XPost: alt.religion   
   From: nunce@nunce.com   
      
   Mythology (Richard McLaughlin)   
      
      
      
   Glossary of Mythological Terms   
      
      
      
   Myths of the Ancient Near East   
      
      
      
   Myths of Scandinavia   
      
      
      
   Myths of the Celts   
      
      
      
      
      
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   Ritualism [Sir James Frazier (The Golden Bough)]:   
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
   .All humans began in one place and spread throughout the world, carrying the   
   culture (gods, stories) with them. .If two separate peoples have the same   
   gods and/or stories, there must have been contact in which the more   
   sophisticated group gave the ideas to the more primitive group.   
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
   Parallelism [Karl Jung (diametrically opposed to ritualism)]:   
      
   .Mythology/religion evolved out of the popularity of evolutionary   
   thought. .Human beings react similarly to similar stimuli because they are   
   human -- they are genetically patterned to react that way. .The passing on   
   of acquired traits: after a long time of reacting a certain way, humans pass   
   on (draw from the collective unconscious) the reaction because they are   
   human. Therefore, gods and stories develop because the reactivity is a part   
   of the collective unconscious.   
      
      
      
      
      
   Ritualist School (Frazier):   
      
   to understand a mythological story you must understand the ritual behind it   
      
      
      
      
      
   Structuralist School:   
      
   must know the entire body of mythology to properly understand individual   
   myths   
      
      
      
      
      
   Psychological School (Freud):   
      
   psychoanalyze gods and other mythological characters   
      
      
      
      
      
   Diffusionist School:   
      
   .humanity began in one place and dispersed itself and its stories throughout   
   the world .if two totally disparate cultures have the same motifs or gods,   
   they must have been in contact at some point   
      
      
      
      
      
   Parallelist School (Carl Jung):   
      
   different groups have the same gods and motifs just because they are   
   human -- ideas are passed on genetically through the collective unconscious   
      
      
      
      
      
   There is usually a top echelon of named gods with specific roles and   
   characteristics as well as an army of unnamed gods. Each of the top gods   
   ordinarily has an epithet.   
      
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   Myths of the Ancient Near East   
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
   .Myths of Sumer .Myths of Babylon .Myths of Canaan .Myths of   
   Egypt .Judaism .Myths of Persia .Christianity   
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
   Myths of Scandinavia   
      
      
      
      
      
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   Myths of the Ancient Near East   
      
      
      
   The Ancient Near East consists of the geographical area from the Indus   
   Valley to the Mediterranean, plus Egypt and Greece. These are the myths of   
   the Sumerians, Babylonians, Canaanites, Egyptians, Hebrews, Persians,   
   Christians, and Greeks.   
      
      
      
   I. Persian Plateau (Persia)   
      
      
      
   II. Mesopotamia (surrounded by Tigris & Euphrates Rivers)   
      
      
      
   III. The Levant (Strip of land on eastern coast of the Mediterranean)   
      
      
      
   IV. Anatolia (North of the Levant, modern-day Turkey)   
      
      
      
   V. Iberia (Modern-day Spain)   
      
      
      
   Afro-Asiatic language family: Hamitic (North Africa) and Semitic (Hebrews,   
   Arabs, etc.)   
      
      
      
   Indo-European language family: a postulated language (none found, no words   
   known, no origin known). The Persians, for example, were an Indo-European   
   people.   
      
      
      
   c. 5000 B.C. A semitic civilization existed in Mesopotamia: the Akkadians.   
   They were a highly civilized people.   
      
      
      
   c. 4000 B.C. Sumerians conquered southern Mesopotamia and Akkadia.   
      
      
      
   1800 B.C. King Hammurabi does away with the Sumerians. Builds Hammurabi City   
   which becomes Babylon, capital of Mesopotamia (or Babylonia).   
      
      
      
   The Canaanites were inhabiting the Levant (Canaan) by 2000 B.C.   
      
      
      
   c. 1300 B.C. the Assyrians conquered (northern) Mesopotamia and eventually   
   everything.   
      
      
      
   c. 600 B.C. the (Neo-) Babylonians rebel and defeat Assyria, taking over the   
   world.   
      
      
      
   500 B.C. Neo-Babylonia falls to the Persians   
      
      
      
   c. 350 B.C. Alexander the Great spreads Hellenism. The Great Ancient Near   
   East lasts until Alexander the Great and is finished by the start of the   
   Roman Empire.   
      
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   Myths of Sumer   
      
      
      
   The Sumerians   
      
      
      
   The Gods of Sumer   
      
      
      
   Ninurta Saves the World from Draught   
      
      
      
   Ninhursag's Garden   
      
      
      
   Enki's Palace Temple   
      
      
      
   The Wooing of Inanna or The Courting of Inanna   
      
      
      
   Inanna's Descent to the Underworld   
      
      
      
      
      
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   The Sumerians   
      
      
      
   The Sumerian language may be a sister language to an Indo-European language.   
   The Sumerians came up through the Persian Gulf. No one knows where they came   
   from. They were "light-haired" (i.e., their hair was not jet black like   
   everyone else in the region), "light-eyed" (i.e., not black-brown),   
   "light-skinned" (i.e., olive) [They were, in other words, not an Aryan   
   people.], hairy, short, and squatty. They invented the wheel, writing (c.   
   3400 B.C. they invented a stylus to write in cuneiform -- wedge-writing).   
   All cultures of the ancient Near East used cuneiform. The Sumerians came   
   from a mountainous countryside. They created ziggurats (step-pyramids) and   
   used them to worship on. They made illustrated books for their myths and   
   legends. They carved cylinder seals out of stone to roll imprints on wet   
   clay. Sumerian priests shaved their entire bodies bald. Other men had huge   
   beards and long wavy hair, thick eyebrows, and enormous eyes (as depicted in   
   the artwork of the time). The eyes of statues were made of shell for the   
   white and lapis lazuli for the iris [Possible explanation: Conquerors never   
   want to merge with the conquered so they accentuate the differences between   
   them in often exaggerated detail.]. The Akkadians were heavily influenced by   
   the Sumerians -> Babylonians worshipped similar gods.   
      
      
      
      
      
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   Gods of Sumer: (Babylonian equivalents noted in parentheses)   
      
      
      
   Nammu, the great primeval chaotic ocean/goddess/mother figure. Archetype:   
   Pre-Creation Chaos   
      
      
      
   From Nammu, came a mountian of dry land: Anki, the "Cosmic Mountain,"   
   represented by the ziggurat. From the Cosmic Mountain came Enlil, (Lord of   
   the Wind) God of Air, son of Anki who is both male ("An" the sky) and female   
   ("Ki" the earth). ("An" is "Anu" in Babylonian myth). Ki -> Ninhursag   
   (another name for Ki).   
      
      
      
   An ("Anu") is the sky god, thought of as being a god, but as the sky he is a   
   solid dome made of lapis lazuli. Since he emerged from chaos, An represents   
   the principle of order. He becomes king of the gods. (Typically the high   
   priest representing a god is also the king of that god's city. If two cities   
      
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