Uruk List of Kings and Sages These Sages are found in the "Uruk List of Kings and Sages" (165 BC) discovered in 1959/60 in the Seleucid era temple of
Anu in Bit Res; The text consisted of list of seven kings and their associated sages, followed by a note on the 'Deluge' (see
Gilgamesh flood myth), followed by eight more king/sage pairs. A tentative translation reads: Lenzi notes that the list is clearly intended to be taken in chronological order. It is an attempt to connect real (historic) kings directly to mythologic (divine) kingship and also does the same connecting those real king's sages (ummanu) with the demi-godly mythic seven sages (apkallu). Though the list is taken to be chronological, the texts do not portray the Sages (nor the kings) as genealogically related to each other or their kings. There is some similarity between the sages' and kings' names in the list, but not enough to draw any solid conclusions.
Bit meseri A list (similar to the Uruk list) of the seven sages followed by four human sages is also given in an apotropaic incantation the tablet series
Bit meseri. The ritual involved hanging or placing statues of the sages on the walls of a house. A translation of the cuneiform was given by Borger: Borger found the Uruk and
bit meseri lists to be in agreement.
The Twenty-One "Poultices" A text giving the story known as the Twenty-One "Poultices" (ref. no. LKA No.76) contains duplications of much of the
Bit meseir text concerning the seven sages - it was analyzed by . Another text from
Uruk was later found that duplicated and further completed the coverage of Reiner's text. In
the twenty-one poultices text the seven sages (of Eridu) are entrusted with the reading "tablets of destiny." Additionally the sage Anenlilda is the maker of the 'twenty-one poultices' -- these items are then given to
Nudimmud to bring to the "upper world" to gain merit.
The Poem of Erra The seven sages are also mentioned in the
Epic of Erra (aka 'Song of Erra', or 'Erra and Ishum'); here again they are referenced as
paradu-Fish. In this text is described how after the Flood,
Marduk banished them back to Abzu. Once the apkallu are banished, Marduk's phrasing becomes rhetorical (left): Finally Erra persuades Marduk to leave his temple and fetch back the apkallu from their banishment, reassuring that he will keep order whilst Marduk is away. However, chaos breaks out; though some of the text is missing it seems that the subsequent outcome was that instead, earthly
ummanus are given the task of cleansing Marduk's shrine. Kvanvig infers from this text that the mythological role of the apkallu was to aid the god (Marduk) in keeping creation stable by maintenance of Marduk's idol. According to Scott B. Noegel this epic also contains several clever etymological wordplays on the names of apkallu, both textual and phonetic. This text appears to have a completely different role for the apkallu from that given in the lists of sages and kings—essentially, Kvanvig proposes that the pre-deluge king-sage list was retroactively inserted onto a Sumerian king list, so to combine the historical record with the flood legend. In doing so it creates a pre-flood origin story for the Sumerian kings.
Building stories A Sumerian temple hymn states the seven sages (here as
abgal) enlarged a temple. The seven sages were also associated with the founding of the seven cities of
Eridu,
Ur,
Nippur,
Kullab,
Kesh,
Lagash, and
Shuruppak; and in the
Epic of Gilgamesh (Gilg. I 9; XI 305) they are credited with laying the foundations of
Uruk.
Berossus' Babyloniaca Berossus wrote a history of Babylon in around 281 BC, during the
Hellenistic period. According to his own account, he was a Chaldean priest of
Bel (
Marduk). His
Babyloniaca was written in Greek, probably for the
Seleucid court of
Antiochus I. His work gives a description of the wise men, their names, and their associated kings. Berossus' original book is now lost, but parts have survived via the abridgment and copying of historians including
Alexander Polyhistor,
Josephus,
Abydenus, and
Eusebius. Mayer Burstein suggests that Berossus' work was partly metaphorical, intended to convey wisdoms concerning the development of man—a nuance lost or uncommented on by later copyists. What remains of Berossos' account via Apollodorus begins with a description on Babylonia, followed by the appearance of a learned fish-man creature named Oannes. Truncated account: Truncated account via Abydenus: Truncated account via Alexander Polyhistor: In summary, Berossus' Babylonian history recounts ten kings before a deluge (followed by the reigns of later kings), with a record or myth of prehistoric man receiving civilization via the Oannes; it also contains a paraphrasing of the myth the
Enuma Elis, which was said to have been recounted by the Oannes. Though Berossus' history contains obvious historical errors, parts of it have convincing matches with ancient cuneiform texts, suggest he was recreating accounts known from ancient Mesopotamian texts. Mayer Burstein considers that the text was not well written in a "Greek style", but was essentially a transliteration of Mesopotamian myths into Greek. Helpfully for future historians, Berossus does not seem to have altered the myths or narratives to suit a Greek audience. In terms of his relevance to the Apkallu: his lists match fairly well with the Uruk King/Apkallu list, though there are differences and variations. Oannes is paired with the king Alorus, and by comparison can be considered equivalent to Adapa [Uanna]. Matches between Berossus and the kings and apkallu in the Uruk King List have been proposed.
Other references Various other cuneiform texts have references to these seven sages. There are texts that associates a set of seven sages with the city
Kuar-Eridu or
Eridu, while in the
Epic of Gilgamesh there is a reference to seven counselors as founders of
Uruk. Another list of seven sages used in a ritual differs from the description and names give in the
Bit meseri text. Several of named apkulla are listed on inscriptions as authors, notably Lu-Nanna is recorded as author of the
Myth of Etana. == Depictions in ancient art ==