Here are a couple of the most widely cited books on the sumerians. Sumerian hymns and prayers to the god ninib from the temple library at nippur philadelphia, 1911. She is known as the mother of the gods and mother of men for her part in creating both divine and mortal entities, having replaced the earlier mother goddess, nammu also known as namma whose worship is attested as early as dynastic iii 26002334 bce. She was called mami by the babylonians, the goddess who created mortals. In semitic mythology and judaism, it is believed that this woman was adams first wife. List of books and articles about sumeria online research. And the beginning of his nimrods kingdom was babel, and erech, and accad, and calneh, in the land of shinar. Jun 19, 2017 in sumerian mythology, ninhursag was the earth and mother goddess, one of the major deities of ancient sumer.
The akkadian state was the predecessor of babylonia and the assyriaian empires. Discover delightful childrens books with prime book box, a subscription that delivers new books every 1, 2, or 3 months new customers receive 15% off your. The sumerian language was used from at least 5000 years ago until at least 2500 years ago. These records were written in the sumerian language during the middle bronze age the sumerians invented one of the first writing systems. Sumerian religion was the religion practiced and adhered to by the people of sumer, the first literate civilization of ancient mesopotamia. I havent read them myself, so i cant give you a personal opinion, but these are where i would start, given that they appear to be fairly foundational works in the scholarly community.
She is depicted on a babylonian clay plaque from 20001600bce as beautiful winged woman with birds feet and claws. For the past twentysix years i have been active in sumerological research, particularly in the field of sumerian literature. Pinches noted it was represented as a place to which access was forbidden, for no man entered its midst, as in the case of the garden of eden after the fall. In rabbinic literature lilith is variously depicted as the mother of adams demonic offspring following his separation from eve or as his first wife.
Including some living primitive religions by vergilius ferm philosophical library, 1950. Her name and personality are thought to be derived from the class of mesopotamian demons called lilu feminine. As late as ezekiel, there is mention of a sumerian deity. Sumerian myths were passed down through the oral tradition until the invention of writing the earliest myth. Lilith is mentioned in the dead sea scrolls, bencyr alphabet, the book of zohar. The sumerians thought that a great domed roof contained the sky, the stars, the moon, and the sun which lighted the cities beneath it. Lilith has emerged in sumerian, roman, greek, and egyptian legends as well, and is regarded as the mother of all succubi. The figure of lilith may relate in part to a historically earlier. Imbolc feb 2nd ostara mar 21st22nd beltane april 30thmay 1st lithia june 21st22nd lammas july 31staug 1st mabon sept 21st22nd.
The origin of humans according to ancient sumerian texts. Mesopotamian mythology refers to the myths, religious texts, and other literature that comes from the region of ancient mesopotamia in modernday west asia. The goddess also has a sister named ereskigal and a husband, dumuzi. Later, in babylon and assyria, she was associated with night demons that stole babies and ate them. In sumerian mythology the anunnaki were a pantheon of good and evil gods and goddesses duality who came to earth to create the human race. Nammu was the primeval sumerian mother goddess who gave birth to the gods and created humanity.
The ancient sumerian legendary female demon is one of the most popular topics in feminist literature related to ancient mythology. Traces of sumerian religion survive today and are reflected in writings of the bible. Through the work of the akkadian poet and high priestess enheduanna 22852250 bce, daughter of sargon of akkad 23342279 bce, inanna was notably identified with ishtar and rose in prominence from a local vegetative deity of the sumerian people to the queen of heaven and the most popular goddess in all of mesopotamia. Called the dark maid or maiden of desolation, lilith is associated with owls and is a creature of the night. Donald mackinzie says that lilith is the babylonian lilithu, the feminine form if lilu sumerian lila, a kind of shapeshifting demon. For contextualizing sumerian mythology within mesopotamian religion, i recommend botteros religion in ancient mesopotamia. See more ideas about books, ancient mesopotamia and ancient civilizations. This site uses cookies to deliver our services, improve performance, for analytics, and if not signed in for advertising. Sumerian mythology mythology and folklore the white. The epic of gilgamesh describes gilgamesh travelling to a wondrous garden of the gods that is the source of a river, next to a mountain covered in cedars, and references a plant of life.
Find the top 100 most popular items in amazon books best sellers. Myths of babylonia and assyria, 6768 unfortunately, he leaves this statement pretty much at that as he compares the various demons actions to the demons of indian mythology, and banters on in a variety of ways. In fact, in the early fifth century latin vulgate manuscript of the bible lilith is translated as lamia. Sumerian and akkadian proverbs and the later hebrew proverbs, many of which are featured in the book of proverbs. Ki, d nanna was the god of the moon in the mesopotamian religions of sumer, akkad, assyria and babylonia. These records were written in the sumerian language during the middle bronze age. Captivating myths of gods, goddesses, and legendary creatures of ancient sumer and their importance to the sumerians matt clayton. She created mankind by mixing clay with the blood of a slain god. Needless to say, the language underwent a lot of changes during that period, and even after its active life it was used as a literary and official language by other cultures. In the myth, paradise is identified as the place where the deified sumerian hero of the flood, utnapishtim, was. The sumerian king list states that eridu was the city of the first kings, stating. Sumerian mythology ancient sumerian tales of gods, goddesses, myths, and epics annotated. Succubus, the mythical creature and the legend books. Its best to get a hold of as many as possible to create a real view of the meanings.
Nanna is a sumerian deity, the son of enlil and ninlil, and became identified with the semitic sin. The latter text, the sumerians, copies many, many complete paragraphs almost verbatim from the former text, history begins. Theophilus pinches suggested in 1908 that eridu was the sumerian paradise calling it not the earthly city of that name, but a city conceived as lying also within the abyss, containing a tree of life fed by the euphrates river. The ensuing studies have appeared primarily in the form of highly specialized books, monographs, and articles scattered in a number of scholarly journals.
The epic of gilgamesh penguin classics penguin classics. Buy sumerian mythology book online at low prices in india. However, there is a huge degree of redundancy between the two texts. The sumerian story of the great flood and the eridu. The book appears to be a printondemand version of an electronic text. This book is our first authoritative sketch of the great. In sumerian myth, you will understand this world by gaining a summary of the major. A captivating guide to ancient mesopotamian history and civilizations, including the sumerians and sumerian mythology, gilgamesh, ur. The akkadian empire was an empire centered in the city of akkad in what is today ancient iraq, or mesopotamia. American anthropologist no people has contributed more to the culture of mankind than the sumerians, and yet it has been only in recent years that our knowledge of them has become at all accurate or extensive.
In sumerian mythology, nammu also namma, spelled ideographically. Insolently refusing to be subservient to her husband, lilith left adam and. Unlike print books, digital books are subject to vat. This book is our first authoritative sketch of the great myths of the. This is a very short book about what historians knows about sumerian mythology, the myths are written and the author put his comments in the text so you. The hbo series true blood has a character named lilith too, and she is told to be the progenitor of the vampire race. Lilith or lilitu has over 100 names and variations in myths ranging from ancient sumeria to jewish mysticism to tribal malayasia to myths about the third millenium.
A concluding volume will endeavor to sketch the reli. She was the goddess of fertility and sacred mountains she was in charge of pregnancy and birth and the creator of humankind. Lilith was once known as a sumerian fertilityagricultural goddess, but over the years has been demonified by other religions into the modern myth of succubi. According to sumerian mythology, in the beginning of time, humanoid gods ruled over our planet. The two chief seats of nannassins worship were ur in the south of. Zecharia sitchin sumerian literature translations are. Inanna is an important figure in sumerian mythology. Before the beginning of kingship in sumer, the citystates were effectively ruled by. Captivating myths of gods, goddesses, and legendary creatures of ancient sumer and their importance to the sumerians. Sumerian religion was the religion practiced and adhered to by the people of sumer, the first.
Fascinating sumerian history and mesopotamian empire and myths gives you the binoculars to view their world. The lilith library lilith information, mythology and lore. His information was supposedly derived directly from translations of sumerian cuneiform tablets. May, 2018 nammu was the primeval sumerian mother goddess who gave birth to the gods and created humanity. Sumerian literature constitutes the earliest known corpus of recorded literature, including the religious writings and other traditional stories maintained by the sumerian civilization and largely preserved by the later akkadian and babylonian empires. The epic of gilgamesh by anonymous, sumerian mythology by samuel noah kramer, myths from mesopotamia. Historical and religious texts from the temple library of nippur.
A cult associated with lilith survived among some jews as late as the 7th century ce. The general idea was imported into hebrew mythology as lilith, demoness of desolation, obsession, and madness. These works were primarily preserved on stone or clay tablets and were written in cuneiform by scribes. In particular the societies of sumer, akkad, and assyria, all of which existed shortly after 3000 bce and were mostly gone by 400 ce. Book i of the earth chronicles the earth chronicles. The eridu genesis is an ancient sumerian text which describes the creation of the world, the invention of all ancient. Sumerian was the spoken language of mesopotamia during the 3rd and the 2nd millennium bc, but continued to be used as a sacred, ceremonial, literary and scientific language until the first century ad.
Lilith is a sumerian or babylonian demon goddess, who is perhaps better known for her role in jewish legend. She is told to devour children and seduce men and then drink their blood. In greek mythology a similar demoness is called lamia. Talismans kabbalah amulets creating bloodlines according to ancient alien theory, the anunnaki, and other alien groups, came to earth and seeded the human race in many variations. In sumer, lilith was first worshipped as a goddess of fertility, agriculture, and witchcraft. The bulk of sumerian parallels can, however be found much earlier, in the book of genesis. In sumerian mythology, ninhursag was the earth and mother goddess, one of the major deities of ancient sumer. Lilith, sumerian demon goddess and first wife of adam. Sumerian mythology by samuel noah kramer goodreads. I find that there are many books written about this subject but they differ in the slightest by a single letter or word translation. Later rulers established the supremacy of the semitic think sham one of noahs sons language of akkadian over that of the sumerian language. Those familiar with zecharia sitchins books know his story that humans were genetically engineered by a race of people from another planet that settled on the earth the annunaki or, that is, the sumerians. Discover the best ancient mesopotamia history in best sellers. Sumerian mythology revised edition samuel noah kramer a real addition to the body of world mythology.
Sumerian mythology ancient sumerian tales of gods, goddesses, myths, and epics annotated the influence that ancient near eastern religion and the old testament left upon humans samuel noah 4. Sumerian mythology greatly influenced the myths of later civilisations including those of the greeks, and babylonians. This book is our first authoritative sketch of the great myths of the sumerians, their myths of origins, of creation, the nether world, and the deluge. Ad 700 onwards lilith appears as adams first wife, created at the same time rosh hashanah and from the same clay as adamcompare genesis 1. Lilith sumerianakkadian mythology villainous beauties. The sumerians regarded their divinities as responsible for all matters pertaining to the natural and social orders. Despite her extremely important role, much of her story is wrapped in mystery.
Can you recommend a introductory book on sumerian mythology. Captivating myths of gods, goddesses, and legendary creatures of ancient sumer and their importance to the sumerians clayton, matt on. A study of spiritual and literary achievement in the third millennium b. Lilith, in the sumerian akkadian mythology, the night demoness of the babylonian pantheon. This is also why these goddesses are often referred to as mesopotamian goddesses as it is often difficult to attribute a goddess to a particular. The major books on the sumerians crawfords sumer and the sumerians and the sumerian world and postgates early mesopotamia. The ancients in mesopotamia believed that lilith at night drank blood from children, and also seduced and tortured sleeping men. When the gods came down from the heavens much needed to be done on the planet and they literally terraformed the earth in order to make it habitable while they mined its minerals from the soil. After the kingship descended from heaven, the kingship was in eridu. Both books are outstanding for shining a light on the beginnings of history, literature, and civilization. Ninhursag also ninhursaga is the sumerian mother goddess and one of the oldest and most important in the mesopotamian pantheon. Sumerian gods and goddesses pantheons the white goddess. Mama the mesopotamian especially sumerian and akkadian mother goddess.
983 521 1024 24 1492 538 1473 1034 461 1185 378 1650 1110 1368 840 620 66 318 420 1501 570 157 114 55 128 721 1045 770 1352 1413