influence of near east on greek myth hye-yoon hwang cls 215 08/16/05 -oral presentation-
TRANSCRIPT
Influence of Near East on Greek MythInfluence of Near East on Greek Myth
Hye-Yoon Hwang CLS 215
08/16/05
-Oral Presentation-
MESOPOTAMIA
Geography
It was located between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.
These rivers flow into the Persian Gulf.
The word Mesopotamia means "The land between the rivers".
RELIGION
In Mesopotamia, each town and city was believed to be protected by its own, unique deity or god. The temple, as the center of worship, was also the center of every city.
Around the year 2000 B.C., temple towers began to be built to link heaven and earth.
The towers, called ziggurats, were very large, pyramid-shaped structures on top of which the temple was built. The ziggurats were built of mud bricks with 3 to 7 terraced levels.
GODS AND GODDESSES
The people of Mesopotamia had very many gods, called dingir in Sumerian.
Their gods and goddesses looked and acted just like people. They had feasts, marriages, children, and wars. They could be jealous, angry, joyful, or kind. The gods and goddesses had supernatural powers.
FOUR-FACED GOD AND GODDESS
Iraq Old Babylonian
Period, 18th-17th century B.C.
Bronze 17.3 cm H Purchased in
Baghdad,1930
ACHIEVEMENTS
Cuneiform The Beginnings of Writing
Tokens Clay tokens came in different
shapes and sizes. These represented different objects.
SUMERIAN MYTH
Sumerian lived close to the Persian Gulf near the estuary of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers ; irrigation agriculture greatly increased the food supply, but demand social cooperation
The ruling elite’s most powerful tool was cuneiform writing (c.3400 B.C.)
CONTRIBUTION
The earliest myths on earth are recorded in cuneiform writing
We can find similar characters between Sumerian myth and Greek myth Sumerian myths are divine myth, stories of
the doing of superhuman beings
Themes range from the creation of the universe and underworld to the creation of mankind These story patterns influenced to Greek
myth
AKKADIANS / BABYLONIANS MYTH
Semites,(2000 B.C.) seminomadic peoples who in habited the steppe at the fringe of the Arabian desert
Akkadian,(c.2340 B.C) Semitic, named after their capital , Akkad, took over the southern Sumerian cities and adopted Sumerian culture
Semitic Babylonian (1750 B.C) under their leader Hammurabi.
From babylon comes one of our most important pre-Greek myths,the epic poem of creation The poem recounts a divine myth, the making of
the world and its present arrangement
NEAR EASTERN GOD AND GODDESS
COMPARED TO GREEKSumerian
namesAkkadian/Babylonian
names
Greek names Concerns
An Anu Uranus Sky god
Inanna ishtar Aprodite Goddes of sexual love,
war
Enlil Ellil,Marduk Zeus Storm god
Enki Ea Hermes God ,wisdom,magic
Ninhursan,ki __ Demeter Goddess of earth
Ereshkigal __ persephone Goddes of death
Utu shamash Apollo Sun god
HEBREWS
Best known of Semitic peoples, traced their ancestry back to Abraham
Moses monotheistic vision prevailed but many stories the Hebrew told about ancestors were adapted from Mesopotamian myth
The writing system used by the Hebrews is called the Phoenician Alphabet
The Phoenician system of syllabic writing was of great importance in the history of writing Greek invented alphabet on the basis of the
earlier Phoenician writing Modern Arabic script is slightly modified form of
it