Note 179.2 — Chapter X · The Concept of Divine Power and the Ancient Cosmogonies.

For early Babylonian cosmogony our main evidence is the epic poem of creation, preserved on tablets found in the library of King Assurbanipal, which elucidates, and in the main corroborates, the fragments of the story given by Berosos in the third century B.C. Our earliest record, then, is actually of the seventh century, but Assyriologists have given reasons for the view that the epic copied for Assurbanipal descends from a period as early as B.C. 2000; for part of it accords with an old Babylonian hymn that has been discovered.179.2 The document is therefore ancient enough for the purposes of our comparison. It is well known through various publications, and can be read conveniently in the detailed exposition of King in his handbook on Babylonian religion.180.1