Sources for the eridu myth include a sumerian inscription on a clay tablet from nippur. These cities, which had been named by names, and had been allotted halfbushel. According to the ancient sumerians, eridu modern day abu shahrein, iraq was believed to have been the first city ever created, and was the home city of the great god enki. The sumerian story of the great flood and the eridu genesis. It is good for anyone who has very little information about eridu, and provides a very decent platform to allow you to explore further. While many people are unaware of this, the great flood has its origins in ancient sumer. According to the clay tablet, the creation of our planet began in the following way. He notes that, like genesis 111, all these date from the early second millennium bc and they all have creation eventually followed by a flood and a new start. From one side of the heaven to the other, that is, to the six directions of space north, south, east, west, above, and below, all converging to the three. The main differences between the biblical genesis and the eridu genesis was the purpose of mankind. The sumerian garden of eden and the oldest city in. The noahide flood myth is detailed in genesis chapters 6 through 9 of the jewishchristian bible. The babylonian genesis which in the early period seems to have been a general designa tion for all the gods of heaven and earth.
The story of the creation and flood has been extremely influential. It is the tale of mankinds corruption and the subsequent cleansing of the world by the flood weapon. The earliest record of a sumerian creation myth, called the eridu genesis by historian thorkild jacobsen, is found on a single fragmentary tablet excavated in nippur by the expedition of the university of pennsylvania in 1893, and first recognized by arno poebel in 1912. It is written in the sumerian language and dated to around 1600 bce. The earliest record of a sumerian creation myth, called the eridu genesis by historian thorkild. The eridu genesis, journal of biblical literature vol. The eridu genesis also known as the ziusudra epic is the fragmentary sumerian version of the flood epic written in cuneiform. In concluding these remarks on this first verse in genesis, 15b16a observe that brashith in the beginning is equivalent to brashith he created six and refers to the scriptural words. Kingship in eridu when kingship was first handed down from heaven the concept of kingship, the city of eridu was chosen as the seat of kingship. Anyone reading the biblical genesis cannot help but to notice the elevation of mankind as a special creation who was meant to be in companionship with the creator. The missing parts can be reconstructed from texts like the sumerian king list and berossus. Pdf was eridu the first city in sumerian mythology. How to study the bible with ancient near eastern texts.
After the universe was created out of the chaos of the sea, the gods evolved and they in turn created mankind to farm, herd and. Full text of sumerian epic of paradise, the flood and the. The atrahasis the tablet of the covenant the tablet of the covenant is based upon the babylonian epic of atrahasis ziusudra in sumerian. Let me bethink myself of my humankind, all forgotten as they are. After the universe was created out of the chaos of the. For the eridu genesis i have examined and used the translation of civil and. This page was last edited on 17 octoberat the eridu genesis is an ancient sumerian text which describes the creation of the world, the invention of all genesid cities and the great flood that swept across the land. The genesis myth of eridu is an ancient sumerian text written around 1600 bce, and it contains a version of the flood story used in gilgamesh and later the old testament of the bible. Through marduk, the power of eridu incantationprayer was taught to the scribes of nabu and the mardukite priests, who were taught to attract and compel the gods in the name of marduk, always incanting the wordformula of the highest order. Texts from eridu whom the sumerians believed to be the first city in history favor the god. Pdf sumerian head gods and association with yhwh, allah. Anunnki anu, enlil, shamash, ea the creation of man anu, enlil, shamash, ea, the great gods, the anunnaki, the great gods, lofty sanctuaries inhabited as creators. The god enki and his city eridu figure importantly in the story, enki as savior of mankind, eridu as the first city. Other sumerian creation myths from around this date are.
The eridu genesis and the book of genesis biblical culture. Regarding the table of nations genesis 10, kitchen argues that this work, which began in the early second millennium, was. In anxiety they asked and lamga was sacrificed to create mankind to work for the gods. When in the height heaven was not named and the earth beneath did not yet bear a name and the primeval apsu. Anunnki anu, enlil, shamash, ea the creation of man. Eridu genesis, in mesopotamian religious literature, ancient sumerian epic primarily concerned with the creation of the world, the building of cities, and the flood. The ancient sumerians also believed that eridu was the first city in the world and they documented that belief in the sumerian king list and the eridu genesis. Full text of sumerian epic of paradise, the flood and the fall of man see other formats. Therefore, you can easily make use of this online pdf converter to turn pdf documents into various commonlyused files or create a pdf. There are, naturally, some significant dif ferences in these.
The harps that once sumerian poetry in translation on. Certainly such a conclusion is far more reasonable than that genesis or for that matter the entire pentateuchis to be ascribed to another one of these genial nobodies of whom criticism has a large number in reserve as authors. Lightpdf can convert pdf files with high efficiency, and supports for microsoft office formats, image formats jpg, png, and many more. The ziusudra flood myth is from a single tablet often called eridu genesis. The eridu genesis is written on a sumerian cuneiform tablet of which about two thirds are now lost. It is a tale of the early days of earth, when mankind was still young, and the gods were upon the earth. According to the epic, after the universe was created out of the primeval sea and the gods were born, the deities fashioned man from. The eridu genesis is an ancient sumerian text which describes the creation of the world, the invention of all ancient cities and the great flood that swept across the land. Jacobsen, the eridu genesis, journal of biblical literature 100 1981 5529. The israelites did not view the cosmos the way we do. Located 12 km southwest of ur, eridu was the southernmost of a conglomeration of sumerian cities that grew around temples, almost in sight of one another.
It covers the creation of the world, invention of cities and the flood. Eridu genesis pdf of beginnings, a genesis, and, as i shall try to show in detail later, it prefigures so to speak, the biblical genesis in its structure. In eridu, alulim mixedbreed ruled for 28,800 years as king and alalgar ruled for 36,000 years. Eridu was long considered the earliest city in southern mesopotamia and is still today argued to be the oldest city in the world. Among the texts that were inspired by it are the epic of atrahasis, tablet xi of the babylonian epic of gilgames, berossus, the biblical account of the deluge, and several greek and roman sources, like ovid. Although it dates to around 1600 bc it is probably a shortened copy of a much older poem that is dependent on an even older account. Sumer, mesopotamian region that was the site of the worlds first urban civilization, which flourished in the third and early second millennia bce.
I did a little googling and discovered that ur of the chaldeans, where abraham came from, is near a city called eridu. Ancient cosmology and the origins debate by john h. The firstling of those cities, eridu, she gave to the leader nudimmud, the second, badtibira, she gave to the prince and the sacred one, the third, larak, she gave to pabilsag, the fourth, sippar, she gave to the gallant utu. For a discussion of some of the problems with this reconstruction, see genesis 115, xl. A read is counted each time someone views a publication summary such as the title, abstract, and list of authors, clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the fulltext. In addition to the change of name, jacobsen has underscored the significance of this text in recognizing that its various sources point to a time span for the myth from about 1800 to 600 b. Sumerian literature is one of the oldest known literatures in the world, perhaps the oldest, and stands out by the power, variety, and sheer mass of its content. Today, eridu is often considered to be one of the oldest permanent settlements in mesopotamia, and perhaps even in the world. Eridu represents a fascinating bit of history that is fast disappearing, and this book does good justice to it. The eridu genesis, which is believed to have been composed circa 2,300 bce, is the earliest known account fo the great flood, predating the more popular great flood. So, ive just started a bible reading plan with an old friend and i had not read gen 111 in a while. Eridu genesis over the more usual ones, but that will be discussed below.