Originally posted by AThousandYoung
Sumerian culture was the one that came up with the original story that everyone copied.
this is nothing like it,
The Sumerian Creation
Only one account of the Sumerian creation has survived, but it is a suggestive one.
This account functions as an introduction to the story of "The Huluppu-Tree" (Wolkstein 4).
In the first days when everything needed was brought into being,
In the first days when everything needed was properly nourished,
When bread was baked in the shrines of the land,
And bread was tasted in the homes of the land,
When heaven had moved away from the earth,
And earth had separated from heaven,
And the name of man was fixed;
When the Sky God, An, had carried off the heavens,
And the Air God, Enlil, had carried off the earth . . . (Wolkstein 4)
"An" the male sky god and "Ki" the female earth were separated by Enlil, their son
and later the chief god of the pantheon. Enlil thus carries off his mother the earth,
taking his father's place in a manner somewhat similar to the way Kronos, in a much
later story, usurped his father's (Ouranos'😉 power. But where did heaven (An) and
earth (Ki) come from, you may ask? According to another text, it was Nammu, the
sea, "the mother, who gave birth to heaven and earth" (Kramer, Sumerian
Mythology 39). In a dry climate, water is the ultimate source of life--Diane
Wolkstein points out that the word for "water also means 'semen' in Sumerian" (139)
.
This text continues with a few more tantalizing, but puzzling details about Sumerian
beginnings. Ereshkigal, the queen of the underworld, is said to have been "carried
off into the nether world." Afterwards, the water-god Enki "set sail for the nether
world," whereupon his boat was attacked by stones and swamped (Kramer,
Sumerians 200). It is possible that Ereshkigal was originally a sky-goddess who was
carried off to the underworld somewhat in the manner of Persephone. Whether Enki
was attempting to rescue Ereshkigal is unclear, but it may be that his trip to the
underworld ended as soon as it began. Enki's trip prefigures Inanna's later, more
successful, journey to the underworld.
A different text recounts the strange way in which the moon was created. When this
story begins, the gods have apparently already established cities, for Enlil, the
goddess Ninlil ("lady wind" or "lady air) and her mother Ninshebargunu are dwelling
in their temples in the city of Nippur. Ninlil's mother warns her that if she bathes in
the canal called Nunbirdu, Enlil will see her and want to make love to her. Naturally,
Ninlil goes down to the canal the next day to take a dip. Enlil sees her and asks for
a kiss. Ninlil refuses, saying she is too young to make love, so Enlil devises a plan.
He obtains a boat, floats over to where Ninlil is bathing, and rapes her, impregnating
her with the future moon god Nanna (or Sin). The other gods, dismayed by Enlil's
outrageous conduct, demand that the "sex offender . . . leave the town!" (Jacobsen,
Harps 174). Enlil walks out of town in the direction of the underworld, and the
pregnant Ninlil follows him. Since Enlil does not want his son the moon to reside in
the underworld, he concocts a rather bizarre plan. Enlil impersonates a gatekeeper,
a man in charge of the underworld river, and the ferryman to the underworld, and as
each of these personages, he has sex with Ninlil, impregnating her with three
deities who will reside in the underworld as substitutes for Nanna the moon, who will
thus be free to rise to heavens where he belongs. Apparently, Ninlil consents to go
to bed with what she thinks are three minor underworld officials because she, too,
sees this as a way for Enlil's child Nanna to "go heavenward."
hardly a striking resemblance, is it.
Only two religions in the world? Part 1....
20 Dec '11 01:571 edit
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