ZIUSUDRA
![](420px-Sumerian_King_List,_1800_BC,_Larsa,_Iraq_(detail).jpg)
Sumerian
King List, 1800 BC, Larsa, Iraq
Reign
: c. 2900 BCE
Preceded by : Ubara-tutu
Succeeded by : Gaur
(Jushur) of Kish
Died
: Immortal
Father : Ubara-tutu (Akkadian tradition)
Regnal
titles of Ziusudra : King of Shuruppak, King of Sumer
Ziusudra
(Old Babylonian : zi-ud-su3-ra2, Neo-Assyrian : zi-sud-da, Greek
: translit. Xísouthros) of Shuruppak (c. 2900 BC) is listed
in the WB-62 Sumerian King List recension as the last king of Sumer
prior to the Great Flood. He is subsequently recorded as the hero
of the Sumerian creation myth and appears in the writings of Berossus
as Xisuthros.[citation needed]
Ziusudra
is one of several mythic characters who are protagonists of Near
Eastern flood myths, including Atrahasis, Utnapishtim and the biblical
Noah. Although each story displays its own distinctive features,
many key story elements are common to two, three, or all four versions.[citation
needed]
Literary
and archaeological evidence :
King Ziusudra of Shuruppak :
In the WB-62 Sumerian king list recension, Ziusudra, or Zin-Suddu
of Shuruppak, is listed as son of the last king of Sumer before
a great flood. He is recorded as having reigned as both king and
gudug priest for ten sars (periods of 3,600 years), although this
figure is probably a copyist error for ten years. In this version,
Ziusudra inherited rulership from his father Ubara-Tutu, who ruled
for ten sars.
The
lines following the mention of Ziusudra read :
Then
the flood swept over. After the flood had swept over, and the kingship
had descended from heaven, the kingship was in Kish.
The
city of Kish flourished in the Early Dynastic period soon after
a river flood archaeologically attested by sedimentary strata at
Shuruppak (modern Tell Fara), Uruk, Kish, and other sites, all of
which have been radiocarbon dated to ca. 2900 BC. Polychrome pottery
from the Jemdet Nasr period (ca. 30th century BC), which immediately
preceded the Early Dynastic I period, was discovered directly below
the Shuruppak flood stratum. Max Mallowan wrote that "we know
from the Weld Blundell prism [i.e. WB-62] that at the time of the
Flood, Ziusudra, the Sumerian Noah, was King of the city of Shuruppak
where he received warning of the impending disaster. His role as
a saviour agrees with that assigned to his counterpart Utnapishtim
in the Gilgamesh Epic. ... both epigraphical and archaeological
discovery give good grounds for believing that Ziusudra was a prehistoric
ruler of a well-known historic city the site of which has been identified."
That
Ziusudra was a king from Shuruppak is supported by the Gilgamesh
XI tablet, which makes reference to Utnapishtim (the Akkadian translation
of the Sumerian name Ziusudra) with the epithet "man of Shuruppak"
at line 23.
Sumerian
flood :
The tale of Ziusudra is known from a single fragmentary tablet written
in Sumerian, datable by its script to the 17th century BC (Old Babylonian
Empire), and published in 1914 by Arno Poebel. The first part deals
with the creation of man and the animals and the founding of the
first cities Eridu, Bad-tibira, Larak, Sippar, and Shuruppak. After
a missing section in the tablet, we learn that the gods have decided
to send a flood to destroy mankind. The god Enki (lord of the underworld
sea of fresh water and Sumerian equivalent of Babylonian god Ea)
warns Ziusudra, the ruler of Shuruppak, to build a large boat; the
passage describing the directions for the boat is also lost. When
the tablet resumes, it is describing the flood. A terrible storm
raged for seven days, "the huge boat had been tossed about
on the great waters," then Utu (Sun) appears and Ziusudra opens
a window, prostrates himself, and sacrifices an ox and a sheep.
After another break, the text resumes, the flood is apparently over,
and Ziusudra is prostrating himself before An (Sky) and Enlil (Lordbreath),
who give him "breath eternal" and take him to dwell in
Dilmun. The remainder of the poem is lost. [failed verification]
The
Epic of Ziusudra adds an element at lines 258–261 not found
in other versions, that after the river flood "king Ziusudra
... they caused to dwell in the KUR Dilmun, the place where the
sun rises". The Sumerian word "KUR" is an ambiguous
word. Samuel Noah Kramer states that "its primary meanings
is 'mountain' is attested by the fact that the sign used for it
is actually a pictograph representing a mountain. From the meaning
'mountain' developed that of 'foreign land', since the mountainous
countries bordering Sumer were a constant menace to its people.
Kur also came to mean 'land' in general". The last sentence
can be translated as "In the mountain of crossing, the mountain
of Dilmun, the place where the sun rises".
A
Sumerian document known as the Instructions of Shuruppak dated by
Kramer to about 2600 BC, refers in a later version to Ziusudra.
Kramer stated "Ziusudra had become a venerable figure in literary
tradition by the middle of the third millennium B.C."
Xisuthros
:
Xisuthros is a Hellenization of the Sumerian Ziusudra, known from
the writings of Berossus, a priest of Bel in Babylon, on whom Alexander
Polyhistor relied heavily for information on Mesopotamia. Among
the interesting features of this version of the flood myth, are
the identification, through interpretatio graeca, of the Sumerian
god Enki with the Greek god Cronus, the father of Zeus; and the
assertion that the reed boat constructed by Xisuthros survived,
at least until Berossus' day, in the "Corcyrean Mountains"
of Armenia. Xisuthros was listed as a king, the son of one Ardates,
and to have reigned 18 saroi. One saros (shar in Akkadian) stands
for 3600 and hence 18 saroi was translated as 64,800 years. A saroi
or saros is an astrologolical term defined as 222 lunar months of
29.5 days or 18.5 lunar years equal to 17.93 solar years.
Other
sources :
Ziusudra is also mentioned in other ancient literature, including
The Death of Gilgamesh and The Poem of Early Rulers, and a late
version of The Instructions of Shuruppak.
Source
:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ziusudra