My Musical Sunday School Sessions - The Creation Story of Adam vs the Creation of Adamu

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10 Nov 2024

The Bible might be the first book that was ever printed, its stories might be adapted to be the new future version of more ancient tales.

In the previous two weeks, I showed you how the Noah story is almost identical to the Sumerian Utnapishtim story, and why it made sense all of a sudden people were allowed to eat meat and even hand a possible explanation why Noah got so freaking old.

My Musical Sunday School Sessions - Did You Know The Bible told us to be vegetarian first and later

My Musical Sunday School Sessions - Why Noah's Flood Changed Everything

Now One swallow does not make a summer, but one narcissus is enough for a cheerful spring...

The Noah story was the narcissus which by the way sounds like another fun story.
But we need more swallows to increase the probability of the assumption that Genesis borrowed its stories left and right.

The best way to do so is to take it right from the start. And it started with One!

NEO = The One = The First

If you are here you must be familiar with this guy Adam, according to Genesis he was The One. The first human ever created, created yes. He did not evolve from some monkey business, he was made and not manmade that is for sure.

The fun part started when I learned that there was an Adam story in Sumerian and Mesopotamian mythology. And this time Genesis stayed a lot closer to the earlier script as their Adam was called Adamu.

Now when I found that I was like well that must be a coincidence so I did some digging and Adamu and Adam have the same type of similarities as the Noah and Utnapishtim story.
Let´s compare notes.

Adam

According to Genesis Adam was the first human created by the Elohim, in the Hebrew Bible does state that Adam was created by "Elohim." In the original Hebrew text, the word "Elohim" is a plural form of "El," which is a common term for God in ancient Semitic languages.
Adam was the first of Mankind, and as there were no priests and such folk God spoke to Adam directly:

Genesis 1:28
"God blessed them and said to them, 'Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.'"

Genesis 2:15
"The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it."
Hence the lord encouraged the species to grow and have stewardship of the world.

Adamu

According to the Sumerian texts found before Genesis was even written "Adamu" is thought to be a Sumerian word meaning "man" or "mankind." The Anunnaki, the sky people, created Adamu, or better said mankind.

Not out of thin air, or by magi but they genetically engineered Adamu as a worker species. As I mentioned last week this was allegedly done by combining their own DNA with that of the native hominins on Earth.

They needed mankind to take care of the planet, so they themselves did not have to do the dirty work

Comparison:

Creators: In the Adamu story, the creators are the Anunnaki, depicted as advanced extraterrestrial beings. In the Adam myth, the creator is a singular, omnipotent God.
Method of Creation: The Adamu story involves genetic engineering by extraterrestrials. The Adam myth involves divine creation from dust and divine breath.
Purpose of Creation: Adamu is created to serve as a laborer for the Anunnaki. Adam is created to inhabit, cultivate, and have dominion over the earth, and to maintain a relationship with God.

Conclusion:

While both the Adamu and Adam are about creating the first human beings to take care of the planet. But as Adamu is older I wondered why a civilization would step away from the Anunnaki as the creators and move to a divine being.

I understand the vice versa, that the church wants to hold on to the divine and does not accept extraterrestrials as our creator, but why change the story from sky people to a divine being?

Why Replace The Sky People With Gods?

I think it´s about Cultural Assimilation and Integration;

We know that the church integrated several heathen practices into their religion to lower the threshold for non-believers. Christmas and the Christmas tree is the most well-known example.

But Easter and All Saints have a similar background. A unified religious narrative helps to create some sort of social cohesion and unity within a civilization.
If your oppressor gives you a religion that has stories that sound familiar, it´s easier to swallow.

So if a society with an Adamu-like story encountered a culture with a strong emphasis on deities, they might adapt the narrative to fit their own religious framework. By replacing extraterrestrials with gods, the story becomes more relatable and easier to integrate into the existing belief system.

By attributing the creation of humanity to gods rather than extraterrestrials, a civilization can reinforce the divine right of kings, priests, or leaders.

As we all know back in the day authority was unquestionable as their power is seen as sanctioned by the gods. By rewriting the creation story to involve gods, religious authorities can maintain control over its interpretation and ensure orthodoxy.

Simplifying Complex Narratives

The other option is that the storytellers thought that people were too simple to understand. Stories involving extraterrestrials might be considered too complex or speculative for the general population. So replacing them with gods can simplify the narrative, making it more accessible and easier to understand.

It might be me living in this modern world, but I think it´s less complex to believe in Aliens than a divine being.

But I get this part: A narrative involving gods can provide more satisfying answers to these questions compared to one involving extraterrestrials. Gods are perceived as omnipotent and omniscient beings who can offer guidance, comfort, and a sense of purpose to humanity.

Basically turning aliens into Gods allows you to explain everything as the will of God, so whatever happened will not be doubted because God knows best.
And I agree that you can not say the same for the Annunaki as they had their own internal quarrels...oh but so did the Greek and Roman Gods.

The Fear Of Death

Let me end this story on a positive note.

People on Earth today feel lost, many have no sense of purpose and fear death.

Now if I would tell you that you are created by aliens to do their dirty work and that even the aliens do not know if there is an afterlife for their talking monkeys it would not give you that warm cozy feeling that Heaven does.

Bikini Bottom Line

Imagine a civilization that originally had a story about the Adamu, created by extraterrestrial beings called the Anunnaki. Over time, this civilization encounters another culture with a rich pantheon of gods. To integrate and harmonize with this new cultural influence, the story is adapted: the Anunnaki become gods, and the Adamu becomes Adam.

In this new version, Adam is created by a singular, omnipotent deity who breathes life into him.

This gives hope as it adds the divine nature of humanity to our origin.

It reinforces the moral authority of the religious leaders and provides a more simplified and all-explaining narrative to the simpletons in society. The simplified story includes moral teachings by those who can not be doubted.

By making these changes, the leaders of the civilization ensure that the creation myth aligns with its evolving cultural, religious, and political landscape, providing a stable foundation for their increasing reign.

And at the same time it gives humans a sense of purpose, an explanation of why terrible things happen in their lives, and to not worry because there is life after death. We do the same thing every day when we try to explain our children a complex story or want them to bend to our will.

Thank Godness you made it till the end Pees, Love and I am out of here!

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Disclaimer One: The texts I use for these sessions are real, although like many scholars my ignorance and arrogance might cause me to misinterpret things, or explain things from my limited perspective. I therefore appreciate all critical feedback.

Disclaimer Two: I think everyone has a right to believe, and a right to disagree. I try to take a light philosophical approach and add some humor. If you're offended please check yourself, because being offended by something written by a simpleton as WhyWhy is a signal that you might have bigger issues.