Ninurta and the Turtle

Author: Traditional Sumerian

Time Period: 2499 BCE–1000 BCE

Country or Culture: Mesopotamia

Genre: Myth

PLOT SUMMARY

Imdugud (or Anzû), the great lion-headed bird, has stolen the powerful Tablet of Destinies from the water god, Enki, and carried it off to the mountains. The tablet can enable the person possessing it to control the abzu (apsû), the sweet waters that exist beneath the earth’s surface. Enki enlists the help of his brother Enlil’s son Ninurta, the god of war. Ninurta follows the bird on a great journey into the mountains. He attacks the bird, who after a great battle drops the tablet into the abzu, where it is returned to Enki. Imdugud is defeated and taken captive by Ninurta. Enki praises Ninurta’s bravery in defeating Imdugud.

However, brooding at his post near the abzu, Ninurta wishes for more than praise for his victory. Ninurta decides to pursue the Tablet of Destinies and Enki’s me (divine power) for himself and plots to retrieve it from the abzu. If he succeeds, Ninurta will gain power over the world. He then creates a dark flood wave. Enki is very clever, however. He intuits that Ninurta will attempt to take the tablet and stirs the waters of the abzu, creating his own flood and thereby issuing a warning to Ninurta that he is aware of the war god’s intentions. Enki next sends his emissary, Isimud, to confront Ninurta and convince him to rethink his quest for power. Ninurta rebuffs Isimud, striking Enki’s minister during their meeting. Obsessed with obtaining the power of Enki through the Tablet of Destinies, Ninurta continues his plans.

Enki decides to punish Ninurta for his arrogance. He creates a turtle out of clay and gives it life. The turtle digs a deep hole in the earth. Enki lures Ninurta into conversation near the trap, and the turtle, still in the hole, reaches out and grabs Ninurta, pulling him inside. Ninurta tries to escape, but the turtle continues to claw at his legs. Enki stands over the hole, mocking his strength and heroic qualities.

Meanwhile, Ninurta’s mother, Ninhursaĝa (or Ninhursag; sometimes referred to as Ninmena) sees Enki tormenting and ridiculing Ninurta. She intervenes, rending her garments and reprimanding Enki for his cruel behavior. She reminds him of a past incident in which he, out of greed, decided to eat plants that were forbidden by the gods and, were it not for Ninhursaĝa, would have certainly died. The extant fragments of the myth conclude there, but it is believed that Ninurta is then allowed to reemerge from the hole and goes on to receive glory for his past deeds.

SIGNIFICANCE

The story of Ninurta and the turtle has been compiled from two literary poetic compositions dating back to the second millennium BCE. Only the middle part of the story has been found, leading scholars to attempt to piece together the missing two ends using other stories. For example, how Enki came into possession of the Tablet of Destinies is explained by the belief that Enki wished to exercise his divine right as one of the primary gods; later Babylonian tales establish that Marduk, the offspring of the god Ea (who corresponds to the Sumerian Enki), kills the owner of the tablet, Qingu, and takes possession of it. As there are no other references to Ninurta’s pursuit of the tablet, scholars believe that the story concludes with Ninurta learning his lesson from the heroic Enki.

The story of Ninurta, Enki, and the turtle offers a lesson on humility. Ninurta, the god of war, is called upon by his uncle Enki, the great god of the waters, to retrieve the source of Enki’s power, the Tablet of Destinies. To his credit, Ninurta goes on a great journey in pursuit of the bird Imdugud and defeats the bird in a heroic fashion. Ninurta rightly receives praise from Enki for this accomplishment but then becomes arrogant, dismissing his uncle’s accolades and instead deciding that the me generated by the tablet should be his and not Enki’s. Ninurta is disrespectful of Enki’s emissary, who attempts to convince Ninurta to reconsider his pursuit of the tablet. After much posturing, Ninurta confronts Enki, who simply pushes his nephew into the hole dug by the turtle. This humiliating defeat is only exacerbated by the fact that Enki mocks the “hero’s” inability to escape from the pit.

This story, however, is not just about the humbling of Ninurta. Enki, the powerful and clever god, determines that Ninurta wishes to attack him. At first, he shows restraint, offering Isimud as a vehicle by which a confrontation may be avoided. When Ninurta assaults Isimud, Enki devises a clever plot to teach his nephew a lesson. When Ninurta falls into the turtle’s pit, however, Enki’s own arrogance comes to light as he openly mocks Ninurta’s bravery and heroism. Enki is reminded by Ninhursaĝa that the water god himself has in the past made poor decisions that were based on pride and arrogance. When those choices nearly killed Enki, Ninhursaĝa saved him. This aspect of the story characterizes Enki, one of the three most revered gods in Sumerian mythology, as a figure who must demonstrate humility as well.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Black, Jeremy Allen, et al., eds. “Ninurta and the Turtle.” Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature. Faculty of Oriental Studies, U of Oxford, 2006. Web. 20 June 2013.

Black, Jeremy Allen, and Anthony Green. Gods, Demons, and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia: An Illustrated Dictionary. Austin: U of Texas P, 1992. Print.

Jacobsen, Thorkild. The Treasures of Darkness: A History of Mesopotamian Religion. New Haven: Yale UP, 1976. Print.

Penglase, Charles. “Ninurta.” Greek Myths and Mesopotamia: Parallels and Influence in the Homeric Hymns and Hesiod. London: Routledge, 2003. 42–61. Print.

Walton, John H., and Eugene E. Carpenter. “The Tablet of Destinies.” Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009. 517. Print.