Sorry, I don't believe that. I think Mesopotamian stories are more probably reworking of the stories that are collected in the Bible. And also, it may be that the stories are independently done without reworking.
Genesis as Dialogue: A Literary, Historical, and Theological Commentary
Thomas L. Brodie
Abstract -
(3) Genesis illustrates intertextuality; its sources include extant documents, especially from Mesopotamia, from Judea (Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel), and from western Asia (Homer's
Odyssey).
The Enuma Elish (also known as The Seven Tablets of Creation) is the Babylonian creation myth whose title is derived from the opening lines of the piece,
www.worldhistory.org
Genesis/Enuma Elish
The Enuma Elish would later be the inspiration for the Hebrew scribes who created the text now known as the biblical Book of Genesis. Prior to the 19th century CE, the
Bible was considered the oldest book in the world and its narratives were thought to be completely original. In the mid-19th century CE, however, European museums, as well as academic and religious institutions, sponsored excavations in Mesopotamia to find physical evidence for historical corroboration of the stories in the Bible. These excavations found quite the opposite, however, in that, once
cuneiform was translated, it was understood that a number of biblical narratives were Mesopotamian in origin.
Famous stories such as the Fall of Man and the Great Flood were originally conceived and written down in Sumer, translated and modified later in Babylon, and reworked by the Assyrians before they were used by the Hebrew scribes for the versions which appear in the Bible.
Both Genesis and Enuma Elsih are religious texts which detail and celebrate cultural origins: Genesis describes the origin and founding of the Jewish people under the guidance of the Lord; Enuma Elish recounts the origin and founding of Babylon under the leadership of the god Marduk. Contained in each work is a story of how the cosmos and man were created. Each work begins by describing the watery chaos and primeval darkness that once filled the universe. Then light is created to replace the darkness. Afterward, the heavens are made and in them heavenly bodies are placed. Finally, man is created.
Judaism - Myths, Rituals, Beliefs: Biblical myths are found mainly in the first 11 chapters of Genesis, the first book of the Bible. They are concerned with the creation of the world and the first man and woman, the origin of the current human condition, the primeval Deluge, the distribution of...
www.britannica.com
Myths
Biblical
myths are found mainly in the first 11 chapters of
Genesis, the first book of the
Bible. They are concerned with the
creation of the world and the first man and woman, the origin of the current human condition, the primeval
Deluge, the distribution of peoples, and the variation of languages.
The basic stories are derived from the popular lore of the
ancient Middle East; parallels can be found in the
extant literature of the peoples of the area. The
Mesopotamians, for instance, also knew of an earthly paradise such as
Eden, and the figure of the
cherubim—properly
griffins rather than angels—was known to the
Canaanites. In the Bible, however, this mythical garden of the gods becomes the scene of man’s
fall and the background of a story designed to account for the natural limitations of human life. Similarly, the
Babylonians told of the formation of humankind from clay. But, whereas in the pagan tale the first man’s function is to serve as an earthly
menial of the gods, in the scriptural version his role is to rule over all other creatures. The story of the
Deluge, including the elements of the
ark and the dispatch of the raven and dove, appears already in the Babylonian myths of
Gilgamesh and
Atrahasis. There, however, the hero is eventually made immortal, whereas in the Bible this detail is omitted because, to the
Israelite mind, no child of woman could achieve that status. Lastly, while the story of the
Tower of Babel was told originally to account for the stepped temples (
ziggurats) of
Babylonia, to the
Hebrew writer its purpose is simply to inculcate the
moral lesson that humans should not aspire beyond their assigned station.
