Parallels Between "The Fall" of Adapa in the Adapa and the Southwind Myth and "The Fall" of Adam in Genesis 3:1-24
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29 April 2006 (Updates and Revisions through 09 May 2008)
I understand that Genesis is _denying or refuting_ the Mesopotamian myths' explanation of how and why man came to made, what his purpose on earth is, and why his demise was sought in a flood. This "_denial_" is for me accomplished by taking motifs from a variety of contradicting myths and giving them "new twists" by changing the names of the characters, the locations, and sequences of events. It is my perception that the Hebrews are deliberately CHANGING _or_ RECASTING the earlier myths and their motifs inorder to REFUTE and DENY THEM, hence the "reason why" there are _no_ individuals called Adam, Eve, the Serpent, Yahweh, Noah, Shem, Japheth and Ham appearing in _any_ of the Mesopotamian pre-biblical myths.
I do _not_ understand that the Hebrews are "copying" the Mesopotamian myths, they are _recasting various motifs and concepts within them_ in order to _refute and deny them_ regarding why, when, where and how man came to be made, placed in a god's garden, denied immortality and his destruction sought in a Flood. Or, to put it another way, Genesis themes are simply "variations and transformations of earlier themes."
The Mesopotamians had no account of a primal man and woman "falling from a state of innocence" via an illegal acquisition of knowledge by eating of a forbidden fruit. There was _no_ "fall from innocence" because man was made in the image of the gods some of whom are portrayed as slaying each other in various conflicts (shedding each other's blood), murdering their fathers and mothers, engaging in incest with their own children, being unfaithful to their spouses by having extramarital sex with others, and even propositioning humans for illicit sex too, as well as being sponsors or patrons of cultic acts of prostitution with male and female prostitutes in temples. In other words all the nefarious activities of humankind were, _before man's creation_ , engaged in by the gods, so there could be _no_ "fall from innocence" for primal man and woman for man cannot be "better" than his _immoral_creators_ in whose image he was made! That is to say in Mesopotamian myth man's immorality is because he was made in the image of immoral gods and goddesses. For all the sordid details please click here.
Although the Mesopotamian myths do _not_ record "a fall from moral innocence by man into sin resulting in death for all of mankind" they do preserve in a _somewhat different form_ notions of a "fall" of sorts involving naive innocence to some degree on man's part. I understand that the Hebrews have reworked these Mesopotamian motifs (naive innocence and a "fall") and recast them into a new story. Two Mesopotamian accounts make mention of a "fall" of sorts for a naive, innocent, trusting man: (1) Adapa of the Adapa and the Southwind myth and (2) Enkidu of the Epic of Gilgamesh. I understand that motifs originally associated with these two fictional characters (their naive innocence and "fall") were fused together, recast, and ascribed to Adam and Eve. Both Adapa and Enkidu die, but it is clear from the storylines that they were "victims" of the gods and they did _not_ deserve to die. The Hebrews have inverted the storylines: man is _not_ a victim of the gods, he deserves to die for his actions, blame for death is shifted from God to man. The Mesopotamian myths do acknowledge man is a sinner, a rebel, and an untrustworthy liar at times but the reasons given for this are that man was created this way by the gods. Man is then, a victim, having had these attitudes implanted within his soul from the moment of creation by the gods (who also have the same attitudes).
Below, my attempted _alignment_ of motifs in Genesis' Eden myth about Adam's "Fall" (Ge 3:1-24) and its principal characters, Yahweh, the Serpent, Adam, Eve, and the Cherubim, WITH similar motifs appearing in the Adapa and the Southwind myth. The Southwind myth was a Mesopotamian explanation for how, once upon a time, man in the form of Adapa had a chance to obtain immortality by consuming "bread and water of life" but by failing to do so, he condemned the rest of mankind to a lifetime of disease and death for all eternity. Adapa refused to consume the "bread and water of life" offered him by Anu in his heavenly abode because his god whom he served on the earth, Ea (Sumerian Enki) had warned him NOT to eat the "bread of death" or "drink the water of death" for he would surely die. Technically speaking Ea didn't tell Adapa not to eat the "bread of LIFE"or not to drink the "water of LIFE," it was "bread of DEATH" and "water of DEATH" that he wasn't to consume. An apparently "confused" and "beguiled" Adapa thought the "bread of life" was the "bread of death."
For the Mesopotamians then, man lost out on a chance to obtain immortality because the god who had created him and who he served, Ea (Enki) of Eridu in Sumer did not want him to obtain immortality. Anu (Sumerian An) on the otherhand was willing to let Adapa become immortal and like a god. Ea had successfully thwarted Anu's offer. So the Mesopotamians did not envison man's lost chance at immortality as occurring because he DISOBEYED his god, but because he OBEYED his god (Ea/Enki). The Hebrews are then, in the book of Genesis REFUTING AND DENYING the Mesopotamian presentation of how man came to looseout on a chance to obtain immortality.
The Adapa and the Southwind myth also deals with man's obtaining of forbidden knowledge reserved for the gods. Genesis presents Adam and Eve obtaining forbidden knowledge. Ea apparently against Anu's wishes, has given Adapa the knowledge of powerful spells and incantations to overpower the lesser gods, in this case Adapa breaks the wing of the southwind stopping breezes. Anu summons Adapa to his heavenly abode wanting to know where he has obtained this knowledge. Realizing Adapa has godly knowledge Anu resolves he might as well make the human into a full-fledged god by bestowing immortality on him by allowing him to consume the bread and water of life. In Genesis man is presented as ILLEGALLY OBTAINING KNOWLEDGE, whereas the Mesopotamians understand that the ILLEGAL KNOWLEDGE was given by Ea to man who he has created to be his servant in Eridu. Again, Genesis is REFUTING AND DENYING the Mesopotamian presentation of how man OBTAINED KNOWLEDGE INTENDED TO BE RESTRICTED TO THE GODS.
Please note I understand the Hebrews have introduced MAJOR MODIFICATIONS, employing reversals/inversions and fusing of characters, with new names and different locations and rearranged sequences of events in their _recasting_ of the Mesopotamian Adapa and the Southwind myth.
I am in agreement with Gordon Wenham and W. G. Lambert that Genesis is a polemic _challenging, refuting and denying_ the Mesopotamain notions as to why man was created and his demise being sought in a flood by putting "new twists" to old ideas or motifs.
I understand with other scholars that Genesis 1-3 is combining motifs from several different Mesopotamian myths, thus the reason (below) I have added commentary on some of these motifs which do NOT appear in the Southwind myth.
Christian Apologists, understandably, _deny any borrowing of religious concepts_ by the Hebrews from the peoples about them. The Bible is presented by the Apologists as a direct revelation from God to man. Accordingly "any" parallels were in earlier ages explained away as corrupted pagan notions of Holy Writ under the influence of Satan and his Demons (nowadays many Apologists tend to skip the Satanic corruption argument and just cite "differences"). The Bible _must always_ be free of pagan "borrowings" for the Apologists. Apologists devote a great deal of time noting the "differences" between the pagan concepts and the Bible, claiming these differences are "proof" there is no borrowing. Apologists deny the differences in the Bible are because the Hebrews are deliberately challenging pagan beliefs and _recasting them_ with different details, locations, and sequences of events. Please click here for an interesting Christian analysis (1981) of the parallels bewteen Adam and Adapa by a Conservative 7th-Day Adventist scholar, Professor Niels-Erik Andreasen, who notes the "differences."
Yahweh as Akkadian Ea (Sumerian Enki):
(1) ADAM IS A MODEL OF MANKIND and Yahweh's servant; ADAPA IS A MODEL OF MANKIND and Ea's servant.
(2) ADAM LIVES ON THE EARTH in his God's garden and his purpose is till and care for the garden on God's behalf; ADAPA LIVES ON THE EARTH at Eridu. In other myths we learn that Ea has planted a garden for himself near his temple/shrine in which the Igigi junior gods toil. To prevent their revolt over onerous working conditions, Ea makes "man" of clay to serve -forevermore or for all eternity- in his city-garden as his agricultural servant.
(3) Adam is _DENIED KNOWLEDGE_ by God and serves Yahweh in a state of NAKEDNESS; In Sumerian myths man is DENIED THE KNOWLEDGE it is wrong to be naked by the clothed gods who formed him. Naked man is a beast, who at first wanders edin-the-plain (also rendered steppe and desert) with naked animals for companions; he is shown naked in art forms serving beverages to seated fully-clothed gods, who have denied him the knowledge it is wrong to be naked in their presence. Ea DENIES Adapa the KNOWLEDGE, that the bread and water to be offered him will give him immortality.
(4) God WARNS Adam he WILL DIE if he eats of the forbidden fruit. Ea WARNS Adapa he WILL DIE if he eats of bread and water offered by Anu.
(5) Adapa REFUSED to eat the "bread and water of life" conferring immortality BECAUSE HE OBEYED Ea. Adam is not allowed by God to eat of the Tree of life preventing the attainment of immortality BECAUSE HE DISOBEYED GOD. Neither Adapa or Adam consume the food that would have given them immortality because of a god's intervention.
(6) Adam ACQUIRES FORBIDDEN KNOWLEDGE (knowing it is wrong to be naked); Adapa ACQUIRES FORBIDDEN KNOWLEDGE (spells to overpower the lesser gods).
(7) Adam has ACQUIRED FORBIDDEN KNOWLEDGE AND BEEN _DENIED_ IMMORTALITY; Adapa has ACQUIRED FORBIDDEN KNOWLEDGE from Ea (Enki) AND BEEN _DENIED_ IMMORTALITY by Ea's actions.
(8) Yahweh confounds the one language of mankind in to a babel of tongues; Enki (Ea) out of spite of his brother-god Enlil confounds the one language of man into a babel of tongues.
(9) Yahweh sends a flood to destroy mankind; Enlil (Enki's brother) instigates a flood to destroy mankind.
(10) Yahweh warns one man, Noah, of the Flood, he is to build an ark, and save self, family, animals; Ea (Enki) warns Ziusudra dwelling at Shuruppak in Sumer of the Flood being sent by Ellil (Enlil) and to save himself by building a boat of reeds by tearing down the walls of his reed hut, he is to board this reed-boat along with family and animals.
(11) At the Flood's demise Yahweh blesses Noah and swears never to send another Flood; Ellil/Enlil after the Flood's demise is prevailed upon by Ea/Enki to never send another Flood, then Ellil/Enlil blesses the Mesopotamian Noah. I understand that Yahweh who sent the Flood and warned Noah is a recast of Ellil/Enlil who instigated the Flood and Ea/Enki who warned Ziusudra of the Flood. That is to say the Sumerian brother-gods Enlil (Akkadian Ellil) and Enki (Akkadian Ea) have been fused together into Yahweh-Elohim.
Yahweh as Akkadian Anu (Sumerian An):
(1) Yahweh at first does NOT FORBID Adam from ACCESSING THE TREE OF LIFE and becoming immortal; Anu does NOT SEEK TO DENY IMMORTALITY to Adapa, allowing him to consume the "bread and water of life."
(2) Yahweh ASKS Adam "HAVE YOU EATEN OF THE TREE?"(Ge 3:11); Anu ASKS Adapa "WHY DID YOU _NOT_ EAT?" (the offered "bread and water of life")
(3) Yahweh is UPSET that man has DEFIED him; Anu is UPSET Adapa has REFUSED his offer of bread and drink.
(4) Yahweh is UPSET that Adam has OBTAINED FORBIDDEN KNOWLEDGE; ANU is UPSET Adapa HAS ACQUIRED FORBIDDEN KNOWLEDGE from Ea.
(5) Yahweh exclaims of Adam: "Behold the man HAS BECOME _LIKE_ONE _OF_US_, KNOWING GOOD AND EVIL" (Ge 3:22); Anu exclaims of Adapa: "What was Ea about to GIVE KNOWLEDGE...TO MAKE HIM _LIKE_ ONE _OF_US_, and with such a name for WISDOM? But now that he is here what else can we do? Fetch the bread of life and he shall eat it. When they brought him the bread of life he would not eat. When they brought him the water of life he did not drink it." (p. 171. "Adapa: The Man." N. K. Sandars. Poems of Heaven and Hell From Ancient Mesopotamia. London. Penguin Books. 1971. paperback)
(6) Yahweh after stating of Adam "Behold, the man has become LIKE ONE OF _US_, knowing good and evil" (Ge 3:22) thereupon decides to DENY Adam access to the Tree of Life and thereby deny mankind immortality. This appears to be a reversal or inversion or "travesty" of Anu's decision that because Adapa is now LIKE US, possessing forbidden knowledge given him by Ea (Enki), thus "WE" (Anu, Ningishzida and Dumuzi) SHOULD BESTOW IMMORTALITY upon the man by ALLOWING him to consume the bread and water of life:
"As for _US_, what shall WE do about him? Bread
of life
THEY brought him, he did not eat; when the water of
life
THEY brought him, he did not drink."
(p. 79. "Adapa." James B. Pritchard. Editor. The Ancient Near East An Anthology of Texts and Pictures. Princeton, New Jersey. Princeton University Press. 1958. paperback)
(7) Because Adam acquired forbidden knowledge, immortality was DENIED him by God whereas because Adapa acquired forbidden knowledge from Ea, Anu OFFERS immortality to him (Genesis seems to be a "parody" of the Adapa myth, immortality is WITHELD instead of GRANTED because of man's possession of forbidden knowledge). This change of events in my view is "A NEW TWIST" to an earlier concept or motif.
(8) Yahweh is the creator of man. In Mesopotamian myths several gods and goddesses share the honor of having been responsible for man's creation such as Sumerian An (Akkadian Anu), Enki (Ea), Enlil (Ellil). To the degree that Yahweh has created man and expelled him, Anu also "plays the part" of Yahweh, in that by having Ningishzida and Dumuzi return Adapa to his earth he is thereby denied any further opportunities to eat the "bread of life" and drink the "water of life" which would give him immortality, just as Adam is denied access to the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden.
Tsumura citing Sjoberg notes that there is no mention in any Sumerian or Akkadian text of a 'Tree of Life':
"However, according to Sjoberg, who recently reexamined Sumerian connections with regard to the "tree of life," there is "no evidence" for such a tree in Mesopotamian myth and cult. He says, "The identification of different trees on Mesopotamian seals as a Tree of Life is a pure hypothesis, a product of pan-Babylonianism...There is no Sumerian or Akkadian expression 'Tree of Life'."
(p. 39. footnote 70. David Toshio Tsumura. "Genesis and Ancient Near Eastern Stories of Creation and Flood: An Introduction." pp. 27-57. in Richard S. Hess & David Toshio Tsumura. Editors. "I Studied Inscriptions from before the Flood" Ancient Near Eastern, Literary, and Linguistic Approaches to Genesis 1-11. Winona Lake, Indiana. Eisenbrauns. 1994, citing A. W. Sjoberg, "Eve and the Chameleon," pp. 219-221, In the Shelter of Elyon: Essays on Ancient Palestinian Life and Litereature in Honor of G. W. Ahlstrom. Sheffield: JSOT Press. 1984.
Lambert has noted that for the Mesopotamian cosmographers, their efforts were not so much the creation of new gods and new concepts from whole cloth, but rather the taking of older concepts and adding a "new Twist." This is my understanding in regards to Yahweh-Elohim, he is the result of "new twists" derived from a "re-working and transformation" of older concepts by the Hebrews, who followed in the footsteps of their Mesopotamian counterparts.
Professor Lambert:
"The authors of ancient cosmologies were essentially compilers. Their originality was expressed in new combinations of old themes, and in new twists to old ideas."
(p.107. W.G. Lambert. "A New Look at the Babylonian Background of Genesis." [1965], in Richard S. Hess & David T. Tsumra, Editors. I Studied Inscriptions From Before the Flood. Winona Lake, Indiana, Eisenbrauns, 1994)
(8) Yahweh provides A CHANGE OF CLOTHES FOR Adam; Anu orders A CHANGE OF CLOTHES FOR Adapa.
(9) Yahweh EXPELLS Adam to PREVENT ACCESS to the Tree of Life; Anu has Adapa RETURNED to Eridu which ENDS any second chance to consume the "bread and water of life".
(10) Yahweh has Adam EXPELLED via THE CHERUBIM (a plural form of the word Cherub): Anu has Adapa "RETURNED to his earth" via his TWO gate-guards, Ningishzida and Dumuzi (Tammuz).
(11) Yahweh mentions Adam's _RETURNING_ TO _DUST_ (Ge 3:13) upon his expulsion; Anu upon Adapa's expulsion states HE IS TO BE _RETURNED_ TO HIS _EARTH_, accompanied by Ningishzida and Dumuzi.
(12) Yahweh sends a Flood to destroy mankind; In one mythical version Anu (An) is identified as one of the gods, along with Enlil (Ellil), who determines a flood must be sent to destroy mankind.
The Serpent as Akkadian Ea (Sumerian Enki):
Note: According to Kramer circa 2500 B.C. Sumerian Enki was transformed into Akkadian Ea.
(1) The Serpent has the ability to walk and talk with mankind; Ea in his earlier role as Enki is represented in human form and thus has the ability to talk and walk with mankind, he also has a Sumerian epithet, ushumgal, which means "great serpent/dragon" (a mythological beast which walked upon four feet).
(2) The Serpent is famed for its SUBTLETY (cunning, shrewdness) with words ENTRAPPING Eve and thereby Adam; Enki is famed for his SUBTLETY with words, ENTRAPPING naive mankind with words having a double-meaning.
(3) The Serpent is associated as possessing a SHREWD CUNNING FORM OF WISDOM AND _BEING WISE_ (Matthew 10:16); Enki is the GOD OF WISDOM and FAMED FOR HIS CUNNING AND TRICKERY played on gods and man.
(4) The Serpent is portrayed as man's enemy; Enki's word in hymns is likened to being a VIPER'S VENOM for those he seeks to undo or con.
(5) The Serpent is associated with TREES; Enki the ushumgal or "great serpent/dragon" is famed for planting a city-garden of fruit-trees at Eridu in Sumer in edin-the-plain near his shrine.
(6) TWO UNIQUE TREES are in Yahweh's garden unlike other trees, a Tree of Knowledge and a Tree of Life and the Serpent apparently has "intimate knowledge" of these tree's properties; Enki the ushumgal or "great serpent/dragon" is famed for creating and planting TWO UNIQUE TREES IN HIS CITY-GARDEN at Eridu, one is called a Mes-tree the other is called a Kiskannu-tree (Solomon's temple had scenes of palm trees with Cherubim suggesting for some scholars a date palm may have been envisioned as the Tree of Life; Enki's unique Kiskannu-tree is thought by some scholars to be a date palm).
The late (1897-1990) Professor Kramer on Enki's fruit tree garden at Eridu, note that Enki (Ea) is described as a WALKING, TALKING, GREAT USHUMGAL "_SEPENT/DRAGON_," WHO IS _CUNNING AND WISE_ AND ASSOCIATED WITH PLANTING A GARDEN OF FRUIT-TREES AT ERIDU WHERE LIVES ADAPA. Eden's serpent could walk and talk and was associated with a garden full of fruit trees planted on the earth by _a_ god (Yahweh) and the serpent (the New Testament's "serpent/dragon") famed for his "cunning" and "wisdom" (cf. Matthew 10:16 "...be ye therefore WISE AS A SERPENT..."). Perhaps the mes-tree planted by the CUNNING and WISE GREAT USHUMGAL has been transformed by the Hebrews into the "Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil"?
"Lord who walks nobly on heaven and earth, self-reliant,
father Enki, engendered by a bull,
begotten by a wild bull...king, who turned out the mes-tree in the Abzu,
raised it up over all the lands,
GREAT USHUMGAL,
who planted it in Eridu-
its shade spreading over heaven and earth-
A GROVE OF FRUIT TREES stretching over the land...
Enki...lord of wisdom...you have given the people a place to live...you have looked after them...
Enki, king of the Abzu, celebrates his own magnificance
as is right...
I AM CUNNING AND WISE IN THE LANDS...
I am lord, I am the one whose word endures.
I am eternal..."
(pp. 39-41. "Enki and Inanna: The Organization of the Earth and Its Cultural Processes." Samuel Noah Kramer and John Maier. Myths of Enki, the Crafty God. New York & Oxford. Oxford University Press. 1989)
Note: Another hymn speaks of the mes-tree as being "the flesh of the gods." Perhaps what is meant is that at times statues of the gods were carved from its wood? If so, then to the degree that gods were understood to be "immortal" the mes-tree would be associated with "immortality"? That is to say the mes-tree might be what is behind Eden's "Tree of Life" which confers immortality on human flesh? The above hymn's mention of a "grove of fruit trees" planted by Enki the Ushumgal at Eridu, may be the source of Genesis' notion that Adam and Eve have access to fruits from trees planted by God in his garden before their creation.
The late (1914-2007) Professor Bottero's translation of the above same verse suggests Enki is a "great-dragon" (Sumerian: ushumgal) that STANDS in the Eridu fruit-tree garden at Eridu and Eden's serpent possessed feet, making it capable of standing (emphasis mine):
"The Sublime lord of heaven and earth...
Father Enki, whom a bull has begotten...
O king, who planted the mes-tree in the Absu...
THE GREAT DRAGON, WHO STANDS IN ERIDU,
whose shadow covers heaven and earth,
An orchard full of fruit trees stretched over the Land,
Enki, lord of prosperity, (lord) of the Anunna gods..."
(p. 31. "To Enki." Jean Bottero. Religion In Ancient Mesopotamia. Chicago & London. The University of Chicago Press. 2001. ISBN 0-226-06717-3. Translated from French by Teresa Lavender Fagan. Originally published as
La plus vielle religion: En Mesoptamie. Editions Gallimard. 1998)
The Serpent as Akkadian Anu (Sumerian An):
(1) The Serpent URGES Eve TO EAT the fruit forbidden by God; ANU URGES ADAPA TO CONSUME THE BREAD AND WATER forbidden him by Ea.
(2) The Serpent TELLS EVE SHE WILL NOT DIE if she eats; Anu tells Adapa THAT HE WILL NOT LIVE (have immortality) because he has failed to eat the proferred bread and water of life. That is to say, Anu's presentation of the bread and water of life was to PREVENT MAN FROM DYING, thus somewhat like the Serpent, Anu's actions denied or falsified Ea's warning of death if the bread and water were consumed.
(3) Yahweh THWARTS THE SERPENT (who told Eve she and Adam will NOT DIE), Adam and Eve WILL DIE; Anu's attempt to secure immortality for Adapa is THWARTED BY Ea (Enki), Adapa WILL DIE like all other men.
The Serpent as Ningishzida:
(1) The Serpent advised Eve she would be like a God and she WOULD NOT DIE if she consumed the forbidden fruit; Ningishzida is in favor of Adapa obtaining immortality putting in a good word for him before Anu. Anu probably had Ningishzida (and Dumuzi) present the bread and water of life to Adapa on his behalf.
(2) The Serpent can talk with man and walk; Ningishzida in human form can talk and walk, he is also shown as a serpent/dragon with two wings, horns and four feet. In his human form serpent/dragon heads erupt from his shoulders. He is shown on a cylinder seal presenting Gudaea of Lagash to a god (Enki or Anu, as both possessed the 'water of life'? or perhaps Ningirsu?) to secure for Gudaea life-giving freshwater.
(3) The Edenic Serpent presented himself as man's FRIEND, NOT ENEMY, suggesting God was _LYING_ to Adam and Eve; Ningishzida was FRIENDLY to Adapa and apparently offered him -on Anu's behalf- the "bread and water of life" to secure man's immortality, making him like a god. Ea however in warning Adapa NOT to eat, was in effect portraying Anu, Ningishzida and Dumuzi as MAN"S ENEMY, SEEKING HIS DEMISE with the "bread and water of death." Ea (as Enki the ushumgal "serpent/dragon") did succeed in his _LIE_, Adapa believed him and refused to consume the bread and water of life.
The Serpent as Dumuzi (Tammuz):
(1) The Serpent is portrayed as dwelling on the earth in a location called Eden, in a god's garden; Dumuzi is called the "son of Ea (Enki)" and Dumuzi abzu/apsu "Dumuzi of the abyss", the abzu is a mythical freshwater spring at Eridu where dwells Ea/Enki. This abzu opening is the source of all the freshwater which fills all the world's rivers, including the Tigris and Euphrates. Eridu lies in Sumer, in edin-the-plain (note various scholars translate Sumerian edin as plain, steppe, desert; Iraq's great plain which lies between the Tigris and Euphrates is mostly arid and "desert-like," and Genesis suggests the garden is in an _arid_ location called Eden, whose principal source of water is a river). Dumuzi is called mulu-edin "lord of edin" his wife Inanna (Ishtar) is called nin-edin "lady of edin". Both Dumuzi and Inanna bear epithets associating them with serpents: Both are called ama-ushum-gal-an-na meaning the "mother is a great serpent dragon of heaven." I understand Dumuzi the serpent/dragon or ushumgal who dwells at Eridu in edin as Dumuzi absu (Adapa dwelt at Eridu too as Enki's priest, baker and fisherman) became one of the _prototypes_ of the serpent of Eden tempting Adam in Eden.
(2) Dumuzi as Anu's heavenly gate guard sought Adapa's welfare with Ningishzida, and on Anu's behalf probably offered Adapa immortality with the presentation of the "bread and water of life". Adapa refused to consume this heeding his god Ea's advice. Ea in effect had portrayed Dumuzi the ushumgal or "serpent dragon" as man's enemy seeking his demise with the "bread and water of death".
(3) In Genesis the Serpent "looses its legs" at God's doing; Dumuzi who resides as a shepherd in edin asks the sun-god (Sumerian Utu, Akkadian Shamash) to _take away his hands and feet_ and transform him into a serpent so that he might flee the bonds of his captors the ugalla demons (shown as erect serpents on a cylinder seal) who seek to carry him off to the underworld accomplishing his death. The sun-god honors his request and Dumuzi in serpent form slithers out of his bonds and temporarily escapes. Perhaps this motif was "reworked" as God causing a serpent to loose its feet?
(4) Dumuzi's wife the Sumerian goddess Inanna "the lady of heaven" bears the title Inanna-edin-na "Inanna of edin", and nin-edin-na "lady of edin." In myths she is also called ama-ushumgal-an-na "the mother is a great serpent-dragon of heaven." A Sumerian myth relates how she once descended to the earth with her brother the sun-god (Sumerian Utu) to EAT OF CEDAR _TREES_ (consuming apparently pine nuts), to ACQUIRE SEXUAL KNOWLEDGE to fulfil her wifely duties. To the degree that Eve is Adam's "wife" in Eden and she eats of a tree's fruit to acquire knowledge, perhaps Inanna "the lady of edin" has been _recast_ as Eve? Eve's "involvement" with a SERPENT may recall her as "Inanna of edin" bearing the epithet ama-ushumgal-an-na "the mother is a great serpent-dragon of heaven"? Of interest here is that some Christian art work portrays the serpent as a woman with the lower half of her body being a serpent.
The Cherubim as Ningishzida and Tammuz:
Yahweh has the Cherubim drive man out of the garden in Eden and has them guard its entrance to deny re-entry to man (Ge 3:24). Ningishzida and Tammuz serve as gate guards for Anu's heavenly abode. They intercept all visitors and present them to Anu, they also, on Anu's orders, escort visitors back the earth, in our case, Adapa. Adapa's refusal to accept their generous offer of immortality suggests for me that they would not welcome again his entry into Anu's heavenly abode, they would probably deny him re-entry. I thus understand the Hebrews have reworked Adapa's "escorted return" from Anu's abode by Ningishzida and Dumuzi as the Cherubim "driving out" Adam and Eve and denying man's entry. That is to say, Anu was probably not willing to let Adapa have a "second chance" at consuming the "bread and water of life."
The "Bread of Death" and the "Bread of Life" _recast_ as "Fruit of Death" and "Fruit of Life" in Genesis:
Adapa was warned on the earth in Eridu by his god Ea (Enki) NOT to eat "the bread of death" or drink "the water of death" or he would surely die. In Anu's heaven he is presented "Bread of Life" and "Water of Life" which will give him immortality. I understand that the Hebrews employing "a new twist" have transformed the Bread of Death into a Fruit of Death which if eaten will cause Adam to die, said fruit being from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. The Bread of Life offered by Anu has been recast by the Hebrews as a Fruit conferring immortality if consumed. In other myths, we learn that Ea (Enki) who is called an ushumgal "great serpent/dragon" has created a garden full of fruit-trees for himself near his shrine. He is, in another myth, responsible for creating man of the clay over the apsu in Eridu to replace the toiling Igigi gods who compalin they have no rest from agricultural toil in his city garden. I thus understand that Ea's FRUIT_TREE_GARDEN was known by Terah and Abraham who lived at Ur of the Chaldees (Tel al Muqayyar or Mugheir near Eridu) and fruits from these trees REPLACED "Bread of Death" and "Bread of Life" in the Hebrew _recasting_ of motifs from the Adapa and the Southwind myth.
Adam as Adapa:
(1) I understand Adam is an amalgam of several characters from different Mesopotamian myths. He is Adapa of the Southwind myth who lost out on a chance to obtain immortality and Enkidu of the Epic of Gilgamesh, the naked hairy wildman who wanders the steppe with animals for companions and who is seduced by a temple harlot from Uruk (biblical Erech) and loses his innocence, is clothed, declared to be like a god, leaves his animal companions for a woman's companionship and comes to dwell in cities; Adam is also derived in part from Atrahasis (the Mesopotamian Noah) who dwells in an idyllic paradise called Dilmun with his wife, possessing immortality and never having to engage in agricultural toil, they are like gods; Another Adamic prototype is Enki who dwells in Dilmun and is cursed with death for eating his wife's plants without her permission; and the "first man" created by Enki (Ea) to work in the city garden at Nippur belonging to the god Enlil.
(2) Adam's so-called "FALL" is understood to have brought suffering and death to mankind; Adapa is blamed in the Southwind myth as responsible for the disease, suffering and death afflicting mankind for his failing to eat the bread and water of life offered him by Anu (he "in error" thinking it was "bread and water of death").
(3) In the New Testament Christ is presented as a "new Adam" and his suffering and sacrifice will once again make possible man's second chance at attaining immortality thus ending suffering, disease and death; For the Mesopotamians Adapa's "FALL" meant disease, suffering, and death is man's lot for all eternity.
Black and Green on Adapa being "the wise man" of Eridu:
"According to Babylonian legend, Adapa was the ancient 'wise man' or 'sage' (apkallu) of Eridu, the reputed earliest city of Sumer...His wisdom and position had been granted him by the god Ea (Enki)." (Jeremy Black & Anthony Green. Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia, An Illustrated Dictionary. Austin, Texas. University of Texas Press [Published in co-operation with the British Museum Press, London]. 1992. ISBN 0-292-70794-0)
Bottero understood Ea (Enki) bore the epithet Atra-khasis, as well as the Mesopotamian Noah variously called Ziusudra, Utnapishtim and Atra-Khasis (Atrahasis):
"Atra-khasis (The Supersage). This epithet, belonging to Enki/Ea,was also used to indicate his devotee, who was saved from the Flood by Enki/Ea in order to preserve the human race...The poem [Atra-khasis] is of considerable importance, especially for the study of the creation of mankind." (p. 290. "Glossary-Index." Jean Bottero. Mesopotamia, Writing, Reasoning, and the Gods. Chicago. University of Chicago Press. 1992. [Published 1982 as Mesopotamie, L'ecriture, la raison et les dieux. Editions Gallimard. Paris)
Clay (1923) on the meaning of Atra-khasis:
"Attempts have been made to show that Atra-khasis was composed of two words, and meant "most holy," "religious," "just and perfect man," "very intelligent," "open-minded," "very wise," etc. There are no etymological grounds for any of these guesses, for in Assyrian the word atru means "abundant, surplus, excess," etc., and the verb khasasu means "to think, to remember, to reflect, to be mindful of." Atra-khasis, although used in these legends as an epithet, is a personal name.
There are two passages in the epics where the name is used as an epithet, apparently for a "wise man." Adapa, in the legend bearing his name, is called "the mighty one, the Atra-khasis of the Anunnaki." In the Etana legend, the wise young eagle is called "the young admu, the Atar-khasis." In both passages the name stands in apposition, and is not written grammatically as two words. There can be little doubt that the name was looked upon in these epics as synonymous with the idea of "clever one"; as if we would call a man "a Noah"; but it was, nevertheless, understood as a personal name. Moreover, the conclusive proof that it is a personal name is to be found in the fact that the determinative for man was placed before it in the early version of the deluge story. The name obviously means, "the god Atar is mindful (of the child)." (pp. 167-168. "The Deluge Story." Albert T. Clay. The Origin of Biblical Traditions, Lectures on Biblical Archaeology. New Haven. Yale University Press. 1923)
My thoughts: If Clay is correct that atru means "abundant, surplus, excess" and khasasu means "to think, to reflect, to be mindful of," could perhaps this epithet be describing the fact that Adapa was "EXCEEDINGLY MINDFUL" of Ea's instructions to him to NOT consume the "bread and water of death" to be offered him by Anu? Thus because he was "exceedingly-mindful" he and mankind lost out on a chance to obtain immortality? Adam in Genesis was NOT "exceedingly-mindful" of Yahweh's warning NOT to eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.
Perhaps the Mesopotamian "Noah," Ziusudra or Utnapishtim was called Atra-khasis because he was "exceedingly-mindful" of Ea's instructions: to build a boat and to save self, family and the seed of all animals, thus assuring a replenishment of the earth upon the Flood's demise?
Professor Bottero on the meaning of Adapa:
"Adapa. An epithet of unknown origin that meant "the Wise one." This epithet was used for the first of the apkallu whose name was U'anna." (p. 287. "Glossary-Index." Jean Bottero. Mesopotamia, Writing, Reasoning, and the Gods. Chicago. University of Chicago Press. 1992. [Published 1982 as Mesopotamie, L'ecriture, la raison et les dieux. Editions Gallimard. Paris)
Please click here for my article identfying Eridu, where Adapa served Ea (Enki) as one of several prototypes of Genesis' Garden of Eden. As noted by Leick the Mesopotamians envisioned THE FIRST NAMED EARTHLY LOCATION TO BE THE CITY OF ERIDU LOCATED IN EDIN-THE-PLAIN OF SUMER a city created by Ea/Enki,WHEREAS GENESIS' FIRST NAMED EARTHLY LOCATION IS A GARDEN _IN_ EDEN. However, NOT noted by Leick is the fact that the gods' gardens were ALWAYS associated with the city in which they dwelt. Ea (Enki) dwelt at Eridu, he created a fruit-tree garden there near his shrine, he made man of clay from the apsu to replace the junior Igigi gods who toiled in the Eridu garden who threatened rebellion if not relieved of their onerous work. Ea made man to replace the Igigi, man would toil in Ea's Eridu fruit-tree garden for all eternity. Below, an excerpt from that article:
"Leick (emphasis mine):
"ERIDU IS THE MESOPOTAMIAN EDEN, THE PLACE OF CREATION...Amid a primeval sea, THE FIRST CITY, ERIDU...Just like the marsh dwellers of southern Iraq, who still build their huts on floating islands of reed, the god [Marduk] spreads mud upon a reed frame to fashion a platform. From this primordial, rather flimsy basis, the cities and their temples take their beginning. Henceforth the gods take up residence on the earth and live in cities. And because the gods have the dwelling of 'their heart's delight' in cities, Mesopotamian cities are always sacred.
THUS THE MESOPOTAMIAN EDEN IS NOT A GARDEN BUT A CITY, formed from a piece of dry land surrounded by the waters. The first building is a temple. THEN MANKIND IS CREATED TO RENDER SERVICE TO GOD and temple. This is how Mesopotamian tradition presented the evolution and function of cities, and Eridu provides the mythical paradigm. Contrary to the biblical Eden, from which man was banished for ever after the Fall, Eridu remained a real place, imbued with sacredness but always accessible (pp. 1-2. "Eridu." Gwendolyn Leick. Mesopotamia, The Invention of the City. London. Penguin Books. 2001. Paperback)"
Graves and Patai have identified some of the motifs associated with the Garden of Eden as reworked Mesopotamian myths, the so-called Adapa and the Southwind Myth. I however, disagree with them regarding Anu "knowing" of Ea's warning to Adapa. I understand that Anu was willing to bestow immortality on Adapa and Ea anticipating this, lied to Adapa telling him he would be offered bread and water of death and thus not to consume them. I do agree with Graves and Patai, that this myth does provide the motif of the Serpent's warning Eve that she has been lied to by God, that she will die if she eats the forbidden fruit.
Graves and Patai:
"Another source of the Genesis Fall of Man is the Akkadian myth of Adapa, found on a tablet at Tell Amarna, Pharaoh Akhenaten's capital. Adapa, son of Ea, the Babylonian god of wisdom, was attacked in the Persian Gulf by a Storm-bird while catching fish for his father's priests, and broke its wing. The bird proved to have been the South Wind. Ea summoned Adapa to explain his violence and warned him that, having displeased Anu, King of Heaven; the gods would offer him the food and drink of death, which he must refuse. Anu, however, learning of this indiscreet disclosure, foiled Ea by offering Adapa the bread of life and water of life and, when he refused them at his father's orders, grimly sending him back to the earth as a perverse mortal. This myth supplies the theme of the Serpent's warning to Eve: that God deceived her about the properties of the forbidden fruit." (p. 79. "The Fall of Man." Robert Graves & Raphael Patai. Hebrew Myths, the Book of Genesis. New York. Greenwich House. Distributed by Crown Publishers, Inc. 1963, 1964, reprint of 1983)
Christianity teaches that all is "not well" between Man and God. Man since Adam has "fallen from grace", he was EXPELLED from the Garden of Eden by God and the Cherubim. Christianity teaches that Christ was born and died on the cross in order to "restore" man to God's good graces, and holds out the promise man will once more be allowed "back" into the Garden of Eden, to eat of the Tree of Life and know God's fellowship (Revelation 22:1-2, 14). These teachings were not a part of Mesopotamian belief. They saw nothing "wrong with the world" that needed a "restoration" of man's relationship vis-a-vis the gods.
Mesopotamian myths understand that the gods (Enlil of Nippur and Enki of Eridu) created man to work in their earthly city gardens to relieve the junior gods called the Igigi of onerous working conditions which they protested and rebelled against. Later, Enlil (Ellil), enraged that he can get no rest by day or sleep by night because of the noise of man, decides to send a flood to destroy all mankind. Ea (Enki), defying Enlil, warns one man, Ziusudra of Shuruppak, of the coming flood and to build a boat to save self, family and animals, he does so. The flood lasts 7 days and nights in one account, another has six days and nights yet another six days and seven nights. After the flood HUNGRY gods gather "like flies" to consume the sacrifice of Ziusudra in their honor, for during the course of the Flood they have had no meals fed them by man.
The gods had learned an important lesson. It was foolish to send another flood to destroy all mankind. Who would take care of the gods' earthly city gardens if man was exterminated ? The gods would have to return to the earth to hoe their own gardens ! Who would feed the hungry gods in the temples if man was no more ? The gods would have to feed themselves !
Genesis portrays an outraged God EXPELLING man from his earthly garden. This concept was UNKNOWN to the Mesopotamians. They understood man had been created to work the gods' gardens FOREVERMORE, relieving the junior gods, the Igigi, of agricultural toil. Genesis is then DENYING OR REFUTING Mesopotamian understandings of HOW and WHY man was created. Yahweh does NOT NEED MAN to take care of his earthly garden, Yahweh does NOT NEED MAN TO FEED HIM the produce from his earthly garden.
The Mesopotamians understood man's sinfulness was because the gods made him that way.
According to one Mesopotamian myth man is created by the god Enki to replace the junior Igigi gods who toil in the garden of a god at Nippur. The Igigi revolt because they have been given NO REST from agricultural toil. To stop the revolt, Enlil, the god of Nippur, summons his brother-god Enki from Eridu asking what can be done to appease the Igigi ? Enki suggests the making of man to replace the Igigi. Enlil gives his assent. Man is made from clay mixed with the FLESH AND BLOOD of Aw-ilu the leader of the Igigi revolt. It is this god's life-force (flesh and blood) which gives life to man. Man's "rebelliousness against god" is accounted for in Mesopotamian myths as man possessing the "rebellious spirit" of the slain rebel leader of Igigi revolt against Enlil (Note: In myths it is Enlil who is the "principal instigator" who decides to send a flood to destroy mankind for violating his rest). Man's sinfulness and rebellious is NOT traced to a man willfully disobediant of his god in eating of a forbidden tree fruit to acquire knowledge and become like a god. Man's DECEITFULNESS or LYING was another GODLY QUALITY passed on to man, the god Enki is famed for his decitfulness, cunning, knavery and trickery on fellow gods as well as man (Note: In myths its is Enki who warns one man of the Flood to be sent to destroy man, telling him to build a boat and save self, family and animals).
Foster noted that the Mesopotamians understood man's "lies and falsehood" were implanted in man at his creation by the gods Enlil and Ea and the birth goddess Mami:
"Enlil, king of the gods, who created teeming mankind,
Majestic Ea, who pinched off their clay,
The queen who fashioned them, mistress Mami,
Gave twisted words to the human race,
They endowed them in perpetuity with lies and falsehood."
(p. 323. "The Babylonian Theodicy." Benjamin Read Foster. From Distant Days, Myths, Tales, and Poetry of Ancient Mesopotamia. Bethesda, Maryland. CDL Press. 1995. ISBN 1-883053-09-9)
Christianity's notion that all is NOT WELL because man has been expelled from the Garden of Eden and has lost Gods' "favor" is then a REFUTATION OF MESOPOTAMIAN UNDERSTANDINGS of the relationship between the gods and man.
THE GODS NEVER INTENDED TO EXPEL MAN FROM THEIR EARTHLY GARDENS, FOR THEN THE GODS WOULD HAVE TO HOE THEIR GARDENS THEMSELVES, something they dreaded, hence the reason they made man in the first place, to replace themselves as an agricultural servant.
Genesis' portrayal of Yahweh-Elohim EXPELLING man from his earthly garden is then a Hebrew REFUTATION or DENIAL of the beliefs held by the Mesopotamians regarding the relationship between man and his god.
To the degree that I understand that Ea (Enki) is one of several prototypes behind Yahweh-Elohim in the Garden of Eden, and that Ea bears the epithet of Ushumgal he is also one of several prototypes behind Eden's serpent, I guess one could argue that the later Christian identification of Eden's serpent with Satan (Revelation 20:2), is identifying Ea (Enki) as being both God and Satan. That is to say God _is_ Satan and Satan _is_ God in that both "descend" from Ea (Enki) who created a god's garden full of fruit trees for himself in Eridu and created man of its clay to work in it forevermore, and who warned Adapa NOT TO CONSUME the "bread and water of death" proferred by Anu, Ningishzida and Dumumzi or he would surely die.
Who would have "known" that Ea (Enki) bore the Sumerian epithet Ushumgal ? It would have to be someone _very familiar_ with Mesopotamian literature, for the epithet never appears in the Adapa and Southwind myth for ANY of the characters. I suspect that either Terah or Abraham while living in Ur of the Chaldees, decided
to worship one god and this god was "their adaptation and transformation" of the gods appearing the local myths. Ur (Tel al Muqayyar or Mugheir south of Babylon) does possess an extensive cuneiform literature which preserves events at Eridu. Ur's kings restored Eridu from time to time as noted by Leick.
Please click here for a picture of Ea/Enki (please scroll down to the bottom of the page for the pictures).
No identifiable image of An (Anu) exists. However, to the degree that cylinder seals generally show all the gods with the similar dress and helmets or crowns with bull's horns please click here for how Anu probably looked.
Please click here for pictures of Adapa as a "fish-man" (in the Adapa myth one of his duties was that of a fisherman who caught and presented fish for Ea's consumption in his shrine at Eridu. I understand that later ages transformed Adapa "the fisherman" who's boat was overturned tossing Adapa into the sea (thus his cursing the southwind breaking its wing) into a "fishman" who came forth from the depths of the sea bringing wisdom, "the arts of civilization," to mankind).
Please click here for pictures of Adam as Enkidu in the Epic of Gilgamesh and Eve as Shamhat the harlot who civilized the naked man of edin-the-steppe, she being cursed and blamed for bringing about his ultimate death for trangressions against the gods (I understand Eden's motifs are from several Mesopotamian myths not exclusively the Adapa and The Southwind myth).
Please click here for my article on the 3000 year evolution of Yahweh-Elohim (4000-1000 BCE).
Please click here for pictures of Yahweh with wings as noted in the book of Ruth and various Psalms.
Please click here for my article on the Ancient Near Eastern motifs behind Eden's Tree of Knowledge.
Please click here for my article on the Pre-biblical Origins of the Hebrew Shabbat or Sabbath via transformations and new twists of motifs appearing in the Epics of Gilgamesh and Atra-khasis (Atra-hasis) and associated with the 2900 BCE Shuruppak Flood (Which I understand is what lies behind Noah's Flood).
Langdon (1931) understood that the Adapa myth was a "parallel" to the biblical myth about Adam and the introduction of death for all of mankind:
"An Assyrian fragment contains a few lines from the end of the poem...Anu placed some penalty upon him corresponding to that imposed upon Adam by Yaw in Genesis 3:17-19...Anu provides some alleviation for the sorrow and pain which would henceforth be the lot of man. Upon Adapa he conferred sacerdotal privileges for ever. The fragment closes with these lines:
"In the days when Adapa, the offspring of man,
With his...cruelly broke the wings of the south wind,
And ascended to heaven, so verily
Did this come to pass, and whatsoever he brought about evilly for men,
And disease which he brought about in the bodies of men,
This will the goddess Ninkarak allay.
May the sickness depart, the disease turn aside.
Upon that man may his crime fall
And... may he rest not in sweet sleep."
From these lines it is obvious that the entire myth was composed as an incantation to heal the sick. The author means to say that the disease which the magician endeavours to heal was not caused by the sins of the patient, but by Adapa, whose fatal act brought death and pain into the world in an age when sorrow was unknown in Paradise. But the gods provided for man a divine physician, the goddess Gula or Ninkarrak."
(pp.181-182. Stephen Herbert Langdon. The Mythology of All the Races, Semitic. Vol. 5. Archaeological Institute of America. Marshall Jones Company. Boston & Oxford. 1931)
If Langdon's translation is correct, it appears to me that Adapa is being blamed for the death-causing diseases afflicting mankind. The magician's incantation appears, to me, to be saying in effect, may the disease leave the diseased and return to Adapa and afflict him instead (and may Adapa's repose in the underworld not be a peaceful one). In other words, the descendant's are being punished for the sins of their forefathers.
Ea the Ushumgal, "the great serpent/dragon" is famed as a "god of wisdom" and in the New Testament serpents are associated with wisdom:
Matthew 10:16 RSV
"Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so BE WISE AS SERPENTS and innocent as doves."
Kramer on Ea as a god of wisdom:
"The portrait of Enki that emerges from the extant Sumerian texts is rather enigmatic, paradoxical, and contradictory. In the hymns and in the hymnal passages scattered throughout the myths, for example, Enki is exalted and glorified AS THE ALL-WISE, ALL-KNOWING leader of the gods, A WISE COUNSELOR, a valuable friend, and a generous benefactor of humankind...Eloquent of speech, he pronounces the name of everything created." (p. 2. Samuel Noah Kramer and John Maier. Myths of Enki, the Crafty God. New York and Oxford. Oxford University Press. 1989)
Kramer, however, astutely notes that the Mesopotamian gods have their "failings" and are at times portrayed in less than flattering roles, in this case it is Enki (Ea):
"In the myths, on the other hand, these impressive powers, renouned qualities and masterful accomplishments are by no means uniformly apparent. The mythographers, in fact, often paint Enki as a rather foolish fellow,
sex-driven, self-indulgent, torpid, and heedless of the suffering of his fellow gods, prone to prepare carousing banquets without realizing the dangers and risks to which he exposes himself...Even his role as human benefactor is put in doubt to some extent by his depriving humankind of the me of life; by his terrifying humans with his awesome, venomous word; and by his putting an end to universal human speech and thus afflicting humankind with a babel of tongues -all because he was jealous of his older brother Enlil." (p.2. "Introduction." Samuel Noah Kramer and John Maier. Myths of Enki, the Crafty God. New York & Oxford. Oxford University Press. 1989)
"Enki is reguarly given the epithet "LORD OF WISDOM"...we have chosen to avoid "wisdom" when the Enki stories seem to demand shrewdness and cunning, the arts of the trickster. Enki astonishes even the other gods with shocking solutions to apparently impossible problems...Perhaps "crafty" is the better term to use for the problem-solving Enki...In particular, Enki is the father who imparts knowledge to his son. Enki was, perhaps more than any other ancient deity, essentially identified with the spoken and the written word." (p. 5. "Introduction."Samuel Noah Kramer and John Maier. Myths of Enki, the Crafty God. New York & Oxford. Oxford University Press. 1989)
Kramer concluded that Enki (Ea) to some degree lies behind the Bible's presentation of Yahweh, but in a very disguised manner. I concur. I am not however, aware of Kramer identifying Enki (Ea) with Genesis' serpent.
The Late Professor Kramer (Curator Emeritus of the Cuneiform Tablet Collection at the University Museum of the University of Pennsylvania and Clark Research Professor Emeritus) using "politically correct" uncontentious and neutral scholarly language, alludes to En-ki's "survival" in today's gods, Yahweh, Christ and Allah :
"Ideas do not necessarily die when the civilization that nurtured them expires. Eridu declined, and Sumerian, like Latin in the West many centuries later, was maintained only by an educated, literate elite. The great empires of Akkad, Assyria, and even Babylon were brought down- Assyria in the late seventh century BC, Babylon less than a century later. Persians, Macedonians, Seleucids, Arsacids, Sassanians, Ummayyad and Abbasid caliphs and later dynasties excercised lordship in Mesopotamia, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam were deeply rooted in the Near East, and as often as not challenged their predeccessors. Enki survived, if at all, in new guises, under different names...If Enki and his city-state had all but disappeared, literary traditions and religious syncretism kept something of them alive. The two traditions that formed the basis of Western civilization, Greek and Biblical, appear to know stories of Enki, in much disguised form. For various reasons, orthodox and official streams of those traditions ignored or denounced outside influences. Because- with rare exception- Sumerian names do not appear, much of the tracing that follows here is necessarily speculative. In one sense we are very much the inheritors of civilization in its early, Sumerian, forms; but in another sense we will always have a difficult time recognizing such early debts." (p.154. "Traces of the Fugitive God." Samuel Noah Kramer and John Maier. Myths of Enki, the Crafty God. New York and Oxford. Oxford University Press. 1989)
The Mesopotamian myths noted that before man's creation the junior gods called the Igigi toiled in the earthly gardens of the senior gods called the Anunnaki. Enlil of Nippur and Enki of Eridu are identified as being Anunnaki gods and Nippur and Eridu are identified as lying in a desert-like steppe or plain called in Sumerian edin.
The Nippur myth regarding how man came to be made stressed that for 40 years, night and day, the Igigi toiled in Enlil's garden, making mountains of the dredged earth or sediments continually clogging up the irrigation canals providing water for the crops. The Igigi constantly clamored about their grievous toil but to no avail, the Anunnaki gods ignored them. Only when the Igigi revolt, burning their tools and surrounding the house of Enlil do they get attention. Enki is summoned from Eridu and with Enlil's assent it agreed that the Igigi's complaints of years of onerous toil and their clamor was deliberately ignored. To "right" the situation, man will be created to replace the Igigi. Man will toil in _a_ god's (Enlil's) city-garden at Nippur. The Igigi are ecstatic! They have been "removed" from _a_ god's garden and "replaced" by man. Now the Igigi will be free from agricultural toil like the Anunnaki gods (Anu, Enlil and Enki).
The Mespotamian myths explained that the Flood which destroyed all mankind had been brought about because man's "noise or clamor" was disturbing the god's rest by day and sleep by night, year after year without let-up. These myths also noted that in the beginning the 7 great Anunna Gods of Heaven had imposed back-breaking labor making and clearing irrigation ditches, by day and by night, without rest, on the Igigi gods confined to the earth. These gods are described as muttering, complaining and constantly creating "a clamor," which at first is ignored by the Anunna gods. The threatened rebellion by the Igigi gods is forstalled by making man from the ringleader of the Igigi, slaughtering him and mixing his flesh and blood with the clay. The myths at this point stress that with the making of man, not only do the Igigi gods get to enter into "the rest from toil," enjoyed by the Anunna gods, but that "their clamor," their noisey complaining about hardwork is transferred to man. In otherwords, man's "noise" is because he is overworked and not allowed to have "rest" from his god-imposed toil. (cf. pp. 52-62, "The Story of the Flood," [The Atrahasis version], Benjamin R. Foster, From Distant Days, Myths Tales and Poetry of Ancient Mesopotamia. Bethesda, Maryland, CDL Press, 1995, ISBN 1-883053-09-9, paperback)
Foster:
"When the gods were man, they did forced labor, they bore drudgery. Great indeed was the drudgery of the gods, the forced labor was heavy, the misery too much: The seven (?) great Anunna-gods were burdening the Igigi gods with forced labor...[The gods] were digging watercourses, canals they opened, the life of the land...They heaped all the mountains. [ years] of drudgery, [ ] the vast marsh. They counted years of drudgery, [ and] forty years too much! [ ] forced labor they bore night and day. They were complaining, denouncing, muttering down in the ditch, "Let us face up to our foreman the prefect, He must take off this our heavy burden upon us! (pp.52-3, Foster)
The Anunna gods acknowledge the burden of the Igigi and their "clamor":
"Ea made ready to speak, and said to the gods [his brethren], what calumny do we lay to their charge? Their forced labor was heavy. [their misery too much]! Every day [ ] the outcry [was loud, we could hear the clamor]. There is [ ] [Belet-ti, the mid-wife], is present. Let her create, then a human, a man, let him bear the yoke...[let man assume the drud]gery of god...She summoned the Anunna, the great gods...Mami made ready to speak, and said to the great gods, "You ordered me the task and I have completed (it)! You have slaughtered the god, along with his inspiration. I have done away with your heavy forced labor, I have imposed your drudgery on man. You bestowed (?) clamor upon mankind..." (pp. 58-59, Foster)
The Igigi gods in gratitude fall at her feet, kissing them, she having freed them from toil, and declare a new name for her "Mistress of All the gods" (Belet-kala-ili).
As can be seen from Professor Foster's above translation the Igigi gods are objecting to the making of watercourses and canals, NOWHERE does the text say they are working in the Anunnaki gods' city-gardens! So, why am I claiming the Igigi worked in the Anunnaki gods' gardens?
I am stepping back and looking at the "big picture" ! We have two sets of gods dwelling in cities they have made for themseleves on the earth, the senior gods called the Anunnaki or Anunna and the junior gods called the Igigi. The Anunnaki are making the Igigi do the work. What is the purpose of canals and watercourses in Mesopotamia? Its not to water the grass lawns near the temples. The cities of Lower Mesopotamia are habitable only if a food-supply is available for the occupants.
The watercourses, canals and irrigation ditches MAKE POSSIBLE THE CITY-GARDENS OF THE GODS. Thus I INFER that when the Anunnaki sit down to a meal, they as the senior gods are not out in the hot sun planting the crops, nor are they hoeing out the weeds, nor are they harvesting the crops, nor are they preparing the crops for the table. The Anunnaki are eating the garden-produce, and someone has to make all this "happen."
According to the myths Man has not yet been created, so that leaves the Igigi gods as bearing these burdens. That is to say it is my understanding that they not only are digging-out watercourses and canals, but irrigation ditches, and planting, hoeing and harvesting the crops to feed the Anunnaki.
When it is at last decided to REPLACE THE IGIGI WITH MAN, it is man who will now dig watercourses, canals, irrigation ditches and plant the crops, hoe them of weeds and harvest them and present them as food in the temples and shrines to the Anunnaki and the Igigi. Hence the reason I understand that the Igigi were burdened with toil in the gods' gardens. The gods' gardens cannot exist without water from man-made watercourses, canals and irrigation ditches.
Now the gods complain that man's "clamor" disturbs them, resulting in a decision to send a Flood to destroy man and obtain peace and quiet and their longed-for "rest."
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