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Tiamat
In Mesopotamian religion, Tiamat ( or , ) is the primordial sea, mating with Abzû (Apsu), the groundwater, to produce the gods in the Babylonian epic '' Enûma Elish'', which translates as "when on high". She is referred to as a woman, and has—at various points in the epic—a number of anthropomorphic features (such as breasts) and theriomorphic features (such as a tail). In the ''Enûma Elish'', the Babylonian epic of creation, Tiamat bears the first generation of deities after mingling her waters with those of Apsu, her consort. The gods continue to reproduce, forming a noisy new mass of divine children. Apsu, driven to violence by the noise they make, seeks to destroy them and is killed. Enraged, Tiamat also wars upon those of her own and Apsu's children who killed her consort, bringing forth a series of monsters as weapons. She also takes a new consort, Qingu, and bestows on him the Tablet of Destinies, which represents legitimate divine rulership. She is ulti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kingu
Qingu (, '' dqin-gu''; less commonly romanized as Kingu) was a Mesopotamian god. He is best known from the ''Enūma Eliš'', where he acts as a subordinate and spouse of Tiamat, and an adversary of Marduk. After his defeat he is killed and his blood is used in the creation of mankind. It is presumed that he might have originally been the antagonist of a separate myth unrelated to Tiamat, though this composition does not survive, and the majority of references to him are allusions to his defeat at the hands of Marduk in ''Enūma Eliš''. He is also mentioned in the myth ''The Defeat of Enutila, Enmešarra, and Qingu'' and in a variety of other texts. Name The most widespread spelling of Qingu's name in cuneiform is ''dqin-gu'', though sporadically ''dqi-in-gu'', ''dqin-ga'' and ''dqin-gi'' occur as well. A further variant, ''dqin-gu-gu'', is presumed to be a dittographic error. While the romanization Kingu can be sometimes found in modern literature, Qingu is the most commonly u ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abzu
Abzû or Apsû ( Sumerian: ; Akkadian: ), also called (Cuneiform:, ; Sumerian: ; Akkadian: – recorded in Greek as ), is the name for fresh water from underground aquifers which was given a religious fertilising quality in ancient near eastern cosmology, including Sumerian and Akkadian mythology. It was believed that all lakes, springs, rivers, fountains, rain, and even the Flood, as described in Atrahasis, originated from the Abzû. In Mesopotamian cosmogony, it is referred to as the freshwater primordial ocean below and above the earth; indeed the Earth itself was regarded as a goddess ''Ninhursag'' that was conceived from the mating of male Abzu with female saltwater ocean ''Tiamat''. Thus the divine Mother Earth – on her surface equipped with a bubble of breathable air – was surrounded by Abzû, and her interior harbours the realm of the dead (Irkalla). In Sumerian culture In the city of Eridu, Enki's temple was known as E2-abzû (house of the deep ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marduk
Marduk (; cuneiform: Dingir, ᵈAMAR.UTU; Sumerian language, Sumerian: "calf of the sun; solar calf"; ) is a god from ancient Mesopotamia and patron deity of Babylon who eventually rose to prominence in the 1st millennium BC. In Babylon, Marduk was worshipped in the temple Esagila. His symbol is the spade and he is associated with the Mušḫuššu. By the 1st millennium BC, Marduk had become astrologically associated with the planet Jupiter. He was a prominent figure in ancient near eastern cosmology, Babylonian cosmology, especially in the Enūma Eliš creation myth. Name The name of Marduk was solely spelled as dAMAR.UTU in the Old Babylonian Period, although other spellings such as MES and dŠA.ZU were also in use since the Kassite Period. In the 1st millennium BC, the ideograms dŠU and KU were regularly used. The logogram for Adad is also occasionally used to spell Marduk. Texts from the Old Babylonian period support the pronunciation Marutu or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tethys (mythology)
In Greek mythology, Tethys (; ) was a Titans, Titan daughter of Uranus (mythology), Uranus and Gaia (mythology), Gaia, a sister and wife of the Titan Oceanus, and the mother of the River gods (Greek mythology), river gods and the Oceanids. Although Tethys had no active role in Greek mythology and no established cults, she was depicted in mosaics decorating baths, pools, and triclinium, triclinia in the Greek East, particularly in Antioch and its suburbs, either alone or with Oceanus. Genealogy Tethys was one of the Titan offspring of Uranus (Sky) and Gaia (Earth). Hesiod lists her Titan siblings as Oceanus, Coeus, Crius, Hyperion (mythology), Hyperion, Iapetus (mythology), Iapetus, Theia, Rhea (mythology), Rhea, Themis, Mnemosyne, Phoebe (Titaness), Phoebe, and Cronus. Tethys married her brother Oceanus, an enormous river encircling the world, and was by him the mother of numerous sons (the River gods (Greek mythology), river gods) and numerous daughters (the Oceanids). Accordi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lahmu
Laḫmu ( or , d laḫ-mu, ) is a class of apotropaic creatures from Mesopotamian mythology. While the name has its origin in a Semitic language, Lahmu was present in Sumerian sources in pre- Sargonic times already. Iconography and character Laḫmu is depicted as a bearded man wearing a red garment (''tillû'') Some texts mention a spade as the attribute of Lahmu. The artistic representations are sometimes called "naked heroes" in literature. Lahmu were associated with water. They were generally believed to be servants of Enki/Ea (and later on of his son Marduk as well), and were described as the doorkeepers of his temple in Eridu and possibly as the "guardians of the sea" known from some versions of the '' Atra-Hasis''. Some texts list as many as 50 Lahmu in such roles. It's possible they were initially river spirits believed to take care of domestic and wild animals. Apotropaic creatures such as Lahmu weren't regarded as demonic; they protected the household from demon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Enki
Enki ( ) is the Sumerian god of water, knowledge ('' gestú''), crafts (''gašam''), and creation (''nudimmud''), and one of the Anunnaki. He was later known as Ea () or Ae p. 324, note 27. in Akkadian (Assyrian-Babylonian) religion, and is identified by some scholars with Ia in Canaanite religion. The name was rendered Aos within Greek sources (e.g. Damascius). He was originally the patron god of the city of Eridu, but later the influence of his cult spread throughout Mesopotamia and to the Canaanites, Hittites and Hurrians. He was associated with the southern band of constellations called ''stars of Ea'', but also with the constellation AŠ-IKU, ''the Field'' ( Square of Pegasus). Beginning around the second millennium BCE, he was sometimes referred to in writing by the numeric ideogram for "40", occasionally referred to as his "sacred number". The planet Mercury, associated with Babylonian '' Nabu'' (the son of Marduk) was, in Sumerian times, identified with En ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lahamu
Lahamu ( , d la-ḫa-mu) was a minor figure in some variants of Mesopotamian cosmology, the feminine counterpart of Lahmu. In some god lists she was one of the ancestors of Anu. In Enuma Elish she is the first-born daughter of Tiamat and Abzu. With her brother Lahmu she is the mother of Anshar and Kishar In the Babylonian epic Enuma Elish, Kishar () is the daughter of Abzu and Lahmu, the first children of Tiamat In Mesopotamian religion, Tiamat ( or , ) is the primordial sea, mating with Abzû (Apsu), the groundwater, to produce the ..., who were in turn parents of the first gods. 19th and early 20th century researchers incorrectly viewed both Lahmu and Lahamu as the representations of the zodiac, parent-stars, or constellations. References Sources * Michael Jordan, ''Encyclopedia of Gods'', Kyle Cathie Limited, 2002 Mesopotamian goddesses Offspring of Tiamat Characters in the Enūma Eliš {{MEast-myth-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tablet Of Destinies (mythic Item)
In Mesopotamian mythology, the Tablet of Destinies ( ; ) was envisaged as a clay tablet inscribed with cuneiform writing, also impressed with cylinder seals, which, as a permanent legal document, conferred upon the god Enlil his supreme authority as ruler of the universe. His aptitude as the greatest god gives him power over the other gods; only he has the ability to transform present circumstances back into their original state – redefining the course of fate. It is a major literary motif in ancient Sumerian myths including ''Ninurta and the Turtle'', and in Akkadian myths including '' Enuma Elish''. Other mentions In the Sumerian poem '' Ninurta and the Turtle'' it is the god Enki, rather than Enlil, who holds the Tablet; it therefore resides with Enki in the Abzu (the primeval sea below the void space of the underworld (Kur) and the earth ( Ma) above). Both this poem and the Akkadian Anzû poem concern the theft of the tablet by the bird Imdugud (Sumerian) or Anzû (A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thalassa
Thalassa (; ; Attic Greek: , ''thálatta'') was the general word for 'sea' and for its divine female personification in Greek mythology. The word may have been of Pre-Greek origin and connected to the name of the Mesopotamian primordial sea goddess Tiamat. Mythology According to a scholion on Apollonius of Rhodes, the fifth-century BC poet Ion of Chios had Thalassa as the mother of Aegaeon (Briareus, one of the Hecatoncheires). Diodorus Siculus ( 1st century BC), in his ''Bibliotheca historica'', states that "Thalatta" is the mother of the Telchines and the sea-nymph Halia, while in the '' Orphic Hymn to the Sea'', Tethys, who is here equated with Thalassa, is called the mother of Kypris (Aphrodite). The Roman mythographer Hyginus (c. 64 BC – AD 17), in the preface to his ''Fabulae'', calls Mare (Sea, another name for Thalassa) the daughter of Aether and Dies (Day), and thus the sister of Terra (Earth) and Caelus (Sky). With her male counterpart Pontus, she spawns ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tehom
Tehom ( ''təhôm'') is a Northwest Semitic and Biblical Hebrew word meaning "the deep" or "abyss" (literally "the deeps"). It is used to describe the primeval ocean and the post- creation waters of the earth. It is a cognate of the Akkadian words '' tiāmtum'' and ''tâmtum'' as well as Ugaritic '' t-h-m'' which have similar meanings. According to a theological dictionary, ''tehom'' derives from a Semitic root which denoted the sea as a non-personified entity with mythological import. Genesis Tehom is mentioned in Genesis 1:2, where it is translated as "deep": The same word is used for the origin of Noah's flood in : Gnosticism Gnostics used Genesis 1:2 to propose that the original creator deity, called the Pléroma "Totality" or Bythós "Deep" preexisted Elohim and gave rise to such later divinities and spirits by way of emanations, progressively more distant and removed from the original form. In Mandaean cosmology, the Sea of Suf is a primordial sea in the World ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mesopotamian Religion
Ancient Mesopotamian religion encompasses the Religion, religious beliefs (concerning the gods, Ancient near eastern cosmology, creation and the cosmos, the origin of man, and so forth) and practices of the civilizations of ancient Mesopotamia, particularly Sumer, Akkadian Empire, Akkad, Assyria and Babylonia between circa 6000 BC and 500 AD. The religious development of Mesopotamia and Mesopotamian culture in general, especially in the south, were not particularly influenced by the movements of the various peoples into and throughout the general area of West Asia. Rather, Mesopotamian religion was a consistent and coherent tradition, which adapted to the internal needs of its adherents over millennia of development. The earliest undercurrents of Mesopotamian religious thought are believed to have developed in Mesopotamia in the 6th millennium BC, coinciding with when the region began to be permanently settled with urban centres. The earliest evidence of Mesopotamian religion dat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Berossus
Berossus () or Berosus (; ; possibly derived from ) was an early-3rd-century BCE Hellenistic civilization, Hellenistic-era Babylonia, Babylonian writer, priest of Bel (mythology) , Bel Marduk, and Babylonian astronomy, astronomer who wrote in the Koine Greek language. His original works, including the ''Babyloniaca (Berossus), Babyloniaca'' (, are Lost literary work, lost, but Literary fragment, fragments survive in some quotations, largely in the writings of the fourth-century CE Early Christianity, early Christian writer Eusebius. Berossus has recently been identified with Bēl-reʾû-šunu, a high priest of the Esagila, Esagila Temple in the city of Babylon, as mentioned in a document from 258 BCE. Name The name "Berossus" likely originates from a theophoric name whose first component was Bel (mythology), Bel, meaning "Lord," which was a common title for Marduk. The original name was either either Bēl-rē’ûšunu, meaning "the god Bel is their shepherd," or Bēl- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
