User:SomeGuyWhoRandomlyEdits/Epic of Ziusudra
Ziusudra of Shuruppak is listed in the WB-62 Sumerian King List recension as the last king of Sumer prior to the Great Flood. He is subsequently recorded as the hero of the Sumerian creation myth and appears in the writings of Berossus as Xisuthros.
Ziusudra is one of several mythic characters who are protagonists of Near Eastern flood myths, including Atrahasis, Utnapishtim and the biblical Noah. Although each story displays its own distinctive features, many key story elements are common to two, three, or all four versions.
Xisuthros is a Hellenization of the Sumerian Ziusudra, known from the writings of Berossus, a priest of Bel in Babylon, on whom Alexander Polyhistor relied heavily for information on Mesopotamia. Among the interesting features of this version of the flood myth, are the identification, through interpretatio graeca, of the Sumerian god Enki with the Greek god Cronus, the father of Zeus; and the assertion that the reed boat constructed by Xisuthros survived, at least until Berossus' day, in the "Corcyrean Mountains" of Armenia. Xisuthros was listed as a king, the son of one Ardates, and to have reigned 18 saroi. One saros (shar in Akkadian) stands for 3600 and hence 18 saroi was translated as 64,800 years. A saroi or saros is an astrologolical term defined as 222 lunar months of 29.5 days or 18.5 lunar years equal to 17.93 solar years.
In the WB-62 Sumerian king list recension, Ziusudra, or Zin-Suddu of Shuruppak, is listed as son of the last king of Sumer before a great flood. He is recorded as having reigned as both king and gudug priest for ten sars (periods of 3,600 years), although this figure is probably a copyist error for ten years. In this version, Ziusudra inherited rulership from his father Ubara-Tutu, who ruled for ten sars.
The city of Kish flourished in the Early Dynastic period soon after a river flood archaeologically attested by sedimentary strata at Shuruppak (modern Tell Fara), Uruk, Kish, and other sites, all of which have been radiocarbon dated to ca. 2900 BC. Polychrome pottery from the Jemdet Nasr period (ca. 30th century BC), which immediately preceded the Early Dynastic I period, was discovered directly below the Shuruppak flood stratum. Max Mallowan wrote that "we know from the Weld Blundell prism [i.e. WB-62] that at the time of the Flood, Ziusudra, the Sumerian Noah, was King of the city of Shuruppak where he received warning of the impending disaster. His role as a saviour agrees with that assigned to his counterpart Utnapishtim in the Gilgamesh Epic. ... both epigraphical and archaeological discovery give good grounds for believing that Ziusudra was a prehistoric ruler of a well-known historic city the site of which has been identified."
That Ziusudra was a king from Shuruppak is supported by the Gilgamesh XI tablet, which makes reference to Utnapishtim (the Akkadian translation of the Sumerian name Ziusudra) with the epithet "man of Shuruppak" at line 23.
The tale of Ziusudra is known from a single fragmentary tablet written in Sumerian, datable by its script to the 17th century BC (Old Babylonian Empire), and published in 1914 by Arno Poebel. The first part deals with the creation of man and the animals and the founding of the first cities Eridu, Bad-tibira, Larak, Sippar, and Shuruppak. After a missing section in the tablet, we learn that the gods have decided to send a flood to destroy mankind. The god Enki (lord of the underworld sea of fresh water and Sumerian equivalent of Babylonian god Ea) warns Ziusudra, the ruler of Shuruppak, to build a large boat; the passage describing the directions for the boat is also lost. When the tablet resumes, it is describing the flood. A terrible storm raged for seven days, "the huge boat had been tossed about on the great waters," then Utu (Sun) appears and Ziusudra opens a window, prostrates himself, and sacrifices an ox and a sheep. After another break, the text resumes, the flood is apparently over, and Ziusudra is prostrating himself before An (Sky) and Enlil (Lordbreath), who give him "breath eternal" and take him to dwell in Dilmun. The remainder of the poem is lost.
The Epic of Ziusudra adds an element at lines 258–261 not found in other versions, that after the river flood "king Ziusudra ... they caused to dwell in the KUR Dilmun, the place where the sun rises". The Sumerian word "KUR" is an ambiguous word. Samuel Noah Kramer states that "its primary meanings is 'mountain' is attested by the fact that the sign used for it is actually a pictograph representing a mountain. From the meaning 'mountain' developed that of 'foreign land', since the mountainous countries bordering Sumer were a constant menace to its people. Kur also came to mean 'land' in general". The last sentence can be translated as "In the mountain of crossing, the mountain of Dilmun, the place where the sun rises".
A Sumerian document known as the Instructions of Shuruppak dated by Kramer to about 2600 BC, refers in a later version to Ziusudra. Kramer stated "Ziusudra had become a venerable figure in literary tradition by the middle of the third millennium B.C."
Ziusudra is also mentioned in other ancient literature, including The Death of Gilgamesh and The Poem of Early Rulers, and a late version of The Instructions of Shuruppak.
References
[edit]Notes
[edit]Citations
[edit]Sources
[edit]Bibliography
[edit]- Alster, Bendt (1974). The Instructions of Suruppak: A Sumerian Proverb Collection. Denmark: Akademisk Forlag. ISBN 9788750015000. Retrieved 2022-10-14.
- Beaulieu, Paul-Alain (2007). Clifford, Richard J. (ed.). Wisdom Literature in Mesopotamia and Israel. Netherlands: Society of Biblical Literature. ISBN 9781589832190. Retrieved 2022-10-14.
- Biggs, Robert D.; Hansen, Donald P. (1974). Inscriptions from Tell Abū Ṣalābīkh (PDF). Oriental Institute Publications. United Kingdom: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0226622029. Archived from the original on 2015-04-20. Retrieved 2022-10-14.
- George, Andrew R. (2003). The Epic of Gilgamesh: The Babylonian Epic Poem and Other Texts in Akkadian and Sumerian. Penguin Books. ISBN 9780140449198. Retrieved 2022-10-14.
- Grimbly, Shona (2000). Encyclopedia of the Ancient World. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9781579582814. Retrieved 2022-10-14.
The earliest written literature dates from about 2600 BC, when the Sumerians started to write down their long epic poems.
- Hallo, William Wolfgang; Simpson, William Kelly (1971). The Ancient Near East: A History. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc. ISBN 9780155027756. Retrieved 2021-04-28.
- Hayes, John Lewis (1990). A Manual of Sumerian: Grammar and Texts. Malibu, California: Undena Publications. ISBN 9780890031971. Archived from the original on 2013-07-17. Retrieved 2022-10-14.
- Hesiod, T. (2006). Most, Glenn Warren (ed.). Hesiod: Theogony, Works and days, Testimonia. United Kingdom: Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674996229. Retrieved 2022-10-14.
- Jacobsen, Thorkild Peter Rudolph (1939-04-14) [1939]. Wilson, John Albert; Allen, Thomas George (eds.). THE SUMERIAN KING LIST (PDF). ASSYRIOLOGICAL STUDIES. Vol. 11 (4th ed.). University of Chicago, Illinois: Oriental Institute (published 1939–1973). p. 65. ISBN 0226622738. LCCN 39-19328. OCLC 397243. Archived from the original on 2015-04-20. Retrieved 2021-07-31.
When the kingship was lowered from heaven: (In) Eridu(g): A-lulim(ak), 28,800 years
{{cite book}}
:|website=
ignored (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link) - Kuhrt, Amélie (1995). The Ancient Near East, C. 3000-330 BC. Routledge history of the ancient world. Vol. 1. Taylor & Francis (published 1995–2005). ISBN 9780415167635.
- Lambert, Wilfred G. (1996). Babylonian Wisdom Literature. Eisenbrauns. ISBN 9780931464942. Retrieved 2022-10-14.
- Langdon, Stephen Herbert (June 1923). "THE SUMERO-ACCADIAN SYSTEM OF LEGENDARY AND HISTORICAL CHRONOLOGY". In Milford, Humphrey Sumner (ed.). Historical Inscriptions, Containing Principally the Chronological Prism, W-B. 444. Oxford Editions of Cuneiform Texts (OECT). Vol. II (revised ed.). Oxford University Press. pp. 2–8. Retrieved 2021-07-31.
At Eridu Alulim was king. He ruled 28800 years.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: date and year (link) - Leick, Gwendolyn (2002-08-29). Mesopotamia: The Invention of the City. UK: Penguin Books. ISBN 9780141927114.
- Pritchard, J. (1950). Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament. Princeton University Press.
- Sanders, Seth L. (2017). From Adapa to Enoch Scribal Culture and Religious Vision in Judea and Babylon. Tübingen, Germany: Mohr Siebeck. ISBN 9783161544569.
- Shea, William H. (1977). Adam in Ancient Mesopotamian Traditions. Archived from the original on 2011-09-04.
- Wang, Haicheng (2014-05-12). Writing and the Ancient State: Early China in Comparative Perspective. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781107785878.
- Woods, Christopher (2010). Visible Language: Inventions of Writing in the Ancient Middle East and Beyond (PDF). Chicago: The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. ISBN 9781885923769. Retrieved 2022-10-14.
Journals
[edit]- Harrison, Roland Kenneth (March 1993). "Reinvestigating the Antediluvian Sumerian King List" (PDF). Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society. 36 (1). Retrieved 2021-04-30.
- Proust, Christine (2009-06-22). "Numerical and Metrological Graphemes: From Cuneiform to Transliteration". Cuneiform Digital Library Journal. ISSN 1540-8779. Retrieved 2021-05-25.
External links
[edit]- Alster, Bendt (1974–2005) [c. 2600 BC]. Zólyomi, Gábor; Black, Jeremy Allen; Robson, Eleanor; Cunningham, Graham; Ebeling, Jarle (eds.). "Instructions of Shuruppak". ETCSL. Translated by Wilcke, Claus; Civil, Miguel; Römer, Willem H.Ph.; Krecher, Joachim (revised ed.). United Kingdom: Oxford (published 1974–1999). Retrieved 2022-10-14.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: date and year (link) - Ashmolean (2017). "Sumerian king list". Ashmolean Museum. Retrieved 2021-08-02.
- Black, Jeremy Allen; Baines, John Robert; Dahl, Jacob L.; Van De Mieroop, Marc (2006-12-19) [c. 1900–1600 BC]. Cunningham, Graham; Ebeling, Jarle; Flückiger-Hawker, Esther; Robson, Eleanor; Taylor, Jon; Zólyomi, Gábor (eds.). "The Sumerian king list". Faculty of Oriental Studies. Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (ETCSL) (in Sumerian). Translated by Jacobsen, Thorkild Peter Rudolph; Glassner, Jean-Jacques; Römer, Willem H. Ph.; Zólyomi, Gábor (revised ed.). United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland: University of Oxford (published 1997–2006). Retrieved 2021-07-31.
After the kingship descended from heaven, the kingship was in Eridug. In Eridug, Alulim became king; he ruled for 28800 years. Alaljar ruled for 36000 years. 2 kings; they ruled for 64800 years. Then Eridug fell and the kingship was taken to Bad-tibira. In Bad-tibira, En-men-lu-ana ruled for 43200 years. En-men-gal-ana ruled for 28800 years. Dumuzid, the shepherd, ruled for 36000 years. 3 kings; they ruled for 108000 years. Then Bad-tibira fell (?) and the kingship was taken to Larag. In Larag, En-sipad-zid-ana ruled for 28800 years. 1 king; he ruled for 28800 years. Then Larag fell (?) and the kingship was taken to Zimbir. In Zimbir, En-men-dur-ana became king; he ruled for 21000 years. 1 king; he ruled for 21000 years. Then Zimbir fell (?) and the kingship was taken to Curuppag.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: date and year (link) - Kessler, Peter L. (2008-02-16) [2008]. "Kingdoms of Mesopotamia - City State of Shuruppak / Curuppag". The History Files. Kessler Associates (published 1982–2021). Retrieved 2021-07-30.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: date format (link) - Kessler, Peter (2008-04-16) [2008]. "Ancient Mesopotamia". The History Files. Kessler Associates (published 1982–2021). Retrieved 2021-07-30.
- Langdon, Stephen Herbert (2007-04-16) [c. 1900–1600 BC]. Joseph Weld Blundell, Herbert (ed.). "W-B 444". Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (CDLI) (in Sumerian). Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (published 2007–2014). Retrieved 2021-07-31.
eridu{ki} a2-lu-lim lugal mu 8(szar2) i3-ak
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: date and year (link) - Lendering, Jona (2020-09-24) [2006]. "Sumerian King List". Livius.org. Netherlands: Livius Onderwijs (published 2006–2020). Retrieved 2021-07-31.
Then Larak fell and the kingship was taken to Sippar. In Sippar, Enmen-dur-ana became king; he ruled for 21,000 years. One king; he ruled for 21,000 years.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: date and year (link) - Sjöberg, Åke Waldemar; Leichty, Erle; Tinney, Steve (2021) [2003]. "Pennsylvania Sumerian Dictionary Project". Pennsylvania Sumerian Dictionary Project (PSD) (published 2003–2021). Retrieved 2021-07-31.
Further reading
[edit]Geography
[edit]Language
[edit]- Black, Jeremy Allen; Baines, John Robert; Dahl, Jacob L.; Van De Mieroop, Marc. Cunningham, Graham; Ebeling, Jarle; Flückiger-Hawker, Esther; Robson, Eleanor; Taylor, Jon; Zólyomi, Gábor (eds.). "ETCSL: The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature". Faculty of Oriental Studies (revised ed.). United Kingdom. Retrieved 2022-09-23.
The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (ETCSL), a project of the University of Oxford, comprises a selection of nearly 400 literary compositions recorded on sources which come from ancient Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) and date to the late third and early second millennia BCE.
- Renn, Jürgen; Dahl, Jacob L.; Lafont, Bertrand; Pagé-Perron, Émilie (2022) [1998]. "CDLI: Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative" (published 1998–2022). Retrieved 2022-09-23.
Images presented online by the research project Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (CDLI) are for the non-commercial use of students, scholars, and the public. Support for the project has been generously provided by the Mellon Foundation, the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), the Institute of Museum and Library Services (ILMS), and by the Max Planck Society (MPS), Oxford and University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA); network services are from UCLA's Center for Digital Humanities.
- Sjöberg, Åke Waldemar; Leichty, Erle; Tinney, Steve (2022) [2003]. "PSD: The Pennsylvania Sumerian Dictionary" (published 2003–2022). Retrieved 2022-09-23.
The Pennsylvania Sumerian Dictionary Project (PSD) is carried out in the Babylonian Section of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Anthropology and Archaeology. It is funded by the NEH and private contributions. [They] work with several other projects in the development of tools and corpora. [Two] of these have useful websites: the CDLI and the ETCSL.