-Caveat Lector-
How was Homo sapiens created, according to the Sumerians?
Forget Sitchin's version, taken from just ONE clay tablet, and
consider what a DIFFERENT, perhaps OLDER, tablet tells us:
The gods put to death ONE OF THEIR OWN --a REBELLIOUS god,
the story goes-- and from his blood, shed in this SACRIFICE, mixed
with earthbound animal flesh, was first born the SPIRIT of Man,
by which the gods invested their new creature with a longing to
return to his celestial "home," among the immortal deities ...
SUMERIAN RELIGION
by Adapa
In Primeval Days ...
Creation mythology is generally divisible into two types:
Cosmogony - relating to the creation of the 'Cosmos', and
Anthropogony - relating to the creation of humanity.
The distinction is important because while specific texts
exist relating to Sumerian anthropogony, no direct texts exist
relating to Cosmogony. Rather, what we do know of their beliefs
on the matter must often be gleaned from wholly unrelated texts.
Though the cosmogonies presented in these texts are subject to
some variation, distinct patterns can be grasped which give
important insight into the Sumerian beliefs regarding the
creation of the cosmos.
Two fairly dissimilar approaches can be seen in Sumerian
texts.
The first, called the Eridu Model, relates to the beliefs
of those situated in the southern regions of the country. The
realm of the primal divine here is neither heaven, nor earth, but
water. This realm is defined by the term Engur. This term is
synonymous with Abzu, the "sweet waters of the deep," and is
defined as the subterranean source of the waters which emerge
from beneath the ground. This water was believed to be the source
of the fertile marshes which gave life to this region of the
country. The sign used for Engur can also be used for Nammu, the
Mother Goddess prevalent in early Mesopotamian theology. Texts
describe Engur/Nammu as 'the mother, first one, who gave birth to
the gods of the universe.' "She is a goddess without a spouse,
the self-procreating womb, the primal matter, the inherently
female and fertilizing waters of the abzu."{1}
The Northern Model substitutes the primacy of water with the
duality of earth and sky. "Heaven and Earth here are both
regarded as prima materia and generators of life; this is made
explicit by the fact that they are both equated with the symbol
Engur." {2}
Sometimes one or the other is considered to have existed
first. In the god-list, for example, An is said to be born of
Earth, i.e. Uras (the masculine earth), and Ninuras (the feminine
earth). A genealogy of Enlil also describes the earth as having
appeared first, but focuses solely on its feminine, agricultural
aspect. The text concerning the origin of the "toothworm"
(thought to be the source of toothaches) lists the sky as being
first, "After Anu {3} had created heaven, heaven had created
earth, Earth had created rivers, rivers created canals, canals
created the marsh, the marsh created the worm." {4}
The most widely-accepted cosmology, however, is to be found
in the text "Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Netherworld," wherein we
are told:
"In primeval days, in distant primeval days, In primeval
nights, in far-off primeval nights, In primeval years, in distant
primeval years - In ancient days when everything vital had been
brought into existence, In ancient days when everything vital had
been nurtured, When bread had been tasted in the shrines of the
land, When bread had been baked in the ovens of the land - When
heaven had been moved away from earth, When earth had been
separated from heaven, When the name of man had been fixed - When
An had carried off heaven, When Enlil had carried off earth {5}
Cosmic creation was thus born of the separation of the
Primal Unformed mass of Heaven/Earth. This mass, it appears, was
given birth to by Nammu/Engur. What we have no Sumerian source
for, unfortunately, is an explanation of how Nammu/Engur was
engendered, or whether on the contrary she was a preexistent
force. It may well be here that the Babylonian Creation myth was
seen as helpful by the Semites, for there the 'Preexisting
Primordial Waters' are said to have first engendered Mummu
(Nammu). In a Tablet which lists the Sumerian Gods, Nammu
is described as "the mother who gave birth to heaven and earth."
{6} Thereafter, It was the Union of An with Ki, 'heaven' with
'earth', which produced the 'great gods', the Annunaki, as we are
told in the "Myth of Cattle and Grain." {7}
Enlil thus engendered, it was He who separated the two
cosmic forces, "The Lord, that which is appropriate verily caused
to appear, the lord whose decisions are unalterable, Enlil who
brings up the seed of the land from the earth, took care to move
away earth from heaven, took care to move away heaven from
earth." {8}
This Heaven/Earth mass must be viewed not as comprised of
otherwise separable pieces, but as being an Essential Unity
which encompasses this duad, "For the Mesopotamian, earth and the
heavens above were not separate domains but were two parts of the
one realm. Earth and heaven were complimentary, one depended upon
the other and both were equally important." {9} In this way, the
initial creative force, as viewed by the Sumerians, was very
_atomic_ in nature: creation issued forth from a perceived whole
which, nevertheless, was comprised of constituent forces; and it
was the separation of these forces - "splitting the atom," so to
speak - which fueled this creation. It is for this reason that
such attention is paid to this act of separation itself in the
creative scheme. This power, which the Ancient Sumerians saw as
inherent in this seperation of united forces, would continue to
be important in the religious context; where incantations were
generally gounded in conjuration 'by Heaven and Earth'.
The creation and propagation of plant life thereafter was
seen, in contrast, to have resulted from the union, rather than
the seperation, of the primal Earth and Sky; the same union which
had given birth to the Great Gods:
"The Great Earth made herself glorious, her body flourished
with greenery. Wide Earth put on silver metal and lapis lazuli
ornaments, adorned herself with diorite, calcedony, carnelian,
and diamonds. Sky covered the pastures with irresistible sexual
attraction, presented himself in majesty, The pure young woman
showed herself to the pure Sky, the vast Sky copulated with the
wide Earth, the seed of the heroes Wood and Reed he ejaculated
into her womb, the Earth, the good cow, received the good seed of
Sky in her womb. The Earth, for the happy birth of the Plants of
Life, presented herself." {10}
Thus we see how the creative energies have been transformed
from atomic (energy from seperation) to sexual (energy from
union) as the process of universal conception proceeded.
Movement to this form of sexual imagery would continue in
Sumerian accounts of the creation of man.
The Etana myth gives us some insight into the shape of this
created universe. Therein, the hero Etana was carried up into the
heavens by his companion, the Eagle. Etana was thereby able to
describe the shape of the world from his lofty perspective. This
shape would resemble an overturned boat adrift upon the sea.{11}
The great mountain which constituted the Earth was thought to be
hemispherical in shape. This hemisphere floated upon the earthly
sea, resting above the Deep Waters of the Apsu which supported it
all. At some distance above the Earth was stretched out the
Heavens, which were in the shape of a hemisphere, as well.
Further:
"Above the dome of Heaven was another mass of water, a
heavenly ocean, which the solid dome of Heaven supported and kept
in its place, so that it might not break through and flood the
Earth. On the under side of the dome the stars had their courses
and the Moon god his path. In the dome, moreover, were two gates,
one in the east and the other in the west, for the use of ... the
Sun god." {12}
Utu would thus step out upon the earth from the mountains of
sunset, located at the eastern edge of the Earthly hemisphere;
and step back down to the Great Below from the mountains of
sunset, located at the western edge. Located in this underworld
was the realm of the dead, Arallu. We know from the myth of
Inanna's Descent that this realm was girdled by 'seven walls
pierced by seven gates', the first gate being known as Ganzir. At
the center of these walls stood Egalkurzagin, the "lustrous
mountain palace" which housed the denizens of the Underworld.
Between the heavens and the Earth (though classified as a part
of the "Earth") was a region in which earthly atmospheric
activity took place.The foundation of the Heavens, though, rested
upon the extremities of the Earth.{13} Above this foundation was
the lower zone of Heaven, "Ul-gana," where the periodic motions
of the planets was thought to occur. Above this region was the
e-sara, where the fixed stars resided. The heavenly firmament, in
turn, supported the ocean of the celestial waters, the Ziku.{14}
The source of a Sumerian Anthropogony is more direct than
that which we have for Cosmogony. It is to be found in the text
known as "The Birth of Man." The lesser gods, we are told, bore
the lot of hard labor to support themselves and the 'great gods'.
"When the gods acted like men, they did the work and
labored. Their labor was enormous, the corvee too hard, the work
too long because the great Anunaki made the Igiggi carry the
workload sevenfold." {15}
But this life of toil soon brought dissension, and the
lesser gods threatened revolt. Namma (Nammu), mother of Enki,
brings word of this threat to her son. Enki resolves to create a
substitute for the gods' harsh labors. From Enki came forth the
Foetus of future mankind:
"Enki, at his mother Namma's word, rose from his bed, in
Halankug, his room for pondering, he smote the thigh, the
ingenious and wise one, skillful custodian of heaven and earth,
creator and constructor of everything, had Imma-en and Imma-shar
come out. Enki reached out his arm towards them, and a foetus was
getting big there, and for Enki it was awakening to consciousness
in the heart." {16}
Enki then calls on Namma (Nammu) to 'drench the core of the
Apsu clay' from whence the Gods were born. Therein Enki places
the Foetus, and thus in Namma was the Embryo of mankind brought
to fruition.{17}
This legend is further elaborated on in the Atrahasis myth.
Here again, man's creation is again necessitated by the toil's
the gods are forced to endure. In response, Enki is called on to
bring man forth man with the help of Nintu (Mami). Enki replies:
"On the first, seventh and fifteenth of the month I shall
make a purification by washing.{18} Then one God should be
slaughtered. And the gods can be purified by immersion. Nintu
shall mix the clay with his flesh and blood. Then a god and a
man will be mixed together in clay. Let us hear the drumbeat
forever after, let a ghost come into existence from the God's
flesh, let her proclaim it as her living sign. Let her inform
him while alive of his token. And so that there be no
forgetting, the ghost shall remain." {19}
This is one of the most amazing passages, in my mind, in
Sumerian literature. To even begin to pierce its depths is a
difficult task. I first make note of the "ghost" which is born
of Enki's ritual here described. Modern scholars generally hold
this term to be a play on words between etemmu, "ghost," and
temu, "intelligence." This ignores the fact that "etemmu" is
also the term used to describe the disembodied spirit of a man
which survives after death: the Soul.
Thus, it is important to realize that from the body of a
slain god the Soul itself was engendered, not just some earthly
creature born of transformed apsu-clay. In addition, this Soul
was to serve a greater purpose than that elaborated in "The Birth
of Man." While man was still destined to fulfill the labors once
required of the gods in toiling upon the Earth, the Soul which
was created was to serve as the living sign of the slain god. So
that this sacrifice was never forgotten, the Soul would ever
remain, "let us hear the drumbeat forever after..." Thus man was
created as both a physical creature, born of the fertile clay of
the apsu; and a spiritual creature, endowed with the blood of the
gods, and granted an imperishable soul that he might ever serve
as the living sign of this sacrifice.
<bibliography snipped>
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