People, Worship, and the First Animals
1 [Section missing] My humankind in its destruction let us [...]
2 My creations, Nintu’s creations [...] let us [...]
3 The people in their settlements let us [...]
4 He may build cities [...],
5 their shade (protection) let us [...]
6 He may mold the bricks for our houses in a clean place,
7 He may establish our places for divination in a clean place.
8 [...] of the temennu she straightened for it,
9 She perfected its exalted commandments and instructions,
10 The land was irrigated. “I will establish well-being there.”
11 After An, Enlil, Enki, and Nin-harsagga
12 had created the black-headed people,
13 They made small animals emerge from the earth,
14 They skillfully brought the four-legged animals of the fields into existence.
Kingship and the First Cities
1 [Section missing] let us [...] on him
2 [...] let us look at him.
3 After the maker of the [...] of the land, who established the foundations of the [...]
4 had created the [...] of kingship,
5 created the exalted [...] the [...] of kingship,
6 He perfected its exalted commandments and instructions.
7 He founded five cities in clean places,
8 After he had named them and they had been assigned to kabdu(ga)s
9 The [...] first of the cities, Eridu, he gave to the leader Nudimmut,
10 Second, he gave Bad-NAGAR + DIS to [...],
11 Third, he gave Larak to Pabilharsag,
12 Fourth, he gave Sippar to the hero Shamash,
13 Fifth, he gave Suruppak to Sud,
14 After he had named these cities and they had been assigned to kabdu(ga)s,
15 The [...] he [...], [...] he [...],
16 [...] he established small rivers and suluhs [...] [...]
The Gods and the Flood Survivor
1 [Section missing] The [...] place [...]
2 The people [...]
3 A rainstorm [...]
4 [Text missing] They made their [...], [...]
5 At that time Nintu cried out like a woman in labor.
6 The holy Ishtar wailed for her people.
7 Enki considered the matter in his own heart.
8 Anu, Enlil, Enki, and Nin-harsagga [...]
9 The gods of heaven and earth invoked the name of Anu and Enlil.
10 At that time Ziugiddu was king and the pasisu priest of [...]
11 He made a huge [...], [...]
12 He bowed down humbly, in reverence [...],
13 Day after day, he stood faithfully in attendance [...],
14 [...] through dreams that had not happened before, [...]
15 Calling on the names of heaven and earth [...]
The Warning at the Wall
1 For [...] the gods a wall [...]
2 Ziugiddu, standing beside it, heard [...]
3 Stand at the wall on my left and [...]
4 At the wall, I will speak to you.
5 My holy one, listen to me
6 By our hand a rainstorm [...] will be sent;
7 To destroy the seed of humankind, to [...],
8 is the decision, the declaration of the assembly of the gods, whose verdict cannot be reversed,
9 The commands of Anu and Enlil cannot be overturned,
10 Its (or their) kingdom, its (or their) rule has ended,
11 To him [...]
The Flood and the Return of Sunlight
1 [Section missing] All the immensely powerful windstorms came together,
2 The rainstorm [...] raged with them.
3 When, for seven days and seven nights,
4 the rainstorm had raged across the land,
5 the windstorms had carried away the huge boat on the vast waters,
6 Shamash came out again, spreading light over heaven and earth.
7 Ziugiddu opened a window in the huge boat,
8 He let (or: you let) the light of the hero Shamash enter the inside of the huge boat.
The Survivor Offers a Sacrifice
9 Ziugiddu, the king, bowed down in front of Shamash,
10 The king sacrificed an ox and slaughtered a sheep.
11 While [...] great horn [...]
12 [...] he [...] for him
13 [Text missing] [...] he filled
14 [...] two [...]
15 After [...]
The Survivor Receives Life Like a God
1 [Section missing] By the spirit of heaven and the spirit of the earth, you shall invoke him,
2 that he may [...] with you.
3 You shall invoke Anu and Enlil by the spirit of heaven and the spirit of the earth,
4 and he will [...] with you.
5 The [...] of the ground (or: with the earth) rises up.
6 Ziugiddu, the king, bowed down in front of Anu and Enlil.
7 Anu and Enlil showed kindness to Ziugiddu.
8 They granted him life like a god’s,
9 They gave him breath that would last forever, like a god’s.
10 At that time Ziugiddu, the king,
11 The name of the [...] Preserver of the seed of humankind [...]
12 They settled him on a [...] mountain, the mountain-land of Dilmun, where the sun rises.
13 After [...] they had settled him.
An Introduction to the Eridu Genesis
3 min read
Eridu Genesis traces the origin of humanity and human society through the founding of cities, the institution of kingship, and the flood. It was written in Sumerian, the ancient language of southern Mesopotamia and its remaining surviving tablet comes from Nippur and dates to about 1600 BCE, although that date does not establish when the story was first composed.1 The gods establish the institutions of civilized life, then order a flood that threatens their destruction. The survival of the king and priest Ziugiddu (Ziusudra), who receives immortality and residence in Dilmun, preserves a connection between divine favor and royal authority.2 The divine foundation of cities and their worship gives religious authority to the institutions of Mesopotamian society.3
The writer appears to have combined traditions about the first cities and kings with the language of Sumerian city laments. The Sumerian King List also describes kingship descending from heaven and connects the first rulers with cities such as Eridu, but it records the succession of rulers rather than concentrating on one king who survives the flood.4 The declaration that a divine verdict cannot be reversed closely resembles The Lamentation over the Destruction of Sumer and Ur 364–365.5 The emphasis on the king’s survival supports a reading of the story as an affirmation of enduring royal rule, comparable to court poetry celebrating kings whose lives and reigns the gods prolonged.6
Atrahasis, a Babylonian creation and flood epic, shares the sequence of a divine decision to destroy humanity, a warning to the survivor, and sacrifice after the flood. The direction of influence between Atrahasis and the Sumerian narrative remains uncertain, and gaps in the surviving text limit detailed comparison.7 Kingship and the first cities receive particular attention in Eridu Genesis, while Atrahasis explains human labor for the gods and the restrictions placed on human reproduction after the flood.89 In Gilgamesh, the Mesopotamian heroic epic, the flood survivor Utnapishtim receives immortality and a remote dwelling in tablet XI. His exceptional reward defines the limit of Gilgamesh’s own search for immortality: the flood survivor’s escape from death cannot be repeated.10
In the Hebrew Bible, Genesis 6–9 shares the divine decision to destroy humanity, the survival of a remnant aboard a boat, and sacrifice after the flood, with Genesis 6:5–13 attributing the disaster to human wickedness and violence. These similarities connect Genesis with a wider Mesopotamian flood tradition, including the version told in Gilgamesh XI, although its precise source may no longer survive.11 Genesis 1:26–28 also describes humanity’s authority in royal language, extending that status to humankind, while the surviving king receives particular prominence in Eridu Genesis.12 The treatment of city building differs more sharply: in Eridu Genesis, cities and their places of worship are established at divine command, while in Genesis 11:1–9 God frustrates the builders of Babel.13
Notes