Enki and Ninhursag and the Creation of Life and Sickness

Enki and Ninhursag is the name of a Sumerian creation myth concerned with fertility and the creation of plants. It also seems to serve as something of an agricultural guide in the form of a myth. There are also many correlations between many elements of this story, and the story of Eve in the Garden of Eden. Both of these themes will be explored in the following sections.

The Creation of Plants
The narrative begins with a description of a place called Dilmun, a garden of paradise which is very similar to the Garden of Eden in the Bible. It's a pure land without suffering and without people, but occupied by the gods. In some versions of the tale, Dilmun is a place referred to as "eastward in Eden." The story begins in a time before duality, when there was not a world for men to speak of and no life. Dilmun is experiencing winter and is without freshwater when Ninhursag, also known as Ninmah, the patron goddess of Dilmun, pleads with Enki, the god of water, to moisturize the land of the gods. Enki thus instructs Utu the sun god to bring water up from the ground when he rises in the sky. This is highly reminiscent of Genesis 2:6, "But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.

Ninhursag, one of several Earth Mothers to be found in Mesopotamian literature, is pleased with Enki's work, and they lay together, which can be thought of as symbolizing water penetrating sand. Their coupling can be thought of as representing how the water, Enki, intimately interacts with the earth. Childbirth in Dilmun is painless, which calls to mind the punishment of Eve in the form of intense labor. After 9 days Ninhursag gave birth to Ninsar, also known as Ninnisig, or Lady Greenery; when water and earth meet, after the arrival of the sun, plants are produced, and at a much swifter pace than humans. Spring thus arrived in Dilmun.

With the arrival of spring, Ninhursag the Earth Mother must leave to create other parts of the world. Ninsar grows to a full adult in nine days, again referring to the growth rate of plants. Enki sailing down the Euphrates with his minister, the two-faced Isimud. Enki, who misses his consort Ninhursag, sees Ninsar on the riverbed. She's described in some versions of the tale as "curious and eager," which can be taken to indicate the desire plants have for water; he seduces her, and Ninsar gives birth to Ninkura, or Lady Pasture, after nine days, and after nine more days Ninkura reaches adulthood. Just as with Ninsar, Enki sees Ninkura on the riverbed, seduces or rapes her, and she gives birth to the fertility goddess and goddess of female genitalia, Ninimma after nine days. Again the goddess reached adulthood in nine days, and again she is seduced or raped by Enki, and after nine days gives birth to Uttu, the spider goddess of weaving. Much like in the Genesis narrative, water and earth lead to plant life which leads to animal life. Spiders also weave webs which connect plants, her matrilineal ancestry. The image of a spider, of eight legs going outwards, could be conceptualized as a representation of various forms of life branching out in different directions.

Ninhursag returns to Delmun to warn Uttu of Enki's lusty ways. Enki later goes to Uttu and asks if he can do anything for her, to which she replies with a desire for cucumbers, apples with stems, and clusters of grapes. These fruits have a certain sexual connotation; cucumbers are phallic, the way a stem meets an apple looks somewhat sexual, and grapes look similar to clusters of eggs. This is the first time apples are mentioned in Paradise, a theme that would be revisited by Milton's Paradise Lost in 1967, and the taboo nature of Enki's actions in association with fruit recalls Eve's eating of the fruit. These are examples of Joseph Campbell's "one forbidden thing," as all humans are tempted to do the one thing that they're told not to do.

Enki retrieves the fruits for Uttu from "the gardener" and brings them to her. Upon receiving the fruits, Uttu is raped by Enki. Uttu goes to Ninhursag in distress and the Earth Mother then helps to remove Enki's semen from Uttu's body, and it is cast upon the dirt. In nine days, eight plants emerge from the soil: the tree-plant, the honey plant, the vegetable plant, the alfalfa grass, the atutu plant, the actaltal plant, the du plant, and the anharu plant; these are the first plants.

Enki's Affliction
Enki spies the plants from his boat, and he and Isimud investigate. Enki does not know the plants, nor has he ordained their destinies. One by one, he asks Isimud what the plants, made from Enki's seed, are called, and his messenger tells him their names. As the names are listed, Enki eats the plants and finds them delicious. Ninhursag finds that he's eaten the plants, curses Enki, and leaves Dilmun. Enki falls very ill and begins to die. None of the gods can save him save for the absent Ninhursag.

A kindly fox appears, an intermediary between Enki and Ninhursag, and volunteers to seek out the Earth Mother and return her to Dilmun at the request of Enlil, the Supreme God and brother of Enki. Foxes are known for being sly, sneaky, and crafty; a crafty and sneaky creature can be found in the Garden of Eden in the form of the serpent. Enki, too, shows elements of a trickster in some myths. The fox brings back the goddess, who is remorseful. She embraces the dying god, places Enki next to her vagina, in alignment with Campbell's idea of the "twice born," so he can be born again, healed of his afflictions; it's a symbol of the birthing posture. She kisses him and asks where his pain is. Every time he responds, she takes the pain into her body and gives birth (as Eve does after the Fall) to a god: from the top of his head came Abu, god of plants and growth; from a lock of his hair, Nintulla; from his nose, the goddess of healing Ningiriudu otherwise known as Ninsutu or Ninsitu; from his mouth (or his ka, which is also the Egyptian word for one of the three parts of the soul), Ninkasi, the goddess of beer; from his throat, Nanshe or Nazi, the goddess of social justice and divination; from his arm, Azimua, another goddess of healing; from his sides, Ensag or Emshag, the fertility god and Lord of Dilmun; and from his rib, Ninti, the goddess of life. The creation of a woman from a rib may have served as a basis for the similar creation of Eve in Genesis. The names of the gods are best understood in their original language, in which they sounds very much like the body part they are responsible for healing; this is the primary reason for the correlation.

The Earth Mother then determines the destinies of the eight new gods. Abu was made king of the grasses; Nintulla, lord of Magan; Ninsutu married Ninazu; Ninkasi was assigned to be what satisfies the heart; Nanshe marries Nindara, Azimua marries Ningishzida; Ensag, lord of Delmun; and Ninti becomes the lady of the month. After the destinies were ordained, Enki ceased to feel pain and repented his deeds, for which he is forgiven; Ninhursag is then given a seat of honor at a feast in Nippur celebrating Enki's new home in Eridu. From an agricultural perspective, this story could be read as a cautionary tale about the over-irrigation of crops.