Today's Topics: 

Today we began our Sumerian unit. I began by reviewing facts and history of the region. I will provide several links in this summary so that you can access the in-class visuals.

"Mesopotamia" means the "Land Between the Rivers," in this case the Tigris and Euphrates. If you look at a satellite map of the Near East, you'll notice a clear distinctiuon between desert and fertile lands: Satellite Map of Near East. The cultures that lived here became great because they were technologically resourceful, building irrigation canals, dams, and levees that seized control of marshy swampland and converting it to a hospitable and idyllic environment. This region is called The Fertile Crescent because of these intricate river systems that brought nourishing waters to an otherwise dry land. View this region in the following maps: Sumerian Maps.

If you think about the way people lived their lives before the Sumerians, we would find several cultures establishing homes on rich farmlands, but also many nomadic hunters and gatherers. One problam with hunting and gathering is that the cultures may only eat what they catch, which meant that their food sources were unpredictable at best. Living daily existence in a constant state of fear prevented them from burgeoning into great civilizations. It also meant that they moved around a lot and never firmly established a home or a cultural tie to each region.

The Sumerians, on the other hand, were able to develop a highly advanced culture due to the relative comfort of their food supplies. They engineered dry storehouses for their grains, often able to save enough food to feed their communities for years to come. This reliable stream of food allowed them to devote time to developing art, writing, law, and storytelling. As the first culture to invent writing, the Sumerians were able to immortalize their culture for us to study today.

Their writing was called cuneiform, and it was made by pressing sharpened reed tips into wet clay tablets. Most of their writing were simple records of business transactions, sort of like getting a rock for a receipt. I showed a picture that allows you to close up on specific characters my mousing over the picture. This page shows the sale of sheep to another individual: Sumerian Record Keeping: Counting Sheep. The following pictures show what cuneiform writing looks like. You will also see a few more maps of the Fertile Crescent, a graphic depicting the Sumerian cosmos, and several pictures of ziggurats (temples). At the end, you'll see a few photographs of embossed stone scenes depicting Enki, the God of Wisdom and Lord of the Sweet Waters: Sumerian Pictures.

I explained that most mythological cultures viewed their universe in three main parts: the heavens, the earth, and the underworld. In ancient Sumeria, these locations were brought to life by their gods of these designated functions: An (sky), Ki (earth), and Kur (underworld). As you read further in the unit, you will see that these names also appear in the names of other characters and locations too: An, for example, also make up aprt of the names Inanna and Nanna, Enki is composed of the components En (=lord) and Ki (=earth), and Kur will appear in the names of some strangely invented creatures called the kurgarra creatures, who can freely pass into and out of the underworld. You can learn more about these syllables by reviewing the following websites: brief Sumerian dictionary and authentic Sumerian dictionary.

You will also notice many references to mountains, but these will be different kinds of mountains if you look closely. One type is simply high ground on which their temples were constructed (hursag = foothills). These highland areas afforded security from devastating floods that sometimes would inundate the entire area between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers (Mesopotamia), thereby making them suitable locations for worship. Another type of mountain would be a reference to the Zagros Mountains, which are located in western Iran. From Sumer, you could look to the east and see these mountains in the distance, and the sun (Utu, or Shamash) was said to rise from the mountains. Later in history, these mountains would supply a steady stream of warriors who invaded Mesopotamia for their resources, since the mountain people had no agriculture. Therefore, the mountain range became synonymous with evil, as evil people kept sweeping downhill from there. The mountain became the visible embodiment of the underworld, perhaps an extension of it.

Enki and Ninhursag

Enki and Ninhursag is a fertility/creation story that describes yet another timeline and sequence for creation when compared with the other two stories that you read for today. Remember that mythological cultures usually had more than one creation story. The Hebrews, for example, had two. 

Dilmun, the setting of the story "east in Eden," is a place of purity, where no disease, pain, or suffering exists (mainly because no life has yet been created, being the winter season).  "Eden" means "delight," and a location to the East of this place of delight must be more delightful (the East symbolizes birth and youth, while the west implies death and suffering).  Enki, the sweet waters god, makes a natural match with the Mother Goddess, Ninhursag, who can be called Mother Earth.  Since these personas represent natural identities, their deep love of each other makes a lot of sense.  The waters will penetrate the sand in a similar way as Enki  makes love to Ninhursag.  When you see these characters making love, please remember that it is symbolic of natural events.

I forgot to bring the link to a map of Dilmun, the probable location of Eden.  Click this link to see it; I'll bring it to class next week too: Dilmun.  In the first section, Dilmun is referred to as "pure," which may refer to the primordial world before creation had been completed.  We will see many references to purity, and we will see many more references to the purity of the clay to create the humans, such as you will read in Atrahasis.  You can see references to the area being one of peace and tranquility, with no sickness, no pain, and no death.  The wolf and lion do not harm other creatures, and no harm seems to come to anyone there.

This version of Eden might seem familiar to you, but you probably have not contemplated the mythology behind this.  If you recognize that the world has not yet been completed, and further see that no humans exist, we see a world that has not yet been introduced to dualities.  The story begins in the season of winter, and Ninhursag's job will be to usher in the springtime.  If we view winter as a starting point of creation, then we must also acknowledge that "life" as we understand it must not have yet begun.  Only after Enki and Ninhursag join together will we see life exist in the dual forms.  If we translate this further, we might see the "purity" referring to the idea of Eden not yet being corrupted.  in other words, before the dualities have been set in motion, there was no movement, no action, no life, no cycles, no routines, no order, etc.  In other words, purity of Dilmun might refer to the absence of real life.

Enki has become very aroused with the Mother Goddess, and they make love.  Miraculously, Ninhursag gives birth in nine days' time to a daughter, Ninsar, Mistress of Vegetation.  Through the union of water and earth, vegetation is born.  However, the season begins to change, from winter to spring, forcing Ninhursag to depart from Dilmun (in the Middle World (the earth) -- as opposed to the heavens and the underworld) so that she can give birth to other parts of the world.  She leaves Enki behind to tend to the waters, and also leaves her daughter Ninsar, who also has magically grown into a full goddess in nine short days.

"Ninsar" means "vegetation," so her birth reflects the new plants that grew after the first combination of water and soil.  This reminds me of early Spring, when suddenly an abundance of life springs open.  Plants also grow faster than humans do, so the time frame is realistic (to a point).  Remember that these ancient cultures placed these gods and nature ideas into personified human forms.  A human incubates for 9 months, so the plants are given similar timetables, couched into human terms.  This is a good time to remind you that Enki is not a person, but the water, and Ninhursag is simply Mother Earth, not a real woman.  Taken literally, this is a story must be about incest and rape.  Metaphorically, it's about the changing of the seasons and the beauty of the interaction of creative dualities.

One day Enki is traveling on the Euphrates River when he sees Ninsar in the distance.  He asks his oarsman, Isimud, to drift toward this woman who reminds him of his departed lover Ninhursag.  He advances on his daughter, who is "curious and eager" to discover sexual relations.  They make love, and Ninkura is born, goddess of mountain pastures.  Look more closely at the metaphors and their union makes logical sense -- if Enki is the water, and Ninsar represents the plants, don't we want the water to seep into BOTH the soil AND the plants?  Enki is not an immoral criminal (those are judgments from society, not nature) but he is simply watering the plants.  What could be more natural?  Don't we have to water the plants to make them grow?  Should one plant be jealous that another receives rain water as well?  Ninsar grows with child, and quickly gives birth to Ninkura (mountain pastures).  In other words, watering the plants creates a whole field of plants!  Not only is this natural, it is necessary.  Perhaps this is akin to the season of summer, when the spring plants have had a chance to flourish and dominate an entire field.

Similarly, Ninkura is charmed by Enki's wiles when she becomes curious about a pool of well water in Part 2.  Enki makes love to Ninkura, and their union creates another child, Uttu, the Spider and weaver of patterns and life desires.  (NOTE: try to avoid confusing Uttu with another character, Utu, the sun god, who is also called Shamash.)  By Part 3, Ninhursag realizes that she should warn Uttu about Enki's lusty advances to prevent her from falling victim to him.  She does not appear to be jealous that Enki has been impregnating his children with his seed, perhaps similarly to how the flowers are not jealous that the same bee that pollinates one flower eventually makes it around to hundreds of others, cross-pollinating an entire field of flowers in a single day.  Remember, Enki is not a person ... he is water.

Interestingly, Uttu is a spider, the weaver of dreams -- not a plant.  Perhaps this reflects the evolution found in Genesis, where water and earth first make a connection, followed by the appearance of the plants, and then the animals.  Maybe Uttu is the representative of the higher-order creatures coming into existence.  The spider also spins a web, usually connecting plants to each other.  The spider also has eight legs that tendril outward in a spiral, perhaps symbolizing that life extends out in all directions, creating more diversity. Plus, we usually find spiders attaching their webs to the plants, perhaps showing the interconnectivity of a progressively diverse creations.

Enki uses a different approach to charm Uttu.  He knocks on her door and asks if he can do anything for her.  She tells him to fetch her some cucumbers, apples with their stems sticking out, and grapes in their clusters.  So he visits the gardener, collects the food, and returns to Uttu's house.  He sleeps with her too, but she does not feel very well afterward, so she runs to Ninhursag for help.

Why does Enki bring Uttu these particular plants?  Well, cucumbers, apples, and grapes all had sexual connotations.  The cucumber may resemble the phallus, while the bunch of grapes might parallel the bountiful quantity of eggs inside a female (I like to think of roe, a clump of fish eggs, that collects into a bunch).  The apple has long been associated with fertility, perhaps when we look at the stem imbedded into the top of the apple's flesh (an overt sexual reference -- the stem is inserted into the plump, meaty flesh of the fruit, a reference to the vagina).  Also, these three plants all contain seeds inside their flesh, perhaps suggesting that the male force will penetrate the flesh to make use of the seeds.  If Uttu didn't get the hint before, she certainly found out what Enki wanted soon enough.  Let's not place all of the blame on Enki, though, because Uttu asks him to deliver these fruits and vegetables, and she would have only done this to explore her own sexuality.

Interestingly, this story is where the Garden of Eden gets its apples.  I am not aware of a translation of Genesis where Adam and Eve eat an apple (and the first Christian reference that I am aware of is Milton's Paradise Lost, 1667) .  The Bible translations that I read use the word "fruit" exclusively -- never "apple."  So, why do we say that Adam and Eve ate an apple?  Perhaps its origin comes from this very Sumerian myth.  Joseph Campbell discusses the motif of the "one firbidden thing," and all of us as kids became tempted to do something only after our parents told us to avoid it.  It is human nature to explore our curiosity, and this is axactly the issue with both Adam and Eve as well as Enki and his lovers.  Remember that one goal of mine is to show you some origins of the Judeo-Christian tradition, and this is one of them.

In Part 4, Ninhursag removes the semen from Uttu's body (don't ask me how) and buries it in the ground.  In nine days, eight different types of plants pop out of the soil. The birth mother strikes again! Soon afterward, Enki is once again riding in his boat when he spies the new vegetation.  Curious about these new plants, Enki devours them all voraciously, and then starts to feel really sick.  Ninhursag is now very mad at Enki, and she tells him that she is leaving him for good.  Soon enough, Enki begins to die, and the gods are helpless.  A kindly fox (another intermediary) decides to search out Ninhursag himself and convince her to assist the lord of the sweet waters.  After all, if all the fresh water were to "die," then life itself would come to an end.  However, Enki will not be allowed to die.  The gods are immortal, but not because the storytellers simply say so.  Rather, Enki, being fresh water, MUST survive, because his death implies death to everything (much like Tiamat existing in a different form, as we will see in The Epic of Creation in the second unit).

Some students inquire about the fox.  Although we never saw the creation of foxes, lions, and ravens, all are mentioned in this story.  Remember that these tales are not intended to be scientific explanations of the details, but rather models for the ways in which the world around us operates.  But what is the reputation of the fox?  Typically, the fox is a slippery, sneaky, and sly character.  The fox has been used in fables and folktales countless times, and it almost always carries this reputation.  However, would we expect to see a crafty character in Eden?  Of course.  In Genesis, the sepent plays this role.  In Enki and Ninhursag, Enki is called sneaky in several locations.  This is another theme that we will see in mythology -- the sneaky, tricky god figure who uses his/her craftiness to establish order in the world.  Campbell discussed the story of the god who walked between the fields wearing a two-colored hat that would be seen differently depending on the farmer's vantage point.  In mythology, many of the greatest characters will be considered sneaky and unpredictable.  In fact, Enki (Ea) acts this way in Atrahasis as well when he disobeys his promise to his fellow gods and reveals the secret plans to Atrahasis about the great flood.  Watch for this motif later.

Ninhursag lovingly embraces the dying Enki.  She carefully places Enki's head "on her vagina" in a symbolic representation of a birthing posture.  Ninhursag, the Earth Mother, will essentially "give birth" to Enki.  Recall Joseph Campbell's comments about the universal motif of being "twice born" or "born again."  This is what is occurring here.  Near the end of the story, Ninhursag asks Enki where he hurts, and he replies with eight different areas of pain (from the eight plants that he consumed).  Amongst this list is a reference to the mouth (ka).  Look for a parallel in the Egyptian unit, where Ka will be one of three forms of a human soul as it leaves the body (through the mouth) on its journey to the afterlife.

Also of note is the reference to Enki's pain in his ribs (ti is the Sumerian words for "rib").  When Ninhursag cures Enki of each disease, she "gives birth" to this energy in different forms.  When she rebirths Enki's rib pain, it arrives in the form of a goddess Ninti, which is an interesting play on words in its original language.  "Ninti" means three things: "lady of the rib," "queen of the months," and "she who makes live."  Although we don't appreciate these puns since we don't speak Sumerian, there is a clear connection to the creation story in Genesis 2, which we will read later.  In Genesis, chapter 2, Eve is also referred to as "she who makes life," and we also know that she was born of Adam's rib.  Remember that the Enki story is one-to-two thousand years older than Genesis (at least in print).  These references are scattered throughout the literature of the Near East, and a few of them find their way into the Old Testament too.  Watch for more connections like these.

Enki is eventually cured and humbled.  He vows to be more modest in his behavior, and he learns a valuable lesson about being responsible.  Although we can see a lesson at the end here about respecting one's limits, we should not look for too many morals in these myths.  Mythology is not dogmatic, and the authors are not interested in teaching people lessons of proper behavior (except in the ways that we are supposed to manage the dualities).   Myths teach us how the world around us operates, not the ways that we should behave in a society.

What may surprise you is the fact that Sumerian children practiced their grammar by writing this story.  In fact, archaeologists have uncovered dozens of practice tablets in old ruins of Sumerian schools.  Young schoolochildren would rehearse their grammar by writing out passages from Enki and Ninhursag, much like students in the European Middle Ages rehearsed their language skills by writing out Bible quotes.

Enki and the World Order

In this myth, Enki is praised for being an orderly and thoughtful creator, generating a world full of life and harmony. He is described as a bull, a fertility symbol, and the sign of the constellation of Taurus. Enki's creation is called the "mooring post of heaven and earth," implying the axis mundi, the point around which the universe revolves. He rides around inspecting his creation in his barge, called the "Crown" or the "Stag of the Apsu" (the Apsu is the underground water). Enki is depicted with water streaming out of him, usually with fish in the stream from his life-giving shoulders (see Sumerian Pictures).

Enlil is called "The Great Mountain" because he represents the wind, thought to originate in the mountains, which are associated with the underworld (kur). He works in conjunction with Enki, agreeing to the details of creation. On page 50, a reference is made to the 50 lahama creatures. Lahama means "hairy," and they are the servants of Enki and often are depicted as the guardians of various gates, such as the entrance to the Apsu. This cast of characters helps the world to become ordered.

After the fundamentals of creation were completed, the Anunna gods (or Anunnaki) decide to take up residence in Enki's dwelling. Later in history, after the Babylonians took over control of the region, Enlil would assume more authority over An and Enki. Most of the readings in this first unit, however, will reflect the Sumerian characters and titles.

You will see Enki decreeing fates by the second part of this myth. This is the act of determining the purpose or destiny of a character or object in nature. We will see a version of this in several stories inh the next unit called the Tablet of Destinies. Another version of power is something called the holy me (pronounced "may"). The me are the attributes of civilization or the powers of the gods to bestow life on the earth. Look for Inanna to acquire the me in next week's readings from the Wolkstein text.

Perhaps the most memorable scene in this myth is Enki ejaculating to form the Tigris River. Remember that this is a metaphor that tells us that the Tigris was associated with fertility, life, and birth. The waters from this river and others nourished their gardens and gave them life. This scene also demonstrates their understanding of sexuality and the result of a sexual union.

The second part of the myth shows Enki assigning fates (roles, tasks) to the other gods, giving them clear responsibilities to assist with a perpetual cycle of creation. Inanna asks why she has not yet received an assignment, and Enki explains that she is young, but will soon become powerful. Next week's Inanna stories will show the growth and development of this goddess as she attains powers over heaven and earth.

Enki and Ninmah

This story seems to take place later than the previous story. Creation has been completed, and the gods have been assigned their tasks and duties. However, after working at these assignments for some time, they begin to grow weary and go on strike, tossing their weapons to the ground. They complain to Enki, who is sleeping soundly in his underground home, the Apsu. When he wakes, he consults with Namma, the primordial waters, given the identity as a mother figure in this myth. Namma (also called Nammu) is sometimes referred to as a male deity in other myths, implying the union of dualities from the earliest time. We will see Nu (or Nun) as an Egyptian counterpart later in the semester.

Namma discusses with Enki the prospects of creating a new race of creatures that can relieve the gods of their labors of digging canals and building temples. They decide to create mankind for this purpose, and we'll see a few more stories later that play on the same motif. Enki assigns a few goddesses to assist Namma with the creation.

Soon, Ninmah, a young goddess who had assisted Namma with the creation, boasts that she too can create like Enki can. Enki, who knows otherwise, decides to play a game with Ninmah to test her creation abilities. They decide, after imbibing heavily, that each will create a misshapen man whom the other must designate a fate, or purpose, to compensate for the deformity. This episode shows us how the Sumerians explained the occurrence of deformed children.

Ninmah creates six different malformed men, but Enki provides for them a somewhat dignified place in society, such as serving the king or becoming a poet. The sixth man created by Ninmah was androgynous, having neither male or female organs, reflecting the Sumerian confusion regarding birth defects. One in every thousand babies born, by the way, have some form or another of deformity involving the sex organs. Imagine how much more difficult life would have been 6,000 years ago, when understanding of genetics and medicine were never known, for people born with deformed or missing sex organs in a society that boils everything down to the male/female duality.

Enki then takes his turn, creating a completely inadequate man whom Ninmah cannot correct. Acting as the young girl that she is, she gives up, telling Enki that his creation is beyond hope. Enki wins the contest, but Ninmah will become more powerful. In the next story, Enki and Ninhursag, you will see Enki married to Mother Earth, Ninhursag, who is the same character as Ninmah! Ninmah means "reverent lady" while Ninhursag means "lady of the foothills," so these names simply reflect the specific roles that the god or goddess plays. A god with more names will be a more powerful god because he can do more things. A Babylonian god, Marduk, will be assigned 50 names in The Epic of Creation, which we will read in the second unit.

Announcements:

We did not have time to cover a few of the smaller titles today due to the various introductions and a large number of students who missed the first week. Please bring your readings to class next week when we will briefly review "The Song of the Hoe," the two debate poems, and a few others.

If you missed the first two classes, then I need to receive an e-mail from you regarding your entry into class. Let me know if I can assist you with anything to bet our semester started.

Our next class is also a special day: the "Day of the Woman," when we will examine the rise of the goddess culture and the power and beauty of women.

Due Next Time:

The following readings are due (to be read before entering class on Monday). The documents highlighted in dark red are required readings. Please print them, annotate them, and bring them to class.

The remaining titles are supplemental, and are not required to print or read. I will not quiz or test you on them, but reviewing them will give you a deeper and more complete understanding of the concepts introduced in the main required titles.

If today's class was your first class, then you need to submit BOTH QUIZ 1 AND QUIZ 2 by next Wednesday, January 25th. In order for me to provide feedback to you before the first test, I will need everyone to be caught up by next week. Let me know if you need further assistance.

 

Student Information Form — please fill out and return if you have not yet done so.

Mesopotamian Character Glossary

The Huluppu Tree (Wolkstein, 3-9);

Inanna and the God of Wisdom (Wolkstein, 11-27)

The Courtship of Inanna and Dumuzi (Wolkstein, 29-49)

READING GUIDES for the first three Inanna Stories (87-91)

Quiz 2 (DUE Wednesday 25 January)

Hints to scoring well on the quizzes:

Although each quiz is only worth 2% of your semester grade, they will allow you to test and measure your progress and receive feedback each week to build your foundation of understanding.

When answering questions for the one-paragraph response, you cannot address all the stories. Rather, make an assessment of the actions of the male and female forces overall. How do the male forces seem to work in all or most of the stories? Are similar characters given these qualities? How are the feminine forces represented? What is the interplay between these forces, and what is the result?

When writing a paragraph response to a 5-point question, he very best way to impress is to do the following three things:

1) Establish a clear thesis (opinion/conclusion) at the top of your paragraph.

2) Devote some time to explaining and defending your points of view. Since this is an interpretive response, your answers could differ from those of your classmates. Therefore, you need to write convincingly, demonstrating your knowledge of the material as well as your understanding of the concepts at work.

3) Refer to specific examples from one or more stories to justify your interpretation. You may wish to quote or summarize specific portions of the texts to indicate the exactplaces that you are discussing. Provide page references whenever appropriate to help me to locate passages and sections that might not be identifiable at first glance.

FYI: Your response does not need to be typed. A handwritten response will be evaluated the same way as one that is typed. If I cannot read your handwriting, however, then I may not understand your response.