{DOWNLOAD} Inanna: Queen of Heaven and Earth

INANNA: QUEEN OF HEAVEN AND EARTH - HER STORIES AND HYMNS FROM SUMMER PDF, EPUB, EBOOK

During these times we are given the opportunity to plumb the depths of our relationships, finish unfinished business, release the past and renew our capacity for love. Our capacity to love and our relationships with one another mature in synch with this cycle. The story of Inanna 1. Inanna has plucked a single tree from the chaotic floodwaters which mark the beginning of times. Day and night she cares for it, in a lonely vigil, longing for her consort and her throne. Inanna duly becomes Queen, but only after she has received her spiritual heritage from her father in the form of qualities needed to fulfil her role. She also has to stand firm against her father when he tried to take back his gift to her. Eventually Inanna is introduced to Dumuzi, the humble young shepherd who will be her husband. At first she rejects him, but relents as he proudly pleads his own case. There follows an ecstatic union of the young Queen and the shepherd, who thus becomes god-king and takes the throne beside her. The Descent. Inanna departs for the Underworld to witness the funeral rites for Gugulanna, the 'Bull of Heaven', the husband of her sister, Erishkigel. This is poignant enactment of the phase in any relationship when the grief of the loss of the ideal sets in after the first flush of union. Or when we are processing a painful ending of a relationship, whether through death, estrangement or mutual decision. Inanna is stopped at each one of the seven gates leading to Erishkigel's abode, and must surrender the symbols of her worldly power. Although she protests, she also surrenders. Here is the Gemini story — of two-ness, of meeting the shadow, of the impossibility of sustaining the first flush of ideal union. Our worldly accomplishments are a hindrance on this inner journey and our attachment to them must be relinquished. At the base chakra, the root, lies our deepest sense of despair, for here resides the densest illusion of our spiritual isolation, and all our incomplete grieving. It is the place of inconsolability, where we hold to familiar grief rather than release ourselves into the Void of Unknowing. Erishkigel fixes her 'Eye of Death' on Inanna. She is killed and hung on a peg to rot. Meanwhile, Inanna has taken the precaution of asking her maidservant to send help if she does not return. The alarm is raised. Enki, the god of Wisdom and the Waters comes to her aid, with little creatures made from the dirt under his finger-nails. They slip unnoticed into the Underworld and approach Erishkigel, to witness and echo her groaning and her lamentations, affirming her suffering. The call and response of their compassion eventually softens her heart, and she offers them a gift in exchange for their kindness. Immediately, they request the body of Inanna, upon which they sprinkle the waters of life. And behold - Inanna lives again! Return and redemption. As Inanna prepares to leave the Underworld, she is stopped by the Judges of the Underworld, and told that in order to be free to continue her life in the upper world, she must send a substitute. She exits surrounded by a cloud of demons, looking around in wild horror. Who shall she condemn to the Underworld? Her children? Her faithful maidservant? She cannot. Then she sees her former consort Dumuzi occupying the throne which he had gained through their union. He has been oblivious to her suffering. Inanna then fixes her 'Eye of Death' on him. Dumuzi flees into the desert, but eventually the demons catch up with him and he succumbs to his fate. Dumuzi is no more. A great wail goes up as Inanna mourns the loss of her husband by her own doing. Then Inanna sees Dumuzi's sister, beside herself with grief, and her heart is touched. She may not reverse her choice, but she decrees that although Dumuzi will spend half the year in the Underworld, he may return to Earth for the remaining half. The cycle of destruction is broken, vengeance is tamed and forgiveness can begin. PDF Kindle. Anti-Semitism In America; V. Geoffroy Et Mongin. Basilius Von Caesarea. Briefe Zweiter Teil. Beatus Liebanensis: Tractatus De Apocalipsin. Bible De Jerusalem. Banker ePub. Vierte Ausgabe. PDF complete. Christian Mysticism: Transcending Techniques. Christiana Respublica ePub. PDF Online. Creemos Porque Amamos ePub. Das System Des Vedanta. De Nacimiento En Nacimiento ePub. Decretales D. Felipe Pablo Merz. Und 4. Handworterbuch Fur Theologie Und Religionswissenschaft. Auflage PDF Download. Dieu A Parle. But if he were vegetation God this could be accepted as all knew the Vegetation God died each year. Also how could their deities allow all vegetable life to be decimated in the hot, summer months? Well, the myth explains that they must merely wait for the Gods return and reunion with his Goddess, then life will again flourish. There are other reasons why Dumuzi descends to the Underworld. Otherwise, one can become obsessed with power, riches and glory. This ancient myth is indeed a myth for our times, as it reminds us of the consequences, now being played out, of focusing on material wealth, without sufficient reverence for the finite resources of the natural world. Inanna- Queen Of Heaven And Earth: Her Stories And Hymns From Sumer PDF Online Free - afeOtto

More hymns and prayers, poems and stories of Inanna have been discovered than of any other Sumerian deity. Like many fertility Goddesses, Inanna was constantly in cycle like the moon, the seasons and nature. She began the year as a young woman, matured into ripe woman, married, then grew into the crone or wise woman, to be reborn a young woman with the New Year. In ancient times the high priestesses would perform this myth cycle over seven days and nights, including mating with the King to establish his virility, earn his Divine Right of Kingship from the Goddess and ensure the fertility the land. For the first thousand years of their civilisation, the Sumerians were farmers and so each year at the sacred rite, Inanna mated with and married the King, who was a farmer. Then came the Akkadians, the northern invaders, who were shepherds with different ways. So the myth changed and Inanna began marrying the shepherd Dumuzi, who usurped the farmer. However Dumuzi retained some functions of the vegetation God who died and was reborn each year, as a reflection of the cycles of nature. But if he were vegetation God this could be accepted as all knew the Vegetation God died each year. Enki spoke to holy Inana : "In the name of my power, in the name of my abzu , I will establish Inana speaks: "Why has this one now entered here? May the citizens of your city, Inana , the citizens of Unug , live! And as for you, Enki -- may Inanna placed the shugurra , the crown of the steppe, on her head. She went to the sheepfold, to the shepherd. She leaned back against the apple tree. When she leaned against the apple tree, her vulva was wondrous to behold. Rejoicing at her wondrous vulva, the young woman Inanna celebrated herself. She decided to make a journey. I shall go to the Abzu, the sacred place in Eridu. I shall honor Enki, the God of Wisdom, in Eridu. I shall utter a prayer to Enki at the deep sweet waters. Pour cold water to refresh her heart. Offer her beer before the statue of the lion. Treat her like an equal. Greet Inanna at the holy table, the table of heaven. Could it be the one taken from Inanna at a gate of the underworld? Mesopotamian cylinder seal. Around BCE. Beaulieu, after Wolkstein and Kramer Man in net skirt Dumuzi? Inanna's standards "gateposts" that frame the image suggest that the event is happening inside her temple grounds. About BCE. A bearded male figure wears a round cap and a skirt with netlike pattern. Clasped to his chest are two curving branches ending in rosette-flowers. These rosette symbols of Inanna are nibbled by maned sheep, literally portraying the nourishment of the flocks ensured by the union of the goddess and her consort. The emblems of Inanna that flank the scene suggest that it is taking place within the sacred precinct of her temple. Isimud heeded Enki's words. He poured cold water for her to drink. He offered her beer before the statue of the lion. He treated her respectfully. He greeted Inanna at the holy table, the table of heaven. Enki and Inanna drank beer together. They drank more beer together. They drank more and more beer together. A sick or dying man lies beneath a reed hut. Attendant figures, perhaps exorcist priests, lean above him and kneel at the head of his bed. Sacred dogs of Gula, the Goddess of Healing, leap about the exterior of the hut. Enki: " In the name of my power! In the name of my holy shrine! The noble, enduring crown! The throne of kingship! Enki: "In the name of my power! To my daughter Inanna I shall give Truth! Descent into the underworld! Ascent from the underworld! The art of lovemaking! The kissing of the phallus! The setting up of lamentations! The rejoicing of the heart! The giving of judgments! The making of decisions! Fourteen times Inanna accepted the holy me. Enki, still reeling from drink, gave Inanna his blessing as she went. It is my wish that she reach her city -- safely. Her bird-clawed feet rest in a place, likely the underworld, inhabited by strange and demonic creatures. Some think her to be Lilith, but the crown shows her to be a great goddess, almost certainly Inanna. Inanna gathered all the me. The me were placed on the Boat of Heaven. The Boat of Heaven, with the holy me , was pushed off from the quay. The eyes of the King of the Abzu searched Eridu. King Enki looked about Eridu and called to Isimud. The noble enduring crown? Where are they? Enki: "The art of the hero? The art of power? The power of attention? The making of decisions? My king has given all the me to his daughter Inanna. Enkum -creatures come running out of the Circle and surround Inanna and Ninshubur. He has violated his pledge -- broken his promise! Come Ninshubur, save the Boat of Heaven with the holy me! Ninshubur slices the air with her hand. She utters an "earth-shattering cry". The enkum -creatures run away. Enki sent Isimud a second time to take the me back from Inanna. Enki: "Go! Uru -giants come running out of the Circle and surround Inanna and Ninshubur. She gives a cry. The uru -giants run away. Enki sent Isimud a third time to take the me back from Inanna. Lahama -monsters come running out of the circle and circle around Inanna and Ninshubur. The lahama- sea monsters run away. Enki called to Isimud a final time. The Boat of Heaven docked at the house of Inanna. Then more me appeared — more me than Enki had given Inanna. Inanna: "I bring the placing of the garment on the ground. I bring allure. I bring the art of women. I bring the perfect execution of the me. I bring the tigi- and lilis- drums. I bring the ub-, the meze-, and the ala- tambourines. Then Enki spoke once more to Inanna. Let the me you have taken with you remain in the holy shrine of your city. Let the high priest spend his days at the holy shrine in song. Enki y Ningizzida. Goddess with multi-horned crown Inanna? Description: Berlin, Germany: Altes Museum: mummy mask of a woman with bracelets in form of snakes beginning of 1st century AD. T he mesopotamic interpretation of skies provides spyings to us of a Venus different from the planet of the love according to our habitual western interpretation. Soon, the God Attar evolved until being the Ishtar goddess, being the result a bisexual Venus; Ishtar, the star in the morning, is masculine, while Ishtar, the star of afternoon, is feminine. Commentary: This is clearly the beginning of the list, since Enlil, god of the town of Nippur, was the practical head of the pantheon at this time. The Sumerian, Babylonian and Assyrian religions had thousands of gods, hence extensive lists to keep track of them. No other copy of this particular list is so far known. Commentary: There are similarities to the Greek myth of Persephone who was abdicted to the underworld by Hades, and released to see her mother, Demeter. The text also has parallels to the passion and resurrection in the Gospels. Commentary: All incantation texts begin with an outline of some complaint, physical or psychic, experienced by somebody. There is then a magical part that usually has the priest going off to "consult" with Inanna or another god. Finally the text ends with the gods' revealed advice for action which will lead to the resolution of the problem. The incantation texts used by the priest were something he knew and would probably be the same in each case; so this rite was an unwritten part of all incantation texts. The present text is this rite, possibly written down to assist novice priests. The text is possibly unique. The site rises nearly 20 meters high and occupies about hectares. The city has a long history extending from the early sixth millennium Ubaid period to AD, with intermittent breaks in occupation. The site has produced over 30, cuneiform tablets that span a variety of genres and historical periods, and provide information about the cultic, economic, and administrative role of Nippur. From the earliest historical periods in Mesopotamia, Nippur occupied an important position because it was home to the god Enlil, the main deity of the Sumerian pantheon. Loftus all visited Nippur in the 19th century, but the first major excavations at the site lasted from to , under the University of Pennsylvania. This was the first American team to excavate in Mesopotamia, which had previously been dominated by French and English archaeologists. Hilprecht , J. Peters, and J. Haynes, focused on Tablet Hill and the southwest corner of the West Mound. They established the basic stratigraphy of the site and recovered tens of thousands of cuneiform documents, many of ended up in the newly founded University Museum in Philadelphia. In , D. In , R. Haines succeeded McCown, and remained director until Haines was followed by J. Knudstad, who exposed the Parthian Fortress. After a five-year hiatus, the new director of the Nippur Excavations, McG. Gibson, exposed new areas in the West Mound in order to concentrate on administrative and domestic history of Nippur, rather than its religious nature represented by the ziggurat complex and temples of the Religious Quarter. Work in all areas of the site continued for eighteen years until Though Nippur was never the seat of a king or a regional capital, the city held a special religious significance as the seat of the god Enlil. Akkadian kings dedicated gifts to Enlil and built monuments within the Ekur, the major temple of Nippur, as did the Ur III period BC kings, even as their kingdom fell into decline. During the Isin-Larsa period, rival kings continued to claim authority based on their possession of Nippur. Changing environmental conditions during the reign of Hammurapi probably altered the course of the Euphrates, and caused the abandonment of sites south of Nippur. Kassite Nippur was a cosmopolitan city, with important administrative and religious institutions. When Nippur was sacked by the Elamites at the end of the 13th century, the city began a second long decline. Records after this period are scarce until the middle of the 8th century, when Nippur was under Neo-Assyrian control. During this period Nippur was an important regional trade center surrounded by Chaldean and Aramaean semi-nomadic tribes. Tablet Hill is the findspot of the majority of the thousands of cuneiform documents that were recovered from the early Pennsylvania campaigns. Later campaigns undertook stratigraphic excavations in two trenches, extending from the latest Achaemenid levels to the Akkadian period. The result of these systematic excavations was the establishment of a standard ceramic chronology for the historical periods of lower Mesopotamia. More recent excavations of new trenches in Tablet Hill have refined the occupation history of Nippur, and helped to define the period of abandonment between the Old Babylonian and the Late Kassite periods c. Within the Ekur, the Enlil Temple lies on the southeast side of the ziggurat which was founded by Ur-Nammu around BC, and successively rebuilt by kings in later periods. The main temple to Enlil probably sat on top of the ziggurat itself, and the excavators concluded that the temple southwest of the ziggurat was a kitchen temple, used primarily to prepare offerings that would have been presented to the god in the main temple atop the ziggurat. In the first and second centuries AD, a fortress was built on top of the ziggurat. The last of the three phases of the fortress included four iwans, large vaulted halls open on one side. At the northernmost tip of the Eastern Mound, excavators found a temple that had been in continuous use from the Early Dynastic I period BC and possibly earlier to the Akkadian period. The plan is similar to other Early Dynastic temples from the Diyala region, with a courtyard, food preparation rooms, and a long shrine with benches, offering tables, and an altar. After the Akkadian period, the building was no longer used for religious functions. Over twenty successive occupation levels continue through the late Parthian period 2nd century AD , and constitute the longest continuous archaeological sequence in Mesopotamia. The earliest Middle Uruk levels consist of large houses with a possible religious structure nearby. Analysis of the area during the following Jemdet Nasr BC period resulted in the identification of that period as a distinct phase in the history of Mesopotamia, rather than a subphase of the Uruk period as it had previously been understood. Although the exact nature of the transformation of this area from a private domestic area to a religious area is unclear, the first temple structure appears in the later part of the Early Dynastic I period. This first Early Dynastic temple was a large building with altars, plastered floors and walls. This building was followed by a temple with two shrines; one shrine was constructed according to the traditional Sumerian bent-axis plan, in which a visitor had to make a 90 degree turn from the entrance way to face the altar; the other shrine followed a straight axis plan, with the entrance way located directly opposite the altar. The shrines were situated within a larger complex of courtyards and industrial workshops with fireplaces. From the Early Dynastic temple levels came several sculptures, clay plaques with scenes carved in relief, sealings, and other craft objects. Analysis of the Early Dynastic levels of The Inanna Temple led to crucial reanalysis of Early Dynastic chronology in southern Mesopotamia, which did not correspond to the sequence identified from earlier excavations in the Diyala region to the north. The Inanna temple continued to be used in the Isin-Larsa, Kassite, and Neo- Assyrian BC periods, but construction of the Parthian temple damaged these earlier levels. The fact that the Parthian temple followed the same general plan as the first Early Dynastic temple clearly illustrates the strength of the religious tradition associated wtih Nippur, and the continuity of sacred space and architecture there. In the early 's excavators concentrated heavily on the West Mound. Finds in the Neo-Babylonian temple, including an inscription, dog figurines, and other figurines, indicate that this was the Temple of Gula , a healing goddess, or possibly the Temple of Gula and Ninurta , her husband. Zettler , 11 notes that both Westenholz , and Gibson , 15 locate the Ninurta temple on the West Mound rather than north of the Inanna temple on the East Mound as originally suggested by Zettler , It remains unclear, however, whether or not the temple of Ninurta from the Ur III period as attested in one of Shulgi 's year names can be associated with the Neo-Babylonian temple of Gula. In Area WB, where 19th century excavations had found tablets from the Kassite period, excavators found evidence of occupation from the Old Babylonian period to the Neo-Assyrian period. The lowest levels had Old Babylonian private houses with texts recording economic transactions and baking activities. These houses were suddenly abandoned at the end of the Old Babylonian period. In a later pit, an archive dating to the 8th and 7th centuries BC was found inside a jar. The Assyrian governor's archive fills a substantial textual gap for that period. In area WC, at the southwestern corner of the site, evidence for the city wall matches the wall depicted on a map of Nippur inscribed on a clay tablet in BC. The city wall in the western part of the city was constructed in several phases, beginning in the Ur III period. In the east, the city wall may have been constructed as early as the Early Dynastic I period, and the city would not have extended west beyond the Shatt en-Nil. During the Kassite period, large houses stood in area WC, and in the 6th-7th centuries BC, a new city wall and new houses were built there, including one large building that may have served a commercial function. This sequence has helped to refine the understanding of the transition from the Early Dynastic to the Akkadian periods. Inanna, whom we may also identify with Ishtar , Ashtoreth, Aphrodite, Astarte, to a certain extent Asherah, and Oestre, Ostara, the sea goddess Mari, or Miriam and many others, is the evening star, the Sumerian Queen of Heaven. She was the creatrix, the mother of all men. She was Queen of Heaven astronomically as well as theologically. She was horned, and was brought up out of the foam by water-gods, like Aphrodite, thus explaining her close connection with Mari goddess of the sea. Her journey to the earth and then to the underworld cements relationship between the shepherd kings and hieratic planter queens which formed the basis of the flowering of the cities of Sumer from B. Several authors, including Barbara Walker and William Irwin Thompson comment that the Sumerian era now represents the fall of the Great Goddess to the phallic onslaught of the male Godhead represented by the trinity An, Enki and Nannar who may have been introduced by the first Indo-Aryan incursions, and that the order of reproductive power has changed to that of erotic power to become the Goddess of live and battle and of the seasonal abundance and regress. Although male gods, such as Enki certainly have have entered the pantheon, the young Goddess is nevertheless mighty and resurgent with her youthful power:. The seasonal cycle of the goddess is represented unabated in the passage from new life in the burgeoning fertility period and death in the lean season. The first phase is the ritual marriage of Inanna to the shepherd king Dumuzi in the hieros gamos, the high point of the Sumerian sacred cycle. Dumuzu the Shepherd King is actually mentioned as the fifth king on the king lists of Sumer. He is also referred to as Dumuzzi-Absu of the abyss, god of freshets and running waters. He is also the heavenly shepherd of the stars. Dumuzi at first has to pursuade Inanna to marry a shepherd king. She is also encouraged by her mother Ningal, the Moon Goddess of Ur. The encounter then runs hot with the young Inanna's passion for young shepherd king Dumuzzi and their consummation, and with the echoing fullness of pastoral fecundity. It is the very love song of creation, which fills the earth with the burgeoning splendour of life. The onset of the lean season after the harvest, however brings out the fierce dark side of the goddess of death and destruction. It is celebrated by the entry of Inanna to the underworld, where she dances the dance of the seven veils as her worldly attire and then her life is reduced to nought. Inanna decides to experience the dark side her elder sister Ereshkigal knows as Queen of the Underworld in the death rites of the Sacred Bull of Heaven, Gugalanna, thus disguising her formal purpose of discovery in the formal act of witnessing the death rites of another. Returning from the underworld, accompanied by demons who must have a mortal in compensation, she fixes the eye of death on her absent- minded partner who is engrossed in affairs of state, and he is chased by the demons of hell, losing his possessions, his genitals and his life. Inanna afterwards laments her actions and searches for him and ensures his resurrection so that he can be brought back for six months of the year to ensure the fertility of both the womb and the soil. Seasonal male sacrifice of the "king" reverberates through the goddesses from Greece to India and over much of Africa including Cybele, Hecate and Kali. In the Sumerian view, the purpose of human life was merely to provide sustenance for the deities. Neither Enlil nor Inanna's father Nannar, the Moon God of Ur, will help her because she has craved the below, and because those who choose the underworld do not return. Ninshubur succeeds in getting Enki to secure her release:. Inanna and Dumuzzi's sister Geshtinanna go searching to the edges of the steppe for Dumuzzi. Dumuzzi is finally given a partial reprieve, of tragic irony for his sacred kings. He is allowed back in the full season, while his sister Geshtinana, playing a role like unto Persephone, takes his place. This means that Dumuzzi's death and resurrection become instituted ritual - as the renowned "women weeping for Tammuz" in the Old Testament, as well as those of Ta'uz at Harran make clear. They weep and lament. The king dies. They grind his bones in the mill and scatter them to the winds. Such an idea of deity is consistent with an inheritance down the female line in which kings held power only by virtue of their association with a continuing female line, which is thus immortal both by childbirth and by genealogy, while the male remains transient and mortal likewise on both counts Traditions of transient sacred kingships interrupted by human sacrifice are an exprassion of this motif. The same dying male vegetation god theme is common to Tammuz, Osiris , Adonis , Attis , Shiva and even Dionysus , who from very early times have been worshipped in magical rites designed to ensure the clement passage of the seasons, the return of fertilizing rains, and the verdant growth of spring. In their death and resurrection was believed to be the mystic catharsis for the decay and revival of the life and fertility upon which food and the welfare of whole societies depended. Osiris is either shut in his coffin or felled by the river and drowned. Adonis is gored, Attis is persuaded to castrate himself and bleeds to death, Dionysus is torn to pieces and Virbus is dragged to his death. Frequently this death is precipitated by the conflict between the twin aspects of the goddess of life and death, sometimes in the form of a jealousy or slight. The rites of Tammuz and Dionysus, who later evolved in myth into a paternal deity, both appear to have originated from exclusive womens' mystery cults Briffault v3 The flesh of Mot was similarly torn asunder in Canaanite myth once every seven years in a way which is closely linked to the crucifixion. Anath calls to Shapash the sun goddess for the victor Ba'al to kill Mot and reprieve the lean season. Ba'al smites the sons of Athirat. All the grain gods were ritually ground up. Osiris was scattered over all Egypt. The lament is not just the lament for the dying Autumn but it is the lament of the grinding of the corn of the reaper. The sacrificial cycle caused some herioc kings in history to refuse the advances of the Goddess. She offers Gilgamesh her hand in marriage. In refusing the marriage, Gilgamesh repels Ishtar's offer with a mix of contempt and apprehension. Allala the spotted sparrow hawk, thou lovest him, afterwards thou didst strike him and break his wing: he continues in the wood and cries 'O my wings! Thou lovest also a stallion magnificent in battle; thou didst devote him to death by the goad and the whip; thou didst compel him to gallop for ten leagues, thou didst devote him to exhaustion and thirst. Thou didst love Ishullanu thy fathers gardener, who ceaselessly brought thee presents of fruit and decorated every day thy table Thou lovest me now, afterwards thou wilt strike me as thou didst these". The Dawn of Civilization He subsequently has to protect Uruk from the vengeful ravages of the Bull of Heaven she sends in vengeance. This myth was enacted in Babylon annually, but the Temples of Ishtar remained. Women had rights of divorce and had to prostitute themselves in the temple once during their lives. Theseus similarly rejects Ariadne, resulting in the death of his father because he forgets to remove the black sails signalling his own death on his return to Athens, and also the downfall of the Cretan Goddess, despite becoming the celestial betrothed of none less than Dionysus. Greek myth reverberates with the overthrow of the Goddess from her earlier position of relative power. The king was either regularly sacrificed after a fixed term of say seven years, or might live on as long as his fertility lasted, as in Israel with David. The sacred king of Nemi lived only so long as no other male could take him inmortal combat, upon snapping the sacred branch. Barbara Walker points notes that Kingship throughout Mesopotamia was realized only through hieros-gamos with the earthly representative o fthe Goddess. If she tired of the king's lovemaking, he could be deposed or killed, for the queen's sexual acceptance of him determined the fertility of the land. In many early societies the old king was killed by a new king, usually called a "son" although he was no blood relative. Barbara Walker perceptively comments: "Human or animal, the sacrificial victims of ancient cultures were almost invariably male. Worshippers of Shiva sacrificed only male animals; the god himself ordered that female animals must never be slain. The same was true even of human sacrifices, which were men, not women. The animals'blood and flesh, ingested by women, was thought to beget human offspring; and the rule was "Whatever is killed becomes father. As time went by, ritual substitutes were used who became king for a day and were then sacrificed, as was the case in Babylon. The chosen victim was a sacred king, identified with the real king in every possible way. He wore the king's robes, sat on the king's throne, lay with the royal concubines, wielded the scepter. After five days he was stripped, scourged, then hanged or impaled "between heaven and earth," in a prototype of the crucifixion ceremony later extended to sacred kings of the Jews. The object of scourging and piercing was to make the pseudo-king shed tears and blood for fertility magic. He ascended into heaven and united himself with the Heavenly Father, i. When ritual murder of kings or human king-surrogates came to be considered crude and uncivilized, then animal victims took their place. The Jews retained a custom of human sacrifice, for special occasions, longer than any other people in the sphere of influence of the Roman empire. Out of this tradition arose the figure of the dying Christos in Jerusalem. Adonis the Semitic god whose name was simply Lord, just as Yahweh was referred to as Adonai - Lord, was originally represented as Tammuz of Babylon and Dumuzzi of Sumeria who appears as Damuzi, a king of Eridu who reigned for years Briffault v3 99 , then as the youthful shepherd king who is the lover of the Inanna, Queen of Heaven, a divine icon of the mortal sacred king who was the temporary consort of the Goddess. As we see from the descent of Inanna, Dumuzzi was doomed to spend part of the year in the underworld as the dying god, doomed by the Goddess, "A tamarisk that in the garden has drunk no water A willow whose roots were torn up", who later regenerates to become again the adolescent lover, symbolic of male fertility in the spring season. Ezekiel "Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the LORD's house which was toward the north; and, behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz. His death was annually mourned to the shrill music of flutes, by men and women in the month of Tammuz. Dirges were chanted over an effigy of the dead god, which was washed with pure water, anointed with oil, and clad in a red robe, suffused with incense to wake him from the sleep of death. As a child beloved of Aphrodite, he was given to the charge of Persephone in a chest. But when Persephone opened the box and saw his beauty, she would not release him. Finally Zeus mediated his return to Aphrodite for part of the year. Both were great seats of the worship of Aphrodite as Astarte or in her sea aspect as Mari. Byblos has a history dating back as far as BC. The rites of Adonis were celebrated in the court of her temple surmounted by a great conical obelisk symbolic of the Goddess. The whole city was sacred to him and the river bore his name. This is the beautiful and in essence tragic theme of the marriage of the flower queen and Salmah the summer king in the Song of Songs Graves At the festivals of Adonis in Western Asia and the Greek Islands, the death of the god was annually mourned with bitter wailing, chiefly by women; images of him, dressed to resemble corpses, were carried out as to burial and then thrown in the seaor intl springs. His revival was sometimes celebrated next day. At Alexandria images of Aphrodite and Adonis were displayed on two couches; beside them were wet ripe fruits of all kinds, cakes, potted plants and green vines twined with anise. The marriage of the lovers was celebrated one day and the next women attired as mourners with streaming hair and bared breasts, bore the image of the dead Adonis to the sea-shore and committed it to the waves, singing that he would come back again. At Byblos he was mourned in the vernal discolouration of the river Adonis with red earth washed from his mythical goring on Mt. Lebanon to shrill wailing of the flute and weeping lamentation and beating of the breast. The next day was believed to come to life again and ascend to heaven in the presence of his worshippers. Spring and summer, not autumn, are the seasons for his festivals and likewise for the barley and wheat harvests in the Near East. Fig His link with vegetations is clear from his birth in a Myrrh tree, myrrh being traditionally used as incense at the festival, his descent to the underworld for a third of the year and the offerings of fruit, and plants in his festivals, the grinding of his bones and their scattering to the winds, as Mot in Canaan and Ta'uz at Harran Briffault v3 and his revival as reaped and sprouting grain, and in the gardens of Adonis, baskets or pots filled with earth in which wheat, barley, lettuces, fennel and various kinds of flowers were sown and tended for eight days, chiefly or exclusively by women. These shot up rapidly only to wilt and be flung at the end of eight days with his images into the water, thus also invoking the fertilizing rains. Byblos was ruled by sacred kings whose names such as that of Yehaw-melech or Yaveh-melech bear the same title melech king. Kings of Byblos and Tyre were often also priests of Astarte Frazer v5 26 , who were required to celebrate the hieros gamos with the Goddess to ensure the fertility of the land and flocks and verdant weather free of plague and pestilence Frazer v5 There is evidence of various forms of sacrifice associated with the dying and resurrected god. Melcarth of Tyre, identified by the Greeks with Hercules, was annually burned as an effigy, and originally in human sacrifice, on a great pyre and believed to ascend to heaven in a cloud and real of thunder, to be revived by a sacrificed quail Frazer v5 in the "Feast of the Resurrection" and is the source of the Phoenix Briffault v3 It is said in Ezekiel that the king of Tyre impersonated the god and that he walked on hot coals as a substitute for his own immolation: "Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Sacrificial immolation was a fate also shared by the Talmudic Abraham. In Thrace, Dionysus was similarly immolated in a great flame which presaged the quality of the coming harvest. In Florence a Christian fireworks festival on the Saturday before Easter is commemorated in the same way Briffault v3 Although this is much rarer than male sacrifice, it is recorded at Hierapolis, and in the legend of the death of Astarte at Aphaca that the goddess cast herself as a star falling into the water at the annual feast. Aphrodite likewise was said to cast herself from a promontory after the death of Adonis Smith Across the Mediterranean the mountains of Cyprus can bee seen distant from the shore, one days sail, and at Paphos was another seat of worship of Astarte and Adonis. The coinage shows doves with shrines showing pillars with horns, the cone and a star and crescent symbolic of the Queen of Heaven. The sanctuary is of great antiquity and may run back to the original Great Goddess. Holy stones were still anointed at the turn of the century in the name of the "Maid of Bethlehem", sometimes still referred to as Aphrodite, to remove the curse of barrennes or increase the virility Frazer v5 The cult of Astarte and Adonis took place under the auspices of the god of the new moon. It included the building of a Temple of Astarte, a procession through the streets of the city, singing and lighting a fire for the Queen of Heaven, sacrifice, baking bread for Astarte and cakes for the participants of the festival, shaving and the construction of pillars for Adonis. It was familiar to Jeremiah in Jerusalem The children collected wood, their fathers lit the fire for Astarte, the women made bread for the Queen of Heaven, they burned incense and offered libations, and they offered sacrifice and cut their hair in mourning. The ritual coincided with astral and seasonal phenomena and it purpose was to celebrate the simple satisfactions of life and to appease the power of evil and death. These strands of hair he trimmed as he entreated Astarte. Tamassos presented himself and made a complete offering, "May this rouse the weepers to look for their beloved". This passage is reminiscent of the Song of Songs and the offering of hair in fulfillment of the Nazirite vow, but its association with mourning for the dead was expressly forbidden by the Deuteronomic historian. The cult of Astarte included a complex of rites in which the dead were honoured to invoke the expectation of enduring life in succeeding generations. Peckam Similar rites were performed at Mari. The followers of Astarte have always been noted for their ceremonies for the dead and for the dying and resurrecting god of fertility, in which the hair was cut off. Women who refused to sacrifice their hair had to give themselves up to strangers on a certain day of the festival, and the money which they earned was devoted to the Goddess. This custom may have been the mitigation of an older rule which at Byblus as elsewhere formerly compelled every woman without exception to sacrifice her virtue in the service of religion. This substitution of hair applied also to the ritual prostitution required of each woman before marriage. Briffault v3 Micah goes further "Make thee bald, poll thee for the children of thy delight, enlarge thy baldness as an eagle. This is later repeated in Leviticus , and picturesquely in it is attributed to Moses himself "And the Lord said to Moses Robinson-Smith notes furthermore "Among the Hebrews and the Arabs, and indeed among many other peoples both ancient and modern, the laceration of the flesh in mourning is associated with the practice of shaving the head or cutting off part of the hair and depositing it on the tomb or funeral pyre. The Hebrews by contrast shaved the front part of the head only. The Hebrews shaved the fore part of their head in mourning; the Arabs of Herodotus habitually adopted the like tonsure of their god Orotal [Du Sara]. Mary Magdalen was reputed to have long tresses which she is likewise described as cutting in mourning. According to the Jewish midrash, Jesus mother's name was Mary M'gadd'la -the hairdresser, an unclean profession. Cuttings from dead people were often made into wigs by unscrupulous hairdressers. Briffault v3 notes the tension between Yahweh-Adonai and the Adonai who was Lord consort of the Canaanite Astarte. As the Hebrew shepherds settled in the lands around Canaan, they found their own race and their own religion modified by the effects of agricultural civilization. Their lunar deity was now eclipsed, taking a subservient role to the Queen of Heaven in the land of milk and honey - an abomination to their more conservative elements. It is notable that David, who donned the crown of Milcom God of the Ammonites chose the ancient city of Salem as his royal capital, stands as a sacred king in this ancient tradition. Story Tree Tales: The Descent of Inanna: A Myth for our Times

Christiana Respublica ePub. PDF Online. Creemos Porque Amamos ePub. Das System Des Vedanta. De Nacimiento En Nacimiento ePub. Decretales D. Felipe Pablo Merz. Und 4. Handworterbuch Fur Theologie Und Religionswissenschaft. Auflage PDF Download. Dieu A Parle. Dionis Chrysostomi, Pounds PDF. McCool PDF. Download Heinrich Totting Von Oyta. Palermitano D. Evangeliaire PDF complete. Ward Regan ePub. GroBe Vereinheitlichung. Hamur PDF Download. Handbuch Der Liturgik. Eine Theologische Asthetik. Histoire Des Origines Du Christianisme. Histoire Illustree Du Catholicisme 3vol. McNally PDF complete. Curci Sac. Imagine, A New Bible ePub. Thomas PDF Kindle. Informationes Theologiae Europae: V. Inizi Di Dottrina Fisica Institutiones Theologiae Moralis Variis Observationibus. Lander PDF complete. Nouvelle Editions. Read Altarbibel Nr. In all ways you are fit: To sit on your throne To wear the crown on your head To race on the road with the holy scepter in your hand To wear the holy sandals on your font To prance on the holy breast like a lapis calf. She took the matter into her heart and dwelt on it. The she spoke: 'Nett, my chief gatekeeper of the underworld, Bolt the seven gates of the underworld. Then, one by one, open each gate a crack. Let Inanna enter; As she enters, remove her royal garments. Let the Holy Priestess of Heaven enter bowed low. And was hung from a hook on the wall After three days and three nights when Inanna did not return, Ninshubur set up a lament Do not let the Holy Priestess of Heaven be put to death in the underworld. The palace is festive. The king is joyous. Dumuzi halls Inanna with the praises of the gods and the assembly: 'Holy Priestess! I sing your praises. The people of Sumer parade before the holy Inanna. Mighty, majestic, radiant, and ever youthful-- To you, Inanna, I sing.

ALL MESOPOTAMIA | Information, news, photos & videos about ancient Mesopotamia.

Well, the myth explains that they must merely wait for the Gods return and reunion with his Goddess, then life will again flourish. There are other reasons why Dumuzi descends to the Underworld. Otherwise, one can become obsessed with power, riches and glory. This ancient myth is indeed a myth for our times, as it reminds us of the consequences, now being played out, of focusing on material wealth, without sufficient reverence for the finite resources of the natural world. Email This BlogThis! Subscribe to: Posts Atom. Banker ePub. Vierte Ausgabe. PDF complete. Christian Mysticism: Transcending Techniques. Christiana Respublica ePub. PDF Online. Creemos Porque Amamos ePub. Das System Des Vedanta. De Nacimiento En Nacimiento ePub. Decretales D. Felipe Pablo Merz. Und 4. Handworterbuch Fur Theologie Und Religionswissenschaft. Auflage PDF Download. Dieu A Parle. Dionis Chrysostomi, Pounds PDF. McCool PDF. Download Heinrich Totting Von Oyta. Palermitano D. Evangeliaire PDF complete. Ward Regan ePub. The waters of the Euphrates nourished the tree A young woman walking by the banks of the river Plucked the tree from the water and said: 'I will take this tree to my city, Uruk I will plant this tree in my holy garden. She cared for the tree with her hand. She settled the earth around the tree with her foot. She wondered: 'How long will it be until I have a shining throne to sit upon? How long will it be until I have a shining bed to lie upon? With his hands he held her full vulva, He smoothed her black boat with cream. He quickened her narrow boat with milk, He caressed Inanna on the bed. Then she caressed the high priest on the bed, Inanna caressed the faithful shepherd Dumuzi, She caressed his loins, the shepherdship of the land, She decreed a sweet fate for him. In all ways you are fit: To sit on your throne To wear the crown on your head To race on the road with the holy scepter in your hand To wear the holy sandals on your font To prance on the holy breast like a lapis calf. https://files8.webydo.com/9591986/UploadedFiles/3DA8B473-486C-4257-9E40-1B116D90A76D.pdf https://static.s123-cdn-static.com/uploads/4640667/normal_601f53c2a479b.pdf https://static.s123-cdn-static.com/uploads/4642844/normal_601ef41e9dccd.pdf https://static.s123-cdn-static.com/uploads/4636942/normal_601f1f083b79d.pdf https://files8.webydo.com/9592628/UploadedFiles/814B57FE-D686-EE82-FF99-80B1DF8BABF6.pdf https://static.s123-cdn-static.com/uploads/4644355/normal_6020167d35045.pdf