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Post by madness on Dec 20, 2008 3:29:29 GMT -5
The Cult Object and the Personal God
Rewrite
Tzvi Abusch [ "Ghost and God," in Self, Soul and Body in Religious Experience, pp. 381-382 ] defines the personal god as an aspect of the individual and group ego and superego.
The personal god is something like an externalized ego, if by ego we understand that which "brings into being the conscious sense of self. The ego engages in secondary process thinking, or the remembering, planning, and weighing of circumstances that permit us to mediate between the fantasies of the id and the realities of the outer world." For it is through the sense of identification with the personal god that man acquires a sense of self as an intelligent and effective being.
Appearing on many Neo-Assyrian cylinder seals are the fish and rhomb symbols. Ursula Seidl [ "The Rôles Played by Fish on Neo-Assyrian Cylinder Seals," in The Iconography of Cylinder Seals ] concludes that the fish and rhomb are used as a reference to the personal god (I won't go into the reasons for this here, I'll save that for another thread). There is also the possibility that the cross and rhomb, which appear on Kassite seals, have the same meaning.
What I would like to focus on, in this thread, are scenes in which the fish/cross and rhomb appear together with cult objects, especially sacred trees.
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Post by madness on Dec 20, 2008 3:35:55 GMT -5
A few of the Neo-Assyrian seals that Seidl provides as examples: img291.imageshack.us/my.php?image=36if4.jpgA goddess is framed by a fish to the left and a rhomb to the right. A winged genie points his cone towards her. Between the fish and rhomb is a sacred tree with winged disk above. img262.imageshack.us/my.php?image=77uv2.jpgHere the central deity is framed by a fish and rhomb, and also by winged genies pointing their cones towards him. Above him is the winged disk with streams coming down which he holds on to. img262.imageshack.us/my.php?image=avss4.jpgSeidl uses this seal as an example that a symbol, instead of an anthropomorphic figure, can represent the personal god. A worshipper stands before a moon standard; the object itself is framed by a fish and rhomb. This scene leads me to the question: if one kind of cult object can be designated as a personal god, then logically so can other kinds, such as the sacred tree. |
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Post by madness on Dec 20, 2008 3:47:59 GMT -5
img265.imageshack.us/my.php?image=26or1.jpgA Neo-Assyrian cylinder seal showing the fish and rhomb in the midst of cult objects including a sacred tree, with worshipper and winged female figure. Fish and/or rhomb cannot always be attributed so decidedly to a distinct deity, especially when several symbols or anthropomorphic gods are represented on one seal.Seidl's remark should be kept in mind when looking at the above seal. The fish and rhomb could be directly associated with the object topped with nine dots, but the obvious solution may not be the correct one. The worshipper himself is positioned closest to, and is gesturing towards, the sacred tree.
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Post by madness on Dec 20, 2008 4:12:26 GMT -5
Before looking at some Kassite seals in which the cross and rhomb appear, Seidl directs the reader to a Neo-Assyrian seal which may help to show that the cross+rhomb has the same function as the fish+rhomb. img267.imageshack.us/my.php?image=56tl0.jpgHere the goddess is framed by a rhomb and what appears to be two halves of a cross. Before her stands the sacred tree. The inscription reads: (Seal) of Minu-epush-ana-ili, officer in charge of the harbour customs station.
A few Kassite seals demonstrating the cross and rhomb, the first two from D. Collon's First Impressions: img242.imageshack.us/my.php?image=jhoq5.jpgA worshipper and his dog standing before the cross and rhomb, conspicuously placed above a tree. Inscription reads: Oh Tashmetum, goddess of agreement, you who grant favour, before Nabium, who loves you, intercede for your servant who reveres you.img261.imageshack.us/my.php?image=35do6.jpgA post-Kassite seal depicting a sacred tree flanked by animals; to the top left is a rhomb and to the top right is a cross. Unfortunately Collon does not attempt a translation, leaving the inscription as: DINGIR . . . MESH . . . TUG. In my opinion, these are the only three cuneiform signs to appear on the seal. The seal is slightly broken near the signs, but there does not appear to be any room for where other signs might have once been. Certainly not below the MEŠ sign, as an animal takes up this space, and not between the DIĜIR and MEŠ signs, as the hind legs of the upstanding animal prevent any sign appearing there. The inscription may well be read: diĝir-meš tuku "to aquire gods." This is exactly a saying that points to the personal god, referring to its luck aspect. img367.imageshack.us/my.php?image=8oqs8.jpgIn this Kassite seal supplied by E. Porada in AfO 28 the Anzu bird (as the source of rivers) hovers above a (mountain?) deity flanked by two kulullu and framed by a cross and three rhombi. The lower half of the deity appears to be sprouting rosettes. The scene is framed by the sacred tree. |
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Post by madness on Dec 20, 2008 6:57:02 GMT -5
And this thread would not be complete without mentioning Gudea's famous vase, img357.imageshack.us/my.php?image=48zj9.jpgdedicated to his personal god Ninĝišzida. The scene depicts two entwined bašmu-snakes ascending a tree, flanked by mušhuššu-dragons. Since the mušhuššu are holding ringpoles, the cult object itself is situated through a gate and in a cella, as described by T. Jacobsen. [ "Ningišzida's Boat-Ride to Hades," in Wisdom, Gods and Literature ] Furthermore, he tells us that Ninĝišzida himself is a humanised version of the cult object, img355.imageshack.us/my.php?image=22aj2.jpgwhere the snakes and the tree trunk transform into the deity's body, only the heads of the snakes appearing over his shoulders remain as a trace of the previous image. This demonstrates how cult object and anthropomorphic deity are simply two different forms of the same numen. |
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Post by us4-he2-gal2 on Dec 21, 2008 11:59:21 GMT -5
Madness: Nice work man  This whole thread is interesting, a visual survey of the form in which personal god is marked on Mesopotamia - something that really does escape the attention of most observers (even well read ones!). In regards the post directly above, this is fascination: Ningishizida as personification of his cult symbol. While I have read of Jacobsen's statements regarding the early change of deities from non-anthropomorhic form the anthropomorphic form, and the look at Standards and Emblems is starting to demonstrate that the pre-anthropomorphic form of a god remained symbolic (i.e the Anzu, or The Bisen head for UTU, etc.) this description of Ningishzida is fresh - I have never thought of the symbol as bašmu-snakes ascending a tree, though it brings to mind Jacobsen's brief suggestion the association of a fertility god with snakes - that they resemble in Mesopotamian imagination to winding roots of a tree in the ground. As we have previously observed Green's suggestoin that the bašmu is possibly Cerastes cerastes, I wonder if there are any correalations in the real word of such a snake climbing a tree hm. Come to think of it I guess alot of snake can climb trees 0_0 |
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Post by enkur on Mar 19, 2011 11:16:40 GMT -5
us4-he2-gal2, Though it would better pertain to Ningishzidda' s thread, I would like to add an interesting note to your last post here: Though the horned viper suits very well Ningishzidda's symbolism, neither Cerastes cerastes in particular, nor the vipers in general are tree-climbers. It's Elaphe longissima, or the Aesculapian snake which both winds around trees and possesses a mythic fame. It's found both in Europe and in the Near East. It reaches 180 cm in lenght. Though not poisonous, in fact it has become the symbol of medicine, being the sacred snake of god Aesclepius entwined around his rod. I know by some oral tradition (unfortunately I can't quote my source in a scholar way) that it gave up its poison to the god for his medicines, so whoever kill it is doomed to illness and disease. During the Roman empire it was believed that if a house is dwelt by this snake no illness would enter it. That's logical even from a common point of view since the the Aesculapian snake, unlike the other snakes, does not avoid the human nearness, and often settles near the houses because of the rodents there. Most of the people, however, kill it on each occasion. Unfortunately now it's facing extinction. I can say from my own experience that this snake is the easiest to tame. I used to know one which even jumped up to take the mouse from my hand. upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/Zamenis_longissimus_tree.jpg www.hlasek.com/foto/elaphe_longissima_4195.jpgupload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3d/Rod_of_asclepius.png |
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Post by lilitudemon on Mar 7, 2015 2:21:16 GMT -5
I wish I had been more forth wright writing that article about personal gods to mention cult objects.
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This whole thread is interesting, a visual survey of the form in which personal god is marked on Mesopotamia - something that really does escape the attention of most observers (even well read ones!).
