adapa

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7/21/2014 Adapa - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adapa

Oanns - Adapafrom Odilon Red

in the Krller-Mller Museum

AdapaFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Adapa, the first of the Mesopotamian seven sages, was a mythicalfigure who unknowingly refused the gift of immortality. The story isfirst attested in the Kassite period (14th century BCE), in fragmentarytablets from Tell el-Amarna, and from Assur, of the late second

millennium BCE. Mesopotamian myth tells of seven antediluviansages, who were sent by Ea, the wise god of Eridu, to bring the arts ofcivilisation to humankind. The first of these, Adapa, also knownasUan, the name given as Oannes by Berossus, introducedthe practiceof the correct rites of religious observance as priest of the E'Apsutemple, at Eridu. The sages are described in Mesopotamian literatureas 'purepardu-fish, probably carp, whose bones are found associatedwith the earliest shrine, and still kept as a holy duty in the precincts ofNear Eastern mosques and monasteries. Adapa as a fisherman wasiconographically portrayed as a fish-man composite. The word

Abgallu, sage(Ab = water, Gal = great, Lu = man, Sumerian)survived into Nabatean times, around the 1st century, as apkallum,

used to describe the profession of a certain kind of priest.[1]

Contents

1 Roles

2 As Oannes

3 References

4 Bibliography

Roles

Adapa was a mortal man from a godly lineage, a son of Ea (Enki in Sumerian), the god of wisdom and ofancient city of Eridu, who brought the arts of civilization to that city (from Dilmun, according to some

versions). He broke the wings of Ninlil the South Wind, who had overturned his fishing boat, and was calto account before Anu. Ea, his patron god, warned him to apologize humbly for his actions, but not to partof food or drink while he was in heaven, as it would be the food of death. Anu, impressed by Adapa'ssincerity, offered instead the food of immortality, but Adapa heeded Ea's advice, refused, and thus missed chance for immortality that would have been his.

Vague parallels can be drawn to the story of Genesis, where Adam and Eve are expelled from the Garden

Eden by Yahweh, after they ate from the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thus gaining death.[2]

Parallels are also apparent (to an even greater degree) with the story of Persephone visiting Hades, who w
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anuhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninlilhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eriduhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dilmunhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ea_(Babylonian_god)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enkihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesopotamianhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apkalluhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:1908_Redon_Oannes_anagoria.JPGhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_of_the_knowledge_of_good_and_evilhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adamhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anuhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninlilhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dilmunhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eriduhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enkihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ea_(Babylonian_god)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priesthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nabateanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosquehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carphttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesopotamiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berossushttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oanneshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eriduhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enkihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flood_mythhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tell_el-Amarnahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kassiteshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immortalityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apkalluhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesopotamianhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kr%C3%B6ller-M%C3%BCller_Museumhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odilon_Redonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:1908_Redon_Oannes_anagoria.JPG

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warned totake nothing from that kingdom. Stephanie Galley writes From Erra and Ishum we know that athe sages were banished ... because they angered the gods, and went back to the Apsu, where Ea lived, anthe story ... ended with Adapa's banishment p. 182.

Adapa is often identified as advisor to the mythical first (antediluvian) king of Eridu, Alulim. In addition toadvisory duties, he served as a priest and exorcist, and upon his death took his place among the Seven SagorApkall. (Apkallu, "sage", comes from SumerianAB.GAL.LU(Ab=water, Gal=Great Lu=Man) a referto Adapa, the first sage's association with water.)

As Oannes

Oannes() was the name given by the Babylonian writer Berossus in the 3rd century BCE to amythical being who taught mankind wisdom. Berossus describes Oannes as having the body of a fish butunderneath the figure of a man. He is described as dwelling in the Persian Gulf, and rising out of the waterthe daytimeand furnishing mankind instruction in writing, the arts and the various sciences. Oannes and th

Semitic godDagon were considered identical.[3]

The name"Oannes" was once conjectured to be derived from that of the ancient Babylonian god Ea,[4]buis now known that the name is the Greek form of the Babylonian Uanna(or Uan) a name used for Adapa

texts fromthe Library of Ashurbanipal.[5][6]The Assyrian texts attempt to connect the word to the Akkad

for a craftsman ummanubut this is merely a pun.[5]

Iosif Shklovsky and Carl Sagan cited tales of Oannes as deserving closer scrutiny as a possible instance of

paleocontact due to its consistency and detail.[7]

References

1. ^Dalley, Stephanie (2008), "Myths from Mesopotamia: Creation, the Flood, Gilgemesh, and Others" (Oxford

World's Classics), p. 182

2. ^Mark, Joshua (2011), "The Myth of Adapa" (http://www.ancient.eu.com/article/216/), Ancient History

Encyclopedia

3. ^S. Baring-Gould (1877). Curious Myths of the Middle Ages

(https://archive.org/stream/curiousmythsofmi00bariuoft#page/494/mode/2up). London: Rivingtons.

4. ^Archibald H. Sayce, The Hibbert Lectures, 1887. Lectures on the Origin and Growth of Religion as illustrate

theReligion of the Ancient Babylonians, Wiliams & Norgate, London, 18975. ^ abStephanie Dalley,Myths from Mesopotamia, Oxford World's Classics, 1989

6. ^K.van der Toorn, Bob Becking, Pieter Willem van der Horst: Dictionary of deities and demons in the Bible

Edition 2, revised, B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1999

7. ^"stories like the Oannes legend, and representations especially of the earliest civilizations on Earth, deserve m

more critical studies than have been performed heretofore, with the possibility of direct contact with an

extraterrestrial civilization as one of many possible alternative explanations". Shklovski and Sagan, p. 461

Bibliography
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oanneshttps://archive.org/stream/curiousmythsofmi00bariuoft#page/494/mode/2uphttp://www.ancient.eu.com/article/216/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleocontacthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Saganhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iosif_Shklovskyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_Ashurbanipalhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ea_(Babylonian_god)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dagonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persian_Gulfhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berossushttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumerian_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apkalluhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exorcisthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priesthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alulimhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eridu

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Jean Bottero,Everyday Life In Ancient Mesopotamia

Donald A. Mackenzie,Myths of Babylonia and Assyria

Stephanie Dalley, "Myths from Mesopotamia" p. 326

Cotterell, Arthur, ed. (1997), "Adapa" (http://www.enotes.com/wm-encyclopedia/adapa), Oxford

Dictionary of World Mythology, Oxford: Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-217747-8

Black, Jeremy, Andrew George & Nicholas Postgate, eds. 1999:A Concise Dictionary of Akkadian

SANTAG, 5 (ISBN 3-447-04225-7)

Miller, Douglas & R Mark Shipp 1993:An Akkadian Handbook(ISBN 0-931464-86-2)

Verbrugghe Gerald & John Wickersham 2000:Berossos & Manetho Introduced & Translated; Nat

Traditions in Mesopotamia & Egypt(ISBN 0-472-08687-1)

Hancock, Graham - Underworld

Shklovski, I. S., and Carl Sagan. 1966.Intelligent life in the universe. San Francisco: Holden-Day.

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