Erdington 7 April 1876
Dear Sir
The Weissenbrun hymn belongs to the earliest Christian time. Yet it might almost have been written before the Christian missionaries came. The following from the Voluspa is purely Pagan.
“It was the morn of time,
“when nothing was,
“nor sand nor sea,
“nor cold waves,
“nowhere could earth be found,
“nor the high heaven.
“There was a boundless gulf
“where nothing groweth,
“Until the sons of Börr (i:e: Odin, Vile, & Ve)
“gave life to clay,
“they who fashioned
“lordly Midgard. (i:e: earth)
But I think the beginning of the creation tablet is grander than these. We have the same idea as in Ps: XIX “ The heavens are telling.”
“I say now! Above, heavens not proclaiming,
“Below, on earth, name not recorded.
“The gulf embraced their seed.
“Mother Sil-sallot genitrix of them all.
“Waters only contained them,
“Earth (contained) not beast, the height not [feathered?] fowl.
“I say now! No gods are seated
“name not recorded, memorial not –
Where it means “life”, as I think it does here, [cuneiform] is sil (AKK), usually extended by la, silla Sil-sallah seems to be the “female” principle of “life”, and I supposed Berossus might have thought of her simply as sallat, and connected the word with θάλλειν, θάλασσα, θ [illegible] λυ &c. Dor, σάλασσα, too, may be taken into account. The other tablet scarcely seems to belong to the cosmogonic series. It is rather a psalm in praise of Ninip, whom I identify with the supreme god of all the nations around Chaldæa, Israel amongst the rest. It is important that the marginal note shows that the same god is designated by the several titles [cuneiform] is certainly Ninip. [cuneiform] is a title of his, with the addition of Lida “right hand”. [cuneiform] [Hebrew] is new. [cuneiform] sāri corresponds to titles [cuneiform] & [cuneiform].
Then on the reverse we have [cuneiform] & [cuneiform], which also belong to him (II. 57); and we have mention of his L names, he being one of the gods to whom the number L belongs Perhaps I had better give my own rough translation of that part of the tablet which you have not, to show my reasons.
“Establishing assembly of gods – their heart
“Collecting disobedient –
“Causing transgression perversion of covenant –
“Of the prison
“[cuneiform] –
“cutting off separated
“[cuneiform] kil salsir nakid (naga-ornabit)
“assembling to them
[long line across page]
“Lo! seizing the tail of the lion -
“fire to destroy sil-sallat ilu bi –
“His memorial Lo! the bright god, holder –
“of the stars of heaven, all of them, may he keep together
“like sheep may he herd the gods all of them.
“(from) worship of Silּsallat her party may he withdraw may he oppose
“his following of men lengthened days
“illegible deletion] may he prolong, and not let cease, may he ordain to future time.
“He regions made distributed mightily.
“[cuneiform] Lord of Lands his name he proclaimed [cuneiform]
“In palaces of the gods they uttered their blasphemy.
“and Ea heard, his liver indignation he whetted
“the fire of his wrath. He extended his memorial monition
“He like me Ea also. Lo! his memorial.
“The troop of my separatists all of these may he subdue and
“all my rebels he may he expel.
“In L memorials the great gods
“his L names proclaimed, recorded them all.
“May they be collected and first may he consolidate.
“The lord established mightily, his [illegible]
“may he repeat, and father and child may he destroy
“who to the expelled sib הנש King & offspring may open their ears.
“May he shine also to Elu (or) An = Ilu the god of gods Marduk.
“H: loud may he extend, his power may he confirm also.
“Term his covenant, undiminished his glory.
“The utterance of his mouth no god makes pass away
“His empire is consolidated and does not go back
“No god goes before him in his glory, his strength
“Wide is his [illegible] strong his command
“Rebels and fugitives before him he bows down.
So Ninip seems to be the main subject of the whole poem, and a brief notice of the King of the rebels is all I should expect in the introductory lines
yours truly
D H Haigh