Egypt first discovered by a woman
Unfortunately, the clay tablets containing this myth are broken, so we do not have all the story.
The giants create a clay giant to aid Hrungnir, but Thor's clever servant tricks Hrungnir, allowing Thor to kill him with his hammer, Mjöllnir.
The giants, realizing the importance of the duel, decided to make a man of clay so large that Þór would quake at the sight of it.
However, they could find no heart for the clay giant, so they used one from a mare.
Meanwhile, Þjálfi attacked the clay giant.
Aruru washed her hands, she pinched off some clay, and threw it into the wilderness.
"The first man was made of clay; but he had no intelligence, and was consumed in the water."
Having collected materials for the purpose, they found a very adhesive clay and bitumen, with which they speedily commenced to build the tower; and having reared it to the greatest possible altitude, so that they say it reached to the sky, the Lord of the Heavens, enraged, said to the inhabitants of the sky, 'Have you observed how they of the earth have built a high and haughty tower to mount hither, being enamored of the light of the sun and his beauty?
And they began to build, and in the fourth week they made brick with fire, and the bricks served them for stone, and the clay with which they cemented them together was asphalt which comes out of the sea, and out of the fountains of water in the land of Shinar.
This rebellion led to the creation of humans from clay as a solution to the gods' labor problem.
The Chronicle of Akakor
The earliest clay tablets with writing were found.
It is shaped like a clay cylinder, and is as high as two men standing on top of each other and as broad.
And let man bear the load of the gods!'They called up the goddess, askedThe midwife of the gods, wise Mami,'You are the womb-goddess (to be the) creator ofmankind!Create primeval man, that he may bear the yoke!Let him bear the yoke, the work of Ellil,Let man bear the load of the gods!'Nintu made her voice heardAnd spoke to the great gods,'It is not proper for me to make him.The work is Enki's;He makes everything pure!If he gives me clay, then I will do it.'Enki made his voice heardAnd spoke to the great gods,'On the first, seventh, and fifteenth of the monthI shall make a purification by washing.Then one god should be slaughtered.And the gods can be purified by immersion.Nintu shall mix clayWith his flesh and his blood.Then a god and a manWill be mixed together in clay.Let us hear the drumbeat forever after, Let a ghost come into existence from the god'sflesh, Let her proclaim it as his living sign, And let the ghost exist so as not to forget (theslain god).'They answered 'Yes!' in the assembly,The great Anunnaki who assign the fates.On the first, seventh, and fifteenth of the monthHe made a purification by washing.Ilawela who had intelligence,They slaughtered in their assembly.Nintu mixed clayWith his flesh and blood.They heard the drumbeat forever after.
The ghost existed so as not to forget (the slain god).After she had mixed that clay,She called up the Anunnaki, the great gods.The Igigi, the great gods,Spat spittle upon the clay.Mami made her voice heardAnd spoke to the great gods,'I have carried out perfectlyThe work that you ordered of me.You have slaughtered a god together with hisintelligence.I have relieved you of your hard work,I have imposed your load on man.You have bestowed noise on mankind.I have undone the fetter and granted freedom.'They listened to this speech of hers, And were freed (from anxiety), and kissed her feet:'We used to call you MamiBut now your name shall be Mistress of AllGods.'Far-sighted Enki and wise MamiWent into the room of fate.The womb-goddesses were assembled.He trod the clay in her presence; SBV She kept reciting an incantation,For Enki, staying in her presence, made her reciteit.When she had finished her incantation,She pinched off fourteen pieces (of clay),(And set) seven pieces on the right,Seven on the left.Between them she put down a mud brick.
Enki then advises that they create a servant of the gods, humankind, out of clay and blood. Against Enki's wish, the gods decide to slay Kingu, and Enki finally consents to use Kingu's blood to make the first human, with whom Enki always later has a close relationship, the first of the seven sages, seven wise men or "Abgallu" (ab = water, gal = great, lu = man), also known as Adapa.
Oh my mother, the creature whose name thou has uttered, it exists,Bind upon it the (will?) of the Gods;Mix the heart of clay that is over the Abyss,The good and princely fashioners will thicken the clayThou, do thou bring the limbs into existence;Ninmah (Ninhursag, his wife and consort) will work above thee(Nintu?) (goddess of birth) will stand by thy fashioning;Oh my mother, decree thou its (the new born's) fate.
The story of Ziusudra is recounted in a Sumerian literary work known as the "Eridu Genesis," which was written on clay tablets in cuneiform script around the 17th century BCE.