|
“When in the height heaven was not named,
And the earth beneath did not yet bear a name, And the primeval Apsu, who begat them, And chaos, Tiamut, the mother of them both Their waters were mingled together, And no field was formed, no marsh was to be seen; When of the gods none had been called into being, And none bore a name, and no destinies were ordained; Then were created the gods in the midst of heaven, Lahmu and Lahamu were called into being...” |
Sumerian mythology claims that, in the beginning, human-like gods governed the Earth. However when they arrived on earth, much work was needed to perfect it. The gods laboured and toiled the soil, digging to make it fit for human habitation and excavating its natural resources.
An idea was suggested by the son of Anu, enki, or Ea, to create man so they would tolerate the labour and workload of mortal existence. With the help of his half-sister Ninki this was achieved. A god was put to death, and when his body and blood mixed with clay from the earth, the first human being was created, in correspondence to the gods.
|
“You have slaughtered a god together
With his personality I have removed your heavy work I have imposed your toil on man.” … “In the clay, god and man Shall be bound, To a unity brought together; So that to the end of days The Flesh and the Soul Which in a god have ripened – That soul in a blood-kinship be bound.” |
The first man was created in the garden of the gods, Eden, meaning ‘flat terrain’. It is located in Mesopotamia somewhere between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.