Eridu Genesis

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 [...],⁠a
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,⁠a
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,⁠a
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 humankind⁠b [...]
12 They settled him on a [...] mountain, the mountain-land of Dilmun, where the sun rises.
13 After [...] they had settled him.