Page Content (OCR)
106 stood that Enki refused Enlil's request for the transfer of Primitive Workers to Mesopotamia. Deciding to take matters into his own hands. Enlil took the extreme step of disconnecting the communi- cations with the home planet: "In the "Bond Heaven-Earth' he made a gash . . . verily did he speed to disconnect Heaven from Earth." Then he launched an armed attack against the Land of the Mines. The Anunnaki in the Abzu assembled the Primitive Workers in a central compound, strengthening its walls against the coming at- tack. But Enlil fashioned a marvelous weapon, the AL.A.NI ("Ax That Produces Power") equipped with a "horn" and an "earth splitter" that could drill through walls and earthworks. With these weapons Enlil drove a hole through the fortifications. As the hole widened "Primitive Workers were breaking out toward Enlil. He eyed the Black-headed Ones in fascination." Thereafter the Primitive Workers performed the manual tasks in both Lands: In the Land of the Mines they "bore the work and suf- fered the toil"; in Mesopotamia, "with picks and spades they built gods' houses, they built the big canal banks; food they grew for the sustenance of the gods." Many ancient drawings engraved on cylinder seals depicted these Primitive Workers performing their tasks, naked as the ani- mals of the field (Fig. 29). Various Sumerian texts recorded this animallike stage in human development: (i =] aii Fig. 29 THE WARS OF GODS AND MEN