mirrored file at http://SaturnianCosmology.Org/ For complete access to all the files of this collection see http://SaturnianCosmology.org/search.php ========================================================== _Earth's Ancient History_ _A Website dedicated to Ancient Times_ _________________________________________________________________ Search my website, type a word or phrase and hit search 0 Search Query ____________________ Search [1]Links [2]Mailinglist [3]New additions [4]World news [5]Public domain _________________________________________________________________ _Sub Domain Navigation_ [ [6]Main Index ][ [7]America ][ [8]Apochrypha ][ [9]Arabia ][ [10]Atlantis ][ [11]Babylon ][ [12]Egypt ][ [13]Europe ][ [14]Greece ][ [15]India ][ [16]Islam ][ [17]Jewish ][ [18]Persian ][ [19]Pseudepigrapha ][ [20]Roman ][ [21]Sumer ] _Site Navigation_ [22]Home [23]Up Chapter 8 _________________________________________________________________ ___Chapter 8_ ___Mesopotamians and their Gods_ ___Updated and partly revised by the author._ ________________________________________________________________ ___In the fist part of my book (chapter 1-7) I unfolded the story as written in the Bible and other "holy" books. In this part I will try to make links between the Bible and other "religions" from all over the world._ __ _But let us first have a closer look to the history of the Middle East and specially the stories of Mesopotamia._ __ _1. Mesopotamia_ ___The word 'Mesopotamia' is in origin a Greek name (mesos 'middle' and potamos 'river', so 'land between the rivers'). The name is used for the area watered by the Euphrates and Tigris and its tributaries, roughly comprising modern Iraq, Kuwait and part of Syria. South of modern Baghdad, the alluvial plains of the rivers were called the land of Sumer and Accad in the third millennium. Sumer is the most southern part, while the land of Accad is the area around modern Baghdad, where the Euphrates and Tigris are close to each other. In the second millennium both regions together are called Babylonia, a mostly flat country. The territory in the north (between the rivers Tigris and the Great Zab) is called Assyria, with the city Assur as center. It borders to the mountains._ __ _The importance of Ancient Mesopotamia to understand our own present-day civilization cannot be underestimated. It was Mesopotamia the home of some of the world's earliest cities and the place where writing was invented. For these two major developments, namely to have originated a society both urban and literate, Mesopotamia might be rightly called ` the cradle of civilization', as well as its literature, religious philosophy and art can be placed firmly as direct ancestor to the Western world and the Judeo-Christian tradition in special._ __ _Indeed, it is possible to trace back to Mesopotamia pieces of wisdom found later in Jewish, Phoenician, Egyptian (especially Alchemy) and even Greek tradition, and these similarities, whenever they take place, will be highlighted in the myths and essays that follow._ __ _The religion of the ancient Sumerians has left its mark on the entire middle east. Not only are its temples and ziggurats scattered about the region, but the literature, cosmogony and rituals influenced their neighbors to such an extent that we can see echoes of Sumer in the Judeo-Christian-Islamic tradition today._ __ _From these ancient temples, and to a greater extent, through cuneiform writings of hymns, myths, lamentations, and incantations, archaeologists and mytho-graphers afford the modern reader a glimpse into the religious world of the Sumerians._ __ _The Semitic worldview goes back to pre Semitic times and arose with the world's earliest civilization, the society known as Sumer._ __ _Civilization, with all its trappings of city life, kingship, monumental architecture and writing arose among the Sumerians, a non Semitic people who occupied the southern end of the valley of Mesopotamia at the head of the Persian Gulf._ __ _There, on the fertile delta of the Euphrates River, about 450,000 BCE (#) the world's first cities arose, cities like Eridu (deemed the most ancient of all cities, Bad-tibira, Larak, Sippar, and Shuruppak, and much later Unug (Uruk, Erech), Ur, and others._ __ _(#) Most scientists follow the theory that those city are much younger, about 6,000 to 4,000 BCE, but they all are unwilling to accept the Sumerian King list (see later chapter 10 and 11) as a "real" history fact, including the years mentioned in those scriptures._ __ _The reason scholars still can't find those places using archaeology is because of the dogma we still labor under about the timeline of ancient history._ __ _In chapter 10 and 11 we will have a closer look at the Sumerian King list and other facts that are not accepted yet as "REAL" history by scholars. But we will see that the "REAL" age of the Mesopotamian history is much older than "we" think today.._ __ _As I mentioned already in part 1 (chapter 1 thru 7) "Monotheism" is a "mistake" of the "religion leaders" and this last already for 3,000 years. I will try to search for links between the God's of the Bible and the God's of other ancient civilizations on Earth. In this and the next chapters I will try to prove that there is indeed such a link between the God's of the Bible, Sumer, Accad, Babylonia, Greece, India, Egypt and elsewhere on the earth._ __ _Note : You have mentioned already that I disagree with scientists about the timetable of ancient history. Nevertheless we will take a look at that timetable first._ __ _Timetable Ancient history used by scholars regarding the evolution of "civilized" life on Erth._ __ _Timetable Ancient History_ ___Years BC. __Event _ _2,400,000 __Oldest known stone tools found in Africa _ _1,900,000 __Homo Erectus inhabiting Africa _ _1,000,000 __Homo Erectus reaches Asia _ _500,000 __Early hand axes _ _460,000 __Earliest known use of fire _ _380,000 __First artificial shelter _ _200,000 __Homo Sapiens sapiens inhabiting Africa _ _98,000 __First known burials in Middle East _ _75,000 __Homo sapiens inhabiting China _ _53,000 __Colonization of Australia _ _45,000 __Early cave art work _ _45,000 __Oldest known musical instrument found in Africa _ _8000 _ _First settlements at Jericho_ __ _The ancient settlement of Jericho was located in the Jordan Valley north of the Dead Sea. The presence of a natural spring in this location provided its settlers with fertile ground for growing grain. The city dates from at least 8000 B.C. The population of Jericho reached about 1000. Jericho is the oldest known walled city in the world. Its inhabitants were protected by a wall 2100' long which was dominated by a 30' tower. The city stood until it was sacked around 1400 B.C._ ___5900 _ _Ubaid Period in Mesopotamia_ __ _The Ubaid Period was a cultural period in Sumer. It lasted from about 5900 B.C. to 4300 B.C. and was named after the site from which the material was first discovered, Tel al-Ubaid._ __ _The Ubaid Period consists of three sub periods: Ubaid I - also called the Eridu Period. Ubaid II - also called the Haji Mohammed Period. Ubaid III - also called the Late Ubaid._ __ _The three periods are differentiated by the coloring and the style of the pottery used._ ___5000 __First Mesopotamian cities erected _ _3500 __Sumerians settle in Mesopotamia _ _3300 __Sumerian writing on clay tablets _ _3250 __Wheel in use in Mesopotamia _ _3100 __Sumerian writing evolves into cuneiform _ ___Let us have a look at the timetable from Sumer to Persia, as handed by Scholars._ __ _____with thanks to [24]http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~dee/MESO/MESO.HTM _ _Mesopotamia 9000 - 500 BC_ ___Early Farming Communities 9000-5000 BCE_ __BCE. HISTORY CULTURE ___9000_ _Beginning cultivation of wild wheat and barley and domestication of dogs and sheep; inaugurating of change from food gathering to food producing culture - Karim Shahir in Zagros foothills._ _7000_ _At Jarmo, oldest known permanent settlement: crude mud houses, wheat grown from seed, herds of goats, sheep, and pigs._ _6000_ _Migration of northern farmers settle in region from Babylon to Persian Gulf._ _Hassuna culture introduces irrigation, fine pottery, permanent dwellings; dominates culture for 1000 years, develops trade from Persian Gulf to Mediterranean._ ___Pre-Sumerians 5000-3500 BC_ __BCE. HISTORY CULTURE ___5000_ _Ubaidians develop first divisions of labor, mud brick villages, first religious shrines. Small temple at Eridu - earliest example of an offering table and niche for cult object._ _4500_ _4000_ _Semitic nomads from Syria and Arabian peninsula invade southern Mesopotamia, intermingle with Ubaidian population_ _Temple at Tepe Gawra built - setting style for later examples._ ___Sumerians 3500-1900 BC_ __BCE. HISTORY CULTURE ___3500_ _Sumerians settle on banks of Euphrates_ _Temple at Eridu - ziggurat prototype_ _3000_ _Democratic assemblies give way to kingships, evolve into hereditary monarchies. _ _Kish - leading Sumerian city_ ___Introduction of pictographs to keep administrative records. 3-D statues, e.g. Warka head. White Temple - ziggurat traditional design. Temple at Tell-Uqair - mosaic decorations. cuneiform land sales formal contracts. Eridu and Kish - simple palaces. "Standard of Ur" - war-peace plaque, religious statues, gold and silver artefacts buried in tombs of Ur. Sumerians of Abu Salabikh - first poetry._ _2750_ _Gilgamesh, hero of Sumerian legends, reigns as king of Erech_ _2500_ _Lugalannemudu of Abab unites city states which vie for domination for 200 years._ _2250_ _Ur-Nammu founds Ur's 3rd. dynasty; dedicates ziggurat at Ur moon-god Nanna, sets up early law code._ _Gudea, Prince of Lagash, art and lit patron, magnificent statues produced in his honor._ _2000_ _Elamites attack and destroy Ur._ ___Babylonians and Assyrians 1900-500 BC_ __BCE. HISTORY CULTURE ___1900_ _Amorites from Syrian desert conquer Sumer._ _1800_ _Hammurabi ascends Babylonian throne._ _1700_ _Hammurabi brings most of Mesopotamia under his control._ _Hammurabi introduces law code._ _1600_ _Hittite invasion from Turkey ends Hammurabi's dynasty._ _1500_ _Assyria conquered by Hurrians from Anatolia._ _Bas-relief of baked brick appears as dominant art form - Karaindash Temple._ _1400_ _Kurigalzu assumes Babylonian throne_ _1200_ _Nebuchadrezzar I expels Elamites._ _1100_ _King Tiglath-Pileser I leads Assyria to new era of power._ _Iron, introduced originally by Hittites, is used extensively in Assyria for tools and weapons._ _1000_ _Assyrian empire shattered by Aramaean and Zagros tribes. 150 Assyrian decline halted by Adadnirari II._ _900_ _Assurnasirpal II builds magnificent new capital, Calah, replacing old capital of Assur, present day Nimrud._ _800_ _Tiglath-Pileser II creates great empire extending from the Persian Gulf to the borders of Egypt._ _Sargon II builds new capitol at Dur-Sharrukin_ _700_ _Assurbanipal extends empire from Nile to Caucasus Mountains. Chaldeans and Iranian Medes overrun Assyria - Neo-Babylonian empire._ _Sennacherib's son, Esaraddon, rebuilds Babylon._ _600_ _Nebuchadrezzar II rules Neo-Babylonian empire. Razes Jerusalem, takes Jews into captivity in Babylon._ _Builds "Tower of Babel," temple to Marduk_ _500_ _Cyrus the Great, Persian warrior and statesman, conquers Babylon._ ___note : In my opinion most of the timetable should be placed much earlier than scholars think, such as the lifetime of King Gilgamesh (chapter 7) can be placed at least 3,500 years before the above mentioned timetable, Gilgamesh lived around 6,200 BCE._ ________________________________________________________________ ___2. Sumerians, Acadians and Babylonians_ ___The Sumerians, Acadians and Babylonians lived in the land Mesopotamia (the land of the two rivers), known today as southern and middle Iraq and Kuwait. _ __ _The Sumerians lived about 5000-2,400 BCE. The Acadians lived more or less peacefully together with the Sumerians from about 2,500 BCE. The Babylonians conquered the Sumerians and Acadians about 1,900 BCE. (see the timetable above)_ __ _The origin of the Sumerians is unknown. (probably India) The intriguing question keeps returning into the literature but has so far unsatisfactory answers._ __ _The Sumerians were not the first people in Mesopotamia. They were not present before 5000 BCE, while before that time village communities existed with a high degree of organization. The ''principle of agriculture'' was not discovered by the Sumerians. This is evident from words the Sumerians use for items in relation to the domestication of plants and animals._ __ _Sumerian has no known relation to any other language. There seems to be a remote relationship with Dravidian languages (like spoken by the Tamils, now in the south of India). There is evidence that the Dravidian languages were spoken in the north of India, being displaced by the arrival of the Indo-European invaders around 1500 BCE. Because of the term 'the black-headed ones', (The Sumerians called their country_ _ken gi' civilized land', their language_ _eme gir and themselves_ _sag gi(r)ga' the black-headed ones') it's possible (but far from proven) that the Sumerians are an early branch of one of the people now living in southern India. (see also later chapters about India)_ __ _Later on, from about 2,500 BCE the religion of the Sumerians was mixed up with the Acadians and later on, about 1,900 BCE the Babylonians took over the religion of the Sumerians and Acadians, they became as one people called Mesopotamians._ __ _Note : As mentioned above I disagree with scholars about the above written timeline and events and I will prove that the timeline before about 2,500 BCE must be placed much earlier in history. To do so we will have a look at the written history of Mesopotamia in accordance to other ancient scripts and the events as written in the Bible._ ________________________________________________________________ ___3. The Gods of Mesopotamia and links with the Bible_ ___In chapter 1 thru 7 I took some verses from the [25]Bible, the book of [26]Jubilees, the book of [27]Enoch and other "holy" books to explain that what was written was only mentioned as an ancient story told from generations to generation, the whole Pentateuch of the Bible (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy) is, as far as we know now, written by Moses in Egypt, thousands of years after Adam and Eve and the Flood, but is that the real story, is Moses the writer of the first books of the Bible ?, No he is not as we will see very soon._ __ _There are more and older stories and Moses "borrowed" them and rewrote the story to introduce Monotheism and the God Yahweh as the one and only God. (in the chapter about Egypt I will explain that Moses was probably the same as Pharaoh Akhenaton or Echnaton, a Pharaoh of the 18th dynasty)._ __ _The first difference with the Bible is given in Jubilees because in this "Pseudepigrapha" book is written that Moses received the history of Men directly from "the Angel of the presence"._ __ _As the reader already knows, Moses was adopted as a prince in Egypt by the daughter of an "unknown" Pharaoh (probably Amenhotep III) and had the opportunity to study the earliest history in the libraries of Egypt._ __ _In my opinion Moses wrote down in the Pentateuch what he had learned in these libraries from old clay tablets, and especially from clay tablets from Mesopotamia. (In the Gnostic book [28]"The Apochryphon of John" you can read more details about that)._ __ _From Adam to Noah there were nine major "Earth Fathers" born, Noah being the tenth._ __ _Noah was the tenth generation before the flood, is that a coincidence, No, here is prove again that the story in the Bible is taken from older stories, namely the Mesopotamian stories. See later chapter 10 and 11 about the Sumerian king list._ __ _Note : Christianity, the Jews and other religions and finally most scholars believe that the Bible is the first written book about God but this is a great mistake because thousands of years before the Bible was written there were already clay tablets written with the same story about Creation, the Beginning, the Flood etc.._ __ _We will see that most of the stories written in the Pentateuch are of Mesopotamian origin, even the God's, Places, Persons and other phenomenon's are likely the same._ __ _When we look back in our history we quickly are trapped in all kind of stories told by our parents and grandparents. Even when we look in our libraries all over the world we can only find written "books" not older then a few hundred years, all other written stories are "written" on tablets, (stone and clay) and papyri and some even on rocks._ __ _The only way to understand what the true history is, must look in the ground and in the caves and hopefully he will find some written fragments of our ancient history._ __ _Think also over that scholars have a lot of theories about ancient times but nobody is for 100 percent sure about our history and what really happened in those days._ __ _The only way to find out who we are and where we came from is to read the clay tablets found in the Middle East, Far East, India, Australia, America and Europe. But pitifully a great percentage of them can't still be read by scholars at present day. _ __ _Even when we read all tablets and fragments it is still impossible to reconstruct the ancient history of our Earth because there are too many missing links because a lot of them are lost or damaged._ __ _But when we look carefully we can find back our history written on the clay tablets who survived time or were not destroyed by the ancients and last but not least others stories told from generation to generation in the form ofMyths, Sages and Legends._ __ _For instance the GILGAMESH epos (see part 1, chapter 7) was written at least three thousand years before the Bible, (I believe that the stories told on these tablets are at least 3,400 years older). I mean that not the Bible but the clay tablets found in Mesopotamia were the first written history tellers of men and even the writers of these tablets are not the first storytellers._ __ _The theory about our ancient history established by scholars is only based on the clay tablets and other fragment's found in the Middle East who are readable but what is the story of all other clay tablets and fragments who can' t be read so far ?._ __ _For instance, thousands of clay tablets found at Uruk Mesopotamia in the last centuries can't be read until this day because the language of these texts is still not known and scholars are still busy to try to translate these texts. As long as all these clay tablets and fragments found can't be read and translated I think it is better to consider that our ancient history is much different than all theories of our present time._ __ _Consider also that even scholars disagree with each other about the timetable of the oldest known civilizations, even the chronology of the Pharaoh dynasties of Egypt are still uncertain and differs in time._ __ _First of all I'll like to give only an example of a story of the founder of the Acadian dynasty in Sumer, king Sargon._ __ _The story of King Sargon is likely the same story as the story of Moses and Joseph, but much older than that (about 1,000 years)._ __ _Sargon the Acadian, the king who unified Sumer, has a childhood in many aspects similar to Moses, the leader who conducted Israel out of Egyptian slavery._ __ _Sargon was found in a reed basket flouting upon a river and raised by a man of faith, probably a priest._ __ _The story of King Sargon_ ___King Sargon of Agade (c. 2,450 BCE.) was born of a lowly mother in Azupira-nu. His father was unknown._ __ _He, like Moses, was set adrift by his mother in a basket of bulrushes on the waters of the Euphrates, he was discovered by Akki the husbandman (the irrigator), whom he brought up to serve as gardener in the palace of Kish. The goddess Ishtar favored the youth, and he was promoted to the post of cup-bearer. Thus aspiring the throne he became, at last, king and emperor, renowned as the living god._ __ _Sargon of Agade (his new capital) was the destroyer of the ancient cities of the Sumerians, from whom his own people had derived their civilization (see the tablet called [29]The Legend of Sargon)._ __ _In [30]the Bible we can read the same story when we look at Moses and Joseph :_ __ _Moses as the adopted prince of Egypt._ __ _Ex:2:3: And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river's brink. Ex:2:10: And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses: and she said, Because I drew him out of the water._ __ _Joseph as the Cupbearer of the Pharaoh._ __ _Gn:41:40: Thou shalt be over my house, and according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled: only in the throne will I be greater than thou. Gn:41:42: And Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph's hand, and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck; Gn:41:43: And he made him to ride in the second chariot which he had; and they cried before him, Bow the knee: and he made him ruler over all the land of Egypt._ __ _As you see these stories are likely the same so the conclusion should be that Moses himself possibly used the story of Sargon and made it his own story. Prove again that the Bible should be read as a storybook, together with other scripts, tablets, myths, legends and sages from all over the world._ __ _There are much more examples of this kind of stories who are rewritten in the Bible and I mentioned already some of them in part 1 of this book. In the next chapters we will see much more of them, so many that the reader shall agree with me that the Bible tell us only a part of the history and mostly beside the thruth. _ __ _In the next chapters you can read more stories that have a link with the Bible. It is amazing that ALL stories in the Bible have their counterparts in the Mesopotamian stories. The conclusion must be that the Bible is only a "short" description of the whole Mesopotamian history._ __ _With the above in mind we will have a closer look at the Sumerian Gods in the next chapter and we will try to find if there are links between them and the Gods in the Bible._ _________________________________________________________________ _[31]Sign my Guest Book_ _________________________________________________________________ [32]Home [33]Up [34]Chapter 1 [35]Chapter 2 [36]Chapter 3 [37]Chapter 4 [38]Chapter 5 [39]Chapter 6 [40]Chapter 7 Chapter 8 [41]Chapter 9 [42]Chapter 10 [43]Chapter 11 [44]Chapter 12 [45]Chapter 13 [46]Up _________________________________________________________________ _Send mail to [47]L.C.Geerts with questions or comments about this web site. 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