The motifs composing the universal “mono-myth”.
Part Five, “The fall of the gods”
The man (Pharaoh Unis) who killed, cooked and eat all the gods, old and new, young and older (see “Cannibal Hymn” in part four of this article) eventually became a god himself:
Unis is the god who is senior to the senior ones, for thousands serve him and hundreds present offering to him; for he has been given title as the greatest controlling power by Orion, the gods’ father;
(Utt. 273-4 §408, James Allen translating)
Unis is Bull:
Unis will urinate and Unis will copulate with his penis. Unis is lord of semen, who takes women from their husbands to the place Unis likes according to his heart’s fancy. (Utt. 317 §510, James Allen translating)
Unis is Judge:
Unas will judge with Him-whose-name-is-hidden. (Utt. 273 §399, Myriam Lichtheim translating)
[ who will give judgment, according to Faulkner and the one whose case against, according to Allen’s translation]
Unis has messengers:
Unis shall sit before him, (the god Ra), Unis shall open his chests, Unis
shall break (the seals on) his decrees, Unis shall seal his documents,
Unis shall send his unwearying messengers, and Unis shall do what
he says to Unis. . ( Utt. 309 §490, James Allen translating)
Marduk was proclaimed king of the gods by the gods he had killed:
Being [assem]bled all the Igigi bowed down,
While everyone of the Anunnaki kissed his feet,
[ . . . ] their assembly to do obeisance,
They stood [before h]im, bowed (and said): “He is the king!”
(Enuma Elish, V, 85-88)(ANET, pg. 502)
In the narrative of the Ugaritic “Poems about Baal and Anath,” the gods are having a banquet and Baal is attending upon El, when the messengers of Prince Yamm (sea) and the envoys of Judge Nahar arrive and demand that Baal be surrendered to them as a god with a following whom the multitudes worship. The gods, who are afraid of the messengers, agree to deliver Baal but he rebels against gods and messengers alike and by the might of his cudgels transforms himself to a great god known as Puissant Baal. Later in the narrative he appears to own two messengers called Gapn and Ugar who, naturally, are considered gods.
Those with a following whom the multitudes worship defeated the gods, replaced them and came into power themselves.
The defeated and killed gods told Marduk:
“Henceforth thou wilt be the parton of our sanctuaries,
whatever thou dost command we will do”
(Enuma Elish, V, 115-116)(ANET, pg. 502)
The gods will do whatever Marduk commands. The people will also do whatever Marduk commands because he is the chief officer, the executive of the gods’ regime.
In the Ipuwer text, Ipuwer, the author who considers himself to belong to the race of the gods, describes the fall of the gods and laments for the condition in which the land is after the successful revolt of the servants and slaves of the master race. He then wishes for the end of the human race:
If only this were the end of man,
No more conceiving, no births!
Then the land would cease to shout,
Tumult would be no more! (Col. V)
Yet, he knows that birth is necessary for the production of the slaves:
But since giving birth is desired, grief has come and misery is everywhere.
So it is and it will not pass, while these gods are in their midst.
Seed comes forth from human women; it is not found on the road. (Col. XII)
The above translation is by Myriam Lichtheim. Since the line in bold letters is very important as it clearly states that the rebels had been helped by some gods, the translation by Allan Gardiner is also provided right below:
So it was and it shall not pass away, so long as the gods in the midst thereof endure.
To be continued…
Part Five, “The fall of the gods”
The man (Pharaoh Unis) who killed, cooked and eat all the gods, old and new, young and older (see “Cannibal Hymn” in part four of this article) eventually became a god himself:
Unis is the god who is senior to the senior ones, for thousands serve him and hundreds present offering to him; for he has been given title as the greatest controlling power by Orion, the gods’ father;
(Utt. 273-4 §408, James Allen translating)
Unis is Bull:
Unis will urinate and Unis will copulate with his penis. Unis is lord of semen, who takes women from their husbands to the place Unis likes according to his heart’s fancy. (Utt. 317 §510, James Allen translating)
Unis is Judge:
Unas will judge with Him-whose-name-is-hidden. (Utt. 273 §399, Myriam Lichtheim translating)
[ who will give judgment, according to Faulkner and the one whose case against, according to Allen’s translation]
Unis has messengers:
Unis shall sit before him, (the god Ra), Unis shall open his chests, Unis
shall break (the seals on) his decrees, Unis shall seal his documents,
Unis shall send his unwearying messengers, and Unis shall do what
he says to Unis. . ( Utt. 309 §490, James Allen translating)
Marduk was proclaimed king of the gods by the gods he had killed:
Being [assem]bled all the Igigi bowed down,
While everyone of the Anunnaki kissed his feet,
[ . . . ] their assembly to do obeisance,
They stood [before h]im, bowed (and said): “He is the king!”
(Enuma Elish, V, 85-88)(ANET, pg. 502)
In the narrative of the Ugaritic “Poems about Baal and Anath,” the gods are having a banquet and Baal is attending upon El, when the messengers of Prince Yamm (sea) and the envoys of Judge Nahar arrive and demand that Baal be surrendered to them as a god with a following whom the multitudes worship. The gods, who are afraid of the messengers, agree to deliver Baal but he rebels against gods and messengers alike and by the might of his cudgels transforms himself to a great god known as Puissant Baal. Later in the narrative he appears to own two messengers called Gapn and Ugar who, naturally, are considered gods.
Those with a following whom the multitudes worship defeated the gods, replaced them and came into power themselves.
The defeated and killed gods told Marduk:
“Henceforth thou wilt be the parton of our sanctuaries,
whatever thou dost command we will do”
(Enuma Elish, V, 115-116)(ANET, pg. 502)
The gods will do whatever Marduk commands. The people will also do whatever Marduk commands because he is the chief officer, the executive of the gods’ regime.
In the Ipuwer text, Ipuwer, the author who considers himself to belong to the race of the gods, describes the fall of the gods and laments for the condition in which the land is after the successful revolt of the servants and slaves of the master race. He then wishes for the end of the human race:
If only this were the end of man,
No more conceiving, no births!
Then the land would cease to shout,
Tumult would be no more! (Col. V)
Yet, he knows that birth is necessary for the production of the slaves:
But since giving birth is desired, grief has come and misery is everywhere.
So it is and it will not pass, while these gods are in their midst.
Seed comes forth from human women; it is not found on the road. (Col. XII)
The above translation is by Myriam Lichtheim. Since the line in bold letters is very important as it clearly states that the rebels had been helped by some gods, the translation by Allan Gardiner is also provided right below:
So it was and it shall not pass away, so long as the gods in the midst thereof endure.
To be continued…
"Culture is memory"
Yuri Lotman
Yuri Lotman
