Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology

Mayi] SOCIETYOF .BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY. [1894.

of the Jahvist's narrativea mere abstractof accounts whichwere
originallymuch morecopious,though it does not follow thatthey
wereaccessible in their unabridgedform to the Hebrew writer;
thatis a point whichwe are not in a position to decide. Theverse
on which I hope to reflect new light from Babylonian sources
maybe emended andrenderedthus: " And Zillah she also bare
Tubalcain: he was the father of every forgerof copper and iron;
and Tubalcain's sisterwas Naamah."
Little enough is said of Tubalcain, andstill lessof his sister
Naamah. Welearn,however,thatTubalcain figured in some old
popularstoryas a culture-hero, as one of the " fathers " or founders
of civilisation, whose specialcontribution to human progress was
the discovery of metallurgy ; and we may inferthatthe reason why
his sister Naamahis mentioned at all in so meagre a context, is that
the original storyassociatedher with her brother as a fellow-worker
or inventor.
Nowto say the least, it surely is a remarkable coincidencethat
bothin the earliest BabylonianandChinesemythologythe legendary
inventorof metallurgy shares the honours of his art with a sister,
whoappearsas a co-equal benefactorof mankind ; and when it is
addedthata surprising similarityof sound is still traceable between
theirnamesand those of the brief Biblicalnotice,I think you may
be disposed to agree withme that anotherpointof contact between
Hebrewand primitive Babyloniantraditionhas been established.
The Babylonian herois Bal-gin or Balgi ; a name which by
assimilationof vowels becameBilgi,and thenin Semitized Sumerian,
Gibil. ThisBalgi(n), whowas worshippedas the god of fire, is
thusaddressedin the old bilingual hymn(4 R. 14 b, 16 sqq.) :—

uruduanna sar-sarbi za.i —min

<??.ff4 <b *t m-m ~ w «=wt- -11

guskin kubabbar Sagga bi za.i —min

dingir Nin-ka(or, gu) -si tabbabi za.i —min

In English :—

" Copper leadmelt(est)themthou

Goldsilverrefine(st)themthou

Nin-gu-sifs) brother thou."

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