#ancient sumer

[apollo-32]

What do you take me for, that you treat somebody like me with such contempt?

[facts-i-just-made-up]

The Curiously Familiar Looking Etchings of King Ibbi-Suen's Shaman

Ibbi-Suen, King of Sumer and Akkad of the Third Ur Dynasty, died around 2000 B.C.E. bringing one of the world's earliest royal eras to an end. His exact manner of death is not recorded, but several clay tablet notes by his shaman Cho-Nisalk were preserved, including this strange etching on a shard of sandstone, pictured here on the left:

The shaman's annotations seem to theorize that the king was dying from an infestation of tiny spider-like creatures called "Faij" which were filled with tinier spiral-shaped things, referred to in cuneiform as "Two Twisting Serpents Of Names," or in short-form Akkadian, "Deyeneh."

These tiny Faijes would place their Deyeneh in the king's body, and the serpents would breed and make more spiders, which spread to more of his body.

Thankfully, we now understand how silly these ancient religious beliefs were and that such mystic beings do not exist. There seems to have been a similar backlash in the king's own time, where his advisor Arefkei II warned him against the shaman's advice to have dead serpents placed into his body in rituals each year so that it could better fight the mythic Faij. What horrors might've happened had he done so remain unknown, but gladly the king and his empire fell quietly into oblivion instead.

[rynquestionmark]

Giving Sacrifice to Nanna-Suen

Born to the High Priest and Priestess to Inanna of his city, Suen was brought into quite a comfortable life. He was born albino, however, and so he was named after the moon God, and largely avoided daytime activities due to light sensitivity. As an adult he took up the religious role of tending to Nanna’s worship, offering nighttime rites and rituals, and slathering his eyes in heavy protective kohl when he had to be out in the daytime. Slightly offputting and not very social, Suen remains a mystery to much of the city’s inhabitants.

—

Not quite sure what to tag as he is the son of a vtm character, Sumur (who also features heavily on this account). Suen in canon died hours after his birth due to the actions of a vampire who was torturing his father, however for my mental health I like playing with the idea of Sumur and his kids surviving LOL, so hence the adult Suen. I’ll probably put a singular vtm tag, for fun! And for if you read this far.

[bronzeageecho]

vase shard with ibex | c. 3900 - 3500 BCE | found in Ĝirsu (modern-day iraq)

in the louvre collection

[pietruszko]

Ubaid lizard-people :v

More art inspired by stuff I'm fascinated with ajshdhd I've always been so intrigued in the symbol of the snake and reptiles through so many different civilizations and how also they were given human qualities^^ the power of symbols remaining in our subconscious as time keeps ticking asjdndi fascinating shdndj

Based on the Ubaid lizard people figurines, from Pre-Sumeria (Ubaid Period, c. 5500-4000 BC) of course I've taken many liberties in my illustration, it's been a very fun design challenge too D

[12thhouserevelations]

"Going to the garden" was a ubiquitous sexual metaphor across the ancient Near East, and "gardener" was a name for a lover. It was no mistake that Mary Magdalene called the glowing, radiant, resurrected Jesus the "gardener." Jesus was her gardener. And in the Song of Songs we read:

"May my beloved come into his garden

And eat its choice fruits!"

[badhamburg]

This epic poem has been sponsored by the tourism board of Great Uruk.

Gilgamesh, trans. Stephen Mitchell (New York: Atria Paperback, 2014), 198–199.

[diiscountghost]

I just started listening to Girly Drinks, which is a history of women and alcohol. And she's talking about how priestesses in Ancient Sumer were brewers, and how an ancient Sumerian queen was buried with a 6 liter jar of beer, golden straws, and like 50 unfortunate attendants who would go on to serve her beer in the afterlife

and because hot boy summer is one of my favorite campaigns, it reminded me of Mac - actual beer clerics! - and then I though how cool would it be to play a beer cleric revenant - the beer brewing servant of a queen who was killed in order to serve her in the afterlife.