The Creation of Humankind

In the central Mesopotamian myth, humans were created to do the work the lesser gods had wearied of: to dig the canals and feed the gods with offerings. In Atra-hasis, the mother-goddess fashions humankind from clay mixed with the flesh and blood of a slain god, so that something divine is mingled into the human. Enki/Ea is the divine craftsman behind the making. Humanity's very purpose, in this view, is service to the gods — and its population, left unchecked, becomes the problem the Flood is sent to solve.