Sacred tree of Eridu

As the sacred tree of Eridu ( Sumerian GIŠ.ḪAR, GIŠ.KIN, GIŠ.MEŠ; Akkadian Ḫulupp-u (m), Chulupp-u (m); Babylonian kiškanu, kishkanu; Assyrian giš-ti, gisch-ti, mešu, meschu) in the cosmogonic conception of Mesopotamia the tree of life or world tree is called.

From the 6th to the 4th millennium BC, the Sumerian center was considered to be an early religious center. The place Eridu , before in the 3rd millennium BC BC Uruk and later Babylon took over the leadership role. The sacred tree of Eridu has been handed down through the millennia in incantation rituals:

“In Eridu the black Kiškanu grew in a clean place . Its luster is shimmering like lapis lazuli . It spreads over the deep Abzu . The Laḫmu beings took possession of the Kiškanu and uttered incantations of the Abzu. "

- Sumerian-Babylonian incantation ritual

The roots of the sacred tree of Eridu reached into the underworld , the tree crown housed the sun and was considered heaven , the tree trunk symbolized life and objects on earth as the middle level . In similar Mesopotamian traditions, besides the two sacred rivers, a garden is also mentioned, which was located in the area of ​​the world tree. Whether the sacred tree of Eridu corresponded to the character for E.NUN (House of Nun ), which was depicted as a palm tree , is suspected, but has not yet been proven beyond doubt.

Bur-Sin of Isin and Nur-Adad of Larsa renewed the image of the sacred tree of Eridu. Warad-Sin , Rim-Sin I. and Hammurapi worshiped the tree as the “rites of Eridu”, while Ur-Nanše of Lagaš used the term “pipe of the Enki (Lord of the Earth) of Eridu”.

See also

• Inanna and the Ḫuluppu tree
• Lilith
• Pukku and Mikku

literature

• Erich Ebeling : Tree, holy one . In: Dietz-Otto Edzard (Hrsg.): Reallexikon der Assyriologie und Vorderasiatischen Aräologie (RIA), Vol. 1: A - Bepašte . de Gruyter, Berlin 1932 (reprint 1993), ISBN 3-11-004451-X , p. 435.
• Volkert Haas : History of the Hittite religion In: B. Spuler: Handbuch der Orientalistik, Dept. 1: The Nahe and the Middle East, Vol. 15 . Brill, Leiden 1994, ISBN 90-04-09799-6 , p. 145.
• Eckhard Unger : Eridu . In: Dietz-Otto Edzard (Hrsg.): Reallexikon der Assyriologie und Frontasiatischen Aräologie (RIA), Vol. 2: Ber - Ezur and supplements . de Gruyter, Berlin 1938 (reprint 1978), ISBN 3-11-004450-1 , pp. 464-470, especially p. 468.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Cf. Volkert Haas: History of the Hittite Religion In: B. Spuler: Handbuch der Orientalistik, Dept. 1: The Near and the Middle East, Vol. 15 . Brill, Leiden 1994, p. 145.