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Enmerkar
Enmerkar was an ancient Sumerian ruler to whom the construction of Uruk and a 420-year reign was attributed. According to literary sources, he led various campaigns against the land of Aratta. Historical king Late Uruk period The tradition of Enmerkar as the founder of Uruk seems to date from the Jemdet Nasr period (3100-2900 BC) as found in the ''Ad-gi4 list''. The lexical list mentions Enmerkar and his wife Enmerkarzi as the builders of a town and the bringers of agriculture. A bilingual edition of the list has been found at Nineveh, indicating that the tradition was transmitted into the first millennium.''Enmerkar and (his) wife Enmerkar-zi,'' ''who know (how to build) towns (made) brick and brick pavements.'' ''When the yearly flood reached its proper level,'' ''(they made) irrigation canals and all kinds of irrigation ditches.''Despite his proclaimed divine descent from the poems, Enmerkar was not deified as his successors Lugalbanda and Gilgamesh. These two last king ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Enmerkar And The Lord Of Aratta
''Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta'' is a legendary Sumerian account, preserved in early post-Sumerian copies, composed in the Neo-Sumerian period (ca. 21st century BC). It is one of a series of accounts describing the conflicts between Enmerkar, king of Unug-Kulaba, and the unnamed king of Aratta. Because it gives a Sumerian account of the "confusion of tongues", and also involves Enmerkar constructing temples at Eridu and Uruk, it has, since the time of Samuel Kramer, been compared with the Tower of Babel narrative in the Book of Genesis. Synopsis Near the beginning of the account, the following background is provided: "In those days of yore, when the destinies were determined, the great princes allowed Unug Kulaba's ''E-ana'' to lift its head high. Plenty, and carp floods and the rain which brings forth dappled barley were then increased in Unug Kulaba. Before the land of Dilmun yet existed, the ''E-ana'' of Unug Kulaba was well founded." '' E-ana'' was a temple in Uruk bui ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aratta
Aratta is a land that appears in Sumerian myths surrounding Enmerkar and Lugalbanda, two early and possibly mythical kings of Uruk also mentioned on the Sumerian king list. Role in Sumerian literature Aratta is described as follows in Sumerian literature: *It is a fabulously wealthy place full of gold, silver, lapis lazuli and other precious materials, as well as the artisans to craft them. *It is remote and difficult to reach. *It is home to the goddess Inana, who transfers her allegiance from Aratta to Uruk. *It is conquered by Enmerkar of Uruk. Mentions in Sumerian literature ''Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta'' - The goddess Inanna resides in Aratta, but Enmerkar of Uruk pleases her more than does the lord of Aratta, who is not named in this epic. Enmerkar wants Aratta to submit to Uruk, bring stones down from the mountain, craft gold, silver and lapis lazuli, and send them, along with "kugmea" ore to Uruk to build a temple. Inana bids him send a messenger to Aratta, who ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lugalbanda
Lugalbanda was a deified Sumerian king of Uruk who, according to various sources of Mesopotamian literature, was the father of Gilgamesh. Early sources mention his consort Ninsun and his heroic deeds in an expedition to Aratta by King Enmerkar. Lugalbanda is listed in the '' Sumerian King List'' as the second king of Uruk, saying he ruled for 1200 years, and providing him with the epithet of ''the Shepherd''. Lugalbanda's historicity is uncertain among scholars. Attempts to date him in the ED II period are based on an amalgamation of data from the epic traditions of the 2nd millennium with unclear archaeological observations. Mythology Lugalbanda appears in Sumerian literary sources as early as the mid-3rd millennium, as attested by the incomplete mythological text ''Lugalbanda and Ninsuna,'' found in Abu Salabikh, that describes a romantic relationship between Lugalbanda and Ninsun. In the earliest god-lists from Fara, his name appears separate and in a much lower ranking ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nimrod
Nimrod (; ; arc, ܢܡܪܘܕ; ar, نُمْرُود, Numrūd) is a biblical figure mentioned in the Book of Genesis and Books of Chronicles. The son of Cush and therefore a great-grandson of Noah, Nimrod was described as a king in the land of Shinar (Mesopotamia). The Bible states that he was "a mighty hunter before the Lord nd... began to be mighty in the earth". Later extra-biblical traditions identified Nimrod as the ruler who commissioned the construction of the Tower of Babel, which led to his reputation as a king who was rebellious against God. Nimrod has not been attested in any historic, non-biblical registers, records or king lists, including those of Mesopotamia itself. Historians have failed to match Nimrod with any historically attested figure. Several ruins of the Middle East have been named after him. Biblical account The first biblical mention of Nimrod is in the Table of Nations. He is described as the son of Cush, grandson of Ham, and great-grandson of No ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mesh-ki-ang-gasher
Meshkiangasher was a mythological king only mentioned in the Sumerian King List as the priest of the Eanna temple in Uruk, whose journey led him to the enter the sea and ascend the mountains. Mythology The King list mentions Meshkiangasher as a descendant of the sun god Utu, who became the high priest of Inanna in the Eanna temple reigning for 324 years, and conceived his son and successor to the throne Enmerkar. His epithet concludes with his descent to the sea and ascent to the mountains, a journey which has been compared to the trajectory of the sun, believed by the Sumerians that made the exact travel and suitable for the "son of the sun-god". Historical king Unlike his successors, Meshkiangasher is not found in any poem or hymn besides the King list. His reign has long been suspected to be a fabrication during the Ur III period due to the Sumerian-Akkadian hybrid structure of his name, the element ''MES'', which occurs in historical royal names of Ur, and the traditi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Meshkiangasher
Meshkiangasher was a mythological king only mentioned in the Sumerian King List as the priest of the Eanna temple in Uruk, whose journey led him to the enter the sea and ascend the mountains. Mythology The King list mentions Meshkiangasher as a descendant of the sun god Utu, who became the high priest of Inanna in the Eanna temple reigning for 324 years, and conceived his son and successor to the throne Enmerkar. His epithet concludes with his descent to the sea and ascent to the mountains, a journey which has been compared to the trajectory of the sun, believed by the Sumerians that made the exact travel and suitable for the "son of the sun-god". Historical king Unlike his successors, Meshkiangasher is not found in any poem or hymn besides the King list. His reign has long been suspected to be a fabrication during the Ur III period due to the Sumerian-Akkadian hybrid structure of his name, the element ''MES'', which occurs in historical royal names of Ur, and the traditi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Inanna
Inanna, also sux, 𒀭𒊩𒌆𒀭𒈾, nin-an-na, label=none is an ancient Mesopotamian goddess of love, war, and fertility. She is also associated with beauty, sex, divine justice, and political power. She was originally worshiped in Sumer under the name "Inanna", and later by the Akkadians, Babylonians, and Assyrians under the name Ishtar, (occasionally represented by the logogram ). She was known as the " Queen of Heaven" and was the patron goddess of the Eanna temple at the city of Uruk, which was her main cult center. She was associated with the planet Venus and her most prominent symbols included the lion and the eight-pointed star. Her husband was the god Dumuzid (later known as Tammuz) and her , or personal attendant, was the goddess Ninshubur (who later became conflated with the male deities Ilabrat and Papsukkal). Inanna was worshiped in Sumer at least as early as the Uruk period ( 4000 BCE – 3100 BCE), but she had little cult activity before the conqu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lugalbanda In The Mountain Cave
''Lugalbanda in the Mountain Cave'' is a Sumerian mythological account. It is one of the four known stories that belong to the same cycle describing conflicts between Enmerkar, king of Unug (Uruk), and an unnamed king of Aratta. The story is also referred to as “Lugalbanda in the Wilderness” or “Lugalbanda I” and followed by the story known as Lugalbanda and the Anzu Bird, together forming the two parts of one story. The stories, from the composer’s point of view, take place in the distant past. The accounts are believed to be composed during the Ur III Period (21st century BCE), although almost all extant copies come from Isin-Larsa period (20th-18th centuries BCE). Tablets containing these stories were found in various locations of southern Iraq, primarily in the city of Nippur, and were part of the curriculum of Sumerian scribal schools during the Old Babylonian period (20th-17th centuries BCE). Synopsis Sumerian king Enmerkar wants to conquer the land of Aratta. R ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Uruk
Uruk, also known as Warka or Warkah, was an ancient city of Sumer (and later of Babylonia) situated east of the present bed of the Euphrates River on the dried-up ancient channel of the Euphrates east of modern Samawah, Al-Muthannā, Iraq.Harmansah, 2007 Uruk is the type site for the Uruk period. Uruk played a leading role in the early urbanization of Sumer in the mid-4th millennium BC. By the final phase of the Uruk period around 3100 BC, the city may have had 40,000 residents, with 80,000-90,000 people living in its environs, making it the largest urban area in the world at the time. The legendary king Gilgamesh, according to the chronology presented in the ''Sumerian King List'' (henceforth ''SKL''), ruled Uruk in the 27th century BC. The city lost its prime importance around 2000 BC in the context of the struggle of Babylonia against Elam, but it remained inhabited throughout the Seleucid (312–63 BC) and Parthian (227 BC to 224 AD) periods until it was finally aban ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Enki
, image = Enki(Ea).jpg , caption = Detail of Enki from the Adda Seal, an ancient Akkadian cylinder seal dating to circa 2300 BC , deity_of = God of creation, intelligence, crafts, water, seawater, lakewater, fertility, semen, magic, mischief , symbol = Goat, fish, goat-fish, chimera , consort = Ninhursag, Damkina , children = Marduk, Dumuzid, Ninsar, Ninkurra, Uttu, Ninti , parents = An and Nammu , Greek_equivalent = Poseidon, PrometheusStephanie West. "Prometheus Orientalized" page 147 Museum Helveticum Vol. 51, No. 3 (1994), pp. 129–149 (21 pages) Enki ( sux, ) is the Sumerian god of water, knowledge ('' gestú''), crafts (''gašam''), and creation (''nudimmud''), and one of the Anunnaki. He was later known as Ea ( akk, ) or Ae in Akkadian (Assyrian- Babylonian) religion, and is identified by some scholars with Ia in Canaanite religion. The name was rendered Aos in Greek sources (e.g. Damascius). He was originally the patron god of the city of Eridu, b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tower Of Babel
The Tower of Babel ( he, , ''Mīgdal Bāḇel'') narrative in Genesis 11:1–9 is an origin myth meant to explain why the world's peoples speak different languages. According to the story, a united human race speaking a single language and migrating eastward, comes to the land of Shinar (). There they agree to build a city and a tower with its top in the sky. Yahweh, observing their city and tower, confounds their speech so that they can no longer understand each other, and scatters them around the world. Some modern scholars have associated the Tower of Babel with known structures, notably the Etemenanki, a ziggurat dedicated to the Mesopotamian god Marduk in Babylon. A Sumerian story with some similar elements is told in ''Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta''. Narrative Etymology The phrase "Tower of Babel" does not appear in the Bible; it is always "the city and the tower" () or just "the city" (). The original derivation of the name Babel (also the Hebrew name for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hamazi
Hamazi or Khamazi (Sumerian language, Sumerian: , ''ha-ma-zi''ki, or ''Ḫa-ma-zi2''ki) was an ancient kingdom or city-state of some importance that reached its peak c. 2500–2400 BC. Its exact location is unknown, but is thought to have been located in the western Zagros Mountains roughly between Elam and Assyria, possibly near Nuzi or modern Hamadan. Hamazi first came to the attention of archaeologists with the discovery of a vase with an inscription in very archaic cuneiform commemorating the victory of Uhub (or Utug), an early king of Kish (Sumer), Kish, over this place, causing fringe theorist Laurence Waddell in 1929 to speculate that it was to be identified with Carchemish in Syria. It is now generally considered to have been somewhere in the vicinity of the Diyala River. One of the earliest references to Hamazi is found in the epic ''Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta'', where Enmerkar prays to Enki about the confusion of languages in the various inhabited lands, at th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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