Santa isn't real?

No like really, what the heck and how did that even happen. My story is probably similar to most people's but I guess I can tell it anyways. Back when I was not more than 6 years old I had slept over at my friends' house the night of Christmas eve. As any kid of that age, you slept next to the tree just in case Santa showed up to drop off the gifts you might get a glimpse of him. This was just the case that night, we had fallen asleep next to the tree after setting out cookies and milk (again I ask why Santa likes cookies and milk, but that's a completely other topic). Not sure what time it was, but all of a sudden we woke up to sounds in the house. We knew it wasn't a dog because they didn't have one, wasn't his brother, so it must've been Santa. Well we sort of hide under our blankets, trying not to make any noise. And looking at the tree and finding out who else was in the room we realize it was his dad dressed in a Santa costume on the other end of the room. Go figure...why does it have to be ruined by your friends parents. Then obviously when you bring it up to your parents about santa being them, they try to deny it but that's just how it is. So guess I wasn't too old/too young to learn that he didn't exist. And honestly I don't think that the Christmas holiday should even be about gift giving, it's not about the actual gift you receive. It's the time you get to spend with family celebrating, being happy and just enjoying yourselves.

Understanding of rituals

In our every day lives, as explained in class, there are these things called rituals that we carry out. Each person may be different in the rituals they perform but in a sense they are carried out for a reason. Either calming or just to get your day started there is some reason that you do these things in the order in which you do. It may seem weird to some that people have "rituals" they do on their way to school or whatever, but who cares. People do things a certain way because it works for them, I hate it when people tell you that you are doing something the wrong way because honestly they aren't the ones doing it and yes maybe it wouldn't take as long to go about if you did it their way but you like to do it your way because thats just what you have been doing in the past. When you find something that works for you why change it, I mean there could be obvious benefits from adopting what other people do but then you become less unique in a sense. Every time you adopt a way of being or a way of doing things you lose you. I'm not really sure how to say that. There are pro's and con's to doing things in a certain order, that's individual. What I can say however as a whole is that rituals exist everywhere, and frankly they're important because they have given us all kinds of things. They influence your history and who you are, what you want to do with your life and who you see as being fit to hang around. Each person has their own and that's fine, it keeps life fun and interesting!

Earliest memories of trouble

Well there happened to be this day, when I was about a year and a half old. Obviously as a little kid you are going to do things that your parents don't want you to be doing because simply you don't quite understand what is right or wrong yet. So needless to say I had been doing something that I wasn't supposed to be doing, we had gone to the park and I decided to climb up on a park bench. I guess my parents weren't watching or something and all of a sudden I find myself falling off this park bench, and I wasn't a real big guy at this point (nor am I today). But I fell off the bench and smashed my face into the concrete walkway...teaches me not to do that again? From this fall I ended up breaking 3 of my front teeth and having pretty bad road burn. And after all of that and a lovely trip to the ER, I get put in time-out because I shouldn't have been on the bench, REALLY? How after you get seriously hurt, and I was only 1 1/2 at the time can you tell me that I was doing wrong. I was exploring, or thought I was. In part I would say as a child under 3 you probably shouldn't be climbing on things that if you fall you may seriously hurt yourself because your parents aren't going to be happy. ESPECIALLY if they don't know that you are doing it.

Irish Wake

I presented some of this in our group presentation and thought it would be a nice touch to add it to my blog so that others who were interested in learning more about it could. Here is just some of the things I found about the irish wake.

The traditional Irish Wake was commonplace around Ireland up until about the 1970's. This was the process of Laying out the body of a departed relative in the house where they lived and /or died. All of the family and quite a few of the deceased ones neighbours and friends would gather at the house. The body was usually in a coffin in the parlour of the house or living room. There would be lots of food and plenty of drink to be consumed. People would come and socialise and remember the departed person's life. This wasn't a time for tears to say the least, it was more of a party than a funeral. It was the traditional Irish way of celebrating one's life and ensuring that they had a good send off. A proper Irish Wake is worth the time and effort required to return to the old customs. It is hard to imagine a passing being complete without one!
The Wake is the period of time from death until the body is conveyed to the care of the church which is generally the evening before the day of burial.
THE FOLLOWING ARE THE STEPS IN THE PROCESS OF THE WAKE:

1. Neighbouring women experienced in laying out the body gather at the house of the diseased.
2. The body is washed.
3. A habit is put on the body.
4. A bed is prepared for the body.
5. If the body is of a man - he has to be clean shaven before the habit is put on.
6. A crucifix is placed on the breast and rosary beads are put in the fingers.
7. Sheets are hung over the bed and along two or three sides.
8. Candles are lighted in candlesticks near the remains.
(This process takes about two hours)

'KEENING & CRYING'
See also the extensive keening page click here . The vocalizations over the dead is very important.

1. The women who prepared the body join the family.
2. The mourning family produces either muffled sobs or loud wailing related to the depth of sorrow.
3. In the event that the death was considered a “great loss” (a parent leaving a large family or tragic or early death) Keening is most intense and heartfelt.
4. After a while of Keening mourners are led away from the bedside by a few neighbours and are consoled.
5. Word is sent out to distant relatives and is spread with the help of a local shop or village.
6. Preparation and then Keening does not wait for the arrival or others.
7. If the person dies late in the evening the main Wake is not held until the following night so as to give neighbours and distant relatives time to attend.

'PREPARATIONS & REQUIREMENTS FOR THE WAKE'.

1. Two men - a relative and a neighbour take part.
2. The Coffin is ordered (traditionally made by a local carpenter at the Wake house).
3. Supplies are brought in - bread, meat, food of all kinds. Whisky, stout, wine, pipes, tobacco, snuff. (Tobacco and snuff are extremely important as is alcohol).

'SET UP OF THE WAKE HOUSE'.

1. A plate of snuff is taken to all for a pinch. A clay pipe filled with tobacco is given to all and all are provided with food and drink - traditionally a meal.
2. Pipefull's of tobacco are offered.
3. The place for the corpse is determined by the house itself. A table, settle or bed in the kitchen or one of the rooms is used. A loft may be used.
4. The clocks are stopped as a mark of respect. (Roslea).
5. All mirrors are turned toward the wall or covered. (Roslea).

'WATCHING THE BODY AND RITUAL OF VISITING THE CORPSE'.

1. A corpse must not be left unattended for the entire Wake.
2. A person, generally a woman or more sits nearby.
3. On entrance, the mourner makes their way to the side of the corpse, kneels down and silently recites a few prayers for the departed soul.
4. Mourner is then welcomed by the relatives and expresses sympathy. “I’m sorry for your trouble”...then the mourner speaks kindly of the deceased and then walks away.
5. The mourner is offered food and drink for the hours spent at the Wake. If the weather is good the men congregate outside - if not, they go to the kitchen (this is very important and traditional). The corpse is often in the parlour and there is a division between the room of the corpse and celebration.
6. The mourner stays for a few hours. The old men and women come in the morning and with the end of the working day others in the community stop in.
7. The visitation lasts until midnight.
8. The Rosary is recited once or twice - at midnight and then towards morning. The Rosary is lead by an important figure - teacher or leader who recites the first decade then the relatives take part. A truly traditional Wake will have a special rosary for the dead and traditional prayers. The rosary is said around the corpse with those around the house reciting the responses.
9. Most visitors leave at midnight.
10. Close neighbours remain till morning. They drink tea, whisky or beer and talk about general affairs. Anecdotes are told with quiet laughter but within a solemn and decorous mood.
11. There are two funerals for the corpse, one in the evening and the second is when the body is taken to the graveyard on the next day.

The Irish Wake is perhaps one of the best known funeral traditions associated with Ireland. The Wake, the glorious send-off of departed loved ones, is a prominent feature of Irish funeral traditions, but is seen less and less often in modern Ireland and is now almost unknown in the cities. But in many country areas the practice of watching over the recently deceased from the time of death to burial is still followed and is an important part of the grieving process, which is why many Irish funerals, outside of the cities, are still preceded by a wake.  

The origin of the wake probably dates back to the ancient Jewish custom of leaving the sepulchre, or burial chamber, of a recently departed relative unsealed for three days before finally closing it up, during which time family members would visit frequently in the hope of seeing signs of a return to life.  

A more recent story, which is almost certainly a myth, is that the tradition of the wake in Ireland came about as a result of the frequent lead poisoning suffered by drinkers of stout from pewter tankards. A symptom of this malaise is a catatonic state resembling death, from which the sufferer may recover after a period of a few hours to a day or so, to the relief of those watching for signs of such an awakening.

Whatever the origins, there is no doubt that the ceremony of the wake has provided comfort to those who have nursed a loved one through a terminal illness or have had them snatched away by disaster without the chance to say goodbye. It is an opportunity to celebrate the departed person’s life in the company of his or her family and friends and to mark their departure from their home for the last time. A wake is a scene of both sadness and joy as the end of that life is marked but the life itself is remembered and treasured.


Where is a wake held?

• A wake is usually held in the deceased’s home, or the home of a close relative. It is becoming more common, especially in  cities, for the traditional wake to be replaced by a ‘viewing’ at a funeral home. The immediate family of the deceased will be at the funeral parlour and the protocols are similar to those followed at a wake held in the home.
• If a wake or a viewing is taking place, the death notice will normally say ‘reposing at..’ and then give the address. During a wake, the location is usually evident as there will be lots of cars outside and quite often people gathered chatting in front of the house.
• Typically, the body is waked for at least one night, during which time family, neighbours, friends, work colleagues and acquaintances visit the house to pay their respects.

Who attends a wake?

• If you knew the deceased, or know any member of the deceased’s family, then you could attend the wake. You do not have to wait to be invited. Typically, a wake is attended by family, relatives, neighbours, friends, work colleagues, school and college friends, and acquaintances. However, if the death notice states ‘house private’, then the wake is restricted to the immediate family and invited guests.
• It is not usual for children to attend a wake, unless they are close relatives of the deceased.
• Men often visit the wake house late at night and sit with the body during the night. Close male neighbours and friends often volunteer to do this so that the family can get some rest.

What is the atmosphere like and how should I dress?

• The atmosphere is respectful and you may hear both laughing and crying as people recall stories about the deceased.
• Dress respectfully and avoid flamboyant colours.

What to do when you enter the “wake house”

• Typically, when you enter the wake house you will be greeted by a member of the deceased’s family, who will guide you to where the body is laid out. If not, someone close to the family will show you the way. Shake the hand of the person who meets you and offer your condolences.
• Expect to see lots of people sitting around drinking tea, eating sandwiches, biscuits and cakes and chatting – even in the room where the body is laid out.
• The closest family members will usually be beside the body, which is typically laid out in a coffin. You should make your way to them, shake hands and offer your condolences. It’s sometimes hard to know what to say, and people will understand this as it is an awkward situation. 
• Take a moment to stand and look at the body, during which time you may say a prayer. Some people touch the hands or head of the corpse for a few seconds or sprinkle some holy water (which is often on a nearby table), on the body. The best advice is to watch what others are doing and follow suit.
• Once you have met the family, shaken hands and viewed the body, it is customary to take a seat and chat for a while with those who are present. Expect to be offered a cup of tea. It is less common nowadays to be offered alcohol.
• An acceptable time to remain at the wake is anything from 10 minutes to several hours, depending on how well you know the family.
• Close neighbours and friends often volunteer to help in the kitchen (making and serving tea and sandwiches) or undertake other chores such as minding children, running errands etc.

What to take with you to a wake

• Nothing is required, but many people take along a condolence card and place it on the table beside the coffin or on the coffin.
• Only if you know the family very well do you take something to a wake, although if you do, it is always appreciated by the family, as it is such a tiring and stressful time. Typical things close relatives, neighbours and friends might take along include sandwiches, cakes and biscuits.
• Close neighbours may offer chairs, crockery and tea pots, for the duration of the wake.

When to attend a wake

• If you are not a close relative or friend of the deceased or the family the most usual time to attend is between 5pm and 8pm.
• The latest time to attend varies from county to county, but often a wake continues throughout the night and it is customary for close neighbours, relatives and friends to “sit with the body” during the night, so that the family can get some rest. If you are at the house near the time the body is due to be removed, you should leave early enough to give the immediate family time to pay their last respects to the deceased.
• Often you will see a Guest Book in the hallway of the wake house. You should sign this so that the family knows who has visited and can thank everybody.

What will I see at a wake or a viewing?

• You can expect the body of the deceased to be visible in an open coffin in the house or the funeral home.
• Usually, the body is dressed in their best clothes, but covered with a shroud from the chest down. The head and hands will be visible.
• If the upper body has been disfigured in death, the coffin will be closed.
• It is usual for all the curtains in the wake house to be drawn, but for one window to be left open in the room where the deceased is lying.
• Mirrors in the house, especially those in the room where the body is lying, may be covered or turned to the wall.

Ritual or Ceremony

For me I chose something that I had a close relation to; irish wedding ceremonies. These have been passed down over generations. I learned much of what I know from my grandparents and thought that it may be a fun thing to share with the rest of the class. It's a little bit different than what most people may think of when they think of a wedding ceremony or ritual, but historically in the past it has worked and marriages have stayed together for longer. So here it is..

It is becoming more and more popular for couples to draw on their cultural and ethnic backgrounds and to include those traditions and customs into their weddings. This holds true for couples and families of Irish descent, for there is a rich cultural heritage upon which to draw and elements which add color and flavor to a wedding, making it truly a special event.

There are variety of Irish theme elements which can be included in such a wedding. These run the gamut from serving traditional Irish fare (food), to incorporating the color of green (after Ireland's nickname Emerald Isle), to any number of other interesting and unusual Irish flavored ingredients.

Perhaps the best-known symbol of Ireland is the shamrock. Not an easy flora to find "live," you may substitute clover or consider decorating with silk replicas, which today are made so well that it's hard to tell they aren't real. The Irish theme can, of course, begin in a quite obvious way by picking Saint Patrick's Day as the date of your event. The green and shamrock can be extended from centerpieces and decorations to the personal flowers worn and/or carried by the groom, groomsmen (boutonniere), flower girl's basket and the bridesmaids' bouquets. Bells of Ireland may be used as a single theme. They have a fabulous fragrance and are also green.

Incorporating Irish history into a wedding may also mean including Celtic customs. The choices and options are many and it is, of course, totally at the couple's discretion what and how many to use. Inclusion of Celtic symbolism can be as simple as decorating invitations with Celtic knots, or as distinctive as celebrating with a handfasting ceremony. Both Irish and Celtic music are very popular today and widely available, so whether you have an orchestra, bagpipers, or a DJ, music with an ethnic bent can become part of your event.

The groom with a good self-image might even consider wearing a kilt and asking his groomsmen to do likewise. Kilts, because they represent a particular family/ tribe, bring not only a general cultural theme into a wedding, but also a very personal family heritage. A somewhat dying art, there are only about five kilt makers in all of the United States and it takes about ten hours to make a kilt.

There are several Irish customs from which couples may choose. Here are several to get started.

Handfasting is a ceremony that some believe was practiced in remote areas where priests made infrequent circuit visits. There is some debate about whether the handfasting ceremony constituted a "real" and legal marriage, just without the benefit of clergy, or a "pre-marriage," or perhaps a public announcement of betrothal. Still others believe that it was a "trial marriage" that lasted a year and a day, after which time the couple could actually marry or part company. The "year and a day" is a time frame that was popularized in novels and purportedly was the period of time that a couple would have to be "married" before being granted the legal rights of marriage, such as inheriting land. There is little hard and fast resource material to support the "year and a day" concept, but as for handfasting, couples today practice it more as a neo-pagan, nonreligious alternative that an alternative religious ceremony.

The Claddagh Ring has remained very popular as an engagement and/or wedding ring. The symbolism is quite lovely. The heart in the design symbolizes love longed to be shared with one's true love. The crown symbolizes undying loyalty and the hands symbolize friendship, which is, after all, the very foundation of love, with loyalty holding the two hands together. There are many legends about the origin of the Claddagh ring and true or not, the Claddagh has become an everlasting symbol of love and marriage.

The Horseshoe has long been a symbol of good luck in cross-cultures. Irish tradition has it that a horseshoe given as a wedding gift to the bride and groom and kept in their home will bring them good luck. The horseshoe must always be hung like the letter "U," so that the luck doesn't "drip out."

Jumping the Broom is a custom known and practiced widely in the African-American community, where the broom serves as a symbol of hearth and home. The custom is also referenced both in Celtic and Irish wedding traditions and may have its roots in an ancient festival where women would "jump or ride a broom" to ensure the fertility of their crops.

Mead is a wine-like drink that, in its simplest form is made from honey, water and yeast. It was thought that meed could improve virility in men and fertility in women, and so held a significant place at weddings. References suggest that it is from the ingredient in mead (i.e., the honey) that the word honeymoon originated. Irish history documents the custom in which the groom would capture the bride at her home and bring her to the wedding feast, where large quantities of mead were generously passed to all the celebrants. When the festivities were over, the groom would "hide" the bride from her family for a period of a "full moon" of time, in hope that the bride might then be pregnant so that the marriage could not be challenged. One could say that the custom started with honey (mead) and ended with the moon.

Some wine and liquor shops carry an organic mead honey wine, a dry white wine which is made by fermenting honey and is also available in flavors such as elderberry, blackberry and cranberry.

Ethnic wedding traditions are often food-related and the Irish are no exception. At some traditional Irish weddings, the cake may be a fruitcake recipe. Add corned beef and cabbage, Irish soda bread, mead, and dark beer, and a wedding will have a distinct Irish "taste."

As with most wedding, the cake is a focal point at an Irish weddings. Bakers can stay in theme by decorating cakes with shamrocks and green icing and, should the couple wish, an Irish cream filling (Irish Whiskey, whipped cream and sweetener) can be used.

Father Charles Coen, himself born in Ireland, has been the pastor of St. Christopher's Catholic Church in Red Hook for the last fifteen years. He explained that "there is nothing really to distinguish an Irish wedding from any other Catholic wedding, in so far as the ceremony is concerned, except perhaps, on those rare occasions where a bagpiper or bagpipers are ‘stationed' outside the church doors." He fondly recalled the ten Irish weddings of his nieces and nephews at which he officiated in Ireland. Father Coen explained that "there are differences in the celebration aspect between Irish weddings in Ireland and Irish weddings in this country." In Ireland, the reception is typically followed by an open house, "where everyone is invited." There is music provided by a band. Guests bring their own liquor and sandwiches are served. He added, "That party is usually followed by a disco party for the young people and it's not unusual for it to last into the wee hours of the morning."

There are many ways to incorporate Irish music into a theme wedding, because there are many Irish songs, with a variety of flavors. "The Irish Wedding Song," for example, is a slow waltz-tempo song which is a lovely way to kick off the dancing. Starting alone on the dance floor, the bride and groom are joined by their guests. There are many sweet Irish ballads, such as "Black Velvet Band," which refers to the band in a lassie's hair, sing-along tunes like "When Irish Eyes are Smiling," and songs by Irish singing groups like the Irish Rovers, not to mention Irish drinking songs and Irish reels, a folk dance of Irish origin. Music can play a significant role in creating the mood for any ethnic wedding, with new popular songs and old favorites.

And a couple other interesting things

Irish Superstitions

In the 18th and 19th centuries, the Irish believed that if the sun shone on the bride, it would bring good luck to the couple.
It was also lucky to hear a cuckoo on the wedding morning or to see three magpies.
After the wedding ceremony, it was important that a man and not a woman be the first to wish joy to the new bride.
Some other Irish superstitions and customs are:

It's good luck to have your birthstone in your engagement ring, even if that stone is otherwise thought to be an unlucky gem.
The earrings you wear on your wedding day will bring you luck & happiness ever after.
It's lucky to tear your wedding dress accidentally on your wedding day.
It's good luck if a happily married woman puts the veil on you, but bad luck to put it on yourself.
It's lucky to be awakened by birds singing on your wedding morning.
If you look at the sun when you leave for your wedding, your children will be beautiful.

Selecting the Date

In Ireland the last day of the old year is thought specially lucky for weddings. Childermas Day or Holy Innocents is, on the contrary, a very unlucky one.
An old superstition holds that May is an unlucky wedding month, because of its association with the Virgin Mary, yet it is one of the most popular months for weddings, both in America and Ireland.
A sunny day is lucky, and a rainy one, unlucky. Christmas & New Year's Eve are lucky times to get married.
You Marry on Monday for wealth, Tuesday for health, Wednesday the best day of all, Thursday for crosses, Friday for losses and Saturday no day at all.

Throwing the Bouquet

The custom of the bride tossing the bouquet to the unmarried guests dates from the 14th century and probably originated in France.
The woman who catches the flowers is supposedly the next to marry.
The same is supposedly true when the bride tosses her garter to the unmarried men.

Something old, new, borrowed and blue

The full wording of this popular bridal attire rhyme, which dates back to the Victorian times is 'something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue and a silver sixpence in your shoe'.

Something old refers to wearing something that represents a link with the bride's family and her old life.
Usually, the bride wears a piece of family jewelry or maybe her mother's or grandmother's wedding dress.
Wearing something new represents good fortune and success in the bride's new life.
The bride's wedding dress is usually chosen, if purchased new, but it can be any other new item of the bride's wedding attire.
Wearing something borrowed, which has already been worn by a happy bride at her wedding, is meant to bring good luck to the marriage.
Something borrowed could be an item of bridal clothing, a handkerchief or an item of jewellery.
Wearing something blue dates back to biblical times when the colour blue was considered to represent purity and fidelity.
Over time this has evolved from wearing blue clothing to wearing a blue band around the bottom of the bride's dress and to modern times where the bride wears a blue or blue-trimmed garter.

Honking Horns

Another ancient practice in some parts of Ireland is that of firing rifles and other weaponry into the air as the couple pass to salute the bride; of course over the past centuries this has occasionally been observed with devastating results.
Honking the horns of the cars in the procession from the church replaces the firing of guns.

Carrying the Bride over the Threshold

There seems to be two explanations for this tradition where the groom carries his bride over the threshold when entering their home as a married couple for the first time.
The first is to protect the bride from evil spirits that were thought to be lying in wait under the threshold.
The second explanation relates to Roman times when it was believed that if the bride stumbled when entering the newlywed's home for the first time, it would bring bad luck and harm to their marriage.
So carrying the bride across the threshold would prevent this from happening, though no reference can be found of what happens if the groom stumbles or falls while carrying the bride.

And a silver sixpence in your shoe

Placing a silver sixpence in the bride's left shoe is a symbol of wealth. This is not just to bring the bride financial wealth but also a wealth of happiness and joy throughout her married life.
In the past, an Irish 5 pence coin could be worn in place of the sixpence in the shoe.

Wedding Gowns

The bride's white gown has become so traditional that many cannot imagine anything else but this is relatively recent development in the Celtic lands.
Anne of Brittany made the white wedding dress popular in 1499. In the 19th century colored bridal dresses were quite common at country weddings.
Before that, a woman just wore her best dress. In biblical days, blue (not white) represented purity (as mentioned above), and the bride and groom would wear a blue band around the bottom of their wedding attire.

The Wedding Veil

The origin of the wedding veil is unclear but it is thought that it predates the wedding dress by centuries.
One tradition comes from the days when a groom would throw a blanket over the head of the woman of his choice when he captured her and carted her off.
Another is that during the times of arranged marriages, the bride's face was covered until the groom was committed to her at the ceremony so he could not refuse to marry her if he didn't like her looks.
Therefore, the father of the bride gave the bride away to the groom, who then lifted the veil to see her for the first time.
It is also thought that the veil was worn to protect the bride from evil spirits that would be floating around on her wedding day.
These various origins have all evolved into the tradition that the veil covers the bride's face throughout the ceremony until the minister pronounces the couple man and wife and the groom then lifts the veil to kiss his new wife.

Vocab we should know after this class

One thing that came up while going back over all these notes I've taken thus far this term was the sure amount of words we have gone over. There have been quite a few, so I thought that I would include that in my blog because it had significance to me...

Ontalogy: Being that which is
Dayeus:
Ze-eus: was the god of the sky and ruler of the Olympian gods
Jupiter: Sky God
Homeric Hymn:
Fairy Tales: Deteriorated version of mythology
Fin : The end
Funeral : The ceremonies honoring a dead person
Separation : The action or state of moving or being moved apart: "the separation of parents and children"
Sparagmos - dismemberment (dionysian ritual)
Omophagia - the eating of the raw flesh of the one dismembered
Sacrafice - to make sacred
Sybil : Also known as an oracle
GAM - marriage, birth
Abduction : The action or an instance of forcibly taking a person or persons away against their will
Metamorphisis : is a biological process by which an animal physically develops after birth or hatching
Dromenon : Drama
Baptism : Death come back to life
Deus Ex Machina - God out of the machine
Ritual - is a set of actions performed mainly for their symbolic value; typically religious or tradition
Myth and ritual - two components of religion practice
Effigy - representation of someone hated...voodoo doll
Maypole - sacred trees, representation
Phallic Symbolism -
Mythology : Precedent behind every action, (in short)
Chthonic - of or related to the underworld
The furies - Erinyes; the avengers
archetype : the original pattern or model for which all things of the same kind are copied or on which they are based; first form or prototype
Senex : wise old man; roman comedies as the impitent old man
Metis : Metis : of the titan generation, first great spouse of Zeus (mother of Athena, also known ads the goddess of wisdom)
Peitho : goddess who personifies persuasion and seduction
Temenos : a piece of land cut off and assigned as an official domain
Temenos 2 : a piece of land marked off from common uses and dedicated
Kore : of or referring to the greek goddess persephone; moon
Kenosis - emptying out
Plerosis - fullness/fulfilling
Tote Tage - Upside down day (everyone in charge is no longer in charge)
Eleusinian mysteries - failure of nerve...
Failure of nerve: you dont trust to live in this world, you are trying to get to the next world because of the sufferings
Kykeon : Ancient greek drink made of mainly barleyh, and water and other naturally occurring substances
Pytho - persuasion (becomes wise and has a child because its a girl)
lucricious - on the nature of things
Metempsychosis - transmigration of the soul, especially reincarnation after death
Eschatology - grounds/preconditions/proper use of thinking and the creative ordering of realityu
Socrates - all of life is a preparation for death
fisce - to make
in illo tempore : in the beginning
quotidian - of or relating to reality/ the every day

Term Paper

Adventure: To Explore and Create Lasting Memories

Have you ever wanted to just go on an adventure, turn your back to the world and take off with your best friend on the adventure of your life? Mythology has opened my eyes towards much of this so called 'adventure'; where it all began and why it can be enjoyable. It has been said that trying to escape your fate may lead you right into it, so when given the chance to take off and do something you wouldn't normally do, why wouldn't you. Many of the stories we have looked at in class have been eye opening. This holds true in the novel by John Fowles, The Magus, it has many intriguing and inviting stories to partake in. These feelings of adventure and mystery are truly exonerated in the pages John Fowles has written.

At first I was a skeptical as this book did not seem to have much going on for a good portion of the first hundred or so pages. After this the adventure set in to full swing and drew me in. A great way to express this is contained in the following,

“It should have cast a shadow over the day. But it didn't, perhaps be-because it was a beautiful day and the landscape we came into one of the greatest in the world; what we were doing began to loom, like the preciptous blue shadow of Parnassus itself,...” (p. 341).

What has been expressed here is the thrill of the adventure, the heroes adventure to be exact. In many cases of the heroes adventure, him/her may do things, tempted by outside forces. There are points in the novel where you can't predict what will be next, but that's the thrill that hides in those pages. As has been voiced by Michael Sexson, our instructor is that mythology is in our every day lives whether we realize it or not, there is a truth behind this saying. Brought up in the book is World War I which the character Nicholas Urfe tries to escape these dark and weary times. The art of music and Nicholas heading off to college brings about a change in his life, his relationship with Lily and his parents take a turn towards a brighter future.

Although the thought of war and the words spoken of the war are not positive, the people have a level of respect towards the troops who are being shipped off to war. For me on page 117 of the novel was a turning point, finally where the novel seemed to gain some traction and take off, also where this feeling of uneasiness within Nicholas' personality. This is similar to other characters we have observed including Zeus, Persephone and others. Needless to say, the adventure has begun, this is the beginning.

Coming up multiple times in both our class as well as the novel is this notion of seduction, mystery and concealing ones real self. Over the course of the entire novel, I feel there are many mind games being played. When Nicholas starts to interact with Conchis, “A dark shape moved towards the trees: the satyr. There was a tiny sound from the colonnade below, someone had accidentally bumped into a chair and made its legs scrape”(p. 183). For some reason Hades came to mind immediately after this, was someone to be abducted or misfortune to happen? With all of mythology, it's about remembering what you have forgotten, this is part of the game that Nicholas seems to fall into. How when these weird things were going on did he not know how to judge the characters he found around him, he seems awestruck.

On one of Nicholas' adventures he comes across “a pedestal of unshaped rock, stood the statue. I recognized it at once, it was a copy of the famous Poseidon fished out of the sea”(p. 211). Instant recognition of the statue is a great way of showing how life is about remembering what has been forgotten not that new knowledge is gained by us as individuals. All of these little things in The Magus seem to piece together to form what we have been learning all semester long, the reason behind mythology itself. Between the heroes journey and struggles, we may gain insight to who this hero is and what he wants to accomplish through his adventures.

For Nicholas this journey came to a screeching halt towards the end of the novel, some say that the novel may not have ended the way they would have liked but we as readers' don't have a say in that. In the end you can always tell what a character has become due to their travels, said straight forward by Alison, “You still haven't learnt. You're still playing to their script,...I came back because I thought you'd changed.”(p.654). The heroes journey is important and I feel like Nicholas had some real potential had he chosen to do different things in and amongst his journey, but this is how it goes. Truly in the end Nicholas had become exactly what he had tried to get away from in the beginning, thus proving that when you try to avoid what you are set out to be you will run into it in the end no matter how hard you try to get away. Mythology has this funny way of getting to where it wants regardless of the path you take, if you are destine for something then you will end up there eventually. Important in all of this is the tradition that backs each and every story, as for Nicholas he had a Greek background but it also was German, French, and Celtic. Your family plays a vital role in shaping you to who or what you will become, so don't get caught up in who you are today because ten years down the road all of that may change. Enjoy where you are and who you're around today, experience the adventure and take the most of it.

Exam 2 Questions and Review

Calasso book pages you need to know:

Page 209-212 : Deals with the four stories that make up the quaternity (personality profile; myers briggs test which has to do with feeling, sensation, intuition and

Stories of zeus – thinking (everything up)

Stories of Athena – sensation (everything out) related to polis (politics/city)

Dionysus – feeling (down function, everything that is not thinking or not sensation or intuition, pure unadultered feeling, incubus (demon possesses a males body and impregnates a woman’s body) chthonic – of or pertaining to the underworld. Disassemble your social identity to get you in touch with feeling

Demeter – intuition (In function)

Page 209 chapter 7 : Persephone being abducted by hades; narcissus flower (narcissist – obsessed with themselves)

-          Calls her by kore (maiden)
-          Triple goddess : mother, daughter and the crone

Page 225-226 chapter 8: story of Athena, how Athena came to be

Page 244: half has to do with mysteries of Eleusis, why the Greeks respect Eleusis more than anything else

Page 336: “how would you define Homeric theology?”

-          What we call Homeric theology is…supremacy of the visible
-          Religion is that which we see; Greek
-          When you can no longer see you  have nothing (daylight and light)
-          Iphigenai asks to look at the light one more time

Page 359 chapter 11: comes from the odyssey; Zeus has prepared a woeful destiny for us so that in the future we may be sung about by the bards..”why do we suffer?”

-          This is the work of the God’s  - they brought about the ruin of …. So that we may celebrate them later

Page 383-391 chapter 12: Definition of mythology: precedent behind every action

-          Invasion of the mind and body
-          What Cadmus gave to Greece; necklace which passes from hand to hand causing disaster
-          What conclusions can we draw – page 387
-          A life in which the God’s are not invited isn’t worth living…inviting them causes disaster(387)
-          Why do we talk about Cadmus? Founder of the city of thiebes
-          Greatest disaster was fly’s feet (gifts of the mind, vowels and consonants; the alphabet)

Great Pan’s Dead

WB Yeats : The Second Coming

Eliade:

The Eleusinian material

The Tarboleum (rites and rituals)

Dionysian material from the bachae

Questions:

1.       What does spiritus mundi mean? (multiple choice) : spirit of the world/earth
2.       At the marriage of Cadmus and harmony who was drawing the chariot (two animals)? Boar and the lion
3.       What country are the Nacirema tribe from? American’s
4.       Which of the three things important to the Eleusinian mysteries was the origin of theater? The things seen, said or done…It was Done (dromenon: things done)
5.       What is the study of the soul? Psychology – word psychology isn’t the study of the mind
6.       Who at birth, was her beauty only appreciated by her father (had two faces, four eyes and horns that sprouted from her face, page 204)? Persephone
7.       What is the origin of our legal or judicial system? The Athena story – where by she acquits Orestes for killing his mother, STORY OF ORESTES is at the origin of our judicial system
8.       What is the term where women take over the night where they have free reign over the men; no retaliation from men? Tote toge (day of the dead)
9.       What is the animal that is associated with the taurobolium? The bull
10.   What makes something sacred? If you truly believe something is…”made sacred, doesn’t come that way” , make them sacred through ritual
11.   According to your instructor who is the real hero? Yourself, we are all heroic, not just people in stories
12.   James Joyce’s novel … which talks about an ordinary person going about an ordinary day is modeled by what Greek story (Greek name of the hero)? Odysseus
13.   According to the Irish poet, WB Yeats, from the second coming…history is composed of two thousand year cycles; which comes from the visitation of a _____ who impregnates a _____? Bird , Woman
14.   What is the Greek image for soul? Butterfly
15.   Zeus ate a goddess named____? Metis (goddess meaning wisdom)
16.   Which word best typifies a space carved out in which sacred rituals are carried out? Temenos
17.   Who is the God of the double door and what does it mean? Dionysus, born twice (born of a mother and a father; mother’s womb and fathers thigh)
-          Dithyramb(os):
18.   What was said to end the pagan world and initiate the religious age? Great pan is Dead
19.   What is the fundamental difference between the God and the hero? Mortality; God’s don’t die
20.    When do the furies arrive? Kill your mother **(blood murder, don’t kill people in your blood line)
21.   What is the religious significance of Cupid and Psyche according to your instructor? The psychological development of the feminine
22.   Which one of the rituals came up no less than four times during the telling of our rituals? Australian rain making ritual
23.   What is the name of the girl that the king threw a sandal at? Charila
24.   What Greek play shows the clash between tradition and the state; religious rituals? Antigone
-          Play in which young woman buries her brother even though its forbidden by the state, punishment by death
25.   From what term do we get our word senator? Senex
26.   How would you define an archetype? An ancient or primordial image which is found universally in mythology, fairy tale and fantasy
27.   Which Eleusinian mystery pertains to fertility during a certain month? Maypole **(Phallic symbolism)
28.   22 points of the hero formula? **Hero pattern
-          Who covers most of these more than anyone else? Oedipus, covers almost 21/22
29.   In this class, which Christian ritual did we discuss that had to deal with death and rebirth? Baptism
30.   Why was Demeter putting a baby in the fire? To make him immortal
31.   If you have someone in your family who is a daddy’s girl, whose classical archetype is she modeling? Athena

Exam Questions

      Sorry for the formatting, For whatever reason when I import it from Microsoft Word the formatting gets all messed up!!

    

          1.     The following items from the Eliade book:

Hainuwele

Apollo

Earth mother of all

Enumelish

Hesiod’s theogony

(Not required to know any other things from the book for the exam)

      2.       Calasso:

             Page 5 – the basket (we carry it all the time, on it is the picture of your story, its around you all the time)

           
             Page 15 – etiology “why do men have slim hips”

          
             Page 39 – goats (whole page has to do with Erigone and her father

                  The word tragedy – the song of the goat

 Page 81 – etiology “who has more fun making love, the man or the woman”; will give you       the  answer to this question. Sooth sayer named Tiresias

               -          blind for giving the wrong answer

Page 94 – ate – know what it means, “infatuation”. Divine infatuation, extreme interesting conclusion, a life without divine infatuation isn’t worth living, will bring a certain ruin to you

Page 383 – definition of myth – The precedent behind every action; every step you take there has been somewhere there before you

                -          belated

                -          model of something that has already been done

                 (definition of the phrase in illo tempore; “in the beginning”, “in the dream time”, “Once upon a time”)

Page 52 – megan’s blog, in depth of this page in the book, Calasso’s major theme. Constantly    declining from one age to the next, age of conviviality, age of rape, we don’t know the god’s anymore (we are in different)

              -          now we just hear stories about the past

Page 176 – Calasso telling how it all came about, not just how it began but how it came about, that all those people went to wore. Phelops…who was phelops?

                -          Son of the man of tantalus, the word tantalized, “something you really want but   you can’t get”

                -          Father , tantalus, chopped his son up and fed him to the God’s

                -          Tormented him in the underworld, apple tree would bend down, but then when he went to grab one it would retract

                -          Agamemnon, Menelaus - Trojan war

                -          Leda and the swan - http://www.online-literature.com/yeats/865/

-          A sudden blow: the great wings beating still

-         Above the staggering girl, her thighs caressed

-         By the dark webs, her nape caught in his bill,

-         He holds her helpless breast upon his breast.

-      

-         How can those terrified vague fingers push

-         The feathered glory from her loosening thighs?

-         And how can body, laid in that white rush,

-         But feel the strange heart beating where it lies?

-      

-         A shudder in the loins engenders there

-         The broken wall, the burning roof and tower[20]

-         And Agamemnon dead.

-      

-                             Being so caught up,

-      

-         So mastered by the brute blood of the air,

-         Did she put on his knowledge with his power

-         Before the indifferent beak could let her drop?

Kinds of creation stories:

Multiple choice:

1.       Who was the mother of the muses? Mnemosyne

2.       What was Persephone doing when she was abducted by Hades? Picking Flowers

o   Particular flower, the narcissus

3.       The suggestion that we are all prisoners attached to a wall, refers to what “myth”, allegory of the cave? Plato was responsible for writing that myth

**Question about what happiness brings about, regarding to ate **

4.       Who was always described as deceitful and beautiful, she was also thought to be a   phantom? Helen

5.       Who was Europe named after? Europa

6.       What arrives unexpected and possesses? Dionysus

o   You’re sitting and next moment he is there, materializing unexpectedly

7.       What is the mythological root of “enthusiasm”? en-theos (God inside you)(To be God possessed)

8.       Who says ‘One more time Athena love me as much as you can’? Odysseus

9.       Abduction is always followed by what? Metamorphosis; in Calasso

10.   Which Goddess was born from Uranas dismembered body? Aphrodite

o   The Goddess of love

11.   Who was the mother of the Minotaur? Pasiphae

12.   What word means the tearing of limbs or ripping of flesh? Sparagmos

13.   Omophagia….

14.   The great desire is to arrive where he started? Having to do with the stages of mythology,

o   Wants to return to the beginning

15.   Define Anamnesis? You already know what you need to know, Recollection

o   We have forgotten anything of importance, our teachers remind us of things we have forgotten

16.   What does the word ‘Apocalypse’ mean? Removal of the veil

17.   What does ‘Eschatology’ mean? Study of the end of time

18.   What in the Greek mythology was housed inside the labyrinth? The Minotaur

19.   Who was the destroyer of the delights? Death

20.   Zeus came in many forms…

o   To seduce Io he took the form of Cloud

o   To seduce Europa he took the form of a Bull

o   To seduce Leda he took the form of a Swan

o   To seduce Danae he took the form of Gold

o   To seduce Semele (daughter of Cadmus) he took the form of Himself, the God he really was

Links to Stories from Primitives to Zen if you don't want to read here

http://www.mircea-eliade.com/from-primitives-to-zen/015.html
http://www.mircea-eliade.com/from-primitives-to-zen/032.html
http://www.mircea-eliade.com/from-primitives-to-zen/033.html
http://www.mircea-eliade.com/from-primitives-to-zen/035.html
http://www.mircea-eliade.com/from-primitives-to-zen/055.html
http://www.mircea-eliade.com/from-primitives-to-zen/059.html
http://www.mircea-eliade.com/from-primitives-to-zen/095.html
http://www.mircea-eliade.com/from-primitives-to-zen/147.html
http://www.mircea-eliade.com/from-primitives-to-zen/148.html
http://www.mircea-eliade.com/from-primitives-to-zen/149.html
http://www.mircea-eliade.com/from-primitives-to-zen/150.html
http://www.mircea-eliade.com/from-primitives-to-zen/155.html
http://www.mircea-eliade.com/from-primitives-to-zen/158.html
http://www.mircea-eliade.com/from-primitives-to-zen/159.html
http://www.mircea-eliade.com/from-primitives-to-zen/181.html
http://www.mircea-eliade.com/from-primitives-to-zen/182.html


#212 and 296 are not on the online book...

Stories Out of From Primitives to Zen

#15  Mircea Eliade "From Primitives to Zen":  HAINUWELE AND THE 'CREATIVE MURDER' (CERAM, NEW GUINEA)

---

The Marind-anim apply the term dema to the divine creators and primordial beings who existed in mythical times. The dema are described sometimes in human form, sometimes in the form of animals and plants. The central myth narrates the slaying of the dema-divinity by the dema-men of the primordial time. Especially famous is the myth of the girl Hainuwele, recorded by A.E Jensen in Ceram, one of the islands of the New Guinea Archipelago. In substance it runs:

In mythical Times, a man named Ameta, out hunting, came on a wild boar. Trying to escape, the boar was drowned in a lake. On its tusk Ameta found a coconut. That night he dreamed of the coconut and was commanded to plant it, which he did the next morning. In three days a coconut palm sprang up, and three days later it flowered. Ameta climbed it to cut some flowers and make a drink from them. But he cut his finger and the blood dropped on a flower. Nine days later he found a girl-child on the flower. Ameta took her and wrapped her in coconut fronds. In three days the child became a marriageable girl, and he named her Hainuwele ('coconut branch'). During the great Maro festival Hainuwele stood in the middle of the dancing place and for nine nights distributed gifts to the dancers. But on the ninth day the men dug a grave in the middle of the dancing place and threw Hainuwele into it during the dance. The grave was filled in and men danced on it.
The next morning, seeing that Hainuwele did not come home, Ameta divined that she had been murdered. He found the body, disinterred it, and cut it into pieces, which he buried in various places, except the arms. The buried pieces gave birth to plants previously unknown, especially to tubers, which since then are the chief food of human beings. Ameta took Hainuwele's arms to another dema-divinity, Satene. Satene drew a spiral with nine turns on a dancing ground and placed herself at the centre of it. From Hainuwele's arms she made a door, and summoned the dancers. 'Since you have killed,' she said, 'I will no longer live here. I shall leave this very day. Now you will have to come to me through this door.' Those who were able to pass through it remained human beings. The others were changed into animals (pigs, birds, fish) or spirits. Satene announced that after her going men would meet her only after their death, and she vanished from the surface of the Earth.

A.E. Jensen has shown the importance of this myth for the understanding of religion and world image of the paleocultivators. The murder of the dema divinity by the dema, the ancestors of present humanity, ends an epoch (which cannot be considered 'paradisal') and opens that in which we live today. The dema became men, that is, sexed and mortal beings. As for the murdered dema-divinity, she survives both in her 'creations' (food, plants, animals,etc.) And in the house of the dead into which she was changed, or in the 'mode of being death,' which she established by her own demise.

#32 Mircea Eliade "From Primitives to Zen":    TO PYTHIAN APOLLO

---

('The Homeric Hymns,' III, 179 ff )



0 Lord, Lycia is yours and lovely Maeonia and Miletus, charming city by the sea, but over Delos you greatly reign your own self.

Leto's all-glorious son goes to rocky Pytho, playing upon his hollow lyre, clad in divine, perfumed garments; and at the touch of the golden key his lyre sings sweet. Thence, swift as thought, he speeds from earth to Olympus, to the house of Zeus, to join the gathering of the other gods: then straightway the undying gods think only of the lyre and song, and all the Muses together, voice sweetly answering voice, hymn the unending gifts the gods enjoy and the sufferings of men, all that they endure at the hands of the deathless gods, and how they live witless and helpless and cannot find healing for death or defense against old age. Meanwhile the rich-tressed races and cheerful Seasons dance with Harmonia and Hebe and Aphrodite, daughter of Zeus, holding each other by the wrist. And among them sings one, not mean nor puny, but tall to look upon and enviable in mien, Artemis who delights in arrows, sister of Apollo. Among them Sport Ares and the keen-eyed Slayer of Argus, while Apollo plays his lyre stepping high and featly and a radiance shines around him, the gleaming of his feet and dose-woven vest. And they, even gold-tressed Leto, and wise Zeus, rejoice in their great hearts as they watch their dear son playing among the undying gods.

How then shall I sing of you-though in all ways you are a worthy theme for song? Shall I sing of you as wooer and in the fields of love, how you went wooing the daughter of Azan along with god-like Ischys the son of well-horsed Flatius, or with Phorbas sprung from Triops, or with Ereutheus, or with Leucippus and the wife of Leucippus . . . you on foot, he with his chariot, yet he fell not short of Triops. Or shall I sing how at the first you went about the earth seeking a place of oracle for men, 0 far-shooting Apollo? To Pieria first you went down from Olympus and passed by sandy Lectus and Enienae and through the land of the Perrhaebi. Soon you came to folcus and set foot on Cenaeum in Euboea, famed for ships: you stood in the Lelantine plain, but it pleased not your heart to make a temple there and wooded groves. . . .

And further still you went, 0 far-shooting Apollo, and came to Orchestus, Poseidon's bright grove: there the new-broken colt distressed with drawing the trim chariot gets spirit again, and the skilled driver springs from his car and goes on his way. . . .

Then you went towards Telphusa: and there the pleasant place seemed fit for making a temple and wooded grove. You came very near and spoke to her: 'Telphusa, here I am minded to make a glorious temple, and oracle for men, and hither they will always bring perfect hecatombs, both those, who live in rich Peloponnesus and those of Europe all the wave-washed isles, coming to seek oracles. And I will deliver to them all counsel that cannot fail, giving answer in my rich temple.,

So said Phoebus Apollo, and laid out all the foundations throughout, wide and very long. But when Telphusa saw this, she was angry in heart and spoke, saying: 'Lord Phoebus, worker from afar, I will speak a word of counsel to your heart, since you are minded to make here a glorious temple to be an oracle for men who will always bring hither perfect hecatombs for you; yet I will speak out, and do you lay up my words in your heart. The trampling of swift horses and the sound of mules watering at my sacred springs will always irk you, and men like better to gaze at the well-made chariots and stamping, swift-footed horses than at your great temple and the many treasures that are within. But if you will be moved by me-for you, lord, are stronger and mightier than 1, and your strength is very great-build at Crisa below the glades of Parnassus,: there no bright chariot will clash, and there will be no noise of swift-footed horses near your well-built altar. But so the glorious tribes of men will bring gifts to you as lepaeon ("Hail-Healer"), and you will receive with delight rich sacrifices from the people dwelling round about.' So said Telphusa, that she alone, and not the Far-Shooter, should have renown there; and she persuaded the Far-Shooter.

Further yet you went, far-shooting Apollo, until you came to the town of the presumptuous Phlegyae who dwell on this earth in a lovely glade near the Cephisian lake, caring not for Zeus. And thence you went . . . to Crisa beneath snowy Parnassus, a foothill turned towards the
west: a cliff hangs over it from above, and a hollow, rugged glade runs under. There the lord Phoebus Apollo resolved to make his lovely temple, and thus he said

'In this place I am minded to build a glorious temple to be an oracle for men, and here they will always bring perfect hecatombs, both they who dwell in rich Peloponnesus and the men of Europe and from all the wave-washed isles, coming to question me. And I will deliver to them all counsel that cannot fail, answering them in my rich temple.

When he had said this, Phoebus Apollo laid out all the foundations throughout, wide and very long; and upon these the sons of Erginus, Trophonius and Agamedes, dear to the deathless gods, laid a footing of stone. And the countless tribes of men built the whole temple of wrought stones, to be sung of for ever.

But near by was a sweet flowing spring, and there with his strong bow the lord, the son of Zeus, killed the bloated, great-she-dragon, a fierce monster wont to do great mischief to men upon earth, to men themselves and to their thin-shanked sheep; for she was a very bloody plague. She it was who once received from gold-throned Hera and brought up fell, cruel Typhaon to be a plague to men. Once on a time Hera bare him because she was angry with father Zeus, when the son of Cronos bare all-glorious Athena in his head. . . .

And this Typhaon used to work great mischief among the famous tribes of men. 'whosoever met the dragoness, the day of doom would sweep him away, until the lord Apollo, who deals death from afar, shot a strong arrow at her. Then she, rent with bitter pangs, lay drawing great gasps for breath and rolling about that place. An awful noise swelled up unspeakable as she writhed continually this way and that amid the wood: and so she left her life, breathing it forth in blood. Then Phoebus Apollo boasted over her:

'Now rot here upon the soil that feeds man I You at least shall live no more to be a fell bane to men who eat the fruit of the all nourishing earth, and who will bring hither perfect hecatombs. Against cruel death neither Typhoeus shall avail you nor ill-famed Chimera, but here shall the Earth and shining Hyperion make you rot.'

Thus said Phoebus, exulting over her: and darkness covered her eyes. And the holy strength of Helios made her rot away there: wherefore the place is now called Pytho, and men call the lord Apollo by -another name, Pythian; because on that spot the power of piercing Helios made the monster rot away.

Then Phoebus Apollo saw that the sweet flowing spring had beguiled him, and he started out in anger against Telphusa; and soon coming to her, he stood close by and spoke to her:
'Telphusa, you were not, after all, to keep to yourself this lovely place by deceiving my mind, and pour forth your clear flowing water: here my renown shall also be and not yours alone.'
Thus spoke the lord, far working Apollo, and pushed over upon her a crag, with a shower of
rocks, hiding her streams: and he made himself an alter in a wooded grove very near the clear-flowing stream. In that place all men pray to the great one by the name Telphusian, because he humbled the stream of holy Telphusa.

#33 Mircea Eliade "From Primitives to Zen": THE EARTH, MOTHER OF ALL

---

('The Homeric Hymns,' xxx)

I will sing of well-founded Earth, mother of all, eldest of all beings. She feeds all creatures that are in the world, all that go upon the goodly land, and all that are in the paths of the seas, and all that fly: all these are fed of her store. Through you, 0 queen, men are blessed in their children and blessed in their harvests, and to you it belongs to give means of life to mortal men and to take it away. Happy is the man whom you delight to honour! He has all things abundantly: his fruitful land is laden with corn, his pastures are covered with cattle, and his house is filled with good things. Such men rule orderly in their cities of fair women: great riches and wealth follow them: their sons exult with everfresh delight, and their daughters with flower laden hands play and skip merrily over the soft flowers of the field. Thus it is with those whom you honour 0 holy goddess, bountiful spirit.
Hail, Mother of the gods, wife of starry Heaven; freely bestow upon me for this my song substance that cheers the heart! And now I will remember you and another song also.

#35 Mircea Eliade "From Primitives to Zen": DEMETER AND THE FOUNDING OF THE ELEUSIAN MYSTERIES

---

('The Homeric Hymns': To Demeter,11, 185-299)
Hades has carried off Demeter's daughter, Kore. After vainly searching for her, Demeter comes to Eleusis, in disguise as an old woman, and there is received into the house of King Celeus.

Soon they came to the house of heaven-nurtured Celeus and went through the portico to where their queenly mother sat by a pillar of the close-fitted roof, holding her son, a tender scion, in her bosom. And the girls ran to her. But the goddess walked to the threshold: and her head reached the roof and she filled the doorway with a heavenly radiance. Then awe and reverence and pale fear took hold of Metaneira, and she rose up from her couch before Demeter, and bade her be seated. But Demeter, bringer of seasons and giver of perfect gifts, would not sit upon the bright couch, but stayed silent with lovely eyes cast down until careful Iambe placed a jointed seat for her and threw over it a silvery fleece. Then she sat down and held her veil in her hands before her face. A long time she sat upon the stool ¹ without speaking because of her sorrow, and greeted no one by word or by sign, but rested, never smiling, and tasting neither food nor drink, because she pined with longing for her deep-bosomed daughter, until careful lambe-who pleased her moods in aftertime also-moved the holy lady with many a quip and jest to smile and laugh and cheer her heart. Then Metaneira filled a cup with sweet wine and offered it to her; but she refused it, for she said it was not lawful for her to drink red wine, but bade them mix meal and water with soft mint and give her to drink. And Metaneira mixed the draught and gave it to the goddess as she bade. So the great queen Deo received it to observe the sacrament .²
And of them all, well-girded Metaneira first began to speak: 'Hail, lady! For I think you are not meanly but nobly born; truly dignity and grace are conspicuous upon your eyes as in the eyes of kings that deal justice. Yet we mortals bear perforce what the gods send us, though we be grieved; for a yoke is set upon our necks. But now, since you are come here, you shall have what I can bestow: and nurse me this child whom the gods gave me in my old age and beyond my hope, a son much prayed for. If you should bring him up until he reach the full measure of youth, any one of womankind that sees you will straightway envy you, so great reward would I give for his upbringing.'
Then rich-haired Demeter answered her: 'And to you, also, lady, all hail, and may the gods give you good! Gladly will I take the boy to my breast, as you bid me, and will nurse him. Never, I ween, through any heedlessness of his nurse shall witchcraft hurt him nor yet the Undercutter: for I know a charm far stronger than the Woodcutter, and I know an excellent safeguard against woeful witchcraft.' When she had so spoken, she took the child in her fragrant bosom with her divine hands: and his mother was glad in her heart. So the goddess nursed in the place Demophoon, wise Celeus' goodly son whom well-girded Metancira bare. And the child grew like some immortal being, not fed with food nor nourished at the breast: for by day rich-crowned Demeter would anoint him with ambrosia as if be were the offspring of a god and breathe sweetly upon him as she held him in her bosom. But at night she would hide him like a brand in the heart of the fire, unknown to his dear parents. And it wrought great wonder in these that he grew beyond his age; for he was like the gods face to face. And she would have made him deathless and unaging, had not well-girded Metaneira in her heedlessness kept watch by night from her sweet-smelling chamber and spied. But she wailed and smote her two hips, because she feared for her son and was greatly distraught in her heart, so she lamented and uttered winged words:
'Demophoon, my son, the strange woman buries you deep in fire and works grief and bitter sorrow for me.'
Thus she spoke, mourning. And the bright goddess, lovely-crowned Demeter, heard her, and was wroth with her. So with her divine hands she snatched from the fire the dear son whom Metaneira had borne unhoped-for in the palace, and cast him from her to the ground, for she was terribly angry in her heart. Forthwith she said to well-girded Metaneira:
'Witless are you mortals and dull to foresee your lot, whether of good or evil, that comes upon you. For now in your heedlessness you have wrought folly past healing; for-be witness the oath of the gods, the relentless water of Styx-I would have made your dear son deathless and unaging all his days and would have bestowed on him everlasting honour, but now he can in no way escape death and the fates. Yet shall unfailing honour always rest upon him, because he lay upon my knees and slept in my arms. But, as the years move round and when he is in his prime, the sons of the Eleusinians shall ever wage war and dread strife with one another continually. Lo! I am that Demeter who has share of honour and is the greatest help and cause of joy to the undying gods and mortal men. But now, let all the people build me a great temple and an altar below it and beneath the city and its sheer wall upon a rising hillock above Callichorus. And I myself will teach my rites, that hereafter you may reverently perform them and so win the favour of my heart.'
When she had so said, the goddess changed her stature and her looks, thrusting old age away from her: beauty spread round about her and a lovely fragrance was wafted from her sweet-smelling robes, and from the divine body of the goddess a light shone afar, while golden tresses spread down over her shoulders, so that the strong house was filled with brightness as with lightning. And so she went out from the palace.
And straightway Metaneira's knees were loosed and she remained speechless for a long while and did not remember to take up her late born son from the ground. But his sisters heard his pitiful wailing and sprang down from their well-spread beds; one of them took up the child in her arms and laid him in her bosom, while another revived the fire, and a third rushed with soft feet to bring their mother from her fragrant chamber. And they gathered about the struggling child and washed him, embracing him lovingly; but he was not comforted, because nurses and handmaids much less skillful were holding him now.
All night long they sought to appease the glorious goddess, quaking with fear. But, as dawn began to show, they told powerful Celeus all things without fail, as the lovely-crowned goddess Demeter charged them. So Celeus called the countless people. to an assembly and bade them make a goodly temple for rich-haired Demeter and an altar upon the rising hillock. And they obeyed him right speedily and harkened to his voice, doing as he commanded. As for the child, he grew like an immortal being.

#55 Mircea Eliade "From Primitives to Zen": MESOPOTAMIAN COSMOGONY

---

The long Babylonian creation epic 'Enuma elish' ('When on High'), so called from the first two words of the poem, narrates a chain of events beginning with the very first separation of order out of chaos and culminating in the creation of the specific cosmos known to the ancient Babylonians. As the gods are born within the commingled waters of their primeval parents, Apsu and Tiamat, their restlessness disturbs Apsu. Over Tiamat's protests, he plans to kill them; but the clever Ea learns of his plan and kills Apsu instead. Now Tiamat is furious, she produces an army of monsters to avenge her husband and to wrest lordship from the younger generation. The terrified gods turn to Ea's son Marduk for help. Marduk agrees to face Tiamat, but demands supremacy over them as compensation. They promptly assemble, declare him king, and send him forth, armed with his winds and storms. The battle is short; the- winds inflate Tiamat's body like a balloon and Marduk sends an arrow through her gaping mouth into her heart. He then splits her body, forming heaven and earth with the two halves. After putting the heavens in order, he turns to Ea for help in creating, out of the blood of Tiamat's demon-commander Kingu, the black-haired men of Mesopotamia. The poem concludes as the gods build a temple for Marduk and gather in it to celebrate his mighty deeds. Enuma elish was probably composed in the early part of the second millennium B.C.

---

When on high the heaven had not been named,
Firm ground below had not been called by name,
Naught but primordial Apsu,¹ their begetter,
(And) Mummu² Tiamat, ³ she who bore them all,
Their waters ⁴ commingling as a single body;
No reed hut had been matted, no marsh land had appeared,
When no gods whatever had been brought into being,
Uncalled by name, their destinies undetermined-
Then it was that the gods were formed within them.⁵
Lahmu and Lahamu ⁶ were brought forth, by name they were called.
For aeons they grew in age and stature.
Anshar and Kishar ⁷ were formed, surpassing the others.
They prolonged the days, added on the years.
Anu ⁸ was their son, of his fathers the rival;
Yea, Anshar's first-born, Anu, was his equal.
Anu begot in his image Nudimmud. ⁹
This Nudimmud was of his fathers the master,
Of broad wisdom, understanding, mighty in strength,
Mightier by far than his grandfather, Anshar.
He had no rival among the gods, his brothers.
The divine brothers banded together,
They disturbed Tiamat as they surged back and forth,
Yea, they troubled the mood of Tiamat
By their hilarity in the Abode of Heaven.
Apsu could not lessen their clamour
And Tiamat was speechless at their ways.
Their doings were loathsome unto [ . . . ].
Unsavoury were their ways; they were overbearing.
Then Apsu, the begetter of the great gods,
Cried out, addressing Mummu, his vizier:
'O Mummu, my vizier, who rejoicest my spirit,
Come hither and let us go to Tiamat!'
They went and sat down before Tiamat,
Exchanging counsel about the gods, their first-born.
Apsu, opening his mouth,
Said unto resplendent Tiamat:
'Their ways are verity loathsome unto me.
By day I find no relief, nor repose by night.
I will destroy, I will wreck their ways,
That quiet may be restored. Let us have rest!'
As soon as Tiamat heard this,
She was wroth and called out to her husband.
She cried out aggrieved, as she raged all alone,
Injecting woe into her mood:
What? Should we destroy that which we have built?
Their ways are indeed troublesome, but let us attend kindly!'
Then answered Mummu, giving counsel to Apsu;
III-wishing and ungracious was Mummu's advice:
'Do destroy, my father, the mutinous ways.
Then shalt thou have relief by day and rest by night!'
When Apsu heard this, his face grew radiant
Because of the evil he planned against the gods, his sons.
As for Mummu, by the neck he embraced him
As (that one) sat down on his knees to kiss him.
(Now) whatever they had plotted between them
Was repeated unto the gods, their first born.
When the gods heard (this), they were astir,
(Then) lapsed into silence and remained speechless.
Surpassing in wisdom, accomplished, resourceful,
Ea, ¹⁰ the all-wise, saw through their ¹¹ scheme.
A master design against it he devised and set up,
Made artful his spell against it, surpassing and holy.
He recited it and made is subsist in the deep, ¹²
As he poured sleep upon him. Sound asleep he lay.
When Apsu he had made prone, drenched with sleep,
Mummu, the adviser, was impotent to move.
He loosened his band, tore off his tiara,
Removed his halo (and) put it on himself.
Having fettered Apsu, he slew him.
Mummu he bound and left behind lock.
Having thus upon Apsu established his dwelling,
He laid hold on Mummu, holding him by the nose-rope.
After he had vanquished and trodden down his foes,
Ea, his triumph over his enemies secured,
In his sacred chamber in profound peace he rested.
He named it 'Apsu' ¹³ for shrines he assigned (it).
In that same place his cult hut he founded.
Ea and Damkina, his wife, dwelled (there) in splendour.
In the chamber of fates, the abode of destinies,
A god was engendered, most potent and wisest of gods.
In the heart of Apsu ¹⁴ was Marduk created,
In the heart of holy Apsu was Marduk created.
He who begot him was Ea, his father,
She who conceived him was Damkina, his mother.
The breast of goddesses did she suck.
The nurse that nursed him filled him with awesomeness.
Alluring was his figure, sparkling the lift in his eyes.
Lordly was his gait, commanding from of old.
When Ea saw him, the father who begot him,
He exulted and glowed, his heart filled with gladness.
He rendered him perfect and endowed him with a double godhead.
Greatly exalted was he above them, exceeding throughout.
Perfect were his members beyond comprehension,
Unsuited for understanding, difficult to perceive.
Four were his eyes, four were his ears,¹⁵
When he moved his lips, fire blazed forth.
Large were all hearing organs,
And the eyes, in like number, scanned all things.
He was the loftiest of the gods, surpassing was his stature;
His members were enormous, he was exceeding tall.
,My little son, any little son!'
My son, the Sun of Sun of the heavens!'
Clothed with the halo of ten gods, he was strong to the utmost,
As their awesome flashes were heaped upon him.
...........................................
Disturbed was Tiamat, astir night and day.
The gods, in malice, contributed to the storm.
Their insides having plotted evil,
To Tiamat these brothers said:
'When they slew Apsu, thy consort,
Thou didst not aid him but remaindest still.
Although he fashioned the awesome Saw, ¹⁶
Thy insides are diluted and so we can have no rest.
Let Apsu, thy consort, be in thy mind
And Mummu, who has been vanquished! Thou art left alone
. ..........................................

(Several of the preceding lines are fragmentary. The gods incite Tiamat to avenge Apsu and Mummu. She is pleased and proposes to do battle against the offending gods. But first she bears a horrible brood of helpers-eleven monsters, 'Sharp of tooth, unsparing of fang. With venom for blood she has filled their bodies.')

From among the gods, ¹⁷ her first-born, who formed her Assembly,
She elevated Kingu, made him chief among them.
The leading of the ranks, command of the Assembly,
The raising weapons for the encounter, advancing to combat,
In battle the command-in-chief-
These to his hand she entrusted as she seated him in the Council:
'I have cast for thee the spell, exalting thee in the Assembly of the gods.
To counsel all the gods I have given thee full power.
Verily, thou art supreme, my only consort art thou!
Thy utterance shall prevail over all the Anunnaki! ¹⁸
She gave him the Tablets of Fate, fastened on his breast:
'As for thee, thy command shall be unchangeable, Thy word shall
endure!'
As soon as Kingu was elevated, possessed of the rank of Anu,
For the gods, her sons, they ¹⁹ decreed the fate:
'Your word shall make the fire subside,
Shall humble the 'Power-Weapon,' so potent in (its) sweep!'
[Ea again learns of the plot, but this time he has no ready response
for it. He goes to his grandfather Anshar and repeats the entire story of Tiamat's fury and her preparations for battle. Anshar is profoundly disturbed. Finally he dispatches Anu, saying, 'Go and stand thou up to Tiamat,/ that her mood be calmed, that her heart expand.' But when Anu sees the hosts of Tiamat, he loses his nerve and returns to Anshar.]

He came abjectly to his father, Anshar.
As though he were Tiamat thus he addressed him:
'My hand suffices not for me to subdue thee.'
Speechless was Anshar as he stared at the ground,
Frowning and shaking his head at Ea.
All the Anunnaki gathered at that place;
Their lips closed tight, they sat in silence.
'No god' (thought they) 'can go to battle and,
Facing Tiamat, escape with his life.'
Lord Anshar, father of the gods, rose up in grandeur,
And having pondered in his heart, he said to the Anunnaki:
'He whose strength is potent shall be our avenger,
He who is keen in battle, Marduk, the hero!'

[Ea warns Marduk of Anshar's plan and advises him to go before Anshar boldly. Marduk obeys and Anshar, seeing the hero, is instantly calmed.]



'Anshar, be not muted; open wide thy lips.
I will go and attain thy heart's desire. . . .
What male is it who has pressed his fight against thee?
It is but Tiamat, a woman, that opposes thee with weapons!
0 my father-creator, be glad and rejoice;
The neck of Tiamat thou shalt soon tread upon!
.........................................
My son, (thou) who knowest all wisdom,
Calm Tiamat with thy holy spell.
On the storm-chariot proceed with all speed.
From her presence they shall not drive (thee)! Turn them back!'
The lord rejoiced at the word of his father.
His heart exulting, he said to his father:
'Creator of the gods, destiny of the great gods, If I indeed, as your avenger,
Am to vanquish Tiamat and save your lives,
Set up the Assembly, proclaim supreme my destiny!
When jointly in Ubshukinna ²⁰ you have sat down rejoicing,
Let my word, instead of you, determine the fates.
Unalterable shall be what I may bring into being;
Neither recalled nor changed shall be the command of my lips.'

[Anshar is prepared to accept Marduk's terms. He sends his vizier Gaga to a still older generation of gods, Lahtnu and Lahamu. Gaga is instructed to repeat the entire story to them, and to invite the gods to assemble at a banquet for fixing Marduk's decrees.]



When Lahtnu and Lahainu heard this, they cried out aloud,
All the Igigi ²¹ wailed in distress:
'How strange that they should have made this decision!
We cannot fathom the doings of Tiamat!'
They made ready to leave on their journey,
All the great gods who decree the fates.
They entered before Anshar, filling Ubshuhinna.
They kissed one another in the Assembly.
They held converse as they sat down to the banquet.
They ate festive bread, partook of the wine,
They wetted their drinking tubes with sweet intoxicant.
As they drank the strong drink their bodies swelled.
They became very languid as their spirits rose.
For Marduk, their avenger, they fixed the decrees.
They erected for him a princely throne.
Facing his fathers, he sat down, presiding.
'Thou art the most honoured of the great gods,
Thy decree is unrivaled, thy command is Anu ²²
Thou, Marduk, art the most honoured of the great gods.
.........................................
We have granted thee Kingship over the universe entire.
When in the Assembly thou sittest, thy word shall be supreme.
Thy weapons shall not fail; they shall smash thy foesl
0 lord, spare the life of him who trusts thee,
But pour out the life of the god who seized evil.'
Having placed in their midst a piece of cloth,
They addressed themselves to Marduk, their first-born:
'Lord, truly thy decree is first among gods.
Say but to wreck or create; it shall be.
open thy mouth: the cloth will vanish!
Speak again, and the cloth shall be whole!'
At the word of his mouth the cloth vanished.
He spoke again, and the cloth was restored.
When the gods, his fathers, saw the fruit of his word,
Joyfully they did him homage: 'Marduk is king!'
They conferred on him sceptre, throne, and palu;
They gave him matchless weapons that ward off the foes:
Bel's ²³ destiny thus fixed, the gods, his fathers,
Caused him to go the way of success and attainment.
He constructed a bow, marked it as his weapon,
Attached thereto the arrow, fixed its bow-cord.
He raised the mace, made his right hand grasp it;
Bow and quiver he hung at his side.
In front of him he set the lightning,
With a blazing flame he filled his body.
He then made a net to enfold Tiamat therein.
The four winds he stationed that nothing of her might escape,
The South Wind, the North Wind, the East Wind, the West Wind.
Close to his side he held the net, the gift of his father, Anu.
He brought forth Imhullu, 'the Evil Wind,' the Whirlwind, the
Hurricane,
The Fourfold Wind, the Sevenfold Wind, the Cyclone, the Matchless
Wind;
Then he sent forth the winds he had brought forth, the seven of them.
To stir up the inside of Tiamat they rose up behind him.
Then the lord raised up the flood-storm, his mighty weapon.
He mounted the storm-chariot irresistible and terrifying.
He harnessed (and) yoked to it a team-of-four,
The Killer, the Relentless, the Trampler, the Swift.
Sharp were their teeth, bearing poison.

They were versed in ravage, in destruction skilled.
..........................................

With his fearsome halo his head was turbaned,
The lord went forth and followed his course,
Towards the raging Tiamat he set his face.
In his lips he held [a . . . ] of red paste; ²⁴
A plant to put out poison was grasped in his hand.
Then they milled about him, the gods milled about him.
The lord approached to scan the inside of Tiamat,
(And) of Kingu, her consort, the scheme to perceive.
As he looks on, his ²⁵ course becomes upset,
His will is distracted and his doings are confused.
And when the gods, his helpers, who marched at his side,
Saw the valiant hero, blurred became their vision.
Tiamat uttered a cry, without turning her neck,
Framing savage defiance in her lips:
'Too important art thou for the lord of the gods to rise up against thee!
Is it in their place that they have gathered, (or) in thy place?'
Thereupon the lord having raised the flood-storm, his mighty weapon,
To enraged Tiamat he sent word as follows:
'Mightily art thou risen, art haughtily exalted;
Thou hast charged thine own heart to stir up conflict,
So that sons reject their own fathers,
And thou who hast borne them, dost hate
Thou hast aggrandized Kingu to be (thy) consort;
A rule, -not rightfully his, thou hast substituted for the rule of Anu.
Against Anshar, king of the gods, thou seekest evil;
Against the gods, my fathers, thou hast confirmed thy wickedness.
Though drawn up be thy forces, girded on thy weapons,
Stand thou up, that I and thou meet in single combat!'
When Tiamat heard this,
She was like one possessed; she took leave of her senses.
In fury Tiamat cried out aloud.
To the roots her legs shook both together.
She recited a charm, keeps casting her spell,
While the gods of battle sharpen their weapons.
Then joined issue Tiamat and Marduk, wisest of gods,
They swayed in single combat, locked in battle.
The lord spread out his net to enfold her,
The Evil Wind, which followed behind, he let loose in her face.
When Tiamat opened her mouth to consume him,
He drove in the Evil Wind that she close not her lips.
As the fierce winds charged her belly,
Her body was distended and her mouth was wide open.
He released the arrow, it tore her belly,
It cut through her insides, splitting the heart.
Having thus subdued her, he extinguished her life.
He cast down her carcass to stand upon it.
After he had slain Tiamat, the leader,
Her band was shattered, her troupe broken up.

[Tiamat's helpers panic and run, but Marduk captures and fetters
all of them.]

And Kingu, who had been made chief among them,
He bound and accounted him to Uggae. ²⁶

He took from him the Tablets of Fate, not rightfully his,
Sealed (them) with a seal ²⁷ and fastened (them) on his breast.
When he had vanquished and subdued his adversaries,
..........................................
And turned back to Tiamat whom he had bound.
The lord trod on the legs of Tiamat
With his unsparing mace he crushed her skull.
When the arteries of her blood he had severed,
The North Wind bore (it) to places undisclosed.
On seeing this, his fathers were joyful and jubilant,
They brought gifts of homage, they to him.
Then the lord paused to view her dead body,
That he might divide the monster and do artful works.
He split her like a shellfish into two parts:
Half of her he set up and ceiled as sky,
Pulled down the bar and posted guards.
He bade them to allow not her waters to escape.
He crossed the heavens and surveyed (its) regions.
He squared Apsu's quarter, the abode of Nudimmud,
As the lord measured the dimensions of Apsu.
The Great Abode, its likeness, he fixed as Esharra,
The Great Abode, Esharra, which he made as the firmament.
Anu, Enlil, ²⁸ and Ea he made occupy their places.

[Much of Tablet V is broken. Marduk puts the heavens in order,
establishing the zodiac and telling the moon how to shine.]



When Marduk hears the words of the gods,
His heart prompts (him) to fashion artful works.
Opening his mouth, he addresses Ea
To impart the plan he addresses Ea
To impart the plan he had conceived in his heart:
'Blood I will mass and cause bones to be.
I will establish a savage, "man" shall be his name.
Verily, savage-man I will create.
He shall be charged with the service of the gods
That they might be at ease!
The ways of the gods I will artfully alter.
Though alike revered, into two (groups) they shall be divided.'
Ea answered him, speaking a word to him,
To relate to him a scheme for the relief of the gods:
'Let but one of their brothers be handed over,

He alone shall perish that mankind may be fashioned. ²⁹
Let the great gods be here in Assembly,
Let the guilty be handed over that they may endure.'
Marduk summoned the great gods to Assembly;
Presiding graciously, he issued instructions.
To his utterance the gods pay heed.
The king addresses a word to the Anunnaki:
'if your former statement was true,
Do (now) the truth on oath by me declare!
Who was it that contrived the uprising,
And made Tiamat rebel, and joined battle?
Let him be handed over who contrived the uprising.
His guilt I will make him bear that you may dwell in peace!'
The Igigi, the great gods, replied to him,
To Lugaidimmerankia, ³⁰ counselor of the gods, their lord:
'It was Kingu who contrived the uprising,
And made Tiamat rebel, and joined battle.'
They bound him, holding him before Ea.
They imposed on him his guilt and severed his blood (vessels).
Out of his blood they fashioned mankind.
He ³¹ imposed the service and let free the gods.

[After the creation of mankind, Marduk divides the Anunnaki and assigns them to their proper stations, three hundred in heaven, three hundred on the earth.]

After he had ordered all the instructions,
To the Anunnaki of heaven and earth had allotted their portions,
The Anunnaki opened their mouths
And said to Marduk, their lord:
'Now, 0 lord, thou who hast caused our deliverance,
What shall be our homage to thee?
Let us build a shrine to thee whose name shall be called
'Lo, a chamber for our nightly rest'; let us repose in it!
Let us build a shrine, a recess for his abode!
On the day that we arrive ³² we shall repose in it.'
When Marduk heard this,
Brightly glowed his features, like the day:
'Like that of lofty Babylon, whose building you have requested,
Let its brickwork be fashioned. You shall name it "The Sanctuary."'
The Anunnaki applied the implement;
For one whole year they moulded bricks.
When the second year arrived,
They raised high the head of Esagila ³³ equaling Apsu. ³⁴
Having built a stage-tower as high as Apsu,
They set up in it an abode for Marduk, Enlil, (and) Ea. In their presence he adorned (it) in grandeur.
To the base of Esharra its horns took down.
After they had achieved the building of Esagila, The Anunnaki themselves erected their shrines.
all of them gathered,
they had built as his dwelling.
The gods, his fathers, at his banquet he seated:
'This is Babylon, the place that is your home!
Make merry in its precincts, occupy its broad places.'
The great gods took their seats,
They set up festive drink, sat down to a banquet.
After they had made merry within it,
In Esagila, the splendid, had performed their rites,
The norms had been fixed (and) all their portents,
All the gods apportioned the stations of heaven and earth.
The fifty great gods took their seats.
The seven gods of destiny set up the three hundred in heaven.
Enlil raised the bow, his weapon, and laid (it) before them.
The gods, his fathers, saw the net he had made.
When they beheld the bow, how skillful its shape,
His fathers praised the work he had wrought.
Raising (it), Anu spoke up in the Assembly of the gods,
As he kissed the bow:

[The remainder of the epic is a long hymn of praise to Marduk It culminates in a recitation of his fifty names, attributes reflecting his power and mighty deeds.]

---

Notes 1 God of subterranean waters; the primeval sweet-water ocean.
2 An epithet of Tiamat; perhaps meaning 'mother.'
3 A water-deity; the primeval salt-water ocean.
4 i.e, the fresh waters of Apsu and the marine waters of Tiamat.
5 The waters of Apsu and Tiamat.
6 The first generation of gods.
7 Gods.
8 The sky-god.
9 One of the names of Ea, the earth and water-god.
10 Ea, the earth- and water-god.
11 That of Apsu and his vizier Mummu.
12 i.e., caused it to be in the waters of Apsu.
13 'The Deep.'
14 See note 13.
15 cf.. Ezekiel 1:6.
16 The weapon of the sun-god.
17 The gods who joined Tiamat in her war.
18 Here a collective name of the nether world gods.
19 Tiamat and Kingu.
20 The assembly hall of the gods.
21 A collective name of the heaven gods.
22 i.e., it has the authority of the sky-god Anu.
23 i.e., Marduk's destiny.
24 Red being the magic colour for warding off evil influence.
25 i.e., Kingu's course.
26 God of death.
27 By this action Marduk legalized his ownership of the Tablets of Fate.
28 The god of the wind, i.e., of the earth.
29 Out of his blood.
30 Meaning 'The king of the gods of heaven and earth.'
31 Ea.
32 For the New Year's Festival.
33 Name of the temple of Marduk in Babylon.
34 Meaning apparently that the height of Esagila corresponded to the depth
of Apsu's waters.

#59 Mircea Eliade "From Primitives to Zen": HESIOD'S THEOGONY AND COSMOGONY

---

('Theogony,' 116-210) The main themes of Hesiod's 'Theogony' are (1) the coming into being of Chaos (the Void), Earth, Eros, Sky and the first generation of gods (lines 116-53); (2) the castration of Sky by his son Cronus, instigated by his mother Earth (lines 154-210); (3) Zeus' escape from being swallowed by his father Cronus (lines 453-500); (4) the victorious battle of Zeus and the Olympian gods against the Titans (lines 617-735). Only the first two episodes are printed below. It is impossible to determine Hesiod's date, but he is later than Homer, probably eighth century B.C. The similarities to and differences from the Ancient Near East cosmogonies are discussed by Norman 0. Brown in the introduction to his translation, 'Hesiod's Theogony,' PP. 36 ff.

'First of all, the Void (Chaos) came into being, next broad-bosomed Earth, the solid and eternal home of all, and Eros [Desire], the most beautiful of the immortal gods, who in every man and every god softens the sinews and overpowers the prudent purpose of the mind. Out of Void came Darkness and black Night, and out of Night came Light and Day, her children conceived after union in love with Darkness. Earth first produced starry Sky, equal in size with herself, to cover her on all sides. Next she produced the tall mountains, the pleasant haunts of the gods, and also gave birth to the barren waters, sea with its raging surges-all this without the passion of love. Thereafter she lay with Sky and gave birth to Ocean with its deep current. Coeus and Crius and Hyperion and Iapetus; Thea and Rhea and Themia [Law] and Mnemosyne [Memory]; also golden-crowned Phoebe and lovely Tethys. After these came cunning Cronus, the youngest and boldest of her children; and he grew to hate the father who had begotten him.
Earth also gave birth to the violent Cyclopes-Thunderer, Lightner, and bold Flash-who made and gave to Zeus the thunder and the lightning bolt. They were like the gods in all respects except that a single eye stood in the middle of their foreheads, and their strength and power and skill were in their hands.
There were also born to Earth and Sky three more children, big, strong, and horrible, Cottus and Briareus and Gyes. This unruly brood had a hundred monstrous hands sprouting from their shoulders, and fifty heads on top of their shoulders growing from their sturdy bodies. They had monstrous strength to match their huge size.
Of all the children born of Earth and Sky these were the boldest, and their father hated them from the beginning. As each of them was about to be born, Sky would not let them reach the light of day; instead he hid them all away in the bowels of Mother Earth. Sky took pleasure in doing this evil thing. In spite of her enormous size, Earth felt the strain within her and groaned. Finally she thought of an evil and cunning stratagem. She instantly produced a new metal, grey steel, and made a huge sickle. Then she laid the matter before her children; the anguish in her heart made her speak boldly, 'My children, you have a savage father; if you will listen to me, we may be able to take vengeance for this evil outrage: he was the one who started using violence.'
This was what she said: but all the children were gripped by fear, and not one of them spoke a word. Then great Cronus, the cunning trickster, took courage and answered his good mother with these words: 'Mother, I am willing to undertake and carry through your plan. I have no respect for our infamous father, since he was the one who started using violence.'
This was what he said, and enormous Earth was very pleased. She hid him in ambush and put in his hands the sickle with jagged teeth, and ' instructed him fully in her plot. Huge Sky came drawing night behind him and desiring to make love; he lay on top of Earth stretched all over her. Then from his ambush his son reached out with his left hand and with his right took the huge sickle with its long jagged teeth and quickly sheared the organs from his own father and threw them away. The drops of blood that spurted from them were all taken in by Mother Earth, and in the course of the revolving years she gave birth to the powerful Erinyes [Spirits of Vengeance] and the huge Giants with shining armour and long spears. As for the organs themselves, for a long time they drifted round the sea just as they were when Cronus cut them off with the steel edge and threw them from the land into the waves of the ocean; then white foam issued from the divine flesh, and in the foam a girl began to grow. First she came near to holy Cythera, then reached Cyprus, the land surrounded by sea. There she stepped out, a goddess, tender and beautiful, and round her slender feet the green grass shot up. She is called Aphrodite by gods and men because she grew in the froth, and also Cytherea, because she came near to Cythera, and the Cyprian, because she was born in watery Cyprus. Eros [Desire] and beautiful Passion were her attendants both at her birth and at her first going to join the family of the gods. The rights and privileges assigned to her from the beginning and recognized by men and gods are these; to preside over the whispers and smiles and tricks which girls employ, and the sweet delight and tenderness of love.
Great Father Sky called his children the Titans, because of his feud with them: he said that they blindly had tightened the noose and had done a savage thing for which they would have to pay in time to come.

#95 Mircea Eliade "From Primitives to Zen": A HOMERIC SACRIFICE FOR THE DEAD

---

(Homer, 'Odyssey,' XI, 18-50) Odysseus speaks:
'Thither we came and beached our ship, and took out the sheep, and ourselves went beside the stream of Oceanus until we came to the place of which Circe had told us.
'Here Perimedes and Eurylochus held the victims, while I drew my sharp sword from beside my thigh, and dug a pit of a cubit's length this way and that, and around it poured a libation to all the dead, first with milk and honey, thereafter with sweet wine, and in the third place with water, and I sprinkled thereon white barley meal. And I earnestly entreated the powerless heads of the dead, vowing that when I came to Ithaca I would sacrifice in my halls a barren heifer, the best I had, and pile the altar with goodly gifts, and to Teiresias alone would sacrifice separately a ram, wholly black, the goodliest of my flocks. But when with vows and prayers I had made supplication to the tribes of the dead, I took the sheep and cut their throats over the pit, and the dark blood ran forth. Then there gathered from out of Erebus the spirits of those that are dead, brides, and unwedded youths, and toil-worn old men, and tender maidens with hearts yet new to sorrow, and many, too, that had been wounded with bronze-tipped spears, men slain in fight, wearing their blood-stained armour. These came thronging in crowds about the pit from every side, with a wondrous cry, and pale fear seized me. Then I called to my comrades and bade them flay and burn the sheep that lay there slain with the pitiless bronze, and to make prayers to the gods, to mighty Hades and dread Persephone. And I myself drew my sharp sword from beside my thigh and sat there, and would not suffer the powerless heads of the dead to draw near to the blood until I had enquired of Teiresias.'

#147 Mircea Eliade "From Primitives to Zen": DIONYSUS AND THE BACCHAE

---

(Euripides, 'The Bacchae,' 677-775) According to the ancient authorities, the cult of Dionysus came to Greece from Thrace or from Phrygia (the Phrygians were a Thracian tribe). The cult was of a frenetic and ecstatic character, as this passage from Euripides' Bacchae so strikingly illustrates. One of the herdsmen describes to Pentheus, the king of Thebes, an attack of the maenads (bacchae) upon the royal herd.

About that hour when the sun lets loose its light to warm the earth
our grazing herds of cows had just begun to climb
the path along the mountain ridge. Suddenly
I saw three companies of dancing women,
one led by Autonoe the second captained
by your mother Agave, while Ino led the third.
There they lay in the deep sleep of exhaustion,
some resting on boughs of fir, others sleeping
where they fell, here and there among the oak leaves
but all modestly and soberly, -not, as you think,
drunk with wine nor wandering, led astray
by the music of the flute, to hunt their Aphrodite
through the woods.

But your mother heard the lowing
of our horned herds, and springing to her feet,
gave a great cry to waken them from sleep.
And they too, rubbing the bloom of the sleep
from their eyes, rose up lightly and straight
a lovely sight to see: all as one,
the old women and the young and the unmarried girls.
First they let the hair fall loose, down over their shoulders,
and those whose straps had slipped
fastened their skins of fawn with writhing snakes
that licked their cheeks. Breasts swollen with milk,
new mothers who had left their babies behind at home
nestled gazelles and young wolves in their arms,
suckling them. Then they crowned their hair with leaves,
ivy and oak and flowering bryony. One woman
struck her thyrsus against a rock and a fountain
of cool water came bubbling up. Another drove
her fennel in the ground, and where it struck the earth,
at the touch of god, a spring of wine poured out.
Those who wanted milk scratched at the soil
with bare fingers and the white milk came welling up.
Pure honey spurted, streaming, from their wands.
If you had been there and seen these wonders for yourself,
you would have gone down on your knees and prayed
to the god you now deny.

We cowherds and shepherds
gathered in small groups, wondering and arguing
among ourselves at these fantastic things,
the awful miracles those women did.
But then a city fellow with the knack of words
rose to his feet and said: 'All you who live
upon the pastures of the mountain, what do you say?
Shall we earn a little favour with King Pentheus
by hunting his mother Agave out of the revels?'
Falling in with his suggestion, we withdrew
and set ourselves in ambush, hidden by the leaves
among the undergrowth. Then at a signal
all the Bacchae whirled their wands for the revels to begin.
With one voice they cried aloud:
'O lacchus! Son of Zeus!' 'O Bromius!'
they cried until the beasts and all the mountain seemed
wild with divinity. And when they ran,
everything ran with them.

It happened, however,
that Agave ran near the ambush where I lay concealed.
Leaping up, I tried to seize her,
but she gave a cry: 'Hounds who run with me,
men are hunting us down! Follow, follow me!
Use your hands for weapons.'

At this we fled
and barely missed being torn to pieces by the women.
Unarmed, they swooped down upon the herds of cattle
grazing there on the green of the meadow. And then
you could have seen a single woman with bare hands
tear a fat calf, still bellowing with fright, in two,
while others clawed the heifers to pieces.
There were ribs and cloven hooves scattered everywhere,
and scraps smeared with blood hung from the fig trees.
And bulls, their raging fury gathered in their horns,
lowered their heads to charge, then fell, stumbling
to the earth, pulled down by hordes of women
and stripped of flesh and skin more quickly, sire,
than you could blink royal eyes. Then,
carried up by their own speed, they flew like birds
across the spreading fields along Asopus' stream
where most of all the ground is good for harvesting.
Like invaders they swooped on Hysiae
and on Erythrae in the foothills of Cithaeron.
Everything in sight they pillaged and destroyed.
They snatched the children from their homes.
And when they piled their plunder on their backs,
it stayed in place, untied. Nothing, neither bronze nor iron,
fell to the dark earth. Flames flickered
in their curls and did not burn them. Then the villagers,
furious at what the women did, took to arms.
And there, sire, was something terrible to see.
For the men's spears were pointed and sharp,
and yet drew no blood, whereas the wands the women
threw inflicted wounds. And then the men ran,
routed by women! Some god, I say, was with them.
The Bacchae then returned where they had started,
by the springs the god had made, and washed their hands
while the snakes licked away the drops of blood
that dabbled their checks.

Whoever this god may be, sire,
welcome him to Thebes. For he is great
in many other ways as well. It was he,
or so they say, who gave to mortal men
the gift of lovely wine by which our suffering
is stopped. And if there is no god of wine,
there is no love, no Aphrodite either, nor other pleasure left to men.

#148 Mircea Eliade "From Primitives to Zen": THE ELEUSINIAN MYSTERIES

---

Happy is he among men upon earth who has seen these mysteries; but he who is uninitiate and who has no part in them never has lot of like good things once he is dead, down in the darkness and gloom.

Hymn to Demeter, 480-2 (translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Hesiod, the Homeric Hymns, and Homerica, Loeb Classical Library [New York, 1920], P. 323)

---

Thrice happy are those of mortals, who having seen those rites depart for Hades; for to them alone is it granted to have true life there; to the rest all there is evil.

Sophocles, Frag. 719 (Dindorf) (translation by G. E. Mylonas, Eleusis and the Eleusinian Mysteries [Prince ton: Princeton University Press, 1961], P. 284)

---

Happy is he who, having seen these rites, goes below the hollow earth; for he knows the end of life and he knows its god-sent beginning.



Pindar, Frag. 102 (Oxford) (translation by Mylonas, Op.cit., P. 285)

---

Beautiful indeed is the Mystery given us by the blessed gods: death is for mortals no longer an evil, but a blessing.

Inscription found at Eleusis (translation by S. Angus, The Mystery Religions and Christianity [London, 19251, P. 140)

---

It was the common belief in Athens that whoever had been taught the Mysteries would, when he died, be deemed worthy of divine glory. Hence all were eager for initiation.





Scholiast on Aristophanes (The Frogs, 158) (translation by S. Angus, op cit., p. 140)

---

Pausanias avoided explanations regarding the Mysteries and refrained
from describing the buildings to be seen in the sacred precincts of
Demeter both at Eleusis and Athens:

I purposed to pursue the subject, and describe all the objects that
admit of description in the sanctuary at Athens called the Eleusinion, but I was prevented from so doing by a vision in a dream. I will, therefore, turn to what may be lawfully told to everybody.


Pausanias, I, 14, 3 (translation by Frazer) My dream forbade me to describe what is within the wall of the sanctuary; and surely it is dear that the uninitiated may not lawfully hear of that from the sight of which they are debarred.



Pausanias, 1, 38, 7 (translation by Frazer)

---

And the synthema (pass-word) of the Eleusinian mysteries is as follows: 'I fasted; I drank the kykeon; I took out of the chest; having done my task, I put again into the basket, and from the basket again into the chest.'

Clement of Alexandria, Protreptikos, II, 21. [For the interpretations of this sacred formula, cf. George E. Mylonas, Eleusis and the Eleusinian Mysteries, pp. 294-305]

---

The Phrygians, the Naassene says, assert that God is a fresh ear of cutwheat, and following the Phrygians the Athenians, when they initiate in the Eleusinia exhibit in silence to the epoptai the mighty and marvellous and most complete epoptic mystery, an ear of cut-wheat.

Hippolytus, Philosophoumena, V, 8



[According to Walter Otto, 'there can be no doubt of the miraculous nature of the event. The ear of wheat growing and maturing with a supernatural suddenness is just as much a part of the mysteries of Demeter as the vine growing in a few hours is part of the revels of Dionysus.' W. Otto, 'Meaning of the Eleusinian Mysteries,' P. 25, in The Mysteries (New York, 1955), PP. 14-31; see also Mylonas, op. cit. PP- 305-10-]

---

Aristotle maintains that it is not necessary for the initiated to learn anything, but to receive impressions and to be put in a certain frame of mind by becoming worthy candidates.


Synesius, De Dione, 10. (cf. Jeanne Groissant, Aristotle et les Mysteres, Paris, 1932)

#149 Mircea Eliade "From Primitives to Zen": DEATH AND INITIATION IN THE MYSTERIES

---

(Plutarch, 'On the Soul')
The soul [at the point of death] has the same experience are being initiated into great mysteries. . . . At first one wearily hurries to and fro, and journeys with suspicion dark as one uninitiated: then come all the terrors be initiation, shuddering, trembling, sweating, amazement: then one is struck with a marvellous light, one is received into pure regions and meadows, with voices and dances and the majesty of holy sounds and shapes: among these he who has fulfilled initiation wanders free, and released and bearing his crown joins in the divine communion, and consorts with pure and holy men, beholding those who live here uninitiated, an uncleansed horde, trodden under foot of him and huddled together in mud and fog, abiding in their miseries through fear of death and mistrust of the blessings there.

#150 Mircea Eliade "From Primitives to Zen": INITIATION INTO THE MYSTERIES OF CYBELE

THE TAUROBOLIUM

---

(Prudentius, 'Peristephanon,' X, 101 1-50)
The high priest who is to be consecrated is brought down under ground in a pit dug deep, marvellously adorned with a fillet, binding his festive temples with chaplets, his hair combed back under a golden crown, and wearing a silken toga caught up with Gabine girding.
Over this they make a wooden floor with wide spaces, woven of planks with an open mesh; they then divide or bore the area and repeatedly pierce the wood with a pointed tool that it may appear full of small holes.
Hither a huge bull, fierce and shaggy in appearance, is led, bound with flowery garlands about its flanks, and with its horns sheathed; Yea, the forehead of the victim sparkles with gold, and the flash of metal plates colours its hair.
Here, as is ordained, the beast is to be slain, and they pierce its breast with a sacred spear; the gaping wound emits a wave of hot blood, and the smoking river flows into the woven structure beneath it and surges wide.
Then by the many paths of the thousand openings in the lattice the falling shower rains down a foul dew, which the priest buried within catches, putting his shameful head under all the drops, defiled both in his clothing and in all his body.
Yea, he throws back his face, he puts his cheeks in the way of the blood, he puts under it his ears and lips, he interposes his nostrils, he washes his very eyes with the fluid, nor does he even spare his throat but moistens his tongue, until he actually drinks the dark gore.
Afterwards, the flamens draw the corpse, stiffening now that the blood has gone forth, off the lattice, and the pontiff, horrible in appearance, comes forth, and shows his wet head, his beard heavy with blood, his dripping fillets and sodden garments.
This man, defiled with such contagions and foul with the gore of the recent sacrifice, all hail and worship¹ at a distance, because profane blood ² and a dead ox have washed him while concealed in a filthy cave.

---

Notes
1 All hail and worship. The consecrated priest, emerging from the blood bath with the gift of divine life (drawn from the sacred bull) himself becomes divine and is therefore worshipped. Those who received the 'taurobolium could be described as 'born again for eternity' (renatus in aeternum, C.I.L., VI, 510; many other inscriptions refer to the taurobolium and prove the rite to have been in use early in the second century A.D).
2 Profane blood. It must be remembered that Prudentius was a Christian and that to him the blood was profane (vilis) and the whole rite not only repulsive but blasphemous.

#155 Mircea Eliade "From Primitives to Zen": INITIATION IN THE MYSTERIES OF ISIS

---

(Apuleius, 'Metamorphoses,' XI, 1-26)
Apuleius of Madaura, in North Africa, lived in the second century A.D. He was a lawyer, a novelist, and an orator. His famous Metamorphoses, which used to be called The Golden Ass, is a thinly veiled apologetic and autobiographic work in eleven books, replete with charming tales (e.g., 'Cupid and Psyche' in IV, 28 MVI, 24). The hero, Lucius, being over-curious about magic, is accidentally turned into an ass. His restoration to human shape by the mercy of Isis and his initiation into her rites form the climax of the work and are regarded as being based on direct acquaintance with the Isis mysteries.

Introduction
[Book XI opens with an auspicious note of mystery. Lucius is spending the night asleep on the warm sand of the seashore.]
(1) About the first watch of the night, I awoke in sudden terror; the full moon had risen and was shining with unusual splendour as it emerged from the waves. All about me lay the mysterious silence of the night. I knew that this was the hour when the goddess [Isis] exercised her greatest power and governed all things by her providence -not only animals, wild and tame, but even inanimate things were renewed by her divine illumination and might; even the heavenly bodies, the whole earth, and the vast sea waxed or waned in accordance with her will.


The Epiphany of Isis
[Lucius decides to make his appeal to Isis for release from his asinine disguise, and the goddess responds. His prayer in 2 recounts her titles as Queen of Heaven, Ceres, Proserpina, celestial Venus.]
(3) So I poured out my prayers and supplications, adding to them much pitiful wailing, and once more fell sound asleep on the same bed of sand. Scarcely had I closed my eyes when lo! from the midst of the deep there arose that face divine to which even the gods must do reverence. Then a little at a time, slowly, her whole shining body emerged from the sea and came into full view. I would like to tell you all the wonder of this vision, if the poverty of human speech does not prevent, or if the divine power dwelling within that form supplies a rich enough store of eloquence.
First, the tresses of her hair were long and thick, and streamed down softly, flowing and curling about her divine neck. On her head she wore as a crown many garlands of flowers, and in the middle of her forehead shone white and glowing a round disc like a mirror, or rather like the moon; on its right and left it was bound about with the furrowed coils of rising vipers, and above it were stalks of grain. Her tunic was of many colours, woven of the finest linen, now gleaming with snowy whiteness, now yellow like the crocus, now rosy-red like a flame. But what dazzled my eyes more than anything else was her cloak, for it was a deep black, glistening with sable sheen; it was cast about her, passing under her right arm and brought together on her left shoulder. Part of it hung down like a shield and drooped in many a fold, the whole reaching to the lower edge of her garment with tasseled fringe.
(4) Here and there along its embroidered border, and also on its surface, were scattered sequins of sparkling stars, and in their midst the full moon of midmonth shone forth like a flame of fire. And all along the border of that gorgeous robe there was an unbroken garland of all kinds of flowers and fruits.
In her hands she held emblems of various kinds. In her right hand she carried a bronze rattle [the sistrum] made of a thin piece of metal curved like a belt, through which were passed a few small rods; this gave out a tinkling sound whenever she shook it three times with a quivering pulsation. In her left hand was a golden cup, from the top of whose slender handle rose an asp, towering with head erect and its throat distended on both sides. Her perfumed feet were shod with sandals woven of the palm of victory.
Such was the vision, and of such majesty. Then, breathing forth all the blessed fragrance of happy Arabia, she deigned to address me with voice divine;
(5), Behold, Lucius, I have come, moved by thy prayers ! I, nature's mother, mistress of all the elements, earliest offspring of the ages, mightiest of the divine powers, Queen of the dead, chief of them that dwell in the heavens, in whose features are combined those of all the gods and goddesses. By my nod I rule the shining heights of heaven, the wholesome winds of the sea, and the mournful silences of the underworld. The whole world honours my sole deity [numen unicum] under various forms, with varied rites, and by many names . . . and the Egyptians mighty in ancient lore, honouring me with my peculiar rites, call me by my true name, Isis the Queen.
'I have come in pity for thy woes. I have come, propitious and ready to aid. Cease from thy weeping and lamentation, and lay aside thy grief. For thee, by my providence, the day of salvation is dawning! Therefore turn thy afflicted spirit, and give heed to what I command. The day, even the very day that follows this night, is dedicated to me by an everlasting dedication, for on this day, after I have laid to rest the storms of winter and stilled the tempestuous waves of the sea, my priests shall dedicate to the deep, which is now navigable once more, a new boat, and offer it in my honour as the first fruits of the year's seafaring. Thou must await this festival with untroubled heart and with no profane thoughts.'
[The goddess tells Lucius that he must mingle with the crowd at the Ploiaphesia and edge his way up to the priest, who will be wearing a garland of roses. Having been forewarned by the goddess in a vision, the priest will be prepared for what is to happen, namely, that Lucius (still the ass) will seize the priest's garland and eat it, where upon he will be restored to human form. And so it takes place. Transformed once more into human shape, Lucius is exhorted by one of the priests, 'whose smiling face seemed more than mortal': ]
(15) 'O Lucius, after enduring so many labours and escaping so many tempests of Fortune, you have now at length reached the port and haven of rest and mercy ! Neither your noble lineage nor your high rank nor your great learning did anything for you; but because you turned to servile pleasures, by a little youthful folly you won the grim reward of your hapless curiosity. And yet while Fortune's blindness tormented you with various dangers, by her very malice she has brought you to this present state of religious blessedness. Let Fortune go elsewhere and rage with her wild fury, and find someone else to torment! For Fortune has no power over those who have devoted themselves to serve the majesty of our goddess. For all your afflictions -robbers, wild beasts, slavery, toilsome and futile journeys that ended where they began, and the daily fear of death-all these brought no advantage to wicked Fortune. Now you are safe, under the protection of that Fortune who is not blind but can see, who by her clear light enlightens the other gods. Therefore rejoice and put on a more cheerful countenance, appropriately matching your white robe, and follow with joyful steps the procession of this Saviour Goddess. Let all such as are not devout followers of the goddess see and acknowledge their error, [saying]; "See, here is Lucius, freed from his former miseries by the providence of the great goddess Isis, and rejoicing in triumph over his Fortune!" And in order that you may live even more safely and securely, hand in your name to this sacred militia [i.e., join the Isiac order]-for it is only a little while ago that you were asked to take the oath-and dedicate yourself to obey our religion and take upon yourself the voluntary yoke of ministry. For when you have begun to serve the goddess, then will you realize more fully the fruits of your liberty.'




The Initiation of Lucius
[And so the priest prophesied and made his appeal to Lucius, and Lucius consented and joined the procession, amid the jeers of the unbelievers. But his conversion, like that of many others, was a slow process, and only gradually did he come to identify himself with the Isiac priests; for, like many another, he believed the strict profession of religion was something too hard for him: 'The laws of chastity and abstinence are not easy to obey' (19) And yet he continued to frequent the services of worship
(21). and eventually came to desire earnestly to be admitted to the mysteries of Isis. This took place on 'the night that is sacred to the goddess.']
(22) The priest finished speaking, and I did not mar my obedience by any impatience, but with a quiet and gentle and edifying silence I rendered attentive service at the daily observance of the sacred rites. Nor did the saving grace of the mighty goddess in any way deceive me or torture me with long delays, but in the dark of night, by commands that were not in the least dark, she clearly signified to me that the day so long desired had come, in which she would grant the fulfillment of my most earnest prayers. She also stated what amount I must provide for the supplications, and she appointed Mithras himself, her high priest, to administer the rites to me; for his destiny, she said, was closely bound up with mine by the divine conjunction of the stars.
These and other gracious admonitions of the supreme goddess refreshed my spirit, so that even before it was clear day I shook off sleep and hastened at once to the priest's lodging. I met him just as he was coming out of his bedchamber, and saluted him. I had decided to request with even more insistence that I should be initiated, now that it was due me. But he at once, as soon as he saw me, anticipated me, saying, 'Lucius, you happy, you greatly blessed man, whom the August deity deigns to favour with such good will! But why,' he asked, 'do you stand here idle, yourself delaying? The day you have so long asked by your unwearied prayers has come, when by the divine commands of the goddess of many names you are to be admitted by my hands into the most holy secrets of the mysteries.' Then, taking my right hand in his, the gentle old man led me to the very doors of the huge temple; and after celebrating with sole ritual the opening of the gates and completing the morning sacrifice, he brought out from a hidden place in the temple certain books whose titles were written in undecipherable letters. Some of these [letters] were shaped like all kinds of animals and seemed to be brief ways of suggesting words; others bad their extremities knotted or curved like wheels, or intertwined like the tendrils of a vine, which was enough to safeguard them from the curiosity of profane readers. At the same time he told me about the various preparations it was necessary to make in view of my initiation.
(23) 1 lost no time, but promptly and with a liberality even beyond what was required I either bought these things myself or had my friends buy them for me. And now, the time drawing near and requiring it, as he said, the priest conducted me with an escort of the religiously-minded to the nearest baths; and when I entered the bath, where it is customary for the neophytes to bathe, he first prayed to the gods to be gracious to me and then sprinkled me with purest water and cleansed me. He then led me back to the temple, and since the day was now more than half over he placed me at the feet of the goddess herself; then, after confiding certain secret orders to me, those which were too holy to be spoken, he openly, before all who were present, bade me for ten successive days to abstain from all the pleasures of the table, to eat no meat and drink no wine. All these requirements I observed with scrupulous care. And at last came the day designated by the divine guarantee. The sun was sloping downward and bringing on the evening when lo! from everywhere came crowds of the initiates, flocking around me, and each of them, following the ancient rite, presented me with various gifts. Finally, all the uninitiated having withdrawn, they put on me a new linen robe, and the priest, seizing me by the hand, led me to the very inmost recesses of the holy place.......

. . . Hear then and believe, for what I tell you is true. I drew near to the confines of death, treading the very threshold of Proserpine. I was borne through all the elements and returned to earth again. At the dead of night, I saw the sun shining brightly. I approached the gods above and the gods below, and worshipped them face to face. See, I have told you things which, though you have heard them, you still must know nothing about. I will therefore relate only as much as may, without committing a sin, be imparted to the understanding of the uninitiate.
(24) As soon as it was morning and the solemn rites had been completed, I came forth clothed in the twelve gowns that are worn by the initiate, apparel that is really most holy, but about which no sacred ban forbids me to tell, since at that time there were many who saw me wearing it. For in the very midst of the holy shrine, before the image of the goddess, there was a wooden platform on which I was directed to stand, arrayed in a robe which, although it was only of linen, was so richly embroidered that I was a sight to behold. The precious cape hung from my shoulders down my back even to the ground, and it was adorned, wherever you looked, with the figures of animals in various colours. Here were Indian dragons, there griffins from the Hyperborean regions, winged like birds, but out of another world. This cape the initiates call the Olympian. In my right hand I carried a flaming torch, and my head was decorated with a crown made of white palm leaves, spread out to stand up like rays. After I bad been thus adorned like the sun and set up like an image of a god, the curtains were suddenly withdrawn, and the people crowded around to gaze at me. . . .

[There followed feast and parties, and on the third day a solemn fast-breaking ceremony. Unable at first to bear to leave the image of the goddess, finally Lucius addresses her one last time, sobbing :]

(25) 'O holy and eternal guardian of the human race, who dost always cherish mortals and bless them, thou carest for the woes of miserable men with a sweet mother's love. Neither day nor night, nor any moment of time, ever passes by without thy blessings, but always on land and sea thou watchest over men; thou drivest away from them the tempests of life and stretchest out over them thy saving right hand, wherewith thou dost unweave even the inextricable skein of the Fates; the tempests of Fortune thou dost assuage and restrainest the baleful motions of the stars. Thee the gods above adore, thee the gods below worship. It is thou that whirlest the sphere of heaven, that givest light to the sun, that governest the universe and trampled down Tartarus. To thee the stars respond, for thee the seasons return, in thee the gods rejoice, and the elements serve thee. At thy nod the winds blow, the clouds nourish [the earth], the seeds sprout, and the buds swell. Before thy majesty the birds tremble as they flit to and fro in the sky, and the beasts as they roam the mountains, the serpents hiding in the ground, and the monsters swimming in the deep. But my skill is too slight to tell thy praise, my wealth too slender to make thee due offerings of sacrifice. . . . Therefore the only thing one can do, if one is devout but otherwise a pauper, that I will strive to do. Thy face divine and thy most holy deity-these I will hide away deep within my heart; thine image I shall treasure forever!'

Having thus pleaded with the mighty deity, I embraced Mithras the priest, now my spiritual father, and hanging upon his neck with many a kiss I begged his forgiveness, since I could make no proper return for all the great benefits that he had conferred upon Me. (26) Then, after many words of thanks, long drawn out, I finally set out for home by the shortest route. . . . A few days later, led on by the mighty goddess, I reached Rome on the eve of the Ides of December.

#158 Mircea Eliade "From Primitives to Zen": THE DESCENT OF ISHTAR

TO THE NETHER WORLD

---

Ishtar, goddess of life and fertility, decides to visit her sister Ereshkigal, goddess of death and sterility. As Ishtar forces her way through the gates of the nether world, her robes and garments are stripped from her. Naked and helpless, she finally reaches Ereshkigal, who instantly has her put to death. Without Ishtar, there is no fertility on earth, and the gods soon realize their loss. Ea creates the beautiful eunuch Asushunamir, who tricks Ereshkigal into reviving Ishtar with the water of life and releasing her.- The ending of the myth is obscure; perhaps Ishtar's lover, Tammuz, was released along with her. Like the Gilgamesh Epic the myth of the descent of Ishtar to the nether world has its Sumerian counterpart (see S. N. Kramer, 'Inanna's Descent to the Nether World,' ANET, pp. 52-7)- Yet the Akkadian version differs substantially from its Sumerian prototype and is by no means a slavish translation of the former. The Sumerian version of the myth dates from the first half of the second millennium B.C.; the Semitic versions do not antedate the end of the second millennium B.C.


To the Land of no Return, the realm of Ereshkigal,
Ishtar, the daughter of Sin, set her mind.
Yea, the daughter of Sin set her mind
To the dark house, the abode of Irkalla,¹
To the house which -none leave who have entered it,
To the road from which there is no way back,
To the house wherein the dwellers arc bereft of light,
Where dust is their fare and clay their food,
(Where) they see no light, residing in darkness,
(Where) they are clothed like birds, with wings for garments,
(And where) over door and bolt is spread dust.
When Ishtar reached the gate of the Land of no Return,
She said (these) words to the gatekeeper.
'O gatekeeper, open thy gate,
Open thy gate that I may enter!
If thou openest not the gate so that I can-not enter,
I will smash the door, I will shatter the bolt,
I will smash the doorpost, I will move the doors,
I will raise up the dead, eating the living,
So that the dead will outnumber the living.'
The gatekeeper opened his mouth to speak,
Saying to exalted Ishtar.
'Stop, my lady, do not throw it ² down!
I will go to announce they name to Queen Ereshkigal.
' The gatekeeper entered, saying to Ereshkigal:
'Behold, thy sister Ishtar is waiting at the gate,
She who upholds the great festivals,
Who stirs up the deep before Ea, the king.'
When Ereshkigal heard this,
Her face turned pale like a cut-down tamarisk,
While her lips turned dark like a bruised kuninu-reed.
'What drove her heart to me? What impelled her spirit hither?
Lo, should I drink water with the Anunnaki?
Should I eat clay for bread, drink muddied water for beer?
Should I bemoan the men who left their wives behind?
Should I bemoan the maidens who were wrenched from the
laps of their lovers?
(Or) should I bemoan the tender little one who was sent off before his
time? ³
Go, gatekeeper, open the gate for her,
Treat her in accordance with the ancient rules.'
Forth went the gatekeeper (to) open the door for her.
'Enter, my lady, that Cutha ⁴ may rejoice over thee,
That the palace of the Land of no Return may be glad at thy presence.
' When the first door he had made her enter,
He stripped and took away the great crown on her head.
'Why 0 gatekeeper, didst thou take the great crown on my head?'
'Enter, my lady, thus are the rules of the Mistress of the Nether World.'


[Ishtar passes through seven gates of the nether world. At each of them the gatekeeper removes an ornament. At the second gate, he takes the pendants on her ears; at the third, the chains round her neck, then he removes, respectively, the ornaments on her breast, the girdle of birthstones on her hips, the clasps round her hands and feet, and the breechcloth on her body. Each time, she asks the same question; each time she receives the same answer.]



As soon as Ishtar had descended to the Land of no Return,
Ereshkigal saw her and was enraged at her presence.
Ishtar, unreasoning, flew at her.
Ereshkigal opened her mouth to speak,
Saying (these) words to Namtar, her vizier:
'Go, Namtar, lock her up in my palace!
Release against her, against Ishtar, the sixty miseries:
Misery of the eyes against her eyes,
Misery of the sides against her sides,
Misery of the feet against her feet,
Misery of the head against her head-
Against every part of her, against her whole body!'
After Lady Ishtar had descended to the Land of no Return,
The bull springs not upon the cow, the ass impregnates not the jenny,
In the street the man impregnates not the maiden.
The man lay in his (own) chamber, the maiden lay on her side
. .........................................
The countenance of Papsukkal, the vizier of the great gods,
Was fallen, his face was clouded.
He was clad in mourning, long hair he wore.
Forth went Papsukkal before Sin his father, weeping.
His tears flowing before Ea, the king:
'Ishtar has gone down to the nether world, she has not come up.
Since Ishtar has gone down to the Land of no Return,
The bull springs not upon the cow, the ass impregnates -not the jenny,
In the street the man impregnates not the maiden.
The man lay down in his (own) chamber,
The maiden lay down on her side.'
Ea in his wise heart conceived an image,
And created Asushunamir, a eunuch:
'Up, Asushunamir, set thy face to the gate of the Land of no Return;
The seven gates of the Land of no Return shall be opened for thee.
Ereshkigal shall see thee and rejoice at thy presence.
When her heart is calmed, her mood is happy,
let her utter the oath of the great gods.
(Then) lift up thy head, paying mind to the life-water bag.-
'Pray, Lady, let them give me the life-water bag
That water therefrom I may drink.' ⁵
As soon as Ereshkigal heard this,
She smote her thigh, bit her finger.-
'Thou didst request of me a thing that should not be requested.
Come, Asushunamir, I will curse thee with a mighty curse!
The food of the city's plows ⁶ shall be thy food,
The sewers of the city shall be thy drink.
The shadow of the wall shall be thy station,
The threshold shall be thy habitation,
The besotted and the thirsty shall smite thy cheek!'
Ereshkigal opened her mouth to speak,
Saying (these) words to Namtar, her vizier.
'Ea, Namtar, knock at Egalgina, ⁷
Adorn the thresholds with coral-stone,
Bring forth the Annunaki and seat (them) on thrones of gold,
Sprinkle Ishtar with the water of life and take her from my presence!'
Forth went Namtar, knocked at Egalgina.
Adorned the thresholds with coral-stone,
Brought forth the Anunnaki, seated (them) on thrones of gold,
Sprinkled Ishtar with the water of life and took her from her presence.
When through the first gate he had made her go out,
He returned to her the breechcloth for her body.

[As Ishtar passes through each of the seven gates, her ornaments are
returned to her one by one.]


'If she does not give thee her ransom price, bring her back.⁸
As for Tammuz, the lover of her youth,
Wash him with pure water, anoint him with sweet oil;
Clothe him with a red garment, let him play on a flute of lapis.
Let courtesans turn his mood.'
When Belili ⁹ had ... her jewelry,
And her lap was filled with 'eye-stones,¹⁰
On hearing the sound of her brother, Belili struck the jewelry on
So that the 'eye-stones' filled her chamber.
'My only brother, bring no harm to me!
On the day when Tammuz welcomes me,

When with him the lapis flute (and) the carnelian ring welcome Me,
When with him the wailing men and the wailing women welcome me-
May the dead rise and smell the incense.'

---

Notes 1 Another name of Ereshkigal, the queen of the nether world.
2 The door.
3 i.e. Ereshkigal would have cause for weeping if all these occupants of the nether world should be liberated by Ishtar.
4 A name of the nether world.
5 The scheme evidently succeeds, as Ereshkigal, distracted by the beauty of Asushunamir (meaning 'His Appearance is brilliant), does not recover until it is too late.
6 This probably means 'dirt.'
7 'Palace of Justice.'
8 The concluding part of the myth and its allusions, particularly to Tammuz are obscure.
9 Apparently referring to Ishtar.
10 'Bead'?

#159 Mircea Eliade "From Primitives to Zen": GILGAMESH

IN SEARCH OF IMMORTALITY

---

Although originally written in Akkadian, the Gilgamesh Epic was translated into several Near Eastern languages and became the most famous literary creation of the ancient Babylonians. Gilgamesh, king of Uruk, is two-thirds god and one-third man, and 'like a wild ox.' As the story begins, the nobles of Uruk are complaining to the gods that the mighty Gilgamesh in his restlessness and arrogance is playing havoc with the city. His mother, the goddess Aruru, creates a companion for him-the wild man Enkidu, who runs with the animals on the steppe. Enkidu is first tamed and made human by a temple harlot. Then he is taken to Uruk, where he wrestles with Gilgamesh. The match is a draw and the two become inseparable companions.
One day, Gilgamesh, always looking for adventure, proposes that he and Enkidu travel to the distant cedar forest to kill Huwawa, its evil guardian. Enkidu protests that the journey is very dangerous and Huwawa very fierce, but Gilgamesh is determined and finally they set out. The undertaking is successful and the two are covered with glory.

But Enkidu has already had premonitions of disaster. On their return to Uruk, the goddess Ishtar sees the beauty of Gilgamesh and proposes to him. He rejects her, reminding her of the fates of her previous lovers. She is furious and has Anu send the sacred bull of heaven to attack him. When Gilgamesh and Enkidu slay the bull, the gods become very angry-this is too presumptuous. As punishment, Enkidu must die.

Enkidu's death is the occasion for the section which we have included here, the climax and culmination of the Epic. For the first time Gilgamesh has had to face the fact of death, and it bewilders and terrifies him. Hoping to learn the secret of immortality, he makes a long and difficult journey in search of Utnapishtim, the one human being who has acquired it. Utnapishtim tells his story-the famous story of the flood. But Gilgamesh is, after all, human and very tired. He falls asleep. Utnapishtim is about to send him away when his wife intervenes in pity. Gilgamesh is told about a wonderful plant of immortality that grows at the bottom of the sea. He obtains it; but as he stops to cool himself in a quiet pool a snake carries off the plant. Gilgamesh, completely unsuccessful, returns to Uruk, and the text concludes as he proudly shows his city to his ferryman.


For Enkidu, his friend, Gilgamesh
Weeps bitterly, as he ranges over the steppe:
'When I die, shall I not be like Enkidu?
Woe has entered my belly.
Facing death, I roam over the steppe.
To Utnapishtim,¹ Ubar-Tutu's son,
I have taken the road to proceed in all haste.
When arriving by night at mountain passes,
I saw lions and grew afraid.
I lifted my head to Sin ² to pray.

[The remainder of the column is fragmentary or broken away. When Gilgamesh next appears, he has arrived before a mountain.]

The name of the mountain is Mashu.
When he arrived at the mountain range of Mashu,
Which daily keeps watch over sunrise and sunset-
Whose peaks reach to the vault of heaven
(And) whose breasts reach to the nether world below-
Scorpion-men guard its gate,
Whose terror is awesome and whose glance was death.
Their shimmering halo sweeps the mountains
That at sunrise and sunset keep watch over the sun.
When Gilgamesh beheld them, with fear
And terror was darkened his face.
He took hold of his senses and bowed before them.
A scorpion-man calls to his wife:
'He who has come to us-his body is the flesh of the gods!'
His wife answers the scorpion-man:
'Two-thirds of him is god, one-third of him is human.'
The scorpion-man calls to the fellow,
Addressing (these) words to the offspring of the gods:
'Why hast thou come on this far journey?
Why hast thou arrived before me,
Traversing seas whose crossings are difficult?
The purpose of thy coming I would learn.'



[The remainder of the column is broken away. In the next part that we have, Gilgamesh replies:]



'On account of Utnapishtim, my father, have I come,
Who joined the Assembly of the gods, in search of life.
About death and life I wish to ask him.'
The scorpion-man opened his mouth to speak,
Saying to Gilgamesh:
'Never was there, Gilgamesh, a mortal who could achieve that.
The mountain's trail no one has travelled.
For twelve leagues extends its inside.
Dense is the darkness and light there is none.

[The remainder is fragmentary or broken. Gilgamesh persists, and eventually the scorpion-man opens the mountain to him.]

When Gilgamesh heard this,
To the word of the scorpion-man he gave heed.
Along the road of the sun he went ³
When one league he had attained,
Dense is the darkness and light there is none;
He can see nothing ahead or behind.



[Gilgamesh travels for eight leagues in total blackness. Beginning the ninth league, he feels the north wind fanning his face. He gradually emerges from the cave.]



'When eleven leagues he had attained, the dawn breaks.
And when he had attained twelve leagues, it had grown bright.
On seeing the grove of stories, he heads for.....
The carnelian bears its fruit;
It is hung with vines good to look at.
The lapis bears foliage;
It, too, bears fruit lush to behold.


[The remainder of the tablet is mutilated or lost. There are two fairly complete versions of the episodes in the following tablet-the Old Babylonian and Assyrian recensions-as well as two, more fragmentary, versions. We shall begin with the Old Babylonian version. The top of the tablet is broken.]



Shamash was distraught, as he betook himself to him;
He says to Gilgamesh:
'Gilgamesh, whither rovest thou?
The life thou pursuest thou shalt not find.'
Gilgamesh says to him, to valiant Shamash:
'After marching (and) roving over the steppe,
Must I lay my head in the heart of the earth
That I may sleep through all the years?
Let mine eyes behold the sun
That I may have my fill of the light!
Darkness withdraws when there is enough light.
May he who has died a death behold the radiance of the sun!'

[Again there is a break in the text. Gilgamesh is addressing Siduri,⁴ the ale-wife, who, according to the Assyrian text, 'dwells by the deep sea.']

'He who with me underwent all hardships Enkidu, whom I loved dearly,
Who with me underwent all hardships has now gone to the fate of mankind!
Day and night I have wept over him.
I would not give him up for burial-
In case my friend should rise at my plaint
Seven days and seven nights,
Until a worm fell out of his nose.
Since his passing I have not found life,
I have roamed like a hunter in the midst of the steppe.
O ale-wife, now that I have seen thy face,
Let me not see the death which I ever dread.'
The ale-wife said to him, to Gilgamesh:
'Gilgamesh, whither rovest thou?
The life thou pursuest thou shalt not find.
When the gods created mankind,
Death for mankind they set aside,
Life in their own hands retaining.
Thou, Gilgamesh, let full be thy belly,
Make thou merry by day and by night.
Of each day make thou a feast of rejoicing,
Day and night dance thou and play!
Let thy garments be sparkling fresh,
Thy head be washed; bathe thou in water.
Pay heed to the little one that holds on to thy hand,
Let thy spouse delight in thy bosom!
For this is the task of mankind!'



[The remainder of the conversation is lost. The Assyrian text gives a different version of Sidura's response.]

Gilgamesh also says to her, to the ale-wife:
'Now ale-wife, which is the way to Utnapishtim?
What are its markers? Give me, 0 give me, its markers!
If it be possible, the sea I will cross,
If it not be possible, over the steppe I will range!'
The ale-wife said to him, to Gilgamesh:
'Never, 0 Gilgamesh, has there been a crossing,
And none who came since the beginning of days could cross the sea.
Only valiant Shamash crosses the sea;
Other than Shamash who can cross (it)?
Toilsome is the place of crossing
Very toilsome the way thereto,
And deep are the Waters of Death that bar its approaches!
Where then, 0 Gilgamesh, wouldst thou cross the sea?
On reaching the Waters of Death, what wouldst thou do?
Gilgamesh, there is Urshanabi, boatman to Utnapishtim.
With him are the Stone Things.⁵ In the woods he picks 'urnu'-snakes.⁶
Him let thy face behold.
If it be suitable, cross thou with him.
If it be not suitable, draw thou back.'
When Gilgamesh heard this,
He raised the axe in his hand,
Drew the dirk from his belt, slipped into (the forest),
And went down to them. ⁷
Like an arrow he descended among them.

[The text is too fragmentary for translation. When it resumes, Gilgamesh is responding to Urshanabi's questions. He again tells of Enkidu's death and his own search and asks how he can find Utnapishtim. Urshanabi warns him that, by breaking the 'Stone Things,' he has hindered his own crossing. But he agrees to guide Gilgamesh, and sends him off to cut poles. They set sail and soon come to the waters of death, where Urshanabi instructs Gilgamesh: 'Press on, Gilgamesh, take a pole, (But) let thy hand not touch the Waters of Death . . . !' Finally they reach Utnapishtim's island. Utnapishtim questions Gilgamesh, who repeats his long story again, concluding it as follows.]

Gilgamesh also said to him, to Utnapishtim:
'That -now I might come and behold Utnapishtim,
Whom they call the Faraway,
I ranged and wandered over all the lands,
I traversed difficult mountains,
I crossed all the seas!
My face was not sated with sweet sleep,
I fretted myself with wakefulness;
I filled my joints with aches.
I had not reached the ale-wife's house
When my clothing was used up.
I slew bear, hyena, lion, panther,
Tiger, stag, (and) ibex-
The wild beasts and the creeping things of the steppe.
[The remainder of the tablet is fragmentary and broken, except for the conclusion to Utnapishtim's response.]

'Do we build houses for ever?
Do we seal (contracts) for ever?
Do brothers divide shares for ever?
Does hatred persist for ever in the land?
Does the river for ever rise (and) bring on floods?
The dragon-fly leave (its) shell
That its face might (but) glance on the face of the sun?
Since the days of yore there has been no performance;
The resting and the dead, how alike they are!
Do they not compose a picture of death,
The commoner and the noble,
Once they are near to their fate?
The Anunnaki, the great gods, foregather,
Mammetum. maker of fate, with them the fate decrees,
Death and life they determine.
(But) of death its days are not revealed.'
Gilgamesh said to him, to Utnapishtim the Faraway:
'As I look upon thee, Utnapishtim,
Thy features are -not strange; even as I art thou.
My heart had regarded thee as resolved to do battle,
Yet thou liest indolent upon my back!
Tell me, how joinedst thou the Assembly of the gods.
In thy quest of life?'
Utnapishtim said to him, to Gilgamesh:
'I will reveal to thee, Gilgamesh, a hidden matter
And a secret of the gods will I tell thee: . . .'

[Utnapishtim's revelation is the flood narrative .He was made immortal, he says, through the intervention of the gods after he managed to survive the great flood which destroyed Shurippak.)


'But now, who will for thy sake call the gods to Assembly
That the life which thou seekest thou mayest find?
Up, lie down to sleep
For six days and seven nights.'
As he sits there on his haunches,
Sleep fans him like a mist.
Utnapishtim says to her, to his spouse:
'Behold this hero who seeks life!
Sleep fans him like a mist.'
His spouse says to him, to Utnapishtim the Faraway:
'Touch him that the man may awake,
That We may return safe on the way back whence he came,
That through the gate he left he may return to his land.'
Utnapishtim says to her, to his spouse:
'Since to deceive is human, he will seek to deceive thee.⁸
Up, bake for him wafers, put (them) at his head,
And mark on the walls the days he sleeps.'
She baked for him wafers, put (them) at his head,
And marked on the wall the days he slept.
His first wafer is dried out,
The second is leathery, the third is soggy;
The crust of the fourth has turned white;
The flfth has a mouldy cast,
The sixth (still) is fresh coloured;

And just as he touched the seventh, the man awoke.
Gilgamesh says to him, to Utnapishtim the Faraway:
'Scarcely had sleep surged Over me,
When straightway thou dost touch and rouse me'
Utnapishtim says to him, to Gilgamesh:
'Go, Gilgamesh, count thy wafers,
That the days thou hast slept may become known to thee:
Thy ftrst wafer is dried out
The second is leathery, the third is soggy;
The crust of the fourth has turned white; The ftfth has a mouldy cast,
The sixth (still) is fresh coloured.
As for the seventh, at this instant thou hast awakened.'
Gilgamesh says to him, to Utnapishtim the Faraway:
'What then 'shall I do, Utnapishtim,
Whither shall I go,
Now that the Bereaver has laid hold on my members?
In my bedchamber lurks death,
And wherever I set my foot, there is death!'
Utnapishtim says to him, to Urshanabi, the boatman:
'Urshanabi, may the landing-place not rejoice in thee.
May the place of the crossing despise thee!
To him who wanders on its shore, deny thou its shore!
The man thou hast led (hither), whose body is covered with grime,
The grace of whose members skins have distorted,
Take him, Urshanabi, and bring him to the washing-place.
Let him wash off his grime in water clean as snow,
Let him cast off his skins, let the sea carry (them) away,
That the fairness of his body may be seen.
Let him renew the band round his head,
Let him put on. a cloak to clothe his nakedness,
That he may arrive in his city,
That he may achieve his journey.
Let not (his) cloak have a mouldy cast,
Let it be wholly new.'
Urshanabi took him and brought him to the washing-place.
He washed off his grime in water clean as snow.
He cast off his skins, the sea carried (them) away,
That the fairness of his body might be seen.
He renewed the band round his head,
He put on a cloak to clothe his nakedness,
That he might arrive in his city,
That he might achieve his journey.
The cloak had not a mouldy cast, but was wholly new.
Gilgamesh and Urshanabi boarded the boat,
They launched the boat on the waves (and) they sailed away.
His spouse says to him, to Utnapishtim the Faraway:
'Gilgamesh has come hither, toiling and straining.
What wilt thou give him that he may return to his land?'
At that he, Gilgamesh, raised up (his) pole,
To bring the boat nigh to the shore.
Utnapishtim says to him, to Gilgatnesh: ,
Gilgatnesh, thou hast come hither, toiling and straining.
What shall I give thee that thou mayest return to thy land?
I will disclose, 0 Gilgainesh, a hidden thing,
And . . . about a plant I will tell thee:
This plant, like the buckthorn is its . . .
Its thorns will prick thy hands just as does the rose,
If thy hands obtain the plant, thou wilt attain life.'
No sooner had Gilgamesh heard this,
Than he opened the water-pipe,
He tied heavy stones to his feet.
They pulled him down into the deep and there he saw the plant.
He took the plant, though it pricked his hands.
He cut the heavy stones from his feet.
The sea cast him up upon its shore.
Gilgamesh says to. him, to Urshanabi, the boatman:
'Urshanabi, this plant is a plant apart,
Whereby a man may regain his life's breath.
I will take it to ramparted Uruk,
Will cause . . . to eat the plant !
Its name shall be "Man Becomes Young in Old Age."
I myself shall eat (it)
And thus return to the state of my youth.'
After twenty leagues they broke off a morsel,
After thirty (further) leagues they prepared for the night.
Gilgamesh saw a well whose water was cool.
He went down into it to bathe in the water.
A serpent snuffed the fragrance of the plant;
It came up from the water and carried off the plant.
Going back it shed its slough.
Thereupon Gilgamesh sits down and weeps,
His tears running down over his face.
He took the hand of Urshanabi, the boatman:
'For whom, Urshanabi, have my hands toiled?
For whom is being spent the blood of any heart?
I have not obtained a boon for myself.
For the earth-lion ⁹ have I effected a boon!
And now the tide will bear (it) twenty leagues away!
When I opened the water-pipe and spilled the gear,
I found that which had been placed as a sign for me:
I shall withdraw,
And leave the boat on the shore!'
After twenty leagues they broke off a morsel,
After thirty (further) leagues they prepared. for the night.
When they arrived in ramparted Uruk,
Gilgamesh says to him, to Urshanabi, the boatman:
'Go up, Urshanabi, walk on the ramparts of Uruk.
Inspect the base terrace, examine its brickwork,
If its brickwork is not of burnt brick,
And if the Seven Wise Ones laid not its foundation.
Onc "sar ¹⁰ is city, one sar orchards,
One sar margin land; (further) the precinct of the Temple of Ishtar.
Three sar and the precinct comprise Uruk.'

---

Notes
1 The Babylonian hero of the Flood, in Sumerian his name is Ziusudra.
2 The moon-god.
3 Apparently from east to west.
4 The divine barmaid.
5 Apparently stone figures of unusual properties.
6 Meaning not dear. Perhaps some magic symbols possessing properties on par with those of the Stone Things.
7 To the Stone Things.
8 By asserting that he had not slept at all.
9 An allusion to the serpent?
10 One sar is about 8,000 gallons.

#181 Mircea Eliade "From Primitives to Zen": EMPEDOCLES

ON THE TRANSMIGRATION OF THE SOUL

---

('Fragments' 115, 117, 118)

There is an oracle of Necessity, ancient decree of the gods, eternal and sealed with broad oaths: whenever one of those demi-gods, whose lot is long-lasting life, has sinfully defiled his dear limbs ' with bloodshed, or following strife has sworn a false oath, thrice ten thousand seasons does he wander far from the blessed, being born throughout that time in the forms of all manner of mortal things and changing one baleful path of life for another. The might of the air pursues him into the sea, the sea spews him forth on to the dry land, the earth casts him into the rays of the burning sun, and the sun into the eddies of air. one takes him from the other, but all alike abhor him. Of these I too am now one, a fugitive from the gods and a wanderer, who put my trust in raving strife. (Frag. II 5)
I wept and wailed when I saw the unfamiliar place. (Frag. 118)
For already have I once been a boy and a girl, a fish and a bird and a dumb sea fish. (Frag. 117)

#182 Mircea Eliade "From Primitives to Zen": PLATO ON TRANSMIGRATION

THE MYTH OF ER

---

('Republic,'X, 614 b)

It is not, let me tell you, said I, the tale to Alcinous told that I shall unfold, but the tale of a warrior bold, Er, the son of Armenius, by race a Pamphylian. He once upon a time was slain in battle, and when the corpses were taken up on the tenth day already decayed, was found intact, and having been brought home, at the moment of his funeral, on the twelfth day as he lay upon the pyre, revived, and after coming to life related what, he said, he had seen in the world beyond. He said that when his soul went forth from his body he journeyed with a great company and that they came to a mysterious region where there were two openings side by side in the earth, and above and over against them in the heaven two others, and that judges were sitting between these, and that after every judgement they bade the righteous journey to the right and upward through the heaven with tokens attached to them in front of the judgement passed upon them, and the unjust to take the road to the left and downward, they too wearing behind signs of all that had befallen them, and that when he himself drew near they told him that he must be the messenger to mankind to tell them of that other world, and they charged him to give ear and to observe everything in the place. And so he said that here he saw, by each opening of heaven and earth, the souls departing after judgement had been passed upon them, while, by the other pair of openings, there came up from the one in the earth souls full of squalor and dust, and from the second there came down from heaven a second procession of souls dean and pure, and that those which arrived from time to time appeared to have come as it were from a long journey and gladly departed to the meadow and encamped there as at a festival, and acquaintances greeted one another, and those which came from the earth questioned the others about conditions up yonder, and those from heaven asked how it fared with those others. And they told their stories to one another, the one lamenting and wailing as they recalled how many and how dreadful things they had suffered and seen in their journey beneath the earth-it lasted a thousand years-while those from heaven related their delights and visions of a beauty beyond words. To tell it all, Glaucon, would take all our time, but the sum, he said, was this. For all the wrongs they had ever done to anyone and all whom they had severally wronged they had paid the penalty in turn tenfold each, and the measure of this was by periods of a hundred years each, so that oil the assumption that this was the length of human life the punishment might be ten times the crime-as for example that if anyone had been the cause of many deaths or had betrayed cities and armies and reduced them to slavery, or had been participant in any other iniquity, they might receive in requital pains tenfold for each of these wrongs, and again if any had done deeds of kindness and had been just and holy men they might receive their due reward in the same measure. And other things not worthy of record he said of those who had just been born and lived but a short time, and he had still greater requitals to tell of piety and impiety towards the gods and parents and of self-slaughter.