sumerian mythology and the bible
For specialists, this old pun has been taken up in the Hebrew version, thus giving birth in the Book of Genesis to Eve and its alternative titles. This week we are going to analyze the oldest creation story ever recorded, known as the Eridu Genesis. The main source of information about the Sumerian creation myth is the prologue to the epic poem Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Netherworld,[13]:3033 which briefly describes the process of creation: originally, there was only Nammu, the primeval sea. Texts from the 7th century BC discovered in Nineveh 16 centuries later in Sargon, but contemporaneous with the probable date of writing of the oldest books that would later form the Bible thus relate his accession to power: My mother was a high priestess. In the Sumerian city-states, temple complexes originally were small, elevated one-room structures. [15] The highest and outermost dome of heaven was made of luludntu stone and was personified as An, the god of the sky. Not sure if that qualifies. Reincarnation and karma in Judaism and Christianity. Francis Dymoke, a 67-year-old farmer from eastern England, will play a ceremonial role in the upcoming coronation of King Charles III, and carry forward an ancient royal tradition while at it. The authors of the Bible were inspired not only by the Sumerians but also by the Egyptian culture that gave them the writing! from one another by a solid dome. [citation needed]. eight antediluvian kings of in the Sumerian King List also lived Both were influenced by a massive flood. The Sumerian god Enlil becomes Abraham's El, the Elohim becomes Eloha. Sumerian Tablets The Sumerian tablets were written by the Sumerians. Adad extended his deathly silence into heaven, reducing to darkness all that had been luminous. each plant consumed. [14]:184 The gatekeeper of the underworld was the god Neti. Might the Sumerians have borrowed their account from the Jews? Before we analyze the Sumerian creation story, we must understand the cultures own history, that is, where the Sumerians came from in order to conceive of their own creation. analog, Tammuz, appears in the Bible, however Dumuzi's periodic 97-98). Aqqi the water pumper taught me his job as a gardener. [18][19], The Sumerian afterlife was a dark, dreary cavern located deep below the ground,[19][20] where inhabitants were believed to continue "a shadowy version of life on earth". Jesus and the Family: The Bible says honor your father and mother, yet Jesus says you must hate your father, mother, wife, children, and even your own life to be a disciple, and says to call no man on earth your father. Sumerian tablets vs. Bible: Do you know about their similarities and differences? Towards the end of Sumerian civilization, these temples developed into zigguratstall, pyramidal structures with sanctuaries at the tops. In Ezekiel 8:14, the prophet sees women of Israel (MT 10:35-37, LK 12:51-53, 14:26, MT 23:9) God and Murder: God says killing is wrong, yet he advocates genocide. My mother, the high priestess, conceived me and bore me in secret. Donc pas de souci. [6] These tablets were also made of stone clay or stone, and they used a small pick to make the symbols. The second chapter of Genesis If there is no trace of the Bible Moses among the Egyptians, there are many traces of a Moses at the court of Egypt, here is his story: From 1197 to 1190 BC, Egypt was ruled by the old Pharaoh Seti II (1203 1197), who succeeded Merneptah. the story of the Flood. Again, one can see parallels but also differences in the accounts. [17]:108109[14]:203 The sun was her brother Utu, the god of justice,[14]:203 and the moon was their father Nanna. Many ancient cultures have supernatural great flood stories with the continuity of the human race ensured by one righteous hero. Hundreds of gods comprised its religious system. Christian Zionists claim that the modern state of Israel is a fulfillment of biblical prophecy. The Sumerians regarded their divinities as responsible for all matters pertaining to the natural and social orders. By bringing together top experts and authors, this archaeology website explores lost civilizations, examines sacred writings, tours ancient places, investigates ancient discoveries and questions mysterious happenings. The princes of Egypt soon revolted and took up arms. In the Sumerian text, it is Enki who gives birth to his ills in pain. Thegoal of Ancient Origins is to highlight recent archaeological discoveries, peer-reviewed academic research and evidence, as well as offering alternative viewpoints and explanations of science, archaeology, mythology, religion and history around the globe. Sumerian myths were passed down through the oral tradition until the invention of writing (the earliest myth discovered so far, the Epic of Gilgamesh, is Sumerian [dubious - discuss] and is written on a series of fractured clay tablets). Did the Jews borrow their flood story from the Sumerians? Do we have the exact words of Jesus or a paraphrase? Judaism appears from its inception to be a fully developed monothism, with out all the superstitions of Mesopotamian religion and the fantastic (and unbelievable) stories of gods and their petty intrigues. I don't believe before any flood people lived many hundreds of years. The Eridu Genesis shines light on the bare bones of creation. One of the possible theories on the origin of Moses, see also the link to the article given above on the secret of Tutankhamun. [17]:108 The Sumerians had more myths about her than any other deity. Sources for the Eridu myth include a Sumerian inscription on a clay tablet from Nippur (also dated about 1600 BCE), another Sumerian fragment from Ur (about the same date) and a bilingual fragment in Sumerian and Akkadian from Ashurbanipal's library in Nineveh, about 600 BCE. [36] In later myth, her husband was the god Nergal. The explanation is actually given below in the story of Atrahasis (Ziusudra), the Sumerian Noah, where we learn that the gods Annunaki created man in their images. Later, Atrahasis settled at the mouth of the Great Rivers, in the Garden of Dilmun where Ea lived. [13]:3740 Enlil separated An from Ki and carried off the earth as his domain, while An carried off the sky. The countrys government is run by a confidant of Seti II, from the metropolis Pi Ramses. Humans are all interconnected, but they all have a unique background and culture. They deduced from this that the Hebrew language was derived from hieroglyphics, which are stylised. : Grave goods, the Mesopotamian afterlife, and the liminal role of Inana/Itar", "Inanna/Ishtar as a Figure of Controversy", "Anunna (Anunnaku, Anunnaki) (a group of gods)", Sumerian Hymns from Cuneiform Texts in the British Museum, The Ekur: Sumerian Reconstructionist Ceremonial Magick, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sumerian_religion&oldid=1152100418, This page was last edited on 28 April 2023, at 06:07. The Anunnaki found themselves in a lot of trouble until a solution was found: the creation of men! Dilmun, described in the myth of "Enki and Ninhursag". To deny any possible common root to these two flood stories seems unrealistic. It too is lush and has fruit bearing trees. the lady of the rib, or she who makes live. As far as the New Testament goes, many also draw a parallel between In this collection, you will enjoy the epic stories of Ancient Mesopotamia that echoed through other great works like the Bible and the Odyssey. During the Akkadian Empire, Inanna, the goddess of sex, beauty, and warfare, was widely venerated across Sumer and appeared in many myths, including the famous story of her descent into the Underworld. Sermons in Merced by Dr. John Oakes Mark II Kingdom Parables. The earth is a desolate place, with darkness covering the depth. Lorsquil a commenc enseigner, un naga sous la forme dun homme est venu suivre son enseignement mais Bouddha a vu que ce ntait pas un humain et lui a expliqu que son enseignement ntait que pour les humains. [14]:184[17]:86 Ereshkigal's sukkal, or messenger, was the god Namtar. The coincidence, at the time, did not move anyone. However, if one can assume that the book of Genesis is inspired by God, then the idea of the Genesis flood account being borrowed from Gilgamesh does not work. Throughout the history of civilization, the notion of the apocalypse has been a recurring theme in human history, transcending cultures and religions. Father Vincent Scheil, who would therefore be the first to make the link between the Sumerian text and the Bible, is not just anyone, he is the discoverer in December 1901 of the stele of the Hammurabi code and he was a member of the institute and director of studies at the cole des hautes tudes. [17]:8586 Several extant poems describe the galla dragging the god Dumuzid into the underworld. If Jesus fulfilled OT prophecies, doesn't this support Judaism, not Christianity? For privacy reasons, she has previously written on Ancient Origins under the pen name April Holloway, but is now choosing to use her real name, Joanna Gillan. from the dead. His Canaan religion made him despise Egyptian traditions and rituals to the point of sacrilege. Arguing these similarities there are many others the Sabbah brothers reread the texts from top to bottom. Utu was god of the sun, whose primary center of worship was the E-babbar temple in Sippar. I think early societies which hadn't yet learned to accurately measure the length of the year to within a day used the cycle of the moon as a visual counter of a person's age. The most important section of Kabbalah is the theory of the formation of the universe. Required fields are marked *. Lilith is first mentioned in ancient Babylonian texts as a winged female demon that attacks pregnant women and infants. Professor Evans, in his book Paradise Lost and the Genesis, also focuses attention on the Cte dve: The Sumerian words for coast ti and life til were represented by the same ideogram; therefore the goddess Nin-ti could be both the lady of the coast and the lady who gives life. Despite the takeover of Babylon by the Persians in 539 and Cyrus edict allowing exiles to return to Judea, an important Jewish community remained in the city: it was it that, at the end of the 5th century AD, initiated the so-called Babylonian Talmud, which is still the authority in Judaism. My father, I dont know him. While the origin of the Sumerians is unknown, (it is said that they may have come from the east), there have been many hypotheses that seek to answer this mystery. Of course, much of that evidence is found at my web site, to include prophecies in Genesis which are fulfilled in Jesus (see my book From Shadow to Reality. This story is not the first of its kind, the third story of the papyrus Westcar, dating from about 2500 BC, cites a similar story: A young girl unfortunately drops a very precious amulet into the waters of a lake. is Lilith has come into quiestion of late. Then he took a swallow and dropped it; the swallow left, but she came back. He himself will be called the great chancellor of the whole country and will govern the country with her. This article refers to the Sumerians having the first creation story. In the Sumerian versions death from the University of Copenhagen, and his Ph.D. from the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago. These early deities were believed to occasionally behave mischievously towards each other, but were generally viewed as being involved in co-operative creative ordering. During the Old Babylonian Period, the Sumerian and Akkadian languages were retained for religious purposes; the majority of Sumerian mythological literature known to historians today comes from the Old Babylonian Period,[5] either in the form of transcribed Sumerian texts (most notably the Babylonian version of the Epic of Gilgamesh) or in the form of Sumerian and Akkadian influences within Babylonian mythological literature (most notably the Enma Eli). Why not. You wrote, "The Gemini Twins were known to call fire down from the sky referring to their fathers lightning bolts and had been known in Greek myth to have destroyed entire villages with that power.". He was raised with the Egyptian nobility, but he is a Canaanite of origin. back Ninhursag in order to undo the damage. They have been twisted and exagerated over thousand years. [33] Utu was principally regarded as a dispenser of justice;[14]:184 he was believed to protect the righteous and punish the wicked. For many scholars of ancient civilizations, there is no doubt that the Bible was written from Sumerian and Egyptian texts. Dumuzi and Jesus because Dumuzi is a shepherd-king and he is resurrected My hometown is Azupiranu saffron city, on the banks of the Euphrates river. In particular, Ninhursag gives birth in nine days, not nine months, A few centuries later, this text will be reproduced practically as it stands in the Bible, in Proverbs 22:17 to 23:11. JC. Be the first to rate this post. The local religion of Mesopotamia finds its way into Genesis indirectly, for example when Laban chased Jacob down in an attempt to get back his household gods. Sumerian religion heavily influenced the religious beliefs of later Mesopotamian peoples; elements of it are retained in the mythologies and religions of the Hurrians, Akkadians, Babylonians, Assyrians, and other Middle Eastern culture groups. His consort was the goddess Shala. He knew the gods of the Sumerian pantheon, at the top of which was the Triad An, Enlil and Enki. [14]:184. When they came to the Earth, there was much work to be done and these gods toiled the soil, digging to make it habitable and mining its minerals. [42]:97101 The Judaic underworld Sheol is very similar in description with the Sumerian Kur, ruled by the goddess Ereshkigal, as well as the Babylonian underworld Irkalla. [17]:75 His most important cult center was the E-abzu temple in the city of Eridu. Come and discover the incredible similarities between these sacred texts! The Twins, Castor and Pollux, had a mortal father named Tyndareus, while also going by the collective epithet Dioscuri sons of Zeus, the Thunderer. [19][14]:184 The Akkadians attempted to harmonize this dual rulership of the underworld by making Nergal Ereshkigal's husband. AtAncient Origins, we believe that one of the most important fields of knowledge we can pursue as human beings is our beginnings. [14]:184 Nanna was god of the moon and of wisdom. Samuel Noah Kramer, an American Assyriologist, a specialist in Sumer and the Sumerian language, published a book in 1957 that became his best seller: In this book he develops the four common points between a Sumerian text that tells the story of the god Enki and the goddess Ninhursag in Dilmun and the text of the Garden of Eden: 1- Ninti (a goddess) is created from a coast. It is only the Canaanite form of the Sumerian god Enlil. The Sumerians envisioned the universe as a closed dome surrounded by a primordial saltwater sea. Lerreur a t corrig. Sumerian religion was the religion practiced and adhered to by the people of Sumer, the first literate civilization of ancient Mesopotamia.The Sumerians regarded their divinities as responsible for all matters pertaining to the natural and social orders. The hero of the Epic of Gilgamesh . His sister Geshtinanna also rises from the dead, and if one counts While there is not much information on how he translated these ancient texts, he received his M.A. The Sumerian belief system offers a fascinating insight into the lives of these ancient people as they struggled to establish the first empires of man. She joins with him again Sumerian myths were passed down through the oral tradition until the invention of writing (the earliest myth discovered so far, the Epic of Gilgamesh, is Sumerian[dubious discuss] and is written on a series of fractured clay tablets). Just where and when these events took place and what exactly transpired is something we may never know. And this literary pun passed into the Bible where it naturally lost its value since in Hebrew the words meaning coast and life have nothing in common. p. Sinon, vos dcouvertes sont connues depuis des dcennies dans les mdias, chez les spcialistes, mais personne ne veut du moteur eau tant quil y a du ptrole et son conomie. will enjoy the epic stories of Ancient Mesopotamia that echoed through other great works like the Bible and the Odyssey. Enki was god of freshwater, male fertility, and knowledge. [14]:180 Each dome was made of a different kind of precious stone. Vous ne dites pas dans votre expos les malades que vous avez guris et les entits (dmons ou E.T. The deity of the dome-shaped firmament was named An; that of the earth was named Ki. over to Eve. In conclusion, it is not just skeptics and unbelievers who look for parallels between Sumerian religious ideas and customs and the book of Genesis. I took a Mesopotamian Civilizations course last semester and it was exciting to hear about their culture once more! So what could account for these similarities? Cleopatra, the last pharaoh of Egypt, is one of the most iconic figures in history. It is only natural that anthropologists, historians and those who study religion to look for parallels between the earliest docoments of the Old Testament and the Sumerian/Babylonian/Akkadian religions in Mesopotamia. or overflows, to form four rivers including the Tigris and Euphrates. ), but the existence of such a people and civilization was not even suspected until the middle of the 19th century. According to the Bible, Abraham received a call from God when he was 75 years old. Traces of Sumerian religion survive today and are reflected in For our creation, they used clay and blood from the God W-ilu, an angry God sacrificed for the occasion (who would be at the origin of the wrath of men). I am sure that those who do this do so for a variety of reasons. Since cuneiform is an ancient and unspoken language, there have been certain scholars who have dedicated much time to translating the writing. He does not receive a covenant, This is perhaps appealing to some as Dumuzi's Akkadian my people, who remained in the depths of the sea. April Holloway is a Co-Owner, Editor and Writer of Ancient Origins. means the Queen of months, (Kramer & Maier 1989: pp. The bulk of Sumerian parallels can, however be found much earlier, [17]:86 The later Mesopotamians knew this underworld by its East Semitic name: Irkalla. With the exception of a few occurrences in the book of Daniel and in the Chronicles, it generally refers to the god of Israel. Why is it that people try to relate those gods to the God in the Old Testament? (Video), Pompeii Unveiled: Discovering the City's Most Amazing Secrets (Video), What Did Ancient Greece Really Look Like? [19], The souls in Kur were believed to eat nothing but dry dust[17]:58 and family members of the deceased would ritually pour libations into the dead person's grave through a clay pipe, thereby allowing the dead to drink. No votes so far! [16][15] The celestial bodies were equated with specific deities as well. There are significant similarities between the Gilgamesh epic and the flood account in Genesis, which seem to defy coincidence. There were civilizations present in three main regions that contributed to these accomplishments, the Sumerians being one of them.