Page:The Babylonian conception of heaven and hell - Jeremias (1902).djvu/54

 cup-bearer to the gods. With the baker of Eridu he superintended the baking, daily he provided Eridu with bread and water, with his own pure hand he attended to the platters, no platter was made ready without him, daily he embarked on his boat and went fishing for Eridu; when Ea stretched himself on his couch Adapa departed from Eridu and sailed about all night catching fish. From the fragments that relate the subsequent fate of Adapa we learn that Anu had been considering how the gift of eternal life could be given to this being who is in one passage distinctly called "Germ of mankind." With this episode we shall deal in the following section. 



The epic fragments discovered at Tell el Amarna relate how Adapa was summoned before the throne of Anu, god of heaven, to answer for a deed of violence committed against the bird Zu, i.e., the incarnation of the South wind. Anu's wrath being appeased he commanded a feast to be prepared for Adapa and festal raiment and oil for anointing to be given him. Garments and oil he accepted, but meat and drink he refused, for Ea had warned him: "When thou comest into the