When there were no people on earth yet, the number of immortal great gods and the Anunnaki subject to them grew and grew. They have already populated the entire sky, the entire earth and the entire underworld. It became more and more difficult to get food for ourselves. The hardworking grain goddess Ashnan, created by the Anunnaki specifically to grow bread and make wine, did not have time to feed everyone. Her brother, the shepherd Lahar, diligently milked the goats and sheep, but there was not enough milk for everyone.
The gods began to pray to the almighty Enki to help them and save them from hunger and thirst. But their groans did not reach the addressee - Enki slept calmly in the depths of his abyss and did not hear the cries of his divine children. Finally, Enki's mother, the Primordial Sea Nammu, brought him the tears of the gods with these words:
Oh, my son, rise from your bed,.....
Work wise,
Create servants for the gods, so that they may produce others like themselves.
Enki thought deeply about his mother’s words, and then called upon “the good royal sculptors” and said to his mother, the Primordial Sea Nammu:
- My mother, the creation that you named already exists,
Let us place the burden of the gods and their baskets on him!
When you mix clay from the very core of the Abzu.
Like a woman’s womb, the clay will become heavy.
You will truly create creation,
Let Ninmah become your assistant.
Goddesses Ninimma, Shuziana, Ninbara,
Ninmu, Ninguenna stand around you,
When will you give birth?
My mother, when will you assign his fate.
Ninmah will place baskets on him.
Let the human race be created.
Enki decided to arrange the creation of man very solemnly; he arranged a grandiose feast and called all the gods to it. At this feast, he himself and his assistant, the inhabitant of the bowels of the earth Ninmah, drank too much sweet wine. Staggering, they approached a vessel with clay from the Abzu abyss and began to crush it. With trembling hands, Ninmah sculpted six varieties of creatures, but all of them had obvious deviations. For each of them, Enki determined his destiny.
The fifth woman was the one who could not give birth,
This is who she created.
Enki, looking at the woman, at the one who cannot give birth,
He determined her fate and arranged for her to become a weaver in a women's home.
Sixth, it did not have a male root, it did not have a female womb,
This is who she created.
Enki, looking at the being that had no male root,
Which did not have a woman's womb.
He made him a palace servant, assigned him such a fate...
Enki was angry with the inept Ninmah for creating only monsters, and decided to take on the matter himself. The result turned out to be even worse; the creature turned out to be completely frail and weak. Enki was worried that Ninmah might refuse to help his unreasonable creation and asks her
I have assigned a destiny to the one sculpted by your hand,
Gave him some bread to eat.
Will you assign a fate to what is sculpted by my hand,
Will you give him some bread to eat?
Ninmah tried her best, but the unfortunate creature could neither stand, nor sit, nor eat, nor drink, nor speak. The gods quarreled, and a long and not entirely intelligible conversation took place between them. Then they nevertheless sculpted normal men and women, similar to gods in everything except immortality. People had to work on the earth to provide their creators with everything they needed.
Another translation of the poem
From the beginning, from the days of the creation of the world,
From the beginning, from the nights of the creation of the world,
From the beginning, from the years of the creation of the world.
When the Fates were established,
When the Anunnaki gods were born.
When the goddesses entered into marriage,
When the goddesses in the earth and sky were distributed,
When the goddesses, having come together with the gods,
got heavy, gave birth,
Then the gods began to work for food, for food.
The elder gods began to rule,
The younger gods loaded the basket onto their shoulders.
The gods of the river dug canals and poured earth under their supervision.
The gods suffered grievously and grumbled about their lives.
And He at that time, the Creator Mind,
he is the creator of all great gods,
Enki in the depths of the quiet-flowing Engura, in whose bowels
none of the gods dares to look,
He reclined on his bed, he slept, did not get up.
The gods began to cry out loudly and weep with bitter cries.
To the one who lies, to the one who sleeps, to the one
who does not rise from his bed,
Nammu is the foremother, ancestress, of all the great gods
she is a creator
She brought the lamentations of all the gods to her son.
"You lie, you sleep, you don’t get up from your bed,
And the gods, your creations, tearfully pray for a softening of their lot.
Rise, my son, from your bed, rise, show your
skill and wisdom!
Create something that will replace the gods,
let them leave their baskets!"
At the word of his mother Nammu, Enki rose from his bed.
God of the light sacrificial goat
in deep contemplation he took it in his hands.
He, the Great Wise Mind, he, the prophetic caster,
He planned what would come out of a woman's womb.
Enki gathered all his strength,
expanded his mind in every possible way.
Enki is an image like himself in his heart
created with understanding.
He says this to his mother Nammu:
"My mother! Creation, what will you create,
it truly exists.
Let us place the burden of the gods, their baskets, on him.
When you knead the clay from the very core of the Abzu,
Like a woman’s womb, the clay will become heavy.
You will create this creature.
Let Ninmah become your assistant.
Goddesses Ninimma, Shuzianna, Ninmada, Ninbara,
Ninmug, Sharshargaba, Ninguna,
Let them stand around you,
when will you give birth?
My mother, when will you assign his fate
Ninmah will place baskets on him.
Let the human race be created."
Humanity... from its womb (?)...
Your creation... in your pond...
... raised to the light... the human race...
... seed... of the born washed (?)... cleansing (?)
Enki, with the increase in his labors... rejoiced in his heart.
For Nammu's mother, for Ninmah, he arranged a feast.
Line 46 omitted
For An and Enlil, Lord Nudimmud
roasted a clean kid.
All the gods praised him in a crowd:
“O lord, Vast Mind, who is equal to you in wisdom?
Great Lord Enki,
who can repeat your actions?
Like a dear father, you award the Essence, you yourself -
these great Essences."
Enki and Ninmah drank beer, God's womb rejoiced.
Ninmah says this to Enki:
"Is human creation good?
is it bad -
As my heart tells me, I will condemn him to such a fate -
either good or evil."
Enki Ninmah answers:
“The fate that you wished to award,”
whether good or evil, I will appoint!”
Then Ninmah plucked Abzu from the clay with her hand.
And the first, his hands are weak - in order to take something,
he cannot bend them, -
this is who she created.
Enki looked at the one whose hands were weak -
to take something
he can't bend them
He determined his fate and appointed him as the royal guard.
And the second one - he couldn’t see the light well, he squinted his eyes -
this is who she created.
Enki, looking at him, at the one who narrowed his eyes,
He determined his fate, he endowed him with the art of singing.
Ushumgal, the great lord, placed him before the king.
The third - his leg is like a worm, crooked and weak -
this is who she created.
Enki, looking at the one whose leg,
like a worm, crooked and weak,
Determined his fate -
made a silversmith.
Fourth - he could not release his seed -
this is who she created,
Enki, looking at him,
who cannot release the seed,
He sprinkled it with water, he cast a spell over it,
he let his body live.
The fifth woman was the one who cannot give birth -
this is who she created.
Enki, looking at the woman, at the one who cannot give birth,
Determined her fate - to a women's home
He arranged for her to become a weaver.
Sixth - it did not have a male root,
it did not have a female womb,
this is who she created.
Enki, looking at the creature,
that did not have a male root,
that did not have a woman's womb,
In Kigal, which is named after Enlilem,
He made him a palace servant and assigned him such a fate.
Ninmah threw the clay that she pinched off to the ground,
turned sharply.
The great lord Enki is silent like this to Ninmah:
"I determined the destinies of those whom you created,
I came up with food for them - I gave them bread to eat.
Now I will do it before you,
and you will assign their destinies."
Enki began to sculpt the form - inside and out -
head, hands, body parts.
Ninmah says this:
"The root springs up and releases seed into a woman's womb,
this woman will receive conception into the womb.
Ninmah, birth that I created,
To this woman, when..."
And the second, Umul, - “my day is far away” - his head was
Weak, his eyes were weak, his neck was weak,
Life trembled and trembled.
His lungs were weak, his heart was weak, his intestines were weak.
His hands and head are shaking, he can’t bring bread to his mouth,
his back was weak;
His shoulders are shaking, his legs are shaking, out of the blue
he can't walk,
this is who he created!
Enki Ninmah says:
"I determined the destinies of those whom you created,
I came up with food for them.
Now you, whom I created, determine his fate,
Come up with food for him."
Ninmah, looking at Umul, turned to him.
She approached Umul, she asked him a question,
and he doesn’t even know how to speak.
He gives him bread to eat, and he takes his hand
can't last.
He did not lie quietly on the bed, he was completely
didn't want to sleep
He couldn’t sit down, he couldn’t stand up, he lay down
I didn't want to at all.
He cannot enter the house, he cannot feed himself.
Ninmah Enki speaks again:
"The man you created is neither alive nor dead,
he cannot bear the burden."
Ninmah Enki answers:
"I determined the fate of the one whose hands were weak,
I came up with food for him.
To the one who did not see the light well, whose eyes squinted,
I determined the fate
I came up with food for him.
I determined the fate of the one whose leg was like a worm,
I came up with food for him.
I determined the fate of the one who withheld the seed,
I came up with food for him.
I determined the fate of the woman who could not give birth,
I came up with food for her.
The one who did not have a male root,
I determined fate
I came up with food for him.
Sister..."
Lines 110-111 are destroyed.
Ninmah says this to Enki
Lines 113-122 destroyed
"Oh, woe! You did not live in heaven, you did not live on earth!
Oh, your damned eyes! You will not leave Sumer!
Where you will not sit, O my built house!
Oh, your words are meaningless!
Where you will not live - oh, my built city!
Oh, I myself, broken by lies!
My city is destroyed, my house is destroyed,
my child has been captured!
I lost sleep, I left Ekur,
I didn’t leave your hand!”
Enki Ninmah answers:
“The words that have come out of your mouth, who can cancel them?
Umul... may he be torn from your bosom!
Ninmah, stop your work, they are worthless, against me
who can speak?
Creation in my image, which I created after you,
In a word, let it be bowed!
And when my root is worthily glorified everywhere,
May your wise consent be to this!
Enkum and Ninkum, palace guards,
...let them proclaim your greatness!
Sister, you have great strength..."
... Let Umul build my house!
Lines 138-139 destroyed
Ninmah is not a rival to the great Enki.
O father of Enki, praise is good to you!
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru