[meteorite-list] Meteorite of Anu

From: Peter Scherff <peterscherff_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 25 Sep 2012 20:09:47 -0400
Message-ID: <009001cd9b7b$3d9d15c0$b8d74140$_at_rcn.com>

Hi Phil,

        The epic of Gilgamesh is a great tale. Here is what I think it is
about:

        The passage that you refer to has 2 dreams in it, in the first the
meteorite of Anu is falling and in the second an ax appears at the gate to
his marital chamber. The meteorite of Anu is an omen. It foretells of
the coming of a powerful man who Gilgamesh will compete with and love as he
would his wife. His next dream about the axe has the same meaning.
Needless to say the dreams come true with the arrival of Enkidu, the primal
man who becomes Gilgamesh's sidekick and lover. They each tried to outdo
the other.
The meteorite of Anu appears in an earlier Babylonian tale. The dream is
similar but the King is able to lift the meteorite with the help of his
nobles. He doth not make love to it as he did in the latter Assyrian
version. In the earlier version a meteorite was a thing to be
controlled by man or at least by a man- god like Gilgamesh. By the
time the Assyrian version is recorded the meteorite is beyond man's
control and is immovable and worshiped as a god. It is possible that
an actual meteorite fell near the time of the writing of the Babylonian
version. When the Assyrian version was recorded the truth of the
meteorite had faded and all that was left of it was its mythic power.


Thanks,

Peter

-----Original Message-----
From: meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com
[mailto:meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com] On Behalf Of
JoshuaTreeMuseum
Sent: Sunday, September 23, 2012 1:26 PM
To: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
Subject: [meteorite-list] Meteorite of Anu

I wonder what this is about? (From the Epic of Gilgamesh.)




Gilgamesh got up and revealed the dream, saying to his mother:
"Mother, I had a dream last night.
Stars of the sky appeared,
and some kind of meteorite of Anu fell next to me.
I tried to lift it but it was too mighty for me, I tried to turn it over but
I could not budge it.
The Land of Uruk was standing around it, the whole land had assembled about
it, the populace was thronging around it, the Men clustered about it, and
kissed its feet as if it were a little baby.
I loved it and embraced it as a wife.
I laid it down at your feet,
and you made it compete with me."


Phil Whitmer
Joshua Tree Earth & Space Museum
______________________________________________

Visit the Archives at
http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html
Meteorite-list mailing list
Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
Received on Tue 25 Sep 2012 08:09:47 PM PDT