John Croft:
>There is a tripartite division of Sumerian Gods and Goddesses.
Duh! Can anyone say "Old European mythology"?
>The Crone, Mother and Maiden aspect was first worked out for >Erishkigal,
>Ninhursag (Ki), Inanna (which also appears as a tripartite >division of
>underword, earth and heavens).
We can either go with foolish John and say that Sumerians and Europeans both
_independantly_ happened to develop a very unique and characteristic
triaspectual Goddess religion or...
...succumb to the obvious: The Sumerians were affected by a bicultural
mythology created three thousand years previous in the technologically and
economically red-hot Balkans of that period.
By the way, there was something I left out that is very important to FULLY
understanding how the Semitoid and European religions ended up reconciling
their severe differences.
I had said that the Semitoids, and the later Semitish, viewed red as the
color of blood, fire and the underworld (Need I remind the ancient concept
of Sheol which contradicts John's claims that this fire actually comes from
heaven originally). White was viewed as that of order and the sky, a concept
paralleling Steppe beliefs.
In European mythology, there is an opposite relation. Red equals life and
creation, the color of blood. White is the color of bone, the symbol of
death and destruction.
What's more, the sex of the deities in both cultures are opposite, not to
mention the contrast between monotheism and polytheism. How did they get
along religiously speaking?
The way it was resolved was to "marry off" two of the aspects of the Goddess
(Creatrix and Destructrix) to the male Semitoid gods of the two realms, as
has already been alluded to by Marija herself. Therefore, red was still seen
as a symbol of fire, destruction, war and the now _watery_ underworld but
the European "red" and _creative_ aspect of the Goddess (aka. Inanna, Venus,
etc) was married to the Semitoid god of the Underworld, sometimes known by
his epitaph as "Fire-born" associated early on with the red planet Mars
(aka. Ares, Baal, etc) due to simple colour association. By contrast, the
old "white" hag, the Destructrix, married the "white" and _creative_ Sky
(aka Anu/Enlil, Jupiter, Zeus).
Ever wonder why Hera is jealous and exacts "destructive" punishment to
anyone that oppose her whims while Zeus goes on wild "(pro)creative" sex
sprees? Ever wonder why Venus is connected with water, the war god and the
Underworld even though she's obviously a goddess related with creation?
Well, you need not worry any longer - gLeNny has solved the entire puzzle
for you.
John:
>The Gods show a primary tripartite
>division between Anu (Sky), Enki (Earth) and Enlil (Air).
But what John doesn't grasp is that SumeroAkkadian myth was already
developed out of the SemitoEuropoid religions. Sumerians had a bi-partitive
system too, between earth and sky from what I can tell.
>In the Sumerian case the divisions are incredibly ancient, and seem
>to be a division of a previous unitary Goddess.
Gee, you don't say, John... Tell me more :P
John continues his outright dillusion:
>If this is so, by comparison, Enlil could have been the
>consort of a still more ancient Goddess Lil (faint memories of this
>Goddess are found in the Goddess Lilitu = the Hebrew Lilith). She
>was a fearsom divinity indeed. Inanna called Gilgamesh to drive the
>demoness Lilitu from the Hulupu tree where she had made her home. [...]
>The source of this tripartite division is difficult to discern. It
>may not even be Sumerian and may in fact be proto-Ephratean in
>origin. [...] Certainly there is evidence of a Maiden-Mother-Crone tripple
>goddess underlying Hurrian beliefs, and it may also be found at Catal
>Huyuk too. But this is only speculating on the thinnest of evidence
>(I'll leave that up to Glen).
John amazes me. Now, doesn't this Lilith sound alot like the "old hag"
married to a sky god to the rest of you fine thinking people? What solidly
proves it, and what John desceptively leaves out, is the fact that this same
myth is laced with European animal symbolisms of the Goddess
(serpent=Destructrix and bird=Creatrix). I could also swear that Inanna is
in this myth too. She is in reality just a mirror image of the old hag,
Lilith, pictured as a beautiful young maiden of creation. These are all
European symbolisms.
When will John finally get it? But John's real intent is not so much to find
truth but just to play a fun little game of stubbornness, proposing
everything contrary to what I say. That is his "tanist" nature, you might
say. :)
Now he wants to make up a proto-Euphratean origin, and for what further gain
above the million-and-one solid connections I've already made??... Arghh!
- gLeN
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