Atrahasis II: Disease, Famine, and Flood

The gods' solution to their difficulties works well: men make new picks and spades and dig bigger canals to feed both themselves and the gods. But after 1200 years the population has increased so much that nlil has trouble sleeping: The country was as noisy as a bellowing bull The !od grew restless at their racket" nlil had to listen to their noise. #e addressed the great gods" 'The noise of mankind has become too much" $ am losing sleep over their racket. !ive the order that surrupu%disease shall break out.' &'alley 1() The plague breaks out" but the wise *trahasis appeals to his god nki for help. nki advises *trahasis to have the people stop praying to their personal gods and to start praying and offering sacrifices the plague god" +amtar. +amtar is so shamed by this show of attention that he wipes ,away his hand, and the plague ends. *fter another 1200 years" mankind has again multiplied to the point where they are violating nlil's noise ordinances. This time nlil decides on a drought to reduce their numbers" and gets *dad" the thunder%rain god" to hold back the rains. *gain *trahasis appeals to nki" and again he advises concentrating worship on the one god responsible. *dad is also embarrassed" and releases his rain. &The te-t does not e-plain how *trahasis has been able to live for 1200 years" but many legendary .umerian kings had incredibly long lives.) *nother 1200 years goes by and the noise becomes tremendous. This time" nlil wants to make sure that no one god can weaken his/her resolve" so he declares ,a general embargo of all nature's gifts. *nu and *dad were to guard heaven" nlil the earth" and nki the waters" to see that no means of nourishment reach the human race, &0acobsen 111). $n addition" nlil decrees infertility: ,2et the womb be too tight to let the baby out, &'alley 23). Things get pretty bad: 4hen the second year arrived They had depleted the storehouse. 4hen the third year arrived The people's looks were changed by starvation. 4hen the fourth year arrived Their upstanding bearing bowed" Their well%set shoulders slouched" The people went out in public hunched over. 4hen the fifth year arrived" * daughter would eye her mother coming in5 * mother would not even open her door to her daughter. . . . 4hen the si-th year arrived

They served up a daughter for a meal" .erved up a son for food. &'alley 23%26) Though the tablets are broken and the te-t is fragmentary here" it seems that nki foils the complete starvation plan by letting loose large 7uantities of fish to feed the starving people. nlil is furious with nki for breaking ranks with the rest of the gods and going against a plan that all had agreed to. 'etermined to wipe out mankind" nlil decides on two things: nki will create a flood to wipe them out and he will be forced to swear an oath not to interfere with the destruction. nki resists creating the flood &,4hy should $ use my power against my people8 . . . / This is nlil's kind of work9,:'alley 21;)" but apparently he does take the oath. *fter another break" the te-t resumes with nki addressing *trahasis &still alive after all these years9) to warn him of the impending flood. *ctually" nki speaks to the walls of *trahasis' reed hut so as not break the letter of his oath: 4all" listen constantly to me9 <eed hut" make sure you attend to all my words9 'ismantle the house" build a boat" . . . <oof it like the *psu .o the sun cannot see inside it9 =ake upper decks and lower decks" The tackle must be very strong" The bitumen :a kind of tar; strong . . . &'alley 21%>0) *trahasis gathers the elders of .huruppak and makes up an e-cuse to leave town: he says that nki and nlil are angry with each other and that nki has commanded him to go down to the water's edge. 4hich he does" and there he builds his boat and fills it with every type of animal &the te-t is fragmentary here) and his family. *dad begins to thunder" and sick with impending doom &,his heart was breaking and he was vomiting bile,)" *trahasis seals up the door of the boat with bitumen &'alley >1). The storm and flood turn out to be more than the gods bargained for: 2ike a wild ass screaming the winds howled The darkness was total" there was no sun. . . . *s for +intu the !reat =istress" #er lips became encrusted with rime. The great gods" the *nnuna" .tayed parched and famished. The goddess watched and wept . . . &'alley >1%>2) The great mother goddess complains bitterly about nlil and *nu's shortcomings as decision%makers" and she weeps for the dead humans who ,clog the river like dragonflies., *lso" ,she longed for beer &in vain)., +ow it is the gods' turn to go hungry: ,like sheep" they could only fill their windpipes with bleating. / Thirsty as they were" their lips / 'ischarged only the rime of famine, &'alley >>). *fter seven days and nights of rain" the flood subsides" and *trahasis disembarks and offers a sacrifice. The hungry gods smell the fragrance and gather ,like flies over the offering., $n a mutilated passage" the great goddess swears by the flies in her necklace that she will remember the flood. nlil spots the boat and is furious" knowing that only nki could have been clever enough

to come up with this new trick. nki admits that he warned *trahasis" ,in defiance, of nlil: ,$ made sure life was preserved, &'alley >?). The te-t is fragmentary at this point" but apparently nki persuades nlil to adopt a more humane plan for dealing with the population and noise problem. nki and the womb%goddess +intu decide that henceforth one%third of the women will not give birth successfully: a pasittu demon will ,snatch the baby from its mother's lap, &'alley >3). They also create several classes of temple women who are not allowed to have children.