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A female figure which stood
at the temple altar at Nippur.
In Sumerian mythology
Nippur was the home of Enlil, the storm god
and representation of force and the god who carried
out the decrees of the assembly of gods that met at
Nippur. Enlil, according to one account, created
man at Nippur. Although a king's armies might
subjugate the country, the transference to that
king of Enlil's divine power to rule had to be
sought and sanctioned. The necessity of this
confirmation made the city and Enlil's sanctuary
there especially sacred, regardless of which
dynasty ruled Mesopotamia.
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"...The
organization of the cosmos parallels the organization of an
estate with its varied tasks. In the myth called
'Enki and World
Order" we hear
how Enki organized the cosmos for Enlil in just such terms.
He instituted the regime of the Euphrates and the Tigris,
appointed the god Enbilulu as divine 'inspector of canals',
and he arranged the marshes and the sea, appointing divine
officials to take charge of them. Next he organized the
rains and put Ishkur in charge. There followed the
instituting of agriculture: ploughing, irrigation, and
harvesting, the appointment of the farmer god Enkimdu and
the grain goddess, Ezinu. After agriculture came brickmaking and the
builder's craft under the brick god, Kulla, and the divine
architect, Mushdama; and in similar manner Enki organized
the wild life of the desert, founded husbandry, fixed
boundaries, set limits for building plots and fields, and
instituted weaving - in each case appointing appropriate
gods to the offices of supervision. "The god whom Enki place
in charge of boundaries was the sun god Utu, god of justice,
and the universal scope of his responsibilities is
underlined in the myth by the words 'for heaven and earth'."
horkild Jacobsen, The Treasures of Darkness
- In the mountain of heaven and
earth
- The day Anu brought forth the
great gods;
- A tree of Ezinu had not been
born, had not become green,
- Her land, the goddess Takku had
not created.
- For Takku a temple-platform had
not been filled in;
- A eqe(?) had not bleated (?), a
lamb had not been dropped,
- A goat had not bleated, a kid had
not been born,
- No ewe had born her lamb,
- No goat had born a kid,
- The name of Ezinu, tall and holy
and of Sig (wool or flax from color)
- The Anunnaki, the great gods, had
not known.
- There was no ses-grain of
thirty-fold;
- There was no ses-grain of
fifty-gold;
- Small grain, mountain-grain, and
cattle-fodder there were not;
- A possession and houses there
were not;
- Takku had not been brought forth,
a shrine not lifted up.
- Together with the lady Nikki the
lord had not brought forth men.
- Shamash as leader came, unto her
desire came forth;
- Mankind he planned; many men were
brought forth.
- Food and sleep they knew
not;
- Clothing and dwellings they knew
not.
- The people with rushes and skins
came,
- Like sheep with their
mouth....they ate grass,
- Garden water they drank.
- When the land was green with the
forms of their gods
- And with edible plants the holy
dwellings of sig and Ezinu were green,
- They brought foo for the gods to
the established dwelling
- From the abundance of Sig and
Ezinu.
- The great gods in their holy
dwellings
- Ate; they were not
satisfied;
- They gave good food to their holy
flock.
-
- Reverse
Side
- The great gods in their holy
dwelling
- Drank; they were not
satisfied;
- For the proper feeding of their
holy flock
- Kingship in security they
established.
- When Enki spoke a word to
Enlil,
- The waters of Enlil and
Ezida
- Made the holy dwelling
green.
- The might holy dwelling they
inhabited for thee.
- Enki and Enlil their holy
word
- To Sig and Enzu spoke from the
holy dwelling;
- Wool from the flock they
gave;
- Vegetables as food in abundance
they gave.
- For vegetation they made
canals,
- Irrigating machines with laborers
attached they gave.
- Wool was taken from the
flock:
- The shepherd of the flock
revelled in abundance.
- Enzinu stood as tall
vegetation;
- The bright land was green; it
presented abundance in heaps;
- In the field the head was lifted
high;
- From heaven abundance
came;
- Sig and Ezinu made
increase;
- For all they raised an
abundance;
- They filled the land with exalted
courage;
- The voice of their god uttered
just decisions for them.
- A dwelling-place was their land;
food increased for the people;
- The prosperity of their land
brought them danger;
- For making house-bricks the clay
of the land was burned.
- They became strong; they raised
abundance;
- Companions were they; man with
wife they dwelt;
- In misfortune the house assists
them.
"Ezinu was a god of
vegetation--trees, grain, etc. Sig usually signifies 'wool,'
then 'garment.' As Sig is in this text said to have become
green along with Ezinu, it may designate flax, or possible
cotton, which produced a wooly substance from which garments
were made. The goddess Takku was a partoness of agriculture.
The story, therefore, begins before the existence of
vegetation and domestic animals, before fields had been
cultivated, or houses built, and before the establishment of
political institutions, and it traces the coming of these
into existence. In this respect it reminds one of Genesis
2:5, 6."
- And every plant of the field
before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field
before it grew: for the Lord God had not caused it to
rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the
ground. Genesis 2:5
- But there went up a mist from
the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.
Genesis 2:6
Aunnaki (ah noo nah' kee) - spirit gods of the
underworld who judged and determined the fates of the dead.
The lgigi (ee gee' gee) - collective name for the great
gods of heaven associated with blood,
madness and revenge, often associated with the
Anunnaki.
Source:
Prior to 2000 B.C.From: George A.
Barton, Archaeology and The
Bible, 7th Edition revised,
(Philadelphia: American Sunday School, 1937), pg.
305-306
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