The text of this episode is much damaged in both the Akkadian and the Babylonian series; rather than indicating the frequent gaps and ambiguities, the text is reconstructed from the best sources, including the more ancient Sumerian. Much is conjectural, and is given some poetic license. The Sumerian, rather than the Akkadian, contains more details, and so the temper of the story reflects its more “archaic” tone.***Image is a classic Sumerian representation of Gilgamesh wrestling a lion to his death. Music excerpt  is  “Fantasia On A Theme By Thomas Tallis” from the album, Vaughan Williams: Symphonic Works

The text of this episode is much damaged in both the Akkadian and the Babylonian series; rather than indicating the frequent gaps and ambiguities, the text is reconstructed from the best sources, including the more ancient Sumerian. Much is conjectural, and is given some poetic license. The Sumerian, rather than the Akkadian, contains more details, and so the temper of the story reflects its more “archaic” tone. *** Image is a classic Sumerian representation of Gilgamesh wrestling a lion to his death. Music excerpt is “Fantasia On A Theme By Thomas Tallis” from the album, Vaughan Williams: Symphonic Works

The text of this episode is much damaged in both the Akkadian and the Babylonian series; rather than indicating the frequent gaps and ambiguities, the text is reconstructed from the best sources, including the more ancient Sumerian. 

Much is conjectural, and is given some poetic license. The Sumerian, rather than the Akkadian, contains more details, and so the temper of the story reflects its more “archaic” tone.

***

Image is a classic Sumerian representation of Gilgamesh wrestling a lion to his death. 
Music excerpt  is  “Fantasia On A Theme By Thomas Tallis” 
from the album, Vaughan Williams: Symphonic Works

Adventure of Forests of Cedar (Part 1)

This is my favorite Sumerian artifact.A so-called “devotional statue,” it dates to 2600 B.C., representing what scholars believe is a married couple. This statue was found buried beneath the floor of a shrine at Nippur in Iraq and measures at little more than 4 inches high. The couple originally had feet, and the figures have eyes made of shell and lapis lazuli set in bitumen, a natural cement-like substance.***Music excerpt  is the song “Glad” by David Byrne from his album, Grown Backwards.

This is my favorite Sumerian artifact. A so-called “devotional statue,” it dates to 2600 B.C., representing what scholars believe is a married couple. This statue was found buried beneath the floor of a shrine at Nippur in Iraq and measures at little more than 4 inches high. The couple originally had feet, and the figures have eyes made of shell and lapis lazuli set in bitumen, a natural cement-like substance. *** Music excerpt is the song “Glad” by David Byrne from his album, Grown Backwards.

This is my favorite Sumerian artifact.

A so-called “devotional statue,” it dates to 2600 B.C., representing what scholars believe is a married couple. This statue was found buried beneath the floor of a shrine at Nippur in Iraq and measures at little more than 4 inches high. The couple originally had feet, and the figures have eyes made of shell and lapis lazuli set in bitumen, a natural cement-like substance.

***

Music excerpt  
is the song “Glad” 
by David Byrne from his
 album, Grown Backwards.

5,000 Year Old Proverbs

The image is the “Queen of the Night,” a relief of Old Babylonian Empire (1800-1750 BC); it is now housed in the British Museum.This large plaque is made of baked straw-tempered clay, modeled in high relief. The figure of the curvaceous naked woman was originally painted red. She wears the horned headdress characteristic of a Mesopotamian deity and holds a rod and ring of justice, symbols of her divinity. Her long multicolored wings hang downwards, indicating that she is a goddess of the Underworld. Her legs end in the talons of a bird of prey, similar to those of the two owls that flank her. The background was originally painted black, suggesting that she was associated with the night. She stands on the backs of two lions, and a scale pattern indicates mountains.The figure could be an aspect of the goddess Ishtar, Mesopotamian goddess of sexual love and war, or Ishtar's sister and rival, the goddess Ereshkigal who ruled over the Underworld, or the demoness Lilitu, known in the Bible as Lilith. The plaque probably stood in a shrine.  ***Music excerpt  is “Ninevah” from the album The Forest by David Byrne

The image is the “Queen of the Night,” a relief of Old Babylonian Empire (1800-1750 BC); it is now housed in the British Museum. This large plaque is made of baked straw-tempered clay, modeled in high relief. The figure of the curvaceous naked woman was originally painted red. She wears the horned headdress characteristic of a Mesopotamian deity and holds a rod and ring of justice, symbols of her divinity. Her long multicolored wings hang downwards, indicating that she is a goddess of the Underworld. Her legs end in the talons of a bird of prey, similar to those of the two owls that flank her. The background was originally painted black, suggesting that she was associated with the night. She stands on the backs of two lions, and a scale pattern indicates mountains. The figure could be an aspect of the goddess Ishtar, Mesopotamian goddess of sexual love and war, or Ishtar's sister and rival, the goddess Ereshkigal who ruled over the Underworld, or the demoness Lilitu, known in the Bible as Lilith. The plaque probably stood in a shrine. *** Music excerpt is “Ninevah” from the album The Forest by David Byrne

The image is the “Queen of the Night,” a relief of Old Babylonian Empire (1800-1750 BC); it is now housed in the British Museum.
This large plaque is made of baked straw-tempered clay, modeled in high relief. The figure of the curvaceous naked woman was originally painted red. She wears the horned headdress characteristic of a Mesopotamian deity and holds a rod and ring of justice, symbols of her divinity. Her long multicolored wings hang downwards, indicating that she is a goddess of the Underworld. Her legs end in the talons of a bird of prey, similar to those of the two owls that flank her. The background was originally painted black, suggesting that she was associated with the night. She stands on the backs of two lions, and a scale pattern indicates mountains.
The figure could be an aspect of the goddess Ishtar, Mesopotamian goddess of sexual love and war, or Ishtar's sister and rival, the goddess Ereshkigal who ruled over the Underworld, or the demoness Lilitu, known in the Bible as Lilith. The plaque probably stood in a shrine.  

***

Music excerpt  is “Ninevah” 
from the album
 The Forest by David Byrne

Adventure of the Bull of Heaven (Part 1)

An Annotated Prose Rendition Based upon the Original Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian, and Hittite Tablets With Supplementary Sumerian Texts and Selected Sumerian Proverbs *** You may purchase a copy from Amazon.com Here! ***

Arts

An Annotated Prose Rendition Based upon the Original Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian, and Hittite Tablets With Supplementary Sumerian Texts and Selected Sumerian Proverbs *** You may purchase a copy from Amazon.com Here! ***

An Annotated Prose Rendition Based upon the Original Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian, and Hittite Tablets With Supplementary Sumerian Texts and Selected Sumerian Proverbs *** You may purchase a copy from Amazon.com Here! ***

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