Research source

Nd his nature is shown by a passage in the annals of Assur-nazir-pal (“Cuneiform Inscriptions,” vol

Date of account: Ancient material presented in a revised 1880 edition
Source: The Chaldean account of Genesis: Containing the description of the creation, the fall of man, the deluge, the tower of Babel, the times of the patriarchs
Reference: The Chaldean account of Genesis: Containing the description of the creation, the fall of man, the deluge, the tower of Babel, the times of the patriarchs · selected passage 14
Rights: public_domain
Language: English translation and reconstruction from cuneiform sources
Translation: George Smith with later editorial material
Record updated: 2026-08-24

Record summary

nd his nature is shown by a passage in the annals of Assur-nazir-pal (“Cuneiform Inscriptions,” vol

Published source text

Read the available text below. Archive transcriptions may contain OCR errors; later context is labelled separately. A recorded claim is not a finding that it happened.

Source passage

Source text · mention only

nd his nature is shown by a passage in the annals of Assur-nazir-pal (“Cuneiform Inscriptions,” vol. i. p. 22, col. ii. l. 107), who says that his warriors “like the divine Zu bird upon them darted.” This bird is called the cloud or storm-bird, the flesh-eating bird, the lion or giant bird, the bird of prey, the bird with sharp beak; and it is not difficult to see what the deified bird really was. It was clearly the storm-cloud, which appears in Aryan folklore under the varying forms of the eagle, the woodpecker, and the robin redbreast, the bird of Thor; while in Chinese mythology the storm-bird is described as “a bird which, in flying, obscures the sun, and of whose quills are made water-tuns.” The roc of the “Arabian Nights,” with its wings of ten thousand fathoms in width, and its egg, which it was a sin in Aladdin to wish to take from the place where it hung, is but an echo of the Chinese storm-bird; and the identity of the Chaldean Zu with the latter is demonstrated by its Accadian name, which signifies “the bird of the divine storm-cloud.” Just as Prometheus brought the lightning from heaven to earth, and suffered the penalty of enchainment to a desert rock, so, too, the storm-bird of Accad stole the secrets of the gods, an

Historical context

Contextual commentary · mention only

This is a passage from a historical religious or interpretive text. Its genre, manuscript history, translation and place within its own tradition are part of the evidence and must remain visible.

Modern context

Contextual commentary · mention only

Lattice can compare the passage's descriptive features with later reports, but resemblance does not turn a vision, angel, mythic creature or sacred narrative into a modern incident report.

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