Re: Source for Atrahasis

From: Dick Fischer (dickfischer@earthlink.net)
Date: Wed Jan 10 2001 - 22:50:42 EST

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    Al McCarrick wrote:

    >>Your ancient quote is quite interesting. I have often thought about the
    sense of forbodeing that Noah must have felt and the compassion he had for
    the lost around him despite their personal abuse. (Would he have made room
    for any who wanted to join in ?)<<

    The eleventh tablet of Gilgamesh mentions a boatman, and craftsman are
    mentioned in one account as I remember, but the epic tales are loaded with
    polytheism. If the gods are inventions, are the extra crew members also
    inventions?

    >What is the source for this story ?

    Stephanie Dalley, Myths from Mesopotamia (New York: Oxford University
    Press, 1989)

    >Is it part of the Epic of Gilgamesh ?

    No. Atrahasis is independent. Atra is kin to our word "ultra," and hasis
    means "wise." Thus the title is "Exceeding wise." It is also an
    adjective. Adapa (Adam?) was called the "atrahasis of the anunnaki." You
    could say "wise among the angels, or lesser gods. Only three people in
    Mesopotamian history were called that. One parallels Adam, one parallels
    Noah, and Etana is the third. Etana was the twelfth king of Kis after the
    flood, also called the "Shepherd who Ascended to Heaven." So "atrahasis"
    was reserved for special people.

    Dick Fischer - The Origins Solution - www.orisol.com
    "The answer we should have known about 150 years ago."



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