Eden's Serpent and its Pre-biblical Mesopotamian Prototypes
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17 Dec 2000
Revisions & updates through 31 July 2007
I do _not_ understand that the Hebrews are "copying" the Mesopotamian myths. 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 the Hebrews having taken motifs and concepts 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.
Why are the Hebrews doing this? Apparently they objected to the Mesopotamian portrayal of the exploitive relationship between man and his creators. The Mesopotamians portrayed man as the "victim" of callous, ruthless, exploitive gods. Employing an _inversion_ the Hebrews portray a loving, caring, merciful God as the "victim" of a callous, rebellious, and undeserving mankind. Man is to blame for his problems not his creator.
Please click here for Pictures of the Mesopotamian gods who were later recast as Eden's Serpent
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Regarding "my below methodologies": "Follow the evidence wherever it leads you."
I have often encountered in the scholarly literature a catchly little phrase called "Occam's Razor," the simplest explanation is the best. While there may be some truth to it, I have concluded that in my 30 years plus "search" on the pre-biblical origins of Genesis' myths that the most useful analogy is that which I see on on various TV "Detective Series." Oftentimes the comment is made by the Police Detectives of ALL the "_unexpected surprises_" that cropped up from clues and leads that when tracked down uncover a multi-layered web of deceit and lies, which must be "peeled off" layer after layer to get at "The Truth." The "below" reseach is for me indicative of this multi-layered and tangled web of deceit and lies which lead me to the conclusion that someone very knowledgable of Mesopotamian myths recast their motifs into the Edenic story. I suspect "that someone" was Terah and Abraham who according to tradition lived at Ur of the Chaldees. I am unaware of any other scholar bringing together _ALL_ the below "threads or clues" from various contradicting Mesopotamian myths to unravel the mystery of Genesis' pre-biblical origins. I do acknowledge that earlier scholars have done important "Detective work" on Genesis' motifs and their names appear in my bibliographies and I hereby acknowledge my debt to them. They guided me to the correct methodology. Numerous scholars have noted over the past 100 years that the motifs associated with Genesis' Garden of Eden account are not all found in a single Mesopotamian composition, they are scattered about in a number of compositions. My methodology: (1) identify a motif associated with Eden in a Mesopotamian myth and note its protagonists and setting; (2) Posit the various myths possessing the motifs, as well as their protagonists and locations as being fused together and recast as the Garden of Eden's protagonist, in this case, Eden's Serpent.
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28 April 2006 _A VERY IMPORTANT_ Update:
Some scholars have expressed the opinion that Eden's serpent "might be" a later Hebrew recasting of some unknown god or demi-god in some long-lost Mesopotamian myth.
Almost 100 years ago (1910) Professor Skinner made just such an observation:
"It is more probable that behind the sober description of the serpent as a mere creature of Yahwe, there was an earlier form of the legend in which he figured as a god or a demon." (pp. 71-72. John Skinner. A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Genesis. Edinburgh, Scotland. T. & T. Clark. 1910. Revised edition 1930. Reprint 1994)
Some 50 years years later (1960) Professor Childs (as noted by Evans) also expressed a similar notion, that Genesis' serpent was "possibly" a re-casting of some individual in an earlier Mesopotamian myth:
"In a recent study of this conflict between the story and the mythical relics it preserves B. S. Childs has remarked that 'behind the figure of the serpent shimmers another form still reflecting its former life.' A tension exists because this independent life of the original figure still struggles against the framework of a simple snake into which it has been recast." (p. 20. J. M. Evans. Paradise Lost and the Genesis Tradition. Oxford, England. Clarendon Press. 1968, citing from B. S. Childs. "Myth and Reality In the Old Testament." Studies in Biblical Theology. Vol. 27. 1960. pp. 45-48)
The above "insights" of these two Professors of Biblical Studies caused me to investigate the ancient Mesopotamian myths to see if I could "find" the Mesopotamian "prototype" to Eden's serpent. The surprise ? I found _several_ Mesopotamian "prototypes" which apparently had been fused together, transformed and recast into Eden's Serpent.
Many scholars have suggested that the Mesopotamian myth titled Adapa and the Southwind might be a prototype of Adam's lost chance at immortality, however, NO SERPENT appears in this myth. I thereupon decided to investigate _all_ the characters in this myth to see if any "serpent associations" existed with them in "other" compositions. I discovered that Ea (Enki), Dumuzi (Tammuz) and Gizzida (Ningishzida) had "serpent associations" in various hymns, myths and literary works. This article was originally created and posted to this website on 17 Dec of 2000, and at that time I "thought" Nin-gish-zida was EXCLUSIVELY the god "behind" Eden's serpent. By 28 April of 2006, I came to realize I was in error. Note: Sumerian Enki "lord earth" in later ages becomes Akkadian Ea (e.a) meaning "house of water" according to some scholars; both dwell in the depths of the apsu or abzu (a freshwater stream under the earth or "abyss" which provides water for all the earth's rivers) at Eridu.
My understanding NOW (28 April 2006) is:
(1) Adam's lost chance at immortality is a later Hebrew reworking of motifs, concepts and events appearing in the Mesopotamian Adapa and the Southwind myth, which sought to explain how man came to lose a chance to acquire immortality (as has been noted by numerous scholars over the past 100 years).
(2) Adam is a recast of Adapa (as noted by numerous scholars).
(3) God or Yahweh is a recast of Ea (Enki) _and_ Anu (An) in the Adapa and the Southwind myth.
Anu gave Adapa a change of clothes before he left his abode, Yahweh clothes Adam before expelling him.
Yahweh has Adam removed from the garden in Eden, Anu has Adapa removed by his gate guards.
(4) The SERPENT is a recast of Ea (Enki), Anu, Ningishzida and Dumuzi in the Adapa and the Southwind myth
who have been fused together. Note, in 1910 Skinner had proposed that because Ea (Enki) had given
"knowledge" to Adapa that he was a prototype of Eden's serpent:
"...Yahwe forbids both wisdom and immortality to man, Ea confers the first (and thus far plays the part
of the biblical serpent)..." (p. 92. A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Genesis. Edinburgh, Scotland. T &T Clark. 1910. Revised edition 1930. Reprint 1994)
(5) Eve is a recast of Shamhat the Harlot who seduced Enkidu (an Adamic prototype) in The Epic of Gilgamesh
_fused_ with Sumerian Inanna (Akkadian Ishtar), the wife of Dumuzi, a shepherd who cares for his flock of
sheep in the steppe or plain called in Sumerian the edin. Inanna bears the epithet or title Inanna-edin-na,
"Inanna of edin" and another epithet Sumerian Nin-edin-na, "[the] Lady of edin." (cf. "below" Hugo Radau's
identifications) Please click here for a wall mural at Mari showing Inanna/Ishtar in the Garden of Eden.
(6) The Cherubim (a plural form of the Hebrew word Cherub) who in Christian tradition are portrayed removing Adam
and Eve from Paradise are recasts of Anu's two heavenly gate-guards Ningishzida and Dumuzi who "take"
Adapa back to his earth when he fails to partake of the "bread and water of life" conferring immortality.
(7) The warning NOT TO EAT given by God (Yahweh) IN AN EARTHLY GARDEN to Adam and Eve, is a recast
of Ea's warning to Adapa ON THE EARTH in Eridu, where Ea (Enki) has created an earthly garden near his
temple or shrine that Adapa serves him at. Enki made man to replace the Igigi or junior gods who
objected to the onerous working conditions in Enki's earthly city-garden. That is to say THE WARNING was
given Adapa ON THE EARTH IN ERIDU, the proferring of the forbidden food, however, was IN HEAVEN by Anu.
Of interest is that some Christians understand Paradise is in heaven and Islam teaches the Garden of Eden
is in heaven and it was from this heavenly Paradise Adam and Eve were expelled to live on the earth.
(8) To the degree that God does not "initially" deny the Tree of Life to Adam, suggesting God was, at first,
willing to "let" man obtain immortality, this may be a recast of Anu who was willing to grant immortality to
Adapa (said "bread and water of life" being proffered on his behalf by his servants Ningishzida and Dumuzi).
As the "focus" of this article is the Edenic Serpent, I make the following observations:
(1) The Serpent's URGING Eve (and thus Adam) to eat, CONTRA Yahweh's orders is a recasting of Anu, Ningishzida and Dumuzi, _all of whom_ URGED Adapa to eat forbidden food CONTRA Ea's (Enki's) orders.
(2) The Serpent's being RESPONSIBLE for Adam and Eve's ACQUISTION OF FORBIDDEN KNOWLEDGE is a recast of Ea (Enki) who GAVE Adapa FORBIDDEN KNOWLEDGE teaching him powerful curses and incantations to overpower the lesser gods (Anu being "upset" by Ea's doing this).
(3) The Serpent's ability to WALK and to TALK to mankind (Eve) reflects the fact that:
(a.) Ningishzida (Gizzida) in art appears in human form which gives him the ability to "talk and walk"
and he also is represented in art as a serpent/dragon with wings, horns and four legs.
(b.) Dumuzi (Tammuz) although a human, in one myth is made into a SERPENT by the Sumerian sun-god
Utu (Akkadian: Shamash). Dumuzi specifically asks Shamash to "take away his hands and feet" to free
him of his bonds by making him a serpent and thus escape his captors. This may explain why the
Serpent loses its feet? And he bears the epithet ama-ushumgal-an-na, "[the] mother is a serpent-dragon
of heaven." Dumuzi also bears the Sumerian title mulu edin-na "Lord of Edin" perhaps an allusion to the
biblical Eden, and thus Dumuzi becomes another "Adamic prototype." Dumuzi is not ever portrayed
iconographically as a serpent, despite the fact he is briefly turned in to one by the Sumerian sun-god Utu
inorder to escape his captors the Ugalla demons.
Black on Dumuzi's seizure at his wife Inanna's behest under an "apple tree" in the "plain" (edin) of Kulaba
(identified with Uruk) and Dumuzi's request of Utu the sun-god and brother of Inanna, to help him escape the
demons who have bound his hands and feet with ropes to sticks which I understand has been "recast" in
Genesis as the serpent of eden loosing its feet as a "curse" by Yahweh-Elohim; the loss of Dumuzi's feet in
the original Sumerian account was _not_ a_curse_, it was a _blessing_ in that Dumuzi the ushumgal "great
serpent-dragon," was able to temporarily slither out of his bonds and briefly elude his demon captors That is
to say the Hebrews, employing an inversion, have recast these motifs as a "curse" when they were originally
a "blessing" and an act of "mercy" thereby allowing the ushumgal (Dumuzi) to briefly elude his captors and
escape death. Note: Snakes have no hands or feet, so the Sumerian author is apparently being 'playful' or
employing a 'poetical metaphor' in transforming Dumuzi's human hands and feet into "snake hands and feet,"
in effect, saying Dumuzi's loss of hands and feet allowed him to escape his bonds:
"Holy Inana answered the demons...Let us go on to the GREAT APPLE TREE in the plain of Kulaba. They
followed her to the GREAT APPLE TREE in the plain of Kulaba. There was Dumuzid...The demons seized
him THERE...She looked at him, it was the look of death. She spoke to him (?), it was the speech of anger.
She shouted at him (?), it was the shout of guilt: 'How much longer? Take him away.' Holy Inana gave
Dumuzid the shepherd into their hands...Dumuzid let out a wail...raised his hands to heaven, to Utu...Turn my
hands into SNAKE HANDS and turn my feet into SNAKE'S FEET, so I can escape my demons, let them not
keep hold of me.' Utu accepted his tears. Utu turned Dumuzid's hands into SNAKE'S HANDS. He turned his
feet INTO SNAKE'S FEET. Dumuzid escaped his demons. (pp. 74-75. "Inana and Dumuzid." Jeremy Black,
Graham Cunningham, Eleanor Robson & Gabor Zolyomi. The Literature of Ancient Sumer. New York & Oxford.Oxford University Press. 2004, 2006).
(c) Ea in his earlier life as the Sumerian god Enki, although human in form and thus able to "talk and walk" like Dumuzi, bears the Sumerian epithet ushumgal meaning "great serpent/dragon" (a mythical beast which has four legs to walk upon). However Enki the ushumgal is never portrayed in art as a serpent or
serpent-dragon (one king of Sumer bore the name Ushumgal). His identifying symbol is a so-called "goat-
fish" which is best imagined as the Greek astrological sign of Capricorn, the forepart being a goat with two
forefeet and the hindquarters being a fishes' body or tail. Enki bore the epithet "the leading goat."
(4) Inanna, Dumuzi's wife has been fused with Shamhat of the Gilgamesh Epic to become Eve. Inanna in other
myths is not only called Nin edin-na "Lady of edin" (Sumerian edin-na being variously translated as wilderness
uncultivated desert, steppe or plain), she also bears the Sumerian epithet ama-ushumgal-an-na "[the] mother
is a great serpent-dragon of heaven." That is to say Inanna is "the Lady of edin" her husband Dumuzi is "the
Lord of edin" (mulu edin-na) and BOTH bear the Sumerian epithet ushumgal meaning "great serpent-dragon."
((cf. "below" Hugo Radau's identifications). However, like Enki/Ea she is never portrayed iconographically as
possessing a serpent's body. Inanna (Inana) bears two epithets "great serpent-dragon" _and_ "lady of edin,' she
singles out her husband Dumuzi the "lord of edin" to be killed by the Ugalla demons thereby becoming her
"unwilling surrogate" in the Underworld. That is to say, Genesis' notion that a serpent and a woman of eden are
to be held responsible for the man of eden's death somewhat recalls Dumuzi's death at the hands of his wife
Inanna the "serpent-dragon" and "lady of edin." His scene of death in Sumerian hymns is under the great apple tree lying in the "plain" (edin) of Kulaba (cf. pp. 74-75. "Inana and Dumuzid." Jeremy Black, Graham
Cunningham, Eleanor Robson & Gabor Zolyomi. The Literature of Ancient Sumer. New York & Oxford. Oxford
University Press. 2004, 2006). Of interest here is that some Christian art forms portray Eden's serpent as
the Vatican). It makes the hair stand up on the back of one's neck doesn't it, that the serpent of eden is
later portrayed as a woman and Inanna, the "lady of edin," who bore the epithet ushumgal "great serpent-
dragon," was responsible for her husband's death in edin, handing him over to the Ugalla demons? That is to
say Eve's association with a serpent and her being blamed for the man of eden's death, appears to recall the
roles and epithets associated with the Sumerian goddess Inanna. The notion of an apple tree and Adam's
demise uncannily seems to preserve Dumuzi's death under the Great Apple Tree in the edin of Kulaba. Kulaba
is "the cultic area of the city of Unug, often used to mean Unug in its entirety." (cf. p. 366. "Glossary: Kulaba."
Jeremy Black, Graham Cunningham, Eleanor Robson & Gabor Zolyomi. The Literature of Ancient Sumer. New
York & Oxford. Oxford University Press. 2004, 2006). Please note: Sumerian Unug is Akkadian Uruk, a city
in Sumer, whose temple honored Inanna (Ishtar) the goddess of whores and temple prostitutes, one of whom,
Shamhat (whom I and others have identified with being a prototype of Eve), seduced Enkidu (Adam) at the
watering hole in edin near Uruk (Genesis' Erech, Ge 10:10).
Black on Dumuzi's demise at his wife Inanna's behest under an "apple tree" in the "plain" (edin) and Dumuzi's
request of Utu the sun-god and brother of Inanna, to help him escape the demons who have bound his hands
and feet with ropes to sticks, which I understand has been "recast" in Genesis as the serpent of eden loosing
its feet as a "curse" by Yahweh-Elohim; the loss of feet in the original Sumerian account was _not_ a
_curse_, it was a _blessing_ in that Dumuzi the ushumgal "great serpent-dragon," was able to temporarily
slither out of his bonds and briefly elude his demon captors; That is to say the Hebrews, employing an
inversion, have made the loss of Eden's Serpent's legs a curse when it was originally a blessing and an act of
"clemency." Note: Serpents do not have hands or feet, apparently the Sumerian author is being either 'playful' or
employing a 'metaphor' in having Dumuzi's hands and feet being made into "serpent hands and feet" saying in
effect that Dumuzi's loss of hands and feet allows him to escape his bonds. Note: "plain" (of Kulaba) in Sumerian
is edin (Kulaba is another name for Uruk and vicinity), so Dumuzi lost his feet in edin the plain. The Hebrews are
apparently "playfully" inverting the story, a god given serpent feet, loses its serpent feet (via another _inversion_ the
god, Dumuzi, is 'playfully' recast as being a mere serpent):
"Holy Inana answered the demons...Let us go on to the GREAT APPLE TREE in the plain of Kulaba. They
followed her to the GREAT APPLE TREE in the plain of Kulaba. There was Dumuzid...The demons seized
him THERE...She looked at him, it was the look of death. She spoke to him (?), it was the speech of anger.
She shouted at him (?), it was the shout of guilt: 'How much longer? Take him away.' Holy Inana gave
Dumuzid the shepherd into their hands...Dumuzid let out a wail...raised his hands to heaven, to Utu...Turn my
hands into SNAKE HANDS and turn my feet into SNAKE'S FEET, so I can escape my demons, let them not
keep hold of me.' Utu accepted his tears. Utu turned Dumuzid's hands into SNAKE'S HANDS. He turned his
feet INTO SNAKE'S FEET. Dumuzid escaped his demons. (pp. 74-75. "Inana and Dumuzid." Jeremy Black,
Graham Cunningham, Eleanor Robson & Gabor Zolyomi. The Literature of Ancient Sumer. New York & Oxford.
Oxford University Press. 2004, 2006).
(5) The Serpent's fame for SUBTLETY with words reflects Ea's (Enki's) fame for SUBTLETY with words
he bearing also the epithet ushumgal, "great serpent/dragon".
(6) The Serpent's association with WISDOM (Matthew 10:16) reflects Enki's/Ea's being THE GOD OF
WISDOM and KNOWLEDGE in Sumerian and Akkadian texts.
(7) The Serpent's association with a wonderous tree may recall Enki the Ushumgal who raised up two
wonderous trees in his fruit-tree garden at Eridu in edin-the-plain of Sumer, the Mes-tree and the
Kiskanu-Tree ? To the degree that some scholars understand Ningishzida and Dumuzi to be
Vegetation gods or the life-force in trees, their association with trees is important too.
(8) Christianity's notion that the Serpent is to be _held responsible_ for DENYING ADAM IMMORTALITY
is a recast of Enki (Ea) the ushumgal or "great serpent/dragon" who in his earthly fruit-tree city-garden in
Eridu DENIED ADAPA IMMORTALITY via the trickery of subtle double-meaning words.
(9) Anu as "the father of the gods" is ultimately the father or progenitor as well of _all_ gods some of whom
are associated with Serpents, either iconographically as in the case of Ningishzida, or via epithets like
Ushumgal and Ama-ushumgal-an-na. Thus, while I am unaware of any "direct" serpent associations with
Anu (he not having any epithets like ushumgal or possessing a serpent form at any time), as the "father"
of Ea (Enki) he has an "in-direct" serpent association.
(10) 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 or "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 complain 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 Muqqayar near Eridu) and they (Terah and Abraham) used fruits from these fruit-trees TO REPLACE "Bread of Death" and "Bread of Life" in the Hebrew _recasting_ of motifs from the Adapa and the Southwind myth.
(11) Inanna (Akkadian Ishtar) in other myths is portrayed descending from heaven with her brother the sun-god (Sumerian Utu) for the express purpose of OBTAINING KNOWLEDGE BY EATING of various unknown herbs INCLUDING CEDAR TREES_ (Pine nuts or cedar nuts are used in a number of Middle Eastern dishes). This act of eating gives her "sexual" KNOWLEDGE so that she can perform her "bridal duties" with her husband Dumuzi. I understand that Eve as Adam's mate or "wife" and her eating a fruit from a tree in the garden of Eden is a later Hebrew recasting of Inanna as the "Lady of Edin" EATING OF CEDAR TREES TO ACQUIRE SEXUAL KNOWLEDGE. These trees and plants reside NOT in heaven, from which she descends but GROW ON THE EARTH. Thus I understand the biblical TREE OF KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL which resides _on the earth_ in a God's garden is a recast of Sumerian motifs regarding the "Lady of Edin" acquiring KNOWLEDGE via eating of a Tree. (For further details on the Sumerian account please click here ). Inanna also bears the Sumerian epithet ama-ushumgal-an-na, "the mother is a great serpent-dragon of heaven." Perhaps Eve's association with a serpent and eating of a tree are recastings of motifs assocated with Inanna (Ishtar)? Inanna is also called nin-edin-na "the lady of edin." Please click here for a wall mural at Mari showing Inanna associated with a garden possessing date-palms (the Bible mentions Cherubim and palm-trees decorating Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem, cf. 1 Kings 6:32).
(12) Dumuzi as mulu-edin-na, "the man/lord of edin" is portrayed on a cylinder seal as being bound by several ugalla demons who accomplish his death in the steppe (Sumerian edin) where he earns his livelihood as a shepherd. Of interest is that these demons are portrayed on this cylinder seal as ERECT SERPENTS. That is to say _THE_DEATH_ OF "THE MAN OF EDIN" (mulu-edin-na) is accomplished by ERECT SERPENT DIETIES, WHOSE HOME IS HELL OR THE UNDERWORLD. THESE SERPENT DIETIES ARE _RESPONSIBLE_ FOR THE DEATH OF "THE MAN OF EDIN." Were these serpent-deities transformed into Genesis' serpent who is held to be responsible for Adam's death in Eden? Inanna's release from the underworld is accomplished when the ugalla demons accompany her to the earth's surface to find a "substitute" for her to remain in the underworld effecting her release from death. She chooses her husband Dumuzi to be her substitute. That is to say the "lady of edin" (nin-edin-na) under demonic influence and control (the ugalla in erect serpent forms) is held culpable for the "man of edin's" death. All this is to say there are several motifs of a location called edin where a man and woman are associated with dying due to the actions of serpent dieties. Could these motifs from differing contradicting myths have been fused together and recast by the Hebrews into Adam, Eve and the Serpent of Eden? Please click here for a picture of a cylinder seal showing the ugalla as erect serpents and their carrying off Dumuzi of edin to the underworld. The final scene on the seal shows Dumuzi standing atop a four-legged serpent dragon holding two branches with fruit on them, implying he is the life-force in the Spring of fruit-bearing plants which nourish mankind. Did these _two_ branches and their fruits become the fruits of death and of life of _two_ trees in the Genesis account?
Please click here for another article exploring "in greater depth" Parallels between Adam's "FALL" and Adapa's "FALL" in the Southwind myth.
Barton on several "modern" scholars (by 1916) suggesting Genesis' Fall motif is a recast of similar motifs appearing in the Adapa and the Southwind myth:
"In the first place, Adapa, like Adam, had gained knowledge. This knowledge carried with it a power hitherto regarded as an attribute of divinity. It enabled Adapa to break the wing of the southwind; it tempted Adam and Eve "to become like God, knowing good and evil" (Gen. 3:5). As in Genesis, knowledge did not carry with it immortality. Ea, the god who had permitted Adapa to become wise, feared that he might gain immortality, as Jehovah thought that Adam might "put forth his hand and take of the tree of life and eat and live forever" (Gen. 3:22)...Ea accordingly told Adapa a falsehood when he was about to go into the presence of the supreme god, Anu, in order to prevent him from eating the food that would make him immortal; Jehovah drove man from the garden where the tree of life grew. The two accounts agree in thought that immortality could be obtained by eating a certain kind of food. The lines at the end of the Adapa story are much broken, but they make clear that as punishment for what he had done, Adapa was subjected to sickness, disease and restlessness. This corrresponds to the toil inflicted upon woman (Gen. 3:17-19), and the pangs of childbirth imposed upon woman (Gen. 3:16). It appears also that as Adam and Eve were clothed with skins in consequence of their deed (Gen. 3:21), so Adapa was clothed by Anu in a special clothing.
These similarities indicate that the Babylonians possessed the same general ideas of the connection of increasing knowledge, with the attributes of divinity on the one hand, and with suffering and clothing on the other, which are presented in Genesis. An increasing number of modern scholars regard the Babylonian story as an earlier form of a narrative which the Hebrew writer took and purified...In the Babylonian myth, the gods, Ea and Anu, are divided and work at cross purposes; Ea tells a falsehood to accomplish his end." (pp. 260-261. George A. Barton. Archaeology and the Bible. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. American Sunday-School Union. 1916)
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My article follows below:
I take the " Secular-Humanist position," that the Garden of Eden is a Myth and all the dialogs coming from the characters in this Myth are from the mind of the narrator. I do, however, understand that behind all myths are historical kernels. In this case the "kernels" are vestiges of earlier Mesopotamian myths reaching back to the 3rd and 2nd milleniums BCE which the Hebrews later reinterpreted into the Garden of Eden and its motifs (I have argued in other articles posted to this website that the Hebrew Bible is a creation of the 6th century BCE).
My research has suggested that several ancient Mesopotamian myths have been combined and reinterpreted and probably lie behind the Eden story and its scenarios regarding God, Adam, Eve and the Serpent.
First, is the myth titled "Adapa and the South Wind." Adapa journeys to Heaven and loses a chance to obtain immortality by refusing to consume the food and drink which would confer it on him, on the advice of the jealous god he serves, Enki. I suspect this where the Hebrews are getting their notion that the eating of a fruit from a plant on the earth, can give one immortality.
The Mesopotamian myths stress that Man was made in order grow and harvest food to feed and nourish the gods. He did this by presenting "real food," harvested from irrigation fed gardens, and slaughtering animals for meat. Water, beer and wine were poured out on the altars for the gods to consume. Evidently these products of the earth were conceived sometimes as rising up to heaven where the Gods dwelt, in the form of smoke, allowing them to "mystically consume or smell" the food as a sweet savour. Thus earthly grown food, feeds the gods.
When Adapa got to Heaven, he was presented food and drink, which would have conferred immortality (as the gods consume earthly food, the food they offered him, had to have been earthly in origin too). He refused the food and drink, having been forewarned by the god he served on earth, Enki, that he would surely die if he consumed them. Anu laughed to hear that Adapa wouldn't eat or drink, so he sent him back to the earth from which he came, and thus mankind lost its chance at immortality.
Before offering Adapa the food, Anu, the supreme god, made an interesting statement, after quizzing Adapa to learn how he was able to break the south wind's wing and prevent sea breezes reaching Lower Mesopotamia, he learned indisbelief, that Enki had revealed certain knowledge to Adapa, knowledge that was restricted to the gods, and not to be possessed by Mankind. It was upon this realization that Adapa possessed secret knowledge restricted to the gods, that he thereupon decided to offer him immortality by having him consume the drink and food which could confer it (If he's got a god's wisdom, why not make him a god ?).
Professor Pritchard :
"The story of Adapa shares with the Epic of Gilgamesh the motif of man's squandered opportunity for gaining immortality. It is extant in four fragmentary accounts. The oldest and longest of these (B) comes from the El-Amarna archives (14th century BC), whereas the other three (A, C, and D) derive from the library of Asshurbanipal."
"Wide understanding he had perfected for him ...To him he had given wisdom; eternal life he had not given him. In those years, the sage of Eridu, Ea [Enki], created him as the model of men..."
Ea instructs Adapa not to eat anything offered in heaven by Tammuz and Ningishzida (emphasis mine in CAPITALS):
"When THEY offer thee bread of death, Thou shalt not eat it. When THEY offer thee water of death, Thou shalt not drink it. When THEY offer thee a garment put it on...This advice that I have given thee, neglect not..."
In Genesis Yahweh apparently is speaking to other heavenly beings for in making a decision to deny Adam immortality he says "Behold, the man has become _LIKE_ONE_OF_US_, knowing good and evil..." (Ge 3:22). I suspect the term "_US_," is an echo of Anu's speech to Ningishzida and Dumuzi regarding Adapa, as preserved below in Pritchard's and Sandar's below translations, Anu speaking to Dumuzi (Tammuz) and Gizida (Ningishzidda) who have brought Adapa before him:
Anu speaks (Emphais mine):
"Why did Ea to a worthless human of the heaven and earth the plan disclose, rendering him distinguished and making a name for himself ? As for _US_, what shall _WE_ do about him ? Bread of life FETCH for him and he shall eat it. When the bread of life _THEY_ brought him, he did not eat; when the water of life _THEY_ brought him, he did not drink...Come now Adapa ! Why didst thou neither eat or drink ? Thou shalt not have eternal life ! Ah, perverse mankind !"
Adapa replies:
"Ea, my master, Commanded me: "Thou shalt not eat, thou shalt not drink."
Anu replies:
"TAKE HIM AWAY and return him to his earth."
(pp. 76-79. "Adapa." James B. Pritchard. Editor. The Ancient Near East, An Anthology of Texts and Pictures. Princeton University Press. 1958. Paperback)
Sandar's translation seems _to me_ to capture the notion that Adapa "the man" has knowledge granted him by his god Ea (Enki) making the "man" LIKE A GOD, recalling the Edenic serpent telling Eve she will become "like a god" possessing knowledge:
Anu addresses Tammuz (Sumerian: Dumuzi) and Gizzida (Nin-gish-zida) his gate guards, who in other myths were able to assume the form of a serpent and also were the life force in fruit-trees as vegetation deities:
"What was Ea about to GIVE KNOWLEDGE of all nature to a wretch of a man, 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.
When _THEY_ brought him a garment he put it on...
Then Anu, the lord of heaven, looked at the man and laughed,
"Ah, Adapa, why did you neither eat or drink, stupid man; perverse mankind; you will never now have eternal life.''My master Ea ordered me, "You shall not eat, you shall not drink."
(p. 171. "Adapa: The Man." Translation by N. K. Sandars. Poems of Heaven and Hell From Ancient Mesopotamia. London. Penguin Books. 1971. paperback)
Ea (Enki) did not tell Adapa to refuse bread and water "of life", it was bread and water "of death" he was to refuse. Apparently a confused Adapa did not focus in on the words from Anu and in a state of confusion refused the bread and water of life thinking they were "of death". Alternately, Adapa could have thought (?) that Anu was lying and the bread and water of life were really "of death".
Kramer and Maier:
"Enki is the god of secrets. The one who would know and use his advice must be prepared to listen carefully when the cunning god speaks...Ea's second bit of advice is how to act when Anu offers Adapa hospitality. When he is offered bread and water, he is not to eat or drink...Ea emphasizes that Adapa "seize" the words he has spoken. When the plan is actually put into effect, though, Adapa misses his chance at immortality. Where Ea had warned Adapa against eating the "bread of death" (akala sha muti) and drinking the "water of death" (me muti), what Anu offers Adapa instead is the bread of life and the water of life...No sooner does Adapa make his mistake ( a trick, really, of language), when Anu laughs at him...Adapa's failure to see through Ea's cunning words...the consequences of Adapa's crime are noted in the "ill" he brought to humankind -and the disease that he brought to the bodies of human beings, The text turns at last to implore the goddess of healing to turn the disease aside...The word adapu means "wise"...Adapa is given wisdom by Ea, but not eternal life. The "sage" from Eridu is the very "model" of humanity." (pp. 114-116. "Esoteric Advice." Samuel Noah Kramer & John Maier. Myths of Enki, The Crafty God. New York & Oxford. Oxford University Press. 1989. ISBN 0-19-505502-0)
So, man was offered immortality by Anu, Dumuzi and Ningishzida, but Ea's cunning caused a naive, trusting man to obey the _subtle words_ of the "trickster" god. 'The man's' (Adapa's) acquistion of "forbidden knowledge" was not from eating a forbidden fruit in a god's garden. He was given _illegally_ the "forbidden knowledge" by Ea/Enki "the cunning trickster god", who is famed for playing tricks on his fellow gods as well as mankind. The Hebrews in recasting this myth have 'the man's' God, denying him _knowledge_and_immortality. Ea did deny Adapa "knowledge," as well as immortality: he didn't let Adapa know that the food presented him would bestow immortality MAKING HIM LIKE A GOD (just as the Edenic serpent had predicted: "YOU SHALL NOT DIE...YOU SHALL BECOME LIKE A GOD...").
I understand that the Hebrews have merely "reworked" and given "a new twist" to the ancient Mesopotamian myths which attempted to explain how man lost a chance to become immortal. Yahweh-Elohim is Enki who tells Adapa/Adam not to eat or he will die. The Genesis serpent offered man knowledge, but in the original myth Enki gave man forbidden knowledge but not eternal life. Genesis' myth has the serpent offering knowledge when he as Ningishzida, "Lord of the Good Tree," offered immortal life to mankind (as Adapa).
Apparently it is Tammuz and Ningishzida who bring Adapa before Anu and who speak favorably on his behalf. Anu, upset that Enki (who dwells on the earth at Eridu, where he has a temple and fruit-tree garden he has planted for himself) has revealed forbidden knowledge to a man (spells to overpower the lesser gods, breaking the wing of the south wind), declares what shall WE (Anu, Tammuz and Ningishzida) do? In other words if this man has a god's wisdom and knowledge, why not "make him like the gods," possessing immortality? Thus 'the bread and water of life' are summoned by Anu and presented to Adapa. I understand it is Tammuz and Ningishzida who present the bread and water of life to Adapa on Anu's behalf.
Langdon (1931) on Anu wanting to keep man in ignorance of the secrets of Heaven and Earth and Yahweh's denying Adam knowledge of Good and Evil:
"It was the plan of Anu to keep man (amelutu) in ignorance of the secrets of Heaven and zEarth, and when he found that Adapa had learned them from Ea, he had no alternative but to give him the bread and water of life. Yaw had the same intention for Adam, who became a gardener in Eden." (p. 184. "The Myth of Adapa and Adam." Stephen Herbert Langdon. The Mythology of All Races: Semitic. Volume 5. Boston. Marshall Jones Company. Archaeological Institute of America. 1931)
"...Yaw-Elohim planted a garden in eden toward the east. This is surely a survival of a Sumerian legend; for the word edin in Sumerian means "plain," and "Eden to the eastward," refers to some legendary part of Sumer, from the point of view of a writer in Canaan." (pp. 183-184. "The Myth of Adapa and Adam." Stephen Herbert Langdon. The Mythology of All Races: Semitic. Volume 5. Boston. Marshall Jones Company. Archaeological Institute of America. 1931)
Langdon has argued that Tammuz and Ningishzida are alter-egos of the same god, Tammuz in one hymn being addressed as "Damu the child Ningishzida." Ningishzida appears in human form as a god with serpents erupting from his shoulders and alternately as serpent dragon with four legs, wings, and horns in a cylinder seal of the Sumerian king Gudaea of Lagash. I understand that Adapa has become Adam, and Ningishzida/Tammuz the serpent who told Eve she and Adam would "become like gods," knowing good and evil if they ate the fruit. Adapa's being to told to "return to his earth" becomes Adam's "returning to the dust he was TAKEN from." Adapa's expulsion from Anu's heavenly abode, he being TAKEN from the heavenly abode apparently by Tammuz and Ningishzida, I understand to be reformatted as the Cherubim DRIVING Adam and Eve from Paradise.
Langdon thought Eden's serpent might be a recast of Ningishzida and Tammuz (Sumerian Dumuzi) who appear in the Adapa and the Southwind myth, who were associated with serpents and trees as vegetation deities. He thought these deities were "jealous" of Adapa's having a chance to obtain immortality from Anu whom they served. I disagree with Langdon's analysis. Ea had told Adapa (in Eridu) to put on sackcloth and ashes to appear to be a mourner when he approached Ningishzida and Dumuzi, Anu's heavenly gate guards. Ea told Adapa they will ask for whom he is in mourning he is to reply he mouns the death of Gizzida (Ningishzida) and Damuzi. This will "please" them and they will consequently seek to mollify Anu's anger toward Adapa who has broken the wing of the southwind daemon who is a servant of Anu's. Apparently the ruse worked and they seek Anu's favor on Adapa's behalf. Anu realizes that Adapa's curse overpowering the southwind was because Ea has given the man forbidden knowledge intended to be reserved to the gods (Man is not supposed to know the workings of heaven and earth, the workings of the physical phenomena of Nature, for example, how winds move about and how to control them). He thereupon decides to offer Adapa immortality as he already has possession of forbidden godly knowledge. Apparently Anu has Ningishzida and Dumuzi present the bread and water of life to Adapa but he refuses to consume them thinking they are the bread and water of death he was warned against by Ea. So, I understand that there was NO JEALOUSY on the part of Anu, Ningishzida, and Dumuzi in seeking to deny Adapa immortality. Agreed Anu was UPSET that Ea had revealed forbidden knowledge to mankind in the form of Adapa, but THE JEALOUSY was Ea's who did not want Adapa to become immortal and a god. Why? Ea had made man of the clay over the apsu to replace the toiling Igigi gods who had threatened rebellion at Eridu over the onerous working conditions, dredging irrigation canals and ditches to keep water flowing for the city-gardens. If man become a god, who would work in Ea's city-garden? The gods would have to work the gardens, a task they did not relish.
Langdon (1931) on the Adapa myth possibly being recast into Genesis' Fall of Adam and that Eden's serpent is a recast of Ningishzida and Dumuzi/Tammuz:
"It was the plan of Anu to keep man (amelutu) in ignorance of the secrets of heaven and earth, and when he found that Adapa had learned them from Ea, he had no alternative but to give him the bread and water of life. Yaw had the same intention for Adam, who became a gardener in Eden. Yaw caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he took one of his ribs, closed up the flesh, and from it made woman. They were naked and yet had no sense of shame; for shame springs from knowledge of evil. Into this garden of Paradise came the serpent, in Sumerian mythology symbol of the earth's fertility, and especially connected with Ningishzida and Tammuz. The introduction of the serpent into the myth probably rests upon the same motif, the jealousy of God, who, knowing that man was immortal, tempted him to his doom. Yaw had told Adam that in the day when he should eat of "the tree of knowledge" he would die...This condemnation of the serpent is introduced into the myth to explain the natural abhorrence of man for this creature, and has no connection with the subtle reason for making the serpent the cause of the Fall of Man. That rests surely upon the Babylonian theory of the jealousy of the gods of fertility, probably of Ningishzida and Tammuz, of whom the serpent was symbolic, jealous of that man who would attain immortality like themselves...After the loss of Paradise and eternal life, Yaw made for Adam and his wife coats of skin and clothed them, as Anu gave Adapa a garment after he had rejected the bread of life."
(pp. 184-186. "The Myth of Adapa and Adam." Stepen Herbert Langdon. The Mythology of All Races, Semitic. Vol. 5. Boston. Marshall Jones Company. Archaeological Institue of America. 1931)
From the contradicting Mesopotamian myths regarding the creation of man, his lost chance at obtaining immortality for himself and his demise being sought in a universal flood it is clear that the gods were viewed as both benefactors and enemies of mankind. The gods did not have to behave in an ethical manner, they could and were capricious at times in regards to man.
The Serpent in the Garden of Eden presented itself as man's benefactor, warning Eve that God was lying, God's concern was not that she and Adam would die, rather God's concern was that they would become "like him, knowing good and evil." Genesis' narrator has God repeating back the serpent's words, confirming the serpent's shrewd and penetrating analysis which unmasked God's duplicity:
Genesis 3:4-5, 22 RSV
"But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." Then the Lord God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil..."
In the Adapa and the Southwind myth, Ea, who is credited with creating mankind and placing him in his fruit-tree garden at Eridu to work it and thus end the toil of the Igigi gods, lies to Adapa, telling him not to eat or drink anything for it is the food and water of death. In other words, Ea portrays Anu, Ningishzida and Dumuzi falsely as man's enemy, seeking his death, when in fact they sought man's welfare in offering him a chance at becoming like a god and possessing immortality. Ea succeeded, his will "trumphs" the will of Anu who sought immortality for man. That is to say man's creator and benefactor, Ea (Enki) was also man's nemesis, lying to him because he did not want man to have immortality.
Foster (Professor of Assyriology at Yale University) on Ea's tricking man out of immortality, Ea apparently fearing the loss of man as his servant if made a god (emphasis mine):
"When Adapa declined the food and drink, which would have made him a god and released him from Ea's service, Anu was vastly amused by Ea's cleverness and his sage's stupidity, and so sent the swindled mortal back home." (p. 97. "How Adapa Lost Immortality." Benjamin R. Foster. From Distant Days, Myths, Tales, and Poetry of Ancient Mesopotamia. Bethesda, Maryland. CDL Press. 1995)
"They brought him food of life, he did not eat,
They brought him waters of life, he did not drink...
Anu stared and burst out laughing at him,
"Come now, Adapa, why did you not eat or drink?
"Won't you live? Are not people to be im[mor]tal?"
Ea my lord told me,
'You must not eat, you must not drink...
Anu laughed uproariously at what Ea had done,
"Who else, of all the gods of heaven and netherworld,
could d[o] something like this?
"Who else could make his command outweigh Anu's?"
"That is, by thwarting Anu's good intentions to give Adapa eternal life."
(p. 101. "How Adapa Lost Immortality." Benjamin R. Foster. From Distant Days, Myths, Tales, and Poetry of Ancient Mesopotamia. Bethesda, Maryland. CDL Press. 1995)
The late Graves and Patai have identified some of the motifs associated with the Garden of Eden as reworked Mesopotamian concepts from 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 (1963):
"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)
Campbell on the Sumerian serpent being recast into new and contrary role by the Hebrews' garden of Eden serpent (emphasis mine):
"In Primitive Mythology I have employed the term "mythogenetic zone" to designate any geographical area in which such a language of mythic symbols and related rites cane be shown to have sprung into being. However, when the forms of the rites and symbols are then diffused to other zones, or passed on to later generations no longer participating in the earlier experience, they lose depth, lose sense, lose heart..they are consciously REINTERPRETED and applied to new and even CONTRARY themes -as occurred in the case, for example, of the serpent symbol in the Near East, when it passed from Sumero-Babylonian mythology to the Bible." (p. 90. "The Word Behind the Word." Joseph Campbell. The Masks of God: Creative Mythology. New York. Viking Penguin, Inc. 1968. Reprinted 1976)
Campbell (1959) suggested that Eden's serpent was a later recasting of an earlier mythic protagonist, the Sumerian god of Wisdom who dwelt on the earth at the city of Eridu called Enki (Akkadian/Babylonian: Ea of the Adapa and the Southwind myth). Campbell is discussing the Mesopotamian myth about Inanna's (Akkadian: Ishtar) descent into the underworld and her warning her servant that if she fails to return after three days ands nights to have the great gods effect her release and restoration back to life (emphasis mine):
"Ninshubur, known too as Papsukkal, "chief messenger of the gods," and Ilabrat, "the god of wings," was told by the goddess before her departure that is she did not return he should weep before Enlil (the air-god), weep before Nanna (the moon-god), and if these failed to respond, then weep before Enki, the lord of Wisdom (the serpent), who knows the food of life and water of life. He, she said, "will surely bring me to life." (p. 416. "Thresholds of the Neolithic." Joseph Campbell. The Masks of God: Primitive Mythology. New York. Viking Penguin Inc. 1959, reprinted 1971-1976; 1991 by Arkana)
Campbell in a follow-up volume (1964) also identified the Sumerian god Ningishzida as another prototype for Eden's serpent (emphasis mine):
"In Eve's scene at the tree...nothing is said to indicate that the serpent who appeared and spoke to her was a deity in his own right, who had been revered in the Levant for at least seven thousand years before the composition of the Book of Genesis. There is in the Louvre a carved green steatite vase, inscribed c. 2025 BC by King Gudea of Lagash, dedicated to a late Sumerian manifestation of this consort of the goddess, under his title Ningizzida, "Lord of the Tree of Truth." (p. 9. "The Serpent's Bride." Joseph Campbell. The Masks of God: Occidental Mythology. New York. Viking Penguin Inc. 1964. Reprint 1991 by Arkana)
Campbell suggests Yahweh-Elohim, Eden's god may be a "serpent-spouse":
"Moreover, as in the early Bronze Age seals of Ningizzida and his serpent porter, we have clear and adequate evidence throughout the biblical text the the Lord Yahweh was himself an aspect of the serpent power, and so himself properly the serpent spouse of the serpent goddess of the cauduceus, Mother Earth." (p. 30. "The Serpent's Bride." Joseph Campbell. The Masks of God; Occidental Mythology. New York. Viking Penguin Books. 1964. Arkana reprint 1991)
Campbell suggests serpent associations with Yahweh in that he made Moses' wooden staff into a serpent, and caused Moses to create a bronze serpent to heal people bitten by snakes in the Exodus wanderings, and that this bronze serpent was worshipped in the Temple of Solomon until removed by King Hezekiah (cf. p. 30. The Masks of God: Occidental Mythology).
In his final volume in his Masks of God series (The four volumes were released 1959 through 1968), Campbell again stresses that Eden's serpent is a later recast of a serpent deity known in earlier Ancient Near Eastern myths (cf. above his comments on the Sumerian "serpent" deities Enki and Ningishzida):
"So let us return our gaze, now, to the great creative masters of the West, bearing in mind, as a basic principle of our study, that the symbols put to use by them have come from afar. Their sources are far deeper, broader, and more ancient...like the serpent of the Garden of Eden, who had been known to the peoples of the ancient Near East long before the advent of Yahweh." (p. 170. "The Word Behind Words." Joseph Campbell.
The Masks of God: Creative Mythology. New York. Viking Penguin, Inc. 1968. Reprinted 1976)
According to the late Professor Jacobsen (Professor Emeritus of Assryriology, Harvard University), Ningishzida means "Lord of the Good Tree," and the trees' roots are serpent symbols and this god is "the life-force" within the tree itself. That is to say this god is a vegetation deity:
"...the god Ningishzida, "Lord of the good tree," who represented the numinous power of trees to draw nourishment and to grow, had as his basic form that of the tree's trunk and roots; however, the winding roots, embodiments of living supernatural power, free themselves from the trunk and become live serpents entwined around it."
(p. 7. Thorkild Jacobsen. The Treasures of Darkness, A History of Mesopotamian Religion.. New Haven & London. Yale University Press. 1976)
Tammuz or Dumuzi (the latter being his Sumerian name) is also a vegetation deity (like Ningishzida), associated with the numinous power in the date clusters of date palms according to Jacobsen:
"Correspondingly, the bridegroom, Ama.ushumgal.an.na, represents what is to be stored in the storehouse. As indicated by his name, which means "the one great source of the date clusters," he is the personified power in the one enormous bud which the date palm sprouts each year, and from which issue the new leaves, flowers and fruits. Dumuzi-Amausshumgalanna is thus a personification of the power behind the yearly burgeoning of the palm and its producing its yield of dates; he is, in fact, the power in and behind the date harvest." (p. 36.Thorkild Jacobsen. The Treasures of Darkness, A History of Mesopotamian Religion.. New Haven & London. Yale University Press. 1976).
Note: Not all scholars agree with Jacobsen's rendering of _Ama.ushumgal.an.na_ as meaning "the one great source of the date clusters." Instead they prefer to render this as "[the] mother is a heavenly serpent", cf. below, such renderings by Langdon and Leick.
In later Jewish texts, the Apocrypha, the tree of life in the garden of Eden is associated with a date palm.
If Jacobsen is correct about Tammuz and Ningishzida's associations with serpents and date palms perhaps this why the Hebrews have the notion of a serpent associated with a tree telling man he will not die and will be like a god if he eats the fruit forbidden him by his God ? Adapa's warning from Enki was given at Eridu, where a fruit-tree garden exists that Enki planted for himself. Adapa is his servant and bakes bread and prepares fish (he is also a fisherman) and fresh water to present daily to Enki. I suspect Enki's fruit-tree garden has become Eden's garden of fruit trees. Even today, this region is famed since antiquity for its many date palm plantations, watered by the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, which were associated with Eden in Genesis. Eridu lies in Sumer, which lies in Lower Mesopotamia, which is a great flood-plain. The Sumerian word for "plain" is edin (Akkadian/Babylonian edinu and seru). Thus Enki's fruit-tree garden planted by him next to his shrine in edin-the-plain where he warned Adapa not to eat the food or drink the water offered by Anu for he would surely die, becomes the Garden of Eden and Yahweh-Elohim warning Adam and Eve.
Campbell suggested that Eden's serpent was a later recast of the Sumerian god N
