Lecture VI. Cosmologies. 351
coupled with him; we have no materials at present for explaining
why she should have been introduced, or whether the introduction
formed part of the original legend. It is not the only passage,
however, in which she appears as a creatress. According to the
Epic of Gilgames, she had created the great hero of Babylonia,
and it was she also who moulded Ea-bani, the companion of
Gilgames, out of clay which she had kneaded with her hands.
Like Ea, therefore, she was a modeller in clay, and there was
good reason for associating her with the divine potter who had
made man. Had she been a god she would doubtless have
been identified with him; as it was, she had to remain his
companion and associate, whose name could not be forgotten
even by a worshipper of Ea. Probably she was the goddess of
some Babylonian city where she played the part that Ea played at
Eridu; it may be that her sanctuary was at Marad, which claimed,
as it would seem, to be the birthplace of Gilgames.
The name of the first man was Adapa,“the son of Eridu.”
Ea had created him without a helpmeet; he had endowed him
with wisdom and knowledge, but had denied to him the gift of
immortality. Each day he baked the bread and poured pure water
into the bowl; at night he drew the bolts of the gates of Eridu,
and at dawn he sailed forth in his bark to fish in the waters of
the Persian Gulf. Once, so the story ran, the south wind upset his
skiff, and in revenge he broke its wings. But the south wind was a
servant of Anu, and the god of the sky demanded the punishment
of the daring mortal. Ea, however, intervened to save the man he
had created. He clad Adapa in a mourner's robe, and showed him
the road to heaven, telling him what he was to do in the realm of [384]
Anu, but forbidding him to eat or drink there. The gate of heaven
was guarded by the gods Tammuz and Nin-gis-zida, who asked
him the meaning of the mourner's garment which he wore.^304
(^304) For Tammuz and Nin-gis-zida, see above, p. 350, note. It may be added that
in the Maqlû collection of incantation texts, Nin-gis-zida seems to be regarded
as a goddess and the consort of Nusku, the fire-god. Nin, in Sumerian, more