There is one historical person who, although swathed in myth, very well
may have been Adam of the Bible. That man is the legendary Adapa.
Several fragments of the "Legend of Adapa" were taken from the Library
of Ashurbanipal (668-626 BC) at Ninevah. One also was found in the
Egyptian archives of Amenophis III and IV of the fourteenth century BC.
[1] Although versions of the Adapa myth have been found in Akkadian,
Canaanitish-Babylonian, Assyrian and Amorite, none have been found in
Sumerian. [2]
According to Akkadian legend, Ea created Adapa an exemplary man, endowed
with "superhuman wisdom," but not eternal life. A fishing accident
angered Adapa, who broke the wing of the south wind, and was summoned to
heaven to appear before Anu. Ea warned Adapa not to eat a certain food
or drink any water that would be offered to him. A cautious Adapa shuns
the food and water of life, whereby he would have acquired eternal life.
[3]
A fragment of one record of the Adapa legend rests in the Pierpont
Morgan Library. Inscribed in Amorite, a Semitic language, this is part
of the translation:
In those days, in those years, the sage, the man of Eridu,
Ea, made him like a “riddi” (rabbi?) among men;
A sage, whose command no one could oppose;
The mighty one, the Atra-hasis of the Anunaki, is he;
Blameless, clean of hands, anointer, observer of laws.
With the bakers, he does the baking;
With the bakers of Eridu, he does the baking. [4]
Adam of the Bible and Adapa were both “created” human sons of God (god).
According to the legend, Adapa was a sage, a profoundly wise man, in
Eridu. Adapa prepared the altar table. Daily while Ea slept in his
chamber Adapa guarded the sanctuary. [5]
Regarded as a prophet or seer, Adapa had been priest of the temple of Ea
at Eridu. He is described as "blameless," "clean of hands," "anointer
and observer of laws." Could that also describe Adam, the first type of
Christ? Also, Adam was taken from the ground; in the Hebrew: 'adam from
'adamah. How close phonetically is 'adamah to Adapa?
Could it be only coincidence that Adam was told "by the sweat of his
face" he would eat "bread," and Adapa was a baker by trade; or that
Adapa was deprived of eternal life by not eating or drinking the "food
or water of life," while Adam was cut off from eating the fruit of the
"tree of life"? In another version, Adapa was given vast understanding
“that he might give names to all ‘concepts’ in the earth.” And Adam was
tasked to name the “creatures” of the earth. God gave Adam a coat of
skin after the Fall, and Anu gave Adapa a garment after he rejected the
bread of life.
When father-god Anu summons Adapa to appear he is warned by Ea that two
departed gods guard the gate. These are Tammuz and Gazzida – two cult
figures who mysteriously departed and became elevated to god status. Ea
instructs Adapa how to get by the “guards.”. He is “soiled” and
“sackcloth” put upon him. [6] Ea explains what will be asked at the
gate of Anu:
O man. For whom art thou become like this?
O Adapa, for whom art thou clad in sackcloth
Adapa is told to reply: “In our land two gods have disappeared and I
have been brought to this plight.” Finally at the gate of heaven Adapa
is questioned, “Who are the two gods who have disappeared in the land?”
When Adapa, who feigns not knowing to whom he is speaking, replies,
“They are Tammuz and Gizzida,” the two laugh and give him entry.
The custom of donning “sackcloth and ashes” continued throughout Jewish
history. In Ezek. 4:3: “… there was
<http://bible.crosswalk.com/Lexicons/Hebrew/heb.cgi?number=01419&version
=kjv> great
<http://bible.crosswalk.com/Lexicons/Hebrew/heb.cgi?number=060&version=k
jv> mourning among the
<http://bible.crosswalk.com/Lexicons/Hebrew/heb.cgi?number=03064&version
=kjv> Jews, and
<http://bible.crosswalk.com/Lexicons/Hebrew/heb.cgi?number=06685&version
=kjv> fasting, and
<http://bible.crosswalk.com/Lexicons/Hebrew/heb.cgi?number=01065&version
=kjv> weeping, and
<http://bible.crosswalk.com/Lexicons/Hebrew/heb.cgi?number=04553&version
=kjv> wailing; and
<http://bible.crosswalk.com/Lexicons/Hebrew/heb.cgi?number=07227&version
=kjv> many
<http://bible.crosswalk.com/Lexicons/Hebrew/heb.cgi?number=03331&version
=kjv> lay in
<http://bible.crosswalk.com/Lexicons/Hebrew/heb.cgi?number=08242&version
=kjv> sackcloth and
<http://bible.crosswalk.com/Lexicons/Hebrew/heb.cgi?number=0665&version=
kjv> ashes.” Yet this ritual is rooted in Akkadian and Semitic lore and
tied to the legendary Adapa.
Sayce suggested that the name should have been “Adamu” on the strength
of the character pa which may have the value of mu. A principle that
governed the transcription of names and words was the selection of
characters to express their sounds which also harmonized with their
sense. The last syllable of a name like Ada-mu would be represented by
an ideograph which not only had the phonetic value of mu, but also
signified “man.” [7]
Henceforward, therefore we must transcribe the name of
the first man of Babylonian tradition, but A-da-pa, but A-da-mu. [8]
In Sumerian adam signified generically “animal” and specifically “man.”
A list of slaves when Rim-Amum was king were called adam-bi. [9] The
second king on the Assyian kinglist was “Adamu.” In tablets recovered
at Tello, Adamu was used as a proper name. [10] The title, "the Son of
God," reserved for Sumerian royalty, was recorded with a likeness of a
seated man on a seal stamp who was called "Adamu." [11] This title is
identical to that used of Adam in Luke 3:38 where the genealogy of
Christ originates with "Adam, the son of God."
Even though the Adapa legend has no Sumerian counterpart, in literary
Sumerian, the contrast "town and country" is commonly expressed by uru
and 'adam, literally "town and pasture.” [12] The connection with 'adam
taken from the "ground" in Genesis is mirrored with 'adam and pasture
land in Sumerian.
Did Adam's Fall affect following generations? These two lines are part
of one Adapa fragment:
[...] what ill he has brought upon mankind,
[And] the disease that he brought upon the
bodies of men ... [13]
From the Apocrypha, this Jewish tradition of the Fall is also reflected
in II Esdras 7:48:
O Adam, what have you done?
For though it was you who sinned,
the fall was not yours alone,
but ours also who are your descendants. [14]
Westermann concludes that in this text Adam is not understood as a
"representative of mankind created by God, but as an historical
individual whose `Fall' was passed on through him to his descendants."
[15]
Why was this man Adapa or Adamu written about in various Semitic
languages and ignored completely in Sumerian literature? Stories of
gods and kings common to both cultures are found in both languages. The
legend of Inana and Dumuzi in Sumerian is repeated as Ishtar and Tummuz
for the Semites. Sumerian gods increasingly became incorporated into
the growing Semitic pantheon.
Adapa/Adamu, however, was neither king nor god. Yet he was regarded as
a man of extreme importance to the Semites. He was one of their own.
“None could annul his command; he excelled in wisdom, and the Annunaki
gods had given him his name.” [16] Do we know that name today as
“Adam”?
Dick Fischer
Dick Fischer, Genesis Proclaimed Association
Finding Harmony in Bible, Science, and History
<http://www.genesisproclaimed.org> www.genesisproclaimed.org
_____
[1] Albert T. Clay, A Hebrew Deluge Story in Cuneiform (New Haven: Yale
University Press, 1922), 39-41.
[2] Canon John Arnott MacCulloch, editor, The Mythology of All Races
(New York: Cooper Square Publishers, Inc., 1964), 175.
[3] Clay, A Hebrew Deluge Story in Cuneiform, 40.
[4] Ibid., 41.
[5] McCulloch, editor, The Mythology of All Races, 176.
[6] Ibid, 148.
[7] A. H. Sayce, “Recent Biblical and Oriental Archaeology,” The
Expository Times, Vol XVII, p. 416-7.
[8] Ibid., 416.
[9] Recueil de Travaux relatifs à la Philologie et à l’Archéologie
égyptiennes et assyriennes, xx, p.65.
[10] Tablettes Chaldéennes inédites, p. 7.
[11] L. A. Waddell, The Phoenician Origin of the Britons, Scots, and
Anglo-Saxons (London: Williams and Norgate, Ltd., 1924), 239, 253.
[12] William W. Hallo, “Antediluvian Cities,” Journal of Cuneiform
Studies, (1970) Vol. XXIII, p.58.
[13] James B. Pritchard, Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old
Testament (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1955), 103.
[14] Claus Westermann, Creation (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1971),
108.
[15] Ibid., 108.
[16] McCulloch, editor, The Mythology of All Races, 175-176.
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Received on Sun, 18 Jun 2006 13:39:25 -0400
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