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 DEMONS ABDUCT DUMUZI, INANNA IS THERE TO SAVE HIM

1. The myth of Dumuzi and Inanna : This is the myth where Inanna descends into the underworld (where the dead are). The myth was in fragmentary form then. But it is known now as the myth of 'Dumuzi and Inanna' in its complete form. Dumuzi is the Sumerian form of the more familiar name Tammuz and Inanna is the Sumerian equivalent of Semitic Ishtar. So, Ishtar is Inanna, the queen of heaven, (in other words she is the queen of the sky). As you know there are vegetation gods. These gods have their roots in the winter-spring cycle of the vegetation. They die in autumn-winter and rise in the spring. Dumuzi is that! He goes down or taken down by demons to the nether-world, and Inanna resorts to schemes of her own invention to bring him up to the world-of-the-living again. This is clearly a ritual myth. With the Semitic (Akkadian) rule in the country all the names of the gods were changed to Akkadian. Dumuzi became Tammuz, Inanna became Ishtar. In the liturgies Tammuz and Ishtar are frequently represented as the figure of the male and female fir-tree. But fir-trees do not belong to the Tigris-Euphrates delta, on the contrary they are found in the mountainous region from which the Sumerians came. Evidence shows that Sumerians and Semites were occupying the delta for a long time before the Amorite invasion, and the final subjugation of the Sumerians by the Semites. Semites took over from the Sumerians their cuneiform script, much of their religion and myths. Of course Semites introduced their motives and understanding to the myths, which may have led to the changes we see in the Tammuz-Ishtar myth of the Assyro-Babylonian period.

 ORDER OUT OF CHAOS

2. The myth of Creation : This is the second basic myth. As far as the ancient myths of creation are concerned we do not find the concept of ex nihilo creation. All of these ancient myths have an aproach of bringing order out of an original state of chaos. The Assyro-Babylonian myth of creation is in the form of the well known Epic of Creation - Enuma Elish. There is nothing corresponding to this in the Sumerian material. Sumerian cosmogony has to be pieced together from various myths of origin partly because many of the tablets upon which the myths have been preserved are broken and incomplete. So we are in an uncomfortable situation of piecing together a coherent account of Sumerian mythology. To make a difficult task a bit easier we will look into this story of creation under three headings:

 WATER: 'MOTHER OF EVERYTHING'

a. The Origin of the Universe : The goddess Nammu ('Primeval Ocean' - Sumerian 'Mother of the Gods') whose name is written with the ideogram for 'sea', is the 'mother who gave birth to heaven and earth.' From other material which are also recorded on clay tablets we learn that heaven and earth were originally a mountain. Earth was the base and summit was the heaven. Personification of heaven was the god An, and goddess Ki was the personification of earth. Their union produced the air-god Enlil. Then Enlil had An-Ki (the heaven-earth mountian) separated. This way universe came into being with heaven, earth and air in between - separating them. Here we have no explanation for the primeval sea, which existed before creation (An identical concept appears in Qoran where it is said that there was only water before creation). This endless primeval ocean was called the Goddess Nammu. Nammu produced a mountain out of water. Her son, God of Air separated this mountain into two. The top became the sky and An (God of Sky and Wisdom) got it. The lower part became the earth, and Nammu and Enlil together took it. An and Enlil furnished the earth with trees and waters. They created animals and brought into being the gods who will be in charge of all that (The Old Testament in Genesis, has the same primeval ocean, separation of earth and sky, creation of land, furnishing the land with trees. Qoran in 21:30 asks: 'Don't they know that sky and earth was one and we separated it?' Sumerian and Old Testament stories are very close. Qoran is superficial and undetailed on this subject.

 WHEN WAS THE CREATION?

b. The Organization of the Universe : A number of myths deal with this subject. One of them is the birth of moon-god, Nanna, or Sin: Enlil the high god of the Sumerian pantheon fell in love with the goddess Ninlil (A Sumerian Goddess) and raped her. For this act Enlil was banished to the underworld, but Ninlil -with child - refused to be left behind and insisted on following Enlil to the nether world. But if Ninlil's child was born while she was in the underworld, the child - the moon god - would have been born in the underworld instead of becoming a light of the sky. So Enlil devised a scheme by which Ninlil became the mother of the three deities of the nether world as substitutes for Nanna. Ninlil was set free and was able to ascend to heaven. Enlil becomes frequently the title of Tammuz in the Tammuz liturgies, and Ninlil is the designation of Ishtar. When Inanna descended into the nether world there was no explanation. But now we have the reason for Ninlil's descent. So, Nanna/Sin was the chief astral deity. The sun god Utu was regarded as the offspring of Nanna and his consort Ningal (Wife of Nanna). Later on when the Hebrew cosmogony was invented, the sun became the major luminary, the moon became female, (as we see in classical mythology). According to Sumerians Nanna traversed the night sky in a quffah, the circular boat used in the navigation of the Euphrates (these boats are reportedly still in use there and called 'kufe'). But Sumerians had had no explanation for the origin of stars and planets that accompanied Nanna.

 TIME TO BRING ORDER TO THE EARTH

 WE NEED SERVANTS! LET'S CREATE THEM

According to the Sumerian belief, creation of man was made possible in the end, as a result of the divine activities involved in the creation of the order of the universe. Enlil, is the ultimate source of vegetation, cattle, agricultural implements, and the arts of civilization. Enlil brings into being all these by creating lesser gods who carry out his instructions. To provide cattle and grain for the earth, Enki ( Ea in Babylonia - the god of wisdom) calls on Enlil to do something. Enlil in turn creates two minor deities, Lahar the Cattle God and Ashnan the Grain Goddess. They created an abundance on the earth. But they drank wine, got drunk, began to quarrel and neglected their duties. Anunnakis still needed food and clothes. They had to find a solution - for their own sake! They found it. They created man, as a loyal servant, and according to the Sumerian myth titled 'Herd Animals and Grain': '...to look after their (gods) beautiful sheepfolds, life is blown into man' (This expression, 'life is blown into man' is extremely important because it appears in the Old Testament and Qoran. In the Old Testament; Genesis 2:7 it is written: 'And the Lord God formed the man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living soul. In Qoran; 32:7,9 the story begins with 'He has started creating man with mud' then concludes, 'then gave it a form, and breathed his essence into it.' So now you know where this expression comes form: Sumer of course!). Furthermore the same myth describes how Enki, beginning with Sumer, journeyed through different parts of the world, 'fixing the destinies' (This is a Sumerian term which means the creative activity of the gods in bringing order to the universe.

 THE STORY OF 'FIXING DESTINIES'

There is an object mentioned in the Babylonian myths which is called in Akkadian 'the tablet of destinies.' Possessing such a 'tablet' was one of the attributes of deity. Myths tell us that these 'tablets' were stolen or taken by force on several occasions. Because the god who possessed them had the power to control the order of the universe (here Jews and Moslems may detect the origin of their belief in the destiny-determining-attribute of their god). But let us go back to our story. Enki's itinerary began with Ur, Tigris and Euphrates rivers - which he filled with fish - and progressed with Meluhha (possibly Egypt or lands on the banks of the Gulf of Basra). He appointed over each of these a god or a goddess. He then went on to place the brick-god Kabta in charge of the pick-axe and the brick-mould. Enki laid foundations, built houses and put them under the charge of Mushdamma - the 'great builder of Enlil.' He filled the plain with vegetable and animal life, and placed Sumuqan - 'King of the mountain' in charge. Enki built stables and sheepfolds and placed them under the shepherd-god Dumuzi.

 MORE STORIES ABOUT THE CREATION OF MAN

c. The Creation of Man: Spenta Mainyu mentioned the myth of Lahar the Cattle God, and Ashnan the Grain Goddess which resulted in the creation of man. But this is not the only myth which resulted in the creation of mankind (Like we see in the Old Testament, man could be created in various ways under different conditions. Don't forget if it is only the imagination of mankind there are lots and lots of possibilities!). Here Spenta Mainyu must point out that the Sumerian myth and and the Babylonian Epic of Creation differ considerably. But the object for which the man was created is identical in both accounts: Yes! Just to serve the gods. In the Sumerian myth, the gods complain that they cannot get their food. And they resort to Enki, as they usually does in times of need, who, unfortunately, is asleep. Nammu, the primeval ocean, the mother of the gods, arouses him from sleep. Enki instructs Nammu and Ninmah (Sumerian 'Goddess of Birth'). Assisted by deities, who are the 'good and princely fashioners' according to Samuel Noah Kramer (from the Tablets of Sumer, Colorado,1956) (you may find a possible echo of these 'fashioners' in the page on Zoroastrianism in the form of Amesha Spentas - 'Benevolent-Beneficient Immortals') Nammu and Ninmah mixed clay which was 'over the abyss' and brought man into existence (Man made of clay could be no match for the supreme entities. Could he? This story of man being created originally of clay appears in the Bible and Qoran, and in some cults as well. So, where is the original story? Who got it from whom? Only the inventor of the story knows.)

 WHO WERE THERE AT THE CREATION OF MAN?

 PALAVER, PALAVER