About this myth
Eridu Genesis is a
In a nutshell
Myth summary
The Sumerian deities An, Enlil, and Enki created the "black headed people," the animals, and assigned the cities among the deities. Eridug was given to Nudimmud, the leader. Ziusudra, a Sumerian king, is told that a flood will sweep over the land: "A decision that the seed of mankind is to be destroyed has been made." This was announced by An and Enlil. A huge boat is constructed and it withstands the rain and wind for seven days and seven nights. When the chaos ended, Utu, the sun deity, showed himself and entered the boat, whereby Ziusudra sacrified oxen and offered sheep to him. As the animals disembarked off of Ziusudra's boat, An and Enlil treated Ziusudra kindly and granted him eternal life in "the land Dilmun" because he preserved the seed of mankind.
Belief system
Sumerian Religion
Polytheistic
Sumerian religion refers to spiritual beliefs practiced from ca. 4500-1900 BCE in Mesopotamia, or modern-day southern Iraq. Many deities were diffused into other Mesopotamian cultures.
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Ziusudra
Main deity
Ziusudra (Sumerian: 𒍣𒌓𒋤𒁺) was a figure that appeared in a Sumerian king list as well as the flood myth known as the the "Epic of Ziusudra."
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Artifact
B10673
Penn Museum
The artifact named B10673 has contents related to this mythological story.
Translation
"Eridu Genesis": English Translation by Thorkild Jacobsen
Journal article · Thorkild Peter Rudolph Jacobsen · 1981
"Eridu Genesis" provides a partial English translation of a Sumerian creation and flood myth. This 1981 version was written by Thorkild Jacobsen and was where he coined the term "Eridu Genesis." It contains transliteration line numbers in the footnotes and there are many missing segments.
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Background
The Eridu Genesis is a Sumerian creation and flood myth which may date back to an oral record of ca. 2800 BCE. The name "Eridu Genesis" seems to have been coined by Thorkild Peter Rudolph Jacobsen in 1981.[1]
Artifact history
The contents of the Eridu Genesis myth come from a single clay cuneiform tablet named B10673. It was first published as plate one in 1914 by Arno Poebel.[2] The tablet is missing its top third.
Notes
Artifacts related to this myth
B10673
Clay
Cite this page
OMNIKA Foundation Contributors. "Eridu Genesis." OMNIKA – World Mythology Index, OMNIKA Foundation, 20 Feb. 2019, omnika.org/stable/16. Accessed 3 May. 2024.
OMNIKA (2019, February 20). Eridu Genesis. Retrieved from https://omnika.org/stable/16
OMNIKA Foundation Contributors. "Eridu Genesis." Las Vegas, NV: OMNIKA Foundation. Created February 20, 2019. Accessed May 3, 2024. https://omnika.org/stable/16.
