Introductions [Sticky]

[wsk]

Hello,

I joined this forum because someone recommended it to me in a chat of the infamous program soulseek
I am interested into Mesopotamian religions already for some time now, and I started to study South West Asian Archaeology, combined with Prehistoric Archaeology, this October.
My focus is on archaeology, but I will also learn at least Akkadian, and maybe voluntary Sumerian later.

I am German too, and I study at the university of Frankfurt.
Hope to learn more about religion, rituals and magic of Mesopotamia here.

Greetings

J.

[us4-he2-gal2]

Ah! Very interesting ;] Welcome wsk - I think we can definitely meet you on these topics here. (I'm trying to think who I know that chats on soulseek..hmm) Well. I would love to hear more about Frankfurt and studies in Frankfurt and certainly contact for orientation or requests etc.

Thanks for signing the intro thread, that's always a good sign!

[vai]

Hi everyone,

I was referred to this board by a good friend of mine that knows I'm into sumerian mesopotamian magic.
I practice magic with daemons and deities, and I've been studying egyptian magic a little bit lately and like Athena I work with deities that go back to mesopotamia so I decided to look into all this further.
Originally I found out about all this when I read the Necronomicon, but since that book did not really resonate with me, but the deities themselves did, I left the book behind and I'm more interested now in finding better ways to work with Istar and Enki specifically, and eventually move on to getting to know the other deities.

Great board, everything I've read so far is really fascinating and of course confusing, LOL. So I'll be posting a little bit asking about this and that eventually.

Glad to be here,
Steve

[ummia-inim-gina]

Welcome to the board

[xuchilpaba]

Hi Steve. We're pretty friendly folks around here! =^_^=

[adante]

hello,

I'm Adante, also known as Michelle I became interested in Sumeria a long time ago. Only recently have I started to explore what the culture and religion was like, with an eye to incorporate many of their practices into my own. I'm trying to find a blend of Sumerian and Australian lore that is essential and core for me (yep, I live down under).

I think there is something of Sumeria in my blood line. I have Jewish ancestors and a love for desert places I can't explain. The spirits of the Australian desert (Central Australia) called to me many years ago and I've since found it resonates with me on many levels. I do believe in dna memory and cultural inheritance.

I am not academic in the least. I don't know who all the great thinkers are on this topic (I have heard the name Kramer via ebay though), I don't understand the language, only vaguely get cuneiform and have no idea what E2-KAR-E4 or whatever is all about. It all looks like some kind of weird computer programming to me! So basically, you aren't going to get too much out of me I'm afraid. My reason for being here is purely spiritual/religious and not academic.

So that basically is me and my whyfore.

[matthewk]

Hello to all. I've run into many of you on other boards, and it may have by who told me about the boards to begin with Just wanted to post my intro and let everyone know a bit about me. I got pulled into this whole thing through a series of events that would read like a really bad pulp horror story, which is pretty much what my life has turned into in the last 2 years Anyway, glad to be onboard. My interest in the board's focus is wholly personal and introspective, as I have no scholarly training, but I'm very much interested in the religious and magick rites of Mesopotamia.

[us4-he2-gal2]

Welcome:


Adente - Kramer is certainly a wonderful scholar and where I usuallly suggest people start. If you are looking to supplement your personal beliefs with what academia can say about the Sumerians, I'm sure you will encounter some unexpected information which hopefully will be enjoyable in any case.

Here is our Introductory Matierals thread.

Matthewk: Welcome to the boards. If you have strong personnal interest that is great, and don't let training seem like a decisive fact to you. I've found the most productive members and those who contribute the most, are those who chose to do so despite whatever challenge that represents. Anyone can push themselves irregardless of training hm.

[ummia-inim-gina]

Welcome Adente&Matthewk, I think you will both find the board to be an excellent place to learn about Ancient Near East studies and a great place to meet interesting people

[adante]

Hey guys,

thanks for the welcome. Am off to check out that link, us4-he2-gal2.

Adante.

[moksha]

Hi all,

Just joined. I have very little knowledge of Ancient Sumer but need some info on some things relating to Sumeria. I live in London so should count myself lucky that we have some Sumerian artifacts and carvings in the museums around here.

Can anyone tell me what the word Eneuru actually means?

[sheshki]

hi,

welcome on board.
well, enenuru means incantation.

"En2-e2-nu-ru is a standard incantation rubric made up of the elements EN2.E2
(known as LAK358) and two phonetic indicators (nu, ru) and is read "incantation.""

[moksha]

Thanks, that sorts that one out. I take it that the LAK358 terminology was devised by Wilfred Lambert?

[us4-he2-gal2]

Moksha:


Welcome to the board, it's very good to see such a person. Well, you may take up the term "Sumer" over "Sumeria" this is important. England and London, such a wonderful place to be hm... Perhaps if you are somewhat near the British Museum, you could count yourself very lucky! I have noticed your questions and the sources you refer to (ETCSL).. I think the willingness to ask intelligent questions (however early), and to reference solid resources, combined with the drive to keep pressing on, is all one needs to master anything in this world.

Good answer Sheshki. Also LAK358 refers to the pairing of two particular cuneiform signs, probably a term orginating with the publishing of one or another sign list. For more on the name enenuru click here

[madness]

> I take it that the LAK358 terminology was devised by Wilfred Lambert? <


No. LAK is an abbreviation for

A. Deimel, Liste der archaischen Keilschriftzeichen (WVDOG 40; Berlin 1922)


Download the whole sign list here (large file, cuts out the first few sections of the article): cdli.ucla.edu/wiki/doku.php/early_dynastic_iiia_fara_period
Or here (smaller file but includes whole article): www.etana.org/abzu/coretext.pl?RC=14880


Sign lists from other periods: cdli.ucla.edu/wiki/doku.php/sign_lists

[moksha]

Jan 9, 2009 19:00:23 GMT -5 us4-he2-gal2 said:

Moksha:


Welcome to the board, it's very good to see such a person. Well, you may take up the term "Sumer" over "Sumeria" this is important. England and London, such a wonderful place to be hm... Perhaps if you are somewhat near the British Museum, you could count yourself very lucky! I have noticed your questions and the sources you refer to (ETCSL).. I think the willingness to ask intelligent questions (however early), and to reference solid resources, combined with the drive to keep pressing on, is all one needs to master anything in this world.

Thanks - the British museum is very accessible to me. It's only about a hour's travel into Central London from where I am. It's a great place [our national trophy cabinet] and I'll be back soon to check out their Babylon exhibition which runs until March. I can pick up souvenirs, information or anything for people who ask.

Jan 9, 2009 19:57:57 GMT -5 madness said:

> I take it that the LAK358 terminology was devised by Wilfred Lambert? <

Download the whole sign list here (large file, cuts out the first few sections of the article): cdli.ucla.edu/wiki/doku.php/early_dynastic_iiia_fara_period
Or here (smaller file but includes whole article): www.etana.org/abzu/coretext.pl?RC=14880


Sign lists from other periods: cdli.ucla.edu/wiki/doku.php/sign_lists

Wow, amazing what you can find. I should learn not to think I've seen everything. I'll look into those, Cuneiform fascinates me.

[adante]

Madness,

thanks so much for those links. Its all seriously new to me.

[moksha]

I don't know where else to write this so I'll put it in this thread. The reason I registered on this board in the first place was to do some research on the inspiration behind Herbst9's latest album, since I write reviews for a webzine called Heathen Harvest. This seemed like the perfect place to come to learn. I expected to only stay here fleetingly, however, I didn't expect to find such an educated and welcoming community, so I hope to stick around and learn more about the subject. I also noticed that Sheshki is a member of the band, something which I didn't know at all when I registered here.

Anyway, here is the review - I hope it makes sense and is relevant. Congratulations Sheshki on an excellent piece of work!

www.heathenharvest.com/article.php?story=20090112041203382

[sheshki]

Uh, someone chased me down...i thought im in stealth mode here...

Hey moksha,

thanks for the very nice review. Btw, i know another writer of heathen harvest. Its leech. Hes a good friend.

Hey, if your interested in cuneiform learnig id recommend to check cuneiform diary thread. Learning cuneiform is easyer then it looks.

Also worth a look is the sexiest cuneiform list on earth ( go to www.enenuru.net -->> signlist , i hope ur not on dial up )

[Meslamtaea]

Hey Folks!

My name's Drew. I'm an undergraduate at an American state university majoring in Archaeology, but I'm hoping to find myself somewhere with an Assyriology department at some point in the near future.

My interest in Assyriology was really sparked when I read Gilgamesh as a freshman in highschool. I was just fascinated by the culture and philosophy which produced the work, and was desperate to learn more about it.

Currently I'm on a personal research odyssey surrounding the Erra epos, and I'm very interested in many of the aspects of the poem. Primarily the figures of Erra and Nergal but also things as broad as the historical context in which it was written.

-Drew

[amarsin]

Welcome Rookilius--

If you want help/suggestions as you move forward in your education, let us know. You're in Boston, so you already know about the options there-- and maybe you're hoping to stay at one of the graduate programs available. Either way, if you want tips, we can offer some advice....

[adante]

Hi Drew,

welcome. I'd love to go back to uni and do assyriology, but from my investigations, it seems like you can't major in it anywhere in Australia *sigh*

[Meslamtaea]

Yeah, I actually don't live in Boston. I live in rural Mass, a good 60 miles atleast from Boston, so the Harvard libraries aren't openly accessible to me. More to the point, I'm considering going overseas for my education given that none of the American universities which offer an education in Ancient Near Eastern studies are particularly financially accessible to me.

[darya]

Bonjour, I am Darya.
I live in Paris, France (so my english in not always quite as accurate as I would like it to be). I study at the Ecole pratique des hautes études as well as the ANE language section of the Catholic Institute.
I am interested in many things, but mostly literacy, scribes, transmission of knowledge through time and space and bilinguism.
The only reason that made me study ANE is curiosity and an excellent teacher (Brigitte Lion, she works on the middle babylonian period and has written about women in the ANE). But of course, now that I am surrounded with excellent teachers and fellow students, every day gives me a new reason to go on.

[adante]

Bonjour Darya,

welcome. Your english is excellent and certainly much better than my french!!

[mgw]

Greetings to All, and to our Host.

Thank you for this resource. I went right to magic & medicine & found that juniper has been long revered as a divine mediator. Good. I've got a lot growing in my area. I will not be posting much, but will race through with gratitude when time permits. My academic years went on forever; I was born into such captivity. While I appreciate the foundation, my current interests are focused on what works. I spend my online time mostly on self-help medicine (for individuals & environment). I admit to a few years spent on poetry & incantation as well.

Thank you again.
mgw

[us4-he2-gal2]

Darya:

Welcome to the board, you`re very luck to have very solid interests and excellent learning oppurtunities. I hope you`ll share something of studies in France and I`m committed to finding you some useful notes, even if it takes me a long time..


MGW:

Welcome , that is a lovely intro. I will certainly be glad to assist directly should you ask sometime - as for remedies and medicine, we have taken tentative stabs here at enenuru at perusing Assyriological sources in that way. I think scholarship is never more successful than when it enables one to hold history in the hands. I will try and get you the scientific name of the juniper the Mesopotamians used, for now, the struggle for botanical correctness is in it`s early stages at this thread:

enenuru.proboards52.com/index.cgi?board=research&action=display&thread=210

[enderdog]

Hello,

I'm Thomas. While I wouldn't describe myself as "confused" as to why I'm here, I would say that I'm not sure yet. Over twenty-some years of pursuing my unfolding/enlightenment/whatever, I've found the most success in simply exploring whatever the Universe/God/Whatever puts in my path. This seems to be next.

I come from a western science way of thinking....which kind of amuses me, since the empirical evidence has pretty much led me to mysticisms of one sort or another. At any rate, I tend to interpret (since I can only read translations) most ancient texts...biblical and pre-biblical....as literal descriptions by the writers, given that either they, or me, or both, probably don't have all the information possible. I assume that ancient peoples had their own political intrigues, and foibles and the like...but, that for the most part, they were describing things as best they could.

Language itself, is an extreme limiting factor. Without the context of the person or persons actually doing the writing, it can be difficult to figure out what was intended in any communication, let alone those that are purposefully vague, or even somewhat occulted, purposely. I'm sure that a student of the far future might wonder what my intent was, if I wrote that a friend of mine had "kicked the bucket"...even if he or she were reading me in my own language. So, I do my best not to read anything in.

Anyway....I'm happy to be a part of these discussions. Hopefully, I will be able to engender a few thoughts in folks. and I'm certain that my own thoughts will be appreciably stimulated by participating. Thanks for having me here!

Thomas

[sheshki]

A warm welcome to all the new members.

[us4-he2-gal2]

Hello Thomas,


Welcome to the board. I think some of the concerns you mention and uncertainties regarding the subject matter, the way a text was meant in ancient times and how it should be interpretated and understood in modern times, etc., are issues we're all somewhat submerged in. I think the main way to reduce the confusion (even to a point where confusion is minimal) is to engage the field as directly as possible and read as much as you can - its always quite confusing otherwise I think.