Dubsar´s excellent website is in www.dubsar.com/nippur and I have just been there! As always... great visit!
Dubsar and cybermet in AncientSites, a site on ancient history and general mayhem/roleplay. Surely we were the serious ones... just posting on high profile material...
Agree with you, dearest Dubsar, that a) Professor Cooper is excellent (his sense of humour is priceless) and b) that Professor Parpola´s Neo Assyrian monotheism goes a bit too far for me...
hm... however, for some Kabbalists, it makes sense: is the One the Whole Set of Images of the Many, or the Many the Myriad forms of the One? Well, mind boggles... I am a henotheist myself so... prefer the Many Individual Forms of the One...
Dubsar, for those who are new to the list, means scribe in Sumerian. Well, our Dubsar is a REAL Sumerologist and scribe...
When he and Bendis joined us way back, I thoughy "maybe we will have a future as a board..."
We certainly do!
love light and laughter,
Lishtar
From the Depths and To the Heights to share in all spheres
Re: Dubsar´s reply *fireworks from here...
Ninurta as the farmer turned into Warrior is a study I still want to undertake in depth. There is an article in Essays presented at last year´s RAI which equates Ninurta to Wisdom as well. Very interesting.
You can better understand the Assyrian state by contemplating the mystical image of Ninurta, thus the image of the farmer, adored by his father, who becomes the defender of the land and the avenger of his father Ashur. Compare with Nabu, the second vision of the Crown Prince. Nabu is the scholar, the learned prince, the view of stability and progress Assyrians wanted... but in practice never achieved.
The connections with Ningirsu are difficult to establish, but there is a point in time when humanity started asking about the levels of reality, thus creating/becoming aware of the existence of subtle worlds. This hazy period of time before many befores can be traced in Mesopotamia to the cult of Ningirsu, Ninghzshida (sp?), Ereshkigal, etc.
Lots of work to be done there!!!
ok, can´t be late for work!
these were just a couple of after coffee hunches.
best wishes,
Lishtar
From the Depths and To the Heights to share in all spheres
back to the Gods´ lists...
sighs... Let´s get back to the lists of gods.
The list An: de Anu(m) also organized the personnel of the principal deities, i.e. ancestors, relatives, wives, sons and helpers to the deity, such as vizier, secretary, even bodyguard and hairdresser...
This way, the ancient Mesopotamians organized the huge mass of gods into a realistic framework, a reflection of the earthly political authority. The supremacy of the pantheon though changed, from An to Enlil, An´s firstborn. He became the head of the pantheon, and Nippur, Enlil´s city, never lost its importance throughout Mesopotamian history.
Following the association and fusion of the early villages of Mesopotamia into larger units, usually by the intercession of stronger and more proactive leaderships, syncretisms started to happen. Larger and more composite patheons were created, and thus we have to be aware of the layers of meaning involved in the worship of each god and goddess according to their environment and circumstances. It is very important to take into account the historical timeline. Eridu represents the impetus of a society that is discovering order and culture, whose deities work under the aegis of Enki, the democratic priest-king and diivine manager. The change of focus from venerable Eridu to Nippur represents monarchy on the rise, the stage where either city-estates/empires are formed. The focus now of authority is the King. The last stage of this very long process is the triumph of Marduk and Babylon, mthologically described in the Enuma Elish
As a result, beginning in the second quarter of the third millennium, each city-state had one of the great divinities of the national pantheon at their head: Enki in Eridu, Enlil in Nippur, An and Inanna in Uruk, Nanna in Ur, Utu in Larsa and Sippar. Other important cities, such as Lagash, had Ningirsu as the chief god, or Ninurta under another Name. With the help of Assyriology it is then possible to retrieve some of the stories and gods for each city.
I find extremely exciting the work of putting together the pieces of the majestic mosaic of Mesopotamian religion.
And I am veeeeeeeery glad we are moving on again here!
best,
Lishtar
PS: there are some obscure myths involving Inanna and An I had no time to explore mystically. Maybe we could do the one in the Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature one of these days... here... one of these days...
From the Depths and To the Heights to share in all spheres
On the code of Hammurabi...
Professor Bottéro talks about the Code, so I will add a thought or two on the Code.
The Code was written on the 21st year of Hammurabi´s reign. Because we also did not have CNN to measure up and report on the importance of it, and because settlements in the Code were celebrated with payments in silver, probably then transferred/exchanged to numbers of sheep, metres of cloth or barley, we cannot say how influential the Code was to change and or reflect development in the society of those times.
Brilliant, but not what I wanted to tell you about now.
Some scholars think the Code might be also the account of a Great King of his deeds ... to his gods.
Check Amélie Kurth in her two volumes´ Ancient Near East. Full references in the thread on ANE books. These two volumes were best publication on History 3 years ago.
Now, the priestess scribe addition:
- Read the Code as the account of a Great King of his initiations in the pantheon. How by the designs of An and Enlil Hammurabi got the inspiration for the Code. Use your experience of True Naming... and feel the magick of the prologue... from the source.
- Repeat then you Littany of Self-Dedication.
If you find this exercise complicated, here is the beginning. Concentrate and let go as the history of your path unfolds:
By the designs of the Great Gods and the Calling of the Soul, a gateway to Mysteries made itself known, as I crossed the Threshold to the Worlds of Beyond. Inspired/Moved/Propelled by the Desire to " you go on from here...
Now we can go back to Professor Bottéro.
best wishes,
Lishtar
From the Depths and To the Heights to share in all spheres
Back to page 54...
As the Sumerian cultural dominance weakened, not only the number of active gods decreased, but the power, and importance of their personae increased, thus reflecting the rulers of the land, who, notably after Sargon of Akkad, were no longer the weak petty kings of tiny cities, but vigorous and omnipotent chiefs of great political organizations: the empire of Sargon at the end of the third millennium, the empire of Babylon under Hammurabi, of Ashur under Shamshi-Adad, the Sargonids of Assyria. I will add that this sems to be a common occurrence with sophisticated polytheism worldwide and you can see the examples in the growing importance of Isis in Egypt (the same happened with Inanna/Ishtar in Mesopotamia0, Odin coming to the forefront in the Norse tradition, Athena in the Greek pantheon.
Thus, in the eyes of the theologian, the system and pantheon remained intact, but the ordinary person was indeed following a much more reduced number of deities. Professor Bottéro exemplifies this thought with the Code of Hammurabi, written around 1789 Before Common Era, which quotes about 30 deities in its prologue and epilogue. This list represents the common pantheon of the ordinary person at the beginning of the second millennium.
We must keep in mind that the simple people, the illiterate and rural villagers may have had their own spirituality that has escaped the ancient scribes and consequently, is beyond our grasp. I have enormous respect for the spirituality of the simple people, and having been brought up half in the countryside and in a big city, I have seen some genuine demonstrations of faith in festival and non festival days that keep the same pomp and circumstance of, let´s us, a Sunday mass at New York´s Saint Paul´s Cathedral, at the Sacré Couer in Paris, or Münster Cathedral in Germany. Our farm is called Saint Mary. There is a white statue of the Xtian Goddess which my dad had it done for the farm, placed by the most important canal for irrigation The symbolism is interesting, because my father was a doctor, but as usual, attunement made things right. Even with the distance, the shrine is kept always cleaned, and with flowers and candles. Not necessarily by us, but by the local villagers who lived some kilometers/miles away... There was a fire once and flames never touched the sacred ground of the shrine as well...I had one of my most important self-initiations into the Goddess in an afternoon I had to show up a bit unwillingly first over there.
hmm... I was in my fundamentalist Wiccan phase, and it was Mary´s day, December 8th. I was in the farm and mother wanted us to go to the shrine. Surely I had to come up too. A bit uncomfortable, I came along, and when I approached the shrine, it came to me that the Christian Mary never defined HerSelf, we never heard Her Words. However, think of a teenagers who is told by a messenger that she is going to have a Baby who will be the Saviour... and think of Her resolve to be the mommy of that Baby...
It is always the Highest Will in us that choose the Mysteries. Consciously. For to Surrender to the Everlasting Spirit is to be filled by the Universe.
However, the originality of the Native Mesos is beyond doubt amazing. The crowd of gods was never forgotten, but addressed to as the Great Gods. distributed On High and Down Below.These are represented by the term the Igigi and the Anunnaki.
Theologians, in the end, just inscribe in clay or keyboards what the people already do...
enjoy your weekend!
best wishes,
Lishtar
From the Depths and To the Heights to share in all spheres
Henotheistic tendencies
In the years that followed the first part of the 2nd millennium, this divine system was maintained, though its details scarcely interested the common person. Let´s see the innovations that came into being, which had repercussions for the entire religious realm and must even have reached more or less all the faithful.
One innovation was the shift of attention from An to Enlil. Enlil, the firsborn of An, became the most important and honoured deity, and later Marduk assumed this position in Babylon. I would like to draw your attention that we can perhaps trace to this time or environs the myth Inanna seizes the Eanna, or when the younger generation of gods take over the divine attributes from their divine parents as the conciousness of the people also evolved. Have to study this myth in depth, but in the beginning of this myth, Inanna talks to Utu about seizing the Eanna. Perhaps the High Temples in the Heavens should become more grounded on earth for all? Have to do more inner work on this...
My two cents for today...
Tomorrow, the Enuma Elish
Best wishes,
Lishtar
From the Depths and To the Heights to share in all spheres
Re: Henotheistic tendencies
Before the Enuma Elish though, there is an earlier myth involving Inanna and Enki and the Measures of Heaven and Earth which may refer to the rise of authority over the land by Uruk over Enki´s Eridu, or the Ubaid Period... Again, this myth might have been written up later, for we have only the beginnings of writing in Late Ubaid, but the myth might have existed in oral form to justify these events.
Back to our text.
Shortly before 1100 Before Common Era, Babylon recovers independence and glory. Perhaps strengthening the national god Marduk and the land was then the decision of the clergy, thus the writing of the Babylonian Creation Myth, the Enuma Elish, where the young god Marduk appears as the saviour and champion of the Gods by defeating the primeval Sea and Mother of All Tiamat.
From that time and after that charter, Marduk truly became the God of Gods in Mesopotamia. He was the object of great popular devotion, reinforced by festivals in His honour. We can even say that Marduk represented the drive of the younger generation of gods to ensure peace and wealth in all levels, succeeding the powers that Professor Bottéro quotes as having become a bit withdrawn from its responsibilities. Magnificent still, but somehow dettached from ruling over all worlds.
To carry out His duties of God of all Gods, Marduk is endowed with 50 Names or Attributes from all His peers in the pantheon, old and young. Thus, Marduk is?
Nergal, the god of battles,
Zababa, the god of war;
Nabu, the god of accountants,
Enlil, the god of governing,
Sin, the god who lights the night,
Shamash, the god of justice
And Adad, the god of rain...
We would be wrong if we consider that the concentration of powers in the person of Marduk would lead inexorably to monotheism though. Marduk does prevail, but henotheism is still present. with worship and respect attributed to younger and older gods such as Shamash, Ashur and Nabu, especially in Assyria.
Mesopotamians were naturally pluralists, and never departed from being so throughout their history.
Best wishes,
Lishtar
From the Depths and To the Heights to share in all spheres
The Mythology of the Divine 1) Divinity and the Divine Name
The notion of Divinity ws never explicitly explained in Mesopotamia, but only described by a diverse plurality of particularities and prerogatives. I find it most interesting that they recognized the term "a man" and "all men" but were not concerned with finding a concept for "humanity".
Let me risk here a very educated guess that they didn´t have the term "humanity" because they considered enough to have "all men" instead of "men-superior-class-to-green-world-animal-world-stone-world".
However, we know for sure that the gods were elevated and superior to men in all aspects. Indeed, the scribes´ verve to exalt how wondrous their personal deities always ran free... each personal god/dess was beyond all measure and the owner of all attributes of wisdom, clear sight, power, justice, etc.
This shows that the Divine is always transcendent over humans (all men). At the same time, gods were superior to all men as well, and this superiority was called "melammu", or supernatural brilliance, divine splendor, at once fascinating and terrible.
What differentiated men from the gods was death, although the gods could die unnatural deaths in Mesopotamia.
Moving on... slowly but surely!
best,
Lishtar
From the Depths and To the Heights to share in all spheres
Re: The Mythology of the Divine 2) Gods´ Mortality
Gods could die in Mesopotamia. Their death, however, was always violent. In the myth of Atrahasis the god Wę, a minor deity, is immolated by his peers in order to contribute with his divine essence into the creation of humankind by Enki and the goddesses. Adapa has a brilliant essay on the issue here in Gateways. Check A treaty of Sumerian Religion in the section of Religion here. In the Epic of Creation of the Babylonians, both Qingu, the primeval father who had rebelled with Tiamat against the other gods and Tiamat herself are killed by other respectivey Enki and Marduk. However, gods could only be killed by other gods.
Endless life to humans was conceded to Ziusudra or Utnapishtim, the only human who survived the Flood. But he existed separated from the world, only with his wife, perhaps as a symbol of endurance of the human race?
Now, the interesting part. Gilgamesh, who tried to escape his own death to know avail (Gilga also tried to ... escape life by being arrogant and not living a life of righteousness as the justified sovereign) was two-thirds god, one third human, the fruit of the marriage of a mortal pious and heroic king Lugalbanda and the goddess Ninsun. Professor Bottéro says that this fact would lead us to believe that at least in very ancient times and undoubtedly from the time of Sumerian domination, a small portion of the pantheon could be composed of divinized mortals and that the notion of divinity was somewhat elastic.
My two-cents to the issue: in a text of 1997, by Professor Karel van der Toorn on the reassessment of a cradle incantation to make a baby sleep, he says that the god of the house, or the divine patron of a family line might have been a divine figure who dined with the gods, with evidences taken from various sources. Eg. various Middle Babylonian texts from Emar mention a god or gods belonging to the main house and inherited by the eldest son. These gods were a designation of the dead that the son had to invoke, which must be understood as the deified dead. Old Babylonian sources show that people bearing certain names were venerated like gods and treated as such. This text by Professor van der Toorn is being separated for the time when we study the cult of the ancestors. I have no scanner to get it scanned presently. The volume is Mesopotamian Magic edited by himself and Professor Tzvi Abush and published by Styx, the posh Dutch publishers. The gods of the house or the Spirit of the Ancestors were considered a living force to ensoul future generations.
If you think along these lines, the divinization of kings such as Naram-Sin and Sar-kali-Sarri acquire more depth and meaning. The king was the protector of the land, should be the image of the Perfect Man and a mirror of righteousness, which was later emulated by the Assyrian kings.
I guess we have just added to the material by Professor Bottéro right now!!!!
High scholarship and Assyriology are fantastic, aren´t they?
best wishes,
Lishtar
From the Depths and To the Heights to share in all spheres
Kramer vs Bottéro on the beginnings of Meso Life
I've had this on disc for a long time and now am sharing it with you. It is from the web, but I forgot the source. If you are the article, please let me know and full credits will be given to you!
Enjoy!
In The Beginning, There Was Sea
Samuel Noah Kramer explained the Sumerian origin of the universe in his 1961 treatise on Sumerian mythology. His interpretation of the Sumerian origin of the universe remains widely accepted today:
"In a tablet which gives a list of the Sumerian gods, the goddess Nammu, written with the ideogram for "sea," is described as "the mother, who gave birth to heaven and earth." Heaven and earth were therefore conceived by the Sumerians as the created products of the primeval sea."
If Kramer's interpretation is accurate, then Nammu's pregnancy is the world's first documented case of immaculate conception. Although it was a common occurrence in ancient mythology. Based on later cosmogonies (including Judeo-Christian cosmology), there seem to be two originators of the universe. One is the divine word. At a point before time, a magnificently omniscient deity (usually conceived as male but often asexual) spoke the words for heaven, earth, day, night, etc., and they were brought into being. The other common cosmological origin story is that of a great mother goddess who gives birth to heaven, earth, day, night, etc. This is the scenario Kramer envisions for Sumerian mythology, and it is a feasible one. Outside of the evidence that tablets have been unearthed linking the primeval goddess Nammu as the originator of all existence, her conceptualization as a primordial sea fits the socio-economic climate of ancient Sumer.
Sumer was dominated by the alluvial plains between the Tigris and Euphrates river. At one time, it's southernmost boundaries also consisted of marshland where the two great rivers merged. But outside of the yearly inundation of the land, the otherwise fertile alluvial plain was arid and unsuitable for cultivation. With the advent of irrigation, however, the previously uncultivated plains became a wealth of surplus food and resources for the Sumerians. In this case, it is easy to see why Sumerians would view water as such an invaluable resource and, in the case of Nammu, the originator of all things. For it is the water which makes the land fertile, just as Nammu, the sea goddess, becomes fertile and gives birth to the universe: heaven and earth. The importance of water will be discussed in detail later to show why Enki played such a prominent role in Sumerian mythology and why he faded away in the mythologies of later cultures.
But there are some minor discrepancies with this origin from the sea. Nammu, in later mythology, is depicted only as the primordial sea and loses the humanlike characteristics she may once have had. Jean Bottéro paints this picture for us in a general cosmology of the Sumero-Akkadian culture:
"Traditionally the ancient Mesopotamians had made a conception of the universe that was, so to speak, vertical and bipolar; they saw it as an immense globe composed of two symmetrical hemispheres horizontally separated in the middle, i.e. the On-High (an/amű) or, if you want, Heaven, and Below (ki/ersetu) or the Netherworld. In its center, encircled like an island by the bitter waters of the sea (tâmtu), and lying on a sheet of sweet water of the Apsű, was what we call the earth: the earth of living humans."
(Bottéro 1992)
In this conceptualization, Nammu (the primordial sea) is "the bitter waters." Notice how she provides the groundwork for the "sweet water of the Apsű," upon which the "earth of living humans" is supported that, in turn, rests beneath the sky (atmosphere) with "an/amű" (heaven) above. In this organizational structure, it is Nammu, the primordial sea, who is responsible for supporting all life atop her waters; though she herself would seem to be lifeless, as is suggested by her "bitter waters."
It is precisely these bitter waters which contradict the idea of Nammu as the originating mother goddess. However, a closer analysis will show that these bitter waters are not the contradiction they outwardly appear to be. Before heaven and earth, Nammu was always envisioned as chaotic and/or beyond the scope of mortal comprehension. This conception of a 'time before time' is similar to the Judeo-Christian conception. For this to be so, Nammu must be an outwardly rough 'character.' Her exterior must be as rough and bitter as her world was in order that she may thrive in it. It was the ultimate Darwinian fantasy: survival of the fittest. Additionally, Nammu was ancient, even among the eldest of gods such as An, Ki, Enlil, and Enki. She was analogous to Enlil's grandmother. Very few grandmothers are ever depicted as beds of fertility. The same can be speculated for Nammu, thus explaining her "bitter waters." It is also important that Nammu's waters be bitter because her progeny had given rise to a new water god, the prominent Enki. If Enki is to be the preeminent water god of the pantheon, then something must be done about his grandmother who is, literally, the water of life. This, in combination with her association as a grandmother to the contemporary Sumerian gods and goddesses, necessitates that Nammu's waters be "bitter." She has passed on her sweetness through the birth of An and Ki, who likewise dilute their sweetness in creating their own progeny and so on.
From the Depths and To the Heights to share in all spheres
Or at least I think so, in my not so learned opinion.
Professor Bottéro refers to other palpable realities superior to humankind but inferior to the gods the ancient Mesopotamians worshipped. He talks about the supernatural, or the superhuman powers as reflected in the great mountains, the bodies of water, the Universe ensouled. What a brilliant little paragraph for someone who quite does not understand or grasp fully the idea of an animated universe: "these phenomena (he is now talking about the Elementals, Fire, Air, the growth of sheep, the growth of grain, etc. ) were integrated into the pantheon, providing it with additional personalities, of a second order, of course, and quite far from the great gods, but to which one willingly turned" (page 63).
Life is the great phenomena he is talking about, life that is always evolving and transforming itself in combinations of all sorts.
Supernatural in the end... may mean... extra natural
The most celebrated Wiccan prayer says "that which you will not find within yourself, you will not find it ... without"...
All things are natural even if we can´t sometimes understand all their whys or wherefores... as yet!
There is an even better paragraph next about demons ... or projections in Jungian Psychology or unbalanced energies in esoteric lore.
And we are talking hard core Assyriology here!
*chuckles
Great, isn´t it?
Love, light and laughter,
Lishtar
From the Depths and To the Heights to share in all spheres
Goddess of All Waters
This happened in the very beginning of my priestesshood. I was asked whether the Goddess could be in the Waters. This girl was very much linked to the waters of the sea herself, and naturally, I said:
"Yes, in the waters of all seas and oceans, in all rivers and fountains, in the liquid of your Moonblood, in the bittersweet sweat of your day´s labours, etc.."
What I want to say is that the reply became a sort of highly charged piece of poetry, when the voice changes and the Words become more beautiful than what you had first intended...
I was in my fundamentalist Wiccan phase, but Mother Nammu was being invoked most probably in all Her glory!!!!
"She is in all Waters then?" was the girl´s reply.
Yes, the gods are everywhere and may we be able to have eyes to see the myriad of forms They take to let their Mystery known by all ... all times!
Mother Nammu of 10,000 Names be praised!
best,
Lishtar
PS: I am a bit reluctant to invoke eeeeerrrrrrr The MicroChips Deities though. Prefer to go Meso traditionalist before creating new deities at will...
From the Depths and To the Heights to share in all spheres
Re: Pages 62 and 63 are very good indeed!
was kicked out this morning when I was posting on the following paragraph, which is very important to us. Professor Bottéro categorically says in the next paragraph that the evil spirits, or demons, were not considered in the same league of the gods in Mesopotamia. Indeed, neither the Sumerians nor Akkadians had a word for demons, the legion of baddies, although both Mesopotamian peoples acknowledged the existence of evil beings who were inferior to the gods and superior to humankind. Thus, evil spirits were superior to humans and were immortals, but never surpassed the gods.
Fears and complex emotions normally are translated as arrows of hatred and poison to eat out one´s essence. These unbalanced energies can be well likened as demonic powers or evil spirits, to which the ancient Mesopotamians did not rightly accord divine status equal to the one of the gods.
The gods therefore in this context are the images of psychic balance and wholeness, whereas the demons are the carriers of emotions that should be fully integrated and understood by us as the expressions of anger, fears, frustrated longings which could not be realized.
Very modern, in fact ageless as human nature, and totally Mesopotamian in essence.
best wishes,
Lishtar
From the Depths and To the Heights to share in all spheres
As always... great visit!
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