Myths Around The World

Sumerian

Before time began there was only darkness and the goddess Nammu, the Primordial Sea. She gave birth to Anki, the Universe- at first they were Heaven and Earth in one, a vast mountain of soil and sky mixed together. Anki produced Enlil, the air. Enlil separated his parents into An, the sky and Ki the mother earth. He pulled his mother down to form solid ground and pushed his father up to form the heavens. He then created the moon god Nanna, who then created the sun god Utu. Enlil and Ki, air and earth joined to produce Enki, the god of water, vegetation and wisdom, and the lord of the universe. Enki gathered together part of the Primordial Sea and squeezed it into rivers Tigris and Euphrates. He caused there to be cattle on the earth and fish in the rivers. He built marshland around the rivers and made the soil rich and fertile. 

Meanwhile in heaven, the gods were having a large, drunken banquet. They decided to create humans. The first race was made of clay, and weak in body and mind. At the time everyone was too drunk to see how poorly they were made. The humans descended to live on Enki's earth. Before long it became clear that this race had too many problems to survive and be a credit to the gods who created them. 

The gods decided to destroy them all in a great flood. Only two people were worthy enough to survive- a man named Ziusudra and his wife. Enki came to them with instructions. They were to build a wooden ark and hide there until the flood waters subsided. The gods redirected the Tigris and Euphrates and caused a violent flood, washing all the humans to their deaths. The storms raged day and night until there was no dry land. Ziusudra and his wife were safe in their wooden ark. They wept at the loss of mankind. Finally the rivers shrank back and the land around them re-emerged. Ziusudra and his wife began a new generation of men and women and set up their villages on the shores of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.