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Myths of Antiquity Types of Gods Most Myths Revolved Around the Origins and Purposes of the Numerous Deities

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Myths of Antiquity Types of Gods Most Myths Revolved Around the Origins and Purposes of the Numerous Deities CHAPTER EIGHT HAT A PUZZLE. Far from wallow Myths of ing in irrationality and supersti Wtion, a host of ancient societies basked in refined splendour, holding to prin- ciples that western societies today praise un- antiquity stintingly. Take the social role of women, for in- stance. In many ways women fared better in Babylon than they did in nineteenth-centu- ry Europe. They had citizenship and legal rights quite independently of their hus- bands, and some even rose to be judges. They kept control over their own money and could own slaves and run businesses in their own right (ed. Brown 1977, p. 12). whelming, its content hopelessly confusing. Far from suffering under the curse of gro- Brains turn to mush just trying to pronounce tesque ignorance, many civilisations dis- the names of the gods, let alone trying to played an insatiable appetite for wisdom and remember them — they numbered in the knowledge. Tablets uncovered at sites in thousands. One could spend many lifetimes ancient Sumeria contain important materi- studying the confused jumble of ever-chang- al relating to such scientific topics as astron- ing gods, goddesses, and their helpers. omy, mathematics, geography, pharmacy, For convenience’s sake, a number of dif- and medicine, “demonstrating clearly how ferent systems have been devised for classi- advanced Sumerian culture actually was” fying them into tangible categories. One (Harrison 1970, p. 9). author slots myths into the following pigeon- Archaeologists never cease to be amazed holes: ritual myths, myths of origin, cult by what they unearth from the dust and myths, prestige myths, and eschatological debris of bygone ages. Their findings contin- myths (Hooke 1963, Introduction). Others ually bowl over stereotypical images we hold do it differently, but the point is obvious — about the hillbilly-like, backwoods mentali- in spite of great variation in details, certain ty of men and women of antiquity. motifs repeat regularly. We will note just But you won’t believe the things those three main motifs — origin, flood and dying- same men and women seem to have be- rising gods. lieved. In spite of high sophistication, throbbing economies, and advanced knowledge, they One could spend many lifetimes embraced a bizarre body of stories whose heroes consisted of nothing less than living studying the confused jumble of gods (deities). In this chapter we’ll survey ever-changing gods, goddesses the content and origin of early myth, while ,and their helpers in the next we’ll consider the much more tricky question of the role played by myth in the worldview of ancient man. Myths of origin Myths of origin (sometimes called cosmog- The universe, gods, and man onic myths or aetiological myths) describe The sheer volume of early folklore is over- the origin of the heavens, the earth, and liv- Jacob’s multi-coloured dream goats Page 37 ing things, including man. Practically every ed man to take on all the menial tasks, par- people, ancient and modern, has its own ticularly to provide food for the lazy gods. version of how we got here. The motif of rivalry between older and The best known is the Babylonian “Enu- younger gods seen in this story is a very ma Elish”, found on seven tablets dug up common theme in ancient mythologies. from the library of cruel king Ashurbanipal in Nineveh, who died in 627 BC. Most mod- Flood myths ern scholars, rightly or wrongly, date its Many are aware that the myth of a world- composition to about the beginning of the wide flood was widespread in the past. second millennium, right around the time of Some view this as evidence that the biblical Abraham. flood really did occur, thus explaining the When time began, it tells us, only salt prevalence of the myth. Others argue the water and fresh water oceans existed. These opposite, using the same evidence to dis- oceans were both gods, named Apsu and credit the biblical account by suggesting that Tiamat. These two gods gave birth to two Moses was merely parroting early tradition. children who in turn gave birth to more, Those who compare the biblical account each becoming both a god and a material with myths of neighbouring nations will object, boosting the inventory of the world easily recognise that a vast gulf separates the as we know it. One god child was the rivers, measured, detailed, biblical account from another the sky, and so forth. But these var- the patent fictitiousness encrusting other ious elements of the world were not organ- flood legends. ised. That came later. As some of these children become rowdy, Dying-rising god myths Apsu decided to destroy them. But the For a long time C.S. Lewis rejected Christian- younger gods heard of the plan, and one of ity on the grounds that the biblical account them, Ea, launched a surprise assault. He of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ cast a deep sleep on Apsu and slew him. Ea was not a new idea, but merely a rehashing then built a sacred chamber and in it gave of the extremely common ancient mythical birth to Marduk. theme of a dying and rising god. His conver- Meanwhile, some of the older younger sion occurred when he recognised a vital gods chided Tiamat for letting her husband point. He puts it this way: be killed, and stirred her up to take revenge … if I met the idea of sacrifice in a Pagan on the younger ones. She appointed one of story I didn’t mind it at all: again… if I met her children to lead in annihilating her the idea of a god sacrificing himself to him- great… grandchildren, and then she begat a self… I liked it very much and was myste- horde of monstrous creatures such as the riously moved by it: again… the idea of the centaur and scorpion-man whom she placed dying and reviving god (Balder, Adonis, at his disposal for the imminent battle. Bacchus) similarly moved me provided I The younger gods again heard of the new- met it anywhere except in the Gospels… er plan, and decided to assign young Mar- Now the story of Christ is simply a true duk to defeat his great, great… grandmoth- myth: a myth working on us in the same er. Marduk armed himself with bow and way as the others, but with this tremen- dous difference that it really happened arrows, mace, lightning, and a net. He filled (Lewis, p. 7). his body with flame, advanced on Tiamat, and challenged her to combat. He prevailed What was Lewis referring to? In the my- decisively, assumed supreme authority thologies of various ancient peoples, many among the gods, then proceeded to split scholars identify “the dying and reviving Tiamat’s body into two, with one half fash- god” myth. They note Tammuz (Dumuzi), ioning the sky. Osiris and Adonis as the specific instances, With a large part of a critical tablet miss- “who allegedly suffered an annual passion ing, nobody knows all the succeeding acts of and resurrection, or slept in the nether world Marduk. Evidently he then created a calen- during the dry summer, to wake with the dar and set the planet Jupiter in charge of return of vegetation” (ed. Buttrick, vol. 3, the heavenly order, thereby organising the p. 483). See the sidebar on page 35 for more universe. detail on this theme. He then took the leader of Tiamat’s army, Kingu, slew him and, from his blood, creat- Page 38 8: Myths of antiquity Types of gods Most myths revolved around the origins and purposes of the numerous deities. Analysis of ancient mythical pantheons yields three fundamental kinds of deity: local gods, cos- mic gods and functional gods (ed. Buttrick, vol. 2, p. 57). However, the lines between them often became quite fuzzy, particular- ly in Egypt, and over the centuries two or three separate gods of different kinds could, and often did, merge into one super god. Local gods, sometimes called “totems”, Hittite king worshipping bull, as symbol of the were those that supposedly looked after the Weather-god. From Alaja Hüyük. citizens of a particular locale. A fascinating biblical example of this belief, found in 2 Kings 17:24-28, makes great reading. In Egypt, the Nile was of such importance to some societies these gods took the form of human livelihood that it was worshipped. animals, such as the Egyptian crocodile god, In Sumeria, cosmic gods could also func- Sobek, that resided in the Faiyum area. tion as household deities. If great good for- The same concept, taken to an extreme, tune struck at the same time as some major even produced household gods, whose func- natural phenomenon, then the god of that tion was to protect the members of the phenomenon (a cosmic god) became the household. One biblical character, Micah household cult god (Wright, p. 358). If good (Judges 17:5), had a “house of gods”, indi- fortune smiled on a thundery day, then the cating either he had lots of them for securi- god of thunder was adopted into the house- ty’s sake, or he had a shrine. The well- hold. known biblical “teraphim” may fit into the Even the cosmic gods were sometimes category of household gods. Rachel stole her represented by animal symbols, rather than father’s teraphim when she moved away by the object or phenomenon they suppos- from home, possibly hoping that they would edly controlled. The Hittites worshipped the provide her with protection on the journey. weather-god not in the form of a cloud, or The local deity usually reflected the main rain, as one might expect, but in the form of source of wealth in the area.
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