Kumarbi
In Hurrian mythology, Kumarbi is the chief god. Kumarbi was also known among the Akkadians and the Hittites from whom any written records on clay tablets have survived and been translated.
Attributes
Planet: Jupiter
Sphere of Influence: Creation
Parentage and Family
Grandparent
Alalu – Grandfather
Parent
Anu – His father and representing the sky.
Children
Teshub – A storm god
Tigris and Tashmishu are also listed as sons of Kumarbi.
Kumarbi Cycle
Everything we know about Kumarbi comes from surviving records of Hittite texts and mythologies. Collectively, these texts are known as the Kumarbi Cycle that include: The Kingship in Heaven (also known as the Song of Kumarbi or Hittite Theogony), the Song of Ullikummi, the Kingship of the God Kal, the Myth of the dragon Hedammu and the Song of Silver.
The Kingship In Heaven
The Song of Kumarbi or Kingship in Heaven is the title given to a Hittite version of the Hurrian Kumarbi myth, dating to the 14th or 13th century B.C.E. It is preserved on three tablets, but only a small fraction of the text is legible and able to be translated.
This tale or song begins with how Alalu, the King of Heaven ruled for seven years and then is overthrown by Anu, who in turn rules for seven years before being overthrown by Kumarbi. This time, Kumarbi when he attacks his father Anu, Kumarbi bites off his genitals and when he spits it out, there were three new gods.
Okay then…
Anu tells Kumarbi that he is now pregnant with Teshub, Tigris and Tašmišu. When he heard this, Kumarbi spit out the semen to the ground and it became impregnated with two children. Kumarbi is then cut open, presumably by C-Section to deliver Teshub. Together, both Anu and Teshub then dispose of Kumarbi.
Knowing that history repeats itself and how Kumarbi overthrew his father Anu, just has he had overthrown his father Alalu; Kumarbi seeks out the goddess of the Sea (no name given) to see what to do to prevent his own demise.
The Sea tells Kumarbi to copulate with a rather large boulder, which then becomes pregnant and gives birth to a stone giant by the name of Ullikummi.
Once Ullikummi is born, he is taken to the Underworld and placed upon the shoulders of Ubelluris, the giant that holds up the earth. There, Ullikummi rises up like a pillar out of the sea. He is huge, some 9,000 leagues tall and 9,000 leagues in circumference.
Just huge. Worse, Ullikummi keeps on growing in size.
This worries the other gods who look to the trickster god Ea for advice on what to do. Ea says that Teshub should take the copper knife that had been used to split the heaven and earth at the beginning of time. Using the copper knife, Teshub sunders Ullukummi from Ubelluris, thus defeating him.
With Kumarbi defeated, Teshub then takes his places as the new King of Heaven.
So, what happens next!?!
That we don’t know as the last tablet that the story is written on is broken off. We can maybe guess by looking at similar myths like the Babylonians and the Greeks for how things might have progressed.
Alternative Version:
In this version of the Kingship in Heaven story, three gods, Alalu, Anu and Kumarbi rule the heavens in a nine-year reign before conceding the throne to the next deity. When it’s Kumarbi’s reign, his son, Teshub, the Weather God conspires to overthrow his father.
Another variation is that when the gods are trying to figure out what to do about Ullikummi, Ea goes to consult Enlil who goes to take a look at what’s going on. On seeing Ullukummi growing every large on top of Ubelluris, Enlil goes to the God’s Workshop where he gets a huge stonemason’s saw and comes back to cut off the giant’s feet.
Hesiod’s Theogony – The Greek Connections
Scholars have noted a similarity between the Hurro-Hittite Song of Kumarbi and Hesiod’s Theogony, a Babylonian Creation Epic. Especially between the characters of Uranus, Cronus and Zeus from the Greek mythos with those of the Hurrian creation myth with Alalu, Anu and Kumarbi.
Particularly with the progression of successors. Both the deities of Anu and Uranus are noted as having names that mean “Sky.” Likewise, Kumbari was a Grain-Deity and Cronus likely was one as well. It brings the line of succession to Teshub (or Teššub) and Zeus who are both Storm-Deities.
Another similarity is seen in how both Anu and Ouranos both have their genitals cut or bitten off. Either way hurts immensely… This is seen as removing themselves from heaven and the source from where other divinities originate.
Anu also warns Kumarbi that there will be consequences for what he has done. Again, a similar motif is seen in the Greek story where Ouranos tells the Titans that they too will pay a toll for castrating him.
Ow…
Both Kumarbi and Cronos have the experience of having multiple deities within their stomachs for a period. Yes, both the Hittite and the Greek versions have alternative reasons for how and why that comes to be. I don’t know which is worse, swallowing your own children or biting off someone else’s genitals. Both are rather gruesome and I’d go with Kronos, even if it’s due to my being more familiar with his story.
Once more, both Kumarbi and Cronos both eat a stone in place of a child. In Kumarbi’s case, the stone is venerated as a cult object. The stone that Cronos regurgitated is known as the Omphalos and where it sat in the Delphi Oracle was to mark the center of the earth.
Their progeny, Teššub and Zeus, both storm deities, go to war with their father.
It begins to vary here, as the Hittite text has where the Earth giving birth to the Underworld Apsu two children who go on to threaten Teššub. What we don’t know, is how this story ends as the tablet its written on has broken. Whereas with the Greek story, we know that the Earth gives birth with Tartarus to Typhon and that Zeus does eventually defeat them.
It isn’t just the Hurrian-Hittite epic for the Kingship of Heaven, but other ancient epics such as the Babylonian Enuma Elish, the Hindi Vedic and even Norse mythology with cosmological beginnings for everything.
Enlil – Sumerian
Kumarbi has been equated with the Mesopotamian Enlil, god of wind, earth, air and storms.
El – Ugaritian
Similarly, Kumarbi is also identified with El, the major or chief deity of the Ugarites. Incidentally, the name El can also be a title meaning “Lord,” “god” or “deity.”
Jupiter – Roman
The major deity of the Roman pantheon who is a Sky god. He is quickly seen as the Roman counterpart to the Grecian Zeus. He is easily compared to Kumbari as the Romans pulled a number of their myths directly from the Greeks.
Zeus – Greek
The All-Father of the Greek Olympian pantheon. As noted with Hesiod’s Theogony, there have been a number of similarities noted between Zeus and Kumarbi, not just in aspects, but their origin stories for rulership.
Homonoia
Alternate Spelling: Ὁμόνοια
Simply put, in Greek myth and religion, Homonoia is a minor goddess of concord, unanimity and like-mindedness.
As a concept, Homonoia is the term used by the Ancient Greeks to create unity in their politics to govern themselves.
Parentage And Family
Parents
Father – Soter, a savior daimon.
Mother – Praxidike, the goddess of judicial punishment and vengeance.
Alternatively, the mythical king Ogygos and a goddess by the name of Thebes are sometimes placed as Homonoia’s parents.
Siblings
Arete – Goddess of Personifying Virtue
Ktesios – A minor God of the Household.
Praxidikai
Both Arete and Homonoia together are referred to as Praxidikai after their mother.
Basically, with their mother, they formed a trio of goddess or daimones responsible for extracting justice, which actually sounds a lot like the Erinyes, but not quite. The Erinyes went for retribution and vengeance whereas the Praxidikai, go for the straight up justice that’s coming and being meted out.
Sometimes, the Praxidikai will be mentioned as the divine daughters of Ogygos, a primeval king and Titan who rules the land of Boeotia where the city of Thebes would later be founded. Ogygos would be married to a goddess known as Thebes.
You Called Her A Daimon!
Yes, as in the Greek term and meaning for the word spirit. It is Christianity that takes and twists the word and meaning to Demon, for an evil spirit or being.
Among the ancient Greeks, the word daimon means spirit or “replete with knowledge.” They recognized both good (eudemons) and bad (cacodemons). The word or term daimon also means “divine power,” “fate,” or “god.” And in Greek mythology, daimons could also include deified heroes. This seems to be the case for Homonoia if she was seen more as a concept personified and not really a goddess in her own right.
Daimons functioned as messengers or intermediary spirits between men and gods. The good daimons were viewed as guardian spirits who gave guidance and protection to those they watched over. The bad daimons, naturally, weren’t so nice and could mislead people, getting them into trouble.
Grecian Politics
Homonoia’s role for unity and concord were used by the Greeks with how they shaped the politics of Classical Greece. It really came into wide usage under Alexander the Great’s rule when he adopted these principles for ruling his Empire.
For the Greeks, the principles of Homonoia meant no factional or infighting amongst themselves. Outside cultures were viewed as barbarians or savages.
Aristotle had told his young student Alexander the Great to treat Greeks as friends and non-Greeks as animals.
The scholar Isocrates is the first one to try taking this concept beyond the Greek people. While Isocrates didn’t believe that savages could ever be equal with Greeks, he did believe that such savages could be made to adopt Greek ideals and thus be on par with them.
I.e. You are not ever going to be Greek, but you can learn how to think like a Greek and adopt Greek culture and ideals.
Isocrates believed that being Grecian was a matter of nurture versus nature. During his time in the court of Philip II of Macedon, Isocrates found a receptive audience to teach his ideas and concepts to.
However, being Macedonian, Philip II viewed Isocrates’ ideas as being something reserved only for the Greeks, no matter how much he liked the ideas. Philip II did use the ideas and concepts for creating the Corinthian League, an alliance that proved useful to unite the Greek States against the Persian Empire.
After Philip II was assassinated, his son, Alexander the Great would become the next King of Macedonia and utilize the concepts of Homonoia. While yeah, Aristotle was a young Alexander’s tutor and told him to treat non-Greeks as animals, Alexander would ignore these teachings and instead, for the most part, treat people of other cultures as people.
By adopting Isocrates’ expanded ideals and concepts of Homonoia, Alexander the Great was able to successfully rule his Empire, that at the time, covered most of the known world (as the Greeks knew it).
The ideas of Homonoia allowed Alexander to rule over the Greeks, Egyptians, and Persians. He would adopt various customs and cultures from those conquered such as the Persian dress and courtly etiquette like proskynesis which is the kissing of the hand or prostrating oneself on the ground before superiors. Alexander the Great would also have his Grecian officers take Persian wives to further unite differing cultures.
Ultimately, Alexander wanted to create a new Greco-Oriental Empire instead of one where the ruling class would be the conquerors over the subjugated. After Alexander’s death, many of his reforms continued on.
Kissing the hand and prostrating on the ground? Not just the medieval era.
Roman Politics
Now, for those familiar with the Romans, they were very good with adopting many aspects of Grecian culture, not just their mythologies and deities. Romans also used the concepts of Homonoia. Though this is recognized more as Pax Romana to unite the various regions and territories for peace and stability.
The Social Contract
The Romans and Greeks went for trying to make their system of Homonia or Pax Romana a caste system or hierarchy to it where everyone knew their place. Break that social contract and down comes Homonia in her role as a Praxidikai to mete out justice.
If we are to translate the concept of Homonoia to modern times, this would be the Social Contract. The social agreements we have with each other in society and civilization. Humans are natural pack or herd animals; we are prone to gathering in groups and working together. With these groups, come social norms and rules, whether spoken or unspoken of how we interact with and treat each other. Rules and norms that are generally agreed upon by the whole with taking care of everyone. The larger a group gets, the hard it can be to get the whole in agreement and there end up being lots of sub groups, further making it harder for everyone to connect and realize that at the end of the day, if we want a functioning society, we need to work together.
With the modern theory of Social Contract, as introduced by the likes of Hugo Grotius, Thomas Hobbes, Samuel Pufendorf and John Locke, it proposes that everyone is equal and has fundamental freedoms. Keeping it to an extreme nutshell, one person’s freedom ends where another’s begins. No person has a right to force or exercise power over others unless it is agreed upon to keep government functioning and working for people. Yes, this is noted as a liberal political theory for determining moral and political rules of behavior.
Harmonia – Greek Goddess
Harmonia is a more familiar goddess of harmony, concord, notably marital harmony. As the concept ideas of harmony have changed for what both Harmonia and Homonoia mean, the two have become nearly identical in purpose.
Furthering this connection, Homonoia’s father is sometimes given to be Ogygos, a mythical King of Boeotia and married to a goddess by the name of Thebes who would have the city that Cadmus founded, named for her.
Concordia – Roman Goddess
The Roman goddess of Harmony and Unity who is often equated with Harmonia and Homonoia.
Polar Twins
Just like Harmonia, Homonoia’s polar opposite is Eris; who is often cited as the goddess of chaos with her Roman counterpart being Discordia.
Harmonia
Pronunciation: Har-mo-nia
Alternate Spelling: Ἁρμονια
Etymology: Harmony
Harmonia is best known in Greek mythology as the wife to the culture hero Cadmus. She is a minor goddess herself of harmony and the daughter of Ares and Aphrodite.
Surprisingly, there is one other figure in mythology, a nymph by the same name who is to have had an affair with Ares.
Parentage and Family
Parents
Father – Ares, the Greek god of War
Mother – Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of Love
Alternatively, if we are using the Samothracian connection, Harmonia’s parents are Zeus and Electra.
Siblings
Iasion – Harmonia’s brother through the Samothracian connection, he is the founder of the mystical rites native to this island.
Anteros – A brother through Ares and Aphrodite.
Deimos – A brother through Ares and Aphrodite.
Eros – A brother through Ares and Aphrodite.
Hedylogos – A half-brother.
Hermaphroditus – A half-brother.
Himeros – A brother through Ares and Aphrodite.
Phobos – A brother through Ares and Aphrodite.
Pothos – A half-brother
This is the list as far as siblings whose parentage are Aphrodite and Ares go or whom Harmonia is a half-sister to with her mother.
The list gets much longer if I try to include all those whom Ares is to have fathered and with whom Harmonia would be a half-sister to.
Sister-In-Law
Psyche – Through her marriage with Eros.
Consort
Cadmus – The culture hero who founded the city of Thebes.
Children
Agave – Daughter, with her sisters Autonoe and Ino, she unknowingly killed her son Pentheus. She marries first the Spartoi Echion and then later King Lycotherses of Illyria whom she also murders in order to hand over the kingdom to her father.
Autonoe – Daughter, her son, Actaeon was killed by his hounds.
Illyrius – Youngest son and child born, from whom the Illyrians are descended.
Ino – Daughter, was driven mad by Hera leapt to her death to the sea with her only surviving son. Instead of dying, Ino becomes a sea goddess.
Polydorus – Eldest son, inherits the throne in Thebes, carrying on the family dynasty.
Semele – Daughter, she is killed later by Hera after a liaison with Zeus. In some stories, she is the mother of Dionysus. The controversy will say that Semele was raped from an unknown assailant and the blame is placed on Zeus in an effort to try keeping some dignity
Cults & Worship
As a minor goddess, Harmonia is the local goddess of Thebes. In Pausanias’ Description of Greece, he notes that there are the ruins of the bridal chamber that belonged to Harmonia. Also, there are three wooden statues of Aphrodite that are reputed to be so old that they may have been votive offerings to Harmonia. Pausanias goes on to explain that these statues may have once been the figureheads for the ships that Cadmus sailed in his time of wandering when searching for his sister Europa.
These three statues also had names as follows:
Ourania – Urania or Heavenly, a name that Harmonia is to have given Aphrodite to represent a pure love free of lust.
Pandemos – Common or sexual intercourse.
Apostrophia – For humans to rejects unlawful passions and sinful acts.
Wedding Bells – The First Marriage
Harmonia typically enters Greek myths within the greater whole of Cadmus’ story where she is given away in marriage to the erstwhile hero.
Now, there are two versions of Harmonia and Cadmus’ marriage. The first happens as the final chapter of Cadmus’ Founding of Thebes.
Originally, Cadmus, along with his brothers have been sent out by their father, King Agenor of Tyre to find and bring home their sister Europa who has been seduced by Zeus and carried away to the island of Crete.
As Cadmus and none of his brothers knew where to search, each eventually gave up their searches and would go on to settle in other places. After Cadmus’ mother Telephassa died of grief, he consults with the Oracle of Delphi. The oracle tells him to follow a cow and that wherever this bovine settles down at, Cadmus is to build a town.
That sounds easy enough and the cow eventually lays down of exhaustion. With plans to make an offering to Athena, Cadmus sends his companions Deileon and Seriphus to get some water from the Ismenian spring. While the two were there, the guardian of the spring, a water-dragon belonging to Ares rose up and slew both Deileon and Seriphus.
There’s an entire episode of Cadmus coming to slay the dragon to avenge his friends, the birth of the Spartoi who will become some of the founding members of Thebes and of course, Ares the god whom the dragon belonged too not being very happy.
As punishment, Cadmus is to serve Ares for an everlasting year, meaning eight years. At the end of this period, to signify peace and an end to the grievances, Ares gives his daughter Harmonia to the repentant hero in marriage.
Wedding Bells – The Samothracian Connection
The island of Samothrace is one of the places that Cadmus, his mother, and nephew are said to have stopped at in their search for a missing Europa.
Samothrace is one of two locations where Cadmus and Harmonia are wed when Zeus and Electra are placed as Harmonia’s parents. The connection seems to stick a little better when Harmonia is given a brother Iasion who is the founder of the mystical rites native to this island.
A quick note, in Nonnus’ Dionysiaca, when Aphrodite and Ares had their affair that resulted in the birth of Harmonia, this source has Aphrodite giving up the baby to Electra to be raised.
I mentioned when writing about Cadmus how he’s a descendant of Poseidon and that his story very likely dates back to the Mycenaean Greek era. Zeus’ insertion to the story of Cadmus and Harmonia comes about as a potential theological take over to push Zeus to prominence as the head of the Greek pantheon, thus replacing Poseidon. Plus, there is a lot of equating local gods (whose names often survive as epitaphs) with the main Grecian deities.
Marriage Symbolism
I think it safe to say that the marriage of Cadmus with Harmonia is very symbolic too. For the longest time, marriages were how alliances between different houses and kingdoms were formed.
Then the idea that a hero or king weds the goddess of the land to symbolize the prosperity of the land. This would fit with mistaking Cadmus’ name with a local Samothracian fertility god, Kadmilus.
Plus, changes of when Zeus becomes the head of the Greek pantheon, replacing Poseidon of whom Cadmus is descendant from. There may have been an idea to show an easier transition of power. Or not.
The ideas and seeds are there that this is may be what the ancient Greeks revising all these local myths into one were thinking of.
Bridal Gifts With A Curse
This marriage is a huge deal, it is the first one to be conducted on earth and all the gods, any god who is anyone is coming. This is a thing not to be missed. All of these guests bring gifts, the muses sing, Athena brings dress and Hephaestus brings a necklace.
Some of Harmonia’s bridal gifts were a peplos (a type of dress) gifted by Athena and a necklace made by Hephaestus. This necklace will become known as the Necklace of Harmonia and it would bring misfortune to anyone who had possession of it. Sure, the necklace will make any woman who wears it eternally young and beautiful.
Necklace of Harmonia – It is generally described as being made of gold with two snakes intertwining and jewels decorating it.
Following a timeline for after Cadmus’ eight years of servitude to Ares and then marrying Harmonia with both Ares and Aphrodite as her parents seems far more likely the correct lineage. It would explain too so much better why Hephaestus would gift Harmonia a cursed necklace
Knowing the backstory between Hephaestus, Aphrodite and Ares, the cursed necklace that is given to Harmonia makes more sense. Hephaestus was angry at Aphrodite for her affair with Ares and yes, he makes the necklace a means to punish Aphrodite’s infidelity by placing a curse on the child that resulted from hers and Ares’ affair.
Thus, all the misfortunes that Cadmus and Harmonia suffer are from the necklace, not slaying the dragon. After all, Cadmus had already paid penance to Ares and then is rewarded his daughter for marriage. It’s even in Harmonia’s name, harmony, there was to be an end to the strife and conflicts.
Gift-Giver Variations – Slight variations of who Harmonia received the necklace from are the gods in general, her mother Aphrodite, Hera and Europa herself. Given that Europa is missing, it seems unusual that she would show up here as she was the whole reason in the first place that Cadmus went wandering.
Another variation that that all of Harmonia’s godly powers for peace stem from the necklace and that it’s a robe “dripped in crime” given to her either by Athena or by Hephaestus and Hera that caused all of the misfortunes that Cadmus and Harmony would face.
I think the necklace is more likely cursed given there’s a lineage and history of who receives the necklace and the misfortunes that befall each of them before the necklace just vanishes from history.
Generational Curse – Well, only in as far as Harmonia’s necklace kept getting passed on from one descendant to the next or when it changes hands to a different owner.
After Hamornia and Cadmus’ misfortune, Polynices inherits the necklace and gives it to Eriphyle. The necklace than changes hands to Eriphyle’s son Alcmaeon and on to Arsinoe (or Alphesiboea) and to their sons Phegeus, Pronous and Agenor, and lastly into those of the sons of Alcmaeon, Amphoterus and Acarnan who dedicated a temple to Athena at Delphi.
When the necklace got stolen by Phayllus, he gave it to his mistress, the wife of Ariston. She wore it for a while only to see her youngest son become seized by madness and set fire to the house. It’s here that the necklace gets lost to history or myth as there’s no further mention of it.
Every possessor and owner of the necklace saw mischief and mishaps of one kind, or another befall them.
Maybe it means peace doesn’t last and you have to work at it, or it could, just no one knew about the curse laid on it. I can assume that someone took it to an Oracle and found out, which is why there is mention of it in the myths at all.
Something Rotten In Thebes
Married and the City of Thebes founded, no matter how divinely ordained this was, peace and harmony wouldn’t last.
Due to the cursed necklace that Harmonia received, she and Cadmus’ family would soon see misfortune befall them and a series of civil unrest. Eventually, Cadmus would abdicate his throne to his grandson, Pentheus.
Cadmus would go with Harmonia to Illyria to fight a war brewing over there as they took the side of the Enchelii. From there, Cadmus would go on and found the city of Lychnidus and Bouthoe.
Draconic Transformation
Despite leaving Thebes and establishing other cities, misfortune continued to plague and follow both Cadmus and Harmonia. It got so bad that Cadmus cried out that all this had to because of his slaying Ares’ dragon, if the gods were so obsessed with its death, why not turn him into one.
At that pronouncement, Cadmus begins to grow scales and to change into a serpent. Horrified by this transition of her husband, Harmonia begged the gods to change her too so she could share in Cadmus’ fate.
A slight variation is a distraught Harmonia strips herself and pleads for Cadmus to come to her. Embracing her serpentine husband, Harmonia sits in a pool of wine. It is out of mercy that the gods turn Harmonia into a snake as they couldn’t bare to see her in such a state.
Variations to this ending are that both Cadmus and Harmonia are changed into snakes when they died. Both snakes watched over their tombs while their souls were sent by Zeus to the Elysian Fields.
Famous Grecian playwright Euripides’ in his The Bacchae, has Cadmus given a prophecy from Dionysus that both he and his wife will be turned into snakes before getting to enjoy an eternity of bliss in the Elysian Fields.
Zeus Versus Typhon
This episode ties back to the Samothracian connection for Cadmus and Harmonia’s wedding.
This version is found in Nonnus’ Dionysiaca where he recounts the story of Zeus battling the monstrous serpentine monster known as Typhon. Zeus asks the hero Cadmus to help him by recovering his lightning bolts with playing his pipes, to play a tune. Zeus promises Cadmus that if he helps, that he will receive the hand of Harmonia in marriage.
The Dionysiaca is written in the 5th century C.E. and reflects plenty of time to have rewritten the myths. This is the only myth to involve Cadmsu with Pan, playing the pipes to distract Typhon so this fearsome monster can be defeated.
Earlier versions of this story have where it is Hermes and Aeigipan (Pan) stealing back Zeus’ tendons and there’s no mention of the thunderbolts.
Once again, if we are confusing Cadmus with Kadmilus, the Samothracian deity identified with Hermes. I can see the confusion.
That’s just confusing if you can’t keep it straight.
Goddess Of Harmony
Harmonia is a goddess, even if she ended up being perceived as minor or a local goddess of the city state Cadmeia, later Thebes. Among the Greeks and Romans, she was viewed as the goddess of harmony and concord. This could extend from marital harmony, easing tensions and strife. For the Romans this went further to mean cosmic balance.
Nymph
As I previously mentioned earlier, there is a nymph who also went by the name of Harmonia. The two should not be confused.
According to Apollonius of Rhodes in the Argonautica, this Harmonia is a naiad from the Akmonian Woods and with Ares, she would be the mother of the Amazons.
In the same book, the Argonautica, the Argonauts while on the island of Thynias swore an oath to each other to stand together no matter what. The Argonauts built a temple of Harmonia that marks where they swore their oath.
Homonoia – Greek Goddess
Another minor Greek goddess who is similar to Harmonia in concept. She embodies the concepts of concord, unity and like-mindedness. The ideas of Harmony have changed so much over time, that the two are nearly identical.
Like Harmonia, her opposite goddess is Eris.
Concordia – Roman Goddess
She is very simply the Roman version of Harmonia.
Polar Twins
If Harmony is the goddess of peace, then there must be a polar opposite. This honor falls to Eris, often cited as the goddess of chaos with her Roman counterpart being Discordia.
Herne The Hunter
Etymology – Horn (Old English)
Suffice to say, Herne is a well-known figure in British and Modern folklore. At first glance, it’s easy to say that Herne is one of the names for the Horned God in Wicca and Modern Paganism. A slightly more knowledgeable response would say that Herne is who leads the Wild Hunt. Or perhaps that he is the ghostly specter of a Games Keeper with antlers who haunts Windsor Forest.
It does get a bit tricky on trying to get into what’s concrete for the figure of Herne.
Description
Many descriptions of Herne will agree that he is human either wearing antlers or has antlers. Sometimes he is on foot others he is on horseback and may or may not be accompanied by hunting hounds or other animals of the forest.
Ghost – The version of Herne that appears in Shakespeare’s play, clearly terrorizes the forest animals and people alike, blasting or withering the trees of the forest as he shakes his chains. The alternative lines say he can take on the shape of a stag. Later descriptions of Herne will have him riding a horse as part of the Wild Hunt.
The Merry Wives Of Windsor
The earliest known mention that we have of Herne is in William Shakespeare’s play The Merry Wives of Windsor written in 1597.
That certainly is a case for having been around for quite a while just based off that alone.
In Act 4, Scene 4, we have the characters Mistress Page and Mistress Ford deciding that they will play a trick on Sir John Falstaff because of his unwanted advances. The two ladies convince Falstaff to disguise himself as a ghost and meet them out under an oak in Windsor Forest at midnight. The two ladies also convince and get some children to show up at the same time who are dressed up as fairies to pinch and burn Falstaff.
“There is an old tale goes, that Herne the hunter,
Sometime a keeper here in Windsor Forest,
Doth all the wintertime, at still midnight,
Walk round about an oak, with great ragg’d horns;
And there he blasts the trees, and takes the carrle,
And makes milch kine* yield blood, and shakes a chain
In a most hideous and dreadful manner.”
Milch kine? Yeah, milking cows.
Bogeyman?
There is a set of alternative lines from 1602 that hint that Herne was a local ghost story used by mothers to get their children to behave.
The alternative lines are as follows:
“Oft have you heard since Horne the hunter dyed,
That women, to affright their little children,
Says that he walkes in the shape of a great stagge.”
Whether the character of Herne existed before the creation of Shakespeare’s play or is a creation of it, isn’t clear. What is clear is that this play is for certain where the figure of Herne enters British folklore and onwards to a larger, global audience… at least the West.
Cuckold’s Horns – With an Elizabethan audience, they would know that a cuckold is a name given to a husband with an unfaithful wife. A cuckold like the cuckoo bird that lays its eggs in the nests of other birds. So, a husband is likely raising a child who is not his own. The horns were likely a theatrical device of the Elizabethan stage to inform an audience of a character’s role.
Herne’s Oak
In Windsor’s Home Park, there have been a few different oak trees since the mid-1800’s that people have claimed to be either Falstaff’s Oak or Herne’s Oak.
The main oak that people pointed to as Herne’s Oak fell in 1796 due to declining botanical health. The other oak was blown over during a windstorm on August 31st 1863. The logs from this tree were burnt in order to exorcise the ghost of Herne. One log was kept to carve a bust of Shakespeare from and is on display in the Windsor and Royal Borough Museum in the Guildhall.
Later, Queen Victoria planted another oak to replace the one that fell in 1863. Later, King Edward VII would have the tree removed in 1906 during a landscaping project. Still, another oak would be replanted to replace the fallen tree from 1796 and named Herne’s Oak.
All’s well that ends well.
Growing Fame
As the legend of Herne continues to grow and expand, the 20th century sees Herne’s ghost now appearing shortly before national disasters and before the death of monarchs, much like a Banshee.
At the very least, because people expect to see something, more and more people claim to have encountered Herne’s ghost or to have heard the sounds of hounds or a horn blowing in Windsor Forest.
Truth In The Telling
With the authenticity of Herne being lost to history and up for debate, there are enough people who believe that Shakespeare must have been using a local legend. To this end, people have been trying to add some historical veracity and authenticity to legitimize Herne’s legend. If nothing else, the legend and imagery of Herne have succeeded at capturing people’s imaginations for centuries and has well earned a place in folklore.
The Restless Gamekeeper – This is the next literary source, written by Samuel Ireland in 1791 in his Picturesque Views on the River Thames. In the story, Herne is to have been based on a historical figure by the name of Richard Horne, a yeoman who lived during Henry VIII’s reign. Horne was accused of poaching and as a result, he hung himself from an oak tree. As this was a suicide death, Herne’s spirit is believed to be barred from entering either heaven or hell and is doomed to haunt the place of their death.
Shakespearean scholar James Halliwell-Phillips found a document where Herne is listed as a hunter and confessed to poaching. Plus, early versions of The Merry Wives of Windsor spell the name as “Horne” instead of “Herne.”
There are of course, a couple variants to this story.
Variation 1 – In this version, Herne is the huntsman to King Richard II. After some local men grew jealous of Herne’s status, they conspired to accuse him of poaching on the King’s land. Falsely accused and outcast, Herne hung himself from an oak tree.
Variation 2 – In this story, Herne saves King Richard II from a stag. Fatally wounded, Herne is healed by a magician who takes Herne’s skills in forestry and hunting as payment. Part of this being cured involved having the dead stag’s horns tied to Herne’s head. Distraught by the loss of his skills, Herne hung himself from a tree. As a result, his spirit is doomed each night to lead a spectral hunt through Windsor Rest.
Windsor Castle – Written by William Harrison Ainsworth in 1842. This novel aims to be a historical drama set during the reign of the Tudors and follows Henry VIII’s pursuit of Anne Boleyn. Herne features throughout the novel as a ghostly figure haunting the nearby woods of Windsor. This version of Herne is somewhat sinister as Harrison Ainsworth created a history where Herne was gored by a stag. Herne makes a deal with the Devil to spare him. Part of the deal is that Herne would forever wear antlers. This version of Herne had served Richard II and likely the source of the two previous folkloric versions of where he originates from.
The Wild Hunt
The Wild Hunt is a phenomenon found in many different European countries and cultures. It is a nightmarish, supernatural force led by some dark spectral hunter on horseback and accompanied by a host of other riders and hounds as they chase down unlucky mortals, either until they drop dead of exhaustion, are caught and forced to join the Wild Hunt or able to evade the Hunt until dawn.
Just exactly who it is that leads the Hunt does vary country by country in Europe. The Wild Hunt is known for making its ride during the Winter Solstice or New Year’s Eve. Jacob Grimm of Grimms Brothers fame makes a connection of Herne to the Wild Hunt due to the epitaph of “the Hunter.” That does seem to work, a Huntsman, connect him to the Wild Hunt and for Britain, the idea really jells of a local person who becomes a lost soul, doomed to forever ride with the Hunt.
Of course, the point is brought up that as a ghost, Herne is connected to one locality whereas the Wild Hunt wanders, moving from one place to another, seemingly randomly.
Ultimately, just who leads the Wild Hunt will vary from country to country. In Welsh mythology, it is Gwyn ap Nudd or Annwn who lead the hunt with a pack of spectral hounds to collect unlucky souls. The Anglo-Saxons of Britain hold that it is Woden who leads the hunt at midwinter. Wotan is very similar to Odin (just another name for the same deity really), Herne has been linked to them as both have been hung from a tree.
Pagan Deity
With Wicca and many modern pagan religions, Herne is frequently identified with the Horned God. As a Horned God, Herne is seen as a god of the Hunt, the sacred masculine, animals, nature, crossroads, sacrifice, fertility, virility, forests, hunters, and warriors.
Close on the heels of a horned deity, Herne has been connected to the Celtic deity of Cernunnos. Most notably, Margaret Murray made this connection in her 1931 book, “God of the Witches.” She sees Herne as a manifestation of Cernunnos and a very localized god found only in Berkshire. Take that as you will, for as much as Margaret Murray is hailed as the Grandmother of Wicca, many of her ideas and theories have been discredited and contested or challenged as they often appealed to emotional desires didn’t fulfill proper scrutiny and criteria for research. She is still very important in getting the ball rolling for those who follow Wicca and Paganism.
Archeological Discoveries – Of note is that a headpiece made from the top part of a stag’s skull with antlers still attached was found in Britain at Star Carr near Scarborough. This headpiece is thought to date back to around 8500 B.C.E., dating it to the Mesolithic era. The headdress is thought to have served shamanic rituals to ensure a successful hunt.
Cernunnos – Gaul
It’s not just Margaret Murry who sees Herne as being very similar to or an aspect of Cernunnos, it is also R. Lowe Thompson in his 1929 book “The History of the Devil – The Horned God of the West” who makes the connection.
Thompson makes the connection of Herne to other Wild Huntsmen, looking for a connection of all of these horned deities being really the same being or aspects of each other. He goes on how Herne and Cernunnos are the same, just as the English word “horn” is a cognate of the Latin word “cornu.”
So… “cerne” and “herne.” It’s enough for many Wiccans and Pagans to accept Herne as an aspect of Cernunnos just on the fact that both have horns or antlers.
Depending on the source and who you ask, Herne hunts and destroys nature and wildlife where Cernunnos seeks to protect it.
Pan – Greek
While we’re at it, the Grecian rustic gods of the wild, Pan is also seen as a syno-deity who can be equated with Herne and other Horned Gods.
Woden – Anglo-Saxon
Also spelled Wotan.
Because so many have tried to make connections, I already touched on this above with the Wild Hunt, Herne as been connected to Wodan as well. Both Herne and Wodan hung from a tree. Herne out of shame and suicide and Wodan as he was seeking knowledge of the runes. Herne is also bandied about as being derived from one of Wodan’s titles, Herian (“Warrior-Leader”), a titled used when leading his fallen warriors, the Einherjar.
The Play’s The Thing!
Even if the origins of Herne are rooted in a Shakespearean play solely as a creation of the great bard himself. People assume that Shakespeare must have drawn on some unverifiable local myths and folklore.
While we can argue and aren’t completely sure, Herne has more than earned a place in folklore. Afterall, Herne continues to inspire and find his way into literature and modern media.
There are numerous books and T.V. series where Herne has a part or features and continues to be a character people readily draw inspiration from.
Such as a British show, Robin of Sherwood where Herne is a pagan priest and spirit of the woods. Books such as Susan Cooper’s The Dark Is Rising and Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series.
Heh
Alternative Spellings: Hah, Hauh, Huh, Huah, Hu and Hahuh, Hehet
Other Names & Epitaphs: “The God of Millions of Years”
Etymology: “flood,” “million,” “millions” or “endless”
Heh or Huh, as I first came across this deity, is one of the oldest Egyptian gods. Effectively, they are the deification or personification of Eternity in the Ogdoad.
Ogdoad
Huh is a member of a group of eight deities known as the Ogdoad. All members of this group are genderless, having aspects of both male and female. Huh is the male aspect of this deity and Hauhet is the female aspect of this deity.
The male Ogdoads are depicted as men with the head of a frog or a frog outright. The female Ogdoads are depicted as women with the head of a snake or as just a snake.
Heh would sometimes be shown as crouching, holding a palm stalk in each hand, and a shen ring on the end of each palm stem. The shen ring symbolized long life or infinity.
These were four pairs of deities as follows:
Water – Nun and Naunet
Void – Amun and Amaunet
Infinite Time – Heh and Hauhet
Darkness – Kuk and Kauket
Temples & Worship
All eight of the Ogdoad were worshiped in their temple of Khmunu, later renamed to Hermopolis Magna.
The God Of Eternity
Huh is the god of infinity, time, long life, and eternity.
The image of Heh with his arms raised up is the hieroglyph for one million, the equivalent of infinity in Egyptian mathematics.
Heh’s iconography could be found on many amulets and items of prestige in which the owner or wearer would wish for a long life or rule. Eventually, Heh’s symbol would become associated with the Pharaoh. The most famous example we have was found with King Tut where Heh’s hieroglyph is found on two cartouches.
God Of The Air & Wind
Heh is also associated as an Air God and in this respect, identified with Shu. Both Shu and Heh are sometimes shown holding their arms up to hold up the sky.
As a wind god, Heh, he is linked to the four pillars believed in Egyptian mythology to hold up the sky.
In The Beginning…
Like many of the creation myths and stories, in the beginning, there was nothing, only chaos represented by a vast quantity of endless water. A formless nothing. No land.
In this void and chaos, there were four frog gods and four snake goddesses who were members of the Ogdoad who lived here.
Nun created the first land, raising it up out of the watery depths. From this mound of earth, the first god Atum would emerge. Shortly after, he would create or give birth/rise to all of the other gods of the Egyptian pantheon.
Hieroglyphics
In the Egyptian system of writing, Heh would be shown as a man with a beard and lappet wig, sometimes he is kneeling or he is in a basket. This would be the sign for “all.” The palm branches are the symbol for “year.”
Numerology
Surprisingly, the ancient Egyptians used the decimal system in their mathematics. Many deities would be used to represent numbers in this system.
Heh’s hieroglyph in his seated position, represented the number 1,000,000.
Hauhet
She is essentially the feminine of Heh. She is shown as a snake-headed woman or as just a snake. Otherwise, her symbolism and attributes are the same as Heh.
Cadmus
Pronunciation: CAD-muss
Alternate Spelling: Κάδμος Kadmos
Etymology: “From the East” or “He Who Excels”
In Greek mythology, Cadmus is the name of the legendary founder and first king of Thebes. He is distinguished by being one of Greece’s first heroes who slew monsters long before the birth of the mighty Heracles.
Parentage and Family
Parents
Father – King Agenor of Tyre
Mother – Queen Telephassa of Tyre
Alternatively, Phoenix and Perimede are given as Cadmus’ parents.
Siblings
Phoenix – No, not the legendary fire bird that resurrects itself in flames, but his brother who returns to Tyre to rule where the region is renamed to Phoenicia.
Cilix – Brother, the city of Cilicia is named after him.
Europa – Sister, abducted by Zeus
Consort
Harmonia – Wife, depending on the accounts given, she is either the daughter of Zeus and Electra or Ares & Aphrodite.
Children
Agave – Daughter, with her sisters Autonoe and Ino, she unknowingly killed her son Pentheus. She marries first the Spartoi Echion and then later King Lycotherses of Illyria whom she also murders in order to hand over the kingdom to her father.
Autonoe – Daughter, her son, Actaeon was killed by his hounds.
Illyrius – Youngest son and child born, from whom the Illyrians are descended.
Ino – Daughter, was driven mad by Hera leapt to her death to the sea with her only surviving son. Instead of dying, Ino becomes a sea goddess.
Polydorus – Eldest son, inherits the throne in Thebes, carrying on the family dynasty.
Semele – Daughter, she is killed later by Hera after a liaison with Zeus. In some stories, she is the mother of Dionysus. The controversy will say that Semele was raped from an unknown assailant and the blame is placed on Zeus in an effort to try keeping some dignity
Nephew
Thasus – The son of Cilix. In some accounts, he is also Cadmus’ brother. The island of Thassos is named after him.
Grandson
Pentheus – the son of Agave and the Spartoi Echion, he becomes king of Thebes after Polydorus.
Cadmus’ Lineage – Divine Heritage
I feel it’s worth mentioning that through Telephassa’s line, Cadmus and all of his siblings are the grandchildren of Nilus, the god of the Nile River and Nephele, a cloud nymph. Through their father Agenor, again, Cadmus and his siblings are the grandchildren of the sea god Poseidon and Libya, the goddess or personification of ancient Libya in North Africa.
During Mycenaean Greek, Poseidon is the head of the Greek pantheon, it is later during what most think of as ancient Greece when we have more concrete records and writing, that Zeus is the head of the pantheon. I feel that Cadmus’ myth does show where some of these changes to try giving Zeus more prominence start getting put in.
Fifth generation divinity! That’s gotta count for something though!
As early culture heroes, Cadmus and a few others some of the founding members are who get the ball rolling for Greek culture.
First King Of Thebes
Part of Cadmus’ claim to fame is that he’s the first king and founder of Thebes. A Grecian dynasty that stayed in power for quite some time. By Greek myths, this dynasty ruled Thebes for many generations, even during the time of the Trojan War.
His history goes back far enough to when oral history was getting passed on from one generation to the next before getting written down.
Antique Powerhouse – As far as Greek antiquity goes; Thebes did rival the ancient cities of Athens and Sparta. Come the time of Alexander the Great, when he set his sights on Thebes in 335 B.C.E., the city fell and never reclaimed its ancient glory.
Historical Conflicts – The Grecian historian, Herodotus (who lived between 484 B.C.E. and 425 B.C.E.) wrote about Cadmus, chronically him down. Herodotus writes down that he believes Cadmus to have lived some 1600 years before him, placing the timeline for Cadmus in 2000 B.C.E. With so much myth and legend interwoven into Cadmus’ story, how much is history and how much is a tall tale turned to legend that we aren’t sure if there really was a Cadmus.
Once again, Herodotus is to have seen and described the Cadmean writing inscribed on some tripods within the temple of Apollo at Thebes. Tripods that are to date back to when Laius, Cadmus’ great-grandson lived. The inscriptions effectively read as: “Ἀμφιτρύων μ᾽ ἀνέθηκ᾽ ἐνάρων ἀπὸ Τηλεβοάων in English “Amphitryon dedicated me don’t forget the spoils of the battle of Teleboae.”
Further confusion for how much myth and legend there is versus actual history comes from a later Roman writer, Ovid in his Metamorphosis. There are certainly a lot of additions and his versions of the myths are what many are familiar with when thinking of Greco-Roman mythology.
Hittite Connection – More like a controversy. There is a letter from the King of Ahhivawa to the Hittite King where a Cadmus is mentioned as the father of the Ahhivawa people. It is known that this is the term for the Achaeans in the Mycenaean Greek era and mentioned in Homer’s works. It’s not accepted by scholars that this is evidence of the actual Cadmus of mythology.
Cadmeia – This is the acropolis in Thebes named so in honor of Cadmus.
Fun Fact – Cadmeia is supposed to be the original name of the city before becoming Thebes. The name change came about a couple generations later during the reign of Amphion and Zethus who wanted to change the city’s name to honor his wife Thebe.
Al-Qadmus – The name of a Syrian city that is named after Cadmus.
Thebes – There is a city called Thebes in Egypt, no they are not the same city, they just happen to share the same name.
What’s In A Name?
There’s not a clear consensus on what Cadmus’ name means. Some scholars have put forward the idea that it might have a Semitic root of QDM meaning “East.” In Arabic, QDM is a verb meaning: “to come.” Then, in Hebrew, qedem means: “east,” “front” and “ancient.” Then there is the ver qadam meaning: “to be in front.” The Greek word kekasmai means: “to shine.” All this conjecture means that Cadmus translates as either “He who excels” or “From the east.”
I’d say we’re really close, there is a clue with Cadmus being from Tyre and his brother returning to rule there and the region becoming Phoenicia. Scholars studying the region and languages note that there are cognates between the Phoenician and Hebraic language.
The Alphabet – It’s Greek To Me!
Speaking of writing, Cadmus is who gets the credit by the ancient Greek historians for introducing the Phoenician alphabet where it would get adapted to become the Greek alphabet.
Herodotus goes as far as to say that Cadmus founded Thebes long before the events of the Trojan War, placing it during the Aegean Bronze Age. It’s a chronology that’s dubious as it conflicts with when both the Phoenician and Greek alphabets are to have originated.
The earliest known Greek inscriptions that involve Phoenician letters don’t appear until the late 9th and 8th century B.C.E. The belief is that the Phoenician alphabet didn’t develop until 1050 B.C.E., after the Bronze Age.
The Homeric depictions of the Mycenaean Greek (think really ancient Greek) doesn’t mention much about writing. The only reference to any Homeric writing is the phrase “grammata lygra” meaning: “baneful drawings.” This is a connection to the Bellerophontic letter, in which Proteus sent a sealed message with the hero Bellerophon to King Iobates who one reading the missive had instructions to kill the hero.
At any rate, there are several examples of Greek writing known as Linear B found in Thebes that seems to give credence to Cadmus as the inventor and bringer of writing to the Greeks. In Modern-Day Lebanon, Cadmus is still revered and accepted as the originator.
Once again, it’s just Cadmus’ legend that goes so far back that there are doubts and questions about the existing records for just how accurate any of it is.
Going To Find His Sister
All legends have their beginning.
Cadmus’ story begins when he and his brothers are sent by their parents, the King Agenor and Queen Telephassa to go find his sister Europa and bring her back to Tyre after she had been abducted by the god Zeus. Further, Cadmus and his brothers are told not to return without their sister.
Unable to find their sister, Cadmus’ brothers Phoenix and Cilix gave up in their quests. The region of Phoenicia is named after Phoenix and the city of Cilicia is named after Cilix. Here, it can go either way, either Cadmus was unsuccessful in finding his sister or Cadmus very wisely chose not to go up against Zeus.
He very likely decided not to press his luck and instead went to Samothrace, an island known to be sacred to the “Great Gods” or Kabeiroi.
On his journey to Samothrace, Cadmus was not alone. For his mother, Telephassa and his nephew Thasus were also present. Thasus is noted for naming the nearby island of Thasos after himself. It is at Samothrace, that Cadmus meets and marries Harmonia, the daughter of Electra and Zeus. Though, some accounts will say that Cadmus abducted Harmonia away the same way that Zeus did with Europa.
I can’t see that ending well though…
Wedding Vows
It will get confusing, as some accounts have Cadmus and Harmonia marrying on Samothrace or meeting later after the founding of Thebes and marrying then.
Bridal Gifts With A Curse
I mentioned things not ending well right? I did.
Some of Harmonia’ bridal gifts were a peplos (a type of dress) gifted by Athena and a necklace made by Hephaestus. This necklace will become known as the Necklace of Harmonia and it would bring misfortune to anyone who had it. Sure, the necklace will make any woman who wears it eternally young and beautiful. Eventually, the curse takes hold and Harmonia’s home city of Thebes faces civil unrest and misfortunes.
At first glance, that seems unusual, I’ll cover this further down.
The Founding Of Thebes
This is perhaps the story that Cadmus is best known for in his saga. As Cadmus and his mother continued their journey and search for Europa, the two settled in a place called Thrace. It is here, that Telephassa died of grief for her missing daughter. After performing the funeral rites for his mother, Cadmus sought out the Oracle of Delphi for help.
It is here, that Cadmus is told to stop his quest and search for Europa (thanks to the gods), and instead, Cadmus is to now follow a cow.
???
Not just any cow, this one has a half-moon on her flank and Cadmus is to follow her until she finally comes to a rest, exhausted. The spot where the cow rests is where Cadmus is to build a town in a land known as Boeotia along the banks of the river Cephisus.
Alrighty then!
With the exhausted cow, Cadmus decided to sacrifice it to Athena as thanks for the cow guiding him. While making his preparations, Cadmus sent off his companions, Deileon and Seriphus to get some water from the Ismenian spring. While the two were there, the guardian of the spring, a water-dragon belonging to Ares rose up and slew both Deileon and Seriphus.
Chaoskampf & Spartoi
On discovering what had happened, Cadmus then slew the dragon. It has been noted that this is a notable trait of culture heroes to slay a dragon and the whole order triumphing over chaos.
The dragon-slaying story usually ends here. However, a couple of different things will happen here. First, Athena appears to Cadmus and gives him half of the dragon’s teeth, instructing our stalwart hero to plant them. (The other half of the teeth will appear later in the story of Jason and the Argonauts). As Cadmus plants each tooth on the Aonian plain; from each tooth springs up a fully armed warrior. Fearing for his life, Cadmus threw a stone in amongst the warriors and they began to fight each other. Each thinking the stone had been thrown by another warrior. These warriors fought until there were only five of them left standing. Sometimes, depending on who’s telling the story, Athena instructed Cadmus to leave only five Spartoi living. These five remaining warriors’ names were: Chthonius, Echion, Hyperenor, Pelorus and Udeus who would become the founders of Thebes’ noble families. At Cadmus’ instructions, these five helped him to found and build the city of Thebes.
The first building that would-be built-in Thebes was a shrine dedicated to the Moon goddess Selene. The acropolis of Thebes would be called Cadmeia.
Hellanicus’s Version
In his writings, when Cadmus planted the dragon’s teeth, only five warriors sprang up from the ground. There was no fighting it out among them. In addition, Hellanicus has Zeus step in to save Cadmus from the Ares’ wrath as the war god wanted to kill the mortal. And the Spartoi, Echion marries Cadmus’ daughter Agave and their son, Pentheus succeeds Cadmus to become king.
Ovid’s Metamorphosis
In this version of the myths with the Roman names for the gods in it, a voice (presumably Mars) speaks out to Cadmus, after he slays the giant serpent, that he too shall become one.
Ares’ Dragon & Eight Years Servitude
Slaying the dragon also held another problem to it. This dragon or drakon was a servant to the god of war, Ares; add, in some versions, the drakon is a son of Ares. Either way, Ares’ isn’t too pleased.
As restitution for this deed, Cadmus meets Ares’ demands by serving the war god for an “everlasting year” or eight years. At the end of this period, Cadmus marries Harmonia, the daughter of Aphrodite and Ares.
Sidenote: Yeah, I know, the marriage has been mentioned up above. It is a conflict of the narrative and it really depends on who’s telling the story.
The narrative that places Harmonia’s marriage to Cadmus here, as the daughter of Ares is meant to symbolize the coming of harmony and an end to war.
Harmonia would bear Cadmus several children, Agave who married Echion, one of the Spartoi, they would have a son named Pentheus. Cadmus and Harmonia’s other children are three daughters, Autonoe, Ino and Semele who would be the mother of Dionysus. There two sons are Polydorus and Illyrius from whom the Illyrians descend.
Something Rotten In Thebes
Married and the City of Thebes founded, no matter how divinely ordained this was, peace and harmony wouldn’t last.
Due to the cursed necklace that Harmonia received, she and Cadmus’ family would soon see misfortune befall them and a series of civil unrest. Eventually, Cadmus would abdicate his throne to his grandson, Pentheus.
Cadmus would go with Harmonia to Illyria to fight a war brewing over there as they took the side of the Enchelii. From there, Cadmus would go on and found the city of Lychnidus and Bouthoe.
Draconic Transformation
Despite leaving Thebes and establishing other cities, misfortune continued to plague and follow Cadmus. It got so bad that Cadmus cried out that all this had to because of his slaying Ares’ dragon, if the gods were so obsessed with its death, why not turn him into one.
At that pronouncement, Cadmus begins to grow scales and to change into a serpent. Horrified by this transition of her husband, Harmonia begged the gods to change her too so she could share in Cadmus’ fate.
Variations to this ending are that both Cadmus and Harmonia are changed into snakes when they died. Both snakes watched over their tombs while their souls were sent by Zeus to the Elysian Fields.
Famous Grecian playwright Euripides’ in his The Bacchae, has Cadmus given a prophecy from Dionysus that both he and his wife will be turned into snakes before getting to enjoy an eternity of bliss in the Elysian Fields.
The First Earthly Marriage
If you were paying attention to the above narrative and Cadmus’ story, I noted that there are two different timelines to when he marries Harmonia and each one has a side not for who her parentage is.
I think it’s worth noting and remembering Cadmus’ Divine Lineage connecting him to Poseidon and thus a demigod. The story of Cadmus and the ruling, royal family of Thebes is likely a very old story, dating back to Mycenaean Greece and it is during Mycenaean Greece that Poseidon is the head of the Pantheon, not Zeus.
Zeus will become head of the Greek Pantheon during the era thought of as Ancient Greece when we have written records being kept that chronicle historical accounts.
It’s an important distinction and one seen in the conflicting timeline of when Cadmus is to have married Harmonia and who her parentage is to be.
Where Cadmus marries Harmonia on the island of Samothrace with Zeus and Electra given as her parents seems more like the later changes to the story to have Zeus hold a more prominent role within it.
Following a timeline for after Cadmus’ eight years of servitude to Ares and then marrying Harmonia with both Ares and Aphrodite as her parents seems far more likely the correct lineage. It would explain too so much better why Hephaestus would gift Harmonia a cursed necklace.
Knowing the backstory between Hephaestus, Aphrodite and Ares, the cursed necklace that is given to Harmonia makes more sense. Hephaestus was angry at Aphrodite for her affair with Ares and yes, he makes the necklace a means to punish Aphrodite’s infidelity by placing a curse on the child that resulted from hers and Ares’ affair.
Thus, all the misfortunes that Cadmus and Harmonia suffer are from the necklace, not slaying the dragon. Afterall, Cadmus had already paid penance to Ares and then is rewarded his daughter for marriage. It’s even in Harmonia’s name, harmony, there was to be an end to the strife and conflicts.
I do find it curious that there are versions of Cadmus’ story where the Necklace of Harmonia is not mentioned at all or having been made by Hephaestus. The misfortunes that befall Cadmus are attributed to the dragon that was slain. It makes no sense to have Ares forgive Cadmus after several years of servitude and giving his daughter to marry.
Of course, it’s easy to assume the Greek gods are perpetuating their pettiness. We have lots of stories of mortals being punished by the gods. If Hephaestus is keeping mums about the curse he placed on the necklace, of course, no one knows why bad things keep happening to Cadmus and Harmonia.
By Diodorus’ account of this story, Cadmus’ marriage to Harmonia is significant in that it was the first one celebrated on Earth and one wherein the gods are to have come, bringing gifts. There was supposed to be an end to conflicts and war, alas it could not last.
East Meets West – Another idea for Cadmus and Harmonia’s wedding is that it may be symbolic of the Eastern, Phoenician learning combining with the Western, Grecian love of beauty.
Fertility God – The Samothracian Connection!
The island of Samothrace is one of the places that Cadmus, his mother, and nephew are said to have stopped at in their search for a missing Europa.
There is a small Pantheon of the Great Gods whose members have been equated or identified with several of the Greek deities. One such god, is Kadmilus, a fertility god identified with the god Hermes. There are also a pair of Underworld deities, Axiokersos (Hades) and Axiokersa (Persephone) whose marriage gets equated to Cadmus and Harmonia courtesy of Diodorus Siculus’ trying to connect the island’s local myths to the overall Greek myths.
I can see it too, the similar-sounding names of Kadmilus and Cadmus.
Zeus Versus Typhon
In Nonnus’ Dionysiaca where he recounts the story of Zeus battling the monstrous serpentine monster known as Typhon, Zeus asks the hero Cadmus to help him by recovering his lightning bolts with playing his pipes, to play a tune. Zeus promises Cadmus that if he helps, that he will receive the hand of Harmonia in marriage.
The Dionysiaca is written in the 5th century C.E. and reflects plenty of time to have rewritten the myths. This is the only myth to involve Cadmus with Pan, playing the pipes to distract Typhon so this fearsome monster can be defeated.
Earlier versions of this story have where it’s Hermes and Aeigipan (Pan) stealing back Zeus’ tendons, no mention of the thunderbolts.
Once again, if we are confusing Cadmus with Kadmilus, the Samothracian deity identified with Hermes. I can see the confusion.
However, yes Nonnus is equating Hermes with Kadmilus and thus Cadmus in the episode where Hermes comes in disguise as a mortal to announce that Zeus has decreed a marriage of Harmonia with Cadmus.
That’s just confusing if you can’t keep it straight.
Draco Constellation
The story of Cadmus slaying the dragon is sometimes cited as being one of many myths associated with this constellation.
Tiamat
Etymology: Mother of Life
Alternate Spellings & Other Names: Tiahamtu, Baau, Bis-Bis, Hubar, Mammu-Tiamat, Omorca, Omoroka, Tamtu, Tauthe, Tehom, Thalass, Thalassa, Thalatth, Thamte, Thlavatth, Tiawath, Tisalat, Ummukhubar, Θαλάττη Thaláttē (Greek)
Epithets: Mummu Hubur (Mother of Monsters) or “Ummu-Hubur, Who Formed All Things”
Tiamat is an ancient, primordial mother goddess often represented as a draconic personification of the oceans and saltwater from whom all life springs forth from.
Attributes
Animal: All aquatic animals, Dragons, Sharks
Element: Water
Sphere of Influence: Chaos, Creation
Mesopotamian Depictions
Classically, the image of Tiamat is that of a large, primordial dragon who symbolizes the saltwater ocean, the element of Chaos from which all life originates.
Surprisingly, when looking at the Enûma Elish, Tiamat is described as having a tail, thighs, a lower half of the body, belly, udder, ribs, neck, and head. It’s not a clear enough description aside from the tail is that of a dragon. The udder though, makes me think of a cow?
I came across one description, that in her role as creatrix, Tiamat is described as a glistening woman. When connected later to her chaotic element, Tiamat is then shown as a dragon.
More modern authors and sources go with describing Tiamat as a sea serpent or dragon. This connection holds up with Tiamat giving birth to dragons and serpents.
For those familiar with Dungeons & Dragons, Tiamat is a multi-headed dragon, with each head representing a different chromatic dragon race in the game.
Hellenistic Iconography – There’s a relief found in the temple of Bel in Palmyra that shows Marduk and Nabu slaying Tiamat who is represented with a woman’s body and snake legs.
Older Than Time
Not quite.
The oldest reference to Tiamat is an Akkadian incantation dating to the first millennium B.C.E. Once the Enuma Elish was composed, Tiamat begins to be found in several religious texts. However, it must be noted those works refer back to the Enuma Elish. An almost obscure historian, Berossus also writes about Tiamat in the 3rd century B.C.E.
When You Stare Into The Abyss…
This turned out to be a fascinating bit to find. Looking at the Sumerian word, “ti” means “life” and “ama” means “mother.” So Mother of Life or Mother of All could be good translations for Tiamat’s name.
Going by the Akkadian word for the sea, it is tâmtu or ti’amtum. It has also been noted that the long vowel â in tamtu is a contraction of the vowels i and a. This word is a proper form for addressing a person or deity. So… Tiamat, tâmtu is: “O’sea!”
Taking this further for how ancient languages likely influenced each other, there are some scholars who see a connection to the Hebraic word Tehom that means ‘the Deep” or “Abyss,” especially as used in the Torah or Old Testament in the book of Genesis. It makes sense, tehom is a cognate to the Akkadian tamtu and the Ugaritic t-h-m and all share similar meanings. It’s not hard to see how these words would also be found as a root word and meaning to the Babylonian Tiamat.
As a side note, the Greek Septuagint uses the word “abyssos” or Abyss when translating tehom.
Speaking of Greek, Tiamat was called Thalatte in the Hellenistic Babylonian Berossus’ first volume of Universal History. The name Thalatte is a variation to the Greek’s word for the sea of Thalassa. Later, in other translations, Tiamat’s name is altogether replaced for Thalassa as the Akkadian sources for Enuma Elish used the more common word for sea as both names of Thalassa and Tiamat had become synonymous.
Parentage and Family
Consort
Apsu – Or Abzu, Primordial God of Freshwater
Kingu – Or Qingu, her consort after Apsu’s death, also her son and general of her army.
Children
Lachmu and Lachamu – The first pair of gods born. From them, all of the other gods within the Mesopotamian pantheon come.
Monstrous Children & Demon – After the death of Apsu, Tiamat creates a host of monstrous children, among whom dragons and serpents are but a few.
Grandchildren
Anšar and Kišar – Through Lachmu and Lachamu.
Igigi – Ultimately the second and third generation of gods.
Babylonian Mythology
In this mythology, Tiamat is a primordial, monstrous sea goddess depicted as a dragon. She represents the formless chaos from which life began. It is with her consort, Apsu, the primordial god of freshwater that the first generation of gods are born.
Enuma Elish
This an ancient epic creation poem written in the 18th century B.C.E. (1700 to 2000 B.C.E. are other estimated guesses) when the city of Babylon becomes the political capital of Mesopotamia. It’s largely written to show Marduk’s birth, many of his heroic deeds and how Ea (Enki) steps down to allow Marduk, in a relatively peaceful transfer of power to become the king and head of the pantheon.
The Enuma Elish begins at the start of time, when the universe is nothing more than chaos with freshwater represented by Apsu and saltwater (or the abyss) represented by Tiamat, a dragoness. The male and female principles, not unlike the concept seen in the Japanese Yin & Yang. The joining of these two primordial deities would see the creation of all the other gods and other beings. Their most notable children are Lachmu and Lachamu along with others who become the other gods and goddesses, known as the Anunnaki. The other children of Apsu and Tiamat are giant sea serpents, dragons, snakes, storm demons, fish-men, scorpion-men
While Tiamat loved all her children, Apsu on the other hand didn’t care for them, saying they were too noisy, keeping him up all night and unable to get any work done during the day. Apsu’s response to this problem was to kill his children, specifically the younger, Igigi deities.
A horrified Tiamat told her eldest son, Enki (later version its Ea) of what Apsu has planned. Enki decided that the best plan for dealing with this was to capture and put Apsu into a deep sleep and then kill him. From Apsu’s corpse, Enki then creates his home, the earth and the marshy region of Eridu.
Kingu, one of Tiamat and Apsu’s sons, soon to be consort to Tiamat is upset and goes to report what happened. This further horrifies Tiamat who wasn’t expecting for Enki to just up and kill Apsu. As a result, she decided to wage war on her own children. The mighty Tiamat raised up an army of chaos consisting of twelve monsters: Bašmu, “Venomous Snake,” Ušumgallu, “Great Dragon,” Mušmahhu, “Exalted Serpent,” Mušhuššu, “Furious Snake,” Lahmu, the “Hairy One,” Ugallu, the “Big Weather-Beast,” Uridimmu, “Mad Lion,” Girtablullû, “Scorpion-Man,” Umu dabrutu, “Violent Storms,” Kulullû, “Fish-Man,” and Kusarikku, “Bull-Man” who are all led by Kingu (Quingu) as the general of this army.
This has Enki and the other gods worried about what to do. That is, until Marduk steps forward, saying he will lead everyone in this war. Marduk has one condition, that is that he be named as the new king of the pantheon. Enki agrees and Marduk leads the Anunnaki to battle.
Marduk prepares his weapons consisting of bow and arrows, a mace, lightning as he is a storm god, flames and a net. Gathering up the four winds, Marduk encircles and nets the mighty Tiamat to prevent her from escaping him. New winds are created by Marduk such as whirlwinds and tornadoes. As he is a storm god, Marduk brings down a fierce flood of rain. It’s a battle between a storm god and a primordial goddess of chaos and the sea, it’s epic as Marduk rides in his storm-chariot pulled by four horses who have poison in their mouths. Spellcasting and an herbal antidote as Marduk faces off against one of the mightiest dragons known in mythology.
After Marduk finally slays Tiamat with an arrow to her stomach, he then goes after Tiamat’s son, Kingu who oversaw the army and wears the Tablets of Destiny over his chest. Marduk makes short work of Kingu in single combat, claiming the tablets and establishing himself as the new head of the pantheon.
This is a lot of power that Marduk has now accumulated and he sets about to create the universe. But didn’t that already exist? He’s at least making a new one as Marduk takes the two halves of Tiamat’s corpse to create the heavens and the earth, completing the work started by Enki. From Tiamat’s eyes, the Tigris and Euphrates rivers flow.
With Kingu’s blood, Marduk mixes it with the earth to create the first humans who would be the servants of the Igigi (the younger Mesopotamian gods). The creation of humans would allow the gods the leisure time and the time to focus on higher purposes, taking care of human needs as humanity basically did the grunt work. All humans would need to do is respect and give heed to the will of the gods living in Eridu with Marduk ruling overall as a benevolent god.
That doesn’t sound like it will end well and I’m sure there’s another story concerning that.
Side Note: Early versions of this story have Anu, later replaced by Enlil and then in the last version, it is Marduk who gets the promise from the other gods about becoming head of the pantheon.
Marduk’s version dates from the first dynasty of the Babylonians, whereas the other versions are much older. Even then, depending on the version of the creation myth, it is solely Marduk involved in all of it and there’s no mention of Enki at all. Scholars who look at when the Enuma Elish was written generally believe that it represents political and religious propaganda meant justify and install Marduk as the head of the Babylonian pantheon as the city-state rose to political power in the region.
As for Apsu, the Enuma Elish is the first time he’s treated as a deity. Before, he’s just a concept, what they called the freshwater found beneath the earth in the aquifers.
Mother Of Gods & Monsters
If this were Greek mythology, I would say that sounds like Echidna who is infamous for giving birth to several monsters or Gaia with the numerous monstrous children that she gave birth to that were later imprisoned in Tartarus.
The first children that Tiamat gives birth to are those gods who will become part of the collective Mesopotamian pantheon. It is after the death of her consort Apsu, that Tiamat gives birth to a host of monstrous creatures, some of whom are dragons and serpents to go after her first group of children, the gods. Some of Tiamat’s monstrous children also become the signs of the zodiac.
As the mother of all creation, Tiamat’s mating with Apsu is seen as a Sacred Marriage. It more a poetical explaining the creation of life and in the ancient Mesopotamian mythology, where the saltwater sea met and mixed with the freshwater sea in the Persian Gulf. One notable region in the area is Bahrain, which means “two seas” in Arabic. It’s thought by some scholars that Bahrain might be the site Dilmun and corresponding with the original Sumerian creation story.
Anunnaki – These are the first generation of gods that Apsu and Tiamat gave birth to at the beginning of the creation. Now, depending on which of the Mesopotamian mythologies you follow, Akkadian, Babylonian, Sumer, their number can vary and it’s inconsistent. Lahmu and Lahamu, meaning “hairy” are the firstborn, from there, the other gods are born.
Igigi – These are the second and third generations of gods born. Who were meant to be servants to the Anunnaki. When Apsu decides to kill their children for being too noisy, some retellings will explain it to mean, it’s the Igigi he plans to kill. And it’s the Igigi for whom Tiamat gets angry and decides to retaliate against. The Igigi in their victory, will then create humans to be their servants.
Chaoskampf
The struggle against Chaos; this is a familiar motif found throughout the world in many different regions and mythologies of a culture hero or god going up against a creature of chaos. This creature is often shown as and takes the form of a great serpent or dragon. This is the familiar Knight slaying the Dragon seen in many European mythologies. Parallels to this concept are even found in other cultures.
It is no different for the myth of Tiamat with her connection as a primordial goddess of Goddess. With her death, either Anu, Enlil or Marduk establishes order and with her corpse, creates the heavens and the earth.
Tiamat’s story is very likely the origin of the hero slaying the dragon motif where she becomes a symbol of not just chaos, but evil. There’s a commentary that suggests that the female deities of Mesopotamian mythology are older than the male deities. This would then strongly suggest that the hero slaying the dragon is the establishment of monotheistic patriarchal religions over matriarchal religions.
The only other goddess who is likely older than Tiamat is the Sumerian goddess Nammu, who is also a primordial goddess of the sea.
Canaanite Mythology
Scholars tend to agree that Tiamat originates with later Babylonian mythology. Looking at Tiamat’s connection with the sea, scholars do note a similarity in Levantine mythology between the sea god Yamm and Baal.
As the story goes, from the Ras Shamra and other Ugarit texts that have been translated, Baal and Yamm weren’t the best of buddies and their conflicts are symbolic of the short Syrian winters with the conflicting weather of rain, hail and tides. Baal and Yamm were fighting over who would take over as head of the pantheon after El is stepping down. El had told Yamm he would get to take charge and Baal wasn’t happy with the news.
Yamm keeps on sending messengers to Baal about this edict and Baal is having none of it. With the aid of Kothar creating some magical clubs, Baal eventually defeats Yamm.
Baal’s conquering of Tannin and defeating Yam has been seen as being similar to the myths of Zeus defeating the Titans to become King of the Gods or when Zeus usurps Poseidon as King of the Gods from Mycenean Greece to the more well-known Ancient Greece.
Jumping back to the Judaic mythology, scholars have noted that a passage in the book of Isaiah parallels the Baal Cycle. In the Ugaritic passage for the Baal Cycle, Tannin is described as “the encircler.” The other description given is “the mighty one with seven heads.” It gets debated between the Ugaritic and Hebraic texts if this is three separate figures being described or if these are epitaphs of Lotan or Leviathan.
Me, being a lover of mythology, “the encircler” makes me think of Norse mythology and the Midgard serpent Jormungand. And the seven heads, D&D anyone and the evil dragon goddess of chaos, Tiamat?
Biblical Connections?
That seems very likely. Given the close proximity of the cultures in the Mesopotamian and Canaanite regions, it stands to reason that elements of each culture might cross over.
Some scholars take note of the similarity with the Book of Genesis chapter 1:2 “Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” And the comparison to the story of Tiamat’s and Apsu’s procreation with the mixing of saltwater and freshwater to give birth to the first gods and life in a universe where nothing else existed.
Tannin – the giant sea monster of Canaanite mythology and the Judiac Torah is sometimes through to be a connection to Tiamat. It has been noted the similarities between Tannin in the Baal Cycle with Marduk defeating Tiamat.
It’s not hard to see a similarity and a possible connection between the two. And, for the longest time, Biblical scholars did think that the Old Testament or Torah referenced the Babylonian myths. That would change with the discovery of texts found in Ras Shamra or Ugarit as it was anciently known. Once the Ugarit texts were translated, it became apparent that the Old Testament references the ancient Canaanite mythology more.
Anzu – Fire Bird?
There is another Mesopotamian monster, born from the waters of Apsu and the Earth. Think of either a Griffin or a lion-headed eagle that can breathe both fire and water. There have been similarities pointed out between the story of Tiamat being slain by Marduk the Sumerian-Akkadian myths where one text has Marduk slaying this monstrous bird and another text where the god Ninurta slays it with arrows.
Akitu Festival – Happy New Years!
This was the ancient New Year’s festival that the Sumerians and Mesopotamian cultures celebrated. This festival occurred sometime during March and April, marking the planting of barley. This festival was presided over by Nabu and Marduk to such a degree, that a text known as the Akitu Chronicle documents a time when the festival couldn’t be observed as Marduk (his physical statue, thus him) wasn’t present in the city of Babylon.
Every year at the Akitu House located outside the city, the Enuma Elish would be recited for the New Year’s festival. There was also involved a ritual slapping of the king. Gotta’ stay humble, I guess. With the Enuma Elish being recited on the fourth day, the battle between Marduk and Tiamat would be a symbolic reenactment of this mythical battle.
Otherwise, as far as any cults or worship of Tiamat go, there really isn’t any.
Tethys – Greek Titaness
In Greek myth, Tethys is a Titaness and primordial goddess of the ocean.
Tethys as Tiamat. She is the wife of Oceanus, the Titan god of the seas. There isn’t much known about their myths and some scholars go so far as to suggest that Tethys is a syno-deity or similar to Tiamat given their age and functions.
Nammu – Sumerian
A primordial goddess of the sea who is often equated with Tiamat. There is not much in the way of surviving texts that attest of her. Her myth is similar in that, with Apsu, the freshwater oceans beneath the earth, she gives birth to the first gods, An (Heaven) and Ki (Earth).
Omoroca – Stargate-SG1
This source claims to be from Chaldean mythology, which works when you remember that that’s the whole of Mesopotamian mythology between 10th to 6th-century B.C.E.
I had a hard time pinning this one down. During the Hellenistic-Greek era, there is a Babylonian scholar by the name of Berossus who wrote a history of Babylonia. He lived during the time of Alexander, the son of Philip. There’s a lot of Babylonian history that he writes, much of which, modern scholars would see as mythology. He’s not very well known beyond that, making his obscurity excellent fodder for a show to draw from.
A quick search of Omoroca brought up a lot of Stargate-SG1 references, which would imply that the writers are drawing on a historical/mythological source. At the very least, a T.V. show is linking Tiamat with Chaldean mythology to make a show’s mythos more in-depth.
With that grain of salt in mind, Omoroca’s myth starts off much like that of Tiamat’s, wherein the beginning, there is nothing, just darkness and the abyss of water wherein numerous hideous beings and creatures dwell. This is an infinite variety of different beings of every description. All of which are recorded in the temple of Belus in Babylon.
The Stargate wiki in question says that a woman by the name of Omoroca ruled over all of them. That Omoroca’s name in Greek is Thalassa, the sea or the Moon. Belus comes and kills her, creating heaven and earth much like Tiamat’s myth.
Once again, a Stargate-SG1 television source and it does work when linking Belus to Bel-Marduk and thus to Tiamat.
Sitchin Time
According to Zecharia Sitchin, the claim is made that the great battle between Tiamat and Marduk is symbolic for the creation of our solar system’s asteroid belt. Sitchin writes that this asteroid belt was once a planet that the Sumerians called Tiamat. Due to an impact, the planet was destroyed, creating the “Great Band” or asteroid belt. The planetary impact responsible is that of the planet Nibiru, associated with the god Marduk.
Babylonian Astronomy
I will call bunk on Sitchin’s ideas.
When you look at the word Nibiru in the Akkadian language, it refers to a crossing or transition point like with rivers. In Babylonian astronomy, Nibiru came to refer to the Equinox, notably, the Autumn Equinox. In their star lore, the term nibiru can refer to any crossing. Tracking the movement of the stars and planets in the heavens as they appear from Earth. The star or planet associated with Marduk is the one we know modernly as Jupiter.
For the Babylonians, the Autumn Equinox occurred in the month of Tisritum, roughly coinciding with between September and October. If we’re following the Greek Zodiac, then the constellation of Libra is prominent. A further fun fact, depending on the time of the year and the location, the planet Mercury could sometimes be called Nibiru.
Some of it is confusing. Mainly it’s understanding how to read and interpret what the Babylonians meant when tracking the night sky.
Cetus – Greek Mythology & Constellation
While many are familiar with the constellation’s connection to the Grecian story of Andromeda and Perseus in its role as the giant sea monster sent by Poseidon to destroy the coast of Aethiopia.
The constellation of Cetus has been identified with Tiamat, the dragon goddess of Chaos. Marking Tiamat’s story one of many that the Greeks likely inherited from the Mesopotamians and retold for their own legends.
Sandman
Also Known As: John, Jon Blund, Klaas Vaak, Ole Lukøje
Sweet dreams are made of these…
The Sandman is a figure mainly from Western and Northern European folklore who is responsible for sprinkling the sands of sleep so that people can dream. At its heart, it’s a very simple piece folklore that doesn’t seem to have much more than that. Rather, I should say that the Sandman is a deceptively major figure of folklore who appears to be a minor power. How much relevance he will have depends on the nature of the stories he is found in and those can vary widely.
Description: It seems as if a lot of popular media and books will have a description of the sandman as a human-looking male wearing a Victorian-style sleeping gown and nightcap with tassel. He might have a bag of sand or just magically produce it from pockets or thin air.
Then you have other sources of media and books that really play with his description and the Sandman will look like however they want him to look. Since the Sandman’s realm is the Land of Nod or Realm of Dreams, he could probably look however he wanted and suited the needs of the story being told.
The Land of Nod
Not the biblical Land of Nod where Cain was exiled to, but as in the Land of Sleep and Dreams.
First, we can thank Dean Jonathon Swift for this delightful play and pun on words with his 1738 book “A Complete Collection of Genteel and Ingenious Conversation.”
At any rate, the realm of Dreams, Dream Realm or Land of Nod is sometimes shown as being the Sandman’s domain where he reigns all-powerful and supreme, so long as people remain asleep or he doesn’t leave it.
Since it’s dreams, the place can look like anything and anywhere and the Sandman can look however he wants and suit the needs of who’s writing the stories.
Here’s Sand In Your Eyes!
The easiest explanation for a Sandman is the morning crust or rheum that people wake up with around their eyes. It’s common, it happens to everyone and way back when it was easy to believe and explain to young children where this discharge came from by saying that the Sandman brought it as the dust he sprinkles in people’s eyes so they can dream.
Quite frankly, calling it Sleep or Sand is a lot more poetical then calling it rheum, dried discharge or mucus.
Getting A Good Night’s Rest
In many places, the Sandman is known by different names and has slightly different appearances.
Canada – Nilus the Sandman was a television series that aired in the 1990’s.
Denmark – The famous author, Hans Christian Andersen’s 1841 story called Ole Lukøje about the Sandman who sprinkles sand in children’s eyes to sleep. The name Ole Lukøje means “Close Eye” in Danish. Ole Lukøje carries two umbrellas, one of which has pictures underneath, that when he opens it over good children, they have good dreams. The other umbrella is blank, this one Ole Lukøje’s hold over naughty children so they will have a heavy, dreamless sleep. Instead of using sand, Ole Lukøje squirts milk into children’s eyes… a little strange. At the end of the story, it is revealed that Ole Lukøje has a brother, who only visits once, bringing Death. The brother’s name is also Ole Lukøie.
Dutch – In the Netherlands and places like South Africa, the Sandman is known as Klaas Vaak.
Germany – Unser Sandmännchen (Our Little Sandman) is very similar to Anderson’s Ole Lukøje and is part of a television series that been broadcasted since 1959. The show has also been adapted into comic book form.
Scandinavia – The Sandman is the traditional folk character who sprinkles sand or dust into people’s eyes, so they sleep and dream. He’s a feature of many children’s stories.
Sweden – In English translations, the Sandman is known as John or Jon Blund.
The Stuff Of Nightmares
Every now and then, someone likes to write a story featuring the Sandman in a more sinister light. Okay… that makes sense when the story of the Sandman likely comes from exasperated parents trying to get their children to go to sleep, that some variations could hold similarities to stories of the Bogeyman.
Bonhome Sept-Heur – Meaning the Seven O’Clock Guy, this is a French-Canadian figure who will throw sand in children’s eyes who refuse to go to sleep so he can blind them before carrying them away in his bag.
Der Sandmann – Written by E.T.A. Hoffman in 1816 is just one such book wherein the Sandman throws sand in the eyes of children who refuse to go to sleep, causing their eyes to fall out. These would then be collected up and fed to the Sandman’s children on the Moon. Lovely…
In case you’re curious, in 1993, Paul Berry would adapt this story into a stop-motion short that won Craft Prize for “Best Animation” and got an Oscar nomination for “Best Animated Short Film.”
Mos Ene – Meaning Ene the Elder is a Romanian folklore figure very similar to the character described in Der Sandmann.
What Dreams May Come…
DC Comics – there have been a few characters who have carried the name of Sandman, at least one appears to be the actual folkloric figure where the other used hypnotic sand to control people. The later appears in an episode from the 1960’s Batman series.
Marvel Comics – The Sandman appears as a villain to the hero Spider-man. It must be stressed and noted that this version of Sandman has nothing to do with dreams, just sand, turning into, manipulating and controlling it.
Marvel has another villain from it’s Journey Into Mystery comics in 1961. This Sandman was an alien who crash-landed on earth.
The Sandman – This is a 75-part comic book series written by Neil Gaiman that many people are probably familiar with. The title character rules over a dream world and appears to various characters in the series in different guises and names.
There are several other comics that feature a Sandman character.
Miles To Go Before I Sleep…
There are several different songs and poems that all reference the Sandman to one degree or another. The most famous of these is the 1954 song “Mister Sandman” by The Chordettes. Other songs and poems will have the Sandman as a focus or just briefly mentioned as allusions to sleep and dreams. Of course, there is Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” that isn’t very pleasant as it sings of dreams turning into nightmares.
There are also a few movies that the Sandman has appeared, Disney’s The Santa Clause series where he is a member of the Legendary Council and Dreamwork’s Rise of the Guardians where the Sandman is one such member and Guardian of Dreams.
Der Sandmann Kommt
Many of our stories for the Sandman begin to appear in the 18th century. Though the stories are likely older as a means of trying to explain the sleep or rheum, crust on one’s eyelids in the morning. Stories of the Sandman could have circulated as cautionary tales to try and get children to behave, especially if Hoffman’s Der Sandmann is used as a source.
In Germany, the idioms for “der Sandmann kommt,” meaning “the Sandman comes” have been found in German to French dictionaries dated to 1771. It’s used to describe a person who’s about to fall asleep. A later 1798 German grammar book posits the idiom as a phrase used by adults in a humorous manner towards children who are tired. That’s just German culture and the understanding is that such an idiom is likely to have been around a while in usage before making its way into dictionaries and grammar books.
Greek Origins?
Maybe? That seems to stretch it a bit. Though it brings us back to Hans Christian Anderson’s Ole Lukøje and his brother of the same name. Where one brings sleep and the other brings death.
In Greek mythology, Nyx, the goddess of Night and Erebus, the god of Darkness have two children by the name of Hypnos, the god of Sleep and Thanatos, the god of Death. These two brothers live near each other in the Underworld. Which suddenly makes Anderson’s tale have a lot more sense.
Taking Hypnos’ Roman name or equivalent deity, Somnus, three of his children are Morpheus, the God of Dreams, Phobetor or Frightener who takes various animal forms and Phantasos who is Fantasy or Imagination. It needs to be noted that these three of Morpheus, Phobetor, and Phantasos make their first appearances in Ovid’s Metamorphosis and are likely literary concepts used to try and break down, better explain dreams.
It makes it easy to see the Sandman in European folklore as an amalgam of all these deities or he’s just Hypnos/Somnus in modern-day.
Marduk
Etymology: “Bull Calf of the Sun,” “Calf of the Sun” or “Solar Calf”
Also known as: Bel (“Lord,” Akkadian), Bel-Marduk, Murdoch
Other Spellings: 𒀭𒀫𒌓 (Cuniform), dAMAR.UTU, Amar utu k (Sumerian), Μαρδοχαῖος, Mardochaios (Greek), מְרֹדַךְ, Mərōdaḵ (Masoretic Hebrew), Merōḏaḵ (Tiberian), Marōdak (Septuagint), Merodach (Biblical Hebrew), Martuk
Pronunciation: mah’-duk
In Mesopotamian mythology, Marduk is a fertility and storm deity of Babylon. He is known for defeating the dragon goddess Tiamat and becoming the Leader of the Babylonian pantheon.
Marduk came to prominence as the patron deity of the city of Babylon during the rule of Hammruabi, the sixth king of the First Babylonian dynasty of the Amorites in the 18th century B.C.E. when Babylon became the political center of the Euphrates valley. Marduk’s full acceptance as the head of the Babylonian pantheon would be completed by the last half of the second millennium B.C.E.
Attributes
Animal: Dogs, Horse, Mušḫuššu (Snake-Dragon)
Element: Air, Water
Planet: Jupiter
Sphere of Influence: Fertility, Judgement, Storms, Vegetation
Symbols: Hoe, Spade
Weapon: Imhullu
Mesopotamian Depictions
In what surviving art and texts we have, Marduk is shown as being human dressed in royal robes decorated with stars. Marduk is often accompanied by his snake-dragon that he got from the god Tishpak.
When shown riding in his war chariot, Marduk carries his other emblems of a scepter, arrows, bow, spear, net and lightning bolt.
What’s In A Name?
To start, there is some controversy over the translation of Marduk’s name. There is the Sumerian dAMAR.UD that translates as: “calf of the sun/sun-god.” Then comes the suggestion that this spelling should call for the translation of: “calf of the storm,” “the son of the storm, and “maker of storms.” The latter translation is often rejected due to a lack of evidence with Marduk’s role as a storm god. Accepting this interpretation of the name nixes any connection to Marduk as a solar deity.
The Akkadian spelling for Marduk’s name is AMAR.UTU that translates to mean MERI.DUG. The name is translated to mean “Solar Calf.” In the Hebrew Torah, his name is spelled as Merodach and the Greek spelling of his name is given as Mardochaios.
Marduk’s name is thought to derive from the phrase: amar-Utu meaning: “Bull Calf of the Sun God Utu.” This naming convention could easily be an indicator of early genealogy. Or, it’s an indicator of cultural ties to the city of Sippar, whose main deity was Utu, a Sun God. The city of Sippar dates to the third millennium B.C.E.
The Encyclopedia of Religion comments that the name Marduk was likely pronounced as Marutuk.
Temple Sites
Esagila – “Temple whose top is raised” or “Proud/Honored Temple.” While Marduk would come to claim prominence throughout most of Mesopotamia, his primary temple is Esagila, located in Babylon. This is the famous ziggurat that’s described by Herodotus.
Etemenanki – “Temple that is the foundation of Heavens and Earth” A ziggurat with Marduk’s shrine located at the top. This may be the temple that inspired the “Tower of Babel.”
Cult of Marduk – As the patron god of Babylon, this city was the main location for Marduk’s worship. The rise and popularity of this religion venerating Marduk is tied closely with the rise of Babylon as a strong political power and capital of the Mesopotamian empire. To the degree that many other deities were subsumed and seen as aspects and epitaphs of Marduk. Outside of Babylon, Marduk was worshipped in Borsippa, Nippur, and Sippar.
In the Assyrian period of Babylonian history, Aššur becomes the head of the pantheon and Marduk takes on a symbolic role of Babylon’s resistance to Assyrian rule. The cult of Aššur would compete with the cult of Marduk. In the Assyrian version of the Enūma Eliš, it is Aššur who becomes the head of the pantheon, not Marduk.
The Marduk Prophecy also shows the conflicts of this change of power as Marduk’s statue is continually “taken captive” until finally the resulting destruction of Babylon and Esagila with the different shifts of power in the region.
Marduk Statue
This is a very important aspect of the ancient world beliefs and Mesopotamia is no different. Within the temple of Esagila there was a golden statue of Marduk. This statue wasn’t just dedicated to Marduk, the ancient Mesopotamians believed that statue to actually be the god himself. Seen in the Marduk Prophecy, if the statue of the god wasn’t present, then he wasn’t in his temple or there to protect his city-state and all sorts of calamities and problems would happen.
Originating during the rule of the Kassites, a new king wishing to see his rule as legitimate, needed to “take the hands of Marduk,” symbolizing the king’s submission and accepting the will and guidance of the god.
In 485 B.C.E., the Persian king Xerxes attacked the city of Babylon and there is no mention of Marduk’s statue. The same goes when Alexander the Great conquers Babylon in 331 B.C.E., there’s no mention of the statue. This lack of evidence and records leads many scholars to believe and agree that Marduk’s statue disappearance from history means that it has, in all likelihood been destroyed.
Without a statue, the Babylonian religion and worship of Marduk declined.
Akitu Festival
This was the ancient New Year’s festival that the Sumerians and Mesopotamian cultures celebrated. This festival occurred sometime during March and April, marking the planting of barley. This festival was presided over by Nabu and Marduk to such a degree, that a text known as the Akitu Chronicle documents a time when the festival couldn’t be observed as Marduk (his physical statue, thus him) wasn’t present in the city of Babylon. Without the statue to carry through the city out to a small house outside the city walls, the people thought that disaster would soon befall them if the patron god wasn’t there to stop the forces of chaos.
Every year at the Akitu House located outside the city, the Enuma Elish would be recited for the New Year’s festival. There was also involved a ritual slapping of the king. Gotta’ stay humble, I guess.
Parentage and Family
Anu – Grandfather and the original head of the Mesopotamian pantheon before other deities arrive on the scene.
Parents
Ea – The previous head and leader of the gods before stepping down. Known as Enki in Sumerian. Ea was the creator god, associated with the fresh, life-giving waters.
Damkina – A Fertility and Mother goddess originally known as Ninhursag.
Consort
Sarpanitu – Also spelled Zarpanitu. She is a Mother and Fertility Goddess
Nanaya – She is sometimes given as Marduk’s wife in the myths.
Children
Nabu – Son and god of literature, scribes and wisdom. Nabu was originally Marduk’s first minister before being identified as his son.
Birth Of A Legend
For as old and ancient as the Mesopotamian mythologies are, it makes sense that we might not know that much about them. To a point.
Marduk goes from obscurity with almost nobody knowing anything about him in the third millennium B.C.E. to the head of the Mesopotamian pantheon in Babylon in the first millennium B.C.E.
By the time the Enuma Elish is written, Marduk’s original nature has already been altered and obscured. As now, he’s a deity linked to the attributes of judgment, magic, vegetation, and water. He is now identified as the son of Ea and Damkina.
As the politics of Babylon and the whole of the Euphrates Valley ramped up, Marduk’s attributes and aspects begin to alter as he would be placed as the head of the Mesopotamian pantheon, especially for his patron city-state of Babylon.
Once Babylon becomes the capital of Mesopotamia, Marduk who was currently just a patron deity of the city now ascends to become the head of the Mesopotamian pantheon and a supreme deity, ruling or presiding over everything else. Explaining this power shift of head honcho, head god and the transfer of power from Ea to Marduk, the Enûma Elish gets written, showing a peaceful abdication of power as Ea steps down and concedes rulership to his son.
There are a couple little snags later on, such as the revival of the god Enlil’s worship to Marduk, reflecting a real-world, historical rise of the cult of Enlil during Kassite control in Babylon between 1570 B.C.E. to 1157 B.C.E. The worship of Marduk and thus, his triumph over Enlil returns at the end of this era of Kassite control.
The other snag to Marduk’s popularity and his being the supreme deity comes during 1000 B.C.E. when the deity Aššur up north in Assyria gains popularity and worship. Down in the southern parts of the region, Marduk is still the head deity. The history of these events is reflected in the Marduk Prophecy.
Enuma Elish
This ancient epic creation poem was written in the 18th century B.C.E. when the city of Babylon becomes the political capital of Mesopotamia. It’s largely written to show Marduk’s birth, many of his heroic deeds and how Ea (Enki) steps down to allow Marduk, in a relatively peaceful transfer of power to become the king and head of the pantheon.
The Enuma Elish begins at the start of time when the universe is nothing more than chaos with freshwater represented by Apsu and saltwater represented by Tiamat, a dragoness. The male and female principles, not unlike the concept seen in the Japanese Yin & Yang. The joining of these two primordial deities would see the creation of all the other gods, known as the Anunnaki.
While Tiamat loved all her children, Apsu, on the other hand, didn’t care for them, saying they were too noisy, keeping him up all night and unable to get any work done during the day. Apsu’s response to this problem was to kill his children.
A horrified Tiamat told her eldest son, Enki of what Apsu planned. Enki decided that the best plan for dealing with this was to put Apsu into a deep sleep and then kill him. From Apsu’s corpse, Enki then creates his home, the earth and the marshy region of Eridu.
This further horrifies Tiamat who wasn’t expecting for Enki to just up and kill Apsu. As a result, she decided to wage war on her own children. The mighty Tiamat raises up an army of chaos and sets Kingu (Quingu) as the general of this army and her new consort.
This has Enki and the other gods worried about what to do. That is, until Marduk steps forward, saying he will lead everyone in this war. Marduk has one condition, that is that he be named as the new king of the pantheon. Enki agrees and Marduk leads the Anunnaki to battle.
Marduk prepares his weapons consisting of bow and arrows, a mace, lightning as he is a storm god, flames and a net. Gathering up the four winds, Marduk encircles and nets the mighty Tiamat to prevent her from escaping him. New winds are created by Marduk such as whirlwinds and tornadoes. As he is a storm god, Marduk brings down a fierce flood of rain. It’s a battle between a storm god and a primordial goddess of chaos and the sea, it’s epic as Marduk rides in his storm-chariot pulled by four horses who have poison in their mouths. Spellcasting and an herbal antidote as Marduk faces off against one of the mightiest dragons known in mythology.
After Marduk finally slays Tiamat with an arrow to her stomach, he then goes after Tiamat’s son, Kingu who oversaw the army and wears the Tablets of Destiny over his chest. Marduk makes short work of Kingu in single combat, claiming the tablets and establishing himself as the new head of the pantheon.
This is a lot of power that Marduk has now accumulated and he sets about to create the universe. But didn’t that already exist? He’s at least making a new one as Marduk takes the two halves of Tiamat’s corpse to create the heavens and the earth, completing the work started by Enki. From Tiamat’s eyes, the Tigris and Euphrates rivers flow.
With Kingu’s blood, Marduk mixes it with the earth to create the first humans. The creation of humans would allow the gods the leisure time and the time to focus on higher purposes, taking care of human needs as humanity basically did the grunt work. All humans would need to do is respect and give heed to the will of the gods living in Eridu with Marduk ruling overall as a benevolent god.
That doesn’t sound like it will end well and I’m sure there’s another story concerning that.
Side Note: Depending on the version of the creation myth, it is solely Marduk involved in all of it and there’s no mention of Enki.
Further, knowing that this is a revision of the original myths, I’m curious about what the originals may have been.
Eridu – The First City
Yes, there really is a historical site for an ancient city of this name. Eridu is the oldest city built by the Mesopotamians around 5400 B.C.E. Depending on who you ask, it may be the oldest city in the world. In the Babylonian texts, namely Enuma Elish, it is a holy city where all the other gods lived a life of leisure.
This city was originally the city-state for the god Enki who is later known as Ea by the Akkadians. For modern times, it was first excavated by John George Taylor in 1855. Later, archeological discoveries found that the city was ultimately abandoned around 600 B.C.E. due to a change in climate as the water became more salinized from all the constant irrigation.
As seen later, in the Marduk Prophecy, with the Enuma Elish, the story here likely reflects on the transition from Eridu to Babylon as it became the political and religious center of the Euphrates valley and a cultural shift as the newer city becomes more prominent over the older city of Eridu.
Revisionist History – Scholars have noted that the city of Eridu is founded in the 5th millennium B.C.E. and that Marduk ascends to head of the Mesopotamian pantheon in the 2nd millennium B.C.E. That is a lot of time to have passed. It clearly marks that someone decided to rewrite the myths to favor Marduk when his popularity and the importance of Babylon as a political center become prominent.
Fertility God
Marduk is a god of fertility and vegetation and thus, agriculture. The triangular spade or hoe that Marduk is shown with in some art represents his role and power over fertility and vegetation.
The roles and aspects of Marduk being a Spring, Storm and Solar god also blend in with this function. However, making these connections relies on accepting certain etymological interpretations for Marduk’s name.
Patron God
As a patron god, Marduk, not just King of the gods, also presided over the city of Babylon. The importance of a patron deity is shown in the Marduk Prophecy where Babylon has fallen to chaos and disarray when Marduk’s statue and thus the god himself leaves and order is later restored when King Nebuchadnezzar returns Marduk’s statue to the city.
Not the Original Patron – This was a fun little fact to come across. Before Marduk became the patron god of Babylon, that honor belonged to Inanna, goddess of sexuality and warfare. She would still be a prominent and important goddess throughout the Mesopotamian culture.
Protector
Marduk’s role as Patron, also places him prominently as a protector deity. Aside from the Akitu Chronicles and the Marduk Prophecy, there are two other texts: “The Ludlul-Bel-Nimeqi” and “The Wrath of Erra” that highlight just how vital having one’s patron deity present was, not just for the city, but for the individual as well.
The Ludlul-Bel-Nimeqi – Also called the “Let me praise the Lord of Wisdom” or “The Poem of the Righteous Sufferer,” it is often classified as “Wisdom Literature.” This text is a long treatise some four tablets long with 120 lines each. that details the amount of suffering that Tabu-utu-bel, a city official of Nippur goes through because Marduk isn’t close enough to help as he is too far away for any meaningful help. Biblical scholars have compared this text with the Book of Job for the themes of suffering when one’s God seems absent.
The Wrath of Erra – This is another text, in which the war god, Erra (Irra or Nergal) grows bored and decides the only way to cure his boredom is to attack Babylon. The other gods try to persuade Erra that this is a bad idea and don’t do it. Undaunted, Erra heads off to Babylon anyways. Once there, Erra convinces Marduk that his clothes are shabby and perhaps he should go about getting some new threads. Marduk says he’s much too busy to take of this matter and Erra convinces Marduk that he’ll watch over the city. Off Marduk goes and Erra takes advantage of the opportunity to proceed with destroying the city and killing civilians. Depending on the source translated from, either the other gods stop Erra’s path of destruction or he’s halted when Marduk finally returns with his fancy new duds. Regardless, the story ends with giving praise to Erra, the god of war for sparing a part of the city so people could rebuild.
Yay?
The idea of having a protector and patron god of one’s city was very strong among the Babylonians. This was their whole city and personal identity that in 485 B.C.E. the Persian king Xerxes had Marduk’s statue destroyed when he sacked the city. Eventually, with the sands of time, Babylon is deserted and left to ruin and people have forgotten about worshiping Marduk.
King Of The Gods
As head of the Mesopotamian pantheon, Marduk takes on a lot of aspects. In some cases, this is taking over the role of other gods who had previously been the head of the pantheon. Such aspects that Marduk comes to preside over are justice, compassion, mercy, healing, regeneration, magic.
Mušḫuššu
A “snake-dragon, mušḫuššu is Marduk’s sacred animal that he got from the god Tishpak. The mušḫuššu is depicted on the city walls of Babylon.
50 Titles
If you ask me this is a lot of titles and epitaphs to be known by. We get this list from two different sources, “The Seven Tablets of Creation” that Leonard W. King studied in 1902 to reconstruct from fragments a list of names. Then there is the “King’s List” that Franz Bohl studied in 1936. Finally, we get to 1958, when Richard Litke compared and noticed similarities with Marduk’s name between the two lists of An (Anum, a deity list) and Enuma Elish.
These names demonstrate the level of prominence that Marduk held within the Babylonian pantheon. These fifty names of Marduk are found and documented in the Enûma Elish and the Anum.
Why 50? – The number 50 was originally associated with the god Enlil, the former head of the pantheon. So this is just part of showing the transfer of power from Enlil to Marduk.
Asalluhi – As Marduk came to prominence, he took over the role and identity of Asalluhi, the son of Ea and god of incantations and magic. With both Asalluhi and Marduk becoming equated as the same entity, Asalluhi’s name survives as one of Marduk’s many names and epitaphs. Some commentary has noted that equating or syncretizing Marduk and Asalluhi together is a means to create a stronger tie to the god Ea and the city of Eridu as Ea was not part of the original pantheon.
Bel – Meaning “Lord,” this is the name that Marduk would eventually be known by, making him a god of order and destiny.
He is normally referred to as Bel “Lord”, also bel rabim “great lord”, bêl bêlim “lord of lords”, ab-kal ilâni bêl terêti “leader of the gods”, aklu bêl terieti “the wise, lord of oracles”, muballit mîte “reviver of the dead”, etc.
The Marduk Prophecy
This is an interesting text, not so much as it’s telling prophecies, but more about being a history around the movement of Marduk’s cult as they follow Marduk’s statue from Babylon. This text was found at the House of the Exorcist in Assur and dates from 713 to 612 B.C.E. It appears to be similar to another set of texts, the Shulgi prophecy.
It begins with Marduk’s statue getting stolen by Mursilis I of Hatti in 1531 B.C.E. The god Marduk is described as visiting the land of Assyria. Then, when a Tukulti-Ninurta I overthrows Kashtiliash IV in 1225 B.C.E., Marduk’s statue is taken Assur and then Elam as Kudur-nahhunte sacks the city in 1160 B.C.E.
Each time, Marduk is described as willingly heading off to visit these places. Which makes sense when you remember that this far back, a statue of a deity… hence an idol was the actual deity in question, not just a representation.
The way Marduk’s travels are told, they are allegories of the history involved. The first couple of journeys that Marduk takes are fairly favorable. When it comes to the city-state of Elam, that’s a whole other matter as the other gods following after Marduk, likely shows the changing climate of the region as they abandon Babylon due to famine and pestilence.
There’s also a familiar theme as Marduk prophecies that he will return again to Babylon with a new king will rise to power bringing about redemption and salvation to the city, taking it back from the Elamites and restoring the Ekursagila temple. Where the Marduk Prophecy is concerned, King Nabu-kudurri-uṣur (Nebuchadnezzar), who reigned from 1125 to 1103 B.C.E. is accepted as being the king who returns Marduk’s statue to Babylon and is victorious over the Elamites.
The main importance of the Marduk Prophecy text is to highlight the necessity of the patron deity staying in Babylon. Each time that the Marduk statue (Marduk himself) is abducted, chaos falls on the city of Babylon while the places where the statue resides, prosper.
Like some epic game of football where the opposing team comes and steals the home team’s mascot to weaken their morale.
Propaganda?
No! Say it isn’t so!
Remember the previously mentioned King Nebuchadnezzar? It’s been noted that the dates of when the Marduk Prophecy (1 millennium B.C.E.) and even the Enuma Elish both date to around the time of Nebuchadnezzar’s rule and reign between 1125-1103 B.C.E. It makes him look good for restoring order (his defeat of the Elamites and bringing Marduk’s statue back) that he’s the prophesied king come to do Marduk’s will.
Jupiter – Roman
With Marduk’s position and role as the head of the Mesopotamian pantheon, the Romans equated him with Jupiter, the head of their pantheon.
Zeus – Greek
With Marduk’s position and role as the head of the Mesopotamian pantheon, the Greeks equated him with Zeus, the head of their pantheon.
Bel – Babylonian
Yes, Bel is previously mentioned earlier as one of Marduk’s fifty names.
He is mentioned as being a separate deity here as in the 1 millennium B.C.E., by the time we get to this era of history, as a title, Bel is the name that other deities Enlil and Dumuzid, not just Marduk have been known by.
Taken separately, Bel holds all the titles and aspects that Enlil did. To the point that Bel eventually becomes a god of order and destiny. Even Greek historians mentioned Bel in their writings. As a separate deity, Bel was the god of order and destiny. Both Marduk and Bel’s cults were similar, so it’s not hard to see how Bel becomes absorbed and an epitaph for Marduk.
Bel and the Dragon – This is a Jewish story and apocryphal addition to the Book of Daniel in which the Babylonians offer a substantial amount of food and wine every day to an idol of Bel. This vast quantity of food seemingly, miraculously disappears each night. This is enough to convince the Persian king Cyrus the Great that the idol is alive, and he tells Daniel this.
Daniel being a wise man and rather smart knows this isn’t the case. Afterall Daniel says it’s clay on the inside and bronze outside. It likely has never eaten anything. To prove this, Daniel discreetly covers the floor of the temple with ash.
Both Daniel and Cyrus leave for the night. When they return in the morning, Daniel is able to point out the footprints left behind, thus proving that it is the seventy priests of Bel who are eating the food, not the idol.
Biblical Connections
Some scholars point out that the name Bel is derived from the Semitic word “Baal” that has the same meaning of “Lord.” There are several places within the Bible where Bel is mentioned, this more than likely referencing Marduk. The Hebrew version of Marduk’s name, Merodach is found in many places in the Bible as a surname for non-Israeli kings.
Continuing this trend for Biblical Connections, Marduk and a couple other Mesopotamian and Canaanite deities are made mention of in the Torah or Old Testament.
Thanks to Cyrus the Great of Persia, when he captured Babylon, he reversed the policies of the previous ruler by calling for the rebuilding of temples and reinstating religions that had been destroyed or banned before.
Where the Bible (Torah) is concerned, Cyrus allowed the Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild their temple to Yahweh. Cyrus records inspiration for this as coming from Marduk. The bible will say that it is Yahweh who inspired Cyrus.
The “Cyrus Cylinder” found in 1879 at Babylon records the following: “Marduk, the great Lord, established as his fate for me a magnanimous heart of one who loves Babylon, and I daily attended to his worship… I returned the images of the gods, who had resided there [in Babylon], to their places; and I let them dwell in eternal abodes. I gathered all their inhabitants and returned to them their dwellings… at the command of Marduk.”
In the Book of Ezra 5:13 this event is recorded: “In the first year of Cyrus king of Babylon, King Cyrus issued a decree to rebuild this house of God.”
The Book of Isaiah is where Yahweh is given credit for inspiring Cyrus.
“I will raise up Cyrus in my righteousness:
I will make all his ways straight.
He will rebuild my city
and set my exiles free” (Isaiah 45:13)
The connections don’t end there, Biblical scholars see a similar theme with Marduk’s slaying Tiamat with the Canaanite story of Baal slaying Tannin and notably Yahweh’s defeating the giant sea monster Leviathan in Psalm 74: 13-14 or a future time in Isaiah 27:1.
The previously mentioned Etemenanki temple is thought to be the inspiration for the Tower of Babel. Babylon’s destruction is prophesied in the book of Jeremiah (50:2).
Who do you accept? It’s a matter of two different religions, cultures and perspectives. Of course, it’s easy, after the fact, to say there was divine intervention and that it is all prophesied.
Sitchin Time
According to Zecharia Sitchin, the claim is made that the great battle between Tiamat and Marduk is symbolic for the creation of our solar system’s asteroid belt. Sitchin writes that this asteroid belt was once a planet that the Sumerians called Tiamat. Due to an impact, the planet was destroyed, creating the “Great Band” or asteroid belt. The planetary impact responsible is that of the planet Nibiru, associated with the god Marduk.
Babylonian Astronomy, Astrology & Zodiac
I will call bunk on Sitchin’s ideas.
When you look at the word Nibiru in the Akkadian language, it refers to a crossing or transition points like with rivers. In Babylonian astronomy, Nibiru came to refer to the Equinox, notably, the Autumn Equinox. In their star lore, the term nibiru can refer to any crossing. Tracking the movement of the stars and planets in the heavens as they appear from Earth. The star or planet associated with Marduk is the one we know modernly as Jupiter.
For the Babylonians, the Autumn Equinox occurred in the month of Tisritum, roughly coinciding with between September and October. If we’re following the Greek Zodiac, then the constellation of Libra is prominent. A further fun fact, depending on the time of the year and the location of the planet Mercury, it could sometimes be called Nibiru.
Some of it is confusing. Mainly it’s understanding how to read and interpret what the Babylonians meant when tracking the night sky.
It should come as no surprise, that as old as the Mesopotamian cultures and religions are, that they would have mapped out the night sky to mark the turning of the seasons, creating a calendar. Many of these early constellations and zodiacs were adopted by the later Greeks who incorporated the constellations into their own mythology.
In Babylonian beliefs, it is Marduk who creates the astrological calendar and mapped out the different signs of the Zodiac. Marduk would be identified with the planet Jupiter, who of course is later equated with the Greek Zeus and renamed for the Roman deity Jupiter as all three are heads of their respective pantheons.
Cetus – Greek Mythology & Constellation
While many are familiar with the constellation’s connection to the Grecian story of Andromeda and Perseus in its role as the giant sea monster sent by Poseidon to destroy the coast of Aethiopia.
The constellation of Cetus has been identified with Tiamat, the dragon goddess of Chaos. Marking Tiamat’s story one of many that the Greeks likely inherited from the Mesopotamians and retold for their legends.
Tannin
Etymology – Crocodile (Modern Hebrew), Serpent or Snake, Dragon
There may be a root word that means “howling” or it is in reference to the way smoke spirals or coils upwards. The first part of the word, “tan” likely means or refers to snakes and lizards that are seen as foul or hidden. In Modern Hebrew, tannin can refer to either alligators or crocodiles.
Alternate Spellings: tannina (tannine for plural), Tanin, Tinnin (Arabic), Tunannu (Ugaritic), Ophioneus (Phoenician)
Pronunciation: tan-neen
For those who are Bible Scholars and know their Torah or the Old Testament, they will likely already be familiar with Tannin (or Tanninim for plural) of who and what it is.
Depending on the interpretations and the context that Tannin appears, it will be either a dragon, a serpent or a large sea monster.
Chaoskampf
The struggle against Chaos; this is a familiar motif found throughout the world in many different regions and mythologies of a culture hero or god going up against a creature of chaos. This creature is often shown as and takes the form of a great serpent or dragon. This is the familiar Knight slaying the Dragon seen in many European mythologies. Parallels to this concept are even found in other cultures.
Tannin is no different as it is used as a symbol of chaos and evil in the ancient Canaanite, Mesopotamian and Phoenician mythologies and beliefs that are much older and more ancient than medieval stories of slaying dragons. Much like how Tiamat is equated as a symbol of chaos in Mesopotamian mythology. It is this part of being a sea monster or dragon and symbolic of chaos that has modern scholars identifying Tiamat with Tannin.
Judaic Mythology
Tanninim appears in the Hebraic Books of Genesis, Exodus, Deuteronomy, Psalms, Job, Ezekiel, Isaiah and Jeremiah. Tanninim are among the many creatures created by God or Yahweh on the fifth day during the creation story in Genesis. The description of these creatures varies widely depending on the context of the scripture they’re referenced in.
The translation into the King James Bible will translate most of these instances to mean a whale. Back to the Genesis creation story, tanninim are translated as whales.
Why mention one particular creature, Tannin in all of these other passages and books and then call it a dag gadol in one Jonah? It’s assumed that whales are what’s being mentioned. Yet when we get into Isaiah, tannin is again mentioned as a sea monster that will be slain by God or Yahweh. When we go back into the King James Bible, that translation of tannin becomes dragon.
So, if dag gadol is a whale or rather, a great fish; then what’s tannin? Sticking to just Jewish mythology, tannin is often linked to the sea monsters Leviathan, Lotan and Rehab. In modern Hebrew, tannin means crocodile or alligator.
Alongside the name Rahab, Tannin is the name used to reference ancient Egypt after the exodus to Canaan.
It’s really interesting and fascinating the number of times that the word tannin is used, such as Aaron’s staff turning into a tannin in the Hebrew version of Exodus and the King James translation uses snake. Or wherein other instances, the translation is dragon.
Jackals – Since we’re already about translations. When translating the word Tannin into English, a bit of care needs to be taken.
Tannin is singular and Tanninim is plural for serpents or dragons. If the word is misspelled, then you get Tannim, the plural for Tan or Jackal. Something that can cause confusion among Bible scholars when translating texts and given the confusion with Tannin alone, this just adds fuel to the fire for which context and what creature is being referred to.
Whales – Since Tannin could exist on land and sea, given the variety of translations, such as in the Greek bible, Septuagint a whale is sometimes mentioned as being what’s referred to, notably in the Genesis creation story and the story of Jonah and the Whale.
Kabbalah – A blind, cosmic dragon called Tanin’iver is Lilith’s steed.
It’s not just in the Kabbalah, the name Tannin can also be the name for a demon as they can take the shape of dragons.
Canaanite Mythology
Tannin appears specifically in the Baal Cycle. It is a story similar to the Mesopotamian myth of Marduk (or Enlil) slaying Tiamat and the Grecian Perseus slaying Cetus or Zeus slaying Typhon.
Tannin is a monstrous servant of the sea god Yam who is defeated by Baal or it is bound by his sister Anat. In the myth, Tannin is described as serpentine in appearance and likely has a double tail.
As the story goes, from the Ugarit texts found at Ras Shamra and other places that have been translated, Baal and Yamm weren’t the best of buddies and their conflicts are symbolic of the short Syrian winters with the conflicting weather of rain, hail, and tides. Baal and Yamm were fighting over who would take over as head of the pantheon after El is stepping down. El had told Yamm he would get to take charge and Baal wasn’t happy with the news.
Yamm keeps on sending messengers to Baal about this edict and Baal is having none of it. With the aid of Kothar to create some magical clubs, Baal eventually defeats Yamm.
Baal’s conquering of Tannin and defeating Yam has been seen as being similar to the myths of Zeus defeating the Titans to become King of the Gods or when Zeus usurps Poseidon as King of the Gods from Mycenean Greece to the more well-known Ancient Greece.
Jumping back to the Judaic mythology, scholars have noted that a passage in the book of Isaiah parallels the Baal Cycle. In the Ugaritic passage for the Baal Cycle, Tannin is described as “the encircler.” The other description given is “the mighty one with seven heads.” It gets debated between the Ugaritic and Hebraic texts if this is three separate figures being described or if these are epitaphs of Lotan or Leviathan.
Me, being a lover of mythology, “the encircler” makes me think of Norse mythology and the Midgard serpent Jormungand. And the seven heads, D&D anyone and the evil dragon goddess of chaos, Tiamat?
Mesopotamian Mythology
The Enuma Elish from Babylonian myth is a creation myth showcasing Marduk and his rise to becoming the head god of the Babylonian pantheon of gods. Tiamat is the primordial goddess of chaos often depicted as a dragon. After she declares war on the gods, Ea tasks his son Marduk to go slay Tiamat. The result of which is her death and the creation of heaven and earth from the two halves of her body.
Tiamat – It has been noted the similarities between Tannin in the Baal Cycle with Marduk defeating Tiamat.
It’s not hard to see a similarity and a possible connection between the two. And, for the longest time, Biblical scholars did think that the Old Testament or Torah referenced the Babylonian myths. That would change in 1924 with the discovery of texts found in Ras Shamra or Ugarit as it was anciently known. Once the Ugarit texts were translated, it became apparent that the Old Testament references the ancient Canaanite mythology more.
Dragons & Dinosaurs
Dinosaurs in the Bible! The usage of the word Tannin and how it gets translated to mean dragon, based on the context to which it’s translated into the King James and other versions of the Bible, likely and strongly contributes to this idea.
After all, there are those who, on taking a cursory look at paleontology and history know that anciently, people who came across the fossilized remains of giant creatures from millions of years ago believed that it was possible that these creatures and monsters were still around. There wasn’t the understanding of fossils, how they form and just how ancient these remains are.
The word and term dinosaur are relatively new as it originates in 1841 with British scientist Sir Richard Owen. Before this, the term dragon was applied, especially to the more reptilian looking fossils. The descriptions between both dinosaur and dragon could lead many, who want a literal translation and understanding of the Bible to mean dinosaur.
However, seeing that Tannin has the meaning of crocodile in Hebraic. We’re still describing a real creature. This just may be a more plausible explanation. Especially with any of the prehistoric crocodiles. Even today, the alligators in Florida, U.S.A. can get fairly huge.
Those who aim for a more scholarly approach to the Bible, know that mention of dragons tended to be poetical or symbolic and likely remnants of mythology within this text, the triumph of order over chaos.
There certainly is a level of confusion and some suppositions put forward say it could be Hippopotamuses that are being referenced. Some might try and apply the newer understandings from paleontology and the classification of animals that Tannin is just a generalized use word for any large, unknown animal that could be dangerous and thus scary.
Sea Serpents By Any Other Name….
Cetus – The Grecian sea monster that depending on the translation given, is either a sea monster or a monstrous whale.
Illuyanka – The name of a giant serpent killed by Tarḫunz in Hittite mythology.
Jormungand – This is the infamous sea serpent from Norse mythology that encircles the earth.
Leviathan – The name of a giant, monstrous sea serpent mentioned in the Books of Job, Isaiah, Amos, and Psalms.
Lotan – Originating more in Canaanite mythology, this is a sea creature much older than Leviathan and was just one of Yam’s many sea servants he could call on. Additionally, Lotan is also known by the name Tannanu that is similar to the name Tannin.
Rahab – A sea serpent associated with the Red Sea, Rahab is often equated with Tannin. It also the more poetic name for Egypt in medieval Jewish folklore.
