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Atra-Hasis (Akkadian:𒀜𒊏𒄩𒋀,romanized: Atra-ḫasīs) is an 18th-century BCAkkadianepic, recorded in various versions onclay tablets[1] and named for one of its protagonists, the priest Atra-Hasis ('exceedingly wise').[2] The narrative has four focal points: An organisation of allied gods shaping Mesopotamia agriculturally; a political conflict between them, pacified by creating the first human couples; the mass reproduction of these humans; and a great deluge, as has been handed down many times in the differentflood myths of the Near East and Levant. Perhaps the relic of a naturalcatastrophe in Mesopotamia caused by rising sea levels at the end of thelast glacial period, localized flooding on the Euphrates, the flooding of the Black Sea, or ancient peoples attempting to explain fossils and remains of sea life found far inland, the epic links this flood with the intention of the upper gods to eliminate their artificial creatures.
The name "Atra-Hasis" also appears, as a king ofShuruppak on theEuphrates in the times before that flood, on one of theSumerian King Lists.[3] The oldest known copy of the epic tradition concerning Atrahasis[i] can be dated bycolophon (scribal identification) to the reign ofHammurabi’s great-grandson,Ammi-Saduqa (1646–1626 BC). However, variousOld Babylonian dialect fragments exist, and the epic continued to be copied into the first millennium BC.[4]: 8–15
The story of Atrahasis also exists in a later Assyrian dialect version, first rediscovered in theLibrary of Ashurbanipal, though its translations have been uncertain due to the artifact being in fragmentary condition and containing ambiguous words. Nonetheless, its fragments were first assembled and translated byGeorge Smith asTheChaldean Account ofGenesis, the hero of which had his name corrected toAtra-Hasis byHeinrich Zimmern in 1899.
In 1965,Wilfred G. Lambert andAlan Millard[5] published many additional texts belonging to the epic, including an Old Babylonian copy (written c. 1650 BC) which is the most complete recension of the tale to have survived. These new texts greatly increased knowledge of the epic and were the basis for Lambert and Millard’s first English translation of the Atrahasis epic in something approaching entirety.[4] A further fragment was recovered inUgarit.
The epic of Atra-Hasis contains the myth of the creation of mankind byEnlil,Anu andEnki, also known asAnunnaki andIgigi, the superior and the inferior gods. They seem to have been united in an organization similar to that which existed in Greece between Zeus – as ‘pure spirit or air’ the leading party – and the groups round Poseidon (ocean) and Hades (earth).[ii] (Compare also the triple alliance of the party around Zeus and the two from Atlantis to Greece defected groups around Epi- and Prometheus.[6])
TheEridu Genesis resembles Atrahasis in some central aspects. It reports on the beginning of civilisation on earth, even hinting that the groups of prehistoric man previously roamed Mesopotamia as free nomads.[7]
Archaeologist and prehistorianKlaus Schmidt, among others, researched the founding of Mesopotamian civilisation by ancient nomadic communities. According to hisinterdisciplinary view, the cultivation of large agricultural areas and the erection of monumental structures such asGöbekli Tepe could hardly have been accomplished by single groups ofhunter-gatherers, but rather presupposes the formation of first cross-group organisations. Small communities, which had previously lived self-sufficiently and in competition with one another, must have decided to settle their conflicts in order to cooperate in what would henceforth be a shared territory. This situation may be described quite well by the alliance between the three god parties in Atrahasis – a process associated with theNeolithic Revolution that began around9,500 BP, and thus "much earlier than previously assumed."[8]
In the main, the epic reports on a conflict between some of the first Sumerian gods and draws on the earlier myth of the separation of air and earth (‘above’ and ‘below’) in the midst of thecosmic freshwater primordial ocean to clarify their hierarchical relationship. Enlil represents the leading party in the council of gods; the party ofAnunnaki around Anu belongs more to the upper heaven, and that ofIgigi around Enki more to that below the earth sphere.
All three parties are bound by theTablet of Destinies, which Enlil is the only one to possess. In the Sumerian myths, its bestowed on him by the earth mother goddessNinḫursag herself (cf.Anzu myth). His aptitude as the greatest warrior and chief strategist of the divine tribal alliance gives him power over the other parties of gods; only he has the ability to transform present circumstances back into their original state – redefining the course offate.[9]
As a permanent legal document the tablet was provided with aseal, a sign mechanically applied by means of a special technique, which in ancient Mesopotamia was regarded as a symbol of a contract.[9] Contracts have been directly related to tribute payments to be made: often to shares of the food produced (see the cattle to be divided equitably betweenPrometheus and Zeus), but generally to assistance in battle or labour, such as the construction of mighty irrigation channels as described in the epic discussed here. As far as the male groups of gods were concerned, the separate task of reproduction fell to the seven divine wombs, theshassuratu presided over by Ninḫursag (Mami).
The plot of the epic follows a simple pattern:
As is well known, this genocidal project failed. In the tale of Atra-Hasis the reason for this divine misadventure was not so much the human's shipbuilding skills (Noah's Ark), but the quarrelling between the gods. Finally, they seal their fate as well as that of mankind by agreeing on a utopian method to regulate the reproduction of their creatures to a bearable level.
Two aspects of Atra-Hasis were adopted in theEpic of Gilgamesh around 1200 BC: the primal scene of the 7-day mating period of a man with a woman and the devastating deluge. The Old Testament probably also referred to these two themes of Atra-Hasis, with the former asAdam and Eve's creation and the latter as thebiblical flood narrative. The God-fearing priest Atraḫasis – the only one who was therefore allowed to survive the attempted delation with his wife, ensuring continued existence of artificially constructed humanity – appears there asNoah.[10]
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The epos taking place according to itsincipit, "When the gods had to work like humans (inuma ilu awilum = when the gods were humans)", there was a quarrel between the upper Anunnaki and the Igigu, the lower gods. While the latter had the task of ensuring the supply of the land through construction of irrigation canals by digging out the beds of big rivers, the Anunnaki ruled from above, presumably watching over the implementation of their plans and dividing the fruits of this great civilising project as they saw fit. After 40 years, however, the lesser gods rebelled and refused to do strenuous labor. At night, they surrounded the dwelling place ofEnlil, who was considered the main god of Sumerian civilisation, the separator of air and earth in the midst of the cosmic ocean.[11]
Enlil was surprised and called for Anu and Enki. Nusku, one of the sons and Enlil's ambassador here, tried to negotiate with the rebellious party, but had no success. Enlil, who also was the benevolent, wise leader of all the gods, didn't want a battle with the risk of serious injuries and deaths, and to avoid this he devised the plan to create easily controllable (obedient) humans to do the hard labour in place of the rebellious gods. He askedMami – leader of the 7 goddess wombs – if she could help. Mami declared that she could only fulfil this request with Enki's assistance. Enki, agreeing, advised the assembly of all gods that they should first cleanse themselves for everything else. They do. On the fifteenth day of this project, he cut upGeshtu-E – 'ear', a partie who listened for wisdom[iii] – into pieces (cf. Plato's dissection of the rebelliousspherical people into weak single individuals) and began to create the first human being to the sound of drums. He took clay from the soil of the steppe (Mami was regarded as primordial motherearth, so with the clay from her body female fertility came into play here), mixed it with the spilt blood and added a touch of cosmic water, bringing it to its living form. When the creature awoke, Mami approached, handed it a carrying basket and taught it to work for the gods from then on.
(Here is a gap in the tablet; when it resumes the first man now has a wife. It is impossible to say what the missing passage might have contained in terms of descriptions of where this woman came from – whether, for example, she was also made of clay like the man, or whether she came into existence in a completely different way. Certain is that subsequent myths tell of similar narratives, including the creation of first human couples by the gods Enki and Ninmah in theEridu Genesis, written around the same time; that of Adam and Eve by the God of theHebrew Genesis ca. one thousand years later; and the creation ofPandora for marriage to Epimetheus by the group of gods around Zeus in Hesiod'sTheogony.)
To complete the construction of humans in the optimal way, Mami encouraged the young couple to celebrate a seven-day feast in honour ofIsthar, the goddess of war and sexuality.* Both obeyed. After 9 months, the land of the gods gave birth to its first human child, whose purpose in life was to be the same as that of his parents.
(*Cf.Gilgamesh epic: there, too, the gods arranged a seven-day sexual act to pacify a kind of cold war. Protagonists are Enkidu: an almost invincible, rebellious animal-man or son of the "Gazelle"clan, and the female temple servant Shamkat, endowed with all advantages necessary for that purpose. Enkidu, who had previously destroyed so many animal traps with his fierce group of relatives, fell into this new type of trap. After having sex for 7 days, he was ‘weakened’: his herd of alleged animals fled into the steppe in horror. He was shocked of his lonely separation, but Shamkat, unaware that she was only following the gods' plan to domesticate Enkidu according to his further destiny, tried to comfort him: "Don't grieve; you have knowledge now, just like the gods!" See also Adam's and Eve's enjoyment of the Fruit of theTree of Knowledge in Eden.)
1200 years later, humans had multiplied to such an extent that they disturbed the gods with their noise. Enlil was annoyed and decided thatNamtar, his god of thedead's realm, should carry off most of humans with frost fever, so a great extinction began. Enki, probably worried that he would end up having to work again himself, approached his faithful priest Atraḫasis and advised him to do following: The other gods should no longer be worshipped, but only Namtar. This flattered the god of deadly diseases so much that as soon as he had begun his pandemic work, he ceased to eliminate people.
Tablet II is about the unstoppable increase in overpopulation.
After another 1200 years there were many more humans, they roamed around like roaring herds of cattle. Because the gods in upper part of heaven could no longer even sleep, Enlil sentAdad and, again 1200 years later, the fertility goddessNisaba to devastate the land with storms and dry up the harvests. Enki – dwelling in the lower part of sky – told his priest Atraḫasis what to do about it each time: Only Adad and Nisaba should be sacrificed to, the other gods should be left to starve. The pious priest acted according to this divine advice; Adad and Nisaba were so ashamed of this undeserved favour that they abandoned their endeavour. Enlil now completely enraged against Enki and decreed that a mighty flood should consume all of humanity. In addition, he made Enki swear before the Anunnaki that he would not speak another word to humans; he then began to consult with the assembled gods about the exact date and duration of the deluge to be unleashed.
(Enki in his relation to Enlil can be seen to have parallels toPrometheus rebelling against Zeus. Zeus was also originally the wise leader of a political organisation (primeval Athens), in which the double party of TitansPrometheus and Epimetheus embodied the inferior gods. According to the story, Zeus' character changed after a period of flourishing civilisation: he became stingy and unjust. In any case, these are the arguments Prometheus used to justify his uprising against 'heaven': he stole the god's fire, cheated Zeus out of the best part of a cow and even had an affair with Athena, who let him enter Olympus through a back door.[6] Zeus solved this revolt by producingPandora as Epimentheus' fatal wedding gift, dividing and ruling the titanic brothers. Similarly to Prometheus, Enki defies the orders of the upper gods, who now harbour genocidal intentions against the humans, and proves to be the benefactor of these creatures, who were of course only created as labour slaves to pacify the rebellion of the sub-gods around Enki.)
Tablet III contains theflood myth.
Well informed with all details, Enki went to his priest's reed hut, but waited until Atraḫasis began to lie down to sleep. Then, speaking cunningly to the hut's wall so as not to breach the contract, Enki told 'it'[iv] what to do: ‘Separate yourself from your house, build a ship, spurn your possessions, save your life.’ The ship should be cube-shaped and also be watertight from above with a roof "likeAbzu" itself. Atraḫasis should not tell anyone about the coming flood, take a large supply of food with him (including live birds and even fish, as the poet added with humorous irony) and keep an eye on the hourglass for seven days from start of the catastrophe. So the priest 'Extremely Wise' hurriedly left his belongings under a pretence and began building the ship. He invited his neighbours to help and had no scruples about promising them that the reward would soon come richly from heaven. The deadline was pressing, so he organised a big party to attract more workers. He himself was unable to eat during the lavish feast, so nauseous was he with fear of the impending punishment of the gods.
WhenAdad gathered the clouds and the winds began to roar from all ends of the world, Atraḫasis and at least one fertile woman (themasters sons too) climbed into the ship and sealed its entrance hatch from inside withpitch. The ark swirled like a pot on the waves of the mighty flood thundering down from the open floodgates of the cosmic primordial ocean. And how furious Enlil was at his foiled plan to destroy mankind! - The other gods, however, suffered from hunger, as they were unable to find any more humans to feed them in the midst of the raging chaos. They cry at the immense destruction, and Mami (Belet-ili) raised serious accusations against Enli: "Why you, thegreatest warrior of all gods, didn't fight the rebels" (instead of constructing humans)?!
A few lines are missing here again, but these can be added according to the Epic of Gilgamesh: After the ark is stranded high up on Mount Nisir, Uta-napišti (the name of Atraḫasis in the Epic of Gilgamesh) sends out three birds - presumably at daily intervals: a dove, a swallow and a raven. The raven, the least able to fly, didn't return, so Utanpištim knew that the land – probably still hidden from his view under thick clouds – was accessible again.
Atraḫasis descended from his ark and began to offer a food sacrifice to all the gods indiscriminately with a zeal eager to serve. How happy the gods were who had been starving for so long! As if they were flies lured by the scent, they swarmed in from all sides to the altar's fire and began to feast to their hearts' – for which they later endowed Anthrahais-Noah with their immortality in gratitude and settled him with his wife on the island ofDilmun on the distant edge of the world (seeGilgamesh flood myth).
Enlil, however, who as a wise ruler was responsible for the welfare of this great civilisation, was still furious with Enki, the culprit whose treachery had once again enabled some humans to survive the genocide what was planned this time. Enki, however, as always never at a loss for creative ideas, devised a way that he hoped would finally solve the problem caused by the quarrelling gods themselves. He decreed that from now on the humans would be familiarised with suffering and death from birth, that there would be barren and untouchable women and that their lifespan would be severely limited from the outset (in biblical terms to 120 years),[14][v] in the hope that their reproduction would be regulated in future. With this promise that the gods would have sufficient living space of their own on earth for all time, Enlil could be content and make peace with Enki.[15]
In later versions of the flood story, contained in theEpic of Gilgamesh and theEridu Genesis, the hero is not named Atra-Hasis.
InGilgamesh, the name of the flood hero isUtnapishtim, who is said to be the son ofUbara-Tutu, king ofShuruppak: "Gilgamesh spoke to Utnapishtim, the Faraway... O man of Shuruppak, son of Ubara-Tutu."[16] Many available tablets comprising theSumerian King Lists support the lineage of the flood hero given inGilgamesh by omitting a king named Shuruppak as a historical ruler of Shuruppak, implying a belief that the flood story took place after or during the rule of Ubara-Tutu.
In the Epic of Gilgamesh, first recorded in the 17th century BC (i.e., theOld Babylonian Empire), the hero is namedZiusudra, who also appears in theInstructions of Shuruppak as the son of the eponymous Shuruppak, who himself is called the son of Ubara-Tutu.[17]
The "Sumerian King Lists" also make no mention of Atra-Hasis, Utnapishtim, or Ziusudra.[18] Tablet "WB 62", however, provides a different chronology: Atra-Hasis is listed as a ruler of Shuruppak and a "gudug" priest, preceded by his father Shuruppak, who is, in turn, preceded by his father Ubara-Tutu, as in "The Instructions of Shuruppak".[18] This tablet is unique in that it mentions both Shuruppak and Atra-Hasis.
Subsequent versions of the flood myth in theAncient Near East evidently alter (omit and/or editorially change) information about the flood and the flood hero found in the originalAtra-Hasis story.[19]: xxx In particular, a lost, intermediate version of theAtra-Hasis flood myth seems to have been paraphrased or copied in a late edition of theEpic of Gilgamesh (Tablet XI).[20] This modern addition ofGilgamesh, known as the 'standard version', is traditionally associated with theBabylonianscribeSîn-lēqi-unninni (circa1300–1000 BC), though some minor changes may have been made since his time.[19]: xxiv–xxv
Regarding the editorial changes to theAtra-Hasis text inGilgamesh,Jeffrey H. Tigay comments: "The dropping of individual lines between others which are preserved, but are not synonymous with them, appears to be a more deliberate editorial act. These lines share a common theme, the hunger and thirst of the gods during the flood."[20]
Examples of alterations to theAtra-Hasis story inGilgamesh include:
In those days, when man began to multiply in the face of the ground, the sons of God saw how beautiful the daughters of men were and took wives for themselves as they wished. Then the LORD said, 'My spirit shall not dwell in man forever (...). I will give him a lifetime of 120 years. At that time and also later, when the sons of God went in to the daughters of men and they bore them children, they became the giants of the earth. These are the heroes of ancient times, the most famous
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