Nisaba- Nun-bar-še-gunu.
There is a story known as Enlil and Ninlil, in which Nisaba- Nun-bar-še-gunu tells her daughter, not to go down to the river....
For if she goes to the river, the Lord will see her
He will leave her pregnant.
The daughter is Sud
She is called Ninlil.
Lady Air.
And yet she is also her mother.
Nisaba- Nun-bar-še-gunu is a metaphor for the grain plant
A daughter of earth (Arash) and sky (Anu).
Her husband (Haya) is the full store-house
Nisaba- Nun-bar-še-gunu is the numen of grain.
Her names and functions include her daughter.
The child came from the previous harvest, her father was the full, store-house.
The daughter will be fertilized by Lord Air, the wind.
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| Triptolemos |
To her belong the arts of mathematics and writing
Measuring and surveying.
She is a scribe, because grain stalks were used to indent writing into clay.
This is expressed better in the story Enlil and Ninlil where her children are the numen of measuring the land and looking after the irrigation channels. And Nergal- the Enlil of the Netherworld.
Nisaba- Nun-bar-še-gunu is the Neolithic revolution.
And is why Serapis has a grain measure upon his head...
The modius.
Because Demeter has a grain measure upon her head...
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| Photo from: http://www.clavielle.com/the-temple-of-demeter-and-the-curse-of-eleusis/ Image from a statue at Eleusis. |
The Neolithic revolution was not a Golden Age.
The house of Nisaba, of the tablets, is destroyed.
The house of Nun-bar-še-gunu is destroyed
The E-ḫamun is destroyed.
The plants of lamentation have sprouted; the šumunda grass has sprouted.
By the walls the long grass has sprouted.
Amongst them, the willow trees are everywhere.
As for the word of An and the word of Enlil, the angry heart of great An is everywhere, and the malign heart of Enlil is everywhere.
"In my house, may the moonlight in my house, the moonlight, the glorious sky in my house, the moonlight, the glorious night in my house -- may the glorious sky, the glorious night in my house not leave me.
The moonlight is obscured by the walls from my man, from my man. The moonlight, the glorious sky, from my man, the moonlight, the glorious night, from my man, the glorious sky, the glorious night is obscured by the walls from my man."
In the moonlight, in the pure place of moonlight I lie down alone. In the moonlight which fills the hills, the pure place, I lie down alone. By the cedar mountains where Enlil lies, I lie down alone. …… I weep a bitter lament. …… lying in the moonlight, I weep a bitter lament. …… which sets aglow …… shines forth. I am distraught.
The moonlight which sets aglow the glorious sky shines forth. I am distraught.
The moonlight which sets aglow the glorious night shines forth.
I am distraught -- which sets aglow the glorious sky, the glorious night, shines forth.
I am distraught."
Even now that the pure place knows daylight, amid her awe-inspiring splendor, still she weeps.
Amid her awe-inspiring splendor, still Mother Ezina-Kusu weeps.
Fate and fortune!
Amid her awe-inspiring splendor, still she weeps.
Even now that the pure place knows daylight, amid her awe-inspiring splendor, still she weeps.
Amid her awe-inspiring splendor, still Mother Ezina-Kusu weeps.
Fate and fortune!
Amid her awe-inspiring splendor, still she weeps.
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| http://felixheru.deviantart.com/art/demeter-goddes-of-harvest-333360165 |
Nisaba- Nun-bar-še-gunu, had a daughter.
She named her Sud.
The daughter grew tall and beautiful
And would not listen to her mother.
She hung around the temple gate,
Around the lapis gate of E-Zagin
Catching the eye of any man who passed by.
And Enlil saw her
And called her shameless and pretty and 'would she like it if he bought 'his queen' a dress to grace her lovely body,'?
Sud was not pleased to be called shameless and told him so
"If I want to stand proudly at our gate, who dares to give me a bad reputation?
What are your intentions?
Why have you come here?
Go away out of my sight!"
You are not the first to try and deceive me!"
She turned her back and walked away into her mother's temple.
Leaving Enlil calling out to her
Asking her to become his wife.
"Oh kiss me, my lady of most beautiful eyes..."
But Sud was gone.
Enlil called his servent Nuska
Gave him jewelry and a message for Nisaba- Nun-bar-še-gunu
And sent him to apologize for Enlil's behavior
To ask for Sud in marriage
And to promise good things for the people of Eresh.
Nisaba- Nun-bar-she-gunu was pleased
She forgave Enlil
And promised Sud in return for the good things Enlil pledged to give.
Enlil, his heart full of joy
Caught the animals living in the mountains, he made wild bulls, red deer, elephants, fallow deer, gazelles, bears, wild sheep and rams, lynxes, foxes, wild cats, tigers, mountain sheep, water buffaloes, monkeys, and thick-horned fat cattle jostle together noisily.
Cows and their calves, wild cattle with wide-spread horns, ewes and lambs, goats and kids, romping and fighting, large kids with long beards, scratching with their hooves, lambs, and majestic sheep were dispatched by Enlil toward Ereš.
Large cheeses, mustard-flavoured cheeses, small cheeses, pure milk, the sweetest dry honey and white honey, were dispatched by Enlil toward Ereš.
Dates, figs, large pomegranates, ĝipar fruits, plums, ḫalub nuts, almonds, acorns, Dilmun dates packed in baskets, dark-coloured date spadices, large pomegranates gathered from orchards, big clusters of grapes on high, fruit from trees grown in winter, and fruits from orchards grown in summer, were dispatched by Enlil toward Ereš.
Ores from Ḫarali, the faraway land, rock-crystal, gold, silver, the yield of the uplands and heavy loads of them, were dispatched by Enlil toward Ereš.
The dust from their march reached high into the sky like rain clouds. Enormous marriage gifts were being brought for Nanibgal to Ereš; the city was getting full inside and out.
Then Nisaba- Nun-bar-še-gunu spoke to her daughter.
May you be Enlil's favourite wife, and may he speak to you sweetly.
May he embrace you, the most beautiful of all, and tell you: "Beloved, open wide!"
May the two of you never lose the pleasure and excitement; may you make it last a long time.
May it be that the pleasure and excitement never be lost.
You two will live on the hill, and have children afterwards!
When you enter the house to live there, may abundance precede you, and may joy follow you.
May the people line up for you wherever you go, and may all the people love you.
The fate I have determined for you will be fulfilled.
It cannot be altered!
Go with head held high into the Eš-maḫ."
Then Aruru, Enlil's sister, the Lady who causes women to deliver their children grasped her by the hand and led her away into the great storehouse, the Eš-maḫ.
She brought her into the E-kur, the mountain house of Enlil, and led her to the sleeping quarters, in the flowered bed, surrounded by walls like a fragrant cedar forest.
There, Enlil made love to his wife and took great pleasure in it.
Enlil spoke:
"May my beautiful wife, who was born by holy Nisaba, be Ezina, the growing grain, the life of Sumer. When you appear in the furrows like a beautiful young girl, may Iškur, the canal inspector, be your provider, supplying you with water from the ground. The height of the year is marked with your new prime flax and your new prime grain.
The harvest crop raises its head high for the great festival of Enlil. The scribal art, the tablets decorated with writing, the stylus, the tablet board, reckoning and calculating, adding and subtracting, the shining measuring rope, the head of the surveyor's peg, the measuring rod, the marking of the boundaries, and the preparation of canals and levees are fittingly in your hands.
The farmer entrusted cultivation into your hands. Proud woman, surpassing the mountains!
You who always fulfil your desires -- from now on, Sud, Enlil is the king and Ninlil is the queen.
The goddess without name has a famous name"
