Mesopotamian Expresions

Chapter Two
Mesopotamian Worldview Expressions

The Sumerians symbolized the diversity of their universe in
naming not one god but many. It is clear that over thousands of
years in Mesopotamia, the concepts of gods changed along with the
fortunes of their worshipers. Thorkild Jacobsen argued that the
earliest gods of the agricultural peoples, in the fourth
millennium, were names of forces of nature. The interaction of
these forces was related in stories of courtship and marriage. One
collection of myths described the courtship of Dumuzi, a shepherd
and god of grain, and Inanna, goddess of the storehouse. Eventually
the gods were perceived as rulers, extending power not only over
large city-states but also over the cosmos. In that period, the
Mesopotamians developed concepts of individual divine figures. For
example, An, a sky god, was the force of authority and the power
that gave being to all nature and gods. Enlil, an energy force of
crop-growing weather, was god of the winds. Ninhursaga was the
female deity manifest in the stony ground and the eastern and
western boundaries of the land. As giver of births, Ninhursaga
governed wildlife and gave birth to kings. The cunning Enki, a
rival of Ninhursaga, was the divine power of the sweet waters of
rain, rivers and marshes.
Gods of autonomous cities preceded those of the larger
states. When the larger city-states were formed, these deities were
often combined into families. A political union of the city-states,
Sumer and Akkad, brought about a unity of their gods. A triad of
heavenly bodies appeared as Sin, the moon god, Shamash, the sun
god, and Ishtar, the morning and evening star. Jakobsen described
the second millenium as a time when the gods were given roles as
parents. It was a time when personal gods served as objects of
devotion in the religion of individuals. This was the period of the
Enuma Elish.
Mesopotamian Cosmogony
If we piece together from the sources for the primary myth of
ancient Sumeria, we can outline the way these ancient people
thought about the origin of their world.

There was first the sea. It probably was thought to have existed
from eternity.
Next the primeval sea gave birth to the cosmic mountain which
united heaven and earth.
The gods were anthropomorphic: An (heaven) was male; Ki (earth)
was female. The earth was imagined as being like a flat circular
disk surroundedd by water and surmounted by the vault of heaven.
From their union came the air-god Enlil. This "spirit" or air-god
surrounded all.
Enlil separated heaven from earth, and while An carried off
heaven, Enlil carried of his mother, earth. The union of Enlil and
his mother set the stage for the creation of man, animals, and
plants, and establishing order. Sun, moon, stars, all moved in an
ordered and observable path. As in heaven, so on earth.
An, the heaven-god, was originally the supreme ruler and was
interested in power, symbolized by an enthroned hored headdress as
mark of divinity. HIs major shrine was at Uruk. When the
neighboring city of Nippur defeated Uruk, its own god, Enlil and
his temple Ekur became a supreme object of worship. Enlil was the
beneficent and fatherly progenitor to whom creation of sun, moon,
vegetation, was ascribed. Another tradition says Enlil was the
offspring of Enki and Ninki (Lord and Lady of the Earth).
A hymn to Enlil begins:

Enlil, whose command is far-reaching, whose word is holy,
The lord whose pronouncement is unchangeable, who forever decrees
destinies,
Whose lifted eye scans the lands,
Whose lifted light searches the heart of all the lands,
Enlil who sits broadly on the white dais, on the lofty dais,
Who perfects the decrees of power, lordship, and princeship,
The earth-gods humble themselves before him....1

Nature of Mesopotamian Deity: Importance of the Goddess

The figure of the goddess as represented in religious history
often stands in sharp contrast to the concept that the feminine is
tranquil, passive, or inferior. The goddess is associated with
life-giving powers, renewal, rebirth, transformation, and the
mystery of death. She also attracts us with alluring charms,
arouses our curiosty, and tempts us with pleasureful and unbridled
nature. There is also a dark aspect, a power that threatens death
and darkness.
Goddesses have been worshiped from earliest times. Evidence
of female figurines placed in sacred settings, as in circles of
stones found on floors of caves, dates as far back as ca. 25,000
B.C.E. Because these manifestations begin before recorded history,
we call this figure the prehistoric goddess. She is the forerunner
of the great goddess, the magna mater, familiar to us from the
records of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, of ancient Greece and
Rome. "She" was many goddesses, worshiped as guardian of

childbirth, source of wisdom, dispenser of healing, Lady of the
Beasts, fount of prophecy, spirit who presided over death, etc.
But primarily she was the symbol of fertility. She had various
names: Cybele, Inanna, Isis. All represent different facets of a
single power.
Ishtar was worshiped for thousands of years and by many
different peoples, so that she is sometimes referred to as the
generic goddess. Temples were built in her honor in many parts of
Mesopotamia. In the city of Alalakh alone, it seems that each of
the fifteen levels excavated contained temples of Ishtar. Viewed
by her supplicants as invincible in battle and as the source of
fertility, kings and commoners alike worshiped her.
Ishtar's name is etymologically identical with that of the
West Semitic goddess Astarte, the South Arabian god 'Athtar, or
Astar, who in Ethiopia was the god of heaven and who also appears
in the Ugaritic and Canaanite myths as both the female Athtart and
the male 'Athtar 'Ariz. Perhaps her most significant designation
is as the Semitic version of Inanna, "queen of heaven," the most
enduring and powerful of the Sumerian goddesses. In antiquity the
view prevailed that the divine was always present and in constant
interaction with the secular in day to day life.

Inanna
The goddess Inanna was worshiped in Sumer from the beginnings
of the third millenium B.C.E. to the beginning of the first
millenium B.C.E., and in the form of the Babylonian goddess Ishtar,
until near the end of the first millenium B.C.E. During this period
Inanna (Ishtar) enjoyed great popularity and had a major role in
Sumerian mythology, theology, and ritual. She was associated with
the fertility of the crops and animals and with life in general.
She had a dominant role in the royal marriage ceremony in which
kings were ritually united with Inanna in order to engender the
fertility of the kingdom. The poem, parts of which are quoted
below, "The Exaltation of Inanna" indicates how she was described
as all powerful and reigning in heaven.
Related to her identification with growth, abundance, and
fertility, was her association with sex. Her presence is involved
in the attraction between the sexes, and in her absence, sexual
desire dies. Many songs and hymns describe Inanna herself as eager
for sex and as sexually active. Later selections will give further
indication of this. The following passage from a much longer hymn
by Enheduanna is important for a number of reasons. First, it
represents the oldest complete poem we have surviving from
antiquity. Second, it is by a woman whose identity is confirmed by
archaeological evidence. Third, it already demonstrates how
conventional poetry was as early as the third millenium B.C.E.
Fourth, it contains autobiographical and historical material about
the poetess.
The spread of Inanna/Ishtar's cult was facilitated about 2300
B.C.E., when in an attempt to consolidate political control,
Sargon the Great appointed his daughter Enheduanna as an en or high
priestss of the heaven god An at Uruk and the moon god Nanna at Ur.
Her lifelong devotion, however, to Inanna furthered the fusion of
the Sumerian Inanna with the Akkadian Ishtar. Enheduanna was also
a brilliant poet and hymnographer. She was the Shakespeare of
ancient Sumerian literature in that her beautiful compositions were
studied, copied, and recited for more than half a millenium after
her death. We can consider her work as expressing a segment of the
"primary myth" of Sumerian worldview.

The Exaltation of Inanna

A. Exordium:
1. Lady of all the me's resplendent light,
2. Righteous woman clothed in radiance (you) of all the great
ornaments,
8. You have gathered up you have clasped the me's to your
breast.
9. Like a dragon you have deposited venom on the land
10. When you roar at the earth like Thunder, no vegetation can
stand up to you.
12. Oh foremost one, you are the Inanna of heaven and earth!
13. Raining the fanned fire down upon the nation,
14. Endowed with me's by An who can fathom what is yours?
18. Beloved of Enlil, you fly about the nation.
21. When mankind comes before you
22. In fear and trembling at your tempestuous radiance,
23. They receive from you their just deserts.
B. The Argument:
66. Verily I had entered my holy giparu at your behest,
67. I, the high priestess, I, Enheduanna!
68. I carried the ritual basket, I intoned the acclaim.
83. Let me say "Hail" to her everlasting.
84. I cannot appease Ashimbabbar.
86. He has stripped An of (his temple) Eanna.
87. He has not stood in awe of An-lugal.
89. That sanctuary he has brought unto destruction.
119. I may no longer reveal the pronouncements of Ningal to
man.
121. Oh my queen beloved of An may your heart take pity on me!
C. Doxology
123. That you are lofty as Heaven be it known!

124. That you are broad as earth be it known!
128. That your glance is terrible be it known!
132. That you attain victory be it known!
D. Peroration
138. With'It is enough for me, oh exalted lady, (to this
it is too much for me!' song) for you.
I have given birth,
139. That which I recited to you at midnight,
140. May the singer repeat it to you at noon!
E. Restoration
145. Inanna's heart has been restored.
146. That day was favorable for her, she/ she was garbed in
was clothed sumptuously, in womanly beauty
151. For that her (Eneduanna's) speaking/ to the Hierodule was
exalted,
152. Praise be to the devastatrix of the lands,/ endowed with
me's from An,
153. To my lady wrapped in beauty, ( to) Inanna!2

A narrative of the fertility god, Dumuzi, and Inanna, the
queen of heaven and earth, became in Babylonian accounts the story
of Tammuz and Ishtar. Various versions of the myth agree that
Dumuzi and Inanna, after a passionate courtship, consummated
marriage. Through their marriage the vital forces of nature
increased. Inanna, desiring to visit her sister, Ereshkigal, the
ruler of the underworld, descended into the underworld of Hades. In
her descent she had to pass through seven guarded gates. At each
gate she had to remove a piece of clothing. She arrived completely
naked before the royal powers, bowing to submit to their judgment.
Held hostage and subjected to indignities, Inanna was not released
and resurrected until Enki sent gifts. During her absence
underground, all vegetation on earth died.

Bull springs not upon cow, ass impregnates not jenny.
In the street, a man impregnates not a maiden.
Man lies down in his [own] chamber
Maiden lies down on her side.

Inanna was permitted to return to earth for a few months each
year, provided she could find another hostage to take her place.
Angry that Dumuzi had not rescued her, Inanna had him sent
underground as her replacement. Moved by the weeping of Dumuzi's
mother and sister, Inanna took pity on him:

Inanna and Geshtinanna went to the edges of the steppe.
They found Dumuzi weeping.Inanna took Dumuzi by the hand and said:
"You will go to the underworld
Half the year.
Your sister, since she has asked,
Will go the other half.
On the day you are called,
That day you will be taken.
On that day Geshtinanna is called,
That day you will be set free.
Inanna placed Dumuzi in the hands of the eternal.

In the Epic of Gilgamesh, Ishtar's sexuality is represented
as dangerous and excessive. Approaching Gilgamesh, she is struck by
his beauty and says; "Come Gilgamesh, be my lover!/ Give me the
taste of your body." She promises him wealth and power. He will
live in a sumptuous house with her and be served by kings and
princes. His goats will bear triplets and his ewes have twins.
Gilgamesh, however, refuses her and taunts her with a long list of
lovers whom she has destroyed or discarded.
A central concern of Mesopotamian culture was the vigor and
fertility of life, especially that of the fields and flocks. The
vegetative cycle reflectd a pattern in which growth and fertility
were not constant, a pattern in which they sometimes seemed to
vanish. Sexual desire did not seem constant among the animals.
Against such a background we must view the sacred marriage ritual.
It seems to have been meant to promote, arouse, and perpetuate
vitality, fertility, and sexuality by uniting a king (or ruler)
with Inanna, who personified or controlled these powers.
The sacred marriage ritual was important for some two
thousand years. It was most likely celebrated, at least once, by
each ruler of each major city. The rite may have served to
legitimate the ruler in question by ritually signifying that he had
established a productive relationship with the powers of fertility
and abundance and that under his rule the city and surrounding
countryside would prosper. If so, in some cities the rite may have
formed part of a coronation ceremony. In some places, e.g. Babylon,
the ritual was performed annually in accordance with a New Year
festival. There is a vase found at Uruk which dates from the end of
the fourth millenium B.C.E. that has a sculpted relief whose
iconography is close enough to later sacred marriage texts to
indicate that the vase illustrates the ritual of the sacred
marriage as performed in Uruk at the end of the fourth millenium.
In the period of King Sargon, an inscription from the city of
Lagash indicates that the sacred marriage was performed there.
The protagonist and deuteragonist in this ritual were Inanna
and Dumuzi. The king or ruler played the part of Dumuzi, while a
priestess probably played the role of Inanna. It seems that the
climax of the ritual involved sexual copulation of the two on a
specially prepared bed, which in some cases may have been set up in

Inanna's shrine. The following segment of primary myth from a hymn
mentions the preparations, the careful selection of the appropriate
day, the fact that the rite took place as part of a New Year's
celebration, and the preparation of the marriage bed on which the
two will make love:

The people of Sumer assemble in the palace,
The house which guides the land.
The king builds a throne for the queen of the palace.
He sits beside her on the throne.
In order to care for the life of all the lands,
The exact first day of the month is closely examined,
And on the day of the disappearance of the moon,
On the day of the sleeping of the moon,
The mes are perfectly carried out
So that the New Year's Day, the day of rituals,
May be properly determined,
And a sleeping place be set up for Inanna.

The people cleanse the rushes with sweet-smelling cedar oil,
They arrange the rushes for the bed.
They spread a bridal sheet over the bed.
A bridal sheet to rejoice the heart,
A bridal sheet to sweeten the loins,
A bridal sheet for Inanna and Dumuzi.

The purpose of the rite is to arouse and ensure the future
fertility and productivity of the realm by uniting two figures that
symbolize the powers of sexual vigor and fertility.
The encounter between king and goddess was sexual and the
ancient texts describe their embrace. The Iddin-Dagan Hymn
expresses this clearly:

The king approaches the pure lap with lifted head,
with lifted head he approaches the lap of Inanna.
Amausnumgalanna lies down beside her,
he caresses her pure lap.
When the lady has stretched out on the bed, in the pure lap,

when holy Inanna has stretched out on the bed, in the pure lap,
she makes love to him on her bed,
she says to Iddin-Dagan, "You are surely my beloved."3

The sexual conjoining brought fertility to the land and
demonstrated the metaphysical connection between human sexuality
and the survival and regeneration of the world. When Innana's
divine steward, Ninshubur, comes to her and urges her first to give
the king a firm royal throne, and then

May he like a farmer till the fields.
May he like a good shepherd make the folds teem.
May there be vines under him, may there by barley under him.
In the river, may there be carp-floods
in the fields, may there be late barley
in the marshes, may fishes and birds chatter
in the canebrake, may dry and fresh reeds grow,
in the high desert, may shrubs grow,
in the forests, may deer and wild goats multiply.
May the watered garden produce honey and wine,
in the vegetable furrows may the lettuce and the cress grow high,
in the palace may there be long life.
May the Tigris and the Euphrates bring high-riding waters
on their banks may the grass grow high, may they fill the meadows.
May holy Nisaba pile high the heaps of grain;
O My lady, mistress of heaven and earth,
mistress of all heaven and earth
May he spend long days in your [holy] lap!

Samual Noah Kramer argued that the following poem from the
Istanbul tablet collection, was written for this ritual and was
recited by the chosen bride of the king on the occasion of the New
Year's festival:

Bridegroom, dear to my heart,
Goodly is your beauty, honeysweet,
Lion, dear to my heart,
Goodly is your beauty, honeysweet.

You have captivated me, let me stand tremblingly before you,
Bridegroom, I would be taken by you to the bedchamber,
You have captivated me, let me stand tremblingly before you,
Lion, I would be taken by you to the bedchamber.

Bridegroom, let me caress you,
My precious caress is more savory than honey,
In the bedchamber, honey filled,
Let us enjoy your goodly beauty,
Lion, I would be taken by you to the bedchamber.

Bridegroom, you have taken your pleasure of me,
Tell my mother, she will give you delicacies,
My father, he will give you gifts.

Your spirit, I know where to cheer your spirit,
Bridegroom, sleep in our hourse until dawn,
Your heart, I know where to gladden your heart,
Lion, sleep in our house until dawn.

You, because you love me,
Give me pray of your caresses,
My lord god, my lord protector,
My Shu-Sin who gladdens Enlil's heart,
Give me pray of your caresses.

Your place goodly as honey, pray lay [your] hand on it,
Bring [your] hand over it like a gishban-garment,
Cup [your] hand over it like a gisbhan-sikin-garment,
It is a balbale-song of Inanna.4

Other sacred marriage texts echo these sentiments. In Plow my
Vulva, the very imagery of Inanna as a well-watered field is an
agricultural metaphor, as is the image of Inanna's breast in "Your
breast is your field":

O Lady, your breast is your field,
Inanna, your breast is your field.
Your wide, wide field which pours out plants
Your wide, wide field which pours out grain
Water flowing from on high for the lord, bread from on high
...I will drink it from you.5

In this hymn the image is directly sexual. It expresses the
parallel inherent in this ritual between female body and the earth,

between human sexuality and cosmic reproduction.
Inanna, the mighty queen of heaven and earth, the impetuous
goddess of fertility and sex, the violent goddess of nature and
battle, was also supplicated by her devotees for help in everyday
matters. In this she played a role analogous to that of personal
savior. In the following poem, Inanna's gracious response to the
pleas of King Ishme-Dagan is indicated:

The Queen of the searching eye, the guide of the land, the all- compassionate
Removed from that man the heavy cane that had been laid upon him,
Attacking on his behalf the demons of disease and sickness, she extirpated them
from that man,
The whip that had been laid cruelly upon him she made into a cloth bandage,
She made the silver-ore as bright as good silver, purified it,
She gazed upon him with joyous heart, gave him life,
She returned him to the gracious hand of his god,
Placed the ever-present good angels at his head,
Had Utu provide him with truth, dressed him with it like a lion,
Blessed his womb, gave him an heir,
Gave him a spouse who bore him a son, spread wide his stalls and sheepfolds.
Gave him a faithful household, decreed a sweet fate for him.

A letter of one Ludingirra to his mother displays the love a son
has for his mother. In this text the poet describes her as beauty,
joy, and fertility:

My mother is like a bright light on the horizon,
active in the mountains.
A morning star (shining even) at noon
A precious carnelian-stone, a topaz from Marhasi
A treasure for the brother of the king, full of
charm.6

A goddess-mother is also shown as close to her daughter, to whom
she renders advice and who is accountable to her. Thus it was the
mother's responsibility to safeguard the pubescent girl and deliver
her safely to marriage. In a Dumuzi-Inanna courtship song, when
Dumuzi urges Inanna to frolic with him in the moonlight, Inanna
replies, "What lies should I tell my mother?" Despite her love for
Dumuzi, Inanna does not violate social convention. She refuses to
learn the stories Dumuzi calls "the women-lies." She does not
intend to reject Dumuzi, for when he declares himself ready to come
to the gate of her mother to ask for her in marriage, Inanna is
overjoyed. She preserves her virginity until her wedding. Inanna
is known in Sumerian literature as goddess of sexual
attractivenesss and desire. Nevertheless, when she appears in her
aspect of the young sexually desirable girl, she is a sexual
innocent:

I am one who knows not that which is
womanly -- copulating,
I am one who knows not that which is
womanly -- kissing,
I am one who knows not copulating,
I am one who knows not kissing. 7

When we consider Inanna's function in the provision of fertility
and abundance, it might appear unusual that she looks to Dumuzi for
food. Inanna prepares for her wedding by washing herself, anointing
herself with oil, putting on eyeliner, dressing her hair, and
putting on jewelry. Dumuzi, for his part, promises to bring the
food she desires. The sense of husband as provider of food is found
in the lament for the dead Dumuzi in which Inanna mourns the loss
of her provider, "the one who gave me food will no longer give me
food; the one who gave me water will no longer give me water."

Yet Inanna is not domesticated. She does not weave, cook, or
perform "wifely" duties. In her lack of encumbrances, she lives the
life of young men. Like them she is called "manly.." Like them she
loves warfare and seeks lovers. She is a woman in a man's life.
Thus, unlike other women, she is placed at the boundary of
differences between man and woman. She transcends gender
polarities, and is said to turn men into women and women into men.
The cult of Inanna represents this role of boundary-keeper of the
gender line. At her festivals men dress as women and women as men,
and cultic dancers wear costumes that are male on the right and
female on the left. In this cultic gender mix and in its hymnic
acknowledgement, Ishtar serves not only to transcend gender, but
ultimately to protect it. As in all ritualized rebellion, the
societally approved and regulated breaking of a norm actually
serves to reinforce it.
In two major mythic texts, those of Enlil and Ninlil and the
Myth of Enki and Ninhursag, the mother cautions her daughter in
proper sexual behavior. In the Myth of Enlil and Ninlil,
Nunbarshegunu, Ninlil's mother, advises her to go bathe in the pure
canal. She is to do this in order that Enlil see her, kiss her, and
impregnate her.
The presence of both gods and goddesses in the Sumerian
pantheon provided a divine counterpart for earthly communities and
implied that the cosmos was ruled by male and female powers, each
of whom had a specific function. Each skill and craft had its
patron deity. Goddesses were in charge of the three activities the
Mesopotamians considered civilizing: the wearing of cloth, the

eating of grain, and the drinking of beer. A poem, Lahar and Asnan,
relates that the gods gave these elements of culture to humans. The
Gilgamesh Epic also shows how essential food, beer, and clothing
were to the Mesopotamian definition of humanity. Enkidu had to
master the skills of wearing clothes and drinking beer in order to
participate in human society.
Nisba oversaw the growing of grain, which is itself
symbolized by the divine grain. Wool, represented by divine Ewe, is
made into cloth by the goddess Uttu. The brewing of beer is the
responsibility of Ninkasi, "whose brewing vat is of clear lapis
lazuli, whose ladle is of mesu silver and gold."8
Pottery making, less elemental but still important, was in the
hands of the goddess Ninurra. As the wife of the god Shata, the
city-deity of Umma, she is known in texts from this period as
"mother of Umma." Eventually Ninurra became a male deity and was
absorbed into the figure of Enki-Ea.
Cooking, beer brewing, making cloth are all transformations.
Flax and wool become cloth; indigestible grains are ground and made
into bread and beer. Natural substances not immediately helpful to
human well-being are transformed into essential cultural products.
Nisaba is the goddess of wisdom and learning. A hymn of King Lipit-Ihter expresses her powers:

Nisaba, the woman radiant with joy
faithful woman, scribe, lady who knows everything
guided your fingers on the clay
embellished the writing on the tablets
made the hand resplendent with a golden stylus
the measuring rod, the gleaming surveyor's line,
the cubit ruler which gives wisdom
Nisaba lavishly bestowed on you.9
The Enuma Elish
The last stage in the creation of humankind is reached by the myth
of Enuma Elish, the tale of the exaltation of Marduk written
sometime after 1500 B.C.E., a myth that became the great narrative
of Babylon. This text narrates how the young god Marduk, Ea's son,
became king of all the gods, and proceeded to create the world. As
the culminating benefit that this new king bestowed on the gods, he
had the idea: to create man to be charged with the service of the
gods. Ea then conceives a plan and creates humanity from the blood
of a slain god:

Ea, the wise, had created humankind,
had imposed upon it the service of the gods--
that work was beyond comprehension;
as artfully planned by Marduk, Nudimmud created it.
(Enuma Elish VI, 35-38)

The Epic of Gilgamesh
As an example of important primary myth in the ancient
Mesopotamian world view, we may take the narrative of Gilgamesh.
Short as it is in comparison with, say, the Odyssey, the Gilgamesh
narrative manages to raise, in an extraordinarily incisive and
poignant way, some of deepest questions of life and death. On
another plane, it is a varied and enthralling narrative, told with
intense and dramatic vigor.
The most complete version we have is based on stories about
Gilgamesh that had existed for many centuries in the Sumerian
tradition, although as it stands, it is an Akkadian composition.
The hero was originally a real figure, king of Sumerian Uruk in the
first half of the third millenium B.C.E., who perhaps because he
lived at the beginning of a historical age, attracted many tales of
power and resourcefulness. Of the five known relatively complete
tales about Gilgamesh, two are quasi-historical, and one may have
historical overtones; the other two seem to be more or less totally
mythical. Of the three mythical tales, two were used for the
Akkadian epic compilation, whereas the other gives a different
version of Enkidu's death, but resembles it in both tone and
reaction of Gilgamesh.
The process of composition of the story is placed at least
as early as 2000 B.C.E. The fullest surviving version is the
Assyrian one from the library of Ahurbanipal at Nineveh, and so can
be no older than the seventh century B.C.E., but fragments from
other sources, texts in Hittite, Hurrian and Akkadian etc., help
fill gaps and demonstrate that the text did not vary in its course
of transmission over more than a thousand years. It may well be
the most familiar and most scrupulously preserved of all
Mesopotamian literary works outside ritual tradition. Only the
eleventh and last tablet, which gives Utnapishtim's account of the
great flood and Gilgamesh's departure and return to Uruk, is almost
complete, consisting of over three hundred verses.
It is a deliberate composition. It displays many of those
qualities of a primary myth, but is no more a myth in the sense of
popular oral tale than any of the other shorter Mesopotamian tales.

Gilgamesh, king of Uruk, has a mortal father and a divine
mother. The mortal element is decisive and he has to accept it. In
Uruk he behaves abominably, sleeping with all the wives and pretty
girls and summoning the young men to corv<130>e duties or worse.
The citizens decide that he behaves this way because he has no

peer. The people of Uruk ask the gods for help and the gods tell
the goddess Aruru, who in some sense made Gilgamesh, to create his
image or double. She does so in a multiple process of conceiving an
image wihin her, washing her hands, pinching off clay, and casting
it on the steppe. It is on the steppe, in the desert, that Enkidu
is born. His body is shaggy with hair and his head hair is like a
woman's. He feeds on grass with gazelles; he is wild. For three
successive days a human trapper catches sight of him and is
terrified; his face becomes like that of a traveller from afar.
The trapper tells his father, who advises him to report the matter
to Gilgamesh and bring back a harlot as a lure. The harlot displays
her charms and Enkidu falls for them. Six days and seven nights
they make love. Enkidu tries to rejoin the animals and they run
away from him. He is so weak he cannot catch up.
With weakness comes greater understanding. The harlot tells
him he is wise, like a god, that he should stop roaming and come to
Uruk, where Gilgamesh lords over the people like a wild ox. Enkidu
wants Gilgamesh as a friend, and meanwhile, Gilgamesh has two
dreams, about a star and an axe. His mother interprets them as
representing Enkidu, a mighty companion. Now the harlot continues
Enkidu's acculturation; she clothes him, leads him to house of the
shepherds, teaches him to take solid food. He drinks strong drink,
becomes cheerful, rubs the hair from his body and anoints his skin.
When Enkidu learns of Gilgamesh's riotous and immoral behavior, he
is shocked. Finally he goes to Uruk; the people recognizing him as
Gilgamesh's natural counterpart, feel relieved. He intercepts the
king on his way to an amorous assignation, and they wrestle.
Gilgamesh eventually wins, and Enkidu recognizes him as true king;
they become fast friends.
At the beginning of tablet III, Gilgamesh broaches the idea
of making a journey to the cedar forest of a giant, Huwawa,
(Assyryan Humbaba), to slay him. Enkidu is appalled. He knew Huwawa
in the forest with the animals and so he tries to dissuade his
friend. Gilgamesh, however is adamant; he is determined to make a
name for himself by this encounter. Prayers for safety ensue;
Ninsun, Gilgamesh's mother, adopts Enkidu. In the fragmentary
fourth tablet they arrive at the forest gate. Enkidu touches the
gate and his hand is paralysed. Gilgamesh aids him in overcoming
this weakness.
In Tablet V the two approach the cedar mountain and lie down
to sleep. Gilgamesh has three dreams, the first two probably
favorable; the third, sinister. For in it the earth is overcome by
fire and lightning. Nevertheless Gilgamesh cuts down one of the
cedars and Huwawa approaches. At first (conventional with all epic
heroes fighting dragons) the heroes are panic stricken, but then
Shamash encourages them and sends eight winds that hold Huwawa
motionless. The giant pleads and offers to be a servant but Enkidu
counsels firmness and they cut off his head.
At the beginning of tablet VI Gilgamesh has washed himself
and put on a crown and clean clothes. He is so magnificent that
Ishtar desires him and offers him the role of husband. (Some of
this text was quoted above.)
O Gilgamesh, whither wilt thou go?
The life thou seekest thou shalt not find.
When the gods created mankind,
Death they prepared for man,
But life they retained in their hands.
Fill thou, O Gilgamesh, thy belly.
Be merry day and night.
Everyday prepare joyfulness.
Day and night dance and make music.
Let thy garments be made clean.
Let thy head be washed, and be thou bathed in water.
Give heed to the little one that takes hold of thy hand.
Let a wife rejoice in thy bosom.
For this is the mission of man.

Ishtar is dangerous, fearsome and threatening becasue of her
freedom, and yet she is appealing and attractive. In her lack of
encumbrances, she is free to be the ultimate femme fatale.
Gilgamesh rejects her with extraordinary insolence; he cites the
fate of previous lovers. Ishtar demands of An the Bull of Heaven
for the purpose of laying Gilgamesh low; otherwise she threatens to
smash in the gates of the underworld. An reluctantly agrees, but
the Bull turns out to be no threat since Enkidu easily grips its
horns and Gilgamesh despatches it. They dedicate the heart to
Shamash, but Enkidu flings its thigh (euphemism?) at Ishtar. That
night Enkidu has a bad dream and the tablet ends: "My friend, why
are great gods in council?"
In VII Enkidu describes his dream. An has demanded death of
either Gilgamesh or Enkidu for killing the Bull of Heaven, Enlil
has decided in spite of the pleas of Shamash, that the victim must
be Enkidu. Enkidu falls ill and Gilgamesh knows that his friend
suffers for them both.
Foreseeing death, Enkidu curses the successive stages that led
to his downfall: gate of the cedar forest that paralysed his hand;
trapper who first saw him; harlot who seduced and civilized him.

Shamash points out how unfair this is, since Gilgamesh has raised
him up, given him a name among people; and will mourn him. Enkidu
is persuaded to change his curses into blessings. He tells of
another dream in which he enters underworld, after being carried
there by a great bird, and sees former kings acting as servants.
Twelve days he suffers; finally Enkidu calls Gilgamesh and says
that he is accursed in the manner of his death. At last, he dies.
Tablet VIII begins with Gilgamesh's extravagant mourning for
his friend; he refuses to believe that he is dead; asks what manner
of sleep it is, but then touches Enkidu's heart and finds that it
does not beat. He recalls Enkidu's prowess and sets up a statue of
him.
The next tablet sees Gilgamesh ranging the steppe in horrible
fear of death: "When I die, shall I not be like Enkidu? Woe has
entered my belly." To try to evade death, we infer, he decides to
journey to Utnapishtim, the only man, and wife, sole survivors of
the flood, to have achieved immortality. He arrives at a mountain
called Mashu, guarded by scorpion men. They recognize him as one
third mortal and two thirds divine and allow him to pass through
the mountain. After twelve leagues of terrifying darkness, he
emerges into the brilliant light of a jewelled garden. In tablet
ten the jouney continues. Gilgamesh clothes himself in skins, and
defends his enterprise to Shamash; also to Siduri, a divine alewife
or barmaid here envisaged as living near the sea of death. To her
he explains that he would not give up Enkidu for burial but mourned
him for seven days and nights until a worm fell from the corpse''s
nose. Siduri says he is being foolish, since "When the gods
created mankind, Death for mankind they set aside, Life in their
own hands retaining." Let him seek the happiness that is the lot of
men, dancing and feasting, clean clothes, an affectionate wife and
child. In the fuller Assyrian version, Gilgamesh threatens Siduri,
who takes fright at his grim appearance. She tells him he must
cross the waters of death to reach Utnapishtim and directs him to
Urshanabi, Utnapisthim's ferryman. In the end he reaches
Utnaphstim. Gilgamesh recounts his hardships and explains he is
wearing animals' skins because all his clothes are threadbare.
In the last tablet (XI) Gilgamesh comments that Utnapishtim
looks like himself: what is the difference? Utnapishtim recounts
the story of the flood, how Ea warned him to build a great ship,
which enabled him and his family to survive the flood which by a
typically Mesopotamian change of heart, the gods, and especially
Ishtar, regret. On the seventh day, the ship came to rest on Mount
Nisir, and three birds were successively despatched; the last does
not return. Utnapishhtim emerges and sacrifices to gods, who crowd
round like flies. Enlil is enraged that a mortal has escaped
destruction, but Ea defends Utnapisihtim and finally Enlil makes
him and his wife immortal, to dwell far away at the mouth of the
rivers.
To demonstrate his visitor's innate mortality, Utnapishtim
challenges Gilgamesh to stay awake for seven days. Gilgamesh
immediately falls asleep. Utnapishtim foresees that Gilgamesh will
try to deny it, and so tells his wife to bake a loaf each day that
Gilgamesh sleeps; on the seventh day seven loaves are produced when
Gilgamesh says he only slept a moment or two.
Gilgamesh now seems almost ready to accept mortality, but is
no less plaintive. Utnapishtim dismisses Urshanabi, but tells him
to escort Gilgamesh home after taking him to the washing place and
put on clean clothes. As they leave, Utnapaishtim's wife seems to
take pity and urges her husband to tell Gilgamesh about the plant
of rejuvenation at the bottom of the sea. Gilgamesh dives and after
seeing a sign whose significance he only realizes later, plucks the
plant, but decides to wait until his return to Uruk before eating
it. Soon he stoops to bathe; a snake comes out of the pool and
carries off the plant, sloughing off its skin. Gilgamesh sits down
and weeps but now sees the meaning of the sign, that immortality or
a second youth is not for him. The poem ends with Gilgamesh showing
Urshanabi the high walls of Uruk.
The main theme long recognized is mortality; yet the problem
presented by the Gilgamesh narrative is more complex than is
suggestedd by phrases like "man in search of understanding of
death." To perceive the proper emphases of a work that is often
allusive and obscure even where it is not fragmentary, it is
essential to notice changes introduced in relation to surviving
Sumerian poems.
In the Sumerian poem of Gilgamesh and the Land of the Living,
the hero sets his mind towards Huwawa's precinct in order to
establish his own name and names of gods. He tells the sun god that
men die in his city, that he has seen their bodies in the river and
knows that he too will die. So he wants to set up his name,

accomplish a deed that will be remembered long after his death.
None of the Sumerian Gilgamesh poems foreshadows Enkidu as wild man
from a desert, a man gradually introduced to civilization. Out of
incompletely homogeneous Sumerian background, Akkadian authors seem
to have created a consistent picture of change and development in
Gilgamesh's view of death. At the beginning of the epic he is
carefee and extroverted, uncontolled and autocratic. Provision of
a companion and equal turns his mind to making of a name. He knows
that men must die and determines to achieve a kind of immortality
by a deed of prowess. Enkidu who knows Huwawa tries to deter him,
but Gilgamesh presses forward in spite of the unfavorable dream.
When they slay the monster, both are irrepressible and insult
Ishtar, which results in gods decreeing Enkidu's death. The loss
of his close companion brings death home to Gilgamsh. So do the
lingering nature of Enkidu's death and graphic predictions of what
awaits below. Gilgamesh fails the test of wakefulness miserably
and he is finally persuaded to depart. The unexpected information
about the plant of rejuvenation together with sign, complete his
acceptance of failure in his quest and he returns to Uruk.
The myth of crisis exemplifies, through a single legendary
figure, various attitudes to death that humans tend to adopt:
theoretical acceptance, utterly destroyed by one's first close
acquaintance with it; revulsion from obscenity of physical
corruption; desire to surmount death, ether by reputation or
desperate fantasy of immortality. Finally, a kind of resignation
but before that an attempt to delay death by emulating youth.
Closer examination suggests that this kind of more or less
literal interpretation is incomplete, that some of the most
fantastic and apparently arbitrary components give the story a more
fully mythical status.
Leaving aside fantastic elements of fairy tale or folktale
origin, garden of jewels, etc. the main unexplained incident is
insistence on Enkidu as a wild man from the desert. This at first
sight arbitrary theme, inconspicuous in Sumerian versions, is
emphasized not only in the earlier part of the poem, but by
reminiscence, up to Enkidu's death.
It exemplifies an exploration of polaritiy between nature and
culture. First, it is emphasized that Enkidu is created on the
steppe; he is shaggy all over, like an animal. He lives as an
animal. But he also tears up the traps set by hunters. So although
he is a man, he is the antithesis of man and his works. Then comes
the harlot, who introduces him not only to love, which the animals
can practise, but also to shelter, company, clothes, cooked food,
strong drink, and benefits of culture. But when tired, Enkidu
cannot keep up with animals. And the harlot says he is now "like a
god." He feels need for a friend. In the desert Enkidu has been
rejected by animals and has become wise like a god, while in the
city Gilgamesh, who is a king and should be wise, behaves like a
wild beast. Enkidu turns against wild animals just as they have
rejected him.
To make a name (overcome death) Gilgamesh has to move from
city into mountain wilderness, to overcome savage Huwawa. In
rejecting Ishtar's love, he adduces some remarkable reasons; for
what the goddess seems to have done to most of her previous lovers
was to reverse their position as between nature and culture. Just
as Enkidu blamed acculturation for the manner, if not the
inevitability, of his dying, so Gilgamesh rejects actuality of
Enkidu's death by seeking out a world of nature of the animals who
were Enkidu's companions and seemed to symbolize freedom, lack of
restraint, lack of corruption, and yet some of them he
slaughtered, much as Enkidu had attacked them after his initial
assimilation to culture. Later, in returning to Uruk, washed and
dressed in clean clothes, Gilgamesh has not only signified
resignation to death, but he also seems to imply that culture is
not, after all, to blame for disease and lingering aspects of
mortality, or at least that man cannot avoid them and that there is
no point in altering one's life because of them.
By 2400 B.C.E. Gilgamesh was named among the gods. The stories
made him king of the underworld, identifying him with Dumuzi or
Nirgal. His statue was present at burial rites, in which his
blessing was invoked. The point of the didactic Gilgamesh primary
myth is that even the strongest humans are limited in what they can
accomplish. Extending the good life of the earth after death is
beyond the capabilities of kings.

Because the story of the flood in the Gilgamesh Epic lends
itself to comparison with similar narratives from other worldviews,
we will provide a compiled version of the text.

On tabelet ll of the Gilgamesh epic is a flood story which is
the source for the Genesis account. The Gilgamesh narrative is
based on an earlier third-millenium B.C.E. story of the Sumerians.

In that myth the gods decide to destroy humankind with a flood. The
god Enki, unhappy with this decision, tells a worthy man named
Ziusudra, who tells the tale to Gilgamesh, to build a boat in which
to preserve himself, his family, and a few others, as well as
animals. In the later second-millenium B.C.E. Babylonian version,
Ziusudra has become Utnapishtim and Enki has become Ea.

"You know the city Shurrupak, it stands on the banks of the
Euphrates? That city grew old and the gods that were in it were
old. There was Anu, lord of the firmament, their father, and
warrior Enlil their counsellor, Ninurta, the helper, and Ennugi
watcher over canals; and with them also was Ea. In those days the
world teemed, the people multiplied, the world bellowed like a wild
bull, and the great god was aroused by the clamour. Enlil heard the
clamour and he said to the gods in council, 'The uproar of mankind
is intolerable and sleep is no longer possible by reason of the
babel.' So the gods agreed to exterminate mankind. Enlil did this,
but Ea because of his oath warned me in a dream. He whispered their
words to my house of reeds. 'Reed-house, reed-house! Wall, O wall,
hearken reed-house, wall reflect: O man of Shurrupak, son of Ubara-Tutu; tear down your house and build a boat, abandon possessions
and look for life, despise worldly goods and save your soul alive.
Tear down your house, I say, and build a boat. These are the
measurements of the barque as you shall build her; let her beam
equal her length, let her deck be roofed like the vault that covers
the abyss; then take up into the boat the seed of all living
creatures.'
"When I had understood I said to my lord,'Behold, what you
have commanded I will honour and perform, but how shall I answer
the people, the city, the elders?' Then Ea opened his mouth and
said to me, his servant,'Tell them this: I have learnt that Enlil
is wrathful against me, I dare no longer walk in his land nor live
in his city; I will go down to the Gulf to dwell with Ea my lord.
But on you he will rain down abundance, rare fish and shy wild-fowl, a rich harvest-tide. In the evening the rider of the storm
will bring you wheat in torrents.'
"In the first light of dawn all my household gathered round
me, the children brought pitch and the men whatever was necessary.
On the fifth day I laid the keel and the ribs, then I made fast the
planking. The ground-space was one acre, each side of the deck
measured one hundred and twenty cubits, making a square. I built
six decks below, seven in all, I divided them into nine sections
with bulkheads between. I drove in wedges where needed, I saw to
the punt-poles and laid in supplies. The carriers brought oil in
baskets. I poured pitch into the furnace and asphalt and oil; more
oil was consumed in caulking, and more again the master of the boat
took into his stores. I slaughtered bullocks for the people and
every day I killed sheep. I gave the shipwrights wine to drink as
though it were river water, raw wine and red wine and oil and white
wine. There was feasting then as there is at the time of the New
Year's festival; I myself anointed my head. On the seventh day the
boat was complete.
"Then was the launching full of difficulty; there was
shifting of ballast above and below till two thirds was submerged.
I loaded into her all that I had of gold and of living things, my
family, my kin, the beast of the field both wild and tame, and all
the craftsmen. I sent them on board, for the time that Shamash had
ordained was already fulfilled when he said, 'In the evening, when
the rider of the storm sends down the destroying rain, enter the
boat and batten her down.' The time was fulfilled, the evening
came, the rider of the storm sent down the rain. I looked out at
the weather and it was terrible, so I too boarded the boat and
battened her down. All was now complete, the battening and the
caulking; so I handed the tiller to Puzur-Amurri the steersman,
with the navigation and the care of the whole boat.
"With the first light of dawn a black cloud came from the
horizon; it thundered within where Adad, lord of the storm was
riding. In front over hill and plain Shullat and Hanish, heralds of
the storm, led on. Then the gods of the abyss rose up; Nergal
pulled out the dams of the nether waters, Ninurta the war-lord
threw down the dykes, and the seven judges of hell, the Annunaki,
raised their torches, lighting the land with their livid flame. A
stupor of despair went up to heaven when the god of the storm
turned daylight to darkness, when he smashed the land like a cup.
One whole day the tempest raged, gathering fury as it went, it
poured over the people like the tides of battle; a man could not
see his brother nor the people be seen from heaven. Even the gods
were terrified at the flood, they fled to the highest heaven, the
firmament of Anu; they crouched against the walls, cowering like

curs. Then Ishtar the sweet-voiced Queen of Heaven cried out like
a woman in travail: 'Alas the days of old are turned to dust
because I commanded evil; why did I command this evil in the
council of all the gods? I commanded wars to destroy the people,
but are they not my people, for I brought them forth? Now like the
spawn of fish they float in the ocean.' The great gods of heaven
and of hell wept, they covered their mouths.
"For six days and nights the winds blew, torrent and tempest
and flood overwhelmed the world, tempest and flood raged together
like warring hosts. When the seventh day dawned the storm from the
south subsided, the sea grew calm, the flood was stilled; I looked
at the face of the world and there was silence, all mankind was
turned to clay. The surface of the sea stretched as flat as a roof
top. I opened a hatch and the light fell on my face. Then I bowed
low, I sat down and I wept, the tears strreamed down my face, for
on every side was the waste of water. I looked for land in vain,
but fourteen leagues distant there appeared a mounttain, and there
the boat grounded, on the mountain of Nisir the boat held fast, she
held fast and did not budge. One day she held, and a second day on
the mountain of Nisir she held fast and did not budge. A third day,
and a fourth day she held fast on the mountain and did not budge;
a fifth day and a sixth day she held fast on the mountian. When the
seventh day dawned I loosed a dove and let her go. She flew away,
but finding no resting place she returned. Then I loosed a swallow,
and she flew away but finding no restng place she returned. I
loosed a raven, and she saw that the waters had retreated, she ate,
she flew around, she cawed, and she did not come back. Then I threw
everything open to the four winds, I made a sacrifice and poured
out a libation on the mountain top. Seven and again seven cauldrons
I set up on their stands, I heaped up wood and cane and cedar and
myrrh. When the gods smelled the sweet savour, they gathered like
flies over the sacrifice. Then, at last, Ishtar also came, she
lifted her necklace with the jewels of heaven that once Anu had
made to please her. 'O you gods here present, by the lapis lazuli
round my neck I shall remember these days as I remember the jewels
of my throat; these last days I shall not forget. Let all the gods
gather round the sacrifice, except Enlil. He shall not approach
this offering, for without reflection he brought the flood; he
consigned my people to destruction.'
"When Enlil had come, when he saw the boat, he was wrath
and swelled with anger at the gods, the host of heaven. 'Has any of
these mortals escaped? Not one was to have survived the
destruction.' Then the god of the wells and canals Ninurta opened
his mouth and said to the warrior Enlil, 'Who is there of the gods
that can devise without Ea? It is Ea alone who knows all things.'
Then Ea opened his mouth and spoke to the warrior Enlil, 'Wisest of
gods, hero Enlil, how could you so senselessly bring down the
flood?
Lay upon the sinner his sin,
Lay upon the transgressor his transgression,
Punish him a little when he breaks loose,
Do not drive him too hard or he perishes;
Would that a lion had ravaged mankind
Rather than the flood,
Would that a wolf had ravaged mankind
Rather than the flood,
Would that famine had wasted the world
Rather than the flood,
Would that pestilence had wasted mankind
Rather than the flood.

It was not I that revealed the secret of the gods; the wise man
learned it in a dream. Now take your counsel what shall be done
with him.'
"Then Enlil went up into the boat, he took me by the hand
and my wife and made us enter the boat and kneel down on either
side, he standing between us. He touched our foreheads to bless us
saying, 'In time past Utnapishtim was a mortal man; henceforth he
and his wife shall live in the distance at the mouth of the
rivers.' Thus it was that the gods took me and placed me here to
live in the distance, at the mouth of the rivers." 10

This description of the flood has interesting parallels with that
in Genesis, chapters 6-8. This is not unexpected, because "The
biblical accounts are themselves based on some form of the
Gilgamesh epic: Sumerian, Babylonian, or Assyrian, either brought
in by Abraham from Ur of the Chaldees or experienced in Jewish
exile in Babylonia."11

The Babylonian flood results from the whim of the gods. The Hebrew
flood emphasizes the idea of humanity's sinfulness. Noah is saved
so that humankind can be reborn in a cleansed condition. In
Genesis, chapter 6, the story tells how the Lord repented having
made man on the earth.

7. And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from
the face of the earth, both man and beast, and the creeping things,
and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made
them.
8. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

....
13. And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me;
for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I
will destroy them with the earth.
14. Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the
ark, and shall pitch it within and without with pitch.
15. And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: the length
of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty
cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits.
16. A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt
thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the
side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou
make it.
17. And behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the
earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from
under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die.
18. But with thee will I establish my covenant, and thou shalt
come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons'
wives with thee.
19. And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shall
thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee, they shall
be male and female.
20 Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of
every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort
shall come unto thee, to keep them alive.
21. And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou
shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for
them.
Further accounts of the kinds of animals are related and then the
story of the waters. The ark finally comes to rest on the
mountains of Ararat. Chapter 8 continues,

6. And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened
the window of the ark which he had made.
7. And he sent forth a raven, which wenet forth to and fron, until
the wters were dried up from the earth.
8. Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were
abated from the face of the ground;
9. But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she
returned unto him into the ark, for the waters were on the face of
the whole earth; then he put forth his hand and took her, and
pulled her in unto him into the ark.
10. And he stayed yet another seven days; and again he sent forth
the dove out of the ark;
11. And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her
mouth was an olive leaf plucked off; so Noah knew that the waters
were abated from the earth.
12. And he stayed yet another seven days; and sent forth the dove;
which returned not again unto him any more.
...
20. And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord; and took of every
clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings
on the altar.
21. And the Lord smelled a sweet savour; and the Lord said in his
heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake;
for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither
will I again smite any more every living thing, as I have done.
Hindu Version
Manu is the the Indian hero who survives the flood. The
myth is told in the Shatapatha-Brahmana.

1. In the morning they brought to Manu water for washing, just as
now they also they (are wont to) bring (water) for washing the
hands. When he was washing himself, a fish came into his hands.
2. It spake to him the word, "Rear me, I will save thee!"
"Wherefrom wilt thou save me?" "A flood will carry away all these
creatures: from that I will save thee!" "How am I to rear thee?"
3. It said, "As long as we are small, there is great destruction
for us; fish devours fish. Thou wilt first keep me in a jar. When
I outgrow that, thou wilt dig a pit and keep me in it. When I
outgrow that, thou wilt take me down to the sea, for then I shall
be beyond destruction."
4. It soon became a ghasha (great fish); for that grows largest (of
all fish). Thereupon it said, "In such and such a year that flood
will come. Thou shalt then attend to me (i.e., to my advice) by
preparing a ship; and when the flood has risen thou shalt enter
into the ship and I will save thee from it."
5. After he had reared it in this way, he took it down to the sea.
And in the same year which the fish had indicated to him, he
attended to (the advice of the fish) by prepariang a ship; and when
the flood had risen, he entered into the ship. The fish then swam
up to him, and to its horn he tied the rope of the ship, and by
that means he passed swiftly up to yonder northern mountain.
6. It then said, "I have saved thee. Fasten the ship to a tree; but
let not the water cut thee off whilst thou art on the mountain. As
the water subsides, thou mayest gradually descend!" Accordingly he
gradually descended and hence that (slope) of the northern mountain
is called "Manu's descent." The flood then swept away all these
creatures, and Manu alone remained here.12

Ovid tells the Greco-Roman version of the flood in

recounting the story of Deucalion and Pyrrha. We will read a
portion of that in the chapter on Hellenistic and Roman Worldview
Expressions.
Finally, let us consider an expression of what was expected of
the individual in this ancient Mesopotamian worldview.

Worship your god every day
with sacrifice and prayer which
properly go with incense offerings.
Present your freewill offering to your god
for this is fitting for the gods.
Offer him daily prayer,
supplication and prostration
and you will get your reward.
Then you will have full
communion with yur god.
Reverence begets favor.
Sacrifice prolongs life,
and prayer atones for guilt.
(Counsels of Wisdom, 135-145)

Endnotes

1 In Samual Noah Kramer, History Begins at Sumer (Garden City:
Doubleday Anchor, 1959), pp. 91-92.
2 Text from William W. Hallo and J.J.A. Van Dijk, The
Exaltation of Inanna (New Haven, Yale University Press, 1968),
pp.15-35.
3 Daniel Reisman, "Iddin-Dagan's Sacred Marriage Hymn," JCS 25
(1973), 185-202. Additional hymnic material from: James B.
Pritchard, ed. Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old
Testament (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1950), pp
4 Samuel Noah Kramer, History Begins at Sumer, pp. 213-14.)
5 Yitschak Sefati, Love Songs in Sumerian Literature--Critical
Edition of the Dumuzi-Inanna Songs, Ph.D. diss. Bar-Ilan
University, 1985, 25-35. This is the source of the text of these
hymns in this chapter.
6 Miguel Civil, "The Message of Lu.Dingit.ra to His Mother and
a Group of Akkado-Hittite Proverbs," JNES 23(1964):1-ll, ll. 22-25.
7 See N. Kramer, "BM23631: Bread for Enlil, Sex for Inanna,"
Or. 54 (1985): 117-30, ll 138-40.
8 See M. Civil, "A Hymn to the Beer-goddess and a Drinking
Song," Studies Presented to A. Leo Oppenheim, June 7, 1964
(Chicago: Oriental Institute Press, 1963), 67-89.
9 H.L. J. Vanstiphout, "Lipit-Estthar's Praise in the Edubba,"
JCS 30 (1978): 33-61, ll. 18ff.
10 N.K. Sanders, trans. The Epic of Gilgamesh
(Hammondsworth:Penguin, 1972), pp. 108-13.
11 Philip R. Wiener, ed. Dictionary of the History of Ideas
Vol. III. (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1973, pp. 279-80).
12 Mircea Eliade, Gods, Goddesses, and Myths of Creation (New
York, 1974), p. 151.