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76-662: Other Sumerian creation myths include the Barton Cylinder , the Debate between sheep and grain and the Debate between Winter and Summer , also found at Nippur. Related flood myths occur in the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Genesis creation narrative . The story is known from three fragments representing different versions of the narrative. One is a tablet excavated from the ancient Sumerian city known as Nippur . This tablet

152-644: A Sumerian tablet discovered at Nippur . The Judaic underworld Sheol is very similar in description with the Sumerian Kur , ruled by the goddess Ereshkigal , as well as the Babylonian underworld Irkalla . Sumerian scholar Samuel Noah Kramer has also noted similarities between many Sumerian and Akkadian "proverbs" and the later Hebrew proverbs, many of which are featured in the Book of Proverbs . Gilgamesh flood myth The Gilgamesh flood myth

228-476: A dozen cubits, and a Sumerian cubit was about 20 inches. Hence these translations imply that the boat was about 200 feet high, which would be impractical with the technology in Gilgamesh's time (about 2700 BC). There is no Akkadian word for "height" in line 57. The sentence literally reads "Ten dozen-cubits each I-raised its-walls." A similar example from an unrelated house building tablet reads: "he shall build

304-521: A freshwater marsh near the temple of Ea/Enki at the city of Eridu. In addition to the flood story material, (lines 1–203), tablet XI contains the following flood story elements: List of titled subparts, Tablet XI-(by Kovacs): These are some of the sentences copied more or less directly from the Atrahasis version to the Gilgamesh epic: The Epic of Atrahasis provides additional information on

380-464: A hilly ziggurat." A ziggurat was an elevated platform or temple tower where priests made offerings to the temple god. Most translators of line 157 disregard ziq-qur-rat as a redundant metaphor for peak. There is no authority for this other than previous translations of line 157. Kovacs' translation retains the word ziggurat on page 102. One of the Sumerian cities with a ziggurat was Eridu located on

456-435: A loaf of bread for every day he is asleep so that Gilgamesh cannot deny his failure. Gilgamesh, who wants to overcome death, cannot even conquer sleep. As Gilgamesh is leaving, Utnapishtim's wife asks her husband to offer a parting gift. Utnapishtim tells Gilgamesh of a boxthorn -like plant at the very bottom of the ocean that will make him young again. Gilgamesh obtains the plant by binding stones to his feet so he can walk on

532-510: A new fragment of the Eridu Genesis story was published. The first 36 lines of the primary tablet from Nippur are lost, although they can be inferred to have discussed the creation of man and animals, and likely spoke about the dissolute existence of mankind prior to civilization (as is indicated by the fragment from Ur). The surviving portion begins with a monologue from Nintur , the goddess who birthed mankind, where she calls humans from

608-413: A tablet containing the missing part of the flood story, describing the provisioning of the ark: "Into the midst of it thy grain, thy furniture, and thy goods, thy wealth, thy woman servants, thy female slaves...the animals of the field all, I will gather and I will send to thee, and they shall be enclosed in thy door." A much older Cuneiform tablet dating to 1646-1626 B.C., about one thousand years before

684-459: A vagrant existence as nomads to build cities, temples, and become both sedentary and civilized. After the monologue, there is another missing section that only resumes after another 36 lines, and at this point humans are still in a nomadic state; the missing section may have spoken of an initial unsuccessful attempt by humans to establish civilization. When the text resumes, Nintur is still planning on providing kingship and organization to humans. Then,

760-594: Is a flood myth in the Epic of Gilgamesh . It is one of three Mesopotamian Flood Myths alongside the one including in the Eridu Genesis , and an episode from the Atra-Hasis Epic. Many scholars believe that the flood myth was added to Tablet XI in the "standard version" of the Gilgamesh Epic by an editor who used the flood story from the Epic of Atra-Hasis . A short reference to the flood myth

836-399: Is also present in the much older Sumerian Gilgamesh poems, from which the later Babylonian versions drew much of their inspiration and subject matter. Gilgamesh 's supposed historical reign is believed to have been approximately 2700 BC , shortly before the earliest known written stories. The discovery of artifacts associated with Aga and Enmebaragesi of Kish , two other kings named in

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912-520: Is capitalized because it is a Sumerian word. The first KUR is followed by a phonetic complement -ú which indicates that KUR-ú is to be read in Akkadian as šadú (hill) and not as mātu (country). Since šadú (hill) could also mean mountain in Akkadian, and scholars knew the Biblical expression Mount Ararat , it has become customary to translate šadú as mountain or mount . The flood hero

988-578: Is modern day Iraq . The Sumerians widely regarded their divinities as responsible for all matters pertaining to the natural and social orders of their society. Before the beginning of kingship in Sumer , the city-states were effectively ruled by theocratic priests and religious officials. Later, this role was supplanted by kings, but priests continued to exert great influence on Sumerian society. In early times, Sumerian temples were simple, one-room structures, sometimes built on elevated platforms. Towards

1064-500: Is the prologue to the epic poem Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Netherworld , which briefly describes the process of creation: originally, there was only Nammu , the primeval sea. Then, Nammu without a father gave birth to Utu , then went on to create An the sky, and Ki , the earth. An and Ki mated with each other, causing Ki to give birth to Enlil , the god of wind, rain, and storm. Enlil separated An from Ki and carried off

1140-463: Is unclear whether they included an expanded account of the flood myth; although one fragment definitely includes the story of Gilgamesh's journey to meet Utnapishtim . The "standard" Akkadian version included a long version of the story and was edited by Sin-liqe-unninni , who lived sometime between 1300 and 1000 BC. The first Gilgamesh flood tablet was discovered by Hormuzd Rassam in Nineveh and

1216-598: The Enûma Eliš ). The Sumerian-Akkadian pantheon was altered, most notably with the introduction of a new supreme deity, Marduk . The Sumerian goddess Inanna also developed the counterpart Ishtar during the Old Babylonian Period. The Hurrians adopted the Akkadian god Anu into their pantheon sometime no later than 1200 BC. Other Sumerian and Akkadian deities adapted into the Hurrian pantheon include Ayas,

1292-463: The Third Dynasty of Ur , the Sumerian pantheon was said to include sixty times sixty (3600) deities. Enlil was the god of air, wind, and storm. He was also the chief god of the Sumerian pantheon and the patron deity of the city of Nippur . His primary consort was Ninlil , the goddess of the south wind, who was one of the patron deities of Nippur and was believed to reside in

1368-557: The galla dragging the god Dumuzid into the underworld. The later Mesopotamians knew this underworld by its East Semitic name: Irkalla . During the Akkadian Period , Ereshkigal's role as the ruler of the underworld was assigned to Nergal , the god of death. The Akkadians attempted to harmonize this dual rulership of the underworld by making Nergal Ereshkigal's husband. It is generally agreed that Sumerian civilization began at some point between c. 4500 and 4000 BC, but

1444-586: The Book of Genesis is believed to have been written, and known as the Epic of Atra-Hasis describing a great flood was discovered in 1898. J. P. Morgan acquired it and today it is in the Morgan Library & Museum . In 2007, Andrew George translated a 3,200 year old tablet dating to around 1200 B.C. found during excavations at Ugarit . The tablet contains a fragment of the Epic of Gilgamesh, including parts of

1520-474: The Gilgamesh epic suggests that the reference to "dragonflies [filling] the river" is simply an evocative image of death rather than a literal description of the flood Other editorial changes were made to the Atrahasis text in Gilgamesh to lessen the suggestion that the gods may have experienced human needs. For example, Atrahasis OB III, 30–31 "The Anunnaki, the great gods [were sitt]ing in thirst and hunger"

1596-664: The Hurrian counterpart to Ea; Shaushka, the Hurrian counterpart to Ishtar; and the goddess Ninlil , whose mythos had been drastically expanded by the Babylonians. Some stories recorded in the older parts of the Hebrew Bible bear strong similarities to the stories in Sumerian mythology. For example, the biblical account of Noah and the Great Flood bears a striking resemblance to the Sumerian deluge myth , recorded in

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1672-513: The Old-Akkadian Gilgamesh tablets included the flood story, because of the fragmentary nature of surviving tablets. Some scholars argue that they did not. Tigay, for example, maintains that three major additions to the Gilgamesh epic, namely the prologue, the flood story (tablet XI), and tablet XII, were added by an editor or editors, possibly by Sin-leqi-unninni, to whom the entire epic was later attributed. According to this view,

1748-482: The Sumerian deluge story corresponds to localized river flooding at Shuruppak (modern Tell Fara, Iraq ) and various other cities as far north as Kish, as revealed by a layer of riverine sediments, radiocarbon dated to c. 2900 BCE, which interrupt the continuity of settlement. Polychrome pottery from the Jemdet Nasr period (c. 3000–2900 BCE) was discovered immediately below this Shuruppak flood stratum. None of

1824-482: The University of Pennsylvania. Prof. 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." Although the 18th century BC copy of the Atrahasis (Atra-Hasis) epic post-dates the early Gilgamesh epic, we do not know whether

1900-452: The advent of the Lugal ("King"), Sumerian city-states were under a virtually theocratic government controlled by various En or Ensí , who served as the high priests of the cults of the city gods. (Their female equivalents were known as Nin .) Priests were responsible for continuing the cultural and religious traditions of their city-state, and were viewed as mediators between humans and

1976-426: The boat, boards it with his family and the animals, and the gods unleash the flood, although the exact phrasing is unclear as another lacuna appears in this section. Mankind and the rest of life survives, and again, the text breaks off. Before the missing section, the gods have decided to send a flood to destroy humanity. Enki , god of the underworld sea of fresh water and equivalent of Babylonian Ea, warns Ziusudra ,

2052-418: The boat. He took hold of my hand and brought me on board. He brought aboard my wife and made her kneel at my side. Standing between us, he touched our foreheads to bless us." In the first sentence "Then dingir-kabtu came aboard the boat" the Akkadian determinative dingir is usually translated as "god", but can also mean "priest" Dingir-kabtu literally means "divine important-person". Translating this as Enlil

2128-625: The bottom of the sea. He recovers the plant and plans to test it on an old man when he returns to Uruk . Unfortunately, when Gilgamesh stops to bathe it is stolen by a serpent that sheds its skin as it departs, apparently reborn. Gilgamesh, having failed both chances, returns to Uruk, where the sight of its massive walls provokes him to praise this enduring work of mortal men. The implication may be that mortals can achieve immortality through lasting works of civilization and culture. Lines 1-203, Tablet XI (note: with supplemental sub-titles and line numbers added for clarity ) Note: 'Apsu' can refer to

2204-425: The cosmic and terrestrial forces. The priesthood resided full-time in temple complexes, and administered matters of state including the large irrigation processes necessary for the civilization's survival. Some cities in Sumer had periods where their kings were worshipped as gods, and occasionally, these times spread to all cities in the region. During the Third Dynasty of Ur , the Sumerian city-state of Lagash

2280-578: The dead to drink. Nonetheless, there are assumptions according to which treasures in wealthy graves had been intended as offerings for Utu and the Anunnaki , so that the deceased would receive special favors in the underworld. During the Third Dynasty of Ur , it was believed that a person's treatment in the afterlife depended on how he or she was buried; those that had been given sumptuous burials would be treated well, but those who had been given poor burials would fare poorly, and were believed to haunt

2356-532: The earliest historical records only date to around 2900 BC. The Sumerians originally practiced a polytheistic religion, with anthropomorphic deities representing cosmic and terrestrial forces in their world. The earliest Sumerian literature of the third millennium BC identifies four primary deities: An , Enlil , Ninhursag , and Enki . These early deities were believed to occasionally behave mischievously towards each other, but were generally viewed as being involved in co-operative creative ordering. During

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2432-431: The earth as his domain, while An carried off the sky. The ancient Mesopotamians regarded the sky as a series of domes (usually three, but sometimes seven) covering the flat earth and a place where holy stars resided. Each dome was made of a different kind of precious stone. The lowest dome of heaven was made of jasper and was the home of the stars . The middle dome of heaven was made of saggilmut stone and

2508-453: The earth as his domain. Humans were believed to have been created by AnKi or Enki , the son of the An and Ki. Heaven was reserved exclusively for deities and, upon their deaths, all mortals' spirits, regardless of their behavior while alive, were believed to go to Kur , a cold, dark cavern deep beneath the earth, which was ruled by the goddess Ereshkigal and where the only food available

2584-503: The earth was named Ki . First the underground world was believed to be an extension of the goddess Ki, but later developed into the concept of Kur . The primordial saltwater sea was named Nammu , who became known as Tiamat during and after the Ur III period . Some ancient Sumerians believed that salt and other minerals were alive, and could even think independent thoughts. The main source of information about Sumerian creation mythology

2660-433: The end of Sumerian civilization, these temples developed into ziggurats —tall, pyramidal structures with sanctuaries at the tops. The Sumerians believed that the universe had come into being through a series of cosmic births such as gods. First, Nammu , the primeval waters, gave birth to Ki (the earth) and An (the sky), who mated together and produced a son named Enlil . Enlil separated heaven from earth and claimed

2736-399: The end of the Sumerian civilization, ziggurats became the preferred temple structure for Mesopotamian religious centers. Temples served as cultural, religious, and political headquarters until approximately 2500 BC, with the rise of military kings known as Lu-gals ("man" + "big") after which time the political and military leadership was often housed in separate "palace" complexes. Until

2812-928: The entire clause reads "The hill/mound country niṣir held the boat". Lines 146-147 in Gilgamesh XI are usually translated "I ... made sacrifice, incense I placed on the peak of the mountain." Similarly "I poured out a libation on the peak of the mountain." But Kovacs provides this translation of line 156: "I offered incense in front of the mountain-ziggurat." Parpola provides the original Akkadian for this sentence: "áš-kun sur-qin-nu ina UGU ziq-qur-rat KUR-i" Áš-kun means I-placed; sur-qin-nu means offering; ina-(the preposition) means on-(upon); UGU means top-of; ziq-qur-rat means temple tower; and KUR-i means hilly. Parpola's glossary (page 145) defines ziq-qur-rat as "temple tower, ziggurat" and refers to line 157 so he translates ziq-qur-rat as temple tower in this context. The sentence literally reads "I placed an offering on top of

2888-486: The first cities are named (beginning with Eridu, whose leadership Nintur placed under Nudimmud), then Badtibira, Larak, Sippar, and finally Shuruppak. The cities were established as distributional (not monetary) economies. Another lacuna (missing section) of 34 lines proceeds. The fragment from the library of Ashurbanipal, as well as independent evidence from the Sumerian King List, suggests this section included

2964-480: The flood and flood hero that is omitted in Gilgamesh XI and other versions of the Ancient Near East flood myth. According to Atrahasis III ii, lines 40–47 the flood hero was at a banquet when the storm and flood began: "He invited his people ... to a banquet ... He sent his family on board. They ate and they drank. But he (Atrahasis) was in and out. He could not sit, could not crouch, for his heart

3040-402: The flood apparently over, and Ziusudra prostrating himself before An (Sky) and Enlil (Lordbreath), who give him "breath eternal" for "preserving the animals and the seed of mankind". The remainder is lost. The Epic of Ziusudra adds an element at lines 258–261 not found in other versions, that after the river flood "king Ziusudra ... they caused to dwell in the land of the country of Dilmun ,

3116-401: The flood story in tablet XI was based on a late version of the Atrahasis story. As with most translations, especially from an ancient, dead language, scholars differ on the meaning of ambiguous sentences. For example, line 57 in Gilgamesh XI is usually translated (with reference to the boat) "ten rods the height of her sides", or "its walls were each 10 times 12 cubits in height". A rod was

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3192-550: The gods as living in a feudal society with class structure . Powerful deities such as Enki and Inanna became seen as receiving their power from the chief god Enlil . The majority of Sumerian deities belonged to a classification called the Anunna ("[offspring] of An "), whereas seven deities, including Enlil and Inanna, belonged to a group of "underworld judges" known as the Anunnaki ("[offspring] of An" + Ki ). During

3268-642: The living. The entrance to Kur was believed to be located in the Zagros Mountains in the far east. It had seven gates, through which a soul needed to pass. The god Neti was the gatekeeper. Ereshkigal's sukkal , or messenger, was the god Namtar . Galla were a class of demons that were believed to reside in the underworld; their primary purpose appears to have been to drag unfortunate mortals back to Kur. They are frequently referenced in magical texts, and some texts describe them as being seven in number. Several extant poems describe

3344-592: The mid-17th century BC. During the Old Babylonian Period , the Sumerian and Akkadian languages were retained for religious purposes; the majority of Sumerian mythological literature known to historians today comes from the Old Babylonian Period, either in the form of transcribed Sumerian texts (most notably the Babylonian version of the Epic of Gilgamesh ) or in the form of Sumerian and Akkadian influences within Babylonian mythological literature (most notably

3420-433: The middle of the third millennium BC, Sumerian society became more urbanized. As a result of this, Sumerian deities began to lose their original associations with nature and became the patrons of various cities. Each Sumerian city-state had its own specific patron deity, who was believed to protect the city and defend its interests. Lists of large numbers of Sumerian deities have been found. Their order of importance and

3496-718: The moon. During the Akkadian Empire , Inanna , the goddess of sex, beauty, and warfare, was widely venerated across Sumer and appeared in many myths, including the famous story of her descent into the Underworld . Sumerian religion heavily influenced the religious beliefs of later Mesopotamian peoples ; elements of it are retained in the mythologies and religions of the Hurrians , Akkadians , Babylonians , Assyrians , and other Middle Eastern culture groups. Scholars of comparative mythology have noticed parallels between

3572-597: The morning and evening star. Her main cult center was the Eanna temple in Uruk , which had been originally dedicated to An. Deified kings may have re-enacted the marriage of Inanna and Dumuzid with priestesses. Accounts of her parentage vary; in most myths, she is usually presented as the daughter of Nanna and Ningal, but, in other stories, she is the daughter of Enki or An along with an unknown mother. The Sumerians had more myths about her than any other deity. Many of

3648-509: The myths involving her revolve around her attempts to usurp control of the other deities' domains. Utu was god of the sun, whose primary center of worship was the E-babbar temple in Sippar . Utu was principally regarded as a dispenser of justice; he was believed to protect the righteous and punish the wicked. Nanna was god of the moon and of wisdom. He was the father of Utu and one of

3724-474: The naming of more cities and their rulers. What occurs next is a statement that humans began to make noises that annoyed the gods: Enlil in particular was entirely unable to sleep due to humanity and made the radical decision to deal with this by destroying humanity with a flood. The god Enki informs one human, Ziusudra (likely a priest), of this decision and advises him to build a boat to save both himself and one couple of every living creature. Ziusudra builds

3800-449: The original Akkadian belief systems that have been mostly lost to history. Sumerian deities developed Akkadian counterparts. Some remained virtually the same until later Babylonian and Assyrian rule. The Sumerian god An, for example, developed the Akkadian counterpart Anu; the Sumerian god Enki became Ea . The gods Ninurta and Enlil kept their original Sumerian names. The Amorite Babylonians gained dominance over southern Mesopotamia by

3876-546: The original patron deity of Uruk . Most major gods had a so-called sukkal , a minor deity serving as their vizier, messenger or doorkeeper. The Sumerians had an ongoing linguistic and cultural exchange with the Semitic Akkadian peoples in northern Mesopotamia for generations prior to the usurpation of their territories by Sargon of Akkad in 2340 BC. Sumerian mythology and religious practices were rapidly integrated into Akkadian culture, presumably blending with

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3952-481: The patron deities of Ur . He may have also been the father of Inanna and Ereshkigal. Ningal was the wife of Nanna, as well as the mother of Utu, Inanna, and Ereshkigal. Ereshkigal was the goddess of the Sumerian Underworld , which was known as Kur . She was Inanna's older sister. In later myth, her husband was the god Nergal . The gatekeeper of the underworld was the god Neti . Nammu

4028-571: The place where the sun rises". In this version of the story, Ziusudra's boat floats down the Euphrates river into the Persian Gulf (rather than up onto a mountain, or up-stream to Kish). The Sumerian word KUR in line 140 of the Gilgamesh flood myth was interpreted to mean "mountain" in Akkadian, although in Sumerian, KUR means "mountain" but also "land", especially a foreign country, as well as "the Underworld". Some modern scholars believe

4104-504: The predynastic antediluvian rulers have been verified as historical by archaeological excavations , epigraphical inscriptions or otherwise, but the Sumerians purported them to have lived in the mythical era before the great deluge. Sumerian religion Sumerian religion was the religion practiced by the people of Sumer , the first literate civilization found in recorded history and based in ancient Mesopotamia , and what

4180-497: The relationships between the deities has been examined during the study of cuneiform tablets. During the late 2000s BC, the Sumerians were conquered by the Akkadians . The Akkadians syncretized their own gods with the Sumerian ones, causing Sumerian religion to take on a Semitic coloration. Male deities became dominant and the gods completely lost their original associations with natural phenomena. People began to view

4256-411: The ruler of Shuruppak , to build a large boat, though the directions for the boat are also lost. When the tablet resumes, it describes the flood. A terrible storm rages for seven days and nights. "The huge boat had been tossed about on the great waters." Then Utu (Sun) appears and Ziusudra opens a window, prostrates himself, and sacrifices an ox and a sheep. After another break, the text resumes with

4332-414: The same temple as Enlil. Ninurta was the son of Enlil and Ninlil. He was worshipped as the god of war, agriculture, and one of the Sumerian wind gods. He was the patron deity of Girsu and one of the patron deities of Lagash . "Sumerian cities each had their own gods but acknowledged the supremacy of...Enlil." Enki was god of freshwater, male fertility, and knowledge. His most important cult center

4408-475: The southern branch of the Euphrates River next to a large swampy low-lying depression known as the apsû . The only ziggurat at Eridu was at the temple of the god Ea (Enki), known as the apsû-house. In Gilgamesh XI, line 42 the flood hero said "I will go down [the river] to the apsû to live with Ea, my Lord." Lines 189–192 (lines 198–201) in Gilgamesh XI are usually translated "Then Enlil came aboard

4484-417: The spawn of fishes, they fill the sea." Tigay holds that we can see the mythmaker's hand at work here, changing a local river flood into an ocean deluge. Most other authorities interpret the Atrahasis flood as universal. A. R. George, and Lambert and Millard make it clear that the gods' intention in Atrahasis is to "wipe out mankind". The flood destroys "all of the earth". The use of a comparable metaphor in

4560-465: The stories of the ancient Sumerians and those recorded later in the early parts of the Hebrew Bible . Sumerian myths were passed down through the oral tradition until the invention of writing (the earliest myth discovered so far, the Epic of Gilgamesh , is Sumerian and is written on a series of fractured clay tablets). Early Sumerian cuneiform was used primarily as a record-keeping tool; it

4636-508: The stories, has lent credibility to the historical existence of Gilgamesh. The earliest Sumerian Gilgamesh poems date from as early as the Third dynasty of Ur (2100–2000 BC). One of these poems mentions Gilgamesh’s journey to meet the flood hero, as well as a short version of the flood story. The earliest Akkadian versions of the unified epic are dated to ca. 2000– 1500 BC . Due to the fragmentary nature of these Old Babylonian versions, it

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4712-630: The story of Utnapishtim and the flood. The Gilgamesh flood tablet 11 (XI) contains additional story material besides the flood. The flood story was included because in it, the flood hero Utnapishtim is granted immortality by the gods and that fits the immortality theme of the epic. The main point seems to be that Utnapishtim was granted eternal life in unique, never-to-be-repeated circumstances. As if to demonstrate this point, Utnapishtim challenges Gilgamesh to stay awake for six days and seven nights. However, as soon as Utnapishtim finishes speaking Gilgamesh falls asleep. Utnapishtim instructs his wife to bake

4788-415: The wall [of the house] and raise it four ninda and two cubits." This measurement (about 83 feet) means wall length not height. Line 142 in Gilgamesh XI is usually translated "Mount Niṣir held the boat, allowing no motion." Niṣir is often spelled Nimush , which is described as the newer reading. The Akkadian words translated "Mount Niṣir" are "KUR-ú KUR ni-ṣir". The word KUR could mean hill or country; it

4864-498: Was Sumerian, according to the WB-62 Sumerian King List ,. In Sumerian the word KUR's primary meaning is "mountain" as attested by the sign used for it. From the word mountain, the meaning "foreign country" is developed due to mountainous countries bordering Sumer. KUR in Sumerian also means "land" in general. The second KUR lacks a phonetic complement and is therefore read in Akkadian as mātu (country). Hence,

4940-419: Was a goddess representing the primeval waters (Engur), who gave birth to An (heaven) and Ki (earth) and the first deities; while she is rarely attested as an object of cult, she likely played a central role in the early cosmogony of Eridu, and in later periods continued to appear in texts related to exorcisms. An was the ancient Sumerian god of the heavens. He was the ancestor of all the other major deities and

5016-451: Was believed to be ruled by the goddess Ereshkigal . All souls went to the same afterlife, and a person's actions during life had no effect on how the person would be treated in the world to come. The souls in Kur were believed to eat nothing but dry dust and family members of the deceased would ritually pour libations into the dead person's grave through a clay pipe, thereby allowing

5092-420: Was broken and he was vomiting gall." According to Tigay, Atrahasis tablet III iv, lines 6–9 clearly identify the flood as a local river flood: "Like dragonflies they [dead bodies] have filled the river. Like a raft they have moved in to the edge [of the boat]. Like a raft they have moved in to the riverbank." The sentence "Like dragonflies they have filled the river." was changed in Gilgamesh XI line 123 to "Like

5168-488: Was changed in Gilgamesh XI, line 113 to "The gods feared the deluge." Sentences in Atrahasis III iv were omitted in Gilgamesh, e.g. "She was surfeited with grief and thirsted for beer" and "From hunger they were suffering cramp." These and other editorial changes to Atrahasis are documented and described in the book by Prof. Tigay (see below) who is associate professor of Hebrew and Semitic languages and literature in

5244-589: Was discovered during the Expedition of the University of Pennsylvania in 1893, and the creation story was recognized by Arno Poebel in 1912. It is written in the Sumerian language and is dated to around 1600 BC. The second fragment is from Ur , also written in Sumerian and from the same time period. The third is a bilingual Sumerian- Akkadian fragment from the Library of Ashurbanipal ca. 600 In 2018,

5320-401: Was dry dust. In later times, Ereshkigal was believed to rule alongside her husband Nergal , the god of death. The major deities in the Sumerian pantheon included An, the god of the heavens, Enlil, the god of wind and storm, AnKi Enki, the god of water and human culture, Ninhursag , the goddess of fertility and the earth, Utu , the god of the sun and justice, and his father Nanna , the god of

5396-589: Was in the collection of the British Museum but had not been translated. In 1872, George Smith, an assistant at the British Museum, translated the tablet from the seventh-century B.C Akkadian. Reportedly, he exclaimed, "I am the first man to read that after more than two thousand years of oblivion". While on a subsequent archeological expedition to Nineveh in Iraq, Smith found on May 7, 1873 a portion of

5472-485: Was not until the late Early Dynastic period that religious writings first became prevalent as temple praise hymns and as a form of "incantation" called the nam-šub (prefix + "to cast"). These tablets were also made of stone clay or stone, and they used a small pick to make the symbols. In the Sumerian city-states, temple complexes originally were small, elevated one-room structures. In the early dynastic period, temples developed raised terraces and multiple rooms. Toward

5548-461: Was said to have had sixty-two "lamentation priests" who were accompanied by 180 vocalists and instrumentalists. The Sumerians envisioned the universe as a closed dome surrounded by a primordial saltwater sea. Underneath the terrestrial earth, which formed the base of the dome, existed an underworld and a freshwater ocean called the Abzu . The deity of the dome-shaped firmament was named An ; that of

5624-456: Was the E-abzu temple in the city of Eridu . He was the patron and creator of humanity and the sponsor of human culture. His primary consort was Ninhursag , the Sumerian goddess of the earth. Ninhursag was worshipped in the cities of Kesh and Adab . Inanna was the Sumerian goddess of love, sexuality, prostitution, and war. She was the divine personification of the planet Venus ,

5700-509: Was the abode of the Igigi . The highest and outermost dome of heaven was made of luludānītu stone and was personified as An , the god of the sky. The celestial bodies were equated with specific deities as well. The planet Venus was believed to be Inanna , the goddess of love, sex, and war. The sun was her brother Utu , the god of justice, and the moon was their father Nanna . Ordinary mortals could not go to heaven because it

5776-410: Was the abode of the gods alone. Instead, after a person died, his or her soul went to Kur (later known as Irkalla ), a dark shadowy underworld , located deep below the surface of the earth. The Sumerian afterlife was a dark, dreary cavern located deep below the ground, where inhabitants were believed to continue "a shadowy version of life on earth". This bleak domain was known as Kur , and

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