Chapter VII

, Part II, appears as the mother of mankind (see p. 279). The new tablet then states that Ug, the lion god, identified by a later text with Shamash, the sun god, first came forth to plan. “Mankind he planned; many men were brought forth.” The word rendered “planned” has also the meaning “know,” as in Gen. 4:1, where Adam is said to have known Eve. It seems probable, therefore, that the text indicates that men were born from a natural union of Ug and Nintu, just as it is said on p. 284, in another text from Nippur, that irrigation resulted from a similar union of the sun-god and Nintu. This shows that among the Sumerians there were different conceptions of the way mankind was made. A Babylonian story of the making of a man which is much more like the narrative of Gen. 2 than that contained in this new tablet is given on p. 256.

After telling how men were brought forth, and how they were left to provide houses and clothing for themselves, the new tablet tells how reed huts, similar to those still seen in the Babylonian marshes, were made. Clans were formed and irrigation begun. Here the obverse becomes too broken for connected translation.

At the beginning of the reverse several lines are fragmentary. From what can be made out, some god seems to be addressing Enlil. Reference is made to Duazagga, the heavenly abyss, which is described as “the way of the gods,” probably an allusion to the Milky Way. It is implied that the gods live along this way. It seems that all was not going well with men on the earth, so this deity proposed to make a dwelling for Ashnan, the god of agriculture, outside of Duazagga, presumably on the earth. Two-thirds of the fold perished; Ashnan accordingly created plants as food for men. This reminds us of how plants and fruits were given to man as food in Gen. 1:29. Ashnan also caused it to rain in order to promote the growth of vegetation. This, however, created a new evil. The reed huts were washed away, together with a third of the fold. Some god, probably Enlil, accordingly came down from heaven, and built a city. This gave to human society the required stability. In this stable society the god gave the scepter of command into man’s hand just as in Gen. 1:28 man is given dominion over all the lower orders of life. In this connection we find the statement:

“The lord caused them to be and they came into existence,” the form of which reminds one of the statement in Gen. 1:3, “God said, Let there be light: and there was light.”

The next line: “Companions calling them, a man with his wife he made them dwell,” recalls Gen. 2:18 and 24. The last line of the text is the Babylonian equivalent of the last clause of Gen. 2:24.

This text as a whole describes the creation of man, sketches the vicissitudes of pastoral life, and ends with a statement of the greater security and prosperity of urban life. It attributes the origin of everything to the gods.

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Addition to Part II,