How Grain Came To Sumer (Sumerian Myth, Translation)

The story of How grain came to Sumer is the account within Sumerian Religion of the distant ages of deep antiquity before humans had known grain, and how it eventually came to be domesticated in their lands of southern Mesopotamia.

Synopsis

Sumerian sages remember the distant ages when Man did not know grain. In the times before farming, before barley, flax, and emmer what, when humans were like animals “eat[ing] grass with their mouths like sheep.” [1]

It was An, the King of Heaven, who brought grain down from the “interior of heaven”. His son Enlil — Lord Air — walked the terraced hills of the Fertile Crescent, looking south to the sea of the Persian Gulf and north to “the mountain of aromatic cedars”, [1] presumably looking for a good place.

Enlil gathered up the barley, and all the bounty of the land, and gave them to the mountain in the north, to the land of the aromatic cedars. Then he closed off access to this wide-open hill, so that none may enter.

One day, the brothers Ninazu and Ninmada were out walking, when a great idea occurred to Ninazu. “Let’s go to the mountain, to the headwaters of the rolling river where water wells up from the ground, where innuha barley and flax grow, and bring the grain south to Sumer!”

But pious Ninmada was not immediately convinced by his brother. Ninmada was a follower of An, one who worshipped the gods. Father Enlil had not given the command for grains to be brought from the mountain into Sumer, so Ninmada felt it would be wrong to do so without permission.

In order to not anger the gods, Ninmada convinced his brother to first go to the place where the sun god Utu lay sleeping, the heroic son of Ningal, and request his permission.

(Unfortunately, the tablets containing this myth are broken beyond this point.)

How Grain Came To Sumer (Translation)

[1-12] Men used to eat grass with their mouths like sheep. In those times, they did not know grain, barley or flax. An brought these down from the interior of heaven. Enlil lifted his gaze around as a stag lifts its horns when climbing the terraced …… hills. He looked southwards and saw the wide sea; he looked northwards and saw the mountain of aromatic cedars. Enlil piled up the barley, gave it to the mountain. He piled up the bounty of the Land, gave the innuha barley to the mountain. He closed off access to the wide-open hill. He …… its lock, which heaven and earth shut fast (?), its bolt, which …….

[13-20] Then Ninazu ……, and said to his brother Ninmada: “Let us go to the mountain, to the mountain where barley and flax grow; …… the rolling river, where the water wells up from the earth. Let us fetch the barley down from its mountain, let us introduce the innuha barley into Sumer. Let us make barley known in Sumer, which knows no barley.”

[21-27] Ninmada, the worshipper of An, replied to him: “Since our father has not given the command, since Enlil has not given the command, how can we go there to the mountain? How can we bring down the barley from its mountain? How can we introduce the innuha grain into Sumer? How can we make barley known in Sumer, which knows no barley?

[28-31] “Come, let us go to Utu of heaven, who as he lies there, as he lies there, sleeps a sound sleep, to the hero, the son of Ningal, who as he lies there sleeps a sound sleep.” He raised his hands towards Utu of the seventy doors (?).

[32] Utu …… table (?) …….

“How grain came to Sumer: translation”. ETCSL. [1]

(This translation is quoted from the Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature cited above.)

Interpretation

I will not do an in-depth analysis of this myth here, but rather highlight a few important details. There are three:

I. The Memory of a Time Before Grain — One of the more striking aspects of the myth of How grain came to Sumer (which actually includes legendary and historical elements to it) is the fact that the Sumerians remembered a time without grain. In this myth they recalled a time thousands of years before the Sumerians when humanity had not yet learned to farm. They remembered a time before farming, which was perhaps about 8000 years before this myth.

Either they remembered a time before grain had been brought south, or perhaps before the Neolithic Revolution itself when the sedentary, agricultural, and pastoralist way of life was invented. Memory of these more primitive times is confirmed further with the statement of how men used to eat grass like sheep.

II. The Memory That Grain Came From The North — The second incredible detail is the statement of how Enlil looked south to the sea (the Persian Gulf) and northwards to “the mountain”, before piling up the barley and giving it to the mountain. This gives us accurate directional information, which is further specified with the reference to the mountain of aromatic cedars (the land around the Lebanon was famed in ancient times for their cedars).

Again, this is another historically accurate detail, since grain was first domesticated in the north of Mesopotamia. The south (ancient Sumer, modern Iraq) is far more arid, and required the development of advanced irrigation techniques for farming to take root further south, which took thousands of years. Perhaps this is a reference to a place like Gobekli Tepe, where ancient grains grew wild in abundance.

The statement in reference to Enlil closing “off access to the wide-open hill” is curious. It could be a reference to a defended territory, or to the intentional burying of a site like Gobekli Tepe. It could also be nonsense (although, in my opinion, it is a pretty specific, distinct, and unique statement to be entirely groundless).

III. The Relationship Between The Gods and Grain — As with much of Sumerian culture, the gods where the source of many of their great achievements (writing, farming, kingship, architecture). It is interesting to note that according to the Sumerian perspective, the gods chose where the grain would go, and decided when it would come to Sumer.

At very least, this gives us insight into the heart of Sumerian religion, which — I might add — is consistent with the Abrahamic Traditions that descend from it.

Resources

1. “How grain came to Sumer: translation”. The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature. <https://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/section1/tr176.htm>. Accessed 14 Nov 2024.