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
Comments
Post is awesome
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It is important to know the history of the ancient members for us todays world. So it is the post We hangout very much, where individuals are going out of their way and meeting new people and establishing quality connections.Coming to Parties We do more for building a special relationships
Why? I believe because it is the path of truth, knowledge, acceptance, and Love. However, when I close my eyes, I see a world that is like this exactly, so I do not believe that the world will end when they say it does. I think it is the beginning of truths and Christ Consciousness and Love. I believe humanity will strive. I have read the Bible, however I read it differently from other people. I read it metaphorically. I believe it was meant to deceive us from what really is. The constellations also have meanings/ as well as relativity between the Gods.
Note the similarity
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I like the part where man was created to do the jobs the gods were burdened with. Sound familiar? We are giving birth to digital life. When will it appreciate us, when will it rebel, and when will it be independent, and when will they forget us. Because those things are inevitable.
Creation
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This is why I Believe that Man was Interfered with in the beginning from a Human Race somewhat like Our own. From Somewhere inside the Milky Way Galaxy, Only reason being that it is more likely that they were. The Similarities between Creation Stories are Fascinating and too much alike to be Myths.. Always Created By The Spoken Word...
It seems the sumerian txts
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It seems the sumerian txts are a fraud for the afrikan continent like the bible is for Europe..both start with Noah and then the frauds come in
Sorry to Inform you but the
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In reply to Where can I find texts by Path (not verified)
Sorry to Inform you but the University and college translations are exactly what you say you do not want to be pointed to, due to the scant amount of scholars that can actually read the texts.The ones that can have learnt from those that came before, therefore any grammatical errors will be passed on as truth.
The writings as far as scholars are concerned began during the Uruk 3 period circa 3rd millenium BCE, the problem here is that Sumer had already begun as an area of independent city states with Kish then called Kissi being the oldest known, and predated the Uruk 3 period by many many centuries( can anybody see a problem with that?) The languages of the area being known as an sprachbund which is a fancy name for a group of different peoples( nations ) sharing a language base but having different dialects a bit like spanglish, so this is purely guess work on the part of scholars due to the close proximity of of the different nations they tended to borrow words and introduce them into their own language something scholars in todays age DO NOT INCORPORATE but the citizenry do. the language of the sumerians was used in most official texts (and used much like latin is today), far and wide up until the 1st century AD. In my opinion the scholars who are closest to the right translations are those that are native semitic speakers, something that the chroniclers of the corpus where not . I am not suggest they are wrong , for the most part they seem to be correct , but mistranslating of one word offers many problems. the Grammatical overview is not dissimilar to Chinese, and those that can speak Chinese are aware of the very small tonal differences that can change the meaning of a word.
Even the father of Sumerology Samuel Kramer changed his mind on what meant what up until his dying day. scholars also seem to forget the words of the worlds first known librarian ,historian, archaeologist,and a great empire builder who was never meant to be King his name- Ashurbanipal; “The god of scribes has bestowed on me the gift of the knowledge of his art. I have been initiated into the secrets of writing. I can even read the intricate tablets in Shumerian; I understand the enigmatic words in the stone carvings from the days before the Flood ......
which to me denotes a time well before the Uruk 3 period but the corpus says otherwise so Ashurbanpal must be wrong, No I suggest the corpus is wrong and the scholars mistaken.
So before dismissing those that have written their own works but have doctorates or otherwise in other areas bare the above in mind remember Einstien was called stupid by his school teacher and became a clerk before his meteoric rise to international stardom for his brilliant and immense Intelligence.
Marie Curie was a brilliant scientist in a day when women knew nothing of such things (apparently) point is many people make important contributions outside their own field.