João Simões Lopes Filho <wrote:
> An amazing coincidence that is presente in SUmerian mythology is the
> similarity with Polynesian mythology. In Polynesia the Sky-Father
(Rangi)
> and the Earth-Mother (Papa) was separated by Tane.
I would highly recommend Stephen Oppenheimer's recent book "Eden in
the East: The Drowned Continent of Southeast Asia". He shows a number
of Austronesan-Sumerian links including the following.
Water dragons
Creation of light before the sun
Creative word
Separation of Heaven and Earth by the Wind
Parricide as an act of creation
Use of Body parts to build the World
Creative wind
The continued appearance of sevens
Creator incest with his sister
Cosmic egg
A model in clay being made of first human
Model destoyed by devil or snake
Animated by blood or red earth
Breath of life given by creator
Sneeze as human comes to life
An offer and a loss of immortality
The presence of a tree of life
A divine meal or food offering immortality
Immortality achieved by the casting of skin
Jealous brother
Fratricide
The tree of death for the dying brother, the dying/resurrecting god.
These elements are found as far apart as Europe, the Middle East,
Sumeria, Bali, Sulawesi, the Moluccas, Papua New Guinea, Micronesia,
Polynesia, Vietnam, China and Tibet. In many stories muliple
elements are found, in which the possibility of a chance or random
association is less than 1:1000.
Whilst Oppenheimer is of the belief that these elements came drom the
drowning of Sundaland and the spread of a maritime, agrarian culture
from drowning Sundaland into Asia, around the Indian Basin and out
into the Pacific, and some people may jump up and down at his
conclusions, there does seem to a basis of what he is saying. Carl
Sauer on the basis of agricultural crops proposed farming began here
and not in the Middle East in the 1950s and there is now clear
evidence of a breakthrough into agriculture in the Melanesian region
going back to 25,000 years ago.
Regards
John