Atrahasis Epic
c. 1700 BCE · Old Babylonian · Sippar; Nippur
transliteration
inūma ilū awīlum
The Atrahasis Epic tells the story of humanity's creation and near-destruction in three tablets. In the beginning the great gods compel the lesser Igigi gods to dig the irrigation canals of Mesopotamia. After forty years the Igigi rebel against their labour. The god Enki proposes a solution: create humanity from clay mixed with the flesh and blood of a slain god so that mortals can bear the work the gods refuse. For many generations humanity multiplies and prospers, but its noise disturbs the god Enlil's sleep. Enlil first sends plague, then drought, then famine to reduce the human population. Each time Enki secretly instructs Atrahasis — whose name means "Exceedingly Wise" — how to survive by redirecting the people's worship to the afflicting deity. Finally Enlil persuades the divine assembly to send a great flood to annihilate humanity completely. Enki circumvents this decree: speaking to the reed wall of Atrahasis's house rather than to the man directly, he tells Atrahasis to build a great boat and load it with animals and family. The flood comes, lasts seven days and seven nights, and destroys all other life. When the waters recede and the gods smell the sacrifice Atrahasis offers, they regret the flood's totality. Enlil is angered that any survived, but Enki defends his action. A compromise is reached: to limit future human population growth, certain women will be barren, infant mortality will exist, and celibate priestesses will not bear children.
notes
The Atrahasis Epic is considered the direct source for the flood episode in the Epic of Gilgamesh (Tablet XI) and shares significant structural and textual parallels with Genesis 6–9. Unlike Genesis, the motivation for the flood is human overpopulation and noise rather than moral corruption. The text is the fullest account of human creation in Mesopotamian literature.
currently held: British Museum, London
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