Ancient Texts and Timeline

The following translation of the Atrahasis was done by leading experts including George Smith and Stephanie Dalley. Carefully read and ponder these words for yourself to discover their symbolic hidden meanings. 

In Tablet 1 of the Atrahasis it states:

“When the gods instead of man
 Did the work, bore the loads,
 The gods' load was too great,
 The work too hard, the trouble too much.

They took and cast the lots; the gods made the division.
 Anu went up to the sky, and Enlil took the earth for his people.
 The bolt which bars the sea was assigned to far-sighted Enki.
 When Anu had gone up to the sky,
 And the gods of the Apsu had gone below,
 The Anunnaki of the sky made the Igigi bear the workload.

The Igigi gods had to dig out canals,
 Had to clear channels, the lifelines of the land.

For 3,600 years they bore the excess.

Hard work, night and day.
 They groaned and blamed each other,

Come, let us carry Enlil,
 The counselor of the gods, the warrior, from his dwelling.
 And get him to relieve us of our hard work!

Now, cry battle!
 Let us mix fight with battle!

The Igigi set fire to their tools,
 Put aside their spades for fire.

When they reached the gate of warrior Enlil's dwelling,
 It was night, the middle watch,
 Ekur was surrounded, Enlil had not realized.

Enlil sent for Anu to be brought down to him,
 Enki was fetched into his presence,
 Anu, king of the sky was present,
 Enki, king of the Apsu attended.
 All the great Anunnaki were present.

The Igigi declared,

“Every single one of us declared war!
 We have put a stop to the digging.
 The load is excessive, it is killing us!

Anu made his voice heard and spoke to the gods his brothers,

“What are we complaining of?
 Their work was indeed too hard, their trouble was too much.”

Ea made his voice heard and spoke;

“Let us create a mortal man
 So that he may bear the yoke, the work of Enlil,
 Let man bear the load of the gods.”

Nintu made her voice heard, and spoke;

“On the first, seventh, and fifteenth of the month
 I shall make a purification by washing.
 Then one god should be slaughtered.

Then a god and a man will be mixed together in clay.
 Let a ghost come into existence from the god's flesh

And let the ghost exist so as not to forget the slain god.”

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In order to better understand how exactly an ancient global civilization could have been destroyed in the past, we’ll continue on with the Atrahasis, specifically reading from tablets two and three. Tablet two of the Atrahasis states:

"600 years, less than 600 passed

The country became too wide, the people too numerous

Enlil grew restless at their racket, listening to their noise.  He addressed the great gods,  “The noise of mankind has become too much,

I am losing sleep over their racket.

Give the order that suruppu-disease shall break out.

Cut off food supplies to the people!

Let the vegetation be too scant for their hunger!”

When the sixth year arrived,

Only one or two households were left.

The people’s looks were changed by starvation.

Their faces were covered in scabs like malt. 

They stayed alive by holding onto life.

Enlil became furious and fetched Enki

“We, the great Anunna, all of us

Agreed together on a plan.

Anu and Adad were to guard above,

I, Enlil was to guard the Earth below.

Where you went (Enki), you were to undue the chain and set us free.

You were in charge of control and holding the balance.

But instead you gave wisdom and knowledge to the people.

Your creations have become too numerous and despoiled the Earth. 

You imposed your loads on man,

You bestowed noise on mankind,

You slaughtered a god together with his intelligence,

Let us make far-sighted Enki swear an oath to the end,

To create a flood on Earth to wipe away all of life.”

Enki spoke to his brother gods,

“Why should you make me swear an oath?

Why should I use my power against the people?

That is Enlil’s kind of work!"

-Tablet 3-

There was once one named Atrahasis
whose ear was open to his god Enki.

He would speak with his god
And his god would speak with him.

Enki made his voice heard to Atrahasis;

Dismantle the house, build a boat,

Reject possessions, and save living things.

The boat you will build, 

Roof it like the Apsu,

So that the sun cannot see inside it. 

Make upper decks and lower decks. The tackle must be very strong,

The bitumen strong, to give strength.”

Atrahasis received the message and gathered the elders.

Everything was completed as instructed,

Atrahasis put all of his family on board.

Then the face of the weather changed.

Rain bellowed from the clouds,

Bitumen was brought to seal the door.

The winds were raging as Atrahasis cut the rope to release the boat.

Then the flood came and no one could see anyone else,

They could not be recognized in the catastrophe. 

The Flood roared like a bull,

Like a wild ass screaming, the winds howled

The darkness was total, there was no sun.

For seven days and seven nights

The torrent, storm and flood came on.

The goddess Mami watched and wept

“However could I, in the assembly of the gods,

Have ordered such destruction on them?”

Nintu was wailing;

“I have seen, and wept over them!

Shall I ever finish weeping for them?”

After the noise of the flood had subsided,

The warrior Enlil spotted the boat of Atrahasis.

He was furious!

“We the great Anunna, all of us

Agreed together on an oath!

No form of life should have escaped!

How did any man survive the catastrophe?”

Anu made his voice heard and spoke to the warrior Enlil,

“Who but Enki would do this?”

Enki made his voice heard and spoke to the great gods,

“I did it, in defiance of you!

I made sure life was preserved.

Exact your punishment from the sinner. And whoever contradicts your order.”