Sumer, or the ‘land of civilized kings’, flourished in Mesopotamia, now modern-day Iraq, around 4500 BC. Sumerians created an advanced civilization with its own system of elaborate language and writing, architecture and arts, astronomy and mathematics. Their religious system was a complex one comprised of hundreds of gods. According to the ancient texts, each Sumerian city was guarded by its own god; and while humans and gods used to live together, the humans were servants to the gods.
The Tablet of Nippur: Discovering the Ancient Sumerian Texts
As one of the earliest known written creation stories, the Sumerian creation legend holds significant importance offering valuable insights into the religious, political, and cultural aspects of ancient Mesopotamia.
The Sumerian creation myth can be found on a tablet in Nippur, an ancient Mesopotamian city founded in approximately 5000 BC. The creation of Earth (Enuma Elish) according to the Sumerian tablets begins like this:
When in the height heaven was not named,
And the earth beneath did not yet bear a name,
And the primeval Apsu, who begat them,
And chaos, Tiamut, the mother of them both
Their waters were mingled together,
And no field was formed, no marsh was to be seen;
When of the gods none had been called into being,
And none bore a name, and no destinies were ordained;
Then were created the gods in the midst of heaven,
Lahmu and Lahamu were called into being...The texts mention that at some point the gods mutinied against their labor.
When the gods like men
Bore the work and suffered the toll
The toil of the gods was great,
The work was heavy, the distress was much.
The figures can be identified as gods by their pointed hats with multiple horns. The figure with streams of water and fish flowing from his shoulders is Ea (Sumerian Enki), god of subterranean waters and of wisdom. Behind him stands Usimu, his two-faced vizier (chief minister). At the centre of the scene is the sun-god, Shamash (Sumerian Utu), with rays rising from his shoulders. He is cutting his way through the mountains in order to rise at dawn. To his left is a winged goddess, Ishtar (Sumerian Inanna). The weapons rising from her shoulders symbolise her warlike characteristics. (Public Domain)
The Unity of God and Man: How the First Human Came into Existence
Anu, the god of gods, agreed that their labour was too great. His son Enki, or Ea, proposed to create man to bear the labour, and so, with the help of his half-sister Ninki, he did. A god was put to death, and his body and blood was mixed with clay. From that material the first human being was created, in likeness to the gods.
You have slaughtered a god together
With his personality
I have removed your heavy work
I have imposed your toil on man.
…
In the clay, god and man
Shall be bound,
To a unity brought together;
So that to the end of days
The Flesh and the Soul
Which in a god have ripened –
That soul in a blood-kinship be bound.
This first man was created in Eden, a Sumerian word which means ‘flat terrain’. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, Eden is mentioned as the garden of the gods and is located somewhere in Mesopotamia between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
Adapa, the first human being in ancient Sumerian Texts failed to answer the question of “the bread and water of life” Anu. (AAref/Adobe Stock)
Initially human beings were unable to reproduce on their own, but were later modified with the help of Enki and Ninki. Thus, Adapa was created as a fully functional and independent human being. This ‘modification’ was done without the approval of Enki’s brother, Enlil, and a conflict between the gods began. Enlil became the adversary of man, and the Sumerian tablet mentions that men served gods and went through much hardship and suffering.
- Garden of Eden Depicted in Ancient Greek Religious Art
- Divine, Forbidden and Dangerous? Magic Apples in Ancient Mythology
Adapa, with the help of Enki, ascended to Anu where he failed to answer a question about ‘the bread and water of life’.
Opinions vary on the similarities between this creation story and the biblical story of Adam and Eve in Eden. While Adapa was granted great wisdom and knowledge by Enki, he unknowingly rejected the gift of immortality when offered the "bread and water of life. Adam and Eve were placed in the Garden of Eden and instructed not to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. However, they were tempted by the serpent and ate the forbidden fruit, leading to their expulsion from paradise.
Overall, the Sumerian creation myth holds significant importance as one of the earliest known written creation stories, offering valuable insights into the religious, political, and cultural aspects of ancient Mesopotamia.
Top image: Sumerian chaos monster and sun god. Source: Public Domain
Note: Ancient Sumerian translations were taken from William Bramley’s book, The Gods of Eden.
By John Black
References
Sumerian creation myth. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumerian_creation_myth
1902. Enuma Elish - The Epic of Creation. Available at: https://www.sacred-texts.com/ane/enuma.htm
Sumerian Myths of Origins. Available at: https://www.sacred-texts.com/ane/sum/sum07.htm
Sumerian Deities. Available at: http://www.sarissa.org/sumer/sumer_g.php
Still lots of water
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In reply to Floodings by inventor (not verified)
to be accounted for if the myths deals with once apon a time global flooding. (Which it doesn´t since it deals with the mythology of the Milky Way River in the Sky, "running" above the Earth.
Google "Milky Way (mythology" and "List of names for the Milky Way"
Mythos
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In reply to Still lots of water by Ivar Nielsen (not verified)
Again, I do not dispute your idea that it deals with Milky Way mythology. I dispute your apparent assertion that because it deals with Milky Way mythology, it cannot be a story of real events.
It seems to me that a massive global flood event is exactly the kind of thing that would be interpreted through such mythology.
Noas Ark
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In reply to Mythos by Tsurugi
Tsurugi,
You have to deal with all the Flood Myth contents before taking any firm stands.
"Noa building a ship which can contain a pair of all animals"?
This is impossible.
But if you interpret "all the animals" in the zodiak and the ship depicting the crescent MIlky Way contours, you get the right mytho-cosmological interpretation.
Remember, this telling deals with the Story of Creation and the cosmological and cosmogonical facts.
The Devil's in the Details
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In reply to Noas Ark by Ivar Nielsen (not verified)
"You have to deal with all the Flood Myth contents before taking any firm stands."
Agreed. I have no "firm" stance on this topic; it could be pure symbolic mythos, it could be an account of some type of real event, it could be both simultaneously, etc.
Interesting possibility there with the correlation to the zodiak. If that is the case, what does it mean when it talks about taking them "in pairs, male and female"? Seems an odd thing to say if it is talking about the zodiak symbols.
I agree also that it would be physically impossible to cram a breeding pair of every species of animal into a ship built to the specifications given in the text, which is 300x50x30 cubits.
That's not small, but it is definitely too small to hold two of every animal, plus all the food necessary to keep said animals alive, plus Noah and his extended family and all the food and supplies for them. As you said, it is thus necessary to decide how to interpret that part of the text.
One idea that has always fascinated me is the possibility that this is hinting at a genetic, rather than a physical, storage. It would be possible to store DNA samples of every species in a ship that size...and taking them that way means you don't have to worry about storing all the food for them. Hell, you don't have to feed them. You don't have to worry about taking care of them at all. Most of the spatial and logistical problems are solved with this possibility.
Of course, it begs the question of how the hell Noah got DNA samples of all those animals. But the same question occurs if the animals were physical....how would Noah have managed to find a male and female of every species, then coax them onto his ship?
Fortunately, there is a supernatural being in this story. Getting the animals(or their DNA samples) and bringing them to the Ark is his department, as the text makes clear.
As you said, we must deal with all the flood myth contents when trying to come up with a reasoned explanation, and there are a lot of interesting little details when it comes to the animals.
For instance, Noah is told there will be seven pairs of some types of animals and of all birds, and one pair of everything else. Why seven pairs? Why all birds? Very interesting.
In the description of the actual loading of the animals, it says they came aboard "in pairs, male and female, two by two."
I think this is highly interesting. The first two descriptive phrases, "in pairs" and "male and female", establish what each "set" of animals consists of: two specimens, one of each gender. Yet the last phrase, "two by two" suggests a "set" of four.
Of course, if what they were really loading on board were not physical animals but rather the DNA samples of animals, then "two by two" makes sense; because each DNA strand is a double helix.
Anyway, all of that is pure speculation on my part. Just giving an example of how the impossibility of getting all those animals into the Ark doesn't preclude an interpretation of the story as a recounting of real events. :)
the flood myth
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In reply to The Devil's in the Details by Tsurugi
I think people take all this too literally. To me, it has always seemed like the story of one family, and their livestock; Not every species of animal. Think about it for a second; If there was a deluge on the way, and someone were to build an ark; Wouldn't it to be to secure the safety of their family? And as they wouldn't be able to take all their animals on board, it would make sense for them to take the best breeding pair of each animal they kept.