Hymn to the Nile
This hymn to the Nile is representative of how the ancients would see things like mountains,
rivers, oceans and other natural things as gods with supernatural powers. The Nile River was a
great giver of life to the Egyptian peoples because of how it kept the crops growing in good soil
every year because of its regular cycle of flooding. The Egyptians knew this and honored the
Nile. In one their creation myths, they talk about how before the earth was, there was only
water, specifically the waters of the Nile. The place where the god Ra, (also known as Atun and
Amon-Ra) arose out of the Nile became the great shrine of Heliopolis
ca. 2100 BCE
1 Hail to thee O Nile!
2 Thou showest thyself in this land,
3 Coming in peace, giving life to Egypt:
4 O Ammon, you lead night into day,
5 A leading that rejoices the heart!
6 Overflowing the gardens created by Ra.
7 Giving life to all animals;
8 Watering the land without ceasing:
9 The way of heaven descending:
10 Lover of food, giver of wheat and barley,
11 Giving light to every home, O Ptah!
12 Lord of fishes, when the inundation returns
13 No fowls fall on the cultures.
14 Maker of spelt; creator of wheat:
15 Who maintaineth the temples!
16 Idle hands he loathes
17 For myriads, for all the wretched.
18 If the gods in heaven are grieved,
19 Then sorrow cometh on men.
27 Bringer of food! Great lord of provisions!
28 Creator of all good things!
29 Lord of terrors and of choicest joys!
30 All are combined in him.
31 He produceth grass for the oxen;
32 Providing victims for every god.
33 The choice incense is that which he supplies.
34 Lord in both regions,
35 He filleth the granaries, enricheth the storehouses,
36 He careth for the state of the poor.
1
114 O Inundation of Nile, offerings are made to
thee:
115 Oxen are slain to thee:
116 Great festivals are kept for thee;
117 Fowls are sacrificed to thee;
118 Beasts of the field are caught for thee
119 Pure flames are offered to thee;
120 Offerings are made to every god,
121 As they are made unto Nile.
122 Incense ascends unto heaven,
123 Oxen, bulls, fowls are burnt!
124 Nile makes for himself chasms;
125 Unknown is his name in heaven,
126 He doth not manifest his form!
127 Vain are all representations!
128 Mortals extol (him), and the cycle of gods!
129 Awe is felt by the terrible ones;
130 His son is made Lord of all,
131 To enlighten all Egypt.
132 Shine forth, shine forth, O Nile! Shine
forth!
133 Giving life to men by his oxen:
134 Giving life to his oxen by the pastures!
135 Shine forth in glory, O Nile. 1
Translated by Rev. F. C. Cook (1901) http://www.reshafim.org.il/ad/egypt/texts/hymn_to_the_nile.htm
The Babylonian myth of the Creation of the
Pickax by Enlil (Babylonian Holy Spirit)
In the Myth of the Creation of the Pickax or Hoe, adds some details to the creation of
mankind: Enlil, the Summerian God of wind and one of the chief gods, removed heaven
from earth in order to make room for seeds to come up, and after he had created the
hoe he used it to break the hard crust of earth in Uzumua (the flesh-grower), a place in
the Temple of Inanna in Nippur. Here, out of the hole made by Enlil's hoe, man grew
forth.
The lord did verily produce the normal order,
The lord whose decisions cannot be altered,
Enlil quickly removed heaven from earth
So that the seed, from which the nation grew, could sprout up from the field;
He quickly brought the earth out from under the heaven as a separate entity
And bound up for the earth the gash in the "bond of heaven and earth"
So that the earth could grow humankind.;
He created the pickax when daylight was shining forth,
He organized the tasks, the pickman's way of life;
Stretching out his arm straight toward the pickax and the basket,
Enlil sang the praises of his pickax.
He drove his pickax into the earth.
In the hole which he had made was humankind.
While the people of the land were breaking through the ground,
He eyed his black-headed ones in steadfast fashion.
The pickax and the basket build cities,
The steadfast house of the pickax builds,
The steadfast house of the pickax establishes,
The steadfast house it causes to prosper.
The house which rebels against the king,
The house which is not submissive to its king,
The pickax makes it submissive to the king
The pickax, its fate is decreed by father Enlil,
The pickax is exalted. 2
2
http://www.piney.com/BabPickax.html