TRANSLATED BY REV. A.H. SAYCE, M.A.

The following poem is one of the numerous bilingual texts, written in the original Accadian with an interlinear Assyrian translation, which have been brought from the library of Assur-bani-pal, at Kouyunjik. The seven evil spirits who are mentioned in it are elsewhere described as the seven storm-clouds or winds whose leader seems to have been the dragon Tiamat ("the deep") defeated by Bel-Merodach in the war of the gods. It was these seven storm-spirits who were supposed to attack the moon when it was eclipsed, as described in an Accadian poem translated by Mr. Fox Talbot in a previous volume of "Records of the Past." Here they are regarded as the allies of the incubus or nightmare. We may compare them with the Maruts or storm-gods of the Rig-Veda (see Max Müller, "Rig-Veda-Sanhita: the Sacred Hymns of the Brahmans translated and explained," Vol. I). The author of the present poem seems to have been a native of the Babylonian city of Eridu, and his horizon was bounded by the mountains of Susiania, over whose summits the storms raged from time to time. A fragment of another poem relating to Eridu is appended, which seems to celebrate a temple similar to that recorded by Maimonides in which the Babylonian gods gathered round the image of the sun-god to lament the death of Tammuz.

A copy of the cuneiform text will be found in the "Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia," Vol. IV, pl. 15. M. Fr. Lenormant has translated a portion of it in "_La Magie chez les Chaldéens"_ pp. 26, 27.

ACCADIAN POEM ON THE SEVEN EVIL SPIRITS

OBVERSE

1   (In) the earth their borders were taken, and that god[1]
    came not forth.
2   From the earth he came not forth, (and) their power was
    baneful.
3   The heaven like a vault they extended and that which had
    no exit they opened.[2]
4   Among the stars of heaven their watch they kept not, in
    watching (was) their office.
5   The mighty hero[3] to heaven they exalted, and his father
    he knew not.[4]
6   The Fire-god on high, the supreme, the first-born, the
    mighty, the divider of the supreme crown of Anu!
7   The Fire-god the light that exalts him with himself he
    exalts.
8   Baleful (are) those seven, destroyers.
9   For his ministers in his dwelling he chooses (them).
10  O Fire-god, those seven how were they born, how grew
    they up?
11  Those seven in the mountain of the sunset were born.
12  Those seven in the mountain of the sunrise grew up.
13  In the hollows of the earth have they their dwelling.
14  On the high-places of the earth are they proclaimed.
15  As for them in heaven and earth immense (is) their habitation.
16  Among the gods their couch they have not.
17  Their name in heaven (and) earth exists not.
18  Seven they are: in the mountain of the sunset do they rise.
19  Seven they are: in the mountain of the sunrise did they set.
20  Into the hollows of the earth do they penetrate.[5]
21  On the high places of the earth did they ascend.
22  As for them, goods they have not, in heaven and earth they
    are not known.[6]
23  Unto Merodach[7] draw near, and this word may he say
    unto thee.[8]
24  Of those baleful seven, as many as he sets before thee,
    their might may he give thee,
25  according to the command of his blessed mouth, (he who
    is) the supreme judge of Anu.
26  The Fire-god unto Merodach draws near, and this word
    he saith unto thee.
27  In the pavilion, the resting-place of might, this word he
    hears, and
28  to his father Hea[9] to his house he descends, and speaks:
29  O my father, the Fire-god unto the rising of the sun has
    penetrated, and these secret words has uttered.
30  Learning the story of those seven, their places grant thou
    to another.
31  Enlarge the ears, O son of Eridu.[10]
32  Hea his son Merodach answered:
33  My son, those seven dwell in earth;
34  those seven from the earth have issued.

[Footnote 1: That is, the god of fire.]

[Footnote 2: The Assyrian has, "Unto heaven that which was not seen they raised."]

[Footnote 3: The Assyrian adds; "the first-born supreme."]

[Footnote 4: In the Accadian text, "they knew not."]

[Footnote 5: In the Accadian, "cause the foot to dwell."]

[Footnote 6: In the Assyrian, "learned."]

[Footnote 7: In the Accadian text, Merodach, the mediator and protector of mankind, is called "protector of the covenant."]

[Footnote 8: That is, the fire-god.]

[Footnote 9: Hea, the god of the waters, was the father of Merodach, the sun-god.]

[Footnote 10: "Eridu," the "Rata" of Ptolemy, was near the junction of the Euphrates and Tigris, on the Arabian side of the river. It was one of the oldest cities of Chaldea.]

REVERSE

35  Those seven in the earth were born,
36  those seven in the earth grew up.
37  The forces of the deep for war[1] have drawn near.
38  Go, my son Merodach!
39  (for) the laurel, the baleful tree that breaks in pieces the
    incubi,
40  the name whereof Hea remembers in his heart.
41  In the mighty enclosure, the girdle of Eridu which is to
    be praised,
42  to roof and foundation may the fire ascend and to (work)
    evil may those seven never draw near.
43  Like a broad scimitar in a broad place bid (thine) hand
    rest; and
44  In circling fire by night and by day[2] on the (sick) man's
    head may it abide.
45  At night mingle the potion and at dawn in his hand let
    him raise (it).
46  In the night a precept[3] in a holy book,[4] in bed, on the
    sick man's head let them place.[5]
47  The hero (Merodach) unto his warriors sends:
48  Let the Fire-god seize on the incubus.
49  Those baleful seven may he remove and their bodies may
    he bind.
50  During the day the sickness (caused by) the incubus (let
    him) overcome.
51  May the Fire-god bring back the mighty powers to their
    foundations.
52  May Nin-ci-gal [6] the wife of (Hea) establish before her the
    _bile_ (of the man).
53  Burn up the sickness[7] ...
54  May Nin-akha-kuddu [8] seize upon his body and abide upon
    his head,
55  according to the word of Nin-akha-kuddu,
56  (in) the enclosure of Eridu.
57  (In) the mighty girdle of the deep and of Eridu may she
    remember his return (to health).
58  In (her) great watch may she keep (away) the incubus
    supreme among the gods (that is) upon his head, and in
    the night may she watch him.
59  (By) night and day to the prospering hands of the Sun-god
    may she intrust him.

_Conclusion_.

60  (In) Eridu a dark pine grew, in a holy place it was planted.
61  Its (crown) was white crystal which toward the deep spread.
62  The ... [9] of Hea (was) its pasturage in Eridu, a canal
    full (of waters).
63  Its seat (was) the (central) place of this earth.[10]
64  Its shrine (was) the couch of mother Zicum. [11]
65  The ...[12] of its holy house like a forest spread its shade;
    there (was) none who within entered not.
66  (It was the seat) of the mighty the mother, begetter of Anu.[13]
67  Within it (also was) Tammuz.[14]

(Of the two next and last lines only the last word, "the universe," remains.)

[Footnote 1: Literally, "warlike expedition."]

[Footnote 2: In the Accadian, "day (and) night."]

[Footnote 3: "Masal" (mashal), as in Hebrew, "a proverb."]

[Footnote 4: Literally, "tablet."]

[Footnote 5: It is evident that the poem was to be used as a charm in case of sickness. Compare the phylacteries of the Jews.]

[Transcriber's Note: The following footnote (6) is illegible in many places. Illegible areas are marked with a '*'.]

[Footnote 6: "Nin-ci-gal" ("the Lady of the Empty Country") was Queen of *s, and identified with Gula, or *, "chaos" ["bohu"] of Gen-*, *, "the Lady of the House of Death."]

[Footnote 7: In the Accadian, "the sick head (and) sick heart." Then follows a lacuna.]

[Footnote 8: Apparently another name of Nin-ci-gal.]

[Footnote 9: Lacuna.]

[Footnote 10: Compare the Greek idea of Delphi as the central [Greek: omphalos] or "navel" of the earth.]

[Footnote 1: Zicum, or Zigara, was the primeval goddess, "the mother of Anu and the gods."]

[Footnote 2: Lacuna.]

[Footnote 3: That is, of Zicum.]

[Footnote 4: Tammuz, called "Du-zi" ("the [only] son") in Accadian, was a form of the sun-god. His death through the darkness of winter caused Istar to descend into Hades in search of him.]

CHARM FOR AVERTING THE SEVEN EVIL SPIRITS

For the sake of completeness a charm for averting the attack of the seven evil spirits or storm-clouds may be added here, though the larger part of it has already been translated by Mr. Fox Talbot in "Records of the Past," Vol. Ill, p. 143. It forms part of the great collection of magical _formulæ_, and is lithographed in the "Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia," Vol. IV, pl. 2, col. v, lines 30-60.

1   Seven (are) they, seven (are) they!
2   In the channel of the deep seven (are) they!
3   (In) the radiance of heaven seven (are) they!
4   In the channel of the deep in a palace grew they up.
5   Male they (are) not, female they (are) not.[1]
6   (In) the midst of the deep (are) their paths.
7   Wife they have not, son they have not.
8   Order (and) kindness know they not.
9   Prayer (and) supplication hear they not.
10  The _cavern_ in the mountain they enter.
11  Unto Hea (are) they hostile.
12  The throne-bearers of the gods (are) they.
13  Disturbing the _lily_ in the torrents are they set.
14  Baleful (are) they, baleful (are) they.
15  Seven (are) they, seven (are) they, seven twice again (are) they.
16  May the spirits of heaven remember, may the spirits of
    earth remember.

[Footnote 1: The Accadian text, "Female they are not, male they are not." This order is in accordance with the position held by the woman in Accad; in the Accadian Table of Laws, for instance, translated in "Records of the Past," vol. iii. p. 23, the denial of the father by the son is punished very leniently in comparison with the denial of the mother.]