Before time began there was only darkness and the
goddess Nammu, the Primordial Sea. She gave birth to Anki, the Universe. At
first they were Heaven and Earth in one, a vast mountain of soil and sky mixed
together. Anki produced Enlil, the air. Enlil separated his parents into An,
the sky , and Ki the mother earth. He pulled his mother down to form solid
ground and pushed his father up to form the heavens. He then created the moongod Nanna, who then created the sun god Utu. Enlil and Ki, air and earth joined
to produce Enki, the god of water, vegetation and wisdom, and the lord of the
universe. Enki gathered together part of the Primordial Sea and squeezed it
into rivers Tigris and Euphrates. He caused there to be cattle on the earth and
fish in the rivers. He built marshland around the rivers and made the soil rich
and fertile. Meanwhile in heaven, the gods were having a large, drunken
banquet. They decided to create humans. The first race was made of clay, and
weak in body and mind. At the time everyone was too drunk to see how poorly
they were made. The humans descended to live on Enki’s earth. Before long it
became clear that this race had too many problems to survive and be a credit to
the gods who created them. The gods decided to destroy them all in a great
flood. Only two people were worthy enough to survive- a man named Ziusudra andhis wife. Enki came to them with instructions. They were to build a wooden ark
and hide there until the flood waters subsided .The gods redirected the Tigris
and Euphrates and caused a violent flood, washing all the humans to their
deaths. The storms raged day and night until there was no dry land. Ziusudra
and his wife were safe in their wooden ark. They wept at the loss of mankind.
Finally the rivers shrank back and the land around them re-emerged. Ziusudraand his wife began a new generation of men and women and set up their villages
on the shores of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
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