English Literature

The distinction between Cosmogony and Anthroponomy is significant as the very word Cosmogony has been derived from the word Cosmos that means origin while the word Anthrop suggests humanity. The concept of Cosmogony is related to the creation of Cosmos and the concept of Anthroponomy is related to the creation of mankind.  The scripts on Sumerian anthroponomy do exist but they are found absent when it comes to Cosmogony.  It becomes, therefore, impossible to draw substantial convictions about the matter with the help of works. The only option left is to take help from unrelated texts. The cosmogonies offered in these texts are rich in variety and different patterns can be considered for getting an insight into the Sumerian convictions regarding the creation of the cosmos. Two very different advances are found in Sumerian texts (Pinches, 1903).

One thing that the Sumerians knew and firmly believed was that man is mortal. The Sumerians attempted to get a comprehensive view of the mortal state of man in the myths of Atrahasis and Adapa. They also believed staunchly in the immortality of the soul of man. The Sumerians, henceforth, led their lives under the dogmas and beliefs that they held. But that life of Sumerians has never been idealized by the rest of the humanity. The Sumerians believed that the new life takes a start from the funeral with the journey of the shadow to the netherworld through a hole which would open in the tomb thence the shadow would have the allowance to enter the Great Below. In case of the rites of funeral being performed incorrectly or that the body was not buried it would be impossible for the Etemmu to start his eternal journey. It would continue to haunt the place and would not leave the soil. Only the lucky souls, believed the Sumerians, get proper funeral and thus complete their eternal journey with success. In the Gilgamesh epic it is written Earth is their nourishment, their nourishment clay ghosts like birds fly their wings there, on the gate-posts the dirt lies undisturbed (Spurrell, 1896), that verifies the importance of nourishment of the souls and proper funeral rite that was the responsibility of the family members.

The cosmos (origin), says the Bible in the chapter of Genesis, commenced in the very beginning (Genesis 11). Nothing else had an existence before the origin of creation. The creation started at the command of God Who had preconceived purpose behind the creation. According to the Bible it took the Creator, God, only six days to create the world and on seventh day He took rest (Genesis 22). While the issue of the age of the soil is not explicitly in the Bible therefore it is difficult to make clear cut assumptions about the universes being old or young. The account of the Bible, however, suggests that it was about six thousand years ago that the universe came into existence but it took God only six days to make this happen as this has also been told in Exodus 208. The age of the cosmos, however, is defined as old in Peter 35. While it is the will of God that is superior over all the things therefore He had to decide whether the cosmos is to be old or young  for His will and command surpasses the heads of human beings and He takes decision without help of the others (Waltke, 1975).

The beginning of time, space, and issue is thus confirmed through the word of God as it is written in the Bible. Einsteins theory of relativity is proved by substantial evidences. As a result of the expansion of time it must be possible to cross the vast allowances of space in a short time spanning the billions of years. Verily, God is above time and space and He lived even before the creation of time and cosmos. Moreover time did not live before the cosmos. God created time and space and He is able to transcend the demarcations of time and space. At the point of the omnipotence of God, the issue of the age of the cosmos is pushed into background. God, the Creator of the entire universe, is above time and space and can transcend the past, present and future (Tigay, 1986).

Many scholars and critics see the refutation of the concept of immortality by Inky to Adapa as a trick (as Inky has earned his reputation as the trickster) that can also be used in sorting out the comprehension of the concept of mortality of man. The interpretation, although is difficult to accept. It is difficult to think of Enzis his wisest son and the trusted cleric to have tricked in accordance to the established concepts. There arises the question of Enkis deceiving Atrahasis (the Sumerian Noah), and its subsequent lead to the death of humanity. The myth of Enzi and Nina is also of some significance. The beginning of the myth is important as it has a message and tells about their efforts to create a whole being (Tigay, 1986).

Understanding the creation and the issues related to its age, though, is not sufficient whole a complete understanding of the cosmos. The creation of the cosmos is defined in terms of the creation into the soil from which man was molded. God who has created man out of soil will redeem him one day eventually. He is the one who has decided things before hand for man and therefore knows what the future of a man lays before man. He is all powerful to make the destinies of human beings and can see the future as it has been hidden from the eyes of man. He has made things for mankind therefore it is mainly about God that the whole discussion revolves. He made man out of soul so that we would offer our wishes to Him and Jesus Christ who is the Savior and the redeemer for the whole humanity (Waltke, 1975).

The stories of Genesis and other things pertaining to the creation have been reported in the Gilgamesh Epic as well. The stories of the fall and subsequent events that occurred in the Heaven are related directly to Adam as he was one of the characters involved in those events. Adam had transferred the stories to Seth (his descendant). There follows the cycle with which the stories and events of Heaven were transferred. From Seth they were transferred into Gen 5 from where they got transferred to pass Seths descendant Noah. Noah reported them in Gen 6-9 and passed the tablets to Shem (Noahs descendant) . From Joseph they were authored in the last sections of Genesis and reached the library of the pharaohs. These tablets were then accessed and later translated into Hebrew by Moses. This idea stands in contrast with the words of Scriptures. As it is stated in Exod 63 I emerged to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my title, LORD YHWH, I was not renowned to them (Waltke, 1976). While the contradiction can be removed if it is established that Moses did not compose Genesis but was responsible for mere conversion. Another thing that comes into notice is that Moses used the name (title) YHWH for God which had not been used by any other figures reported in the Bible, be it Abraham or some other respectable figure.

Moses is not the writer of Genesis while there have been evidences about his authorship of the four publications of the Torah. In Matt 184-5, for example, Jesus states from Genesis, Have you not read, in verse 8, however, while telling about the route from Deuteronomy, Jesus attributes the enunciation to Moses in clear words (Spurrell, 1896).

When the mass of Heaven and earth, yet unformed, separated from each other then the Cosmic creation came into existence. And it was this mass, apparently, that was given birth by Nammu and Engur. The Sumerian source is found absent when it comes to the interpretation of the process of birth of Nammu and Engur and their preexisting force. The myth of the Babylonic creation is supported by the semites where Nammu (Mammu) is said to have generated by the preexisting primordial waters. The union of heaven and earth, as it is stated in the myth of Cattle and Grain, made the great gods (Waltke, 1976).

In  Genesis 11 (the Tower of Babel)  it is stated that  the entire kol soil erets utilized the identical language. The statement, however, is not actually targeted to the soil solely (and absolutely not to the whole earth), but to the persons of the soil (universe), who all lived in one geographic location. God, then, dispersed the persons in the earth. There are numerous other demonstrations, according to Tigay (1986), of where kol erets really mentions to men other than the geography of the whole earth
 And all kol the men of the earth erets went into the plantation, and there laid honey on the ground. (The genuine translation would be all the land went into the forest, conspicuously mentioning to the persons and not to the land itself going into the forest) (1 Samuel 1425 in Waltke, 1976).
 While all kol the land erets was weeping, all the persons passed over (2 Samuel 1523 in Pinches, 1903).

The concept of resurrection, however, was not found similar to the Mesopotamian idea of life that the marvel would be that they should not have created out of it. The conviction, thus, is completely prepared. For them the issues such as the setting of the sun needed explanation. Through their tireless attempts and long run of explorations they were able to discover the location of the sun through their mythology and religion. They also traced, theoretically, the route of the sun from the summer to the winter and also the phase of the moon and its journey throughout the year. All these observations and their findings helped them to reach conclusions about the life and death of the gods, and their restoration to life. The question of mans arriving from the underworld is not only believed by Mesopotamians but they had a very clear understanding on the beginning of life and also the beginning of gods.