ATRA-ḪASĪS
The Babylonian Story of the Flood
W. G. Lambert · A. R. Millard
Clarendon Press · Oxford · 1970 · Corrected Reprint of the 1969 First Edition
THE CREATION OF HUMANITY
Lambert and Millard describe the creation of humanity as part of a tradition shared across Sumerian and Babylonian sources: “The idea that man was created to relieve the gods of hard labour by supplying them with food and drink was standard among both Sumerians and Babylonians”
Atra-Ḫasīs preserves this view of human origins already present in Mesopotamian tradition.
HUMANITY FROM DIVINE FLESH AND BLOOD
In Atra-Ḫasīs, the gods select Wê-ila for sacrifice, and Nintu uses his flesh and blood to form humanity. The Anunnaki approve the act, while the Igigi spit upon the mixture. The text also describes a spirit arising from the slain god's flesh, preserving a connection between the living and the divine.
Clay is mixed with the flesh and blood of a slain god, making the human being a blend of earthly material and something taken directly from a divine being.
CIVILIZATION — A GIFT OF THE GODS
Creation was just the beginning. Mesopotamian tradition also taught that the civilization governing human life came from the gods: humanity was at first “barbarous” and “civilization was a gift of the gods.”
The apkallu, or sages, belonged to the earliest age of humanity and were remembered as the teachers who provided the human race with all the knowledge it needed.
KINGSHIP FROM HEAVEN
Kingship was likewise believed to have descended from heaven, given by the gods as “an institution to regulate human society.” In the antediluvian tradition, Berossus records ten kings ruling in three cities for an extraordinary combined 432,000 years before the Flood.
THE UNKNOWN ORIGINS OF THE SUMERIANS
Although Sumerian civilization developed in southern Mesopotamia, the deeper origins of the Sumerian people remain uncertain. Their language is an isolate with no proven relationship to any other known language.
OANNES — THE SAGE FROM THE SEA
Berossus records that Oannes “emerged from the Red Sea” each day to teach humanity, returning to the water at night.
THE SAGES AT THE BEGINNING OF HUMAN HISTORY
“This diversity surely proves that the sages were only fixed in that they had to appear at the beginning of human history. It was a tradition not specifically related to the great flood, but only secondarily and in some cases synchronized with it.”
— Lambert & Millard, Atra-Ḫasīs, Introduction, p. 19.
DIRECT TRANSLATION — ATRA-ḪASĪS, Ni 2552 + 2560 + 2564, Tablet II, Obv. i
[The land was bellowing] like a bull. The god was disturbed by their uproar. [Enlil] heard their clamour. He addressed the great gods: "The noise of mankind has become too intense for me; with their uproar I am deprived of sleep. Cut off sustenance for the people; let plants to satisfy their hunger be in short supply. Let Adad withhold his rain; let it not come up pleasantly, the flood, from the abyss. Let the wind blow and parch the ground. Let the clouds grow thicker and thicker but release not a drop. Let the fields withhold [their] yields. Let [Nisaba] stop up her breast. Let there be no [rejoicing] for them. Let … be gloomy … May there not … …
THE NOISE OF MANKIND
The plates open in the poem's second tablet, with humanity already created and grown loud. Enlil, chief of the gods, complains that their uproar robs him of sleep and orders their sustenance cut off. Adad is to withhold the rain, the flood is to stay in the abyss, and the fields are to yield nothing.
DIRECT TRANSLATION — ATRA-ḪASĪS, Ni 2552 + 2560 + 2564, Tablet II, Obv. ii
… "Do not reverence [your gods], Do not pray to [your goddesses], But [seek the door of] Adad And bring a baked (loaf) [in front of it]. May the [offering] of sesame-meal be pleasing to him, Then he will be put to shame [by] the gift and will lift his hand. He may rain down a [mist] in the morning And may furtively … [in] the night [rain down] a dew, So that [the fields] will furtively bear grain." They built a temple [for Adad] in the city. [They commanded], and the heralds proclaimed And made a loud [noise] in the land. They did [not] reverence their gods. They did [not] pray to their goddesses. But they sought the door [of Adad], And brought a baked (loaf) in front of it. The offering of sesame-meal was pleasing to him, He was put to shame by the gift and lifted his hand. In the morning he rained down a mist, And furtively … in the night rained down a dew. [The fields] furtively bore grain, [… the famine(?) left them.] [… their … they returned.] …
TURNING TO ADAD
To end the drought, the people are instructed to abandon their usual worship and offer gifts to Adad, the storm god. Moved by their offerings, Adad brings moisture back to the land, allowing crops to grow again despite Enlil's attempt to starve humanity.
DIRECT TRANSLATION — ATRA-ḪASĪS, Ni 2552 + 2560 + 2564, Tablet II, Obv. iii
… [...] of his god [...] ... he set his foot Every day he wept bringing oblations in the morning He swore by [.] ... of the god giving [attention] to dreams He swore by [...] of Enki giving [attention] to dreams [...] the temple(?) of his god [...] seated, he wept … [...] seated, he wept ... [...] ... was still In [...] his ... finished(?) ... [...] seen(?) He addressed [...] of the river Let the river take(?) [...] and bear away Let ... To/before ... [...] my ... Let him see [...] Let him ... [...] I, in the night [...] After he [...] Facing the river [...] On the bank [...] To the Apsû he [...] Enki heard [his words] to the water-monsters he [...] The man who ... [...] Let this one ... [...] Go, the order [...] Ask(?) ... …
A VIGIL BY THE RIVER
Though the column is badly broken, one figure remains traceable. A man weeps daily before his god, offers gifts each morning, and attends to dreams. He then asks the river to “bear” something away. The Apsû, the deep beneath the earth, is named; Enki hears and orders the water-monsters.
The surviving text leaves the man unnamed; Enki's name follows the edition.
DIRECT TRANSLATION — ATRA-ḪASĪS, Ni 2552 + 2560 + 2564, Tablet II, Obv. iv
Above … […] Below, the flood did not [rise] from the abyss. The womb of earth did not bear, Vegetation did not sprout […] People were not seen […] The black fields became white, The broad plain was choked with salt. For one year they ate couch-grass (?); For the second year they suffered the itch. The third year came [And] their features [were altered] by hunger. [Their faces] were encrusted, like malt, [And they were living] on the verge of death. [Their] faces appeared green, They walked hunched [in the street]. Their broad shoulders [became narrow], Their long legs [became short]. The command which they received … […] Before … […] They were present and … […] The decree […] Before […] … …
THREE YEARS OF FAMINE
Relief does not last. The flood has ceased, and the earth yields nothing. By the third year, hunger has changed the people's appearance: green faces, narrowed shoulders, and they walk hunched, on the verge of death.
The wording follows the published edition, set against the copy line by line.
DIRECT TRANSLATION — ATRA-ḪASĪS, Ni 2552 + 2560 + 2564, Tablet II, Rev. v
… They said … […] The young men … […] … … … The young men … […] … The young men […] He … […] … … […] He was filled with anger [at the Igigi]: "The great Anun[na, all of us,] brought our voice together [to a ruling]: Anu [and Adad] guarded [the upper regions], I guarded the [lower] earth. Where Enki [went] he loosed the yoke [and established freedom], he released [abundance for the peoples], he set … […]" Enlil [opened] his mouth to the vizier Nusku [he spoke]: "… sons(?) let them bring [to me], let them [send] them into [my] presence." … sons(?) they brought [to him]. The warrior [Enlil] addressed them: "The great Anunna, [all of us], brought our voice together to a rul[ing]: Anu and Adad guarded the upper [regions], I guarded the lo[wer] earth. Where you w[ent …]"
THE YOKE LOOSENED
Enlil’s words reveal that the great gods jointly sustain the drought: Anu and Adad guard the upper regions, while Enlil rules the earth below.
Enki is blamed for loosening the yoke wherever he went. Through his vizier Nusku, Enlil summons others, possibly his sons, and renews the charge.
DIRECT TRANSLATION — ATRA-ḪASĪS, Ni 2552 + 2560 + 2564, Tablet II, Rev. vi–viii
Reverse, column vi … sea(?) … … them … … … command(?) … … … Adad [made] his rain [pour down] … the meadow [and] the clouds(?) covered(?) … [Do not] feed his peoples [and do not] supply the corn-rations on which the peoples thrive [The god] grew weary of sitting in the assembly of the gods laughter(?) overcame him [Enki] grew weary of sitting [in the] assembly of the gods laughter(?) overcame him … in his hand … … … Enki and Enlil [We, the great Anunna, all of us,] [agreed together on a command] Anu (and) Adad guarded the upper regions [I] guarded the earth below [Where] you went, [you] loosed the yoke and established freedom [you] released abundance for the peoples [you established(?)] … … … the warrior Enlil
Reverse, column vii [You imposed] your [toil on man] [you] bestowed(?) noise [on mankind] you slaughtered [a god] together with [his reason] you sat down and … … it brings … your heart prompted [a command(?)] let it turn to … let us bind by oath … Enki the prince(?) … Enki [opened his mouth] and addressed the gods [his brothers]: Why [will you bind me by oath …]? Am I to lay [my hands on my own peoples]? The flood [that you are commanding me], who is it? [I do not know.] Am I myself to give birth to [a flood]? His task is … [with Enlil] Let him … choose Šullat and [Ḫaniš] let them go [in front] the mooring-poles [let Errakal tear out] Let [Ninurta] go [let him make the dykes overflow]
Reverse, column viii … The assembly … Do not listen to … The gods commanded total destruction An evil deed on the peoples Enlil did Atra-ḫasīs opened his mouth and addressed his lord.
ENKI REFUSES THE FLOOD
The second tablet first mentions the flood. Pressed to swear an oath, Enki asks whether he must destroy his own people and cause the flood; others are assigned the task. The gods order total destruction, which the next line calls an evil deed Enlil inflicted on the people.
The final line names the poem's hero, Atra-Ḫasīs, addressing his lord. Much of Enki's refusal has been restored.
DIRECT TRANSLATION — ATRA-ḪASĪS, MAH 16064, Tablet III, Obv. i 11–26, ii 9–21
Column i [Atra-ḫasīs] opened his mouth [and spoke] to his lord: "[Of the dream] make known to me the meaning, […] … that I may seek its outcome." [Enki] opened his mouth [and] spoke to his servant: "You say, 'What am I to seek?' The message that I shall tell you, observe it, you! Wall, listen to me! Reed wall, observe all my words! Pull down the house, build a boat, spurn property and keep life alive. The boat that you are to build […] […] equal […]
Column ii (line beginnings only) … The elders […] The carpenter […] The reed-worker […] Pitch […] The poor man […] … … … Atra-ḫasīs […] … … … …
THE WARNING: BUILD A BOAT
The Flood narrative opens with a warning to Atra-Ḫasīs. Asked what his dream means, Enki speaks to a reed wall: tear down the house, build a boat, abandon property, and preserve life.
The broken second column keeps only line openings: naming elders, a carpenter, a reed-worker and pitch.
DIRECT TRANSLATION — ATRA-ḪASĪS, MAH 16064, Tablet III, Rev. viii (colophon)
[Its line count:] 390 Total: 1245 of the three tablet[s] Hand of Ipiq-Aya, junior scribe … … … … … … [Month Ayyāru, day …] [Year: Ammī-ṣaduqa, the king,] [his statue holding a kid at the breast, hand raised in greeting]
THE SCRIBE SIGNS THE POEM
No narrative can be matched to this fragment. It holds the scribe's closing note to Tablet III: 390 lines in this tablet, 1,245 across the three, signed by a junior scribe whose name the edition reads as Ipiq-Aya.
The poem was therefore a complete three-tablet work when this copy was made. The date lines, placing it under King Ammī-ṣaduqa of Babylon, are restored from the edition.
DIRECT TRANSLATION — ATRA-ḪASĪS, BE 39099, Rev. i 1–21, ii 1–25
Reverse i (right column) And addressed […] [The noise of mankind] has become [too intense for me], With their uproar I [am deprived of sleep]. Command that [Anu and Adad] guard [the upper regions], That Sîn and Nergal guard [the middle earth], That the bolt, the bar [of the sea], Ea may guard together with [his plants]. He commanded, and Anu and [Adad] guarded [the upper regions], Sîn and Nergal guarded the [middle] earth, The bolt, the bar of the sea, Ea guarded together with [his] plants. Now Atra-ḫasīs, [whose god was Ea], Every day he wept […] He used to bring offerings […] When the river [… was quiet], The night was still […] … He spoke to […] May […] take […] … Let Ea see […]
Reverse ii (left column) … [… I commanded that] Anu and Adad should guard [the upper regions], [That Sîn and Nergal] should guard the middle earth, [That the bolt], the bar of the sea, [You should] guard together with your plants. [But you let loose] abundance for the peoples! […] the wide sea Repeated [the message of] Enlil to Ea, [… I commanded] that Anu and Adad should guard the upper regions, [That Sîn and Nergal] should guard the middle earth, [That the bolt], the bar of the sea, [You should] guard together with your plants. [But you let] loose abundance for the peoples! [Ea] opened his [mouth] to speak And [addressed] the messenger, […] you commanded and [Anu and] Adad did guard the upper regions, [Sîn and Nergal] did guard the middle earth, [The bolt], the bar of the sea, [I did] guard together with my plants. When […] escaped from me […] a myriad of fish, one myriad … […] I got together and it disappeared, And they broke half of [the bolt]. [After (?)] I had killed the guards of the sea I laid […] on them and punished them.
THE BOLT OF THE SEA
A second tablet adds famine details missing from the first. Enlil's blockade is divided by region. When abundance reaches the people anyway, Ea says countless fish escaped, broke half the bolt, and that he punished the sea guards.
The lacuna follows the edition.
DIRECT TRANSLATION — ATRA-ḪASĪS, BE 39099, Rev. i 22–44, ii 26–48
Left column (Rev. ii 26–48) [After] I had punished them, [I repeated it] and imposed a penalty. […] they took the message, […] the wide sea [They went] and repeated [the message of E]a to the warrior Enlil: "[…] … you commanded, and Anu and Adad guarded the upper regions, [Sîn and] Nergal guarded the middle earth, [the bolt], the bar of the sea, I guarded together with my plants. … escaped from me, … a myriad of fish, one myriad … … I gathered together, and it disappeared, [of the bol]t they broke half. [After (?)] I had killed the guards of the sea, I laid […] upon them and punished them. After I had punished them, I repeated it and imposed a penalty." [En]lil opened his mouth to speak, and addressed the assembly of all the gods: "Come, all of you, to an oath (to bring) a flood." Anu swore first, Enlil swore, his sons swore with him.
Right column (Rev. i 22–44, line beginnings only) I, in the night … […] After […] Opposite the r[iver …] Opposite […] To the Apsû […] [Ea] heard and […] He … the [water-monsters (?) …] The man who … […] This […] Come, … […] … […] … … … … You … […] To the Apsû … […] [Ea] heard and […] And this … […] … […] What, in … […] Not … […] To … […]
THE OATH TO BRING A FLOOD
The tablet’s lower half records the decision. Ea's answer about the broken bolt crosses the sea and is repeated to Enlil, who summons the gods to swear an oath to bring a flood.
The oath lines and right column rely on the edition; only line openings mentioning the river and Apsû survive in the latter.
Source note: The cuneiform plates end here. The pages that follow are the edition’s printed Akkadian text of Tablet III. The first of them, p. 88, includes the lines copied on the Geneva plate above (MAH 16064, Obv. i), so the warning to build a boat appears twice: once on the tablet copy, once in the printed text.
DIRECT TRANSLATION — AKKADIAN TRANSLITERATION, ATRA-ḪASĪS, TABLET III, COL. I, P. 88
Atra-ḫasīs opened his mouth and spoke to his lord: … … [Atra-ḫasīs] opened his mouth [and spoke] to his lord: "Teach me the meaning [of the dream], … that I may seek its outcome." [Enki] opened his mouth and spoke to his servant: "You say, 'What am I to seek?' The task that I tell you, observe it well, you! Wall, listen to me carefully! Reed wall, observe all my words! Destroy the house (or: depart from the house), build a boat; spurn property and save life. The boat that you will build … [should] be equal … … … Roof it over like the Apsû, so that the Sun shall not see inside it; let it be roofed over above and below. Let the fittings be very strong, let the pitch be tough, and so give (the boat) strength. Later I will rain down upon you an abundance of birds, a profusion (?) of fishes."
ROOFED LIKE THE APSÛ
The printed text warns from the outset that the vessel must be roofed above and below like the Apsû, sealed from the Sun with strong fittings and tough pitch. Enki promises Atra-Ḫasīs abundant birds and fish.
Whether the house is to be destroyed or merely abandoned depends on a verb interpreted differently by later editors.
DIRECT TRANSLATION — AKKADIAN TRANSLITERATION, ATRA-ḪASĪS, TABLET III, COL. II–III, P. 92
Whatever he h[ad … Whatever he h[ad … The pure (ones) … The fat (ones) … He chose [and brought] aboard the wing[ed birds of] the heavens. The herd[s (?) …] … the wi[ld creatures (?) …] … of the steppe … [… he br]ought aboard. … the moon disappe]ared. …] he invited his people …] to a banquet. …] … he brought his family aboard. [The one who would e]at was eating, [the one who would dr]ink was drinking; he kept going in and coming out, he could not sit, could not crouch, for his heart was broken and he was vomiting gall. The day changed its face; Adad roared in the clouds. They heard the god, his cry. [P]itch was brought for him to seal his door. As soon as he had bolted his door, Adad was roaring in the clouds. The wind, furious as it rose, severed the mooring-rope and set the boat adrift. (Two lines missing) … …] … …] … the storm …] were yoked. [Zû with] his talons [tore] the heavens. [… the l]and, [like a pot] he shattered its noise.
THE FLOOD BEGINS
Warning turns to catastrophe. Atra-Ḫasīs brings birds, animals, and family aboard, then feasts his people. As Adad roars in the clouds, pitch seals the door. Rising winds tear the boat from its mooring, and the Flood begins.
DIRECT TRANSLATION — AKKADIAN TRANSLITERATION, ATRA-ḪASĪS, TABLET III, COL. III–IV, P. 96
(end of the preceding column) "Where has Anu gone, the lord … (later edition, relayed: "the lord [of decision]") whose sons, the gods, obeyed his command, who did not deliberate and so brought about [the Flood] and delivered the people to [destruction]?" (One line missing to end of column. First two lines of column missing.) (column iv) … N[intu] was wailing … “… bore the [rolling (?)] (later edition, relayed: "Had only father given birth [to my people]!") sea; like dragonflies they have filled the river. Like a raft they have come to rest against the [edge (?)], (later edition, relayed: "a drenched land", itself queried) like a raft in the open country they have come to rest against the bank. I saw, and I wept over them; I have ended my lamentation for them." She wept and eased her heart; Nintu wailed and spent her feelings. The gods wept with her for the land. She was sated with grief, she thirsted for beer. Where she sat, in weeping they sat too; like sheep they filled the trough. Their lips were parched with fever (?) (later edition, relayed: "dry with distress") from hunger they were convulsed again and again. Seven days and seven [nights] came the downpour, the storm, [the flood]. Where it … was thrown down … … (lines 29–38 are not given on the page) … … … …
NINTU MOURNS THE DROWNED
The gods face the consequences of their order. Anu is blamed for unleashing the Flood without deliberation. Nintu, the birth-goddess, wails over the dead, who fill the river like dragonflies and line the bank like rafts. The gods weep with her, parched and convulsed with hunger. The downpour lasts seven days and, according to a restored word, seven nights.
DIRECT TRANSLATION — AKKADIAN TRANSLITERATION, ATRA-ḪASĪS, TABLET III, COL. VI, P. 100
Let … (Probably no line missing) In … [ … ] "Let [these] flies be the lapis lazuli of [my] neck, that I may remember it, the days [ … ] … [ … ]" [The warrior Enlil] saw the boat; he was filled with anger at the Ig[igi]: "We, the great Anunna, all of us, agreed together on an oath. Where did life get out? How did a man survive in the destruction?" Anu opened his mouth and spoke to the warrior Enlil: "Who would do this other than Enki? [ … ] not(?) … disclosed the word." [Enki] opened his mouth [and spoke] to the great gods: "[Indeed I] did it, in your presence! [I saw to the preserving of] life … … god[s?] … … the [fl]ood … … your heart … and relax. On [the guil]ty one impose your penalty, [and] whoever sets aside your word … the assembly [ … ] (About ten lines missing) … her / it … they set "[I have eas]ed my heart." [Enlil] opened his mouth [and] spoke to Enki the prince:
HUMANITY SURVIVES
The destruction is incomplete. A vow is made to wear flies as lapis lazuli around the neck, remembering these days. Enlil sees the boat and realizes a man survived the great gods’ oath. Anu names Enki, who says he acted in their presence to preserve life.
Editors restore Enlil's name and part of Enki's admission.
