Adapa- Mesopotamian HeroHero"Sage of Eridu"

The Sage of Eridu

Adapa was the first of the seven apkallū, the antediluvian sages who brought civilization's arts from the gods to humanity before the Great Flood. As priest of Enki at Eridu, the oldest city in Sumer, he possessed extraordinary wisdom: Enki had given him "wide understanding to disclose the design of the land," knowledge of all things except immortality.

One day while fishing in the Persian Gulf to provision Enki's temple, Adapa was capsized by the South Wind. In his fury he cursed the wind and broke its wing, causing it to cease blowing for seven days. The sky god Anu, alarmed that a mortal could wield such power over a cosmic force, summoned Adapa to heaven to account for himself.

Before the ascent, Enki carefully instructed his priest: wear mourning garments to win the sympathy of Dumuzi and Ningishzida, the gods who guarded Anu's gate. But refuse any food or drink offered in heaven. It would be the bread of death and the water of death.

The Bread of Life

Adapa obeyed everything. He charmed Dumuzi and Ningishzida with his mourning, and they interceded on his behalf. Anu's anger turned to admiration. In his generosity, Anu offered Adapa the bread and water of life, the food of immortality that would have made him a god.

Adapa refused. Enki had told him to refuse.

Anu laughed in astonishment: "Why did Ea not allow you to eat and drink? Now what shall we do for you?" There was nothing to be done. Adapa was returned to earth, wise but mortal. Whether Enki had deliberately deceived his priest to keep immortality from human hands, or had warned him in good faith against a danger that Anu unexpectedly reversed, the text does not say. The first sage obeyed his god perfectly, and it cost him everything.