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Was Eridu The First City in Sumerian Mythology?

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Was Eridu The First City in
Sumerian Mythology?1
PEETER ESPAK

Abstract The majority of written sources known to us from ca

2500–1500 B.C. do not give Eridu any special status as the first or
primordial mythological city. Only the mythology and royal ideol-
ogy of Šulgi seems to have made that exception. Due to its hypo-
thetical original sacred nature, Eridu was one of the central points of
religious and intellectual worship during the whole history of the An-
cient Near East. However, the underlining of Eridu’s special divine
status in early Mesopotamian mythology in contemporary scientific
treatises often seems exaggerated. The current paper discusses the
mythological and ideological significance of the city of Eridu based
on several ancient royal inscriptions and mythological accounts and
concludes that in Sumerian mythology we can call Eridu one of the
most sacred religious and cultural centres among others, comparable
to Nippur, Ur, and Uruk—but not “the first city.”

Keywords Sumerian mythology, Early Dynastic royal ideology,

Eridu, Enki, Nippur, Marduk

Although there is no proof that the city of Eridu was considered to be

“the most ancient city” in Sumero-Akkadian mythology, this under-
standing has a strong influence on our entire picture of the Mesopota-
mian mythology, religion, and history. The ancient primordial impor-
tance of Eridu is usually stated without any actual proof—be it textual
or archaeological—and simply as “common sense knowledge” beyond
any doubt. The ancient cultic importance of Eridu is indeed confirmed
by archaeological and textual evidence. It is also certain that the god

1
The current paper has been supported by the Estonian Science Council grant PUT500 and
ETF8993.
Was Eridu The First City in Sumerian Mythology? 54

Enki of Eridu must have been a major figure in the religious concepts of
the inhabitants of Sumer already in the beginning of the 3rd millennium,
although the archaeological evidence from his Eridu temple does not
give any conclusive hints about the possible original nature of that god.
Eridu was situated in a lagoon-based territory or marshland—a pos-
sible explanation of why in later mythology Enki is associated with
marshes, reed-beds, canals and rivers.2 From layer VIII of the ancient
Eridu temple, different clay coils, possibly representations of snakes,
were found. Snakes are always associable with chthonic cults or under-
world cults in different archaic religions of the world,3 and it is reason-
able to suggest that the snake figurines were brought to the temple in the
hope that they could carry a prayer to the underworld region of the god
of Eridu, later known under the name Abzu. Also, burnt fish-offerings
were found from layer VI of the temple. As we know, fish and goat-fish
were later the best known symbols of the god Enki at least from the
Sargonic period onwards. However, it is also known that fish offerings4
were common in several other ancient temple cites in archaic Mesopo-
tamia, such as Uruk and Lagaš; and therefore directly associating the
ancient fish-offerings at the archaic site of Eridu with Enki’s later fish-
symbol and his “archaic nature” remains doubtful.5
The archaeological evidence reveals nothing about the actual reli-
gious beliefs and folklore of the pre-literate society; neither does it give
any information about the possible overall cultic importance of the site
and its god in Southern Mesopotamia. Eridu must have originally been
an archaic cultic sacred meeting place for the inhabitants from a wider
area of southern parts of Mesopotamia. Later the cultic place developed
into a larger complex of buildings and finally into a city. Eridu’s politi-
cal or military significance during the 3rd millennium and also earlier
Mesopotamia does not seem to be high, and in the first available mytho-
logical texts and royal inscriptions, the cities of Nippur, Ur, Uruk, etc.
are most certainly portrayed as substantially more important than the

2
See: Safar, Mustafa, and Lloyd 1981: 33 for the description of the geographical features of
Eridu.
3
Cf. Charvát 2002: 47; 1993: 69.
4
Buren 1952: 76–77; 1948: 101ff.
5
One of the best examples of understanding ancient objects for something they actually
never were are Eridu’s ancient “boat models” later reinterpreted as spinning bowls used by
weavers: Strasser 1996: 920–926.
55 Peeter Espak

city of Eridu. Due to its hypothetical original sacred nature, Eridu still
remained one of the central points of religious and intellectual worship
during the whole history of the Ancient Near East. However, the under-
lining of Eridu’s special divine status in early Mesopotamian mythology
in contemporary scientific treatises often seems exaggerated.
One of the texts still commonly used to give proof of the possible
early pre-eminence of Eridu is the Early Dynastic short creation account
known as Urukagina 15 (Ukg. 15), found from Girsu (Louvre, Paris, AO
4153). A more recent example of this text being used to prove Eridu’s
early importance is given by W. W. Hallo in his paper “Founding Myths
of Cities in the Ancient Near East: Mesopotamia and Israel:”6

The first city in Sumerian tradition was undoubtedly Eridu. This is stated in
so many words, albeit negatively, in one of the oldest, if not the oldest, ex-
amples of Sumerian mythology—hence also one whose translation is beset
with difficulties. Following van Dijk, I translate lines 7ff., as follows:
“At that time Enki and Eridu (!) had not appeared
Enlil did not exist
Ninlil did not exist
Brightness was dust
Vegetation was dust
The daylight did not shine
The moonlight did not emerge.”
In other words, the poet pictures a primordial time before day and night,
before vegetation, before some of the great gods, and before any cities, even
the first one, Eridu.
True, the line mentioning Eridu (NUN.KI) is rendered differently in some
translations. Sollberger, for example, rendered it “en ce temps-là, Enki ne
créait plus dans Eridu”. Wilcke translated: “Damals wohnten die Herren der
Orte, die Fürsten der Orte, noch nicht.” Alster echoed this with: “At that
time the (divine) earth lord and the (divine) earth lady (NIN!.KI) did not
exist yet.” And even van Dijk modified his earlier reading from NUN.KI to
nun-ki, i.e., presumably, from “Eridu” to “prince(s) of the earth/place(s).”7

6
Hallo 2000: 37–50; 2010: 547–572.
7
Hallo 2010: 548–549. Hallo uses van Dijk’s interpretation (1964: 40) and the logic presented
in his own previous interpretation (Hallo 1970: 65–66) about the nature of Eridu and the Ukg.
15. Alster (1970: 190) correctly identified the sentence containing the primordial gods en-ki
and nun-ki / nin-ki. Cf. Wilke 1969: 132.
Was Eridu The First City in Sumerian Mythology? 56

Hallo agrees that the Ukg. 15 account is always interpreted differently

in most modern translations—i.e. Enki and Nunki gods, instead of Enki
and Eridu. However, he says that the newer and more obvious inter-
pretation does not change the content actually intended by the original
author(s), since the ancient mythology is obscure, and as proof confirm-
ing this viewpoint, he offers a late (Kassite? Neo- or Late-Babylonian?)
bilingual creation account that should prove that Eridu is referred to in
Ukg. 15:

But if these scholars have succeeded in recovering the original understand-

ing of the line, that understanding must have been lost long ago. The bilin-
gual myth sometimes entitled “The Founding of Eridu,” which Falkenstein
ascribed to (late) Kassite times (ca. 1400–1100 BCE), includes a line that
states (in Heidel’s translation): “The Apsu had not been made, Eridu had not
been built.” Since the deity Enki is intimately associated with the Apsu, we
have here a virtual equivalent of the older version.8

The Ukg. 159 certainly describes the cosmic marriage of An and Ki, and
instead of Enki and Eridu, the primordial pair of divine figures enki-
ninki / enki-nunki is implied. The interpretation that Enki and his city
Eridu were referred to in line ii 2 of the text was given by J. van Dijk
in 1964: u4-ba en-ki eridu(NUN)ki nu-si12: “Ce jour-là, Enki (et) Eridu
n’avait pas commencé à exister,” which he himself couple of years later
corrected, admitting his previous translation was wrong.10 Although W.
Horowitz seems to claim that “On that day Enki in Eridu…”11 still re-
mains an option, taking into account the verb used and en-ki’s name
written without the determinative, all of the recent editions of the text
interpret the passage without any reference to the city of Eridu being
“born” or “existing” as the first entity:

8
Hallo 2010: 549.
9
Rubio 2013: 5–6; Lisman 2013: 230–235; Sjöberg 2002: 230–231; Horowitz 1998: 140–141;
Dijk 1964: 40
10
Dijk 1976: 128, n. 22: 40 II 3: u4-ba en-ki nun-ki nu-si12
11
Horowitz 1998: 140.
57 Peeter Espak

Ukg. 15, ii–iii:12

an-ki téš-ba sig4 an-gi4-gi4 An and Ki in union, they are
shouting
u4-ba en-ki nun-ki nu-sig7 On that day, Enki (and) Nunki are
not alive (yet)
d
en-líl nu-ti Enlil is not alive (yet)
d
nin-líl nu-ti Ninlil is not alive (yet)
u4-da im-ma Today, (the day) before
ul […] im-m[a] distant […] before
u4 nu zal-[zal] Day is not passing
i-ti nu-è-è the rays of the moon are not
going out

The Early Dynastic Ur-Nanše building inscription where the Enki-Nun-

ki gods and the god Enki(k/g)13 are mentioned separately as different di-
vine concepts asked to be favourable to the planned temple construction
should prove the matter with convincing clarity:

Ur-Nanše 32, ii 8–iii 3:14

gi en-ki nun-ki Reed, Enki and Nunki
du10 ḫé-gá-gá may they come down (to your roots)!
d
en-ki Enki,
éš-bar-kíg͂ the omens / prognostics
ḫé-e let him speak out!

Although the interpretation of “Enki / Eridu” in the Ukg. 15 text is seem-

ingly impossible, some connection between the enki-ninki/nunki and
Enki(k/g) of Eridu seems to exist.15 Incantations from Meturan seem to
confuse the two concepts in different versions of one incantation (La
grande texte contre Namtar).16 A. Cavigneaux and F. N. H. Al-Rawi con-
clude that the fact that enki-ninki are considered “des ad-da eridu-ga-
ke4-ne ‘anciens d’Eridu’, et qu’ils soient si familiers avec Enki est assez
troublant; cela suggère un lien particulier de ces dieux avec Enki, même

12
Cf. Espak 2015: 145–147. Lisman 2013: 233: “eriduki seems not meaningful in this line;”
Rubio 2013: 6: “In the case of our Early Dynastic composition from Girsu, this is probably a
direct reference to Enki and Nunki/Ninki.”
13
Cf. Galter 2015 for the most recent overview of the god Enki.
14
Frayne 2008: 117–118; cf. Espak 2015: 7–9; Espak 2010: 15–17.
15
Cf. Espak 2011: 52–54.
16
Cavigneaux and Al-Rawi 1993: 176ff.
Was Eridu The First City in Sumerian Mythology? 58

si ce lien n’est pas l’étymologie.”17 As G. Rubio proposes: “In fact, the

name Nunki may stem from a play on the sign sequence, as the two
signs, NUN.KI, could be read eriduki instead. The graphic pun would be
grounded in semantic connections: Eridu played an essential role in Su-
merian creation narratives, in which it is mentioned alongside Enki, and
Enki himself is the lord of Eridu, where his famous temple, the e2-abzu,
lay.”18 Moreover, the later Babylonian emesal vocabulary list equates
┌
Ninki with Enki’s spouse Damkina: dumun-ki = den-ki = dé- a] / dgašan-
ki = dnin-ki = ddam-ki-n[a].19
However, the possibilities for finding some connecting features be-
tween the two divine concepts do not allow to determine anything about
the original primordial position of the city of Eridu. All of the other
available mythological accounts from the Early Dynastic period list the
city of Nippur as pre-eminent. This is clearly shown by the Barton Cyl-
inder starting with praise to Nippur and Enlil, where the cosmic mar-
riage of An and Ki is said to have taken place (i 9–14): èš nibruki / u4
na-du7-du7 / nin na-gír-gír / an-né ki-da / inim an-dab6-e / ki an-da inim
an-dab6-e: “(In) the shrine Nippur / the storm roared, / the lightning
flashed. / An with Ki / talked, / Ki with An talked.”20 The Early Dynastic
Zame Hymns also begin with Nippur as the pre-eminent temple (1–4):
uru an-da mú / an-da gú-lá / dEN.LÍLki / dur an-ki: “The city grown
together with heaven / which embraces heaven / Nippur / the bond of
heaven and earth.”21 Also, none of the Early Dynastic royal inscriptions
mention Eridu or Enki in the position of the first city—be it in terms of
political power or theologically.22 This situation does not change during
the period of Sargon’s dynasty either. Enki and his temple are considered
the fifth in importance according to Naram-Su’en 10 inscription record-
ing the construction of the temple in the city of Akkade for Naram-Su’en
(lines 24–56):

17
Cavigneaux and Al-Rawi 1993: 188.
18
Rubio 2013: 6.
19
Landsberger, Hallock, Jacobsen, and Falkenstein 1956: MSL 4, i 2–3. Cf. also the separate
occurrence of Ninki in the usual place of Inanna in Eanatum 1, rev. iii 6 (Frayne 2008: 138).
20
Alster and Westenholtz 1994: 18; Lisman 2013: 236–240.
21
Biggs 1974: 46; Krebernik 1994: 152–154.
22
Espak 2011: 50–51.
59 Peeter Espak

URU ki-śu / íś-te4 / dinanna / in é-an-na-ki-im / íś-te4 / den-líl / in nibru ki /

íś-te4 / d dagan / in tu-tu-liki / íś-te4 / dnin-ḫur-sag͂ / in kèški / íś-te4 / den-ki / in
eridu ki / íś-te4 / dEN.ZU/ in úriki / íś-te4 / dutu / in ZIMBIR ki / íś-te4 / dnergal
/ in gú-du8-aki / ì-li-íś URU ki-śu-nu / a-kà-dè ki / i-tár-śu-ni-íś-ma / qáb-li- /
ma / a-kà-dè ki / É-śu / ib-ni-ù23
(The people) of his city / with / Inanna / in Eanna, / with / Enlil / in Nip-
pur, / with / Dagan / in Tuttul, / with / Ninhursag / in Keš, / with / Enki /
in Eridu, / with / Su’en / in Ur, / with / Utu / in Sippar, / with / Nergal / in
Kutha, / the god of their city / Akkade / requested of him (to be); / inside /
Akkade / his temple / they built.

This of course does not mean that Eridu was not seen as an important
cultic centre in the eyes of the rulers of the period. The high importance
of Abzu in Early Sumerian theology is, for example, detectable already
from the inscriptions of Ur-Nanše.24 From Enmetena’s reign a reference
is made to the cultic journeys undertaken to Eridu. The chariot used by
Ningirsu is named “Heaper up of the foreign (enemy) lands of the god
Ning̃ irsu on the road (to) Eridu, the radiance of whose gam[gam] bird
reaches into the heart of the foreign (enemy) land(s):” g̃ ešgígir kur-dub
d
nin-g̃ ír-sú-ka ḫaḫar-ra-an eriduki-ka GAM4.GAM-bi / ní-bi kur-šà-ga /
mu-na-dím.25 Ningirsu returning from a cultic journey from Eridu to
his new temple26 is also mentioned in the Gudea Temple Hymn (B iii
9): dnin-g̃ ír-sú eriduki-ta gẽ n-àm:27 “Ningirsu had returned from Eridu.”
Certainly, the ancient cultic site of Eridu was also imagined as one of
the most important temples in the land and thus a sort of a role model
for other Sumero-Akkadian shrines, as the text on the Gudea Statue B
demonstrates (iv 7–9): é dnin-g̃ ír-su-ka / eriduki-gen7 / ki sikil-la bí-dù:28
“The temple of Ningirsu / just like (in) Eridu / in a pure place was built.”
The other argument in support of Eridu’s pre-eminence in Sumerian
mythology is the statement of the kingship being lowered down from
heaven to the city of Eridu in the pre-Flood era of primeval times. How-
ever, as the earliest version of the list preserved from the Ur III period

23
Frayne 1993: 113–114.
24
Espak 2015: 10; Selz 1992: 195–196; Selz 1990: 120; Selz 1995: 121–124.
25
Enmetena 4, ii 8–10: Frayne 2008: 204.
26
Cf. Suter 2000: 96–97.
27
Edzard 1997: 90.
28
Ibid: 32.
Was Eridu The First City in Sumerian Mythology? 60

demonstrates, the kingship was actually lowered down first to the city
of Kiš:29

Ur III tablet of the King List, i 1–2:30

┌ ┐ ┌ ┐
nam -lugal an-ta e11-da-ba
kiški lugal-àm
Sumerian King List 1–3:31
[nam]-lugal an-ta èd-dè-a-ba
[eri]du ki nam-lugal-la
eridu ki á-lu-lim lugal
Kingship from heaven was
lowered down
Kiš was king
When the kingship from heaven
was lowered down,
in Eridu (was) the kingship,
in Eridu Alulim (became) king.

That means the Sumerian King List’s concept of the kingship lowered
down first to the city of Eridu is most probably elaborated later.32 Using
parallels from the Sumerian texts, the only period that seems to fit the
ideology of considering Eridu the pre-eminent seat of kingship is the
reign of the Ur III king Šulgi. Two royal hymns of Šulgi describe his
visits to the important cultic centres of Sumer, starting with Eridu, while
Enlil’s Nippur only comes second:

Song of Šulgi, 5–34:33

[lugal]-g͂ u10 eriduki-šè na-g͂ en My king went to Eridu
┌ ┐
n[un gal] a-a den-ki ḫúl- la-a Be happy, great prince, father
Enki!
d
š[ul-g]i-re eriduk[i]-šè na-g͂ en Šulgi went to Eridu
┌ ┐
nun gal [a]-a [de]n-ki ḫúl-la-a Be happy, great prince, father
Enki!
┌ ┐
lugal-g͂ [u10 E]N.LÍLki-šè na- g͂ en My king went to Nippur
┌ ┐
kur gal a- a [den-l]íl ḫúl-la-a Be happy, great mountain, father
Enlil!

29
Cf. Sallaberger and Schrakamp 2015: 13ff. The possible northern power centre or the so-
called Kiš cultural area is still only reconstructable using hypothetical evidence; for a recent
overview see: Veldhuis 2014.
30
Steinkeller 2003: 269. Steinkeller proposes that the original idea of kingship fi rst coming
to Kiš was probably developed during the times of the Dynasty of Akkade: Steinkeller 2003:
281–284.
31
ETCSL 2.1.1.; cf. Jacobsen 1939.
32
Cf. the propositions of Hallo 1963: 56 and 1970: 62.
33
Frayne 1983: 7–9; cf. Šulgi H.
61 Peeter Espak

d
šul-gi-r[e E]N.LÍLki-šè na-g͂ en Šulgi went to Nippur
kur gal a-a den-líl ḫúl-la-a Be happy, great mountain, father
Enlil!

The Sumerian Temple Hymns, beginning with the hymn to Eridu and
Enki34 and only then to Enlil in Nippur, also contain a hymn to Šulgi’s
own temple in Ur. Therefore, the modification of the earlier hymnal cy-
cle and placing Eridu as the first city might also sprout from Šulgi’s ideo-
logical concerns. The tradition of listing Eridu as the first city was not
continued in the royal ideology of Amar-Su’en.35 Neither did the kings
of Isin ever list Eridu as the first city36 but only third in rank: Nippur, Ur,
Eridu, Uruk, and Isin.37
Hallo also tried to interpret an Early Dynastic Ukg. 15 based on the
Neo- or Late Babylonian incantation-building ritual text that contains a
creation myth usually titled “The Founding of Eridu” or “The Creation
of the World by Marduk.” The mythological motives reflected in the text
might represent early prototypes of the later Enuma eliš myth, assuming
that the original composition of the text might have taken place during
the Kassite period. The idea that Marduk (or Enki/Ea) created the world,
other gods, and also mankind is, however, nowhere to be found in the
mythological texts in the earlier Sumerian or Old-Babylonian accounts.
The first lines of the myth state that before the creation started, there
were no temples of the gods, reeds, trees, bricks (construction materials
for the temples), or cities. It is stated that E-Kur in Nippur, E-Anna in
Uruk, and Abzu in Eridu were not yet built. All the lands were sea, and
in the middle of the sea there was a (fresh) water pipe or spring symbolis-
ing the emerging creation about to begin. The myth continues by saying
that Eridu and the Esagil temple (of Marduk) were constructed. The lat-
ter seems to be created or constructed by the “primordial” god Lugaldu-
kuga—the “king of the holy mountain.” The line in question may also
be interpreted to mean that Lugaldukuga started residing in the holy
mound. Lambert hypothesises that Lugaldukuga must be the name of

34
Sjöberg 1969: 17–18.
35
Frayne 1997: 245ff.: Amar-Su’en’s titles usually mention only Enlil in Nippur and the city
of Ur.
36
Cf. Espak 2015b.
37
Cf. the titles of Išme-Dagan: Frayne 1990: 26ff.
Was Eridu The First City in Sumerian Mythology? 62

the god Ea.38 However, the name might also indicate the known primor-
dial deities considered to be the ancestors of Enlil.39 The following line
then states that Babylon was built and the Esagil temple was created.
Therefore, it is reasonable to consider the initial mention of Eridu and
Abzu as the names actually denoting the city of Babylon and Marduk’s
temple situated there.
Creation of the World by Marduk, 1–14:40

én é kù-ga é digir-e-ne ki MIN nu-mu-un-dù / bītu el-lim bīt ilanimeš ina

aš-ri el-lim ul e-pu-uš
gi nu-è geš nu-dím / qa-nu-ú ul a-ṣi i-ṣi ul ba-ni
sig4 nu-šub gešù-šub nu-dím / li-bit-ti ul na-da-at na-al-ban-ti ul ba-na-át
é nu-dù uru nu-dím / bītu ul e-pu-uš ālu ul ba-ni
uru nu-dím á-dam nu-mu-un-gar-gar / ālu ul e-pu-uš nam-maš-šu-ú ul
šá-kin
nibru ki nu-dù é-kur-ra nu-dím / ni-ip-pú-ru ul e-pú-uš é-kur ul ba-ni
unu ki nu-dù é-an-na nu-dím / ú-ruk ul e-pú-uš é-MIN ul ba-ni
abzu nu-dù eridu ki nu-dím / ap-su-ú ul e-pú-uš eri4 -du10 ul ba-ni
é kù digir-e-ne ki-tuš-bi nu-dím / bītu el-lum bīt ilānimeš šu-bat-su-nu ul
ep-še-et
[gú?] kur-kur-ra-ke4 a-ab-ba / nap-ḫar ma-ta-a-tú tam-tum-ma
[igi šà] ab-ba-ke4 šìta na-nam / i-nu šá qí-rib tam-tim ra-ṭu-um-ma
[u4-ba eridu]ki ba-dú é-sag-íl-la ba-dím / ina u4-mi-šú eri4 -du10 e-pu-uš
é-MIN ba-ni
[é-sag-í]l-šà-abzu-ke4-e-dè dlugal-du6-kù-ga mu-ni-in-ri-a / é-MIN šà ina
qí-rib ap-si-i dlugal-du6 -kù-ga ir-mu-ú
[ká-digir-rak]i ba-dù é-sag-íl-la šu-du7 / bābiluki e-pú-uš é-sag-íl šuk-lul
A pure temple, a temple of the gods, had not been built in a pure place
Reed was not growing, tree was not created
Brick was not laid (in the brick-mould), brick-mould was not created
Temple was not built, city was not created
City was not created, settlements were not established
Nippur was not built, E-Kur was not created
Uruk was not built, E-Anna was not created
Abzu (temple) was not built, Eridu was not created
The pure temple of the gods, their dwelling place, was not created
All the lands were sea

38
Lambert 2013: 367.
39
Cf. Espak 2015: 147.
40
Lambert 2013: 370–373; Ambos 2004: 200–207.
63 Peeter Espak

A spring in the sea was a water-pipe

Then Eridu was built, Esagil was created
Esagil, founded by Lugaldukuga in Abzu / Or: Esagil where Lugaldukuga
dwelled in the Abzu
Babylon was built, Esagil was completed

The text continues with the creation of the Anunnaki gods, after which
Gilimma (Sumerian)/Marduk (Akkadian) starts the creation process of
the world, humans, and the entire modern world. Lambert considers that
the Sumerian Gilimma, replaced in the Akkadian text by Marduk, origi-
nally stood for the god Ea. He concludes that the myth was originally
a Sumerian text about the origins of cosmos, the major temples, and
cities and was later reedited to fit the newer theology of Marduk. The
inconsistencies between different names probably arise from this edit-
ing process:
It arose when a top trinity of gods presided over the pantheon, and
that limits the date of composition to late in the third millennium B.C.
at the earliest. It presumes the common later group of An (Uruk), En-
lil (Nippur), and Enki/Ea (Eridu). But it preferred the order Enlil, An,
Enki in describing what was lacking, but put the creation of Eridu first,
whose god later creates Nippur and Uruk. No doubt the text arouse in
Eridu from the cult of Enki. But when Babylon and its god Marduk had
risen to be the head of the pantheon toward the end of the second millen-
nium B.C., an editor ineptly changed the text to make Babylon the first
city and Marduk its patron god as the prime creator. Since Marduk was
Enki’s son, the change was not too radical.41
At first, there was no “top trinity” of gods during the third millen-
nium. The first period when the triad An, Enki, and Enlil appeared—
as the result of excluding the mother-goddess from the group of four
most important deities—is the Larsa period, in the inscriptions of Rim-
Su’en.42 Although Enki is constructing his Eridu temple in Enki’s Jour-
ney to Nippur (lines 11–13),43 in Sumerian mythology, he is not described
as constructing the world or the cities. The first text that mentions the
world-construction and cities-building process in the form of handiwork

41
Lambert 2013: 368–369.
42
Espak 2015: 111–112.
43
Ceccarelli 2012: 93; Al-Fouadi 1968: 69.
Was Eridu The First City in Sumerian Mythology? 64

seems to be a royal inscription from the period of Samsu-iluna of the

First Dynasty of Babylon:

Samsu-iluna 5, Sumerian 1–13 / Akkadian 1–12:44

u4 an den-líl / ì-nu an den-líl
┌ ┐
lugal an-ki-bi-da-ke4 / šar-ru ša AN ù KI
d
AMAR.UTU dumu-sag͂ / a-na AMAR.UTU
d

d
en-ki-ka-ra / [DU]MU re-eš-ti-im ša é-a
igi ḫúl-la-ne-ne-a / ḫa-di-iš ip-pa-al-su-šum
in-ši-in-bar-re-eš-a
nam-en ub-da 4-ba / be-lu-ut ki-ib-ra-at ar-ba-im
mu-na-an-šúm-mu-uš-a/ i-din-nu-šum
d
a-nun-na-ke4-ne-er / in d a-nun-na-ki
┌ ┐
mu maḫ-a mi-ni-in- ša4 -eš-a / šu-ma-am ṣi-ra-am i-bí-ù-šu
KÁ.DIG IR.RA. / KÁ.DIG͂ IR.RA.ki
͂ ki

suḫus an-ki-gen7 / SUḪUS-šu ki-ma [AN] ù KI

┌ ┐
mu-na-an-ge-né- eš -a / [ú]-ki-in-nu-šum
When An and Enlil
the king of heaven and earth,
at the god Marduk,
the first-born son of Enki/Ea,
with joy
did look (and)
lordship over the four quarters
they had given to him.
To/in front of the Anunna gods
his great name they called.
Babylon’s
foundations like sky and earth
they made firm for him.

The beginning of the inscription describes Marduk in front of the as-

sembly of gods. J. van Dijk seems to suggest that the gods have built
heaven and earth just like they constructed the foundations of Babylon:
“(lorsqu’ils) avaient construit fermement, / comme celles du ciel et de la
terre, les fondaments de Babylone.”45 D. Frayne’s translation “(and) made
the foundation of Babylon firm for him like (that of) heaven and earth”46

44
Frayne 1990: 380–383.
45
Dijk 1966–1967: 59–60.
46
Frayne 1990: 281.
65 Peeter Espak

seems to follow the original idea more correctly. In both ways of inter-
pretation, it seems that there is a reference to An and Ki as “constructed
cosmic entities”, which is completely uncommon in Sumerian mythol-
ogy. This probably represents the beginning of the Babylonian-Amorite
theology in Mesopotamian mythology, with its god Marduk as the first-
born son of Sumerian Enki, Babylon the “centre of the universe”, and
creation taking place via handiwork. However, the Old-Babylonian texts
never describe Marduk as the actual head of pantheon since this would
have been in strict contradiction with all of the aspects of the well-estab-
lished and generally accepted Sumero-Akkadian theology of the period,
which sees An, Enlil, and Enki as the supreme forces of the universe. It
is possible that such explicit efforts were made no earlier than during the
Kassite period.47
In his paper “Enki and the Theology of Eridu”, Hallo defined Eridu as
the oldest city in fact as well as in tradition reflected also in the Hebrew
Bible. He admits that “It was thus possible to claim a hoary antiquity for
this theology, though, in fact, it was probably not systematized before
the middle of the Old Babylonian Period and the rise of prominence of
Babylon.” Therefore, there seem to be two options available in assessing
the “antiquity” of the so-called theology of Eridu. Either this separate
theology/mythology and cosmogony/anthropogony was never expressed
in written form and was kept as a sort of a secret by the theologians of
Eridu, or this sort of theology was actually first elaborated during the
later periods of Mesopotamian history—not even in the Old-Babylonian
period but in the second part of the second millennium, reaching its full-
est form in the theology of Enuma eliš.
As demonstrated by the available Early Dynastic mythological com-
positions, the temple at Eridu was never “the Temple” or the most sa-
cred locality in Mesopotamia. Enlil’s Nippur was always considered in a
much higher position, and only during the period of Šulgi is the special
status of Eridu underlined. In other periods, Eridu is often the second
most important city after Nippur, and in several royal titles of the Sum-
ero-Akkadian rulers, the city has a comparable rank with Ur or Uruk.
The later greater prominence of Eridu results from the politico-theolog-
ical reasons that made the god Marduk “the first born son of Enki/Ea.”

47
Sommerfeld 1987–1990: 365.
Was Eridu The First City in Sumerian Mythology? 66

The mythology that considers Babylon the central city of Mesopotamian

politics and mythology also included Eridu as the ancient city of Mar-
duk’s father. This logic is not present in the Sumerian mythology where
we can call Eridu “one of the most sacred religious and cultural centres
among others,” comparable to Nippur, Ur, and Uruk. If the theories of
Enlil as a “newcomer” in the Sumerian pantheon and Enki being the
“original head of the pantheon” of Southern Mesopotamia are to be con-
sidered correct,48 then, of course, Eridu might have been for some areas
of Mesopotamia in the archaic periods the central point of worship that
changed for Nippur already before the first written mythological compo-
sitions and royal inscriptions appeared. The majority of written sources
known to us from ca 2500–1500 B.C., however, do not give Eridu any
special status as the first or primordial city. Only the mythology and
royal ideology of Šulgi seems to have made that exception.

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