Sumerian gods and goddesses pantheons the white goddess. The foundational influence of sumer and hurrian on graecoroman mythology is known but the west imaginesasserts that ideas spread without the people. This statement is very important because western take on sumerian influence on ancient greece and rome is similar. All myths are laced with metaphors many leading to gods and creators as ancient alien who came to earth to create a race called humans and what followed after that. He was one of the most important and favorite of gozers creations worshiped of all sumerian demigods, before he was banished long ago.
It is an ancient, ultrapowerful, malignant entity from another dimension who was summoned to new york city to destroy the world. He is the first and most distant ancestor, theologically conceived as the god of heaven in its transcendental obscurity. Azetlor is an antagonist and a boss character in ghostbusters. The earliest record of a sumerian creation myth, called the eridu genesis by historian thorkild jacobsen, is found on a single fragmentary tablet excavated in nippur by the expedition of the university of pennsylvania in 1893, and first recognized by arno poebel in 1912. Bibliography related content books cite this work license. The gods of the mesopotamian region were by no means uniform in name, power. In particular the societies of sumer, akkad, and assyria, all of which existed shortly after 3000 bce and were mostly gone by 400 ce.
She was part of the creation of the first humans from blood and clay. In sumerian and akkadian mythology ninurta was a god of agriculture, hunting and healing, later associated with war. As uatharaphelun noted, etcsl is the best place to look for sumerian mythology in translation online if you prefer reading in print, the literature of ancient sumer by jeremy black provides a compilation of etcsl entries and introductions for each text. Eventually gozer and its followers were defeated and tiamat banished gozer from this world. Reality is a computer generated consciousness hologram in which the characters it creates are programmed to believe it is real. Visit the links to learn about sumerian myths related to objects in the sky, the earth, and aspects of their world. He appears in the form of a giant humanoid mass of black slime and broken furniture while in the. Sumerian religion from wikipedia, the free encyclopedia part of a series on ancient mesopotamian religion primordial beingsshow seven gods who decreeshow other major godsshow minor godsshow demigods and heroesshow spirits and monstersshow talesshow the sumerian religion influenced mesopotamian mythology as a whole, surviving in the mythologies and religions of. There is no gozer, zuul, or vinz clortho in hittite or sumerian mythology. It was believed that he had the power to judge those who had committed crimes, and that he had created the stars as soldiers to destroy the wicked.
The origin of humans according to ancient sumerian texts. The mesopotamian pantheon ancient history encyclopedia. Apr 27, 2019 sumerian male worshipper, 27502600 bc cc bysa 2. Three former parapsychology professors set up shop as a unique ghost removal service. And is often the case with mythology, her later babylonian legends diverged from the earlier sumerian tales, with the babylonian epic of gilgamesh representing the goddess as a. The definitive sumerian source is samuel noah kramer, the best myth introduction is that book freely available on sacred text. The sumerians, their history, cultures and character. An started out as the king of all of the gods, but later diminished in importance. Sumerian influence on ancient rome, romans, roman empire.
He was one of the most important and favorite of gozer s creations worshiped of all sumerian demigods, before he was banished long ago. This book is our first authoritative sketch of the great. A history of mesopotamian religion by thorkild jacobsen is somewhat outdated, and i dont subscribe to all of his. Study of spiritual and literary achievement in the third millennium b. History based on the combined knowledge from both games part 1. Ancient sumerian tales of gods, goddesses, myths, and epics. Thorkild jacobsen, in his work the treasures of darkness. Abgal the seven sages in sumerian mythology sent to the earth by enki at. Tiamat is a sadistic, primal sumerian goddess of chaos and a major villainess in the ghostbusters idw ongoing series. The book appears to be a printondemand version of an electronic text. Tobins spirit guide is not a real book well, until recently. Traces of sumerian religion survive today and are reflected in writings of the bible. As late as ezekiel, there is mention of a sumerian deity.
A study of spiritual and literary achievement in the third millennium b. Ancient mesopotamian religion and mythology selected. Gozer also known as gozer the gozerian, gozer the destructor, gozer the traveler, volguus zildrohar and lord of the sebouillia is the main antagonist of ghostbusters and also makes an appearance in ghostbusters. Does zool in ghostbusters have a real mythological basis. Sumerian mythology ancient sumerian tales of gods, goddesses, myths, and epics annotated the influence that ancient near eastern religion and the old testament left upon humans samuel noah 4. Sumerian influence on ancient rome, oghur etruscans founders.
The original gozer worshipers, known as the gozerians first appeared in mesopotamia around 6000 b. However, following the release of ghostbusters, fans made up a number of legacies, rituals and mythologies about them, none of which have any true history. But i cant find any evidence in actual sumarian or babylonian mythology of either a xul or a zule or a zuul or a gozer. When the gods came down from the heavens much needed to be done on the planet and they literally terraformed the earth in order to make it habitable while they mined its minerals from the soil. Before the beginning of kingship in sumer, the citystates were effectively ruled by. It looks like something the writers borrowed from the necronomicon, which would have been pretty recently published at the time they wrote ghostbusters which was released in 1984. It looks like something the writers borrowed from the necronomicon, which would have been pretty recently published at the time they wrote ghostbusters which was released in. Sumerian religion was the religion practiced and adhered to by the people of sumer, the first. Sumerian myths were passed down through the oral tradition until the invention of writing the earliest myth. Azetlor azetlor, keeper of knowledge, was a sumerian demigod worshiped by sumerian people around the same time when gozer, the destructive god was around. Sumerian, ugur hurrian, hatti, siberian steppe, anatolian. Sumerian influence on ancient rome, oghur etruscans. The following is a list of the gods of the mesopotamian pantheon but, as the mesopotamian people worshipped between 300 and different gods, it is by no means a complete listing. Other sumerian creation myths from around this date are.
The bulk of sumerian parallels can, however be found much earlier, in the book of genesis. Before time began there was only darkness and the goddess nammu, the primordial sea. Another main deity of the sumerian pantheon was enlil, an air god god of wind and storms, who was the son of an and ki. Mama the mesopotamian especially sumerian and akkadian mother goddess. Ancient history encyclopedia receives a small commission for each book sold through our. The core of the book is eighteen essays, six each on the pantheon, on mythology, and on religion. All the deities were believed to be the offspring of an and his consort ki cf. Topics sumerian, gadd, cuneiform, assyriology collection opensource. Sumerian and akkadian proverbs and the later hebrew proverbs, many of which are featured in the book of proverbs. Society and economy at the dawn of history all contain chapters on temples and religion in. The selection is rounded off by three essays that study ancient mesopotamian religion and mythology in relation to the hebrew bible. Sumerian mythology revised edition samuel noah kramer a real addition to the body of world mythology. There is no religious undertone, only zuul overthinking it. An in sumerian, later known as anu or ilu in akkadian, is the supreme god and prime mover in creation, embodied by the sky.
Sumerian mythology book ancient history encyclopedia. In some sumerian myths, enlil has been depicted as a kind of. The first essay in the anthology is morals in ancient mesopotamia 1958. Ninurta m sumerian mythology, semitic mythology derived from sumerian meaning lord and. Sumerian mythology ancient sumerian tales of gods, goddesses, myths.
These works were primarily preserved on stone or clay tablets and were written in cuneiform by scribes. Zuul the gatekeeper, gozer the sumerian god of destruction, and vinz clortho the keymaster were all made up for the movie. She was called mami by the babylonians, the goddess who created mortals. The video game, and he is also a monstrous servant of gozer that possesses a human named edmund hoover, a highranking member of the gozer worshippers. A study of spiritual and literary achievement in the third mil. Were zuul, gozer and vinz clortho really part of sumerian mythology. In sumerian mythology and later for assyrians and babylonians, anu was a skygod, the god of heaven, lord of constellations, king of gods, spirits and demons, and dwelt in the highest heavenly regions. American anthropologist no people has contributed more to the culture of mankind than the sumerians, and yet it has been only in recent years that our knowledge of them has become at all accurate or extensive. Shop windows to the universe arches national park geology tour provides an extensive, visually rich description of the geology of arches, by deborah ragland, ph. This is similar to cronos in the greek myths, who was overthrown by his son and was rarely talked about after. For contextualizing sumerian mythology within mesopotamian religion, i recommend botteros religion in ancient mesopotamia. They were also known, by the akkadians and babylonians, as the apkallu or the apkallu fish and are depicted with the body of a fish and the head of a man or with the torso of a fish and human arms, legs and head.
A mesopotamian goddess of contrasting traits, ishtar or inanna in sumerian was projected as the female divine entity of beauty, sex, and desire, while at the same time being the symbolic purveyor of war and combat. The book covers a variety of important aspects of sumerian life. Taking these multifarious factors into consideration, let us take a gander at the ten ancient mesopotamian gods and goddesses you should know about. It is written in the sumerian language and dated to around 1600 bce. Jul 28, 2008 but i cant find any evidence in actual sumarian or babylonian mythology of either a xul or a zule or a zuul or a gozer. Ancient mesopotamian religion and mythology selected essays. After all, the most religioustinged aspects of the movie is a sumerian god who turns out to be very very real and delicious. He resembles a giant bookworm with four long tongues that are his weak spots. According to sumerian mythology, in the beginning of time, humanoid gods ruled over our planet. Amazon kindle amazon kindle amazon kindle, amazon paperback, discover groundbreaking revelations on the roots of modern civilization in one short book. The sumerians regarded their divinities as responsible for all matters pertaining to the natural and social orders. Lemmermeyer also mentions a book on babylonian mythological influences on homers iliad and odyssey that.
The sumerian religion was polytheistic in nature, and the sumerians worshipped a great number of deities. Discover delightful childrens books with prime book box, a subscription that delivers new books every 1, 2, or 3 months new customers receive 15% off your. Gozer is a sumerian shapeshifting god of destruction also known as gozer the. The general idea was imported into hebrew mythology as lilith, demoness of desolation, obsession, and madness. She gave birth to anki, the universe at first they were heaven and earth in one, a vast mountain of soil and sky. With bill murray, dan aykroyd, sigourney weaver, harold ramis. A history of mesopotamian religion, states, the gods who formed the assembly of the gods were legion. Gozer asked ray if he was a god, then started blasting the ghostbusters when he said no. Sumerian influence on ancient greece is seldom mentioned but there are books and articles covering this subject. Mesopotamian mythology refers to the myths, religious texts, and other literature that comes from the region of ancient mesopotamia in modernday west asia. The major books on the sumerians crawfords sumer and the sumerians and the sumerian world and postgates early mesopotamia.
The book did not treat the political history of the sumerian people or the nature of their social and economic institutions, nor did it give the reader any idea of the manner and method by which the sumerians and their language were discovered and resurrected it is primarily to fill these gaps that the present book was conceived and composed. Comparison of the sumerian gods and the greek pantheon. By purchasing books through this website, you support our nonprofit organization. May 09, 2017 furthermore, some of these mesopotamian gods were honored more as patron deities of individual cities.
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