The Kašūšu Weapon

After having read and read the Atrahasis story again and again, it becomes very clear that the god of the sea, Enki, had nothing to do with the Flood, except warning Atrahasis about it and instructing him to build his ship. But the three kingdoms along a river or rivers (presumably Euphrates and Tigris) and and artificial system of canals dug partly by the Igigi (neanderthals?) who could carry loads sevenfold, and later, the humans (sapiens) who surpassed even most gods in intelligence, having been created from sacrificeing the most intelligent god -- they were; Middle Earth (controlled by Ea) probably between the Sea (Enki) and Land (centred around Uruk?), up to, the Earth kingdom (Ellil) above that where the canals and humans were (and where Babel would be), and then Heaven (Anu and the Anunnaki) up in the mountains (where Edin was and the source of the rivers).

In the Epic of Atrahasis, the Flood was a disaster resulting from the "gods" playing with the Mesopotamian rivers' supply of water in an attempt at eradicating the humans. Basterds!

These kings (except Enki) plotted to exterminate the intelligent humans they created who lived in their combined empire, around Babel. They did so by Anu and Ellil stopping or "clogging" the river and canals upstream (using "dragonflies") and up in the mountains (by closing up a strategic river pass or digging up a wall or a low, but wide dam for instance), and Ea and his creatures having then to barr the sea from entering below as the water level of the rivers sunk below sea-level, so I'd like to leave Ea's responsibility as simply doing what was necessary in the situation emerged. The Sea, or Enki, however, had absolutely nothing to do with the Flood, being lit. shut out, saying "The Flood that you mention to me-- what is it? Could I bring a flood without knowing it? That's Ellil's work!".

In the text the maneuvre leading to the Flood has a name: 'The Kašūšu Weapon'.

Sources:

Found an online text of the Epic of Atrahasis ==> www.livius.org... All in all it looks legit from what I can see by looking over it once, but with more missing areas of text and passages than in the book below. To fix this they have numbered the lines which is very useful. And I have no idea who is behind the site.

The version I have of the texts is from 'Myths from Mesopotamia' from Oxford World Classics (ISBN 978-0-19-953836-2) is slightly different than the text above, and seems to contain more text and uses some different spelling and translation here and there. It's translated by Stephanie Dalley.

edit on 20-9-2014 by Utnapisjtim because: bold line + misc restructuring and rephrasing

This is a very interesting thread. I did read some articles containing a little information that could lead to this conclusion but didn't pay much attention to them. I was looking for something else, it is sometimes hard to see things if you are not looking for them.

you know...there were storytellers back then, that created all kinds of mythical tales for adults and kids as a form of entertainment...life in those days, was so harsh and short-lived by many, that a good storyteller was like our internet and TV of today, and valued just as much.....not everything, from stories to art, was done with a serious factual basis behind it.

a reply to: jimmyx

I am referring to the text of the Epic of Atrahasis and how it shows evidence of the mechanisms behind the event that triggered a well of flood myths developing in the area from around 2000 BC and 1000 BC. I am not asking you to believe this, just to have an open enough mind to treat the text for what it is. Evidence of real event or not.

ETA: But you're absolutely correct. The Flood mythos was big entertainment 3700 years ago. The Noah character suviving a great flood (be it my namesake or Atrahasis or Heimdall or even Ulysses) was a popular theme in Mesopotamia, which saw occasional and even annual floods and the odd big one giving life to myths and stories like Atrahasis and Gilgamesh, since they lived along Euphrates and Tigris two of the largest rivers in the world. And how these rivers were vital for agriculture and life in general in the area. The Atrahasis Epos gives rise to the idea that these rivers were controlled by certain "gods" giving them the power to eradicate all life in Mesopotamia in a day.

Same mindset as our current leaders. Parallels to those hybrid annanuki related ones and the administration now running the world, only we've finally gone up a notch to some destructive based technologies, (when there are always clean alternatives), killing and threatening inventors, and poisoning huge swatches of humanity to try and dumb us down, and depopulating at will.

Same power struggles and groups.

Same world, same management team, and same crappy goals to always stamp out improvement and intellect and threats to their power and keep earth in a sad state.

a reply to: Utnapisjtim

It wasn't that Enki didn't participate in the deluge, because he did, in very big ways. What it was, is that Enki served as the opposition to Enlil's plans every step of the way.

When the Igigi rebelled against the Anunnaki, complaining that their work was too much, Enlil wanted to sacrifice a god to stifle the disquiet, but Enki spoke up and challenged Enlil, asking why the Anunnaki were blaming the Igigi when, in reality, the Igigi were overtaxed and overworked. After quieting Enlil's fury, Enki proposes the sacrifice of one god (named Geshtu or Ilawela) so that his blood may be mixed with clay handled by the birth-goddess Mami. The result would be a new creature, with a heartbeat and a spirit: Mankind.

For six-hundred years Mankind fills its role as care-takers the Earth, but the population increases and the noise of living beings becomes too much for Enlil, who can't sleep. In response, Enlil commands Namtar to send a plague to ravage the land. The plague descends and Mankind suffers. In response, Enki reaches out to his chosen human being, Atra-hasis, and tells him to gather the elders. Atra-hasis does, and repeats Enki's command to stop revering the gods, and instead seek out Namtar, because appeasing the god Namtar will cause the plague to be lifted. Mankind follows Atra-hasis' advice and the plague is conquered.

For less than six-hundred years Mankind returned to care-taking, and the population again increased, producing even more noise that disturbed Enlil's rest. Enlil, again, turned to trials to solve his dilemma. This time he caused the weather-god Ishkur to stop bringing the life-giving rains, for the harvest-goddess Nisaba to prevent her bounty from rising, and for the demon-god Pazuzu to bring the deadly western-wind upon the land, killing the crops. All of which happens, and Mankind suffers. Enki, however, returns to Atra-hasis again and issues a similar solution: do not revere your gods, do not revere your goddesses, instead seek out and appease Ishkur, who will be shamed by what he has done, and release the heavenly rain to rejuvenate the land. Mankind follows Enki's advice and the drought and famine are conquered.

The third trial is the one you mentioned: An seals off Upshinka, the Heavenly Hall; Nanna seals off the lunar realm, where he, Inana, and Utu reside; Nergal seals off Irkalla, the Underworld realm of the dead; and Enki seals off Dilmun, the paradise garden that grows on the banks of the abyss. Enlil then causes Namtar, Ishkur, and Nisaba to unleash plague, drought, and famine once more. Through Enki's assistance, Atra-hasis is able to keep a small portion of the population alive, a feat which so angers Enlil that he moves on to his most drastic measure: the deluge.

Enlil, as King of the Anunnaki, issues a decree that no god shall speak to Mankind. He then commands Ishkur and Ninurta to prepare the deluge. Enki objects though, as you stated, claiming that it is not the work of a loving creator to destroy his creations, implying that Enki sees himself as father of Mankind, and has nothing but love and patience for us. Enki says that Enlil must reverse his plan, call off Ishkur's rains; do not to let Hanish and Shullat (thunder and lightning) march before the storm-god; and stop Ninurta, whose presence is akin to thunderstorms, hail-storms, and floods, from descending upon the land. Enlil ignores Enki's wisdom, and issues the flood anyway.

The remainder of the myth is the standard fare, which was used as a model for the later Biblical account. A few interesting differences though: Enki speaks to a wall, and Atra-hasis listens, thereby undermining Enlil's command that no god speak directly to a human being. Atra-hasis, his wife, and the people who help build his boat are allowed to live (unlike the Noah account), and the reason given for the building is that Atra-hasis believes if he leaves the gods will "rain down" upon Mankind, a clever play on words so that Atra-hasis neither lied, nor told the truth.

At the end, Atra-hasis, his wife, and their builders survive, the Anunnaki and Igigi are horrified by what Enlil has commanded and go tearing their hair and scratching their flesh in mourning for all the human beings Enlil has made them kill, and finally Enki confronts his brother when it is revealed that Atra-hasis survived. The myth ends with Enki having outmaneuvered Enlil, and spared Mankind from extinction.

While many scholars see the myth as an account of over-population or the unpredictable nature of the Mesopotamian gods, I, myself, actually see the myth as representative of Mankind's gradual mastery of nature. In the myth, with Enki's help, Mankind conquers plague, disease, drought, famine, and flood: all of the natural disasters that could beset Sumerians and Akkadians. Mankind also learns to appease the wrath of the gods and earn their love an favor. The myth, I think, is about Mankind coming into their own, and learning to conquer Nature, and, to an extent, some of the more primal, chaotic gods of their pantheon.


~ Wandering Scribe

a reply to: Unity_99

Yes, it's the story of classes and castes with different social benefits and power identified by stuff like the classical elements or astrology etc, with gods above and demons below and man smack in the middle being bitched by either two interchangeably. The sooner we can get out of those highly social caste structures, often based on slavery and racism, the better.

As for governing powers that be "regulating" or "refining" populations: Putting fluorides in US drinking water, and when confronted, explaining it away as a way to get whiter, stronger and better teeth in the population, well, fluorides also has other "benefits", and when you brush your teeth, you're not supposed to swallow the toothpaste. Or, had someone bombed the Aswan dam, all of Egypt would be washed to the sea with millions dead and unimaginable collateral damage. I believe "The Flood" was such an event, only that it happened in Mesopotamia and washed away all traces of civilisation before around 6000 years ago, an event that reduced once four Mesopotamian rivers into two. It's as simple as it is evil.

a reply to: Wandering Scribe

Thanks for your contribution. Your post sums the text up elegantly. May I ask of your sources? You seem to have had more texts to base your paraphrasing on, but all sounds right. Talking of fragmentation, scholars seem to agree on that one of the big missing parts towards the end of the text on Tablet III includes a text about how the gods introduced mankind for "death as a normal end to human life", all according to "newly discovered" chunks of missing text belonging to the epos.

a reply to: Utnapisjtim

the flood myths always remind me of 'Chinese whispers'.. yanno... gets exaggerated and becomes obscure over time.

I feel that there was a deluge, but it was endemic and ended up being exaggerated. Interesting version of the myth though... thanks for posting it up.

originally posted by: Thurisaz
a reply to: Utnapisjtim

the flood myths always remind me of 'Chinese whispers'.. yanno... gets exaggerated and becomes obscure over time. I feel that there was a deluge, but it was endemic and ended up being exaggerated.

I agree, but as there are always more and more traces of the original message as further back in the chain you get, I believe there is a real flood event that lead to these flood epics. And like there have evidently been many and great floods up through history, so are there many similar stories. This myth and this epos in particular belongs to the same tradition as the biblical Noah account and is possibly the main source of the Noah myth altogether.

Interesting version of the myth though... thanks for posting it up.

Pleasure is all mine, I loved searching it out.

Now back to 'the kašūšu weapon'. Atrahasis is not the only place this weapon is addressed. In Enuma Elish, in a supplement to Tablet II-- Anshar calls his son Anu by this title, calling Anu the 'heroic kašūšu-weapon'.

a reply to: Utnapisjtim

My sources are both electronic and paper-bound:

"History Begins at Sumer: 39 Firsts in Man's Recorded History"
By Samuel Noah Kramer

"Myths of Enki, the Crafty God"
By Samuel Noah Kramer and John Maier

"Oxford World Classics: Myths from Mesopotamia"
Edited by Stephanie Dalley (2008 re-issue)

"The Ancient Near East: An Anthology of Texts and Pictures"
Edited by James B. Pritchard

The text itself, in a number of translations, is also widely available online:

Gateways to Babylon
Livius
ETCSL's account of the Flood Myth

In addition, I'm also a member of Academia.edu, and Enenuru.net, both of which have sections dedicated to the academic study of Mesopotamian literature and beliefs.



The text itself, to me, does represent a number of different thing, as do all myths. There is definitely (whether lost or newly translated) a portion of the text where the Anunnaki introduce the concept of death to Mankind. In The Epic of Gilgameš, tablet XI, Utnapištam relates to Gilgameš the story of the Deluge, however, if you backtrack a little bit, to the coda of tablet X, you'll find this:

Nobody sees Death.
Nobody sees the face of Death.
Nobody hears the voice of Death.
Savage Death cuts mankind down.
Sometimes we build a house, sometimes we make a nest,
But then brothers divide it upon inheritance.
Sometimes there are wars that ravage the land,
But then the river rises and brings the flood-waters.
Dragonflies drift upon the river,
Their eyes turned upon the face of the Sun,
But then suddenly there is nothing.
The sleeping and the dead are just like each other.
The aged man is as any young man.
Death's picture cannot be drawn.
When they blessed me, the Anunnaki, the Great Gods, assembled,
Mami, who creates fates, decreed destinies with them.
They appointed death and life.
They did not mark out days for Death,
But they did so for life.

From the above it is clear that Mami and Enki, in the aftermath of the deluge, were tasked with creating a new species of Mankind, one with an expiration date. Utnapištam, however, is one of the Old Humans though, whose immortality was granted to him by the Anunnaki. Obviously the fear of death is a major theme in The Epic of Gilgameš, and it was a serious threat to the people of Mesopotamia.

The Atraḫasīs myth though, is so much more than just an account of a flood and a reaction to the inevitability of death. Nearly two-thirds of the myth (tablets 1 and 2) deal exclusively with trials other than the flood. Therefore, it is my belief that the deluge itself was actually only a minor part of the Sumerian religious history. Of more importance were the plagues, droughts, and famines that come twice during the myth, and are both times conquered by Mankind with Enki's help. That—Mankind's tenacity and will to live—is the fulcrum upon which the Atraḫasīs myth really turns.



Kašūšu is a term that combines two others: Kaš, meaning "long enduring" and ūšu meaning either "dragon" or "strength". In the Atraḫasīs account I would venture to guess that it is meant to imply a "long-enduring strength" or "endurance" against the trials being presented by Enlil. Atraḫasīs, when making his offerings, may be giving his strength and fealty to Enki. During Enuma Eliš the term may instead refer to An as a "great enduring dragon", which would not be out of place, as many primordial and ancestral digures in Enuma Eliš were referred to as "serpents" and "dragons".


~ Wandering Scribe

a reply to: Wandering Scribe


Thats just how they coded the matrix, speaking out of fear, and always trying to enhance fear.

a reply to: Utnapisjtim

your approach becomes closer and closer. I have never delved into the text you do but i work from visions and have said here many times the flood was to rid the earth of the fallen and one at the head still had to deal with those above him. Much begging and stepping up to own the responsibility of actions today was taken in order to keep this whole thing afloat. We the ones here today were never part of the plan because they had givin up on us.

The Sumerian Kings List says that the Flood happened after Eridu's flourishing and that Kish held the first post-diluvial dynasty. Archaeology shows that there was no significant occupation of Eridu after the Uruk period, and Kish was not a major city until the Jemdet Nasr period. So the Sumerian tradition has the date fixed between 3000 and 2900BC.


a reply to: deadeyedick
"The fallen" at least in the Hebrew/Aramaic version means "the corrupted" (fallen as in fallen from grace) and is usually misinterpreted by alien enthusiasts as meaning literally fallen, from space, as if they slipped and fell lol.

a reply to: Unity_99

Thats just how they coded the matrix, speaking out of fear, and always trying to enhance fear.

This is not true at all.

There are certainly lamentation poems and wailing-songs in the extant Sumerian literature, but they are far from the most common type of written work. In fact, the overwhelming majority of Mesopotamian literature (of a religious or mythological kind) is actually quite uplifting. For example:

The fulcrum of the Epic of Gilgameš, as I've said, is the eponymous hero-king's struggle with his fear of death and mortality. However, after Gilgameš has become Ensi of Erech, slain the radiant Humbaba, overthrown the Bull of Heaven, watched his friend and lover Enkidu die, and crossed the Waters of Death to find Utnapištam, the myth ends with Gilgameš accepting his mortality. He no longer fears death, but understands that it is a part of the natural cycle. The fear is overcome and Gilgameš is master of himself again.

As I've already explained in Atraḫasīs, the main theme is mastery over Nature: man's dominance of the often chaotic forces which affect his well-being. With the help of Enki, the eponymous king of Shurrupak is able to gleam insights for curing plagues and illness, preparing for droughts, and surviving through famine. While these events on their own could be seen as a "fear-coding" if taken out of context, the myth itself deals heavily with how to not suffer, and not be afraid of them. Even through the deluge, Atraḫasīs and his family find peace, not fear, in the presence of the Anunnaki.

A number of disputation-pieces (Cattle and Grain; Summer and Winter) are also extremely positive in their outlook, explaining how the Anunnaki, after creating vegetation, cereals, and wild game, and discovering that they themselves could not digest it, instead bequeathed it to Mankind. Rather than fear, the Anunnaki inspired the foundation of villages and cities, introduced farming and shepherding, and helped Mankind move forward from hunting-and-gathering, into an agrarian civilization based on harvesting.

Following that theme is also The Transfer of the Holy Me, in which Inanna, the goddess of jubilation, sexuality, and war visits the proud city of Eridu and "steals" the Me (arts of enculturation) from their keeper, the wise-god Enki (in reality, Enki gets drunk and bequeaths them to Inanna, fair-and-square). What does Inanna do with the Me? She uses them to introduce a number of civilized arts and institutions into Mesopotamia, moving the entire human race forward into modern ways of thinking. Hardly a "fear tactic" meant to manipulate.

I could go on, discussing how the warrior-god Ninurta's weapons carry names such as "Helper-of-Men" and "Maintainer-of-People" which he uses when fighting chaos and disorder. Or perhaps Enki's feast with his wife Ninmah, where he gives crippled and deformed human beings divinely-assigned duties in life. All of which goes a long, long way toward reinforcing confidence and hope in Mankind, and dispelling fear and despair.

The gods and goddesses of Mesopotamia are a greatly misunderstood reflection of our ancestor's psychological evolution. You do a great disservice to their memory by accepting poorly stated, and even more poorly supported, conspiracy theories in lieu of actual scholarly study.


~ Wandering Scribe

a reply to: Ridhya

King Sauls Father was named Kish. Nimrods father was named Kush. They were both "giants". Saul was a head taller than the rest.

Both Saul and Nimrods stories come about in some interesting parallels. Nimrod is born after the flood, when an ark traveled around on the waters.

Saul is coronated after the ark of the covenant was lost and traveled around the cities of the Philistines, who were symbolically the sea. They were sea peoples. Their god Dagon is a half fish.

Both are the first kings after their respective flood/ark narrative

Just thought I'd throw that little bit in there, I have no conclusion to reach from it.

a reply to: Wandering Scribe

Oh, great! Now I have to buy even more books AND new bookcases.

And the really strange thing with this is I LOVE it!

Thanks, mate!

originally posted by: Wandering Scribe
Kašūšu is a term that combines two others: Kaš, meaning "long enduring" and ūšu meaning either "dragon" or "strength". In the Atraḫasīs account I would venture to guess that it is meant to imply a "long-enduring strength" or "endurance" against the trials being presented by Enlil. Atraḫasīs, when making his offerings, may be giving his strength and fealty to Enki. During Enuma Eliš the term may instead refer to An as a "great enduring dragon", which would not be out of place, as many primordial and ancestral digures in Enuma Eliš were referred to as "serpents" and "dragons".

As I've explained earlier, I believe Anu as the god of the sky or heaven, was a king who ruled over the lofty part of a pre-flood Mesopotamian empire, the mountainous region in today's Turkey, where the sources of the great rivers are found. All three attacks on the humans-- Plague, Drought and Flood were all direct results of tampering with the river, far upstream:

First they send šuruppu-disease down river (ancient biological warfare).

They close the gates in both ends bringing about a 7 year famine.

Release 7 years of accumulated water and civilisation is washed into the sea and buried in the mud.

It's a series of events where one thing leads to the other, see, a three step plan to destroy humankind, by hands of Anu and Enlil/Ellil. But Enki warned Atrahasis and the rest of the story we all know by now.

edit on 21-9-2014 by Utnapisjtim because: tempus

originally posted by: Ridhya

So the Sumerian tradition has the date fixed between 3000 and 2900BC.

Which is just about the same for Genesis. I am convinced that the Flood account of Genesis was based on the Epic of Atrahasis. If not solely then at least mainly.