Ea And The Serpent Analysis

Changing the World One Trick at a Time Tricksters transform the world around them and are themselves transformed such as the Serpent in Genesis and Ea from the Kumarbi Cycle. Ea and the Serpent are the same in the sense that they both were able to convince the protagonists of each myth to trust them in order to influence the outcome of the plot. Yet, the Serpent’s actions in the end portray it as a devilish character, while Ea is known to be a trustful advisor to Kumarbi and Tessub. Finally, an important difference between the Serpent and Ea is that the Serpent’s actions lead to a direct influence on how society is today, unlike Ea who cannot be considered a culture hero. One similarity between Ea and the Serpent is that they both were able

A culture hero is a character who helps humans develop civilization to what it is now. The Serpent is the one to get Adam and Eve to go against God’s orders which resulted in the punishment of knowledge. This punishment is meant to be an aetiology for why we today know the difference between right and wrong. In addition to having the power of knowledge, the outcome of eating the forbidden fruit included the awareness of being naked. God fixes the mistake of Adam and Eve when Genesis states “And the Lord God made skin coats for the human and his woman, and He clothed them.” It has become a norm for society to wake up in the morning and get dressed. The question was why does society feel the need to cover their bodies when God, according to Genesis, made men and women the way they are for a reason. This myth provides an answer and explanation for this question. Without the Serpent’s trickery, we would not have this knowledge today including the knowledge of

As an advisor, he protected and helped Tessub which we see when he states “First I routed […] Ullikummi, the Basalt. Now go fight him again. Don’t let it stand any loner in the gates of the … like a shaft.” While in Song of Kumarbi he feeds Kumarbi a rock rather than Tessub. Although these are the actions of a trickster, they do not directly provide anything for humans to develop today’s culture. If these actions had somehow changed the future for human civilization then one could consider Ea a culture hero. Yet, it is important to remember that the end of the myth Song of Ullikummi is missing and one does not know how the myth ends. If Tessub defeats the monster in the last part of the myth it is possible that there was a greater outcome from the battle. This would make Ea a culture hero since he provided aid to Tessub winning the battle. One cannot assume that the outcome of the battle did not in fact affect human civilization today, yet without the last part of the myth one will never know. Without the rest of the story Ea cannot be considered a culture hero, instead he remains a God of great wisdom and