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Gugalanna
In Sumerian religion, Gugalanna ( U4.GAL.AN.NAor DGU2.GAL.AN.NA">sup>DGU2.GAL.AN.NA is the first husband of Ereshkigal, the queen of the underworld. His name probably originally meant "canal inspector of An" and he may be merely an alternative name for Ennugi. The son of Ereshkigal and Gugalanna is Ninazu. In ''Inanna's Descent into the Underworld'', Inanna, the goddess of love, beauty, sex, and war, tells the gatekeeper Neti that she is descending to the Underworld to attend the funeral of "Gugalanna, the husband of my elder sister Ereshkigal". Some scholars consider Gugalanna to be the same figure as the Bull of Heaven, slain by Gilgamesh and Enkidu in the ''Epic of Gilgamesh The ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' () is an epic poetry, epic from ancient Mesopotamia. The literary history of Gilgamesh begins with five Sumerian language, Sumerian poems about Gilgamesh (formerly read as Sumerian "Bilgames"), king of Uruk, some of ...''. References Bibliography * * * * {{MEast-myth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mesopotamian Gods
Deities in ancient Mesopotamia were almost exclusively Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic. They were thought to possess extraordinary powers and were often envisioned as being of tremendous physical size. The deities typically wore ''melam'', an ambiguous substance which "covered them in terrifying splendor" and which could also be worn by heroes, kings, giants, and even demons. The effect that seeing a deity's ''melam'' has on a human is described as ''ni'', a word for the "Paresthesia, physical creeping of the flesh". Both the Sumerian language, Sumerian and Akkadian languages contain many words to express the sensation of ''ni'', including the word ''puluhtu'', meaning "fear". Deities were almost always depicted wearing horned caps, consisting of up to seven superimposed pairs of ox-horns. They were also sometimes depicted wearing clothes with elaborate decorative gold and silver ornaments sewn into them. The ancient Mesopotamians believed that their deities lived in Heaven, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ancient Mesopotamian Underworld
The ancient Mesopotamian underworld (known in Sumerian as ''Kur'', ''Irkalla'', ''Kukku'', ''Arali'', or ''Kigal'', and in Akkadian as ''Erṣetu''), was the lowermost part of the ancient near eastern cosmos, roughly parallel to the region known as Tartarus from early Greek cosmology. It was described as a dark, dreary cavern located deep below the ground, where inhabitants were believed to continue "a transpositional version of life on earth". The only food or drink was dry dust, but family members of the deceased would pour sacred mineral libations from the earth for them to drink. In the Sumerian underworld, it was initially believed that there was no final judgement of the deceased and the dead were neither punished nor rewarded for their deeds in life. The ruler of the underworld was the goddess Ereshkigal, who lived in the palace Ganzir, sometimes used as a name for the underworld itself. Her husband was either Gugalanna, the "canal-inspector of Anu", or, especially ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ninazu
Ninazu (; DNIN.A.SU">sup>DNIN.A.SU"lord healer") was a Mesopotamian god of the underworld. He was also associated with snakes and vegetation, and with time acquired the character of a warrior god. He was frequently associated with Ereshkigal, either as a son, husband, or simply a member the same category of underworld deities. His original cult centers were Enegi and Eshnunna, though in the later city he was gradually replaced by a similar god, Tishpak. His cult declined after the Old Babylonian period, though in the city of Ur, where it was introduced from Enegi, he retained a number of worshipers even after the fall of the last Mesopotamian empires, in the Achaemenid period. Character and iconography According to Julia M. Asher-Greve, Ninazu was initially considered a "high-ranking local god", similar in rank to Ningirsu. His name has Sumerian origin and can be translated as "lord healer", though he was rarely associated with medicine. It is nonetheless agreed that he ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Inanna
Inanna is the List of Mesopotamian deities, ancient Mesopotamian goddess of war, love, and fertility. She is also associated with political power, divine law, sensuality, and procreation. Originally worshipped in Sumer, she was known by the Akkadian Empire, Akkadians, Babylonian religion, Babylonians, and Assyrians as Ishtar. Her primary title is Queen of Heaven (antiquity), "the Queen of Heaven". She was the patron goddess of the Eanna temple at the city of Uruk, her early main religious center. In archaic Uruk, she was worshipped in three forms: morning Inanna (Inana-UD/hud), evening Inanna (Inanna sig), and princely Inanna (Inanna NUN), the former two reflecting the phases of her associated planet Venus. Her most prominent symbols include the Lion of Babylon, lion and the Star of Ishtar, eight-pointed star. Her husband is the god Dumuzid (later known as Tammuz), and her (attendant) is the goddess Ninshubur, later conflated with the male deities Ilabrat and Papsukkal. Inanna ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bull Of Heaven
In ancient Mesopotamian mythology, the Bull of Heaven is a mythical beast fought by the King of Uruk Gilgamesh. The story of the Bull of Heaven is known from two different versions: one recorded in an earlier Sumerian poem and a later episode in the Standard Babylonian (a literary dialect of Akkadian) ''Epic of Gilgamesh''. In the Sumerian poem, the Bull is sent to attack Gilgamesh by the goddess Inanna for reasons that are unclear. The more complete Akkadian account comes from Tablet VI of the ''Epic of Gilgamesh'', in which Gilgamesh refuses the sexual advances of the goddess Ishtar, the East Semitic equivalent of Inanna, leading the enraged Ishtar to demand the Bull of Heaven from her father Anu, so that she may send it to attack Gilgamesh in Uruk. Anu gives her the Bull and she sends it to attack Gilgamesh and his companion, the hero Enkidu, who slay the Bull together. After defeating the Bull, Enkidu hurls the Bull's right thigh at Ishtar, taunting her. The slaying of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ennugi
Ennugi () was a Mesopotamian god associated with agriculture, especially irrigation, and with the underworld. According to an incantation he was also considered to be the creator of grubs. He was a member of the court of Enlil, and appears in god lists alongside its other members, such as Ninimma and Kusu. He was worshiped in Nippur, where his temple Erabriri was most likely located. He is also mentioned in a number of myths, including ''Atra-Hasis'' and the ''Epic of Gilgamesh''. Name and character and Jan Lisman suggest that Ennugi's name is a shortened form of the theonym Enlunugid, possibly "the lord who lets nobody return", known from the Early Dynastic ''Zame Hymns'', as well as the Fara and Abu Salabikh god lists. Benjamin Foster argues that he was an underworld deity. A late explanatory list (CT 25, 49) explains his name as "lord of the netherworld, lord of no return" (''bēl erṣetim bēl lā târi''). However, despite the similarity of the names he most likely was n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Enkidu
Enkidu ( ''EN.KI.DU10'') was a legendary figure in Mesopotamian mythology, ancient Mesopotamian mythology, wartime comrade and friend of Gilgamesh, king of Uruk. Their exploits were composed in Sumerian language, Sumerian poems and in the Akkadian language, Akkadian ''Epic of Gilgamesh'', written during the 2nd millennium BCE, 2nd millennium BC. He is the oldest literary representation of the wild man, a recurrent motif in artistic representations in Mesopotamia and in Ancient Near East literature. The apparition of Enkidu as a primitive man seems to be a potential parallel of the Kassites, Old Babylonian version (1300–1000 BC), in which he was depicted as a servant-warrior in the Sumerian poems. There have been suggestions that he may be the "bull-man" shown in Mesopotamian art, having the head, arms, and body of a man, and the horns, ears, tail and legs of a bull. Thereafter a series of interactions with humans and human ways bring him closer to civilization, culminating i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chthonic Beings
In Greek mythology, deities referred to as chthonic () or chthonian () were gods or spirits who inhabited the Greek underworld, underworld or existed in or under the earth, and were typically associated with death or fertility. The terms "chthonic" and "chthonian" are derived from the Ancient Greek word () meaning 'earth' or 'soil'. The Greek adjective () means 'in, under, or beneath the earth', which can be differentiated from (), which refers to the living surface of land on the earth. In Greek, () is a descriptive word for things relating to the underworld, which was in antiquity sometimes applied as an epithet to deities such as Hermes, Demeter, and Zeus. The chthonic deities have been compared to the more commonly referred-to Olympic gods and their associated rites and cults. Olympic gods are understood to reference that which exists above the earth, particularly in the sky. Gods that are related to agriculture are also considered to have chthonic associations as planting ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Epic Of Gilgamesh
The ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' () is an epic poetry, epic from ancient Mesopotamia. The literary history of Gilgamesh begins with five Sumerian language, Sumerian poems about Gilgamesh (formerly read as Sumerian "Bilgames"), king of Uruk, some of which may date back to the Third Dynasty of Ur (). These independent stories were later used as source material for a combined epic in Akkadian language, Akkadian. The first surviving version of this combined epic, known as the "Old Babylonian" version, dates back to the 18th century BCE and is titled after its incipit, ''Shūtur eli sharrī'' ("Surpassing All Other Kings"). Only a few clay tablet, tablets of it have survived. The later Standard Babylonian version compiled by Sîn-lēqi-unninni dates to somewhere between the 13th to the 10th centuries BCE and bears the incipit ''Sha naqba īmuru'' ("He who Saw the Deep(s)", ). Approximately two-thirds of this longer, twelve-tablet version have been recovered. Some of the best copies were d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gilgamesh
Gilgamesh (, ; ; originally ) was a hero in ancient Mesopotamian mythology and the protagonist of the ''Epic of Gilgamesh'', an epic poem written in Akkadian during the late 2nd millennium BC. He was possibly a historical king of the Sumerian city-state of Uruk, who was posthumously deified. His rule probably would have taken place sometime in the beginning of the Early Dynastic Period, 2900–2350 BC, though he became a major figure in Sumerian legend during the Third Dynasty of Ur (). Tales of Gilgamesh's legendary exploits are narrated in five surviving Sumerian poems. The earliest of these is likely "Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Netherworld", in which Gilgamesh comes to the aid of the goddess Inanna and drives away the creatures infesting her ''huluppu'' tree. She gives him two unknown objects, a ''mikku'' and a ''pikku'', which he loses. After Enkidu's death, his shade tells Gilgamesh about the bleak conditions in the Underworld. The poem '' Gilgamesh and Aga'' de ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sumerian Religion
Sumerian religion was the religion practiced by the people of Sumer, the first literate civilization found in recorded history and based in ancient Mesopotamia, and what is modern day Iraq. The Sumerians widely regarded their divinities as responsible for all matters pertaining to the natural and social orders of their society. Overview Before the beginning of kingship in Sumer, the city-states were effectively ruled by theocratic priests and religious officials. Later, this role was supplanted by kings, but priests continued to exert great influence on Sumerian society. In early times, Sumerian temples were simple, one-room structures, sometimes built on elevated platforms. Towards the end of Sumerian civilization, these temples developed into ziggurats—tall, pyramidal structures with sanctuaries at the tops. The Sumerians believed that the universe had come into being through a series of cosmic births such as gods. First, Nammu, the primeval waters, gave birth to Ki ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Neti (deity)
Bitu or Bidu (formerly read Neti or Nedu) was a minor Mesopotamian god who served as the doorkeeper of the underworld. His name is Akkadian in origin, but he is present in Sumerian sources as well. Name The spellings Bitu and Bidu are both used in modern scholarship. The name of the gatekeeper of the underworld was written in Sumerian as dNE.TI. In older sources, it was read as Neti. The reading Bidu has been established by Antoine Cavigneaux and Farouk al-Rawi in 1982 based on the parallel with the syllabic spelling Bitu (''bi-tu''). Multiple other syllabic spellings are attested, including ''bí-ti'', ''bí-du8'', ''bí-duḫ'' and ''bi-ṭu-ḫi''. Michael P. Streck suggests that the forms with ''du8'' should be understood as a learned spelling based on the meaning of this cuneiform sign, "to loosen," and on the Sumerian word for a gatekeeper, ''ì-du8''. The name is however derived from the imperative form of Akkadian ''petû'', "open." Based on this etymology Dina Katz ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
