The Chaldean Account of Genesis

by George Smith

The Creation, the Fall of Man, the Deluge, the Tower of Babel, the times of the Patriarchs; many of us know these stories through reading Genesis in the Old Testament.

But, what happens if there was an alternative source that spoke of these events?

George Smith, a pioneering English Assyriologist, discovered a number of ancient tablets in the lands surrounding Nineveh, situated in what was previously the infamous civilization of Babylonia.

Written in the long-forgotten script of cuneiform, Smith was able to discover some remarkable finds upon their surfaces.

The Chaldean Account of Genesis explores these discoveries and explains how the tablets provide an alternative account to the accounts of the Jewish bible.

These tablets also throw remarkable light on the myths and legends of Babylon, from the epic of Gilgamesh to the adventures of Ishtar.

This work is a remarkable study that should be essential reading for anyone interested in the history of the stories of Old Testament as well as the ancient civilization of Babylon.

George Smith, was a pioneering English Assyriologist who first discovered and translated the Epic of Gilgamesh, one of the oldest-known written works of literature. His The Chaldean Account of Genesis was first published in 1876. Smith also passed away of dysentery that year during an expedition to excavate the rest of the Library of Ashurbanipal.

Genres: History, Religion, Mythology, Nonfiction, Literature, Philosophy, Ancient History

193 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1876

About the author

George Smith was a pioneering English Assyriologist who first discovered and translated the Epic of Gilgamesh, one the oldest-known written works of literature.

Smith's earliest successes were the discoveries of two unique inscriptions early in 1867. The first, a total eclipse of the sun in the month of Sivan inscribed on Tablet K51, he linked to the spectacular eclipse that occurred on 15 June 763 BC, a description of which had been published 80 years earlier by French historian François Clément (1714–1793) in L'art de vérifier les dates des faits historiques. This discovery is the cornerstone of ancient Near Eastern chronology. The other was the date of an invasion of Babylonia by the Elamites in 2280 BC.
In 1871, Smith published Annals of Assur-bani-pal transliterated and translated, and communicated to the newly founded Society of Biblical Archaeology a paper on "The Early History of Babylonia", and an account of his decipherment of the Cypriote inscriptions.

Reviews

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting book but as I read it I had to keep in mind that it was a work-in-
progress when written in 1876, and as such is possibly out of date, or at least out of sync with current archeology and history. Key example: much of the book follows the exploits and adventures of Izdubar, who is now known as Gilgamesh. Smith tries to build a case that Izdubar(Gilgamesh) is really Nimrod. The current world of scholarship is split on this identification.

Still, given that Abraham and his family migrated from Ur of the Chaldees to Palestine it is quite possible that they carried with them these legends and myths of creation, the Fall, the flood and the Tower of Babel, and that they were then incorporated into the Hebrew bible.

[The Phoenix · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was very interesting. There were parts that were a little harder to follow, but otherwise, I learned a lot about the ancient Chaldean people's belief. Their Creation story is a slight variation from Genesis in the Bible. They also have more than one- A Creation story with one Creator and one with many gods.
There were a few ancient stories that were similar to the Bible. The fall of man, tower of Babel, the flood and Satan's fall are among these. An interesting part of the book showed where the name Adam, as the first man, came from. The Chaldean name for human was a variation of Adam.
I recommend this book to people interested in this subject.

[Niloufar Mazinani · Rating 4 out of 5]

این کتاب ترجمه ۱۲ لوح به خط میخی‌ست که شارحان معتقدند لوح دوازدهم که درمورد بازگشت انکیدو(دوست گیلگمش) از جهان مردگانست بعدا اضافه شده.
گفته شده جرج اسمیت بعد از خواندن لوح دوازدهم که درمورد داستانی بسیار شبیه به روایت طوفان حضرت نوح در کتاب مقدس است از هیجان از جای خود پریده چراکه این داستان سندی‌ست بر این مطلب که داستان حضرت نوح ریشه‌ی باستانی و غیر عبری نیز دارد.

گیلگمش بعد از مرگ دوست صمیمی‌اش به دنبال جاودانگی میرود و با بازمانده کشتی(اوتناپیشتیم) که تنها انسان نامیراست ملاقات میکند:

«تا کی، گیلگمش، تا کی؟
تو که فانی هستی، چرا برای جاودانگی این‌گونه در رنجی؟
زندگی‌ات کوتاه است؛
پس بخور، بنوش، خوش باش و بگذار لباس نو بپوشی،
زن محبوب در آغوشت بخوابد، و کودکت در آغوشت بخندد،
این است سرنوشت انسان.»

[Andrew · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a tough book to rate because of what it is: a work-in-progress from the late 1800s when there were only the first signs and findings of non-Judaic ancient near eastern cultures. Smith thought he had really knocked it out of the park, though: Genesis was a plagiarism, a monotheized rendition of other Mesopotamian myths. The scholarship on this hypothesis largely fell into suspicion by 1910 (Thorkild Jacobsen) and is now largely dismissed (David Tsumura). Instead, it's now clear that these ancient near eastern myths and stories (this includes the Bible) were all operating within a shared set of genres, themes, styles, and oral traditions that predated any of the cultures we know about and even significantly predated written language.

There's also this BS idea someone keeps bringing me that the Biblical character of Nimrod is based on the Babylonian Gilgamesh (or vise-versa). Thankfully, I now know that this idea originates (it seems) with this book and maybe I can finally put this idiotic idea to rest and get this person to leave me alone about Nimrod.

I skimmed this book, but I'll be coming back to it (unfortunately).

[Kevin W. Carr Carr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good Read

The discovery of the Nineveh library from afar antiquity and the translation of the clay tablets shows us that civilization and the stories in Genesis are much older than anyone dreamed.

[Jeffrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Early account of the legends of Gilgamesh

This is a very old book (1880) about the records left behind from the kingdom's of Summer. As such, it is a bit hard to read; the style of English has changed after 140 years. Persistence is key. Compared to Poe, it should be easy.
In here we find translations of 4000 year old cuneiform tablets, which in turn are the written artifacts of even older legends. The book of Genesis is more than 1000 years younger, but in it we find shadowy impressions of those ancient myths. So, we start with oral legends from five or six thousand years ago. They were written down. Presumably, Abraham learned these as a young man. He in turn started a new oral tradition, and so forth.
Astounding.

[Catarina PBatista · Rating 4 out of 5]

While this is an important scholarly work of transcription and translation, the way it was presented in this edition lacks curation.
I wish the next edition came updated and in a way that made it easier for the reader to understand.

Other than that, the book opens our eyes to major storylines that are far older than what we are usually told. And that in the history of humanity there is most likely several narratives shared by the whole world at some point.

There is so much we still don't understand and so much we would never be able to explain, however, its books like these that make me hopeful that history will continue to be recorded and that we remind ourselves that no one has the truth under their sleeves.
The past is as mysterious as the future~

[Gemelli2 · Rating 4 out of 5]

An early view

An early treatment of the material. It is a somewhat misleading title in that the references to Genesis, much less Old Testament are "strained" at best.
That being said, it is a scholarly treatment of the fragments available (for its time).





I would recommend this book to anyone wanting a historical view.
N.B. : the number of pages with only a word or so becomes tiresome. It may show the author's ability, dedication but delivers little to the overall understanding of the material.

[Liz Thoth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Most accurate translation of Sumerian texts, I have encountered. With non biased and educated information following the texts. The new discovery in 1880 was before anything could be destroyed or corrupted.

[Liam Malone · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a difficult book because it is a translation in many chapters of fragments of cunieform tablets. It is good because we gain an understanding of the connections between the Babylonian and Assyrian comparisons with the Book of Genesis.

[Keith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good, good.

As a student of biblical history, I found this to be a facinating read. While only parts of it are directly related to biblical Genesis, it's interesting to see the other legends as well.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author took several collecting trips to the Middle East. He found clay tablets and translated them and tells how the stories are similar to the Biblical account of Genesis. He also relates many of the fables of this time.

[CAROLYN ESTES · Rating 2 out of 5]

History of Legends

I found this book incredibly boring. I was under a different impression of the content.way too much information missing. This book was not ready to publish, in my opinion

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book provided me with the possible link between Palestine and Assyria for some events described in Genesis, including Creation and the Flood. While some of this has been discredited, enough remains that makes its reading worthwhile.

[Julio jpg]

Muy interesante, ojala hubiera más investigación ya que este libro es de 1880. Hubiera sido importante que desde esa fecha alguien hubiera hablado de estas cosas al común de los mortales. El inglés es sencillo de entender.

[Dina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating that the biblical story was told thousands of years before Bible. My only issue is that the writing style is a bit chaotic.

[AWAD A ISKANDER · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good rendering of anticuity

This is a very good explanation of Babelonian history. The narrative is very lucid. As far as similarity with Genesis, the author seems to be clear.

[Donald M. Rhodes]

written like a text book, something to study, not enjoy

[Dave Pettengill · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting topic but was written like a textbook that was not completed. There have to be better resources written on this topic that can be followed easier and are more thorough

[Chuck Leonard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting account, written 1872-1875 reflecting upon potential influences of Chaldean/Assyrian works found at the Kouyunjik Mound, at the site of ancient Ninevah, now Mosul, Iraq on the earliest Jewish and Christian stories found in the Bible. The sources referenced in this book were fragments of scrolls and cuneiform inscriptions found in stone. Smith attempts to avoid conclusions about how connected the Chaldean writings are to later accounts found in the Bible but his translation from the original and partial scrolls draws particular attention to the similarities of the flood/deluge and other common stories. My interest in ancient writings began many years ago when I did some research into the Essenes and their dead sea scrolls. My fascination with these topics made this an enjoyable book for me in spite of the fact that Smith relates his translation as found... in a fragmented and disjointed way without as much conjecture about what might be in the text that is missing as I would have liked. But it is important to remember the time in which the work was written... and the fact that his research into the found works was just beginning.

[Bradley · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted more info on the corrupted sumerian legends as told from the babylonian, and what I got was preliminary and incomplete reporting. I guess it can't be helped, for the time of its writing and the amount of scholarship already put into the subject, not even mentioning the cultural bias and hopeful recounting of myths. Still, I did get some insights, although not as much as I had hoped.

[Ernest Barker · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is a bit dated, but gives an excellent account of the myths that modern day Abrahamic religions are built on. This book is a good starting place for a understanding of the Christian myths.

[Beautifully Broken · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very triggering considering I'm actually lapsing with my own ED. And yet, quite good. :P