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Ninmah

A reference page linking a name, group, or concept to the materials that discuss it.

A major goddess involved in human making and in assigning fates to fashioned bodies in the Sumerian composition.

Clay tablet of Atraḫasīs at the British Museum. The photographer identifies it with the flood tradition, not the human-creation lines. Photograph: SpeakingArch, 2026 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0; resized and converted to WebP for display
Clay tablet of Atraḫasīs at the British Museum. The photographer identifies it with the flood tradition, not the human-creation lines. Photograph: SpeakingArch, 2026 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0; resized and converted to WebP for displaySpeakingArch / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0 · CC BY-SALicense · Image source

Text

Enki and NinmahEnki and NinmahA Sumerian composition preserved in Old Babylonian copies: human creation relieves divine labor, followed by scenes about bodies and fates.Glossary · Click to read the explanation includes Ninmah, EnkiEnkiMesopotamian deity associated with deep fresh water, wisdom and Eridu, known as Ea in Akkadian tradition. The earliest preserved written mention does not date his cult’s origin or identify Ubaid Eridu’s deity.Glossary · Click to read the explanation and the birth goddesses in a plan to make humans relieve divine labor. A subsequent feast and contest concern fashioned bodies and fates; damaged lines preclude one confident interpretation of every bodily condition. Similarities to birth goddesses in Atraḫasīs invite comparison, not a merger of distinct scenes. [1][2]

References and notes

  1. Full extant English translation read. Lines 1–37 and 44–51 govern the labor and human-creation comparison; lines 52–139 concern Ninmah's subsequent fashioned persons and their assigned fates and contain lacunae and manuscript variants. The translation is not an autograph of composition. Oxford ETCSL 1.1.2, Enki and Ninmaḫ, lines 1–51, 52–139 Return to the text ↑
  2. University edition's English translation and relevant variant notes for specified lines read, plus witness table and dated colophon. The entire transliteration/commentary and Tablets II–III were not read. This is a composite edition, not the transcription of a single tablet. Sources of Early Akkadian Literature, Atraḫasis I (all periods), composite text, lines 1–68, 174–270, colophon 416c–i; manuscript table Return to the text ↑

Research history

Substantive changes are retained here. Minor copy edits remain in the internal operational log.

  1. Edition 2 · 12 October 2026 · editor:aladmin

    Substantive record update

    Read this revision in its original language (Arabic)

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Cite this record

IL Archive, «Ninmah», Edition 2, https://ilarchive.com/en/entities/ninmah