The Canaanites were situated in what is now modern Israel above the Arabian deserts between the Mesopotamians and Egypt and taking influence from both of these cultures. The early Canaanites don’t seem to have a cosmology of their own until much later in history when the Phoenicians began trading with the Greeks. The Canaanites believed the creator God El created the other Gods known as Elohim while in pre-Islamic Arabia this creator God was called Allah. The Canaanites had early myths called “combat myths” where their head God El clashed with the chaotic primordial sea God Yam similar to the Sumerian war of the Gods. Later Aramaic and Hebrew peoples would come to record their spoken mythologies in the dead sea scrolls, book of enoch and other texts such as Genesis which is clearly a Semitic take on the early Sumerian mythologies some of the major diferences are outlined below:
-It seems that the early Hebrews merged the concept of Enki and Enlil into one God called El.
-“God created the heavens and the Earth” is equal to Marduk’s division of Tiamat into Anu and Ki.
-“God moved across the face of the deep” - “deep” being the Hebrew word “Tehom” and is synonymous with Tiamat.
-Where The Mesopotamians reference the “black heads” or “dark race” and Igigi from clay wombs Genesis references the creation of “Adam” meaning “ruddy” or “rose cheeked” meaning to show blood in the face, a trait more common in white ethnicities, having been created from Adamah clay. This may suggest that Adam and Eve are the first white or Semitic peoples later alluded by Cain (who should have been one of three people alive) who worries that his exile into the wilderness will cause others to kill him (likely referencing the older dark skinned races such as Egyptians or Sumerians) similarly Cain finds a wife and produces Enoch begining the Canaanite bloodline.
-Adam and Eve’s creation may be a short version of the merging and division of Tiamat and Abzu, Lamahu and Lamhu and finally Anu and Ki, Kabbalistic rabinical scholars have often stated that God made Adam and Eve as a hermaphrodite before they became divided by eating the fruit of knowledge in reference to Hieros Gamos as shown in Genesis “Man and woman he created them, man and woman he created them both” (the first statement showing a unification of genders and the second statement ending in “both” indicating a division of genders) also revealed by Eve being created from Adam’s “Tsela” meaning “Rib”, “Temple Face” or “Side” this may also be a reference to the Sumerian Goddess Ninti known as “Lady of the Rib”.
-In early versions the first woman is Lilith who is also made from Adamah clay as Adams equal but refuses him to become a demoness she was almost certainly based on several Mesopotamian demonesses and Goddesses most notably Ishtar/Lilitu.
-The transition from multiple Gods to one God as evidenced in Genesis when God says “now man has become like one of US” the “us” referencing the Elohim and later understood by Christian interpretations to be angels.
-In Sumerian myth Enki confuses the language of mankind while in Genesis God says “now let us go down and confound their language”.
-There is a reference to the Kabbalistic Tree of Life in both Mesopotamian mythology and Genesis.
-In some versions of Genesis and later Hebrew/Christian works “fallen angels” are said to have taught arts to mankind while in Sumerian mythology it is the Apkallu, the Sumerian Igigi watchers also likely became the fallen Watcher angels of Genesis who comit the sin of fornicating and interbreeding with human women to create Nephilim. These mythologies may also tie in with the serpent of Genesis (which may also be a kundalini/serpent energy mystery) the term “Serpent” in Genesis is actually a mistranslation of the Hebrew word “Nagar” meaning “to strike” or a “magician”, this character has also been atributed to the fallen angels Lilith and Samael.
-Both traditions have fruit of death/knowledge and fruit of life/immortality.
-“Original Sin” may be related to the concept of the Sumerian moon God Sin who was born in the underworld from the raping of Ninlil by her brother Enlil causing both Enlil and Ninlil to serve out time in the underworld as punishment.
-Both traditions reference a great flood caused by the Gods and the building of an ark containing a family (Atrahasis’s or Noah’s), seeds and animals as commanded by a God. Both traditions have the release of a dove and a crow although their role is inverted from the original Sumerian in the later Genesis retelling and a covenant made between man and the Gods as a result of mans survival.
