of the world as the result of successful conflict.  A combination of the Dragon myth with the myth of Creation would have admirably served their purpose; and this is what we find in the Semitic poem.  But even that combination may not have been their own invention; for, though, as we shall see, the idea of conflict had no part in the earlier forms of the Sumerian Creation myth, its combination with the Dragon motif may have characterized the local Sumerian Version of Nippur.  How mechanical was the Babylonian redactors’ method of glorifying Marduk is seen in their use of the description of Tiamat and her monster brood, whom Marduk is made to conquer.  To impress the hearers of the poem with his prowess, this is repeated at length no less than four times, one god carrying the news of her revolt to another.

Direct proof of the manner in which the later redactors have been obliged to modify the original Sumerian Creation myth, in consequence of their incorporation of other elements, may be seen in the Sixth Tablet of the poem, where Marduk states the reason for man’s creation.  In the second lecture we noted how the very words of the principal Sumerian Creator were put into Marduk’s mouth; but the rest of the Semitic god’s speech finds no equivalent in the Sumerian Version and was evidently inserted in order to reconcile the narrative with its later ingredients.  This will best be seen by printing the two passages in parallel columns:(1)

(1) The extract from the Sumerian Version, which occurs in the lower part of the First Column, is here compared with the Semitic-Babylonian Creation Series, Tablet VI, ll. 6-10 (see Seven Tablets, Vol.  I, pp. 86 ff.).  The comparison is justified whether we regard the Sumerian speech as a direct preliminary to man’s creation, or as a reassertion of his duty after his rescue from destruction by the Flood.

     SUMERIAN VERSION SEMITIC VERSION

“The people will I cause to . . .  “I will make man, that man may in their settlements, (. . .).  Cities . . . shall (man) build, I will create man who shall in their protection will I cause inhabit (. . .), him to rest, That he may lay the brick of our That the service of the gods may house in a clean spot, be established, and that (their) shrines (may be built).  That in a clean spot he may But I will alter the ways of the establish our . . . !” gods, and I will change (their paths); Together shall they be oppressed, and unto evil shall (they . . .)!”

The welding of incongruous elements is very apparent in the Semitic Version.  For the statement that man will be created in order that the gods may have worshippers is at once followed by the announcement that the gods themselves must be punished and their “ways” changed.  In the Sumerian Version the gods are united and all are naturally regarded as worthy of man’s worship.  The Sumerian