Atra-Hasis

Uncommon card · No. 79825

Atra-Hasis (Akkadian: 𒀜𒊏𒄩𒋀, romanized: Atra-ḫasīs) is an 18th-century BC Akkadian epic, recorded in various versions on clay tablets and named for one of its protagonists, the priest Atra-Hasis ('exceedingly wise'). The narrative has its origins in Sumerian historiography and comprises four focal points: An organisation of allied upper and lower gods shaping Mesopotamia agriculturally; a political conflict between them, pacified by manufacturing of a first human couple to serve as their labour force; the human's mass reproduction within a few millennia; and a devastating deluge linked to the intention of the upper gods to destroy their imperfect artificial creatures. Atrahasis is a relatively late epic of the flood myth ubiquitous in Mesopotamia; its oldest known versions date from the Ur III period, followed by an almost unbroken chain of transmission comprising Akkadian, Babylonian, Biblical and Qur’anic accounts (cf. flood myth). Recent research suggests that the relatively rapid rise...

Read on Wikipedia · Image editor Austen Henry Layard , drawing by L. Gruner, Public domain