So far, people have not found a complete Sumerian creation myth. However, some Sumerian literary works such as myths and hymns that are not directly related to the creation myth of heaven and earth contain some fragments of the creation myth of heaven and earth. For example, the myth "Gilgamesh, Enkidu and Hades" mainly tells the story of Enkidu going to Hades to find Gilgamesh's two gifts, but it is mentioned at the beginning: "When the sky moved away from the earth, the earth When they were separated from the sky, when the name of mankind was established, the sky god An took away the sky, and the air god Enlil took away the earth." 6 The above mythological fragments show that heaven and earth were originally together, and when the heaven and earth separated, the gods An took away the sky, and Enlil, the god of air, took away the earth. Obviously, the sky god An and the air god Enlil are the protagonists of this version of the myth of the creation of heaven and earth.
For another example, the Sumerian hymn "Song of the Hoe" mainly praises Enlil's hoe that has repeatedly achieved great feats. It begins with: "He (Enlil) not only caused the world to have a complete form when it appeared, but also In order for human beings to grow, quickly separate heaven and earth." 7 Here, it was Enlil who created the world. He separated heaven and earth in order to provide a space for human beings to grow. There is no doubt that Enlil is the protagonist of this version of the creation myth.
It can be seen that there are at least two different versions of the Sumerian myth of the creation of heaven and earth: one is that when heaven and earth separated, the sky god An and the air god Enlil took away the sky and the earth respectively; the second is that the air god Enlil created the world and separated the heaven and the earth. .
There is also more than one fragment of the Sumerian human origin myth. According to "The Song of the Hoe": "In the 'place where humans grew up', he worked with a hoe and put the original human model into the brick mold, and his humans began to break out of the ground and move towards Enlil." 8 or more The text shows that Enlil planted humans in the soil like crops.
The Sumerian flood myth also retains some information about the origin of mankind: "After An, Enlil and Ninhursag created black-haired humans, animals also multiplied, and various four-legged animals The earth is decked out with life.” 9 In this version of the myth of human origins, humans were created by the three great gods An, Enlil, and Ninhursag, although the manner in which they created humans is unknown.
In addition to the fragments of the above-mentioned myth of human origin, Sumer also has a relatively complete myth of human origin, namely "Enki and Nimach". According to this myth, after the gods came into being, each god had a task, the big god was responsible for supervision, and the small god was engaged in physical labor. The heavy labor made the gods complain, and they were brewing riots. Enki, the god of wisdom, sleeps in Abozu all day long and is the only god who does not need to work. The mother goddess Namu was worried about the crisis situation, so she woke Enki and asked him to think of a solution. After Enki created a pair of ovaries, he said to his mother Namu: "Oh, my mother, the ovaries that you rely on to carry on the family line are there. You can put them on the god's birth bed! You took them from Abo's father's The essence is leached from the soil, and the ovaries can make the fetus bigger. When you add limbs to it, Ningmahe can be your assistant; when you let it be born, Ninima, Shuzidanna, Ningma Mada, Ningshala, Nimbala, Nimuge, Duduhe, and Ereguna will assist you.” 10 Enki, the god of wisdom, not only created the ovaries for the growth and development of the fetus, but also told the mother goddess Namu He is the protagonist of this mythical version of the origin of mankind, and goddesses such as the mother goddess Namu also play an important role in the process of creating humans.
It seems that there are at least three different versions of the Sumerian myth of the origin of mankind: one is created by the air god Enlil alone, the other is created by the cooperation of the sky god An, the air god Enlil and the mother goddess Ninhursag. The third is the joint creation of goddesses such as Enki, the god of wisdom, and Namu, the mother goddess.
In Sumerian history, gods such as the sky god An, the air god Enlil and the wisdom god Enki, as well as the mother goddess Namu, Ninhursag and the goddess Nimach were the patron gods of different Sumerian city-states. : An is the patron saint of Uruk, Enlil is the patron saint of Nippur, Enki is the patron saint of Eridu, Ninhursag and Nimach are the patron saints of Kish. Sumerian cities have a very close relationship with their patron gods, and the emergence of some Sumerian cities is attributed to the creation of gods. For example, in the myth "Enki's Journey to Nippur", Enlil said to the Anunnaki gods: "My son, King Enki, made Eridu rise from the earth like a mountain; A temple was built on it." (11) Therefore, Eridu is considered to be built by Enki, and the temple of Eridu is also his masterpiece.
Since the patron gods of Sumerian city-states are so important, each city-state may have made up various myths for their patron gods to enhance and emphasize the status of their patron gods in the mythological system, thereby explaining the importance of their city-states in Sumer. sex. Therefore, the complexity of Sumerian creation myths should be linked to the development of Sumerian history.
After the disintegration of the Sumerian clans and tribes, the Sumerian region was not a unified kingdom, but a dozen city-states with no affiliation. By the late Early Dynasty, the Sumerian city-states were basically mature, and dozens of city-states had emerged in the region. Starting from the middle of the Early Dynasty, although Sumerian powerful states such as Kish, Uruk, Ur, and Wenma all tried to unify the Sumerian region, they failed. The Akkadian Kingdom unified most of the Mesopotamia for the first time, but its rule was not stable. The Sumerian city-states fought against the Akkadian Kingdom and fought for independence throughout the history of the Akkadian Kingdom. At the end of the Akkadian Kingdom, the city-state of Uruk was revived and the Fifth Dynasty was established. During the rule of the Kutians, the Sumerian city-states gradually regained their independence and eventually expelled the Kutians from the Mesopotamia. Although the Third Dynasty of Ur unified the Sumerian region, the Sumerians had reached the end of their history. Throughout the history of the Sumerians, it can be seen that the Sumerian city-states had tenacious vitality, and the proliferation of city-states was one of the most prominent features of its historical development.
The long-term existence of the city-state as a political system in the Sumerian region had a profound impact on Sumerian history and culture. Since there was no strong unified political power in Sumer, it was impossible to unify ideological and cultural activities; the myths fabricated by various Sumerian city-states for their patron gods continued to spread, including the creation myths of Sumer. Therefore, multiple versions of Er's mythology have been preserved. Different city-states believe in different gods, and different versions of myths praise different gods. It is not surprising that the protagonists of creation myths are diverse. In short, the complexity of the Sumerian creation myth and the diversity of the protagonists in the creation myth are inseparable from the characteristics of numerous city-states in the historical development of Sumer.
