[13] This is the Assyrian translation. The Accadian original has simply “men of death.” The lightnings are still regarded as serpents by the Canadian Indians who call the thunder their hissing (Baring-Gould, “Curious Myths,” ii. p. 146). [14] A constellation which rose heliacally in Marchesvan or October. The word means “Dog of death.” [15] Compare Jer. li. 34. CHAPTER VII. THE SIN OF THE GOD ZU. God Zu.—Obscurity of legend.—Translation.—Sin of Zu.—Anger of the gods.—Speeches of Anu to Rimmon.—Rimmon’s answer.—Speech of Anu to Nebo.—Answer of Nebo.—Lugal-turda.—Changes to a bird.—The Zu bird.—Bird of prey.—Lugal-turda lord of Amarda.—Prometheus. Among the legends of the gods, companion stories to the accounts of the Creation and Deluge, one of the most curious is the legend of the sin committed by the god Zu. This legend stands quite alone, its incidents and its principal actor being otherwise almost unknown from cuneiform sources. Only one copy of the story has at present been detected, and this is in so mutilated a condition that it cannot be connected with any other of the legends. It belongs to the same cycle of myths as the myth of the exploits of Dibbara, which will be given in the next chapter. The principal actor in the legend is a god named Zu, the name being found in all the three cases of an Assyrian noun Zu, Za, and Zi. Analogy would lead us to infer that the name had been borrowed by the Assyrians from the Accadians, as well as the story with which it is connected. Mr. Smith compared the legend with that of the mutilation of Uranus by his son Kronus, and with the history of the outrage of Ham on his father Noah; but its real analogue is the myth of Prometheus, the benefactor of men, who stole the fire of heaven for their sake, and brought upon himself the anger and punishment of Zeus. It contains two difficult words, _partsi_ and _tereti_. The first is ambiguous, meaning either “oracles” or “shrines,” but since it is coupled with _dup-simi_, “tablets of destiny,” it is probably to be rendered “oracles.” _Tereti_ is very obscure. The sun-god is called “the lord of _tereti_” and the word occurs in the hymn to the Creator, Rev. 17 (p. 79), where also it is united with _partsi_, “command” or “oracle.” It may signify “lots.” The tablets of destiny, stolen by Zu, for the benefit, apparently, of mankind, formed the vault of the palace of the under-world. We may compare the books which are to be opened on the day of judgment in Dan. vii. 10, and Rev. xx. 12. The tablet containing the account of the sin of Zu, K 3454, in the Museum collection, originally contained four columns of text, each column having about sixty lines of writing. The first and fourth columns are almost entirely lost, there not being enough anywhere to translate from. The mutilation of the text seriously adds to the difficulties of translation.