Midterm Flashcards
The Metaphysical Function
Awakening a sense of Awe before the mystery begin
Trying to make people think what it means to be human
Cosmological
Explaining why the universe is the way it is
sociological Function
Validate and support the existing social order
Class distinction, a way to control the social order
Pedagogical Function
Teach people about common life skills
Guide the individual through the stages of life
Taught people how to be good leaders etc.
Otto Rank
- Child of Distinguished of parents
- Father is a king
- Difficulty in conception
- Prophecy warning against birth
- Hero surrendered to the water in a box
- saved by animals or lowly people
- Suckled by female animal or humble women
- Hero grows up
- Hero finds distinguished parents
- Hero takes revenge on father
- Acknowledged by people
- Achieves rank and honours
Raglan
- Mother is a royal virgin
- Father is a king
- Father often a near relative
- unusal conception
- Hero reputed to be so of a god
- Attempted to kill hero as an infant, usually by father or maternal grandfather
- Hero is spirited away as a child
- Reared by Foster Parents in a far country
- No details of childhood
- Returns or goes to future kingdom
- Is victor over king, giant, dragon or wild beast
- Marries princess (often daughter of predecessor)
- Becomes King
- For time he reigns uneventfully
- He prescribes laws
- Later loses favour with gods or his subjects
- Drive from throne and city
- Meets with Mysterious death
- Often at the top of a hill
- His children, if any do not succeed him
- His body is not buried
- Has one or more sepulchres or tombs
The Epic of Gilgamesh
Gilgamesh reigns as a tyrant over his people in the city of Uruk
Failing to sympathize with their plight, his people complain the gods that he is too harsh and the gods decide to educate Gilgamesh. Ninhursag creates Enkidu as a worthy rival
Enkidu escapes a trapper, so Gilamesh sends Shamhat, a temple-prostitute to ensnare the wild man. She seduces Enkidu into a week long sex marathon. As a result of this encounter the animals now fear him and flee his presence.
Bereft, Enkidu seeks solace from Shamhat who offers to bring him back with her to civilization. Enkidu longs to challenge Gilgamesh. Upon learning that Gilgamesh intends to sleep with a man’s bride before their wedding, he blocks Gilgamesh’s way to the bridal chamber. After a titanic battle that Gilgamesh wins, Gilgamesh and Enkidu become the closest friends
Enkidu is a wild man, Gilgamesh gets to have sex with a bride before the groom.
Gilgamesh proposes an adventure to the Cedar Forest, where they must kill Humbaba. Enkidu knowing that Enlil himself has assigned Humbaba to this post, protests; but he ultimately agrees out of love for his new friend. They gain the blessing of Gilgamesh’s mother Ninsun, as well as the support of Shamash/Utu
Gilgamesh has a series of disturbing prophetic dreams, which Enkidu naively and inaccurately interprets as good omens
Entering the forest Gilgamesh and Enkidu are no match for Humabab but they are aided by Shamash who sends eight powerful winds against the forest guardian. Now at Gilgamesh’s mercy, humbaba pleads for his life promising to give the king all the lumber he desires. Enkidu however advises Gilgamesh to show no mercy. THe two brutally slay HUmbaba disembloweling him. They then cut down the mighty cedar trees that he protected and raft back down the Euphrates to civilization
Back in Uruk, the goddess Ishtar proposes marriage to Gilgamesh. Knowing the unfortunate fate of her previous lovers, he rejects her amorous advances. The spurned Ishtar demands that her father, And, send the “Bull of Heaven: to kill Gilgamesh for his impudence. Enkidu hunts down the bull and grasps it by the tail, whole Gilgamesh, matador-like, delivers a killing thrust.
Anu, Enlil and Shamash gather in council to determine the punishment for kill the Bull of Heaven and Humbaba. After debating the issue they decide to spare Gilgamesh but condemn Enkidu. The loyal Enkidu become deathly ill and curses Shamat fro bringing him out of his wild state.
Seeking to avoid Enkidus fate, Gilgamesh undertakes the perilous journey to visit the legendary Utnapishtim and his wife, the only humans to have survived the Great Flood and Mashu where he encounters the fearsome Scorpion-Beings that guard the gate blcoking the final leg of his journey. He prusades them of the absoluteness of his purpose and they allow him to enter. He travels onward ona seemingly endless path through bitter cold and darkness
At a far distant seashore, Gilgamesh encounters the female tavern-keeper Siduri, who attempts to dissuade him from his quest. He, however, is too deeply saddened by the loss of Enkidu — and too filled with anxiety over his own eventual death — to be deterred.
gilgamesh then cross the Waters of Death with the ferryman Urshanabi, completing the journey and finally meeting with immortal Utnapishtim. Utnapishtim tells Gilgamesh in detail about the great flood and reluctantly gives him chance for immortality. He informs Gilgamesh that if he can stay awake for seven nights, he will become immortal. Attempting the task, Gilgamesh inevitably falls asleep. Utnapishtim informs him of a special plant that grows only at the bottom of the sea. While not exactly conferring immortality it will make you young again. Tying stone to his feet to reach the deep, Gilgamesh retrieves the plant and hopes to bring it back to Uruk. He places the plant on the shore of the lake while he bathes and it is stolen by a serpent. Gilgamesh returns to Uruk in despair but the sight of its massive walls move him to praise
About the importance of friendship
Atrahasis
The Atrahasis begins after the creation of the world but before the appearance of human beings. The elder gods made the younger gods do all the work on earth and after diffing the bed for Tigris and Euphrates rivers the young gods finally rebel
Enki the god of wisdom suggests the immortals create human beings who will do the work instead of the gods. One of the gods, Geshtu/Geshtu-e known as “a god who has sense” offers himself as a sacrifice to this endeavour and is killed. The goddess nintu (the mother goddess, also known as Ninhursag) adds his flesh blood and intelligence to clay and creates seven male and seven femae human beings
At first the gods enjoy the leisure the human workers afford them but, in time, the people become too loud and disturb the gods’ rest. Enlil, the king of the gods, is especially annoyed by the constant disturbance from below and so decides to lessen the population by sending first a drought, then pestilence and then famine down upon the earth.
After each of these plagues, the humans appeal to the god who first conceived of them, Enki, and he tells them what to do to end their suffering and return the earth to a natural, productive state. Enlil, finally, can stand no more and persuades the other gods to join him in sending a devastating flood to earth which will completely wipe out the human beings.
Enki takes pity on his servant, the kind and wise Atrahasis, and warns him of the coming flood, telling him to build an ark and to seal two of every kind of animal within.
After the waters subside Enlil and the other gods realize their mistake and regret what they have done; yet feel there is no way they can undo it. At this point Atrahasis comes out of his ark and makes a sacrifice to the gods.
Enlil, though only just before wishing he had not destroyed humanity, is now furious at Enki for allowing any one to escape alive. Enki explains himself to the assembly, the gods descend to eat of Atrahasis’ sacrifice, and - Enki then proposes a new solution to the problem of human overpopulation: create new creatures who will not be as fertile as the last.
From now on, it is declared, there will be women whocannot bear children, demons who will snatch infants away and cause miscarriages, and women consecrated to the gods who will have to remain virgins. Atrahasis himself is carried away to paradise to live apart from these new human beings whom Nintu then creates.
Women are barren or have miscarriages to limit the population
The Enuma Elish
Babylonian version of the flood
In the beginning there was only undifferentiated water swirling in chaos. Out of this swirl, the waters divided into sweet, fresh water, known as the god Apsu, and salty bitter water, the goddess Tiamat. Once differentiated, the union of these two entities gave birth to the younger gods.
These young gods, however, were extremely loud, troubling the sleep of Apsu at night and distracting him from his work by day. Upon the advice of his Vizier, Mummu, Apsu decides to kill the younger gods. Tiamat, hearing of their plan, warns her eldest son, Enki (sometimes Ea) and he puts Apsu to sleep and kills him. From Apsu’s remains, Enki creates his home.
Tiamat, once the supporter of the younger gods, now is enraged that they have killed her mate. She consults with the god, Kingu, who advises her to make war on the younger gods. Tiamat rewards Kingu with the Tablets of Destiny, which legitimize the rule of a god and control the fates, and he wears them proudly as a breastplate.With Kingu as her champion, Tiamat summons the forces of chaos and creates eleven horrible monsters to destroy her children.
Ea, Enki, and the younger gods fight against Tiamat futilely until, from among them, emerges the champion Marduk who swears he will defeat Tiamat. Marduk defeats Kingu and kills Tiamat by shooting her with an arrow which splits her in two; from her eyes flow the waters of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Out of Tiamat’s corpse, Marduk creates the heavens and the earth, he appoints gods to various duties and binds Tiamat’s eleven creatures to his feet as trophies (to much adulation from the other gods) before setting their images in his new home. He also takes the Tablets of Destiny from Kingu, thus legitimizing his reign.
After the gods have finished praising him for his great victory and the art of his creation, Marduk consults with the god Ea and decides to create human beings from the remains of whichever of the gods instigated Tiamat to war. Kingu is charged as guilty and killed and, from his blood, Ea creates Lullu, the first man, to be a helper to the gods in their eternal task of maintaining order and keeping chaos at bay. Following this, Marduk “arranged the organization of the netherworld” and distributed the gods to their appointed stations.
The poem ends in Tablet VII with long praise of Marduk for his accomplishments.
Lugalbanda
Enmerkar wants to conquer the land of Aratta. Rounding up his army, he marches toward Aratta, a city on the eastern highlands. Amongst the soldiers is Lugalbanda, who falls seriously ill and is left in a cave along with some provisions. Lugalbanda lies ill for two days; he prays to the gods Shamash, Inanna, and Nanna to be healed of his sickness and is eventually healed by them. A few days later he captures a wild bull and two wild goats before lying down to dream. He is sent a dream instructing him to sacrifice the animals he has captured and he proceeds to do so. The end of the text is very fragmented, but sheds light on the gods who, although they hold great power, exhibit a dark side.
Lugalbanda is alone in the highlands of Lullubi. He finds the chick of the giant Anzu bird, and decides to feed the chick. When the Anzu bird returns, it is first startled by the chick not responding to its call, but once it finds out what happened, it is very pleased with Lugalbanda and in appreciation grants him the ability to travel at super speeds. With his new power Lugalbanda catches up with his comrades who are laying siege to Aratta. But Enmerkar is facing problems with the siege and after a year without success, decides to seek the advice of the goddess Inana, pleading for her to assist him once more, as she had assisted in building a wall against the encroaching Martu. Finally Lugalbanda volunteers for the trip. Lugalbanda is able to travel the incredible distance within a day’s time. Inanna responds with a parable instructing Enmerkar how to wrest control of Aratta and its resources.
Inanna is one of the first women gods (?)
Inanna and Dumuzi
Inanna desiring to control the Underworld uses the excuse of her brother-in-law’s wake to visit the Underworld where she is taken captive. The help sent by Enki is unable to revive her and she is told that someone must take her place there.
She refuses to condemn her sons there and instead sells out her husband Dumuzi. The demons catch torture Dumuzi. He prays to Utu for help. Utu magically changes Dumuzi so that he can flee across the varying terrain to his sister Geshtin-anna. While at his sister’s, Dumuzi has a prophetic dream of his capture and death which she interprets. He flees her home and begs Utu for help.
The demons go searching for Dumuzi and go directly to his sister figuring that she is the only one who will help him. The demons torture Geshtin-anna while Dumuzi flees to the home of an old woman named Belili and is captured and killed there by demons who haul him to the Underworld.
Ishtar/Inanna then descends into the Underworld to bring back Dumuzi/Tammuz where she is assailed by messengers of her sister who strip her of her clothing, imprison her, and inflict diseases upon her before she is saved through the intervention of Ea who sends Asushunamir, a eunuch, to save her.
Inanna arranges for Dumuzi to spend 6-months a year there in lieu of herself while his sister Geshtin-anna spends the other six months a year there in his stead. Inanna avenges Dumuzi by killing Belili and her sons and builds him a tomb.
The Victory of Ramses II over the Hittites
Hittites are the super power in Turkey
There were a lot of proxy wars of this time
Ramses II has a big ego, He really likes himself, thinks he’s a god
Ramses II is in battle and he has to decide how to send his troops sent majority to the East and then a little bit to west, he found himself in hand in hand combat almost died
Right before they were bout to be defeated the group that Ramses II sent around the west come from behind and attack there unready/unarmed/unprepared and their supplies
The decisive war between the Egyptians and the Hittites for the control over Syria took place in the spring of the fifth year of the reign of Ramses II. The battle of Kadesh resulted from the defection of Amurru to Egypt. While the Hittites wanted to bring Amurru back into their fold, the Egyptians tried to protect their new vassal.
Using Karkemish as a base for their operations, the Hittites decided Kadesh offered the best opportunities for the coming battle.
The Hittite army of 37,000 foot soldiers and 3,500 chariots was hiding behind the tell of Kadesh, but Ramses believed false rumors that his enemy was still near Haleb.
After beating what he thought was the truth out of two captured Hittites, he held a council of war and the vizier in a chariot and a rider on horseback were dispatched south to hasten the progress of the Ptah division.
While the Amun division was setting up camp, 2,500 Hittite chariots attacked the marching Re division in two waves. The other two Egyptian divisions were still on the far side of the river Orontes near the town of Sabtuna.
The Hittites dispersed the Amen division and began pillaging the Egyptian camp. The Pharaoh, fighting among his body guard with his back to the river, looked lost.
Then, a force of squires arrived, surprising the pilfering Hittites, and drove them out of the camp.
Muwatalli sent an additional 1,000 chariots led by the kings of Aleppo and Karkhemish, two of his own brothers and many allied princes, but kept most of his infantry to himself on the far side of the river. Ramses reorganized his forces and the Hittites escaped being surrounded by the Egyptians by retreating towards Kadesh.
After receiving a message from Muwatalli, Ramses decided to retreat
The Contending’s of Horus and Seth
Osiris Isis Seth and Nep are all related to Ra
Osiris marries Isis but also has a thing with Nep who is married to Seth
Osiris and Isis have a child through some TMI stuff (blows life into him so they can have a baby) this baby is Horus
Seth and Horus are arch enemies
1) Horus comes to claim the throne of his murdered father Osiris
2) The Ennead (the nine main gods of Heliopolis) support him (esp. Shu and Thoth); Neith as arbiter rules for Horus
3) Re opposes…calls for trial
4) Horus claims the kingdom as heir, Seth claims it as the stronger.
5) Isis demands a decision by Atum (in council w/ Ennead in seclusion), Seth bars Isis.
6) Isis sneaks in, seduces Seth, tricks him into acknowledging the son’s right to father’s estate.
7) Atum decides for Horus, Seth objects; crown in the water, Seth and Horus compete as hippos (Isis harpoons each)
8) Horus outraged at Isis, goes off to sulk; Seth steals his eyes; Hathor restores them with gazelle’s milk
9) The Ennead order reconciliation; Seth invites Horus to ‘holiday’.
10) Seth assaults Horus ‘between his thighs’, Horus catches the semen, Isis cuts off his hand.
11) Isis takes semen of Horus and impregnates the lettuce that Seth loves to eat.
12) Seth eats the lettuce; in magic ordeal, each to summon his semen. Thoth calls, “Come out, you semen of Horus.” Horus’ sun-disk emerges above Seth’s head.
13) They race in stone ships (Horus cheats with plastered pine) and nearly harpoons hippo Seth
14) After 80 years at trial, they invoke Osiris himself and he decides for Horus: “Why should my son Horus be cheated when it was I that made you mighty and it was I (alone) who could create barley and emmer in order to sustain the gods as well as the cattle…
Thus Horus becomes king of Egypt and Seth is honoured as a companion of Re (in charge of keeping the Apep serpent away from the solar barque of Re.
The book of the victory over Seth
Repeats much of the myth of Horus and Seth as seen in the contending
After his defeat and Horus’ enthronement, Seth invades Egypt, stirring up rebellion against Horus an committing atrocities throughout Egypt.
Isis complains to the Ennead.
Re banishes Seth from Egypt and curses him.
The Legend Horus of Behdet and the Winged Disk
The Ptolemaic myth of Horus of Behdet (edfu) descrines the victory of Horus (in the form of Horus Behdety — a deity especially protective of the king who acted as the moral substitute for the divine ruler of Egypt, Horus — over Seth when Re sojourned in the 19th Upper Egyptian nome
Horus slaughtered Seth’s followers consisting of crocodiles and hippopotami after prior defeats at Edfu where Horus first took on the shape of the winged sun disk
When the evil ones transformed themselves into crocodiles and hippopotami and attacked Re’s solar barque Horus killed them with a harpoon
The Sethain escape north and Horus attacked them in Delta in the shape of a lion, whereupon they fled south towards Nubia, where their revolt had begun. There Horus, again in the shape of the winged sun disc destroyed them utterly and returned to Edfu.
