[Illustration: 002.jpg THE BANKS OF THE EUPHRATES AT IIILLAH]

Drawn by Boudier, after J. Dieulafoy. The vignette, which is
by Faucher-Gudin, is reproduced from an intaglio in the
Cabinet des Médailles.




CHAPTER I--ANCIENT CHALDÆA


The Creation, the Deluge, the history of the gods--The country, its
cities its inhabitants, its early dynasties.

[Illustration: 002a.jpg]

"In the time when nothing which was called heaven existed above, and when
nothing below had as yet received the name of earth,* Apsu, the Ocean,
who first was their father, and Chaos-Tiâmat, who gave birth to them
all, mingled their waters in one, reeds which were not united, rushes
which bore no fruit."** Life germinated slowly in this inert mass, in
which the elements of our world lay still in confusion: when at length
it did spring up, it was but feebly, and at rare intervals, through
the hatching of divine couples devoid of personality and almost without
form. "In the time when the gods were not created, not one as yet, when
they had neither been called by their names, nor had their destinies
been assigned to them by fate, gods manifested themselves. Lakhmu and
Lakhamu were the first to appear, and waxed great for ages; then Anshar
and Kishar were produced after them. Days were added to days, and years