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Dynasty of Dunnum

Ancient Mesopotamian mythical tale

Summary

Ancient Mesopotamian mythical tale

Fertile Crescent
myth series
[[Image:Palm tree symbol.svg	none	20px	Mark of the Palm]]
Mesopotamian
Levantine
Arabian
Mesopotamia
Primordial beings
The great gods
Demigods & heroes
Spirits & monsters
Tales from Babylon
7 Gods who Decree

The Dynasty of Dunnum, sometimes called the Theogony of Dunnum or Dunnu or the Harab Myth, is an ancient Mesopotamian mythical tale of successive generations of gods who take power through parricide and live incestuously with their mothers and/or sisters, until, according to a reconstruction of the broken text, more acceptable behavior prevailed with the last generation of gods, Enlil and his twin sons Nušku and Ninurta, who share rule amicably. It is extant in a sole-surviving late Babylonian copy excavated from the site of the ancient city of Sippar by Hormuzd Rassam in the 19th century.

Synopsis

It chronicles the conflict of generations of the gods who represent aspects of fertility, agriculture and the seasonal cycle: heaven, earth, sea, river, plough, wild and domesticated animals, herdsman, pasture, fruit-tree and vine.

It begins, according to a restoration:

Then Sumuqan kills his father Harab (plough), marries his mother Ki (earth) and his sister and the cycle of carnage begins. The city of Dunnum was a synonymous toponym, with many places so named, such as one in the vicinity of Isin A dunnu is a fortified settlement, but the word can also be translated as strength or violence.

Influence

The tale spread across to Phoenicia and over the Aegean Sea, where its influence can be felt in the Ugarit myth Ba’al and Yam from the Ba’al cycle (ca. 1600-1200 BC),

References

Ewa Wasilewska. (2001). "Creation stories of the Middle East". Jessica Kingsley Pub.
Thorkild Jacobsen. (1978). "The treasures of darkness: a history of Mesopotamian religion". Yale University Press.
Frank Moore Cross. (1997). "Canaanite myth and Hebrew epic: essays in the history of the religion of Israel". Harvard University Press.
William W. Hallo. (2000). "La fundación de la ciudad: mitos y ritos en el mundo antiguo". Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona.
Tablet BM 74329 at the British Museum.
Patrick D. Miller, Jr.. (1994). "I Studied Inscriptions from Before the Flood: Ancient Near Eastern, Literary, and Linguistic Approaches to Genesis 1-11". Eisenbrauns.
William W. Hallo. (2010). "The world's oldest literature: studies in Sumerian belles-lettres". Koninklijke Brill N.V..
Michael C. Astour. (June 1, 1992). "Eblaitica: essays on the Ebla archives and Eblaite language, Volume 3". Eisenbrauns.
(1959). "The Assyrian Dictionary". Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago.
(1965). "A New Babylonian Theogony and Hesiod". Kadmos.

Wikipedia Source

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19th-century-archaeological-discoveries mesopotamian-myths akkadian-literature sippar archaeological-discoveries-in-iraq

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