A key chapter from The Sacred History of Being, published in November 2015. This chapter will be quite perplexing for readers who imagine that the important aspects of ancient religious practice, its preoccupations and purposes, are essentially the same as those which we are accustomed to in the later Abrahamic religions. Modern religion in fact bears very little relation to ancient religion, except in terms of some generalised concepts and vestigial remains.
As far as the ancient Mesopotamian religious elite was concerned, it was within their power to both create divine images, and to set them up in Heaven. Strange? It is to us. But we don't make this conception unimportant by refusing to address what the evidence tells us. This chapter gives an indication of the extensiveness and detail in the evidence which has emerged from the ground over the past 150 years or so.
The evidence for this strikingly different understanding of the nature of reality is largely ignored (currently), except by specialists in a relatively narrow field. It is hard to understand, and without an understanding of ancient philosophical ideas about the world, virtually impenetrable to modern scholarship. I've given some reasons in the chapter why this is so.
This is just one of the puzzling areas of Mesopotamian civilization. There is elsewhere on this site a collection of divination texts, with the title 'Who will Appear Before the City?'. Equally strange, they concern conversation with Shamash the Sun god, about what will happen in the future.
Thomas Yaeger, February 20, 2018.
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"Enki's beloved Eridug, E-engura whose inside is full
of abundance! Abzu, life of the Land, beloved of Enki! Temple built on the
edge, befitting the artful divine powers!"
'Enki's journey to
Nibru.'
I have argued that the practice of philosophy in Greece is
rooted in the context of religious ritual, and that philosophy as practised and
discussed by Plato had as a principal purpose the exposing of a paradoxical
quality in reality, in that reality has a two-fold nature (containing the
limited, existing in time; and the unlimited, which participates in eternity),
and that the world of experience is in effect an illusion within the
ur-reality. As a consequence, the world as it presents itself is a series of
images of Being, which point to its ineffable and invisible nature. Plato also
spoke of the heavens as a moving image of eternity, patterned after the nature
of Being, the 'most fair' image of divinity after which to pattern the world
and everything contained within it. He also intimated that what applied to the
reality of the Forms also applied to the 'revered and holy' images of the gods.
This is possible because of the two-fold nature of reality. Things can be made
holy, and holiness can be withdrawn.
So Plato was not talking entirely abstractly about Ideas and
the Forms. They can have both concrete form on earth as well as a presence in
Heaven. This suggests that in Ancient Greece, there was ritual practice
associated with the making of divine statues, built on the precepts of the transcendent
theology of the divine cults. Unfortunately, none of the rituals which might
have existed have survived from the Greek cultural context.
The presence of a theory of Being in ancient Assyria has
been demonstrated to be likely, on the basis of the clear similarity between
the structures of the Jewish Kabbalah and the Assyrian Sacred Tree. The
following chapters seek in addition to establish relationships between what
Plato had to say about the creation of the world and its patterning, and ritual
practice concerning the making of gods in Assyria. We have good detail for the
latter. If the Assyrians understood the concept of Being as the root of reality
itself, then the relationship of the forms of things to a wholly abstract
concept of Being in Assyria should show parallels with the discussion in Plato.
The reconstruction of the Mis Pî ritual and its associated
incantations mainly comes from the Neo-Assyrian or Neo/Late Babylonian periods.
So that is from the 8th to 5th century B.C.E, although there are some fragments
from Uruk dating to the 2nd century. [ii] These tablets come from Nineveh, Assur,
Babylon, Sippar, Nippur, Kalhu (Nimrud), and a small number of other, more
widely spread locations. The majority come from Ashurbanipal's library at
Nineveh, and so date from the 7th century B.C.E. Their colophons confirm that
they were the property of the library. Some of the texts from Nineveh are
copies of texts originating elsewhere, but the tablets do not often give the
sources. Full details of the existing texts are given in The Induction of
the Cult Image in Ancient Mesopotamia, SAALT1, 2001, p27 - 29.
The following text concerning the preparation for the
renewal of divine images, dates from the latter days of the reign of Esarhaddon
(680-669 B.C.E.), and describes the process of the renewal of the cult images
from the initial consultation of the oracles, to the final installation of the
images.
When in heaven and on earth signs favourable for the renewal
of the (statue of) the gods occurred, [iv] then I, Esarhaddon, king of the universe, king
of the Land of Assur, the apple of
Assur’s eye, the beloved of the great gods, with the great intelligence and
vast understanding, which the great
Nudimmud, the wise man of the gods, bestowed on me, with the wisdom which Assur and Marduk
entrusted to me when they made me aware of the renewal of (the statue of) the
great gods, with lifting of hands,
prayers, and supplication, (I) prayed to the divinities Assur, king of the
Gods, and to the great Lord Marduk.
The following passage concerning the right to make gods we
have already encountered. I repeat it here, within its original context:
“Whose right is it, O
great gods, to create gods and goddesses in a place where man dare not
trespass? This task of refurbishing (the statues), which you have constantly
been allotting to me (by oracle), is difficult! Is it the right of deaf and
blind human beings who are ignorant of themselves and remain in ignorance
throughout their lives? The making of (images of) the gods and goddesses is
your right, it is in your hands; so I beseech you, create (the gods), and in
your exalted holy of holies may what you yourselves have in your heart be
brought about in accordance with your unalterable word”.
Again, as is common in the translation of texts which seem
to make little sense without minor emendation, this translation inserts words
apparently required in English to render the meaning clear. Thus the line which
says “…the renewal of the (statue of) the gods occurred” actually ought to be
rendered “….the renewal of the gods occurred,” in order not merely to be
strictly faithful to the original text, but in fact to enable us to understand
what the text is actually saying. Likewise with the sentence “the making of
(images of) the gods and goddesses is your right,” the rendering ought to be
simply: ”the making of the gods and goddesses is your right.” We are dealing
with a pattern of belief which employs images towards the worship of its
divinities, and understands these images as actualisable representations of
that which cannot be represented as an image, since that image
transcends all of the categories of our understanding. The gods can have
existence in this physical world precisely because of this transcendent nature.
Such existence defies common-sense, but it does not defy the
logic of idolatry. Just as for some modern worshippers there is no necessary
contradiction between a divinity who is transcendent in nature and yet
immanent, in antiquity there was no necessary contradiction between a
transcendent god and his incarnation in a cult image. The idea – by its elusive
nature - was always subject to criticism, and latterly ridicule, both within
and beyond the cultural grouping which supported such a notion, but it made
sense within the implex of ideas around the role of the cult image.
The passage referring to Esarhaddon as: ‘the beloved of the
great gods, with the great intelligence and vast understanding, which the great
Nudimmud, the wise man of the gods, bestowed on me, with the wisdom which Aššur
and Marduk entrusted to me when they made me aware of the renewal of (the
statue of) the great gods,’ yokes together the idea of knowledge with kingship,
and also with divinity, since the gods Aššur and Marduk made him aware of the
need for the renewal of the great gods. He has the ‘great intelligence and vast
understanding’ of ‘the great Nudimmud’, who
is in fact the god Ea, often identified with Enki the trickster god, but
also the god of craftsmen. ‘Nu.dim.mud’ is one of Ea’s epithets, meaning
‘fashioner of images’.
We have already discussed the interesting equation between
knowledge and ‘vast understanding’ and its contrast with the non-royal,
non-divine ignorance which is the common lot of mankind within this model - the
“deaf and blind human beings who are ignorant of themselves and remain in
ignorance throughout their lives…”, and also Esarhaddon’s allusion to one of
the theological questions of the day, by asking ‘Whose right is it, O great gods,
to create gods and goddesses in a place where man dare not trespass?” Clearly
however this is Esarhaddon’s task, and no-one else’s. It is a royal task,
communicated to Esarhaddon by divine command, and not easy to perform: “This
task of refurbishing (the statues), which you have constantly been allotting to
me (by oracle), is difficult!”
The text continues with details of the means by which the
gods are to be renewed. Esarhaddon says:
Endow the skilled craftsmen whom you ordered to complete
this task with as high an understanding as Ea, their creator. Teach them skills by your exalted word; make
all their handiwork succeed through the craft of Ninshiku.
Ninshiku is yet another name for Ea, a late form from
post-Kassite times, though based on the Sumerian Nin-ši-ku. [v] Esarhaddon is asking that the workmen be
endowed with all the qualities of understanding and skill associated with Ea,
the god of the craftsmen (i.e., the god also known as Nudimmud). This is
tantamount to the request that the craftsmen have at least a temporary divinity
for the duration of the renewal of the gods. The craftsmen have the excellence
of the craftsman god only for a limited period, and for a precise purpose. They
are therefore in a sense demiourgoi, like Plato’s craftsman in the
Timaeus, able to fashion an image after the nature of the divine, while not
being wholly or permanently divine themselves. Except that in this case, the
gods themselves (aspects of the transcendent divinity) are being created.
Esarhaddon’s text continues with details of the means of
oracular transmission of the gods wishes to the king:
I arranged diviners in groups in order to obtain a reliable
oracular pronouncement about entering the bīt mummi. I performed divination
(in order to determine whether the renewal should be done) in Aššur, Babylon
(or) Nineveh. To determine the experts who should do the work and their
initiation, I decided that each group should decide for itself separately; and
still all the extispicies were in perfect agreement; they gave me a reliable,
positive answer.
In other words, the oracular inquiries made by several
groups of diviners produced answers which arrived together at the same time and
agreed about the same issue.
Esarhaddon tells us that the oracular answers ordered him to
enter the Bit Mummi in Aššur,
The capital, city, the dwelling of Aššur, Father of the
gods; they indicated to me the names of the artisans (fit) for completing the
work. By authority of a reassuring and favourable oracle, the diviners ordered
me to do this work as follows: “do it
quickly, pay attention, and be careful; do not let up, do not direct your
attention elsewhere”. I trusted their
positive and unchangeable oracle; I placed full reliance (on it).
It would seem from this text that there were at least two
sets of oracular responses involved – those which ordered Esarhaddon to enter
the Bit Mummi in connection with the renewal of the gods, and a second grouping
of responses which were given within the precincts of the Bit Mummi, which
named the artisans who were to undertake the work, and therefore those who were
to be given a temporary divinity for the purpose of renewing the gods.
Esarhaddon’s will is not to be focused on any other activity than this renewal.
In a favourable month, on a propitious day in the month of
Shabatti, the favourite month of Enlil, I entered the bit mummi, the place
where refurbishing was done, which the gods had chosen.
Among the epithets of Enlil (Sumerian ‘Ellil’) is ‘king of
the foreign lands’, and the center of his cult was the temple E-kur, the
‘mountain house’, at Nippur. One of the images associated with Enlil is
‘merchant’ which suggests association with transactions. [vi] Arranging the work for the month of
Shabatti, Enlil’s favourite month, would therefore be seen as propitious for
work so definitively connected with the otherness of the gods in heaven.
I brought carpenters, goldsmiths, metalworkers,
stone-cutters, “skilled artisans knowledgeable in the mysteries” into the
temple which Shamash and Adad had indicated through divination. I installed the
craftsmen there.
The work by the artisans is to be done in a place of both
mystery and knowledge. We might infer from the choice of this place by the gods
Shamash and Adad that the place in which the renewal is to happen is not fixed.
[vii] The choice of the Bit Mummi is therefore
likely to have a special significance for this occasion of renewal. The craft
of making cult images, of the manufacture of the gods, is a religious mystery,
knowledge of which is granted only to a limited group, who are installed in the
chosen temple.
Red gold, mined in the mountains, which no one had as yet
worked for artistic purposes, countless precious stones, not yet cut…., native
to the mountains and upon which Ea had generously bestowed his splendour so
that they might be fit for the lordly deities, I prepared in abundance for the
shrines of the great gods, my lords, and for the bejewelling of their divinity,
I gave (all these costly materials) into the pure hands (of the craftsmen).
Emphasis is laid on the fact that the materials which are to
be used for the renewal of the gods have not yet been worked for such purposes
– in other words they have not already served as materials for another form.
They are as gifted by the gods – ‘upon which Ea had generously bestowed his
splendour’, and therefore suitable for the work of the renewal. The Red gold,
mined in the mountains (kur – a place of otherness), has not been worked, and
‘precious stones, not yet cut’, for the ornamentation of the divine images,
Esarhaddon ‘gave…. Into the pure hands’.
‘Splendour’ here is indicated by ME.LAM/Melammu. [viii] Black and Green suggest that it connotes
a ‘brilliant, visible glamour which is exuded by gods, heroes, sometimes by
kings, and also by temples of great holiness and by gods’ symbols and
emblems’. They also suggest that ‘while
it is in some ways a phenomenon of light, melam is at the same time terrifying
and awe-inspiring’. Further:
Gods are sometimes said to ‘wear’ their melam like a
garment or a crown, and like a garment or a crown, melam can be ‘taken
off.’ If the god is killed, his melam disappears. While it is always a
mark of the supernatural, melam carries no connotation of moral value:
demons and terrifying giants can ‘wear’ it too.
[i] Black, Cunningham, Robson, Zόlyomi, The Literature of Ancient Sumer, 2004, p330
[ii] The Induction of the Cult Image in Ancient Mesopotamia, SAALT1, 2001, p27.
[iii] The Esarhaddon text comes from Borger’s Die Inschriften Asarhaddons, Königs von Assyrien. AfO Beiheft. 9. Graz. It is reproduced in translation in C.B.F. Walker and Michael B. Dick’s The Induction of the Cult Image in Ancient Mesopotamia, SAALT1, 2001 p25-27.
[iv] Note 79 on page 25 indicates that the astronomical sign meant here was the heliacal rising of Jupiter. The omen is discussed in detail in Borger 1956: 17-18. Note 79 also suggests a comparison with an omen declaration given to Ashurbanipal CT 35 pl.13-15, line 23 , which runs: ‘I commissioned you with the renewal of these (images of the) gods and of their temples (as before the words supplied by the translator in brackets should be ignored). The astronomical omen also had to be confirmed by a liver omen.
[v] C.B.F. Walker and Michael B. Dick’s The Induction of the Cult Image in Ancient Mesopotamia, SAALT1, 2001.p25, n84.
[vi] Black and Green, Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia, ‘Enlil’ p76.
[vii] Shamash and Adad were invoked in Babylonian extispicy rituals see Black and Green, Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia, 'Utu', p184 . It is possible that the instruction to use the Bit Mummi as the place for the renewal of the gods was received through divination by liver. Interestingly Plato’s account of the liver in the Timaeus describes the organ as reflecting the reason, which is a reflection of the reason of the heavens, exactly as it might have been regarded here (revealing the wishes of the gods Shamash and Adad). See also Black and Green, Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia, 'melam' and 'ni', p 130-1.
[viii] C.B.F. Walker and Michael B. Dick’s The Induction of the Cult Image in Ancient Mesopotamia, SAALT1, 2001.p26, n86. It can be understood in terms of a visible counterpart of the 'me' of the gods.
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