entirely due to compression of a longer narrative, but may in part
be regarded as evidence of early combination. As a result of the
association of several competing deities in the work of creation, a
tendency may be traced to avoid discrimination between rival claims.
Thus it is that the assembled gods, the pantheon as a whole, are
regarded as collectively responsible for the creation of the universe.
It may be added that this use of _ilani_, "the gods", forms an
interesting linguistic parallel to the plural of the Hebrew divine title
Elohim.

It will be remembered that in the Sumerian Version the account of
Creation is not given in full, only such episodes being included as were
directly related to the Deluge story. No doubt the selection of men and
animals was suggested by their subsequent rescue from the Flood; and
emphasis was purposely laid on the creation of the _niggilma_ because of
the part it played in securing mankind's survival. Even so, we noted one
striking parallel between the Sumerian Version and that of the Semitic
Babylonians, in the reason both give for man's creation. But in the
former there is no attempt to explain how the universe itself had come
into being, and the existence of the earth is presupposed at the moment
when Anu, Enlil, Enki, and Ninkharsagga undertake the creation of man.
The Semitic-Babylonian Version, on the other hand, is mainly occupied
with events that led up to the acts of creation, and it concerns our
problem to inquire how far those episodes were of Semitic and how far of
Sumerian origin. A further question arises as to whether some strands
of the narrative may not at one time have existed in Sumerian form
independently of the Creation myth.

The statement is sometimes made that there is no reason to assume a
Sumerian original for the Semitic-Babylonian Version, as recorded on
"the Seven Tablets of Creation";(1) and this remark, though true of that
version as a whole, needs some qualification. The composite nature of
the poem has long been recognized, and an analysis of the text has shown
that no less than five principal strands have been combined for its
formation. These consist of (i) The Birth of the Gods; (ii) The Legend
of Ea and Apsu; (iii) The principal Dragon Myth; (iv) The actual account
of Creation; and (v) the Hymn to Marduk under his fifty titles.(2) The
Assyrian commentaries to the Hymn, from which considerable portions of
its text are restored, quote throughout