The Ark Before Noah
Page 18
[Bring aboard] wild beasts of the steppe (umām ṣēri), birds of heaven.
Heap up …
Middle Babylonian Nippur: 10–12
Assyrian Smith specifies domestic animals and non-carnivorous wild animals as part of the initial building instructions. Atra-hasīs is off the hook, though, as regards herding and rounding-up:
[Send up into] it …
Domestic [animals] (būl ṣēri), all the wild beasts
(umām ṣēri) that eat grass,
[I] will send to you and they will wait at your door.”
Assyrian Smith: 8–10
At first sight, the very broken lines 51–2 of the Ark Tablet look very unpromising. The surface, if not completely lost, is badly abraded in this part of the tablet. I needed, then, to bring every sophisticated technique of decipherment into play: polishing the magnifying glass, holding it steady, repeatedly moving the tablet under the light to get the slightest shadow of a worn-out wedge or two, and, of course, trying a hundred times. Eventually the sign traces in line 51 could be seen to be ‘and the wild animal[s of the st]ep[pe]’.
What gave me the biggest shock in 44 years of grappling with difficult lines in cuneiform tablets was, however, what came next … My best shot at the first two signs beginning line 52 came up with ša and na, both incompletely preserved. On looking unhopefully for words beginning šana- … in the Chicago Assyrian Dictionary Š PART 1 ŠA-ŠAP, I found the following entry and nearly fell off my chair as a result of the words: ‘šana (or šanā) adv. Two each, two by two; OA*; cf. šina’.
In plain English, there is an Akkadian word šana, or possibly šanā, an adverb derived from the numeral two, šina, which has the specific meaning ‘two each, two by two’. It is a very rare word among all our texts – in fact when the dictionary was published there had only been two occurrences (as is indicated by the asterisk that follows ‘OA’, which stands for Old Assyrian Period, about 1900–1700 BC). A merchant wrote using this word, ‘I will set aside one or two garments apiece (šana) and send them to you.’
The world’s most beautiful dictionary definition.
For the first time we learn that the Babylonian animals, like those of Noah, went in two by two, a completely unsuspected Babylonian tradition that draws us ever closer to the familiar narrative of the Bible. So, we can read in the Ark Tablet:
But the wild animals (namaštu) from the steppe (ṣēru) […] …
Two by two … did [they enter the ark.]
Ark Tablet: 51–2
The Ark tablet, back view, with close-up to show the signs for ‘two-by-two’.
(picture acknowledgement 9.2)
This discovery meant that a fresh look had to be taken at the corresponding cuneiform in Old Babylonian Atrahasis, for there is a broken line in exactly this spot where only the traces of the first sign survive: ‘x […] … he put on board’, and previously there had been no way of identifying this sign for certain.
This innocuous-looking ‘x’ sign proves to be highly important. Consulting the original tablet in the British Museum shows that this sign, of which only the front wedges are preserved, can now be positively identified as š[a-.
This is clear from my sketches, which show both the š[a- as it is preserved and a complete ŠA sign from the same tablet for comparison. (The large upper horizontal wedge over two smaller horizontals tucked underneath are characteristic of the beginning of this sign.) This, then, is the remains of ša-[na. We can see, therefore, that Old Babylonian Atrahasis included the same two-by-two idea found in the Ark Tablet and, furthermore, the discovery reinforces the reading of the crucial signs in the Ark Tablet, which are, as I already stated, very worn. We can thus restore the crucial words in Old Babylonian Atrahasis col. Ii line 38 as:
š[a-na i-na e-le-ep-pi-im uš]-te-ri-ib
Two by two he brought on board the boat,
and Ark Tablet 52 as:
ša-na MÁ! lu-ú × x × x × x x [x × x x]
Two by two the boat did [they enter … …] … [ … …] … …
There is a further consideration raised by these two lines in the Ark Tablet: they only mention wild animals. Given the fuller spectrum covered by the other manuscript traditions I think we have to assume that taking domestic livestock in this telling was plainly understood, rather than imagine that a line of narrative has fallen out (especially given the line total of sixty). Domestic livestock might well be taken for granted, especially if some of the animals were going to be part of their own food chain. Line 51 begins with the word ‘and’, as if following on directly from the preceding line, which has nothing to do with quadrupeds, feral or otherwise, and for that reason is better translated ‘but’.
The following materials listed in the Ark Tablet are surprisingly difficult to make out; the lines are broken and the measurement system behind the numbers is not given.
Five (measures) of beer (?) I … […]
They were transporting eleven or twelve [ … …]
Three (measures) of šiqbum(?) I […] … …,
One third (measure) of fodder, … and kurdinnu plant (?)
Ark Tablet: 53–6
Probably all this was for the animals; diluted beer might have had its uses in husbandry, and one of the lines, probably line 54, might refer to straw or bedding.
Gilgamesh XI takes a very different stance on these issues. Once the boat was ready and the moment had arrived, Utnapishti loaded aboard a good deal more than the ‘seed of all living creatures’ that had earlier been specified.
[Everything I had] I loaded aboard it.
I loaded aboard it whatever silver I had,
I loaded aboard it whatever gold I had,
I loaded aboard it whatever seed I had of living things, each and every one.
All my kith and kin I sent aboard the boat,
I sent aboard domestic quadrupeds (būl ṣēri), wild beasts of the steppe (umām ṣēri), persons of every skill and craft …
Gilgamesh XI: 81–7
The first three of these items are really surprising when one recalls the pure injunction, ‘Despise property and save life!’ Who needs silver and gold on board an ark? If such items were so important couldn’t they just find more later? Rescue of living things, it seems, now plays second fiddle. Note, too, the reduction in scale of the operation, from the ideal ‘seed of all living things,’ which Ea commanded in line 26 to ‘whatever seed I had’. What does the text mean by ‘seed?’ Breedable animals that carry seed? All the animals, plants and birds?
This is the only animal line anywhere in cuneiform in which the word ‘all’ appears. It looks as if someone had said to Utnapishti, ‘We couldn’t take all living things, how on earth would we collect them? And think of ants together with elephants, or those giant baby-eating lizards we saw in Syria,’ and the story, to its disadvantage, is reinterpreted to mean living things within Utnapishti’s reach.
The wild animals in Utnapishti’s line 84, moreover, look like an afterthought to me, for they should have come under the umbrella of all living things above; again this looks like careless editing. If the two lines were meant together to cover all living things, domestic and wild, they should have formed a couplet. Utanapishti’s speech has been elaborated beyond the rational necessities that were quite sufficient according to the contemporary Assyrian Smith fragment quoted above.
Based on this evidence, one could say, on balance, that whereas the Old Babylonian narrative is concerned with the preservation of life, the Late Assyrian tradition is thinking more in terms of the preservation of civilisation …
To summarise all this succinctly:
Old Babylonian Atrahasis: normal livestock; birds; domesticated animals; wild animals; 2 [x2]
Middle Babylonian Nippur: wild animals and birds (as preserved)
Assyrian Smith: domestic animals and non-carnivorous wild animals
Ark Tablet: 2 × 2 wild animals
Probably the underlying Babylonian conception is ‘all animals, domestic
and wild’ but this is not articulated as such. Only Gilgamesh XI uses the word ‘all’. Only Old Babylonian Atrahasis mentions birds on board although Middle Babylonian does include them in Ea’s plan. There are three categories of animals involved between the versions: domestic, wild and non-predatory wild. Avoiding predators would certainly be a sensible Ark policy.
The Ark Tablet, with its two-by-two, even without any domestic species, remains a miraculous discovery!
Noah’s Animals
There is something about Noah and his queue of ark animals that inspires cartoonists. One of my favourites shows Noah remarking ruefully to his wife, three days out, that perhaps they should have made an exception in the case of Mr and Mrs Woodworm. There is another fine drawing of two Diplodoci on a beach, the Ark meanwhile disappearing over the horizon, where one says to the other, ‘I told you it departed on Thursday!’
Noah, of course, could manage. He too had Instructions. In fact there were two slightly conflicting versions:
1: Genesis 6:19–22
And of every living thing, of all flesh, you shall bring two of every kind into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. Of the birds according to their kinds, and of the animals according to their kinds, of every creeping thing of the ground according to its kind, two of every kind shall come in to you, to keep them alive. Also take with you every kind of food that is eaten, and store it up; and it shall serve as food for you and for them.
The first stipulates one male and one female of every species together with food for one and all, thus encapsulating the essence of what we might call the Ark Project. If hand-picked pairs were destined to guarantee survival of their species, none could themselves be eaten. The tooth-and-claw Laws of Nature would thus need to be suspended for the duration, with every link in the normally voracious food chain agreeing to hold off. However you look at it, umpiring life on board was going to be a matter of considerable finesse for the Captain. This simple instruction is not, however, the whole story.
2: Genesis 7:2–3
Then the Lord said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you alone are righteous before me in this generation. Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals, the male and its mate; and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male and its mate; and seven pairs of the birds of the air also, male and female, to keep their kind alive on the face of all the earth.”
Here, a follow-up suggestion, with an extra six male and female pairs for every clean species, while birds are itemised separately from the animals, with seven pairs of each for every type. The amendment reads almost as if a disadvantage had been spotted in the first plan. Since Noah’s first post-diluvial deed on dry land was to offer grateful sacrifices of clean animals and birds, perhaps anticipation of this led to the amendment. A cartoonist might attribute the suggestion to Mrs Noah, responsible for the cooking and trying to plan ahead for an unknown number of meals. In the end, though, as we again see from the two following accounts, Noah took on board one male and one female of absolutely every living species and rejected the sevens options.
Account 1: Genesis 7:8–9
There went in two of clean animals, and of animals that are not clean, and of birds, and of everything that creeps on the ground, two and two, male and female, went into the ark with Noah, as God had commanded Noah.
Account 2: Genesis 7: 13–16
On the very same day Noah with his sons, Shem and Ham and Japheth, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons, entered the ark, they and every wild animal of every kind, and all domestic animals of every kind, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, and every bird of every kind—every bird, every winged creature. They went into the ark with Noah, two and two of all flesh in which there was the breath of life. And those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him; and the Lord shut him in.
Reading this over, I find it remarkable in such a consequential matter as the future survival of the entire life of the world that the long-suffering Noah should be confronted by conflicting instructions. What was he supposed to do? Can this vacillation perhaps be explained?
In fact, the feature of two distinct instructions can be understood from the inside history of the Hebrew text itself. As is the case with many passages in the Old Testament, a close look at the received Hebrew wording makes it clear that certain paragraphs or even sentences have been woven together out of more than one strand of underlying text. This approach to the Hebrew text of Scripture depends on a long-established and largely non-contentious branch of biblical scholarship known as the Documentary Hypothesis. This distinguishes four principal sources as lying behind the text of the Hebrew Bible on the basis of, primarily, which name was used for God. These sources are referred to by the theologians who work on such matters as J (Yahwist source), E (Elohist source), D (Deuteronomist source) and P (Priestly source). It occurred to me to separate out the sources behind the Flood Story, and the animals section in particular as an experiment. The wording of Genesis 6–8 is constructed out of two sources, J and P, of which the former is considerably the shorter:
Genesis J first paragraph: 1Then the LORD said to Noah, ‘Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you alone are righteous before me in this generation. 2Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals, the male and its mate; and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male and its mate; 3and seven pairs of the birds of the air also, male and female, to keep their kind alive on the face of all the earth …’
Genesis J second paragraph: 7And Noah with his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives went into the ark to escape the waters of the flood. 8Of clean animals, and of animals that are not clean, and of birds, and of everything that creeps on the ground, 9two and two, male and female, went into the ark with Noah, as God had commanded Noah.
Genesis P first paragraph: ‘You shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. 19And of every living thing, of all flesh, you shall bring two of every kind into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. 20Of the birds according to their kinds, and of the animals according to their kinds, of every creeping thing of the ground according to its kind, two of every kind shall come in to you, to keep them alive. 21Also take with you every kind of food that is eaten, and store it up; and it shall serve as food for you and for them.’ 22Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him …
Genesis P second paragraph: 13On the very same day Noah with his sons, Shem and Ham and Japheth, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons, entered the ark, 14they and every wild animal of every kind, and all domestic animals of every kind, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, and every bird of every kind – every bird, every winged creature. 15They went into the ark with Noah, two and two of all flesh in which there was the breath of life. 16And those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him …
So, the input of the seven pairs motif comes only from the source J first paragraph; it was already rejected in J second paragraph and did not occur at all in P. (This question recurs in Chapter 10 when we have to compare the Genesis Flood Story as a whole with the cuneiform tradition.) Here we can visualise unmistakably the hand of a human editor, attempting to amalgamate traditions distinct in their content and wording. Faced with divergent traditions about the numbers of animals, he felt unable to decide on such a serious point and so included both.
In Koranic tradition Noah took one pair of each species on board, as is clear from Suras 11:40 and 23:27: ‘Place on board this Ark a pair of each species …’
Noah in biblical and Koranic traditions, thus found himself charged with collecting two specimens of all birds, animals and insects, one of each gender. This sounds like a very tall order, for the terms ‘every’ or ‘all’ add up rapidly, and thanks to Sir David Attenborough everyone today has an inkling of just what that ‘
all’ might entail. The statistics, in fact, are staggering. Apparantly there are about 1,250,000 identified species of animal. This includes 1,190,200 invertebrates, among them 950,000 insects, 70,000 molluscs, 40,000 crustaceans, and 130,200 others. There are about 58,800 identified vertebrates, including 29,300 fish, 5,743 amphibians, 8,240 reptiles, 9,800 birds, and 5,416 mammals. As a comparison, almost 300,000 plant species are known.
It is no great feat of imagination to see the problems, then, with Noah’s agenda. Nothing aboard would be able to breathe, the big would squash the small, it would surely be impossible to control the carnivores for long, especially in the dark, and the vessel would sink anyway under the weight. Anything like all the world’s life forms together would be impossible, but there is one reassuring let-out factor to be considered: the Hebrew flood tradition – like the Sumerian and Babylonian that preceded it – could only have in mind the range of species that prevailed locally. All the animals, birds and insects, in other words, meant only all that they were familiar with. This means that many of the world’s bulkiest, most dangerous or least cooperative animal varieties (rhino, polar bear, giraffe), were unheard of and didn’t come into the picture, as well as uncountable myriads of lesser creatures. Bird, insect, mammal and reptile species in the Middle East did not – and do not – exist in unimaginable numbers. There was no need, either, to worry about accommodating fish or whales: they would all be in their element. From this perspective, the Ark idea begins to look more or less feasible after all.
It is time, therefore, to think about all these animals, Babylonian and biblical, and see what we can provide in the way of a checklist for ourselves at the top of the gangplank.