John (Julianus) wrote:
> The parallels with the Egyptian deities Shu, Nut and Geb are
striking
> here. I am not well acquainted with Sumerian mythology proper so
this
> is new to me.
There is also a striking documentary evidence of culture contact
between lower Mesopotamia and Egypt in the late Pre-Dynastic perod,
with a number of mythic elements drom Mesopotamia entering the
Egyptian corpus. I can give references if you are interested.
John continued
> The problem I have with this is that, if IE tripartition was a
product
> of Sumerian contacts, should we not expect to see some explicit
social
> tripartition in Sumeria as well? Is there such evidence? Also, if
> Sumeria was able to influence the PIE culture that deeply I'd
expect a
> lot more linguistic and cultural signs with accompanying material
> artifacts, not the least of which would be the formation of cities.
In
> the absence thereof I would be inclined to keep tripartition as an
> inherent PIE system.
There is a tripartite division of Sumerian Gods and Goddesses. 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). The Gods show a primary tripartite
division between Anu (Sky), Enki (Earth) and Enlil (Air).
In the Sumerian case the divisions are incredibly ancient, and seem
to be a division of a previous unitary Goddess. The situation of the
Gods is more difficult. Enki seems to have been originally the
supernumary consort to the Ki, that grew with importance of his city
of Eridu. 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. In
any case, the importance of Enlil only came to be head of the
Sumerian pantheon, probably at the time of the 1st Dynasty of Kish,
during which time the Nippur league was last invoked. The Nippur
league was a very early union of all the Sumerian city states, whose
rulers would meet at Enlil's temple at Nippur in times of emergency.
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).
Regards
John