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Tablet VI · Humankind is made
6.3-4
Enūma eliš 6.3-4 · Blood and bone
Marduk has made the sky, the stars and the earth. Now he tells his father Ea his plan.
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3𒁕𒈪𒇻𒊌𒀫𒈠𒄑𒍢𒅎𒌈𒇻𒉺𒅁𒅆𒈠
4𒇻𒍑𒁁𒈠lilâ𒇻𒀀𒈨𒇻𒋳𒋗
the lines as the scribe pressed them into the clay, read left to right
da-mi1
dāmī
Blood
lu-uk-ṣur-ma2
lukṣurma
I will knit togetherlet me bind
iṣ-ṣi-im-tum3
eṣṣimtum
bone
lu-šab-ši-ma4
lušabšima
I will bring into beinglet me make exist
. lu-uš-ziz-ma5
lušzizma
I will set uplet me make stand
lilâ6
lullâ
a first mana raw human
; a-me-lu7
amēlu
“Man”human
lu8
lū
shall belet (it) be
šum-šu9
šumšu
his name
. Blood I will knit together [and] bone I will bring into being. I will set up a first man; “Man” shall be his name.
Blood I will knit together [and] bone I will bring into being. I will set up a first man; “Man” shall be his name.
6.5-6
Enūma eliš 6.5-6 · Made to bear the gods’ toil
Why humans? The poem answers in one line.
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5𒇻𒌒𒉌𒈠lilâ𒀀𒈨𒇻
6𒇻𒌑𒂗𒁺𒌋𒌆𒇻𒀭𒈨𒌍𒈠𒋗𒉡𒇻𒌋𒉺𒀸𒄷
the lines as the scribe pressed them into the clay, read left to right
I will create the first man; let the toil of the gods be laid on [him], that they may rest.
Marduk speaks to Ea, the god of wisdom. Blood and bone: the word for bone, eṣemtu, is the same old word as Hebrew ʿeṣem in Genesis 2:23 (King James Version): “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh.”
Langdon reads the word for the new creature as lilâ; later editors read lullâ, “the first, raw human”. In a footnote he also corrects his predecessors on Berossus, the Babylonian priest who told this story in Greek: the blood, he says, is not Marduk’s own, and Berossus describes a god’s blood mixed with earth to fashion men and animals.