Adapa, the Sage of Eridu
1 The finest understanding ... 2 His command was complied with, like the command of Anu. 3 He gave him complete wisdom, revealing to him the order of the land. 4 He gave him wisdom, but did not give him eternal life.
5 In those days, in those years, this sage, a native of Eridu, 6 Ea made him like a protective spirit among human beings. 7 A sage whose command no one rejected, 8 Skilled and very wise, he was servant of the Anunnaki,
9 Pure, with clean hands, anointed and attentive to divine rites,
Adapa Serves Ea
10 He worked as a baker with the baker, 11 He worked as a baker with the bakers of Eridu, 12 Every day he made the food and drink for the worship of the gods in Eridu. 13 He prepared the table with his own clean hands, 14 Without him the table was not cleared.
15 He steered the boat, he caught fish each day for the worship of the gods in Eridu. 16 At that time Adapa, native of Eridu, 17 While king Ea was stretched out in bed, 18 Attended to Eridu’s gate bolt each day.
19 At the sacred harbor, the harbor of “Heavenly Splendor,” he boarded the sailboat. 20 Without a steering oar his boat would drift on course, 21 Without a punting pole he would steer his boat. 22 Into the wide sea. 23 ... 24 ...
The Gods at Heaven’s Gate
25 To ... 26 ... 27 ... 28 Adapa ... 29 To ... 30 “Two gods have vanished from our land, 31 “That is why I ...” 32 “Who are the two gods ...?” 33 “Tammuz and Gizzida ...””
Adapa Breaks the South Wind’s Wing
1 “I did ... 2 South Wind! ... 3 I did as much as I needed ... 4 South Wind, ... your brothers, however many there are, 5 I will break your wing!” 6 As soon as he said it, the South Wind’s wing broke.
Anu Summons Adapa
7 The South Wind did not blow over the land for seven days. 8 Anu called to his messenger Ilabrat, 9 “Why has the South Wind not blown for seven days over the land?” 10 His messenger Ilabrat answered him, 11 “My lord, Adapa, son of Ea, has broken the South Wind’s wing.” 12 When Anu heard this, 13 He cried, “Heaven help us!” He rose from his chair, 14 “Send word and have him brought here.”
Ea Prepares Adapa for Heaven
15 Ea, who knows heaven’s ways, touched his arms, 16 ... and made him wear his hair unkempt, 17 Had him put on mourning clothes and gave him instructions,
18 “Adapa, you are going into King Anu’s presence. 19 You will go up to heaven. 20 When you go up to heaven and approach Anu’s gate, 21 Tammuz and Gizzida will be standing at Anu’s gate. 22 When they see you, they will ask you,
23 ‘Young man, for whom are you dressed this way? 24 Adapa, why are you in mourning clothes?’
25 ‘Two gods have disappeared from our land, 26 That is why I am dressed this way.’
27 ‘Who are the two gods who have disappeared from the land?’
28 ‘They are Tammuz and Gizzida.’
29 They will look at each other and laugh and laugh, 30 They will speak in your favor to Anu, 31 They will help you receive a friendly welcome from Anu. 32 When you come before Anu,
Ea’s Instructions About Food and Drink
33 “They will offer you food of death, do not eat it. 34 They will offer you water of death, do not drink it. 35 They will offer you a garment, put it on. 36 They will offer you oil, rub it on yourself. 37 Do not forget the instructions I give you, 38 Hold on to the words that I have spoken.”
39 Anu’s messenger arrived, 40 “Adapa broken the wing of the South Wind, 41 Send him to me!”
Adapa Enters Heaven
42 He brought him along the road to heaven and he went up to heaven. 43 When he went up to heaven and approached Anu’s gate, 44 Tammuz and Gizzida were standing at Anu’s gate.
45 When they saw him, Adapa, they cried, “Heaven help us! 46 Young man, for whom are you dressed this way? 47 Adapa, why are you dressed in mourning clothes?”
48 “Two gods have disappeared from the land, 49 So I am dressed in mourning clothes.”
50 “Who are the two gods who have disappeared from the land?”
51 “Tammuz and Gizzida.” 52 They looked at each other and laughed and laughed.
53 When Adapa came into King Anu’s presence, 54 Anu saw him and cried,
Adapa Answers Anu
55 “Come, Adapa, why did you break the wing of the South Wind?” 56 Adapa answered Anu,
57 “My lord, I was fishing in the depths of the sea for my lord’s temple. 58 Halfway through the sea crossing, 59 the South Wind blew against me and capsized me, 60 I was plunged into my lord’s house. 61 In my anger, I cursed it.”
62 Tammuz and Gizzida spoke up beside him, 63 Speaking in his favor to Anu. 64 His heart grew calm, he became quiet.
The Food and Water of Life
65 “Why did Ea disclose to a flawed human being something of heaven and earth, 66 And give him such a bold heart? 67 Since he has done this for him, what can we do for him? 68 Bring him food of life, so he can eat.”
69 They brought him food of life, but he did not eat. 70 They brought him water of life, but he did not drink. 71 They brought him a garment, and he put it on. 72 They brought him oil, and he rubbed it on himself.
73 Anu stared at him and burst out laughing at him,
74 “Come, Adapa, why did you not eat or drink? 75 Will you not live? What a loss for the ... peoples!”
76 “Ea my lord told me, ‘You must not eat, you must not drink.’”
77 “Take him and send him back to earth.” 78 ... stared at him ...
Anu Sends a Messenger
1 When ... heard this, 2 ... in his anger, 3 He ... and sent a messenger. 4 ... Ea, the very wise one, who knows the hearts of the great gods, 5 ..., who examines the hearts of the gods, 6 ... to reach the king, 7 ... considered the matter. 8 ... to Ea the king,
9 “... has sent a messenger.”
Ea Prepares Adapa
10 ... Ea, the very wise one, who knows the hearts of the gods, 11 ... ... heaven. 12 He ... and left his hair uncombed, 13 He smeared ... and rubbed a mourning garment. 14 ... and said to him,
Ea’s Instructions
15 “Adapa, you are going into King Anu’s presence, 16 ..., hold on to my words. 17 When you go up to heaven and approach Anu’s gate, 18 ... Tammuz and Gizzida will be standing at Anu’s gate. 19 ...”
Adapa Receives Oil and Clothing
1 He ordered water of life for him, but he did not drink. 2 He ordered oil for him, and he rubbed it on himself, 3 He ordered a garment for him, and he put it on.
Anu’s Decision About Adapa
4 Anu laughed loudly at what Ea had done, 5 “Who else among all the gods of heaven and the underworld could do something like this? 6 Who else could make his command stronger than Anu’s?”
7 Adapa surveyed from the horizon to the heights of heaven, 8 He saw the terrifying splendor of ...
9 At that time Anu assigned a duty to Adapa, 10 ... of Ea he released him. 11 Anu decreed that he would be honored for his leadership for all time.
Adapa’s Ascent
12 ... Adapa, the descendant of humankind, 13 Who arrogantly broke the wing of the South Wind in two, 14 ... to ascend to heaven. Let it be so.
An Incantation for Healing
15 The South Wind, whose gusts harmed the people, 16 The painful sore it has laid on people’s bodies, 17 ... pure Ninkarrak brings relief. 18 If the South Wind rises and the painful sore returns, 19 If shivering attacks this ... 20 ... he will not sleep soundly, 21 ... joy of people’s hearts, 22–23 ...
The South Wind Stops Blowing
1 ... 2 To ... 3 In ... 4 ... 5 The South Wind ... 6 To the house ... 7 At his command ... 8 The South Wind ... in ... 9 At that time ... 10 This order ... 11 At his command ... 12 For seven days and ..., 13 The South Wind did not blow toward the land ...
The Beer of Heaven
14 Let them become confused ... 15 The beer of heaven ... 16 The South Wind ... 17 ... 18 ... 19 The South Wind ... 20 Radiant ... 21 In ... 22 Of ... 23 ...
An Introduction to Adapa and the South Wind
5 min read
Adapa and the South Wind is an anonymous Mesopotamian story about a sage whose wisdom brings him before the gods but does not give him eternal life.1 Two copies from Tell Haddad preserve a version from the early second millennium BCE written in Sumerian, the language of ancient southern Mesopotamia.2 When the story was first composed and who wrote it remain unknown, although the surviving manuscripts establish stages in its transmission.3 Later copies in Akkadian, a language used in ancient Babylonia and Assyria, include a tablet from fourteenth-century BCE Egypt and fragments from seventh-century BCE Nineveh.4
The places where scribes preserved the story help explain its different uses, even though they cannot establish why it was first written. The copy from Amarna, an Egyptian royal capital, belonged to a collection of scholarly tablets associated with scribal education in Egypt, where scribes needed Akkadian for diplomatic correspondence.5 The earlier Sumerian copies were found among literary and magical texts at Tell Haddad, where the collection suggests an interest in healing, ritual knowledge, and questions about life and death.6 The later Assyrian introduction describes Adapa’s service at Ea’s sanctuary in Eridu and likely helped priests explain the divine authority behind their duties, although this later use cannot establish the purpose of the earliest story.7
Adapa’s relationship with Ea, the god of wisdom, begins with his daily service in the god’s household, where he prepares offerings and supplies fish. When the South Wind interrupts his fishing and plunges him into the sea, Adapa curses it and breaks its wing, and the wind ceases to blow until heaven’s ruler Anu summons him to explain what happened.8 Ea prepares him for the journey by explaining how to win the support of the gods at heaven’s gate and warning him to refuse food and water, which Ea describes as deadly. Adapa follows those instructions, but Anu offers him the food and water of life; his obedience leads him to refuse what would give him eternal life.910
The opening distinction between wisdom and eternal life governs Adapa’s encounter with the gods, where his extraordinary abilities leave him dependent on knowledge that Ea chooses to give him. He can disable a force of nature through speech, yet he cannot recognize the opportunity before him when Anu offers food and drink.11 His faithful service and privileged access to a god therefore do not remove the limits of human life, and even an exceptionally wise person remains vulnerable when dealing with the gods.12 The story connects mortality with the limits of wisdom through a servant who obeys his divine adviser and still fails to receive eternal life.13
In the earlier Sumerian story, Adapa's experience is part of humanity's history after the flood, when the gods need food and human beings resume the work of supplying it. Its long introduction concerns humanity and the organization of the world, while its conclusion returns to the South Wind and the removal of illness.14 The Akkadian retellings concentrate more closely on Adapa’s own fate and his relationship with Ea and Anu, and the Assyrian introduction makes the gift of wisdom without eternal life explicit.15 The changes in emphasis show how scribes could preserve the journey to heaven while developing different concerns about divine service, human knowledge, and mortality.16
Ea gives similar warnings about hospitality in Nergal and Ereshkigal, where he tells Nergal to refuse what he is offered in the underworld. Accepting its hospitality would bind the visitor to that realm, making food and drink part of the boundary between the living and the dead.17 Adapa travels upward to heaven rather than downward to the underworld, and he is allowed to accept clothing and oil while refusing food and water. In his case, the warning prevents him from accepting life, and the shared pattern of divine advice and forbidden hospitality leads to a different result.18
Gilgamesh, the Mesopotamian epic about a king’s search for eternal life, offers another comparison through its journeys across dangerous waters. In Gilgamesh, Tablet X, the king crosses the waters of death to reach Utnapishtim, the flood survivor who possesses the eternal life that Adapa fails to receive.19 The comparison also extends to Gilgamesh’s companion Enkidu, whose entry into human society brings knowledge and friendship but leaves him confronting his own death. Like Adapa, Enkidu belongs to a tradition in which the benefits of human understanding coexist with mortality, rather than providing a way to escape it.20
In Genesis 2–3, Adam and Eve gain knowledge by eating forbidden fruit but lose access to the tree of life, while Adapa obeys Ea and refuses the food that would give him eternal life. Both stories bring human knowledge close to divine knowledge while withholding the eternal life that the gods possess, a concern made explicit in Genesis 3:22.21 The difference in the characters’ actions matters: Adam and Eve cross a boundary by eating, whereas Adapa remains within the instructions given to him by his god. The comparison concerns the separation of wisdom from immortality, even though the characters arrive at that separation through different choices.22
In the Hebrew Bible and derivative traditions, Enoch’s mysterious disappearance in Genesis 5:24 and his entrance into the heavenly sanctuary in 1 Enoch 14:9–18 connect Adapa’s journey with later traditions about humans who approach the divine presence.23 In 1 Enoch, the visionary passes through increasingly holy chambers before seeing the heavenly throne, and his progress resembles a priest’s approach to the innermost sanctuary of a temple. This priestly setting gives the comparison with Adapa greater substance than the shared journey upward, since both figures connect exceptional access to heaven with religious knowledge and service.24 Enoch also resembles other Mesopotamian figures, including Enmeduranki, a king who receives divine knowledge, and Utuabzu, a sage said to have ascended to heaven. The Enoch traditions likely developed from several traditions about ancient sages, heavenly journeys, and priestly authority, rather than through direct copying of a single identifiable Mesopotamian source.25
Notes
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