Text
Atrahasis Epic (SBV) 2.61-62, 2.67-116:
Anu opened his mouth and said to the god (Enlil), his brother: “ … There is a task to do - Bēlet-ilī is present, (and) the mother goddesses. Let the mother goddess create humankind, so man can bear the soil-basket of the gods. Let her create human-kind, so it can carry the yoke, the task imposed by rulership. Let it carry the yoke, the task imposed by Enlil, let man bear the soil-basket of the gods.” They summoned the goddess and asked her: “Midwife Bēlet-ilī, wise Mamma, you are the mother goddess, creatress of destiny: create human-kind to carry the yoke. Let it carry the yoke, the task imposed by Enlil, let man bear the soil-basket of the gods.” Mamma opened her mouth and said to her fellow gods: “Though the power to do it indeed is mine, the way it is done is the business of Ea. He alone can render everything pure: let him give me clay that I may do it.” Ea opened his mouth and said to his fellow gods: “On the first, the seventh and the fifteenth of the month I will institute a cleansing rite, a bath. Let one god be slaughtered and the gods be thereby cleansed. With his flesh and his blood let Bēlet-ilī mix some clay, so that god and man are mixed together in the clay. In future time we may hear the drum (= the heart), from the flesh of a god let the spirit be produced. It shall reveal its sign in a living being, a sign not to be forgotten, the spirit!” On the first, the seventh and fifteenth of the month he instituted a cleansing rite, a bath. Alla, who had the capacity to reason, Alla they slaughtered, an Enlil of old. With his flesh and blood Bēlet-ilī mixed some clay, so that god and man were mixed together in the clay. In future days they heard the drum, from the flesh of a god the spirit was produced. It revealed its sign in a living being, a sign not be forgotten, the spirit. After she had mixed her clay she summoned the Anunnaki and all the Igigi. The Igigi, the great gods, spat on her clay.
Sources (list of abbreviations)
Atrahasis Epic (SBV) 2.61-62
Atrahasis Epic (SBV) 2.67-116
Bibliography
| George and al-Rawi 1996, 169-171 | George Andrew R. and Farouq N. H. al-Rawi. “Tablets from the Sippar Library VI. Atra-Hasis.” Iraq 58 (1996) 147-190. [JSTOR (requires subscription)] |
Links (external links will open in a new browser window)
Cf. Creation of man (1)
Cf. Creation of man (2)
Cf. Primordial battle and creation of man (1)
Amar Annus
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