As my church is reading through Genesis, I’ve been looking at commentaries and studying the passages in depth. The Word Biblical Commentary mentions many of the other creation myths that would have been well-known at the time Genesis was written, and can therefore provide some context for understanding style and motifs in the Genesis account.
I’m not saying that Genesis is simply a literary text. To me, it is also the authoritative word of God. However, it is a text, and was written in a cultural and literary environment, and thus I find it fruitful to take a look at what some of the texts in that literary environment were.
What is Atrahasis about?
This brings me to Atrahasis. This Old Babylonian myth begins at a time before man is created, like the Genesis account. However, in Atrahasis there are many gods. In fact, there are so many you’ll have to reference dictionaries on Babylonian gods along the way to keep track of them and to understand their roles.
At the beginning of Atrahasis, the great Anunna-gods are burdening the lesser Igigi-gods with forced labor. The god Anu is king, the warrior god Enlil is counsellor, and Ninurta is prefect.
The gods cast lots (kind of like drawing straws). The result is that Anu gets to govern the heavens while Enlil will govern the earth. Anu goes up there, and Enlil oversees the Igigi-gods and their forced labor.
As you might guess, the Igigi-gods get tired of working, so they come up with a plan: they will fight Enlil so that they can be free from their heavy work.
When the Igigi-gods surround Enlil’s dwelling, he sends for the other Anunna-gods. Then, he goes out to debate the Igigi-gods.
Here, you can already see a difference in the Genesis account (if you know it). In Genesis, there is only one God. The emphasis on God’s oneness throughout the Pentateuch radically sets Judaism apart from the pagan religions and their myths.
How Man is Created
In Genesis, God creates man from dirt, but then breathes life into him. Mankind is created in the image of God, to rule over His creation.
In Atrahasis, mankind is created by killing one of the gods and mixing his blood with dirt.
“Let one god be slaughtered,
Then let the gods be purified in it.
Let Nintu mix clay with his flesh and blood,
Let that same god and man be thoroughly mixed in the clay”
Foster, Benjamin R. Before the Muses: An Anthology of Akkadian Literature. 2005. Lines 208-211.
Then, they slaughter Aw-ila, the god who had this inspiration, and the Igigi gods spit on the clay. Mami, the birth goddess, helps to remove the work from the Igigi gods and put it on the shoulders of mankind instead.
This has panentheistic undertones, as a god becomes part of the creation. The spirit of the god used to create mankind now becomes mankind’s spirit.
After this point, the version I was reading talks about fertility and the first childbirth, where Nintu (which is possibly another name for Mami) is the midwife.
In both accounts of creation, man is created to work. In Genesis, however, mankind is blessed to rule over creation and work the ground. He is given a good and prestigious position. In Atrahasis, mankind is burdened with the work the gods don’t want to do.
Where Did Atrahasis Come from?
I read an English translation by Benjamin R. Foster of the Old Babylonian version, which is based on a manuscript dating back to 1700 B.C.
Some other fragments were found and incorporated, but there are also missing parts to the story. The original version was three tablets of 1245 lines, of which we only have about 60%.1
A scribal identification on the three tablets can be connected with the time and rule of Ammi-Saduqa, the great-grandson of Hammurabi. He would have ruled in Babylon, which is modern day Iraq.2
Sources:
- Foster, Benjamin R. Before the Muses: An Anthology of Akkadian Literature. 2005.
- “Atra-Hasis.” New World Encyclopedia. https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Atra-Hasis
You can find an audio background and brief explanation of this text here:
https://britishmuseum.withgoogle.com/object/cuneiform-tablet-with-the-atrahasis-epic
Classic Reads 