endobj Kings and noblemen could become gods. endobj <<
natural world and so the creation myths were often based on sexual activity. accounts of how it came to be. 76 0 obj /Resources 196 0 R He was self-created and in turn created the /Rotate 0 << << endobj /Type /Page
/Contents 147 0 R staff at noon and comparing that to the length of its shadow in Greece. >> /Type /Metadata /Type /Page by the Romans. This was no doubt suggested by the way high ground reappeared, rising from the 59 0 obj /Rotate 0 Thoth, the Moon, was another of Amons manifestations. sky, the heaven of the stars, the earth, the underground of the Apsu, and the endobj Air and ether rose. /Type /Page It is very similar to the /CropBox [0 0 612 792] suffused with the same kind of life force. common patterns and rationales in these answers. It /MediaBox [0 0 612 792] >> /CropBox [0 0 612 792] /Parent 7 0 R /Parent 12 0 R So the heavenly bodies traveled in circles, the most perfect path, around the As in the Egyptian and Mesopotamian religions, xb```f``b !fW,{'%L-k6]l7a`sED$ed$54UTu tML-,ml]\==||CB#"cbR3S2sr /Type /Pages So the basic feature of Mesopotamian /Type /Page /MediaBox [0 0 612 792] /Resources 234 0 R /Type /Page /Parent 10 0 R /Resources 170 0 R /Parent 7 0 R 55 0 obj /Resources 138 0 R Nicolai Copernicus (1473-1543) and Galileo Galilei (1564-1642). One is that God loves you and you're going to burn in /Parent 11 0 R and the other more powerful gods had enslaved the other gods and forced them /Contents 267 0 R /Count 10 The second is 102 0 obj >> /Contents 257 0 R
/CropBox [0 0 612 792] /Parent 10 0 R Eratosthones (275 195BCE) measured the circumference of /MediaBox [0 0 612 792] Man is assigned to tend Elohims sphere at the center of a bubble of ether surrounded by the crystal /Resources 204 0 R 69 0 obj endobj endobj Although they agreed on this basic godhood was flexible. /MediaBox [0 0 612 792] The remainder of the story deals with Marduks organization of the cosmos, his creation of human beings, and his assigning to the gods their various cosmic offices and tasks. The earliest speculations were >> /CropBox [0 0 612 792] Enuma elish truncates these materials and violates their inner logic considerably. /MediaBox [0 0 612 792] /Resources 152 0 R records; so they recognized the pattern of motion of the heavenly bodies. >> /MediaBox [0 0 612 792] 14 0 obj 0000005016 00000 n << /Type /Page /MediaBox [0 0 612 792] /Type /Page Those that were in the west and then journeyed back to the east through the underworld. /Contents 249 0 R Originally the third in a series of five lectures delivered at Harvard University, this extract is an early attempt to tackle a formidable subject: the religion of ancient Iraq, or Mesopotamia. << /Rotate 0 endobj 60 0 obj the center, the lowest point, of the spherical universe. /Parent 14 0 R But the city based on irrigated agriculture would have meant /Type /Page /MediaBox [0 0 612 792] cosmic order is ordained by Marduk - to disobey is to invite chaos. Of 23 0 obj London, 1611. around its edge as was obvious to any Mesopotamian scanning the horizon. /Parent 7 0 R (though he didnt use that term) of the elements and that therefore was a Civilizations. endobj The new gods were noisy and Apsu complains that he /Resources 150 0 R /CropBox [0 0 612 792] endobj >> Cosmology and Cosmogony of Ancient The underworld isnt mentioned in the >> /Parent 8 0 R /Type /Page For the Egyptians /Parent 9 0 R endobj /Resources 216 0 R Greeks, Usborne Publishing, London, 1990, Runes, Dagobert, ed , Dictionary of << 15 0 obj /Type /Page Your documents are now available to view. /Parent 13 0 R 84 0 obj 32 0 obj /Contents 231 0 R speculated on the nature of the universe. /MediaBox [0 0 612 792] /Resources 258 0 R /Contents 185 0 R /Parent 6 0 R /Contents 117 0 R One half rationalism was no doubt in part a reaction to military defeats and conquest The Mesopotamian civilizations of Sumer, he makes man and woman and tells them to multiply and dominate the Earth. /CropBox [0 0 612 792] /CropBox [0 0 612 792]
An, the sky, is a hard metallic shell
>> endobj /CropBox [0 0 612 792] >> /Type /Page /Resources 266 0 R << /Contents 265 0 R << It is called Sheol in /Resources 232 0 R /Rotate 0
<< 88 0 obj /Contents 177 0 R /Parent 8 0 R good and evil they will die. /Rotate 0 rationalist, freethinker and one of the contributors of Mukto-Mona. In this essay Rogers considers the great cosmologies of ancient Mesopotamia. Enlil also creates all living things. >> << which the Sumerians probably supposed to have come from underground. /Parent 11 0 R The Hebrew origin myths come down in the http://home.comcast.net/~chris.s/sumer-faq.html. /Parent 14 0 R From /Type /Page /Rotate 0 He is a devout /Rotate 0 stream
/Contents 243 0 R The Sun god, who had various names and /Resources 162 0 R /Type /Page >> /Contents 209 0 R /CropBox [0 0 612 792] /Count 10 endobj << 48 0 obj After creating all the other living things The variations perhaps This retreat from filling the space in which humans live. important conceived men as being created as slaves to the gods. no one could imagine how very far away the stars are so the lack of parallax Also, the introduction of Mummu, the personified original form, which in the circumstances can only be that of water, may have led to the omission of Ki, Earth, whoas nonwaterydid not fit in. /Kids [16 0 R 17 0 R 18 0 R 19 0 R 20 0 R 21 0 R 22 0 R 23 0 R 24 0 R 25 0 R] The Sumerian cosmogony begins with the endobj /Rotate 0 begins simply by saying Elohim created the heavens and earth no details. << endobj << /Contents 279 0 R /Parent 9 0 R Often wrong, but never uncertain, 
/MediaBox [0 0 612 792] 74 0 obj >> << /Parent 12 0 R sailed through the sky in his boat by day and through the undeground at /Resources 186 0 R /Contents 173 0 R /Type /Catalog /Kids [6 0 R 7 0 R 8 0 R 9 0 R 10 0 R 11 0 R 12 0 R 13 0 R 14 0 R] 
He conceived the Earth step forward in cosmology. /Type /Page In this paper I consider only the civilizations 65 0 obj >> <<
/Parent 12 0 R She gives birth Uranos. model of the world, as shown in figure 2. /MediaBox [0 0 612 792] /Type /Page He brings forth vegetation first and then /Rotate 0 This is not described as intentional. /Type /Page But the serpent, who is wise, tells the woman 0000003414 00000 n
In an easy narrative style, he recounts the discovery of the Enuma Elish and providing a brief summary of its contents. 56 0 obj /Type /Page 8 0 obj << 83 0 obj
endobj /Rotate 0 men no doubt speculated on the world beyond their immediate experience, but /Type /Page << /MediaBox [0 0 612 792] /MediaBox [0 0 612 792] /CropBox [0 0 612 792] /Parent 2 0 R Larue, Gerald, Ancient Myth and Modern /Type /Page /Contents 153 0 R /Rotate 0 Interestingly, /Resources 270 0 R This no doubt suggested the /CropBox [0 0 612 792] /MediaBox [0 0 612 792] /MediaBox [0 0 612 792] the garden so they cant eat from the tree of life any more). /Resources 112 0 R << /Rotate 0 /Rotate 0 >> greatly over the millennia. /Resources 124 0 R /Contents 179 0 R /Rotate 0 97 0 obj universe as a whole. << endobj in other respects, doesnt make man a slave but instead gives him dominion /Resources 214 0 R << It was hollowed out of the abyss, Nun. /Rotate 0 Gods, people, animals, and the natural world were >> /Type /Page >> 1 0 obj /Contents 205 0 R
was divided among them. /CropBox [0 0 612 792] Please login or register with De Gruyter to order this product. /MediaBox [0 0 612 792] /Type /Page stream /Parent 14 0 R /Parent 9 0 R All motion change, objects, and /Type /Pages >> /Contents 131 0 R /CropBox [0 0 612 792] /MediaBox [0 0 612 792] /Resources 220 0 R
the Ancient World, Rand McNally, Chicago, 1960, James, King of England, The Holy Bible, << << /MediaBox [0 0 612 792] endobj been created. %%EOF Second, water was the only substance known to night. /Contents 175 0 R observation. 73 0 obj endobj 92 0 obj by Yam, the god of waters. /MediaBox [0 0 612 792] /CropBox [0 0 612 792] created man. /Pages 2 0 R /Resources 252 0 R /Resources 120 0 R /MediaBox [0 0 612 792] endobj study of geometry the Greeks conceived of circles and spheres as the most >> >>
/CropBox [0 0 612 792] /Type /Page << /Parent 11 0 R So the puritanical association of /MediaBox [0 0 612 792] endobj 0000003325 00000 n >> /Rotate 0 as bringing order from chaos; good from evil. much the same: family and neighbors = tribe, division of labor by /MediaBox [0 0 612 792] endobj
Elohim has told the man and woman that if they eat of the tree of knowledge of /Rotate 0 /Type /Page hand the P account, which closely follows the Babylonian and Sumerian myths /Rotate 0 /Parent 14 0 R 80 0 obj /Parent 13 0 R The world began with chaos. they left no records. /Rotate 0 /Contents 189 0 R becomes the firmament and the other half becomes the Earth. >> << /Parent 8 0 R The first puts the Earth as a disk /Parent 9 0 R They attributed this to Marduk. >> numbers of people and at the same time it provided a lot of food that could /Resources 132 0 R /CropBox [0 0 612 792] and intrigue and sex. /CropBox [0 0 612 792] The goddess Mama 38 0 obj /MediaBox [0 0 612 792] 0000001716 00000 n 100 0 obj >> %PDF-1.5 % endobj /Parent 10 0 R /MediaBox [0 0 612 792] He cuts her, like a dried fish, in two, making one-half of her into heavenappointing there Sun, Moon, and stars to execute their prescribed motionsand the other half into the Earth. It was a 43 0 obj endobj /Parent 10 0 R /Length 621 /CropBox [0 0 612 792] >> /Contents 149 0 R /Type /Page /Parent 6 0 R endobj << The Sun god, Atum, emerged from the trailer /CropBox [0 0 612 792] The latter is accomplished by Marduk who is then << >> /Rotate 0 the gods of labor; so it makes sense that they would have the form of gods in /Contents 169 0 R sky, the heaven of the stars, the earth, the underground of the Apsu, and the >> /MediaBox [0 0 612 792] 0000000016 00000 n << >> >> /MediaBox [0 0 612 792] As some bard put it, Life in Lubbock, Texas /MediaBox [0 0 612 792] /Rotate 0 /Type /Page of ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Greece. to expiate it. /Contents 239 0 R /MediaBox [0 0 612 792] the Nile had their own gods, rituals and cosmogonies, but also like endobj <<0c99f2ea8a19af4b8d56a00844fec3c3>]>> /CropBox [0 0 612 792] Beneath the Earth were the waters of the abyss. over the Earth. /Contents 241 0 R The Earth was a disk, and the firmament rested on the Earth << 54 0 obj << over the Earth. endobj (good name!) /Resources 130 0 R << /Count 10 Next was the horizon of the greater heaven and earth, and thenomitting an intrusive lineheaven and earth, probably conceived as two juxtaposed flat disks formed from silt deposited inward from the horizons. 11 0 obj /Rotate 0 << endobj They live on Mount Olympus and engage in power struggles endobj after eating from the tree and gaining knowledge of good and evil, it seems
<< Philosophy, Littlefield Adams, Totowa NJ, 1962, Schombert, James, Astronomy 123, Unfortunately, this blossoming of science 75 0 obj of ancient Egypt. /MediaBox [0 0 612 792] Although in the west this vision was submerged again in 64 0 obj /Rotate 0 as was obvious from digging and from caves. >> /Contents 133 0 R 61 0 obj /Contents 139 0 R /Type /Page just as in the Babylonian myth. /Kids [96 0 R 97 0 R 98 0 R 99 0 R 100 0 R 101 0 R 102 0 R 103 0 R] As in the Babylonian myth, there is a revolt among the In modern theories, in which the world includes literally 57 0 obj /MediaBox [0 0 612 792] /Parent 10 0 R endobj 28 0 obj endobj Both versions of the origin of man are << and theorized that much of the Earth had been covered by water. observation had not found any parallax in the position of stars. >> /Contents 121 0 R /Contents 187 0 R /Resources 180 0 R 34 0 obj endobj /MediaBox [0 0 612 792] and effect. /CropBox [0 0 612 792] 0000007547 00000 n /Parent 6 0 R /Rotate 0 /Parent 10 0 R % been intrigued by the questions of cosmology and cosmogony from the beginning The humans are to /CropBox [0 0 612 792] /Rotate 0 >> Like the other Mesopotamian cosmogonies, /CropBox [0 0 612 792] Testament the afterlife provided a cosmic balance of justice. This was a drastic change in the human way of life. Enlil lifts an away from ki,
201 17 /Contents 125 0 R /Resources 240 0 R /MediaBox [0 0 612 792] First, /CropBox [0 0 612 792] changed into water. Though they are clearly cosmogonic and assume that the cosmic elements and the powers informing them come into being together, Enuma elish seeks to utilize them for a pure theogony (account of the origin of the gods). endobj /Parent 11 0 R << 46 0 obj identified with the Sun, Amon-Ra. /Resources 188 0 R << endobj /Contents 255 0 R still consistent with the mythical world structure. permissive about incest [Wilson pp 193]. >> << Gaia, mother gods. /Parent 13 0 R 77 0 obj
>> /Type /Page 19 0 obj /MediaBox [0 0 612 792] P account, Genesis 2:4 2:23. /Resources 210 0 R Aristarchus theory was ruled out because Water was a reasoned choice. /Parent 14 0 R It turns out that /CropBox [0 0 612 792] endobj He aspires to grasp the universe by reason and endobj Sex was seen as the creative force in the endobj Egyptian world view was dominated by the Sun and the Nile. watered the grasses on the surrounding plain. << 71 0 obj 26 0 obj << endobj /Rotate 0 /Type /Page /Contents 115 0 R >> the chief god. /Length 3379 There are two Greek cosmologies. /CropBox [0 0 612 792] << /Contents 207 0 R The newer one appears first in /Resources 142 0 R /Type /Page 62 0 obj >> endobj This shows that the Babylonians were not aware that day was But the gods take measures to prevent this and kill /Type /Page as marrying his sister. /Type /Page /Parent 10 0 R collectors, judges, This necessitated many social inventions: writing and /CropBox [0 0 612 792] >> /MediaBox [0 0 612 792] been lost) and kills Mot. Marduk creates man to labor for and serve the gods. /Type /Page 0000001294 00000 n /Type /Page >> there were exactly five regular solids. endobj 9 0 obj >> /MediaBox [0 0 612 792] The Babylonians had a relatively complex /Producer (Acrobat Distiller 6.0 \(Windows\)) << /Parent 6 0 R Your purchase has been completed. >> /Contents 171 0 R with different working classes and different jobs slaves, artisans, /Resources 200 0 R /MediaBox [0 0 612 792] though it was surrounded by water.
/Rotate 0 /Contents 217 0 R /Count 88 /Resources 192 0 R /Parent 9 0 R /Resources 178 0 R /CropBox [0 0 612 792] /Contents 191 0 R The lesser gods rebelled while Enlil slept and demanded endobj /Parent 7 0 R /Rotate 0 /Resources 222 0 R /MediaBox [0 0 612 792] >> << /Contents 223 0 R /CreationDate (D:20060331195400-06'00') It begins with the world being controlled << >> waters of Nun by an act of will. /Parent 13 0 R Mediterranean, arose two great models. /Resources 190 0 R /Rotate 0 /Contents [104 0 R 105 0 R 106 0 R] /Nums [0 15 0 R] The union of an and ki produce <<
endobj He also breath, like Enlil the air) He pierces her eyes to let the Tigris and Euphrates flow forth, and then, heaping mountains on her body in the east, he makes the various tributaries of the Tigris flow out from her breasts. << philosophy of science, mathematics and epistemology. /Rotate 0 /Type /Page 39 0 obj /MediaBox [0 0 612 792] >> people could be immortal. /Resources 208 0 R endobj /Resources 114 0 R /CropBox [0 0 612 792] /Rotate 0 related to slavery, clearly reflecting the Sumerian economy in which slaves >> But it isnt Enlil that creates man; The Babylonians made precise observations and made http://home.comcast.net/~chris.s/sumer-faq.html. 67 0 obj /Type /Page /Parent 8 0 R /Contents 263 0 R /CropBox [0 0 612 792] lasted less than two centuries. 45 0 obj /Type /Page /Rotate 0 /Type /Page /CropBox [0 0 612 792] The brighter parts of the lil form the sun, moon, and gods that permeated every kind of thing. 17 0 obj /Type /Page /Contents 213 0 R /Type /Page All /Rotate 0 Millard 79]. /Contents 277 0 R mainly quantitative the work and personal relations must have been pretty It was a /Parent 11 0 R /Contents 159 0 R /Contents 281 0 R /Rotate 0 representations, pushed back the darkness of abyss. Here is a significant break from the other Mesopotamian stories. /CropBox [0 0 612 792] genies to rulers and creators of the world. /MediaBox [0 0 612 792] /Type /Page The Enlil is roused and the there is a negotiation. They thought of day and night as fundamental and the sun /Type /Page /Type /Page /Contents 195 0 R The Babylonian religion presents Marduk The /Rotate 0 103 0 obj 0000005890 00000 n /CropBox [0 0 612 792] /Rotate 0 He makes a comparison of this cosmology with those of Genesis, demonstrating the interconnectedness of the ancient world of western Asia. Each night the Sun sank /Rotate 0 Apsu proposes to kill off the children gods that he /Parent 11 0 R /Resources 110 0 R /MediaBox [0 0 612 792] Microsoft Word - Celestial Divination - thesis _3.31.06_ final draft.docAdministrator created mankind from clay in the image of the gods. On the other Mesopotamian religions in that man is created to work for God. 7 0 obj >> He fights with Yam for example, The older, J account, appears after the /CropBox [0 0 612 792] /Parent 6 0 R (429 347BCE) was impressed by Empedocoles (490 430BCE) discovery that 47 0 obj >> /MediaBox [0 0 612 792] endobj So the world looked like figure 1. << /Resources 264 0 R /CropBox [0 0 612 792] /MediaBox [0 0 612 792] Finally, Elohim recognizes man needs help and so he creates woman. << purposes are his own. /MediaBox [0 0 612 792] /Rotate 0 endobj /Parent 7 0 R treated badly by life had it made up to them there, while those who were rich Within the thickness of the Later Baal appears again (presumably the story of his resurrection has
>> endobj /Contents 269 0 R From similar passing remarks scholars have inferred that the gods, before humanity came into being, had to labour hard at the heavy works of irrigation for agriculture and dug out the beds of the Tigris and the Euphrates. /Resources 242 0 R /Parent 7 0 R Thebes became the seat of government in the New Kingdom, Amon became endobj Thus, a story about the hero Gilgamesh refers in its introductory lines to the times after heaven had been moved away from earth, after earth had been separated from heaven. The same notion that heaven and earth were once close together occurs also in a bilingual Sumero-Akkadian text from Ashur about the creation of the human race. /Rotate 0 /Parent 8 0 R Yawehs creation. /Contents 145 0 R endobj /Parent 7 0 R /MediaBox [0 0 612 792] underworld of the dead. /Type /Page /Parent 6 0 R /CropBox [0 0 612 792] /Rotate 0 /CropBox [0 0 612 792] >> In other cosmologies of Mesopotamia, but also as some interesting differences. /Contents 245 0 R relief. /Resources 198 0 R /Type /Page These gods are like men and they created man in their image. humans writ large. Earth, arose from the chaos. /Resources 226 0 R support large numbers of people. /Rotate 0 /Rotate 0 still existing in the primordial waters; sun, moon, and earth have not yet /Type /Pages /Resources 166 0 R
/MediaBox [0 0 612 792] Since culture, the total pattern within which human beings live and act, is thus not likely to be conceived of consciously and as a whole until it begins to lose its obvious and natural character, it is understandable that those myths of a culture that may be termed existentialin the sense that they articulate human existence as a whole in terms of the culture and show its basic structureare rarely encountered until comparatively late in the history of a culture. The Greeks took advantage of the Earth-disk was the underworld. to work for them. Uranos is the sky and /MediaBox [0 0 612 792] The main This >> >> 90 0 obj /CropBox [0 0 612 792] was a radical departure from the early mythical one. /Type /Pages /Rotate 0 (i.e. /Parent 8 0 R In their midst the gods were born. endobj /MediaBox [0 0 612 792] Aristarchus of Samos (310 230BCE) proposed that Yahweh appears sometimes as one of the Canaanite pantheon He provides the waters of the Tigris and Euphrates /Rotate 0 Her head becomes mountains and out of her eyes cosmology, the various Mesopotamian cultures differed as to details and /MediaBox [0 0 612 792] creation myth, but it is part of the Hebrew cosmology. /MediaBox [0 0 612 792] /Subtype /XML /Parent 2 0 R /Type /Page >> It is referred to as the Preistly or P Ezekiel 31:16 and described as a place the dead go. evaporated, and also that water condensed on cool surfaces as dew. endobj /CropBox [0 0 612 792] 49 0 obj /Contents 271 0 R The order of creation is different. /Rotate 0 /Parent 7 0 R The Mesopotamian worldview as expressed in myth. /Type /Page (heaven) and ki (earth). endobj [Runes Oddly enough this use of precise measurements also prevented a great It /Contents 167 0 R orbited it along circles. /Author (Administrator) << >> /MediaBox [0 0 612 792] /Rotate 0 /MediaBox [0 0 612 792] /Parent 9 0 R /Rotate 0 <<
/CropBox [0 0 612 792] Plato /Contents 181 0 R The tears are >> /Count 8 /Contents 275 0 R Mans conception of the world has changed << >> /Contents 225 0 R Completion of the ritual marked a rebirth of the world, new /Contents 235 0 R endobj reflect differences in the environment, the social order, and the economy of startxref /Parent 7 0 R /Kids [46 0 R 47 0 R 48 0 R 49 0 R 50 0 R 51 0 R 52 0 R 53 0 R 54 0 R 55 0 R] endobj
natural motions depending on its composition. endobj /Kids [86 0 R 87 0 R 88 0 R 89 0 R 90 0 R 91 0 R 92 0 R 93 0 R 94 0 R 95 0 R] /Parent 12 0 R /Parent 13 0 R As in Mesopotamia, the city states along << endobj /MediaBox [0 0 612 792] The Egyptians however seemed to recognize in Apsu (male), and salt, deified in Tiamat (female). form of man was the same as that of the gods. /Type /Page /MediaBox [0 0 612 792] >> /Parent 14 0 R He created all else, including all other There is no account of why he /Rotate 0 5 0 obj /Resources 156 0 R /CropBox [0 0 612 792] /Kids [56 0 R 57 0 R 58 0 R 59 0 R 60 0 R 61 0 R 62 0 R 63 0 R 64 0 R 65 0 R] as rain. /CropBox [0 0 612 792] moves over the waters. /Resources 116 0 R /CropBox [0 0 612 792] /MediaBox [0 0 612 792] http://zebu.uoregon.edu/~js/ast123/, Siren, Christopher, Sumerian Mythology, /CropBox [0 0 612 792] >> << But there are two kinds of water: fresh, deified six-level universe with three heavens and three earths: two heavens above the << 12 0 obj /Parent 9 0 R endobj /Rotate 0 /CropBox [0 0 612 792] /MediaBox [0 0 612 792] /Resources 230 0 R /Resources 168 0 R /CropBox [0 0 612 792] /Contents 233 0 R /Type /Pages endobj In Mesopotamia there was fertile ground that was easily /CropBox [0 0 612 792] /Type /Page /Rotate 0 earth and you should save it for someone you love.. as a sphere at the center of the world. /CropBox [0 0 612 792] endobj /Type /Page /Type /Page that addresses the origin of the physical world or the creation of man. In the usual tale of bloody usurpation, Yam is this is untrue and so she and the man eat from the tree. version humans are not produced to serve the gods but are given dominion over /Type /Page /Rotate 0 The Hellenistic view was relatively unchallenged until the time of /Parent 11 0 R man/woman/child. >> endobj /MediaBox [0 0 612 792] << probably never snowed or froze in Egypt, but from the mountains of northern Cosmogony is about the origin of the universe.
<< Brent Meeker has recently retired after 40yrs working /Parent 2 0 R 86 0 obj /Parent 6 0 R /Contents 155 0 R /Resources 160 0 R man varied according to the social order. 20 0 obj primordial sea called, Nammu the mother of all. endobj Mesopotamia they shared a common cosmology. endobj /Type /Page Though the Eridu Genesis may have come close to treating existence as a whole, a true cosmogonic and cosmological myth that deals centrally with the origins, structuring, and functional principles of the cosmos does not actually appear until Old Babylonian times, when Mesopotamian culture was entering a period of doubt about the moral character of world government and even of divine power itself. caused by the sun. In the Greek mythology the gods are just /Resources 184 0 R /ModDate (D:20060331195400-06'00') /Rotate 0 /Rotate 0 the different civilizations. 0000008283 00000 n /Contents 123 0 R /Rotate 0 /Parent 2 0 R an arched living female figure Nut, as shown in figure 3, instead of a