Enki and Sumerian Immortality


Book Description

There is a wide variety of types and genres in these compositions, which are as startling as it is revealing, given the age of the culture involved. In Sumer, nearly a millennium before the Hebrews wrote their Bible, or the Greeks their Iliad and Odyssey, we find a growing body of literature (here and throughout this paper, the term literature is used in the more restricted sense of belles-lettres) that includes such diverse genres as epic tales and myths, hymns and laments - as well as many more "wisdom" compositions, such as maxims, fables, and other didactic compositions. First, we turn to the epic tales of Sumer, the oldest known examples of heroic poetry. Some twelve epic tales that must have been popular in Sumer can now be fully or partially restored. Based on our evidence, they range in length from over four hundred to less than two hundred lines. Consequently, they should be called "epic tales" rather than "epics" since the latter implies a substantial composition.




Adapa and the South Wind


Book Description

The scholarly world first became aware of the myth of Adapa and the South Wind when it was discovered on a tablet from the El-Amarna archive in 1887. We now have at our disposal six fragments of the myth. The largest and most important fragment, from Amarna, is dated to the 14th century B.C.E. This fragment of the Adapa myth has red-tinted points applied on the tablet at specific intervals. Izre’el draws attention to a few of these points that were missed in previous publications by Knudtzon and Schroeder. Five other fragments were part of the Assurbanipal library and are representative of this myth as it was known in Assyria about seven centuries later. The discovery of the myth of Adapa and the South Wind immediately attracted wide attention. Its ideology and its correspondence to the intellectual heritage of Western religions precipitated flourishing studies of this myth, both philological and substantive. Many translations have appeared during the past century, shedding light on various aspects of the myth and its characters. Izre’el unveils the myth of Adapa and the South Wind as mythos, as story. To do this, he analyzes the underlying concepts through extensive treatment of form. He offers an edition of the extant fragments of the myth, including the transliterated Akkadian text, a translation, and a philological commentary. The analysis of poetic form that follows leads to understanding the myth as a piece of literature and to uncovering its meanings. This study therefore marks a new phase in the long, extensive research into this Mesopotamian myth.




Art and Immortality in the Ancient Near East


Book Description

Far from being a Judeo-Christian invention, apocalyptic thought had its roots in the ancient Near East and was expressed in its art.




Mesopotamia


Book Description

Our ancestors, the Mesopotamians, invented writing and with it a new way of looking at the world. In this collection of essays, the French scholar Jean Bottero attempts to go back to the moment which marks the very beginning of history. To give the reader some sense of how Mesopotamian civilization has been mediated and interpreted in its transmission through time, Bottero begins with an account of Assyriology, the discipline devoted to the ancient culture. This transmission, compounded with countless discoveries, would not have been possible without the surprising decipherment of the cuneiform writing system. Bottero also focuses on divination in the ancient world, contending that certain modes of worship in Mesopotamia, in their application of causality and proof, prefigure the "scientific mind."




101 Myths of the Bible


Book Description

The truth behind the biblical stories of the Old Testament.




The King Who Refused to Die


Book Description

Zecharia Sitchin’s secret allegorical novel that brings to life the key concepts of his bestselling book The 12th Planet • Reimagines the Epic of Gilgamesh in the context of Sitchin’s discoveries • Details ancient Sumerian sex rituals, the Anunnaki lineage of the gods who lived in Sumer, Anunnaki spacecraft technology, the workings of the Oracle of Anu, and Gilgamesh’s relationship with the goddess Ishtar Written in secret so as not to incite criticism about his controversial discoveries, this novel from the late Zecharia Sitchin brings to life the key themes of his bestseller The 12th Planet. The story begins in London as Astra arrives at the British Museum’s opening for their new Gilgamesh exhibit. There she meets a handsome stranger who knows secrets about her that no stranger should know, including the source of the unusual scar on her hand. Taking her to his apartment, he reveals that she is descended from the goddess Ishtar and that he is the modern-day avatar of Gilgamesh seeking to claim the eternal life Ishtar denied him so long ago. Reenacting their sacred sex ritual from eons ago, they find themselves transported to ancient Sumer as Gilgamesh and Ishtar, where he is at last able to continue his quest for immortality. But as Gilgamesh fulfills his sacred duties with Ishtar, something goes awry and the Oracle of Anu will not renew its blessing upon his kingship. Following the direction of his mother, the Anunnaki goddess Ninsun--the source of his partial divinity--Gilgamesh flees the city for the Anunnaki forbidden zone in search of a way to the planet Nibiru and eternal life. Travel alongside Gilgamesh and his immortal companion Enkidu as they escape the fate pronounced by the oracle, discover a Tablet of Destiny meant for Ishtar, fight off Marduk’s raiders, and foil the plot of the high priest, Gilgamesh’s half-brother who is seeking Gilgamesh’s crown for himself. Retelling the Epic of Gilgamesh in the context of his discoveries about the Anunnaki, Zecharia Sitchin weaves a tale of ancient ceremony, accidental betrayal, gods among men, interplanetary travel, and a quest for immortality spanning millennia.




The Garden of Eden Myth


Book Description

Scholarly proposals are presented for the pre-biblical origin in Mesopotamian myths of the Garden of Eden story. Some Liberal PhD scholars (1854-2010) embracing an Anthropological viewpoint have proposed that the Hebrews have recast earlier motifs appearing in Mesopotamian myths. Eden's garden is understood to be a recast of the gods' city-gardens in the Sumerian Edin, the floodplain of Lower Mesopotamia. It is understood that the Hebrews in the book of Genesis are refuting the Mesopotamian account of why Man was created and his relationship with his Creators (the gods and goddesses). They deny that Man is a sinner and rebel because he was made in the image of gods and goddesses who were themselves sinners and rebels, who made man to be their agricultural slave to grow and harvest their food and feed it to them in temple sacrifices thereby ending the need of the gods to toil for their food in the city-gardens of Edin in ancient Sumer.




Cuneiform Parallels to the Old Testament, Second Edition


Book Description

'The first major collection of cuneiform texts in English' Despite its age, this volume still has a major contribution to make. Unlike other collections, Rogers's volume includes the transliterated Akkadian for each text. This provides an invaluable access to the original texts without having a library that includes every volume of the original publications. A further asset is the collection of forty-eight excellent photographs and line-drawings. Included here are tablets, prisms, cylinders, seals, boundary stones, and bas reliefs. The bibliography is composed of two parts. The first includes the entries from Rogers's ÒList of Books Quoted or Mentioned,Ó but with numerous corrections and supplying much missing data. The second part is an updated list, organized by major cuneiform languages: Diverse Collections, Sumerian, Akkadian, Hittite, Hurrian, Eblaite, and Ugaritic. This will direct the reader to the wealth of primary documents that is now our privilege to read.




The Lost Book of Enki


Book Description

The companion volume to The Earth Chronicles series that reveals the identity of mankind’s ancient gods • Explains why these “gods” from Nibiru, the Anunnaki, genetically engineered Homo sapiens, gave Earthlings civilization, and promised to return • 30,000 sold in hardcover Zecharia Sitchin’s bestselling series The Earth Chronicles provided humanity’s side of the story concerning our origins at the hands of the Anunnaki, “those who from heaven to earth came.” In The Lost Book of Enki we now view this saga from the perspective of Lord Enki, an Anunnaki leader revered in antiquity as a god, who tells the story of these extraterrestrials’ arrival on Earth from the planet Nibiru. In his previous works Sitchin compiled the complete story of the Anunnaki’s impact on human civilization from fragments scattered throughout Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian, Assyrian, Hittite, Egyptian, Canaanite, and Hebrew sources. 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 lost book that held the answers to these questions, the author began his search for evidence. Through exhaustive research of primary sources, he has here re-created tales as the memoirs of Enki, the leader of these first “astronauts.” What takes shape is the story of a world of mounting tensions, deep rivalries, and sophisticated scientific knowledge that is only today being confirmed. An epic tale of gods and men unfolds, challenging every assumption we hold about our past and our future.




Myths from Mesopotamia


Book Description

The stories translated here all of ancient Mesopotamia, and include not only myths about the Creation and stories of the Flood, but also the longest and greatest literary composition, the Epic of Gilgamesh. This is the story of a heroic quest for fame and immortality, pursued by a man of great strength who loses a unique opportunity through a moment's weakness. So much has been discovered in recent years both by way of new tablets and points of grammar and lexicography that these new translations by Stephanie Dalley supersede all previous versions. -- from back cover.