ttested, is explicitly referred to in the
Babylonian Version (cf. Gilg. Epic. XI, ll. 39-42).
Suggested reflections of this idea have long been traced in
the Hebrew Versions; cf. Gen. viii. 21 (J), where Yahweh
says he will not again curse the ground, and Gen. ix. 13
(P), where Elohim speaks of his covenant "between me and the
earth".

With the sixth line of the column it is clear that the original
narrative of the myth is resumed.(1) Ziusudu, the king, prostrates
himself before Anu and Enlil, who bestow immortality upon him and cause
him to dwell in a land, or mountain, the name of which may perhaps be
read as Dilmun. The close parallelism between this portion of the text
and the end of the myth in the Gilgamesh Epic will be seen from the
following extracts,(2) the magical portions being omitted from the
Sumerian Version:

(1) It will also be noted that with this line the text again
falls naturally into couplets.

(2) Col. VI, ll. 6-9 and 12 are there compared with Gilg.
Epic, XI, ll. 198-205.

SUMERIAN VERSION SEMITIC VERSION

Then Enlil went up into the
ship;
Ziusudu, the king, He took me by the hand and led
me forth.
Before Anu and Enlil bows himself He brought out my wife and
down. caused her to bow down at my
side;
He touched our brows, standing
between us and blessing us:
Life like (that of) a god he "Formerly was Ut-napishtim of
gives to him. mankind,
An eternal soul like (that of) a But now let Ut-napishtim be
god he creates for him. like the gods, even us!
And let Ut-napishtim dwell afar
off at the mouth of the
rivers!"
In a . . . land, the land of(1) Then they took me and afar off,
Dilmun(?), they caused him to at the mouth of the rivers,
dwell. they caused me to dwell.

(1) Or, "On a mountain, the mountain of", &c.

The Sumerian Version thus apparently concludes with the familiar ending
of the legend which we find in the Gilgamesh Epic and in Berossus,
though it here occurs in an abbreviated form and with some variations in
detail. In all three versions the prostration of the Deluge hero before
the god is followed by the bestowal of immortality upon him, a fate
which, according to Berossus, he