and no clothes to wear. Both Ashnan and Laḫar raise many arguments in favor of their respective claim to superiority, but eventually Enki convinces Enlil to declare the grain goddess the winner, which according to Jeremy Black might reflect the belief that grain was more crucial for survival of mankind than domestic animals were. An Early Dynastic myth, Tale of Ezina and her Seven Children, is known from multiple copies, and apparently relays how the eponymous goddess, after having sex with a partner whose identity remains uncertain, gives birth to seven children, who seemingly were responsible with providing the world with some type of food which was previously unknown, presumably bread. Julia M. Asher-Greve proposes that a goddess with plants on her robe who in one case accompanies the possible enthroned depiction of Ezina represents one of her seven children from this myth. Ezina is mentioned in the myth Enki and the World Order, in which she is called "the good bread of the whole world." An incantation recited during the renovation of a temple lists Ashnan among deities created by Ea from clay. References Bibliography External links The debate between Sheep and Grain in the Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature Enki and the World Order in the ETCSL Mesopotamian goddesses Agricultural goddesses