Babylonian Prayers to Marduk
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Burn Your Way to Success Studies in the Mesopotamian Ritual And
Burn your way to success Studies in the Mesopotamian Ritual and Incantation Series Šurpu by Francis James Michael Simons A thesis submitted to the University of Birmingham for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Classics, Ancient History and Archaeology School of History and Cultures College of Arts and Law University of Birmingham March 2017 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. Abstract The ritual and incantation series Šurpu ‘Burning’ is one of the most important sources for understanding religious and magical practice in the ancient Near East. The purpose of the ritual was to rid a sufferer of a divine curse which had been inflicted due to personal misconduct. The series is composed chiefly of the text of the incantations recited during the ceremony. These are supplemented by brief ritual instructions as well as a ritual tablet which details the ceremony in full. This thesis offers a comprehensive and radical reconstruction of the entire text, demonstrating the existence of a large, and previously unsuspected, lacuna in the published version. In addition, a single tablet, tablet IX, from the ten which comprise the series is fully edited, with partitur transliteration, eclectic and normalised text, translation, and a detailed line by line commentary. -
SUMERIAN LITERATURE and SUMERIAN IDENTITY My Title Puts
CNI Publicati ons 43 SUMERIAN LITERATURE AND SUMERIAN IDENTITY JERROLD S. COOPER PROBLEMS OF C..\NONlCl'TY AND IDENTITY FORMATION IN A NCIENT EGYPT AND MESOPOTAMIA There is evidence of a regional identity in early Babylonia, but it does not seem to be of the Sumerian ethno-lingusitic sort. Sumerian Edited by identity as such appears only as an artifact of the scribal literary KIM RYHOLT curriculum once the Sumerian language had to be acquired through GOJKO B AR .I AMOVIC educati on rather than as a mother tongue. By the late second millennium, it appears there was no notion that a separate Sumerian ethno-lingui stic population had ever existed. My title puts Sumerian literature before Sumerian identity, and in so doing anticipates my conclusion, which will be that there was little or no Sumerian identity as such - in the sense of "We are all Sumerians!" outside of Sumerian literature and the scribal milieu that composed and transmitted it. By "Sumerian literature," I mean the corpus of compositions in Sumerian known from manuscripts that date primarily 1 to the first half of the 18 h century BC. With a few notable exceptions, the compositions themselves originated in the preceding three centuries, that is, in what Assyriologists call the Ur III and Isin-Larsa (or Early Old Babylonian) periods. I purposely eschew the too fraught and contested term "canon," preferring the very neutral "corpus" instead, while recognizing that because nearly all of our manuscripts were produced by students, the term "curriculum" is apt as well. 1 The geographic designation "Babylonia" is used here for the region to the south of present day Baghdad, the territory the ancients would have called "Sumer and Akkad." I will argue that there is indeed evidence for a 3rd millennium pan-Babylonian regional identity, but little or no evidence that it was bound to a Sumerian mother-tongue community. -
The Lost Book of Enki.Pdf
L0ST BOOK °f6NK1 ZECHARIA SITCHIN author of The 12th Planet • . FICTION/MYTHOLOGY $24.00 TH6 LOST BOOK OF 6NK! Will the past become our future? Is humankind destined to repeat the events that occurred on another planet, far away from Earth? Zecharia Sitchin’s bestselling series, The Earth Chronicles, provided humanity’s side of the story—as recorded on ancient clay tablets and other Sumerian artifacts—concerning our origins at the hands of the Anunnaki, “those who from heaven to earth came.” In The Lost Book of Enki, we can view this saga from a dif- ferent perspective through this richly con- ceived autobiographical account of Lord Enki, an Anunnaki god, who tells the story of these extraterrestrials’ arrival on Earth from the 12th planet, Nibiru. The object of their colonization: gold to replenish the dying atmosphere of their home planet. Finding this precious metal results in the Anunnaki creation of homo sapiens—the human race—to mine this important resource. In his previous works, Sitchin com- piled the complete story of the Anunnaki ’s impact on human civilization in peacetime and in war from the frag- ments scattered throughout Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian, Assyrian, Hittite, Egyptian, Canaanite, and Hebrew sources- —the “myths” of all ancient peoples in the old world as well as the new. Missing from these accounts, however, was the perspective of the Anunnaki themselves What was life like on their own planet? What motives propelled them to settle on Earth—and what drove them from their new home? Convinced of the existence of a now lost book that formed the basis of THE lost book of ENKI MFMOHCS XND PKjOPHeCieS OF XN eXTfCXUfCWJTWXL COD 2.6CHXPJA SITCHIN Bear & Company Rochester, Vermont — Bear & Company One Park Street Rochester, Vermont 05767 www.InnerTraditions.com Copyright © 2002 by Zecharia Sitchin All rights reserved. -
Virginity in Ancient Mesopotamia*
COOPER VIRGINITY IN ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA JERROLD S. COOPER Baltimore Virginity in Ancient Mesopotamia* 1. Virginity, Ours and Theirs “ virgin body has the freshness of would be an older adolescent girl. But in secret springs, the morning sheen actual Akkadian usage, ardatu is confined Aof an unopened flower, the orient to literary texts, whereas batultu, attested luster of a pearl on which the sun has never only after the Old Babylonian period, is the shone. Grotto, temple, sanctuary, secret word that would be used for adolescent girls garden – man, like the child, is fascinated in royal enumerations of booty, and in per- by enclosed and shadowy places not yet sonnel lists and legal texts.5 The Sumerian animated by any consciousness, which wait terms are restricted entirely to literary texts; to be given a soul: what he alone is to take the only case where a girl seems to progress and to penetrate seems to be in truth created from ki-sikil-tur to ki-sikil is in Enlil by him.”1 What a pity that neither Sumerian and Ninlil, where Ninlil first appears as ki- nor Akkadian has a proper word for a young sikil-tur (1. 11) alongside Enlil as guruš- woman whose flesh is capable of inspiring tur, but subsequently is called ki-sikil.6 such marvel! At least since the foundational In western languages, too, there is no word articles of Finkelstein and Landsberger,2 that originally designated virgin. Parthenos,7 Assyriologists have recognized that Sume- virgo, Jungfrau – all designate nubile girls rian ki-sikil-tur and ki-sikil,3 Akkadian before marriage, -
God Among the Gods: an Analysis of the Function of Yahweh in the Divine Council of Deuteronomy 32 and Psalm 82
LIBERTY BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY AND GRADUATE SCHOOL GOD AMONG THE GODS: AN ANALYSIS OF THE FUNCTION OF YAHWEH IN THE DIVINE COUNCIL OF DEUTERONOMY 32 AND PSALM 82 A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE SCHOOL OF RELIGION IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN RELIGIOUS STUDIES BY DANIEL PORTER LYNCHBURG, VIRGINIA MAY 2010 The views expressed in this thesis do not necessarily represent the views of the institution and/or of the thesis readers. Copyright © 2010 by Daniel Porter All Rights Reserved. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS To my wife, Mariel And My Parents, The Rev. Fred A. Porter and Drenda Porter Special thanks to Dr. Ed Hindson and Dr. Al Fuhr for their direction and advice through the course of this project. iii ABSTRACT The importance of the Ugaritic texts discovered in 1929 to ancient Near Eastern and Biblical Studies is one of constant debate. The Ugaritic texts offer a window into the cosmology that shaped the ancient Near East and Semitic religions. One of the profound concepts is the idea of a divine council and its function in maintaining order in the cosmos. Over this council sits a high god identified as El in the Ugaritic texts whose divine function is to maintain order in the divine realm as well on earth. Due to Ugarit‟s involvement in the ancient world and the text‟s representation of Canaanite cosmology, scholars have argued that the Ugaritic pantheon is evidenced in the Hebrew Bible where Yahweh appears in conjunction with other divine beings. Drawing on imagery from both the Ugaritic and Hebrew texts, scholars argue that Yahweh was not originally the high god of Israel, and the idea of “Yahweh alone” was a progression throughout the biblical record. -
The Origins of Social Justice in the Ancient Mesopotamian Religious Traditions Brian R
Digital Commons @ George Fox University Faculty Publications - College of Christian Studies College of Christian Studies 4-2006 The Origins of Social Justice in the Ancient Mesopotamian Religious Traditions Brian R. Doak George Fox University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/ccs Part of the Near Eastern Languages and Societies Commons, and the Religion Commons Recommended Citation Doak, Brian R., "The Origins of Social Justice in the Ancient Mesopotamian Religious Traditions" (2006). Faculty Publications - College of Christian Studies. Paper 185. http://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/ccs/185 This Conference Proceeding is brought to you for free and open access by the College of Christian Studies at Digital Commons @ George Fox University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Publications - College of Christian Studies by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ George Fox University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. “The Origins of Social Justice in the Ancient Mesopotamian Religious Traditions” Brian R. Doak Presented at the American Schools of Oriental Research Central States Meeting St. Louis, MO (April 2006) Note: This paper was solicited from me as an entry in an introductory multi-volume encyclopedia project on social justice in the world’s religious traditions. I presented it, polished it up for publication, and then the whole project fell apart for some reason that I never understood a few months after I submitted the piece. Since it will never see the light of day otherwise, I post it here for whomever might find it useful. (I) Introduction The existence of written law in the ancient Near East predates the earliest legal codes of other notable ancient civilizations, including those in China and India; thus, through the early Mesopotamians, we are given the first actual historical glimpse of law as idealized and, in some cases, practiced in human civilization. -
Mesopotamian Mythology
MESOPOTAMIAN MYTHOLOGY The myths, epics, hymns, lamentations, penitential psalms, incantations, wisdom literature, and handbooks dealing with rituals and omens of ancient Mesopotamian. The literature that has survived from Mesopotamian was written primarily on stone or clay tablets. The production and preservation of written documents were the responsibility of scribes who were associated with the temples and the palace. A sharp distinction cannot be made between religious and secular writings. The function of the temple as a food redistribution center meant that even seemingly secular shipping receipts had a religious aspect. In a similar manner, laws were perceived as given by the gods. Accounts of the victories of the kings often were associated with the favor of the gods and written in praise of the gods. The gods were also involved in the established and enforcement of treaties between political powers of the day. A large group of texts related to the interpretations of omens has survived. Because it was felt that the will of the gods could be known through the signs that the gods revealed, care was taken to collect ominous signs and the events which they preached. If the signs were carefully observed, negative future events could be prevented by the performance of appropriate apotropaic rituals. Among the more prominent of the Texts are the shumma izbu texts (“if a fetus…”) which observe the birth of malformed young of both animals and humans. Later a similar series of texts observed the physical characteristics of any person. There are also omen observations to guide the physician in the diagnosis and treatment of patients. -
Adapa Reconsidered: Life and Death in Contextual Perspective
Scriptura 87 (2004), pp. 267-277 ADAPA RECONSIDERED: LIFE AND DEATH IN CONTEXTUAL PERSPECTIVE William W Hallo Yale University1 In all ages of civilization, men have challenged the brutal reality of death with two uncon- querable dreams: one the hope of longevity, long life, and the other the illusion of immortality, of eternal life. Let us see first what the Bible has to say on the second of these two subjects, and then try to retrace our steps to the older lands of the Fertile Crescent and their traditions. However, far be it from me to survey all the twenty-four books of the Bible or all the vast literature of the cuneiform and hieroglyphic sources. I will confine myself instead to a type of expression common to the whole ancient world, namely epic literature. Epics in the narrow sense are heroic tales of the mighty men of the past, set to poetry or, at least, written with a high degree of literary polish. They differ from myths only in that the latter are poems about gods, not men; they are quite different form legends, which are not poems at all but unsophisticated prose narratives of the popular imagination, or folklore. On this basis, the great classical masterpieces of Homer, Hesiod and Virgil are epics. So are those two most famous works of cuneiform literature, the “Epic (better: myth) of Creation” and the Epic of Gilgamesh. But the Israelites, too, had their epics. About the time that the Iliad and Odyssey were being written in Greece, a royal scribe of the United Monarchy was composing a Hebrew epic recounting the glorious exploits of Saul, Jonathan and David which later became a part of the books of Samuel. -
Adam and Adapa: Two Anthropological Characters
Andrews University Seminary Studies, Autumn 1981, Vol. 19, No. 3, 179-194 Copyright @ 1981 by Andrews University Press. ADAM AND ADAPA: TWO ANTHROPOLOGICAL CHARACTERS NIELS-ERIK ANDREASEN Loma Linda University Riverside, California Because of the enormous impact of the Bible upon both the Jewish and Christian communities, any ancient Near Eastern literary discovery that may offer a parallel to some segment of biblical literature is greeted with interest. One such literary discovery is the Adapa myth. Its early discoverers and investigators claimed it as a true Babylonian parallel to the biblical story of Adam. ' However, after the initial flush of excitement, other voices arose to point out the differences between Adam and Adapa, claiming that no parallels exist between them.' This position is retained in some of the more recent examinations of the material, but with the provision that some of the issues raised in the Adapa myth also occur in the biblical material.' Finally, renewed attempts at showing an essential parallel between Adam and Adapa (with due allowances for functional shifts in the material) have been made.4 Such a "seesaw effect" of ancient Near Eastern parallels to the Bible is quite typical and suggests that the word "parallel," 'see conveniently the discussion by A. T. Clay, The Origin of Biblical Traditions, Yale Oriental Series 12 (New Haven, Conn., 1923), pp. 108-116. *This reaction is well illustrated by A. Heidel, The Babylonian Genesis, 2d ed. (Chicago, 1951), p. 124: "The Adapa legend and the Biblical story (of Adam) are fundamentally as far apart as antipodes." This general conclusion had been anticipated by G. -
Sex in Antiquity Exploring Gender and Sexuality in the Ancient World Mark Masterson, Nancy Sorkin Rabinowitz, James Robson
This article was downloaded by: 10.3.98.104 On: 30 Sep 2021 Access details: subscription number Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG, UK Sex in Antiquity Exploring Gender and Sexuality in the Ancient World Mark Masterson, Nancy Sorkin Rabinowitz, James Robson Fertility and Gender in the Ancient Near East Publication details https://www.routledgehandbooks.com/doi/10.4324/9781315747910.ch2 Stephanie Lynn Budin Published online on: 18 Dec 2014 How to cite :- Stephanie Lynn Budin. 18 Dec 2014, Fertility and Gender in the Ancient Near East from: Sex in Antiquity, Exploring Gender and Sexuality in the Ancient World Routledge Accessed on: 30 Sep 2021 https://www.routledgehandbooks.com/doi/10.4324/9781315747910.ch2 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR DOCUMENT Full terms and conditions of use: https://www.routledgehandbooks.com/legal-notices/terms This Document PDF may be used for research, teaching and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproductions, re-distribution, re-selling, loan or sub-licensing, systematic supply or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents will be complete or accurate or up to date. The publisher shall not be liable for an loss, actions, claims, proceedings, demand or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material. 2 FERTILITY AND GENDER IN THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST Stephanie Lynn Budin Human females and males make very different contributions to the process of reproduction. -
Asher-Greve / Westenholz Goddesses in Context ORBIS BIBLICUS ET ORIENTALIS
Zurich Open Repository and Archive University of Zurich Main Library Strickhofstrasse 39 CH-8057 Zurich www.zora.uzh.ch Year: 2013 Goddesses in Context: On Divine Powers, Roles, Relationships and Gender in Mesopotamian Textual and Visual Sources Asher-Greve, Julia M ; Westenholz, Joan Goodnick Abstract: Goddesses in Context examines from different perspectives some of the most challenging themes in Mesopotamian religion such as gender switch of deities and changes of the status, roles and functions of goddesses. The authors incorporate recent scholarship from various disciplines into their analysis of textual and visual sources, representations in diverse media, theological strategies, typologies, and the place of image in religion and cult over a span of three millennia. Different types of syncretism (fusion, fission, mutation) resulted in transformation and homogenization of goddesses’ roles and functions. The processes of syncretism (a useful heuristic tool for studying the evolution of religions and the attendant political and social changes) and gender switch were facilitated by the fluidity of personality due to multiple or similar divine roles and functions. Few goddesses kept their identity throughout the millennia. Individuality is rare in the iconography of goddesses while visual emphasis is on repetition of generic divine figures (hieros typos) in order to retain recognizability of divinity, where femininity is of secondary significance. The book demonstrates that goddesses were never marginalized or extrinsic and thattheir continuous presence in texts, cult images, rituals, and worship throughout Mesopotamian history is testimony to their powerful numinous impact. This richly illustrated book is the first in-depth analysis of goddesses and the changes they underwent from the earliest visual and textual evidence around 3000 BCE to the end of ancient Mesopotamian civilization in the Seleucid period. -
STUDIA BIBLIJNE Słowa Kluczowe: Stary Testament, Druga Księga Królewska, Asyria, Samaria, Izrael, Nergal, Nergal Z Cuta
2 STUDIA BIBLIJNE Słowa kluczowe: Stary Testament, Druga Księga Królewska, Asyria, Samaria, Izrael, Nergal, Nergal z Cuta 82 Keywords: The Old Testament, 2 Kings, Asyria, Samaria, Israel, Nergal, Nergal of Cuth Ks. Leszek Rasztawicki Warszawskie Studia Teologiczne DOI: 10.30439/WST.2019.4.5 XXXII/4/2019, 82-104 Ks. Leszek Rasztawicki PAPIESKI WYDZIAł TEOLOGICZNY W WARSZAWIE COLLEGIUM JOANNEUM ORCID: 0000-0002-5140-0819 „ THE PEOPLE OF CUTH MADE NERGAL” (2 KINGS 17:30). THE HISTORICITY AND CULT OF NERGAL IN THE ANCIENT MIDDLE EAST. The deity Nergal of Cuth appears only once in the Hebrew Bible (2 Kings 17:30). He is mentioned among a list of some Assyrian gods, which new repopulated settlers in Samaria “made” for themselves after the fall of the Northern Kingdom. In this brief paper, we would like to investigate the historicity of Nergal of Cuth in the context of Mesopotamian literature and religion. REPOPULATION OF SAMARIA The Assyrians after conquering a new territory relocated people from other regions of the empire to newly subjugated provinces (2 Kings 17:24). The people of 83 „ THE PEOPLE OF CUTH MADE NERGAL” (2 KINGS 17:30) Samaria were carried away into exile (2 Kings 17:6, 18:11). The repopulation policy of the Assyrians is well documented from their own records1. Sargon II (722-705 BC) took credit in Assyrian royal inscriptions for deporting 27,290 inhabitants of Sa- maria (Sargon II prism IV:31)2: ... he defeated and conquered Samaria, and carried away as slaves 27290 inhabitants ... he rebuilt the city better than before and settled in it people of other countries ..