[153] This is the inference drawn from fragmentary texts.

[154] A large portion of the narrative is awaiting here.

[155] A title of Tiamat; pron. ch guttural.

[156] There is another gap here which interrupts the narrative.

[157] This may refer to Ea’s first visit when he overcame Kingu, but did not attack Tiamat.

[158] The lightning trident or thunderstone.

[159] The authorities are not agreed as to the meaning of “Ku-pu.”  Jensen suggests “trunk, body”.  In European dragon stories the heroes of the Siegfried order roast and eat the dragon’s heart.  Then they are inspired with the dragon’s wisdom and cunning.  Sigurd and Siegfried immediately acquire the language of birds.  The birds are the “Fates”, and direct the heroes what next they should do.  Apparently Merodach’s “cunning plan” was inspired after he had eaten a part of the body of Tiamat.

[160] The waters above the firmament.

[161] According to Berosus.

[162] This portion is fragmentary and seems to indicate that the Babylonians had made considerable progress in the science of astronomy.  It is suggested that they knew that the moon derived its light from the sun.

[163] The Seven Tablets of Creation, L.W.  King, pp. 134, 135.

[164] The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, T.G.  Pinches, p. 43.

[165] The Seven Tablets of Creation, L. W. King, vol. i, pp. 98, 99.

[166] Trans.  Soc.  Bib.  Arch., iv, 251-2.

[167] Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, i, 3, 8.

[168] Isaiah, li, 8.

[169] Campbell’s West Highland Tales, pp. 136 et seq.

[170] The Life and Exploits of Alexander the Great, E. A. Wallis Budge, pp. 284, 285.

[171] Campbell’s West Highland Tales.

[172] Nehemiah, ii, 13.

[173] The Tempest, i, 2, 212.

[174] Waifs and Strays of Celtic Tradition, vol. iv, p. 176 et seq.

[175] From unpublished folk tale.

[176] Beowulf, translated by Clark Hall, London, 1911, p. 18 et seq.

[177] Beowulf, translated by Clark Hall, London, 1911, p. 69, lines 1280-1287.

[178] Egyptian Myth and Legend, pp. 260, 261.

[179] Egyptian Myth and Legend, pp. 8, 9.

[180] Indian Myth and Legend, pp. xli, 149, 150.

[181] Isaiah, li, 9.

[182] Psalms, lxxiv, 13, 14.  It will be noted that the Semitic dragon, like the Egyptian, is a male.

[183] Job, xxvi, 12, 13.

[184] Psalms, lxxxix, 10.

[185] Isaiah, xxvii, I.

[186] Sumerian and Babylonian Psalms, p. 204.

[187] Custom and Myth, pp. 45 et seq.

[188] Translation by Dr. Langdon, pp. 199 et seq.