THE SUMERIAN MYTHS AND THE GENESIS

Sumerian religion has its roots in the worship of nature, such as the wind and water. Sumer, or the ‘land of civilized kings’, flourished in Mesopotamia, now modern-day Iraq, around 4500 BC. Sumerians created an advanced civilization with its own system of elaborate language and writing, architecture and arts, astronomy and mathematics. Their religious system was a complex one comprised of hundreds of gods. According to the ancient texts, each Sumerian city was guarded by its own god; and while humans and gods used to live together, the humans were servants to the gods.

Here is the sequence of the Babylonian version of the Sumerian creation myth which Roux presents:

1. In the beginning, there was only a primordial sea of saltwater. This living sea was named Nammu, described as female, and was the sole element in the universe.

2. Nammu created the sky and the earth, intimately joined together. The earth was flat with an underground aquifer named Abzu, encircled by a saltwater sea, defined as female, and named Ki. The sky was defined as male and named An, whose temple was at Uruk.

3. Ki and An mated, and Ki gave birth to the air which separated the sky from the earth i.e. herself from An. The air was named Enlil,and described as male. His temple was at Nippur and considered the most important temple until the beginning of the 2nd millennium B.C.

4. Enlil mated with Ki and engendered all living creatures on earth (except man).

5. Enki, another son of An and either Ki or Nammu, created and protected mankind. He lived in the Abzu and its outlets flowing in springs, rivers, lakes, and marshes. Enki and the Abzu were worshiped at the temple at Eridu.

6. The Sumerian gods: An, Enlil, and Enki were the supreme gods of the Sumerian pantheon, with name changes to suit politics, until about 2000 BC.

Sumerian Gods 

Some of the Sumerian gods and goddesses included:

• Anu - Sometimes called An, Anu was the god of the heavens and king of the gods. The city associated with Anu was Uruk.
• Enlil - The god of air, wind, and storms, Enlil held the Tablets of Destiny. These tablets gave him control over the fate of man and made him very powerful. He wore a crown with horns. He was associated with the city of Nippur.
• Enki - Enki was the shaper of the world as well as god of wisdom, intellect, and magic. He invented the plough and was responsible for making plants grow. He is drawn holding Zu, the storm bird. He was god of the city of Eridu.
• Utu - The god of the sun as well as justice and the law, Utu is drawn holding a saw like instrument. Mythology says that Utu travels across the world each day in a chariot.
• Inanna - Inanna was the goddess of love and war. Her symbol is a star with eight points. Her primary city was Uruk, but she was also prominent in the city of Babylon.
• Nanna - Nanna was also called Sin. He was god of the moon. His home was the city of Ur.

Babylonian Gods

• Marduk - Marduk was the primary god of the Babylonians and had Babylon as his main city. He was considered the supreme deity over all the other gods. He had as many as 50 different titles. He was sometimes pictured with his pet dragon.
• Nergal - God of the underworld, Nergal was an evil god who brought war and famine on the people. His city was Kuthu.
• Tiamat - Goddess of the sea, Tiamat is drawn as a huge dragon. Marduk defeated her in battle.
• Shamash - The Babylonian version of Utu
• Ea - Same as Enki

Marduk - god of Babylon by Unknown

Assyrian Gods

• Ashur (Assur) - The primary god of the Assyrians. He was also the god of war and married to the goddess Ishtar. His symbols are a winged disc and the bow and arrow.
• Ishtar - Similar to Inanna, she was goddess of love and war.
• Shamash - The Assyrian version of Utu
• Elil - The Assyrian version of Enlil.
• Ea - Same as Enki

THE CREATION MYTH

The Genesis was written as a response to the existing Akkadian texts. The events of creation in the hexaemeron mirrors those of the Enuma Elish. The big difference is that the writers of Genesis changed the many Mesopotamian gods/goddesses into one God. Because of the enormous impact of the Bible upon both the Jewish and Christian communities, any ancient Near Eastern literary discovery that may offer a parallel to some segment of biblical literature is greeted with interest. One such literary discovery is the Adapa myth. Its early discoverers and investigators claimed it as a true Babylonian parallel to the biblical story of Adam.

When in the height heaven was not named, 
And the earth beneath did not yet bear a name, 
And the primeval Apsu, who begat them, 
And chaos, Tiamut, the mother of them both 
Their waters were mingled together, 
And no field was formed, no marsh was to be seen; 
When of the gods none had been called into being, 
And none bore a name, and no destinies were ordained; 
Then were created the gods in the midst of heaven, 
Lahmu and Lahamu were called into being...

Sumerian mythology claims that, in the beginning, human-like gods ruled over Earth. When they came to the Earth, there was much work to be done and these gods toiled the soil, digging to make it habitable and mining its minerals.The texts mention that at some point the gods mutinied against their labour.

When the gods like men 
Bore the work and suffered the toll 
The toil of the gods was great, 
The work was heavy, the distress was much.

Anu, the god of gods, agreed that their labour was too great. His son Enki, or Ea, proposed to create man to bear the labour, and so, with the help of his half-sister Ninki, he did. A god was put to death, and his body and blood was mixed with clay. From that material the first human being was created, in likeness to the gods.

You have slaughtered a god together 
With his personality 
I have removed your heavy work 
I have imposed your toil on man. 
…
In the clay, god and man 
Shall be bound, 
To a unity brought together; 
So that to the end of days 
The Flesh and the Soul 
Which in a god have ripened – 
That soul in a blood-kinship be bound.

ADAM AND ADAPA

This first man was created in Eden, a Sumerian word which means ‘flat terrain’. In the Epic of Gilgamesh , Eden is mentioned as the garden of the gods and is located somewhere in Mesopotamia between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.Initially human beings were unable to reproduce on their own, but were later modified with the help of Enki and Ninki. Thus, Adapa was created as a fully functional and independent human being. This ‘modification’ was done without the approval of Enki’s brother, Enlil, and a conflict between the gods began. Enlil became the adversary of man, and the Sumerian tablet mentions that men served gods and went through much hardship and suffering.Adapa, with the help of Enki, ascended to Anu where he failed to answer a question about ‘the bread and water of life’. Opinions vary on the similarities between this creation story and the biblical story of Adam and Eve in Eden.The Myth of Adapa (also known as Adapa and the Food of Life) is the Mesopotamian story of the Fall of Man in that it explains why human beings are mortal. The god of wisdom, Ea, creates the first man, Adapa, and endows him with great intelligence and wisdom but not with immortality, and when immortality is offered Adapa by the great god Anu, Ea tricks Adapa into refusing the gift.

Though it is not expressed directly in the myth, Ea's reasoning in this seems similar to Yahweh's in the Genesis story from the Bible where, after Adam and Eve are cursed for eating of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, Yahweh casts them out before they can also eat of the Tree of Life:

“Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil; and now, lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever; Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden”(Genesis 3:22-23)

If Adam and Eve were immortal they would be on par with Yahweh and there would be a loss of status for the god; and this is Ea’s same reasoning in the Adapa myth. In the Genesis myth, man takes knowledge for himself by eating of the tree; in the Mesopotamian myth, the god Ea grants man knowledge in the process of creation. Knowing that Adapa is already wise, Ea (like Yahweh in the later story from Genesis) needs to keep the man in his place.

Adapa was the king of the city of Eridu and, the myth tells us, went fishing one day in the Persian Gulf when the south wind suddenly capsized his boat and hurled him into the sea. Furious at this, Adapa broke the wing of the south wind and for seven days the wind could not blow. The sky god Anu is angered by this and sends for Adapa to explain himself. Adapa receives counsel from Ea on how he should behave in the court of the gods. As Ea is Adapa's father-god and creator, Adapa trusts him to tell him the truth. But Ea fears that Anu is apt to offer Adapa the food and drink of eternal life and Ea is intent on making sure that Adapa does not accept the offer.

First Ea tells him that he should flatter the guardians of the gates, Tammuz and Gishida (two dying and reviving deities) by making it known that he remembers them, that he knows who they are. If Adapa does this then the guardians will let him pass without difficulty and will speak favorably of him to Anu. Once Adapa is in the presence of Anu, Ea further tells him, he should refuse any food or drink offered because it will be the food of death and the drink of death which will be offered as punishment for Adapa breaking the wing of the south wind. However, Ea says, Adapa may accept oil to anoint himself and accept whatever clothing is offered.

Adapa does exactly as Ea suggests, respectfully honoring Tammuz and Gishida and refusing the food and drink offered by Anu (though anointing himself and accepting a robe). Anu, puzzled that the man should refuse the food and drink of life and the gift of immortality, sends Adapa back to earth where he must live out his life as a mortal.

The name Adapa has a tantalizing similarity to that of Adam, a fact that has led to the suggestion that a simple phonetic development may explain their relationship, i.e., a labial shift from m to p, rather than vice versa. Moreover, the final ending a in Adapa also appears in the Hebrew 'adama, meaning "ground"/ "soil." Finally, a-da-ap is reported by E. Ebeling to occur in a syllabary text with the meaning "man."

An alternative interpretation of the myth claims that Ea is sincerely acting in the best interests of Adapa when he warns him against accepting food or drink from Anu because Ea earnestly believes that Anu will punish Adapa with death for breaking the wing of the south wind. This interpretation claims that Ea’s punishment at the end of the poem is not for deceiving Adapa but for warning him against Anu’s plans. Nowhere in the poem, however, does it state that Anu planned to kill Adapa, only that he was upset that the south wind was not blowing (that life on earth was not functioning as it should) and wanted Adapa to explain himself.

The Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh dates back nearly 5,000 years and is thought to be perhaps the oldest written tale on the planet. In it, there is an account of the great sage Utnapishtim, who is warned of an imminent flood to be unleashed by wrathful gods. He builds a vast circular-shaped boat, reinforced with tar and pitch, that carries his relatives, grains and animals. After enduring days of storms, Utnapishtim, like Noah in Genesis, releases a bird in search of dry land.

The Ritual of Water-Consecration in Sumerian Texts |

Prayer :

Pure waters, waters of the Tigris rising,Waters of Euphrates, that in a pure place are created,Waters, that in Abzu are carefully brought up,Pure lips of Enki have cleared.Sons Abzu - seven they are – Have consecrated Water, have cleared Water, have forced Water to shine.Before the father yours Enki,Before mother of yours Damgalnunna Let it be pure, let it be clean, let it be shining!

Before a vessel with the consecrated water three times you should read the spell.

CONCLUSION 

On the basis of the Sumerian myths, we have come to some conclusions that is ,we strongly disagree with all the ancient alien theories and that the gods of sumerians like Aryan, Roman, Egyptian and Norse gods where earthly beings with highly advanced technology and evolved yogic powers. They were one among the first of civilizations like Adityas, Vasus ( Olymbians) etc. These civilizations had powers to control the nature with their advanced spiritual and technological capabilities. 

The gods here, modified and supported the less advanced tribes of man and helped them with their day to day activities. With highly evolved intellect and yogic skills these gods turned into energy beings and so, for the help they provided to mortals, they wanted the mortal life energy which the aryan gods received through fire sacrifices. 

Worship, simply means "poorna samarpanam", complete submission to the higher being. That is, we simple transfer the miracle ( Life energy ) within us to the higher beings for the help we receive from them. 

This mutal exchange agreement is what Gita refers to when it says : 

"You please the DEvas( Higher beings) through Yajnas - Let the devas please you by rains and such other things. Thus, helping each other may you prosper".