Weld-Blundell Prism: The Sumerian King-List
(Ashmolean Museum, Oxford; number: AN1923.444)
Weld-Blundell Prism: The Sumerian King-List
(Ashmolean Museum, Oxford; number: AN1923.444)
What does the prism say about "the Flood"?
The "Flood Passage" on Face a
Interpretation of the above cuneiform symbols
- The section on the Flood does not appear in all versions of the Sumerian King-List and probably had a different origin from the rest of the standard list.
- The best known passage from the prism is shown here along with the translation by S N Kramer.
- The idea of a universal flood in remote antiquity is widespread around the world in oral and written sources.
- This might be accounted for by several independent origins or ultimately from a single source in the prehistory of Iraq.
- This list gives the names of eight or more kings of the cities before "the Flood".
Translation:
"The Flood swept over [the land]. After the Flood had swept over [the land] and kingship had descended from heaven [for a second time], Kish became the seat of Kingship..."
- The last of these was the father of Ziusura, the man chosen by the Sumerian god Enki to survive the Flood with his family.
- This is the subject of other major works in Sumerian and Akkadian literature.