Ziusudra 𒍣𒌓𒋤𒁺 | |
---|---|
King of Shuruppak King of Sumer | |
![]() Sumerian King List, 1800 BC, Larsa, Iraq | |
Antediluvian king | |
Reign | c. 2900 BCE |
Predecessor | Ubara-tutu |
Successor | Deluge Jushur of Kish |
Died | Immortal |
Dynasty | Antediluvian |
Father | Ubara-tutu(Akkadian tradition) |
Ziusudra (Old Babylonian Akkadian:𒍣𒌓𒋤𒁺,romanized: Ṣíusudrá [ṣi₂-u₄-sud-ra₂],Neo-Assyrian Akkadian:𒍣𒋤𒁕,romanized: Ṣísudda,[1]Ancient Greek:Ξίσουθρος,romanized: Xísouthros) ofShuruppak (c. 2900 BC) is listed in the WB-62Sumerian King List recension as the last king ofSumer prior to theGreat Flood. He is subsequently recorded as the hero of theEridu Genesis and appears in the writings ofBerossus as Xisuthros.[citation needed]
Ziusudra is one of several mythic characters who are protagonists ofNear Eastern flood myths, includingAtrahasis,Utnapishtim and the biblicalNoah. Although each story displays its own distinctive features, many key story elements are common to two, three, or all four versions.[citation needed]
In the WB-62Sumerian king list recension, Ziusudra, or Zin-Suddu ofShuruppak, is listed as son of the last king of Sumer before a great flood.[2] He is recorded as having reigned as both king andgudug priest for tensars (periods of 3,600 years),[3] although this figure is probably acopyist error for ten years.[4] In this version, Ziusudra inherited rulership from his fatherUbara-Tutu,[5] who ruled for tensars.[6]
The lines following the mention of Ziusudra read:
Then the flood swept over. After the flood had swept over, and the kingship had descended from heaven, the kingship was in Kish.[7]
The city ofKish flourished in theEarly Dynastic period soon after a river flood archaeologically attested by sedimentary strata at Shuruppak (modernTell Fara), Uruk, Kish, and other sites, all of which have beenradiocarbon dated to ca. 2900 BC.[8]Polychrome pottery from theJemdet Nasr period (ca. 30th century BC), which immediately preceded the Early Dynastic I period, was discovered directly below the Shuruppak flood stratum.[8][9]Max Mallowan wrote that "we know from the Weld Blundell prism [i.e. WB-62] that at the time of the Flood, Ziusudra, the Sumerian Noah, was King of the city of Shuruppak where he received warning of the impending disaster. His role as a saviour agrees with that assigned to his counterpart Utnapishtim in the Gilgamesh Epic. ... both epigraphical and archaeological discovery give good grounds for believing that Ziusudra was a prehistoric ruler of a well-known historic city the site of which has been identified."[10]
That Ziusudra was a king from Shuruppak is supported by the Gilgamesh XI tablet, which makes reference to Utnapishtim (theAkkadian translation of the Sumerian name Ziusudra) with the epithet "man of Shuruppak" at line 23.[11]
The tale of Ziusudra is known from a single fragmentary tablet written in Sumerian, datable by its script to the 17th century BC (Old Babylonian Empire), and published in 1914 by Arno Poebel.[12] The first part deals with the creation of man and the animals and the founding of the first citiesEridu,Bad-tibira,Larak,Sippar, andShuruppak. After a missing section in the tablet, we learn that the gods have decided to send a flood to destroy mankind. The godEnki (lord of the underworld sea of fresh water and Sumerian equivalent of Babylonian god Ea) warns Ziusudra, the ruler of Shuruppak, to build a large boat; the passage describing the directions for the boat is also lost. When the tablet resumes, it is describing the flood. A terrible storm raged for seven days, "the huge boat had been tossed about on the great waters," thenUtu (Sun) appears and Ziusudra opens a window, prostrates himself, and sacrifices an ox and a sheep. After another break, the text resumes, the flood is apparently over, and Ziusudra is prostrating himself beforeAn (Sky) andEnlil (Lordbreath), who give him "breath eternal" and take him to dwell inDilmun. The remainder of the poem is lost.[13][failed verification]
The Epic of Ziusudra adds an element at lines 258–261 not found in other versions, that after the flood[14] "king Ziusudra ... they caused to dwell in theKURDilmun, the place where the sun rises". The Sumerian word "KUR" is an ambiguous word. Samuel Noah Kramer states that "its primary meanings is 'mountain' is attested by the fact that the sign used for it is actually a pictograph representing a mountain. From the meaning 'mountain' developed that of 'foreign land', since the mountainous countries bordering Sumer were a constant menace to its people. Kur also came to mean 'land' in general".[13] The last sentence can be translated as "In the mountain of crossing, the mountain of Dilmun, the place where the sun rises".[13]
A Sumerian document known as theInstructions of Shuruppak dated by Kramer to about 2600 BC, refers in a later version to Ziusudra. Kramer stated "Ziusudra had become a venerable figure in literary tradition by the middle of the third millennium B.C."[15]
Xisuthros (Ξίσουθρος) is aHellenization of the Sumerian Ziusudra, known from the writings ofBerossus, a priest ofBel in Babylon, on whomAlexander Polyhistor relied heavily for information on Mesopotamia. Among the interesting features of this version of the flood myth, are the identification, throughinterpretatio graeca, of the Sumerian godEnki with the Greek godCronus, the father ofZeus; and the assertion that thereed boat constructed by Xisuthros survived, at least until Berossus' day, in the "Corcyrean Mountains" ofArmenia. Xisuthros was listed as a king, the son of one Ardates, and to have reigned 18saroi. One saros (shar in Akkadian) stands for 3600 and hence 18saroi was translated as 64,800 years.A saroi or saros is an astrologolical term defined as 222 lunar months of 29.5 days or 18.5 lunar years equal to 17.93 solar years.
Ziusudra is also mentioned in other ancient literature, includingThe Death of Gilgamesh[16] andThe Poem of Early Rulers,[17] and a late version ofThe Instructions of Shuruppak.[18]
Preceded by | King of Sumer c. legendary or 2900 BC | Succeeded by |
Ensi ofShuruppak c. legendary or 2900 BC | City flooded according to legend |