Atrahasis Overview

ATRAHASIS / “THE EXCEEDING WISE”

• Language: Akkadian

• Province: Babylon

• Date: 1600BC (the Old Babylonian Version) 600 BC (the Assyrian Version)

• Purpose: Explain the taboo against eating pork

• Named ‘Atrahasis’, after the main character in the second half of the narrative, the flood narrative, meaning “the Exceeding Wise”

pg. 104 & https://geha.paginas.ufsc.br/files/2017/04/Atrahasis.pdf 

Tablet 1

The text begins with when the Igigi gods did the harsh labor that humans will do for the Anunnaki gods: they dig out the Tigris and Euphrates, open up springs, and heap up mountains. The work in forming the world for 3,600 years. The Igigis all complain to one another and decide to get weapons, light their tools and baskets on fire, and go overthrow Ellil for forcing them to do his work. The myth begins when the gods did the work that humans were always supposed to do, similar to how Genesis’ second creation account (the closest parallel) begins when there was no one to work the ground. However, here, the lesser Igigi gods do the drudgery of the higher gods, the Anunnaki, whereas in Genesis, God creates the whole world on his own. Further, whereas it takes the Igigi gods 3,600 years to form the world, God creates the world in just 7 days.

The Igigis come to surround Ellil’s temple-house at night, but Kalkal is awake and has it locked up. He wakes up Nusku and has him wake up Enlil to tell him that the gods had gathered together against him. Elill wakes up, gets weapons, and has Nusku stand with weapons in front of him behind the barred door. They call Anu and all the other Anunnaki to come together so that Ellil can ask them why the Igigi gods came to his door to attack him. They send out Nusku to ask why they came to attack him.

Nusku asks the Igigi who decided to rise up against Ellil and why they want to attack him. All the Igigi gods confess to having decided to rise up against Enlil because they were given too much work. Nusku goes off to repeat the message to Enlil. Ea weeps, then he speaks up, sympathizing with the Igigi gods: they did give them too much work and would often hear them crying out from all their hard work. He proposes that they have Belet-ili, the midwife, create man to do the hard work of the gods. Whereas the gods decided to create humans because they have too much work to do in this myth, God creates the world for humans and then sets them in charge of the world in Genesis, even giving him a day of rest.

The gods all get Bet-ili/Nintu and ask her if she will birth humans. She tells them to have Enki give her clay to make the humans. Enki then says that there should be a purification bath every first, seventh, and fifteenth days of the month so that the gods will be cleansed, and he calls for one god to be slaughtered. They decide to have Nintu mix the clay with the flesh and blood of this god, but to have the spirit of the god remain to remember the god who died to make them. The Anunna gods all agree.

They then slaughter Aw-ilu, who had inspired the Igigi gods to rise up against the Anunna and make humans as they had decided earlier: with clay, the blood of Aw-ilu, and his spirit. Afterwards, Nintu/Bet-ili calls together all of the gods to spit on the clay. All the gods kiss her feet and give her the name Belet-kala-ili (“Mistress of all the gods”). Then, she tramples the clay and recites a spell for Enki. She then places a mud brick and separates the clay into seven pieces on the right of the brick and seven on the left. She then uses a reed to cut umbilical cords and creates seven males and females. The gods here create humans iwth the spirit and blood of a rebel god, spit, and earth, but in Genesis, God creates humans from His personal breath and earth.

Then, Mami/Bet-ili makes the following rules: when a woman is going to give birth, a mud brick should be put down for seven days, and Mami should be honored. The midwife should rejoice, and the mother should sever herself. Mami/Bet-ili sets the tenth month as “the term of fates” and then slips in a staff and opens the womb on that month. She then made a drawing in flour and put down a mud brick, and proclaims that when a woman gives birth, and the mother severs herself, she should put down the mud brick for nine days to honor her. They then make the humans to do the work of the Igigi gods: making canals and feeding the gods. Mami/Nintu prescribes rituals for worshipping her at birth, whereas Genesis explains how Adam’s split into two for why men leave their families and cling to their wives.

After 600 years, the people become too numerous and are too noisy. Ellil can’t sleep, and so he tells the gods to let a disease loose because he can’t sleep with all their noise. However, there is one man, Atrahasis, who hears his god Enki and asks him how long the gods will make them suffer the disease. Enki advises him to call the elders to his house, to make a lot of loud noises, to stop worshipping and praying to the gods, and then bring a baked loaf of bread before the door of Namtara, to convince the gods to do away with the disease. He hears Enki’s advice and tells all the elders to have all the people in the land follow the directions: they make loud noises, stop praying to and worshipping their gods, and build a temple for Namtara and offer a sacrifice of bread to him. Namtara is shamed by their presents and decides to take away the disease and go back to receiving their regular sacrifices. The gods here try to destroy humans because they are deemed too numerous and noisy. In contrast, God in the Bible commands humans to multiply.

Another period of just 600 years passes.

Tablet 2

After 600 years pass, the people become too numerous and are too noisy. Ellil can’t sleep, and so he gives a speech very similar to his earlier speech, telling the gods to prevent rain and harvest so that the people starve to death. Again, Atrahasis gets all the elders and the humans to do it once again, convincing Namtara to bring mist and dew into the fields so that they can grow crops and eat again.

In just less than three epochs, the people are too numerous and noisy again, and Ellil still can’t sleep. Again, he gets together all the gods and tells them to lock up the earth and sea so that humans will not get rain from above or water springing from below. Atrahasis weeps every day, and brings a sacrifice for his god one night and then sleeps. Before sleeping, he asks the irrigated water to carry his sacrifice to Ea to speak to him in a dream. Ea receives it. The people are all miserable.

600 years pass again, and the people are noisy and numerous. Sleepless Elill calls for all the gods once again, commanding Namtar to give them sickness and headaches. Namtar follows his orders, but Atrahasis calls out to Ea again. Again, Ea advises Atrahasis to have the people not sacrifice to any of the gods, but to give a gift to one god to make him change his mind.

Ellil then brings together his sons, the gods, again, telling them that he can’t sleep. They shouldn’t give them diseases anymore, but should go back to shutting off all rain and preventing vegetation from growing and women from giving birth. After a year, all the storehouses were depleted. After another year, everyone looked starved. In the year after, the fourth year, people are looking even worse. By the sixth year, families are turning upon themselves and even looking to sell their children or parents for money. By the sixth year, they are eating their children until there are only two households left.

Atrahasis goes out to set his bed by the river canal. Ellil is furious with the Igigi gods: the Anunnaki already had the plan to guard the earth and skies to keep everything under lock. He then has Nusku bring fifty lahmu-heroes to ask them what went wrong with their plan. He then brings in Enki and asks him. All the gods sit in the council, terrified of Ellil. Finally, they decide to send a flood to destroy all the people and have Enki swear not to save the humans. Enki asks why he should have to swear any oath if he doesn’t even have the power to cause a flood—only Elill, Shullat, Hanish, Erakal, and Ninurta can do that!

Tablet 3

Enki sends Atrahasis a dream, but Atrahasis cries out to Enki for the interpretation, because he doesn’t understand. Enki goes to a reed hut with Atrahasis to secretly explain the dream: Atrahasis needs to take down his house and build a boat to save himself and living creatures. He should give it a roof like Apsu to protect the Sun from looking into it, two decks,  and use bitumen to keep it sturdy. Here, a god has to sneak off to tell the humans to make a boat to save themselves from a huge deluge that is coming, but in Genesis, God Himself tells Noah how to save himself and his family. However, the accounts are similar inasmuch as both gods have their people build a boat with multiple decks and a roof like the heavens to represent the cosmos.

Atrahasis goes to the elders of his city to tell them that Enki and Ellil are angry with each other; since he fears Enki, he has to leave them because they are in Ellil’s territory. Then, they build a boat and put all types of animals into it: pure animals, fat animals, birds, cattle, and wild animals. Atrahasis brings his family on board the boat to feast and eat and drink, but he can’t rest and vomits because of anxiety. He then sees Adad change the weather, uses Bitumen to seal the door, and then cuts a rope that was holding the boat in place. The gods send a powerful flood that even covers the sun. On the one hand, Atrahasis has to anxiously wait to see when the gods will send the deluge, and run, shut, and seal the door when it does come. On the other hand, in Genesis, God tells Noah when to enter the ark, shuts the door, and keeps him safe.

Mami/Nintu/Bet-ili regrets that she could have called for a flood to destroy humans, her own children. She weeps, and other gods join her in weeping, missing the wine that the humans used to give them. The flood continues for seven days and nights. In contrast to the gods regretting sending the flood because they get thirsty without sacrifices, God remembers Noah after over a year of flooding and brings him back to safety.

Then, they receive an offering and are glad. Nintu/Bet-ili/Mami blames Ellil and Anu for deciding to bring about the flood. Ellil recalls that they all swore to destroy all the humans and not let anyone escape, but Anu says that it must have been Enki. Enki admits that he did it in defiance of the other gods. They decide to get Nintu/Bet-ili/Mami to make it so that a third of the births are unsuccessful and send out demons so that humans won’t over-populate the world again. While Mami decides to send demons to steal babies and to have a third of births be unsuccessful to prevent human overpopulation, but to not need to send another flood, God both promises not to send another cosmic flood and commands Noah to be fruitful and to multiply.