Don't Know Much About Mythology - Kenneth C. Davis [70]
When Sumer was eclipsed by the Babylonian Empire, An was demoted and transformed into a grandfather figure. However, in a particularly violent version of this power shift, An was deposed by Marduk when Babylon became the predominant city. Marduk first destroyed An by flaying him alive, cutting his head off, and tearing his heart out. He then also dispatched An’s son Enlil. This violent mythical demise may have carried over into the actual religious practices under the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal (668–627 BCE). During his reign, human sacrifice was apparently relied on to appease the gods, and there are accounts of human flesh being fed “to the dogs, pigs, vultures, eagles—the birds of heaven and fishes of the deep.” Excavations of royal tombs in Ur also revealed many bodies other than the king’s, suggesting either a mass suicide or human sacrifice, in which wives, concubines, musicians, and entertainers were killed and entombed with the dead king.
Apsu (Abzu) The Sumerian-Akkadian deity who embodies the primordial freshwater ocean; is one of two original gods whose waters surrounded the earth, which floated like an island. First conceived of as the water itself, Apsu later became a male deity and united with his mate Tiamat to create all the other gods and goddesses. In the Enuma Elish, he is supplanted of by one of his offspring, Enki, who killed him.
Dumuzi (Tammuz) The god of herders and seasonal fertility; is not only one of the most significant figures in Mesopotamian mythology but was adopted by many later civilizations, including the Greeks and Romans.
As the dying and rising-from-the-dead husband of the love goddess Inanna in a central Mesopotamian myth (see below, How did an angry goddess make the seasons?), Dumuzi gets in big trouble with his wife, who banishes him to the underworld. He later escapes, and the myth of his death and resurrection is one of the earliest parallels to the annual cycle of fertility and harvest. Songs lamenting his death were typical of the fertility celebrations in Mesopotamia, and the veneration and worship of Dumuzi-Tammuz carried over to biblical times.
In the prophetic biblical Book of Ezekiel, among the sins committed by the Israelites is weeping for the dying god Tammuz (Ezekiel 8:14). This was considered an abomination by Ezekiel, and one of the reasons that Israel was destined to fall. Another biblical connection to Dumuzi-Tammuz is found in the Old Testament’s Song of Solomon (or Song of Songs). A series of erotic poems celebrating the physical love between a man and a woman, the Song of Solomon closely parallels the sacred marriage texts celebrating the union of Inanna and Dumuzi. The male figure—or bridegroom—in the Song of Solomon appears as a shepherd, which was also the role of Dumuzi.
Dumuzi-Tammuz also had the title “lord,” which was later translated by the Greeks into the word “Adonis.” As the cult worship of Tammuz moved westward into Greece, the title and name were merged, so the Greek Adonis (see chapter 4) is actually based on Dumuzi-Tammuz.
Enki (Ea) The most clever of gods, he becomes the god of freshwater by killing Apsu. In the Enuma Elish, he is born from the union of the sky god An and Ki, the earth goddess, and is the god who slays Apsu—who is both a god and the actual underground reservoir of freshwater. Enki eventually subdues Apsu, puts him to sleep, and kills him. Having done that, Enki takes his place as chief god, and with his wife Damkina gives birth to Marduk.
Sometimes depicted as half-man, half-fish, Enki is responsible for creating the world order and is the keeper of the me—the divine laws, rules, and regulations that govern the universe. Possession of the me meant to hold supreme power, and in one tale Inanna (see below) visits Enki, and after getting him drunk, convinces the high god to give her the me, which she then takes to her cult city of Uruk.
The source of all secret magical knowledge, Enki is responsible for giving arts and crafts to