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=> Re: Assyrian Monotheism, Part Il

Re: Assyrian Monotheism, Part Il
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by: Simo Parpola

THE GODS AS OFFICIALS

Though individually quite different, the “great gods,” when considered together, display a number of common features and similarities which link them tightly together as a well-organized, homogeneous group.

Each of them had a definite function or office/offices (par?u) in the divine world associated with specific abstract qualities or powers: Anu = authority; Ea = wisdom and knowledge; Sîn = purity and prudence; Marduk = creativity and mercy; Šamaš = justice and righteousness; Ištar = love and beauty; Nergal = destructive/sexual power, etc. They share many epithets and attributes, and their functions were interconnected and, to some extent, overlapping: Sîn, Šamaš and Adad, often listed together in this order, were all judges representing different aspects and degrees of jurisprudence and jurisdiction (d?nu and purussű); Ea, Marduk and Nabű, also often listed in this sequence, were all kings (or kings-to-be) embodying different aspects of wisdom and creativity. Their basic functions were, however, unique to each god: Ea, and nobody else, was the god of wisdom; Ištar, and nobody else, was the goddess of love, etc.

THE GODS AS A COUNCIL

All in all, the functions of the “great gods” remarkably parallel those of the royal “magnates” (rabűti, lit., “great men”), who, along with the king, formed the Assyrian royal council.26 This overlap is not accidental, for the “great gods” constituted the divine council (pu?ur il?ni [rabűti], lit., “the assembly of the [great] gods”) ruling and directing the universe. Just as the Assyrian king was the representative of Aššur upon earth, so was the Assyrian royal council the earthly counterpart of the divine assembly, each of its members being the image of a particular “great god.” The earthly government thus was, as it were, a mirror image of the heavenly one. As rulers of the universe, the “great gods” were similar in role and function to the gnostic archons (lit., “rulers”), who were in turn essentially equivalents of the Jewish and Christian “archangels” (see just below).

Seven of the “great gods” were associated with the seven classical planets: Sîn and Šamaš with the moon and the sun, Marduk with Jupiter, Ištar with Venus, Nabű with Mercury, Adad with Saturn, and Nergal with Mars. The remaining two (Anu and Ea) were respectively associated with heaven and the Abyss (Apsű), the transcendental “ocean of wisdom/knowledge.” The seven planetary gods are in many ways equivalent to the seven archangels of Jewish and Christian traditions; they play an active role in mythology and had important martial and/or punitive functions comparable to those of the dreaded Pleiades (Sebetti), “the heroic Heptad.” Anu, and Ea, by contrast, were majestic powers hidden in the depths of their cosmic abodes; they formed a pair, Ea being the “likeness” of Anu, the head of the assembly.

All this mirrors the distribution of roles within the Assyrian royal council. The minister closest to the king, the “scholar,” an “image” of the god of wisdom, appears beside the king in king lists but never partook in military operations, while the other seven ministers had extensive military and/or punitive responsibilities as commanders of imperial “rapid deployment” cavalry units. In Assyrian ideological parlance, the actions of the ministers often totally merge with those of the “great gods.” In royal annals, punitive actions against perjured vassals are explicitly ascribed to the “great gods,” while in letters and treaties, the ministers are collectively referred to as the “iron sword of Aššur.” In this role they are strikingly reminiscent of the seven punitive angels described in the apocalypse of John.

THE GODS AS A FAMILY

All the “great gods” were related by birth. They all descended from Anu, the “father of the great gods,” who himself was a son of Aššur by “reflection.” The genealogical relationships of the gods reveal a three-tiered generation hierarchy oriented around the goddess Ištar, who was known as “the convener of the assembly” and was (under different names) “married” to all the “great gods.” Three of the gods – Anu, Ea and Sîn – were her fathers, two – Šamaš and Marduk – her brothers, and three – Nabű, Adad and Nergal – were her sons. The two functionally related groups of male gods (Ea, Marduk and Nabű; Sîn, Šamaš and Adad) were both direct father-son lineages starting with Ea and Sîn respectively: Ea was the father of Marduk who was the father of Nabű, while Sîn was the father of Šamaš who was the father of Adad.27 Since Anu, on the other hand, was the father of both Ea and Sîn, the first generation included two sub-grades, with Anu, the father and king of all the gods, alone occupying the first rank.

The genealogical tree of the “great gods” can accordingly be plotted as follows (Ea appears on the right side as Anu’s eldest son; Nergal appears under Ištar as the fruit of her union with Anu, and below Adad and Nabű as the youngest of the “great gods”):

Anu
Generation 1 Sîn | Ea
\ | /
\ | /
Generation 2 Šamaš–––Ištar–––Marduk
/ | \
/ | \
Generation 3 Adad | Nabű
Nergal

THE GODS AS NUMBERS

From the thirteenth century on, every “great god” was identified with a number or numbers. Some of these were traditional and can be easily explained: the number of Sîn, the moon god (30), for example, already occurs in third millennium texts and is clearly derived from the ideal length of the lunar month (30 days). Others, like the numbers of Ištar (15) and Adad (10), are not attested before the 13th century and their origin is not readily apparent. From about 1300 through 600 BCE they were (with or without the divine determinative) commonly used for writing the names of the “great gods” in Assyrian theophoric personal names. The relevant numbers are: Anu = 1, Ea = 60, Marduk = 50, Nabű = 40, Sîn = 30, Šamaš = 20, Adad = 10, Ištar = 15, and Nergal = 14.

The divine numbers add a new dimension to the nature of the “great gods.” As numbers, they can no longer be regarded merely as anthropomorphic members of a humanly organized celestial government; rather, they now emerge as purely abstract entities (cf. p. 3 above) derived from a single origin, the sexagesimal base number 1. Such a notion of gods seems to underlie the well-known theogony of En?ma eliš, where we are told that Aššur “reflected” (umaššil) Anu as his son, who in turn generated Ea as his own “likeness” (tamš?lu). The peculiar phrasing of the passage is explained by the fact the numbers of Anu (1) and Ea (60) were both written with the same cuneiform sign, the vertical wedge DIŠ, meaning “one” (depending on the context, also “sixty”), while Aššur was written with the horizontal wedge AŠ, meaning “single, only” (depending on the context, also “one”).28 The “Pythagorean” understanding of the gods as numbers (and vice versa) surfaces particularly clearly in late second and early first millennium esoteric and scholarly texts, e.g. in the cosmo-theological treatise I.NAM GIŠ.HUR AN.KI.A, where all the “great gods” are explained as aspects of the moon by associating their numbers, through mathematical operations, with different days of the lunar month.29
Substituting the names of gods in the “genealogical tree” with the corresponding divine numbers results in the following configuration:

1
30 60
20 15 50
10 40
14

Remarkably, the resulting distribution of numbers clearly is not at all haphazard but makes up a meaningful pattern closely mirroring the genealogical hierarchy and functional interrelationships of the gods. The right and left hand columns, which correspond to the two male lines of gods, contain only full tens, neatly arranged in a descending “age” order. The numbers of Anu and Nergal at the top and bottom of the middle column, when added up, yield the number of Ištar in the middle. The likelihood that such a distribution could result by accident is virtually nil. It accordingly seems that the fully developed system of divine numbers emerged from a desire to express the genealogical relationships of the “great gods” numerically, building on the theogony of En?ma eliš. The system was built up using the available traditional numbers, but new numbers (like those of Šamaš, Ištar, Adad and Nergal) were added in order to obtain the desired numerical patterns.

A closer study of the “numerical tree” reveals that considerations of harmony and balance also played a role in its planning. The numbers of the middle column, when added up, yield 30, the median number of the sexagesimal system, which beautifully agrees with the position of the column between the two rows of symmetrically decreasing tens to the right and left. At first sight, the left and right columns seem to upset the numerical balance of the “tree,” the numbers on the left being consistently smaller than those on the right. However, taking the left-hand numbers as negative, each pair of opposite tens yields the same “number of balance” (30) as the middle column: 60 – 30 = 30, 50 – 20 = 30, 40 – 10 = 30! The right and left “branches” of the “tree” thus balance out each other. The sum of the “branches” and the “trunk” (4 x 30 = 120) added to the total of the individual numbers (1 + 10 + 14 + 15 + 20 + 30 + 40 + 50 + 60 = 240) yields 360, a significant number in Assyrian royal ideology.30

THE GODS AS A BODY

In sum, we see that while each of the “great gods” had a definite identity expressed in terms of particular functions, family relationships and numerical values, this identity had a meaning only with reference to a larger structure of which the gods formed a part, be it the celestial council, the divine family, or the “numerical tree.” All these interrelated structures share the same three-graded hierarchical pattern, which served as a basis for determining the individual functions, relationships and number values of the gods. In other words, the “great gods” had no independent existence on their own; like parts of the human body, they represented mutually complementary, interdependent parts of a larger whole, the divine council, which in its actions and resolutions functioned like a single body.

As a matter of fact, in its three-graded symmetrical structure, the hierarchy of the “great gods” displays a definite affinity to the human body. Bearing in mind that Anu’s basic symbol was crown, and that “wisdom” (= Ea) and “understanding” (= Sîn) were in Mesopotamia synonymous with “ear” (uznu/?as?su), the topmost triad of gods can be visualized as a head with a crown on top and two symmetrical ears to the right and left. Similarly, the middle and lowermost triads of gods can be associated with the middle and lower parts of the body, the heart and the two arms corresponding to Ištar (love), Marduk (creation/mercy) and Šamaš (judgment) and the two feet and the penis to Nabű, Adad and Nergal respectively. By the same token, the divine hierarchy can be said to reflect the structure of the human soul, Anu, Ea and Sîn representing man’s intellectual powers, Ištar, Marduk and Šamaš his moral and ethical powers, and Adad, Nabű and Nergal the basic instincts of man.31

THE GODS AS A TREE

The three-tiered symmetrical hierarchy of the “great gods” finds a graphic counterpart in a central motif of Assyrian imperial art, the so-called “sacred tree,” which in its distinctively Assyrian form makes its appearance at about the same time (early thirteenth century BCE) as the fully developed system of divine numbers (Fig. 2).32 In its simplest form, the motif consists of a stylized palm tree standing on a mountain and surrounded by a mesh of lines and a garland of palmettes, pomegranates or pine-cones. In more elaborate renditions, the tree has nodes in the top, middle and base of the trunk, and two symmetrical series of small circles to the right and left of the nodes, recalling the two series of tens to the right and left side of the “numerical tree.” Even the most schematic examples are executed with the same meticulous attention to harmony and axial balance that characterizes the “numerical tree.”

The mountain base of the tree corresponds to the position of Nergal (the netherworld god) in the “genealogical tree” and accords with the netherworld connotations of the Mesopotamian words for “mountain” (kur/šadű, hursag/?urš?nu). The palmette crown, which in some variants is replaced by a stylized rainbow or a “sunflower,”33 corresponds to Anu, the god of heaven, and can be taken as a rendition of Anu’s basic symbol, the crown.34 The node in the middle of the trunk corresponds to the central position of Ištar in the divine hierarchy and symbolizes her role as the “convener of the assembly” (see above, p. 6). The series of circles to the right and left of the trunk correspond to the two male lines of the “great gods.”35 The pomegranates and pine-cones surrounding the tree (with their many seeds) symbolize the ultimate unity of the gods,36 while the lines connecting them can be taken to symbolize their interdependence and organic interaction.

THE ANTHROPOMORPHIC TREE

The “sacred tree” can thus be viewed as a graphic representation of the divine council intended to emphasize its nature as an organic whole, a “single body.” This interpretation is supported by a unique relief from the temple of Aššur in Assur (Fig. 3) showing the tree as a frontally depicted crowned man, with prominent symmetrical ears, hands symmetrically crossed over the heart, and the lower body merging with a mountain (cf. above).37 Keeping in mind the identification of the individual “great gods” with planets, heaven and the Abyss (p. 6 above), this tree-man turns out be a metaphysical structure encompassing within itself the entire universe – a gigantic “cosmic man.”

The idea of the “cosmic man” certainly played an important role in Assyrian religion and imperial ideology. From the earliest times on Mesopotamian kings had been portrayed as living personifications of the cosmic tree. An early third-millennium precursor of the Assyrian anthropomorphic tree depicts a ruler of Uruk as an embodiment of the tree;38 early dynastic Sumerian kings bore names identifying them as trees;39 Šulgi and other kings of the Ur III dynasty were referred to as “trees planted at abundant waters.”40 In the Neo-Assyrian empire the association of the king with the sacred tree is implicit in the sculptures of the palace of Ashurnasirpal II, where the king occasionally takes the place of the tree between the winged “genies” in the so-called “fertilization” scene; in the famous throneroom relief, the king seated on the throne in front of the relief actually physically merges with the tree.41 Equation with the tree was a sign of perfection: Gilgamesh, the “perfect king,” was a man who – according to the Assyrian spelling of his name – “equalled the tree of balance.”42

The King as a Tree

The equation of the king with the tree had important doctrinal consequences. In the first place, it identified him with the “cosmic man” and thus implied that he was the human incarnation of the almighty God, Aššur. As a personification of the tree he was, like Paul’s Christ, “the image of the invisible God ... The whole universe has been created for him and through him. And he exists before everything, and all things are held together in him” (Col. 1:15-17). As I will argue below, the similarity between the Assyrian ideal king and Paul’s Christ is not fortuitous, since there is a strong likelihood that early Christian thought was influenced at many points by Assyrian theological conceptions long familiar in what later became centers of Christian worship in Syria and Palestine, areas that had been part of the Assyrian empire and its successors for centuries. The cosmic dimension of the king is reflected in his ceremonial dress studded all over with golden stars and embroidered with representations of the sacred tree.43

Secondly, the structure of the tree turned the entire royal council, including the king himself, into a corporate body of the metaphysical “perfect king.” Just as the individual “great gods” were limbs and parts of the manifest body of God (the “cosmic man”), so the individual ministers, as images of the “great gods,” became limbs and organs of the king, who united all the divine powers in his metaphysical structure. Thus, from the ideological point of view, the actions of the individual ministers became indistinguishable from those of the king: everything they did as “limbs” and “powers” of the king was in the last analysis done by the king.44 The king himself participated in the council as its “head.” It is important to keep in mind, however, that like Anu (the king of gods and the head of the divine council), he also included the entire council within himself. He thus was, like God, at the same time both one and many.

Thirdly, and most importantly, by virtue of his metaphysical constitution, the identities of all the “great gods” converged in the person of the king. He was all of them in one person, acting, as it were, the role of any of them whenever appropriate. Viewed from this perspective, the individual “great gods” cease to exist as independent divine entities and emerge as mere aspects of the king in his role as the “perfect man.”45
The king’s “consubstantiality” with God, implicit in his identification with the tree, constituted an article of faith of central importance to Assyrian religion and imperial ideology. As a “perfect man,” the king was not only God in human form,46 whose government represented the “kingdom of heaven” upon earth;47 he was the very cornerstone of man’s salvation. As we shall see, he was presented in Assyrian ideology as a child of God – in this case represented by the goddess Ištar, the mother aspect of Aššur, rather than Aššur himself – and his appointed role was that of the “good shepherd” leading humans to the right path as servants of God. This role of the king, which bears a striking resemblance to the Christian conception of Christ as Son of God sent for the redemption of mankind, was elaborated in a system of interlocking myths, visual symbols and mental images, and propagated throughout the empire by all possible means. The relevant imagery and the underlying complex doctrinal system, which involved a sophisticated theory of the soul, are fundamental to the understanding of Assyrian religion and must therefore be considered here in detail.



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