fandomhigh | World Mythology -- Third Period -- Monday

"Today, we start at the very beginning," Ghanima announced crisply. "Or as close to the beginning as such a young planet can get. Mesopotamian mythology is the collective name given to Sumerian, Akkadian, Assyrian, and Babylonian mythologies from parts of the fertile crescent, the land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in Iraq."

"The Sumerians practiced a polytheistic religion, with anthropomorphic gods or goddesses representing forces or presences in the world, in much the same way as later Greek mythology. According to said mythology, the gods originally created humans as servant and freed them when they became too much to handle. Many stories in Sumerian religion appear similar to stories in other Middle-Eastern religions. Gods and Goddesses from Sumer have similar representations in the religions of the Akkadians, Canaanites, and others."

"Today we look at one of the first primordial goddesses of this world: Tiamat. Tiamat is considered the embodiment of primordial chaos. Although there are no early precedents for it, some sources identify her with images of a sea serpent or dragon. In the Enûma Elish, the Babylonian epic of creation, she gives birth to the first generation of deities; she later makes war upon them and is killed by the storm-god Marduk. The heavens and the earth are formed from her divided body."

[~~Wait for the OC of D!~~ The OCD hath been achieved. Go forth!]

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At the beginning of the world!

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"Though Tiamat is often described by modern authors as a sea serpent or dragon, no ancient texts exist in which there is a clear association with those kinds of creatures. The Enûma Elish specifically states that Tiamat did give birth to dragons and serpents, but they are included among a larger and more general list of monsters including scorpion men and merpeople, none of which imply that any of the children resemble the mother or are even limited to aquatic creatures. Within the Enûma Elish her physical description includes a tail, a thigh, "lower parts" which shake together, a belly, an udder, ribs, a neck, a head, a skull, eyes, nostrils, a mouth, and lips. She has a heart, arteries, and blood."

"Tiamat was the "shining" personification of salt water who roared and smote in the chaos of original creation. She and Apsu filled the cosmic abyss with the primeval waters. She is "Ummu-Hubur who formed all things". In the myth recorded on cuneiform tablets, the deity Enki -- later Ea -- believed correctly that Apsu, upset with the chaos they created, was planning to murder the younger deities; and so slew him. This angered Tiamat, whereupon she fashioned monsters to battle the deities in order to avenge Apsu's death. These were her own offspring: giant sea serpents, storm demons, fish-men, scorpion-men and many others. As often happens, she was overcome by a younger god -- Marduk, son of Ea. Slicing Tiamat in half, he made from her ribs the vault of heaven and earth. Her weeping eyes became the source of the Tigris and the Euphrates. With the approval of the elder deities, he took from Kingu the Tablets of Destiny, installing himself as the head of the Babylonian pantheon. Kingu, Tiamat's new, second husband, was captured and later was slain: his red blood mixed with the red clay of the Earth would make the body of humankind, created to act as the servant of the younger Igigi deities."

"I'd like you to make up your own creation stories today, and then share them with a friend. Either a story you are familiar with from your own homeworld, or how you, personally, think the world came into being. Or, if neither of those suit your fancy, why do you think Tiamat is so often portrayed as a dragon? What sort of connotations do dragons have in your culture? Are they creatures of chaos, creation, or both?"

Once they tag in...

She's around(ish) before & after class.

Soooooo.... I shoulda made an availability notice sooner, but there's a

guardianborn raiding my bookshelves and a

once_a_traitor ~~asleep on the floor~~ who is no longer asleep. I apologize for any slow/dropped tags over the next two days, while we end the world.

Edited 2010-01-11 18:21 (UTC)

Karla

Karla was very intrigued by this creation myth. It had some elements in common with her own and yet was so very different. In both, the worlds began with blood and death, though the Blood were born of sacrifice instead of violence.

Yes. Very interesting...if kinda hard on her hand.

Karla looked around for someone to trade creation myths with.

Jo Harvelle

Ben Skywalker

Ben was very certain he had spelled at least half of the names Master Ghanima had mentioned wrong, but as long as he could read them, it wasn't going to matter, right?

Ben grinned at her. "So, is this how it works where you come from?"

"Well....mine does involve dragons," Karla said, laughing a bit. "But, no. Not really. We don't actually have any stories about how the world came to be. Just the Blood."

The world had always been there, of course.

"Though I bet my stories are much more astral than yours are," she teased.

Firekeeper... did not have a creation myth to share, unfortunately. She'd be glad enough to talk about dragons, though, should anyone wish.

"Oh, definitely," Ben said, laughing. "We've lost a lot of information over the thousands of millennia my galaxy has existed. I'm sure in the Outer Rim, someone still believes that the universe was created by a giant sneeze or something, but most beings rely on science."

One of these days, Firekeeper really was going to have to learn to read and write. For now, though, she and Blind Seer simply listened.

Diana Hansen

Raven

Tahiri Veila

Menolly

"Science?" Karla wrinkled her nose at him. "Bah. So much less interesting than the birth of scorpian-men and sea serpents. I think you should go back to believing in the Giant Sneeze Theory. It's much more fun."

Menolly was still unsure of this whole 'gods' and 'goddesses' thing. Why were they forming planets when everyone knew there was a whole universe out there?

Still, she took mental notes with Beauty's tail wrapped around her neck as the fire lizard hid in her hair.

Was the comment on dragons intentional? Menolly was half-smiling, half-amused. Obviously dragons didn't create the world. Humans created dragons - or so the oldest ballads said.

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World Mythology -- Third Period -- Monday

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