***Need ASAP***The Four Functions and Creation Stories***Need ASAP***
Once you have view the Joseph Campbell video and Course Video #1, you will need to read the three stories that have been provided for you: the Enuma Elish (Mesopotamian Creation Story); Odin and Ymir (Norse Creation Story); The Origin of Japan and Her People (Japanese Creation Story); and The Buffalo Wife (Blackfoot Myth). After you have read and analyzed each story, write a 2.5-3 page paper in which you thoroughly explain how the four functions of mythology are illustrated in three of the stories – you MUST use The Buffalo Wife and the Enuma Elish, but you can choose between the other two. After yo explain how EACH function operates in EACH story, describe the impact you believe each story had on the culture and the people who produced it, and explain which of the three stories you enjoyed the most. Remember to follow the CWI structure in your writing.
See attached the CWI structure and all other items needed for the assignment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgOUxICCHoA link to James Campbell video
THE FOUR FUNCTIONS OF MYTH
Mythologist Joseph Campbell, a professor of comparative religions and mythology until his death in 1987, set forth the basic concepts allowing us to interpret mythologies beyond their apparent surface story line.There are, he said, four basic functions which all mythological structures serve in any community, in any place, in any time.These are: mystical, which relates to ones sense of wonder about the world, cosmological, by which a culture gives physical shape to its mystical ideas in the form of stories and rituals, sociologicalwhich uses the mythology as a basis for social order and morality, and psychological through which the individual reaches an understanding of his relationship with his community and the world.Mystical FunctionThis function is about experiencing the awe of the universe. Scientist Albert Einstein observed that the greatest encounter one can experience is with that of the mysterious.That is the concern of the mystical function.It is the awe factor which contains and awakens within us a sense of wonder about the world around us and our connection with the indescribable higher order of the cosmos which we may call God or the gods that which is unexplainable.It points to what is beyond our physical world.Cosmological FunctionThis function is about formulating and rendering an image of the universe. From this mystical function springs a cosmological function of myth that embodies basic ideas and truths about the nature of the
universe.Some of these ideas, such as the reason for the seasons, are common to all civilizations, even thought each has given its own particular variation that reflects the cultures surroundings.An attempt, for instance, to answer a question regarding the capricious nature of the weather might receive one interpretation from the peoples of the desert region of Egypt, where crocodiles are a common sight, and an entirely different explanation fro the native peoples of the lush, buffalo-filled North American plains.The same holds true for the mysterious changes of seasons.The Pueblo Indians of the Southwestern mesas believed that winter was caused by the trickster figure called Coyote, whose curiosity about the contents of the Eagles box which contained the sun and themoon allowed these bodies to escape far away into the sky.Inancient Greece, winter was caused by a fertility goddess, Demeter, despondent over the abduction of and search for her daughter, Persephone.Demeter caused the earths fertility to wane; thingsbegan to die and the earth turned cold.When Hades returned her daughter to the surface for six months, Demeter permitted fertility to resume and Spring came.In the scientific world view, winter is caused by an incline of the earths axis as it revolves around the sun.In each of these examples, the mysterious and awesome event of the seasons has been explained in a manner accepted by each culture as true even though none of the three can be readily proved by firsthand experience.Essentially, the cosmological function explains to us why things are the way they are in the universe (generally before the enlightenment idea of scientific fact although thats completely besides the point here).
Rituals reflecting each story may also be created.The celebrations which revolve around the observance of equinoxes an solstices which mark the change of seasons may be found in nearly every culture, in spite of their divergent explanations for why the seasons change.The cosmological function of myth, then, is thesource of the stories and rituals created toe express the cultures truths and understanding about the nature of the universe.The Sociological FunctionThis function is about supporting and validating a certain social order. Thisthird function of mythology, which occurs after the first two have been established, is the sociological function.The first two functions concern themselves more specifically with the place of humans within the web of life.On the sociological level, myths do more than just explain things.They begin to give clear structure to the community by reinforcing moral order and validating the communitys standards as true and correct. Essentially they help bind people to certain social order/group and moral code. Such rules may be viewed as having been ordained by God or the gods.For instance, the Ten Commandmentsrevered by Judaism and Christianityare considered to have been given by God, who created the world, to Moses, who was the leader of the chosen people (the Hebrews)during a meeting between them on Mount Sinai.The Commandments are basic rules for living with others, rules such as honoring the elders, refraining from injury to neighbors, living in accordance with Gods will, and honoring this one God above all others.Through this sociological function of myth, a community structure and its hierarchy have been clearly outlined.In the sociological function, stories are formed apart from the purely religious aspect of the cosmological function.These tales have their basisin the moral codes and stories of the culture.Arthurian legends, suchas the search for the Holy Grail, for example, taught Christian ideas of humility, purity, and faith.Even a persons place within society is addressed in sociological myths. Take for instance the stories of Pandora (Ancient Greek) and Eve (Judeo-Christian). Each of these stories tells of the folly of woman: Pandora opens the box to all of the worlds evil and Eve is the first to eat the apple from the tree of knowledge. Both stories are incredibly similar in nature, and both place women at the forefront of the problems that exist for human-kind, leaving men in charge of fixing it. Of course, both also come from incredibly patriarchal culturesand the stories reflect that. The Psychological (or Pedagogical) FunctionThe last of the four functions of myth, called the psychologicalor pedagogicalfunction, is the most personal of the four.This may best be described as the a-ha factor, for it is here that the individual synthesizes and understands the preceding three function of myth and is then able to apply them to his or her own life.This realization clearly establishes a personal relationship between the human being, the collective community, the world,and the universe.These are the myths that teach shape, teach, and guide us through the course of human life. They are stories of others who have gone through similar challenges and have learned from them. These myths are viewed no longer as simply stories that explain a variety of phenomena, but instead are recognized as having a deeper meaning regarding the very nature of universe and the mystery of life.Often this understanding cannot be totally explained, for it is beyond words.It is rather a flash of insight an epiphany for the individual who grasps it.At the end of the day, the most powerful function of myth is the self-created kind. This story is from the Kojiki, the Japanese “Record of Ancient Things”. The Kojiki was compiled in the 500s to 700s A.D., at the direction of various emperors intent on standardizing and preserving Japan’s mythic history. The Kojiki does not tell the story of the origin of the world and its peoples per se, but it is the story of the origin of Japan and of Japan’s aristocratic families.
The Origin of Japan and her People
When heaven and earth began, three deities came into being, The Spirit Master of the Center of Heaven, The August Wondrously Producing Spirit, and the Divine Wondrously Producing Ancestor. These three were invisible. The earth was young then, and land floated like oil, and from it reed shoots sprouted. From these reeds came two more deities. After them, five or six pairs of deities came into being, and the last of these were Izanagi and Izanami, whose names mean “The Male Who Invites” and “The Female who Invites”.
The first five deities commanded Izanagi and Izanami to make and solidify the land of Japan, and they gave the young pair a jeweled spear. Standing on the Floating Bridge of Heaven, they dipped it in the ocean brine and stirred. They pulled out the spear, and the brine that dripped of it formed an island to which they descended. On this island they built a palace for their wedding and a great column to the heavens.
Izanami examined her body and found that one place had not grown, and she told this to Izanagi, who replied that his body was well-formed but that one place had grown to excess. He proposed that he place his excess in her place that was not complete and that in doing so they would make new land. They agreed to walk around the pillar and meet behind it to do this. When they arrive behind the pillar, she greeted him by saying “What a fine young man”, and he responded by greeting her with “What a fine young woman”. They procreated and gave birth to a leech-child, which they put in a basket and let float away. Then they gave birth to a floating island, which likewise they did not recognize as one of their children.
Disappointed by their failures in procreation, they returned to Heaven and consulted the deities there. The deities explained that the cause of their difficulties was that the female had spoken first when they met to procreate. Izanagi and Izanami returned to their island and again met behind the heavenly pillar. When they met, he said, “What a fine young woman,” and she said “What a fine young man”. They mated and gave birth to the eight main islands of Japan and six minor islands. Then they gave birth to a variety of deities to inhabit those islands, including the sea deity, the deity of the sea-straits, and the deities of the rivers, winds, trees, and mountains. Last, Izanami gave birth to the fire deity, and her genitals were so burned that she died.
Izanagi grieved over Izanami, and a deity was born from his tears. Distraught after burying Izanami, he used his long sword to behead his son, the deity of fire, whose birth had killed Izanami. From the blood on the sword came three deities of rocks, two deities of fire, and one of water, all of which are needed to make a sword. Eight more deities arose from the body of Izanagi and Izanami’s slain son.
Izanagi still longed for Izanami, and he went to the underworld in search of her. Finding her in the darkness, he called to her and asked her to come back to the land of the living with him. She promised him that she would go ask the gods of the underworld, but she begged him to not look at her as she did so. She was gone long, however, and eventually he broke off the end of a comb in his hair and set it afire for a light. He found her body with maggots consuming it, and these maggots were the eight deities of thunder. Ashamed to be seen in this condition, Izanami chased Izanagi out of the underworld. First she sent the thunder deities after him, and then she herself pursued him. At last he grasped a huge rock and used it to close the passage to the underworld. Enraged, she shouted to him that she would each day strangle one thousand people of Japan. He responded that if she did so, he would each day cause fifteen hundred Japanese people to be born. This is why fifteen hundred children are born each day and one thousand people die each day.
Izanagi returned to his home and bathed to purify himself after this terrible experience. As he disrobed, new deities arose from his clothing, and more arose from the water as he bathed. Three of these were ancestors of Japanese families. The last of the deities was a son, Susa-n-wo, who became the deity of the sea. He was eventually exiled to earth for his behavior in the heavens, but he and his sister, the Goddess of the Sun, parented eight deities. Among these was the ancestor of Yamato family that ruled Japan, and two others were ancestors of nineteen of its highest families.
When the deities had pacified the land, the Goddess of the Sun dispatched Japan’s first ruler from the heavens to the earth. Descending from the Floating Bridge of Heaven to the mountain tops, he built his palace. Eventually he met a beautiful young woman, Princess Brilliant Blossoms, and asked her to marry him. She deferred to her father’s judgment, and her father gave him both Princess Brilliant Blossoms and her older sister, Princess Long as the Rocks. The new emperor refused the older sister, however, because of her ugliness. When the father heard this, he explained that he had offered Princess Long as the Rocks because her children would have lived eternally. Instead, the children of Princess Brilliant Blossoms were mortal, which is why the emperors have never had long lives.
Princess Brilliant Blossoms was soon with child, so soon that the emperor could hardly believe that she bore his children. To prove herself, she built a palace and shut herself in it and set fire to it, knowing as he did that the children of anyone but the emperor could not survive the flames. Amidst the flames she gave birth to three deities, and ultimately their descendants were the imperial family of Japan.
Donald L. Philippi, trans., 1969, Kojiki: Princeton, Princeton University Press, 655 p., and Joseph M. Campbell, 1962, The Masks of God: Oriental Mythology: New York, Viking Press, 561 p. The Enuma Elish
1
The Enuma Elish (which are the first two words of the epic
and mean simply When on high) is the creation myth of
ancient Mesopotamia. This is the Babylonian version of a
much older Sumerian myth and originally the chief figure
of the myth was Enlil, the Sumerian storm god. When
Babylon conquered the rest of Mesopotamia and
established the Old Babylonian Empire around 1800 BCE,
it became necessary to explain how the local god of
Babylon, Marduk, had now become supreme among the
gods. Therefore, the older Sumerian myth of creation was
retold and Marduk was substituted for Enlil.
________________________
When on high the heaven had not been named,
1
Firm ground below had not been called by name,
Naught but primordial Apsu, their begetter,
(And) Mummu
2
Tiamat, she who bore them all,
Their waters commingling as a single body,
3
No reed but had been matted, no marsh land had appeared,
The Enuma Elish
2
When no gods whatever had been brought into being,
Un-named, their destinies yet undermined
Then it was that the gods were emerged from within them.
Lahmu and Lahamu were came forth, were called by name,
Before they had grown in age and statue.
Anshar and Kishar were shaped, more mighty than the
others.
They extended the days, added on the years.
Anu was their heir, rival of his father;
Verily, Anu, Anshars first-born, was his equal.
Anu sired his image Nudimmud.
4
This Nudimmud was the master of his father,
5
Of broad wisdom, understanding, mighty in strength,
Mightier by far than his grandfather, Anshar.
He had no rival among the gods, his brothers.
The divine brothers
6
banded together,
They disturbed Tiamat as they rushed here and there,
Indeed, they distraught and tormented Tiamat
By their boisterous mirth in the dwelling of Heaven.
Apsu could not diminish their clamor
And Tiamat was dumbfounded at their ways.
Their doings were loathsome to him.
Offensive and overbearing were their ways.
Then Apsu, the begetter of great gods,
Cried out, addressing Mummu, his vizier:
0 Mummu, my vizier, who rejoices my spirit,
Come hither and let us go to Tiamat!
They went and sat down before Tiamat,
Exchanging counsel about the gods, their offspring.
Apsu, opening his mouth,
Said unto radiant Tiamat:
Their ways are truly abominable unto me.
By day I find no relief, nor repose by night.
I will destroy, I will wreck their ways,
That quite may be restored. Let us have rest!
As soon as Tiamat heard this,
She was troubled and called out to her husband.
She cried out, as she raged all alone,
Injecting woe into her mood:
What? Should we destroy that which we have produced?
The Enuma Elish
3
Their ways indeed are most troublesome, but let us practice
kindness!
Then answered Mummu, giving counsel to Apsu;
Rude and ungracious was Mummus advice
Destroy, my father, their rebellious ways.
Then shall you have relief by day and rest by night!
When Apsu heard this, his face grew luminous
Because of the evil he planned against his godly sons.
He embraced Mummu by the neck
As he sat down on his knees to kiss him.
Now whatever they had plotted between them,
Was repeated unto the gods, their first-born.
When the gods heard this, they were astonished,
Then lapsed into silence and remained speechless.
Superior in wisdom, accomplished and resourceful,
Ea, the all-wise, saw through their design.
Made artful his spell against it, surpassing and holy.
He recited it and made it subsist in the deep,
As he poured sleep upon him. Sound asleep he lay.
When he had made Apsu lie prone, deep in sleep,
Mummu, the advisor, was powerless to stir.
He
7
loosened Apsus band, tore off his tiara,
Removed his halo and put it on himself.
Having constrained Apsu, he slew him.
Mummu he bound and locked.
Having thus upon Apsu established his ascendance,
He laid hold of Mummu, holding him by the nose-rope.
After Ea had vanquished and tramped down his foes,
Had assured his triumph over his enemies,
In profound peace he rested in his sacred chamber,
He named it Apsu, for shrines he assigned it.
He founded his cult in that same place.
Ea and Damkina, his wife, dwelled there in splendor.
In the chamber of fates, the house of destinies,
A god was engendered, most able and wisest of gods.
In the heart of holy Apsu was Marduk created.
He who begot him was Ea, his father.
The Enuma Elish
4
________________________
Now Tiamat renewed the conflict and created an army
ofmonsters. This time even the great Ea could not withstand
the attack and the gods decided to ask the young Marduk to
defend them against Tiamat.
________________________
Lord Anshar, father of the gods, rose up in grandeur,
And having pondered in his heart, he said to the Anunnaki:
8
He whose strength is potent shall be our avenger,
He who is sharp in battle, Marduk, the hero!
Ea called Marduk into his secluded presence.
Giving counsel, he told him what was in his heart.
________________________
Marduk came forth, the wisest of the gods, your son,
His heart prompted him to face Tiamat.
He opened his mouth, saying to me
If indeed as your avenger,
I am to vanquish Tiamat and save your lives,
Convene the assembly and proclaim supreme my destiny!
When jointly in Ubshukinna
9
you sat down rejoicing,
Let my word, instead of yours, determine the fates.
What I may bring into being shall be unchangeable;
Neither dismissed nor replaced shall be the command of
my lips!
Now hasten hither and promptly fix for him your decrees,
That he may go forth to face your mighty foe!
________________________
They erected for him a ample throne.
Facing his fathers, he sat down, presiding.
You are the most honored of the great gods,
Your decree is unrivaled, your command is Anu
10
You, Marduk are the most honored of the great gods,
Your decree is unrivaled, your word is Anu.
From this day unchangeable shall be your pronouncement.
To raise or bring lowthese shall be in your hand.
Your utterance shall be true, your command shall be
unimpeachable.
No one among the gods shall transgress your bounds!
The Enuma Elish
5
Adornment being wanted for the seats of the gods,
Let the place of their shrines ever be in your place.
O Marduk, you are indeed our avenger.
We have granted you kingship over the entire universe.
Your word shall be supreme when you sit in assembly.
Your weapons shall not fail; they shall smash your foes!
O lord, spare the life of him who trusts you,
But pour out the life
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of the god who seized evil.
Having placed in their midst a piece of cloth,
They addressed themselves to Marduk, their first-born
Lord, truly your decree is first among gods.
Say but to wreck or create; it shall be.
Open your mouth; the cloth will vanish!
Speak again, and the cloth shall be whole!
At the word emerged from his mouth the cloth vanished.
He spoke again, his fathers, saw the outcome of his word,
When the gods, his fathers, saw the outcome of his word,
Joyfully they paid homage: Marduk is king!
They conferred on him scepter, throne, and vestment;
They gave him unequaled weapons that ward off the foes:
Go and terminate the life of Tiamat.
May the winds bear her blood to places undisclosed.
Marduks destiny thus fixed, the gods, his fathers,
Caused him to go the way of success and achievement.
He constructed a bow, marked it as his weapon,
Attached thereto the arrow, grasped it in his right hand;
He raised the mace, grasped it in his right hand;
He hung bow and quiver at his side.
In front of him he sat the lightening,
He filled his body with blazing flame.
He then made a net to enfold Tiamat,
He stationed the four winds that nothing of her might
escape,
The South Wind, the North Wind, the East Wind, the West
Wind.
Close to his side he held the net, the gift of his father, Anu.
He brought forth Imhullu the Evil Wind, the Whirlwind,
the Hurricane,
The Fourfold Wind, the Sevenfold Wind, the Cyclone, the
Matchless Wind;
Then he sent forth the seven winds he had brought forth.
The Enuma Elish
6
To sir up the inside of Tiamat they rose up behind him.
Then the lord raised up the flood-storm, his mighty
weapon.
He mounted the storm-chariot irresistible and terrifying.
He harnessed and yoked to it a team-of-four,
The Killer, the Relentless, the Trampler, the Swift.
Sharp were their poison bearing teeth.
They were versed in ravage, skilled in destruction.
On his right he posted the Smiter, fearsome in battle,
On the left the Combat, which repels all the zealous.
His cloak was an armor of terror,
His head was turbaned with his fearsome halo.
The lord went forth and followed his course,
He set his face Towards the raging Tiamat.
He held a spell between his lips;
A plant to put out poison was grasped in his hand.
Then they milled about him, the gods milled about him,
The gods, his fathers, milled about him, the gods milled
about him.
The lord approached to scan the inside of Tiamat,
(And) of Kingu, her consort, the scheme to perceive.
As Marduk looks on, Kingus course becomes upset,
His will is distracted and his maneuvers are confused.
And when the gods, his helpers, who marched at his side,
Saw the valiant hero, blurred became their vision.
Without turning her neck, Tiamat emitted a cry,
Molding savage defiance in her lips:
Too important are you for the lord of the gods to rise up
against you!
Is it in their place that they have gathered, or in your
place?
Thereupon the lord raised his mighty weapon, the flood
storm,
And to enraged Tiamat he spoke the following words:
Why have you risen, why have you arrogantly exalted?
You have charged your own heart to stir up conflict,
[. . .]
12
sons reject their own fathers,
While you, who have born them, has foresworn love!
You have appointed Kingu as your consort,
Conferring upon him the rank of Anu, not rightfully his,
Against Anshar, king of the gods, you seek evil;
The Enuma Elish
7
Against the gods, my fathers, you have confirmed your
wickedness.
Though you have drawn up your forces, readied your
weapons,
Stand alone, that I and you may meet in single combat!
When Tiamat head this,
She was like one possessed; she took leave of her senses.
In fury Tiamat cried out aloud.
To the roots of her legs shook both together.
She recites a charm, keeps casting her spell,
While the gods of battle sharpen their weapons.
Tiamat and Mardulc, wisest of gods then joined battle,
They strove in single combat, locked in conflict.
The lord spread out his net to enfold her,
He let loose in her face The Evil Wind, which followed
behind.
When Tiamat opened her mouth to consume him,
He drove in the Evil Wind and she could not dose her lips.
As the fierce winds encumbered her belly,
Her body was distended and her mouth was wide open.
He released an arrow, it tore her belly,
It cut through her insides, splitting her heart.
Having subdued her, he blotted out her life.
He threw down her carcass and stood upon it.
After he had slain Tiamat, the leader,
Her band was shattered, her troupe broken up;
13
And her helpers, the gods who marched at her side,
Trembled with terror and turned their backs,
In order to save and preserve their lives.
Encirded tightly, they could not escape.
He made them captives and he smashed their weapons.
They found themselves ensnared in the net;
Thrown into cells, they were filled with wailing;
Bearing his wrath, they were held imprisoned.
And the eleven creatures which she had charged with awe,
The band of demons that marched before her,
He cast into fetters, their hands [. . .].
For all their resistance, he trampled them underfoot.
And Kingu, who had been made chief among them,
He bound and accounted him to Uggae.
14
He took from him the Tables of Fate, not rightfully his,
The Enuma Elish
8
Sealed them with a seal and fastened them on his own
breast.
When he had vanquished and subdued his adversaries,
Had [. . .] the vainglorious foe,
Had wholly established Anshars triumph over the foe,
Nudimmuds desire had achieved, valiant Marduk
Strengthened his hold on the vanquished gods,
And turned back to Tiamat whom he had bound.
The lord trampled on the legs of Tiamat,
With his unsparing mace he crushed her skull.
When the arteries of her blood he had severed,
The North Wind bore it to places undisclosed.
On seeing this, his fathers were joyful and jubilant,
They brought gifts of homage to him.
Then the lord paused to view her dead body,
That he might divide the monster and do artful works.
He split her like a shellfish into two parts:
Half of her he sat up as the ceiling of the sky,
He pulled down the bar and posted guards.
He ordered them not to allow her waters to escape.
He crossed the heavens and surveyed the regions.
He squared Apsus quarter, the abode of Nudimmud,
As the lord measured the dimensions of Apsu.
The Great Abode, its likeness, he fixed as Esharra,
15
The Great Abode, Esharra, which he made the firmament.
Anu, Enlil, and Ea he made occupy their places.
He constructed stations for the gods,
Aligning their astral likenesses as constellations.
He determined the year by assigning the zones:
He set up three constellations for each of the twelve
months.
After defining the days of the years by means of
astrological figures,
He founded the station of Nebiru
16
to determine their divine
bands,
That none might transgress or fall short.
Alongside it he set up the stations of Enlil and Ea.
Having opened up the gates on both sides,
17
He strengthened the locks to the left and the right.
In her belly he established the zenith.
The moon he caused to shine, the night to him entrusting.
The Enuma Elish
9
He appointed him a creature of the night to signify the
days:
Monthly, without cease, from designs with a crown.
At the months very start, rising over the land,
You shall have luminous horns to signify six days,
On the seventh day reaching a half-crown.
At full moon stand in opposition in mid-month.
When the sun overtakes you at the base of heaven,
Diminish your crown and retrogress in light.
At the time of disappearance approach you the course of
the sun,
And on the twenty-ninth you again stand in opposition to
the sun.
________________________
It was Kingu who contrived the uprising,
And caused Tiamat to rebel, and join battle
They bound him, holding him before Ea.
They imposed on him his guilt and severed his blood
vessels.
Out of his blood they fashioned humankind.
He
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imposed upon it the service and let free the gods.
After Ea, the wise, had created humankind,
Had imposed upon it the service of the gods
That toil was beyond human comprehension;
As artfully planned by Marduk, did Nudimmud create it-
Marduk, the king of the gods divided
All the Anunnaki
19
above and below.
He assigned them to Anu to guard his instructions.
Three hundred in the heavens he stationed as a guard.
________________________
1. I.e., had not been created. The ancients believed that
naming a thing was, in itself, an act of creation.
2. Probably an epithet in the sense of mother. Not to
be confused with the vizier Mummu who is mentioned
later.
3. I.e. the fresh waters (Apsu) and the salt waters
(Tiamat) have not been separated yet
4. Another name of Ea (=Enki), the god of the earth
and water.
The Enuma Elish
10
5. This motif of the younger gods becoming more
powerful than the older gods, and eventually supplanting
them, is central to almost all of the mythological cycles of
the Near East and the Eastern Mediterranean. It represents
what may be thought of as the ultimate generation gap.
Here this theme also symbolizes the process of creation,
because the forces of nature (the gods) become more
differentiated and defined.
6. I.e., the younger gods.
7. He refers to Ea, not Mummu.
8. A complex concept that is taken here to mean the
attendant deities.
9. The assembly hall of the gods.
10. That is, has the authority of Anu, who was formerly
the chief god.
11. This expression is taken from the shedding of
blood, which was considered by the Babylonians to be the
basis of life.
12. [. . .] represents a fragment of the text which has
been lost
13. The following lines divide Tiamats forces into
three categories: (1) the gods who had gone over to Tiamat,
(2) the eleven kinds of monsters which Tiamat had created,
and Kingu, Tiamats new husband and general.
14. The god of death.
15. Poetic name for the earth, which the Babylonians
visualized as the dome of Apsu.
16. The planet Jupiter.
17. The gates of East and West through which the sun
was believed to pass.
18. Ea.
19. Here Anunnaki refers to the underworld gods. The Buffalo Wife, based on a Blackfoot Myth
The Buffalo Wife
by Ruth Powell, based on a Blackfoot Myth
Things do not look so good for the tribe, thought the chief, pulling fragrant smoke from his
pipe. Those stubborn buffalos. They run to the edge of the cliff but refuse to jump off. There is
no way I can feed the whole tribe if the buffalo dont leap, thought the chief. The sun made him
crinkle his eyes as he looked up to the top of the cliff where the herd stood still as statues. I
believe that large one is laughing at me. Ahh, what can I do? The burden of leadership is a
heavy one.
Early the next day, the chiefs daughter stepped quietly out of the tent and went to fetch water for
her family. Early mornings were her favorite times because the village was quiet and she could
hear the sounds of nearby animals that would be impossible to hear once day was fully
begun. As she filled her containers with cool water, a movement caught the corner of her eye. It
was the lead buffalo. He had lowered his head as if he is looking at me, thought the chiefs
daughter. Hmm, she thought. Perhaps if I reason quietly with him in the cool sweet air of earl
