The Mythology of Ancient Mesopotamia. Donald A. Mackenzie

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Название The Mythology of Ancient Mesopotamia
Автор произведения Donald A. Mackenzie
Жанр Зарубежная психология
Серия
Издательство Зарубежная психология
Год выпуска 0
isbn 4064066393458



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      The Sumerian gods never lost their connection with the early spirit groups. These continued to be represented by their attendants, who executed a deity's stern and vengeful decrees. In one of the Babylonian charms the demons are referred to as "the spleen of the gods"--the symbols of their wrathful emotions and vengeful desires. Bel Enlil, the air and earth god, was served by the demons of disease, "the beloved sons of Bel", which issued from the Underworld to attack mankind. Nergal, the sulky and ill-tempered lord of death and destruction, who never lost his demoniac character, swept over the land, followed by the spirits of pestilence, sunstroke, weariness, and destruction. Anu, the sky god, had "spawned" at creation the demons of cold and rain and darkness. Even Ea and his consort, Damkina, were served by groups of devils and giants, which preyed upon mankind in bleak and desolate places when night fell. In the ocean home of Ea were bred the "seven evil spirits" of tempest--the gaping dragon, the leopard which preyed upon children, the great Beast, the terrible serpent, &c.

      In Indian mythology Indra was similarly followed by the stormy Maruts, and fierce Rudra by the tempestuous Rudras. In Teutonic mythology Odin is the "Wild Huntsman in the Raging Host". In Greek mythology the ocean furies attend upon fickle Poseidon. Other examples of this kind could be multiplied.

      As we have seen (Chapter II) the earliest group of Babylonian deities consisted probably of four pairs of gods and goddesses as in Egypt. The first pair was Apsu-Rishtu and Tiamat, who personified the primordial deep. Now the elder deities in most mythologies--the "grandsires" and "grandmothers" and "fathers" and "mothers"--are ever the most powerful and most vengeful. They appear to represent primitive "layers" of savage thought. The Greek Cronos devours even his own children, and, as the late Andrew Lang has shown, there are many parallels to this myth among primitive peoples in various parts of the world.

      But although Tiamat was slain, the everlasting battle between the forces of good and evil was ever waged in the Babylonian world. Certain evil spirits were let loose at certain periods, and they strove to accomplish the destruction of mankind and his works. These invisible enemies were either charmed away by performing magical ceremonies, or by invoking the gods to thwart them and bind them.

      Some call him Robin Good-fellow,

       Hob-goblin, or mad Crisp,

       And some againe doe tearme him oft

       By name of Will the Wisp.

      Other names are "Kitty", "Peg", and "Jack with a lantern". "Poor Robin" sang:

      I should indeed as soon expect

       That Peg-a-lantern would direct

       Me straightway home on misty night

       As wand'ring stars, quite out of sight.

      Which oft, they say, some evil spirit attends,

       Hovering and blazing with delusive light,

       Misleads th' amaz'd night wand'rer from his way

       To bogs and mires, and oft through pond or pool;

      "When we stick in the mire", sang Drayton, "he doth with laughter leave us." These fires were also "fallen stars", "death fires", and "fire drakes":

      So have I seen a fire drake glide along

       Before a dying man, to point his grave,

      Of Adam's first wife Lilith, it is told

       (The witch he loved before the gift of Eve)

       That, ere the snake's, her sweet tongue could deceive,

       And her enchanted hair was the first gold.

       And still she sits, young while the earth is old,

       And, subtly of herself contemplative,

       Draws men to watch the bright web she can weave,

       Till heart and body and life are in its hold.

       The rose and poppy are her flowers; for where

       Is he not found, O Lilith, whom shed scent

       And soft shed kisses and soft sleep shall snare?

       Lo! as that youth's eyes burned at thine, so went

       Thy spell through him, and left his straight neck bent

       And round his heart one strangling golden hair.