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The First Man in Sumerian Mythology


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Who is the first man in sumerian mythology? Hows he called, if any?

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Who is the first man in sumerian mythology? Hows he called, if any?

I don't know anything of Sumerian Mythology, but why does it have to be a First Man?

Perhaps multiple people were created at once, an entire race at once with a sustainable population.

Perhaps woman was created first, in which case your question is still valid, but I'm getting the impression that by "First Man" you mean "First Human", otherwise it would be a similarl question to "Who was the first person to figure out how to whistle in Sumeriam Mythology?".

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I googled "Sumerian Creation Myth".

"The gods An, Enlil, Enki and Ninhursanga create the black-headed people[the term by which Sumerians referred to themselves] and create comfortable conditions for the animals to live and procreate."

So it seems that the human race was created at once, as a whole, rather than just a couple people to populate the world. No 'first man'.

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adamu? :innocent:

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I guess Nimrod would be the first man of note.

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I guess Nimrod would be the first man of note.

Is Nimrod specifically mentioned in Sumerian texts?

I would go for Adamu/Adama/Adapa from what I can recall but I have not read about the creation myths for a while and even when I did a lot of the material is Sitchin inspired. Stiil, it does make sense that the Hebrew account of creation originates in the much older Sumerian version.

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adamu? :innocent:

In Sumerian and Babylonian mythology, Adamu was the first man. The gods tricked Adamu and his descendants out of immortality - not wanting man to be immortal like the gods - by telling him that the magic food of eternal life was poisonous to him, and as such Adamu didn't eat it and so didn't become immortal.

http://www.probertencyclopaedia.com/browse/D8.HTM

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Is Nimrod specifically mentioned in Sumerian texts?

I would go for Adamu/Adama/Adapa from what I can recall but I have not read about the creation myths for a while and even when I did a lot of the material is Sitchin inspired. Stiil, it does make sense that the Hebrew account of creation originates in the much older Sumerian version.

It would be Adamu, my head was in a different place.

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There is no reference as to who was the first man or woman in Sumerian mythology, only the reason why

The gods were dredging the rivers,

were piling up their silt

on projecting bends--

and the gods lugging the clay

began complaining

and how

[Without] the sperm

of a ma[le]

she gave [birth]

to offspri[ng.,]

to the [em]bryo

of mankind.

Jacobsen, Thorkild. The Harps that Once . . . Sumerian Poetry in Translation. New Haven: Yale UP, 1987.

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adamu? :innocent:

I found this too... adam = adamu ? *cough*

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Questionmark is right there were no names given for the first created humans, though Adapa was the equivalent of Adam....a king, slightly more than a human, with the blood of a god mixed into the process...a bit like a greek hero, not quite a demigod. He is humanity's representative in the (loss of immortality/divine grace) story of creation...

from "Enki and Ninmah"

And after Enki, the fashioner of designs by himself, had pondered the matter, he said to his mother Namma: "My mother, the creature you planned will really come into existence. Impose on him the work of carrying baskets. You should knead clay from the top of the abzu; the birth-goddesses (?) will nip off the clay and you shall bring the form into existence. Let Ninmaḫ act as your assistant; and let Ninimma, Šu-zi-ana, Ninmada, Ninbarag, Ninmug, …… and Ninguna stand by as you give birth. My mother, after you have decreed his fate, let Ninmaḫ impose on him the work of carrying baskets."

many mistakes are made, humans with physical or mental problems, or other 'afflictions' before they strike lucky.

Enki and Ninmaḫ drank beer, their hearts became elated, and then Ninmaḫ said to Enki: "Man's body can be either good or bad and whether I make a fate good or bad depends on my will."

..Enki is very pleased with himself

The man whom I shaped …… after you ……, let him pray! Today let my penis be praised, may your wisdom be confirmed (?)!

:blink:

Edited by lil gremlin
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:blink:

Nothing shocking there. The function of the seed had just been discovered, and therefore it was assumed that all grew came from somebodies testes.

They were just having their phallic phase (though some people in the ME never got out of it).

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Today let my penis be praised,

I tried that line on my wife, she was having none of it...

should have done the dishes first i reckon.

Edited by lil gremlin
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No one finds the adamu = adam thing interesting?

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No one finds the adamu = adam thing interesting?

Of course mate but where does it lead? We know there is a direct link between Akkad/Sumer and later Hebrew lore with Babylon no doubt the intermediary. The story of Moses is similar to Sargons and the flood is handily lifted from the Atrahasis and Epic of Gilgamesh. It may show some continuity but it doesn't mean we should take Sumerian myth literally.

The waters had been almost revocably muddied in Sumerian studies and until as the hype blows over and it is reassesed serious debate is difficult. For the sake of debate I think it could reflect a pre-history that had very strong oral traditions and travelled surpising distances. They were highly ritualized and may have been tapping in to their higher selves at a distant time with techniques developed from a sophisticated shamanism into a city-based worship rivalling or surpassing Egypt. Both the preserved traditions of Palaeolithic shamanism in Africa and Asia. There may well have been godlike men who spiritually conquered death for an extended period but I understand that is a stretch for many.

The stories can hold truths without being true so Adam is a name/word discussed many times and it says we are the undivisible earthborn. The first man is the archetypal man and I suspect that Sumerian myth was far more complex in some ways to later Judaism in the way it used myths, much more like Greece. So yeah it is interesting but all talk and no proof. Ifs and maybes do not satisfy our yearning for knowledge but I prefer imagination.

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