Ancient Near East (Babylonia) Glossary and Texts Kenneth Sublett, Piney.com, Hohenwald, Tennessee
This page lists most of the important Ancient Near Eastern characters, a short glossary and links to online Sumerian or Akkadian Texts. LET THE WHOLE "SHAMASH" LOAD UP----WHEN YOU CLICK ON AN ENTERNAL GLOSSARY ITEM, THIS PAGE WILL JUST MOVE UP OR DOWN. IF YOU CLICK ON AN EXTERNAL LINK SUCH AS THE TRANSLATED TEXT, THIS HOMEPAGE WILL NOT HAVE TO RELOAD EACH TIME. A NEW PAGE FOR THE NEW LINK WILL APPEAR.This list closely follows links in the OnLine Britannica. You will be well advised to spend the few dollars a month to be able to make sense of this material. FREE TRIAL HERE.
All of the list of onsite texts are on this page as well as links to the Online Britannica.
A (Babylonia) Chaldean moon goddess. Her emblem is a disk with eight rays, a number associated with the goddess of light.
AB (h1) Hebrew awb; a prim. word; father in a lit. and immed., or fig. and remote application): - chief, (fore-) father ([-less]), * patrimony, principal. Comp. names in "Abi-"
ABGAL Seven Sumerian wise men, the attending deities of the god Enki. They emerged from the sweet-water Apsu and are portrayed as fish-men. In Akkadian myth they are called Apkallu see below.
The "sweet water." The limitless space, out of which the first waters precipitated (Ency Myth) This was where Ab, the father of the waters and lord of wisdom lives. The husband of Tiamat, father of the first level gods who evolved. The fresh underground water was the home of Ea and of the Seven Sages. It is also the name of Ea's temple in Eridu.
ABYSS [from Greek a not + byssos, bythos deep, depth]
Bottomless, chaos, space, the watery place where cosmos or orderly, adorned world evolved. It gave birth to Ea, the All-wise, unknowable infinite deity. Chaldean cosmogony Tiamat, the female principle, is the personification of chaos (Heb. Tehowm). It was the place where all wisdom lived.. This is the void and emptiness expressed in the Biblical creation, the Flood, Crossing the Red Sea and in the "become emptiness" of the Hebrew people people when they rejected Yahweh (Jeremiah 4
The abzu as Enki's shrine / temple in Eridu ; mythical place where the life influencing powers reside and where their results, as well as the means to influence their effects, originate; incomprehensible, unfathomable, secret; a place producing raw materials.
ADAD See Hadad
(Sumerian Ishkur, West Semitic Hadad, Adar, and Addu, also Rimmon, Ramman, "Earth-shaker"). Storm-god, canal-controller, son of Anu. God of lightning, rain, and fertility. In the Gilgamesh epic, the god of winds, thunder, and storms. Symbols: bull and forked lightning; worshipped in towns including Babylon and Ashur
Adad's father was the heaven god Anu, also called the son of Bel, Lord of All Lands and god of the atmosphere. His consort was Shalash, which may be a Hurrian name. The symbol of Adad was the cypress. In Babylonia, Assyria, and Aleppo in Syria, he was also the god of oracles and divination.
See: An Assyrian governor standing before the deities Adad (centre) and Ishtar (left), limestone relief from Babylon, 8th century BC; in the Museum of Oriental Antiquities, Istanbul
ADAPA (Uan, Oannes)
One of the sages and citizen of Eridu. Given super intelligence by Ea (Sumerian: Enki), god of wisdom, became the hero of the Sumerian version of the myth of the Fall of Man. In spite of his possession of all wisdom he was denied immortality. One day, while he was fishing, the south wind blew so violently that he was thrown into the sea. Lost his temper and broke the wings of the south wind, which then ceased to blow. Anu (Sumerian: An), the sky god, called him before his gates to be punished, but Ea warned him not to touch the bread and water that would be offered him. When Adapa came before Anu, the two heavenly doorkeepers Tammuz and Ningishzida interceded for him and explained to Anu that as Adapa had been endowed with all knowledge he needed only immortality to become a god. Anu, relented and offered Adapa the bread and water of eternal life, which he refused to take. Thus mankind became mortal
The civil-religious cult created the base upon which society rested. The chief was the city ruler, or, when the country was united, the king. The city ruler and the king were civil leaders but also charismatic figures who impregnated god-given magic into their rule. This created peace and fertility. In certain periods the king was deified; throughout the 3rd millennium, he became, in ritual action, the god Dumuzi in the rite of the sacred marriage and brought fertility for his land. Most of the rulers were treated incarnations of the dying god Damu and invoked in the ritual laments for him. As a vessel of sacred power the king was surrounded by strict ritual to protect that power, and he had to undergo elaborate rituals of purification if the power became threatened. As in Israel's kingdom period, worship was the purvue of the king and his officials and not the "congregation."
The individual temples were usually administered by officials called sangas ("bishops"), who headed staffs of accountants, overseers of agricultural and industrial works on the temple estate, and gudus (priests), who looked after the god as house servants.
Among the priestesses the highest-ranking was termed en (Akkadian entu). They were usually princesses of royal blood and were considered the human spouses of the gods they served, acting as brides in the rites of the ritual marriage. Other levels of priestesses were orders of nuns. The best-known are the servants of the sun god, who lived in a cloister (gagûm) in Sippar. There were also priestesses devoted to sacred prostitutes under the protection of the goddess Inanna (Ishtar).
The Masoretes, who from about the 6th to the 10th century worked to reproduce the original text of the Hebrew Bible, replaced the vowels of the name YHWH with the vowel signs of the Hebrew words Adonai or Elohim. Thus, the artificial name Jehovah (YeHoWaH) came into being.
'Adonai (Hebrew) [from 'adon lord] My Lords; through usage, Lord, a plural of excellence. Originally a sort of appeal or prayer to the hierarchical spiritual powers of the earth planetary chain, and more particularly of the planetary spirit of the earth itself; later it became a mere substitute for the unutterable name of God, usually for Tetragrammaton (YHVH).
"As the inner nature of YHVH is hidden; therefore He (YHVH) is only named with the Name of the Shekhinah, Adonai, i.e., Lord; therefore the Rabbins say (of the name YHVH); Not as I am written (i.e., YHVH) am I read. In this world My Name is written YHVH and read Adonai, but in the world to come, the same will be read as it is written, so that Mercy (represented by YHVH) shall be from all sides" (Zohar iii 320a). Adonai is rendered Lord in the Bible, although it means "my Lords"; whereas 'elohim is translated God in the English Authorized Version.
Tale of Babylonian or Persian origin, about a wise and moral man who supposedly served as one of the chief counselors of Sennacherib, king of Assyria (704-681 BC). Like the biblical Job, Ahikar was a prototype of the just man whose righteousness was sorely tested and ultimately rewarded by God. Betrayed by his power-hungry adopted son, Ahikar was condemned to death, suffered severely, but was finally restored to his former position.
According to the book of Ahikar, the cupbearer of the Assyrian king Esarhaddon, was Tobit's nephew; he is a secondary personage in the plot, and his own story is mentioned. Ahikar is the hero of a Near Eastern non-Jewish work, The Story of Ahikar. The book exists in medieval translations, the best of them in Syriac. The story was known in the Persian period in the Jewish military colony in Elephantine Island in Egypt, a fact demonstrated by the discovery of fragmentary Aramaic papyri of the work dating from 450-410 BCE. Thus, the author of the book of Tobit probably knew The Story of Ahikar, in which, as in the book of Tobit, the plot is a pretext for the introduction of speeches and wise sayings. Some of Tobit's sayings have close parallels in the words of the wise Ahikar.
The Babylonian creation epic (Enuma elish) "When on High") states that at first there was only the male (Apsu) and female (Tiamat) gods of the deep. They created a family of gods who made so much noise that Apsu plotted to kill them. This upset Ea who easily destroyed Apsu. However, because of her superior magical incantatiosn, Tiamat was too frightening for Ea. Marduk agreed to destroy her if he was made supreme god. This automatically transferred the role of Creator to him. In the Assyrian version, Ashur is important. Tiamat, wanted to get even for Apsu's murder. However, Marduk won the battle cut her in two and used her carcass to create the universe. Out of half her body he fashioned the sky containing the heavenly bodies to mark the periods of time, the other half was made into the earth and mountains. In song and sermon Marduk was now praised. The Enuma elish was read on the Akitu, or New Year festival, at Babylon, to reestablish order, by performing sympathetic magic caused by reciting Marduk's creation. The function of the Akitu is thus to regenerate society for the next year. When Israel "worshipped like the nations" this festival was repeated in Jerusalem.
AKKAD The first Babylonian city.
Akkad was the northern (or northwestern) division of ancient Babylonia where the Tigris and Euphrates rivers come close. The first people were predominantly Semitic, and their language was Akkadian. To the south of Akkad was Sumer, the southern (or southeastern) part of ancient Babylonia. This was home of non-Semitic people known as Sumerians.
Akkad was taken from the city of Agade, founded by the Semitic Sargon about 2300 BC. Sargon united the city-states and ruled much of Mesopotamia. After the fall of Sargon's dynasty in about 2150 BC, the area was ruled by Sumerians and Akkadians. Under the kings of Akkad, their Semitic language, known as Akkadian, became a written language made with the cuneiform system of writing.
A non-Semitic race before the Semites in Babylonia. The name is from Agade, the capital of Sargon I. They may have been emigrants from India and were the Aryan educators of later Babylonians. Peace and prosperity was interrupted by changes in the people who spread east, south and west
(Sumerian) A sky god, the symbol, "Dingir," was the same as that for heaven and for divinity showing his high but not superior role. He was generally regarded as the child of Uras, or of Ansar and Kisar. In an "evolutionary" principle for the "gods," he was a product of the "embryo" heaven-earth before the world became visible.
His wife is Antum, or Ki. He is viewed as the 'father' of the all the gods. An exercised great authority. There is agreement with the Bible that the spoken command is 'the very foundation of heaven and earth.' In heaven, his authority allowed him to 'raise up' other gods to positions of greater power. Without losing authority he involved more active deities in support of his authority.
ANATH SEE ISHTAR
ANNEDOTI See Oannes
Even the name Annedoti is quite similar to the people of Enki - the Anunnaki, from whence it was probably derived. The Greek term may have originated with the Sumerians and was later carried over as a description of a race that was both retilian and loathsome.
The male and female principles, the twin horizons of sky and earth. Their parents were either Apsu (the watery deep beneath the earth) and Tiamat (the personification of salt water) or Lahmu and Lahamu, the first set of twins born to Apsu and Tiamat. Anshar and Kishar, in turn, were the parents of Anu (An), the supreme heaven god. See Enuma Elish
In Akkadian myth Anu's consort was Antum (Antu), but she is often confused with Ishtar (Inanna), the goddess of love. She helped produce the Anunnaki or the seven evil underworld demons. She is replaced literally or figuratively by Inanna / Ishtar who is at times her daughter.
ANU Son of the first pair of gods, Anshar and Kishar. Consort was Antu (Anatum) later replaced by Ishtar He was the son of Anshar and Kishar.
(Akkadian), Sumerian An, Mesopotamian sky god and a member of the triad of deities completed by Bel (Sumerian: Enlil) and Ea (Enki). Like most sky gods, Anu, although theoretically the highest god, played only a small role in the mythology, hymns, and cults of Mesopotamia. He was the father of the gods Enlil and Enki and a daughter Ninkhursag. He was also the father of evil spirits and demons; Anu was also the god of kings and of the yearly calendar. He was typically depicted in a headdress with horns, a sign of strength. His city was Erech, (Later Uruk or Ur) king of angels and spirits, ruler of destiny
Sumerian name for the sky and earth gods, the assembly of the high gods, and especially for the deities of a local pantheon. Before they destroyed the earth with a great flood, they warned Ziusudra, king of Shurappak, of the deluge. He built an ark in which the seeds of mortals were preserved during the seven days and seven nights the waters raged. The name means "those of princely seed". They are similar to the Akkadian Anunnaku.
The Akkadian name for a group of gods of the underworld - chthonic and fertility. They are judges in the realm of the dead. Their counterparts are the Igigi or good gods (although in some texts the positions are reversed). The Anunnaku are the children of Anu and Ki and are like the Apkallu and they are paired with an igigi. Below the anunnaki were several classes of genii -- sadu, vadukku, ekimu, gallu -- some of which were represented as being good, some evil.
The Babylonian version of the Sumero-Akkadian Anzu. Doorkeeper of Ellil, born in the mountain Hehe. One day, when Ellil was bathing, Anzu stole the Tablets of Destiny and fled to the desert. With these tablets you could rule the universe. Ea persuaded the mother-goddess Belet-Ili to give birth to a divine hero to defeat Anzu. Belet-Ili produced Ninurta and sent him into battle. After a huge battle, Ninurta pierced Anzu's lung with an arrow, and recaptured the tablets.
While normally evil, he is kindly in the Sumerian epic of Lugalbanda. These tablets were taken by Marduk from Kingu and gave all of the skills needed for sucular and religious rule. The epic ends with praises for the son of Ellil.
Akkadian mythology, the seven (or sometimes eight) sages serving the kings as ministers. Some were poets composing the epics of Erra and Gilgamesh, others were ministers to the god Ea. The arts or skills were the ME which existed before the flood. These included skills such as deviant sexual acts and instrumental music. These sages were:
- Adapa (U-an, called Oannes),
- U-an duga,
- E-me-duga,
- En-me-galama,
- En-me-bulaga,
- An-Enlida,
- Utu-abzu.
Each is known by other names or epithets, and is paired with an antediluvian king, hence their collective names "counselors", "muntalku". They were credited with building walled cities. Responsible for technical skills, they were also known as craftsmen, "ummianu.". Some of them were traditionally poets composing the epics of Gilgamesh and Erra. They were banished back to the Absu forever after angering Ea. After the flood, certain great men of letters and exorcists were accorded sage-status, although only as mortals. Some Deities other than Ea - Ishtar, Nabu, and Marduk - also claimed to control the sages. Thesy are seen as fish-men or with bird attributes appropriate to underworld creatures.
also called Apep, Apepi, or Rerek, ancient Egyptian demon of chaos, who had the form of a serpent and, as the foe of the sun god, Re, represented all that was outside the ordered cosmos. Although many serpents symbolized divinity and royalty, Apopis threatened the underworld and symbolized evil. Each night Apopis encountered Re at a particular hour in the sun god's ritual journey through the underworld in his divine bark. Seth, who rode as guardian in the front of Re's bark, attacked him with a spear and slew him, but the next night Apopis, who could not be finally killed, was there again to attack Re. The Egyptians believed that they could help maintain the order of the world and assist Re by performing rituals against Apopis.
APSU Akkadian god: the consort of Tiamat and the father of the gods Lahmu/ Lahamu and Anshar/Kishar.
(Babylonian) Abzu (Sumerian). A primeval Sumero-Akkadian god who personifies the primordial abyss of sweet waters underneath the earth. He is the consort of Tiamat, the primordial abyss of salt waters of Chaos.
In the Enuma Elish, the sweet water mingled with the bitter waters of the sea and with a third watery element, perhaps cloud or Mummu, the first gods were birthed. When the younger gods got too noisy, Apsu plotted with Mummu to have them killed. However, Ea got wind of it and the waters of Apsu were held immobile underground by a 'spell' death-like sleep, but it is also said that Ea had Apsu killed.
AQHAT or Aqahat See DANIEL
ARURU (Mammi) A Babylonian goddess of creation. She created Enkidu from clay in the image of Anu. The Great Mother goddess in Babylonian mythology. See Ki/Ninhursag. Ninhursag's other names include: Dingirmakh ("Exalted Deity"), Ninmakh ("Exalted Lady"), As "Dropper," the one who "loosens" the scion in birth), and Nintur ("Lady Birth Giver"). Her husband is the god Shulpae, and among their children were the sons Mululil and Ashshirgi and the daughter Egime.
ASAG (KUR): Dragon of the Abyss or Abzu. Daemon of Disease. Asag was not separated like Tiamat. Instead, he lived within the Abyss "after" creation and held back the Primordial Waters from overflowing the Earth. He kidnapped Ereshkigal, and Enlil went to rescue her. What we know is that Enlil is the Lord of the Waters, and that he built his home on the Sea. On the other hand, Ereshkigal herself is still the Queen of the Underworld. Asag was not killed because another god decided to destroy him for some reason. This was Ninurta (possibly a model for Marduk). See Demons.
ASALLUHE Sumerian deity and city god of Ku'ar, near Eridu in the southeastern marshland region. Asalluhe was active with the god Enki (Akkadian: Ea) in rituals of lustration magic and was considered his son. He may have originally been a god of thundershowers, as his name, "Man-Drenching Asal," suggests; he may corresponded to the Sumerian gods Ishkur and Ninurta. In incantations Asalluhe was usually the god who first called Enki's attention to existing evils because he flew around as a thundercloud. He was later identified with Marduk of Babylon.
ASHERAH Ancient West Semitic goddess, consort of the supreme god. She was probably "She Who Walks in the Sea," but she was also called "Holiness," and, occasionally, Elath, "the Goddess." According to the texts from Ugarit (modern Ras Shamra, Syria), Asherah's consort was El, and by him she was the mother of 70 gods. As mother goddess she was widely worshiped throughout Syria and Palestine, although she was frequently paired with Baal, who often took the place of El in worship. As Baal's consort, Asherah was usually called Baalat.
Also a sacred wooden pole or image standing close to the massebah and altar in early Shemitic sanctuaries, part of the equipment of the temple of Jehovah in Jerusalem till the reformation of Josiah (2 Kings 23:6). The plural, 'asherim, denotes statues, images, columns, or pillars; translated in the Bible by "groves." Maachah, the grandmother of Asa, King of Jerusalem, is accused of having made for herself such an idol, which was a phallus. Called the Assyrian Tree of Life, "the original Asherah was a pillar with seven branches on each side surmounted by a globular flower with three projecting rays, and no phallic stone, as the Jews made of it, but a metaphysical symbol. 'Merciful One, who dead to life raises!' was the prayer uttered before the Asherah, on the banks of the Euphrates. See Ezekiel 31. Assyria is the "tallest tree in Eden."
City god of Ashur and national god of Assyria. In the beginning he may be a local deity of the city of Ashur. From about 1800 BC onward identified with the Sumerian Enlil (Akkadian: Bel), while under the Assyrian king Sargon II (reigned 721-705 BC), there is some identity of Ashur with Anshar, the father of An (Akkadian: Anu) in the Enuma Elish. Under Sargon's successor Sennacherib, deliberate and thorough attempts were made to transfer to Ashur the primeval achievements of Marduk, as well as the whole ritual of the New Year festival. Then, as now, the "gods" are made in the image of the dominant city or nation.
The Old Babylonian "Myth of Atrahasis" is a motif showing a relationship with the account of the creation of man to relieve the gods of toil in the "Enki and Ninmah" myth, and with a Sumerian account of the Flood in the "Eridu Genesis." The Atrahasis myth, however, treats these themes with noticeable originality and remarkable depth. It relates, first, how the gods originally had to toil for a living, how they rebelled and went on strike, how Enki suggested that one of their number--the god We
"Gate(s) of God", capital of the Babylonians, on the river Euphrates. Its patron god was Marduk. Also known as Shuanna. It is said to have been founded by the Assyrian Ninus or his wife Semiramis. The Greek form of the Hebrew word bavel, which is closely allied and probably derived from the Akkadian babilu or "gate of God." The connection between Akkad, Calneh, Erech, and Babylon (Gen. 10:10) indicates a period at least as early as 3000 B.C. Babylon may have been founded originally by the Sumerians, and an early tablet recorded that Sargon of Akkad (c. 2400) destroyed Babylon.
BABEL Hebrew baÇbel (confusion) from balal (overthrow). The inner meaning of the Tower of Babel,as a device so that the "worshippers could move into the presence of the gods" It is a house of initiation, a gate, portal, opening, or entrance to the divine. The physical tower was both the building to house and protect the initiation chambers, along with the ceremonies that take place in them, and an architectural symbol to signify a raising up towards heaven. The tower may have either a divine or evil significance, either haughty pride and self-sufficiency or spiritual aspiration.
(Sumerian), also called NININSINA, Akkadian Gula, or Ninkarrak, in Mesopotamian religion, city goddess of Urukug in the Lagash region and, under the name Nininsina, the Queen of Isin, city goddess of Isin, south of Nippur. Bau seems originally to have been goddess of the dog; as Nininsina she was long represented with a dog's head, and the dog was her symbol. Perhaps because the licking of sores by dogs was believed to have healing value, she became a goddess of healing. She was a daughter of An, king of the gods, and the wife of Pabilsag, a rain god who was also called Ninurta, or Ningirsu.
Barley is still the primary ingredient of beer. It along with rye supports ergot, a fungus. After eating flour milled from ergot-infected rye, humans and livestock may develop ergotism, a condition sometimes called St. Anthony's Fire. The symptoms may include convulsions, miscarriages in females, and dry gangrene and may result in death. Ergot is also the source of lysergic acid, from which the powerful hallucinogen lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) is easily synthesized. Mild beer or wine naturally fermented was often "spiked" with contaminated beer. The "exercises," then and now, were considered proof of the indwelling "gods." The same effect can be procuded by revivalistic music causing "speaking in tongues."
(Akkadian), Sumerian Enlil, Mesopotamian god of the air and a member of the triad of gods completed by Anu (Sumerian: An) and Ea (Enki). Enlil meant Lord Wind: both the hurricane and the gentle winds of spring were thought of
- as the breath issuing from his mouth,
- and eventually as his word or command.
He was sometimes called Lord of the Air. The Hebrew ruwach as in "the spirit hovered over the face of the waters" is often personified as a third member of the god "family" and is assigned tasks quite similar to Bel or Enlil.
Baal (Chaldean) [from Semitic ba`al chief, lord] Lord, considered as the lord of the land, and his temple at Nippur was called E-kur (the mountain house), just as Ea's was the watery house.
In Exodus he was named Ba`al-Tsephon, the god of the crypt. He was likewise named Seth or Sheth, signifying a pillar (phallus); and it was owing to these associations that he was considered a hidden god. Among the Ammonites, a people of East Palestine, he was known as Moloch (the king); at Tyre he was called Melcarth. The worship of Ba`al was introduced into Israel under Ahab, his wife being a Phoenician princess.
"Typhon, called Set, who was a great god in Egypt during the early dynasties, is an aspect of Baal and Ammon as also of Siva, Jehovah and other gods. Baal is the all-devouring Sun, in one sense, the fiery Moloch" As to the leaping of the prophets of Ba`al, mentioned in the Bible (1 Kings 18:26), Blavatsky writes: "It was simply a characteristic of the Sabean worship, for it denoted the motion of the planets round the sun. That the dance was a Bacchic frenzy is apparent. Sistra were used on the occasion"
(Akkadian), Sumerian Ninlil, Mesopotamian goddess, the consort of the god Bel (Sumerian: Enlil) and a deity of destiny. She was worshiped especially at Nippur and Shuruppak and was the mother of the moon god, Sin (Sumerian: Nanna). In Assyrian documents Belit is sometimes identified with Ishtar (Sumerian: Inanna) of Nineveh and sometimes made the wife of either Ashur, the national god of Assyria, or of Enlil (href="#BEL">Bel), god of the atmosphere. The Sumerian Ninlil was a grain goddess, known as the Varicoloured Ear (of barley). She was the daughter of Haia, god of the stores, and Ninshebargunu (or Nidaba). The myth recounting the rape of Ninlil by her consort, the wind god Enlil, reflects the life cycle of the grain.
When the Jews in the wilderness complained to Moses, "the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died" (Num 21:6); wherefore "Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent has bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived" (21:9).
As the Hebrew words for serpent and brass are the same when the Massoretic points are omitted (N H SH),has been used referring to the Evil One, called by the later Jews the Deprived (Nahash), but the fiery serpents "were the Seraphim, each one of which, as Isaiah shows (6:2), 'had six wingsf.'
Just as the serpent is connected with knowledge, wisdom, and magic, so likewise has copper or brass since immemorial time in all mystic schools been a metallic compound supposed to be under the particular governance of the planet Venus, which is the ruler or controller of the human higher manas -- manas being at once the savior as well as the tempter of mankind, for it is in the mind where temptation and sin or evildoing ultimately arise. See also SERPENT. Nahash and Lahash make a close connection between the tempter in the garden of Eden, the offspring of Lamech (reincarnated as Ea) and the musical enchanters of Mesopotamis. Theosophy
Anu created this monster to kill Gilgamesh at the request of Ishtar. It had the bad habit of throwing spit and "Bull excrement" in the battle with Gilgamesh and Enkidu. Showing no mercy, Enkidu and Gilgamesh kill it and offer it to the sun or Shamash.
The bull has been worshiped as a symbol of fertility. He may be white as seen in the Egyptian Apis, who in legend is Osiris "incarnate" This was the worship by the Israelites at Mount Sinai where the golden calf was worshipped with singing, dancing, instruments and sex. The sacred bulls did not necessarily represent male animals, but were mystically considered to be hermaphrodite or even sexless: thus the Egyptian bull, Apis, was a hermaphrodite to show his magical character. Gender confusion was always a primary ingredient to the priesthood which H. Bamford Parkes identifies as the world's oldest profession.
(Greek) The depth; chaos, the primeval deep, adopted by the Gnostics. For example, with Valentinus it was the cosmic source whence emanated two by two the series of aeons. Sometimes it was considered as one member of a primordial cosmic mystic square -- sige (silence), bythos (depth), nous (intellect), and aletheia (truth); sometimes bythos was paired by Gnostics with sige as composing a primordial cosmic binary. See also ABYSS. The worship of Jesus Christ was not to be in "place" or "time" but in spirit (much like nous) and in truth (aletheia). Paul insisted that women remain in silence for that short period for taking the Lord's Supper and prayer. This extended to mose men who were nost inspired, which menta most men.
Ashurnasirpal's most impressive monument was his own palace in Kalakh, covering a space of 269,000 square feet (25,000 square metres). Hundreds of large limestone slabs were used in murals in the staterooms and living quarters. Most of the scenes were done in relief, but painted murals also have been found. Most of them depict mythological themes and symbolic fertility rites, with the king participating. Brutal war pictures were aimed to discourage enemies. The chief god of Kalakh was Ninurta, god of war and the hunt. The tower of the temple dedicated to Ninurta also served as an astronomical observatory. Kalakh soon became the cultural centre of the empire. Ashurnasirpal claimed to have entertained 69,574 guests at the opening ceremonies of his palace
CHALDEA (Chaldaea, Assy Kaldu, Bab Kasdu, Heb Kasddim)
Chaldea is first mentioned in the annals of the Assyrian king Ashurnasirpal II (reigned 884/883-859 BC), though earlier documents referred to the same area as the "Sealand." In 850 Shalmaneser III of Assyria raided Chaldea and reached the Persian Gulf, which he called the "Sea of Kaldu." On the accession of Sargon II to the Assyrian throne (721), the Chaldean Marduk-apla-iddina II (the biblical Merodach-baladan), ruler of Bit-Yakin (a district of Chaldea), seized the Babylonian throne and, despite Assyrian opposition, held it from 721 to 710. He finally fled, however, and Bit-Yakin was placed under Assyrian control.
Chaldees, inhabitants of Chaldea or lower Mesopotamia, where Ur (Genesis 11:28) was the ancient city of the Sumerians. They invented writing, astrology, and the magic arts in the fourth millennium BC. They were highly in demand until Roman times for their knowledge of divining, interpreting dreams and fortune-telling. They are implicated in 1 Corinthians 13 as Paul compared speaking in tongues to the pagan musical magic made possible by the clanging sounds of brass or bronze. As long as the Persian empire lasted there was always a distinction between the Persian magi, who were credited with profound and extraordinary religious knowledge, and the Babylonian magi, who were often considered to be outright imposters.
Man's view of the cosmos has influenced his understanding of what are called angels and demons. The cosmos may be viewed as monistic, as in Hinduism, in which the cosmos is regarded as wholly sacred or as participating in a single divine principle (Brahman, or Being itself). The cosmos may also be viewed as dualistic, as in Gnosticism (an esoteric religious dualistic belief system, often regarded as a Christian heretical movement, that flourished in the Greco-Roman world in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD), in which the world of matter was generally regarded as evil and the realm of the spirit as good. A third view of the cosmos, generally found in the monotheistic religions of Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam, centred on a tripartite universe: celestial, terrestrial, and subterrestrial. This third view has influenced Western man's concepts of angels and demons as well as his scientific and metaphysical concepts.
It seems that in addition to the public and official cult of the "twelve great gods" and their subordinate divinities, the Assyrians had a more sacred and secret religion, a religion of mystery and magic and sorcery. These "religious" texts, moreover, together with a mass of talismanic inscriptions on cylinders and amulets, prove the presence of an exceedingly rich demonology. Below the greater and lesser gods there was a vast host of spirits, some of them good and beneficent and some of them evil and hurtful. And these spirits were described and classified with an exactness which leads some to liken the arrangement to that of the choirs and orders of our own angelic hierarchy. The antiquity and importance of this secret religion, with its magic and incantations of the good spirits or evil demons, may be gathered from the fact that by order of King Assurbanipal his scribes made several copies of a great magical work according to a pattern which had been preserved from a remote antiquity in the priestly school of Erech in Chaldea. This work consisted of three books, the first of which is entirely consecrated to incantations (chanting a powerful song), conjurations (to summon a god), and imprecations (A curse) against the evil spirits. These cuneiform books, it must be remembered, are really written on clay tablets. And each of the tablets of these first books which has come down to us ends with the title, "Tablet No. - of the Evil Spirits". The ideogram which is here rendered as kullulu -- "accursed" or "evil" -- might also be read as limuttu -- "baneful". Besides being known by the generic name of udukku -- "spirit" -- a demon is called more distinctly ecimmu, or maskimmu. One special class of these spirits was the sedu, or divine bull, which is represented in the well-known figure of a man-headed bull so common on the Assyrian monuments. This name, it may be remarked, is probably the source of the Hebrew word for demon. The Assyrian sedu, it is true, was more commonly a beneficent or tutelary (guardian) spirit. But this is hardly an obstacle to the derivation, for the good spirits of one nation were often regarded as evil by men of rival races. (Catholic Encyclopedia)
(Hebrew, Phoenician) [from dag fish + on diminutive; or from dagan grain] Fish or a little fish; a Philistine god, at Ashod and Gaza, mentioned several places in the Bible (e.g. Judges 16). He was more than a local deity, however, as place-names called after him are widespread. Some scholars assert there was an ancient Canaanite deity of similar name, and also associate this Shemitic god with the Babylonian Dagan. It is commonly believed that Dagon was represented as half-man half-fish and identified with Oannes, though no such early representations bear his name. Some scholars cite Philo Byblius as making Dagon the discoverer of grain and the inventor of the plow, an earth god parallel with Bel.
DAMKINA (Chaldean, Babylonian)
Consort of Enki, ruler of absu of Eridu. Dannina "Stronghold", term for the underworld. Sometimes Davkina. Consort of Ea or Hea, god of the watery regions, partaking of Ea's characteristics, therefore called Damgal-nunna (great lady of the waters), likewise Nin-Ki (lady of that which is below, i.e., the watery deeps or underworld). Mother of Marduk (or Merodach or Bel).
Sumerian deity, city god of Girsu on the Euphrates River near Ur in the southern orchards region. Damu, son of Enki, was a vegetation god, especially of the vernal flowing of the sap of trees and plants. His name means "the child," and his cult--apparently celebrated primarily by women--centred on the lamentation and search for Damu, who had lain under the bark of his nurse, the cedar tree, and had disappeared. The search finally ended when the god reappeared out of the river.
The cult of Damu influenced and later blended with the similar cult of Dumuzi the Shepherd, a Sumerian deity worshiped by the central grasslands people. A different deity called Damu was a goddess of healing and the daughter of Nininsina of Isin.
DAZIMUA: Married Ningishzid amother of the Eight children of Ki
(See Abyss, Bythos) The Hebrew word is "tehom" which is different from the normal word for sea which is "yam". Genesis 1:2 also uses it: "The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters." The waters from the flood also came from the deep as stated in Genesis 7:11: "on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth and the window of the heavens were opened." Rain was often thought to be the water of the deep coming through the sky ceiling of the firmament. The word "tehom" is related to the Babylonian word TIAMAT.
DEMIGODS One of the orders of semi-divine instructors, spiritual beings in human form. Herodotus, among other Greek writers, speaks of humanity being ruled successively by gods, demigods, heroes, and men. We still get confused.
The demons of the underworld. In ancient Babylonia many demons were mentioned on the clay tablets, e.g. Alu, who crushed men by falling on top of them when they were asleep. The demoness Lamastu, pale-faced with donkey's ears, bare-breasted and with poisonous claws, killed babies at their mother's breast. Illnesses and misfortunes were personified as demons, both make and female, with Akkadian or Sumerian names. She is a model for Lilith.
Groups of demons are:
Asakku (Sumerian Asag), seven created by Anu and defeated by Ninurta, a victory also attributed to Nergal. Gallu, a term which originally referred to police officers (!) Sebitti, "The Seven".
Individuals with Akkadian names are: Bel Uri "Lord of the Roof" Bennu "Fits" Idiptu "Wind" Libu "Scab" Lamashtu, a female demon, a disease Mimma lemnu "Something evil" Miqut "stroke" Muttabriqu "Flashes of lightning" Pasittu "She who erases" (an epithet of Lamashtu) Ugallu (Lion demon) Rabishu "The Croucher" Sarabda "Bailiff" Sidana "Staggers" Suruppu, a disease brought on by flood waters Tirid "Expulsion" Umma "Feverhot" Umu, a storm demon.
Individuals with Sumerian names are: Saghulhaza, "Upholder of evil" And the doorkeepers of the Underworld: Engidudu (also an epithet of Erra), Endushuba, Endukuga, Endashurimma, Ennugigi, Enuralla/Nerulla, Nerubanda.
Dilmun is the Sumerian name of an ancient independent kingdom that flourished c. 2000 BC, often identified with al-Bahrain
Because Dilmun has no fresh sparkling water ENKI orders UTU, the sun god, to fill it with fresh water brought up from the earth. Dilmun is thus turned into a divine garden. In this garden 8 plants are created and grown by NINHURSAG only to be eaten by ENKI. NINHURSAG becomes so angry that she places the curse of death on ENKI whose eight organs then begin to fail. NINHURSAG leaves Dilmun although the other gods eventually convince NINHURSAG to return to cure ENKI. She does so by creating eight healing gods including NINTI.
DIMME LAMASHTU
The chief deity of the Akkadians; one of the forms of the creative powers as recognized by the earlier Akkadians. Every one of these demiurgic powers is the chief or first in his or her own field of activity in the universe, so that in one mythology may be found several such chief or first divinities, each being the chief or hierarch in his or her own hierarchy, but all nevertheless subordinate to the karmic mandates of the inclusive, all-enclosing, cosmic primordial elements. These chief divinities are the cosmic elements originating in and from the primordial element, which because of the extreme reverence in which it was held by archaic thought is often not mentioned, it being part of the teaching of the sanctuary.
Monster usually viewed as a huge, bat-winged, fire-breathing, scaly lizard or snake with a barbed tail. These beasts are apt symbols of kings such as that of Tyre and Babylon who, when evil, are under the influence of Lucifer.
In the Middle East the snakes are large and deadly and therefore the serpent or dragon was symbolic of the principle of evil. The Egyptian god Apepi,was the serpent of the world of darkness. But the Greeks and Romans, though accepting the Middle Eastern idea of the serpent as an evil power, also thought the drakontes as beneficial--sharp-eyed dwellers in the inner parts of the Earth.
The Chaldean dragon Tiamat had four legs, a scaly body, and wings, whereas the biblical dragon of Revelation, "the old serpent," was many-headed like the Greek Hydra. Because they not only possessed both protective and terror-inspiring qualities but also had decorative effigies, dragons were early used as warlike emblems.
"Son of the Abyss," the ever-dying, ever-reviving Sumerian prototype of the resurrected savior, was a harvest god of ancient Mesopotamia, Sumerian god of vegetation and the under-world. Also called "the shepherd" and "lord of the sheepfolds." Dumuzi known from his horned lunar crown, is the son-husband of the goddess Gula-Bau seen sitting in front of the serpent in a relief "Goddess of the Tree of Life" ca. 2500 B.C. Dumuzi's mother was Ningizzida, an ancestor of Gilgamesh, consort of Ianna (Ishtar). The Great Goddess (symbolized by Demeter) also correlates to Dionysus-Bacchus-Zagreus (or in the older, Sumero-Babylonian myths, Dumuzi-absu, Tammuz, the "child of the abyss," who was originally a tree god and son of Ningishzida, he died because of Ishtar's love. Tammuz also Thammuz is the tenth month of the year in the Jewish calendar [Hebrew Tammuz, from Babylonian Duíuzu, the name of a god]. In Egypt, Tammuz was a god of harvest (late summer month) of Mesopotamia, Akkad and Sumer.
Tammuz (Ezek. 8:14) is equivalent to Osiris (Hay-Tau) in Egypt and Adonis [Greek Adonis, from Phoenician adon, lord]. Osiris is Dionysus in the Greek tongue, and the Roman Bacchus. A cylinder seal from Erech, end of the fourth century B.C., depicts the god Tammuz (a fertility god widely worshipped in Mesopotamia, Syria, and Palestine) feeding the cattle of the temple. Tammuz was killed by a wild boar while shepherding his flocks. His wife rescued him from the underworld. His death was taken to represent the onset of winter. The Adonis Cult (in Nega, Byblus -Syrian coast) parallels Dumuzi, Tammuz, and Attis.
Tammuz and Damu were joined to become a fertility god who probably represented the power in the sap to rise in trees and plants in spring. The relation of still other figures to Tammuz, such as Dumuzi-Abzu--a goddess who appears to have been the power in the waters underground (the Abzu) to bring new life to vegetation--is not entirely clear. see marriage to Ishtar from above link
Sumerian deity especially popular in the southern orchard regions and later in the central grassland area. He was the young bridegroom of the goddess Inanna (Akkadian: Ishtar), a fertility figure sometimes called the Lady of the Date Clusters. As such, he represented the power of growth and new life in the date palm. In Erech, the marriage of Inanna, in her role as goddess of the storehouse, to Dumuzi-Amaushumgalana was essentially a harvest festival, symbolizing the security the community felt after laying in provisions for the new year.
Sumerian deity, city goddess of Kinirsha near Lagash in the southeastern marshland region. She represented the power of fertility and new life in the marshes. Dumuzi-Abzu corresponded to the Sumerian god Dumuzi (see Tammuz) of the central herding area, and thus around Eridu she was viewed as male and as son of Enki (Akkadian: Ea, also called the Lord of Apsu).
(Akkadian), Sumerian Enki, Mesopotamian god of water and a member of the triad of deities completed by Anu (Sumerian An) and Bel (Enlil). From a local deity worshiped in the city of Eridu, Ea evolved into a major god, Lord of Apsu (also spelled Abzu), the fresh waters beneath the earth (although Enki means literally "lord of the earth"). In the Sumerian myth, "Enki and the World Order," Enki is said to have fixed national boundaries and assigned gods their roles. According to another Sumerian myth Enki is the creator, having devised men as slaves to the gods. In his original form, as Enki, he was associated with semen and amniotic fluid, and therefore with fertility. He was commonly represented as a half-goat, half-fish creature, from which the modern astrological figure for Capricorn is derived. He is also identified with Oannes.
Ea governed the arts of sorcery and incantation. In some stories he was also the form-giving god, and thus the patron of craftsmen and artists (see KOSMOS below); he was known as the bearer of culture. In his role as adviser to the king, Ea was a wise god although not a forceful one. In Akkadian myth, as Ea's character evolves, he appears frequently as a clever mediator who could be devious and cunning. He is also significant in Akkadian mythology as the father of Marduk, the national god of Babylonia. Also known as Nudimmud, a name associated with function as a creator-god. Epithet: "Nussiku" translated here as far-sighted.
When the younger gods grew too noisy, Apsu and Mummu decided to murder them. Ea, who knows all, discovered the plot and attacked Apsu with a magical spell. Tiamat plotted revenge but again Ea found out but was too fearful. His father, Anshar urged him on but Ea decided to negotiate. However, when Tiamat refused, Ea's son, Marduk, decided to destroy her if he could become the most high God. He succeeded and of course all earlier gods were demoted so that he got all of the glory.
Ea or Hea (Akkadian, Chaldean) [from house + water] One of the three chief gods of the Chaldaeo- or Assyro-Babylonian celestial triad of Anu, Bel, and Ea. In the division of the universe into heaven, earth, and water, Ea is king of the watery deeps (Shar Apsi); also Lord of that which is below (En-Ki).
Ea is seen as a man with the body of a fish, and is probably Oannes and Dagon. Marduk are also aspects of this same deity. His consort is Damkina (lady of that which is below) or Damgal-nunna (great lady of the waters).
EANNA or E-Anna "House of the Sky, name of the temple of Anu and Ishtar in Uruk, also called "The Pure Treasury."
Anu descended to Earth only on special occasions, in time of crisis, or for ceremonial reasons. When on Earth he would stay in the temple of Anu and Ishtar, the E-ANNA or "House of An" or the "House of the Sky" or "the Pure Treasury" atop the ziggurat in Uruk, his sacred city. The word ziggurat comes from the Babylonian "zaquru" and means "to be high or raised up." It signifies the top of a mountain or a staged tower and such a tower provided an artificial mountain on the flat Mesopotamian plain.
EA-ENGURRA Temple of the god Ea in Eridu.
Abu, Nintul, Ninsutu, Ninkasi, Nazi, Dazimua, Ninti, Enshagag. The Goddess Uttu, in the paradise of Dilmun, made 8 plants sprout from her union with Enki. He then proceeded to eat them all. Ki cursed him for this and he became ill. He convinced her to remove her curse, and she created eight gods of healing, one for each pain Enki was having, to cure him. Each name of the gods is a pun for the body parts they healed.
EKUR "Mountain-house" The temple of the god Ellil in Nippur, where Ninurta was born.
Sumerian god, leader of the younger generation of Sumerian and Akkadian gods. Cult center Nippur. Temple called Ekur. Spouse Mulittu; son Ninurta. Old interpretation of his name as "Lord Wind/Air" uncertain. Epithet: "King of all populated lands." Symbol: A horned crown on a shrine. Son of the supreme god Anu, whom he succeeded. See also Anzu, Ninurta.
Enki, son of An and Nammu, was the god of the underground freshwater ocean (the abzu", sometimes referred to as the apsu"). His name can be taken to mean "Lord Earth," but "ki" can also refer to 'the below' in the two-tiered cosmic structure, in opposition to "an": heaven. Enki is also a god of wisdom, a faculty which included practical skills (such as arts and crafts), intellectual faculties, the ability to "decree fates", and the command of magical powers. In the Atrahasis myth, for example, it was Enki's intercession which saved mankind from the flood and pestilence ordered by Enlil. He is sometimes referred to as Nudimmud or Ninsiku. His wife is Damgaknuna/Damkina. Among his children are Asarluhi, Enbilulu, Adapa, and Nanse. His symbols include the goatfish, the tortoise, a ram-headed staff, and a ship or similar vessel overflowing with water.
ENKIDU (Ea-bani): Hero and friend and fellow warrior with Gilgamesh. Earlier, he is a wild man who lives with wild animals. He was tamed by a harlot and taken to Uruk to oppose Gilgamesh. His name means "created by Ea"
ENLIL See Bel He is the wind or storm god and Christian writers are prone to equate the Holy Spirit as a "person" to Enlil as the chief administrator of the other "gods." His chief, in turn, is Nusku and he is the leader of the Anunnaki.
Enlil is one of the most important gods of the Mesopotamian pantheon. Sometimes he is said to be the offspring of An, and brother of the birth-goddess Aruru. He is also, however, sometimes described as the descendant of Enki and Ninki "Lord" and "Lady Earth," not to be confused with the deity Enki). Yet a third tradition attributes his birth to the primeval water-goddess Nammu. His wife is Ninlil ( Among his prominent offspring are Inanna, Adad, Nanna, Nergal, Ninurta, and Utu. The personality of Enlil is very complex. It is not certain what the Sumerian element "lil" originally stood for. It has had meanings as diverse as 'air,' and 'spirit.' He is the lord who 'determines the fates,' a function he shares with the god Enki. It was Enlil who was said to have separated the primordial heaven/earth, thus bringing forth the created universe. On a cosmic level, while Enki's realm was below (the abzu), and An ruled above (the heavens), Enlil's realm was the earth and the spheres of the winds and weather above it. Enlil was responsible for all aspects of life: fertility and prosperity, as well as famine and catastrophe. His great cult center was the temple E-kur at Nippur. He is sometimes also referred to as Nunamnir.
Enlil, who saw Ninlil bathing in a canal, raped and impregnated her. For his crime he was banished to the Underworld.
A Sumerian hero and king of Erech, a city-state in southern Mesopotamia, who is thought to have lived at the end of the 4th or beginning of the 3rd millennium BC. Along with Lugalbanda and Gilgamesh, Enmerkar is one of the three most significant figures in the surviving Sumerian epics.
Although scholars once assumed that there was only one epic relating Enmerkar's subjugation of a rival city, Aratta, it is now believed that two separate epics tell this tale. One is called Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta. The longest Sumerian epic yet discovered, it is the source of important information about the history and culture of the Sumero-Iranian border area. According to this legend, Enmerkar, son of the sun god Utu, was envious of Aratta's wealth of metal and stones, which he needed in order to build various shrines, especially a temple for the god Enki in Eridu. Enmerkar therefore requested his sister, the goddess Inanna, to aid him in acquiring material and manpower from Aratta; she agreed and advised him to send a threatening message to the lord of Aratta. The lord of Aratta, however, demanded that Enmerkar first deliver large amounts of grain to him. Though Enmerkar complied, the lord of Aratta refused to complete his part of the agreement; threatening messages were again sent out by both men, each claiming the aid and sanction of the goddess Inanna. The text becomes fragmented at that point in the narrative, but in the end Enmerkar was apparently victorious.
The other epic relating the defeat of Aratta is known as Enmerkar and Ensuhkeshdanna. In this tale the ruler of Aratta, Ensuhkeshdanna (or Ensukushsiranna), demanded that Enmerkar become his vassal. Enmerkar refused and, declaring himself the favourite of the gods, commanded Ensuhkeshdanna to submit to him. Although the members of Ensuhkeshdanna's council advised him to comply with Enmerkar, he listened instead to a local priest, who promised to make Erech subject to Aratta. When the priest arrived in Erech, however, he was outwitted and killed by a wise old woman, Sagburru, and the two sons of the goddess Nidaba. After he learned the fate of his priest, Ensuhkeshdanna's will was broken and he yielded to Enmerkar's demands.
A third epic, Lugalbanda and Enmerkar, tells of the heroic journey to Aratta made by Lugalbanda in the service of Enmerkar. According to the epic, Erech was under attack by Semitic nomads. In order to save his domain, Enmerkar required the aid of Inanna, who was in Aratta. Enmerkar requested volunteers to go to Inanna, but only Lugalbanda would agree to undertake the dangerous mission. The epic concerns the events of Lugalbanda's journey and the message given him from Inanna for Enmerkar. Although obscure, Inanna's reply seems to indicate that Enmerkar was to make special water vessels and was also to catch strange fish from a certain river.
Sumerian Uruk, Greek ORCHOË, modern Tall Al-warka', ancient Mesopotamian city located northwest of Ur (Tall Al-Muqayyar) in southeastern Iraq. According to legend it were built by the Gilgamesh.
The principal Sumerian divinity worshiped in ancient Erech appear to have been Anu (An), a sky god, and the goddess Inanna ("Queen of the Sky"). One of the chief landmarks of the city is the Anu ziggurat crowned by the "White Temple."
Eriskegal, Ereshkigal (Allatu). Queen of the underworld (Kur), of death, and enemy of Inanna. All underwold deities are called Chthonic Deities. She is said to be the sister of Inanna, making her the daughter of Nanna. She is defineitly not one of the Seven Chthonic Anunnaki, yet she is still an Anunnaki. Most likely she is the Destructive Forces of Saturn as Inanna is Venus.
She was sister of Ishtar, spouse of Nergal, mother of Ninazu. The Babylonian Persephone, spouse of Nergal, the god of the dead in the Underworld. As Mesopotamian goddess of the nether world, queen of the lower regions, she is often praised in hymns. One day Nergal was sent to her from heaven with an offering of food. They fell in love with each other, and when he had to leave, she was in tears and threatened Anu, the supreme god, that she would revive all the dead, over which she ruled, and send them back to earth, "so that they will outnumber the living", unless Nergal was sent back to her, for ever, as a husband. Her minister Namtar had to go to heaven as her messenger, for Ereshkigal felt that she was already pregnant. At last Nergal came storming down the stairs, broke down the seven gates and burst into the goddess' palace straight into her passionate embrace, "to wash away her tears."
One of the oldest seats of religious culture in ancient Babylonia, located a few miles SSW of Ur in Chaldea, and mentioned in ancient records as the city of the deep. In it was a temple of Ea, god of the sea and of wisdom. Rediscovered in 1854, it is now about 120 miles from the Persian Gulf, though spoken of in old records as being on the shore; calculations based on the rate of alluvial deposition places its date in the seventh millennium BC. Sayce, by comparing the Akkadian calendar with the present position of the vernal equinox, gives a date going back to 4700 BC
Sumerian epic primarily concerned with the creation of the world, the building of cities, and the flood. According to the epic, after the universe was created out of the primeval sea and the gods were given birth, the deities in turn fashioned man from clay to cultivate the ground, care for flocks, and perpetuate the worship of the gods.
Cities were soon built and kingship was instituted on Earth. For some reason, however, the gods determined to destroy mankind with a flood. Enki (Akkadian Ea), who did not agree with the decree, revealed it to Ziusudra (Utnapishtim), a man well known for his humility and obedience. Ziusudra did as Enki commanded him and built a huge boat, in which he successfully rode out the flood. Afterward, he prostrated himself before the gods An (Anu) and Enlil (Bel), and, as a reward for living a godly life, Ziusudra was given immortality.
ERRA (Mythica)
God of war, hunting, plagues. Etymology "Scorched earth" probably incorrect. Assimilated with Nergal and Gerra. Temple Emeslam in the city Kutha. Epithet Engidudu "Lord who prowls by night" (see demons). See Nergal. Babylonian god of war, death, and other disasters. His greatest ally was famine caused by drought. He may be identified with Nergal, the god of death. He expressed death himself symbolically by his continuous lethargy as he lay in a drunken stupor. War has always been the major cause of death throughout history. Erra was supplicated to ward off pestilence and other calamities. One of the earliest known epic poems to come to light, written on clay tablets, is the Epic of Erra. At the opening of the epic, Erra sits in his palace while his weapons, which are in reality minor gods called the Sibitti, complain about his inaction. Erra persuades the old king-god of Babylon to visit his old craftsmen in the land of Absu beneath the earth. Erra is just on the point of destroying Babylonia when old Ishum, minister of Marduk, warns him: "Those who make war are the ignorant/War kills the priests and the sinless..." Although he has already started devastating the country, Erra is pacified by the wise minister and calls off the hounds of war. Marduk returns to peace. See also Sibitti.
Most important temple complex in ancient Babylon, dedicated to the god Marduk, the tutelary deity of that city. The temple area was located south of the huge ziggurat called Etemenanki; it measured 660 feet (200 m) on its longest side, and its three vast courtyards were surrounded by intricate chambers. The whole complex reflects centuries of building and rebuilding by the Babylonian kings, especially Nebuchadrezzar II (reigned 604-562 BC). The tremendous wealth of Esagila was recorded by the Greek historian Herodotus.
Son of Kish and twelfth king of Kish after the Flood, father of Balih. Thirteenth god-king of the Sumerian dynasty ruling the city of Kish. Though he was appointed by Anu and prayed daily to Shamash the sun-god, he had no son. Shamash directed him to an eagle who had been snared by a snake. Etana freed the eagle who, in gratitude, carried the king on his back to heaven. There, Etana, in front of the throne of Ishtar, begged for a son. She gave him the plant of birth, which he probably had to eat together with his wife. We know from history that Etana had a son named Balih. An incomplete epic about his exploits has been discovered.
In the beginning, according to the epic, there was no king on the earth; the gods thus set out to find one and apparently chose Etana, who proved to be an able ruler until he discovered that his wife, though pregnant, was unable to give birth, and thus he had no heir to the throne. The one known remedy was the birth plant, which Etana was required to bring down personally from heaven. Etana, therefore, prayed to the god Shamash, who heard his request and directed him to a mountain where a maimed eagle, languishing in a pit (into which it had been thrown as punishment for breaking a sacred pact), would help him obtain the special plant. Etana rescued the eagle, and as a reward it carried him high up into the sky.
According to one fragment, Etana reached heaven and bell before the gods. There the text breaks off. According to another fragment, however, Etana either became dizzy or lost his nerve before reaching heaven and crashed to the ground. If, as many scholars believe, Etana was successful, the myth may have been used to support early dynastic claims.
The Esagila was the seven-storied temple of Marduk which was the "House of the Platform of heaven and earth." This was the ancient and modern "Tower of Babel" where the slave-enriched population were convinced that they could musically ascend the steps and possibly come into the presence of a god. Then, as now, they believed that the temple at the top was the platform upon which the gods landed. From Esagila northward passed the paved Processional Way, its walls decorated with enamelled lions. Passing through the Ishtar Gate, adorned with enamelled bulls and dragons, it led to the Akitu House, a small temple outside the city, visited by Marduk at the New Year festival. West of the Ishtar Gate, one of eight fortified gates, were two palace complexes that covered about 40 acres with their fortifications.
Tablet XI of the epic of Gilgamesh describes the great flood epic, as George Smith and Friedrich Delitzsch discovered around the turn of the century, is about a thousand years older than the biblical tale of Noah in Genesis 6. The Babylonian epic introduces the immortal sage called Utanapishtim (in Sumerian called Ziusudra). The gods decided one day to drown all human beings because they were noisy. The god Ea however, secretly descended to his favorite - Uta-Napishtim - and told him to build a ship, giving him the exact measurements and other instructions: "Dismantle your house, build a boat, leave your possessions, look for your living ones to save them, out the seeds of all that lives in your boat!" - a remarkably practical piece of advice, such as one needs when disaster is immanent! Uta-Napishtim did as he was advised, adding gold and silver to his cargo. For six days and seven nights the storm blew. After that, the wind and sea became calm once more. The flood then receded. Silence reigned. All humanity had returned to clay. Uta-Napishtim the sent out a dove followed by a swallow and a raven. The first two returned but the raven did not. The flood had by then diminished and land become visible. In the Sumerian version all the windstorms (spirits), exceedingly powerful, attacked as one At the same time the floods swept over the cult-centers For seven days and nights the boat was tossed about... Ziusudra (Zisutra) who has built his boat with instructions from the god of wisdom, Enki, "Opens a window in his boat...[until] Utu the sun-god sends his rays of light into the boat." Ziusudra then worshipped Utu.
GALAS, THE: The demons of the underworld. Gallu In Chaldean theology, a class of spirits beneath the angels of earth
GESHTINANNA, GESTINNANA (Demi-god)
(Sumerian) Sister of Dumuzi, Divine poetress, singer, and interpreter of dreams. The dying Dumuzi, tortured by nightmares, brought the dreams to his sister for interpretation. Gestinanna realized her brother was under attack by demons. She tells him this and advises him to flee. Dumuzi flees, swearing Gestinanna to secrecy as to where he is going into hiding. The demons attacked Gestinanna to force her to reveal her brother's whereabouts, but she remained silent. The demons, however, soon found Dumuzi, hiding in the form of a gazelle in his sister's sheepfold. He was carried off to the underworld by them; Gestinanna then set out to rescue him. They were eventually reunited after many adventures. The goddess then persuaded the underworld divinities to grant Dumuzi half her own life; thus each was allowed to live on earth six months of each year. Her sister in the netherworld was Ereshkigal.
King of Uruk, son of Lugalbanda and Ninsun in the Epic. Name may mean "The old man is a young man" in Sumerian. Listed with gods in very early texts. Late epithet: "King of Earth"
GUDEA general background)
The Bull of Heaven husband of Ereshkigal's
As Ninmah (See Ninkhursag) alias Nintu, Ki, Ninki, Ninmah, Ninlil, Innini, Bau, Gula, Ninkarrak, Gam-Tum-Dug, Belit-Illu, Belitis, was one of four main Sumerian gods (See Damkina). Damkina or Damgalnunna; alias Ninka, goddess wife of Ea -- Sumerian god of sweet waters. As Ninlil wife of Enlil; as Ninki wife of Enki (Ea).
Also spelled HAD, HADDA, OR HADDU, the Old Testament