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#REDIRECT [[Ancient Mesopotamian underworld]] |
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{{other uses}} |
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{{Mesopotamian myth|expanded=5}} |
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'''{{smallcaps|Kur}}''' is a [[Sumerian language|Sumerian]] word that expressed a broad variety of meanings. In [[Sumerian religion]], {{smallcaps|kur}} is normally used as a name for the Underworld, [[Irkalla]], which is often personified as the first [[dragon]], the Sumerian equivalent of the Babylonian [[Tiamat]].<ref>Kramer, Samuel Noah. ''Sumerian Mythology: A Study of Spiritual and Literary Achievement in the Third Millennium B.C.: Revised Edition''. University of Pennsylvania Press, 1961, Philadelphia.</ref> The same word was often used to refer to the [[Zagros Mountains]] to the east of [[Sumer]]. Additionally, the word could also mean "foreign land". The cuneiform for {{smallcaps|kur}} was written ideographically with the cuneiform sign 𒆳, a pictograph of a mountain.<ref>[http://www.sacred-texts.com/ane/sum/sum08.htm "Sumerian Mythology"] by [[Samuel Noah Kramer]], p.110</ref> |
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==Mythology== |
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===As a word for "land" or "mountain"=== |
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Although the word for earth was {{smallcaps|[[Ki (goddess)|Ki]]}}, {{smallcaps|kur}} came to also mean "land." [[Sumer]] itself was sometimes called {{smallcaps|kur-gal}} "great land." {{smallcaps|Kur-gal}} could also mean "great mountain" and was a metonym for both [[Nippur]] and [[Enlil]], who was believed to rule from that city.<ref>"Scenes from the Shadow Side", Frans Wiggermann, ''Mesopotamian Poetic Language'', Brill, 1996, pp. 208-209</ref> The [[Ekur|{{smallcaps|é-kur}}]] "Mountain House" was the temple of Enlil at [[Nippur]]. |
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===As a name for the Underworld=== |
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[[File:Dumuzi aux enfers.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Ancient Sumerian [[cylinder seal]] impression showing the god [[Dumuzid the Shepherd|Dumuzid]] being tortured in the Underworld by ''[[gallu|galla]]'' demons]] |
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Kur was used as a name for the [[Sumer]]ian underworld,<ref name=Black1992>{{cite book|last=Black|first=Jeremy|first2=Anthony|last2=Green|title=Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia: An Illustrated Dictionary|publisher=The British Museum Press|year=1992|isbn= 0-7141-1705-6|ref=harv}}</ref>{{rp|114}} which was envisioned as a dark, dreary cavern located deep below the ground,<ref name=Choksi2014>{{citation|last=Choksi|first=M.|date=2014|title=Ancient Mesopotamian Beliefs in the Afterlife|url=http://www.ancient.eu/article/701/|website=Ancient History Encyclopedia|publisher=ancient.eu}}</ref> where inhabitants were believed to continue "a shadowy version of life on earth".<ref name=Choksi2014/> It was believed to be ruled by the goddess [[Ereshkigal]].<ref name=Choksi2014/><ref name=Nemet1998>{{citation|last=Nemet-Nejat|first=Karen Rhea|authorlink=Karen Rhea Nemet-Nejat|date=1998|title=Daily Life in Ancient Mesopotamia|publisher=Greenwood|series=Daily Life|isbn=978-0313294976}}</ref>{{rp|184}} All souls went to the same afterlife,<ref name=Choksi2014/> and a person's actions during life had no effect on how the person would be treated in the world to come.<ref name=Choksi2014/> |
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The souls in Kur were believed to eat nothing but dry [[dust]]<ref name=Black1992/>{{rp|58}} and family members of the deceased would ritually pour [[libation]]s into the dead person's grave through a clay pipe, thereby allowing the dead to drink.<ref name=Black1992/>{{rp|58}} Nonetheless, funerary evidence indicates that some people believed that the goddess [[Inanna]], Ereshkigal's younger sister, had the power to award her devotees with special favors in the afterlife.<ref name=Choksi2014/><ref>{{cite journal|last=Barret|first=C. E.|date=2007|title=Was dust their food and clay their bread?: Grave goods, the Mesopotamian afterlife, and the liminal role of Inana/Ištar|journal=Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions|volume=7|issue=1|pages=7-65|location=Leiden, The Netherlands|publisher=Brill|url=http://booksandjournals.brillonline.com/content/journals/10.1163/156921207781375123|doi=10.1163/156921207781375123|issn=1569-2116}}</ref> During the [[Third Dynasty of Ur]], it was believed that a person's treatment in the afterlife depended on how he or she was buried;<ref name=Black1992/>{{rp|58}} those he had been given sumptuous burials would be treated well,<ref name=Black1992/>{{rp|58}} but those who had been given poor burials would fare poorly.<ref name=Black1992/>{{rp|58}} |
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The entrance to Kur was believed to be located in the [[Zagros mountains]] in the far east.<ref name=Black1992/>{{rp|114}} It had seven gates, through which a soul needed to pass.<ref name=Choksi2014/> The god [[Neti (deity)|Neti]] was the gatekeeper.<ref name=Nemet1998/>{{rp|184}}<ref name=Black1992/>{{rp|86}} Ereshkigal's ''sukkal'', or messenger, was the god [[Namtar]].<ref name=Black1992/>{{rp|134}}<ref name=Nemet1998/>{{rp|184}} ''[[Gallu|Galla]]'' were a class of demons that were believed to reside in the underworld;<ref name=Black1992/>{{rp|85}} their primary purpose appears to have been to drag unfortunate mortals back to Kur.<ref name=Black1992/>{{rp|85}} They are frequently referenced in magical texts,<ref name=Black1992/>{{rp|85-86}} and some texts describe them as being seven in number.<ref name=Black1992/>{{rp|85-86}} Several extant poems describe the ''galla'' dragging the god [[Dumuzid the Shepherd|Dumuzid]] into the underworld.<ref name=Black1992/>{{rp|86}} The later Mesopotamians knew this underworld by its [[East Semitic]] name: [[Irkalla]]. During the [[Akkadian Empire|Akkadian Period]], Ereshkigal's role as the ruler of the underworld was assigned to [[Nergal]], the god of death.<ref name=Choksi2014/><ref name=Nemet1998/>{{rp|184}} The Akkadians attempted to harmonize this dual rulership of the underworld by making Nergal Ereshkigal's husband.<ref name=Choksi2014/> |
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===As the name of the first dragon=== |
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In later [[Babylonian religion]], {{smallcaps|kur}} is possibly an [[Anunnaki]], brother of Ereshkigal, [[Inanna]], [[Enki]], and Enlil. In the ''[[Enûma Eliš]]'' and in [[Akkadian]] tablets from the first millennium BC, {{smallcaps|kur}} is part of the retinue of Tiamat, and seems to be a snakelike dragon. In one story, the slaying of the great serpent {{smallcaps|kur}} results in the flooding of the earth.<ref>http://www.sacred-texts.com/ane/sum/sum08.htm "Sumerian Mythology"] by [[Samuel Noah Kramer]], p. 112</ref> |
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A [[cylinder seal]] from the first millennium BC shows a winged, fire-spitting dragon with a nude woman between its wings pulling the chariot of the god who has subdued it. Another depicts a god riding a dragon. A third seal depicts a goddess riding on the back of a dragon.<ref>http://www.sacred-texts.com/ane/sum/sum08.htm "Sumerian Mythology"] by [[Samuel Noah Kramer]], p. 114</ref> |
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==See also== |
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*[[Underworld]] |
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*[[Greek underworld]] |
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*[[Sheol]] |
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*[[Rape of Persephone]] |
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==References== |
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{{Reflist}}<!--added above categories/infobox footers by script-assisted edit--> |
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{{Portal|Ancient Near East}} |
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[[Category:Mesopotamian mythology]] |
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[[Category:Sumerian words and phrases|KUR]] |
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[[Category:Afterlife places]] |
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[[Category:Mythological cosmologies]] |
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[[Category:Dragons]] |
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Latest revision as of 05:24, 8 August 2018
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