Inanna, Cain and Abel
Paul Trejo
[ Author was Paul Trejo ]
[ Posted on Mon, 13 Sep 1993 02:22:50 GMT ]
Hi Inanna-Ishtar fans,
I am not a Bible banger or fundamentalist Christian, as some of
you already know, but I do believe that the Bible has beauty that
the fundamentalist Christians know nothing about.
(In fact, I believe fundamentalist Christians are doing great
damage to Christianity because of their narrow-minded and uneducated
violent methods. Christianity is far more pagan and beautiful than
any conservative Christian ever allowed you to believe.)
So, I want to focus on the book of Genesis again, with a new twist.
The Book of Genesis is actually two books in one. The first part
is about the Sumerian myth of Creation, through the Sumerian myth
of the Great Flood, and up to the Sumerian story of the founding
of the great city of Babylon. (The second part, just forced on
to the end of this great mythology, is the completely unrelated
story of the desert tribes of Arabs beginning with Abraham and his
progeny. The greatness of Babylon is just dropped. That's why we
know the books were not organically one.)
It is the first section I wish to speak of, and especially the
story of Cain and Abel. You may remember that Cain was a farmer
who offered sacrifices of vegetables to god, while Abel was a
shepherd who offered a sacrifice of meat to god. God preferred
the sacrifice of Abel, the meat. For this, Abel lost his life
due to envy.
Most of us heard this story as babes in our mother's laps. Now,
hear the Sumerian version, a much older version, of this ancient
competition between the farmer and the shepherd.
Inanna, the royal goddess, was being pursued by two suitors, one,
Dumuzi, the shepherd, the other, Utudasa, the farmer. Each suitor
tried to win Inanna's heart with the products of their labor, their
livelihood. However, the god Utu, god of the farmers, did not want
Inanna to marry a farmer, but the shepherd. Now, Utu was the
brother of Inanna.
Here are some of the verses (from Diane Workstein's translation):
Brother, after you've brought the flax to me spun,
Who will braid it for me?
Sister, I will bring it to you braided.
Utu, after you've brought it to me braided,
Who will warp it for me?
Inanna, I will bring it to you warped.
Brother, after you've brought the flax to me warped,
Who will weave it for me?
Sister, I will bring it to you woven.
Utu, after you've brought it to me woven,
Who will bleach it for me?
Inanna, I will bring it to you bleached.
Brother, after you've brought my bridal sheet to me,
Who will go to bed with me?
Utu, who will go to bed with me?
Sister, your bridegroom will go to bed with you.
He who was born from a fertile womb,
He who was conceived on the sacred marriage throne,
Dumuzi, the shepherd! He will go to bed with you.
No, brother!
The man of my heart works the hoe.
The farmer! He is the man of my heart!
He gathers the grain into great heaps.
He brings the grain regularly into my storehouses.
Sister, marry the shepherd.
Why are you unwilling?
His cream is good.
Whatever he touches shines brightly.
Inanna, marry Dumuzi...
The shepherd! I will not marry the shepherd!
His clothes are coarse; his wool is rough
I will marry the farmer.
The farmer grows flax for my clothes.
The farmer grows barley for my table.
(Now Dumuzi speaks.)
Why do you speak about the farmer?
Why do you speak about him?
If he gives you black flour,
I will give you black wool.
If he gives you white flour,
I will give you white wool.
If he gives you beer,
I will give you sweet milk.
If he gives you bread,
I will give you honey cheese...
This beautiful poem is far older than the Book of Genesis as we
know it. Tradition says that Moses wrote the Book of Genesis, and
his time was about 1,350 BC. Others say that Moses got his source
from the time of Abraham, about 2,000 BC. BUT THE STORY OF INANNA
AND DUMUZI COMES FROM 4,000 BC, before the time of the building of
the City of Babylon! And those builders were not Hebrews (who did
not appear until the middle days of Egypt, about the time of Moses,
and who, before that time, were mixed with the nomadic tribes of
their cousins, the Arabs, as completely indistinguishable children
of Abraham). The builders of Babylon were SUMERIANS.
Older than Egypt is SUMERIA, Home of Inanna, Queen of Heaven.
Older than Abraham is Inanna, Queen of Heaven.
Older than Genesis is the story of Inanna, and her love for Dumuzi.
Well, that's about it for now, Inanna fans. It should be clear that
a theory of dependence is implied here: The Hebrew Genesis is completely
dependent upon the Sumerian myths of Creation. The Hebrews must have
received these stories when they were taken captive to Babylonian
in 607 BC, and slowly adapted and added these very ancient stories
to their own folklore. It is to their credit that they saw the very
best stories to take, and that they added them FIRST, before the
stories of Abraham, to their lore.
Today, however, we know the rest of the story.
Best regards,
--Paul
A
Judas
>[ Article crossposted from alt.fan.kali.astarte.inanna ]
>[ Author was Paul Trejo ]
>[ Posted on Mon, 13 Sep 1993 02:22:50 GMT ]
>
>Hi Inanna-Ishtar fans,
>
>damage to Christianity because of their narrow-minded and uneducated
>violent methods. Christianity is far more pagan and beautiful than
>any conservative Christian ever allowed you to believe.)
>
>is about the Sumerian myth of Creation, through the Sumerian myth
>of the Great Flood, and up to the Sumerian story of the founding
>of the great city of Babylon. (The second part, just forced on
>to the end of this great mythology, is the completely unrelated
>story of the desert tribes of Arabs beginning with Abraham and his
>progeny. The greatness of Babylon is just dropped. That's why we
>know the books were not organically one.)
>
You have a problem here with Christians who mostly (if not only) emphasize
the New Testament that discusses Christ (hence Christianity). As a
Roman Catholic I can tell you that I have brought up Old Testament elements
to such people (understand that I am not grouping denominations - this is
not supposed to be a grand sweeping statement) and they say that the New
Testament is what to abide by _because_ it is the New covenant.
>It is the first section I wish to speak of, and especially the
>story of Cain and Abel. You may remember that Cain was a farmer
>who offered sacrifices of vegetables to god, while Abel was a
>shepherd who offered a sacrifice of meat to god. God preferred
>the sacrifice of Abel, the meat. For this, Abel lost his life
>due to envy.
>
Again, not a flame, but a clarification: Cain, the farmer, sacrificed grains
and veggies, but not the _first_ of his harvest, which is why God preferred
Abel's sacrifice as he offered the first 'fruits' of his labors.
>
>Older than Egypt is SUMERIA, Home of Inanna, Queen of Heaven.
>
>Well, that's about it for now, Inanna fans. It should be clear that
>a theory of dependence is implied here: The Hebrew Genesis is completely
>dependent upon the Sumerian myths of Creation. The Hebrews must have
>received these stories when they were taken captive to Babylonian
>in 607 BC, and slowly adapted and added these very ancient stories
>to their own folklore. It is to their credit that they saw the very
>best stories to take, and that they added them FIRST, before the
>stories of Abraham, to their lore.
If you're gonna steal, steal from the best:) Having gotten an appreciation
for hermeneutics (studying literature in the historical context/time/era in
which it was written) from my Jesuit high school, it was a time of my deity's
better than yours and I'll prove it. Any one who separated from the Sumerians
to form the Hebrews kept the oral tradition and added Abraham for the immortal
angle: people are immortal as long as someone remembers them, and thru their
children (isn't this also Egyptian, hence Tutanhkamen's obelisks defaced etc.
to 'remove' him from history, have him forgotten, have him truly die forever).
>
>Today, however, we know the rest of the story.
What rest of the story? New agers reviving Sumerian Religion?
>
>Best regards,
>--Paul
>
Thanks, Paul. I enjoyed reading it.
- Judas
Niki LeBoeuf
>Again, not a flame, but a clarification: Cain, the farmer, sacrificed grains
>and veggies, but not the _first_ of his harvest, which is why God preferred
>Abel's sacrifice as he offered the first 'fruits' of his labors.
As I remember, this may be what was implied, but is not what is actually
stated. It just says "Able gave the first of his flock. Cain gave of his
harvest. God preferred Able's sacrifice." Well, that's a paraphrase, but
still...
Maybe you have a different translation, though. Could you quote the verse
that leads to your interpretation?
--The Vortex
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Judas
>As I remember, this may be what was implied, but is not what is actually
>stated. It just says "Able gave the first of his flock. Cain gave of his
>harvest. God preferred Able's sacrifice." Well, that's a paraphrase, but
>still...
>
>Maybe you have a different translation, though. Could you quote the verse
>that leads to your interpretation?
> --The Vortex
My apologies; I checked my bible and it does not mention anything about
Cain not offering the first harvested crops, just that God at the time
like blood, and first blood at that. I must have been confused at the
time (as usual) having remembered a conversation with a Lady Pastor friend
of mine where I said something like: Why did God disapprove of Cain's
sacrifice? She responded by saying that Cain did not offer the first fruits
of his harvest.
The verse, Gen 4:3 states:
In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an
offering to the Lord.
This is from the NIV (New International Version), and I suppose my Pastor
friend, who I know attended seminary, has probably heard more on this matter.
I choose to infer that Cain was not deliberate in choosing the finest/best
or technically 'first' fruits of his labor, rather than a haphazard 'some'.
It continues (Gen 4:5-7):
but on Cain and his offering He did not look with favor. So Cain was very
angry, and his face was downcast. 6 Then the Lord said to Cain,"Why are you
angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right, will you not be
accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door;
it desires to have you, but you must master it."
Somehow I don't think God is talking necessarily about sacrificing the first
of anything here; 'what is right' seems to refer as much to what to sacrifice
as God knowing Cain wanted to kill Abel and trying to convince him not to do
it.
Sorry, I didn't mean to turn this into "The On-Line Bible Study". I hope
some of what I said here makes sense and I hope it helps.
JMHO,
- Judas
Kendrick Kerwin Chua
Gee, what a scary concept.
Actually, one of the things you have to remember about religion in
ancient Sumer was that it was omnipresent and always involved in all
parts of life. Political leaders of the time were not only statesmen but
clergy as well. There was a god or goddess for everything, and a prayer
said before anything was done.
My Near East professor calls this a numious quality to the religion. The
modern western world has pigeonholed religion into a separate category,
when for some people religion is the main driving force in their lives.
This latter mindset was common for ancient Sumerians, who had the
benefits of an urban society without technology; you have public
services but you can still see the stars at night.
So any revival of a Sumerian religion would be like the modern day
Wiccan or Druidic revival. We wont ever do things exactly the way they
used to do it. We have to take what we are given and juxtapost them upon
our modern day values and beliefs, and then use the result.
Or just keep things simple and go Egyptian :I
Kendrick Kerwin Chua - kc...@andrew.cmu.edu -or- kend...@CMU.EDU
Dark Lord come forth and claim your world! Godan Ktones! Kibashen!
CLIS library
>Actually, one of the things you have to remember about religion in
>ancient Sumer was that it was omnipresent and always involved in all
>parts of life. Political leaders of the time were not only statesmen but
>clergy as well. There was a god or goddess for everything, and a prayer
>said before anything was done.
>
>My Near East professor calls this a numious quality to the religion. The
>modern western world has pigeonholed religion into a separate category,
>when for some people religion is the main driving force in their lives.
>
"Everything is sacred but nothing is special." This axiom allows me
to use my kitchen knife as an athema (if I used one), or make a
rattle out of a plastic water bottle and some rocks when I forgot
my "real" rattle.
I have mixed feelings about this religion and politics mix.
At a recent lecture, Starhawk proposed that we should bring
our "deep feelings/convictions" into the political debate.
Bringing them into the debate I can see, but forcing them on
the rest of the popluce would make us no better than the
conservative religious right. For example, I acknowledge
the importance of actions like anti-nuke rallies or
clinics defences, but I'm moving more and more toward a desire
to see more dialogue between factions. I realize, of course,
that sitting the most popalized parts of each faction down to
talk to each other is likely to be counterproductive. Dialogue
happens most frequently with the middle-of-the-road sort of crowd.
And this has become a bit of a ramble.
Blessed be,
Cathy
Randall J. Burns
a genocidal incident in which a more advanced tribe (symbolized
by the Agricultural Cain) rose up and killed the less advanced tribe
(symbolized by the hunter Abel). Can anyone support or refute this
claim or suggest some good sources?
Thanks(please respond via e-mail because I'm on the road a lot these
days and might miss it otherwise).
Grendel Grettisson
Randall J. Burns <rbu...@StarConn.com> wrote:
>I have heard the Cain and Abel story is really a metaphor about
>a genocidal incident in which a more advanced tribe (symbolized
>by the Agricultural Cain) rose up and killed the less advanced tribe
>(symbolized by the hunter Abel). Can anyone support or refute this
>claim or suggest some good sources?
Sounds like typical "let's explain the myths as allegorical historical
events" gobbley-gook to me. Without any evidence to support it, I wouldn't
believe it for a second.
Wassail,
Grendel Grettisson
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Robert W. Allen
Randall J. Burns <rbu...@StarConn.com> wrote:
>I have heard the Cain and Abel story is really a metaphor about
>a genocidal incident in which a more advanced tribe (symbolized
>by the Agricultural Cain) rose up and killed the less advanced tribe
>(symbolized by the hunter Abel). Can anyone support or refute this
>claim or suggest some good sources?
Look for books by Elaine Pagels, who is a professor of religion at
Princeton. A friend just read _Adam, Eve and the Serpent_, which does
not directly address your question, but comes close. Other works by
Pagels might come closer.
Also try Gerda Lerner's _Creation of Patriarchy_ for contextual information
and references.
--
Rob Allen
ral...@netcom.com
raving and drooling i fell on his neck with a scream
reasons: First is I read the exerpt of the Book of Nod from the Vampire
Masquerade LARP book discussing Cain. And second, I deeply enjoy the book
_Demian_ by Hermann Hesse, in which Cainites are mentioned.
My question is.. can anyone offer me some deeper insight to the whole Cain deal?
I mean, What was this mark? How was Cain set apart? Was he damned to eternal
undead? Are there really such people that worship Cain, as mentioned in _Demian_
? This subject intrigues and fascinates me.
--
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"do you ever have the strange sensation...when |
you're standing mighty tall...to jump from 17 | j...@ghost.cse.nau.edu
floors and crash into freefall...?" |
TAMMY RAE HEALY
>From: j...@ghost.cse.nau.edu (raving and drooling i fell on his neck with a scream)
>Subject: Re: Inanna, Cain and Abel
>Date: Tue, 28 Sep 1993 08:12:50 GMT
maybe soc.religion.christian would know.
Thantos
"In the beginning..."
Cain killed Abel. God got pissed. God cursed Cain. I think it was a
sort of curse like "You want to see blood so much? You got it." Cain was
cursed to walk the Earth and feed off of blood as a constant reminder of what
he had done to Abel. Cain didn't like this, but he had already created progeny
who were loose on the world- the Second Generation. After a couple of
generations, Carthage was built. This was a place where vampires and humans
kind of coexisted. Carthage was destroyed, and Cain either went into or
remained in self-exile from the human race out of shame. The Inquisition came.
Many vampired were destroyed, however, Cain was never found as one of the
massacred. Occasionally, a creature claiming to be Cain or knowing where he
is surfaces, but usually disappears shortly afterwards.
I hope this helps.
Robert "Thantos" Rossel
ros...@aludra.usc.edu
cjahnke1
doubt sick of this.
My new revised standard version of the Bible has little in it to imply
vampirism as a punishment for Cain. Cain was 'cursed from the ground',
prevented from tilling the earth and condemned to be 'a fugitive and
wanderer on the earth.'
(Gen. 4:11-12) Much was made of the spilling of Able's blood, as blood was
considered to be the sacred seat of life in ancient times. However, the
nature of the mark God placed on Cain is not elucidated, the book just says
that it was protective, that whoever kills Cain will 'suffer a sevenfold
vengeance.'
More on this will follow later tonight as I have to go to work now ... stay
tuned for the placement of the Genesis Cain info into the context of the
world of darkness ... probably just on alt.vampyre.
For Love of Vitae,
Vincent Giovanni
Rochester Primogen
Andrew Milmoe
>This is what I can gather about the whole Cain affair.
[stuff about Cain being made into a vampire, and siring a whole race
of vampires, sacrificed to the Lady of Bandwith, and her consort/child,
the Lord of Lag]
>I hope this helps.
Not really, if you got this straight from the Vampire role-playing game.
Does this story stem from a more primary source, or was it formulated
solely as background for the game?
[mind you, it's a neat game-world background]
Toad (mil...@symcom.math.uiuc.edu)
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Andrew Milmoe |My opinions are those of UIUC, but they
mil...@symcom.math.uiuc.edu |are under contract to vehemently deny
|it at every opportunity.
Thantos
request. I believed that the person had been asking about the White Wolf
Vampire Role Playing Game. This background that I have posted is based on that
storyline (which may or may not be true). As for reality, I am not sure.
Apologies for the waste of bandwidth.
Robert C. Rossel
Ravnos-in-training
(PS- I also think it's a really cool background.)
Flight
> This is what I can gather about the whole Cain affair.
>
> "In the beginning..."
>
> Cain killed Abel. God got pissed. God cursed Cain. I think it was a
> sort of curse like "You want to see blood so much? You got it."
......well, sort of....this is what the white-wolf gaming crowd, and
other vampire wannabes are trying to pull into the threads of the
myths, but until they showed up, i'd never heard of a cain vampirism
connection.......according to hebrew mythology(i can give you some
references if you're interested...) cain was marked with the sign of
the lord himself, in an egg sized mark on the center of his
forehead...anyone with the "true sight" of the lord, and anyone who
would do him harm would immediately see the mark and be forced to
withdraw....the mark was given to protect him, remember....for the
lord had exiled him, and cain feared he would be killed by any who
could see what he had done(holy folk...) he wasn't immortal, but a lot
of flying dutchman type legends arose about him...the cursed savior,
and all...he really is often portrayed as a strong, compassionate,
wise man who went berserk once and will pay for it forever.....even
without being immortal, his lifespan should have been well over 1000
years (being so close to the prime matter touched by god, he was,
materially, closer to the divine, and the early generations tended to
live a LOT longer because of it (supposedly...)) he is given credit
for acting as a founder of many cities...i've even heard that he was
the leader of rome after romulus died, and was responsible for leading
it to greatness......(this was probalbly a midaevil legend
tho....since cain was tainted, rome rose to the heights and fell, as
will all who have sinned...whole early church allegory....not too
trustworthy....) cain was sometimes revered as a patron, but never
worshipped.....his is occasionally held in as much honor as a saint in
muslim traditions......honour of self, a failure of will, strong work
and passion.....cain is a very human figure, and was a boon to those
who were fighting their own weakness....there were those who reviled
the church and regarded cain as the first human rebel, and made him a
promethian/luciferish character, but these were usually organised
idiocy during the renaissance........the most intriging note ive seen
refers to him defeating a priestess of ENLIL-BANI at uruk, and
becomming king, and ruling wisely and well, a lone cursed hebrew
amoung the pagans.....he was said to have ruled 600 years......
just some more data, as i said, i'll be happy to give references to
anybody who cares about going out and researching it themselves....
Flight
_____
| | |
|/|\|
-----
JJ...@psuvm.psu.edu
I've long wondered why Perseus and his cycle gets such top
billing with respect to the names of the constellations.
Besides Perseus himself, the stars are names after Cassiopeia, Cepheus,
Andromeda, Pegasus, Centaurus (Pegasus' "blood-brother"), Draco (as
Andromeda's monster), and, if the decendants count, Hercules.
Are any other myth-cycles so densely represented in the stars?
Is the Perseus cycle *really* so important as to warrent its
"celestial real estate"? Was Perseus once a more central
mythic figure? Is there a cognate Babylonian myth from
which these constellation derive their names? Or am I
just not getting it?
..............................................................
Jason Charnesky < "We here reach a point
e-mail: JJ...@psuvm.psu.edu > of some obscurity."
BitNet: JJC10 at PSU < Jeff Nealon