Page:Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archaeology, Vol 2 (1873).pdf/250

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222
The Chaldean Account of the Deluge

before he was purified. The passage is obscure and does not concern the Flood, so I have not translated it.

208.
and the day when he ascended on the side of the ship,
209.
Izdubar after this manner, said to Sisit afar off,
210.
"This way, she has done, I come up
211.
joyfully, my strength thou givest me."
212.
Sisit after this manner said to Izdubar
213.
. . . . . . . . . . . thy scarlet cloth
214.
. . . . . . . . . . . I have lodged thee
215.
. . . . . . . . . . .

The five following lines, which are mutilated, refer again to the seven matters for purifying Izdubar; this passage, like the former one, I do not translate.

219.
Izdubar after this manner said to Sisit afar off
220.
. . . . . . . . . . Sisit to thee may we not come.

From here the text is much mutilated, and it will be better to give a general account of its contents than to attempt a strict translation, especially as this part is not so interesting as the former part of the tablet.

Lines 221 and 223 mention some one who was taken and dwelt with Death. Lines 224 to 235 gives a speech of Sisit to the seaman Urhamsi, directing him how to cure Izdubar, who, from the broken passages, appears to have been suffering from some form of skin disease. Izdubar was to be dipped in the sea, when beauty was to spread over his skin once more. In lines 236 to 241 the carrying out of these directions and the cure of Izdubar are recorded.

The tablet then reads as follows:

242.
Izdubar and Urhamsi rode in the boat
243.
where they placed them they rode
244.
His wife after this manner said to Sisit afar off,
245.
"Izdubar goes away, he is satisfied, he performs
246.
that which thou hast given him and returns to his country."
247.
And he heard, and after Izdubar
248.
he went to the shore
249.
Sisit after this manner said to Izdubar,
Vol. II.
15