looking for info on pukku, mikku
catherine yronwode
mark mcmanus <mmcm...@tpgi.com.au> wrote:
>
> I am after some information as to whether there has been any advance
> in the Sumerian language to decipher the meaning of the words mikku
> and puku. For those who can't remember, the words are used in the myth
> of the Huluppu tree. After Gilgamesh helps Inanna banish the serpent
> who could not be charmed, the Abzu bird and his children, and Lilith,
> Gilgamesh cuts the tree down. From it he makes Inanna her shining
> throne and a bed. In gratitude she makes him the mikku and pukku from
> the crown of the tree.
>
> Do they still think it's the crown and rod of kingship, or is there
> new news?
You know, i have thought about this for a while myself. I am not a
Sumerian scholar, just a fan of Inanna and of archaeoastronomy. Fr
references, i would suggest a reading of "Inanna Queen of Heaven and
Earth" by Samuel Noah Kramer and Diane Wolkstein and "Hamlet's Mill" by
Giorgio Santillana and Hertha vion Deschend.
After reading the Huluppu Tree story and then the one about how Inanna
brought the me (arts of civilization) to humanity, i noticed something
inetresting -- the images used to illustrate the pukku and mikku
correspond very closely with the me known as the sacred measuring rod
and line.
If the pukko and mikku were a rod and coiled line, it would fit in with
the story in which Gilgamesh is presented as the first geometer
(literally earth-measurer), who sets off to map the world (e.g. Sumer)
by laying out a sacred measure, the iku (acre)
As Santyillana and von Descend point out, the iku is seen as the earthy
counterpart to the 4-starred constellation also called the Iku, which we
know as the Pegasus Square, which lies between the fishes in Pisces.
This heavenly iku is the covering to the equally-sized apsu (abyss
and/or the ark that floats on the abyss), which is where Inana's
grandfather, the Wisdom God, lives and where she drinks with him and
receives the me, which she gives to humanity.
So...a cluster of ideas here involve measurement:
The apsu (abyss) is the dwelling place of the Wisdom God from whom
Inanna receives the sacred measuring rod and line.
The sacred measuring rod and line is one of the gifts Inanna gives to
humanity.
The rod-and-coiled-line-looking-but-unidentified mikku and pukku is what
Inanna gives to Gilgamesh.
The Iku (Pegasus Square) in heaven is prototype for a square measure of
land.
The iku (acre) on earth was first measured by Gilgamesh.
The apsu (ark) that Utnapishtim floats in after the flood (before
Gilgamesh meets him) is described as 1 iku (acre) on each side and
cubical. .
Just some ideas...tell me what you think...
catherine yronwode
The Lucky Mojo Curio Co.
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Alice Turner
> mark mcmanus <mmcm...@tpgi.com.au> wrote:
> >
> > I am after some information as to whether there has been any advance
> > in the Sumerian language to decipher the meaning of the words mikku
> > and puku. For those who can't remember, the words are used in the myth
> > of the Huluppu tree. After Gilgamesh helps Inanna banish the serpent
> > who could not be charmed, the Abzu bird and his children, and Lilith,
> > Gilgamesh cuts the tree down. From it he makes Inanna her shining
> > throne and a bed. In gratitude she makes him the mikku and pukku from
> > the crown of the tree.
> >
> > Do they still think it's the crown and rod of kingship, or is there
> > new news?
Oh, I am thrilled that someone asked this question. That's the first part
of the myth, summarized accurately above. The second part is told in the
12th tablet of Gilgamesh (get an accurate, i.e. not "interpretive,"
translation).
Rod and crown of kinship, yeah, but it's also been suggested that it's a
hockey stick and puck (Babylonian style, no ice), or some other game
apparatus like a hoop and stick. Or a drum and drumstick. I think it's none
of these (except in an allusive, possibly slangy, way)
The 12th tablet has nothing to do with the main narrative of Gilgamesh.
It's a parallel story of Enkidu's death. What happens is that the pukku and
the mikku fall down, though a hole in the earth or floor to the Nether
World (Ereshkigal's domain), and Enkidu volunteers to go down to retrieve
them. Gilgamesh gives him lots of good advice as to how to behave there
and, as is common to all these stories, Enkidu pays no attention and is
caught there. Gilgamesh is distraught, as in the main narrative, asks the
gods to intercede, but they won't, then there's a touching scene where he
tires to embrace Enkidu but can't (shades of Homer here), and Enkidu tells
of how awful it is below.
Well, I have thought for years (not backed by authority, mind you) that the
pukku and the mikku stand for Gilgamesh's penis and testicles, slangily
referred to (i.e. shuttlecock and balls). Remember how oversexed Gilgamesh
is at the beginning of the main poem and how he throws himself into his
adventure with Enkidu, and then at Enkidu's death, how he is "unmanned."
And how he insults the goddess sexually. Etc.
God, I wish I weren't going away for three weeks tomorrow--I'd love to get
into a heated discussion over this one. I don't suppose it will last till I
get back!
Alice