Nammu: A Forgotten Tale of the Sumerian Mother of Gods. Nammu was the primeval Sumerian mother goddess who gave birth to the gods and created humanity. Despite her extremely important role, much of her story is wrapped in mystery. Some information can be derived by looking at the Babylonian counterpart to Nammu, Tiamat. Because Tiamat is better known in literary sources, researchers can unravel part of the ancient mythology surrounding the goddess Nammu by comparing the two deities. Although Nammu (also transliterated as Namma) does not appear as a main character in any of the known Sumerian myths, she is referred to briefly in several of them. Head of a Mesopotamian woman wearing a turban. ( Public Domain ) Nammu Creates Human Beings It is also in the myth of ‘Enki and Ninmah’ that Nammu is presented as the creator of human beings.
Whilst the senior gods were overseeing the work, it was the minor ones who were doing the hard work. Detail of Enki from the Adda Seal, an ancient Akkadian cylinder seal dating to circa 2300 BC. ( Public Domain ) Lilith: Ancient Demon, Dark Deity or Sensual Goddess? In some sources she's described as a demon, in others she is an icon who became one of the darkest deities of the pagans. Lilith is one of the oldest known female spirits of the world.
Her roots come from the famous Epic of Gilgamesh, but she was also described in the Bible and the Talmud. In Jewish tradition, she is the most notorious demon, but in some other sources she appears as the first woman created on Earth. According to a legend, God formed Lilith as the first woman. He did it in the same way as he created Adam. The only difference was that in place of pure dust, he also used filth and residue. Traditionally Lilith means ''the night'', and she is related to attributes connected with the spiritual aspects of sensuality and freedom, but also terror. The ancient demon of Sumerians Lilith’s name comes from the Sumerian word ''lilitu'', which meant a wind spirit or a female demon. Burney Relief, Babylon (1800-1750 BCE). The wife of the biblical Adam By Natalia Klimczak. The Sumerian Seven: The Top-Ranking Gods in the Sumerian Pantheon.
The Sumerian religion was polytheistic in nature, and the Sumerians worshipped a great number of deities. These deities were anthropomorphic beings, and were meant to represent the natural forces of the world. Some of these deities also had their counterparts in the religion of other Mesopotamian peoples. It has been estimated that the deities in Sumerian pantheon numbered in the hundreds or even in the thousands. Nevertheless, some gods and goddesses feature more significantly in the religion of Sumer, and thus may be considered to be the main deities of the Sumerian pantheon. The Sumerian Pantheon. ( Fredsvenn) An: First Sumerian Lord of the Heavens The most important god in the Sumerian pantheon is An (known also as Anu to the Akkadians). Sumerian male worshipper, 2750-2600 BC ( CC BY-SA 2.0 ) Enlil: Second Sumerian King of the Gods Another main deity of the Sumerian pantheon was Enlil, an air god / god of wind and storms, who was the son of An and Ki. Enki: Sumerian creator of man.
ANL - English Language Literature: September 2013. V Beowulf was a king and hero of the ancient Geats (Goths), who lived in what is now southern . Land of the Geats Beowulf is also the name of an epic poem about his life and great deeds (činy). Beowulf may have looked something like this. All the items shown were found by archaeologists. v You might remember the Goths (Visigoths & Ostrogoths) as the barbarians who broke up the (Rímska ríša) with a series of invasions from 300-550 AD.
How the Romans saw the Goths, 3rd C, AD v No one knows what the name Beowulf means, but there are some interesting ideas. V In addition to being an epic poem, Beowulf is a legend because it combines historical fact with fiction. V The poem Beowulf is considered the first masterpiece (majstrovské dielo) in English literature, because the earliest written version was found in , dated around 1000 AD, and written in Old English.
The original manuscript (rukopis) However, the story really isn’t English. V Also, the story doesn’t take place in . Cast of Characters: Combat Myth: The Curious Story of Yahweh and the Gods Who Preceded Him. The Kesh Temple Hymn: 5,600-Year-Old Sumerian Hymn Praises Enlil, Ruler of Gods. Like many foundational inventions that we use every day, such as wheels and law codes, the Ancient Sumerians living in Ancient Mesopotamia, the so-called cradle of civilization, created the oldest surviving pieces of literature in the world - the “Kesh Temple Hymn” or “Liturgy to Nintud” and the “Instructions of Shuruppak.” Dating back to around 2600 BC, the ancient works were found written in cuneiform text on clay tablets and reliefs at the Temple Library at Nippur, Tell Abu Salabikh, modern day Iraq.
It was Robert D. Biggs who translated the oldest version of the Kesh Temple Hymn from Tell Abu Salabikh, and he dates this version to ca. 2600 BC based on tablets found in Shuruppak that have a similar date. Radiocarbon dating of samples taken from the version from Tell Abu Salabikh date them at ca 2550-2520 BC. Abu Salabikh, where the oldest surviving pieces of literature were found. Enlil, Ruler of Gods The Kesh Temple Hymn ( UCLA Library ) Hear The Epic of Gilgamesh Read in the Original Akkadian and Enjoy the Sounds of Mesopotamia. Long ago, in the ancient civilization of Mesopotamia, Akkadian was the dominant language. And, for centuries, it remained the lingua franca in the Ancient Near East.
But then it was gradually squeezed out by Aramaic, and it faded into oblivion once Alexander the Great Hellenized (Greekified) the region. Now, 2,000+ years later, Akkadian is making a small comeback. At Cambridge University, Dr. Martin Worthington, an expert in Babylonian and Assyrian grammar, has started recording readings of poems, myths and other texts in Akkadian, including The Epic of Gilgamesh. Follow Open Culture on Facebook and Twitter and share intelligent media with your friends. If you'd like to support Open Culture and our mission, please consider making a donation to our site. Via Heritage Key Related Content: World Literature in 13 Parts: From Gilgamesh to García Márquez The Ancient History Learning Guide What Ancient Greek Music Sounded Like: Hear a Reconstruction That is ‘100% Accurate’
Cuneus: a Cuneiform-style font. Cuneiform simulation font. Lost 'Epic of Gilgamesh' Verse Depicts Cacophonous Abode of Gods. A serendipitous deal between a history museum and a smuggler has provided new insight into one of the most famous stories ever told: "The Epic of Gilgamesh. " The new finding, a clay tablet, reveals a previously unknown "chapter" of the epic poem from ancient Mesopotamia.
This new section brings both noise and color to a forest for the gods that was thought to be a quiet place in the work of literature. The newfound verse also reveals details about the inner conflict the poem's heroes endured. In 2011, the Sulaymaniyah Museum in Slemani, in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, purchased a set of 80 to 90 clay tablets from a known smuggler. The museum has been engaging in these backroom dealings as a way to regain valuable artifacts that disappeared from Iraqi historical sites and museums since the start of the American-led invasion of that country, according to the online nonprofit publication Ancient History Et Cetera.
The newly discovered tablet V of the Epic of Gilgamesh. I was taking photos in the main hall of the Sulaymaniyah Museum and came across a display case containing a small clay tablet. The description beside it said the tablet was part of the Epic of Gilgamesh and a fragment of tablet V. Immediately I thought it was a ‘replica’ as the description was superficial.
It did not say the tablet was genuine, that it was newly discovered or even told about the many new pieces of information it had revealed. A newly discovered tablet V of the epic of Gilgamesh. The left half of the whole tablet has survived and is composed of 3 fragments. After the US-led invasion of Iraq and the dramatic looting of Iraqi and other museums, the Sulaymaniyah Museum (directed by the council of ministers of Iraqi Kurdistan) started an initiative. The description of the newly discovered tablet V of the Epic of Gilgamesh in English and Kurdish next to its display case. Obverse of the newly discovered tablet V of the Epic of Gilgamesh. Mr. ETCSL: Consolidated bibliography of Sumerian literature. The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian LiteratureCatalogues: by date | by number | in full | Website info: navigation help | site description | display conventions | recent changesProject info: consolidated bibliography | credits and copyright | links This bibliography contains all the items cited in the individual bibliographies attached to each composition in the Corpus edited between 1997 and 2000; it does not aim to be an exhaustive bibliography of the subject.
It was kindly compiled by Steve Tinney from the SGML bibliography maintained by the ETCSL project. Future updates will be sporadic and will not necessarily keep pace with individual bibliographies as they are added to the site. Afanas'eva, Veronika. "Das sumerische Sargon-Epos. Versuch einer Interpretation. " Altorientalische Forschungen 14 (1987): 237-246. Al-Fouadi, Abdul-Hadi A. Ali, Fadhil A. ---------. Alster, Bendt. ---------. ---------. ---------. ---------. ---------. ---------. ---------. ---------. ---------. Dumb Cuneiform. We'll take your tweets and make them permanent clay tablets.