| “There has been no entirely new religion since the beginning of the world.” (Max Muller, Chips from a German workshop, Vol. I, Preface. p x) (1) (B66-1, XXI) Chapter 8 – The Tower of Myth Babel Though it appears India may have developed the myths in earlier times than Sumer, it appears Sumer may have been host to the first large scale commercial type cities. David Leeming, in Jealous Gods, Chosen People, claims the first great cities were developed by the people of Kengir, now Southern Iraq, eventually taken over by the Sumerians. (2) Sumer is where humans first started writing things down. Lists of kings, inventories of goods, and laws which governed the population. The beginning of the medical priesthood which was known for ruling Egypt had its beginnings in Sumer as well. Sumer is supposedly the origin of the male gala, or priests of Inanna, according to the author Frymer-Kensky, though this may have originated in India with the Vedic Hymns. Public laments given called balags, which were spoken in the name of goddesses, were given and sang by men in the latter period and continued down through Roman times. These songs were sung as if they were being spoken through the mouth of the goddess, and in high pitched falsetto voices. Originally of course, these poems and praises and laments were sung by women, though we can see the trend developing in Sumerian culture for male usurpation. (3) Later, these would be the castrati, or male priests of the goddess Kybele or Cybil. The Mythology of Sumer The abundance of gods and goddesses from various communities all over Mesopotamia led to the creation of a system of organization and understanding them all. Over 500 tablets containing some of the oldest literature in the world was excavated from Abu Salabikh in 1963 and 1965. (4) There were administrative archives, school texts and a well-known Sumerian wisdom text titled “Instructions of Shuruppak,” the Abu Salabikh Tablet being the oldest known copy of this wisdom text. One of the early Abu Salabikh texts is one of these god-lists. (5) The creation of these lists of organized gods and goddesses continued for some time. (6) It appears to me, looking back into the history of Sumer, that the invention of patriarchy created a population explosion which caused the beginning of what we call “civilization.” The Patriarchy created an artificial need to produce more for the ever-growing community, which now required large amounts of labor to sustain. The use of slaves could be justified now by the workforce required by the king to serve the greater kingdom, and this was claimed by the kingship and priesthood to be sanctioned by the gods. This kingship and priesthood being completely aware of the mushroom and its magical influence, the growing population could all be kept relatively dumb to the machinations of the ruling class. |
There is a Sumerian story called the Debate Between Sheep and Grain, which has a very interesting passage in it worth mentioning here. The gods brought both at once to mankind after not being satiated with either of them. There was a debate between them both as to whom had more importance. Sheep insisted she did, and grain insisted she did, as they were both sisters: 72-81 - Grain called out to Sheep: “Sister, I am your better; I take precedence over you. I am the glory of the lights of the Land. I am the gift of the Anuna gods. I am central to all princes. I am Enlil's daughter. In sheep shacks and milking pens scattered on the high plain, what can you put against me?” 92-101- Thereupon Sheep answered Grain: “My sister, whatever are you saying? An, king of the gods, made me descend from the holy place, my most precious place. All the yarns of Uttu, the splendour of kingship, belong to me. Cakkan, king of the mountain, embosses the king's emblems and puts his implements in order. He twists a giant rope against the great peaks of the rebel land. He ...... the sling, the quiver and the longbows. 102-106 - The watch over the elite troops is mine. Sustenance of the workers in the field is mine: the waterskin of cool water and the sandals are mine. Sweet oil, the fragrance of the gods, mixed (?) oil, pressed oil, aromatic oil, cedar oil for offerings are mine. 107-115 - In the gown, my cloth of white wool, the king rejoices on his throne. My body glistens on the flesh of the great gods. After the purification priests, the incantation priests and the bathed priests have dressed themselves in me for my holy lustration, I walk with them to my holy meal. But your harrow, ploughshare, binding and strap are tools that can be utterly destroyed. What can you put against me? Answer me what you can reply!” (7) Her “cloth of white wool” is compared to that of which “glistens on the flesh of the gods.” This is a most revealing statement, as many researchers such as Clark Heinrich have been saying for years that the sheep’s wool is the A. muscaria cap veil scabbing. I think this is an important point that’s overlooked by many. There is all kinds of symbolic mythmaking in relation to the sheep or lamb’s wool. There is the Golden Fleece and the Lamb of God and we know the Hindus used some kind of woolen filter for their Soma. (1) The Fountainhead of Religion, p. XXI (2) Jealous Gods, p. 6 (3) In the Wake of the Goddess, p. 43-44 (4) Inscriptions from Tell Abu Salabikh, (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press), 1974, R.D Biggs (5) See Pietro Mandler, Il Pantheon di Abu-Salabikh (Naples:1986) (6) In the Wake of the Goddess, p. 11 (7) http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/section5/tr532.htm |