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The Flood ... Mesopotamia: Atrahasis and Utanapishtim, the Mesopotamian Noah. 3 / 4

By Maximilian Lormier

Utanapishtim, the hope of Gilgamesh.

The king of Uruk is a legend in Mesopotamian literature. He actually existed or not, we're still at the stage of speculation today regarding its existence, but its epic has crossed borders and ages to achieve, since its rediscovery in the nineteenth century AD a new form of eternity it had lost during the last two millennia. The king, half god, half human, faced with the dilemma of the most important of his life. Powerful, strong and respected, Gilgamesh became aware of his own mortality and thus the ephemeral nature of life, when the goddess Ishtar, to whom he had refused, murdered his friend Enkidu. He abandoned his city and then went in search of the only human who knew the secret of eternal life, Utanapishtim - literally "I found my life" - who lived on the edge of the world. After many misadventures, Gilgamesh finally came before the wise old Utanapishtim in which he begged him to reveal the secret of eternal life only reserved for the gods. Although qu'Utanapishtim advised him to surrender, he told how the gods made him immortal.

King City Shuruppak he was warned by Ea, Enki's Akkadian name, thanks to a hidden message in a reed, an impending flood that would destroy all mankind. In this message Ea Utanapishtim ordered to surrender his house and build a boat - a cube-shaped - and enclose it with his wife and one specimen of each species alive. The boat was completed in seven days and as we had ordered, he shut himself up, taking with him his wealth, his family, animals and finally all the craftsmen of all trades. The storm then went up and rain began to fall. The cataclysm lasted six days and seven nights and was so violent that it terrified the gods themselves. The old Utanapishtim then told that all men were reverted clay - their source material - and silence prevailed. The boat landed on Mt Nimush (probably in the Zagros mountain range) and sent forth a dove Utanapishtim returned, then a swallow which eventually return it too, and finally a raven, he does not return. He opened the doors of the boat and scattered the animals. He offered an offering to the gods turned around like hungry flies. The gods then decided never to destroy humanity and offered to former Shuruppak King, and his wife, eternal life. In exchange, he would leave the world inhabited by men.

Gilgamesh will not get the secret of eternal life and finally returned to Uruk. However his journey was not provided uninformative. His travels brought him wisdom, and the text says that it is a good shepherd he returned to Uruk he would make a huge and beautiful city.

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The Flood ... Mesopotamia: Atrahasis and Utanapishtim, the Mesopotamian Noah. 2 / 4


By Maximilian Lormier

Atrahasis, the favorite of Enki.

Atrahasis The myth tells the story of the creation of man and how many times the gods wanted to make it disappear. The genesis of man against the backdrop of revolution begins. In the beginning, the gods were multiple and consisted of two social groups: the powerful who ruled, remaining idle and consumers, and workers who produce food for the powerful. However, after some time, perhaps several thousand years, this order was no longer suitable and the minor gods revolted, destroyed their tools of labor, and besieged powerful in their fortress. The powerful gods, trapped, were forced to meet, hold a council of crisis and take the necessary decisions. The ideals of the revolution triumphed, and it was now accepted that the gods were now all free and equal. Unfortunately now arose the problem of food production need to produce to feed the people of gods, more numerous, gluttonous, voracious. The god Enki, the smartest and wisest, had the brilliant idea of creating a race of inferior beings made of clay and blood of gods and would have the same appearance their creators. These beings would not have the luxury to revolt, because Enki had the idea to introduce them in mortality: the man (awilum) was born.

man, mortal, had no time to revolt forever as did the ancient gods. Also satisfied, the gods went to work on the land, and harvest after harvest, they fueled their creators. Unfortunately, like all creation, man included defects that became quickly unbearable for the gods and their supreme leader, Enlil. Indeed, the Sumerian royal lists found in soil hot archaeological excavations in Iraq revealed that the first kings of those lists had long lives of hundreds of thousands of years. The men were multiplying rapidly and despite the mortality, they created a huge deafening uproar that the gods decided to stop.

Twice Enlil sent the great evils of the human race in order to destroy it: a terrible epidemic first and then later in a second attempt, a devastating drought. Men would be lost if Enki had not intervened. To save his creation, without hurting the other gods, Atrahasis he went, literally "the great sage" he made his devout and through his word. To stop the epidemic, Enki said to offer the Namtar Enlil, a hypostasis of fate. Enlil was flattered and then once satisfied, he hung his wrath. The men were rescued from the drought by Enki who intervened directly, since he was the god of water.

Nobody knows how much time passed before Enlil resumed his murderous desires. This time, he would once and for all end the uproar on earth by drowning in a giant flood. He did endorse the decision by the council of the gods Enki which belonged, not to suffer any challenge. Helpless and bound by his oath, not yet Enki gave up and went to find again Atrahasis who ordered through a hidden message, build the biggest secret in a sealed vessel and s 'lock up during the flood. Atrahasis complied and took with him his wealth, wild and domestic animals and many birds. Finally, Enlil's flood and rained all mankind was covered by water. The disaster was such that the gods themselves were horrified at the disaster. The cost to pay for this massacre was extremely heavy because the gods Enlil, in his great foresight, had not anticipated that the gods were nourished by men, not counting the remorse and hunger gnawed them soon enough. Atrahasis landed, went out and offered with a fumigation gods who ran around "like flies". The gods decided in meeting some measures to avoid future overcrowding of men. They introduced infertility, infant mortality and priestesses who are prohibited from giving birth.