| Cities full of hatred Fear and lies Withered hearts And cruel, tormented eyes Scheming demons Dressed in kingly guise Beating down the multitude And scoffing at the wise – (Neil Elwood Peart / Gary Lee Weinrib / Alex Zivojinovich) Chapter 4: Early Kingship & Creation Myths Kingship isn’t something we see much evidence of in the earliest of ancient times. What we do see is a newly forming kingship superimposed onto the remnants of an early queendom around the time of the Sumerians, and most likely an outgrowth of earlier Indian custom. Hindu coronation rituals are documented in Kingship by Hocart, where the author writes: “The king is made to sit on a throne which represents the womb.” (1) The cities very early on, since Sumer and Babylonia, were named after the goddesses, to win favor and protection from the goddesses for their cities. In the New Testament, Christ referred to the Holy City in maternal terms (2) and the church was represented as the “Bride of Christ.” (3) Similarly, Israel was the “Spouse of Yahweh.” (4) During the era of Ur III, King Naram Sin of Akkad called himself the “Spouse of Ishtar” and thereafter, all Kings of Ur III, Isin and Larsa used the title “Spouse of Inanna.” (5) It was also in this era that the first law code was brought into being, prior to the Code of Hammurabi, called the Code of Ur-Nammu. It is written in Sumerian and dates from 2150-2100 BC. Later Akkadian kings would instate themselves as landowners of the property which was previously held by the temples of the goddesses. (6) As well, the earlier epithet that had been added to all the king’s names, “nourished by the good milk of Ninhursag,” had been removed in the later dynasties. What had happened was that the Akkadian kings had proclaimed themselves as gods, as the first kings of Uruk had done, a precedent which was repeated several times down through the Roman era. The Akkadian dynasties eventually fell to turmoil and invasion and it wasn’t until the period of the Ur III Kings (2100-2000 BC) that Mesopotamia was united again in any real way. (7) In every tale of kingship, the young prince, who is one day to be king, is suckled by the great goddess. Yessub is suckled by Anath and Ashera, and Horus is suckled by Isis. The concept of “divine kingship” seems to imply a nurturing from the goddess, and a supply of goddess milk. Is the goddess milk that is fed to the young king, the nectar of the gods? Is this the “ambrosia?” What that would imply is that the mushroom from the goddess establishes divinity upon the consumer and this led to early kingship. This is precisely what we see occurring through most ancient mythology and it’s one of the many avenues we explore in the upcoming chapters. (8) |
In many of the accounts of the gods in ancient history, from the earliest time in Sumer to the more established Babylonian era, the tales revolve around the gods giving to mankind, the “Gift of Civilization.” The impression given by the poets and writers who recorded these tales is that the human race was barbarous and uncivilized. Early kingship revolved around the understanding that “kingship came down from heaven.” Kings were instituted by the gods to oversee mankind and organize civilized life. It was understood that the “Seven Great Sages” taught mankind, as intermediaries of the gods, what man needed to know about procreation, the arts, sciences, math, astrology, metalworking, hunting, cooking, agriculture etc. The “Seven Great Sages” are also known as Apkallu. “Ancient Aliens” enthusiasts refer to them as the “Anunnaki.” There is a very distinct possibility, as Lambert and Miller point out in their book on Atra Hasis, that the ‘Seven Great Sages ‘might correlate to the “Seven Kings of Sumer.” (9) The beginning of “kingship” was the official beginning of Patriarchy, which was an outgrowth of the matrilineal clan. It started very far back, in ancient Mesopotamia, with the first Sumerian King List. I suspect the whole reason for having a “list” was to keep track of the lineage on the father’s side of the family. Prior to this, people committed everything to memory, but the evidence of a list of patriarchal lineage could help set the stage for a future kingship. This may have been the reason for writing, though I have no proof of this, I think it’s important to consider. Prior to this, writing was not necessary. It became necessary to keep track of growing inventories and debts which began to accrue after the slavery economy was established. (1) The Great Mother, p. 100; Hocart, Kingship, p. 97 (2) Cult of the Mother Goddess, p. 193; St Matt. xxiii. 37; St Luke xiii. 34f.; xix. 43f (3) ibid; Rev. xix. 7; xxi. 9f.; Rom. vii. 4; Eph. v. 23; 2 Cor. xi. 2-4; Eusebius, Hist. Eccl., iv, 26, 8; v, I, 10 (4) ibid; Chavasse, The Bride of Christ, 1940, pp. 19-48; E. Mura, Le corps mystique du Christ, vol. i, Paris, 1936, pp. 65f.; vol. ii, pp. 483ff. (5) In the Wake of the Goddess, p. 61 (6) Hans J. Nissen, "Sumerian" vs "Akkadian" Art: Art and Politics in Babylonia of the Mid-third Millennium BCE,", Insight Through Images: Studies in Honor of (???-refind) Edith Porada, Malibu, California: Undena, 1988) p. 189-196 (7) In the Wake of the Goddess, p. 60 (8) Before the Bible: The Common Background of Greek and Hebrew Civilization, Cyrus H. Gordon, Collins, London, 1962, p. 145-6 (9) Atra-Hasis; The Babylonian Story of the Flood, W.G. Lambert and A.R. Millard, Eisenbrauns, Indiana, 1999, p. 18-20 |