Epic of Atrahasis


iconChapter - 6

1Far sighted Enki and wise Mami
2Went into the room of fate.
3The womb-goddesses were assembled.
4He trod the clay in her presence;
5She kept reciting an incantation,
6For Enki, staying in her presence, made her recite it
7When she had finished her incantation,
8She pinched off fourteen pieces of clay,
9And set seven pieces on the right,
10Seven on the left.
11Between them she put down a mud brick.
12She made use of a reed, opened it to cut the umbilical cord,
13Called up the wise and knowledgeable
14Womb goddesses, seven and seven.
15Seven created males,
16Seven created females,
17For the womb goddess is creator of fate.
18He...them two by two,
19...them two by two in her presence.
20Mami made these rules for people:
21In the house of a woman who is giving birth
22The mud brick shall be put down for seven days.
23Belet-ili, wise Mami shall be honored.
24The midwife shall rejoice in the house of the woman who gives birth
25And when the woman gives birth to the baby,
26The mother of the baby shall sever herself.
27A man to a girl...
28...her bosom
29A beard can be seen
30On a young man's cheek.
31In gardens and waysides
32A wife and her husband choose each other.
33The womb goddesses were assembled
34And Nintu was present. They counted the months,
35Called up the Tenth month as the term of fates.
36When the Tenth month came,
37She slipped in a staff and opened the womb.
38Her face was glad and joyful.
39She covered her head,
40Performed the midwifery,
41Put on her belt, said a blessing.
42She made a drawing in flour and put down a mud brick:
43I myself created it, my hands made it.
44The midwife shall rejoice in the house of the qadistu-priestess.
45Whenever a woman gives birth
46And the baby's mother severs herself,
47The mud brick shall be put down for nine days.
48Nintu the womb goddess shall be honored.
49She shall call their ...Mami
50She shall ... the womb goddess,
51Lay down the linen cloth.
52When the bed is laid out in their house,
53A wife and her husband shall choose each other.
54Inanna shall rejoice in the wife-husband relationship
55In the father-in-law's house.
56Celebration shall last for nine days,
57And they shall call Inanna Ishhara.
58On the fifteenth day, the fixed time of fate
59She shall call...