Fonte: Kramer, Samuel Noah (1988) Sumerian Mythology, University of Pennsylvania Press, West Port, Connecticut
Myth that tells how Enki built a house (temple) for himself in Eridu, the oldest city in Sumer according to tradition, the first of five cities founded before the Great Flood.
The temple, decorated with silver, lapis lazuli, carnelian and gold, was established on the bank of a river, where its foundations reached deep into the underground sweet, fertilizing waters, called the Apsu.
The temple had magical qualities: the brickwork gave Enki advice, while the surrounding reed fences roared like a bull. The roof-beam was shaped like the bull of heaven, and a lion gripping a man formed the gateway. The overall effect was described as a lusty bull.
The bustle of activity there was compared to the drama of a river rising during a flood, Enki filled the building with lyres, drums and every other kind of musical instruments.
Surrounding the temple was a delightful garden full of fruit trees, with birds singing all around and frolicking carp playing among the reeds in the streams.
After finishing the construction of the E-engurra, the temple, Enki called up the beat of the ala and the uh drums and set out by barge to Nippur, in order to receive the other gods’ blessings.
The fish danced before him on the way to Nippur, and Enki slaughtered several oxen and sheep for the feast to come.
Once in Nippur, Enki started preparing the feast.
(King Anu lands on Earth, celebrations begin)
Paying attention to protocol, Anu was at the head of the group, with Enlil beside him and the goddess Nintu (Ninhursag) in a seat of honor nearby. In the happy celebration that followed, all the great gods pronounced blessings on Enki‘s new home, and Anu stated: My son Enki (Anu‘s first-born male) has made his temple (residence)…. grow from the ground like a mountain” (mud brick ziggurat).
(Enki‘s ziggurat home & city ruins)
(Texts: All Artifacts, Color Coding, & Writings in Bold Type With Italics Inside Parenthesis, are Added by Editor R. Brown, not the Authors, Translators, or Publishers!)
(gods in blue)
“After the water of creation had been decreed,
After the name hegal (abundance) born in heaven,
Like plant and herb had clothed the land,
(Enki in the Abzu, marshlands of Persian Gulf)
The lord of the abyss, the king Enki,
Enki the Lord who decrees the fates,
Built his house of silver and lapis lazuli (blue-hued gem stone);
Its silver and lapis lazuli, like sparkling light,
The father fashioned fittingly in the abyss.
The creatures of bright countenances and wise, coming forth from the abyss,
Stood all about the lord Nudimmud (Enki‘s pet name);
(excavations of mud-brick-built Eridu, Enki’s 1st home on Earth Colony)
The pure house he built
He ornamented it greatly with gold,
(Enki 1st splash-landed in Persian Gulf, & set up home in Eridu)
In Eridu he built the house of water-bank,
Its brickwork, word-uttering, advice-giving,
Its… like an ox roaring,
The house of Enki, the oracles uttering.
(Enki & vizier Isimud in the Abzu, Eridu)
Follows a long passage in which Isimud, Enki‘s counselor/prime minister, sings the praises of the sea-house. Then Enki raises the city of Eridu from the abyss and makes it float over the water like a lofty mountain. Its green fruit-bearing gardens he fills with birds; fishes too he makes abundant.
Then Enki raises the city of Eridu from the abyss and makes it float over the water like a lofty mountain.
Its green fruit-bearing gardens he fills with birds; fishes too he makes abundant.
Enki is now ready to proceed by boat to Nippur, where he will obtain Enlil‘s blessings or his newly built city and temple (residence). He therefore rises from the abyss:)
(Enki raises the fishes)
When Enki rises, the fish…. rise,
The abyss stands in wonder,
In the sea joy enters,
Fear comes over the deep,
Terror holds the exalted river,
The Euphrates, the South Wind lifts it in waves.
Enki seats himself in his boat and first arrives in Eridu itself. In Eridu, he slaughters many oxen and sheep before proceeding to Nippur. Upon his arrival, a feast is prepared for all gods and Enlil in special:
(Enki & Enlil drinking at the ziggurat dining hall in Nippur)
Gives his brother Enlil bread to eat,
In the first place he seated Anu (the Skyfather),
(Apkulla / pilot, Enki, father & King, Skyfather Anu in his winged sky-disc, Anu‘s son & heir Enlil, & winged eagle-headed Apkulla / pilot)
Nintu (Ninhursag) he seated at the big side,
The Anunnaki seated themselves one after the other.
(King Anu‘s descendants in a parade on Earth Colony)
“Ye great gods who are standing about,
My brother has built a house, the king Enki;
Eridu, like a mountain, he has raised up from the earth,
In a good place he has built it.
Eridu, the clean place, where none may enter,
The house built of silver, adorned with lapis lazuli,
The house directed by the seven lyre-songs given over to incantation,
With pure songs….
(Enki in Eridu, God of Waters)
The abyss, the shrine of the goodness of Enki, befitting the divine decrees,
Eridu, the pure house having been built,
O Enki, praise!