Atrahasis, Tablet III

Tablet III

Synopsis

Atrahasis prays to Enki (aka Ea), who sends him a dream, commanding him to prepare for a flood by converting his house into a boat. Enki tells him to prepare for 7 days in the boat. Then, Atrahasis goes to the elders and explains to them that since Enki and Ellil have fallen out with each other, he is being driven out of Ellil's territory, forced to go live in Enki's land, the land of the Apsu. The community appears to help Atrahasis build the boat, and then he loads up birds, cattle and wild animals onto the boat. Finally, he feasts everyone, loads up his family, and then seals them all up inside the boat. Then the flood hits, and it seems to be the gods who really suffer during the flood. They complain that Ellil and Anu have made a bad decision with this flood. Nintu weeps for the destruction of men, who clog up the rivers like dragonflies. The flood lasts 7 days. Then, Ellil notices Atrahasis' boat, and rages against Enki, who acknowledges that he has done it to preserve mankind. Ellil has to accept it, and orders Enki and Nintu to work out the problem with mankind. Their solution is to provide for their mortality. Now, a third of the children born to women will not survive infancy, and some women will become priestesses who may not give birth. In this way, the population of humans will not become over large, and the noise which had upset Ellil will be better controlled.

Commentary

• Atrahasis is presented as a prophet, who can speak to his god, Enki, and receive dreams and understand portents. (Gen 6:9, 13, etc.)
  
• Atrahasis has a different relationship with the gods than the people among whom he lives. He serves Enki, while they seem to serve Ellil. Their land is considered Ellil's, not Enki's. Is this an echo of monotheism? (Gen 6:5-8)
  
• Is Atrahasis (perhaps at the behest of Enki) being sneaky here? He gets the locals to help him build a boat, and seems to be aware that a great flood is coming, but he doesn't seem to offer to save anyone else (because they belong to Ellil, who has ordered the flood?). (Note that the Genesis version does not say anything about Noah preaching repentance unto the wicked people. That information comes to us from Moses 8:20.)
  
• Atrahasis' boat seems to be more of a barge or submarine, which is completely sealed up, "so that the Sun cannot see inside it." (Gen 6:14-16, note that Noah gets a window in his ark; Ether 2:17)
  
• This tale seems to equate the flood with the fall of man into a state of mortality, which did not exist previously. (Gen 6:3 seems to suggest that the flood did mark a change in lifespan of humankind.)
  
• The entire account is mythopoeic, explaining the origin of human mortality, especially infant mortality, and the classes of celibate priestesses. (Gen 6-7 is moralistic.)