HOME
*



picture info

Humbaba Deamon-AO 9034-IMG 0655-black
In Ancient Mesopotamian religion, Humbaba ( Akkadian language, Assyrian spelling), also spelled Huwawa ( Sumerian language, Sumerian spelling) and surnamed ''the Terrible'', was a monstrous Giant (mythology), giant of immemorial age raised by Utu, the Sun / justice / truth god. Humbaba was the guardian of the Cedar Forest, where the gods lived, by the will of the god Enlil, who: "assigned [Humbaba] as a terror to human beings." Gilgamesh and Enkidu defeated this great enemy. Description : "When he looks at someone, it is the look of death." : "Humbaba's roar is a flood, : his mouth is death and his breath is fire! : A hundred leagues away he can hear any [rustling?] in his forest! : Who would go down into his forest!" In various examples, his face is scribed in a single coiling line like that of the coiled entrails of men and beasts, Hepatoscopy, from which omens might be read. Another description from Georg Burckhardt's translation of the ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' says, : "he had ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Humbaba Deamon-AO 9034-IMG 0655-black
In Ancient Mesopotamian religion, Humbaba ( Akkadian language, Assyrian spelling), also spelled Huwawa ( Sumerian language, Sumerian spelling) and surnamed ''the Terrible'', was a monstrous Giant (mythology), giant of immemorial age raised by Utu, the Sun / justice / truth god. Humbaba was the guardian of the Cedar Forest, where the gods lived, by the will of the god Enlil, who: "assigned [Humbaba] as a terror to human beings." Gilgamesh and Enkidu defeated this great enemy. Description : "When he looks at someone, it is the look of death." : "Humbaba's roar is a flood, : his mouth is death and his breath is fire! : A hundred leagues away he can hear any [rustling?] in his forest! : Who would go down into his forest!" In various examples, his face is scribed in a single coiling line like that of the coiled entrails of men and beasts, Hepatoscopy, from which omens might be read. Another description from Georg Burckhardt's translation of the ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' says, : "he had ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Cuneiform
Cuneiform is a logo-syllabic script that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Middle East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. It is named for the characteristic wedge-shaped impressions (Latin: ) which form its signs. Cuneiform was originally developed to write the Sumerian language of southern Mesopotamia (modern Iraq). Cuneiform is the earliest known writing system. Over the course of its history, cuneiform was adapted to write a number of languages in addition to Sumerian. Akkadian texts are attested from the 24th century BC onward and make up the bulk of the cuneiform record. Akkadian cuneiform was itself adapted to write the Hittite language in the early second millennium BC. The other languages with significant cuneiform corpora are Eblaite, Elamite, Hurrian, Luwian, and Urartian. The Old Persian and Ugaritic alphabets feature cuneiform-style signs; however, they are unrelated to the cuneiform lo ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Gorgon
A Gorgon (Help:IPA/English, /ˈɡɔːrɡən/; plural: Gorgons, Ancient Greek language, Ancient Greek: Γοργών/Γοργώ ''Gorgṓn/Gorgṓ'') is a creature in Greek mythology. Gorgons occur in the earliest examples of Greek literature. While descriptions of Gorgons vary, the term most commonly refers to three sisters who are described as having hair made of living, venomous Snake, snakes and horrifying visages that Petrifaction in mythology and fiction, turned those who beheld them to stone. Traditionally, two of the Gorgons, Stheno and Euryale (Gorgon), Euryale, were immortal, but their sister Medusa was not and was slain by the demigod and hero Perseus. Etymology The name derives from the Ancient Greek word (), which means 'grim or dreadful', and appears to come from the same root as the Sanskrit word (), which means a guttural sound, similar to the growling of a beast, thus possibly originating as an onomatopoeia. Depictions Gorgons were a popular image in Greek myt ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Gorgoneion
In Ancient Greece, the Gorgoneion (Greek: Γοργόνειον) was a special apotropaic amulet showing the Gorgon head, used by the Olympian deities Athena and Zeus: both are said to have worn the gorgoneion as a protective pendant,. and often are depicted wearing it. It established their descent from earlier deities considered to remain powerful. Among other attributes, it was assumed by rulers of the Hellenistic age as a royal aegis to imply divine birth or protection, as shown, for instance, on the Alexander Mosaic and the Gonzaga Cameo. Origin According to Marija Gimbutas, ''gorgoneia'' represent certain aspects of the Mother Goddess cult associated with "dynamic life energy" and asserts that the images may be related to a cultural continuity persisting since the Neolithic period defining the ''gorgoneion'' as a quintessentially European image. Jane Ellen Harrison, on the other hand, claims that many primitive cultures use similar ritual masks in order to scare the owner fr ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Petra
Petra ( ar, ٱلْبَتْرَاء, Al-Batrāʾ; grc, Πέτρα, "Rock", Nabataean Aramaic, Nabataean: ), originally known to its inhabitants as Raqmu or Raqēmō, is an historic and archaeological city in southern Jordan. It is adjacent to the mountain of Jebel al-Madhbah, Jabal Al-Madbah, in a Depression (geology), basin surrounded by mountains forming the eastern flank of the Arabah valley running from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Aqaba. The area around Petra has been inhabited from as early as 7000 BC, and the Nabataeans might have settled in what would become the capital city of Nabataean Kingdom, their kingdom as early as the 4th century BC. Archaeological work has only discovered evidence of Nabataean presence dating back to the second century BC, by which time Petra had become their capital. The Nabataeans were nomadic Arabs who invested in Petra's proximity to the incense trade routes by establishing it as a major regional trading hub. The trading business gained ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Nabatean
The Nabataeans or Nabateans (; Nabataean Aramaic: , , vocalized as ; Arabic: , , singular , ; compare grc, Ναβαταῖος, translit=Nabataîos; la, Nabataeus) were an ancient Arab people who inhabited northern Arabia and the southern Levant. Their settlements—most prominently the assumed capital city of Raqmu (present-day Petra, Jordan)—gave the name ''Nabatene'' ( grc, Ναβατηνή, translit=Nabatēnḗ) to the Arabian borderland that stretched from the Euphrates to the Red Sea. The Nabateans emerged as a distinct civilization and political entity between the 4th and 2nd centuries BCE,Taylor, Jane (2001). ''Petra and the Lost Kingdom of the Nabataeans''. London: I.B.Tauris. pp. 14, 17, 30, 31. . Retrieved 8 July 2016. with their kingdom centered around a loosely controlled trading network that brought considerable wealth and influence across the ancient world. Described as fiercely independent by contemporary Greco-Roman accounts, the Nabataeans were annexed ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Achaemenid
The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire (; peo, wikt:𐎧𐏁𐏂𐎶, 𐎧𐏁𐏂, , ), also called the First Persian Empire, was an History of Iran#Classical antiquity, ancient Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great in 550 BC. Based in Western Asia, it was contemporarily the List of largest empires, largest empire in history, spanning a total of from the Balkans and ancient Egypt, Egypt in the west to Central Asia and the Indus River, Indus Valley in the east. Around the 7th century BC, the region of Persis in the southwestern portion of the Iranian plateau was settled by the Persians. From Persis, Cyrus rose and defeated the Medes, Median Empire as well as Lydia and the Neo-Babylonian Empire, marking the formal establishment of a new imperial polity under the Achaemenid dynasty. In the modern era, the Achaemenid Empire has been recognized for its imposition of a successful model of centralized, bureaucratic administration; its multicultural policy; building comp ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Neo-Assyrian
The Neo-Assyrian Empire was the fourth and penultimate stage of ancient Assyrian history and the final and greatest phase of Assyria as an independent state. Beginning with the accession of Adad-nirari II in 911 BC, the Neo-Assyrian Empire grew to dominate the ancient Near East throughout much of the 8th and 7th centuries BC, becoming the largest empire in history up to that point. Because of its geopolitical dominance and ideology based in world domination, the Neo-Assyrian Empire is by many researchers regarded to have been the first world empire in history. At its height, the empire was the strongest military power in the world and ruled over all of Mesopotamia, the Levant and Egypt, as well as portions of Anatolia, Arabia and modern-day Iran and Armenia. The early Neo-Assyrian kings were chiefly concerned with restoring Assyrian control over much of northern Mesopotamia and Syria, since significant portions of the preceding Middle Assyrian Empire had been lost during a long p ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

First Babylonian Dynasty
The Old Babylonian Empire, or First Babylonian Empire, is dated to BC – BC, and comes after the end of Sumer, Sumerian power with the destruction of the Third Dynasty of Ur, and the subsequent Isin-Larsa period. The chronology of the first dynasty of Babylonia is debated, since there is a Babylonian King List A and also a Babylonian King List B. In this chronology, the regnal years of List A are used due to their wide usage. The reign lengths given in List B are longer, generally speaking. Hardship of searching for origins of the First Dynasty The actual origins of the First Babylonian dynasty are rather hard to pinpoint with great certainty — simply because Babylon itself, due to a high water table, yields very few archaeological materials intact. Thus, the evidence that survived throughout the years includes written records such as royal and votive inscriptions, literary texts, and lists of year-names. The minimal amount of evidence in economic and legal documents makes i ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Apotropaic
Apotropaic magic (from Greek "to ward off") or protective magic is a type of magic intended to turn away harm or evil influences, as in deflecting misfortune or averting the evil eye. Apotropaic observances may also be practiced out of superstition or out of tradition, as in good luck charms (perhaps some token on a charm bracelet), amulets, or gestures such as crossed fingers or knocking on wood. Many different objects and charms were used for protection throughout history. Symbols and objects Ancient Egyptian Apotropaic magical rituals were practiced throughout the ancient Near East and ancient Egypt. Fearsome deities were invoked via ritual in order to protect individuals by warding away evil spirits. In ancient Egypt, these household rituals (performed in the home, not in state-run temples) were embodied by the deity who personified magic itself, Heka. The two gods most frequently invoked in these rituals were the hippopotamus-formed fertility goddess, Taweret, and the ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Gorgoneion Cdm Paris 320
In Ancient Greece, the Gorgoneion (Greek language, Greek: Γοργόνειον) was a special apotropaic amulet showing the Gorgon head, used by the Olympian gods, Olympian deities Athena and Zeus: both are said to have worn the gorgoneion as a protective pendant,. and often are depicted wearing it. It established their Family tree of the Greek gods, descent from earlier deities considered to remain powerful. Among other attributes, it was assumed by rulers of the Hellenistic period, Hellenistic age as a royal aegis to imply divine birth or protection, as shown, for instance, on the Alexander Mosaic and the Gonzaga Cameo. Origin According to Marija Gimbutas, ''gorgoneia'' represent certain aspects of the Mother Goddess cult associated with "dynamic life energy" and asserts that the images may be related to a cultural continuity persisting since the Neolithic period defining the ''gorgoneion'' as a quintessentially European image. Jane Ellen Harrison, on the other hand, claims th ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  




Manungal
Nungal ( sux, d''Nun-gal'', "great princess"), also known as Manungal and possibly Bēlet-balāṭi, was the Mesopotamian goddess of prisons, sometimes also associated with the underworld. She was worshiped especially in the Ur III period in cities such as Nippur, Lagash and Ur. Her husband was Birtum, and she was regarded as a courtier and daughter in law Enlil. Texts also associate her with deities such as Ereshkigal, Nintinugga and Ninkasi. Much of the available information about her role in Mesopotamian beliefs comes from a Sumerian hymn which was a part of the scribal curriculum in the Old Babylonian period. Name Nungal's name means "Great Princess" in Sumerian. A plural form of the name attested in some documents can be regarded as analogous to one of the collective terms for Mesopotamian deities, Igigi. An alternate form of the name, Manungal, was possibly a contraction of the phrase ''ama Nungal'', "mother Nungal." It is first attested in documents from the Ur III p ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]