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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/2633-8.txt b/2633-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b97fe11 --- /dev/null +++ b/2633-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1520 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Hasisadra's Adventure, by Thomas Henry Huxley + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Hasisadra's Adventure + Essay #7 from "Science and Hebrew Tradition" + +Author: Thomas Henry Huxley + +Posting Date: December 3, 2008 [EBook #2633] +Release Date: May, 2001 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HASISADRA'S ADVENTURE *** + + + + +Produced by D. R. Thompson + + + + + +HASISADRA'S ADVENTURE + +ESSAY #7 FROM "SCIENCE AND HEBREW TRADITION" + + +By Thomas Henry Huxley + + + +Some thousands of years ago there was a city in Mesopotamia called +Surippak. One night a strange dream came to a dweller therein, whose +name, if rightly reported, was Hasisadra. The dream foretold the speedy +coming of a great flood; and it warned Hasisadra to lose no time in +building a ship, in which, when notice was given, he, his family and +friends, with their domestic animals and a collection of wild creatures +and seed of plants of the land, might take refuge and be rescued from +destruction. Hasisadra awoke, and at once acted upon the warning. A +strong decked ship was built, and her sides were paid, inside and out, +with the mineral pitch, or bitumen, with which the country abounded; +the vessel's seaworthiness was tested, the cargo was stowed away, and a +trusty pilot or steersman appointed. + +The promised signal arrived. Wife and friends embarked; Hasisadra, +following, prudently "shut the door," or, as we should say, put on the +hatches; and Nes-Hea, the pilot, was left alone on deck to do his +best for the ship. Thereupon a hurricane began to rage; rain fell in +torrents; the subterranean waters burst forth; a deluge swept over +the land, and the wind lashed it into waves sky high; heaven and earth +became mingled in chaotic gloom. For six days and seven nights the gale +raged, but the good ship held out until, on the seventh day, the storm +lulled. Hasisadra ventured on deck; and, seeing nothing but a waste +of waters strewed with floating corpses and wreck, wept over the +destruction of his land and people. Far away, the mountains of Nizir +were visible; the ship was steered for them and ran aground upon the +higher land. Yet another seven days passed by. On the seventh, Hasisadra +sent forth a dove, which found no resting place and returned; then he +liberated a swallow, which also came back; finally, a raven was let +loose, and that sagacious bird, when it found that the water had abated, +came near the ship, but refused to return to it. Upon this, Hasisadra +liberated the rest of the wild animals, which immediately dispersed +in all directions, while he, with his family and friends, ascending a +mountain hard by, offered sacrifice upon its summit to the gods. + +The story thus given in summary abstract, told in an ancient Semitic +dialect, is inscribed in cuneiform characters upon a tablet of burnt +clay. Many thousands of such tablets, collected by Assurbanipal, King +of Assyria in the middle of the seventh century B.C., were stored in +the library of his palace at Nineveh; and, though in a sadly broken +and mutilated condition, they have yielded a marvellous amount of +information to the patient and sagacious labour which modern scholars +have bestowed upon them. Among the multitude of documents of various +kinds, this narrative of Hasisadra's adventure has been found in a +tolerably complete state. But Assyriologists agree that it is only a +copy of a much more ancient work; and there are weighty reasons +for believing that the story of Hasisadra's flood was well known in +Mesopotamia before the year 2000 B.C. + +No doubt, then, we are in presence of a narrative which has all +the authority which antiquity can confer; and it is proper to deal +respectfully with it, even though it is quite as proper, and indeed +necessary, to act no less respectfully towards ourselves; and, before +professing to put implicit faith in it, to inquire what claim it has to +be regarded as a serious account of an historical event. + +It is of no use to appeal to contemporary history, although the annals +of Babylonia, no less than those of Egypt, go much further back than +2000 B.C. All that can be said is, that the former are hardly consistent +with the supposition that any catastrophe, competent to destroy all the +population, has befallen the land since civilisation began, and that +the latter are notoriously silent about deluges. In such a case as this, +however, the silence of history does not leave the inquirer wholly at +fault. Natural science has something to say when the phenomena of nature +are in question. Natural science may be able to show, from the nature of +the country, either that such an event as that described in the story +is impossible, or at any rate highly improbable; or, on the other hand, +that it is consonant with probability. In the former case, the narrative +must be suspected or rejected; in the latter, no such summary verdict +can be given: on the contrary, it must be admitted that the story may be +true. And then, if certain strangely prevalent canons of criticism are +accepted, and if the evidence that an event might have happened is to be +accepted as proof that it did happen, Assyriologists will be at liberty +to congratulate one another on the "confirmation by modern science" of +the authority of their ancient books. + +It will be interesting, therefore, to inquire how far the physical +structure and the other conditions of the region in which Surippak +was situated are compatible with such a flood as is described in the +Assyrian record. + +The scene of Hasisadra's adventure is laid in the broad valley, six or +seven hundred miles long, and hardly anywhere less than a hundred +miles in width, which is traversed by the lower courses of the rivers +Euphrates and Tigris, and which is commonly known as the "Euphrates +valley." Rising, at the one end, into a hill country, which gradually +passes into the Alpine heights of Armenia; and, at the other, dipping +beneath the shallow waters of the head of the Persian Gulf, which +continues in the same direction, from north-west to south-east, for some +eight hundred miles farther, the floor of the valley presents a gradual +slope, from eight hundred feet above the sea level to the depths of the +southern end of the Persian Gulf. The boundary between sea and land, +formed by the extremest mudflats of the delta of the two rivers, is +but vaguely defined; and, year by year, it advances seaward. On the +north-eastern side, the western frontier ranges of Persia rise abruptly +to great heights; on the south-western side, a more gradual ascent leads +to a table-land of less elevation, which, very broad in the south, where +it is occupied by the deserts of Arabia and of Southern Syria, narrows, +northwards, into the highlands of Palestine, and is continued by +the ranges of the Lebanon, the Antilebanon, and the Taurus, into the +highlands of Armenia. + +The wide and gently inclined plain, thus inclosed between the gulf +and the highlands, on each side and at its upper extremity, is +distinguishable into two regions of very different character, one of +which lies north, and the other south of the parallel of Hit, on the +Euphrates. Except in the immediate vicinity of the river, the northern +division is stony and scantily covered with vegetation, except in +spring. Over the southern division, on the contrary, spreads a deep +alluvial soil, in which even a pebble is rare; and which, though, under +the existing misrule, mainly a waste of marsh and wilderness, needs +only intelligent attention to become, as it was of old, the granary of +western Asia. Except in the extreme south, the rainfall is small and +the air dry. The heat in summer is intense, while bitterly cold northern +blasts sweep the plain in winter. Whirlwinds are not uncommon; and, in +the intervals of the periodical inundations, the fine, dry, powdery +soil is swept, even by moderate breezes, into stifling clouds, or rather +fogs, of dust. Low inequalities, elevations here and depressions there, +diversify the surface of the alluvial region. The latter are occupied +by enormous marshes, while the former support the permanent dwellings of +the present scanty and miserable population. + +In antiquity, so long as the canalisation of the country was properly +carried out, the fertility of the alluvial plain enabled great and +prosperous nations to have their home in the Euphrates valley. Its +abundant clay furnished the materials for the masses of sun-dried and +burnt bricks, the remains of which, in the shape of huge artificial +mounds, still testify to both the magnitude and the industry of the +population, thousands of years ago. Good cement is plentiful, while +the bitumen, which wells from the rocks at Hit and elsewhere, not +only answers the same purpose, but is used to this day, as it was in +Hasisadra's time, to pay the inside and the outside of boats. + +In the broad lower course of the Euphrates, the stream rarely acquires +a velocity of more than three miles an hour, while the lower Tigris +attains double that rate in times of flood. The water of both great +rivers is mainly derived from the northern and eastern highlands in +Armenia and in Kurdistan, and stands at its lowest level in early autumn +and in January. But when the snows accumulated in the upper basins of +the great rivers, during the winter, melt under the hot sunshine of +spring, they rapidly rise, [1] and at length overflow their banks, +covering the alluvial plain with a vast inland sea, interrupted only +by the higher ridges and hummocks which form islands in a seemingly +boundless expanse of water. + +In the occurrence of these annual inundations lies one of several +resemblances between the valley of the Euphrates and that of the Nile. +But there are important differences. The time of the annual flood is +reversed, the Nile being highest in autumn and winter, and lowest in +spring and early summer. The periodical overflows of the Nile, regulated +by the great lake basins in the south, are usually punctual in arrival, +gradual in growth, and beneficial in operation. No lakes are interposed +between the mountain torrents of the upper basis of the Tigris and the +Euphrates and their lower courses. Hence, heavy rain, or an unusually +rapid thaw in the uplands, gives rise to the sudden irruption of a vast +volume of water which not even the rapid Tigris, still less its more +sluggish companion, can carry off in time to prevent violent and +dangerous overflows. Without an elaborate system of canalisation, +providing an escape for such sudden excesses of the supply of water, +the annual floods of the Euphrates, and especially of the Tigris, must +always be attended with risk, and often prove harmful. + +There are other peculiarities of the Euphrates valley which may +occasionally tend to exacerbate the evils attendant on the inundations. +It is very subject to seismic disturbances; and the ordinary +consequences of a sharp earthquake shock might be seriously complicated +by its effect on a broad sheet of water. Moreover the Indian Ocean lies +within the region of typhoons; and if, at the height of an inundation, +a hurricane from the south-east swept up the Persian Gulf, driving its +shallow waters upon the delta and damming back the outflow, perhaps for +hundreds of miles up-stream, a diluvial catastrophe, fairly up to the +mark of Hasisadra's, might easily result. [2] + +Thus there seems to be no valid reason for rejecting Hasisadra's +story on physical grounds. I do not gather from the narrative that the +"mountains of Nizir" were supposed to be submerged, but merely that they +came into view above the distant horizon of the waters, as the vessel +drove in that direction. Certainly the ship is not supposed to ground on +any of their higher summits, for Hasisadra has to ascend a peak in order +to offer his sacrifice. The country of Nizir lay on the north-eastern +side of the Euphrates valley, about the courses of the two rivers Zab, +which enter the Tigris where it traverses the plain of Assyria some +eight or nine hundred feet above the sea; and, so far as I can judge +from maps [3] and other sources of information, it is possible, under +the circumstances supposed, that such a ship as Hasisadra's might drive +before a southerly gale, over a continuously flooded country, until it +grounded on some of the low hills between which both the lower and the +upper Zab enter upon the Assyrian plain. + +The tablet which contains the story under consideration is the eleventh +of a series of twelve. Each of these answers to a month, and to the +corresponding sign of the Zodiac. The Assyrian year began with the +spring equinox; consequently, the eleventh month, called "the rainy," +answers to our January-February, and to the sign which corresponds with +our Aquarius. The aquatic adventure of Hasisadra, therefore, is not +inappropriately placed. It is curious, however, that the season thus +indirectly assigned to the flood is not that of the present highest +level of the rivers. It is too late for the winter rise and too early +for the spring floods. + +I think it must be admitted that, so far, the physical cross-examination +to which Hasisadra has been subjected does not break down his story. On +the contrary, he proves to have kept it in all essential respects [4] +within the bounds of probability or possibility. However, we have not +yet done with him. For the conditions which obtained in the Euphrates +valley, four or five thousand years ago, may have differed to such an +extent from those which now exist that we should be able to convict him +of having made up his tale. But here again everything is in favour of +his credibility. Indeed, he may claim very powerful support, for it +does not lie in the mouths of those who accept the authority of the +Pentateuch to deny that the Euphrates valley was what it is, even +six thousand years back. According to the book of Genesis, Phrat and +Hiddekel--the Euphrates and the Tigris--are coeval with Paradise. An +edition of the Scriptures, recently published under high authority, +with an elaborate apparatus of "Helps" for the use of students--and +therefore, as I am bound to suppose, purged of all statements that could +by any possibility mislead the young--assigns the year B.C. 4004 as the +date of Adam's too brief residence in that locality. + +But I am far from depending on this authority for the age of the +Mesopotamian plain. On the contrary, I venture to rely, with much more +confidence, on another kind of evidence, which tends to show that the +age of the great rivers must be carried back to a date earlier than +that at which our ingenuous youth is instructed that the earth came into +existence. For, the alluvial deposit having been brought down by the +rivers, they must needs be older than the plain it forms, as navvies +must needs antecede the embankment painfully built up by the contents of +their wheel-barrows. For thousands of years, heat and cold, rain, snow, +and frost, the scrubbing of glaciers, and the scouring of torrents laden +with sand and gravel, have been wearing down the rocks of the upper +basins of the rivers, over an area of many thousand square miles; and +these materials, ground to fine powder in the course of their long +journey, have slowly subsided, as the water which carried them spread +out and lost its velocity in the sea. It is because this process is +still going on that the shore of the delta constantly encroaches on the +head of the gulf [5] into which the two rivers are constantly throwing +the waste of Armenia and of Kurdistan. Hence, as might be expected, +fluviatile and marine shells are common in the alluvial deposit; and +Loftus found strata, containing subfossil marine shells of species now +living, in the Persian Gulf, at Warka, two hundred miles in a straight +line from the shore of the delta. [6] It follows that, if a trustworthy +estimate of the average rate of growth of the alluvial can be formed, +the lowest limit (by no means the highest limit) of age of the rivers +can be determined. All such estimates are beset with sources of error +of very various kinds; and the best of them can only be regarded as +approximations to the truth. But I think it will be quite safe to assume +a maximum rate of growth of four miles in a century for the lower half +of the alluvial plain. + +Now, the cycle of narratives of which Hasisadra's adventure forms a part +contains allusions not only to Surippak, the exact position of which +is doubtful, but to other cities, such as Erech. The vast ruins at the +present village of Warka have been carefully explored and determined to +be all that remains of that once great and flourishing city, "Erech the +lofty." Supposing that the two hundred miles of alluvial country, which +separates them from the head of the Persian Gulf at present, have been +deposited at the very high rate of four miles in a century, it will +follow that 4000 years ago, or about the year 2100 B.C., the city of +Erech still lay forty miles inland. Indeed, the city might have been +built a thousand years earlier. Moreover, there is plenty of independent +archaeological and other evidence that in the whole thousand years, +2000 to 3000 B.C, the alluvial plain was inhabited by a numerous +people, among whom industry, art, and literature had attained a +very considerable development. And it can be shown that the physical +conditions and the climate of the Euphrates valley, at that time, must +have been extremely similar to what they are now. + +Thus, once more, we reach the conclusion that, as a question of +physical probability, there is no ground for objecting to the reality +of Hasisadra's adventure. It would be unreasonable to doubt that such a +flood might have happened, and that such a person might have escaped +in the way described, any time during the last 5000 years. And if the +postulate of loose thinkers in search of scientific "confirmations" +of questionable narratives--proof that an event may have happened is +evidence that it did happen--is to be accepted, surely Hasisadra's story +is "confirmed by modern scientific investigation" beyond all cavil. +However, it may be well to pause before adopting this conclusion, +because the original story, of which I have set forth only the broad +outlines, contains a great many statements which rest upon just the +same foundation as those cited, and yet are hardly likely to meet with +general acceptance. The account of the circumstances which led up to the +flood, of those under which Hasisadra's adventure was made known to his +descendant, of certain remarkable incidents before and after the flood, +are inseparably bound up with the details already given. And I am unable +to discover any justification for arbitrarily picking out some of +these and dubbing them historical verities, while rejecting the rest as +legendary fictions. They stand or fall together. + +Before proceeding to the consideration of these less satisfactory +details, it is needful to remark that Hasisadra's adventure is a mere +episode in a cycle of stories of which a personage, whose name is +provisionally read "Izdubar," is the centre. The nature of Izdubar +hovers vaguely between the heroic and the divine; sometimes he seems a +mere man, sometimes approaches so closely to the divinities of fire and +of the sun as to be hardly distinguishable from them. As I have already +mentioned, the tablet which sets forth Hasisadra's perils is one of +twelve; and, since each of these represents a month and bears a story +appropriate to the corresponding sign of the Zodiac, great weight must +be attached to Sir Henry Rawlinson's suggestion that the epos of Izdubar +is a poetical embodiment of solar mythology. + +In the earlier books of the epos, the hero, not content with rejecting +the proffered love of the Chaldaean Aphrodite, Istar, freely expresses +his very low estimate of her character; and it is interesting to observe +that, even in this early stage of human experience, men had reached +a conception of that law of nature which expresses the inevitable +consequences of an imperfect appreciation of feminine charms. The +injured goddess makes Izdubar's life a burden to him, until at last, +sick in body and sorry in mind, he is driven to seek aid and comfort +from his forbears in the world of spirits. So this antitype of Odysseus +journeys to the shore of the waters of death, and there takes ship +with a Chaldaean Charon, who carries him within hail of his ancestor +Hasisadra. That venerable personage not only gives Izdubar instructions +how to regain his health, but tells him, somewhat _a propos des bottes_ +(after the manner of venerable personages), the long story of his +perilous adventure; and how it befell that he, his wife, and his +steersman came to dwell among the blessed gods, without passing through +the portals of death like ordinary mortals. + +According to the full story, the sins of mankind had become grievous; +and, at a council of the gods, it was resolved to extirpate the whole +race by a great flood. And, once more, let us note the uniformity of +human experience. It would appear that, four thousand years ago, the +obligations of confidential intercourse about matters of state were +sometimes violated--of course from the best of motives. Ea, one of +the three chiefs of the Chaldaean Pantheon, the god of justice and of +practical wisdom, was also the god of the sea; and, yielding to the +temptation to do a friend a good turn, irresistible to kindly seafaring +folks of all ranks, he warned Hasisadra of what was coming. When Bel +subsequently reproached him for this breach of confidence, Ea defended +himself by declaring that he did not tell Hasisadra anything; he only +sent him a dream. This was undoubtedly sailing very near the wind; but +the attribution of a little benevolent obliquity of conduct to one of +the highest of the gods is a trifle compared with the truly Homeric +anthropomorphism which characterises other parts of the epos. + +The Chaldĉan deities are, in truth, extremely human; and, occasionally, +the narrator does not scruple to represent them in a manner which is +not only inconsistent with our idea of reverence, but is sometimes +distinctly humorous. [7] When the storm is at its height, he exhibits +them flying in a state of panic to Anu, the god of heaven, and crouching +before his portal like frightened dogs. As the smoke of Hasisadra's +sacrifice arises, the gods, attracted by the sweet savour, are compared +to swarms of flies. I have already remarked that the lady Istar's +reputation is torn to shreds; while she and Ea scold Bel handsomely for +his ferocity and injustice in destroying the innocent along with +the guilty. One is reminded of Here hung up with weighted heels; of +misleading dreams sent by Zeus; of Ares howling as he flies from the +Trojan battlefield; and of the very questionable dealings of Aphrodite +with Helen and Paris. + +But to return to the story. Bel was, at first, excluded from the +sacrifice as the author of all the mischief; which really was somewhat +hard upon him, since the other gods agreed to his proposal. But +eventually a reconciliation takes place; the great bow of Anu is +displayed in the heavens; Bel agrees that he will be satisfied with what +war, pestilence, famine, and wild beasts can do in the way of destroying +men; and that, henceforward, he will not have recourse to extraordinary +measures. Finally, it is Bel himself who, by way of making amends, +transports Hasisadra, his wife, and the faithful Nes-Hea to the abode of +the gods. + +It is as indubitable as it is incomprehensible to most of us, that, for +thousands of years, a great people, quite as intelligent as we are, +and living in as high a state of civilisation as that which had been +attained in the greater part of Europe a few centuries ago, entertained +not the slightest doubt that Anu, Bel, Ea, Istar, and the rest, were +real personages, possessed of boundless powers for good and evil. The +sincerity of the monarchs whose inscriptions gratefully attribute their +victories to Merodach, or to Assur, is as little to be questioned as +that of the authors of the hymns and penitential psalms which give full +expression to the heights and depths of religious devotion. An "infidel" +bold enough to deny the existence, or to doubt the influence, of these +deities probably did not exist in all Mesopotamia; and even constructive +rebellion against their authority was apt to end in the deprivation, not +merely of the good name, but of the skin of the offender. The adherents +of modern theological systems dismiss these objects of the love and +fear of a hundred generations of their equals, offhand, as "gods of the +heathen," mere creations of a wicked and idolatrous imagination; and, +along with them, they disown, as senseless, the crude theology, with its +gross anthropomorphism and its low ethical conception of the divinity, +which satisfied the pious souls of Chaldaea. + +I imagine, though I do not presume to be sure, that any endeavour +to save the intellectual and moral credit of Chaldaean religion, +by suggesting the application to it of that universal solvent of +absurdities, the allegorical method, would be scouted; I will not +even suggest that any ingenuity can be equal to the discovery of the +antitypes of the personifications effected by the religious imagination +of later ages, in the triad Anu, Ea, and Bel, still less in Istar. +Therefore, unless some plausible reconciliatory scheme should be +propounded by a Neo-Chaldaean devotee (and, with Neo-Buddhists to +the fore, this supposition is not so wild as it looks), I suppose the +moderns will continue to smile, in a superior way, at the grievous +absurdity of the polytheistic idolatry of these ancient people. + +It is probably a congenital absence of some faculty which I ought to +possess which withholds me from adopting this summary procedure. But I +am not ashamed to share David Hume's want of ability to discover +that polytheism is, in itself, altogether absurd. If we are bound, or +permitted, to judge the government of the world by human standards, it +appears to me that directorates are proved, by familiar experience, to +conduct the largest and the most complicated concerns quite as well as +solitary despots. I have never been able to see why the hypothesis of +a divine syndicate should be found guilty of innate absurdity. Those +Assyrians, in particular, who held Assur to be the one supreme and +creative deity, to whom all the other supernal powers were subordinate, +might fairly ask that the essential difference between their system and +that which obtains among the great majority of their modern theological +critics should be demonstrated. In my apprehension, it is not the +quantity, but the quality, of the persons, among whom the attributes +of divinity are distributed, which is the serious matter. If the divine +might is associated with no higher ethical attributes than those which +obtain among ordinary men; if the divine intelligence is supposed to +be so imperfect that it cannot foresee the consequences of its own +contrivances; if the supernal powers can become furiously angry with the +creatures of their omnipotence and, in their senseless wrath, destroy +the innocent along with the guilty; or if they can show themselves to +be as easily placated by presents and gross flattery as any oriental or +occidental despot; if, in short, they are only stronger than mortal +men and no better, as it must be admitted Hasisadra's deities proved +themselves to be--then, surely, it is time for us to look somewhat +closely into their credentials, and to accept none but conclusive +evidence of their existence. + +To the majority of my respected contemporaries this reasoning will +doubtless appear feeble, if not worse. However, to my mind, such are +the only arguments by which the Chaldaean theology can be satisfactorily +upset. So far from there being any ground for the belief that Ea, +Anu, and Bel are, or ever were, real entities, it seems to me quite +infinitely more probable that they are products of the religious +imagination, such as are to be found everywhere and in all ages, so long +as that imagination riots uncontrolled by scientific criticism. + +It is on these grounds that I venture, at the risk of being called +an atheist by the ghosts of all the principals of all the colleges of +Babylonia, or by their living successors among the Neo-Chaldaeans, if +that sect should arise, to express my utter disbelief in the gods of +Hasisadra. Hence, it follows, that I find Hasisadra's account of their +share in his adventure incredible; and, as the physical details of +the flood are inseparable from its theophanic accompaniments, and are +guaranteed by the same authority, I must let them go with the rest. The +consistency of such details with probability counts for nothing. The +inhabitants of Chaldaea must always have been familiar with inundations; +probably no generation failed to witness an inundation which rose +unusually high, or was rendered serious by coincident atmospheric +or other disturbances. And the memory of the general features of any +exceptionally severe and devastating flood, would be preserved by +popular tradition for long ages. What, then, could be more natural +than that a Chaldaean poet should seek for the incidents of a great +catastrophe among such phenomena? In what other way than by such an +appeal to their experience could he so surely awaken in his audience the +tragic pity and terror? What possible ground is there for insisting that +he must have had some individual good in view, and that his history is +historical, in the sense that the account of the effects of a hurricane +in the Bay of Bengal, in the year 1875, is historical? + + +More than three centuries after the time of Assurbanipal, Berosus of +Babylon, born in the reign of Alexander the Great, wrote an account of +the history of his country in Greek. The work of Berosus has vanished; +but extracts from it--how far faithful is uncertain--have been preserved +by later writers. Among these occurs the well-known story of the Deluge +of Xisuthros, which is evidently built upon the same foundation as that +of Hasisadra. The incidents of the divine warning, the building of the +ship, the sending out of birds, the ascension of the hero, betray their +common origin. But stories, like Madeira, acquire a heightened flavour +with time and travel; and the version of Berosus is characterised by +those circumstantial improbabilities which habitually gather round the +legend of a legend. The later narrator knows the exact day of the month +on which the flood began. The dimensions of the ship are stated with +Munchausenian precision at five stadia by two--say, half by one-fifth of +an English mile. The ship runs aground among the "Gordaean mountains" to +the south of Lake Van, in Armenia, beyond the limits of any imaginable +real inundation of the Euphrates valley; and, by way of climax, we have +the assertion, worthy of the sailor who said that he had brought up one +of Pharaoh's chariot wheels on the fluke of his anchor in the Red Sea, +that pilgrims visited the locality and made amulets of the bitumen which +they scraped off from the still extant remains of the mighty ship of +Xisuthros. + +Suppose that some later polyhistor, as devoid of critical faculty as +most of his tribe, had found the version of Berosus, as well as another +much nearer the original story; that, having too much respect for his +authorities to make up a _tertium quid_ of his own, out of the materials +offered, he followed a practice, common enough among ancient and, +particularly, among Semitic historians, of dividing, both into fragments +and piecing these together, without troubling himself very much about +those resulting repetitions and inconsistencies; the product of such +a primitive editorial operation would be a narrative analogous to that +which treats of the Noachian deluge in the book of Genesis. For the +Pentateuchal story is indubitably a patchwork, composed of fragments +of at least two, different and partly discrepant, narratives, +quilted together in such an inartistic fashion that the seams remain +conspicuous. And, in the matter of circumstantial exaggeration, it in +some respects excels even the second-hand legend of Berosus. + +There is a certain practicality about the notion of taking refuge from +floods and storms in a ship provided with a steersman; but, surely, no +one who had ever seen more water than he could wade through would dream +of facing even a moderate breeze, in a huge three-storied coffer, or +box, three hundred cubits long, fifty wide and thirty high, left to +drift without rudder or pilot. [8] Not content with giving the exact +year of Noah's age in which the flood began, the Pentateuchal story adds +the month and the day of the month. It is the Deity himself who "shuts +in" Noah. The modest week assigned to the full deluge in Hasisadra's +story becomes forty days, in one of the Pentateuchal accounts, and a +hundred and fifty in the other. The flood, which, in the version of +Berosus, has grown so high as to cast the ship among the mountains of +Armenia, is improved upon in the Hebrew account until it covers "all +the high hills that were under the whole heaven"; and, when it begins +to subside, the ark is left stranded on the summit of the highest peak, +commonly identified with Ararat itself. + +While the details of Hasisadra's adventure are, at least, compatible +with the physical conditions of the Euphrates valley, and, as we have +seen, involve no catastrophe greater than such as might be brought under +those conditions, many of the very precisely stated details of Noah's +flood contradict some of the best established results of scientific +inquiry. + +If it is certain that the alluvium of the Mesopotamian plain has been +brought down by the Tigris and the Euphrates, then it is no less certain +that the physical structure of the whole valley has persisted, without +material modification, for many thousand years before the date assigned +to the flood. If the summits, even of the moderately elevated ridges +which immediately bound the valley, still more those of the Kurdish and +Armenian mountains, were ever covered by water, for even forty days, +that water must have extended over the whole earth. If the earth was +thus covered, anywhere between 4000 and 5000 years ago, or, at any other +time, since the higher terrestrial animals came into existence, they +must have been destroyed from the whole face of it, as the Pentateuchal +account declares they were three several times (Genesis vii. 21, 22, +23), in language which cannot be made more emphatic, or more solemn, +than it is; and the present population must consist of the descendants +of emigrants from the ark. And, if that is the case, then, as has often +been pointed out, the sloths of the Brazilian forests, the kangaroos +of Australia, the great tortoises of the Galapagos islands, must have +respectively hobbled, hopped, and crawled over many thousand miles +of land and sea from "Ararat" to their present habitations. Thus, the +unquestionable facts of the geographical distribution of recent land +animals, alone, form an insuperable obstacle to the acceptance of the +assertion that the kinds of animals composing the present terrestrial +fauna have been, at any time, universally destroyed in the way described +in the Pentateuch. + +It is upon this and other unimpeachable grounds that, as I ventured +to say some time ago, persons who are duly conversant with even +the elements of natural science decline to take the Noachian deluge +seriously; and that, as I also pointed out, candid theologians, who, +without special scientific knowledge, have appreciated the weight of +scientific arguments, have long since given it up. But, as Goethe has +remarked, there is nothing more terrible than energetic ignorance; [9] +and there are, even yet, very energetic people, who are neither candid, +nor clear-headed, nor theologians, still less properly instructed in the +elements of natural science, who make prodigious efforts to obscure the +effect of these plain truths, and to conceal their real surrender of +the historical character of Noah's deluge under cover of the smoke of a +great discharge of pseudoscientific artillery. They seem to imagine that +the proofs which abound in all parts of the world, of large oscillations +of the relative level of land and sea, combined with the probability +that, when the sea-level was rising, sudden incursions of the sea like +that which broke in over Holland and formed the Zuyder Zee, may have +often occurred, can be made to look like evidence that something that, +by courtesy, might be called a general Deluge has really taken place. +Their discursive energy drags misunderstood truth into their service; +and "the glacial epoch" is as sure to crop up among them as King +Charles's head in a famous memorial--with about as much appropriateness. +The old story of the raised beach on Moel Tryfaen is trotted out; +though, even if the facts are as yet rightly interpreted, there is not +a shadow of evidence that the change of sea-level in that locality was +sudden, or that glacial Welshmen would have known it was taking place. +[10] Surely it is difficult to perceive the relevancy of bringing in +something that happened in the glacial epoch (if it did happen) to +account for the tradition of a flood in the Euphrates valley between +2000 and 3000 B.C. But the date of the Noachian flood is solidly fixed +by the sole authority for it; no shuffling of the chronological data +will carry it so far back as 3000 B.C.; and the Hebrew epos agrees with +the Chaldaean in placing it after the development of a somewhat advanced +civilisation. The only authority for the Noachian deluge assures us +that, before it visited the earth, Cain had built cities; Jubal had +invented harps and organs; while mankind had advanced so far beyond the +neolithic, nay even the bronze, stage that Tubal-cain was a worker in +iron. Therefore, if the Noachian legend is to be taken for the history +of an event which happened in the glacial epoch, we must revise +our notions of pleistocene civilisation. On the other hand, if the +Pentateuchal story only means something quite different, that happened +somewhere else, thousands of years earlier, dressed up, what becomes of +its credit as history? I wonder what would be said to a modern historian +who asserted that Pekin was burnt down in 1886, and then tried to +justify the assertion by adducing evidence of the Great Fire of London +in 1666. Yet the attempt to save the credit of the Noachian story by +reference to something which is supposed to have happened in the far +north, in the glacial epoch, is far more preposterous. + +Moreover, these dust-raising dialecticians ignore some of the most +important and well-known facts which bear upon the question. Anything +more than a parochial acquaintance with physical geography and geology +would suffice to remind its possessor that the Holy Land itself offers a +standing protest against bringing such a deluge as that of Noah anywhere +near it, either in historical times or in the course of that pleistocene +period, of which the "great ice age" formed a part. + +Judaea and Galilee, Moab and Gilead, occupy part of that extensive +tableland at the summit of the western boundary of the Euphrates valley, +to which I have already referred. If that valley had ever been filled +with water to a height sufficient, not indeed to cover a third of +Ararat, in the north, or half of some of the mountains of the Persian +frontier in the east, but to reach even four or five thousand feet, it +must have stood over the Palestinian hog's back, and have filled, up to +the brim, every depression on its surface. Therefore it could not have +failed to fill that remarkable trench in which the Dead Sea, the Jordan, +and the Sea of Galilee lie, and which is known as the "Jordan-Arabah" +valley. + +This long and deep hollow extends more than 200 miles, from near the +site of ancient Dan in the north, to the water-parting at the head of +the Wady Arabah in the south; and its deepest part, at the bottom of the +basin of the Dead Sea, lies 2500 feet below the surface of the adjacent +Mediterranean. The lowest portion of the rim of the Jordan-Arabah +valley is situated at the village of El Fuleh, 257 feet above the +Mediterranean. Everywhere else the circumjacent heights rise to a very +much greater altitude. Hence, of the water which stood over the Syrian +tableland, when as much drained off as could run away, enough would +remain to form a "Mere" without an outlet, 2757 feet deep, over the +present site of the Dead Sea. From this time forth, the level of +the Palestinian mere could be lowered only by evaporation. It is an +extremely interesting fact, which has happily escaped capture for the +purposes of the energetic misunderstanding, that the valley, at one +time, was filled, certainly within 150 feet of this height--probably +higher. And it is almost equally certain, that the time at which this +great Jordan-Arabah mere reached its highest level coincides with the +glacial epoch. But then the evidence which goes to prove this, also +leads to the conclusion that this state of things obtained at a period +considerably older than even 4000 B.C., when the world, according to the +"Helps" (or shall we say "Hindrances") provided for the simple student +of the Bible, was created; that it was not brought about by any diluvial +catastrophe, but was the result of a change in the relative activities +of certain natural operations which are quietly going on now; and that, +since the level of the mere began to sink, many thousand years ago, no +serious catastrophe of any description has affected the valley. + +The evidence that the Jordan-Arabah valley really was once filled with +water, the surface of which reached within 160 feet of the level of the +pass of Jezrael, and possibly stood higher, is this: Remains of alluvial +strata, containing shells of the freshwater mollusks which still inhabit +the valley, worn down into terraces by waves which long rippled at the +same level, and furrowed by the channels excavated by modern rainfalls, +have been found at the former height; and they are repeated, at +intervals, lower down, until the Ghor, or plain of the Jordan, itself +an alluvial deposit, is reached. These strata attain a considerable +thickness; and they indicate that the epoch at which the freshwater mere +of Palestine reached its highest level is extremely remote; that its +diminution has taken place very slowly, and with periods of rest, +during which the first formed deposits were cut down into terraces. This +conclusion is strikingly borne out by other facts. A volcanic region +stretches from Galilee to Gilead and the Hauran, on each side of the +northern end of the valley. Some of the streams of basaltic lava which +have been thrown out from its craters and clefts in times of which +history has no record, have run athwart the course of the Jordan +itself, or of that of some of its tributary streams. The lava streams, +therefore, must be of later date than the depressions they fill. And +yet, where they have thus temporarily dammed the Jordan and the Jermuk, +these streams have had time to cut through the hard basalts and lay bare +the beds, over which, before the lava streams invaded them, they flowed. + +In fact, the antiquity of the present Jordan-Arabah valley, as a hollow +in a tableland, out of reach of the sea, and troubled by no diluvial +or other disturbances, beyond the volcanic eruptions of Gilead and of +Galilee, is vast, even as estimated by a geological standard. No marine +deposits of later than miocene age occur in or about it; and there is +every reason to believe that the Syro-Arabian plateau has been dry land, +throughout the pliocene and later epochs, down to the present time. +Raised beaches, containing recent shells, on the Levantine shores of +the Mediterranean and on those of the Red Sea, testify to a geologically +recent change of the sea level to the extent of 250 or 300 feet, +probably produced by the slow elevation of the land; and, as I have +already remarked, the alluvial plain of the Euphrates and Tigris appears +to have been affected in the same way, though seemingly to a less +extent. But of violent, or catastrophic, change there is no trace. Even +the volcanic outbursts have flowed in even sheets over the old land +surface; and the long lines of the horizontal terraces which remain, +testify to the geological insignificance of such earthquakes as have +taken place. It is, indeed, possible that the original formation of the +valley may have been determined by the well-known fault, along which the +western rocks are relatively depressed and the eastern elevated. But, +whether that fault was effected slowly or quickly, and whenever it came +into existence, the excavation of the valley to its present width, no +less than the sculpturing of its steep walls and of the innumerable deep +ravines which score them down to the very bottom, are indubitably due +to the operation of rain and streams, during an enormous length of +time, without interruption or disturbance of any magnitude. The alluvial +deposits which have been mentioned are continued into the lateral +ravines, and have more or less filled them. But, since the waters have +been lowered, these deposits have been cut down to great depths, and are +still being excavated by the present temporary, or permanent, streams. +Hence, it follows, that all these ravines must have existed before +the time at which the valley was occupied by the great mere. This fact +acquires a peculiar importance when we proceed to consider the grounds +for the conclusion that the old Palestinian mere attained its highest +level in the cold period of the pleistocene epoch. It is well known +that glaciers formerly came low down on the flanks of Lebanon and +Antilebanon; indeed, the old moraines are the haunts of the few +survivors of the famous cedars. This implies a perennial snowcap of +great extent on Hermon; therefore, a vastly greater supply of water to +the sources of the Jordan which rise on its flanks; and, in addition, +such a total change in the general climate, that the innumerable Wadys, +now traversed only by occasional storm torrents, must have been occupied +by perennial streams. All this involves a lower annual temperature and +a moist and rainy atmosphere. If such a change of meteorological +conditions could be effected now, when the loss by evaporation from the +surface of the Dead Sea salt-pan balances all the gain from the Jordan +and other streams, the scale would be turned in the other direction. The +waters of the Dead Sea would become diluted; its level would rise; it +would cover, first the plain of the Jordan, then the lake of Galilee, +then the middle Jordan between this lake and that of Huleh (the ancient +Merom); and, finally, it would encroach, northwards, along the course of +the upper Jordan, and, southwards, up the Wady Arabah, until it reached +some 260 feet above the level of the Mediterranean, when it would +attain a permanent level, by sending any superfluity through the pass +of Jezrael to swell the waters of the Kishon, and flow thence into the +Mediterranean. + +Reverse the process, in consequence of the excess of loss by evaporation +over gain by inflow, which must have set in as the climate of Syria +changed after the end of the pleistocene epoch, and (without taking into +consideration any other circumstances) the present state of things must +eventually be reached--a concentrated saline solution in the deepest +part of the valley--water, rather more charged with saline matter than +ordinary fresh water, in the lower Jordan and the lake of Galilee--fresh +waters, still largely derived from the snows of Hermon, in the upper +Jordan and in Lake Huleh. But, if the full state of the Jordan valley +marks the glacial epoch, then it follows that the excavation of that +valley by atmospheric agencies must have occupied an immense antecedent +time--a large part, perhaps the whole, of the pliocene epoch; and we +are thus forced to the conclusion that, since the miocene epoch, the +physical conformation of the Holy Land has been substantially what it is +now. It has been more or less rained upon, searched by earthquakes +here and there, partially overflowed by lava streams, slowly raised +(relatively to the sea-level) a few hundred feet. But there is not +a shadow of ground for supposing that, throughout all this time, +terrestrial animals have ceased to inhabit a large part of its surface; +or that, in many parts, they have been, in any respect, incommoded by +the changes which have taken place. + +The evidence of the general stability of the physical conditions of +Western Asia, which is furnished by Palestine and by the Euphrates +Valley, is only fortified if we extend our view northwards to the Black +Sea and the Caspian. The Caspian is a sort of magnified replica of the +Dead Sea. The bottom of the deepest part of this vast inland mere is +about 3000 feet below the level of the Mediterranean, while its surface +is lower by 85 feet. At present, it is separated, on the west, by wide +spaces of dry land from the Black Sea, which has the same height as +the Mediterranean; and, on the east, from the Aral, 138 feet above +that level. The waters of the Black Sea, now in communication with the +Mediterranean by the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus, are salt, but become +brackish northwards, where the rivers of the steppes pour in a great +volume of fresh water. Those of the shallower northern half of the +Caspian are similarly affected by the Volga and the Ural, while, in the +shallow bays of the southern division, they become extremely saline in +consequence of the intense evaporation. The Aral Sea, though supplied by +the Jaxartes and the Oxus, has brackish water. There is evidence that, +in the pliocene and pleistocene periods, to go no farther back, the +strait of the Dardanelles did not exist, and that the vast area, +from the valley of the Danube to that of the Jaxartes, was covered by +brackish or, in some parts, fresh water to a height of at least 200 +feet above the level of the Mediterranean. At the present time, the +water-parting which separates the northern part of the basin of the +Caspian from the vast plains traversed by the Tobol and the Obi, in +their course to the Arctic Ocean, appears to be less than 200 feet above +the latter. It would seem, therefore, to be very probable that, under +the climatal conditions of part of the pleistocene period, the valley +of the Obi played the same part in relation to the Ponto-Aralian sea, as +that of the Kishon may have done to the great mere of the Jordan valley; +and that the outflow formed the channel by which the well-known Arctic +elements of the fauna of the Caspian entered it. For the fossil remains +imbedded in the strata continuously deposited in the Aralo-Caspian area, +since the latter end of the miocene epoch, show no sign that, from +that time onward, it has ever been covered by sea water. Therefore, the +supposition of a free inflow of the Arctic Ocean, which at one time was +generally received, as well as that of various hypothetical deluges from +that quarter, must be seriously questioned. + +The Caspian and the Aral stand in somewhat the same relation to the vast +basin of dry land in which they lie, as the Dead Sea and the lake of +Galilee to the Jordan valley. They are the remains of a vast, mostly +brackish, mere, which has dried up in consequence of the excess +of evaporation over supply, since the cold and damp climate of the +pleistocene epoch gave place to the increasing dryness and great summer +heats of Central Asia in more modern times. The desiccation of the +Aralo-Caspian basin, which communicated with the Black Sea only by a +comparatively narrow and shallow strait along the present valley +of Manytsch, the bottom of which was less than 100 feet above the +Mediterranean, must have been vastly aided by the erosion of the strait +of the Dardanelles towards the end of the pleistocene epoch, or perhaps +later. For the result of thus opening a passage for the waters of the +Black Sea into the Mediterranean must have been the gradual lowering of +its level to that of the latter sea. When this process had gone so far +as to bring down the Black Sea water to within less than a hundred feet +of its present level, the strait of Manytsch ceased to exist; and the +vast body of fresh water brought down by the Danube, the Dnieper, the +Don, and other South Russian rivers was cut off from the Caspian, +and eventually delivered into the Mediterranean. Thus, there is as +conclusive evidence as one can well hope to obtain in these matters, +that, north of the Euphrates valley, the physical geography of an area +as large as all Central Europe has remained essentially unchanged, +from the miocene period down to our time; just as, to the west of the +Euphrates valley, Palestine has exhibited a similar persistence of +geographical type. To the south, the valley of the Nile tells exactly +the same story. The holes bored by miocene mollusks in the cliffs east +and west of Cairo bear witness that, in the miocene epoch, it contained +an arm of the sea, the bottom of which has since been gradually filled +up by the alluvium of the Nile, and elevated to its present position. +But the higher parts of the Mokattam and of the desert about Ghizeh, +have been dry land from that time to this. Too little is known of the +geology of Persia, at present, to allow any positive conclusion to be +enunciated. But, taking the name to indicate the whole continental +mass of Iran, between the valleys of the Indus and the Euphrates, the +supposition that its physical geography has remained unchanged for +an immensely long period is hardly rash. The country is, in fact, +an enormous basin, surrounded on all sides by a mountainous rim, and +subdivided within by ridges into plateaus and hollows, the bottom of the +deepest of which, in the province of Seistan, probably descends to +the level of the Indian Ocean. These depressions are occupied by salt +marshes and deserts, in which the waters of the streams which flow +down the sides of the basin are now dissipated by evaporation. I am +acquainted with no evidence that the present Iranian basin was ever +occupied by the sea; but the accumulations of gravel over a great extent +of its surface indicate long-continued water action. It is, therefore, +a fair presumption that large lakes have covered much of its present +deserts, and that they have dried up by the operation of the same +changed climatal conditions as those which have reduced the Caspian and +the Dead Sea to their present dimensions. [11] + +Thus it would seem that the Euphrates valley, the centre of the fabled +Noachian deluge, is also the centre of a region covering some millions +of square miles of the present continents of Europe, Asia, and Africa, +in which all the facts, relevant to the argument, at present known, +converge to the conclusion that, since the miocene epoch, the essential +features of its physical geography have remained unchanged; that it has +neither been depressed below the sea, nor swept by diluvial waters since +that time; and that the Chaldaean version of the legend of a flood in +the Euphrates valley is, of all those which are extant, the only one +which is even consistent with probability, since it depicts a local +inundation, not more severe than one which might be brought about by a +concurrence of favourable conditions at the present day; and which might +probably have been more easily effected when the Persian Gulf extended +farther north. Hence, the recourse to the "glacial epoch" for some event +which might colourably represent a flood, distinctly asserted by +the only authority for it to have occurred in historical times, is +peculiarly unfortunate. Even a Welsh antiquary might hesitate over the +supposition that a tradition of the fate of Moel Tryfaen, in the glacial +epoch, had furnished the basis of fact for a legend which arose among +people whose own experience abundantly supplied them with the needful +precedents. Moreover, if evidence of interchanges of land and sea are +to be accepted as "confirmations" of Noah's deluge, there are plenty of +sources for the tradition to be had much nearer than Wales. + +The depression now filled by the Red Sea, for example, appears to be, +geologically, of very recent origin. The later deposits found on its +shores, two or three hundred feet above the sea level, contain no +remains older than those of the present fauna; while, as I have already +mentioned, the valley of the adjacent delta of the Nile was a gulf of +the sea in miocene times. But there is not a particle of evidence that +the change of relative level which admitted the waters of the Indian +Ocean between Arabia and Africa, took place any faster than that which +is now going on in Greenland and Scandinavia, and which has left their +inhabitants undisturbed. Even more remarkable changes were effected, +towards the end of, or since, the glacial epoch, over the region now +occupied by the Levantine Mediterranean and the AEgean Sea. The eastern +coast region of Asia Minor, the western of Greece, and many of the +intermediate islands, exhibit thick masses of stratified deposits +of later tertiary age and of purely lacustrine characters; and it is +remarkable that, on the south side of the island of Crete, such masses +present steep cliffs facing the sea, so that the southern boundary of +the lake in which they were formed must have been situated where the sea +now flows. Indeed, there are valid reasons for the supposition that the +dry land once extended far to the west of the present Levantine coast, +and not improbably forced the Nile to seek an outlet to the north-east +of its present delta--a possibility of no small importance in relation +to certain puzzling facts in the geographical distribution of animals +in this region. At any rate, continuous land joined Asia Minor with +the Balkan peninsula; and its surface bore deep fresh-water lakes, +apparently disconnected with the Ponto-Aralian sea. This state of things +lasted long enough to allow of the formation of the thick lacustrine +strata to which I have referred. I am not aware that there is the +smallest ground for the assumption that the AEgean land was broken up in +consequence of any of the "catastrophes" which are so commonly invoked. +[12] For anything that appears to the contrary, the narrow, steep-sided, +straits between the islands of the AEgean archipelago may have been +originally brought about by ordinary atmospheric and stream action; +and may then have been filled from the Mediterranean, during a slow +submergence proceeding from the south northwards. The strait of the +Dardanelles is bounded by undisturbed pleistocene strata forty feet +thick, through which, to all appearance, the present passage has been +quietly cut. + +That Olympus and Ossa were torn asunder and the waters of the Thessalian +basin poured forth, is a very ancient notion, and an often cited +"confirmation" of Deucalion's flood. It has not yet ceased to be in +vogue, apparently because those who entertain it are not aware that +modern geological investigation has conclusively proved that the gorge +of the Penens is as typical an example of a valley of erosion as any to +be seen in Auvergne or in Colorado. [13] + +Thus, in the immediate vicinity of the vast expanse of country which can +be proved to have been untouched by any catastrophe before, during, and +since the "glacial epoch," lie the great areas of the AEgean and the +Red Sea, in which, during or since the glacial epoch, changes of the +relative positions of land and sea have taken place, in comparison with +which the submergence of Moel Tryfaen, with all Wales and Scotland to +boot, does not come to much. + +What, then, is the relevancy of talk about the "glacial epoch" to the +question of the historical veracity of the narrator of the story of the +Noachian deluge? So far as my knowledge goes, there is not a particle of +evidence that destructive inundations were more common, over the general +surface of the earth, in the glacial epoch than they have been before +or since. No doubt the fringe of an ice-covered region must be always +liable to them; but, if we examine the records of such catastrophes in +historical times, those produced in the deltas of great rivers, or in +lowlands like Holland, by sudden floods, combined with gales of wind or +with unusual tides, far excel all others. + +With respect to such inundations as are the consequences of earthquakes, +and other slight movements of the crust of the earth, I have never heard +of anything to show that they were more frequent and severer in the +quaternary or tertiary epochs than they are now. In the discussion +of these, as of all other geological problems, the appeal to needless +catastrophes is born of that impatience of the slow and painful search +after sufficient causes, in the ordinary course of nature, which is a +temptation to all, though only energetic ignorance nowadays completely +succumbs to it. + + + + +POSTSCRIPT. + +My best thanks are due to Mr. Gladstone for his courteous withdrawal +of one of the statements to which I have thought it needful to take +exception. The familiarity with controversy, to which Mr. Gladstone +alludes, will have accustomed him to the misadventures which arise when, +as sometimes will happen in the heat of fence, the buttons come off the +foils. I trust that any scratch which he may have received will heal as +quickly as my own flesh wounds have done. + + +A contribution to the last number of this Review (_The Nineteenth +Century_) of a different order would be left unnoticed, were it not that +my silence would convert me into an accessory to misrepresentations of +a very grave character. However, I shall restrict myself to the barest +possible statement of facts, leaving my readers to draw their own +conclusions. + +In an article entitled "A Great Lesson," published in this Review for +September, 1887: + +(1) The Duke of Argyll says the "overthrow of Darwin's speculations" (p. +301) concerning the origin of coral reefs, which he fancied had taken +place, had been received by men of science "with a grudging silence as +far as public discussion is concerned" (p. 301). + +The truth is that, as every one acquainted with the literature of +the subject was well aware, the views supposed to have effected this +overthrow had been fully and publicly discussed by Dana in the United +States; by Geikie, Green, and Prestwich in this country; by Lapparent in +France; and by Credner in Germany. + +(2) The Duke of Argyll says "that no serious reply has ever been +attempted" (p. 305). + +The truth is that the highest living authority on the subject, Professor +Dana, published a most weighty reply, two years before the Duke of +Argyll committed himself to this statement. + +(3) The Duke of Argyll uses the preceding products of defective +knowledge, multiplied by excessive imagination, to illustrate the manner +in which "certain accepted opinions" established "a sort of Reign of +Terror in their own behalf" (p. 307). + +The truth is that no plea, except that of total ignorance of the +literature of the subject, can excuse the errors cited, and that the +"Reign of Terror" is a purely subjective phenomenon. + +(4) The letter in "Nature" for the 17th of November, 1887, to which I +am referred, contains neither substantiation, nor retractation, of +statements 1 and 2. Nevertheless, it repeats number 3. The Duke of +Argyll says of his article that it "has done what I intended it to +do. It has called wide attention to the influence of mere authority +in establishing erroneous theories and in retarding the progress of +scientific truth." + +(5) The Duke of Argyll illustrates the influence of his fictitious +"Reign of Terror" by the statement that Mr. John Murray "was strongly +advised against the publication of his views in derogation of Darwin's +long-accepted theory of the coral islands, and was actually induced to +delay it for two years" (p.307). And in "Nature" for the 17th November, +1887, the Duke of Argyll states that he has seen a letter from Sir +Wyville Thomson in which he "urged and almost insisted that Mr. Murray +should withdraw the reading of his papers on the subject from the Royal +Society of Edinburgh. This was in February, 1877." The next paragraph, +however, contains the confession: "No special reason was assigned." The +Duke of Argyll proceeds to give a speculative opinion that "Sir Wyville +dreaded some injury to the scientific reputation of the body of which he +was the chief." Truly, a very probable supposition; but as Sir Wyville +Thomson's tendencies were notoriously anti-Darwinian, it does not +appear to me to lend the slightest justification to the Duke of Argyll's +insinuation that the Darwinian "terror" influenced him. However, the +question was finally set at rest by a letter which appeared in "Nature" +(29th of December, 1887), in which the writer says that: + +"talking with Sir Wyville about 'Murray's new theory,' I asked what +objection he had to its being brought before the public? The answer +simply was: he considered that the grounds of the theory had not, as +yet, been sufficiently investigated or sufficiently corroborated, and +that therefore any immature dogmatic publication of it would do less +than little service either to science or to the author of the paper." + +Sir Wyville Thomson was an intimate friend of mine, and I am glad to +have been afforded one more opportunity of clearing his character from +the aspersions which have been so recklessly cast upon his good sense +and his scientific honour. + +(6) As to the "overthrow" of Darwin's theory, which, according to the +Duke of Argyll, was patent to every unprejudiced person four years +ago, I have recently become acquainted with a work, in which a really +competent authority, [14] thoroughly acquainted with all the new lights +which have been thrown upon the subject during the last ten years, +pronounces the judgment; firstly, that some of the facts brought forward +by Messrs. Murray and Guppy against Darwin's theory are not facts; +secondly, that the others are reconcilable with Darwin's theory; and, +thirdly, that the theories of Messrs. Murray and Guppy "are contradicted +by a series of important facts" (p. 13). + +Perhaps I had better draw attention to the circumstance that Dr. +Langenbeck writes under shelter of the guns of the fortress of +Strasburg; and may therefore be presumed to be unaffected by those +dreams of a "Reign of Terror" which seem to disturb the peace of some of +us in these islands (April, 1891). + +[See, on the subject of this note, the essay entitled "An Episcopal +Trilogy" in the following volume.] + + + + +FOOTNOTES: + + +[Footnote 1: In May 1849 the Tigris at Bagdad rose 22-1/2 feet--5 +feet above its usual rise--and nearly swept away the town. In 1831 a +similarly exceptional flood did immense damage, destroying 7000 houses. +See Loftus, _Chaldea and Susiana,_ p. 7.] + +[Footnote 2: See the instructive chapter on Hasisadra's flood in Suess, +_Das Antlitz der Erde,_ Abth. I. Only fifteen years ago a cyclone in the +Bay of Bengal gave rise to a flood which covered 3000 square miles of +the delta of the Ganges, 3 to 45 feet deep, destroying 100,000 people, +innumerable cattle, houses, and trees. It broke inland on the rising +ground of Tipperah, and may have swept a vessel from the sea that far, +though I do not know that it did.] + +[Footnote 3: See Cernik's maps in _Petermanns Mittheilungen,_ +Erganzungashefte 44 and 45, 1875-76.] + +[Footnote 4: I have not cited the dimensions given to the ships in most +translations of the story, because there appears to be a doubt about +them. Haupt (_Keilinschriftliche Sindfluth-Bericht,_ p. 13: says that +the figures are illegible.)] + +[Footnote 5: It is probable that a slow movement of elevation of the +land at one time contributed to the result--perhaps does so still.] + +[Footnote 6: At a comparatively recent period, the littoral margin of +the Persian Gulf extended certainly 250 miles farther to the northwest +than the present embouchure of the Shatt-el Arab. (Loftus, _Quarterly +Journal of the Geological Society,_ 1853, p. 251.) The actual extent of +the marine deposit inland cannot be defined, as it is covered by later +fluviatile deposits.] + +[Footnote 7: Tiele (_Babylonisch-Assyrische Geschicthe,_ pp. 572-3) has +some very just remarks on this aspect of the epos.] + +[Footnote 8: In the second volume of the _History of the Euphrates,_ +p. 637 Col. Chesney gives a very interesting account of the simple and +rapid manner in which the people about Tekrit and in the marshes of +Lemlum construct large barges, and make them water-tight with bitumen. +Doubtless the practice is extremely ancient and as Colonel Chesney +suggests, may possibly have furnished the conception of Noah's ark. But +it is one thing to build a barge 44ft. long by 11ft. wide and 4ft. +deep in the way described; and another to get a vessel of ten times the +dimensions, so constructed, to hold together.] + +[Footnote 9: "Es ist nichts schrecklicher als eine thatige +Unwissenheit," _Maximen und Reflexionen,_ iii.] + +[Footnote 10: The well-known difficulties connected with this case have +recently been carefully discussed by Mr. Bell in the _Transactions_ of +the Geological Society of Glasgow.] + +[Footnote 11: An instructive parallel is exhibited by the "Great Basin" +of North America. See the remarkable memoir on _Lake Bonneville_ by Mr. +G. K. Gilbert, of the United States Geological Survey, just published.] + +[Footnote 12: It is true that earthquakes are common enough, but they +are incompetent to produce such changes as those which have taken +place.] + +[Footnote 13: See Teller, _Geologische Beschreibung des sud-ostlichen +Thessalien;_ Denkschriften d. Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien, Bd. xl. +p. 199.] + +[Footnote 14: Dr. Langenbeck, _Die Theorien uber die Entstehung der +Korallen-Inseln und Korallen-Riffe_ (p. 13), 1890.] + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Hasisadra's Adventure, by Thomas Henry Huxley + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HASISADRA'S ADVENTURE *** + +***** This file should be named 2633-8.txt or 2633-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/6/3/2633/ + +Produced by D. R. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Hasisadra's Adventure + Essay #7 from "Science and Hebrew Tradition" + +Author: Thomas Henry Huxley + +Release Date: December 3, 2008 [EBook #2633] +Last Updated: January 22, 2013 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HASISADRA'S ADVENTURE *** + + + + +Produced by D. R. Thompson, and David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h1> + HASISADRA'S ADVENTURE + </h1> + <h3> + ESSAY #7 FROM "SCIENCE AND HEBREW TRADITION" + </h3> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h2> + By Thomas Henry Huxley + </h2> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <table summary="" border="3" cellpadding="4"> + <tbody> + <tr> + <td> + <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2632/2632-h/2632-h.htm">Previous + Volume</a> + </td> + </tr> + </tbody> + </table> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> POSTSCRIPT. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_FOOT"> FOOTNOTES </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <p> + Some thousands of years ago there was a city in Mesopotamia called + Surippak. One night a strange dream came to a dweller therein, whose name, + if rightly reported, was Hasisadra. The dream foretold the speedy coming + of a great flood; and it warned Hasisadra to lose no time in building a + ship, in which, when notice was given, he, his family and friends, with + their domestic animals and a collection of wild creatures and seed of + plants of the land, might take refuge and be rescued from destruction. + Hasisadra awoke, and at once acted upon the warning. A strong decked ship + was built, and her sides were paid, inside and out, with the mineral + pitch, or bitumen, with which the country abounded; the vessel's + seaworthiness was tested, the cargo was stowed away, and a trusty pilot or + steersman appointed. + </p> + <p> + The promised signal arrived. Wife and friends embarked; Hasisadra, + following, prudently "shut the door," or, as we should say, put on the + hatches; and Nes-Hea, the pilot, was left alone on deck to do his best for + the ship. Thereupon a hurricane began to rage; rain fell in torrents; the + subterranean waters burst forth; a deluge swept over the land, and the + wind lashed it into waves sky high; heaven and earth became mingled in + chaotic gloom. For six days and seven nights the gale raged, but the good + ship held out until, on the seventh day, the storm lulled. Hasisadra + ventured on deck; and, seeing nothing but a waste of waters strewed with + floating corpses and wreck, wept over the destruction of his land and + people. Far away, the mountains of Nizir were visible; the ship was + steered for them and ran aground upon the higher land. Yet another seven + days passed by. On the seventh, Hasisadra sent forth a dove, which found + no resting place and returned; then he liberated a swallow, which also + came back; finally, a raven was let loose, and that sagacious bird, when + it found that the water had abated, came near the ship, but refused to + return to it. Upon this, Hasisadra liberated the rest of the wild animals, + which immediately dispersed in all directions, while he, with his family + and friends, ascending a mountain hard by, offered sacrifice upon its + summit to the gods. + </p> + <p> + The story thus given in summary abstract, told in an ancient Semitic + dialect, is inscribed in cuneiform characters upon a tablet of burnt clay. + Many thousands of such tablets, collected by Assurbanipal, King of Assyria + in the middle of the seventh century B.C., were stored in the library of + his palace at Nineveh; and, though in a sadly broken and mutilated + condition, they have yielded a marvellous amount of information to the + patient and sagacious labour which modern scholars have bestowed upon + them. Among the multitude of documents of various kinds, this narrative of + Hasisadra's adventure has been found in a tolerably complete state. But + Assyriologists agree that it is only a copy of a much more ancient work; + and there are weighty reasons for believing that the story of Hasisadra's + flood was well known in Mesopotamia before the year 2000 B.C. + </p> + <p> + No doubt, then, we are in presence of a narrative which has all the + authority which antiquity can confer; and it is proper to deal + respectfully with it, even though it is quite as proper, and indeed + necessary, to act no less respectfully towards ourselves; and, before + professing to put implicit faith in it, to inquire what claim it has to be + regarded as a serious account of an historical event. + </p> + <p> + It is of no use to appeal to contemporary history, although the annals of + Babylonia, no less than those of Egypt, go much further back than 2000 + B.C. All that can be said is, that the former are hardly consistent with + the supposition that any catastrophe, competent to destroy all the + population, has befallen the land since civilisation began, and that the + latter are notoriously silent about deluges. In such a case as this, + however, the silence of history does not leave the inquirer wholly at + fault. Natural science has something to say when the phenomena of nature + are in question. Natural science may be able to show, from the nature of + the country, either that such an event as that described in the story is + impossible, or at any rate highly improbable; or, on the other hand, that + it is consonant with probability. In the former case, the narrative must + be suspected or rejected; in the latter, no such summary verdict can be + given: on the contrary, it must be admitted that the story may be true. + And then, if certain strangely prevalent canons of criticism are accepted, + and if the evidence that an event might have happened is to be accepted as + proof that it did happen, Assyriologists will be at liberty to + congratulate one another on the "confirmation by modern science" of the + authority of their ancient books. + </p> + <p> + It will be interesting, therefore, to inquire how far the physical + structure and the other conditions of the region in which Surippak was + situated are compatible with such a flood as is described in the Assyrian + record. + </p> + <p> + The scene of Hasisadra's adventure is laid in the broad valley, six or + seven hundred miles long, and hardly anywhere less than a hundred miles in + width, which is traversed by the lower courses of the rivers Euphrates and + Tigris, and which is commonly known as the "Euphrates valley." Rising, at + the one end, into a hill country, which gradually passes into the Alpine + heights of Armenia; and, at the other, dipping beneath the shallow waters + of the head of the Persian Gulf, which continues in the same direction, + from north-west to south-east, for some eight hundred miles farther, the + floor of the valley presents a gradual slope, from eight hundred feet + above the sea level to the depths of the southern end of the Persian Gulf. + The boundary between sea and land, formed by the extremest mudflats of the + delta of the two rivers, is but vaguely defined; and, year by year, it + advances seaward. On the north-eastern side, the western frontier ranges + of Persia rise abruptly to great heights; on the south-western side, a + more gradual ascent leads to a table-land of less elevation, which, very + broad in the south, where it is occupied by the deserts of Arabia and of + Southern Syria, narrows, northwards, into the highlands of Palestine, and + is continued by the ranges of the Lebanon, the Antilebanon, and the + Taurus, into the highlands of Armenia. + </p> + <p> + The wide and gently inclined plain, thus inclosed between the gulf and the + highlands, on each side and at its upper extremity, is distinguishable + into two regions of very different character, one of which lies north, and + the other south of the parallel of Hit, on the Euphrates. Except in the + immediate vicinity of the river, the northern division is stony and + scantily covered with vegetation, except in spring. Over the southern + division, on the contrary, spreads a deep alluvial soil, in which even a + pebble is rare; and which, though, under the existing misrule, mainly a + waste of marsh and wilderness, needs only intelligent attention to become, + as it was of old, the granary of western Asia. Except in the extreme + south, the rainfall is small and the air dry. The heat in summer is + intense, while bitterly cold northern blasts sweep the plain in winter. + Whirlwinds are not uncommon; and, in the intervals of the periodical + inundations, the fine, dry, powdery soil is swept, even by moderate + breezes, into stifling clouds, or rather fogs, of dust. Low inequalities, + elevations here and depressions there, diversify the surface of the + alluvial region. The latter are occupied by enormous marshes, while the + former support the permanent dwellings of the present scanty and miserable + population. + </p> + <p> + In antiquity, so long as the canalisation of the country was properly + carried out, the fertility of the alluvial plain enabled great and + prosperous nations to have their home in the Euphrates valley. Its + abundant clay furnished the materials for the masses of sun-dried and + burnt bricks, the remains of which, in the shape of huge artificial + mounds, still testify to both the magnitude and the industry of the + population, thousands of years ago. Good cement is plentiful, while the + bitumen, which wells from the rocks at Hit and elsewhere, not only answers + the same purpose, but is used to this day, as it was in Hasisadra's time, + to pay the inside and the outside of boats. + </p> + <p> + In the broad lower course of the Euphrates, the stream rarely acquires a + velocity of more than three miles an hour, while the lower Tigris attains + double that rate in times of flood. The water of both great rivers is + mainly derived from the northern and eastern highlands in Armenia and in + Kurdistan, and stands at its lowest level in early autumn and in January. + But when the snows accumulated in the upper basins of the great rivers, + during the winter, melt under the hot sunshine of spring, they rapidly + rise, <a href="#linknote-1" name="linknoteref-1" id="linknoteref-1"><small>1</small></a> + and at length overflow their banks, covering the alluvial plain with a + vast inland sea, interrupted only by the higher ridges and hummocks which + form islands in a seemingly boundless expanse of water. + </p> + <p> + In the occurrence of these annual inundations lies one of several + resemblances between the valley of the Euphrates and that of the Nile. But + there are important differences. The time of the annual flood is reversed, + the Nile being highest in autumn and winter, and lowest in spring and + early summer. The periodical overflows of the Nile, regulated by the great + lake basins in the south, are usually punctual in arrival, gradual in + growth, and beneficial in operation. No lakes are interposed between the + mountain torrents of the upper basis of the Tigris and the Euphrates and + their lower courses. Hence, heavy rain, or an unusually rapid thaw in the + uplands, gives rise to the sudden irruption of a vast volume of water + which not even the rapid Tigris, still less its more sluggish companion, + can carry off in time to prevent violent and dangerous overflows. Without + an elaborate system of canalisation, providing an escape for such sudden + excesses of the supply of water, the annual floods of the Euphrates, and + especially of the Tigris, must always be attended with risk, and often + prove harmful. + </p> + <p> + There are other peculiarities of the Euphrates valley which may + occasionally tend to exacerbate the evils attendant on the inundations. It + is very subject to seismic disturbances; and the ordinary consequences of + a sharp earthquake shock might be seriously complicated by its effect on a + broad sheet of water. Moreover the Indian Ocean lies within the region of + typhoons; and if, at the height of an inundation, a hurricane from the + south-east swept up the Persian Gulf, driving its shallow waters upon the + delta and damming back the outflow, perhaps for hundreds of miles + up-stream, a diluvial catastrophe, fairly up to the mark of Hasisadra's, + might easily result. <a href="#linknote-2" name="linknoteref-2" + id="linknoteref-2"><small>2</small></a> + </p> + <p> + Thus there seems to be no valid reason for rejecting Hasisadra's story on + physical grounds. I do not gather from the narrative that the "mountains + of Nizir" were supposed to be submerged, but merely that they came into + view above the distant horizon of the waters, as the vessel drove in that + direction. Certainly the ship is not supposed to ground on any of their + higher summits, for Hasisadra has to ascend a peak in order to offer his + sacrifice. The country of Nizir lay on the north-eastern side of the + Euphrates valley, about the courses of the two rivers Zab, which enter the + Tigris where it traverses the plain of Assyria some eight or nine hundred + feet above the sea; and, so far as I can judge from maps <a + href="#linknote-3" name="linknoteref-3" id="linknoteref-3"><small>3</small></a> + and other sources of information, it is possible, under the circumstances + supposed, that such a ship as Hasisadra's might drive before a southerly + gale, over a continuously flooded country, until it grounded on some of + the low hills between which both the lower and the upper Zab enter upon + the Assyrian plain. + </p> + <p> + The tablet which contains the story under consideration is the eleventh of + a series of twelve. Each of these answers to a month, and to the + corresponding sign of the Zodiac. The Assyrian year began with the spring + equinox; consequently, the eleventh month, called "the rainy," answers to + our January-February, and to the sign which corresponds with our Aquarius. + The aquatic adventure of Hasisadra, therefore, is not inappropriately + placed. It is curious, however, that the season thus indirectly assigned + to the flood is not that of the present highest level of the rivers. It is + too late for the winter rise and too early for the spring floods. + </p> + <p> + I think it must be admitted that, so far, the physical cross-examination + to which Hasisadra has been subjected does not break down his story. On + the contrary, he proves to have kept it in all essential respects <a + href="#linknote-4" name="linknoteref-4" id="linknoteref-4"><small>4</small></a> + within the bounds of probability or possibility. However, we have not yet + done with him. For the conditions which obtained in the Euphrates valley, + four or five thousand years ago, may have differed to such an extent from + those which now exist that we should be able to convict him of having made + up his tale. But here again everything is in favour of his credibility. + Indeed, he may claim very powerful support, for it does not lie in the + mouths of those who accept the authority of the Pentateuch to deny that + the Euphrates valley was what it is, even six thousand years back. + According to the book of Genesis, Phrat and Hiddekel—the Euphrates + and the Tigris—are coeval with Paradise. An edition of the + Scriptures, recently published under high authority, with an elaborate + apparatus of "Helps" for the use of students—and therefore, as I am + bound to suppose, purged of all statements that could by any possibility + mislead the young—assigns the year B.C. 4004 as the date of Adam's + too brief residence in that locality. + </p> + <p> + But I am far from depending on this authority for the age of the + Mesopotamian plain. On the contrary, I venture to rely, with much more + confidence, on another kind of evidence, which tends to show that the age + of the great rivers must be carried back to a date earlier than that at + which our ingenuous youth is instructed that the earth came into + existence. For, the alluvial deposit having been brought down by the + rivers, they must needs be older than the plain it forms, as navvies must + needs antecede the embankment painfully built up by the contents of their + wheel-barrows. For thousands of years, heat and cold, rain, snow, and + frost, the scrubbing of glaciers, and the scouring of torrents laden with + sand and gravel, have been wearing down the rocks of the upper basins of + the rivers, over an area of many thousand square miles; and these + materials, ground to fine powder in the course of their long journey, have + slowly subsided, as the water which carried them spread out and lost its + velocity in the sea. It is because this process is still going on that the + shore of the delta constantly encroaches on the head of the gulf <a + href="#linknote-5" name="linknoteref-5" id="linknoteref-5"><small>5</small></a> + into which the two rivers are constantly throwing the waste of Armenia and + of Kurdistan. Hence, as might be expected, fluviatile and marine shells + are common in the alluvial deposit; and Loftus found strata, containing + subfossil marine shells of species now living, in the Persian Gulf, at + Warka, two hundred miles in a straight line from the shore of the delta. + <a href="#linknote-6" name="linknoteref-6" id="linknoteref-6"><small>6</small></a> + It follows that, if a trustworthy estimate of the average rate of growth + of the alluvial can be formed, the lowest limit (by no means the highest + limit) of age of the rivers can be determined. All such estimates are + beset with sources of error of very various kinds; and the best of them + can only be regarded as approximations to the truth. But I think it will + be quite safe to assume a maximum rate of growth of four miles in a + century for the lower half of the alluvial plain. + </p> + <p> + Now, the cycle of narratives of which Hasisadra's adventure forms a part + contains allusions not only to Surippak, the exact position of which is + doubtful, but to other cities, such as Erech. The vast ruins at the + present village of Warka have been carefully explored and determined to be + all that remains of that once great and flourishing city, "Erech the + lofty." Supposing that the two hundred miles of alluvial country, which + separates them from the head of the Persian Gulf at present, have been + deposited at the very high rate of four miles in a century, it will follow + that 4000 years ago, or about the year 2100 B.C., the city of Erech still + lay forty miles inland. Indeed, the city might have been built a thousand + years earlier. Moreover, there is plenty of independent archaeological and + other evidence that in the whole thousand years, 2000 to 3000 B.C, the + alluvial plain was inhabited by a numerous people, among whom industry, + art, and literature had attained a very considerable development. And it + can be shown that the physical conditions and the climate of the Euphrates + valley, at that time, must have been extremely similar to what they are + now. + </p> + <p> + Thus, once more, we reach the conclusion that, as a question of physical + probability, there is no ground for objecting to the reality of + Hasisadra's adventure. It would be unreasonable to doubt that such a flood + might have happened, and that such a person might have escaped in the way + described, any time during the last 5000 years. And if the postulate of + loose thinkers in search of scientific "confirmations" of questionable + narratives—proof that an event may have happened is evidence that it + did happen—is to be accepted, surely Hasisadra's story is "confirmed + by modern scientific investigation" beyond all cavil. However, it may be + well to pause before adopting this conclusion, because the original story, + of which I have set forth only the broad outlines, contains a great many + statements which rest upon just the same foundation as those cited, and + yet are hardly likely to meet with general acceptance. The account of the + circumstances which led up to the flood, of those under which Hasisadra's + adventure was made known to his descendant, of certain remarkable + incidents before and after the flood, are inseparably bound up with the + details already given. And I am unable to discover any justification for + arbitrarily picking out some of these and dubbing them historical + verities, while rejecting the rest as legendary fictions. They stand or + fall together. + </p> + <p> + Before proceeding to the consideration of these less satisfactory details, + it is needful to remark that Hasisadra's adventure is a mere episode in a + cycle of stories of which a personage, whose name is provisionally read + "Izdubar," is the centre. The nature of Izdubar hovers vaguely between the + heroic and the divine; sometimes he seems a mere man, sometimes approaches + so closely to the divinities of fire and of the sun as to be hardly + distinguishable from them. As I have already mentioned, the tablet which + sets forth Hasisadra's perils is one of twelve; and, since each of these + represents a month and bears a story appropriate to the corresponding sign + of the Zodiac, great weight must be attached to Sir Henry Rawlinson's + suggestion that the epos of Izdubar is a poetical embodiment of solar + mythology. + </p> + <p> + In the earlier books of the epos, the hero, not content with rejecting the + proffered love of the Chaldaean Aphrodite, Istar, freely expresses his + very low estimate of her character; and it is interesting to observe that, + even in this early stage of human experience, men had reached a conception + of that law of nature which expresses the inevitable consequences of an + imperfect appreciation of feminine charms. The injured goddess makes + Izdubar's life a burden to him, until at last, sick in body and sorry in + mind, he is driven to seek aid and comfort from his forbears in the world + of spirits. So this antitype of Odysseus journeys to the shore of the + waters of death, and there takes ship with a Chaldaean Charon, who carries + him within hail of his ancestor Hasisadra. That venerable personage not + only gives Izdubar instructions how to regain his health, but tells him, + somewhat <i>a propos des bottes</i> (after the manner of venerable + personages), the long story of his perilous adventure; and how it befell + that he, his wife, and his steersman came to dwell among the blessed gods, + without passing through the portals of death like ordinary mortals. + </p> + <p> + According to the full story, the sins of mankind had become grievous; and, + at a council of the gods, it was resolved to extirpate the whole race by a + great flood. And, once more, let us note the uniformity of human + experience. It would appear that, four thousand years ago, the obligations + of confidential intercourse about matters of state were sometimes violated—of + course from the best of motives. Ea, one of the three chiefs of the + Chaldaean Pantheon, the god of justice and of practical wisdom, was also + the god of the sea; and, yielding to the temptation to do a friend a good + turn, irresistible to kindly seafaring folks of all ranks, he warned + Hasisadra of what was coming. When Bel subsequently reproached him for + this breach of confidence, Ea defended himself by declaring that he did + not tell Hasisadra anything; he only sent him a dream. This was + undoubtedly sailing very near the wind; but the attribution of a little + benevolent obliquity of conduct to one of the highest of the gods is a + trifle compared with the truly Homeric anthropomorphism which + characterises other parts of the epos. + </p> + <p> + The Chaldĉan deities are, in truth, extremely human; and, occasionally, + the narrator does not scruple to represent them in a manner which is not + only inconsistent with our idea of reverence, but is sometimes distinctly + humorous. <a href="#linknote-7" name="linknoteref-7" id="linknoteref-7"><small>7</small></a> + When the storm is at its height, he exhibits them flying in a state of + panic to Anu, the god of heaven, and crouching before his portal like + frightened dogs. As the smoke of Hasisadra's sacrifice arises, the gods, + attracted by the sweet savour, are compared to swarms of flies. I have + already remarked that the lady Istar's reputation is torn to shreds; while + she and Ea scold Bel handsomely for his ferocity and injustice in + destroying the innocent along with the guilty. One is reminded of Here + hung up with weighted heels; of misleading dreams sent by Zeus; of Ares + howling as he flies from the Trojan battlefield; and of the very + questionable dealings of Aphrodite with Helen and Paris. + </p> + <p> + But to return to the story. Bel was, at first, excluded from the sacrifice + as the author of all the mischief; which really was somewhat hard upon + him, since the other gods agreed to his proposal. But eventually a + reconciliation takes place; the great bow of Anu is displayed in the + heavens; Bel agrees that he will be satisfied with what war, pestilence, + famine, and wild beasts can do in the way of destroying men; and that, + henceforward, he will not have recourse to extraordinary measures. + Finally, it is Bel himself who, by way of making amends, transports + Hasisadra, his wife, and the faithful Nes-Hea to the abode of the gods. + </p> + <p> + It is as indubitable as it is incomprehensible to most of us, that, for + thousands of years, a great people, quite as intelligent as we are, and + living in as high a state of civilisation as that which had been attained + in the greater part of Europe a few centuries ago, entertained not the + slightest doubt that Anu, Bel, Ea, Istar, and the rest, were real + personages, possessed of boundless powers for good and evil. The sincerity + of the monarchs whose inscriptions gratefully attribute their victories to + Merodach, or to Assur, is as little to be questioned as that of the + authors of the hymns and penitential psalms which give full expression to + the heights and depths of religious devotion. An "infidel" bold enough to + deny the existence, or to doubt the influence, of these deities probably + did not exist in all Mesopotamia; and even constructive rebellion against + their authority was apt to end in the deprivation, not merely of the good + name, but of the skin of the offender. The adherents of modern theological + systems dismiss these objects of the love and fear of a hundred + generations of their equals, offhand, as "gods of the heathen," mere + creations of a wicked and idolatrous imagination; and, along with them, + they disown, as senseless, the crude theology, with its gross + anthropomorphism and its low ethical conception of the divinity, which + satisfied the pious souls of Chaldaea. + </p> + <p> + I imagine, though I do not presume to be sure, that any endeavour to save + the intellectual and moral credit of Chaldaean religion, by suggesting the + application to it of that universal solvent of absurdities, the + allegorical method, would be scouted; I will not even suggest that any + ingenuity can be equal to the discovery of the antitypes of the + personifications effected by the religious imagination of later ages, in + the triad Anu, Ea, and Bel, still less in Istar. Therefore, unless some + plausible reconciliatory scheme should be propounded by a Neo-Chaldaean + devotee (and, with Neo-Buddhists to the fore, this supposition is not so + wild as it looks), I suppose the moderns will continue to smile, in a + superior way, at the grievous absurdity of the polytheistic idolatry of + these ancient people. + </p> + <p> + It is probably a congenital absence of some faculty which I ought to + possess which withholds me from adopting this summary procedure. But I am + not ashamed to share David Hume's want of ability to discover that + polytheism is, in itself, altogether absurd. If we are bound, or + permitted, to judge the government of the world by human standards, it + appears to me that directorates are proved, by familiar experience, to + conduct the largest and the most complicated concerns quite as well as + solitary despots. I have never been able to see why the hypothesis of a + divine syndicate should be found guilty of innate absurdity. Those + Assyrians, in particular, who held Assur to be the one supreme and + creative deity, to whom all the other supernal powers were subordinate, + might fairly ask that the essential difference between their system and + that which obtains among the great majority of their modern theological + critics should be demonstrated. In my apprehension, it is not the + quantity, but the quality, of the persons, among whom the attributes of + divinity are distributed, which is the serious matter. If the divine might + is associated with no higher ethical attributes than those which obtain + among ordinary men; if the divine intelligence is supposed to be so + imperfect that it cannot foresee the consequences of its own contrivances; + if the supernal powers can become furiously angry with the creatures of + their omnipotence and, in their senseless wrath, destroy the innocent + along with the guilty; or if they can show themselves to be as easily + placated by presents and gross flattery as any oriental or occidental + despot; if, in short, they are only stronger than mortal men and no + better, as it must be admitted Hasisadra's deities proved themselves to be—then, + surely, it is time for us to look somewhat closely into their credentials, + and to accept none but conclusive evidence of their existence. + </p> + <p> + To the majority of my respected contemporaries this reasoning will + doubtless appear feeble, if not worse. However, to my mind, such are the + only arguments by which the Chaldaean theology can be satisfactorily + upset. So far from there being any ground for the belief that Ea, Anu, and + Bel are, or ever were, real entities, it seems to me quite infinitely more + probable that they are products of the religious imagination, such as are + to be found everywhere and in all ages, so long as that imagination riots + uncontrolled by scientific criticism. + </p> + <p> + It is on these grounds that I venture, at the risk of being called an + atheist by the ghosts of all the principals of all the colleges of + Babylonia, or by their living successors among the Neo-Chaldaeans, if that + sect should arise, to express my utter disbelief in the gods of Hasisadra. + Hence, it follows, that I find Hasisadra's account of their share in his + adventure incredible; and, as the physical details of the flood are + inseparable from its theophanic accompaniments, and are guaranteed by the + same authority, I must let them go with the rest. The consistency of such + details with probability counts for nothing. The inhabitants of Chaldaea + must always have been familiar with inundations; probably no generation + failed to witness an inundation which rose unusually high, or was rendered + serious by coincident atmospheric or other disturbances. And the memory of + the general features of any exceptionally severe and devastating flood, + would be preserved by popular tradition for long ages. What, then, could + be more natural than that a Chaldaean poet should seek for the incidents + of a great catastrophe among such phenomena? In what other way than by + such an appeal to their experience could he so surely awaken in his + audience the tragic pity and terror? What possible ground is there for + insisting that he must have had some individual good in view, and that his + history is historical, in the sense that the account of the effects of a + hurricane in the Bay of Bengal, in the year 1875, is historical? + </p> + <p> + More than three centuries after the time of Assurbanipal, Berosus of + Babylon, born in the reign of Alexander the Great, wrote an account of the + history of his country in Greek. The work of Berosus has vanished; but + extracts from it—how far faithful is uncertain—have been + preserved by later writers. Among these occurs the well-known story of the + Deluge of Xisuthros, which is evidently built upon the same foundation as + that of Hasisadra. The incidents of the divine warning, the building of + the ship, the sending out of birds, the ascension of the hero, betray + their common origin. But stories, like Madeira, acquire a heightened + flavour with time and travel; and the version of Berosus is characterised + by those circumstantial improbabilities which habitually gather round the + legend of a legend. The later narrator knows the exact day of the month on + which the flood began. The dimensions of the ship are stated with + Munchausenian precision at five stadia by two—say, half by one-fifth + of an English mile. The ship runs aground among the "Gordaean mountains" + to the south of Lake Van, in Armenia, beyond the limits of any imaginable + real inundation of the Euphrates valley; and, by way of climax, we have + the assertion, worthy of the sailor who said that he had brought up one of + Pharaoh's chariot wheels on the fluke of his anchor in the Red Sea, that + pilgrims visited the locality and made amulets of the bitumen which they + scraped off from the still extant remains of the mighty ship of Xisuthros. + </p> + <p> + Suppose that some later polyhistor, as devoid of critical faculty as most + of his tribe, had found the version of Berosus, as well as another much + nearer the original story; that, having too much respect for his + authorities to make up a <i>tertium quid</i> of his own, out of the + materials offered, he followed a practice, common enough among ancient + and, particularly, among Semitic historians, of dividing, both into + fragments and piecing these together, without troubling himself very much + about those resulting repetitions and inconsistencies; the product of such + a primitive editorial operation would be a narrative analogous to that + which treats of the Noachian deluge in the book of Genesis. For the + Pentateuchal story is indubitably a patchwork, composed of fragments of at + least two, different and partly discrepant, narratives, quilted together + in such an inartistic fashion that the seams remain conspicuous. And, in + the matter of circumstantial exaggeration, it in some respects excels even + the second-hand legend of Berosus. + </p> + <p> + There is a certain practicality about the notion of taking refuge from + floods and storms in a ship provided with a steersman; but, surely, no one + who had ever seen more water than he could wade through would dream of + facing even a moderate breeze, in a huge three-storied coffer, or box, + three hundred cubits long, fifty wide and thirty high, left to drift + without rudder or pilot. <a href="#linknote-8" name="linknoteref-8" + id="linknoteref-8"><small>8</small></a> Not content with giving the exact + year of Noah's age in which the flood began, the Pentateuchal story adds + the month and the day of the month. It is the Deity himself who "shuts in" + Noah. The modest week assigned to the full deluge in Hasisadra's story + becomes forty days, in one of the Pentateuchal accounts, and a hundred and + fifty in the other. The flood, which, in the version of Berosus, has grown + so high as to cast the ship among the mountains of Armenia, is improved + upon in the Hebrew account until it covers "all the high hills that were + under the whole heaven"; and, when it begins to subside, the ark is left + stranded on the summit of the highest peak, commonly identified with + Ararat itself. + </p> + <p> + While the details of Hasisadra's adventure are, at least, compatible with + the physical conditions of the Euphrates valley, and, as we have seen, + involve no catastrophe greater than such as might be brought under those + conditions, many of the very precisely stated details of Noah's flood + contradict some of the best established results of scientific inquiry. + </p> + <p> + If it is certain that the alluvium of the Mesopotamian plain has been + brought down by the Tigris and the Euphrates, then it is no less certain + that the physical structure of the whole valley has persisted, without + material modification, for many thousand years before the date assigned to + the flood. If the summits, even of the moderately elevated ridges which + immediately bound the valley, still more those of the Kurdish and Armenian + mountains, were ever covered by water, for even forty days, that water + must have extended over the whole earth. If the earth was thus covered, + anywhere between 4000 and 5000 years ago, or, at any other time, since the + higher terrestrial animals came into existence, they must have been + destroyed from the whole face of it, as the Pentateuchal account declares + they were three several times (Genesis vii. 21, 22, 23), in language which + cannot be made more emphatic, or more solemn, than it is; and the present + population must consist of the descendants of emigrants from the ark. And, + if that is the case, then, as has often been pointed out, the sloths of + the Brazilian forests, the kangaroos of Australia, the great tortoises of + the Galapagos islands, must have respectively hobbled, hopped, and crawled + over many thousand miles of land and sea from "Ararat" to their present + habitations. Thus, the unquestionable facts of the geographical + distribution of recent land animals, alone, form an insuperable obstacle + to the acceptance of the assertion that the kinds of animals composing the + present terrestrial fauna have been, at any time, universally destroyed in + the way described in the Pentateuch. + </p> + <p> + It is upon this and other unimpeachable grounds that, as I ventured to say + some time ago, persons who are duly conversant with even the elements of + natural science decline to take the Noachian deluge seriously; and that, + as I also pointed out, candid theologians, who, without special scientific + knowledge, have appreciated the weight of scientific arguments, have long + since given it up. But, as Goethe has remarked, there is nothing more + terrible than energetic ignorance; <a href="#linknote-9" + name="linknoteref-9" id="linknoteref-9"><small>9</small></a> and there + are, even yet, very energetic people, who are neither candid, nor + clear-headed, nor theologians, still less properly instructed in the + elements of natural science, who make prodigious efforts to obscure the + effect of these plain truths, and to conceal their real surrender of the + historical character of Noah's deluge under cover of the smoke of a great + discharge of pseudoscientific artillery. They seem to imagine that the + proofs which abound in all parts of the world, of large oscillations of + the relative level of land and sea, combined with the probability that, + when the sea-level was rising, sudden incursions of the sea like that + which broke in over Holland and formed the Zuyder Zee, may have often + occurred, can be made to look like evidence that something that, by + courtesy, might be called a general Deluge has really taken place. Their + discursive energy drags misunderstood truth into their service; and "the + glacial epoch" is as sure to crop up among them as King Charles's head in + a famous memorial—with about as much appropriateness. The old story + of the raised beach on Moel Tryfaen is trotted out; though, even if the + facts are as yet rightly interpreted, there is not a shadow of evidence + that the change of sea-level in that locality was sudden, or that glacial + Welshmen would have known it was taking place. <a href="#linknote-10" + name="linknoteref-10" id="linknoteref-10"><small>10</small></a> Surely it + is difficult to perceive the relevancy of bringing in something that + happened in the glacial epoch (if it did happen) to account for the + tradition of a flood in the Euphrates valley between 2000 and 3000 B.C. + But the date of the Noachian flood is solidly fixed by the sole authority + for it; no shuffling of the chronological data will carry it so far back + as 3000 B.C.; and the Hebrew epos agrees with the Chaldaean in placing it + after the development of a somewhat advanced civilisation. The only + authority for the Noachian deluge assures us that, before it visited the + earth, Cain had built cities; Jubal had invented harps and organs; while + mankind had advanced so far beyond the neolithic, nay even the bronze, + stage that Tubal-cain was a worker in iron. Therefore, if the Noachian + legend is to be taken for the history of an event which happened in the + glacial epoch, we must revise our notions of pleistocene civilisation. On + the other hand, if the Pentateuchal story only means something quite + different, that happened somewhere else, thousands of years earlier, + dressed up, what becomes of its credit as history? I wonder what would be + said to a modern historian who asserted that Pekin was burnt down in 1886, + and then tried to justify the assertion by adducing evidence of the Great + Fire of London in 1666. Yet the attempt to save the credit of the Noachian + story by reference to something which is supposed to have happened in the + far north, in the glacial epoch, is far more preposterous. + </p> + <p> + Moreover, these dust-raising dialecticians ignore some of the most + important and well-known facts which bear upon the question. Anything more + than a parochial acquaintance with physical geography and geology would + suffice to remind its possessor that the Holy Land itself offers a + standing protest against bringing such a deluge as that of Noah anywhere + near it, either in historical times or in the course of that pleistocene + period, of which the "great ice age" formed a part. + </p> + <p> + Judaea and Galilee, Moab and Gilead, occupy part of that extensive + tableland at the summit of the western boundary of the Euphrates valley, + to which I have already referred. If that valley had ever been filled with + water to a height sufficient, not indeed to cover a third of Ararat, in + the north, or half of some of the mountains of the Persian frontier in the + east, but to reach even four or five thousand feet, it must have stood + over the Palestinian hog's back, and have filled, up to the brim, every + depression on its surface. Therefore it could not have failed to fill that + remarkable trench in which the Dead Sea, the Jordan, and the Sea of + Galilee lie, and which is known as the "Jordan-Arabah" valley. + </p> + <p> + This long and deep hollow extends more than 200 miles, from near the site + of ancient Dan in the north, to the water-parting at the head of the Wady + Arabah in the south; and its deepest part, at the bottom of the basin of + the Dead Sea, lies 2500 feet below the surface of the adjacent + Mediterranean. The lowest portion of the rim of the Jordan-Arabah valley + is situated at the village of El Fuleh, 257 feet above the Mediterranean. + Everywhere else the circumjacent heights rise to a very much greater + altitude. Hence, of the water which stood over the Syrian tableland, when + as much drained off as could run away, enough would remain to form a + "Mere" without an outlet, 2757 feet deep, over the present site of the + Dead Sea. From this time forth, the level of the Palestinian mere could be + lowered only by evaporation. It is an extremely interesting fact, which + has happily escaped capture for the purposes of the energetic + misunderstanding, that the valley, at one time, was filled, certainly + within 150 feet of this height—probably higher. And it is almost + equally certain, that the time at which this great Jordan-Arabah mere + reached its highest level coincides with the glacial epoch. But then the + evidence which goes to prove this, also leads to the conclusion that this + state of things obtained at a period considerably older than even 4000 + B.C., when the world, according to the "Helps" (or shall we say + "Hindrances") provided for the simple student of the Bible, was created; + that it was not brought about by any diluvial catastrophe, but was the + result of a change in the relative activities of certain natural + operations which are quietly going on now; and that, since the level of + the mere began to sink, many thousand years ago, no serious catastrophe of + any description has affected the valley. + </p> + <p> + The evidence that the Jordan-Arabah valley really was once filled with + water, the surface of which reached within 160 feet of the level of the + pass of Jezrael, and possibly stood higher, is this: Remains of alluvial + strata, containing shells of the freshwater mollusks which still inhabit + the valley, worn down into terraces by waves which long rippled at the + same level, and furrowed by the channels excavated by modern rainfalls, + have been found at the former height; and they are repeated, at intervals, + lower down, until the Ghor, or plain of the Jordan, itself an alluvial + deposit, is reached. These strata attain a considerable thickness; and + they indicate that the epoch at which the freshwater mere of Palestine + reached its highest level is extremely remote; that its diminution has + taken place very slowly, and with periods of rest, during which the first + formed deposits were cut down into terraces. This conclusion is strikingly + borne out by other facts. A volcanic region stretches from Galilee to + Gilead and the Hauran, on each side of the northern end of the valley. + Some of the streams of basaltic lava which have been thrown out from its + craters and clefts in times of which history has no record, have run + athwart the course of the Jordan itself, or of that of some of its + tributary streams. The lava streams, therefore, must be of later date than + the depressions they fill. And yet, where they have thus temporarily + dammed the Jordan and the Jermuk, these streams have had time to cut + through the hard basalts and lay bare the beds, over which, before the + lava streams invaded them, they flowed. + </p> + <p> + In fact, the antiquity of the present Jordan-Arabah valley, as a hollow in + a tableland, out of reach of the sea, and troubled by no diluvial or other + disturbances, beyond the volcanic eruptions of Gilead and of Galilee, is + vast, even as estimated by a geological standard. No marine deposits of + later than miocene age occur in or about it; and there is every reason to + believe that the Syro-Arabian plateau has been dry land, throughout the + pliocene and later epochs, down to the present time. Raised beaches, + containing recent shells, on the Levantine shores of the Mediterranean and + on those of the Red Sea, testify to a geologically recent change of the + sea level to the extent of 250 or 300 feet, probably produced by the slow + elevation of the land; and, as I have already remarked, the alluvial plain + of the Euphrates and Tigris appears to have been affected in the same way, + though seemingly to a less extent. But of violent, or catastrophic, change + there is no trace. Even the volcanic outbursts have flowed in even sheets + over the old land surface; and the long lines of the horizontal terraces + which remain, testify to the geological insignificance of such earthquakes + as have taken place. It is, indeed, possible that the original formation + of the valley may have been determined by the well-known fault, along + which the western rocks are relatively depressed and the eastern elevated. + But, whether that fault was effected slowly or quickly, and whenever it + came into existence, the excavation of the valley to its present width, no + less than the sculpturing of its steep walls and of the innumerable deep + ravines which score them down to the very bottom, are indubitably due to + the operation of rain and streams, during an enormous length of time, + without interruption or disturbance of any magnitude. The alluvial + deposits which have been mentioned are continued into the lateral ravines, + and have more or less filled them. But, since the waters have been + lowered, these deposits have been cut down to great depths, and are still + being excavated by the present temporary, or permanent, streams. Hence, it + follows, that all these ravines must have existed before the time at which + the valley was occupied by the great mere. This fact acquires a peculiar + importance when we proceed to consider the grounds for the conclusion that + the old Palestinian mere attained its highest level in the cold period of + the pleistocene epoch. It is well known that glaciers formerly came low + down on the flanks of Lebanon and Antilebanon; indeed, the old moraines + are the haunts of the few survivors of the famous cedars. This implies a + perennial snowcap of great extent on Hermon; therefore, a vastly greater + supply of water to the sources of the Jordan which rise on its flanks; + and, in addition, such a total change in the general climate, that the + innumerable Wadys, now traversed only by occasional storm torrents, must + have been occupied by perennial streams. All this involves a lower annual + temperature and a moist and rainy atmosphere. If such a change of + meteorological conditions could be effected now, when the loss by + evaporation from the surface of the Dead Sea salt-pan balances all the + gain from the Jordan and other streams, the scale would be turned in the + other direction. The waters of the Dead Sea would become diluted; its + level would rise; it would cover, first the plain of the Jordan, then the + lake of Galilee, then the middle Jordan between this lake and that of + Huleh (the ancient Merom); and, finally, it would encroach, northwards, + along the course of the upper Jordan, and, southwards, up the Wady Arabah, + until it reached some 260 feet above the level of the Mediterranean, when + it would attain a permanent level, by sending any superfluity through the + pass of Jezrael to swell the waters of the Kishon, and flow thence into + the Mediterranean. + </p> + <p> + Reverse the process, in consequence of the excess of loss by evaporation + over gain by inflow, which must have set in as the climate of Syria + changed after the end of the pleistocene epoch, and (without taking into + consideration any other circumstances) the present state of things must + eventually be reached—a concentrated saline solution in the deepest + part of the valley—water, rather more charged with saline matter + than ordinary fresh water, in the lower Jordan and the lake of Galilee—fresh + waters, still largely derived from the snows of Hermon, in the upper + Jordan and in Lake Huleh. But, if the full state of the Jordan valley + marks the glacial epoch, then it follows that the excavation of that + valley by atmospheric agencies must have occupied an immense antecedent + time—a large part, perhaps the whole, of the pliocene epoch; and we + are thus forced to the conclusion that, since the miocene epoch, the + physical conformation of the Holy Land has been substantially what it is + now. It has been more or less rained upon, searched by earthquakes here + and there, partially overflowed by lava streams, slowly raised (relatively + to the sea-level) a few hundred feet. But there is not a shadow of ground + for supposing that, throughout all this time, terrestrial animals have + ceased to inhabit a large part of its surface; or that, in many parts, + they have been, in any respect, incommoded by the changes which have taken + place. + </p> + <p> + The evidence of the general stability of the physical conditions of + Western Asia, which is furnished by Palestine and by the Euphrates Valley, + is only fortified if we extend our view northwards to the Black Sea and + the Caspian. The Caspian is a sort of magnified replica of the Dead Sea. + The bottom of the deepest part of this vast inland mere is about 3000 feet + below the level of the Mediterranean, while its surface is lower by 85 + feet. At present, it is separated, on the west, by wide spaces of dry land + from the Black Sea, which has the same height as the Mediterranean; and, + on the east, from the Aral, 138 feet above that level. The waters of the + Black Sea, now in communication with the Mediterranean by the Dardanelles + and the Bosphorus, are salt, but become brackish northwards, where the + rivers of the steppes pour in a great volume of fresh water. Those of the + shallower northern half of the Caspian are similarly affected by the Volga + and the Ural, while, in the shallow bays of the southern division, they + become extremely saline in consequence of the intense evaporation. The + Aral Sea, though supplied by the Jaxartes and the Oxus, has brackish + water. There is evidence that, in the pliocene and pleistocene periods, to + go no farther back, the strait of the Dardanelles did not exist, and that + the vast area, from the valley of the Danube to that of the Jaxartes, was + covered by brackish or, in some parts, fresh water to a height of at least + 200 feet above the level of the Mediterranean. At the present time, the + water-parting which separates the northern part of the basin of the + Caspian from the vast plains traversed by the Tobol and the Obi, in their + course to the Arctic Ocean, appears to be less than 200 feet above the + latter. It would seem, therefore, to be very probable that, under the + climatal conditions of part of the pleistocene period, the valley of the + Obi played the same part in relation to the Ponto-Aralian sea, as that of + the Kishon may have done to the great mere of the Jordan valley; and that + the outflow formed the channel by which the well-known Arctic elements of + the fauna of the Caspian entered it. For the fossil remains imbedded in + the strata continuously deposited in the Aralo-Caspian area, since the + latter end of the miocene epoch, show no sign that, from that time onward, + it has ever been covered by sea water. Therefore, the supposition of a + free inflow of the Arctic Ocean, which at one time was generally received, + as well as that of various hypothetical deluges from that quarter, must be + seriously questioned. + </p> + <p> + The Caspian and the Aral stand in somewhat the same relation to the vast + basin of dry land in which they lie, as the Dead Sea and the lake of + Galilee to the Jordan valley. They are the remains of a vast, mostly + brackish, mere, which has dried up in consequence of the excess of + evaporation over supply, since the cold and damp climate of the + pleistocene epoch gave place to the increasing dryness and great summer + heats of Central Asia in more modern times. The desiccation of the + Aralo-Caspian basin, which communicated with the Black Sea only by a + comparatively narrow and shallow strait along the present valley of + Manytsch, the bottom of which was less than 100 feet above the + Mediterranean, must have been vastly aided by the erosion of the strait of + the Dardanelles towards the end of the pleistocene epoch, or perhaps + later. For the result of thus opening a passage for the waters of the + Black Sea into the Mediterranean must have been the gradual lowering of + its level to that of the latter sea. When this process had gone so far as + to bring down the Black Sea water to within less than a hundred feet of + its present level, the strait of Manytsch ceased to exist; and the vast + body of fresh water brought down by the Danube, the Dnieper, the Don, and + other South Russian rivers was cut off from the Caspian, and eventually + delivered into the Mediterranean. Thus, there is as conclusive evidence as + one can well hope to obtain in these matters, that, north of the Euphrates + valley, the physical geography of an area as large as all Central Europe + has remained essentially unchanged, from the miocene period down to our + time; just as, to the west of the Euphrates valley, Palestine has + exhibited a similar persistence of geographical type. To the south, the + valley of the Nile tells exactly the same story. The holes bored by + miocene mollusks in the cliffs east and west of Cairo bear witness that, + in the miocene epoch, it contained an arm of the sea, the bottom of which + has since been gradually filled up by the alluvium of the Nile, and + elevated to its present position. But the higher parts of the Mokattam and + of the desert about Ghizeh, have been dry land from that time to this. Too + little is known of the geology of Persia, at present, to allow any + positive conclusion to be enunciated. But, taking the name to indicate the + whole continental mass of Iran, between the valleys of the Indus and the + Euphrates, the supposition that its physical geography has remained + unchanged for an immensely long period is hardly rash. The country is, in + fact, an enormous basin, surrounded on all sides by a mountainous rim, and + subdivided within by ridges into plateaus and hollows, the bottom of the + deepest of which, in the province of Seistan, probably descends to the + level of the Indian Ocean. These depressions are occupied by salt marshes + and deserts, in which the waters of the streams which flow down the sides + of the basin are now dissipated by evaporation. I am acquainted with no + evidence that the present Iranian basin was ever occupied by the sea; but + the accumulations of gravel over a great extent of its surface indicate + long-continued water action. It is, therefore, a fair presumption that + large lakes have covered much of its present deserts, and that they have + dried up by the operation of the same changed climatal conditions as those + which have reduced the Caspian and the Dead Sea to their present + dimensions. <a href="#linknote-11" name="linknoteref-11" + id="linknoteref-11"><small>11</small></a> + </p> + <p> + Thus it would seem that the Euphrates valley, the centre of the fabled + Noachian deluge, is also the centre of a region covering some millions of + square miles of the present continents of Europe, Asia, and Africa, in + which all the facts, relevant to the argument, at present known, converge + to the conclusion that, since the miocene epoch, the essential features of + its physical geography have remained unchanged; that it has neither been + depressed below the sea, nor swept by diluvial waters since that time; and + that the Chaldaean version of the legend of a flood in the Euphrates + valley is, of all those which are extant, the only one which is even + consistent with probability, since it depicts a local inundation, not more + severe than one which might be brought about by a concurrence of + favourable conditions at the present day; and which might probably have + been more easily effected when the Persian Gulf extended farther north. + Hence, the recourse to the "glacial epoch" for some event which might + colourably represent a flood, distinctly asserted by the only authority + for it to have occurred in historical times, is peculiarly unfortunate. + Even a Welsh antiquary might hesitate over the supposition that a + tradition of the fate of Moel Tryfaen, in the glacial epoch, had furnished + the basis of fact for a legend which arose among people whose own + experience abundantly supplied them with the needful precedents. Moreover, + if evidence of interchanges of land and sea are to be accepted as + "confirmations" of Noah's deluge, there are plenty of sources for the + tradition to be had much nearer than Wales. + </p> + <p> + The depression now filled by the Red Sea, for example, appears to be, + geologically, of very recent origin. The later deposits found on its + shores, two or three hundred feet above the sea level, contain no remains + older than those of the present fauna; while, as I have already mentioned, + the valley of the adjacent delta of the Nile was a gulf of the sea in + miocene times. But there is not a particle of evidence that the change of + relative level which admitted the waters of the Indian Ocean between + Arabia and Africa, took place any faster than that which is now going on + in Greenland and Scandinavia, and which has left their inhabitants + undisturbed. Even more remarkable changes were effected, towards the end + of, or since, the glacial epoch, over the region now occupied by the + Levantine Mediterranean and the AEgean Sea. The eastern coast region of + Asia Minor, the western of Greece, and many of the intermediate islands, + exhibit thick masses of stratified deposits of later tertiary age and of + purely lacustrine characters; and it is remarkable that, on the south side + of the island of Crete, such masses present steep cliffs facing the sea, + so that the southern boundary of the lake in which they were formed must + have been situated where the sea now flows. Indeed, there are valid + reasons for the supposition that the dry land once extended far to the + west of the present Levantine coast, and not improbably forced the Nile to + seek an outlet to the north-east of its present delta—a possibility + of no small importance in relation to certain puzzling facts in the + geographical distribution of animals in this region. At any rate, + continuous land joined Asia Minor with the Balkan peninsula; and its + surface bore deep fresh-water lakes, apparently disconnected with the + Ponto-Aralian sea. This state of things lasted long enough to allow of the + formation of the thick lacustrine strata to which I have referred. I am + not aware that there is the smallest ground for the assumption that the + AEgean land was broken up in consequence of any of the "catastrophes" + which are so commonly invoked. <a href="#linknote-12" name="linknoteref-12" + id="linknoteref-12"><small>12</small></a> For anything that appears to the + contrary, the narrow, steep-sided, straits between the islands of the + AEgean archipelago may have been originally brought about by ordinary + atmospheric and stream action; and may then have been filled from the + Mediterranean, during a slow submergence proceeding from the south + northwards. The strait of the Dardanelles is bounded by undisturbed + pleistocene strata forty feet thick, through which, to all appearance, the + present passage has been quietly cut. + </p> + <p> + That Olympus and Ossa were torn asunder and the waters of the Thessalian + basin poured forth, is a very ancient notion, and an often cited + "confirmation" of Deucalion's flood. It has not yet ceased to be in vogue, + apparently because those who entertain it are not aware that modern + geological investigation has conclusively proved that the gorge of the + Penens is as typical an example of a valley of erosion as any to be seen + in Auvergne or in Colorado. <a href="#linknote-13" name="linknoteref-13" + id="linknoteref-13"><small>13</small></a> + </p> + <p> + Thus, in the immediate vicinity of the vast expanse of country which can + be proved to have been untouched by any catastrophe before, during, and + since the "glacial epoch," lie the great areas of the AEgean and the Red + Sea, in which, during or since the glacial epoch, changes of the relative + positions of land and sea have taken place, in comparison with which the + submergence of Moel Tryfaen, with all Wales and Scotland to boot, does not + come to much. + </p> + <p> + What, then, is the relevancy of talk about the "glacial epoch" to the + question of the historical veracity of the narrator of the story of the + Noachian deluge? So far as my knowledge goes, there is not a particle of + evidence that destructive inundations were more common, over the general + surface of the earth, in the glacial epoch than they have been before or + since. No doubt the fringe of an ice-covered region must be always liable + to them; but, if we examine the records of such catastrophes in historical + times, those produced in the deltas of great rivers, or in lowlands like + Holland, by sudden floods, combined with gales of wind or with unusual + tides, far excel all others. + </p> + <p> + With respect to such inundations as are the consequences of earthquakes, + and other slight movements of the crust of the earth, I have never heard + of anything to show that they were more frequent and severer in the + quaternary or tertiary epochs than they are now. In the discussion of + these, as of all other geological problems, the appeal to needless + catastrophes is born of that impatience of the slow and painful search + after sufficient causes, in the ordinary course of nature, which is a + temptation to all, though only energetic ignorance nowadays completely + succumbs to it. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + POSTSCRIPT. + </h2> + <p> + My best thanks are due to Mr. Gladstone for his courteous withdrawal of + one of the statements to which I have thought it needful to take + exception. The familiarity with controversy, to which Mr. Gladstone + alludes, will have accustomed him to the misadventures which arise when, + as sometimes will happen in the heat of fence, the buttons come off the + foils. I trust that any scratch which he may have received will heal as + quickly as my own flesh wounds have done. + </p> + <p> + A contribution to the last number of this Review (<i>The Nineteenth + Century</i>) of a different order would be left unnoticed, were it not + that my silence would convert me into an accessory to misrepresentations + of a very grave character. However, I shall restrict myself to the barest + possible statement of facts, leaving my readers to draw their own + conclusions. + </p> + <p> + In an article entitled "A Great Lesson," published in this Review for + September, 1887: + </p> + <p> + (1) The Duke of Argyll says the "overthrow of Darwin's speculations" (p. + 301) concerning the origin of coral reefs, which he fancied had taken + place, had been received by men of science "with a grudging silence as far + as public discussion is concerned" (p. 301). + </p> + <p> + The truth is that, as every one acquainted with the literature of the + subject was well aware, the views supposed to have effected this overthrow + had been fully and publicly discussed by Dana in the United States; by + Geikie, Green, and Prestwich in this country; by Lapparent in France; and + by Credner in Germany. + </p> + <p> + (2) The Duke of Argyll says "that no serious reply has ever been + attempted" (p. 305). + </p> + <p> + The truth is that the highest living authority on the subject, Professor + Dana, published a most weighty reply, two years before the Duke of Argyll + committed himself to this statement. + </p> + <p> + (3) The Duke of Argyll uses the preceding products of defective knowledge, + multiplied by excessive imagination, to illustrate the manner in which + "certain accepted opinions" established "a sort of Reign of Terror in + their own behalf" (p. 307). + </p> + <p> + The truth is that no plea, except that of total ignorance of the + literature of the subject, can excuse the errors cited, and that the + "Reign of Terror" is a purely subjective phenomenon. + </p> + <p> + (4) The letter in "Nature" for the 17th of November, 1887, to which I am + referred, contains neither substantiation, nor retractation, of statements + 1 and 2. Nevertheless, it repeats number 3. The Duke of Argyll says of his + article that it "has done what I intended it to do. It has called wide + attention to the influence of mere authority in establishing erroneous + theories and in retarding the progress of scientific truth." + </p> + <p> + (5) The Duke of Argyll illustrates the influence of his fictitious "Reign + of Terror" by the statement that Mr. John Murray "was strongly advised + against the publication of his views in derogation of Darwin's + long-accepted theory of the coral islands, and was actually induced to + delay it for two years" (p.307). And in "Nature" for the 17th November, + 1887, the Duke of Argyll states that he has seen a letter from Sir Wyville + Thomson in which he "urged and almost insisted that Mr. Murray should + withdraw the reading of his papers on the subject from the Royal Society + of Edinburgh. This was in February, 1877." The next paragraph, however, + contains the confession: "No special reason was assigned." The Duke of + Argyll proceeds to give a speculative opinion that "Sir Wyville dreaded + some injury to the scientific reputation of the body of which he was the + chief." Truly, a very probable supposition; but as Sir Wyville Thomson's + tendencies were notoriously anti-Darwinian, it does not appear to me to + lend the slightest justification to the Duke of Argyll's insinuation that + the Darwinian "terror" influenced him. However, the question was finally + set at rest by a letter which appeared in "Nature" (29th of December, + 1887), in which the writer says that: + </p> + <p> + "talking with Sir Wyville about 'Murray's new theory,' I asked what + objection he had to its being brought before the public? The answer simply + was: he considered that the grounds of the theory had not, as yet, been + sufficiently investigated or sufficiently corroborated, and that therefore + any immature dogmatic publication of it would do less than little service + either to science or to the author of the paper." + </p> + <p> + Sir Wyville Thomson was an intimate friend of mine, and I am glad to have + been afforded one more opportunity of clearing his character from the + aspersions which have been so recklessly cast upon his good sense and his + scientific honour. + </p> + <p> + (6) As to the "overthrow" of Darwin's theory, which, according to the Duke + of Argyll, was patent to every unprejudiced person four years ago, I have + recently become acquainted with a work, in which a really competent + authority, <a href="#linknote-14" name="linknoteref-14" id="linknoteref-14"><small>14</small></a> + thoroughly acquainted with all the new lights which have been thrown upon + the subject during the last ten years, pronounces the judgment; firstly, + that some of the facts brought forward by Messrs. Murray and Guppy against + Darwin's theory are not facts; secondly, that the others are reconcilable + with Darwin's theory; and, thirdly, that the theories of Messrs. Murray + and Guppy "are contradicted by a series of important facts" (p. 13). + </p> + <p> + Perhaps I had better draw attention to the circumstance that Dr. + Langenbeck writes under shelter of the guns of the fortress of Strasburg; + and may therefore be presumed to be unaffected by those dreams of a "Reign + of Terror" which seem to disturb the peace of some of us in these islands + (April, 1891). + </p> + <p> + [See, on the subject of this note, the essay entitled "An Episcopal + Trilogy" in the following volume.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_FOOT" id="link2H_FOOT"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + FOOTNOTES: + </h2> + <p> + <a name="linknote-1" id="linknote-1"> + <!-- Note --></a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 1 (<a href="#linknoteref-1">return</a>)<br /> [ In May 1849 the Tigris at + Bagdad rose 22-1/2 feet—5 feet above its usual rise—and nearly + swept away the town. In 1831 a similarly exceptional flood did immense + damage, destroying 7000 houses. See Loftus, <i>Chaldea and Susiana,</i> p. + 7.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="linknote-2" id="linknote-2"> + <!-- Note --></a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 2 (<a href="#linknoteref-2">return</a>)<br /> [ See the instructive chapter + on Hasisadra's flood in Suess, <i>Das Antlitz der Erde,</i> Abth. I. Only + fifteen years ago a cyclone in the Bay of Bengal gave rise to a flood + which covered 3000 square miles of the delta of the Ganges, 3 to 45 feet + deep, destroying 100,000 people, innumerable cattle, houses, and trees. It + broke inland on the rising ground of Tipperah, and may have swept a vessel + from the sea that far, though I do not know that it did.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="linknote-3" id="linknote-3"> + <!-- Note --></a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 3 (<a href="#linknoteref-3">return</a>)<br /> [ See Cernik's maps in <i>Petermanns + Mittheilungen,</i> Erganzungashefte 44 and 45, 1875-76.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="linknote-4" id="linknote-4"> + <!-- Note --></a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 4 (<a href="#linknoteref-4">return</a>)<br /> [ I have not cited the + dimensions given to the ships in most translations of the story, because + there appears to be a doubt about them. Haupt (<i>Keilinschriftliche + Sindfluth-Bericht,</i> p. 13: says that the figures are illegible.)] + </p> + <p> + <a name="linknote-5" id="linknote-5"> + <!-- Note --></a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 5 (<a href="#linknoteref-5">return</a>)<br /> [ It is probable that a slow + movement of elevation of the land at one time contributed to the result—perhaps + does so still.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="linknote-6" id="linknote-6"> + <!-- Note --></a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 6 (<a href="#linknoteref-6">return</a>)<br /> [ At a comparatively recent + period, the littoral margin of the Persian Gulf extended certainly 250 + miles farther to the northwest than the present embouchure of the Shatt-el + Arab. (Loftus, <i>Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society,</i> 1853, + p. 251.) The actual extent of the marine deposit inland cannot be defined, + as it is covered by later fluviatile deposits.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="linknote-7" id="linknote-7"> + <!-- Note --></a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 7 (<a href="#linknoteref-7">return</a>)<br /> [ Tiele (<i>Babylonisch-Assyrische + Geschicthe,</i> pp. 572-3) has some very just remarks on this aspect of + the epos.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="linknote-8" id="linknote-8"> + <!-- Note --></a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 8 (<a href="#linknoteref-8">return</a>)<br /> [ In the second volume of the + <i>History of the Euphrates,</i> p. 637 Col. Chesney gives a very + interesting account of the simple and rapid manner in which the people + about Tekrit and in the marshes of Lemlum construct large barges, and make + them water-tight with bitumen. Doubtless the practice is extremely ancient + and as Colonel Chesney suggests, may possibly have furnished the + conception of Noah's ark. But it is one thing to build a barge 44ft. long + by 11ft. wide and 4ft. deep in the way described; and another to get a + vessel of ten times the dimensions, so constructed, to hold together.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="linknote-9" id="linknote-9"> + <!-- Note --></a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 9 (<a href="#linknoteref-9">return</a>)<br /> [ "Es ist nichts + schrecklicher als eine thatige Unwissenheit," <i>Maximen und Reflexionen,</i> + iii.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="linknote-10" id="linknote-10"> + <!-- Note --></a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 10 (<a href="#linknoteref-10">return</a>)<br /> [ The well-known + difficulties connected with this case have recently been carefully + discussed by Mr. Bell in the <i>Transactions</i> of the Geological Society + of Glasgow.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="linknote-11" id="linknote-11"> + <!-- Note --></a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 11 (<a href="#linknoteref-11">return</a>)<br /> [ An instructive parallel + is exhibited by the "Great Basin" of North America. See the remarkable + memoir on <i>Lake Bonneville</i> by Mr. G. K. Gilbert, of the United + States Geological Survey, just published.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="linknote-12" id="linknote-12"> + <!-- Note --></a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 12 (<a href="#linknoteref-12">return</a>)<br /> [ It is true that + earthquakes are common enough, but they are incompetent to produce such + changes as those which have taken place.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="linknote-13" id="linknote-13"> + <!-- Note --></a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 13 (<a href="#linknoteref-13">return</a>)<br /> [ See Teller, <i>Geologische + Beschreibung des sud-ostlichen Thessalien;</i> Denkschriften d. Akademie + der Wissenschaften, Wien, Bd. xl. p. 199.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="linknote-14" id="linknote-14"> + <!-- Note --></a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 14 (<a href="#linknoteref-14">return</a>)<br /> [ Dr. Langenbeck, <i>Die + Theorien uber die Entstehung der Korallen-Inseln und Korallen-Riffe</i> + (p. 13), 1890.] + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <table summary="" border="3" cellpadding="4"> + <tbody> + <tr> + <td> + <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2634/2634-h/2634-h.htm">Next + Volume</a> + </td> + </tr> + </tbody> + </table> + <p> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Hasisadra's Adventure, by Thomas Henry Huxley + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HASISADRA'S ADVENTURE *** + +***** This file should be named 2633-h.htm or 2633-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/6/3/2633/ + +Produced by D. R. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Hasisadra's Adventure + Essay #7 from "Science and Hebrew Tradition" + +Author: Thomas Henry Huxley + +Posting Date: December 3, 2008 [EBook #2633] +Release Date: May, 2001 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HASISADRA'S ADVENTURE *** + + + + +Produced by D. R. Thompson + + + + + +HASISADRA'S ADVENTURE + +ESSAY #7 FROM "SCIENCE AND HEBREW TRADITION" + + +By Thomas Henry Huxley + + + +Some thousands of years ago there was a city in Mesopotamia called +Surippak. One night a strange dream came to a dweller therein, whose +name, if rightly reported, was Hasisadra. The dream foretold the speedy +coming of a great flood; and it warned Hasisadra to lose no time in +building a ship, in which, when notice was given, he, his family and +friends, with their domestic animals and a collection of wild creatures +and seed of plants of the land, might take refuge and be rescued from +destruction. Hasisadra awoke, and at once acted upon the warning. A +strong decked ship was built, and her sides were paid, inside and out, +with the mineral pitch, or bitumen, with which the country abounded; +the vessel's seaworthiness was tested, the cargo was stowed away, and a +trusty pilot or steersman appointed. + +The promised signal arrived. Wife and friends embarked; Hasisadra, +following, prudently "shut the door," or, as we should say, put on the +hatches; and Nes-Hea, the pilot, was left alone on deck to do his +best for the ship. Thereupon a hurricane began to rage; rain fell in +torrents; the subterranean waters burst forth; a deluge swept over +the land, and the wind lashed it into waves sky high; heaven and earth +became mingled in chaotic gloom. For six days and seven nights the gale +raged, but the good ship held out until, on the seventh day, the storm +lulled. Hasisadra ventured on deck; and, seeing nothing but a waste +of waters strewed with floating corpses and wreck, wept over the +destruction of his land and people. Far away, the mountains of Nizir +were visible; the ship was steered for them and ran aground upon the +higher land. Yet another seven days passed by. On the seventh, Hasisadra +sent forth a dove, which found no resting place and returned; then he +liberated a swallow, which also came back; finally, a raven was let +loose, and that sagacious bird, when it found that the water had abated, +came near the ship, but refused to return to it. Upon this, Hasisadra +liberated the rest of the wild animals, which immediately dispersed +in all directions, while he, with his family and friends, ascending a +mountain hard by, offered sacrifice upon its summit to the gods. + +The story thus given in summary abstract, told in an ancient Semitic +dialect, is inscribed in cuneiform characters upon a tablet of burnt +clay. Many thousands of such tablets, collected by Assurbanipal, King +of Assyria in the middle of the seventh century B.C., were stored in +the library of his palace at Nineveh; and, though in a sadly broken +and mutilated condition, they have yielded a marvellous amount of +information to the patient and sagacious labour which modern scholars +have bestowed upon them. Among the multitude of documents of various +kinds, this narrative of Hasisadra's adventure has been found in a +tolerably complete state. But Assyriologists agree that it is only a +copy of a much more ancient work; and there are weighty reasons +for believing that the story of Hasisadra's flood was well known in +Mesopotamia before the year 2000 B.C. + +No doubt, then, we are in presence of a narrative which has all +the authority which antiquity can confer; and it is proper to deal +respectfully with it, even though it is quite as proper, and indeed +necessary, to act no less respectfully towards ourselves; and, before +professing to put implicit faith in it, to inquire what claim it has to +be regarded as a serious account of an historical event. + +It is of no use to appeal to contemporary history, although the annals +of Babylonia, no less than those of Egypt, go much further back than +2000 B.C. All that can be said is, that the former are hardly consistent +with the supposition that any catastrophe, competent to destroy all the +population, has befallen the land since civilisation began, and that +the latter are notoriously silent about deluges. In such a case as this, +however, the silence of history does not leave the inquirer wholly at +fault. Natural science has something to say when the phenomena of nature +are in question. Natural science may be able to show, from the nature of +the country, either that such an event as that described in the story +is impossible, or at any rate highly improbable; or, on the other hand, +that it is consonant with probability. In the former case, the narrative +must be suspected or rejected; in the latter, no such summary verdict +can be given: on the contrary, it must be admitted that the story may be +true. And then, if certain strangely prevalent canons of criticism are +accepted, and if the evidence that an event might have happened is to be +accepted as proof that it did happen, Assyriologists will be at liberty +to congratulate one another on the "confirmation by modern science" of +the authority of their ancient books. + +It will be interesting, therefore, to inquire how far the physical +structure and the other conditions of the region in which Surippak +was situated are compatible with such a flood as is described in the +Assyrian record. + +The scene of Hasisadra's adventure is laid in the broad valley, six or +seven hundred miles long, and hardly anywhere less than a hundred +miles in width, which is traversed by the lower courses of the rivers +Euphrates and Tigris, and which is commonly known as the "Euphrates +valley." Rising, at the one end, into a hill country, which gradually +passes into the Alpine heights of Armenia; and, at the other, dipping +beneath the shallow waters of the head of the Persian Gulf, which +continues in the same direction, from north-west to south-east, for some +eight hundred miles farther, the floor of the valley presents a gradual +slope, from eight hundred feet above the sea level to the depths of the +southern end of the Persian Gulf. The boundary between sea and land, +formed by the extremest mudflats of the delta of the two rivers, is +but vaguely defined; and, year by year, it advances seaward. On the +north-eastern side, the western frontier ranges of Persia rise abruptly +to great heights; on the south-western side, a more gradual ascent leads +to a table-land of less elevation, which, very broad in the south, where +it is occupied by the deserts of Arabia and of Southern Syria, narrows, +northwards, into the highlands of Palestine, and is continued by +the ranges of the Lebanon, the Antilebanon, and the Taurus, into the +highlands of Armenia. + +The wide and gently inclined plain, thus inclosed between the gulf +and the highlands, on each side and at its upper extremity, is +distinguishable into two regions of very different character, one of +which lies north, and the other south of the parallel of Hit, on the +Euphrates. Except in the immediate vicinity of the river, the northern +division is stony and scantily covered with vegetation, except in +spring. Over the southern division, on the contrary, spreads a deep +alluvial soil, in which even a pebble is rare; and which, though, under +the existing misrule, mainly a waste of marsh and wilderness, needs +only intelligent attention to become, as it was of old, the granary of +western Asia. Except in the extreme south, the rainfall is small and +the air dry. The heat in summer is intense, while bitterly cold northern +blasts sweep the plain in winter. Whirlwinds are not uncommon; and, in +the intervals of the periodical inundations, the fine, dry, powdery +soil is swept, even by moderate breezes, into stifling clouds, or rather +fogs, of dust. Low inequalities, elevations here and depressions there, +diversify the surface of the alluvial region. The latter are occupied +by enormous marshes, while the former support the permanent dwellings of +the present scanty and miserable population. + +In antiquity, so long as the canalisation of the country was properly +carried out, the fertility of the alluvial plain enabled great and +prosperous nations to have their home in the Euphrates valley. Its +abundant clay furnished the materials for the masses of sun-dried and +burnt bricks, the remains of which, in the shape of huge artificial +mounds, still testify to both the magnitude and the industry of the +population, thousands of years ago. Good cement is plentiful, while +the bitumen, which wells from the rocks at Hit and elsewhere, not +only answers the same purpose, but is used to this day, as it was in +Hasisadra's time, to pay the inside and the outside of boats. + +In the broad lower course of the Euphrates, the stream rarely acquires +a velocity of more than three miles an hour, while the lower Tigris +attains double that rate in times of flood. The water of both great +rivers is mainly derived from the northern and eastern highlands in +Armenia and in Kurdistan, and stands at its lowest level in early autumn +and in January. But when the snows accumulated in the upper basins of +the great rivers, during the winter, melt under the hot sunshine of +spring, they rapidly rise, [1] and at length overflow their banks, +covering the alluvial plain with a vast inland sea, interrupted only +by the higher ridges and hummocks which form islands in a seemingly +boundless expanse of water. + +In the occurrence of these annual inundations lies one of several +resemblances between the valley of the Euphrates and that of the Nile. +But there are important differences. The time of the annual flood is +reversed, the Nile being highest in autumn and winter, and lowest in +spring and early summer. The periodical overflows of the Nile, regulated +by the great lake basins in the south, are usually punctual in arrival, +gradual in growth, and beneficial in operation. No lakes are interposed +between the mountain torrents of the upper basis of the Tigris and the +Euphrates and their lower courses. Hence, heavy rain, or an unusually +rapid thaw in the uplands, gives rise to the sudden irruption of a vast +volume of water which not even the rapid Tigris, still less its more +sluggish companion, can carry off in time to prevent violent and +dangerous overflows. Without an elaborate system of canalisation, +providing an escape for such sudden excesses of the supply of water, +the annual floods of the Euphrates, and especially of the Tigris, must +always be attended with risk, and often prove harmful. + +There are other peculiarities of the Euphrates valley which may +occasionally tend to exacerbate the evils attendant on the inundations. +It is very subject to seismic disturbances; and the ordinary +consequences of a sharp earthquake shock might be seriously complicated +by its effect on a broad sheet of water. Moreover the Indian Ocean lies +within the region of typhoons; and if, at the height of an inundation, +a hurricane from the south-east swept up the Persian Gulf, driving its +shallow waters upon the delta and damming back the outflow, perhaps for +hundreds of miles up-stream, a diluvial catastrophe, fairly up to the +mark of Hasisadra's, might easily result. [2] + +Thus there seems to be no valid reason for rejecting Hasisadra's +story on physical grounds. I do not gather from the narrative that the +"mountains of Nizir" were supposed to be submerged, but merely that they +came into view above the distant horizon of the waters, as the vessel +drove in that direction. Certainly the ship is not supposed to ground on +any of their higher summits, for Hasisadra has to ascend a peak in order +to offer his sacrifice. The country of Nizir lay on the north-eastern +side of the Euphrates valley, about the courses of the two rivers Zab, +which enter the Tigris where it traverses the plain of Assyria some +eight or nine hundred feet above the sea; and, so far as I can judge +from maps [3] and other sources of information, it is possible, under +the circumstances supposed, that such a ship as Hasisadra's might drive +before a southerly gale, over a continuously flooded country, until it +grounded on some of the low hills between which both the lower and the +upper Zab enter upon the Assyrian plain. + +The tablet which contains the story under consideration is the eleventh +of a series of twelve. Each of these answers to a month, and to the +corresponding sign of the Zodiac. The Assyrian year began with the +spring equinox; consequently, the eleventh month, called "the rainy," +answers to our January-February, and to the sign which corresponds with +our Aquarius. The aquatic adventure of Hasisadra, therefore, is not +inappropriately placed. It is curious, however, that the season thus +indirectly assigned to the flood is not that of the present highest +level of the rivers. It is too late for the winter rise and too early +for the spring floods. + +I think it must be admitted that, so far, the physical cross-examination +to which Hasisadra has been subjected does not break down his story. On +the contrary, he proves to have kept it in all essential respects [4] +within the bounds of probability or possibility. However, we have not +yet done with him. For the conditions which obtained in the Euphrates +valley, four or five thousand years ago, may have differed to such an +extent from those which now exist that we should be able to convict him +of having made up his tale. But here again everything is in favour of +his credibility. Indeed, he may claim very powerful support, for it +does not lie in the mouths of those who accept the authority of the +Pentateuch to deny that the Euphrates valley was what it is, even +six thousand years back. According to the book of Genesis, Phrat and +Hiddekel--the Euphrates and the Tigris--are coeval with Paradise. An +edition of the Scriptures, recently published under high authority, +with an elaborate apparatus of "Helps" for the use of students--and +therefore, as I am bound to suppose, purged of all statements that could +by any possibility mislead the young--assigns the year B.C. 4004 as the +date of Adam's too brief residence in that locality. + +But I am far from depending on this authority for the age of the +Mesopotamian plain. On the contrary, I venture to rely, with much more +confidence, on another kind of evidence, which tends to show that the +age of the great rivers must be carried back to a date earlier than +that at which our ingenuous youth is instructed that the earth came into +existence. For, the alluvial deposit having been brought down by the +rivers, they must needs be older than the plain it forms, as navvies +must needs antecede the embankment painfully built up by the contents of +their wheel-barrows. For thousands of years, heat and cold, rain, snow, +and frost, the scrubbing of glaciers, and the scouring of torrents laden +with sand and gravel, have been wearing down the rocks of the upper +basins of the rivers, over an area of many thousand square miles; and +these materials, ground to fine powder in the course of their long +journey, have slowly subsided, as the water which carried them spread +out and lost its velocity in the sea. It is because this process is +still going on that the shore of the delta constantly encroaches on the +head of the gulf [5] into which the two rivers are constantly throwing +the waste of Armenia and of Kurdistan. Hence, as might be expected, +fluviatile and marine shells are common in the alluvial deposit; and +Loftus found strata, containing subfossil marine shells of species now +living, in the Persian Gulf, at Warka, two hundred miles in a straight +line from the shore of the delta. [6] It follows that, if a trustworthy +estimate of the average rate of growth of the alluvial can be formed, +the lowest limit (by no means the highest limit) of age of the rivers +can be determined. All such estimates are beset with sources of error +of very various kinds; and the best of them can only be regarded as +approximations to the truth. But I think it will be quite safe to assume +a maximum rate of growth of four miles in a century for the lower half +of the alluvial plain. + +Now, the cycle of narratives of which Hasisadra's adventure forms a part +contains allusions not only to Surippak, the exact position of which +is doubtful, but to other cities, such as Erech. The vast ruins at the +present village of Warka have been carefully explored and determined to +be all that remains of that once great and flourishing city, "Erech the +lofty." Supposing that the two hundred miles of alluvial country, which +separates them from the head of the Persian Gulf at present, have been +deposited at the very high rate of four miles in a century, it will +follow that 4000 years ago, or about the year 2100 B.C., the city of +Erech still lay forty miles inland. Indeed, the city might have been +built a thousand years earlier. Moreover, there is plenty of independent +archaeological and other evidence that in the whole thousand years, +2000 to 3000 B.C, the alluvial plain was inhabited by a numerous +people, among whom industry, art, and literature had attained a +very considerable development. And it can be shown that the physical +conditions and the climate of the Euphrates valley, at that time, must +have been extremely similar to what they are now. + +Thus, once more, we reach the conclusion that, as a question of +physical probability, there is no ground for objecting to the reality +of Hasisadra's adventure. It would be unreasonable to doubt that such a +flood might have happened, and that such a person might have escaped +in the way described, any time during the last 5000 years. And if the +postulate of loose thinkers in search of scientific "confirmations" +of questionable narratives--proof that an event may have happened is +evidence that it did happen--is to be accepted, surely Hasisadra's story +is "confirmed by modern scientific investigation" beyond all cavil. +However, it may be well to pause before adopting this conclusion, +because the original story, of which I have set forth only the broad +outlines, contains a great many statements which rest upon just the +same foundation as those cited, and yet are hardly likely to meet with +general acceptance. The account of the circumstances which led up to the +flood, of those under which Hasisadra's adventure was made known to his +descendant, of certain remarkable incidents before and after the flood, +are inseparably bound up with the details already given. And I am unable +to discover any justification for arbitrarily picking out some of +these and dubbing them historical verities, while rejecting the rest as +legendary fictions. They stand or fall together. + +Before proceeding to the consideration of these less satisfactory +details, it is needful to remark that Hasisadra's adventure is a mere +episode in a cycle of stories of which a personage, whose name is +provisionally read "Izdubar," is the centre. The nature of Izdubar +hovers vaguely between the heroic and the divine; sometimes he seems a +mere man, sometimes approaches so closely to the divinities of fire and +of the sun as to be hardly distinguishable from them. As I have already +mentioned, the tablet which sets forth Hasisadra's perils is one of +twelve; and, since each of these represents a month and bears a story +appropriate to the corresponding sign of the Zodiac, great weight must +be attached to Sir Henry Rawlinson's suggestion that the epos of Izdubar +is a poetical embodiment of solar mythology. + +In the earlier books of the epos, the hero, not content with rejecting +the proffered love of the Chaldaean Aphrodite, Istar, freely expresses +his very low estimate of her character; and it is interesting to observe +that, even in this early stage of human experience, men had reached +a conception of that law of nature which expresses the inevitable +consequences of an imperfect appreciation of feminine charms. The +injured goddess makes Izdubar's life a burden to him, until at last, +sick in body and sorry in mind, he is driven to seek aid and comfort +from his forbears in the world of spirits. So this antitype of Odysseus +journeys to the shore of the waters of death, and there takes ship +with a Chaldaean Charon, who carries him within hail of his ancestor +Hasisadra. That venerable personage not only gives Izdubar instructions +how to regain his health, but tells him, somewhat _a propos des bottes_ +(after the manner of venerable personages), the long story of his +perilous adventure; and how it befell that he, his wife, and his +steersman came to dwell among the blessed gods, without passing through +the portals of death like ordinary mortals. + +According to the full story, the sins of mankind had become grievous; +and, at a council of the gods, it was resolved to extirpate the whole +race by a great flood. And, once more, let us note the uniformity of +human experience. It would appear that, four thousand years ago, the +obligations of confidential intercourse about matters of state were +sometimes violated--of course from the best of motives. Ea, one of +the three chiefs of the Chaldaean Pantheon, the god of justice and of +practical wisdom, was also the god of the sea; and, yielding to the +temptation to do a friend a good turn, irresistible to kindly seafaring +folks of all ranks, he warned Hasisadra of what was coming. When Bel +subsequently reproached him for this breach of confidence, Ea defended +himself by declaring that he did not tell Hasisadra anything; he only +sent him a dream. This was undoubtedly sailing very near the wind; but +the attribution of a little benevolent obliquity of conduct to one of +the highest of the gods is a trifle compared with the truly Homeric +anthropomorphism which characterises other parts of the epos. + +The Chaldaean deities are, in truth, extremely human; and, occasionally, +the narrator does not scruple to represent them in a manner which is +not only inconsistent with our idea of reverence, but is sometimes +distinctly humorous. [7] When the storm is at its height, he exhibits +them flying in a state of panic to Anu, the god of heaven, and crouching +before his portal like frightened dogs. As the smoke of Hasisadra's +sacrifice arises, the gods, attracted by the sweet savour, are compared +to swarms of flies. I have already remarked that the lady Istar's +reputation is torn to shreds; while she and Ea scold Bel handsomely for +his ferocity and injustice in destroying the innocent along with +the guilty. One is reminded of Here hung up with weighted heels; of +misleading dreams sent by Zeus; of Ares howling as he flies from the +Trojan battlefield; and of the very questionable dealings of Aphrodite +with Helen and Paris. + +But to return to the story. Bel was, at first, excluded from the +sacrifice as the author of all the mischief; which really was somewhat +hard upon him, since the other gods agreed to his proposal. But +eventually a reconciliation takes place; the great bow of Anu is +displayed in the heavens; Bel agrees that he will be satisfied with what +war, pestilence, famine, and wild beasts can do in the way of destroying +men; and that, henceforward, he will not have recourse to extraordinary +measures. Finally, it is Bel himself who, by way of making amends, +transports Hasisadra, his wife, and the faithful Nes-Hea to the abode of +the gods. + +It is as indubitable as it is incomprehensible to most of us, that, for +thousands of years, a great people, quite as intelligent as we are, +and living in as high a state of civilisation as that which had been +attained in the greater part of Europe a few centuries ago, entertained +not the slightest doubt that Anu, Bel, Ea, Istar, and the rest, were +real personages, possessed of boundless powers for good and evil. The +sincerity of the monarchs whose inscriptions gratefully attribute their +victories to Merodach, or to Assur, is as little to be questioned as +that of the authors of the hymns and penitential psalms which give full +expression to the heights and depths of religious devotion. An "infidel" +bold enough to deny the existence, or to doubt the influence, of these +deities probably did not exist in all Mesopotamia; and even constructive +rebellion against their authority was apt to end in the deprivation, not +merely of the good name, but of the skin of the offender. The adherents +of modern theological systems dismiss these objects of the love and +fear of a hundred generations of their equals, offhand, as "gods of the +heathen," mere creations of a wicked and idolatrous imagination; and, +along with them, they disown, as senseless, the crude theology, with its +gross anthropomorphism and its low ethical conception of the divinity, +which satisfied the pious souls of Chaldaea. + +I imagine, though I do not presume to be sure, that any endeavour +to save the intellectual and moral credit of Chaldaean religion, +by suggesting the application to it of that universal solvent of +absurdities, the allegorical method, would be scouted; I will not +even suggest that any ingenuity can be equal to the discovery of the +antitypes of the personifications effected by the religious imagination +of later ages, in the triad Anu, Ea, and Bel, still less in Istar. +Therefore, unless some plausible reconciliatory scheme should be +propounded by a Neo-Chaldaean devotee (and, with Neo-Buddhists to +the fore, this supposition is not so wild as it looks), I suppose the +moderns will continue to smile, in a superior way, at the grievous +absurdity of the polytheistic idolatry of these ancient people. + +It is probably a congenital absence of some faculty which I ought to +possess which withholds me from adopting this summary procedure. But I +am not ashamed to share David Hume's want of ability to discover +that polytheism is, in itself, altogether absurd. If we are bound, or +permitted, to judge the government of the world by human standards, it +appears to me that directorates are proved, by familiar experience, to +conduct the largest and the most complicated concerns quite as well as +solitary despots. I have never been able to see why the hypothesis of +a divine syndicate should be found guilty of innate absurdity. Those +Assyrians, in particular, who held Assur to be the one supreme and +creative deity, to whom all the other supernal powers were subordinate, +might fairly ask that the essential difference between their system and +that which obtains among the great majority of their modern theological +critics should be demonstrated. In my apprehension, it is not the +quantity, but the quality, of the persons, among whom the attributes +of divinity are distributed, which is the serious matter. If the divine +might is associated with no higher ethical attributes than those which +obtain among ordinary men; if the divine intelligence is supposed to +be so imperfect that it cannot foresee the consequences of its own +contrivances; if the supernal powers can become furiously angry with the +creatures of their omnipotence and, in their senseless wrath, destroy +the innocent along with the guilty; or if they can show themselves to +be as easily placated by presents and gross flattery as any oriental or +occidental despot; if, in short, they are only stronger than mortal +men and no better, as it must be admitted Hasisadra's deities proved +themselves to be--then, surely, it is time for us to look somewhat +closely into their credentials, and to accept none but conclusive +evidence of their existence. + +To the majority of my respected contemporaries this reasoning will +doubtless appear feeble, if not worse. However, to my mind, such are +the only arguments by which the Chaldaean theology can be satisfactorily +upset. So far from there being any ground for the belief that Ea, +Anu, and Bel are, or ever were, real entities, it seems to me quite +infinitely more probable that they are products of the religious +imagination, such as are to be found everywhere and in all ages, so long +as that imagination riots uncontrolled by scientific criticism. + +It is on these grounds that I venture, at the risk of being called +an atheist by the ghosts of all the principals of all the colleges of +Babylonia, or by their living successors among the Neo-Chaldaeans, if +that sect should arise, to express my utter disbelief in the gods of +Hasisadra. Hence, it follows, that I find Hasisadra's account of their +share in his adventure incredible; and, as the physical details of +the flood are inseparable from its theophanic accompaniments, and are +guaranteed by the same authority, I must let them go with the rest. The +consistency of such details with probability counts for nothing. The +inhabitants of Chaldaea must always have been familiar with inundations; +probably no generation failed to witness an inundation which rose +unusually high, or was rendered serious by coincident atmospheric +or other disturbances. And the memory of the general features of any +exceptionally severe and devastating flood, would be preserved by +popular tradition for long ages. What, then, could be more natural +than that a Chaldaean poet should seek for the incidents of a great +catastrophe among such phenomena? In what other way than by such an +appeal to their experience could he so surely awaken in his audience the +tragic pity and terror? What possible ground is there for insisting that +he must have had some individual good in view, and that his history is +historical, in the sense that the account of the effects of a hurricane +in the Bay of Bengal, in the year 1875, is historical? + + +More than three centuries after the time of Assurbanipal, Berosus of +Babylon, born in the reign of Alexander the Great, wrote an account of +the history of his country in Greek. The work of Berosus has vanished; +but extracts from it--how far faithful is uncertain--have been preserved +by later writers. Among these occurs the well-known story of the Deluge +of Xisuthros, which is evidently built upon the same foundation as that +of Hasisadra. The incidents of the divine warning, the building of the +ship, the sending out of birds, the ascension of the hero, betray their +common origin. But stories, like Madeira, acquire a heightened flavour +with time and travel; and the version of Berosus is characterised by +those circumstantial improbabilities which habitually gather round the +legend of a legend. The later narrator knows the exact day of the month +on which the flood began. The dimensions of the ship are stated with +Munchausenian precision at five stadia by two--say, half by one-fifth of +an English mile. The ship runs aground among the "Gordaean mountains" to +the south of Lake Van, in Armenia, beyond the limits of any imaginable +real inundation of the Euphrates valley; and, by way of climax, we have +the assertion, worthy of the sailor who said that he had brought up one +of Pharaoh's chariot wheels on the fluke of his anchor in the Red Sea, +that pilgrims visited the locality and made amulets of the bitumen which +they scraped off from the still extant remains of the mighty ship of +Xisuthros. + +Suppose that some later polyhistor, as devoid of critical faculty as +most of his tribe, had found the version of Berosus, as well as another +much nearer the original story; that, having too much respect for his +authorities to make up a _tertium quid_ of his own, out of the materials +offered, he followed a practice, common enough among ancient and, +particularly, among Semitic historians, of dividing, both into fragments +and piecing these together, without troubling himself very much about +those resulting repetitions and inconsistencies; the product of such +a primitive editorial operation would be a narrative analogous to that +which treats of the Noachian deluge in the book of Genesis. For the +Pentateuchal story is indubitably a patchwork, composed of fragments +of at least two, different and partly discrepant, narratives, +quilted together in such an inartistic fashion that the seams remain +conspicuous. And, in the matter of circumstantial exaggeration, it in +some respects excels even the second-hand legend of Berosus. + +There is a certain practicality about the notion of taking refuge from +floods and storms in a ship provided with a steersman; but, surely, no +one who had ever seen more water than he could wade through would dream +of facing even a moderate breeze, in a huge three-storied coffer, or +box, three hundred cubits long, fifty wide and thirty high, left to +drift without rudder or pilot. [8] Not content with giving the exact +year of Noah's age in which the flood began, the Pentateuchal story adds +the month and the day of the month. It is the Deity himself who "shuts +in" Noah. The modest week assigned to the full deluge in Hasisadra's +story becomes forty days, in one of the Pentateuchal accounts, and a +hundred and fifty in the other. The flood, which, in the version of +Berosus, has grown so high as to cast the ship among the mountains of +Armenia, is improved upon in the Hebrew account until it covers "all +the high hills that were under the whole heaven"; and, when it begins +to subside, the ark is left stranded on the summit of the highest peak, +commonly identified with Ararat itself. + +While the details of Hasisadra's adventure are, at least, compatible +with the physical conditions of the Euphrates valley, and, as we have +seen, involve no catastrophe greater than such as might be brought under +those conditions, many of the very precisely stated details of Noah's +flood contradict some of the best established results of scientific +inquiry. + +If it is certain that the alluvium of the Mesopotamian plain has been +brought down by the Tigris and the Euphrates, then it is no less certain +that the physical structure of the whole valley has persisted, without +material modification, for many thousand years before the date assigned +to the flood. If the summits, even of the moderately elevated ridges +which immediately bound the valley, still more those of the Kurdish and +Armenian mountains, were ever covered by water, for even forty days, +that water must have extended over the whole earth. If the earth was +thus covered, anywhere between 4000 and 5000 years ago, or, at any other +time, since the higher terrestrial animals came into existence, they +must have been destroyed from the whole face of it, as the Pentateuchal +account declares they were three several times (Genesis vii. 21, 22, +23), in language which cannot be made more emphatic, or more solemn, +than it is; and the present population must consist of the descendants +of emigrants from the ark. And, if that is the case, then, as has often +been pointed out, the sloths of the Brazilian forests, the kangaroos +of Australia, the great tortoises of the Galapagos islands, must have +respectively hobbled, hopped, and crawled over many thousand miles +of land and sea from "Ararat" to their present habitations. Thus, the +unquestionable facts of the geographical distribution of recent land +animals, alone, form an insuperable obstacle to the acceptance of the +assertion that the kinds of animals composing the present terrestrial +fauna have been, at any time, universally destroyed in the way described +in the Pentateuch. + +It is upon this and other unimpeachable grounds that, as I ventured +to say some time ago, persons who are duly conversant with even +the elements of natural science decline to take the Noachian deluge +seriously; and that, as I also pointed out, candid theologians, who, +without special scientific knowledge, have appreciated the weight of +scientific arguments, have long since given it up. But, as Goethe has +remarked, there is nothing more terrible than energetic ignorance; [9] +and there are, even yet, very energetic people, who are neither candid, +nor clear-headed, nor theologians, still less properly instructed in the +elements of natural science, who make prodigious efforts to obscure the +effect of these plain truths, and to conceal their real surrender of +the historical character of Noah's deluge under cover of the smoke of a +great discharge of pseudoscientific artillery. They seem to imagine that +the proofs which abound in all parts of the world, of large oscillations +of the relative level of land and sea, combined with the probability +that, when the sea-level was rising, sudden incursions of the sea like +that which broke in over Holland and formed the Zuyder Zee, may have +often occurred, can be made to look like evidence that something that, +by courtesy, might be called a general Deluge has really taken place. +Their discursive energy drags misunderstood truth into their service; +and "the glacial epoch" is as sure to crop up among them as King +Charles's head in a famous memorial--with about as much appropriateness. +The old story of the raised beach on Moel Tryfaen is trotted out; +though, even if the facts are as yet rightly interpreted, there is not +a shadow of evidence that the change of sea-level in that locality was +sudden, or that glacial Welshmen would have known it was taking place. +[10] Surely it is difficult to perceive the relevancy of bringing in +something that happened in the glacial epoch (if it did happen) to +account for the tradition of a flood in the Euphrates valley between +2000 and 3000 B.C. But the date of the Noachian flood is solidly fixed +by the sole authority for it; no shuffling of the chronological data +will carry it so far back as 3000 B.C.; and the Hebrew epos agrees with +the Chaldaean in placing it after the development of a somewhat advanced +civilisation. The only authority for the Noachian deluge assures us +that, before it visited the earth, Cain had built cities; Jubal had +invented harps and organs; while mankind had advanced so far beyond the +neolithic, nay even the bronze, stage that Tubal-cain was a worker in +iron. Therefore, if the Noachian legend is to be taken for the history +of an event which happened in the glacial epoch, we must revise +our notions of pleistocene civilisation. On the other hand, if the +Pentateuchal story only means something quite different, that happened +somewhere else, thousands of years earlier, dressed up, what becomes of +its credit as history? I wonder what would be said to a modern historian +who asserted that Pekin was burnt down in 1886, and then tried to +justify the assertion by adducing evidence of the Great Fire of London +in 1666. Yet the attempt to save the credit of the Noachian story by +reference to something which is supposed to have happened in the far +north, in the glacial epoch, is far more preposterous. + +Moreover, these dust-raising dialecticians ignore some of the most +important and well-known facts which bear upon the question. Anything +more than a parochial acquaintance with physical geography and geology +would suffice to remind its possessor that the Holy Land itself offers a +standing protest against bringing such a deluge as that of Noah anywhere +near it, either in historical times or in the course of that pleistocene +period, of which the "great ice age" formed a part. + +Judaea and Galilee, Moab and Gilead, occupy part of that extensive +tableland at the summit of the western boundary of the Euphrates valley, +to which I have already referred. If that valley had ever been filled +with water to a height sufficient, not indeed to cover a third of +Ararat, in the north, or half of some of the mountains of the Persian +frontier in the east, but to reach even four or five thousand feet, it +must have stood over the Palestinian hog's back, and have filled, up to +the brim, every depression on its surface. Therefore it could not have +failed to fill that remarkable trench in which the Dead Sea, the Jordan, +and the Sea of Galilee lie, and which is known as the "Jordan-Arabah" +valley. + +This long and deep hollow extends more than 200 miles, from near the +site of ancient Dan in the north, to the water-parting at the head of +the Wady Arabah in the south; and its deepest part, at the bottom of the +basin of the Dead Sea, lies 2500 feet below the surface of the adjacent +Mediterranean. The lowest portion of the rim of the Jordan-Arabah +valley is situated at the village of El Fuleh, 257 feet above the +Mediterranean. Everywhere else the circumjacent heights rise to a very +much greater altitude. Hence, of the water which stood over the Syrian +tableland, when as much drained off as could run away, enough would +remain to form a "Mere" without an outlet, 2757 feet deep, over the +present site of the Dead Sea. From this time forth, the level of +the Palestinian mere could be lowered only by evaporation. It is an +extremely interesting fact, which has happily escaped capture for the +purposes of the energetic misunderstanding, that the valley, at one +time, was filled, certainly within 150 feet of this height--probably +higher. And it is almost equally certain, that the time at which this +great Jordan-Arabah mere reached its highest level coincides with the +glacial epoch. But then the evidence which goes to prove this, also +leads to the conclusion that this state of things obtained at a period +considerably older than even 4000 B.C., when the world, according to the +"Helps" (or shall we say "Hindrances") provided for the simple student +of the Bible, was created; that it was not brought about by any diluvial +catastrophe, but was the result of a change in the relative activities +of certain natural operations which are quietly going on now; and that, +since the level of the mere began to sink, many thousand years ago, no +serious catastrophe of any description has affected the valley. + +The evidence that the Jordan-Arabah valley really was once filled with +water, the surface of which reached within 160 feet of the level of the +pass of Jezrael, and possibly stood higher, is this: Remains of alluvial +strata, containing shells of the freshwater mollusks which still inhabit +the valley, worn down into terraces by waves which long rippled at the +same level, and furrowed by the channels excavated by modern rainfalls, +have been found at the former height; and they are repeated, at +intervals, lower down, until the Ghor, or plain of the Jordan, itself +an alluvial deposit, is reached. These strata attain a considerable +thickness; and they indicate that the epoch at which the freshwater mere +of Palestine reached its highest level is extremely remote; that its +diminution has taken place very slowly, and with periods of rest, +during which the first formed deposits were cut down into terraces. This +conclusion is strikingly borne out by other facts. A volcanic region +stretches from Galilee to Gilead and the Hauran, on each side of the +northern end of the valley. Some of the streams of basaltic lava which +have been thrown out from its craters and clefts in times of which +history has no record, have run athwart the course of the Jordan +itself, or of that of some of its tributary streams. The lava streams, +therefore, must be of later date than the depressions they fill. And +yet, where they have thus temporarily dammed the Jordan and the Jermuk, +these streams have had time to cut through the hard basalts and lay bare +the beds, over which, before the lava streams invaded them, they flowed. + +In fact, the antiquity of the present Jordan-Arabah valley, as a hollow +in a tableland, out of reach of the sea, and troubled by no diluvial +or other disturbances, beyond the volcanic eruptions of Gilead and of +Galilee, is vast, even as estimated by a geological standard. No marine +deposits of later than miocene age occur in or about it; and there is +every reason to believe that the Syro-Arabian plateau has been dry land, +throughout the pliocene and later epochs, down to the present time. +Raised beaches, containing recent shells, on the Levantine shores of +the Mediterranean and on those of the Red Sea, testify to a geologically +recent change of the sea level to the extent of 250 or 300 feet, +probably produced by the slow elevation of the land; and, as I have +already remarked, the alluvial plain of the Euphrates and Tigris appears +to have been affected in the same way, though seemingly to a less +extent. But of violent, or catastrophic, change there is no trace. Even +the volcanic outbursts have flowed in even sheets over the old land +surface; and the long lines of the horizontal terraces which remain, +testify to the geological insignificance of such earthquakes as have +taken place. It is, indeed, possible that the original formation of the +valley may have been determined by the well-known fault, along which the +western rocks are relatively depressed and the eastern elevated. But, +whether that fault was effected slowly or quickly, and whenever it came +into existence, the excavation of the valley to its present width, no +less than the sculpturing of its steep walls and of the innumerable deep +ravines which score them down to the very bottom, are indubitably due +to the operation of rain and streams, during an enormous length of +time, without interruption or disturbance of any magnitude. The alluvial +deposits which have been mentioned are continued into the lateral +ravines, and have more or less filled them. But, since the waters have +been lowered, these deposits have been cut down to great depths, and are +still being excavated by the present temporary, or permanent, streams. +Hence, it follows, that all these ravines must have existed before +the time at which the valley was occupied by the great mere. This fact +acquires a peculiar importance when we proceed to consider the grounds +for the conclusion that the old Palestinian mere attained its highest +level in the cold period of the pleistocene epoch. It is well known +that glaciers formerly came low down on the flanks of Lebanon and +Antilebanon; indeed, the old moraines are the haunts of the few +survivors of the famous cedars. This implies a perennial snowcap of +great extent on Hermon; therefore, a vastly greater supply of water to +the sources of the Jordan which rise on its flanks; and, in addition, +such a total change in the general climate, that the innumerable Wadys, +now traversed only by occasional storm torrents, must have been occupied +by perennial streams. All this involves a lower annual temperature and +a moist and rainy atmosphere. If such a change of meteorological +conditions could be effected now, when the loss by evaporation from the +surface of the Dead Sea salt-pan balances all the gain from the Jordan +and other streams, the scale would be turned in the other direction. The +waters of the Dead Sea would become diluted; its level would rise; it +would cover, first the plain of the Jordan, then the lake of Galilee, +then the middle Jordan between this lake and that of Huleh (the ancient +Merom); and, finally, it would encroach, northwards, along the course of +the upper Jordan, and, southwards, up the Wady Arabah, until it reached +some 260 feet above the level of the Mediterranean, when it would +attain a permanent level, by sending any superfluity through the pass +of Jezrael to swell the waters of the Kishon, and flow thence into the +Mediterranean. + +Reverse the process, in consequence of the excess of loss by evaporation +over gain by inflow, which must have set in as the climate of Syria +changed after the end of the pleistocene epoch, and (without taking into +consideration any other circumstances) the present state of things must +eventually be reached--a concentrated saline solution in the deepest +part of the valley--water, rather more charged with saline matter than +ordinary fresh water, in the lower Jordan and the lake of Galilee--fresh +waters, still largely derived from the snows of Hermon, in the upper +Jordan and in Lake Huleh. But, if the full state of the Jordan valley +marks the glacial epoch, then it follows that the excavation of that +valley by atmospheric agencies must have occupied an immense antecedent +time--a large part, perhaps the whole, of the pliocene epoch; and we +are thus forced to the conclusion that, since the miocene epoch, the +physical conformation of the Holy Land has been substantially what it is +now. It has been more or less rained upon, searched by earthquakes +here and there, partially overflowed by lava streams, slowly raised +(relatively to the sea-level) a few hundred feet. But there is not +a shadow of ground for supposing that, throughout all this time, +terrestrial animals have ceased to inhabit a large part of its surface; +or that, in many parts, they have been, in any respect, incommoded by +the changes which have taken place. + +The evidence of the general stability of the physical conditions of +Western Asia, which is furnished by Palestine and by the Euphrates +Valley, is only fortified if we extend our view northwards to the Black +Sea and the Caspian. The Caspian is a sort of magnified replica of the +Dead Sea. The bottom of the deepest part of this vast inland mere is +about 3000 feet below the level of the Mediterranean, while its surface +is lower by 85 feet. At present, it is separated, on the west, by wide +spaces of dry land from the Black Sea, which has the same height as +the Mediterranean; and, on the east, from the Aral, 138 feet above +that level. The waters of the Black Sea, now in communication with the +Mediterranean by the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus, are salt, but become +brackish northwards, where the rivers of the steppes pour in a great +volume of fresh water. Those of the shallower northern half of the +Caspian are similarly affected by the Volga and the Ural, while, in the +shallow bays of the southern division, they become extremely saline in +consequence of the intense evaporation. The Aral Sea, though supplied by +the Jaxartes and the Oxus, has brackish water. There is evidence that, +in the pliocene and pleistocene periods, to go no farther back, the +strait of the Dardanelles did not exist, and that the vast area, +from the valley of the Danube to that of the Jaxartes, was covered by +brackish or, in some parts, fresh water to a height of at least 200 +feet above the level of the Mediterranean. At the present time, the +water-parting which separates the northern part of the basin of the +Caspian from the vast plains traversed by the Tobol and the Obi, in +their course to the Arctic Ocean, appears to be less than 200 feet above +the latter. It would seem, therefore, to be very probable that, under +the climatal conditions of part of the pleistocene period, the valley +of the Obi played the same part in relation to the Ponto-Aralian sea, as +that of the Kishon may have done to the great mere of the Jordan valley; +and that the outflow formed the channel by which the well-known Arctic +elements of the fauna of the Caspian entered it. For the fossil remains +imbedded in the strata continuously deposited in the Aralo-Caspian area, +since the latter end of the miocene epoch, show no sign that, from +that time onward, it has ever been covered by sea water. Therefore, the +supposition of a free inflow of the Arctic Ocean, which at one time was +generally received, as well as that of various hypothetical deluges from +that quarter, must be seriously questioned. + +The Caspian and the Aral stand in somewhat the same relation to the vast +basin of dry land in which they lie, as the Dead Sea and the lake of +Galilee to the Jordan valley. They are the remains of a vast, mostly +brackish, mere, which has dried up in consequence of the excess +of evaporation over supply, since the cold and damp climate of the +pleistocene epoch gave place to the increasing dryness and great summer +heats of Central Asia in more modern times. The desiccation of the +Aralo-Caspian basin, which communicated with the Black Sea only by a +comparatively narrow and shallow strait along the present valley +of Manytsch, the bottom of which was less than 100 feet above the +Mediterranean, must have been vastly aided by the erosion of the strait +of the Dardanelles towards the end of the pleistocene epoch, or perhaps +later. For the result of thus opening a passage for the waters of the +Black Sea into the Mediterranean must have been the gradual lowering of +its level to that of the latter sea. When this process had gone so far +as to bring down the Black Sea water to within less than a hundred feet +of its present level, the strait of Manytsch ceased to exist; and the +vast body of fresh water brought down by the Danube, the Dnieper, the +Don, and other South Russian rivers was cut off from the Caspian, +and eventually delivered into the Mediterranean. Thus, there is as +conclusive evidence as one can well hope to obtain in these matters, +that, north of the Euphrates valley, the physical geography of an area +as large as all Central Europe has remained essentially unchanged, +from the miocene period down to our time; just as, to the west of the +Euphrates valley, Palestine has exhibited a similar persistence of +geographical type. To the south, the valley of the Nile tells exactly +the same story. The holes bored by miocene mollusks in the cliffs east +and west of Cairo bear witness that, in the miocene epoch, it contained +an arm of the sea, the bottom of which has since been gradually filled +up by the alluvium of the Nile, and elevated to its present position. +But the higher parts of the Mokattam and of the desert about Ghizeh, +have been dry land from that time to this. Too little is known of the +geology of Persia, at present, to allow any positive conclusion to be +enunciated. But, taking the name to indicate the whole continental +mass of Iran, between the valleys of the Indus and the Euphrates, the +supposition that its physical geography has remained unchanged for +an immensely long period is hardly rash. The country is, in fact, +an enormous basin, surrounded on all sides by a mountainous rim, and +subdivided within by ridges into plateaus and hollows, the bottom of the +deepest of which, in the province of Seistan, probably descends to +the level of the Indian Ocean. These depressions are occupied by salt +marshes and deserts, in which the waters of the streams which flow +down the sides of the basin are now dissipated by evaporation. I am +acquainted with no evidence that the present Iranian basin was ever +occupied by the sea; but the accumulations of gravel over a great extent +of its surface indicate long-continued water action. It is, therefore, +a fair presumption that large lakes have covered much of its present +deserts, and that they have dried up by the operation of the same +changed climatal conditions as those which have reduced the Caspian and +the Dead Sea to their present dimensions. [11] + +Thus it would seem that the Euphrates valley, the centre of the fabled +Noachian deluge, is also the centre of a region covering some millions +of square miles of the present continents of Europe, Asia, and Africa, +in which all the facts, relevant to the argument, at present known, +converge to the conclusion that, since the miocene epoch, the essential +features of its physical geography have remained unchanged; that it has +neither been depressed below the sea, nor swept by diluvial waters since +that time; and that the Chaldaean version of the legend of a flood in +the Euphrates valley is, of all those which are extant, the only one +which is even consistent with probability, since it depicts a local +inundation, not more severe than one which might be brought about by a +concurrence of favourable conditions at the present day; and which might +probably have been more easily effected when the Persian Gulf extended +farther north. Hence, the recourse to the "glacial epoch" for some event +which might colourably represent a flood, distinctly asserted by +the only authority for it to have occurred in historical times, is +peculiarly unfortunate. Even a Welsh antiquary might hesitate over the +supposition that a tradition of the fate of Moel Tryfaen, in the glacial +epoch, had furnished the basis of fact for a legend which arose among +people whose own experience abundantly supplied them with the needful +precedents. Moreover, if evidence of interchanges of land and sea are +to be accepted as "confirmations" of Noah's deluge, there are plenty of +sources for the tradition to be had much nearer than Wales. + +The depression now filled by the Red Sea, for example, appears to be, +geologically, of very recent origin. The later deposits found on its +shores, two or three hundred feet above the sea level, contain no +remains older than those of the present fauna; while, as I have already +mentioned, the valley of the adjacent delta of the Nile was a gulf of +the sea in miocene times. But there is not a particle of evidence that +the change of relative level which admitted the waters of the Indian +Ocean between Arabia and Africa, took place any faster than that which +is now going on in Greenland and Scandinavia, and which has left their +inhabitants undisturbed. Even more remarkable changes were effected, +towards the end of, or since, the glacial epoch, over the region now +occupied by the Levantine Mediterranean and the AEgean Sea. The eastern +coast region of Asia Minor, the western of Greece, and many of the +intermediate islands, exhibit thick masses of stratified deposits +of later tertiary age and of purely lacustrine characters; and it is +remarkable that, on the south side of the island of Crete, such masses +present steep cliffs facing the sea, so that the southern boundary of +the lake in which they were formed must have been situated where the sea +now flows. Indeed, there are valid reasons for the supposition that the +dry land once extended far to the west of the present Levantine coast, +and not improbably forced the Nile to seek an outlet to the north-east +of its present delta--a possibility of no small importance in relation +to certain puzzling facts in the geographical distribution of animals +in this region. At any rate, continuous land joined Asia Minor with +the Balkan peninsula; and its surface bore deep fresh-water lakes, +apparently disconnected with the Ponto-Aralian sea. This state of things +lasted long enough to allow of the formation of the thick lacustrine +strata to which I have referred. I am not aware that there is the +smallest ground for the assumption that the AEgean land was broken up in +consequence of any of the "catastrophes" which are so commonly invoked. +[12] For anything that appears to the contrary, the narrow, steep-sided, +straits between the islands of the AEgean archipelago may have been +originally brought about by ordinary atmospheric and stream action; +and may then have been filled from the Mediterranean, during a slow +submergence proceeding from the south northwards. The strait of the +Dardanelles is bounded by undisturbed pleistocene strata forty feet +thick, through which, to all appearance, the present passage has been +quietly cut. + +That Olympus and Ossa were torn asunder and the waters of the Thessalian +basin poured forth, is a very ancient notion, and an often cited +"confirmation" of Deucalion's flood. It has not yet ceased to be in +vogue, apparently because those who entertain it are not aware that +modern geological investigation has conclusively proved that the gorge +of the Penens is as typical an example of a valley of erosion as any to +be seen in Auvergne or in Colorado. [13] + +Thus, in the immediate vicinity of the vast expanse of country which can +be proved to have been untouched by any catastrophe before, during, and +since the "glacial epoch," lie the great areas of the AEgean and the +Red Sea, in which, during or since the glacial epoch, changes of the +relative positions of land and sea have taken place, in comparison with +which the submergence of Moel Tryfaen, with all Wales and Scotland to +boot, does not come to much. + +What, then, is the relevancy of talk about the "glacial epoch" to the +question of the historical veracity of the narrator of the story of the +Noachian deluge? So far as my knowledge goes, there is not a particle of +evidence that destructive inundations were more common, over the general +surface of the earth, in the glacial epoch than they have been before +or since. No doubt the fringe of an ice-covered region must be always +liable to them; but, if we examine the records of such catastrophes in +historical times, those produced in the deltas of great rivers, or in +lowlands like Holland, by sudden floods, combined with gales of wind or +with unusual tides, far excel all others. + +With respect to such inundations as are the consequences of earthquakes, +and other slight movements of the crust of the earth, I have never heard +of anything to show that they were more frequent and severer in the +quaternary or tertiary epochs than they are now. In the discussion +of these, as of all other geological problems, the appeal to needless +catastrophes is born of that impatience of the slow and painful search +after sufficient causes, in the ordinary course of nature, which is a +temptation to all, though only energetic ignorance nowadays completely +succumbs to it. + + + + +POSTSCRIPT. + +My best thanks are due to Mr. Gladstone for his courteous withdrawal +of one of the statements to which I have thought it needful to take +exception. The familiarity with controversy, to which Mr. Gladstone +alludes, will have accustomed him to the misadventures which arise when, +as sometimes will happen in the heat of fence, the buttons come off the +foils. I trust that any scratch which he may have received will heal as +quickly as my own flesh wounds have done. + + +A contribution to the last number of this Review (_The Nineteenth +Century_) of a different order would be left unnoticed, were it not that +my silence would convert me into an accessory to misrepresentations of +a very grave character. However, I shall restrict myself to the barest +possible statement of facts, leaving my readers to draw their own +conclusions. + +In an article entitled "A Great Lesson," published in this Review for +September, 1887: + +(1) The Duke of Argyll says the "overthrow of Darwin's speculations" (p. +301) concerning the origin of coral reefs, which he fancied had taken +place, had been received by men of science "with a grudging silence as +far as public discussion is concerned" (p. 301). + +The truth is that, as every one acquainted with the literature of +the subject was well aware, the views supposed to have effected this +overthrow had been fully and publicly discussed by Dana in the United +States; by Geikie, Green, and Prestwich in this country; by Lapparent in +France; and by Credner in Germany. + +(2) The Duke of Argyll says "that no serious reply has ever been +attempted" (p. 305). + +The truth is that the highest living authority on the subject, Professor +Dana, published a most weighty reply, two years before the Duke of +Argyll committed himself to this statement. + +(3) The Duke of Argyll uses the preceding products of defective +knowledge, multiplied by excessive imagination, to illustrate the manner +in which "certain accepted opinions" established "a sort of Reign of +Terror in their own behalf" (p. 307). + +The truth is that no plea, except that of total ignorance of the +literature of the subject, can excuse the errors cited, and that the +"Reign of Terror" is a purely subjective phenomenon. + +(4) The letter in "Nature" for the 17th of November, 1887, to which I +am referred, contains neither substantiation, nor retractation, of +statements 1 and 2. Nevertheless, it repeats number 3. The Duke of +Argyll says of his article that it "has done what I intended it to +do. It has called wide attention to the influence of mere authority +in establishing erroneous theories and in retarding the progress of +scientific truth." + +(5) The Duke of Argyll illustrates the influence of his fictitious +"Reign of Terror" by the statement that Mr. John Murray "was strongly +advised against the publication of his views in derogation of Darwin's +long-accepted theory of the coral islands, and was actually induced to +delay it for two years" (p.307). And in "Nature" for the 17th November, +1887, the Duke of Argyll states that he has seen a letter from Sir +Wyville Thomson in which he "urged and almost insisted that Mr. Murray +should withdraw the reading of his papers on the subject from the Royal +Society of Edinburgh. This was in February, 1877." The next paragraph, +however, contains the confession: "No special reason was assigned." The +Duke of Argyll proceeds to give a speculative opinion that "Sir Wyville +dreaded some injury to the scientific reputation of the body of which he +was the chief." Truly, a very probable supposition; but as Sir Wyville +Thomson's tendencies were notoriously anti-Darwinian, it does not +appear to me to lend the slightest justification to the Duke of Argyll's +insinuation that the Darwinian "terror" influenced him. However, the +question was finally set at rest by a letter which appeared in "Nature" +(29th of December, 1887), in which the writer says that: + +"talking with Sir Wyville about 'Murray's new theory,' I asked what +objection he had to its being brought before the public? The answer +simply was: he considered that the grounds of the theory had not, as +yet, been sufficiently investigated or sufficiently corroborated, and +that therefore any immature dogmatic publication of it would do less +than little service either to science or to the author of the paper." + +Sir Wyville Thomson was an intimate friend of mine, and I am glad to +have been afforded one more opportunity of clearing his character from +the aspersions which have been so recklessly cast upon his good sense +and his scientific honour. + +(6) As to the "overthrow" of Darwin's theory, which, according to the +Duke of Argyll, was patent to every unprejudiced person four years +ago, I have recently become acquainted with a work, in which a really +competent authority, [14] thoroughly acquainted with all the new lights +which have been thrown upon the subject during the last ten years, +pronounces the judgment; firstly, that some of the facts brought forward +by Messrs. Murray and Guppy against Darwin's theory are not facts; +secondly, that the others are reconcilable with Darwin's theory; and, +thirdly, that the theories of Messrs. Murray and Guppy "are contradicted +by a series of important facts" (p. 13). + +Perhaps I had better draw attention to the circumstance that Dr. +Langenbeck writes under shelter of the guns of the fortress of +Strasburg; and may therefore be presumed to be unaffected by those +dreams of a "Reign of Terror" which seem to disturb the peace of some of +us in these islands (April, 1891). + +[See, on the subject of this note, the essay entitled "An Episcopal +Trilogy" in the following volume.] + + + + +FOOTNOTES: + + +[Footnote 1: In May 1849 the Tigris at Bagdad rose 22-1/2 feet--5 +feet above its usual rise--and nearly swept away the town. In 1831 a +similarly exceptional flood did immense damage, destroying 7000 houses. +See Loftus, _Chaldea and Susiana,_ p. 7.] + +[Footnote 2: See the instructive chapter on Hasisadra's flood in Suess, +_Das Antlitz der Erde,_ Abth. I. Only fifteen years ago a cyclone in the +Bay of Bengal gave rise to a flood which covered 3000 square miles of +the delta of the Ganges, 3 to 45 feet deep, destroying 100,000 people, +innumerable cattle, houses, and trees. It broke inland on the rising +ground of Tipperah, and may have swept a vessel from the sea that far, +though I do not know that it did.] + +[Footnote 3: See Cernik's maps in _Petermanns Mittheilungen,_ +Erganzungashefte 44 and 45, 1875-76.] + +[Footnote 4: I have not cited the dimensions given to the ships in most +translations of the story, because there appears to be a doubt about +them. Haupt (_Keilinschriftliche Sindfluth-Bericht,_ p. 13: says that +the figures are illegible.)] + +[Footnote 5: It is probable that a slow movement of elevation of the +land at one time contributed to the result--perhaps does so still.] + +[Footnote 6: At a comparatively recent period, the littoral margin of +the Persian Gulf extended certainly 250 miles farther to the northwest +than the present embouchure of the Shatt-el Arab. (Loftus, _Quarterly +Journal of the Geological Society,_ 1853, p. 251.) The actual extent of +the marine deposit inland cannot be defined, as it is covered by later +fluviatile deposits.] + +[Footnote 7: Tiele (_Babylonisch-Assyrische Geschicthe,_ pp. 572-3) has +some very just remarks on this aspect of the epos.] + +[Footnote 8: In the second volume of the _History of the Euphrates,_ +p. 637 Col. Chesney gives a very interesting account of the simple and +rapid manner in which the people about Tekrit and in the marshes of +Lemlum construct large barges, and make them water-tight with bitumen. +Doubtless the practice is extremely ancient and as Colonel Chesney +suggests, may possibly have furnished the conception of Noah's ark. But +it is one thing to build a barge 44ft. long by 11ft. wide and 4ft. +deep in the way described; and another to get a vessel of ten times the +dimensions, so constructed, to hold together.] + +[Footnote 9: "Es ist nichts schrecklicher als eine thatige +Unwissenheit," _Maximen und Reflexionen,_ iii.] + +[Footnote 10: The well-known difficulties connected with this case have +recently been carefully discussed by Mr. Bell in the _Transactions_ of +the Geological Society of Glasgow.] + +[Footnote 11: An instructive parallel is exhibited by the "Great Basin" +of North America. See the remarkable memoir on _Lake Bonneville_ by Mr. +G. K. Gilbert, of the United States Geological Survey, just published.] + +[Footnote 12: It is true that earthquakes are common enough, but they +are incompetent to produce such changes as those which have taken +place.] + +[Footnote 13: See Teller, _Geologische Beschreibung des sud-ostlichen +Thessalien;_ Denkschriften d. Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien, Bd. xl. +p. 199.] + +[Footnote 14: Dr. Langenbeck, _Die Theorien uber die Entstehung der +Korallen-Inseln und Korallen-Riffe_ (p. 13), 1890.] + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Hasisadra's Adventure, by Thomas Henry Huxley + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HASISADRA'S ADVENTURE *** + +***** This file should be named 2633.txt or 2633.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/6/3/2633/ + +Produced by D. R. 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Thompson <drthom@ihug.co.nz> + + + + + +Hasisadra's Adventure +by Thomas Henry Huxley +This is Essay #7 from "Science and Hebrew Tradition" + + + + +Some thousands of years ago there was a city in Mesopotamia +called Surippak. One night a strange dream came to a dweller +therein, whose name, if rightly reported, was Hasisadra. +The dream foretold the speedy coming of a great flood; and it +warned Hasisadra to lose no time in building a ship, in which, +when notice was given, he, his family and friends, with their +domestic animals and a collection of wild creatures and seed of +plants of the land, might take refuge and be rescued from +destruction. Hasisadra awoke, and at once acted upon the +warning. A strong decked ship was built, and her sides were +paid, inside and out, with the mineral pitch, or bitumen, with +which the country abounded; the vessel's seaworthiness was +tested, the cargo was stowed away, and a trusty pilot or +steersman appointed. + +The promised signal arrived. Wife and friends embarked; +Hasisadra, following, prudently "shut the door," or, as we +should say, put on the hatches; and Nes-Hea, the pilot, was left +alone on deck to do his best for the ship. Thereupon a hurricane +began to rage; rain fell in torrents; the subterranean waters +burst forth; a deluge swept over the land, and the wind lashed +it into waves sky high; heaven and earth became mingled in +chaotic gloom. For six days and seven nights the gale raged, but +the good ship held out until, on the seventh day, the storm +lulled. Hasisadra ventured on deck; and, seeing nothing but a +waste of waters strewed with floating corpses and wreck, wept +over the destruction of his land and people. Far away, the +mountains of Nizir were visible; the ship was steered for them +and ran aground upon the higher land. Yet another seven days +passed by. On the seventh, Hasisadra sent forth a dove, which +found no resting place and returned; then he liberated a +swallow, which also came back; finally, a raven was let loose, +and that sagacious bird, when it found that the water had +abated, came near the ship, but refused to return to it. +Upon this, Hasisadra liberated the rest of the wild animals, +which immediately dispersed in all directions, while he, with +his family and friends, ascending a mountain hard by, offered +sacrifice upon its summit to the gods. + +The story thus given in summary abstract, told in an ancient +Semitic dialect, is inscribed in cuneiform characters upon a +tablet of burnt clay. Many thousands of such tablets, collected +by Assurbanipal, King of Assyria in the middle of the seventh +century B.C., were stored in the library of his palace at +Nineveh; and, though in a sadly broken and mutilated condition, +they have yielded a marvellous amount of information to the +patient and sagacious labour which modern scholars have bestowed +upon them. Among the multitude of documents of various kinds, +this narrative of Hasisadra's adventure has been found in a +tolerably complete state. But Assyriologists agree that it is +only a copy of a much more ancient work; and there are weighty +reasons for believing that the story of Hasisadra's flood was +well known in Mesopotamia before the year 2000 B.C. + +No doubt, then, we are in presence of a narrative which has all +the authority which antiquity can confer; and it is proper to +deal respectfully with it, even though it is quite as proper, +and indeed necessary, to act no less respectfully towards +ourselves; and, before professing to put implicit faith in it, +to inquire what claim it has to be regarded as a serious account +of an historical event. + +It is of no use to appeal to contemporary history, although the +annals of Babylonia, no less than those of Egypt, go much +further back than 2000 B.C. All that can be said is, that the +former are hardly consistent with the supposition that any +catastrophe, competent to destroy all the population, has +befallen the land since civilisation began, and that the latter +are notoriously silent about deluges. In such a case as this, +however, the silence of history does not leave the inquirer +wholly at fault. Natural science has something to say when the +phenomena of nature are in question. Natural science may be able +to show, from the nature of the country, either that such an +event as that described in the story is impossible, or at any +rate highly improbable; or, on the other hand, that it is +consonant with probability. In the former case, the narrative +must be suspected or rejected; in the latter, no such summary +verdict can be given: on the contrary, it must be admitted that +the story may be true. And then, if certain strangely prevalent +canons of criticism are accepted, and if the evidence that an +event might have happened is to be accepted as proof that it did +happen, Assyriologists will be at liberty to congratulate one +another on the "confirmation by modern science" of the authority +of their ancient books. + +It will be interesting, therefore, to inquire how far the +physical structure and the other conditions of the region in +which Surippak was situated are compatible with such a flood as +is described in the Assyrian record. + +The scene of Hasisadra's adventure is laid in the broad valley, +six or seven hundred miles long, and hardly anywhere less than a +hundred miles in width, which is traversed by the lower courses +of the rivers Euphrates and Tigris, and which is commonly known +as the "Euphrates valley." Rising, at the one end, into a hill +country, which gradually passes into the Alpine heights of +Armenia; and, at the other, dipping beneath the shallow waters +of the head of the Persian Gulf, which continues in the same +direction, from north-west to south-east, for some eight hundred +miles farther, the floor of the valley presents a gradual slope, +from eight hundred feet above the sea level to the depths of the +southern end of the Persian Gulf. The boundary between sea and +land, formed by the extremest mudflats of the delta of the two +rivers, is but vaguely defined; and, year by year, it advances +seaward. On the north-eastern side, the western frontier ranges +of Persia rise abruptly to great heights; on the south-western +side, a more gradual ascent leads to a table-land of less +elevation, which, very broad in the south, where it is occupied +by the deserts of Arabia and of Southern Syria, narrows, +northwards, into the highlands of Palestine, and is continued by +the ranges of the Lebanon, the Antilebanon, and the Taurus, into +the highlands of Armenia. + +The wide and gently inclined plain, thus inclosed between the +gulf and the highlands, on each side and at its upper extremity, +is distinguishable into two regions of very different character, +one of which lies north, and the other south of the parallel of +Hit, on the Euphrates. Except in the immediate vicinity of the +river, the northern division is stony and scantily covered with +vegetation, except in spring. Over the southern division, on the +contrary, spreads a deep alluvial soil, in which even a pebble +is rare; and which, though, under the existing misrule, mainly a +waste of marsh and wilderness, needs only intelligent attention +to become, as it was of old, the granary of western Asia. +Except in the extreme south, the rainfall is small and the air +dry. The heat in summer is intense, while bitterly cold northern +blasts sweep the plain in winter. Whirlwinds are not uncommon; +and, in the intervals of the periodical inundations, the fine, +dry, powdery soil is swept, even by moderate breezes, into +stifling clouds, or rather fogs, of dust. Low inequalities, +elevations here and depressions there, diversify the surface of +the alluvial region. The latter are occupied by enormous +marshes, while the former support the permanent dwellings of the +present scanty and miserable population. + +In antiquity, so long as the canalisation of the country was +properly carried out, the fertility of the alluvial plain +enabled great and prosperous nations to have their home in the +Euphrates valley. Its abundant clay furnished the materials for +the masses of sun-dried and burnt bricks, the remains of which, +in the shape of huge artificial mounds, still testify to both +the magnitude and the industry of the population, thousands of +years ago. Good cement is plentiful, while the bitumen, which +wells from the rocks at Hit and elsewhere, not only answers the +same purpose, but is used to this day, as it was in Hasisadra's +time, to pay the inside and the outside of boats. + +In the broad lower course of the Euphrates, the stream rarely +acquires a velocity of more than three miles an hour, while the +lower Tigris attains double that rate in times of flood. The +water of both great rivers is mainly derived from the northern +and eastern highlands in Armenia and in Kurdistan, and stands at +its lowest level in early autumn and in January. But when the +snows accumulated in the upper basins of the great rivers, +during the winter, melt under the hot sunshine of spring, they +rapidly rise,<1> and at length overflow their banks, covering +the alluvial plain with a vast inland sea, interrupted only by +the higher ridges and hummocks which form islands in a seemingly +boundless expanse of water. + +In the occurrence of these annual inundations lies one of +several resemblances between the valley of the Euphrates and +that of the Nile. But there are important differences. The time +of the annual flood is reversed, the Nile being highest in +autumn and winter, and lowest in spring and early summer. The +periodical overflows of the Nile, regulated by the great lake +basins in the south, are usually punctual in arrival, gradual in +growth, and beneficial in operation. No lakes are interposed +between the mountain torrents of the upper basis of the Tigris +and the Euphrates and their lower courses. Hence, heavy rain, or +an unusually rapid thaw in the uplands, gives rise to the sudden +irruption of a vast volume of water which not even the rapid +Tigris, still less its more sluggish companion, can carry off in +time to prevent violent and dangerous overflows. Without an +elaborate system of canalisation, providing an escape for such +sudden excesses of the supply of water, the annual floods of the +Euphrates, and especially of the Tigris, must always be attended +with risk, and often prove harmful. + +There are other peculiarities of the Euphrates valley which may +occasionally tend to exacerbate the evils attendant on the +inundations. It is very subject to seismic disturbances; and the +ordinary consequences of a sharp earthquake shock might be +seriously complicated by its effect on a broad sheet of water. +Moreover the Indian Ocean lies within the region of typhoons; +and if, at the height of an inundation, a hurricane from the +south-east swept up the Persian Gulf, driving its shallow waters +upon the delta and damming back the outflow, perhaps for +hundreds of miles up-stream, a diluvial catastrophe, fairly up +to the mark of Hasisadra's, might easily result.<2> + +Thus there seems to be no valid reason for rejecting Hasisadra's +story on physical grounds. I do not gather from the narrative +that the "mountains of Nizir" were supposed to be submerged, but +merely that they came into view above the distant horizon of the +waters, as the vessel drove in that direction. Certainly the +ship is not supposed to ground on any of their higher summits, +for Hasisadra has to ascend a peak in order to offer his +sacrifice. The country of Nizir lay on the north-eastern side of +the Euphrates valley, about the courses of the two rivers Zab, +which enter the Tigris where it traverses the plain of Assyria +some eight or nine hundred feet above the sea; and, so far as I +can judge from maps<3> and other sources of information, it is +possible, under the circumstances supposed, that such a ship as +Hasisadra's might drive before a southerly gale, over a +continuously flooded country, until it grounded on some of the +low hills between which both the lower and the upper Zab enter +upon the Assyrian plain. + +The tablet which contains the story under consideration is the +eleventh of a series of twelve. Each of these answers to a +month, and to the corresponding sign of the Zodiac. The Assyrian +year began with the spring equinox; consequently, the eleventh +month, called "the rainy," answers to our January-February, and +to the sign which corresponds with our Aquarius. The aquatic +adventure of Hasisadra, therefore, is not inappropriately +placed. It is curious, however, that the season thus indirectly +assigned to the flood is not that of the present highest level +of the rivers. It is too late for the winter rise and too early +for the spring floods. + +I think it must be admitted that, so far, the physical cross- +examination to which Hasisadra has been subjected does not break +down his story. On the contrary, he proves to have kept it in +all essential respects<4> within the bounds of probability or +possibility. However, we have not yet done with him. For the +conditions which obtained in the Euphrates valley, four or five +thousand years ago, may have differed to such an extent from +those which now exist that we should be able to convict him of +having made up his tale. But here again everything is in favour +of his credibility. Indeed, he may claim very powerful support, +for it does not lie in the mouths of those who accept the +authority of the Pentateuch to deny that the Euphrates valley +was what it is, even six thousand years back. According to the +book of Genesis, Phrat and Hiddekel--the Euphrates and the +Tigris--are coeval with Paradise. An edition of the Scriptures, +recently published under high authority, with an elaborate +apparatus of "Helps" for the use of students--and therefore, as +I am bound to suppose, purged of all statements that could by +any possibility mislead the young--assigns the year B.C. 4004 as +the date of Adam's too brief residence in that locality. + +But I am far from depending on this authority for the age of the +Mesopotamian plain. On the contrary, I venture to rely, with +much more confidence, on another kind of evidence, which tends +to show that the age of the great rivers must be carried back to +a date earlier than that at which our ingenuous youth is +instructed that the earth came into existence. For, the alluvial +deposit having been brought down by the rivers, they must needs +be older than the plain it forms, as navvies must needs antecede +the embankment painfully built up by the contents of their +wheel-barrows. For thousands of years, heat and cold, rain, +snow, and frost, the scrubbing of glaciers, and the scouring of +torrents laden with sand and gravel, have been wearing down the +rocks of the upper basins of the rivers, over an area of many +thousand square miles; and these materials, ground to fine +powder in the course of their long journey, have slowly +subsided, as the water which carried them spread out and lost +its velocity in the sea. It is because this process is still +going on that the shore of the delta constantly encroaches on +the head of the gulf<5> into which the two rivers are constantly +throwing the waste of Armenia and of Kurdistan. Hence, as might +be expected, fluviatile and marine shells are common in the +alluvial deposit; and Loftus found strata, containing subfossil +marine shells of species now living, in the Persian Gulf, at +Warka, two hundred miles in a straight line from the shore of +the delta.<6> It follows that, if a trustworthy estimate of the +average rate of growth of the alluvial can be formed, the lowest +limit (by no means the highest limit) of age of the rivers can +be determined. All such estimates are beset with sources of +error of very various kinds; and the best of them can only be +regarded as approximations to the truth. But I think it will be +quite safe to assume a maximum rate of growth of four miles in a +century for the lower half of the alluvial plain. + +Now, the cycle of narratives of which Hasisadra's adventure +forms a part contains allusions not only to Surippak, the exact +position of which is doubtful, but to other cities, such as +Erech. The vast ruins at the present village of Warka have been +carefully explored and determined to be all that remains of that +once great and flourishing city, "Erech the lofty." +Supposing that the two hundred miles of alluvial country, which +separates them from the head of the Persian Gulf at present, +have been deposited at the very high rate of four miles in a +century, it will follow that 4000 years ago, or about the year +2100 B.C., the city of Erech still lay forty miles inland. +Indeed, the city might have been built a thousand years earlier. +Moreover, there is plenty of independent archaeological and +other evidence that in the whole thousand years, 2000 to +3000 B.C, the alluvial plain was inhabited by a numerous people, +among whom industry, art, and literature had attained a very +considerable development. And it can be shown that the physical +conditions and the climate of the Euphrates valley, at that +time, must have been extremely similar to what they are now. + +Thus, once more, we reach the conclusion that, as a question of +physical probability, there is no ground for objecting to the +reality of Hasisadra's adventure. It would be unreasonable to +doubt that such a flood might have happened, and that such a +person might have escaped in the way described, any time during +the last 5000 years. And if the postulate of loose thinkers in +search of scientific "confirmations" of questionable narratives +--proof that an event may have happened is evidence that it did +happen--is to be accepted, surely Hasisadra's story is +"confirmed by modern scientific investigation" beyond all cavil. +However, it may be well to pause before adopting this +conclusion, because the original story, of which I have set +forth only the broad outlines, contains a great many statements +which rest upon just the same foundation as those cited, and yet +are hardly likely to meet with general acceptance. The account +of the circumstances which led up to the flood, of those under +which Hasisadra's adventure was made known to his descendant, of +certain remarkable incidents before and after the flood, are +inseparably bound up with the details already given. And I am +unable to discover any justification for arbitrarily picking out +some of these and dubbing them historical verities, while +rejecting the rest as legendary fictions. They stand or +fall together. + +Before proceeding to the consideration of these less +satisfactory details, it is needful to remark that Hasisadra's +adventure is a mere episode in a cycle of stories of which a +personage, whose name is provisionally read "Izdubar," is the +centre. The nature of Izdubar hovers vaguely between the heroic +and the divine; sometimes he seems a mere man, sometimes +approaches so closely to the divinities of fire and of the sun +as to be hardly distinguishable from them. As I have already +mentioned, the tablet which sets forth Hasisadra's perils is one +of twelve; and, since each of these represents a month and bears +a story appropriate to the corresponding sign of the Zodiac, +great weight must be attached to Sir Henry Rawlinson's +suggestion that the epos of Izdubar is a poetical embodiment of +solar mythology. + +In the earlier books of the epos, the hero, not content with +rejecting the proffered love of the Chaldaean Aphrodite, Istar, +freely expresses his very low estimate of her character; and it +is interesting to observe that, even in this early stage of +human experience, men had reached a conception of that law of +nature which expresses the inevitable consequences of an +imperfect appreciation of feminine charms. The injured goddess +makes Izdubar's life a burden to him, until at last, sick in +body and sorry in mind, he is driven to seek aid and comfort +from his forbears in the world of spirits. So this antitype of +Odysseus journeys to the shore of the waters of death, and there +takes ship with a Chaldaean Charon, who carries him within hail +of his ancestor Hasisadra. That venerable personage not only +gives Izdubar instructions how to regain his health, but tells +him, somewhat <i>a propos des bottes</i> (after the manner of +venerable personages), the long story of his perilous adventure; +and how it befell that he, his wife, and his steersman came to +dwell among the blessed gods, without passing through the +portals of death like ordinary mortals. + +According to the full story, the sins of mankind had become +grievous; and, at a council of the gods, it was resolved to +extirpate the whole race by a great flood. And, once more, let +us note the uniformity of human experience. It would appear +that, four thousand years ago, the obligations of confidential +intercourse about matters of state were sometimes violated-- +of course from the best of motives. Ea, one of the three chiefs +of the Chaldaean Pantheon, the god of justice and of practical +wisdom, was also the god of the sea; and, yielding to the +temptation to do a friend a good turn, irresistible to kindly +seafaring folks of all ranks, he warned Hasisadra of what was +coming. When Bel subsequently reproached him for this breach of +confidence, Ea defended himself by declaring that he did not +tell Hasisadra anything; he only sent him a dream. This was +undoubtedly sailing very near the wind; but the attribution of a +little benevolent obliquity of conduct to one of the highest of +the gods is a trifle compared with the truly Homeric +anthropomorphism which characterises other parts of the epos. + +The Chaldĉan deities are, in truth, extremely human; and, +occasionally, the narrator does not scruple to represent them in +a manner which is not only inconsistent with our idea of +reverence, but is sometimes distinctly humorous.<7> When the +storm is at its height, he exhibits them flying in a state of +panic to Anu, the god of heaven, and crouching before his portal +like frightened dogs. As the smoke of Hasisadra's sacrifice +arises, the gods, attracted by the sweet savour, are compared to +swarms of flies. I have already remarked that the lady Istar's +reputation is torn to shreds; while she and Ea scold Bel +handsomely for his ferocity and injustice in destroying the +innocent along with the guilty. One is reminded of Here hung up +with weighted heels; of misleading dreams sent by Zeus; of Ares +howling as he flies from the Trojan battlefield; and of the very +questionable dealings of Aphrodite with Helen and Paris. + +But to return to the story. Bel was, at first, excluded from the +sacrifice as the author of all the mischief; which really was +somewhat hard upon him, since the other gods agreed to his +proposal. But eventually a reconciliation takes place; the great +bow of Anu is displayed in the heavens; Bel agrees that he will +be satisfied with what war, pestilence, famine, and wild beasts +can do in the way of destroying men; and that, henceforward, he +will not have recourse to extraordinary measures. Finally, it is +Bel himself who, by way of making amends, transports Hasisadra, +his wife, and the faithful Nes-Hea to the abode of the gods. + +It is as indubitable as it is incomprehensible to most of us, +that, for thousands of years, a great people, quite as +intelligent as we are, and living in as high a state of +civilisation as that which had been attained in the greater part +of Europe a few centuries ago, entertained not the slightest +doubt that Anu, Bel, Ea, Istar, and the rest, were real +personages, possessed of boundless powers for good and evil. +The sincerity of the monarchs whose inscriptions gratefully +attribute their victories to Merodach, or to Assur, is as little +to be questioned as that of the authors of the hymns and +penitential psalms which give full expression to the heights and +depths of religious devotion. An "infidel" bold enough to deny +the existence, or to doubt the influence, of these deities +probably did not exist in all Mesopotamia; and even constructive +rebellion against their authority was apt to end in the +deprivation, not merely of the good name, but of the skin of the +offender. The adherents of modern theological systems dismiss +these objects of the love and fear of a hundred generations of +their equals, offhand, as "gods of the heathen," mere creations +of a wicked and idolatrous imagination; and, along with them, +they disown, as senseless, the crude theology, with its gross +anthropomorphism and its low ethical conception of the divinity, +which satisfied the pious souls of Chaldaea. + +I imagine, though I do not presume to be sure, that any +endeavour to save the intellectual and moral credit of Chaldaean +religion, by suggesting the application to it of that universal +solvent of absurdities, the allegorical method, would be +scouted; I will not even suggest that any ingenuity can be equal +to the discovery of the antitypes of the personifications +effected by the religious imagination of later ages, in the +triad Anu, Ea, and Bel, still less in Istar. Therefore, unless +some plausible reconciliatory scheme should be propounded by a +Neo-Chaldaean devotee (and, with Neo-Buddhists to the fore, this +supposition is not so wild as it looks), I suppose the moderns +will continue to smile, in a superior way, at the grievous +absurdity of the polytheistic idolatry of these ancient people. + +It is probably a congenital absence of some faculty which I +ought to possess which withholds me from adopting this summary +procedure. But I am not ashamed to share David Hume's want of +ability to discover that polytheism is, in itself, altogether +absurd. If we are bound, or permitted, to judge the government +of the world by human standards, it appears to me that +directorates are proved, by familiar experience, to conduct the +largest and the most complicated concerns quite as well as +solitary despots. I have never been able to see why the +hypothesis of a divine syndicate should be found guilty of +innate absurdity. Those Assyrians, in particular, who held Assur +to be the one supreme and creative deity, to whom all the other +supernal powers were subordinate, might fairly ask that the +essential difference between their system and that which obtains +among the great majority of their modern theological critics +should be demonstrated. In my apprehension, it is not the +quantity, but the quality, of the persons, among whom the +attributes of divinity are distributed, which is the serious +matter. If the divine might is associated with no higher ethical +attributes than those which obtain among ordinary men; if the +divine intelligence is supposed to be so imperfect that it +cannot foresee the consequences of its own contrivances; if the +supernal powers can become furiously angry with the creatures of +their omnipotence and, in their senseless wrath, destroy the +innocent along with the guilty; or if they can show themselves +to be as easily placated by presents and gross flattery as any +oriental or occidental despot; if, in short, they are only +stronger than mortal men and no better, as it must be admitted +Hasisadra's deities proved themselves to be--then, surely, it is +time for us to look somewhat closely into their credentials, and +to accept none but conclusive evidence of their existence. + +To the majority of my respected contemporaries this reasoning +will doubtless appear feeble, if not worse. However, to my mind, +such are the only arguments by which the Chaldaean theology can +be satisfactorily upset. So far from there being any ground for +the belief that Ea, Anu, and Bel are, or ever were, real +entities, it seems to me quite infinitely more probable that +they are products of the religious imagination, such as are to +be found everywhere and in all ages, so long as that imagination +riots uncontrolled by scientific criticism. + +It is on these grounds that I venture, at the risk of being +called an atheist by the ghosts of all the principals of all the +colleges of Babylonia, or by their living successors among the +Neo-Chaldaeans, if that sect should arise, to express my utter +disbelief in the gods of Hasisadra. Hence, it follows, that I +find Hasisadra's account of their share in his adventure +incredible; and, as the physical details of the flood are +inseparable from its theophanic accompaniments, and are +guaranteed by the same authority, I must let them go with the +rest. The consistency of such details with probability counts +for nothing. The inhabitants of Chaldaea must always have been +familiar with inundations; probably no generation failed to +witness an inundation which rose unusually high, or was rendered +serious by coincident atmospheric or other disturbances. And the +memory of the general features of any exceptionally severe and +devastating flood, would be preserved by popular tradition for +long ages. What, then, could be more natural than that a +Chaldaean poet should seek for the incidents of a great +catastrophe among such phenomena? In what other way than by such +an appeal to their experience could he so surely awaken in his +audience the tragic pity and terror? What possible ground is +there for insisting that he must have had some individual good +in view, and that his history is historical, in the sense that +the account of the effects of a hurricane in the Bay of Bengal, +in the year 1875, is historical? + + +More than three centuries after the time of Assurbanipal, +Berosus of Babylon, born in the reign of Alexander the Great, +wrote an account of the history of his country in Greek. +The work of Berosus has vanished; but extracts from it--how far +faithful is uncertain--have been preserved by later writers. +Among these occurs the well-known story of the Deluge of +Xisuthros, which is evidently built upon the same foundation as +that of Hasisadra. The incidents of the divine warning, the +building of the ship, the sending out of birds, the ascension of +the hero, betray their common origin. But stories, like Madeira, +acquire a heightened flavour with time and travel; and the +version of Berosus is characterised by those circumstantial +improbabilities which habitually gather round the legend of a +legend. The later narrator knows the exact day of the month on +which the flood began. The dimensions of the ship are stated +with Munchausenian precision at five stadia by two--say, half by +one-fifth of an English mile. The ship runs aground among the +"Gordaean mountains" to the south of Lake Van, in Armenia, +beyond the limits of any imaginable real inundation of the +Euphrates valley; and, by way of climax, we have the assertion, +worthy of the sailor who said that he had brought up one of +Pharaoh's chariot wheels on the fluke of his anchor in the Red +Sea, that pilgrims visited the locality and made amulets of the +bitumen which they scraped off from the still extant remains of +the mighty ship of Xisuthros. + +Suppose that some later polyhistor, as devoid of critical +faculty as most of his tribe, had found the version of Berosus, +as well as another much nearer the original story; that, having +too much respect for his authorities to make up a <i>tertium +quid</i> of his own, out of the materials offered, he followed a +practice, common enough among ancient and, particularly, among +Semitic historians, of dividing, both into fragments and piecing +these together, without troubling himself very much about those +resulting repetitions and inconsistencies; the product of such a +primitive editorial operation would be a narrative analogous to +that which treats of the Noachian deluge in the book of Genesis. +For the Pentateuchal story is indubitably a patchwork, composed +of fragments of at least two, different and partly discrepant, +narratives, quilted together in such an inartistic fashion that +the seams remain conspicuous. And, in the matter of +circumstantial exaggeration, it in some respects excels even the +second-hand legend of Berosus. + +There is a certain practicality about the notion of taking +refuge from floods and storms in a ship provided with a +steersman; but, surely, no one who had ever seen more water than +he could wade through would dream of facing even a moderate +breeze, in a huge three-storied coffer, or box, three hundred +cubits long, fifty wide and thirty high, left to drift without +rudder or pilot.<8> Not content with giving the exact year of +Noah's age in which the flood began, the Pentateuchal story adds +the month and the day of the month. It is the Deity himself who +"shuts in" Noah. The modest week assigned to the full deluge in +Hasisadra's story becomes forty days, in one of the Pentateuchal +accounts, and a hundred and fifty in the other. The flood, +which, in the version of Berosus, has grown so high as to cast +the ship among the mountains of Armenia, is improved upon in the +Hebrew account until it covers "all the high hills that were +under the whole heaven"; and, when it begins to subside, the ark +is left stranded on the summit of the highest peak, commonly +identified with Ararat itself. + +While the details of Hasisadra's adventure are, at least, +compatible with the physical conditions of the Euphrates valley, +and, as we have seen, involve no catastrophe greater than such +as might be brought under those conditions, many of the very +precisely stated details of Noah's flood contradict some of the +best established results of scientific inquiry. + +If it is certain that the alluvium of the Mesopotamian plain has +been brought down by the Tigris and the Euphrates, then it is no +less certain that the physical structure of the whole valley has +persisted, without material modification, for many thousand +years before the date assigned to the flood. If the summits, +even of the moderately elevated ridges which immediately bound +the valley, still more those of the Kurdish and Armenian +mountains, were ever covered by water, for even forty days, that +water must have extended over the whole earth. If the earth was +thus covered, anywhere between 4000 and 5000 years ago, or, at +any other time, since the higher terrestrial animals came into +existence, they must have been destroyed from the whole face of +it, as the Pentateuchal account declares they were three several +times (Genesis vii. 21, 22, 23), in language which cannot be +made more emphatic, or more solemn, than it is; and the present +population must consist of the descendants of emigrants from the +ark. And, if that is the case, then, as has often been pointed +out, the sloths of the Brazilian forests, the kangaroos of +Australia, the great tortoises of the Galapagos islands, must +have respectively hobbled, hopped, and crawled over many +thousand miles of land and sea from "Ararat" to their present +habitations. Thus, the unquestionable facts of the geographical +distribution of recent land animals, alone, form an insuperable +obstacle to the acceptance of the assertion that the kinds of +animals composing the present terrestrial fauna have been, at +any time, universally destroyed in the way described in +the Pentateuch. + +It is upon this and other unimpeachable grounds that, as I +ventured to say some time ago, persons who are duly conversant +with even the elements of natural science decline to take the +Noachian deluge seriously; and that, as I also pointed out, +candid theologians, who, without special scientific knowledge, +have appreciated the weight of scientific arguments, have long +since given it up. But, as Goethe has remarked, there is nothing +more terrible than energetic ignorance;<9> and there are, even +yet, very energetic people, who are neither candid, nor clear- +headed, nor theologians, still less properly instructed in the +elements of natural science, who make prodigious efforts to +obscure the effect of these plain truths, and to conceal their +real surrender of the historical character of Noah's deluge +under cover of the smoke of a great discharge of +pseudoscientific artillery. They seem to imagine that the proofs +which abound in all parts of the world, of large oscillations of +the relative level of land and sea, combined with the +probability that, when the sea-level was rising, sudden +incursions of the sea like that which broke in over Holland and +formed the Zuyder Zee, may have often occurred, can be made to +look like evidence that something that, by courtesy, might be +called a general Deluge has really taken place. Their discursive +energy drags misunderstood truth into their service; and "the +glacial epoch" is as sure to crop up among them as King +Charles's head in a famous memorial--with about as much +appropriateness. The old story of the raised beach on Moel +Tryfaen is trotted out; though, even if the facts are as yet +rightly interpreted, there is not a shadow of evidence that the +change of sea-level in that locality was sudden, or that glacial +Welshmen would have known it was taking place.<10> Surely it is +difficult to perceive the relevancy of bringing in something +that happened in the glacial epoch (if it did happen) to account +for the tradition of a flood in the Euphrates valley between +2000 and 3000 B.C. But the date of the Noachian flood is solidly +fixed by the sole authority for it; no shuffling of the +chronological data will carry it so far back as 3000 B.C.; +and the Hebrew epos agrees with the Chaldaean in placing it +after the development of a somewhat advanced civilisation. +The only authority for the Noachian deluge assures us that, +before it visited the earth, Cain had built cities; Jubal had +invented harps and organs; while mankind had advanced so far +beyond the neolithic, nay even the bronze, stage that Tubal-cain +was a worker in iron. Therefore, if the Noachian legend is to be +taken for the history of an event which happened in the glacial +epoch, we must revise our notions of pleistocene civilisation. +On the other hand, if the Pentateuchal story only means +something quite different, that happened somewhere else, +thousands of years earlier, dressed up, what becomes of its +credit as history? I wonder what would be said to a modern +historian who asserted that Pekin was burnt down in 1886, and +then tried to justify the assertion by adducing evidence of the +Great Fire of London in 1666. Yet the attempt to save the credit +of the Noachian story by reference to something which is +supposed to have happened in the far north, in the glacial +epoch, is far more preposterous. + +Moreover, these dust-raising dialecticians ignore some of the +most important and well-known facts which bear upon the +question. Anything more than a parochial acquaintance with +physical geography and geology would suffice to remind its +possessor that the Holy Land itself offers a standing protest +against bringing such a deluge as that of Noah anywhere near it, +either in historical times or in the course of that pleistocene +period, of which the "great ice age" formed a part. + +Judaea and Galilee, Moab and Gilead, occupy part of that +extensive tableland at the summit of the western boundary of the +Euphrates valley, to which I have already referred. If that +valley had ever been filled with water to a height sufficient, +not indeed to cover a third of Ararat, in the north, or half of +some of the mountains of the Persian frontier in the east, but +to reach even four or five thousand feet, it must have stood +over the Palestinian hog's back, and have filled, up to the +brim, every depression on its surface. Therefore it could not +have failed to fill that remarkable trench in which the Dead +Sea, the Jordan, and the Sea of Galilee lie, and which is known +as the "Jordan-Arabah" valley. + +This long and deep hollow extends more than 200 miles, from near +the site of ancient Dan in the north, to the water-parting at +the head of the Wady Arabah in the south; and its deepest part, +at the bottom of the basin of the Dead Sea, lies 2500 feet below +the surface of the adjacent Mediterranean. The lowest portion of +the rim of the Jordan-Arabah valley is situated at the village +of El Fuleh, 257 feet above the Mediterranean. Everywhere else +the circumjacent heights rise to a very much greater altitude. +Hence, of the water which stood over the Syrian tableland, when +as much drained off as could run away, enough would remain to +form a "Mere" without an outlet, 2757 feet deep, over the +present site of the Dead Sea. From this time forth, the level of +the Palestinian mere could be lowered only by evaporation. It is +an extremely interesting fact, which has happily escaped capture +for the purposes of the energetic misunderstanding, that the +valley, at one time, was filled, certainly within 150 feet of +this height--probably higher. And it is almost equally certain, +that the time at which this great Jordan-Arabah mere reached its +highest level coincides with the glacial epoch. But then the +evidence which goes to prove this, also leads to the conclusion +that this state of things obtained at a period considerably +older than even 4000 B.C., when the world, according to the +"Helps" (or shall we say "Hindrances") provided for the simple +student of the Bible, was created; that it was not brought about +by any diluvial catastrophe, but was the result of a change in +the relative activities of certain natural operations which are +quietly going on now; and that, since the level of the mere +began to sink, many thousand years ago, no serious catastrophe +of any description has affected the valley. + +The evidence that the Jordan-Arabah valley really was once +filled with water, the surface of which reached within 160 feet +of the level of the pass of Jezrael, and possibly stood higher, +is this: Remains of alluvial strata, containing shells of the +freshwater mollusks which still inhabit the valley, worn down +into terraces by waves which long rippled at the same level, and +furrowed by the channels excavated by modern rainfalls, have +been found at the former height; and they are repeated, at +intervals, lower down, until the Ghor, or plain of the Jordan, +itself an alluvial deposit, is reached. These strata attain a +considerable thickness; and they indicate that the epoch at +which the freshwater mere of Palestine reached its highest level +is extremely remote; that its diminution has taken place very +slowly, and with periods of rest, during which the first formed +deposits were cut down into terraces. This conclusion is +strikingly borne out by other facts. A volcanic region stretches +from Galilee to Gilead and the Hauran, on each side of the +northern end of the valley. Some of the streams of basaltic lava +which have been thrown out from its craters and clefts in times +of which history has no record, have run athwart the course of +the Jordan itself, or of that of some of its tributary streams. +The lava streams, therefore, must be of later date than the +depressions they fill. And yet, where they have thus temporarily +dammed the Jordan and the Jermuk, these streams have had time to +cut through the hard basalts and lay bare the beds, over which, +before the lava streams invaded them, they flowed. + +In fact, the antiquity of the present Jordan-Arabah valley, as a +hollow in a tableland, out of reach of the sea, and troubled by +no diluvial or other disturbances, beyond the volcanic eruptions +of Gilead and of Galilee, is vast, even as estimated by a +geological standard. No marine deposits of later than miocene +age occur in or about it; and there is every reason to believe +that the Syro-Arabian plateau has been dry land, throughout the +pliocene and later epochs, down to the present time. +Raised beaches, containing recent shells, on the Levantine +shores of the Mediterranean and on those of the Red Sea, testify +to a geologically recent change of the sea level to the extent +of 250 or 300 feet, probably produced by the slow elevation of +the land; and, as I have already remarked, the alluvial plain of +the Euphrates and Tigris appears to have been affected in the +same way, though seemingly to a less extent. But of violent, or +catastrophic, change there is no trace. Even the volcanic +outbursts have flowed in even sheets over the old land surface; +and the long lines of the horizontal terraces which remain, +testify to the geological insignificance of such earthquakes as +have taken place. It is, indeed, possible that the original +formation of the valley may have been determined by the well- +known fault, along which the western rocks are relatively +depressed and the eastern elevated. But, whether that fault was +effected slowly or quickly, and whenever it came into existence, +the excavation of the valley to its present width, no less than +the sculpturing of its steep walls and of the innumerable deep +ravines which score them down to the very bottom, are +indubitably due to the operation of rain and streams, during an +enormous length of time, without interruption or disturbance of +any magnitude. The alluvial deposits which have been mentioned +are continued into the lateral ravines, and have more or less +filled them. But, since the waters have been lowered, these +deposits have been cut down to great depths, and are still being +excavated by the present temporary, or permanent, streams. +Hence, it follows, that all these ravines must have existed +before the time at which the valley was occupied by the great +mere. This fact acquires a peculiar importance when we proceed +to consider the grounds for the conclusion that the old +Palestinian mere attained its highest level in the cold period +of the pleistocene epoch. It is well known that glaciers +formerly came low down on the flanks of Lebanon and Antilebanon; +indeed, the old moraines are the haunts of the few survivors of +the famous cedars. This implies a perennial snowcap of great +extent on Hermon; therefore, a vastly greater supply of water to +the sources of the Jordan which rise on its flanks; and, in +addition, such a total change in the general climate, that the +innumerable Wadys, now traversed only by occasional storm +torrents, must have been occupied by perennial streams. All this +involves a lower annual temperature and a moist and rainy +atmosphere. If such a change of meteorological conditions could +be effected now, when the loss by evaporation from the surface +of the Dead Sea salt-pan balances all the gain from the Jordan +and other streams, the scale would be turned in the other +direction. The waters of the Dead Sea would become diluted; +its level would rise; it would cover, first the plain of the +Jordan, then the lake of Galilee, then the middle Jordan between +this lake and that of Huleh (the ancient Merom); and, finally, +it would encroach, northwards, along the course of the upper +Jordan, and, southwards, up the Wady Arabah, until it reached +some 260 feet above the level of the Mediterranean, when it +would attain a permanent level, by sending any superfluity +through the pass of Jezrael to swell the waters of the Kishon, +and flow thence into the Mediterranean. + +Reverse the process, in consequence of the excess of loss by +evaporation over gain by inflow, which must have set in as the +climate of Syria changed after the end of the pleistocene epoch, +and (without taking into consideration any other circumstances) +the present state of things must eventually be reached--a +concentrated saline solution in the deepest part of the valley-- +water, rather more charged with saline matter than ordinary +fresh water, in the lower Jordan and the lake of Galilee--fresh +waters, still largely derived from the snows of Hermon, in the +upper Jordan and in Lake Huleh. But, if the full state of the +Jordan valley marks the glacial epoch, then it follows that the +excavation of that valley by atmospheric agencies must have +occupied an immense antecedent time--a large part, perhaps the +whole, of the pliocene epoch; and we are thus forced to the +conclusion that, since the miocene epoch, the physical +conformation of the Holy Land has been substantially what it is +now. It has been more or less rained upon, searched by +earthquakes here and there, partially overflowed by lava +streams, slowly raised (relatively to the sea-level) a few +hundred feet. But there is not a shadow of ground for supposing +that, throughout all this time, terrestrial animals have ceased +to inhabit a large part of its surface; or that, in many parts, +they have been, in any respect, incommoded by the changes which +have taken place. + +The evidence of the general stability of the physical conditions +of Western Asia, which is furnished by Palestine and by the +Euphrates Valley, is only fortified if we extend our view +northwards to the Black Sea and the Caspian. The Caspian is a +sort of magnified replica of the Dead Sea. The bottom of the +deepest part of this vast inland mere is about 3000 feet below +the level of the Mediterranean, while its surface is lower by 85 +feet. At present, it is separated, on the west, by wide spaces +of dry land from the Black Sea, which has the same height as the +Mediterranean; and, on the east, from the Aral, 138 feet above +that level. The waters of the Black Sea, now in communication +with the Mediterranean by the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus, are +salt, but become brackish northwards, where the rivers of the +steppes pour in a great volume of fresh water. Those of the +shallower northern half of the Caspian are similarly affected by +the Volga and the Ural, while, in the shallow bays of the +southern division, they become extremely saline in consequence +of the intense evaporation. The Aral Sea, though supplied by the +Jaxartes and the Oxus, has brackish water. There is evidence +that, in the pliocene and pleistocene periods, to go no farther +back, the strait of the Dardanelles did not exist, and that the +vast area, from the valley of the Danube to that of the +Jaxartes, was covered by brackish or, in some parts, fresh water +to a height of at least 200 feet above the level of the +Mediterranean. At the present time, the water-parting which +separates the northern part of the basin of the Caspian from the +vast plains traversed by the Tobol and the Obi, in their course +to the Arctic Ocean, appears to be less than 200 feet above the +latter. It would seem, therefore, to be very probable that, +under the climatal conditions of part of the pleistocene period, +the valley of the Obi played the same part in relation to the +Ponto-Aralian sea, as that of the Kishon may have done to the +great mere of the Jordan valley; and that the outflow formed the +channel by which the well-known Arctic elements of the fauna of +the Caspian entered it. For the fossil remains imbedded in the +strata continuously deposited in the Aralo-Caspian area, since +the latter end of the miocene epoch, show no sign that, from +that time onward, it has ever been covered by sea water. +Therefore, the supposition of a free inflow of the Arctic Ocean, +which at one time was generally received, as well as that of +various hypothetical deluges from that quarter, must be +seriously questioned. + +The Caspian and the Aral stand in somewhat the same relation to +the vast basin of dry land in which they lie, as the Dead Sea +and the lake of Galilee to the Jordan valley. They are the +remains of a vast, mostly brackish, mere, which has dried up in +consequence of the excess of evaporation over supply, since the +cold and damp climate of the pleistocene epoch gave place to the +increasing dryness and great summer heats of Central Asia in +more modern times. The desiccation of the Aralo-Caspian basin, +which communicated with the Black Sea only by a comparatively +narrow and shallow strait along the present valley of Manytsch, +the bottom of which was less than 100 feet above the +Mediterranean, must have been vastly aided by the erosion of the +strait of the Dardanelles towards the end of the pleistocene +epoch, or perhaps later. For the result of thus opening a +passage for the waters of the Black Sea into the Mediterranean +must have been the gradual lowering of its level to that of the +latter sea. When this process had gone so far as to bring down +the Black Sea water to within less than a hundred feet of its +present level, the strait of Manytsch ceased to exist; and the +vast body of fresh water brought down by the Danube, the +Dnieper, the Don, and other South Russian rivers was cut off +from the Caspian, and eventually delivered into the +Mediterranean. Thus, there is as conclusive evidence as one can +well hope to obtain in these matters, that, north of the +Euphrates valley, the physical geography of an area as large as +all Central Europe has remained essentially unchanged, from the +miocene period down to our time; just as, to the west of the +Euphrates valley, Palestine has exhibited a similar persistence +of geographical type. To the south, the valley of the Nile tells +exactly the same story. The holes bored by miocene mollusks in +the cliffs east and west of Cairo bear witness that, in the +miocene epoch, it contained an arm of the sea, the bottom of +which has since been gradually filled up by the alluvium of the +Nile, and elevated to its present position. But the higher parts +of the Mokattam and of the desert about Ghizeh, have been dry +land from that time to this. Too little is known of the geology +of Persia, at present, to allow any positive conclusion to be +enunciated. But, taking the name to indicate the whole +continental mass of Iran, between the valleys of the Indus and +the Euphrates, the supposition that its physical geography has +remained unchanged for an immensely long period is hardly rash. +The country is, in fact, an enormous basin, surrounded on all +sides by a mountainous rim, and subdivided within by ridges into +plateaus and hollows, the bottom of the deepest of which, in the +province of Seistan, probably descends to the level of the +Indian Ocean. These depressions are occupied by salt marshes and +deserts, in which the waters of the streams which flow down the +sides of the basin are now dissipated by evaporation. I am +acquainted with no evidence that the present Iranian basin was +ever occupied by the sea; but the accumulations of gravel over a +great extent of its surface indicate long-continued water +action. It is, therefore, a fair presumption that large lakes +have covered much of its present deserts, and that they have +dried up by the operation of the same changed climatal +conditions as those which have reduced the Caspian and the Dead +Sea to their present dimensions.<11> + +Thus it would seem that the Euphrates valley, the centre of the +fabled Noachian deluge, is also the centre of a region covering +some millions of square miles of the present continents of +Europe, Asia, and Africa, in which all the facts, relevant to +the argument, at present known, converge to the conclusion that, +since the miocene epoch, the essential features of its physical +geography have remained unchanged; that it has neither been +depressed below the sea, nor swept by diluvial waters since that +time; and that the Chaldaean version of the legend of a flood in +the Euphrates valley is, of all those which are extant, the only +one which is even consistent with probability, since it depicts +a local inundation, not more severe than one which might be +brought about by a concurrence of favourable conditions at the +present day; and which might probably have been more easily +effected when the Persian Gulf extended farther north. +Hence, the recourse to the "glacial epoch" for some event which +might colourably represent a flood, distinctly asserted by the +only authority for it to have occurred in historical times, is +peculiarly unfortunate. Even a Welsh antiquary might hesitate +over the supposition that a tradition of the fate of Moel +Tryfaen, in the glacial epoch, had furnished the basis of fact +for a legend which arose among people whose own experience +abundantly supplied them with the needful precedents. +Moreover, if evidence of interchanges of land and sea are to be +accepted as "confirmations" of Noah's deluge, there are plenty +of sources for the tradition to be had much nearer than Wales. + +The depression now filled by the Red Sea, for example, appears +to be, geologically, of very recent origin. The later deposits +found on its shores, two or three hundred feet above the sea +level, contain no remains older than those of the present fauna; +while, as I have already mentioned, the valley of the adjacent +delta of the Nile was a gulf of the sea in miocene times. +But there is not a particle of evidence that the change of +relative level which admitted the waters of the Indian Ocean +between Arabia and Africa, took place any faster than that which +is now going on in Greenland and Scandinavia, and which has left +their inhabitants undisturbed. Even more remarkable changes were +effected, towards the end of, or since, the glacial epoch, over +the region now occupied by the Levantine Mediterranean and the +AEgean Sea. The eastern coast region of Asia Minor, the western +of Greece, and many of the intermediate islands, exhibit thick +masses of stratified deposits of later tertiary age and of +purely lacustrine characters; and it is remarkable that, on the +south side of the island of Crete, such masses present steep +cliffs facing the sea, so that the southern boundary of the lake +in which they were formed must have been situated where the sea +now flows. Indeed, there are valid reasons for the supposition +that the dry land once extended far to the west of the present +Levantine coast, and not improbably forced the Nile to seek an +outlet to the north-east of its present delta--a possibility of +no small importance in relation to certain puzzling facts in the +geographical distribution of animals in this region. At any +rate, continuous land joined Asia Minor with the Balkan +peninsula; and its surface bore deep fresh-water lakes, +apparently disconnected with the Ponto-Aralian sea. This state +of things lasted long enough to allow of the formation of the +thick lacustrine strata to which I have referred. I am not aware +that there is the smallest ground for the assumption that the +AEgean land was broken up in consequence of any of the +"catastrophes" which are so commonly invoked.<12> For anything +that appears to the contrary, the narrow, steep-sided, straits +between the islands of the AEgean archipelago may have been +originally brought about by ordinary atmospheric and stream +action; and may then have been filled from the Mediterranean, +during a slow submergence proceeding from the south northwards. +The strait of the Dardanelles is bounded by undisturbed +pleistocene strata forty feet thick, through which, to all +appearance, the present passage has been quietly cut. + +That Olympus and Ossa were torn asunder and the waters of the +Thessalian basin poured forth, is a very ancient notion, and an +often cited "confirmation" of Deucalion's flood. It has not yet +ceased to be in vogue, apparently because those who entertain it +are not aware that modern geological investigation has +conclusively proved that the gorge of the Penens is as typical +an example of a valley of erosion as any to be seen in Auvergne +or in Colorado.<13> + +Thus, in the immediate vicinity of the vast expanse of country +which can be proved to have been untouched by any catastrophe +before, during, and since the "glacial epoch," lie the great +areas of the AEgean and the Red Sea, in which, during or since +the glacial epoch, changes of the relative positions of land and +sea have taken place, in comparison with which the submergence +of Moel Tryfaen, with all Wales and Scotland to boot, does not +come to much. + +What, then, is the relevancy of talk about the "glacial epoch" +to the question of the historical veracity of the narrator of +the story of the Noachian deluge? So far as my knowledge goes, +there is not a particle of evidence that destructive inundations +were more common, over the general surface of the earth, in the +glacial epoch than they have been before or since. No doubt the +fringe of an ice-covered region must be always liable to them; +but, if we examine the records of such catastrophes in +historical times, those produced in the deltas of great rivers, +or in lowlands like Holland, by sudden floods, combined with +gales of wind or with unusual tides, far excel all others. + +With respect to such inundations as are the consequences of +earthquakes, and other slight movements of the crust of the +earth, I have never heard of anything to show that they were +more frequent and severer in the quaternary or tertiary epochs +than they are now. In the discussion of these, as of all other +geological problems, the appeal to needless catastrophes is born +of that impatience of the slow and painful search after +sufficient causes, in the ordinary course of nature, which is a +temptation to all, though only energetic ignorance nowadays +completely succumbs to it. + + +POSTSCRIPT. + +My best thanks are due to Mr. Gladstone for his courteous +withdrawal of one of the statements to which I have thought it +needful to take exception. The familiarity with controversy, to +which Mr. Gladstone alludes, will have accustomed him to the +misadventures which arise when, as sometimes will happen in the +heat of fence, the buttons come off the foils. I trust that any +scratch which he may have received will heal as quickly as my +own flesh wounds have done. + + +A contribution to the last number of this Review (<i>The +Nineteenth Century</i>) of a different order would be left +unnoticed, were it not that my silence would convert me into an +accessory to misrepresentations of a very grave character. +However, I shall restrict myself to the barest possible +statement of facts, leaving my readers to draw their +own conclusions. + +In an article entitled "A Great Lesson," published in this +Review for September, 1887: + +(1) The Duke of Argyll says the "overthrow of Darwin's +speculations" (p. 301) concerning the origin of coral reefs, +which he fancied had taken place, had been received by men of +science "with a grudging silence as far as public discussion is +concerned" (p. 301). + +The truth is that, as every one acquainted with the literature +of the subject was well aware, the views supposed to have +effected this overthrow had been fully and publicly discussed by +Dana in the United States; by Geikie, Green, and Prestwich in +this country; by Lapparent in France; and by Credner in Germany. + +(2) The Duke of Argyll says "that no serious reply has ever been +attempted" (p. 305). + +The truth is that the highest living authority on the subject, +Professor Dana, published a most weighty reply, two years before +the Duke of Argyll committed himself to this statement. + +(3) The Duke of Argyll uses the preceding products of defective +knowledge, multiplied by excessive imagination, to illustrate +the manner in which "certain accepted opinions" established "a +sort of Reign of Terror in their own behalf" (p. 307). + +The truth is that no plea, except that of total ignorance of the +literature of the subject, can excuse the errors cited, and that +the "Reign of Terror" is a purely subjective phenomenon. + +(4) The letter in "Nature" for the 17th of November, 1887, to +which I am referred, contains neither substantiation, nor +retractation, of statements 1 and 2. Nevertheless, it repeats +number 3. The Duke of Argyll says of his article that it "has +done what I intended it to do. It has called wide attention to +the influence of mere authority in establishing erroneous +theories and in retarding the progress of scientific truth." + +(5) The Duke of Argyll illustrates the influence of his +fictitious "Reign of Terror" by the statement that Mr. John +Murray "was strongly advised against the publication of his +views in derogation of Darwin's long-accepted theory of the +coral islands, and was actually induced to delay it for two +years" (p.307). And in "Nature" for the l7th November, 1887, the +Duke of Argyll states that he has seen a letter from Sir Wyville +Thomson in which he "urged and almost insisted that Mr. Murray +should withdraw the reading of his papers on the subject from +the Royal Society of Edinburgh. This was in February, 1877." +The next paragraph, however, contains the confession: +"No special reason was assigned." The Duke of Argyll proceeds to +give a speculative opinion that "Sir Wyville dreaded some injury +to the scientific reputation of the body of which he was the +chief." Truly, a very probable supposition; but as Sir Wyville +Thomson's tendencies were notoriously anti-Darwinian, it does +not appear to me to lend the slightest justification to the Duke +of Argyll's insinuation that the Darwinian "terror" influenced +him. However, the question was finally set at rest by a letter +which appeared in "Nature" (29th of December, 1887), in which +the writer says that: + +"talking with Sir Wyville about 'Murray's new theory,' I asked +what objection he had to its being brought before the public? +The answer simply was: he considered that the grounds of the +theory had not, as yet, been sufficiently investigated or +sufficiently corroborated, and that therefore any immature +dogmatic publication of it would do less than little service +either to science or to the author of the paper." + +Sir Wyville Thomson was an intimate friend of mine, and I am +glad to have been afforded one more opportunity of clearing his +character from the aspersions which have been so recklessly cast +upon his good sense and his scientific honour. + +(6) As to the "overthrow" of Darwin's theory, which, according +to the Duke of Argyll, was patent to every unprejudiced person +four years ago, I have recently become acquainted with a work, +in which a really competent authority,<14> thoroughly acquainted +with all the new lights which have been thrown upon the subject +during the last ten years, pronounces the judgment; +firstly, that some of the facts brought forward by Messrs. +Murray and Guppy against Darwin's theory are not facts; +secondly, that the others are reconcilable with Darwin's theory; +and, thirdly, that the theories of Messrs. Murray and Guppy "are +contradicted by a series of important facts" (p. 13). + +Perhaps I had better draw attention to the circumstance that +Dr. Langenbeck writes under shelter of the guns of the fortress +of Strasburg; and may therefore be presumed to be unaffected by +those dreams of a "Reign of Terror" which seem to disturb the +peace of some of us in these islands (April, 1891). + +[See, on the subject of this note, the essay entitled "An +Episcopal Trilogy" in the following volume.] + + +FOOTNOTES + +(1) In May 1849 the Tigris at Bagdad rose 22-1/2 feet--5 feet +above its usual rise--and nearly swept away the town. In 1831 a +similarly exceptional flood did immense damage, destroying 7000 +houses. See Loftus, <i>Chaldea and Susiana,</i> p. 7. + +(2) See the instructive chapter on Hasisadra's flood in Suess, +<i>Das Antlitz der Erde,</i> Abth. I. Only fifteen years ago a +cyclone in the Bay of Bengal gave rise to a flood which covered +3000 square miles of the delta of the Ganges, 3 to 45 feet deep, +destroying 100,000 people, innumerable cattle, houses, and +trees. It broke inland on the rising ground of Tipperah, and may +have swept a vessel from the sea that far, though I do not know +that it did. + +(3) See Cernik's maps in <i>Petermanns Mittheilungen,</i> +Erganzungashefte 44 and 45, 1875-76. + +(4) I have not cited the dimensions given to the ships in most +translations of the story, because there appears to be a doubt +about them. Haupt (<i>Keilinschriftliche Sindfluth-Bericht,</i> +p. 13) says that the figures are illegible. + +(5) It is probable that a slow movement of elevation of the land +at one time contributed to the result--perhaps does so still. + +(6) At a comparatively recent period, the littoral margin of the +Persian Gulf extended certainly 250 miles farther to the +northwest than the present embouchure of the Shatt-el Arab. +(Loftus, <i>Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society,</i> +1853, p. 251.) The actual extent of the marine deposit inland +cannot be defined, as it is covered by later +fluviatile deposits. + +(7) Tiele (<i>Babylonisch-Assyrische Geschicthe,</i> pp. 572-3) +has some very just remarks on this aspect of the epos. + +(8) In the second volume of the <i>History of the Euphrates,</i> +p. 637 Col. Chesney gives a very interesting account of the +simple and rapid manner in which the people about Tekrit and in +the marshes of Lemlum construct large barges, and make them +water-tight with bitumen. Doubtless the practice is extremely +ancient and as Colonel Chesney suggests, may possibly have +furnished the conception of Noah's ark. But it is one thing to +build a barge 44ft. long by 11ft. wide and 4ft. deep in the way +described; and another to get a vessel of ten times the +dimensions, so constructed, to hold together. + +(9) "Es ist nichts schrecklicher als eine thatige Unwissenheit," +<i>Maximen und Reflexionen,</i> iii. + +(10) The well-known difficulties connected with this case have +recently been carefully discussed by Mr. Bell in the +<i>Transactions</i> of the Geological Society of Glasgow. + +(11) An instructive parallel is exhibited by the "Great Basin" +of North America. See the remarkable memoir on <i>Lake +Bonneville</i> by Mr. G. K. Gilbert, of the United States +Geological Survey, just published. + +(12) It is true that earthquakes are common enough, but they +are incompetent to produce such changes as those which have +taken place. + +(13) See Teller, <i>Geologische Beschreibung des sud-ostlichen +Thessalien;</i> Denkschriften d. Akademie der Wissenschaften, +Wien, Bd. xl. p. 199. + +(14) Dr. Langenbeck, <i>Die Theorien uber die Entstehung der +Korallen-Inseln und Korallen-Riffe</i> (p. 13), 1890. + + + + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of Hasisadra's Adventure, by Huxley +This is Essay #7 from "Science and Hebrew Tradition" + diff --git a/old/7saht10.zip b/old/7saht10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a540a74 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/7saht10.zip |