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Legends of Babylon and Egypt
Appendix 2
APPENDIX II
THE ANTEDILUVIAN KINGS OF BEROSSUS AND
THE SUMERIAN DYNASTIC LIST
It may be of assistance to the reader to repeat in tabular form the
equivalents to the mythical kings of Berossus which are briefly
discussed in Lecture I. In the following table the two new equations,
obtained from the earliest section of the Sumerian Dynastic List, are
in upper-case.[1] The established equations to other names are in
normal case, while those for which we should possibly seek other
equivalents are enclosed within brackets.[2] Aruru has not been
included as a possible equivalent for {'Aloros}.[3]
1. {'Aloros}
2. {'Alaparos [? 'Adaparos]}, /Alaporus/, /Alapaurus/ [Adapa]
3. {'Amelon, 'Amillaros}, /Almelon/ [Amêlu]
4. {'Ammenon} ENMENUNNA
5. {Megalaros, Megalanos}, /Amegalarus/
6. {Daonos, Daos} ETANA
7. {Euedorakhos, Euedoreskhos}, /Edoranchus/ Enmeduranki
8. {'Amemphinos}, /Amemphsinus/ [Amêl-Sin]
9. {'Otiartes [? 'Opartes]} [Ubar-Tutu]
10. {Xisouthros, Sisouthros, Sisithros} Khasisatra, Atrakhasis[4]
[1] For the royal names of Berossus, see /Euseb. chron. lib. pri./,
ed. Schoene, cols. 7 f., 31 ff. The latinized variants correspond
to forms in the Armenian translation of Eusebius.
[2] For the principal discussions of equivalents, see Hommel, /Proc.
Soc. Bibl. Arch./, Vol. XV (1893), pp. 243 ff., and /Die
altorientalischen Denkmäler und das Alte Testament/ (1902), pp. 23
ff.; Zimmern, /Die Keilinschriften und das Alte Testament/, 3rd
ed. (1902), pp. 531 ff.; and cf. Lenormant, /Les origines de
l'histoire/, I (1880), pp. 214 ff. See also Driver, /Genesis/,
10th ed. (1916), p. 80 f.; Skinner, /Genesis/, p. 137 f.; Ball,
/Genesis/, p. 50; and Gordon, /Early Traditions of Genesis/, pp.
46 ff.
[3] There is a suggested equation of Lal-ur-alimma with {'Aloros}.
[4] The hundred and twenty "sars", or 432,000 years assigned by
Berossus for the duration of the Antediluvian dynasty, are
distributed as follows among the ten kings; the numbers are given
below first in "sars", followed by their equivalents in years
within brackets: 1. Ten "sars" (36,000); 2. Three (10,800); 3.
Thirteen (46,800); 4. Twelve (43,200); 5. Eighteen (64,800); 6.
Ten (36,000); 7. Eighteen (64,800); 8. Ten (36,000); 9. Eight
(28,800); 10. Eighteen (64,800).
For comparison with Berossus it may be useful to abstract from the
Sumerian Dynastic List the royal names occurring in the earliest
extant dynasties. They are given below with variant forms from
duplicate copies of the list, and against each is added the number of
years its owner is recorded to have ruled. The figures giving the
total duration of each dynasty, either in the summaries or under the
separate reigns, are sometimes not completely preserved; in such cases
an x is added to the total of the figures still legible. Except in
those cases referred to in the foot-notes, all the names are written
in the Sumerian lists without the determinative for "god".
KINGDOM OF KISH
(23 kings; 18,000 + x years, 3 months, 3 days)
. . .[1]
8. [. . .] 900(?) years
9. Galumum, Kalumum 900 "
10. Zugagib, Zugakib 830 "
11. Arpi, Arpiu, Arbum 720 "
12. Etana[2] 635 (or 625) years
13. Pili . . .[3] 410 years
14. Enmenunna, Enmennunna[4] 611 "
15. Melamkish 900 "
16. Barsalnunna 1,200 "
17. Mesza[. . .] [. . .] "
. . .[5]
22. . . . 900 years
23. . . . 625 "
KINGDOM OF EANNA (ERECH)[6]
(About 10-12 kings; 2,171 + x years)
1. Meskingasher 325 years
2. Enmerkar 420 "
3. Lugalbanda[7] 1,200 "
4. Dumuzi[8] (i.e. Tammuz) 100 "
5. Gishbilgames[9] (i.e. Gilgamesh) 126 (or 186) years
6. [. . .]lugal [. . .] years
. . .[10]
KINGDOM OF UR
(4 kings; 171 years)
1. Mesannipada 80 years
2. Meskiagnunna 30 "
3. Elu[. . .] 25 "
4. Balu[. . .] 36 "
KINGDOM OF AWAN
(3 kings; 356 years)
. . .[11]
[1] Gap of seven, or possibly eight, names.
[2] The name Etana is written in the lists with and without the
determinative for "god".
[3] The reading of the last sign in the name is unknown. A variant
form of the name possibly begins with Bali.
[4] This form is given on a fragment of a late Assyrian copy of the
list; cf. /Studies in Eastern History/, Vol. III, p. 143.
[5] Gap of four, or possibly three, names.
[6] Eanna was the great temple of Erech. In the Second Column of the
list "the kingdom" is recorded to have passed from Kish to Eanna,
but the latter name does not occur in the summary.
[7] The name Lugalbanda is written in the lists with and without the
determinative for "god".
[8] The name Dumuzi is written in the list with the determinative for
"god".
[9] The name Gishbilgames is written in the list with the
determinative for "god".
[10] Gap of about four, five, or six kings.
[11] Wanting.
At this point a great gap occurs in our principal list. The names of
some of the missing "kingdoms" may be inferred from the summaries, but
their relative order is uncertain. Of two of them we know the
duration, a second Kingdom of Ur containing four kings and lasting for
a hundred and eight years, and another kingdom, the name of which is
not preserved, consisting of only one king who ruled for seven years.
The dynastic succession only again becomes assured with the opening of
the Dynastic chronicle published by Père Scheil and recently acquired
by the British Museum. It will be noted that with the Kingdom of Ur
the separate reigns last for decades and not hundreds of years each,
so that we here seem to approach genuine tradition, though the Kingdom
of Awan makes a partial reversion to myth so far as its duration is
concerned. The two suggested equations with Antediluvian kings of
Berossus both occur in the earliest Kingdom of Kish and lie well
within the Sumerian mythical period. The second of the rulers
concerned, Enmenunna (Ammenon), is placed in Sumerian tradition
several thousand years before the reputed succession of the gods
Lugalbanda and Tammuz and of the national hero Gilgamesh to the throne
of Erech. In the first lecture some remarkable points of general
resemblance have already been pointed out between Hebrew and Sumerian
traditions of these early ages of the world.
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