Cosmological order in Greek and Mesopotamian myths: love, strife, and universal tension

¶ … Origins of Greek Mythology

For the heart of Zeus is hard, and everyone is harsh whose power is new" (Aeschylus 1926, 35). The original seagoing Hellenes were dictatorial and refused to tolerate foreign gods. However, as the Greeks became more civilized and tolerant, they recognized the importance of their subjects' gods and the wisdom in allowing them to keep them. The origins of the Greek pantheon as we know it originated in surrounding countries, as the Greeks appeared to incorporate neighboring gods and goddesses into their belief system. However, though neighboring gods and goddesses found their place in the pantheon, for the Greeks, their original gods remained reigning diety and were the most honored: Apollo, Zeus, Hephaestus, Ares, Poseidon, Hermes, Hestia, Hera, Aphrodite, Artemis, Demeter, and Athena.

For of all cities beneath sun and starry heaven wherein men that dwell upon the face of the earth have their abodes, of these sacred Ilios was most honored of my heart, and Priam and the people of Priam, with goodly spear of ash. For never at any time was mine altar in lack of the equal feast, the drink-offering, and the savor of burnt-offering, even the worship that is our due (Illiad. 1924, 45).

From Akkad came Poseidon, and several other local gods, renamed in the Greek language. We recognize them from their symbols, their functions and their companions (for instance Athena's owl).

There were several gods who seem to have originated in Mesopotamia. But the history of Mesopotamia is so ancient it predates written history and therefore it may be difficult to determine who influenced whom and who came first. It was not until the Greek writers began recording their travels and observations that we are able to discern historically valuable information about the surrounding countries of Turkey and the lands of Mesopotamia.

What is known of Mesopotamian history came from Greek and Roman historians' writings. Herodotus lived in Caria (Turkey today) in the fifth century, B.C., writing of the people he encountered and what they said about Mesopotamia. Other sources are ancient Jewish texts, such as the familiar stories of the Garden of Eden, Abraham's journey from Ur and the Tower of Babel.

The people of Mesopotamia, in the lands of Assyria, Babylonia and Sumer, were very well educated, with an extensive syllabary; there were numerous libraries containing ancient texts written in cuneiform script on clay tablets, commentaries and literature. The Gilgamesh epic was part of this collection, having been translated from the Sumerian. The religions of Mesopotamia involved demons, gods, goddesses and monsters, with combinations of human and animal bodies and heads. In Babylonian cosmogony, the god Bel (or Ba'al, or Enlil or Marduk, as they are called in Gilgamesh) created man, the stars, the sun and earth out of chaos. Early Greek cosmogony gave like creative actions to the god Uranus, the god of the sky, who was born out of Chaos and was husband to Earth (Gaia or in the Greek, Demeter) (Funk 1979 "Cosmogeny").

The famous Palace of Ashurbanipal has carvings of a variety of gods, winged half animal-half human creatures, etched hugely in bas relief on the walls. The giant human-headed Bull from Khorsabad in the palace of Sargon II of Assyria (Akkad) dating back to 2300 B.C. (uncovered by Paul-Emile Botta during the nineteenth century, when he went to work in Musol) was found in what is now Iraq. It resembles no beast more than the Minotaur of Knossos. How can this be?

What is called the Mycenaean culture came into Greece from the northeast in or about 2000 B.C., displacing without violence an old Neolithic culture, which dated from about 4000 B.C. The original, bearded Mycenaeans wore armor into battle. They wrote on clay tablets, found in Pylos, Mycenae, and Knossos, in what appears to be archaic Greek related to ancient Cypriot. This script is known as Linear B. Found at Knossos, dating from 1500 B.C., indicates Mycenaean Greeks dominated Crete during the Late Minoan period before it collapsed, around 1400 B.C. The invaders, who were Indo-European and Greek-speaking, brought advanced methods and techniques of producing architecture, pottery and metallurgy. It is most probable they brought their religion and gods with them from the Mesopotamian lands, as the ancient gods there were quite similar.

The stories of gods begetting gods and monsters, of the great god Uranus being emasculated and his offspring ruling the earth, as Cronus did (who had castrated his father), may be symbolic retellings of history, wherein tribes, rulers and powerful lords rose and overthrew others. Mycenaean Greece's relationship to Crete during the two centuries between 1600 and 1400 B.C. is complex, as both civilizations competed for control of the Mediterranean Sea. "To judge from the known tablets, there appear to have been a number of distinct kingdoms within Mycenaean Greece, all of which seem to have been independent" (Stanley 277). Following the destruction of Knossos in or about 1400 B.C., supremacy was given to the Myceneaens, and the Minoan culture and tradition dominated the mainland (Taylour 1964 57).

In Mycenaean culture chaos reigned while Cronus fought his offspring. In mainland Greece and its environs, political chaos appeared to reign, finally resulting in one powerful, unified group who agreed that the son of Cronus, Zeus, should rule the pantheon ("Uranus" Encyclopedia Mythica). At last, Greek dominance over the lands, and thus over the religion, seems to have stopped the creation of creation stories some time during the 13th century, B.C. according to dating of the writing system of Linear B. tablets (Ventris 1973: 42).

In the cosmogony of Mesopotamia, the god, Enki, who lived underwater, created the limited human to serve the gods and goddesses during their short lives. This underwater god, Enki, may have also been the original of the god Poseidon, ruler of the seas. Also, as in Mycenae, the Minotaur existed in Sumerian cosmology. Ishtar, the morning and evening star, was the goddess of love and war (Venus) and in her Sumerian personification is shown holding weapons, with her foot on the head of a http://www.mesopotamia.co.uk/gods/explore/images/queen_im.jpg

Above: In one depiction from Mesopotamia, an unknown goddess, probably Ishtar, is shown with birds' feet, standing on two lions, holding symbols that resemble the Greek "Alpha" in her hands, with the drooping wings representing holiness, flanked by two owls. In many ways she reminds one of the fearless Greek goddess, Athena, whose symbol was the owl.

The goddess Lama, considered the protector of Sumerian individuals, is familiar in Mycenaean culture as the goddess in the tiered skirt shown leading humans into the presence of other gods and goddesses. At (h)anapotnia is her name in Knossos. In Knossos she is shown with snakes in her fists, who presence denotes the their rule over the earth. She is known as Athena in Delphi, according to scholars such as L. Godart and J. Chadwick, experts in analysis of ancient documents, who substantiate the similarity of their names.