# Adam's rib and Sumerian deities

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adams-rib-and-sumerian-deities/127072>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [September 5, 2002, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adams-rib-and-sumerian-deities/127072 "2002-09-05T02:50:27Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![paperbackwriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@paperbackwriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/paperbackwriter)\
**Post date:** [September 5, 2002, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adams-rib-and-sumerian-deities/127072/1 "2002-09-05T02:50:27Z")

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In the classics column [Do women have an extra rib cuz Eve got one of Adam’s?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_095b.html), Cecil mentions the Sumerian deities Enki and Ninhursag:

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> Enki the water-god, committed a breach of etiquette by nibbling on a newly-created plant. Ninhursag, the earth-goddess, put a curse on Enki…

Great reference, given that most people don’t know how many of the Old Testament stories, especially in Genesis, have roots in older Sumerian and Mesopotamian myths.

I think that it should be said that some authorities identify Enki and Ninhursag as spouses, and the [parents of all plants](http://www.pantheon.org/articles/e/enki.html). Ninhursag [“…cursed her husband for his incestuous affairs (with the plants she gave birth to)”](http://www.pantheon.org/articles/n/ninhursag.html)

Nibbling evidently had strong meanings for the Sumerians.

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**Author:** ![meaco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@meaco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/meaco)\
**Post date:** [September 11, 2002, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adams-rib-and-sumerian-deities/127072/2 "2002-09-11T14:11:45Z")

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Perhaps Sumerian and Mesopotamian myths have their basis in _older_ Genesis events (hence one would expect to find quite a few!) ?  
This perspective would also better explain the glut of Flood stories in widely disparate and geographically separate ancient cultures (ie they all came as versions passed down _after the event_)

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**Author:** ![Tom\_Arctus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/71c47a/32.png) [@Tom\_Arctus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Arctus)\
**Post date:** [September 11, 2002, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adams-rib-and-sumerian-deities/127072/3 "2002-09-11T16:28:39Z")

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Sorry, but I fail to see how setting up a chicken-and-egg problem with Hebrew and other Middle Eastern cultural myths “would better explain” why human cultures otherwise separated in time and space would have similar stories involving disasters such as floods that could be expected to be common among early human civilizations.

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**Author:** ![paperbackwriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@paperbackwriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/paperbackwriter)\
**Post date:** [September 12, 2002, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adams-rib-and-sumerian-deities/127072/4 "2002-09-12T00:52:59Z")

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Although my comment about Sumerian and Mesopotamian myths was just an aside, **meaco** I think that most scholars accept that these civilizations predate Hebrew culture. As **Tom Arctus** points out, you’ve set up something of an unsolvable problem. If you take the Genisis literally, then what is said there is automatically true and there is no basis for discussion. If, however, you accept that all mythos, Genesis included, are rooted in their culture, then you may want to read [this site](http://www.gatewaystobabylon.com/myths/whymeso.htm) where Paul Collins, of University College, London says:

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> Indeed, it is possible to trace back to Mesopotamia pieces of wisdom found later in Jewish, Phoenician, Egyptian (especially Alchemy) and even Greek tradition…The tale of the floods, of Sumerian origin, predates other versions of the same phenomenon, which seemed to have affected a large area of the Near East in ancient times.

It also has a good chronology of ancient Mesopotamian history.

I might also refer you to the excellent series of Straight Dope Staff Reports on [Who wrote the Bible?](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mbible1.html) for interesting information on the age of the Genesis stories.