Monday, July 7, 2014

The Sumerian Dumuzi is the Greek Dionysus


The marriage of Inanna and Dumuzid
 
 
 
Dionysus
 


One of the lovers of Inanna/Ishtar was Dumuzi.  He was killed by several other people as talked about in Sumerian-Babylonian myth entitled, The Dream of Dumuzi.  In it he tells his sister-wife, Geshtinanna about a bad dream he had regarding his murder (sounds like Balder's dream from Nordic mythology).  She does not want to hear it but tells him it is a bad sign.  At the end of the poem, Dumuzi is accosted by several men and murdered. This is the only Sumerian God that is murdered just as Dionysus-Osiris and his other names was the only God who was murdered.  The description of the murder involves being bludgeoned to death as opposed to the Egyptian story of Osiris being locked in a coffin to die and the Nordic story of the mistletoe arrow killing Balder.  But there is only one God that is murdered in all mythologies by a group of men and so I conclude that Dumuzi is the Greek Dionysus.  Here are some passages from the ancient Sumerian-Babylonian myth, The Dream of Dumuzi:



The galla surrounded Dumuzi.
They bound his hands; they bound his neck.
They beat the husband of Inanana.
Dumuzi raised his arms to heaven, to Utu, the God of Justice,
and cried out:

"O Utu, you are my brother-in-law,
I am the husband of your sister.
I am the one who carried food to the holy shrine.
I am the one who brought wedding gifts to Uruk.
I kissed the holy lips.
I danced on the holy knees, the knees of Inanna.

Change my hands into the hands of a gazelle.
Change my feet into the feet of a gazelle.
Let me escape from my demons.
Let me flee to Kubiresh!"


Dumuzi escapes but is found again and beaten to death by the men who attacked him.


The galla climbed the reed fence.
The first galla struck Dumuzi on the cheek with a piercing nail,
The second galla struck Dumuzi on the other check with the shepherd's
crook,
The third galla smashed the bottom of the churn,
The fourth galla threw the drinking cup down from its peg,
The fifth galla shattered the churn,
The sixth galla shattered the cup,
The seventh galla cried:
"Rise, Dumuzi!
Husband of Inanna, son of Situr, brother of Geshtinanna!
Rise from your false sleep!
Your ewes are seized! Your lambs are seized!
Your goats are seized! Your kids are seized!
Take off your holy crown from your head!
Take off your me-garment from your body!
Let your royal sceptre fall to the ground!
Take of your holy sandals from your feet!
Naked, you go with us!"

The galla seized Dumuzi.
They surrounded him.
They bound his hands.  They bound his neck.

The churn was silent.  No milk poured.
The cup was shattered.  Dumuzi was no more.
The sheepfold was given to the winds.


(Inanna Queen of Heaven and Earth Her Stories and Hymns from Sumer by Diane Wolkstein and Samuel Noah Kramer pages 81-84.)


by Rita Jean Moran (www.thelibrarykids.com and www.hiddenhumanstory.com)



Links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dumuzid_the_Shepherd

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