Tammuz (deity)

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For the Hebrew month, see Tammuz.
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Northwest Semitic Tammuz (Hebrew תַּמּוּז, Standard Hebrew Tammuz, Tiberian Hebrew Tammûz), Arabic تمّوز Tammūz; Akkadian Duʾzu, Dūzu; Sumerian Dumuzid (DUMU.ZID 𒌉𒍣 "the true son") was the name of a Sumerian god of food and vegetation.

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[edit] Ritual mourning

In Babylonia, the month Tammuz was established in honor of the eponymous god Tammuz, who originated as a Sumerian shepherd-god, Dumuzid or Dumuzi, the consort of Inanna and, in his Akkadian form, the parallel consort of Ishtar. The Levantine Adonis ("lord"), who was drawn into the Greek pantheon, was considered by Joseph Campbell among others to be another counterpart of Tammuz,[1] son and consort. The Aramaic name "Tammuz" seems to have been derived from the Akkadian form Tammuzi, based on early Sumerian Damu-zid. The later standard Sumerian form, Dumu-zid, in turn became Dumuzi in Akkadian.

Beginning with the summer solstice came a time of mourning in the Ancient Near East as in the Aegean: the Babylonians marked the decline in daylight hours and the onset of killing summer heat and drought with a six-day "funeral" for the god. Readers in four-season temperate cultures may doubt shepherd-god as a vegetation god: "He was no dying and resurrecting vegetation demon, as James George Frazer wanted him to be (for one thing no vegetation demon dies in the spring, in April)," Miroslav Marcovich observed.[2] though recent discoveries reconfirm him as an annual life-death-rebirth deity: tablets discovered in 1963 show that Dumuzi was in fact consigned to the Underworld himself, in order to secure Inanna's release,[3] though the recovered final line reveals that he is to revive for six months of each year (see below).

In cult practice, the dead Tammuz was widely mourned in the Ancient Near East. A Sumerian tablet from Nippur (Ni 4486) reads

She can make the lament for you, my Dumuzid, the lament for you, the lament, the lamentation, reach the desert — she can make it reach the house Arali; she can make it reach Bad-tibira; she can make it reach Dul-šuba; she can make it reach the shepherding country, the sheepfold of Dumuzid
"O Dumuzid of the fair-spoken mouth, of the ever kind eyes," she sobs tearfully, "O you of the fair-spoken mouth, of the ever kind eyes," she sobs tearfully. "Lad, husband, lord, sweet as the date, [...] O Dumuzid!" she sobs, she sobs tearfully.[4]

These mourning ceremonies were observed even at the very door of the Temple in Jerusalem, to the horror of the Jewish prophet Ezekiel:

"Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the Lord's house which was toward the north; and, behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz. Then said he unto to me, 'Hast thou seen this, O son of man? turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations than these." —Ezekiel 8:14-15

Ezekiel's testimony is the only direct mention of Tammuz in the Hebrew Bible.

[edit] Dumuzid in the Sumerian king list

In the Sumerian king list two kings named Dumuzi appear:

Other Sumerian texts showed that kings were to be married to Inanna in a mystical marriage, for example a hymn that describes the mystical marriage of King Iddid-Dagan (ca 1900 BCE).[5]

[edit] Dumuzid and Inanna

Today several versions of the Sumerian death of Dumuzi have been recovered, "Inanna's Descent to the Underworld", "Dumuzi's dream" and "Dumuzi and the galla", as well as a tablet separately recounting Dumuzi's death, mourned by holy Inanna, and his noble sister Geštinanna, and even his dog and the lambs and kids in his fold; Dumuzi himself is weeping at the hard fate in store for him, after he had walked among men, and the cruel galla of the Underworld seize him.[6]

A number of pastoral poems and songs relate the love affair of Inanna and Dumuzid the shepherd. A text recovered in 1963 recounts "The Courtship of Inanna and Dumuzi" in terms that are tender and frankly erotic.

According to the myth of Inanna's descent to the underworld, represented in parallel Sumerian and Akkadian[7] tablets, Inanna (Ishtar in the Akkadian texts) set off for the netherworld, or Kur, which was ruled by her sister Ereshkigal, perhaps to take it as her own. She passed through seven gates and at each one was required to leave a garment or an ornament so that when she had passed through the seventh gate she was entirely naked. Despite warnings about her presumption, she did not turn back but dared to sit herself down on Ereshkigal's throne. Immediately the Anunnaki of the underworld judged her, gazed at her with the eyes of death, and she became a corpse, hung up on a nail.

Based on the incomplete texts as first found, it was assumed that Ishtar/Inanna's descent into Kur occurred after the death of Tammuz/Dumuzid rather than before and that her purpose was to rescue Tammuz/Dumuzid. This is the familiar form of the myth as it appeared in M. Jastrow's Descent of the Goddess Ishtar into the Lower World, 1915, widely available on the Internet. New texts uncovered in 1963 filled in the story in quite another fashion,[8] showing that Dumuzi was in fact consigned to the Underworld himself, in order to secure Inanna's release.

Inanna's faithful servant attempted to get help from the other gods but only wise Enki/Ea responded. The details of Enki/Ea's plan differ slightly in the two surviving accounts, but in the end, Inanna/Ishtar was resurrected. However, a "conservation of souls" law required her to find a replacement for herself in Kur. She went from one god to another, but each one pleaded with her and she had not the heart to go through with it until she found Dumuzid/Tammuz richly dressed and on her throne. Inanna/Ishtar immediately set her accompanying demons on Dumuzid/Tammuz. At this point the Akkadian text fails as Tammuz' sister Belili, introduced for the first time, strips herself of her jewelry in mourning but claims that Tammuz and the dead will come back.

There is some confusion here. The name Belili occurs in one of the Sumerian texts also, but it is not the name of Dumuzid's sister who is there named Geshtinana, but is the name of an old woman whom another text calls Bilulu.

In any case, the Sumerian texts relate how Dumuzid fled to his sister Geshtinana who attempted to hide him but who could not in the end stand up to the demons. Dumuzid has two close calls until the demons finally catch up with him under the supposed protection of this old woman called Bilulu or Belili and then they take him. However Inanna repents.

Inanna seeks vengeance on Bilulu, on Bilulu's murderous son G̃irg̃ire and on G̃irg̃ire's consort Shirru "of the haunted desert, no-one's child and no-one's friend". Inanna changes Bilulu into a waterskin and G̃irg̃ire into a protective god of the desert while Shirru is assigned to watch always that the proper rites are performed for protection against the hazards of the desert.

Finally, Inanna relents and changes her decree thereby restoring her husband Dumuzi to life; an arrangement is made by which Geshtinana will take Dumuzid's place in Kur for six months of the year: "You (Dumuzi), half the year. Your sister (Geštinanna), half the year!" This newly-recovered final line upset Samuel Noah Kramer's former interpretation, as he allowed: "my conclusion that Dumuzi dies and "stays dead" forever (cf e.g. Mythologies of the Ancient World p. 10) was quite erroneous: Dumuzi according to the Sumerian mythographers rises from the dead annually and, after staying on earth for half the year, descends to the Nether World for the other half".[9]

[edit] The "Courtship of Inanna and Dumuzi"

Aside from this extended epic "The Descent of Inanna," a previously unknown "Courtship of Inanna and Dumuzi" was first translated into English and annotated by Sumerian scholar Noah Kramer and folklorist Diane Wolkstein working in tandem, and published in 1983.[10] In this tale Inanna's lover, the shepherd-king Dumuzi, brought a wedding gift of milk in pails, yoked across his shoulders.

The myth of Inanna and Dumuzi formed the subject of a Lindisfarne Symposium, published as The Story of Inanna and Dumuzi: From Folk-Tale to Civilized Literature: A Lindisfarne Symposium, (William Irwin Thompson, editor, 1995).

[edit] Tammuz in Tamil culture

The name of Dumuzi/Tammuz was carried by Tammuzh, a Tamil Pandyan king in the Dravidian cultural realm of ancient South India, who held his capital at Kuadam. The language and cultural term Tamil is an anglicised form of the native name Tamizhi தமிழ் (pronounced [t̪ɐmɨɻ]).See also Legendary early Chola kings which shows similarity between early Chola kings and Ur kings list. The Pandyans had trading contacts with Ptolemaic Egypt and, through Egypt, with Rome by the first century CE. The 1st century Greek historian Nicolaus of Damascus met at Damascus the embassy sent by an Indian king "named Pandion or, according to others, Porus" to Caesar Augustus around 13 CE. The names of king and his kingdom have likely been conflated in Nicolaus' account.

[edit] The Two Brothers

The Tale of Two Brothers is an ancient Egyptian story from around the 13th century BC.The narrative is preserved on the Papyrus D'Orbiney.[Tale of Two Brothers] which had belonged to Seti II (1209-1205 B.C.) of the nineteenth Egyptian dynasty when he was crown prince [William Matthew Flinders Petrie, Egyptian Tales: Translated from the Papyri, 1895, p.66 ] and may have been a political satire based in part on his own difficulties with his half brother, the usurper Amenmesse[J. H. Breasted Ancient Records of Egypt, Part Three, §§ 239ff. ], but the historical facts concerning this period are so uncertain as to render such a conclusion speculative. The text has similarities to the story of Joseph in the house of Potiphar, in Genesis 39:1-20, however the relation between the two texts is unclear, if there even is one.[Shaw, Ian. & Nicholson, Paul. The Dictionary of Ancient Egypt, p. 54. The British Museum Press, 1995] Further elements of the story seem to be derived from the myths concerning Osiris' death and resurrection.[Erman, Adolph. Life in Ancient Egypt. p. 379. Dover Publications, 1971. ] The protagonists Anpu and Bata both bear names of gods of the 17th nome of Upper Egypt.

[edit] Synopsis

Bata lives with his married brother Anpu. One day, when Anpu is not at home, his wife tries to seduce Bata, and, having been repelled, accuses Bata of having made advances towards her. Anpu grows angry and wants to kill his younger brother who flees. Pre-Harakhte saves him by creating a body of water full of crocodiles between him and his brother. Bata tells his brother what has occurred and, as proof of his sincerity, cuts off his genitals which are swallowed by a fish. Anpu returns home and kills his wife. Bata lives alone in the wilderness until the gods create a wife for him. Bata loves her very much and reveals to her that his heart is hidden in a pine. Pharaoh, on learning of her existence has her brought to his court. She tells him Bata's secret and he has the pine cut down, killing Bata. Anpu goes to look for his brother, Tammuz and after finding his body he searches for his heart and finds it after years of searching. Bata is revived and wants to take revenge on his wife. He changes himself into a beautiful bull and his brother takes him to Pharaoh. Bata reveals himself to his wife who has him killed. Two drops of his blood are spilled and from them grow two persea trees, incarnations of Bata. His wife has them felled, but a splinter of their wood enters her mouth, she swallows it and becomes pregnant. She gives birth to a boy, a reincarnation of Bata, who is acknowledged as the Pharaoh's heir. When Pharaoh dies and he becomes king, he has the queen tried and killed.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Joseph Campbell "the dead and resurrected god Tammuz (Sumerian Dumuzi), prototype of the Classical Adonis, who was the consort as well as son by virgin birth, of the goddess-mother of many names: Inanna, Ninhursag, Ishtar, Astarte, Artemis, Demeter, Aphrodite, Venus" (in Oriental Mythology: The Masks of God pp 39-40).
  2. ^ Marcovich,"From Ishtar to Aphrodite" Journal of Aesthetic Education 30.2, Special Issue: Distinguished Humanities Lectures II (Summer 1996) p 49.
  3. ^ Edwin M. Yamauchi, "Tammuz and the Bible" Journal of Biblical Literature 84.3 (September 1965:283-290).
  4. ^ Inana and Bilulu: an ulila to Inana, from Black, J.A., Cunningham, G., Robson, E., and Zólyomi, G., The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (Oxford)[1][2]
  5. ^ Samuel Noah Kramer, "Cuneiform studies and the history of literature: The Sumerian sacred marriage texts", ''Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 107 (1963:485-527).
  6. ^ Samuel Noah Kramer, "The Death of Dumuzi: A New Sumerian Version" Anatolian Studies 30, Special Number in Honour of the Seventieth Birthday of Professor O. R. Gurney (1980:5-13).
  7. ^ Two editions, one ca 1000 BCE found at Ashur, the other mid seventh century BCE from the library of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh.
  8. ^ Edwin M. Yamauchi, "Tammuz and the Bible" Journal of Biblical Literature 84.3 (September 1965:283-290).
  9. ^ S. N. Kramer, "Dumuzi's Annual Resurrection: An Important Correction to 'Inanna's Descent'" Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 183 (October 1966:31), interpreting this newly-recovered final line as uttered by Inanna, though the immediately preceding context is incomplete.
  10. ^ Diane Wolkstein and Samuel Noah Kramer editors/translators 1983. Inanna, Queen of Heaven & Earth: Her Stories and Hymns from Sumer. (New York: Harper Colophon).

[edit] External links

[edit] Further reading

  • Campbell, Joseph, 1962, Oriental Mythology: The Masks of God (New York:Viking Penguin)
  • Campbell, Joseph, 1964. Occidental Mythology: The Masks of God (New York:Viking Penguin)
  • Kramer, Samuel Noah and Diane Wolkstein, 1983. Inanna : Queen of Heaven and Earth (New York : Harper & Row) ISBN 0-06-090854-8
  • Jacobsen, Thorkild, 1976, The Treasures of Darkness: A History of Mesopotamian Religion (New Haven: Yale University Press)