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Eridu Genesis
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The Eridu Genesis

From "The Harps That Once...: Sumerian Poetry in Translation" by
Thorkild Jacobsen. Yale University Press, Publishers.
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Nintur was paying attention:

Let me bethink myself of my humankind, all forgotten as they are;
and mindful of mine, Nintur's creatures let me bring them back let
me lead the people back from their trails.
May they come and build cities and cult places, that I may cool
myself in their shade; may they lay the bricks for the cult cities
in pure spots and may they found places for divination in pure
spots!

She gave directions for purification and cries for elemency, the
things that cool divine wrath, perfected the divine service and the
august offices, said to the surrounding regions: "Let me institute
peace there!"

When An, Enlil, Enki and Ninhursaga fashioned the dark-headed
people they had made the small animals that come up from out of the
earth, come from the earth in abundance and had let there be, as it
befits it, gazelles wild donkeys, and four-footed beasts in the
desert.......and let me have him advise; let me have him oversee
their labor, and let him teach the nation to follow along
unerringly like cattle!

When the royal scepter was coming down from heaven, the august
crown and the royal throne being already down from heaven, he (the
king) regularly performed to perfection the august divine services
and offices, laid the bricks of those cities in pure spots. They
were named by name and allotted half-bushel baskets.

The firstling of those cities, Eridu, she gave to the leader
Nudimmud, the second, Bad-Tibira, 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. The fifth, Shuruppak, she gave
to Ansud.

These cities, which had been named by names, and had been allotted
half-bushel baskets, dredged the canals, which were blocked with
purplish wind-borne clay, and they carried water. Their cleaning of
the smaller canals established abundant growth.

[lost account of the antediluvian rulers, and how human noise vexed
the chief god Enlil so much that he persuaded the divine assembly
to vote the destruction of man by the deluge] ..

That day Nintur wept over her creatures and holy Inanna was full of
grief over their people; but Enki took counsel with his own heart.
An, Enlil, Enki, and Ninhursaga had the gods of heaven and earth
swear by the names of An and Enlil.

At that time, Ziusudra was king and lustration priest. He
fashioned, being a seer, the god of giddiness and stood in awe
beside it, wording his wishes humbly.

As he stood there regularly day after day something that was not a
dream was appearing: conversation a swearing of oaths by heaven and
earth, a touching of throats and the gods bringing their thwarts up
to Kiur.
And as Ziusudra stood there beside it, he went on hearing:

"Step up to the wall to my left and listen! Let me speak a word to
you at the wall and may you grasp what I say, may you heed my
advice! By our hand a flood will sweep over the cities of the
half-bushel baskets, and the country; the decision, that mankind is
to be destroyed has been made".

A verdict, a command of the assembly cannot be revoked, an order of
An and Enlil is not known ever to have been countermanded, their
kingship, their term, has been uprooted they must bethink
themselves of that. Now... What I have to say to you...

[lost account of Enki's advice to build a boat and load it with
pairs of living things, and Ziusudra's compliance]

All the evil winds, all stormy winds gathered into one and with
them, then, the flood was sweeping over the cities of the
half-bushel baskets for seven days and seven nights. After the
flood had swept over the country, after the evil wind had tossed
the big boat about on the great waters, the sun came out spreading
light over heaven and earth.

Ziusudra then drilled an opening in the big boat.
And the gallant Utu sent his light into the interior of the big
boat. Ziusudra, being king, stepped up before Utu kissing the
ground before him. The king was butchering oxen, was being lavish
with the sheep Barley cakes, crescents together with......he was
crumbling for him juniper, the pure plant of the mountains, he
filled on the fire and with a ...clasped to the breast he...

[lost account of Enlil's wrath at finding survivor's and his
mollification by Enki]
You here have sworn by the life's breath of heaven the life's
breath of earth that he verily is allied with yourself; you there,
An and Enlil, have sworn by the life's breath of heaven, the life's
breath of earth. that he is allied with all of you. He will
disembark the small animals that come up from the earth!

Ziusudra, being king, stepped up before An and Enlil kissing the
ground. And An and Enlil after honoring him were granting him life
like a god's, were making lasting breath of life, like a god's,
descend into him. That day they made Ziusudra, preserver, as king,
of the name of the small animals and the seed of mankind, live
toward the east over the mountains in mount Dilmun.
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