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lampthehealthminister · 17 days

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An Aventurine-centric analysis of the 2.1 Trailblaze Quest - Part 2

This is so late I’m sorry :( Life has been keeping me busy and I just didn’t have the time to look over this one last time and post it. I focused only a small part this time because nothing else interested me in the quest. Plus, next up is All the Sad Tales, and I feel like that’s gonna take a massive amount of time… It’s probably gonna be divided in two parts! Anyway, enjoy my rambling!

Warning : Spoilers for Honkai Star Rail’s 2.1 Trailblaze Quest “Cat Among Pigeons” (still putting it here just in case)

Part 2 : Heaven is a Place on Earth

Memory

Indifferent Male: So, No. 35, you're back. Like your new lucky charm?

Aventurine: ...Can a "commodity code" really be considered a lucky charm?

→ I don’t actually have much to say about these lines, except that I searched the meaning or symbolism of the number 35 and I found none. The number 34 is more interesting, but I’ll talk about it later ! (See line 3)

→ Other than that, the whole dialogue talks a lot about luck, and there’s definitely something ironic about Aventurine’s master referring to his (Aventurine) mark as a lucky charm in these lines. It’s obviously mocking, a way to taunt Aventurine for being someone’s property even though he’s naturally lucky. Also, it’s another way to tell him that his luck is meant to be used, specifically for or by someone else. There’s basically a double layer to the way Aventurine’s master strips him of his identity and freedom. Also, with the link made between the commodity code and Aventurine’s luck, the latter appears as something oppressive, that binds Aventurine to a certain path. His luck is not shown in a positive light but as something that brings him trouble, exactly the way he sees it in the present.

2. Indifferent Male: The guys in black didn't say much, so I've no idea what you did to save your skin in that massacre back in the day.

Indifferent Male: But I figured you must have had good luck, so I bought you. From now on, you and your good luck are MY assets. Are we clear?

→ Nothing much to say here, except that it’s once again so ironic that the IPC, who said they would protect the Avgins, ended up selling Aventurine to this guy. And the fact that Aventurine ends up being forced to join the IPC in the end makes it even more twisted, it shows he’s always just been the property of the IPC all along, even if he was in the hands of someone else.

→ Also, Aventurine’s luck is again shown as something detrimental to him, the reason he was bought by this guy in the first place, so by extension the reason he became a slave. Throughout the whole memory, we’re really shown that Aventurine’s luck has never been an asset for him, even though the Avgins considered it a blessing.

3. Indifferent Male: Your first task is simple. In addition to you, I've purchased thirty... well, thirty-four other slaves.

Indifferent Male: Go and play a "game" with them. You came [sic] out alive after two days. It proves that you are the real deal.

→ So, like I said before, the number 35 doesn’t have a meaning, but 34 does. First, in ancient Egypt, the number 34 represented the union of heaven and earth. And the name of the quest is “Heaven is a place on Earth”. However, it could easily be a coincidence. But then I kept reading, and I saw that in Sumerian culture, the number 34 was associated with divine protection and spiritual strength. So obviously, I made the link between “divine protection” and “luck”. It seems that these lines are saying that Aventurine doesn’t just prove his luck to the man who bought him by killing the 34 other slaves, but also reinforces his luck. Basically, killing people gives Aventurine more luck. Once again, Aventurine’s luck only benefits him and no one else, putting him on a pedestal while other people suffer. This time it’s even worse because he directly participates in others’ suffering in the name of his luck. He’s no longer a bystander that could do nothing, he’s straight up a murderer. So we’re once again led to believe that Aventurine’s luck is more of a curse than a blessing.

→ Also, the use of the word “game” to replace the act of killing definitely has some meaning. It gives a twisted dimension to the death of the other slaves, making them look like a form of entertainment. Also, it puts the killer, Aventurine, in the position of the victor. “Game” has a positive connotation, so Aventurine’s survival is seen as a good thing, even though he had to kill everyone else to win. This definitely affected the way he values life, but also the way he approaches games and gambles. And yes, you can definitely make a link with the “Final Victor” lightcone.

4. Indifferent Male: Hahaha, are you trying to strike a bet with me? Well, you've got some guts!

Indifferent Male: Sorry, but that won't do. Don't forget your place, slave. You're not qualified to be at the table.

Indifferent Male: You're just a chip, a life thrown away in someone else's hands. Either you come back with more chips for your master, or... you never come back.

→ In these lines, there’s more vocabulary related to gambling. But just like before, the game, the gamble, is associated with the risk of losing your life, which probably shaped Aventurine’s mentality. It’s also possible that Aventurine gambles specifically because he knows that it’s the only game in which he has control over his life. Meaning that gambling is his way of no longer belonging to anybody except himself. If his life is a chip, then it’s his own and no one else’s.

5. Indifferent Male: It's all or nothing. Don't embarrass me, my lucky hound.

→ This line caught my attention. I find it pretty interesting that Aventurine uses the sentence “all or nothing” pretty often despite the fact that he probably heard it from this guy originally. Why would he regularly use a sentence that was used against him in the first place? I think it’s for the same reason as before : it’s his way of being in control of himself. There’s no longer someone to force him to follow that mentality, he’s the one who does it because he’s his own master. By claiming that sentence as his own, he’s probably showing off his freedom, or at least it’s his way of reminding himself that he’s free to a certain extent.

→ Last thing that’s not related to any line in particular, but for some reason in this memory the name that appears on top of Aventurine’s lines is “Aventurine”, whereas in the next memory, the one with Jade, the name “Kakavasha” is written on top of his lines when he speaks. Which is just strange. This memory is the only one where “Aventurine” is written on top of his lines, all of the others say “Kakavasha”. It might just be an error, but I don’t see how they could have messed it up for only one memory. I’m thinking that it could be a way to underline how this moment shaped Aventurine’s beliefs and actions up until the present, but I’m not really sure. If anybody has suggestions, do drop them!

#aventurine honkai star rail #hsr aventurine #aventurine #honkai star rail #hsr penacony #hsr analysis #honkai star rail analysis #honkai star rail penacony #hsr 2.1 #honkai star rail 2.1

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afoolandathief · 1 year

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✨Mythology & Folklore Retelling Writeblrs Masterpost ✨

So remember a couple months ago when I put out a survey to make a list of writeblrs with myth-retelling/myth-inspired WIPs? Well, I finally put all your responses together!

Below you can find blogs with projects or published works weaving in mythology or folklore, whether it's a retelling or inspired by it. Keep in mind, except for some formatting, I copied these entries directly from the survey.

If anyone does still want to add their WIPs, I'll leave the survey up for now:

Mythology and Folklore Writeblrs and Their WIPs:

@flowerprose

WIP(s): Namesake, a Hades and Persephone myth retelling in which Hades is a skeleton, stripped of his godhood and powers, and Persephone is a young flower maiden, in search of her missing mother. WIP intro, Writing tag

Mythology(ies): Greek Mythology

@violetcancerian

WIP(s): The Dragon and the Herald, Tales of Tirinth, A Song of Three Hundred Spears

Mythology(ies): Arthurian, Irish, Norse, old English

@writeblrfantasy

WIP(s): Queen Artura and the Knights of Arrinshire, a series of stories inspired by the King Arthur tales! I don’t post about it that much, though

Mythology(ies): The King Arthur tales

@lockejhaven

WIP(s): Fable: Servant to Dragon and King

Mythology(ies): Arthurian retelling

@ambiguouspuzuma

WIP(s): I did a three part retelling of the Furies and various Ancient Greek heroes here:

Deianira’s Fury

Ariadne’s Fury

Andromeda’s Fury

I also post regular short stories dipping into other mythology and folklore, featuring golems and sirens and others, including this mash-up of various figures from British mythology: Pantheon

Mythology(ies): Various, mostly Greek

@fearofahumanplanet

WIP(s): The Serpents They Stone - In an alternate version of our world where gods lived alongside humankind and brought them to a new level of technological prosperity, the dreaded World Serpent Jörmungandr reveals herself to have survived Ragnarok while rescuing her villainous old flame, the Phantom Queen Badb. Quickly finding herself pursued by the entire world for the prophecy that promises she will end the world, Jörmungandr dedicates herself to saving Badb from the "Black Pharaoh" that enslaves her - even as Badb is forcibly driven to remain sinister and create chaos.

Miasma - Based on the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland & the later Black Death, the island of Ériu is besieged by the foreign Anglii and their High King is killed. His daughter, Hail, dies with him, but she is resurrected by the serpent goddess Corchen with one objective - to kill King Godric across the ocean, no matter the cost. Her mission soon intertwines with that of a mysterious plague doctor's, who seeks to stop an oncoming plague - one that could spell the end of all life.

Mythology(ies): All, but predominantly Norse, Egyptian, Aztec, Celtic (mostly Welsh/Irish), Greek, Japanese, Chinese, Greek, Sumerian, Mayan, Slavic, Hawaiian, Christian, etc.

@nikkywrites

WIP(s): Maidens and Monsters: sapphic retelling of Scylla’s monsterization, in which she is so beautiful, the ocean (and it’s patrons) cannot help but be drawn to her and too much divine attention in one place always leads to ruin.

Light and What Lies Below: In-between of Maidens and Monsters and OH, in which Calypso makes a deal with Hades, creating Davy Jones’ locker before the sailor is even born.

Ocean’s Heart: Dual POV retelling merging Ogygia Calypso with Davy Jones Calypso, in which when he binds her to a mortal body, he binds her to the island as well.

Her Name is Kore: Persephone/Hades retelling in which Kore knows, even as an unannounced goddess, that she is destined to be something more than just Demeter’s daughter.

Mythology(ies): Greek

@abookishdreamer

WIP(s): Kingdom of Ichor (A YA fantasy series) A modern retelling of classic Greek myths with the gods and goddesses being a focal point. Each book in the series will be told in dual POV following a potential couple. I don't know how long I want the series to be, but I do know it's gonna be pretty expansive! The first book is titled Of Flowers and Darkness, which will be a retelling of the myth of Hades & Persephone.

Mythology(ies): Mainly Greek mythology!!!

@galaxialdarktale

WIP(s): A Prophecy Most Divine (only one on my blog atm)

Mythology(ies): It's a made up mythology set, but I've been obsessed with myths since I was like able to read. I have another one that's not yet on my blog that is a retelling of Norse

@wherearetheplants

WIP(s): Fuck Gods (also referred to as WIP MILF). Life has not been kind to those at Nueva Vida Institution, a residential facility for “deeply disturbed” individuals. The institution seems normal from the outside, but a group of friends on the inside think that there’s more to this place than meets the eyes: they think it’s a end-of-life sacrificial home for those the gods have chosen, and that their life-forces are being drained. They’ve decided that before the gods can get to them, they’re going to complete their life-long goals of getting closure. And to do this, they plan to kill some gods.

Mythology(ies): Greek myths are retold through the character arcs and through parallels. Achilles, Sisyphus, Medusa, Icarus, Pandora's Box

@ladywithalamp

WIP(s): (1) A Casting of Lots (2) Where the Blackbirds Roost [both are linked to my pinned post!]

Based on: Greek mythology for ACoL but I've toyed with hints of Slavic mythologies in WtBR though it isn't as fleshed out

@nicola-writes

WIP(s): the other ones, a horror story about a forest that steals your memories and the monsters waiting within.

Mythology(ies): icarus! contains heavy icarus symbolism, and the main character's arc is directly based on that of icarus'.

@stuck-in-this-mortal-form

WIP(s): Children Of The Prophecy aka a story about half demon children, loosely based on various mythologies and urban legends

Mythology(ies): Slavic, bit of Japanese urban legends & other stuff

@maguayans

WIP(s): Elementalia Chronicles: A fantasy series of five books—Maharlika, Charmed, Sunshower, Waves, and Hiwaga—featuring the lore and creatures of Philippine Mythology. Set in the fictitious province called San Andres, following the lives and misadventures of related characters, all while uncovering the secrets of their ancestors and the land. The expanding universe of the series is affectionately named, Elementaliaverse (@elementaliaverse).

Fair Waters: A novella set in Elementalieverse. | The story follows Elias Hernandez, a photojournalist, and aspiring news writer. He finds himself traveling to the northernmost province of the archipelago after discovering the mysterious case of one of its islands. Soon, he realizes the mystery he’s trying to unravel goes as deep as the ocean. And himself, a pawn to more malicious affairs.

Mariang Makiling: A retelling of the legend of Mariang Makiling. | A group hikes across the inland territories of Maquiling to visit its apparent hidden waters. Failing to reach their destination in time, they camp near a burial ground. There, they would discover something ancient and vile.

Mythology(ies): Philippine Mythology

@fanficwriterblockblog

WIP(s): Just Another Fairytale: 12 kingdoms with 12 “princesses”, facing sociopolitical and mythic problems, especially when their pantheon throws them a curveball. A series of 13 novels, each from a different “princess’s” point-of-view, with myth retellings and fairytale retellings

Mythology(ies): Arachne, Odysseus, etc (too tired to think of the others in there, but it’s not just Greek)

@constellationapex

WIP(s): Most Holy

Mythology(ies): As of this moment, I’m mostly tampering with Greek and Roman gods, but I want to expand to Norse folklore soon!

@literallylore

WIP(s): Glass Gods - a thousand years after Ragnarok, Norse deities are reborn on Earth and must fight to protect their world from an army of frost giants set on conquering the planet.

Mythology(ies): Norse

@fruitbatwoman

WIP(s): Tröll, Álfar, Hestar: 3 Magical Short Stories Inspired by Iceland — What if all the myths and legends surrounding Iceland are true? What if there is a troll under every bridge, elves hidden behind the veil, and wicked horses lurking in the water? In this adventurous, romantic, and magical collection of three short stories, fantasy collides with reality, as tourists and travelers experience a modern take on Icelandic folk tales.

Mythology(ies): Icelandic folk tales, Nordic folk tales, Trolls, Huldufólk, Nykur

#writing #writeblr #writblr #writers of tumblr #mythology #myths and legends #myth retelling #folklore #folklore retelling #scheduled

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lightdancer1 · 2 years

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The first of the Tales of the Sunless Lands:

Will be a specific take on the Tale of the Death of Baldr from Germanic myth. The surviving version in the Eddas suffers very heavily from Christianization, so my IRL religious beliefs shape my presentation of this version of the Tale. It will also have a short prelude showing the post-binding of the Fenris Wolf and the assignment of Fenris to a prison, the Jormugandr to encircle the Earth, and Death, aka Hel, given primordial Niflheim as a domain as the Aesir understand it (more precisely they connect to the Sunless Lands in one of its many facets).

One of my favorite bits of Sandman is just how much of old Germanic lore it uses, so this is something of a love letter to that and a modern day retelling of the myth much as Song of Orpheus retells the founding myth of the Orphic path, the journey of Orpheus to Hades to reclaim the soul of his wife Eurydice.

There are some particular resonances of the Tale of Baldr and of Orpheus, but in more of a loose sense, and it gets across the whole aspect of what and who Death is as Hel, much as Morpheus is God of Dreams and Poetry in the Sandman version of Greek lore.

Death's connection to Nifllheim (or more precisely in Sandman terms that the Aesir, Vanir, Jotnar, and Muspelli all see Niflheim and the Sunless Lands identically) is also one of the roots of the whole Yeneli thing as the defeat of Niflheim is one of Muspel's first victories and they see the emergence of Hel as a threat to that and Yeneli, who can see the future, takes actions to ensure that Niflheim would never threaten to undo the initial wins. At one level. At another level she's a dick to the ruler of Niflheim because she can be and who precisely would tell her no?

This is one reason that one of the names for the Sunless Lands to the beings of the Germanic worlds is 'the Land of the Twelve Rivers.'

Among the other Afterlife realms it has a connection to are the old Levantine Sheol and the Sumerian Underworld, in which she was known as Eriskegal, and as per that lore had a husband who happened to be the real God Nergal, who equally was one of Death's various divine paramours.

And yes, the real life deity Nergal was a God of War and Plague, so he has more than a few traits in common with the deity they riffed on with him from Warhammer 40K. No, this is not why I went with that, I'm simply having the idea of a queenly figure ruling a land of the dead of utter gloom and darkness as the archetype Death influenced and the idea of Underworld-rulers.

#tales of the sunless lands #death of the endless #sandman fanfiction #the first of these will be the tale of Baldr #the second will be spun off of aspects of Sumerian lore #and in particular from the background of Pharamond #who in this case is a Sumerian deity who's gone by many names #he was originally called Ninurta

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ghostcultmagazine · 11 months

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#IFTTT #YouTube

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alekx · 1 year

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The Hero with a Thousand Faces: In Which I Finish a 12-Year-Old Item on My To-Read List

I first encountered The Hero with A Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell through one of the many procrastination-fueled internet rabbit holes I slipped into during my undergrad years. I think I was reading about Star Wars or Community when I came across a conceptual framework for the Hero’s Journey. I was fascinated by the idea of “a single pattern of heroic journey” shared among the numerous myths from across cultures of the world. Naturally, I wanted to get my hands on the book.

That took quite a while until right in middle of the pandemic when I managed to acquire a copy for myself. I started reading the book sporadically then, but never quite advanced past the chapter on “The Call to Adventure”, unsurprisingly, since it’s an extremely challenging read. I finally made another go at it in December last year only to finish it nearly four months later, many times in between wondering if I should just give up and save the rest of the reading for another day.

The Hero with a Thousand Faces is well-researched and wide-reaching. The breadth of Joseph Campbell’s erudition is evidenced by his bibliography, an impressive list of twenty pages succeeding end notes that are also over twenty pages total. The language is precise and communicates to the reader as eloquently and as sharply as possible. While Campbell’s detailing of the Hero’s Journey is the more famous part of this book (and it was also what first encouraged me to seek it), he also includes his theory on the Cosmogonic Cycle, the pattern of world creation and destruction found in myths. I find this part most interesting vis-a-vis our contemporary context of a globalized, hyper-capitalist, and post-pandemic world, which I think necessitates a longer discussion. The book is not light reading, nor is it for the lighthearted (and narrow-minded). Shmoop (hehe) rates it at 9/10 on their Tough-o-Meter.

While the book featured all kinds of myths from across various parts of the world, there were a handful few that I really loved reading, such as The Drawing Forth of the Sun Goddess Amaterasu from the Shinto tradition of Japan, The Tale of Prince Kamar al-Zaman and Princess Budur from One Thousand and One Nights, the meeting of Parvati and Shiva from Hindu mythology, the Goddess Innana’s Descent into the Netherworld from Sumerian mythology, and the story of the Water Mother from the Kalevala.

That being said, I think my most favorite takeaway from the book is how it is as profound as it is informative. With his work, Campbell encourages us to move past the conventions of our secular society divorced from the myths of our ancestors and communities to reconnect with the stories of old, and thereby reconnect our lives with their inherent meaning, purpose, and divinity.

In The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Campbell brushes the dust off of mythology that makes the pursuit of it seem only for those select few interested in the old. He compels us to an encounter with the subject that is not only affirming, but also ever-relevant.

#books

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dreamcrow · 4 years

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unsolicited basis-less headcanon #49459/infinity: changelings choose their own names.

they also have to earn them.

presumably the children that end up as changelings start out with names and families but they don't keep them after...becoming changelings. so this starts a little bit later.

the first name changelings acquire is a crèche name. this is the most basic kind of name, literally just a mechanic to differentiate you from every other changeling toddler. a step up from "hey you," if not by very far; short, brief, uncreative. unmemorable. this name, they don't choose: it's given—assigned—soon after arrival.

their second name is acquired after they reach—well. not self-sufficiency, but something like it. around the equivalent of middle school? after they're first sent to the human world. like the crèche name it's also given to them from outside—probably by the next-oldest cohort, who already have one—and is often, though not necessarily, a loanword from a human language. usually the first name they might think of as 'theirs.'

basilisk (vazilisk) has a sharp tongue and sharper green eyes; they might not actually be magic, but they'll freeze you in your tracks, just the same. in the cold, cutthroat world of the darklands, a reputation’s the best defense she's got (at least until she finds maddrux's swords).

nightshade (solán) is a scrawny thing, just like his namesake. but if he’s scrabbling and weedy like the little purple flowers, he’s got a bite like them, too: no one can figure out where they come from, but he's always been good with knives.

they call him little mirror (šencik), down in the pit. it's exactly what they called him in the underlord's court, the first place he learned shifting into the likeness of bigger, stronger trolls got him a laugh, not—well, whatever he’d been expecting; why would it be any different there?

their last name is acquired only after their first achievement of note after making it "to the other side." (this isn't their familiar's name, although many changelings—especially those stationed primarily in the human world—often go by this as well. though that, i suppose, is another post...) this name, they choose themselves. to human ears, most resemble (or even are) human names; but for most changelings, choosing that—it's a sign of difference, sure, of how they're neither human nor troll, but probably the first one that they've been able to choose.

#trollhunters #tales of arcadia #toa changelings #look as always the perennial hc disclaimer applies: don't like don't read #(there's lots of stuff i didn't follow up on. for example:#do they ever use their second names after winning the last one? hm.)#but anyway i am... EXTREMELY attached to these.#this post has been in my drafts for MONTHS #'often though not necessarily loanwords' [greek] [latin] [sumerian]#look: these are all things from the human world. it's cool. it's fine #i've been thinkin a lot abt names just. in general re: ficwriting lately. so...#(also like. choosing your own name? [incoherent yellin.])#anyway. ANYWAY #i agonized for AGES over strickler's and idc if it's corny or ooc i LOVE it.#finally... slutty pirate troll's flower accessory: explain'd #not to be classics on main again but nomina sunt consequentia rerum BABEY #names. [rips off shirt] NAMES!!!#mine

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thistle-and-thorn · 2 years

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Do you have any headcanons about religious/cultural practices and beliefs in Westeros? How do you think they vary between Dorne, the rest of the South and the North?

I talk to Lilium-convallium (who I know is lurking on this blog 👀 love u darling 🥰) talk about this ALL THE TIME. I need to re read the books because I don’t remember a lot of canon detail honestly so this will not be a meta post, just Vibes.

But how I imagine it when I write about it when I write fic is classical mythology in the form of the Catholic Church. Ancient Valyrian has a very traditional and recognizable mythology that is Greek, Roman or its predecessors/contemporaries like Sumerian or even Egyptian etc. like I picture elaborate burial rituals, Parthenon-like structures, etc. I think when the Targaryens invaded there was some marriage between religious beliefs.

I always imagine the literature of the Seven’s religion to take on much more of the mythologized story/poems/hymns of Ancient Greece, with that strange sort of circular and concurrent timeline, rather than the sort of linear arc that Jewish and Christian texts often seem to be (like, I don’t think, first there was Westerosi Adam and Eve, then Cain and Abel, the Noah, then Abraham, then Isaac and Ishmael, etc. or the idea of a House of David that eventually leads to Jesus, etc within Westerosi religion). It’s not a chronicle. There also appears to be no Savior figure, not in the Christian conception of a deity come to Earth. We have Azor Azhai but that is more reminiscent of Arthur—an extraordinary man with magical friends and strength of character rather than a literal God—and has the vagueness of many prophesies that appear in Greek or Roman mythology.

A lot of Southron Westeros is very Italian/Roman to me. The Lannisters are blatantly copied from the Borgias imo (side note: Tyrion’s storyline is literally about GRRM’s journey to atheism you cannot change my mind), the High Sparrow storyline is literally just Savonarola fanfic (the way the tale of Baelor the Blessed contains elements of George III fanfic). So the form that religion takes in Westeros is Catholic and thus really tactile as opposed to the more academic Protestant religions. Even though we have maesters, I think a lot of the social programming is provided by septons and septas. We also have, however, the sept taking indulgences, lots of man-created liturgies, cult sites, pilgrim tokens and relic tours—all the hallmarks of medieval Catholicism. Can you imagine how sexy Westerosi sainthood could be?!?! They don’t mention it like that but like—I love this idea!

I think it would be interesting to lean into that—are there different varieties of septon, the way there are Cistercians and Benedictines and Franciscans? (I literally am obsessed with monasticism don’t mind me) I think it would also be interesting to consider potential schisms—Like Eastern Orthodoxy and the Western Churches. To me, the schism would clearly occur in Dorne. Do the Dornish practice the Seven? I don’t remember tbh but any form of the Seven would be distinct in Dorne from the rest of Westeros.

The North reminds me of Christianized Scandanavia where many of the indigenous mythologies were re-adapted to folklore and superstitions and occurred alongside the practice of Christianity. The Northern religion is fascinating to me—there is no pantheon. I like to envision its stories as being Celtic or Norse but I think this would take the form of the non-god related stories: giants, fae, brownies, Tolkien-style dwarves. I think there’s something apocalyptic about Northern mythologies—celestial battles, etc. Their traditions are oral, often sung—later developing into troubadours—and stories of heroes similar to Beowulf, Fionn mac Cumhaill, etc. would be popular as well as fabled histories similar to the Aeneid, Arthur, or the Iliad. I don’t think they would have fondness for trickster characters like Loki or Odysseus and would instead focus on the moral or chivalric meanings of the myths.

The Red Priests and Priestesses are Zoroastrians. And I think that’s cool because Zoroastrians are cool.

Anyway, those are my initial thoughts. More will bubble up—this is my literal favorite topic. What about your head canons?

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marimo-o · 3 years

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ok so im making a long ass post about Abzu (the game) within the context of mesopotamian mythology because I'm insane. It's gonna be a doozy and likely incomprehensible so <3 below the cut it goes! There's gonna be TONS of spoilers for the game, and, like, I guess for the mesopotamian creation epic, so. Play Abzu if you haven't and if you wanna read the Enuma Elish that's also cool. Good for u

(a note from afterwards: it's long. like, REALLY fucking long, holy shit. if you actually want to read the whole thing, be. prepared or something idk take breaks! the last two paragraphs (i know they're walls of text pls bear with me) contain most of the important information. like, the final hurrah of my brain after working on this for multiple hours! So if u wanna save time and avoid some of the redundancy, just skip to those last two <3)

So "Abzu" referred to two things; the fresh water people got from underground aquifers (also as the void-sea which was underneath the Sumerian underworld, Kur), and the deity; he only appeared in the creation story, Enuma Elish, because a big part of that whole thing was that oh no! He dies! And that's also a thing I'm gonna touch on (sorry about the lack of accent marks in advance, it's not available on my current keyboard^ ^;)

I'm gonna start off with a brief tale of what happened with Abzu the deity, and then move onto how both the deity and the concept relate to the game!

So like I mentioned, Abzu the deity only really appears in the creation myth. The story goes that the Primordial Soup divided into two beings, with Abzu representing the freshwater and Tiamat being the saltwater. They were married, and together birthed some of the first formative gods! Some of these gods, jealous of Abzu's power convinced Tiamat to kill him (or, I thought it was started by Tiamat growing resentful of the younger gods, one of those). Either way, Abzu was killed, and Tiamat ended up lashing out, creating the first "dragons", or perhaps becoming one herself; with "poison instead of blood". She is killed by Marduk, the god of storms and the child of Enki (one of the first gods created by Abzu and Tiamat), and from her body the heavens and the earth are formed. Imagine getting killed by ur grandson lol cringe /j

Now! The waters itself! This also brings Enki into the equation, who kinda took over as god of the waters in place of his dead father. He's also the god of creation, intelligence, crafts, mischief, and more! Very important guy.

Abzu refers to both the groundwater reservoirs that people depended on for both accessible clean water and for some agricultural work, and also to the void-sea beneath the underworld, where it is said that Enki rests. He had a temple at Eridu, a now-ruined city, and I remember hearing somewhere that he lived in a temple in an underground aquifer? But I can't find wherever I read that anymore so don't take my word for it. Anyway, the basics of Enki as a deity is: child of Tiamat and Abzu, widely worshipped in his time, god of the waters, generally a cool and important dude.

And now. Finally. We move onto the game. My head hurts.

So, for a quick (post-writing: lol it's not quick) overview of the game; you play as a funny little diver, who woke up in the middle of the ocean and, as the player, are given no clues as to who or what you are. You explore through the ocean levels peacefully at first, and with the guidance of a scarred shark (painted as a bit of an antagonist at first with the audio cues) you make your way to wells at the bottom-center of each level that revitalize the space around them; as they progress, many levels start out as barren, empty landscapes that give you a foreboding, nervous feeling going in, before using an energy from yourself to rekindle the life. Huge coral growths, seaweed, and a myriad of ocean animals spring to life. The player character can also ride on the sides of the bigger ones! The game also puts a big stress on unity between yourself and the environment; there's not a whole lot you can physically interact with, but you can play with the animals there and, like I said before, ride on some of the larger animals. There are also "meditation spots", statues where you can sit and explore the wildlife from more of their point of view, able to follow them seamlessly and see what the different kinds of fish and such are called. It's a calming experience, and really the most interaction you get with some of the more timid animals, letting you still see them up close even if you can't get there as the player character.

The story of the game is told via writings on the walls, which you can light up and access by solving small puzzles regarding connecting reservoirs of glowing waters, similar to that of the almost cosmic area you go to between levels; one thing I read described it as a kind of "rebirth area", which I can definitely see hehe!

At the end of the game, you've held the shark in its dying moments, you've discovered a strange factory that builds the weird triangular prisms that deliver anything that touches them a shock, the little flashlight dudes that you've found over the levels, and little divers that uncannily resemble yourself, and you've seen yourself disassembled to your funny little mechanical skeleton, weak and slow as you try to walk on land, before you are rebirthed from the void-cosmic-water area once again, fully yourself. There's a wonderful ending sequence where you swim through all these rivers, bringing life with you as you go, with the shark once again by your side. The whole game, you saw no land when you poked your head above water, just miles and miles of water, but you've travelled far enough to reach a reservoir. You cut the chains to a central triangular prism, and it grows over with moss. It gives me goosebumps just thinking about it, really, it feels like such a... grand gesture as you play through it. It feels personal.

Okay. Theory time. Finally, we're getting into the meat of it. Fucking hell.

So, imagine that you are this being. You're wandering an oceanic wonderland, observing and caring for what you need to, doing as any good little diver should. After a bit of poking around, you discover the start of the engravings on the walls; they tell the story of the people that were here before you, who built these temples and halls and used, or at least stored, the strange blue glowing "water" that you connect and move. It's a water of life, of sorts, one that they truly valued. You come to an impasse between areas, and this massive, scarred-up shark cuts in front of you. You're gonna stay hidden, that thing is terrifying! You try not to move. It doesn't spot you, or at least doesn't move to attack you. However, once it's safely out of view, you do follow it, and it leads you to a dark, desolate, empty chamber. This is wrong, you think to yourself. This isn't how it should be. There's a well, towards the bottom, and you approach it, taking... a fragment of light, from your chest, and imbuing that spark of life into the well. And, lo and behold, that intuition proved helpful, because the world around you springs back to life. Congratulations! You did it! And you continue to, as you work past puzzles and challenges and the appearance of these strange triangular mechanisms, that shock you when you get too close. These people worshipped a shark, as well, likely the same as the one you saw; the guide, now old and scarred, that brings you to where that spark is needed. Even later in the game, you see depictions of the triangular mechanisms, at first heralded as a positive, before these things are found to be the reason for this society's collapse. As if that wasn't perplexing enough, you see a depiction of a being that appears suspiciously similar to yourself, once again treated with reverence from the past civilization. In their hand is a ball of light, similar to the one shown when you revitalize the oceanic chambers. Well, that's certainly odd, you think to yourself. Perhaps this was a being that postponed the death of the civilization, or first allowed for those small chambers of life to exist in captivity instead of the open, natural landscapes you explored at the start. Regardless, it's now a relic of something long gone; but it still gives you something to think about. Later on, that strange coincidence of your similarities to that person are explained; you find a manufacturing plant, full of the vicious triangular mechanisms in each tight hallway, and right at the center of it all... multiple iterations of yourself, running down an assembly line, a spark not unlike what you saw before imbued into each of them. My, look at that; you've been responsible for part of this destruction all along, haven't you? Borne from that same ill that has been forcibly removing that spark from each of the places you've gone to. A bit inconsiderate of you, no? And yet... look at all the good you've done. You've rebirthed, revitalized, purified these ocean fragments, is that not enough? You are the keeper of these waters, regardless of the evil you had come from, despite the terrifying empty things may have reverted to. You, who trusted and followed the shark that seemed so scary at first. You, who followed it as it tried to attack a source of the evil, of the thing that was draining the oceans of their life. You, who held and comforted that shark as it lay dying, despite any fear you may have had. You, who attempted to traverse a minefield of those triangular machines, shocked over and over again and at the final moment, unable to make it to the finish line. You, who was rebirthed in full regardless by the oceans you'd cared for, by the void-sea you always returned to, to rest. You, who traversed a now-ruined citadel, temple, all of which had been flooded and had been dedicated to you. You, who brought life with you.

I hope you see what I'm getting at here. You're serving as a figure not unlike Enki, god and guardian of the waters. In the wake of Abzu, the avatar of the fresh waters, now confined to irrigation canals so as not to kill the younger gods, Tiamat lashes out. Her husband is dead, as far as she is concerned, and she goes to those younger gods to seek her revenge. The dragon, that which sucked the life from the seas and poisoned the waters. That which Marduk killed, to carve new life from. I would say that the shark is Marduk, even; given how the shark is the only one who is openly on the offense to those mechanisms, and who comes in at the endgame to finish them off, bringing new life with it. Even in how it all shapes up with the civilization before, in connection to the constructs; Tiamat was the mother of all in existence at that time. She was surely loved; but she turned hostile and violent. She could no longer be safely loved. And Abzu, both the glowing water we use to open doors and the light that we hold and the deep void-sea we enter between levels and father to all in existence, he was confined to small canals and reservoirs and put in a deep sleep so that he would not kill his own children. And by you, no less. Enki put him there. That is why you can use that water from the start; you lived in the Abzu, you came from it, and each time, that is where you return. That temple, now submerged and decrepit, is Eridu; the place where Enki was most worshipped. The other diver clones are the other gods, or perhaps the "dragons", now, that Tiamat had mothered. The smaller prisms definitely count in that "dragon" category; purely harmful beings that seek to destroy life. And in the end, indeed, you restore life; you and your son, upon killing Tiamat, return life to the world from her body. Perhaps you could not save those who once worshipped you, perhaps those structures will forever be in ruin. But there is no more danger, now; there is space to build and replenish. There is space to grow.

Fuck ok that was long as hell. Hi if u made it this far i love u. god fucking damn im never writing anything again after this. it took about as long as a full playthrough of the game, coincidentally!!

#my writing #abzû #abzu #giant squid studios #ancient history #the moss mumbles #im not joking this is horrible. like it's all just word vomit about sumerian legend -> the game -> the game again (but in second person)#and THEN we get to The Point. god christ

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sisterofiris · 4 years

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Everyday life in the Hittite empire

Have you ever wondered what your life would have been like if you had been born in central Anatolia 3500 years ago? No? Now that I’ve brought it up, are you curious to find out?

Well you’re in luck, because that’s just what this post is about. So sit back, close your eyes, and imagine yourself in Anatolia - that is, modern Turkey. Are you ready? Can you see the mountains, the red river and the towering buildings of your capital, Ḫattuša? Can you hear the chariots driving up the road? Can you feel the electric brewing of a storm in the distance?

Then let’s go.

(With a brief disclaimer: while I study Hittitology, this is not intended as an academic-level post. It was written to give general, approachable insights into Hittite culture and can be used as writing inspiration or to titillate curious history nerds around you, but if you’re writing an academic paper on the subject, I would recommend you check out the bibliography instead.)

About you

First things first, are you older than five? If so, congratulations on being alive. Child mortality in this place and time is very high, so you’re one of the luckier ones among your siblings. You probably have at least a couple of those; you may even have as many as six or seven, especially if you come from a well-to-do family with access to good healthcare. When you were little, your parents might have told you the tale of Zalpa, in which the queen of Neša gives birth to thirty sons then thirty daughters who marry each other, but you know this only happens in the stories - not to normal people.

When you were born, your parents rejoiced regardless of your sex, as sons and daughters are equally valued in your society (albeit for different reasons). Your father took you on his knee and gave you a good Hittite name: maybe Armawiya, Ḫarapšili, Kilušḫepa or Šiwanaḫšušar for a girl, or Anuwanza, Kantuzili, Muwaziti or Tarḫuzalma for a boy. Gender-neutral names, such as Anna, Muwa and Šummiri, would also have been an option. Many people around you have Hurrian or Luwian names, even if they are not ethnically Hurrian or Luwian themselves. (This is comparable to the modern popularity of Hispanic names like Diego, or French names like Isabelle.)

It’s hard to say what you would have done during childhood. While your earliest years would have been spent playing and babbling in grammatically incorrect Hittite, by the age of six or seven you may well have already started training in the family profession. If a girl, you would have been taught to weave by your mother; if a boy, you might have helped your father out on the farm, tried your hand at making pottery, or spent long hours learning cuneiform. (There may have been careers requiring gender non-conformity, as there was in Mesopotamia, but as far as I am aware this has not been proven.) You know that even the noblest children are given responsibilities - king Ḫattušili himself was once a stable boy.

Now, as an adult, you are a working professional contributing directly to Hittite society. You look the very portrait of a Hittite: as a woman, you have long, dark hair that you probably keep veiled, and as a man, your hair is around shoulder-length and your face clean-shaven. Ethnically, though, you are likely a mixture of Hittite, Luwian, Hurrian, Hattian, and depending on when and where exactly you live, maybe Assyrian, Canaanite or even Greek. There’s a fair chance Hittite might not actually be your native language. Still, you consider yourself a Hittite, and a subject of the Hittite king.

Well, now you know who you are, let’s get along with your day!

Your home and environment

Your day begins the way most people’s days do: you wake up at home, in your bed. As an average Hittite, you probably sleep on the floor rather than on elevated furniture. Your floor is either paved or of beaten earth, and your house itself has stone foundations and mud brick walls, with a flat roof supported by timber beams. Windows are scarce and small, to keep the indoor temperature stable.

Outside, the rest of the settlement is waking up too. Statistically, you live in a village or small town, surrounded by forest and mountains. Summers here are hot and dry, and winters cold and snowy, with spring and autumn being marked by thunderstorms. Most inhabitants work as farmers, relying on the weather for their survival. Contagious illnesses are a constant threat - under king Muršili II, the land suffered a deadly plague for twenty years - as are enemy invasions. If you live within the bend of the red river, in the Hittite heartland, consider yourself lucky; if not, your settlement could well be shifting from one kingdom’s property to another and falling prey to both sides’ raids on a yearly basis.

Admitting no enemy forces are in the area today, you take your time to get up. You might tiredly stumble to the outhouse to go pee. Eventually, you’ll want to get dressed.

Clothing

As a man, your clothes comprise of a kilt or sleeved tunic, with a belt of cloth or leather. As a woman, you wear a long dress and, if you are married, a veil. All clothing is made from wool or linen, and a variety of dyes exist: red, yellow, blue, green, black and white are all colours mentioned in texts. If you are rich enough, you may be able to import purple-dyed fabric from Lazpa (Greek Lesbos) or the Levant. You will also want to flaunt your wealth with jewellery, regardless of gender.

Of course, your shoes have upturned ends in the Hittite style. Historians will tease you for this. Don’t listen to them. You look awesome.

Mealtime!

It’s now time for one of your two daily meals (the other will take place in the evening, after your work for the day is done). This will be prepared at the hearth, a vital element of every home, and which is likely connected to an oven. The staple of your diet is bread; in fact, it is so common that “bread”, in cuneiform texts, is used as a general term for food. It is usually made from wheat or barley, but can also be made from beans or lentils.

Worried you’ll get bored of it? You needn’t be: your society has enough types of bread that you could eat a different one each day for a whole season. Fig bread, sour bread, flat bread and honey bread are just some of your options, along with spear bread and moon bread... yes, in other words, baguettes and croissants. (Something tells me the Hittites and the French would have a lot to talk about.)

You also have various fruits and vegetables available: cucumber, leek, carrots, peas, chickpeas, lentils, beans, olives, figs, dates, grapes, pomegranates, onions, garlic, and more. Your diet is completed by animal products, including cheese, milk, butter, and meat, mainly from sheep and goats but also cows and wild game. Honey, too, is common.

These ingredients can be combined into all sorts of dishes. Porridge is popular, as are stews, both vegetarian and meat-based. Meat can also be broiled and quite possibly skewered onto kebabs. And of course, food would be boring without spices, so you have a variety of those to choose from too: coriander are cumin are just two of them.

As for drinks, you can have beer, wine, beer-wine (good luck figuring out what that is), milk or water. If you’re well-to-do enough, you may own a rhyton, a drinking vessel shaped like an animal such as a stag or bull. Don’t forget to libate to the Gods before drinking your share.

Daily work

The next thing on your plate, after food, is work. What you do depends on your social status and gender, and most likely, you do the same work as your parents did before you. You could be something well-known like a king, priest, scribe, merchant, farmer or slave, but don’t assume those are all the possibilities; you could also be, for example, a gardener, doctor, ritual practitioner, potter, weaver, tavern keeper, or perfume maker.

It’s impossible to go into detail on every career option you would have in Hittite society, so for the sake of brevity, let’s just discuss four - two male-dominated, and two female-specific.

Farmer

As a farmer, you are the backbone of your society. You and your peers are responsible for putting food on the plates of Hittites everywhere, thus ensuring the survival of the empire.

Like many farmers, you live on a small estate, most likely with both crops (or an orchard) and livestock to take care of. You may own cows, sheep, goats, pigs, horses, donkeys, and/or ducks. Your daily routine and tools aren’t that different from other pre-industrial cultures, though you have it a little rougher than most due to the Anatolian mountain terrain. If you have the means, you hire seasonal workers - both male and female - to help out as farmhands, and you may own a few slaves.

You get up early to milk the cows, and at the onset of summer, you or a hired herdsman may lead your livestock up to mountain pastures to graze. Depending on the season and the work that needs to be done, you may spend your day ploughing the fields, harvesting grain or fruit, tending livestock, shearing sheep, birthing a calf, repairing the barn, or various other tasks. Make sure to take proper care of everything: new animals are expensive, and losing one could get you into a precarious situation. In particular, you’ll want to keep an eye out for bears, wolves, foxes, and even lions and leopards.

Scribe

Few people are literate in Hittite society, and you are one of the lucky ones. You have been learning to read and write in three languages (Sumerian, Akkadian and Hittite) since childhood, and after long years of copying lexical lists and ancient myths, your education is now complete.

As a scribe, you are the dreaded bureaucrat. In a small town, you likely work alongside the town administrator, recording tax collections and enemy sightings as well as corresponding with other towns, and with the capital. You and your peers are the go-to people for officialising marriage agreements and divorces, drawing up work contracts, and creating sales receipts. If not in the town administration, you could also work in a temple, recording the results of oracles, cross-checking the correct procedures for a ritual, and making sure everything necessary for a festival is available. If you are particularly lucky, you may be employed by the nobility or even the palace, and be entrusted with such confidential tasks as writing the king’s annals or drafting an international treaty.

Regardless of where you are, two things are essential to your job: a stylus and a tablet. You may be a “scribe of the clay tablets”, in which case you will need to carry around a bit of clay wherever you go (and some water to moisten it). Otherwise, you are a “scribe of the wooden tablets”, in which case you use a wax tablet in a wooden frame, which requires less maintenance. It’s unclear whether these types of tablet are used for different purposes.

Fun fact: you likely have a few pen pals around the Hittite empire. After corresponding with other scribes for so long, you’ve started writing each other messages at the bottom of your tablets, asking each other how you’re doing and to say hi to each other’s families. Your employers needn’t know.

Weaver

Weaving, to a Hittite like you, is the quintessential female activity, along with textile-making in general. Like farming, this is a backbone of your society: without weaving, there would be no clothes, and without clothes, well, you can’t do much.

As a weaver, you produce textiles for your family and in many cases also for sale. You work in an atelier within your home, along with the other women of the household, keeping an eye on your smallest children as they play nearby. While your husband, brothers or sons may transport and sell your handiwork, you are the head of your own business.

You are skilled in multiple weaving techniques, and can do embroidery and sew fabric into various shapes (including sleeves - take that, Classical Greeks). You create clothing for all sorts of occasions, including rituals and festivals, outdoor work, and winter weather, and if you are lucky enough to be commissioned by the nobility, you put your best efforts into clothing that will show off their status. Don’t try to cheat anyone out of their money, though; prices are fixed by law.

Old Woman

Contrary to what you might expect, you don’t need to be old to be an Old Woman - this is a career just like any other, though it probably does require a certain amount of life experience and earned respect. As an Old Woman, you are a trained ritual practitioner and active in all sorts of cultic, divinatory and magical ceremonies.

Most commonly, you are hired for rituals protecting against or removing evil. Your services may solve domestic quarrels, cure a sick child, or shield someone from sorcery (a constant threat in your society). This is done through symbolic acts like cutting pieces of string, breaking objects, and sacrificing and burning animals, which are of course accompanied by incantations - sometimes in Hittite, sometimes in other languages, like Hurrian.

Far from a village witch, you are high-placed in Hittite society and trusted by the royal family itself. You have taken part in major rituals and festivals, including funerals, and you perform divinatory oracles too. This last responsibility gives you a large amount of influence over the king and queen; if you establish that something should be done, then it almost certainly will be. Use this power well... or not.

Your loved ones

After a long day ploughing fields, writing tablets, weaving clothes or reciting incantations, it’s finally time to reunite with your loved ones. For adults, these likely - but not necessarily! - include a spouse and children. You may just live with your nuclear family, but living with extended family is also common, and there may be as many as twenty people in your household. Siblings, aunts and uncles, parents, grandparents, children and babies all share the evening meal with you, and some nights, you might gather afterwards to sing and dance, tell stories, and play games.

You also have relationships outside of home. Friendship is valued by Hittite society, with close friends calling each other “brother” and sister”. You might meet up with them regularly at the local tavern for a beer and a bit of fun. Someone there might even catch your eye... Interestingly, there are no laws against that person being of the same gender as you. So, same or different gender, why not try your luck tonight?

Greater powers

It’s impossible to spend a day in the Hittite empire without encountering religion. The Land of a Thousand Gods is aptly named: Gods are in everything, from the sun to the mountains to the stream at the back of your house to fire to a chair. You should always be conscious of their power, and treat them with respect. Though there are few traces of it, you may have a household shrine where you make libations or offer a portion of your meal. Your Gods may be represented by anthropomorphic statues, by animals such as a bull, by symbols such as gold disks, or even by a stone. Either way, treat these objects well; the divine is literally present in them.

You should also be wary of sorcery. Never make clay figures of someone, or kill a snake while speaking someone’s name, or you will face the death penalty. Likewise, always dispose of impurities carefully, especially those left over from a purification ritual (such as mud, ashes, or body hair). Never toss them onto someone else’s property. Has misfortune suddenly struck your household? Is your family or livestock getting sick and dying? These are signs that someone has bewitched you.

Some days are more sacred than others. You participate in over a hundred festivals every year, some lasting less than a day, some lasting a month, some local, some celebrated by the entire Hittite empire. The most important of these are the crocus festival and the purulli festival in spring, the festival of haste in autumn, and the gate-house festival, possibly also in autumn. The statues of the Gods are brought out of the temples, great feasts are held, and entertainment is provided through music, dance and sports contests. Depending on how important your town is, the king, queen or a prince might even be in attendance. All this excitement is a nice break from your regular work!

Sleep and dreams

Phew, what a busy day it’s been. The sun, snared in the trees’ branches, has set on the Hittite land, and you are ready for bed. Time to wrap yourself snugly in blankets and go to sleep.

You may dream, in which case, try to remember as much as you can. Dreams can be a vehicle for omens. Maybe, if the Gods are kind, you might catch a glimpse of what the next days, months and years hold in store for you.

Good night!

Bibliography

Beckman, Gary, “Birth and Motherhood among the Hittites”, in Budin, Stephanie Lynn, Macintosh Turfa, Jean, Women in Antiquity: Real Women across the Ancient World, Abingdon 2016 (pp. 319-328).

Bryce, Trevor, Life and Society in the Hittite World, Oxford 2002.

Bryce, Trevor, “The Role and Status of Women in Hittite Society”, in Budin, Stephanie Lynn, Macintosh Turfa, Jean, Women in Antiquity: Real Women across the Ancient World, Abingdon 2016 (pp. 303-318).

Golec-Islam, Joanna, The Food of Gods and Humans in the Hittite World, BA thesis, Warszawa 2016.

Hoffner, Harry A., “Birth and name-giving in Hittite texts”, Journal of Near Eastern Studies 27/3 (1968), pp. 198-203.

Hoffner, Harry A., “Daily life among the Hittites”, in Averbeck, Richard E., Chavalas, Marc W., Weisberg, David B., Life and Culture in the Ancient Near East, Bethesda 2003 (pp. 95-118).

Marcuson, Hannah, “Word of the Old Woman”: Studies in Female Ritual Practice in Hittite Anatolia, PhD thesis, Chicago 2016.

Wilhelm, Gernot, “Demographic Data from Hittite Land Donation Tablets”, in Pecchioli Daddi, Franca, Torri, Giulia, Corti, Carlo, Central-North Anatolia in the Hittite Period: New Perspectives in Light of Recent Research, Roma 2009 (pp. 223-233).

#Hittites #damn i love the hittites #ancient history #anatolia #history #infodump #i put so much effort into this please appreciate it

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kristinemaealcantara · 3 years

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Elements of Creation Myths Between Different Continents and Bible!

Hi ! Good day! Nice to see you here. :) In this post I would like share with you some interesting facts about the different elements of creation myths between different continents and Bible.

Mesopotamian Creation Myths

- Stories describing creation are prominent in many cultures of the world.

In Mesopotamia, the surviving evidence from the third millennium to the end of the first millennium B.C. indicates that although many of the gods were associated with natural forces, no single myth addressed issues of initial creation. It was simply assumed that the gods existed before the world was formed.

Sumerian literature from the third millennium B.C. Several fragmentary tablets contain references to a time before the pantheon of the gods, when only the Earth (Sumerian: ki) and Heavens (Sumerian: an) existed. All was dark, there existed neither sunlight nor moonlight; however, the earth was green and water was in the ground, although there was no vegetation.

A Sumerian myth known today as “Gilgamesh and the Netherworld” opens with a mythological prologue. It assumes that the gods and the universe already exist and that once a long time ago the heavens and earth were united, only later to be split apart.

Types of creations for Sumerian are the following:

1. “The Debate between Grain and Sheep,” the earth first appeared barren, without grain, sheep, or goats.

2. “Enki and the World Order,” provides an explanation as to why the world appears organized.

Babylonian creation story Enuma Elish is a theological legitimization of the rise of Marduk as the supreme god in Babylon, replacing Enlil, the former head of the pantheon.

-The short tale “Marduk, Creator of the World” is another Babylonian narrative that opens with the existence of the sea before any act of creation. First to be created are the cities, Eridu and Babylon, and the temple Esagil is founded. Then the earth is created by heaping dirt upon a raft in the primeval waters.

- “The Creation of Humankind” is a bilingual Sumerian-Akkadian story also referred to in scholarly literature as KAR 4. This account begins after heaven was separated from earth, and features of the earth such as the Tigris, Euphrates, and canals established.

Egyptian Civilization

- Egypt's is complex and offers several versions of how the world unfolded. They believed that the basic principles of life, nature and society were determined by the gods at the creation of the world.

The First Gods

The Book of the Dead, dating to the Second Intermediate Period, describes how the world was created by Atum, the god of Heliopolis, the centre of the sun-god cult in Lower Egypt. In the beginning, the world appeared as an infinite expanse of dark and directionless waters, named Nun.

The Creator God's Offspring

-At this time, Atum created the two off spring. His son, Shu, represented dry air, and his daughter, Tefnut, represented corrosive moist air. The twins symbolize two universal principles of human existence: life and right (justice).

The Sun God's Eye

The sun god, Re (a form of Atum), ruled over the earth, where humans and divine beings coexisted. Humans were created from the Eye of Re or wedjat (eye of wholeness). This happened when the eye separated from Re and failed to return.

The First Rebellion

When Re became old, the deities tried to take advantage of his senility. Even humans plotted against him, which led to their fall from divine grace. In reaction to the rebellion, Re sent his eye to slaughter the rebels, a deed he accomplished by transforming himself into Sekhmet, a raging powerful goddess (depicted as a lion).

Re Journey

- Re lived in the heavens, where order was established. Each morning he was reborn in the east and travelled across the sky in a boat, called the Bark of Millions of Years, accompanied by a number of gods who acted as his crew.

Common Elements of Creation Myths throughout the world are:

-Creation as a kind of birth,

-Often from an egg

-Concept that the universe has both a father and a mother

-The notion of a supreme being, and

-The question of whether creation took place from above or below.

Another theme that are related we can find in the diver-myth:

First, the theme of the cosmogonic water representing the undifferentiated waters that are present before the earth has been created.

Secondly, there is an animal that plunges into the water to secure a portion of earth.

#If you enjoyed this article share it with your friends and colleagues!

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ayearinfaith · 3 years

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𝗔 𝗬𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗶𝗻 𝗙𝗮𝗶𝘁𝗵, 𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝟳𝟮: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗧𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝗕𝗮𝗯𝗲𝗹 “And the whole earth was of one language and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. And they said one to another: 'Come, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly.' And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. And they said: 'Come, let us build us a city, and a tower, with its top in heaven, and let us make us a name; lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.' And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. And the LORD said: 'Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is what they begin to do; and now nothing will be withholden from them, which they purpose to do. Come, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.' So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth; and they left off to build the city. Therefore was the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth; and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.” - Genesis 11:1-9, JPS 1917 translation. The Tower of Babel is a legendary structure in Judaism, Christianity, and, to a lesser extent, Islam, whose construction explains the origins of human languages. The traditional etymology of the word is given in the text itself as being from the Hebrew “bālal” (“בָּלַ֥ל”) meaning “to confuse”. 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗟𝗲𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗱 The quoted text at the start of this post is, in fact, the entirety of the Babel legend as it exists in the Torah and Bible. Many of the other significant attributes, such as the tyrant Nimrod and the cause of God’s actions, are interpretations that stem largely from the 1st century CE Roman Jewish historian Titus Flavius Josephus. Nimrod is mentioned in the previous section of the Torah, in Genesis 10:8-9, a part of the listing of the descendants of Noah. In this, Nimrod is the great-grandson of Noah, via Cush and Ham, whose kingdom contains the cities Babel (Babylon), Erech (Uruk), Akkad, and Calneh, all in the land of Shinar. He is described three times as mighty and twice as a “hunter before the Lord”. It’s this line that leads Josephus and later scholars to paint Nimrod as a villain, interpreting “before the Lord” to mean “against the Lord”. Josephus posits that Nimrod’s cause for building the tower was as a defense against another flood like the kind that wiped out all of mankind save for Noah just a few generations prior. Other scholars instead describe it as an attempt to reach heaven, or a deliberate monument of defiance to God. Still others assign the simple hubris of a tyrant, enslaving his people to build a testament to his own glories. In the Islamic tradition he is often depicted as defender of pagan ways in defiance of the monotheistic patriarch Ibrahim (Abraham in Judaism and Christianity). Regardless, for his crimes God causes his people to all begin speaking different languages, rendering them incapable of collaborating to complete the tower, which is never explicitly destroyed. 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗳 𝗧𝗼𝗻𝗴𝘂𝗲𝘀 More so than the tower, the core of the legend, which comes immediately after the enumeration of Noah’s descendants (i.e. The ancestors of all the current peoples of the earth by biblical reckoning), is an explanation for how the peoples of the earth came to be divided, speaking different languages and practicing different cultures. Most modern interpretations follow, again, that of the 1st century Josephus: a punishment for crimes against God. However, there are some less antagonistic versions. Most of these revolve around the idea that mankind was never meant to focus in one place and belabor under one king, and thus, by confounding the language of Babel, God is metaphorically pushing the grown child out of the nest, forcing humankind to expand and diversify. Curiously, in the preceding part of Genesis, the same section in which Nimrod is listed amongst the descendants of Noah, several times the descendants are explicitly listed as having gone of to their own lands, nations, and tongues, which makes the Babel legend either a contradiction, or only the confounding of a subset of human languages. As 72 descendant lines of Noah are explicitly listed in Genesis 10 (though some versions list only 70, or 73), the concept of 72 languages, or at least 72 language families, was popular in Europe through the middle ages, and still referenced well past the Renaissance (though by this time it was seen, at best, as a metaphor). 𝗛𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗶𝘁𝘆 The origin of the Babel legend as we know it likely comes from 6th century BCE, during or shortly after the period of Jewish Babylonian Captivity. This would explain the naming of the tower: Babel is also the Hebrew word for Babylon, which, despite the legend’s own claims, is simply the Hebrew approximation of the native Akkadian “Bābilim” (“𒆍𒀭𒊏𒆠”), meaning “gate of the gods”. This also sets a likely subject for its inspiration: the ziggurat Etemenanki, which was originally constructed in the second millennium BCE but famously reconstructed in Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar II, during the Babylonian Captivity period. What prior legends, if any, evolved or fused into Babel is unknown. We have only fragmentary attestation to somewhat similar stories from the region. One is a Sumerian legend dated to the 21st century BCE, in which the Sumerian king of Uruk, Enmerkar, engages in a strange series of conflicts with a foreign state called Aratta. In this tale, the tower is a grand temple that Enmerkar wishes to build with the blessings of the gods, and is opposed by the King of Aratta who also wishes to build such a temple though he lacks the god’s blessings. The god Enki (covered previously in this series) is invoked to change the tongues of men in the region, though it is uncertain if the text intend Enki’s power to be a Babel like threat against Aratta (i.e. “I will confound the tongues of your people”) or if it is a claim that Enmerkar will unite the peoples against Aratta (“we will all become one people with a common language”). Another, even more incomplete text, comes from the 8th century BCE (much closer to the 6th century origin of the Hebrew legend), which mentions Babylon, as well as a great structure (presumably a tower), and the confounding of languages, though the incomplete text make the narrative impossible to truly reconstruct. Most modern depictions of the tower are based off of two paintings by the 16th century painter Pieter Bruegel the Elder (one of which serves as the title art for this very article). Bruegel based his interpretation on the Roman Coliseum, as both a familiar example of the majesty and ruin of the ancients, and because the fall of the Roman empire at the time was attributed to hubris and Paganism (not to mention the Romans paralleled the Babylonians as biblical oppressors of the Jews). Image Credit: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘛𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘉𝘢𝘣𝘦𝘭, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, c. 1568

#A Year in Faith #Babel #The Tower of Babel #AYIF #Religion #mythology #day 72

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alindae-anne · 3 years

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What Makes a Book?

I want to take a break from my novel and dive into a history lesson of books themselves. Why? Well first of all, I will be honest, this blog is for an assignment. But also because the way books have evolved over the last 5,000+ years is fascinating!

Of course no one ever really thinks about THE book, just the fact that the story within its pages--the mystery, the romance, whatever they happen to be enjoying--is a great read (or maybe not so great), but have they ever wondered what materials the book is made from? Who invented it? How the book has become one of the most common and most used items of all time?

No. Of course they didn't wonder any of those things. And if they did, they probably didn't take the time to research any of these burning questions, either.

How great, then, that I wrote this post?! Today is your lucky day! (Also, it is a good thing that Keith Houston, author of Shady Characters, decided to write a whole book about it (1).) I'm going to use the pages of a classic tale to explain some cool things you probably never noticed while reading a book before.

Gulliver’s Travels was originally published in London in 1726 by Benjamin Motte. The author, Jonathan Swift, used it to satirize London society and culture, poking holes at the social hierarchies and systems, basically making out everyone living in the 18th century to be fools--but mostly the wealthy and those who were obsessed with scientific progression (2). If you have not read it, I highly encourage adding it to your reading list, or at the very least there is a 2010 movie, featuring Jack Black as Gulliver, that you could watch. (It’s Jack Black, okay?)

This 2 page spread of Gulliver's Travels pictured above is actually found in The Franklin Library edition from Franklin Center, Pennsylvania, published in 1979. This is the first printing of this edition, and its pages, the way it is printed, and the way it is bound and presented, are all features of the modern 20-21st century book, plus some extra bells and whistles. The most interesting qualities come from the publishers themselves who specifically design their books to be very snazzy--meant for collectors’ editions! They include different kinds of leather binding, exclusive illustrations, and may be signed or part of a particular series specific to a certain author or genre (3). This makes the books published here very valuable and sought after.

Gulliver’s Travels is hardcover. Specifically, “fine leather in boards.” This means the spine and front and back boards (or cover) of the book are bound in leather. The leather is fine and and delicate and able to be decorated and engraved upon.4 Above you can see how fancy it looks with the gilt gold engravements. Even its pages are gilt!

This picture shows more clearly the binding, and of course the spine, which is “hubbed,” or ridged, for added texture.

At this point you may have notice that this version is much different than the original published in 1726. That is because over time, the materials involved in making books have changed slightly or the processes have become more efficient or cost worthy, etc. Either way, the anatomy of the book has not wavered. Keith Houston has dissected the book into certain components and we can see them in each book we read:

I have attempted to label it as best as I can, so hopefully you can follow along:

Chapter Number

a) this seems to be a description, more or less of the chapter, or the Chapter Title. b) “A Voyage to Lilliput” seems much more title-like to me, although this is technically called the “Recto Running Head.” The recto running head is a condensed or abbreviated chapter title, repeating on every right-side page to the end of the chapter.

Drop Cap. This would be the first letter of the first word of a chapter, which is usually exaggerated or embellished in some way.

Opener Text

Head Margin - the space between the top of the page and text

Foot Margin - the space between the bottom of the page and text

Folio - page number

It has taken quite a while for books to become so sophisticated. Because it was published in 1726, Gulliver's Travels is technically what you could call "modern" in terms of how long ago books began their journey to what they are today, but even between 1726 and 1979 the quality has improved. This edition published by Franklin Library is a perfect model for the modern book of today.

The 2 page spread we analyzed above is made from paper. But books were not always made with paper, or even in the book form, bound with anything at all, and they were not printed either. They were written by hand on papyrus.

Papyrus was the first material used as "paper" beginning in Egypt. The reeds were stripped, strung side by side and pressed together. Papyrus was durable and sturdy, and the water of the Nile was abundant in aluminum sulfate, which brightened it so that writing and scribbles could be seen better. There is no particular origin of when Papyrus had first been invented but it must have been around the end of the 4th millenium BCE (Houston 4).

Parchment is made from animal skin that has been soaked, scrubbed, dried, and stretched for days and days, creating a more flexible, yet still durable, material for writing. It was also thinner and could be made "cleaner" and brighter by chemical means. Religion heavily influenced its distribution; some parchment use was literally banned because the type of animal skin used to make it wasn't considered "holy" or "good." For example, the lamb or a calf was acceptable, but how dare you use parchment made from goat skin? What is wrong with you?

Besides the fact that parchment is kind of gross if you think about it (although to be fair, you can’t be too choosy in times right before the common era), it was also expensive to keep certain cattle only for paper making, and the reliability of having new cattle at the time you may need more paper was not very high.

Paper was first introduced in China. It is made from bits of cloth and rags soaked in water, and after breaking down into pulp, strained through a wire grate and pressed to dry. Fun fact-- the Rhar West Art Museum in Manitowoc, Wisconsin has held classes showing how to make paper using this exact process.

There is a trend here: the materials used to make paper (and papyrus and parchment before it) become scarce or too expensive, or they are just not “good enough.” People want their paper thin and smooth, but still strong and durable; crisp and bright, but still able to last years and years without crumbling. There have been times that processes used to ensure these preferred qualities of paper included using chemicals that ended up negatively affecting some other quality. For example, the paper would be white as snow, yet the chemical that did this broke down the natural adhesives which kept the paper intact.

Have you heard that paper grows on trees? Well, that is partly true since after rags and cloths were nowhere to be found (unless people were about to start donating the shirts off their backs), wood pulp has now since been used... the higher the demand for paper, the greater demand for those materials used for its creation.

This brings us to printing side of things. The first ways of printing weren’t of how we think of it now. Even before papyrus, people were still writing and making inscriptions on pretty much anything they could get their hands on. The earliest forms of writing were rather indentations or markings on clay tablets. Found across the Middle East, it is a cuneiform script of the Sumerian people from 3300 BCE (Houston 79).

Similarly, the Egyptians were also keen on developing their own writing system which today we recognize as hieroglyphs. A lot of these were found carved on the walls of tombs but also began to be used on papyrus in 2600 BCE (Houston 82-83).

The Egyptians celebrated their scribes and believed those who wrote with brush and ink on papyrus to be channeling power--that it was a gift from the gods--”wielded with respect and humility” (Houston 87). The hieroglyphs not only showed the intention of the writer, visually, but often the picture would be associated with or connected to certain sounds which emerged more formal use of letters as time went on.

The alphabet we use today can be traced back to the Phoenician alphabet (used by the Egyptians) which had evolved into the Greek and then Roman alphabets (Houston 91-92). At this point in time, scribes were using water based ink which was fine for papyrus, but during the transition to parchment they realized that ink smudges quite a bit. This led to the creation of iron gall ink that would darken and adhere to the parchment as it dried due to its chemical makeup in contact with oxygen in the air.

Jump ahead to 1400s and we are with Johannes Gutenberg and the printing press! One thing Keith Houston make sure to mention is that although Gutenberg invented the printing press itself, to help moveable type and mass printing, the idea of printing had not been new. Clay pieces used as stamps and similar objects had been excavated and dated back thousands of years before the clay inscribed cuneiform tablets were made. And a primitive version of a sort of printing press is mentioned being made by a man named Bi Sheng during the reign of Qingli from 1041-1048 AD (Houston 110). Obviously nothing great came from it, most likely because he was of unofficial position. Even so, movable type was still possible, although painstakingly slow with wooden blocks used as stamps. This was common for the next few hundred years in China.

Even though Gutenberg's press completely revolutionized the transmission of knowledge, it was still quite slow in comparison to the versions which came after, only being able to print 600 characters a day (Houston 118). From Gutenberg's printing press came other types of presses that improved the speed or efficiency of movable type immensely. These all came after the original publication of Guliver's Travels, starting in the early 1800s with the Columbian press, eventually the Linotype, and then lack of precision called for the Monotype, which could produce 140 wpm (Houston 149).

The 2 page spread above then, could possibly have been printed by the Linotype, but most likely, however, the Monotype, which is the more accurate of the two. Another possibility could be "sophisticated photographic and 'lithographic' techniques" or "'phototypsetting'" (Houston 151). Houston mentions that the printing press age has died and now faces a digital future.

I'm at my 10 image limit which means I better wrap this up with some interesting facts about bookbinding. On BIBLIO.com I was trying to see exactly what "fine leather in boards" meant which is apparently how Gulliver's Travels is bound. I didn't find any phrase that matched, but from my understanding, the leather is very supple and pliable, which is why it was able to be gilt with gold, and it was able to form nicely to the hubbing on the spine.

The website also explains that the first "book binding" was technically just putting the pieces of paper or parchment together and pressing them between two boards. Literally. Like just setting them on a board and putting another board on top of that. Eventually leather was introduced, first as a cord wrapped around the book to keep the boards in place. As time progressed, the practice was improved and perfected so it was less crude. This involved the creation of the "spine" where the pages meet together and can therefore open and close in a v shape without flying away.

This website helped explain some of the other embellishments and extra flair that can be added to a book's binding. It mostly goes over leather binding which is from most animal skin but there is a unique leather bound book that can be bound with seal skin. Some of the books on the website are so expensive because of the materials they are bound with and the effects that have been created in the cover, for example, Benjamin Franklin's observations on electricity, which has had acid added to the page, discoloring it for a lightning strike effect, and includes a key to represent his famous experiment.

Gulliver's Travels, although not quite so fancy, is still a very beautifully bound book with decorated endpapers, meaning the inside cover is laden with designed paper rather than boring white or some other neutral color.

I hope you found this journey of the book as interesting and as exciting as I did while writing this post! You must really love books because even my attention span isn't this long. I will admit I took at least 3 different breaks.

I'm back to my novel for now, thanks for listening😎

Bibliography

Houston, Keith--Author of Shady Characters, which I used extensively in my TikTok “history of punctuation” project--also wrote -> The BOOK - a cover-to-cover exploration of the most powerful object of our time, 2016.

British Library Website -> works -> “Gulliver’s Travels overview”

Masters, Kristin. “Franklin Library Editions: Ideal for Book Collectors?” Books Tell You Why, 2017 (blog).

BIBLIO.com -> “Leather Binding Terminology and Techniques”

#bookbinding #papermaking #printing #book history #keith houston

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thegnosticdread · 4 years

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Adam, Lilith, & Eve

Originally posted on: https://thegnosticdread.com/adam-lilith-eve/

The story of Adam & Eve is probably one of the most well known stories in history thanks to the widespread influence of Judeo-Christian culture. It’s a tale of the first man and woman whom all of humanity descends from according to the Biblical myth. In this post, I will use the Biblical and Gnostic traditions as well as sources beyond scripture to explain the symbolic significance of each of these characters as well as a character that is less known but has gained more popularity in recent times, Lilith.

Adam

Adam represents the Divine Masculine and Primordial Man, as well as the entirety of the human race depending on the context. For example, in Genesis 1:26-27 –

“Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, after our likeness, so they may rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move on the earth. God created humankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them.”

The Hebrew word that is translated to “humankind” above is אָדָם “adam”, showing that Adam in this sense refers to the human race as a whole, both male and female being created together from the beginning. The verse also says that the human race, both men and women, were created in the image of the Divine. Therefore, the Divine must contain both masculine and feminine energies. Perfectly balanced. As all things should be. This verse also confirms that the human race has dominion over all the Earth. Therefore, the logical conclusion is that humanity, both men and women, are indeed God (Goddess) manifested into the physical. This is supported by many traditions including the Qur’an:

“Indeed, I will make upon the earth a successive authority.” – al-Qur’an 2:30 “We said to the angels, “Prostrate before Adam”; so they prostrated…”

– al-Qur’an 2:34

Many use Genesis 1:26-27 as proof that Adam (the first man) indeed had a wife that was created at the same time as him, namely, Lilith in contrast to Eve who was created later from Adam’s rib. However, this is either a misunderstanding or a misrepresentation of the source material. I will explain Lilith’s origin later in her section. For now, we will turn to the Gnostic tradition concerning the origin of Adam.

In the Gnostic scriptures, Adam is a personified principle that existed first within the Pleroma as pure mind distinct from matter and emanating from the Monad. This pure mind represented the human Reason conceived as the World-Soul (Anima mundi). This is similar to the concept of Adam Kadmon in Kabbalah. To summarize the Gnostic myths, they go on to tell about how Yaldabaoth (Yahweh or “God” from the Old Testament) and his Archons desired to create a being in the image of themselves and in the image of the original Adam within the Pleroma. When the formation of the body was complete, it was lifeless, for Yaldabaoth nor the Archons had the power to give the body life on their own. Yaldabaoth then took power he had stolen from his mother Sophia (the principle of Divine Wisdom and the principle of the Divine Feminine) and breathed it into the lifeless shell that they called “Adam”. When they had done this, Adam sprang to life. This caused Yaldabaoth and his Archons to become jealous, for them being born of ignorance, they had not realized that they had surrendered their stolen power to Adam, who was now luminous and more intelligent than them. This caused the Archons to throw Adam into the darkest depths of matter. It would later take Eve to raise Adam up out of darkness.

Lilith

The Hebrew word

לִּילִית

“lilith” appears only once in the Bible, in the Book of Isaiah 34:14 –

“Wild animals and wild dogs will congregate there; wild goats will bleat to one another. Yes, nocturnal animals will rest there and make for themselves a nest.”

The translators of the New English Translation translate “Lilith” to mean “nocturnal animals” and had this to say in their notes –

“The precise meaning of לִּילִית (lilit) is unclear, though in this context the word certainly refers to some type of wild animal or bird. The word appears to be related to לַיְלָה (laylah, “night”). Some interpret it as the name of a female night demon, on the basis of an apparent Akkadian cognate used as the name of a demon. Later Jewish legends also identified Lilith as a demon.”

It’s true indeed that the Akkadian language did have a similar word to Lilith – “Lilu” – and it is debated if the two words are cognates or related. However, it should be noted that Lilu in the Akkadian language is a masculine word, not feminine, and seems to be a general term for “demon”. In the Sumerian king list, the father of Gilgamesh is said to be a lilu. Referring back to the verse in Isaiah, it would make sense that it is referring to some type of wild animal or bird based on the fact the verses immediately before and following verse 14 are referring to animals –

“Her fortresses will be overgrown with thorns; thickets and weeds will grow in her fortified cities. Jackals will settle there; ostriches will live there.” – Isaiah 34:13 “Owls will make nests and lay eggs there; they will hatch them and protect them. Yes, hawks will gather there, each with its mate. Carefully read the scroll of the Lord! Not one of these creatures will be missing, none will lack a mate. For the Lord has issued the decree, and his own spirit gathers them. He assigns them their allotment; he measures out their assigned place. They will live there permanently; they will settle in it through successive generations.”

– Isaiah 34:15-17

The evidence doesn’t support the idea that Lilith was taken or censored out of the Bible to hide the fact that she was Adam’s first wife, as she does not appear in any Biblical apocrypha works, does not appear in any pseudepigrapha works from the Biblical period, is not mentioned in any of the gospels, and she does not appear in any of the Gnostic text from the Nag Hammadi Library, all text dating from a range of the 7th Century BCE to the 2nd Century CE. In Jewish tradition dating from the 6th century CE, Lilith is mentioned in three places within the Babylonian Talmud. Though she is not mentioned as being the wife of Adam, the text does seem to suggest she was a demon. However, it’s likely this view may have been established centuries later than when any of the previous biblical and deuterocanonical text were written and be based on the idea of the Akkadian word Lilu meaning demon.The earliest text referring to Lilith as the first wife of Adam comes from the medieval text titled The Alphabet of ben Sirach which scholars date as being written anywhere between 700 and 1000 CE. This work however was never understood as or treated as revealed or inspired scripture, rather the work was written and treated as a satire. It is from within this text alone that we are told the story of Lilith being Adam’s first wife who refused to submit to her husband.

“While God created Adam, who was alone, He said, ‘It is not good for man to be alone’ (Genesis 2:18). He also created a woman, from the earth, as He had created Adam himself, and called her Lilith. Adam and Lilith immediately began to fight. She said, ‘I will not lie below,’ and he said, ‘I will not lie beneath you, but only on top. For you are fit only to be in the bottom position, while I am to be the superior one.’ Lilith responded, ‘We are equal to each other inasmuch as we were both created from the earth.’ But they would not listen to one another. When Lilith saw this, she pronounced the Ineffable Name and flew away into the air.”

– The Alphabet of ben Sirach, fifth response to King Nebuchadnezzar.

Because of Lilith refusing to submit to Adam based on the idea that she was his equal, Lilith is sometimes exalted as a women’s empowerment or feminist icon. However, it should be noted and considered that the rest of the text goes on to describe Lilith as a demoness who terrorizes pregnant women, fornicates with demons, and murders infants. The work certainly does not paint a picture of Lilith being an ally to women. As the text is indeed a work of satire, it should also be considered that the text should not be taken too seriously in it’s treatment of Adam and Lilith. To the Gnostics, Adam and his wife Eve were seen as equals, and Eve especially was given high honor as she was responsible for Adam’s awakening.

Eve

Eve represents the Divine Feminine and is the archetype Mother of all Life. She is also responsible for Adam’s (humanity’s) awakening to their true Divine Self. As the daughter of or even a manifestation of Sophia, it was Eve who brought forth the life giving Light from the upper realms of the Pleroma into the darkness of matter so that Adam (humanity) can see. Upon seeing Adam cast in darkness by the Archons, Sophia sent her daughter Eve (also called Zoe which means “life”) to be a help and instructor to Adam and to reveal to him his true Divine nature and how to ascend back into the Pleroma from where his Spirit (the breath of life that was breathed into him) came. Eve then became hidden within Adam so that Yaldabaoth and his Archons would not be aware of her. While Adam laid dormant in the darkness he was thrown in, Eve spoke to him from within and said “Adam! Come alive! Arise upon the Earth!” Adam then sprang to life once again, and upon seeing the form of Eve said “You shall be called ‘Mother of the Living’. For it is you who have given me life.”While the Biblical text says that Eve was created from the rib of Adam, the Gnostic text demonstrates that this was a lie told in order to suppress the Divine Feminine principle and it’s role.

“Then the authorities were informed that their modeled form was alive and had arisen, and they were greatly troubled. They sent seven archangels to see what had happened. They came to Adam. When they saw Eve talking to him, they said to one another, “What sort of thing is this luminous woman? For she resembles that likeness which appeared to us in the light. Now come, let us lay hold of her and cast her seed into her, so that when she becomes soiled she may not be able to ascend into her light. Rather, those whom she bears will be under our charge. But let us not tell Adam, for he is not one of us. Rather let us bring a deep sleep over him. And let us instruct him in his sleep to the effect that she came from his rib, in order that his wife may obey, and he may be lord over her.”

Then Eve, being a force, laughed at their decision. She put mist into their eyes and secretly left her likeness with Adam.”

– On the Origin of the World

Having slipped away to be alone in the Garden of Eden, Eve was approached by the Serpent, though the exchange in the Gnostic texts is slightly different than the biblical version.

“And when he saw the likeness of their mother Eve he said to her, “What did God say to you? Was it ‘Do not eat from the tree of knowledge’?” She said, “He said not only, ‘Do not eat from it’, but, ‘Do not touch it, lest you die.'” He said to her, “Do not be afraid. In death you shall not die. For he knows that when you eat from it, your intellect will become sober and you will come to be like gods, recognizing the difference that obtains between evil men and good ones. Indeed, it was in jealousy that he said this to you, so that you would not eat from it.” Now Eve had confidence in the words of the instructor. She gazed at the tree and saw that it was beautiful and appetizing, and liked it; she took some of its fruit and ate it; and she gave some also to her husband, and he too ate it. Then their intellect became open. For when they had eaten, the light of knowledge had shone upon them.”

– On the Origin of the World

As you can see, Eve was Adam’s (and therefore, humanity’s) first Teacher, raising Adam up from the darkness of ignorance into the Light of Knowledge. She is also humanity’s first Mother, and therefore embodies the archetype of the Great Matriarch. Eve should never be thought of as being naive, submissive, or the blame for the Fall of Man in the way the Judeo-Christian religions have treated her with their Bible. It’s actually quite the opposite, and she should be honored as the Raising Up of Man. The Gnostics have always felt that we are greatly indebted to the Original Woman, who embodies the archetype of Sophia (Wisdom).To read the Gnostic text for yourself, check out

On the Origin of the World

& The Apocryphon of John

An excerpt of The Alphabet of ben Sirach concerning Lilith is on Wikipedia.

Peace, Love, & Balance

#gnosticism #hermeticism #spirituality #knowledgeofself #lefthandpath #thegnosticdread #alchemy #astrology #theurgy #magick #divination #tarot #tantra #yoga

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davidluongart · 4 years

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Some of the digital paintings that I made regarded the tale of Aphrodite and the mortal lover, Adonis. (In my version of the story, he was her first teenage lover in Cyprus after she was born out the castrated genitals of Ouranos. (As you can see in my first painting, there was the real-life depiction of Aphrodite’s Rock monument at Paphos, Cyprus; where the other half body of Ouranos transformed into the rock.) Adonis, the hunter/shepherd boy was later tragically killed during his boar hunting session and sent to the underworld realm with Persephone, who later fell in love and cherished him. His blood also giving birth to the red color of anemones and roses that we often associated with as symbols of modern Valentine today.)

My version of Aphrodite and Adonis was based on the older famous Ancient Mesopotamian tale from the East: “Inanna's Descent to the Underworld”. (Sumerian, specifically.) The tale of the goddess Inanna went down to the depths of the Underworld realm of “Irkalla” (often translated as “the land beneath the earth” or “the land of no return”) in order to persuade her sister, Ereshkigal to giving back her lover, Dumuzi, the agricultural god that associated with shepherds. According to Ancient Encyclopedia, the Mesopotamians believed death was “a final act on life”, “that the souls of the underworld, after surviving the bodily death, went down to Irkalla” and that “although death accepted no matter how great a poor that the person had lived, when you’re already in the realm of Irkalla, that there was no reason or permission for return, even for gods and goddesses”. Through cultural exchanges of goods and ideas between the Ancient Mediterranean, their name later changing to Ishtar/Astarte and Tammuz under the Syro-Phoenician. The name Adonis might be a Hellenized form of Tammuz’s title, Adon (which meant My Lord.)

In the later retellings, Adonis is not only the lover of goddesses Aphrodite and Persephone but also the lover of Herakles, Dionysos, and Apollo as well. (Since everyone always has a thing for the good-looking man, I guess.) According to the 5th-century Panyassis, it is also said: “Aphrodite hid the infant away from other gods and give Persephone to nurse him, but Persephone refused to give beautiful Adonis when he later becomes grow up”. Adjudicating to the dispute, Zeus gave Aphrodite for a third of the year and Persephone a third of the year, with the other third spent by Adonis as he chooses. His tragic aftermath was created by her husband Ares, who sprung out in jealousy, transformed himself into a wild boar. (According to theoi.com, Apollo was very angry with the punishment of his son, Erymanthos, for he had seen Aphrodite and Adonis in their sexual union.) In some versions of his mysterious birth and origins, he was the product of the incestuous tale of King Cinyras and his daughter, Myrrha of Cyprus, as a punishment by the goddess Aphrodite herself, ironically. Heracles’s death could have something to do with Adonis as well: Aphrodite, furious that Hercules seducing her lover, taught the centaur Nessus the way to kill the hero.

Despite all of the tragedies, Adonis and Aphrodite still had two children together. Their son, Golgos become the founder of the town of Golgi, Cyprus and their daughter, Beroe later become a Phoenician nymph and the city’s protectress of modern-day Beirut, Lebanon, loved and cherished by Poseidon and Dionysos. And today, we still using the nickname Adonis to refer to a very attractive member of the male sex.

Edit: To all the NSFW+ blogs, please don’t like this post because it is not a blog about promoting your pornographic content, but rather to the origins of Greek mythology itself. Please get off and don’t interact.

#aphrodite #ancient greek #persephone #descent to the underworld #please don’t blame Ares for the death of Adonis #the last picture was inspired from John William Waterhouse #Aphrodite’s Rock at Paphos #venus and adonis #aphrodite and adonis #my art #adonis greek #hellenic polytheism #greek mythology

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