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52-569: The name has unknown origin. It was originally spelt i-gi 4 -gi 4 , but was later also written as í-gì-gì. This latter may have been a play on words, as in Sumerian, the combination can be interpreted as numerals adding to 7 (the number of Great Gods), or multiplying to 600 (which in some traditions was the total number of gods). Akkadian Paradise is described as a garden in the myth of Atrahasis where lower rank deities (the Igigi) are put to work digging

104-510: A watercourse by the more senior deities (the Anunnaki ). The Igigi then rebel against the dictatorship of Enlil , setting fire to their tools and surrounding Enlil's great house by night. On hearing that toil on the irrigation channel is the reason for the disquiet, the Anunnaki council decide to create man to carry out agricultural labour. This article relating to a myth or legend from

156-453: A cow and even had an affair with Athena, who let him through a back door enter the olymp. Zeus solved this revolt by producing Pandora as Epimentheus' fatal wedding gift, dividing and ruling the titanic brothers. Similarly to Prometheus, Enki defies the orders of the upper gods, who now harbour genocidal intentions against the humans, and proves to be the benefactor of these creatures, who were of course only created as labour slaves to pacify

208-482: A different chronology: Atra-Hasis is listed as a ruler of Shuruppak and a "gudug" priest, preceded by his father Shuruppak, who is, in turn, preceded by his father Ubara-Tutu, as in "The Instructions of Shuruppak". This tablet is unique in that it mentions both Shuruppak and Atra-Hasis. Subsequent versions of the flood myth in the Ancient Near East evidently alter (omit and/or editorially change) information about

260-516: A dispute and consequently created the first humans as labour slaves, to peacefully resolve the conflict. The humans multiplied en masse and disturbed the gods around Enlil and Anu with their noise, so that they wanted to use the cosmic freshwater ocean to trigger the great flood and destroy the humans (cf. Athrahasis epic ). Enraged by the devastation of earth, Tiamat gave birth to monsters whose bodies she filled with "poison instead of blood" and waged war against her traitorous children. Only Marduk ,

312-416: A dove, a swallow and a raven. The raven, the least able to fly, didn't return, so Utanpištim knew that the land – probably still hidden from his view under thick clouds – was accessible again. Atraḫasis descended from his ark and began to offer a food sacrifice to all the gods indiscriminately with a zeal eager to serve. How happy the gods were who had been starving for so long! As if they were flies lured by

364-451: A giant serpent – and the god Abzu , a symbol of the cosmic freshwater ocean, who both created earth together, represent the first generation. The gods Enlil, Anu and Enki are also known as Anunnaki and Igigi , the superior and the inferior gods. They seem to have been united in an organization similar to that which existed in Greece between Zeus – as ‘pure spirit or air’ the leading party – and

416-517: A king of Shuruppak on the Euphrates in the times before that flood, on one of the Sumerian King Lists . The oldest known copy of the epic tradition concerning Atrahasis can be dated by colophon (scribal identification) to the reign of Hammurabi ’s great-grandson, Ammi-Saduqa (1646–1626 BC). However, various Old Babylonian dialect fragments exist, and the epic continued to be copied into

468-408: A mighty flood should consume all of humanity. In addition, he made Enki swear before the Anunnaki that he would not speak another word to humans; he then began to consult with the assembled gods about the exact date and duration of the deluge to be unleashed. (Enki in his relation to Enlil can be seen to have parallels to Prometheus rebelling against Zeus. Zeus was also originally the wise leader of

520-590: A political conflict between the gods, pacified by creating first human couples; the mass reproduction of this humans; and a greate deluge, as has been handed down many times in the different flood myths of mankind. Probably the relic of a natural catastrophe (melting of glacial ice cap as documented in Drain the Oceans or Platos allegory of Atlantis ), the epic links this flood with the god's intention to eliminate their artificial creatures. The name "Atra-Hasis" also appears, as

572-413: A political organisation (primeval Athens), in which the double party of Titans Prometheus and Epimetheus embodied the inferior gods. According to the story, Zeus' character changed after a period of flourishing civilisation: he became stingy and unjust. In any case, these are the arguments Prometheus used to justify his uprising against 'heaven': he stole the god's fire, cheated Zeus out of the best part of

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624-466: A roof "like Abzu " itself. Atraḫasis should not tell anyone about the coming flood, take a large supply of food with him (including live birds and even fish, as the poet added with humorous irony) and keep an eye on the hourglass for seven days from start of the catastrophe. So the priest ' Extremely Wise ' hurriedly left his belongings under a pretence and began building the ship. He invited his neighbours to help and had no scruples about promising them that

676-411: A seven day feast in honour of Isthar , the goddess of war and sexuality.* Both obeyed. After 9 months, the land of the gods gave birth to its first human child, whose purpose of existence was similar to that of his parents. (* Cf. Gilgamesh epic : there, too, the gods arranged a seven-day sexual act to pacify a kind of cold war. Protagonists are Enkidu: an almost invincible, rebellious animal-man and

728-486: A utopian method to regulate the reproduction of their creatures to a bearable level. Two aspects of Athra-Hasis were adopted in the Epic of Gilgamesh around 1200 BC: the primal scene of the 7-day lasted mating of an rebel with a temple prostitute ( Enkidu's domestication ) and the devastating deluge. Obviously , the authors of Old Testament also referred to the epic, so we know the former as Adam and Eve 's creation and latter as

780-458: Is about 500 years older. In this story, he was a primal being made of fresh water and a lover to another primal deity, Tiamat , a creature of salt water. The Enūma Eliš begins: The act of procreation led to the birth of the younger gods: Enki , Enlil , and Anu . Anchored in the Tablet of Destinies , they founded an organisation to make Mesopotamia fertile through agriculture, but got into

832-574: Is the name for fresh water from underground aquifers which was given a religious fertilising quality in ancient near eastern cosmology , including Sumerian and Akkadian mythology. It was believed that all lakes, springs, rivers, fountains, rain, and even the Flood , as described in Atrahasis , originated from the Abzû. In Mesopotamian cosmogony , it is referred to as the freshwater primordial ocean below and above

884-525: The Atrahasis epic in something approaching entirety. A further fragment was recovered in Ugarit . The epic of Atra-Hasis contains the myth of the creation of mankind by Enlil , Anu and Enki — the pantheon of a third generation of earlyest gods ( dingirs ; Sumerian : 𒀭 , lit.   'divines') mentioned in writing. Only the goddess Tiamat – a personification of the saltwater ocean imagined as

936-472: The Flood unleashed by the omnipotent but in this case again failing god YHWH . The God-fearing priest Atraḫasis – the only one who was therefore allowed to survive the attempted delation with his wife and sons, ensuring continued existence of artificially constructed humanity – appears there as Noah . The epos taking place according to its incipit , "When the gods had to work like humans ( inuma ilu awilum = when

988-463: The Garden of Eden, according to which the woman was made from a surgically amputated body part of Adam who had been put into deep narcotic sleep for this purpose, with the argument "It is not good that the man should be alone; therefore let Us make a woman (Eve) who fit to him and do help." Gen. 2.18 ) To complete the construction of humans in the optimal way, Mami encouraged the young couple to celebrate

1040-402: The Sumerian myths, its bestowed on him by the earth mother goddess Ninḫursag herself (cf. Anzu myth ). His aptitude as the greatest warrior and chief strategist of the divine tribal alliance gives him power over the other parties of gods; only he has the ability to transform present circumstances back into their original state – redefining the course of fate . As a permanent legal document

1092-460: The ancient Middle East is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Atrahasis Atra-Hasis ( Akkadian : 𒀜𒊏𒄩𒋀 , romanized:  Atra-ḫasīs ) is an 18th-century BC Akkadian epic , recorded in various versions on clay tablets and named for one of its protagonists, the priest Atra-Hasis ('exceedingly wise'). . The narrative has four focal points: An organisation of allied gods shaping Mesopotamia agriculturally;

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1144-411: The artificial man suffered from the loneliness of his working day and nothing the gods advised him to do was able to restore his zest for life. So the gods may have decided to give him a wife to cheer him up. Where she came from remains open due to the missing passage – there may have been a similarly conceived act of creation. However, this assumption would conflict with Moses' version of the events in

1196-404: The assembly of all gods that they should first cleanse themselves for everything else. They do. On the fifteenth day of this project, he cut up Geshtu-E – 'ear', 'a god or partie who listened for wisdom' – into pieces (cf. Plato's dissection of the rebellious spherical people into single individuals) and began to create the first human being to the sound of drums. He took clay from the soil of

1248-480: The culprit whose treachery had once again enabled some humans to survive the genocide what was planned this time. Enki, however, as always never at a loss for creative ideas, devised a way that he hoped would finally solve the problem caused by the quarrelling gods themselves. He decreed that from now on the humans would be familiarised with suffering and death from birth, that there would be barren and untouchable women and that their lifespan would be severely limited from

1300-567: The deep waters) and was located at the edge of a swamp – an abzû. Certain tanks of holy water in Babylonian and Assyrian temple courtyards were also called abzû ( apsû ). Typical in religious washing, these tanks were similar to Judaism 's mikvot , the washing pools of Islamic mosques , or the baptismal font in Christian churches . The Sumerian god Enki (Ea in the Akkadian language )

1352-414: The earth; indeed our planet itself is regarded as a goddess Ninhursag that was conceived from the mating of male Abzu with female saltwater ocean Tiamat . Thus our divine Mother Earth – on her surface equipped with a bubble of breathable air – is surrounded by Abzû, and her interior harbours the realm of the dead ( Irkalla ). In the city of Eridu , Enki 's temple was known as E 2 -abzû (house of

1404-864: The editorial changes to the Atra-Hasis text in Gilgamesh , Jeffrey H. Tigay comments: "The dropping of individual lines between others which are preserved, but are not synonymous with them, appears to be a more deliberate editorial act. These lines share a common theme, the hunger and thirst of the gods during the flood." Examples of alterations to the Atra-Hasis story in Gilgamesh include: Abzu The Abzû or Apsû ( Sumerian : 𒀊𒍪 abzû ; Akkadian : 𒀊𒍪 apsû ), also called E ngar ( Cuneiform : 𒇉 , LAGAB×HAL ; Sumerian : engar ; Akkadian : engurru – lit. ab = 'water' zû = 'deep', recorded in Greek as Ἀπασών Apasṓn ),

1456-464: The female temple servant Shamkat, endowed with all advantages necessary for that purpose. Enkidu, who had previously destroyed so many animal traps with his fierce group of relatives, fell into this new type of trap. After having sex for 7 days, he was ‘weakened’: the herd of animals he had been leading fled into the steppe in horror. He was shocked of his lonely separation, but Shamkat tried to comfort him: "Don't grieve; you have knowledge now, just like

1508-477: The fertility goddess Nisaba to devastate the land with storms and dry up the harvests. Enki – dwelling in the lower part of sky – told his priest Atraḫasis what to do about it each time: Only Adad and Nisaba should sacrificed, the other gods should left to starve. The pious priest acted according to this divine advice; Adad and Nisaba were so ashamed of this undeserved favour that they abandoned their endeavour. Enlil now completely enraged against Enki and decreed that

1560-452: The first millennium BC. The story of Atrahasis also exists in a later Assyrian dialect version, first rediscovered in the Library of Ashurbanipal , though its translations have been uncertain due to the artifact being in fragmentary condition and containing ambiguous words. Nonetheless, its fragments were first assembled and translated by George Smith as The Chaldean Account of Genesis ,

1612-496: The flood and the flood hero found in the original Atra-Hasis story. In particular, a lost, intermediate version of the Atra-Hasis flood myth seems to have been paraphrased or copied in a late edition of the Epic of Gilgamesh ( Tablet XI ). This modern addition of Gilgamesh , known as the 'standard version', is traditionally associated with the Babylonian scribe Sîn-lēqi-unninni ( circa 1300–1000 BC), though some minor changes may have been made since his time. Regarding

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1664-626: The flood story took place after or during the rule of Ubara-Tutu. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, first recorded in the 17th century BC (i.e., the Old Babylonian Empire ), the hero is named Ziusudra , who also appears in the Instructions of Shuruppak as the son of the eponymous Shuruppak, who himself is called the son of Ubara-Tutu. The "Sumerian King Lists" also make no mention of Atra-Hasis, Utnapishtim, or Ziusudra. Tablet "WB 62", however, provides

1716-405: The god of deadly diseases so much that as soon as he had begun his pandemic work, he ceased to eliminate people. Tablet II is about the unstoppable increase in overpopulation. After another 1200 years there were many more humans, they roamed around like roaring herds of cattle. Because the gods in upper part of heaven could no longer even sleep, Enlil sent Adad and, again 1200 years later,

1768-499: The gods were humans)", there was a quarrel between the upper Anunnaki and the Igigu, the lower gods. While the latter had the task of ensuring the supply of the land through construction of irrigation canals, for which they must dig out the beds of big rivers, the Anunnaki ruled from above – presumably watching over the implementation of their plans and dividing the fruits of this great civilising project as they saw fit. After 40 years, however,

1820-728: The gods!" See also Adam's and Eve's enjoyment of the Fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, in Eden. ) 1200 years later, humans had multiplied to such an extent that they disturbed the gods with their noise. Enlil was annoyed and decided that Namtar , his god of the dead's realm , should carry off most of humans with frost fever, so a great extinction began. Enki, probably worried that he would end up having to work again himself, approached his faithful priest Atraḫasis and advised him to do following: The other gods should no longer be worshipped, but only Namtar. This flattered

1872-555: The groups round Poseidon (ocean) and Hades (earth). It is not unlikely that the story refers to the era of the Neolithic Revolution , when Homo sapiens, similar to chimpanzees evolving in small autarkic hordes, began to establish political inter-group organisations. Instead of fighting each other as before, this groups of hunter-gatherers concluded to share the coveted territory in peace, to defend it together and to erect impressive monuments such as those at Göbekli Tepe (so

1924-445: The hero of which had his name corrected to Atra-Hasis by Heinrich Zimmern in 1899. In 1965, Wilfred G. Lambert and Alan Millard published many additional texts belonging to the epic, including an Old Babylonian copy (written c. 1650 BC) which is the most complete recension of the tale to have survived. These new texts greatly increased knowledge of the epic and were the basis for Lambert and Millard’s first English translation of

1976-458: The immense destruction, and Mami ( Belet-ili ) raised serious accusations against Enli: "Why didn't you, the greatest warrior of all gods, fight the rebels" (instead of constructing humans)?! A few lines are missing here again, but these can be added according to the Epic of Gilgamesh: After the ark is stranded high up on Mount Nisir, Uta-napišti (the name of Atraḫasis in the Epic of Gilgamesh) sends out three birds - presumably at daily intervals:

2028-427: The lesser gods rebelled and refused to do strenuous labor. At night, they surrounded the dwelling place of Enlil , who was considered the main god of Sumerian civilisation, the seperator of air and earth in the midst of the cosmic ocean. Enlil was surprised and called for Anu and Enki. Nusku, one of the sons and Enlil's ambassador here, tried to negotiate with the rebellious party, but had no success. Enlil, who also

2080-478: The male groups of gods were concerned, the separate task of reproduction fell to the seven divine wombs, the shassuratu presided over by Ninḫursag ( Mami ). The plot of the epic follows a simple pattern: As is well known, this genocidal project failed. The reason for this divine misadventure was not so much the human's shipbuilding skills ( Noah's Ark ), but the quarrelling between the gods. Finally, they seal their fate as well as that of mankind by agreeing on

2132-450: The midst of the cosmic freshwater primordial ocean to clarify their hierarchical relationship. Enlil represents the leading party in the council of gods; the party of Anunnaki around Anu belongs more to the upper heaven, and that of Igigi around Enki more to that below the earth (half) sphere. All three parties are bound by the Tablet of Destinies , which Enlil is the only one to possess. In

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2184-462: The name of the flood hero is Utnapishtim , who is said to be the son of Ubara-Tutu , king of Shuruppak : "Gilgamesh spoke to Utnapishtim, the Faraway... O man of Shuruppak, son of Ubara-Tutu." Many available tablets comprising the Sumerian King Lists support the lineage of the flood hero given in Gilgamesh by omitting a king named Shuruppak as a historical ruler of Shuruppak, implying a belief that

2236-520: The outset (in biblical terms to 120 years), in the hope that their reproduction would be regulated in future. With this promise that the gods would have sufficient living space of their own on earth for all time, Enlil could be content and make peace with Enki. In later versions of the flood story, contained in the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Eridu Genesis , the hero is not named Atra-Hasis. In Gilgamesh ,

2288-477: The rebellion of the sub-gods around Enki.) Tablet III contains the flood myth . Well informed with all details, Enki went to his priest's reed hut, but waited until Atraḫasis began to lie down to sleep. Then, speaking cunningly to the hut's wall so as not to breach the contract, Enki told 'it' what to do: ‘ Separate yourself from your house, build a ship, spurn your possessions, save your life .’ The ship should be cube-shaped and also be watertight from above with

2340-419: The reward would soon come richly from heaven. The deadline was pressing, so he organised a big party to attract more workers. He himself was unable to eat during the lavish feast, so nauseous was he with fear of the impending punishment of the gods. When Adad gathered the clouds and the winds began to roar from all ends of the world, Atraḫasis and at least one fertile woman (the masters sons too) climbed into

2392-427: The scent, they swarmed in from all sides to the altar's fire and began to feast to their hearts' – for which they later endowed Anthrahais-Noah with their immortality in gratitude and settled him with his wife on the island of Dilmun on the distant edge of the world (see Gilgamesh flood myth ). Enlil, however, who as a wise ruler was responsible for the welfare of this great civilisation, was still furious with Enki,

2444-420: The ship and sealed its entrance hatch from inside with earth pitch . The ark swirled like a pot on the waves of the mighty flood thundering down from the open floodgates of the cosmic primordial ocean. And how furious Enlil was at his foiled plan to destroy mankind! - The other gods, however, suffered from hunger, as they were unable to find any more humans to feed them in the midst of the raging chaos. They cry at

2496-404: The steppe (Mami was regarded as the primordial mother earth , so the divine wombs come into play here), mixed it with some of the spilt blood and added a touch of cosmic water, bringing it to its living form. When the creature awoke, Mami approached, handed it a carrying basket and taught it to work for the gods from then on. ( Here is a gap in the tablet in which it could have been described how

2548-422: The tablet was provided with a seal , a sign mechanically applied by means of a special technique, which in ancient Mesopotamia was regarded as a symbol of a contract. Contracts have been directly related to tribute payments to be made: often parts of the food produced, but generally assistance in battlel or labour, such as the construction of mighty irrigation channels, as described in the epic Atra-Hasis. As far as

2600-476: The thesis of its discoverer K. Schmidt ). More or less from this date, they also developed agriculture, became sedentary and transformed Mesopotamia's steppe into the blooming landscape that went down in the myths of mankind as the Garden of Eden . In the main, the epic reports on a conflict between some of the first Sumerian gods and draws on the earlier myth of the separation of air and earth (‘above’ and ‘below’) in

2652-553: Was believed to have keen eyes and appeared out of the abzû since before human beings were created. His wife Damgalnuna , his mother Nammu , his advisor Isimud and a variety of subservient creatures, such as the gatekeeper Lahmu , also lived in the abzû. Abzû ( apsû ) is depicted as a deity only in the Babylonian creation epic , the Enūma Eliš , taken from the library of Assurbanipal ( c.  630 BCE ) but which

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2704-423: Was the benevolent, wise leader of all the gods, did'nt want a battle with the risk of serious injuries and deaths, and to avoid this he came up with the idea of starting to produce humans from a sacrifice to do the hard labour instead of the rebellious gods. He asked Mami – leader of the 7 goddess wombs – to do this. Mami declared that she could only fulfil this request with Enki's assistance. Enki, agreeing, advised

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