ds of shifting streams to irrigate the soil.
One of the several creation myths is reminiscent of those early
experiences which produced early local beliefs:

O thou River, who didst create all things,
When the great gods dug thee out,
They set prosperity upon thy banks,
Within thee Ea, the king of the Deep, created his dwelling.[10]

The Sumerians observed that the land was brought into existence by
means of the obstructing reeds, which caused mud to accumulate. When
their minds began to be exercised regarding the origin of life, they
conceived that the first human beings were created by a similar
process:

Marduk (son of Ea) laid a reed upon the face of the waters,
He formed dust and poured it out beside the reed ...
He formed mankind.[11]

Ea acquired in time, as the divine artisan, various attributes which
reflected the gradual growth of civilization: he was reputed to have
taught the people how to form canals, control the rivers, cultivate
the fields, build their houses, and so on.

But although Ea became a beneficent deity, as a result of the growth
of civilization, he had also a demoniac form, and had to be
propitiated. The worshippers of the fish god retained ancient modes of
thought and perpetuated ancient superstitious practices.

The earliest settlers in the Tigro-Euphrates valley were
agriculturists, like their congeners, the proto-Egyptians and the
Neolithic Europeans. Before they broke away from the parent stock in
its area of characterization they had acquired the elements of
culture, and adopted habits of thought which were based on the
agricultural mode of life. Like other agricultural communities they
were worshippers of the "World Mother", the Creatrix, who was the
giver of all good things, the "Preserver" and also the
"Destroyer"--the goddess whose moods were reflected by natural
phenomena, and whose lovers were the spirits of the seasons.

In the alluvial valley which they rendered fit for habitation the
Sumerians came into contact with peoples of different habits of life
and different habits of thought. These were the nomadic pastoralists
from the northern steppe lands, who had developed in isolation
theories regarding the origin of the Universe which reflected their
particular experiences and the natural phenomena of their area of
characterization. The most representative people of this class were
the "Hatti" of Asia Minor, who were of Alpine or Armenoid stock.