World Mythology, Tuesday, 2nd Period.

[atreideslioness]

"Today, we start at the very beginning," Ghanima announced crisply, Trebor on her hip as he chewed on what looked like a toy dragon. "--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 the Greek mythology which came later." That was for you, Stewart. "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." Trebor brightened up and waived his dragon around excitedly, narrowly missing bopping his mother on her head. "Trebor, you are getting ahead of yourself, we are not there yet."

"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." She smiled wryly. "Hence Trebor's choice of prop for today. However, it is important to note that these associations first came to light during the late American 1960s, in a journal about oriental society, which then spread to the popular consciousness. Take that particular citation with a grain of salt, and read 'The Battle between Marduk and Tiamat' by Thorkild Jacobsen for yourself to decide."

"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."

Comments

Re: Discussion

[atreideslioness]

"Worldsouls sound fascinating," Ghanima said. "Does each non-Planeswalker plane have a worldsoul, or does it require special conditions to form?"

Re: Discussion

[deathsmajesty]

"Uncertain," Liliana said, almost cheerfully. "I know of two - Gaea and Ravnica's Mat'Selesnya - but I'm also the wrong type of mana user to contact one. They tend towards green and white mana users and I'm quite the opposite. There are stories of worldsouls that have lost their plane and can attach themselves to other planes or planeswalkers, but it's impossible to tell fact from fiction sometimes."

Fun fact! Liliana didn't know this, but Serra's Realm did, in fact, have a worldsoul! At least until Urza collapsed it into a powercore to give the Weatherlight the ability to travel to different planes (after leading Phyrexia to their door)!

Remember kids, there's nothing that Urza can't or didn't ruin!

Re: Discussion

[atreideslioness]

"Ah, so even a worldsoul, like a god, has favorite children," Ghanima said dryly. "Mildly disappointing, I admit."

Re: Discussion

[deathsmajesty]

"Most gods are, I've found," Liliana said, a little bitterly. "At least once you discover their feet of clay."