SUMERIAN RELIGION

Creation mythology is generally divisible into two types: Cosmogony - relating to the creation of the 'Cosmos', and Anthropogony - relating to the creation of humanity. The distinction is important because while specific texts exist relating to Sumerian anthropogony, no direct texts exist relating to Cosmogony. Rather, what we do know of their beliefs on the matter must often be gleaned from wholly unrelated texts. Though the cosmogonies presented in these texts are subject to some variation, distinct patterns can be grasped which give important insight into the Sumerian beliefs regarding the creation of the cosmos. Two fairly dissimilar approaches can be seen in Sumerian texts. The first, called the Eridu Model, relates to the beliefs of those situated in the southern regions of the country. The realm of the primal divine here is neither heaven, nor earth, but water. This realm is defined by the term Engur. This term is synonymous with Abzu, the "sweet waters of the deep," and is defined as the subterranean source of the waters which emerge from beneath the ground. This water was believed to be the source of the fertile marshes which gave life to this region of the country. The sign used for Engur can also be used for Nammu, the Mother Goddess prevalent in early Mesopotamian theology. Texts describe Engur/Nammu as 'the mother, first one, who gave birth to the gods of the universe.' "She is a goddess without a spouse, the self-procreating womb, the primal matter, the inherently female and fertilizing waters of the abzu."{1} The Northern Model substitutes the primacy of water with the duality of earth and sky. "Heaven and Earth here are both regarded as prima materia and generators of life; this is made explicit by the fact that they are both equated with the symbol Engur"{2} Sometimes one or the other is considered to have existed first. In the god-list, for example, An is said to be born of Earth, i.e. Uras (the masculine earth), and Ninuras (the feminine earth). A genealogy of Enlil also describes the earth as having appeared first, but focuses solely on its feminine, agricultural aspect. The text concerning the origin of the "toothworm" (thought to be the source of toothaches) lists the sky as being first, "After Anu{3} had created heaven, heaven had created earth, Earth had created rivers, rivers created canals, canals created the marsh, the marsh created the worm."{4} The most widely-accepted cosmology, however, is to be found in the text "Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Netherworld", wherein we are told:

In primeval days, in distant primeval days, In primeval nights, in far-off primeval nights, In primeval years, in distant primeval years - In ancient days when everything vital had been brought into existence, In ancient days when everything vital had been nurtured, When bread had been tasted in the shrines of the land, When bread had been baked in the ovens of the land - When heaven had been moved away from earth, When earth had been separated from heaven, When the name of man had been fixed - When An had carried off heaven, When Enlil had carried off earth {5}

Cosmic creation was thus born of the separation of the Primal Unformed mass of Heaven/Earth. This mass, it appears, was given birth to by Nammu/Engur. What we have no Sumerian source for, unfortunately, is an explanation of how Nammu/Engur was engendered, or whether on the contrary she was a preexistent force. It may well be here that the Babylonian Creation myth was seen as helpful by the semites, for there the 'Preexisting Primordial Waters' are said to have first engendered Mummu (Nammu). In a Tablet which lists the Sumerian Gods, Nammu is described as "the mother who gave birth to heaven and earth."{6} Thereafter, It was the Union of An with Ki, 'heaven' with 'earth', which produced the 'great gods', the Annunaki, as we are told in the "Myth of Cattle and Grain."{7} Enlil thus engendered, it was He who separated the two cosmic forces, "The Lord, that which is appropriate verily caused to appear, the lord whose decisions are unalterable, Enlil who brings up the seed of the land from the earth, took care to move away earth from heaven, took care to move away heaven from earth."{8} This Heaven/Earth mass must be viewed not as comprised of otherwise separable pieces, but as being an Essential Unity which encompasses this duad, "For the Mesopotamian, earth and the heavens above were not separate domains but were two parts of the one realm. Earth and heaven were complimentary, one depended upon the other and both were equally important."{9} In this way, the initial creative force, as viewed by the Sumerians, was very ³atomic² in nature: creation issued forth from a perceived whole which, nevertheless, was comprised of constituent forces; and it was the separation of these forces - "splitting the atom", so the speak - which fueled this creation. It is for this reason that such attention is paid to this act of separation itself in the creative scheme. This power, which the Ancient Sumerians saw as inherent in this seperation of united forces, would continue to be important in the religious context; where incantations were generally gounded in conjuration 'by Heaven and Earth'.

The creation and propagation of plant life thereafter was seen, in contrast, to have resulted from the union, rather than the seperation, of the primal Earth and Sky; the same union which had given birth to the Great Gods:

The Great Earth made herself glorious, her body flourished with greenery. Wide Earth put on silver metal and lapis lazuli ornaments, adorned herself with diorite, calcedony, carnelian, and diamonds. Sky covered the pastures with irresistible sexual attraction, presented himself in majesty, The pure young woman showed herself to the pure Sky, the vast Sky copulated with the wide Earth, the seed of the heroes Wood and Reed he ejaculated into her womb, the Earth, the good cow, received the good seed of Sky in her womb. The Earth, for the happy birth of the Plants of Life, presented herself{10}

Thus we see how the creative energies have been transformed from atomic (energy from seperation) to sexual (energy from union) as the process of universal conception proceeded. Movement to this form of sexual imagery would continue in Sumerian accounts of the creation of man. The Etana myth gives us some insight into the shape of this created universe. Therein, the hero Etana was carried up into the heavens by his companion, the Eagle. Etana was thereby able to describe the shape of the world from his lofty perspective. This shape would resemble an overturned boat adrift upon the sea.{11} The great mountain which constituted the Earth was thought to be hemispherical in shape. This hemisphere floated upon the earthly sea, resting above the Deep Waters of the Apsu which supported it all. At some distance above the Earth was stretched out the Heavens, which were in the shape of a hemisphere, as well. Further:

Above the dome of Heaven was another mass of water, a heavenly ocean, which the solid dome of Heaven supported and kept in its place, so that it might not break through and flood the Earth. On the under side of the dome the stars had their courses and the Moon god his path. In the dome, moreover, were two gates, one in the east and the other in the west, for the use of...the Sun god {12}

Utu would thus step out upon the earth from the mountains of sunset, located at the eastern edge of the Earthly hemisphere; and step back down to the Great Below from the mountains of sunset, located at the western edge. Located in this underworld was the realm of the dead, Arallu. We know from the myth of Inanna's Descent that this realm was girdled by 'seven walls pierced by seven gates', the first gate being known as Ganzir. At the center of these walls stood Egalkurzagin, the "lustrous mountain palace" which housed the denizens of the Underworld. Between the heavens and the Earth (though classified as a part of the "Earth") was a region in which earthly atmospheric activity took place.The foundation of the Heavens, though, rested upon the extremities of the Earth.{13} Above this foundation was the lower zone of Heaven, "Ul-gana", where the periodical motions of the planets was thought to occur. Above this region was the e-sara, where the fixed stars resided. The heavenly firmament, in turn, supported the ocean of the celestial waters, the Ziku.{14}

The source of a Sumerian Anthropogony is more direct than that which we have for Cosmogony. It is to be found in the text known as "The Birth of Man". The lesser gods, we are told, bore the lot of hard labor to support themselves and the 'great gods'.

When the gods acted like men, they did the work and labored. Their labor was enormous, the corvée too hard, the work too long because the great Anunaki made the Igiggi carry the workload sevenfold{15}

But this life of toil soon brought dissension, and the lesser gods threatened revolt. Namma (Nammu), mother of Enki, brings word of this threat to her son. Enki resolves to create a substitute for the gods' harsh labors. From Enki came forth the Foetus of future mankind:

Enki, at his mother Namma's word, rose from his bed, in Halankug, his room for pondering, he smote the thigh, the ingenious and wise one, skillful custodian of heaven and earth, creator and constructor of everything, had Imma-en and Imma-shar come out. Enki reached out his arm towards them, and a foetus was getting big there, and for Enki it was awakening to consciousness in the heart{16}

Enki then calls on Namma (Nammu) to 'drench the core of the Apsu clay' from whence the Gods were born. Therein Enki places the Foetus, and thus in Namma was the Embryo of mankind brought to fruition.{17} This legend is further elaborated on in the Atrahasis myth. Here again, man's creation is again necessitated by the toil's the gods are forced to endure. In response, Enki is called on to bring man forth man with the help of Nintu (Mami). Enki replies:

On the first, seventh and fifteenth of the month I shall make a purification by washing.{18} Then one God should be slaughtered. And the gods can be purified by immersion. Nintu shall mix the clay with his flesh and blood. Then a god and a man will be mixed together in clay. Let us hear the drumbeat forever after, let a ghost come into existence from the God's flesh, let her proclaim it as her living sign. Let her inform him while alive of his token. And so that there be no forgetting, the ghost shall remain{19}

This is one of the most amazing passages, in my mind, in Sumerian literature. To even begin to pierce its depths is a difficult task. I first make note of the "ghost" which is born of Enki's ritual here described. Modern scholars generally hold this term to be a play on words between etemmu, "ghost"; and temu, "intelligence". This ignores the fact that "etemmu" is also the term used to describe the disembodied spirit of a man which survives after death: the Soul. Thus, it is important to realize that from the body of the slain god a Soul itself was engendered, not just some earthly creature born of transformed apsu-clay. In addition, this Soul was to serve a greater purpose than that elaborated in "The Birth of Man". While man was still destined to fulfill the labors once required of the gods in toiling upon the Earth, the Soul which was created was to serve as the living sign of the slain god. So that this sacrifice was never forgotten, the Soul would ever remain, "let us hear the drumbeat forever after...". Thus man was created as both a physical creature, born of the fertile clay of the apsu; and a spiritual creature, endowed with the blood of the gods, and granted an imperishable soul that he might ever serve as the living sign of this sacrifice.

©1995-1996 Twin Rivers Rising