WORLD FLOODS AND THE LAND OF ARARAT

    In ancient Mesopotamian written sources (lyric poems, “Atrahasis”, “Gilgamesh”), the Lord of Mother Earth, Haya (En-Ki= Lord of the Earth), playing a great role in the creation of humanity, constantly provides people with protection, eventually becoming the savior of the human race. The activities of the human beings regularly annoys the gods, especially the Lord of the Earth, Enlil, who decides to destroy humanity. Let us discuss those lyric poems.

     The Sumerian version of the flood myth was discovered during the excavations of the city of Nippur, and published in the year 1914. The inscription is not complete, the preserved portion is only ⅓ of the total inscription. We learn about subsequent events through Akkadian written sources. The preserved Sumerian texts tells a story in which created humanity was given wisdom (ME), and founded five cities. Then, it recounts a council held by the gods. We are told that Ziusudra, the benevolent king of the city of Shuruppak, a priest of the God of the Earth Enki, overhears a message from someone, probably Enki, through a temple wall that the council of gods, at the behest of Enlil, God of the Heavens, has decided to wipe out the human race through a Great Flood…, (there is no continuation). Then, it is written that the Flood lasts seven days and seven nights, after which Ziusudra comes out of the ship and sacrifices oxen and sheep to the gods, for his salvation. In the last section of the epic poem, Ziusudra falls on his face and worships the chief deity Anu, as well as Enlil, who promise to restore life on earth. They also grant Ziusudra (which is translated to Utnapishtim in Akkadian and means “long life found”) immortality and settle him in the land of Dilmun, in the place where the sun rises. Let us note, from a Mesopotamian perspective, the sun rose from the Masu-Mashu (Sis-Masis) Mountains, in the land of Ararat. There is no doubt that the land of Dilmun coincides topographically with the Biblical Paradise. About this, Sumerologist S. Kramer writes, “There are several reports that the Biblical Paradise extended east of Palestine in Eden, where the four great rivers originate, including the Tigris and Euphrates. It turns out that it is the same Sumerian paradise, the land of Dilman”. According to the Sumerians, immortal gods lived in the land of Dilman, and only one man who “found long life”, Utnapishtim, was allowed to live in the land of the gods.

     In the Sumerian lyric poem “Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta”, there is another testament to a flood, during which time the gods, in this case Haya’s beloved and almighty Inanna, continue to save humanity, the inhabitants of Aratta. The testimony goes as follows:

            572   (humanity ?), who were in the flood,

            573   after that, when the flood was raging,

            574    Inanna, the mistress of all lands,

            575 Dumuzi’s beloved,

            576 sprinkled it with the Water of Life,

            577 And in all the land of Aratta, the trees grew at her command,

                                            Kaneva I.T., “Enmerkar and the High Priest of Aratta”

  The reason why the gods come to the aid of the land of Ararat, the people in Aratta, is found in the lyric poem “Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta”:

            567 Its (Aratta’s) people are distinct from other people;

            568 They are a nation Dumuzi selected among the other nations,

            569 One that firmly establishes the holy word of Inanna!

                                               Herman L.J. Vanstiphout, “Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta”,(Epics of Sumerian Kings: Atlanta, 2003)

   From these lines, it becomes clear once again that Aratta (the land of Ararat) is the land of the gods’ chosen people.

     We notice that the flood occurred before the creation of the Sumerian and other lyric poems. This means that the land of Ararat, the “land of the immortals”, mentioned in the Sumerian poem existed before the flood.

    A flood is also mentioned in the Akkadian lyric poem “Atrahasis”, which was discovered during the excavation of the ancient city of Sippar. The text is in Akkadian and is dated to the XVII century B.C.. The text tells that the gods were tired of doing difficult labor, so they decided to create humanity to work in their place. The goddess Ninti created 7 men and 7 women out of clay. After several centuries, the humans grow substantially in number. Over time, the loud noises that the humans make begins to disturb Enlil. The god Namtar tries to eliminate humanity with a plague, but the people, on the advice of the wise and pious Atra-Hasis (“extremely wise”), offer the gods sacrifices, and the plague is stopped.

    However, on Enlil’s order, Adad spreads a drought, but the people build a temple to Adad on the advice of Atra-Hasis, and the drought ends. The council of the gods decides to eradicate humanity with a flood. All of the gods, at Enlil’s request, swear they will not help the human beings.

    Nonetheless, Ea (Enki) warns Atra-Hasis about the coming flood and, after drawing the blueprint of a ship on the sand, he orders him to build a ship and to bring with him grain, his wife, family, relatives, workers, as well as domestic and wild animals… Atra-Hasis decides to inform the elders about it, and they decide to build the ship together. Then, when the full moon arrives, Atra-Hasis gathers his family and relatives and boards the ship. Rain falls for 7 days and 7 nights; the flood begins. The goddess Ninti mourns for humanity and its destruction.

    The continuation of the text tells that Atra-Hasis, having survived the flood, offers sacrifices to the gods and expresses satisfaction for their salvation. Enlil becomes angered when he finds out about the saved humans, but Enki promises that he was the one who helped them. The gods decide to slow down the human population growth. Goddess Ninti takes measures to stunt the growth of humanity (baby-killing demons appear, certain groups of priestesses are forbidden to have children). The gods grant  Atra-Hasis immortality, so as not to break their promise and destroy all mortal men.

    The Sumerian-Akkadian myth “Gilgamesh” was created based on Sumerian lore. The most complete version of the epic was found during excavations in Nineveh in the mid-19th century. That text is dated to the 7th century B.C., however it contains layers dating back to the 23rd-22nd centuries B.C.

    The main hero of the myth is the demi-god and king of Uruk, Gilgamesh, who befriends Enkidu, who lives amongst the wild animals. They fight, then become friends and start engaging in heroism together. They fight Humbaba, the protector of the mountain cedars, then they fight a bull, and so on. The slaying of Humbaba provokes the wrath of the gods, and Enkidu is killed. The death of Enkidu shocks Gilgamesh. He understands his own mortality for the first time, and realizes that death is the fate of all men. However, he cannot accept the idea of death and begins to wander in search of immortality. In his wanderings, Gilgamesh passes through mountain passes and reaches the Mashu (Masis) Mountains, the location where the sun rises and sets. The underworld gates which begin there are guarded by menacing looking scorpions. Gilgamesh tells them that he was horrified by the death of his friend, therefore, he is going to Utnapishtim, who conquered death, to learn the secret to immortality.

    The scorpion allows him to cross the Mashu (Masu) Mountains, the gates of the mountains open, and walking through the thick darkness, Gilgamesh reaches a distant light and magical garden. Siduri, the steward of the gods and the magical garden, knowing of Gilgamesh’s purpose, says:

            The life for which you search, you will not find.

            When the gods created man,-

            He was sentenced to death,

            They held life in their hands. 

Gilgamesh, thanks to his persistence and will, meets Urshanabi, the immortal Utnapishtim’s ferryman. He builds a boat and, accompanied by Urshanabi, crosses the waters of death and reaches Utnapishtim.

   Utnapishtim, knowing of Gilgamesh’s purpose for coming to him, reports that he has no advice or answer for him, so long as the boundaries exist between his kind, the imperfect, and the gods:

            I look at you Utnapishtim,

            The size of your body is not unusual, you are the way I am,…

            Tell me, how did you survive, and find life amongst the gods?                     

    Utnapishtim says that he will tell him the secret to his immortality. His story goes as follows: The Council of the Gods, at the behest of Ellil (En-lil = lord of sky), the enemy of the people, the lord of the sky, decides to wipe out the inhabitants of the city of Shuruppak on the banks of the Euphrates with a flood. All of the gods, including the enlightened Ea (Enki-Haya), are sworn to secrecy. However, the protector of humanity, Haya-Ea reveals the secret to Utnapishtim, through the wall of the reed house, and tells him to build a four-cornered ship, covered with a roof, and load every living thing into it. Utnapishtim does exactly that, he builds a ship in preparation for the impending disaster. When the rains begin to fall heavily, Utnapishtim gathers his family, relatives, and all the animals into the ship and tars the door shut.

   The rain and storms continue, and the waters begin to cover everything on the face of the earth, plains, fields, and mountains. People can no longer see each other; they are not visible from the heavens either. For 7 days and 7 nights, the rains continue. From the power of the flood and storm, the gods were terrified and they rose up and departed from Anu’s heavens. Ishtar, the patroness of the gods, regrets agreeing to the destruction of humanity through a flood, and the Anunnaki gods weep for the annihilation of man. Eventually, on the seventh day, the rain and storms subside. The sea calms and the ship comes to rest near Mount Nisir (Nitsir). Hoping to find land, Utnapishtim sends out a dove, then a swallow, who come back to him without finding any land. But the released crow, discerning a drop in the water, does not return. Coming out of the ship, Utnapishtim performs a sacrifice and then burns incense, the fragrance of which reaches the gods who gather around the sacrificer. Witnessing the anger of the gods, then their joy at the salvation of man, Ellil touches Utnapishtim and his wife, blesses them, and grants them immortality. He settles them at the mouth of the Underworld River that originates from the World Ocean, that is in the land of Ararat.

   Then, Utnapishtim tells Gilgamesh that the council of the gods will not be assembled again for his sake, and immortality will not be granted to him, for there is no seat reserved for his imperfection in the assembly of the gods. Utnapishtim’s wife pities Gilgamesh and convinces Utnapishtim to reveal to Gilgamesh the knowledge about the secret of the flower, which, once acquired, will keep him young forever. Gilgamesh manages to find the flower in the depths of the sea, but he is unable to use it because a snake ends up swallowing it.

   In the IV-III centuries, the historian Berossus asserts in his famous work Babylonika (History of Babylonia, or Chaldaika) that the Land of the Gods, where humanity received its salvation, was Armenia. Berossus, a priest, took advantage of the cuneiform written sources preserved in temples when he assembled his work. Portions of Berossus’ work have been preserved in the work of Eusebius of Caesarea (thanks to the Armenian translation). Of the preserved fragments, one of them presents a Mesopotamian version of the World Flood, in which the hero saved from the flood is presented with the Hellenized name Xisuthros (Xisutr). According to Berossus, the god (or Titan) Kronos warns Xisuthros about the flood and tells him that in order to be saved he must build a ship. When Xisuthros asks where he must go to be saved, he is answered the land of the gods. After the flood, when the ark comes to rest upon the mountains, Xisuthros and his wife are granted immortality from the gods and given permission to live in the land of the gods. The other survivors of the flood, after waiting a long time at the altar for Xisuthros and his wife, hear a voice from heaven say, “Do not search for water, do not call for their names in vain. For their piety, the gods took them, and they now live with us”. When the people asked what land they were in, an answer came from heaven: “You are in Armenia. You must go south”. They obeyed the order, offered sacrifices to the gods, and migrated south to Babylon.¹ A noteworthy fact in Berossus’ work is that the other saved people are not allowed to live in the land of the gods, in Ararat, but are instead commanded to go to Babylon. We notice that not all people were allowed to live in the land of the gods, the land of Ararat.

   The Bible and the Land of Ararat. The written sources of Near East Asia from the I millennium B.C. continue to speak of creation, of the world, the gods, and the creation of humanity, and also of the ungodly deeds of man, the anger of the gods, and the destruction of humanity by the flood. The Bible is such a written source. The Old Testament contains information about creation, earthly paradise, the World Flood, the land of Ararat, and the salvation of the human race.

      TheBible reiterates the familiar story from the Sumerian-Akkadian written sources. Man, created by his Creator, angers God again with his lack of good character (this time because of evil and envy) and is in danger of being destroyed by the flood. But there is a path to salvation; it is goodness and piety. And for the salvation of the human race, God chooses just such a pious person: Noah. Warned by God of the impending flood, Noah behaves like the Sumerian Ziusudra and the Akkadian Utnapishtim had behaved. He builds an ark and gathers his family and animals of every kind (in pairs) from the earth into it. The rains fall for 40 days and 40 nights; everything is covered by the waters. After being tossed about on the waters for 40 days, the ark comes to rest on the mountains of Ararat. Then, the rain ceases, the waters recede, and Noah comes out of the ark and offers sacrifices to God for his salvation. After the flood, in the mountains of Ararat, the Eternal Covenant of God and man (Noah and his descendants) is confirmed, “made for eternal ages, the sign of which is this: the bow shall be seen in the cloud”² (rainbow).

    Greek mythology also has an account of the World Flood, which has reached us through Hesiod’s poem “Works and Days”. In the Greek version, the gods destroyed four generations of humans which were created in the golden age, the silver age, the copper age and the iron age, due to their evil and envy. However, Prometheus’ son Deucalion and his wife were saved during the last Iron Age flood. On his father’s advice, Deucalion made a huge chest and entered it with his wife. After nine days of tossing about on the water, the chest comes to rest on the summit of Nis (cf. Nisir) on Mount Parnassas. Tradition further relates that at the command of Zeus, the human race once again multiplied on earth.³ An ancient Greek tradition tells that Deucalion and his wife Pyrrha had children, Hellen and Andropomos, from whom descended the Hellenes and the Armenians.⁴

   Summary:  After Ziusudra was saved from the Flood, he settled in the land of    

 Dilmun, the place where the sun rose (Armenian Highlands).

   -The goddess Inanna saved the inhabitants of Aratta during the time of the Flood.

— Utnapishtim settled down at the mouth of the Underworld River that originates from the World Ocean, that is the land of Ararat (Armenian Highlands).

— Xisuthros received permission from the gods to live in the land of the gods: Armenia.

—  Noah finds salvation in the mountains of Ararat.

 We notice, those pious people who were saved from the Flood and given immortality, were given permission to dwell in Ararat (the land of Ararat), Aratta, Armenia, and the mountains of Ararat. The land of Dilmun and the land at the mouth of the Underworld River that originates from the World Ocean correspond geographically to the land of Ararat (Armenian Highlands).

   The ancient written sources of Mesopotamia testify that  man was created in the land of Ararat, and he moved away from his homeland, settled in other territories, forgot  the laws of the sacred ME operating in his homeland, the land of Ararat (Aratta), and due to his wickedness and arrogance, was in danger of extinction. However, by the will of the benevolent gods, through a pious person (people), humanity is saved, taking refuge in the mountainous  land of ARARAT, where he was created.

            ¹ Eusebius of Caesarea, Chronicle, section A, Venice, 1818.

            ² Genesis, 9:8-16.

            ³ M. Bartikyan, Pagan Hellada or the Idol Hellen, Athens, 1936, pp.  

           32-36

            ⁴ H. Ter-Movsisyan, History of Armenia, Venice, 1922, pp. 119-120

                                                                           ANGELA  A. TERYAN,  HISTORIAN

                     TRANSLATED BY ANNA GAGIKI  MATSOYAN HODNETT