|
Gilgamesh Flood Myth
The Gilgamesh flood myth is a flood myth in the ''Epic of Gilgamesh''. Many scholars believe that the flood myth was added to Tablet XI in the "standard version" of the Gilgamesh Epic by an editor who used the flood story from the Epic of Atrahasis. A short reference to the flood myth is also present in the much older Sumerian Gilgamesh poems, from which the later Babylonian versions drew much of their inspiration and subject matter. History Gilgamesh's supposed historical reign is believed to have been approximately 2700 BC, shortly before the earliest known written stories. The discovery of artifacts associated with Aga and Enmebaragesi of Kish, two other kings named in the stories, has lent credibility to the historical existence of Gilgamesh. The earliest Sumerian Gilgamesh poems date from as early as the Third dynasty of Ur (2100–2000 BC). One of these poems mentions Gilgamesh’s journey to meet the flood hero, as well as a short version of the flood story. The earliest ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Deluge (mythology)
A flood myth or a deluge myth is a myth in which a great flood, usually sent by a deity or deities, destroys civilization, often in an act of divine retribution. Parallels are often drawn between the flood waters of these myths and the primaeval waters which appear in certain creation myths, as the flood waters are described as a measure for the cleansing of humanity, in preparation for rebirth. Most flood myths also contain a culture hero, who "represents the human craving for life". The flood-myth motif occurs in many cultures, including the Mesopotamian flood stories, Native American in North America, the Genesis flood narrative, ''manvantara-sandhya'' in Hinduism, and Deucalion and Pyrrha in Greek mythology. Mythologies One example of a flood myth is the ''Epic of Gilgamesh''. Many scholars believe that this account was copied from the Akkadian '' Atra-Hasis'', which dates to the 18th century BCE. In the Gilgamesh flood myth, the highest god, Enlil, decides ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1500 BC
The 1500s BC was a decade lasting from January 1, 1509 BC to December 31, 1500 BC. Events and trends * 1506 BC — Cecrops, legendary King of Athens, dies after a reign of 50 years. Having survived his own son, he is succeeded by Cranaus. *c. 1506 BC — Thutmose I ( Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt) starts to rule. Alternatively, a date of c. 1504 BC is a possibility. *Egypt conquers Nubia and the Levant ( 1504 BC– 1492 BC). *Earliest remains of domesticated ferrets found. *c. 1500 BC — Polynesians settle in Fiji, (controversial Fiji settlement) *c. 1500 BC — Mycenaean civilization starts in Ancient Greece. *c. 1500 BC — Eleusinian Mysteries start in Ancient Greece. *c. 1500 BC — Formative/Preclassic period starts in Mesoamerica. *c. 1500 BC: Many scholars date early parts of the Rig Veda to roughly the 16th century. *c. 1500 BC: Queen Hatsheput in Egypt ( 18th Dynasty). *c. 1500 BC: The element Mercury has been discovered in Egyptian tombs dating from this decade. *c. 150 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dingir
''Dingir'' (, usually transliterated DIĜIR, ) is a Sumerian word for "god" or "goddess". Its cuneiform sign is most commonly employed as the determinative for religious names and related concepts, in which case it is not pronounced and is conventionally transliterated as a superscript "d" as in e.g. dInanna. The cuneiform sign by itself was originally an ideogram for the Sumerian word ''an'' ("sky" or "heaven");Hayes, 2000 its use was then extended to a logogram for the word ''diĝir'' ("god" or "goddess")Edzard, 2003 and the supreme deity of the Sumerian pantheon ''An'', and a phonogram for the syllable . Akkadian took over all these uses and added to them a logographic reading for the native '' ilum'' and from that a syllabic reading of . In Hittite orthography, the syllabic value of the sign was again only ''an''. The concept of "divinity" in Sumerian is closely associated with the heavens, as is evident from the fact that the cuneiform sign doubles as the ideogram f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apsû
The Abzu or Apsu ( Sumerian: ; Akkadian: ), also called (Cuneiform:, ; Sumerian: ; Akkadian: — ='water' ='deep', recorded in Greek as ), is the name for fresh water from underground aquifers which was given a religious fertilising quality in Sumerian and Akkadian mythology. Lakes, springs, rivers, wells, and other sources of fresh water were thought to draw their water from the abzu. In Sumerian and Akkadian mythology, it is referred to as the primeval sea below the void space of the underworld ( Kur) and the earth ( Ma) above. In Sumerian culture In the city of Eridu, Enki's temple was known as E2-abzu (house of the deep waters) and was located at the edge of a swamp, an abzu. Certain tanks of holy water in Babylonian and Assyrian temple courtyards were also called abzu (''apsû''). Typical in religious washing, these tanks were similar to Judaism's mikvot, the washing pools of Islamic mosques, or the baptismal font in Christian churches. In Sumerian cosmo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eridu
Eridu ( Sumerian: , NUN.KI/eridugki; Akkadian: ''irîtu''; modern Arabic: Tell Abu Shahrain) is an archaeological site in southern Mesopotamia (modern Dhi Qar Governorate, Iraq). Eridu was long considered the earliest city in southern Mesopotamia.Leick, Gwendolyn,Mesopotamia: The Invention of the City, (Penguin UK). Google Books 2002 ISBN 9780141927114 Located 12 kilometers southwest of Ur, Eridu was the southernmost of a conglomeration of Sumerian cities that grew around temples, almost in sight of one another. These buildings were made of mud brick and built on top of one another. With the temples growing upward and the village growing outward, a larger city was built. In Sumerian mythology, Eridu was originally the home of Enki, later known by the Akkadians as Ea, who was considered to have founded the city. His temple was called E-Abzu, as Enki was believed to live in Abzu, an aquifer from which all life was believed to stem. Archaeology The site contains 8 mounds: *Mound ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ziggurat
A ziggurat (; Cuneiform: 𒅆𒂍𒉪, Akkadian: ', D-stem of ' 'to protrude, to build high', cognate with other Semitic languages like Hebrew ''zaqar'' (זָקַר) 'protrude') is a type of massive structure built in ancient Mesopotamia. It has the form of a terraced compound of successively receding storeys or levels. Notable ziggurats include the Great Ziggurat of Ur near Nasiriyah, the Ziggurat of Aqar Quf near Baghdad, the now destroyed Etemenanki in Babylon, Chogha Zanbil in Khūzestān and Sialk Plus, Sumer in general. The Sumerians believed that the Gods lived in the temple at the top of the Ziggurats, so only priests and other highly respected individuals could enter. Society offered them many things such as music, harvest, and creating devotional statues to live in the temple. History The word ziggurat comes from ''ziqqurratum'' (height, pinnacle), in ancient Assyrian. From ''zaqārum'', to be high up. The Ziggurat of Ur is a Neo-Sumerian ziggurat built by King Ur-Namm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aš (cuneiform)
437px, left, Cuneiform sign for aš, dil, ina, ṭel, and as Epic_of_Gilgamesh.html"_;"title="sumerogram_AŠ,_(sign_uses_from_the_''Epic_of_Gilgamesh">sumerogram_AŠ,_(sign_uses_from_the_''Epic_of_Gilgamesh''). File:Louvres-antiquites-moyen-orient-p1020178.jpg.html" ;"title="Epic_of_Gilgamesh'')..html" ;"title="Epic_of_Gilgamesh.html" ;"title="sumerogram AŠ, (sign uses from the '' sumerogram_AŠ,_(sign_uses_from_the_''Epic_of_Gilgamesh'').">Epic_of_Gilgamesh.html"_;"title="sumerogram_AŠ,_(sign_uses_from_the_''Epic_of_Gilgamesh">sumerogram_AŠ,_(sign_uses_from_the_''Epic_of_Gilgamesh''). File:Louvres-antiquites-moyen-orient-p1020178.jpg">thumb.html" ;"title="Epic of Gilgamesh">sumerogram AŠ, (sign uses from the ''Epic of Gilgamesh'').">Epic_of_Gilgamesh.html" ;"title="sumerogram AŠ, (sign uses from the ''Epic of Gilgamesh">sumerogram AŠ, (sign uses from the ''Epic of Gilgamesh''). File:Louvres-antiquites-moyen-orient-p1020178.jpg">thumb">250px, Amarna letter 362-(''Reverse'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sumerian King List
The ''Sumerian King List'' (abbreviated ''SKL'') or ''Chronicle of the One Monarchy'' is an ancient literary composition written in Sumerian that was likely created and redacted to legitimize the claims to power of various city-states and kingdoms in southern Mesopotamia during the late third and early second millennium BC. It does so by repetitively listing Sumerian cities, the kings that ruled there, and the lengths of their reigns. Especially in the early part of the list, these reigns often span thousands of years. In the oldest known version, dated to the Ur III period (c. 2112–2004 BC) but probably based on Akkadian source material, the ''SKL'' reflected a more linear transition of power from Kish, the first city to receive kingship, to Akkad. In later versions from the Old Babylonian period, the list consisted of a large number of cities between which kingship was transferred, reflecting a more cyclical view of how kingship came to a city, only to be inevitably replace ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phonetic Complement
A phonetic complement is a phonetic symbol used to disambiguate word characters (logograms) that have multiple readings, in mixed logographic-phonetic scripts such as Egyptian hieroglyphs, Akkadian cuneiform, Japanese, and Mayan. Often they reenforce the communication of the ideogram by repeating the first or last syllable in the term. Written English has few logograms, primarily numerals, and therefore few phonetic complements. An example is the ''nd'' of ''2nd'' 'second', which avoids ambiguity with 2 standing for the word 'two'. In addition to numerals, other examples include Xmas, Xianity, and Xing for Christmas, Christianity, and Crossing – note the separate readings ''Christ'' and ''Cross''. In cuneiform In Sumerian, the single word ''kur'' had two meanings: 'hill' and 'country'. Akkadian, however, had separate words for these two meanings: ''šadú'' 'hill' and ''mātu'' 'country'. When Sumerian cuneiform was adapted for writing Akkadian, this was ambiguous because b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cubit
The cubit is an ancient unit of length based on the distance from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger. It was primarily associated with the Sumerians, Egyptians, and Israelites. The term ''cubit'' is found in the Bible regarding Noah's Ark, Ark of the Covenant, Tabernacle, Solomon's Temple Solomon's Temple, also known as the First Temple (, , ), was the Temple in Jerusalem between the 10th century BC and . According to the Hebrew Bible, it was commissioned by Solomon in the United Kingdom of Israel before being inherited by th .... The ''common cubit'' was divided into 6 palms × 4 Finger (unit), fingers = 24 digit (unit), digits. ''Royal cubits'' added a palm for 7 palms × 4 fingers = 28 digits. These lengths typically ranged from , with an ancient Roman cubit being as long as . Cubits of various lengths were employed in many parts of the world in ancient history, antiquity, during the Middle Ages and as recently as Early modern Europe, early modern time ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Serpent (symbolism)
The serpent, or snake, is one of the oldest and most widespread mythological symbols. The word is derived from Latin ''serpens'', a crawling animal or snake. Snakes have been associated with some of the oldest rituals known to mankind and represent dual expression of good and evil. In some cultures, snakes were fertility symbols. For example, the Hopi people of North America performed an annual snake dance to celebrate the union of Snake Youth (a Sky spirit) and Snake Girl (an Underworld spirit) and to renew the fertility of Nature. During the dance, live snakes were handled, and at the end of the dance the snakes were released into the fields to guarantee good crops. "The snake dance is a prayer to the spirits of the clouds, the thunder and the lightning, that the rain may fall on the growing crops." To the Hopi, snakes symbolized the umbilical cord, joining all humans to Mother Earth. The Great Goddess often had snakes as her familiars—sometimes twining around her sacred staff ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boxthorn
''Lycium'' is a genus of flowering plants in the nightshade family, Solanaceae. The genus has a disjunct distribution around the globe, with species occurring on most continents in temperate and subtropical regions. South America has the most species, followed by North America and southern Africa. There are several scattered across Europe and Asia, and one is native to Australia.Fukuda, T., et al. (2001)Phylogeny and biogeography of the genus ''Lycium'' (Solanaceae): Inferences from chloroplast DNA sequences. ''Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution'' 19(2), 246-58. Common English names for plants of this genus include box-thorn''Lycium''. The Jepson eFlora 2013. and desert-thorn. There are about 70 to 80 [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
.jpg "Click for more on -> Sumerian King List")
