DD_3000 asked this question on 5/12/2000:

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

WickerMan gave this response on 5/12/2000:

Kramer's Translation of a Gilgamesh Prologue

This passage, as understood and translated by Samuel Kramer, would include the oldest known reference to Lilith.

The translation is from Kramer 38:1f

After heaven and earth had been separated and mankind had been created, after Anûum, Enlil and Ereskigal had taken posesssion of heaven, earth and the underworld; after Enki had set sail for the underworld and the sea ebbed and flowed in honor of its lord; on this day, a huluppu tree which had been planted on the banks of the Euphrates and nourished by its waters was uprooted by the south wind and carried away by the Euphrates. A goddess who was wandering among the banks siezed the swaying tree And -- at the behest of Anu and Enlil -- brought it to Inanna's garden in Uruk. Inanna tended the tree carefully and lovingly she hoped to have a throne and a bed made for herself from its wood. After ten years, the tree had matured. But in the meantime, she found to her dismay that her hopes could not be fulfilled. because during that time a dragon had built its nest at the foot of the tree the Zu-bird was raising its young in the crown, and the demon Lilith had built her house in the middle.[1] But Gilgamesh, who had heard of Inanna's plight, came to her rescue. He took his heavy shield killed the dragon with his heavy bronze axe, which weighed seven talents and seven minas. Then the Zu-bird flew into the mountains with its young, while Lilith, petrified with fear, tore down her house and fled into the wilderness

Notes

[1] In a subsequent translation with Wolkstein, this passage is given as:

...a serpent who could not be charmed made its nest in the roots of the tree, The Anzu bird set his young in the branches of the tree, And the dark maid Lilith built her home in the trunk.

(Wolkstein83: p. 8)

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