תמוז
Amongst the early gods of Yeru-Shala'im was Tammuz the harvest-god, for whom first-fruits were brought from Beit Lechem (Bethlehem, "the house of bread" in its simplest translation, but the full name was Beit Lechem Ephratah, "the house [temple] of the corn god of the Euphrates", which is to say Tammuz).
Jerome says he had a sacred grove at Beit Lechem; probably this was the threshing-floor that came to be known as "the manger" in the Christian Nativity story.
The Temple was built on the threshing floor of Arnan or Araunah or Arvanah or Ornah, all of which sound remarkably similar to the Celtic Arawn, all of which are probably connected to the Azaz-El, the scapegoat who was driven over the hill at Yeru-Shala'im to carry away the sins of the people on his back - Oren is the Yehudit name for the wild goat, though strangely it is also the Yehudit word for the pine tree, the most popular of all the trees for carving wooden images. One of the seven villages from which Yeru-Shala'im was conurbated was named Yevus, which is usually rendered as Jebus in English; it too means "a threshing-floor".
The earliest known manifestation of the eternally dying eternally reborn fertility god, who would later be anointed king as David, and then resurrected a second time as Jesus, was the Sumerian Damu-zid, who evolved in later Sumerian into Dumu-zid, or Dumuzi, and then became Tammuzi in Akkadian, Tammuz in Babylonian, whence it entered Yehudit, though it had already migrated into other Phoenician languages as Shemesh ("the sun" in Yehudit), whence it became Shimshon (שִׁמְשׁוֹן - Samson) in the legends of the Pelishtim (Philistines) and the tribe of Dan. Damu-Zid probably meant "The Flawless Young". In the Chaldean myths he is also known as Utu, or Utu-Dumuzi, his name thus again connected to the sun.
Astrology divided the week between the sun, the moon and the five planets; the Sabians of Harran (whence Av-Raham), who were of Aegean origin, put the week under seven deities: Sun, Moon, Nergal (Mars), Nabu (Mercury), Bel (Jupiter), Beltis (Venus), Cronos (Saturn)... for a fuller explanation of this aspect of Tammuz, see my notes to Time and Calendar.
In some versions of his story, like Dionysus, Dumuzi was a mortal shepherd - or fisherman - who was anointed king, and later became a god. As noted above, in the Bible he is Tammuz, and in the Phoenician myths Shimshon/Samson (שמשון), but his reincarnation as Jesus in Christian mythology reflects several other of the regional variations of the same archetype: Adonis and Elisha in the Galilean tales, Attis in the Nazarene, Ba'al at Bethany (Beit Anatot), Osher in the events leading up to his birth as well as his childhood in Egypt, king David in Beit-Lechem at the start and in Yeru-Shala'im at the end of his life.
Tales virtually identical to those of Tammuz and Shimshon are told in every culture of the Middle East, and beyond, especially amongst the Egyptians (Osher - Osiris), the western Greeks (Hera-Kles), the Ionian Greeks (Attis), the Assyrians (Adonis), the Romans (Hercules), et cetera; most of these can also be found in the Biblical tales of David and Jesus, and resurface in other cultures, such as King Arthur (before he was reduced to history by the mediaevals) or the Irish Cúchullain. To give just one example, while Adonis was out hunting wild boar, he was gored in the loin and rendered impotent; he descended in death to the lower world and was resurrected when the goddess Ishtar (Greek Aphrodite, Egyptian Eshet/Isis et cetera) descended to release him. The goring in the loin is echoed in Ya'akov's wrestling-match at Penu-El (Genesis 32:26); the descent in the Underworld is echoed in the pursuit of David by the Underworld God Sha'ul (1 Samuel 23 ff) and the end of the Jesus story.
SHAMASH: Amongst the precursors of Tammuz were Utu, Dumuzi, Babbar and Shamash, the latter sometimes rendered as Šamaš, and epitheted, like YHVH later on, as "the all-seeing". The Sumerian god of the sun and of justice, as well as divination and the netherworld, he was one of the oldest deities in the Mesopotamian Pantheon, known through archaeology from at least 3500 BCE. Essentially he was the god of the sun - essentially, because he was not the sun itself, but the power that emanated from the sun, bringing life and light which enabled plants and crops to grow, emerging at dawn from his underground sleeping chamber and taking a daily path across the skies, overseeing everything that occurred during the daytime. He thus became the god of truth, judgements and justice, played a role in treaties, oaths and business transactions - he was famed for his ability to see through deceit and duplicity - and, being a defender of justice, also had a warrior aspect.
In some versions of his story, like Dionysus, Dumuzi was a mortal shepherd - or fisherman - who was anointed king, and later became a god. As noted above, in the Bible he is Tammuz, and in the Phoenician myths Shimshon/Samson (שמשון), but his reincarnation as Jesus in Christian mythology reflects several other of the regional variations of the same archetype: Adonis and Elisha in the Galilean tales, Attis in the Nazarene, Ba'al at Bethany (Beit Anatot), Osher in the events leading up to his birth as well as his childhood in Egypt, king David in Beit-Lechem at the start and in Yeru-Shala'im at the end of his life.
A virtually identical story is told of Osher (Osiris) in Egypt, and of Attis in Ionia, and both have their roots in the Babylonian myth of Utu, another variant form of the same Dumuzi who later became Tammuz. Yet another variation is told by the Greeks in the legend of Persephone, on that occasion, obviously, feminised. Another appears in the canonical Gospels, with the goring in the loin replaced by a spear plunged into Jesus' side. All these tales reflect the cult of the Risen Lord.
Ezekiel 8:14 has women at the north gate of the Temple weeping for Tammuz: the north gate was on the precise place where the threshing-floor of Ornah had previously stood, but the significance of the north is also reflected in its being the Netherworld, the one quarter of the sky in which the sun never appears and has no dominion, the moon-goddess' realm, Delilah versus Shimshon, Sha'ul, the king of She'ol, the Underworld.
Tammuz is also the mid-summer month, and most likely, at some point in the history of the Beney Yisra-El, the word Shemesh (שמש) and the word Tammuz interchanged - we have witnessed the Tav-Sheen variation between Yehudit and Aramaic repeatedly.
Tammuz is also the mid-summer month, and most likely, at some point in the history of the Beney Yisra-El, the word Shemesh (שמש) and the word Tammuz interchanged - we have witnessed the Tav-Sheen variation between Yehudit and Aramaic repeatedly.
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SHAMASH: Amongst the precursors of Tammuz were Utu, Dumuzi, Babbar and Shamash, the latter sometimes rendered as Šamaš, and epitheted, like YHVH later on, as "the all-seeing". The Sumerian god of the sun and of justice, as well as divination and the netherworld, he was one of the oldest deities in the Mesopotamian Pantheon, known through archaeology from at least 3500 BCE. Essentially he was the god of the sun - essentially, because he was not the sun itself, but the power that emanated from the sun, bringing life and light which enabled plants and crops to grow, emerging at dawn from his underground sleeping chamber and taking a daily path across the skies, overseeing everything that occurred during the daytime. He thus became the god of truth, judgements and justice, played a role in treaties, oaths and business transactions - he was famed for his ability to see through deceit and duplicity - and, being a defender of justice, also had a warrior aspect.
The sacred art of extispicy - reduced in our age to the silliness of newspaper horoscopes and Tarot card readings - belonged to Šamaš, and was undertaken by means of sacrificial divination (about 350 surviving queries and reports give details of the questions posed to Šamaš by the kings Esarhaddon and Ashurbanipal, including worries about rebellions, illnesses and the loyalty of subordinates; about the same number from president Reagan's tenure in the White House). Unlike the con-tricks of psychic analysis and the fakery of palm-reading, the king's diviners (bārû) would ask the gods to inscribe the answer to an important matter of state in the liver of a sheep, which was then ritually sacrificed, and the "oracle" read by examining the liver, counting up its blemishes, taking note of any other "ominous" features.
Probably because of this magical power, his assistance was sought against evil, curses and especially sickness; though his gifts in this regard must have been limited, because he is also the god most associated with the dead: the spirits of the dead were thought to enter the netherworld via a passage on the horizon in the extreme western part of the world, though whether they went there by Greyhound bus, as in Dante, or by boat, as in the Am-Tuat, is not certain. In some traditions, this passage was the same entrance that led to Šamaš's underground dwelling, to which he returned at sunset each evening. However, Tablet XI of "The Epic of Gilgamesh" describes Šamaš' road underneath the earth as a separate path from that to the netherworld. The same Epic of Gilgamesh finds him helping the hero defeat the monstrous Humbaba, the guardian of the Cedar Forest. Other literary texts describe his protection of the heroic kings of the city of Uruk, and name him as a protector of travellers and merchants.
Šamaš's cult centres were the cities of Sippar and Larsa, both of which had a temple to the sun god called E-babbar ("The White House"). The earliest known literary text in the Akkadian language is a hymn to Šamaš that was found at Tell Abu Salabikh (ca. 2600 BCE). Although poorly understood, it seems to contain narrative passages as well as a hymnic introduction and end.
Šamaš's symbol from the Akkadian period to the Neo-Babylonian was the solar disc. It usually took the form of a four-pointed star, with curved lines emerging between each point. On Neo-Assyrian stelae and kudurrus, Šamaš was represented by a winged solar disc. Depictions of Šamaš himself survive on cylinder seals, where he is sometimes shown seated and surrounded by worshippers, with his sunrays emanating from his shoulders. He is also portrayed on the famous stele of King Hammurabi from 1760 BCE, which is inscribed with over 282 "laws" for the unified territories of Babylonia. In that image Šamaš, as god of justice, presents Hammurabi with tools for ruling justly: he passes the king a measuring rod and rope. Justice in early Mesopotamian was closely allied with the idea that fairness could be achieved through literacy, numeracy and accurate measurement. The measuring instruments are a symbol of powerful kingship, representing the ability to rule justly and fairly (cf Mosheh's "just weights and balances" in Deuteronomy 25:13-15). Very similar imagery of the sun god also appears on a first-millennium tablet commemorating the revival of the Ebabbar cult by king Nabu-apla-iddina (887-855 BCE).
The name Shamash is a variant form of the Akkadian word for sun, šamšu (compare Arabic shams, Hebrew shemesh) and clearly links him with Shimshon of the Pelishtim.
Šamaš had a minister named Bunene who drove his fiery chariot and was regarded as Šamaš' son in some traditions. Bunene was worshipped in his own right in Sippar and Uruk during the Old Babylonian period.
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UTU: In Sumerian tradition, Utu was the son of the moon god Nanna-Suen, and the twin brother of Inanna. Akkadian tradition sometimes made Šamaš the son of Anu or En-Lil. The sun god's wife was Aya, goddess of the dawn - compare the relationship of Shimshon and Delilah in the Book of Judges (chapter 16 especialy).
The second-millennium Sumerian "Hymn to Utu" describes the sun god's shining appearance and powers of judgment by saying that his "radiance spreads out like a net over the world". A Sumerian literary letter-prayer from king Sîn-iddinam of Larsa addresses Utu as the patron deity of the city of Larsa and prays for redemption of the city and its king. Another hymn to Šamaš praises the sun god's all-seeing nature as "illuminator of all", which allows him to see the truth in trials and verdicts. First-millennium copies of this hymn also survive, indicating that it was studied by successive generations of scholars. A second-millennium prayer to be recited at sunset gives a homely description of Utu returning to his dwelling at the end of the day. Firstly, the sun god is saluted by his gatekeeper, who opens the door to his chambers, then he settles down to dinner cooked by his wife Aya.
Utu's name is spelled dutu in Sumerian, but with the same silent "d" that we have witnessed countless times.
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