CLAA05H3 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Atra-Hasis, Gilgamesh Flood Myth, Enki
Document Summary
Mesopotamia (meaning is land between two rivers) is located between the tigris (east) and euphrates (west) rivers. Sumerians conceived the world as a flat disk surrounding by ocean. Above is the sky (heavens residence of the gods) and beneath is the netherworld (hell) with special gods. Myth #1: theogony of dunnu (dunnu is a city, theogony refers to study/tracing of lines of descent) Creation story of succession including themes of incest, patricide, matricide and succession. Incest taboo is almost universal among societies but occurs often in myths because of limited popul"n. Lesson: there was never just one mesopotamian myth of creation (contrast with epic of creation) Summary: plough (male) and earth (female) were the original gods and they created. Cattle god and sea, cattle killed plough and married earth, and sea and so on. Hayyashum marries his sister and instead of killing his father (harhanum) he imprisons him.
