Since Gu-Edinna was the best land in Mesopotamia, it was well guarded, defended. Administrators were put in charge of crops, timber cutting and collecting taxes.The inscription mentions a King Ili,which was also the name of the god “Ili”. Who was the one god, and creator of all the other gods. That would indicate that the knowledge of one God was handed down, rather than being fabricated by Biblical scholors. It is most likely the source of the Canaanite and early Hebrew god “El.”Kadi was a goddess of justice.The Anunaki were the Biblical Ananikim, or the people of Anunaki. In Sumerrian legend they were the seven judges of the underworld. In the Gingamesh epic, they were watchers and the the children of the god of heaven. Edin is also mentioned in the tale of “Inana and Bilulu.”Edin-Lila indicates the plain, or bank,”of Ili the Creator. It is believed that Il and Kadi became the Hebrew El Shadai:
“Then the son of old woman Bilulu, matriarch and her own mistress, -- Jirjire, a man on his own, fit for the fields and a knowledgeable man -- was filling pen and fold with his captured cattle, and was stacking his stacks and piles of grain. He left scattered in the fields his victims struck down with the mace. Sirru of Edin-lila, no one's child and no one's friend, sat before him and held converse with him.” “My lady went to Bilulu in Edin-lila. Her son Jirjire like the wind there did ...... Sirru of Edin-lila, no one's child and no one's friend, .......” "Descent of the Goddess Ishtar into the Lower World", trans. M. Jastrow, 1915
Sumerian texts place Eden in Mesopotamia but that is not where they place the creation. It was in a place called Dilmun which was the habitat of the gods rather than man. The Bible states that Adam and Eve were placed in the garden, indicating they were created elsewhere. The creation stories outside the Bible do not contradict the Bible in that respect. Historians have generally agreed that Dilmun is present day Bahrain. Sumerian texts suggest that it was in a mountainous region which doesn’t describe Bahrain,or any island in the Persian Gulf. Dilmun was known to have traded with a place called Megan, believed to be in India.Texts dated from around 3300 bce mention Dilmun or Tilmun, and there is nothing found on Behrain that dates earlier than 2200 bce. The epic of Gilgamesh sheds more light on the location of Dilmun.
"In the Land of the Crossing in mountainous Tilmun -- the place where Shamash ascends -- they caused him to dwell." Babylonian Gilgamesh Epic: Critical Edition and Cuneiform Texts , Andrew R George., trans. & edit. (2003).
It also agrees that it was a Mountainous region at a place of crossing, on Mt Mashu. Dilmun was described as a place where the sun rises, which wasn’t south in Bahrain, but east of Sumer. Together all the evidence points to Dilmun being across the mountains of Iran, rather than south on one of the islands in the Persian gulf. The following Sumerian text indicates that man was once an herbivore and was naked. The Bible agrees with that:
“Like mankind, when first created, They knew not the eating of bread, Knew not the dressing of garments, Ate plants with their mouths like sheep, Drank water from the ditch.”
The quote below also verifies that that were four rivers flowing from one, as the Bible claims. From A Sumerian Epoch: “From these fertile sweet waters flow the four Great Rivers of the Ancient World, including the Tigris and the Euphrates”. The Eridu Genesis gives the names of the other two rivers as Ullugarra and Nigarra:
There have been many attempts to locate the rivers, which are most likely nothing more than underground depressions now. It would be futile to try and draw a conclusion of the location of Eden by using known bodies of water. Rivers that once flowed in Mesopotamia and Arabia have disappeared and are nothing more than dry wadis or have been covered by sand. Some scholars have attempted to equate the Pison with the Nile because of Egypt’s reputation for abundant gold. It isn’t likely that the Sumerians had ever been that far away from their own land. In Hebrew, Havalah meant stretch of sand, which described Arabia much better than Egypt. The Hebrews knew Egypt as Mizraim, from pre history, and would have no reason to refer to it by any other name. The belief that Havalah was in Egypt was verified by the Bible’s mention of Cush, which was believed to be Ethiopia. The Bible, however, is referring to the Cush east of the Tigres river, in the land that later belonged to the Medes. It gave its name to the land of the Cushites or Kassites who have been mentioned in Assyrian texts. Until recently the only two rivers that had been identified were the Tigres and the Euphrates. That has now changed. Archaeologists are using images from LANDSAT to study ancient river beds that couldn’t be seen in the past. Dr. Juris Zarins, of Southwest Missouri State University is one of those who have studied the images. There is no longer any doubt about the location of Eden. For a river to pass through the Garden it would have to run through the eastern part of Eden. That would eliminate any country west of Mesopotamia.
Ancient Sumerian texts agree with the Bible that following Creation, man was placed in the most fertile area of Eden. A place with abundant fruit trees and wild grain would be ideal for an herbivore, which the Bible also calls the first humans. Eden was known for growing barley, wheat, millett, peas, lentils, beans, turnips, onions, garlic, leeks, cucumbers, lettuce, cress and mustard. One does not even have to believe in God to understand that the human race began with one pair. That first couple could not hunt. They knew nothing about raising crops, or cooking food. A garden paradise was necessary for their survival, until they learned to care for themselves. The epoch of Gilgamesh mentions one city of Gu-Edinni as being a city of the gods:
"Shurippak,[2] a city which thou thyself knowest, On [the bank] of the river Puratti (Euphrates) is situated , That city is old; and the gods [dwelling] within it."
In the Eridu Genesist The Anunnaki were creators.:
"Anu, Enlil, shamash, Ea,The great gods,The Anunnaki, the great gods, Lofty sanctuaries inhabited as creators. In anxiety they asked: Since the domes of heaven and earth have been established, Straight canals have been constructed, The Tigris and Euphrates—Their banks have been established, What shall we change? What shall we create? O Annunnaki, ye great gods, What shall we change? What shall we create?"The great gods, standing aloft, The Anunnaki, who determine fate. The two of them made answer to Enlil; In the land where flesh grows, the bond of heaven and earth, Lamga, Lamga, we will overthrow; From his blood mankind we will make, Let the bonds of the gods be bound upon them; For future days the limit Be established;"
The Creation story from Asshur is similar to the Biblical Creation in that the earth was covered with water in the beginning. The Anunaki, the Biblical Annakim, were created first. The book of Genesis does not say as much, but the Bible does tell of angels being around before man:
"The gods and the Anunaki he made at one time. (The holy city, the dwelling of their hearts' desire, they named as first), Marduk bound a structure of reeds upon the face of the waters, He formed dust, he poured it out beside the reed-structure. To cause the gods to dwell in the habitation of their heart's desire."
In Dr. Zarins opinion the Sumerian texts concerning the creation and expulsion from the Garden of Eden reflect the strife between the hunter gatherers who wandered into Sumeria at a time when the Sumerians were building a civilization. The Biblical stories may have been based on actual events that became distorted over time. It is believed that Adamah may have been a real king giving more credence to the Garden of Eden story. The Akkadians called Him Adamatu or Adamu. The people of Adamu were known to the Egyptians as “Amu”. They were even more ancient than the Sumerian epics. The Sumerian god Lahamu, a serpent, plays a part in the creation. The Sumerians also had a god they called damu,who was associated with trees. The Sumerians, like other civilizations, often worshipped gods with a mixture of names from other gods.
References: The Seven Tablets of Creation, by Leonard William King, [1902], at sacred-texts.com George A. Barton, " The Royal Inscriptions of Sumer and Akkad “The Inscription of Entemena " Samuel Noah Kramer, Sumerian Mythology, 1961 Leonard Wooley, “Excavations at Ur”, 1954 Samuel Noah Kramer, The "Babel of Tongues": A Sumerian Version, Journal of the American Oriental Society (1968). Sir Leonard Woolley Digging Up The Past
