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
2. the fifth time he smote (?) above and below seeking .....
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.
The speech of Anu which follows is written in characters so broken and indistinct as to make any attempt at translation impossible.
The next fragment is of a different character, but appears from its style to belong to the same series.
2. .. spake to him and he explained (?) ....
3. .. spake to him and he learned (?) ....
4. Anu at the doing of Hea shouted for joy and ....
5. the gods of heaven and earth as many as exist whosoever thus answered;
6. his command which was like the command of Anu whosoever appointed
7. .... extending from the horizon of heaven to the top of heaven
11. .... a fierce lord to later days to ....
13. .... triumphantly the net (?) .. he broke
14. .... to heaven he had ascended, she thus
16. .... the illness which was on the body of the people he had placed
17. .... the illness the goddess of Karrak made to cease.
The next portion of the legend is a considerable part of one of the tablets, probably the fourth, all four columns of writing being represented. There are many curious points in this tablet, beside the special purpose of the legend, such as the peoples enumerated in the fourth column, the action of the gods of the various cities, &c.
3. Dibbara is crouching at his gate, among the corpses of chiefs and slaves;
