348 The Religions of Ancient Egypt and Babylonia
“No holy house, no house of the gods in a holy place had as
yet been built,
no reed had grown, no tree been planted,
no bricks had been made, no structure formed,
no house had been built, no city founded,
no city built where living things could dwell.
Nippur was unbuilt, its temple of Ê-kur was unerected;
Erech was unbuilt, its temple of Ê-ana was unerected;^297
the deep sea was uncreated, Eridu unbuilt.
The site of (its) holy house, the house of the gods, existed not,
all the earth was sea,
while in the midst of the sea was a water-course.
In those days was Eridu built and the temple of Ê-Saggil
founded,
Ê-Saggil wherein dwells the divine king of the holy mound
in the midst of the deep;—
Babylon was built, Ê-Saggil completed;—
the spirits of the earth were created together,
they called it by the mighty name of the holy city, the seat of
their well-being.^298
Merodach^299 tied (reeds) together to form a weir in the water,
he made dust and mixed it with the reeds of the weir,
that the gods might dwell in the seat of (their) well-being.^300
Mankind he created,—
the goddess Aruru created the seed of mankind with
him,^301 —
the cattle of the field, the living creatures in the field, he
created;
the Tigris and Euphrates he made, and set them in their place,
giving them good names.
Moss and seed-plant of the marsh, reed and rush he created,(^297) These two lines are an interpolation.
(^298) These three lines have been interpolated.
(^299) The name of Merodach has been substituted for that of Ea.
(^300) A play on the name of Eri-dugga,“the good city.”
(^301) Probably an interpolation.