dam. The epithet for the Mother Goddess, NIN.TI, meant both "lady of life" and "lady of the rib."
Why not, then, bos - bisa - besa ("clay - mud-egg") as a play on words for the female ovum?
The ovum of a female Homo erectus, fertilized by the genes of a god, was then implanted within the womb of Ea's spouse; and after the "model" was obtained, duplicates of it were implanted in the wombs of birth goddesses, to undergo the process of pregnancy and birth. The Wise and learned,
Double-seven birth-goddesses had assembled;
Seven brought forth males,
Seven brought forth females.
The Birth Goddess brought forth
The Wind of the Breath of Life.
In pairs were they completed,
In pairs were they completed in her presence.
The creatures were People -
Creatures of the Mother Goddess.
Homo sapiens had been created.
The ancient legends and myths, biblical information, and modern science are also compatible in one more aspect. Like the findings of modern anthropologists - that Man evolved and emerged in southeast Africa - the Mesopotamian texts suggest that
the creation of Man took place in the Apsu - in the Lower World where the Land of the Mines was located. Paralleling Adapa, the "model" of Man, some texts mention "sacred Amama, the Earth woman," whose abode was in the Apsu. In the "Creation of Man" text, Enki issues the following instructions to the Mother Goddess: "Mix to a core the clay from the Basement of Earth, just above the Abzu." A hymn to the creations of Ea, who "the Apsu fashioned as his dwelling," begins by stating:
Divine Ea in the Apsu pinched off a piece of clay, created Kulla to restore the temples.
The hymn continues to list the construction specialists, as well as those in charge of the "abundant products of mountain and sea," who were created by Ea - all, it is inferred, from pieces of "clay" pinched off in the Abzu - the Land of Mines in the Lower World.
The texts make it abundantly clear that while Ea built a brick house by the water in Eridu, in the Abzu he built a house adorned with precious stones and silver. It was there that his creature, Man, originated:
The Lord of the AB.ZU, the king Enki . . . Built his house of silver and lapis-lazuli; Its silver and lapis-lazuli, like sparkling light. The Father fashioned fittingly in the AB.ZU. The Creatures of bright countenance, Coming forth from the AB.ZU, Stood all about the Lord Nudimmud.
One can even conclude from the various texts that the creation of Man caused a rift among the gods. It would appear that at least at first the new Primitive Workers were confined to the Land of Mines. As a result, the Anunnaki who were toiling in Sumer proper were denied the benefits of the new manpower. A puzzling text named by the scholars "The Myth of the Pickax" is in fact the record of the events whereby the Anunnaki who stayed in Sumer under Enlil obtained their fair share of the Black-Headed People.
Seeking to reestablish "the normal order," Enlil took the extreme action of severing the contacts between "Heaven" (the Twelfth Planet or the spaceships) and Earth, and launched some drastic action against the place "where flesh sprouted forth." The Lord,
That which is appropriate he caused to come about. The Lord Enlil,
Whose decisions are unalterable, Verily did speed to separate Heaven from Earth So that the Created Ones could come forth; Verily did speed to separate Earth from Heaven.
In the "Bond Heaven-Earth" he made a gash, So that the Created Ones could come up From the Place-Where-Flesh-Sprouted- Forth.
Against the "Land of Pickax and Basket," Enlil fashioned a marvelous weapon named AL.A.NI ("ax that produces power"). This weapon had a "tooth," which, "like a one-horned ox," could attack and destroy large walls. It was by all descriptions some kind of a huge power drill, mounted on a bulldozer-like vehicle that crushed everything ahead of it:
The house which rebels against the Lord, The house which is not submissive to the Lord, The AL.A.NI makes it submissive to
the Lord. Of the bad . . . , the heads of its plants it crushes; Plucks at the roots, tears at the crown.
Arming his weapon with an "earth splitter," Enlil launched the attack:
The Lord called forth the AL.A.NI, gave its orders.
He set the Earth Splitter as a crown upon its head,
And drove it into the Place-Where-Flesh-Sprouted-Forth.
In the hole was the head of a man;
From the ground, people were breaking through
towards Enlil.
He eyed his Black-headed Ones in steadfast fashion.
Grateful, the Anunnaki put in their requests for the arriving Primitive Workers and lost no time in putting them to work:
The Anunnaki stepped up to him, Raised their hands in greetings, Soothing Enlil's heart with prayers. Black-headed Ones they
were requesting of him. To the Black-headed people, they give the pickax to hold.
The Book of Genesis likewise conveys the information that "the Adam" was created somewhere west of Mesopotamia, then
brought over eastward to Mesopotamia to work in the Garden of Eden:
And the Deity Yahweh
Planted an orchard in Eden, in the east . . .
And He took the Adam
And placed him in the Garden of Eden
To work it and to keep it.
THE END OF ALL FLESH
MAN'S LINGERING BELIEF that there was some Golden Age in his prehistory cannot possibly be based on human recollection, for the event took place too long ago and Man was too primitive to record any concrete information for future generations. If Mankind somehow retains a subconscious sense that in those earliest days Man lived through an era of tranquility and felicity, it is simply because Man knew no better. It is also because the tales of that era were first told Mankind, not by earlier men, but by the Nefilim themselves.
The only complete account of the events that befell Man following his transportation to the Abode of the Gods in Mesopotamia is
the biblical tale of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden:
And the Deity Yahweh planted an orchard
In Eden, in the east;
And he placed there the Adam
Whom He had created.
And the Deity Yahweh
Caused to grow from the ground
Every tree that is pleasant to the sight
And good for eating;
And the Tree of Life was in the orchard
And the Tree of Knowing good and evil. . . .
And the Deity Yahweh took the Adam
And placed him in the Garden of Eden
To work it and to keep it.
And the Deity Yahweh
Commanded the Adam, saying:
"Of every tree of the orchard eat you shall;
but of the Tree of Knowing good and evil
thou shalt not eat of it;
for on the day that thou eatest thereof
thou shalt surely die."
Though two vital fruits were available, the Earthlings were prohibited from reaching only for the fruit of the Tree of Knowing. The Deity - at that point - appeared unconcerned that Man might try to reach for the Fruit of Life. Yet Man could not adhere even to that single prohibition, and tragedy followed.
The idyllic picture soon gave way to dramatic developments, which biblical scholars and theologians call the Fall of Man. It is a
tale of unheeded divine commandments, divine lies, a wily (but truth-telling) Serpent, punishment, and exile.
Appearing from nowhere, the Serpent challenged God's solemn warnings:
And the Serpent. . . said unto the woman:
"Hath the Deity indeed said
'Ye shall not eat of any tree of the orchard'?"
And the woman said unto the Serpent:
"Of the fruits of the trees of the orchard
eat we may;
it is of the fruit of the tree in the midst of the orchard that the Deity hath said: 'Ye shall not eat of it, neither touch it, lest ye die.'"
And the Serpent said unto the woman: "Nay, ye will surely not die; It is that the Deity doth know that on the day ye eat thereof your eyes will be opened and ye will be as the Deity - knowing good and evil."