Before we go into the actual creation process, let's find out the reason why man was created. The myth "The Birth of Man" begins with the poor existence of some of the gods before man was created:
"In the days of yore, [snip of repetitive stanzas] did the gods for whom they baked their food portions and set their tables, did the major gods oversee work, while the minor gods were shouldering the menial labor. The gods were dredging the rivers, were piling up their silt on projecting bends- and the gods lugging the clay began complaining about the corvee." [The minor gods were forced to work for the major gods. So the minor gods began to cry out for relief. Namma, the mother of Enki, calls on him to come to their aid and devise a solution. Enki is called on because he is the god of wisdom, in addition to the god of water.] "My son, rise from your bed, and when you with your ingenuity have searched out the required skill, and you have fashioned a fill-in worker for the gods, may they get loose of their digging!1"
The greater gods needed someone to bake their bread and to do heavy labor. They also needed to alleviate the burden of the lesser gods before they revolted. The solution was to create a race of slaves, man.
We have another, some what different picture of the god's pre-human existence in the myth "Cattle and Grain":
"Because Anshan [grain goddess] had not been born, had not been fashioned, In the lands the threads of Uttu [goddess of clothing] had not been shaped, For Uttu no temenos had been filled, There was no ewe, the lambs multiplied not, [description of other animals not yet in existance] Because the name of Anshan, the wise, and Lahar, [cattle god] The Anunnaki, the great gods, did not know, The Shemesh-barley of 30 days did not exist, [description of other barleys that did not exist] There was no wearing of clothes. [snip] The men of those days of yore [since man had not yet been fashioned, this must apply to the gods. Probably the lesser gods. Since the lesser gods did the work now done by man, they were literally the "men of yore".] Knew not the eating of bread, Knew not the wearing of clothes, Ate herbs with their mouths like sheep, Drank water from the furrows. [snip] The Anunnaki eat, they are unsated, The Anunnaki drink, they are unsated, For the holy sheepfold, the goodly, Man was given the breadth of life.2"
In this tale, the gods are in even worse shape than the first. The Anunnaki, the "great" gods, did not know how to make clothes nor did they have enough to eat or drink. The Igigi, the lesser gods, were even worse off. They lived little better than animals. To remedy this, the gods created man to make their clothes and food. Man is again to be a slave to the gods.
By contrast, the Bible states the reason for man's existence:
"And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. And God blessed them; and God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.'3"
Man was created in the image of God, and so was special. He was given dominion over the whole of creation. He was to be the ruler of the earth. Quite a difference from being a slave of the gods. Now that we have seen that the very reason for man being on the earth was different between Genesis and the Sumerians, lets continue to the creation process.
Now back to the "Birth of Man": [After instructing his mother to get more goddesses to help in the creation, Enki produces a fetus, albeit a limbless and lifeless one. Perhaps even just a lump of clay. He then instructs them on how to go about the creation.] "'When you have drenched [some translations use "mixed"] the core of the Apsu's fathering clay Imma-en and Imma-shar [minor goddesses, also called fashioners] can make the fetus bigger, and when you have put limbs upon it'" [Enki then further instructs Ninmah, the mother goddess and eight more fashioners to help. He gives her a couple of last directions.] "'O mother mine, when you have determined its mode of being may Ninmah put together the birth chair and when, without any male, you have built it up in it, may you give birth to mankind!' With out the sperm of males she gave birth to the offspring, To the embryo of mankind. When she [Nammu] had broadened its shoulders, she made a hole in the head for the mouth she [line damaged] and enclosed its body in an amnion, [two lines that are not understood] Enki tied wool for swathing around it and its heart rejoiced." [The tale then continues with Enki and Ninmah getting drunk in celebration. Full of themselves they then create more humans. Since there is only the two of them, they create cripples, both physical and mental. This is probably an attempt to explain why there are cripples. Enki then makes a creature on his own. It is terribly deformed. Ninmah despairing says:] "'The man, your handiwork, is not a live man, nor a dead man, I can not support it!'4"
The creation of man required the work of at least twelve goddesses. They had to mix up the "fathering clay" of the Apsu. The Apsu is the underground fresh water, the water table, that was the home of Enki. Since the clay is called the fathering clay, it may have had some special properties that allowed it to produce life when joined with a woman's womb. The clay is then put over the fetus and shaped into the form of man, with limbs and a mouth being added. The tale then alludes to Ninmah putting the fetus/clay into her womb and then birthing man in a birth chair.
There is one other Sumerian myth that may contradict the above. "The Creation of the Pickax" has been translated in two vastly different versions by Thorkild Jacobsen and Samuel Kramer.
Jacobsen's translation: "So that the earth could grow mankind; [snip] He [Enlil] drove his pickax into the earth In the hole in which he had made was mankind. While the people of the land were breaking through the ground, He eyed his black-headed ones in steadfast fashion.5"
Now Kramer's translation: "The head of man he placed in the mold, Before Enlil, he [man] covers the land, Upon his black-headed people he looked steadfastly.6"
As you can see, Jacobsen is saying that man grew out the land like plants. Kramer translated it completely differently. I do not know what "The head of man he placed in the mold" means, but it may allude to the birthing process mentioned above. The only problem with that, is that Enlil took no part in the creation of man. So far, there has been no consensus among scholars on which is more accurate, but I tend to side with Kramer here.
Genesis:
"Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breadth of life; and man became a living being.7"
Then the Lord God said 'It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.' [snip of creation of animals and Adam's charge to name them] So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man; and he slept; then He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh at that place. And the Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and
brought her to the man.8
Genesis's account is straight forward and short: man was created from dust/dirt/clay and then God breathed life into him. The Sumerian is different right from the beginning, for it requires the work of at least twelve goddesses, plus the initial assistance of Enki (the fetus). The only similarity is that the Sumerian gods used clay, however, some other mythologies also have this. The Sumerian has the whole complicated, and hard to translate, sequence involving a birthing chair (if that is a correct translation) and "enclosing it in an amnion". The fetus may also have been put into Ninmah or Nammu in order for her to give birth, but this is uncertain. Next, two gods working together were only able to create cripples, both physical and mental. Lastly, when one god tried to create by himself it was a dismal failure. Genesis has only one god and he creates perfection by himself. With man being created from clay the only similarity, it is obvious that the two accounts are not related.
Jacobsen's account is completely different from the Bible. I also think that his translation may be wrong, as this is the only instance of this type of creation yet found.
1)The Harps That Once..., Thorkild Jacobsen (Yale, 1987) pgs 153-155
2)Sumerian Mythology, Samuel N. Kramer (Philadelphia, 1972) pgs xx-xxi, 72-73
3)Genesis 1:27-28. All Biblical quotes are taken from Thompson NASB Bible (Indianapolis, 1979).
4)Harps That Once..., pgs.155-163.
5)Toward the Image of Tammuz, W. L. Moran, editor (Cambridge, 1970) pgs. 113-114. Translation by Thorkild Jacobsen.
6)Sumerian Mythology, pg.52
7)Genesis 2:7
8)Genesis 2:18-22
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