Dibbara.—God of Pestilence.—Itak.—The Plague.—Seven warrior gods.—Destruction of people.—Anu.—Goddess of Karrak.—Speech of Bel.—Sin and destruction of Babylonians.—Samas.—Sin and destruction of Erech.—Istar.—The great god and Duran.—Cutha.—Internal wars.—Itak goes to Syria.—Power and glory of Dibbara.—Song of Dibbara.—Blessings on his worship.—God Ner.—Prayer to arrest the Plague.—Antiquity of the legend.—Itak. The tablets recording this story are five in number, but a few fragments only of them have as yet been found. From the indications presented by these fragments the first four tablets seem each to have had four columns of writing, while the fifth tablet was a smaller one of two columns containing the remainder of the story. The god whose exploits are principally recorded was the leader of the plague-demons, and bears the name of Dibbara. He has the title of “the darkening one,” which recalls the passage in Psalm xci. 6, “the pestilence that walketh in darkness.” He has a companion deity named Itak who marches before him, and seven gods who follow him in his destructive course. The latter are the seven evil spirits in a new form. The point of the story in these tablets appears to be, that the people of the world had offended Anu the god of heaven, and accordingly that deity ordered Dibbara to go forth and strike the people with the pest. It is evident here that exactly the same views prevailed in Babylonia as among the Jews, visitations from pestilence or famine being always supposed to be sent by the deity in punishment for some sin. In fact, the account of the pestilence inflicted upon the Israelites on account of David’s sin in numbering the people is a striking parallel to the Accadian legend which follows. The angel of the pestilence seen by David, with his sword drawn, may be compared with Dibbara, the Accadian personification of the pest. The whole of this series of tablets may be described as a poetical picture of the destruction caused by a plague, sweeping over district after district, and destroying everything before it. The fragment which appears to come first in the series is a very mutilated portion of a tablet, containing parts of three columns of writing. Only a fragment of the first column is perfect enough to translate, and the characters on this are so worn that the translation cannot be other than doubtful. It seems to read 1. Against the paling he struck and .... 2. the fifth time he smote (?) above and below seeking ..... 3. seven ...... 4. The words of the account of the seven gods all of them Anu had heard. 5. He .... them also to Dibbara the warrior of the gods: May thy hands go 5(sic.). whenever the people of the nations their shame [_or_ alliance] have destroyed. 7. I have set thy heart also to make darkness. 8. The people of the black heads to ruin thou shalt strike with the desolation of the god Ner; 9. may thy weapons (overthrow) them, and may thy hands go.