Geology Reference
In-Depth Information
around 1800
BC
, the narrative was rewritten and characters renamed in Akkadian, the lan-
guage of Babylon.
The earliest copy of the middle version of the flood story (starring the hero-king Atra-
hasis) dates from around 1635
BC
—a little before the earliest surviving copy of the much
older Sumerian story was created.
The Akkadian version begins with the lesser gods toiling in the fields to maintain the all-
important irrigation system used to grow food for the greater gods. After decades of back-
breaking work, the lesser gods rose up, burned their tools and stormed the chief god Enlil's
house. Roused from sleep, Enlil called an assembly and sought the advice of Enki, god of
fresh waters, who proposed solving the dilemma by creating people to work the fields.
This worked well for a while, but after 1,200 years people had been so fruitful and had
multiplied so prolifically that the constant commotion of human society disturbed the gods.
Annoyed at being kept awake, cranky old Enlil sent a plague to quiet the land. After anoth-
er 1,200 years, the problem recurred. So Enlil sent a great drought. But again, after another
1,200 years, noisy carousing kept Enlil up at night. Withholding the field-watering annual
flood bought another millennium of peace and quiet. Then, when the infernal racket began
all over again, Enlil had truly had enough. This time he planned to send a great flood to
destroy humanity for good.
Each time that the angry god sought to exterminate the human pests he regretted releas-
ing upon the land, Enki had thwarted his superior's genocidal plan by tipping off the mor-
tal King Atrahasis in time for some people to survive. Enlil finally realized that a lesser
god was leaking his plans, so he swore them all to secrecy about the coming flood. This
time, Enki loudly told the plan to the wall of Atrahasis's reed hut. Atrahasis overheard the
warning and converted his home into a boat, which he loaded with his family, possessions,
animals, birds, and grains—everything he would need to re-create human society after the
flood.
The makeshift boat rode out the storm for seven days and seven nights and then ran
aground on a mountainside. After another seven days passed, Atrahasis sent out a dove to
seek land. The dove returned unsuccessful. Atrahasis then sent out a swallow, also unsuc-
cessfully. Finally, with the waters receding, he sent out a raven, which, finding land, did
