birth of the gods of light. Then comes the story of
the struggle between the gods of light and the powers of darkness, and the
final victory of Merodach, who clove Tiamat asunder, forming the heaven out
of one half of her body and the earth out of the other. Merodach next
arranged the stars in order, along with the sun and moon, and gave them
laws which they were never to transgress. After this the plants and animals
were created, and finally man. Merodach here takes the place of Ea, who
appears as the creator in the older legends, and is said to have fashioned
man out of the clay.

The legend of Adapa, the first man, a portion of which was found in the
record-office of the Egyptian king Amenophis IV. (Akhenaton) at
Tell-el-Amarna, explains the origin of death. Adapa while fishing had
broken the wings of the south wind, and was accordingly summoned before the
tribunal of Anu in heaven. Ea counselled him not to eat or drink there. He
followed the advice, and thus refused the food which would have made him
and his descendants immortal.

Among the other legends of Babylonia may be mentioned those of Namtar, the
plague-demon, of Urra, the pestilence, of Etanna and of Zu. Hades, the
abode of Nin-erisgal or Allat, had been entered by Nergal, who, angered by
a message sent to her by the gods of the upper world, ordered Namtar to
strike off her head. She, however, declared that she woul