Simo Parpola

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Simo Parpola is professor of Assyriology at the University of Helsinki located in Helsinki, Finland. He specialized in epigraphy of the Akkadian language, and has been working on the Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project since 1987. He is also Honorary Member of the American Oriental Society [1].

Parpola re-interpreted various Assyrian tablets in terms of these primitive Sefirot, such as the Epic Of Gilgamesh. He proposed that the scribes had been writing philosophical-mystical tracts, rather than mere adventure stories, and concluded that traces of this Assyrian mode of thought and philosophy eventually reappeared in Greek Philosophy and the Kabbalah.

Dr. Simo Parpola has suggested that the oldest versions of the Sephirot extend from Assyrian theology and mysticism. Noting the general similarity between the Sephirot of the Kabbalah and the tree of life of Assyrian mysticism, he reconstructed what an Assyrian antecedent to the Sephirot would look like^[1]. Matching the characteristics of Ein Sof on the nodes of the Sephirot to the gods of Assyria, he found textual parallels between these Assyrian gods and the characteristics of the Jewish God.

The Assyrians assigned specific numbers to their gods, similar to the way the Kabbalah assigns numbers to the nodes of the Sephirot. However, the Assyrians used a sexagesimal number system, whereas the Sephirot use a decimal system. Using the Assyrian numbers, additional layers of meaning and mystical relevance appear in the Sephirot. Normally, floating above the Assyrian tree of life was the god Assur—this corresponds to Ein Sof, which is also, via a series of transformations, supposedly derived from the Assyrian word Assur.

Dr. Parpola remarks on the general similarity between the Sefirot of the Kabbalistic Tree of Life and the Tree of Life of Assyria. He reconstructed what an Assyrian antecedent to the Sephiroth might look like,^[2] and noted parallels between the characteristics of En Sof on the nodes of the Sefirot and the gods of Assyria. The Assyrians assigned specific numbers to their gods, similar to the numbering of the Sefirot. However, the Assyrians use a sexagesimal number system, whereas the Sefiroth is decimal. With the Assyrian numbers, additional layers of meaning and mystical relevance appear in the Sefirot.^[3] Normally, floating above the Assyrian Tree of Life was the god Assur (god), corresponding to the Hebrew Ein Sof, which is also, via a series of transformations, derived from the Assyrian word Assur.

Parpola is also the chairman of The Finland Assyria Association (Suomi-Assyria Yhdistys).^[4]

1 Notes
2 See also
3 Works
4 External links

[edit] Notes

^ Parpola, S. (1993). The Assyrian Tree of Life: Tracing the Origins of Jewish Monotheism and Greek Philosophy. Journal of Near Eastern Studies, Vol. 52 No. 3, pp. 161-208
^ Parpola S. 1993. The Assyrian Tree of Life: Tracing the Origins of Jewish Monotheism and Greek Philosophy. Journal of Near Eastern Studies. 52(3) pp161-208
^ Primack, Joel; Nancy E. Abrams. In A Beginning...Quantum Cosmology and Kabbalah. Retrieved on 2008-03-14.
^ Assyrian Association Founded in Finland

[edit] See also

Sefiroth, for Dr. Parpola's reconstruction of an Assyrian Kabbalistic Sefiroth
Asko Parpola, his brother, a specialist on the Indus script. pdf

[edit] Works

Parpola, Simo (2004). "National and Ethnic Identity in the Neo-Assyrian Empire and Assyrian Identity in Post-Empire Times" (in English) (PDF). Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies Vol. 18 (No. 2). JAAS.
Neo-Assyrian Treaties and Loyalty Oaths
The Correspondence of Sargon II
The Standard Babylonian, Epic of Gilgamesh - cited in the article Epic of Gilgamesh
Letters from Assyrian and Babylonian Scholars
Assyrian Prophecies
"The murder of Sennacherib" in Death in Mesopotamia: XXVI Rencontre assyriologique internationale
The Mesopotamian Soul of Western Culture