Shepherds –> Bulls –> Judges -> Angels -> gods -> God !!

[dtango]

Shepherds –> Bulls –> Judges -> Angels -> gods -> God !!
The motifs composing the universal “mono-myth”.

Part One, “Shepherds”

In the epics of Homer Ποιμήν “Shepherd” means “leader,” “person in charge” of a group of people who may be warriors, civilians or the persons responsible for a household.
The standard expression is Ποιμένι λαών, “Shepherd of people”

Δρύαντα τε, Ποιμένα λαών, (A 263)
Ατρέϊ, Ποιμένι λαών, (B 105)
Αγαμέμνονι, Ποιμένι λαών, (B 254) “Agamemnon, Shepherd of people”
Ιήσονι Ποιμένι λαών, (Η 469)
Μέντορι Ποιμένι λαών,(ω 456)
[Οδυσσέα], ποιμενι λαών, (σ 70)
(from the original ancient texts)

First Shepherds ever were the gods.
Plato writes the following in his dialogue “Critias”:

[109b] Once upon a time the gods were taking over by lot the whole earth according to its regions,—not according to the results of strife: for it would not be reasonable to suppose that the gods were ignorant of their own several rights, nor yet that they attempted to obtain for themselves by means of strife a possession to which others, as they knew, had a better claim. So by just allotments they received each one his own, and they settled their countries; and when they had thus settled them, they reared us up, even as herdsmen [109c] rear their flocks, to be their cattle and nurslings; (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text...riti.+109b)

The above is obviously the information conveyed to Plato by the oral tradition, either the Greek or the Egyptian. What follows is the theological explanation that Plato provides to justify this strange information:

only it was not our bodies that they constrained by bodily force, like shepherds guiding their flocks with stroke of staff, but they directed from the stern where the living creature is easiest to turn about, laying hold on the soul by persuasion, as by a rudder, according to their own disposition; and thus they drove and steered all the mortal kind.(http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text...ion%3D109c)

The first paragraph (109b) consists of empirical ideas: they saw the gods dividing the land between themselves. There is nothing unnatural once the gods are regarded as normal human beings as they are described in the texts.
The second paragraph (109c) about gods steering human souls, is just philosophical poetry devoid of any value

The gods divided Near East into estates and thus there were the estate of Horus, the estate of Seth, the estate of Osiris and so on. In Utterance 224 the dead King, who is supposed to have been transformed into a supreme deity, is given to rule the regions of Horus, the regions of Seth and the regions of Osiris. In Utterance 477 everything is given to the King:

The sky is given to you, the earth is given to you, and the Fields of Rushes, the regions of Horus, and the regions of Seth; the towns are given to you and the nomes assembled for you by Atum. (§961)
(R.O.Faulkner, “The Ancient Pyramid Texts”, p.164)

According to the Old Testament the God divided the earth, humans included, between his sons, or according to the number of his sons.

When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of children of Israel. (Deu.32:8)

The passage according to Septuagint:

ότε διεμέριζεν ο `Υψιστος έθνη, ως διέσπειρεν υιούς Αδάμ,
έστησεν όρια εθνών κατά αριθμόν αγγέλων Θεού.

“αγγέλων Θεού” means “of the Angels of God” and is the usual rendering in Greek of the phrase “Children of God.” In his book “Understanding the Dead Sea Scrolls,” Hershel Shanks writes that on a fragmentary text from the Dead Sea Scrolls, that dates from the 1st century CE, and contains Deuteronomy 32:8, the last phrase is “Children of God” and not “Children of Israel.” This text represents the oldest known Hebrew copy of Deuteronomy 32:8.

In a Sumerian Hymn to Enlil we read:

Enlil, when you marked off holy settlements on earth. (Hymn to Enlil, the All-Beneficent, line 65, ANET, p. 574)

From the Creation Epic (Enuma Elish):

To the Anunnaki of heaven and earth had allotted their portions. (VI,46)

All the gods apportioned the stations of heaven and earth. (VI,79)

Gishnumunab, creator of all people, who made the (world) regions. (VII,89) (ANET, pp. 67-71)

In the Akkadian myth “Etana,” it is the Anunnaki themselves who create the regions.
Old Babylonian version, opening lines:

The great Anunnaki, who decree the fate,
Sat down, taking counsel about the land.
They who created the regions, who set up the establishments.
(ANET, p.114)

The owner god of each one of these regions, establishments or estates –containing the number of humans allotted to the particular god- was called Shepherd, and the human population flock.

A quite well known Shepherd, although god by two thirds only, is Gilgamesh.
The story of Gilgamesh, of a Shepherd who was at the same time acting as Bull raping the female members of his flock, introduces “Bulls,” the second stage in the evolution of the fleshy, human gods of the tradition, into immaterial heavenly beings of the philosophers and theologians.

To be continued…

[dtango]

The motifs composing the universal “mono-myth”

Part Two, “Bulls”

The first creatures ever to be “domesticated” were the humans by the so-called gods. The terms “Shepherd” and “flock” are, therefore, used metaphorically when applied to animals and not to humans.
Moreover, if we choose the “metaphorical meaning” explanation we’ll have to apply it to the Bulls too, who came as the result of the material existence of the Shepherds, then to the Judges, to the Messengers and finally to the Angels and the immaterial gods where it cannot be applied.

Diodorus Siculus in his 3rd book of “The Library of History” in paragraphs 56 and 57 recounts a myth of the ancient inhabitants of North Western Africa whom he calls Atlantians (in paragraph 53 Atlas Mountains are mentioned) who “dwell in the regions on the edge of the ocean” and that “it was among them that mythology places the birth of the gods” (No connection whatever with mythical Atlantis).
Diodorus writes:

This is the account given in their myth: Their first king was Uranus, and he gathered the human beings, who dwelt in scattered habitations, within the shelter of a walled city and caused his subjects to cease from their lawless ways and their bestial manner of living.

The entire story can be found in the website
http://archive.org/stream/diodorusofsici...2/mode/2up
in page 263 of the book.

When Uranus passed away his name was given to the heavens and… he had been translated from among men into the circle of the gods.
Μετάστασιν, metastasis is the word used by Diodorus for the transformation of Uranus from man to god.

There were no walled cities at that time so the humans were gathered into pens, camps or enclosures as they are called in the ANE (Ancient Near Eastern) texts.
In the Egyptian funerary texts the place where the flock lives is described as dark and arid in contrast to the place of the residence of the Shepherd which is full of light and running cool waters.
The title of the Book of the Dead is ”Going out into the light” and represents the only thing that those into the pens wish and dream for: to get out of the “Darkness” as they call their place, and be transferred over to the West, to the land of light and serve the Shepherd.

The various recensions of the epic of Gilgamesh at our disposal are younger than the Pyramid texts by from 600 to 1,800 years but they retain a very accurate description of the deeds and behavior of a Shepherd:

11. The men of Uruk fu[me] in [their] cha[mbers (?)]:
12. [Gilgamesh] lea[ves] no son to [his] fath[er];
13. [Day] and [night his] outra[geousness] continues unrestrained
14. [Yet Gilga]mesh [is the shepherd] of Uruk, the enc[losure].
15. He is [our] shepherd, [strong, handsome, and wise].
16. [Gilgamesh] leaves no [virgin to her lover] ,
17. The daughter of the war[rior, the chosen of the noble] ! . (I,ii)
(Aleexander Heidel, The Gilgamesh Epic and Old Testament Parallels, p.18)

Gilgamesh was acting as Bull as per the orders of the gods:

32.“That with lawful wives he might mate!
33. He is the first,
34. The husband comes after.
35. By the counsel of the gods it has (so) been ordained.
36. With the cutting of his umbilical cord
37. It was decreed for him!” (II, iv)(ANET, p.78)

The gods selected Gilgamesh from the time he was born for the role of the Shepherd and Bull; the women of the ‘herd’ should bear his children, not those of their husbands.
The same information is conveyed by the Pyramid Texts:

I appear as Sobk, son of Neith, I eat with my mouth, I urinate and copulate with my phallus, I am the owner of seed who takes women from their husbands whenever he wishes, according to his desire (Utt. 317 §510)(Faulkner, p. 99)

In “The Legend of Ptah Nefer-Hetep and the princess of Bekhten” we read:

The Bull brave of heart sends semen, being bull, king and god.

kA \ mn-ib \ hb \ =f \ mtwt \ wn \ kA \ nsw \ nTr
the bull \ stable of heart \ sends \ he \ semen \ being \ bull \ king \ god
(W.Budge, “Legends of the Egyptian gods,” pp, 106-107)

In a Hymn to Amon-Re (Papyrus Boulaq 17, the Cairo Museum, 16th – 14th century BCE) we read the following verses:

Hail to thee, Amon-Re,
Lord of the Thrones of the Two Lands, Presiding over Karnak,
Bull of His Mother, Presiding over His Field!
…..
The goodly bull of the Ennead, chief of all the gods.(i)
….
In this thy name of Amon, Bull of His Mother;
Maker of all mankind. (x)(ANET, pp, 365, 367)

The expression “Bull of his Mother” is a form of addressing the supreme, self created, god and was known to the Greeks as ‘Καμήφις’ (Kamifis) from the Egyptian “Ka-mut-ef.”

kA \ mwt \ =f
Bull \ mother’s \ his

No creation of any kind of beings is considered possible without sexual intercourse. The common gods can claim to have been begotten by a god, superior or not, but a superior god has nobody to present as his begetter; he, himself, is the only one available.

Who is he? He is Osiris. Otherwise said: His name is Re, the phallus of Re when he copulated with himself
(The Book of the Dead, Papyrus of Any, Ch. 17, plate 7, line 24)

From the Coffin Texts:

O you whom the Bull begot . (Spell 15 §46, Faulkner translating)


To be continued…

[dtango]

The motifs composing the universal “mono-myth”.

Part Three, “Judges”

In the Atrahasis epic narrative when the gods decided to create the human race called the goddess Nintu:

[Saying: “The creatress of mankind] we call thee;
[The mistr]ess of all the gods be thy name!”
[They went] to the House of Fate,
[Nin]igiku-Ea (and) the wise Mama.
[Fourteen mother]-wombs were assembled.(ANET, pp. 99-100)

The goddess, who is called Mother-womb herself: ”thou art the mother-womb, the one who creates mankind” (Old Babylonian text) in order to create humans has to call a number of mother-wombs. Indeed, these fourteen mother-wombs produced seven men and seven women.

Those mother-wombs were obviously the ones raped by the Bulls. The mothers were expected to give birth to pure sons of Bulls so that the population of the master race of the Shepherds/Bulls would be increased but also to produce hybrid offspring needed to serve the master race. The girls remained where born and contributed to the production side by side with their mothers and grandmothers because the gods are reported to have had sex with their daughters, grand daughters and great grand daughters.

In the Sumerian myth “Enki and Ninhursag,” Enki impregnates the goddess Ninhursag (Nintu), “the mother of the land,” who gives birth to the goddess Ninmu. Enki then proceeds to impregnate his daughter Ninmu, who gives birth to the goddess named Ninkurra. Enki then impregnates his granddaughter Ninkurra and the latter gives birth to the goddess Uttu, whom Enki impregnates too.

Poured the semen in the womb of Ninhursag.
She took the semen into the womb, the semen of Enki. (lines 76-77)

He embraced her, he kissed her (Ninmu)
Enki poured the semen in the womb,
She took the semen into the womb, the semen of Enki. (lines 100-103)

Enki poured the semen in the womb [of Ninkurra] (line 121)

She took the semen into the womb, the semen of Enki,
Uttu the fair lady…,(lines 184-185)(ANET, pp.39-40)

Most probably some girls would have been used to serve the masters other than sexually but it is only the “sons of gods” that the master race was interested in. The male hybrids had to be evaluated and classified: the pure ones would be accepted as members of the master race, the hybrids would be used as slaves and those found with no master-race blood in their veins would be exterminated.

The evaluation was realized by the famous “Judgment” which the males had to undergo when approaching adulthood.
The older religious texts of the humanity, the Egyptian funerary texts, are not but prayers recited by the man undergoing judgment expressing his hopes that he will be found to be physically identical with the members of the master race.

From the Coffin Texts:

The gods who act on [my(?) behalf [ . . . ] as Lord of eternity. I wish that you would give me a god-like body . (Spell 827, Faulkner, p. 17)

In order for the judging gods to be persuaded that the man in fron of them (in this case king Pepi Meryre) does have a god’s body, every member of the body of the man is verified as coming from the body of a god or deity (the ba, for example).

Utterance 539 (James Allen translating)

RECITATION. The head of this Meryre is that of a vulture, as he
emerges and ascends to the sky.
The sides of the head of this Pepi are those of Her of a Thousand Bas
of a God, as [he] emerges and [ascends] to the sky.
This Pepi’s ears are those of the Watery One and Nu,…
The face of this Pepi is that of Paths-Parter,…
Meryre’s eyes are the great goddess at the fore of the bas of Heliopolis,…
The nose of this Pepi is that of Thoth,
The mouth of this Meryre is that of the great To-and-Fro canal,
The tongue of this Pepi is that of the guide for the Maat-boat,
This Pepi’s teeth are bas,
[This Meryre’s] lips [are Shu] and Tefnut,
The chin of this Pepi is that of Kherti, foremost of Letopolis,
The neck-vertebra of this Pepi is that of a wild bull,
This Pepi’s shoulders and upper arms are those of Seth,
The [right arm and hand] of this Meryre is that of the western [ba, as]
The left arm and hand] of Pepi is that of the eastern ba,
The chest of this Meryre is that of Bastet,
The belly of this Meryre is that of Nut,
This Pepi’s back is that of Geb,
This [Pepi’s spine] is that of the Dual Ennead,
This Pepi’s rear is that of Heqet,
This Meryre’s buttocks are those of the Nightboat and Dayboat,
The penis of this Pepi is that of the Apis,
Meryre’s thighs are those of Neith and Selket,
This Meryre’s lower legs are those of the two bas at the fore of the Marsh of the Limit,
This Meryre’s feet are those of the two Maat-boats,
Pepi’s toes are those of the bas of Heliopolis,

The Egyptian priesthood that inherited the texts preached a judgment of the dead and thus the life after judgment became a life after death. The requirement, however, for the transformation of man into god was passed on to the Greek culture as orphic prayers and thus golden sheets were placed in the graves to help the dead go successfully through the judgment awaiting him/her. The difference being that on the golden sheets the pronouncement of the verdict had been retained:

Θεός εγένου εξ ανθρώπου, from man you became a god
ίθι δία γεγώσα, go, you became a goddess
θεός δ’ έσηι αντί βροτοίο, you will be god instead of man .
(“Presocratic philosophers”, KAKTOS publishing, 806 p.710

The insanity of the resulting situation, being the realization that the dead should be provided with a decent body for his judgment, forced the priests to resort to mummification.

To be continued…

[dtango]

The motifs composing the universal “mono-myth”.

Part Four, “Revolt”

“Eat this excrement which issued from the hinder parts of Osiris; what (else) can you live on?” say these gods to me. (Spell 173 §50) (Faulkner, p. 148)

The god whom I know or do not know has oppressed me.
The goddess whom I know or do not know has placed suffering upon me.
(Sumero-Akkadian “Prayer to Every God”, verses 33-34, ANET, p. 391)

The hybrid slaves eventually revolted !!

I kiss her who rebelled(?) against the Great Ones.
(Spell 892, Faulkner translating)

The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD (Yahweh), and against his anointed, saying,
Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. (Ps. 2:2)

Hesiod,”Works and Days”, (v.138-140)

Then Zeus the son of Cronos was angry and put them away (the second generation of humans is meant), because they would not give honor to the blessed gods who live on Olympus.
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text...card%3D109

On the other side of the Atlantic there is the Popol Vuh of the Mayas:

Then Heart-of-Sky says to the animals, "Speak, pray to us."
But the creatures can only squawk.
The creatures only howl.
They do not speak like humans.
They do not praise Heart-of-Sky
And so the animals are humbled.
They will serve those who will worship Heart-of-Sky.
And Heart-of-Sky tries again.

[...]

Now they give the answer,
"It is good to make your people with wood.
They will speak your name.
They will walk about and multiply."
"So it is," replies Heart-of-Sky.
And as the words are spoken, it is done.
The doll-people are made
with faces carved from wood.
But they have no blood, no sweat.
They have nothing in their minds.
They have no respect for Heart-of-Sky.
They are just walking about,
But they accomplish nothing.
"This is not what I had in mind,"
says Heart-of-Sky.
And so it is decided to destroy
these wooden people.
http://www.criscenzo.com/jaguarsun/popolvuh.html

The victimizers and tyrants when are eventually attacked by their victims have their feelings hurt because... of lack of respect on the part of the victims!!

Older texts, however, are more direct and crude.

I have carried out your slaughterings, you gods, I have taken those who rebelled against you, I have been placed in the rank of Nile-god.
(Spell 317 of the Coffin Texts, Faulkner translating)

In the famous “Cannibal Hymn” the man kills, cooks and eats all the gods, small and big, young and old

Unis is one who eats people and lives on gods one who has fetchers
and sends off dispatches.
Grasper of Forelocks in the kettle is the one who lassoes them for Unis;
Serpent with Sweeping Head is the one who guards them for him and
bars them for him;
Gory All Over is the one who binds them for him;
Courser, the lords’ knife-bearer, is the one who will slit their throats for
Unisand takes out for him what is in their belly—he is the messenger
he sends to confront;
Shezmu is the one who will butcher them for Unis and who cooks a
meal of them for him on his evening hearthstones.
Unis is the one who eats their magic and swallows their akhs,
for their adults are for his morning meal, their middle-sized ones for his evening meal, their little ones for his nighttime snack, their old men
and women (fuel) for his ovens; (Utterances 273-4, James Allen translating)

No theologian or philosopher is willing to acknowledge fault on the part of the gods and so the men are to be blamed: they either do not respect their makers or they multiply excessively or they make noise and the gods are bothered:

Sleep no longer pours over the Anunnaki (the gods), because of people's noise. .
(Erra and Ishmud, Contexts of Scriptures, Vol.I, p.404)

[En]lil set up [his] Assembly,
[Say]ing to the gods, his sons:
“Oppressive has become the clamor of mankind.
[Because of their] clamor I am disturbed,
[Because of th]eir [up]roar sleep cannot seize me.
[...] let there be chills.
The pestilence shall [prompt\ly put an end to their clamor.
(Atrahasis, ANET, p.106)

The rebels defeated the gods:

I have smitten the gods with my hands, I have [kicked(?)] them with my toes. I have bruised them(?) with my fingers and I have gripped them with my nails. . (The Coffin Texts, Spell 313 §92, Faulkner translating)

The King is my brother who issued from the leg, who judged the rivals, who parted the combatants, and who will split your heads, you gods. (The Pyramid Texts, Utt. 669 §1963, Translated by Faulkner)

pSn \ tp(W) \ =Tn \ nTr(W)
split \ heads \ yours \ gods

The above passage translated by James Allen reads:

Pepi Neferkare is (your) Brother, who has come as a wise one who parts the two and splits up the two fighters, (Horus and Seth)— and who can split your heads, gods. .

The gods were beaten and were driven out of the land.

The men lost the Paradise because of the gods, but the Paradise was not a place, it was the period before the advent of the gods. It was the happy times that the “humans” had lived before the “gods” came and established their extremely racist and fascist regime.

In the following passage, from Utterance 486, please note the fear that came into being because of Horus’s eye.

Pepi was born in Nu when the sky had not yet come into being, when the earth had not yet come into being, when the establishment (of the world) had not yet come into being, when disturbance had not yet come into being, when the fear that came into being because of Horus’s [eye] had not yet come into being. .
(Translation by James Allen)

The Horus eye was the Holly Ghost of the Egyptian theology, it could purify everything. Before it came into being there was no need for purification. There was no need for men to look like gods in order to survive.

[fuckass365]

tl;dr

[dtango]

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…

[Cinjin]

http://debatingchristianity.com/forum/vi...580&lofi=1



again with this?

christ!

[Shell B]

Holy fucking shit balls.

dtango, while it is not expressly against the rules to post things you have posted elsewhere, it is discouraged, as this forum is discussion based. Given the number of your posts in this thread that are extraordinarily long and posted without prompt or response, it is bordering on spam. Please do not use this forum as a dumping ground for your ideas. If you want to discuss something, allow a discussion to evolve please. Otherwise, it just looks like you think this is a publishers.

[dtango]

Holy fucking shit balls.

dtango, while it is not expressly against the rules to post things you have posted elsewhere, it is discouraged, as this forum is discussion based.

My dear foul-language lady,
this is an atheist’s forum and I have been posting an article derived from a theory that aims to prove that there is a very good chance that the whole issue of the immaterial gods is just a plain tragicomic joke.

Read the last part of the article that follows after this post.
It is devoted to you!

(Sorry Rhythm… Ladies first!)

---

The motifs composing the universal “mono-myth”.

Part Six, “Angels” (Messengers)

Some of those, therefore, who replaced the gods after their defeat and came into power, belonged to the race of the gods. They claimed they had the departed masters’ approval and retained the social system established by them.

It seems, however, that the defeated ones did not leave the land right away but retreated to some safe place and operated as a government in exile, or the rebels said so to the people, because reports of the existence of the messengers occur in almost every culture, meaning that the messengers operated for quite some time.

The Malozi people of Zambia say that Nyambe, who was first in the world, lived on earth with his wife, Nasilele, and he made the rivers, plains, animals, and the first people, Kamunu and his wife. When the god got tired of the demands of Kamunu took his messenger and the antelope and went away from Kamunu to live on an island.

The following myth of the Yorubas describes accurately the function of the messengers:

Once, long ago, all people lived in one town, called Ife, and they all spoke one simple language, Yoruba. In those days everyone was equal in all respects. Their skin was the same color, they were all good at the same things, they were all equally strong, equally beautiful, and equally healthy. Everyone had enough of what they needed, but no one had too much. If anyone needed something, they had only to inform God’s messenger, and he would tell God, who would provide them with what they needed.
There was only one problem. People were bored. They wanted a change. So they started complaining to God’s messenger, asking for different things. Some wanted a bigger house. Some wanted different color skin. Some wanted to speak differently. So it went on. In the beginning the messenger would faithfully carry all their demands to God and God would listen patiently. But after a while God became irritated. He told the messenger what to tell them. The messenger went back to the people.
‘God says you are to be content with what he has given you. He has deliberately arranged things in this way so that you will not have anything to quarrel with each other about.’ But the people were not happy. ‘Tell God he must give us what we ask, or we will revolt against him. We will have nothing more to do with him. We will organize our affairs the way we want them, without his help.’
(“Εssential African Mythology” by Ngangar Mbitu & Ranchor Prime, pg.6)

The god eventually gave in and so we have today many skin colors, many different languages and injustice.
As you may have noticed, whatever the Yoruba people knew and believed about their god it was what the messenger told them about him.

From another book, “A Comprehensive Dictionary of the Gods” by Anne S. Baumgartner, pg. 64, we learn that: The Yorubas of Africa call the deities who serve as messengers between gods and mortals “Eschu.” They are indispensable but nasty.

The messengers are reported to have been feared by the gods too.
In the “Horus and Seth” legend, Osiris appears to be arguing with the gods of the Ennead and is exchanging letters with them. In reply to a letter he received he writes a letter back saying:

Now you pay attention to this matter!
The land in which I am is full of savage-looking messengers who fear no god or goddess. If I send them out, they will bring me the heart of every evildoer, and they will be here with me.

Obviously, the messenger regime was proved worse than the one run by the gods and the people demanded that the gods come back.
The gods were supposed to live in inaccessible (the summit of Mount Olympus) or prohibited places (the guarded Cedar Forrest) but those were seemingly not excuses enough and the messengers invented the perfect excuse for the gods’ absence: “the gods moved and went to live on the clouds.” According to the Egyptian theology they climbed to heavens by ladder!!

Most of the messengers of the Mesopotamian gods are known by their names.
In the Norse mythology, the messenger of the gods is Hermod, one of the sons of Odin. Gna is the messenger of the goddess Frigga, wife of Odin.
For the natives of the Caroline Islands, the god of fire, singing and dancing, Olofad is the messenger of Lugeilan, the god of knowledge.
The god Tiki, from the Marquesas and Society Islands, is the god of virility and the messenger of the gods.
The natives of the Samoa Islands say that the creator Tangaroa created several Tangaroas; among them was Tangaroa the messenger.
Messengers are known from the Japanese tradition too. From the Kojiki:

My elder brother, Ukasi, ran after the messenger of the son of the Celestial kami.

The great Mexican god Quetzalcoatl besides his other many titles is also called messenger of the gods.
In the Persian tradition, Sraosh is the divine messenger and mediator between gods and humans.
In the Greek mythology apart from Hermes and Iris, the official messengers of the pantheon, all gods are thought to operate as messengers when carrying messages of Zeus.
And finally, there are many cultures where the messengers of the gods are thought to be some animals or birds.

There is the possibility that the very first time that the ascension of the gods was announced by a messenger it was told as a joke. There is, therefore, a very good chance that the whole issue of the immaterial gods is just a plain tragicomic joke.

End of article.

[Shell B]

Wow, ignored and chastised. I love it.