Mythologies of the Ancient World
Oct. 10th, 2005 01:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ikhet_sekhmetSome Mesopotamian snippets from Mythologies of the Ancient World, edited by Samuel Noah Kramer.
When the book was written in 1961, no Sumerian creation myths had been found - only much later Babylonian stories of creation. (I think this is still pretty much true.) However, various texts describing the organisation of the universe, and the creation of people, have been found. One of these stories involves the rape of the goddess Ninlil by the chief god, Enlil. Unlike Greek mythology, rape is taken very seriously in Sumerian myth: despite his status, Enlil is banished to the Nether World for his crime. Similarly, Inanna relentlessly pursues and slays Shukallituda for raping her while she slept. Does this bear any relation to rape law, or to the status of women, in those two societies?
One story, in which the clever god Enki's organises the world, concludes with a complaint from Inanna that she's been shortchanged in the handing out of mes (pronounced "mays" - divine offices, insignia, powers). Enki responds by listing the mes which Inanna has been given. I think this must prefigure the story of Inanna getting Enki drunk and pinching all the mes!
In another Enki story, he eats plants created with enormous effort by the goddess Ninhursag, who curses him and then leaves - Kramer suggests so that she can't change her mind about the curse. I don't know whether there's any connection, but there was an Egyptian festival celebrating the return of the Eye of Ra, who would angrily leave the other gods, and eventually be coaxed back - more on this shortly. (Based on the Enki and Ninhursag story, Kramer explains the etymology which may have resulted in Eve being created from Adam's rib.)
The Babylonian Enuma Elish was written not to explain the creation of the world, but to glorify Babylon and its patron deity Marduk - a huge chunk of the epic is just a recital of all his names and titles. No goddesses take part in creation in the epic, but there are fragments of other creation stories in which they do: for example, one in which Marduk is assisted in creating humanity by the mother goddess Aruru (aka Ninmah, Nintu, or Ninhursag to the Sumerians). In another, Aruru (this time named Mami) asks Enki for advice on creating humanity to do the gods' work, and he suggests creating them by mixing clay with the blood and flesh of a slain deity (similar to Enuma Elish).
There are also myths in which a courageous god (eg Marduk) slays a monster after other gods' collective nerve fails, as in Enuma Elish; including one with a sea monster called Labbu, which I think was aka Leviathan (I'll investigate further).
___
Kramer, Samuel Noah. "Mythology of Sumer and Akkad". In Mythologies of the Ancient World. Samuel Noah Kramer (ed). Doubleday NY 1961.
When the book was written in 1961, no Sumerian creation myths had been found - only much later Babylonian stories of creation. (I think this is still pretty much true.) However, various texts describing the organisation of the universe, and the creation of people, have been found. One of these stories involves the rape of the goddess Ninlil by the chief god, Enlil. Unlike Greek mythology, rape is taken very seriously in Sumerian myth: despite his status, Enlil is banished to the Nether World for his crime. Similarly, Inanna relentlessly pursues and slays Shukallituda for raping her while she slept. Does this bear any relation to rape law, or to the status of women, in those two societies?
One story, in which the clever god Enki's organises the world, concludes with a complaint from Inanna that she's been shortchanged in the handing out of mes (pronounced "mays" - divine offices, insignia, powers). Enki responds by listing the mes which Inanna has been given. I think this must prefigure the story of Inanna getting Enki drunk and pinching all the mes!
In another Enki story, he eats plants created with enormous effort by the goddess Ninhursag, who curses him and then leaves - Kramer suggests so that she can't change her mind about the curse. I don't know whether there's any connection, but there was an Egyptian festival celebrating the return of the Eye of Ra, who would angrily leave the other gods, and eventually be coaxed back - more on this shortly. (Based on the Enki and Ninhursag story, Kramer explains the etymology which may have resulted in Eve being created from Adam's rib.)
The Babylonian Enuma Elish was written not to explain the creation of the world, but to glorify Babylon and its patron deity Marduk - a huge chunk of the epic is just a recital of all his names and titles. No goddesses take part in creation in the epic, but there are fragments of other creation stories in which they do: for example, one in which Marduk is assisted in creating humanity by the mother goddess Aruru (aka Ninmah, Nintu, or Ninhursag to the Sumerians). In another, Aruru (this time named Mami) asks Enki for advice on creating humanity to do the gods' work, and he suggests creating them by mixing clay with the blood and flesh of a slain deity (similar to Enuma Elish).
There are also myths in which a courageous god (eg Marduk) slays a monster after other gods' collective nerve fails, as in Enuma Elish; including one with a sea monster called Labbu, which I think was aka Leviathan (I'll investigate further).
___
Kramer, Samuel Noah. "Mythology of Sumer and Akkad". In Mythologies of the Ancient World. Samuel Noah Kramer (ed). Doubleday NY 1961.
