ms
Collection of scientific articles
Compiled by Андрей Тихомиров
ISBN 978-5-0059-3926-5
Created with Ridero smart publishing system
The Biblical Book of Genesis (excerpts)
Eridu, Eredu (Sumerian – good city), is a city in Sumer (Ancient Mesopotamia), located on the shore of the lagoon of the Persian Gulf, which later retreated from the city. According to legend, the oldest of the Sumerian cities. It was the center of the cult of the god of world waters and wisdom Enki (Ea). It existed until the middle of the 1st millennium BC, but did not play a political role. The site of Eridu is now occupied by the settlement of Abu-Shahrain (Iraq). Recent excavations by Arab archaeologists have discovered archaeological layers of the 4th millennium BC here. The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, editor-in-chief B. A. Vvedensky, volume 49, second edition, 1957, p. 154.
Wikipedia (selectively): «Eridu is one of the oldest cities of Sumer and the world. According to Sumerian mythology, this is the very first city on Earth. Numerous excavations by archaeologists trace the deep antiquity of the city, in which many cultural layers have been identified, an ancient temple, a ziggurat, and many other temples and structures have been excavated, while the earliest layers are attributed to the VI millennium BC. Eridu is currently an archaeological zone in the south of Iraq, which is called the „Tel Abu Shahrane settlement“… Sumerian legends say that before the Great Flood, „After the kingdom was sent down from heaven, Eridu became (the seat of) the throne.“ The „Nippur Royal List“ begins with Eridu. In antediluvian times, five main cities are indicated, which also included Bad Tibira, Larak, Sippar and Shuruppak. The Nippur royal List records two kings of Eridu who ruled for huge periods of time totaling 18 balls (64,800 years), after which the city was abandoned and its throne was moved to Bad Tibira. Eridu emerged as a center of early agricultural culture in the south of Mesopotamia (the so – called Eredu culture of the end of VI – the first half of the V millennium BC). It was settled in the middle of VI thousand BC; later – an important center of the Ubeid period, and then in the IV millennium BC. one of the main centers of Sumerian culture. By the beginning of the III millennium BC. Eridu played a peripheral role in the political life of the region. In written sources of the middle of the III – middle of the I millennium BC, Eridu is the southernmost of the conglomeration of Sumerian cities that grew up next to temples. Most likely, it was founded right on the coast of the Persian Gulf, near the mouth of the Euphrates, however, due to the accumulation of silty sediments on the coastline for thousands of years, the remains of the city are now at a distance from the coast.»
Modern research confirms the data that the biblical book of Genesis describes in a religious and fairy-tale form the real events associated with the settlement of Ancient Mesopotamia, as well as the flood in the same area. Which also coincides chronologically. «It is estimated that at the peak of the last glaciation, the sea level was 130 meters below the current one. Consequently, a significant part of the continental shelf was land. Then the warming began, and about seven thousand years ago the continents and oceans acquired familiar shapes. Once vast expanses of the earth were flooded.»
Chapter 2.
8 And the LORD God planted a paradise in Eden in the east, and placed there the man whom he had created. (According to the biblical legend, Eden is the place of residence of the first two people – Adam and Eve – before their «fall». This word is Hebrew, meaning: garden, paradise, a beautiful, pleasant place. In the Sumerian language (not similar to any of the known languages), the word «we are going» – «eden» means «valley», according to the rule of homonization, a word that happened to coincide in sound, played a role: it seemed that «We are Going» is a mystical term devoid of a specific geographical meaning, and not the valley of the Two Rivers in present—day Iraq (the «Adam’s tree» is located here), where Lake Tartarus is located, as well as the Tar caves, there is an extremely similar sound to the ancient Greek Tartarus – an abyss in the bowels of the earth, where, according to legend, Zeus overthrew the Titans, the kingdom of the dead (to fall into tartarus). As the population grew in Sumer, located as it were «to the east» of Africa and the Middle East, discontent in Sumerian society also grew, because the number of fruits, plants and animals decreased, in addition, around 2500 BC, the state of Akkad seized Sumer and the Sumerians became a dependent population, only distant memories remained about the «golden age» when the Sumerians lived happily and well «in Eden» – «on the plain». The legends about the Garden of Eden were passed down from generation to generation and reached the ancient Jews, where they were then recorded in the Pentateuch of Moses. According to modern data, ancient people moved from Africa to Arabia and gradually came to the Persian Gulf, at that time a fertile valley teeming with fresh water springs and rich flora and fauna. In ancient times, the Persian Gulf was called the Sea of Sunrise, and the Mediterranean Sea was called the Great Sea of Sunset.)
9 And the LORD God brought forth out of the earth every tree pleasant to the sight and good for food, and the tree of life in the midst of paradise, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (Explanation of the appearance of trees whose fruits were used for food. The tree of life is a date palm. which gives edible, delicious and nutritious fruits – dates, necessary for the maintenance of life. The tree has practical significance and in ancient times was called the tree of life. The tree of knowledge of good and evil – fig tree, fig tree, fig tree, wine berry, had many different names, including totemic – «tree of knowledge of good and evil». And date palms and fig trees grow everywhere in southern Iraq. The singular (the tree of life, the tree of knowledge of good and evil) appears here as a collective, as in the children’s worldview (the child sees what or whom and speaks about it): God – gods, priests, that is, people who have some advantage over other people, Adam – men (patriarchy is claimed), Eve – women, Cain – farmers, Abel – shepherds.)
The king (standing) brings a wine sacrifice to the moon god (sitting), a palm branch and two date clusters are in the sacred vessel. Both wine and date palm are sacred objects. A similar drawing had a stele with the laws of King Hammurabi, who stood in front of the deity Shamash (the Moon god) of the XVIII century BC (right). It is clearly seen that God has a completely humanoid form, it is most likely a priest, a hypnotist, a psychic.
Sumerian stele, approximately XX – XXI centuries BC.
10 A river came out of Eden to irrigate paradise; and then it was divided into four rivers. (A river is needed for irrigation, so there is nothing supernatural in paradise, everything is watered – watered.)
11 The name of one Fison: it flows around the whole land of Havilah, the one where gold is; (Perhaps the Fison was a tributary of the Euphrates, but then dried up, in ancient times there may have been gold deposits.)
12 and the gold of that land is good; there is a bholach and an onyx stone. (According to the «Dictionary to the Books of the Old Testament» by O. Steinberg, bdolach is an aromatic wood resin. Onyx is a mineral, a kind of agate. That is, quite real substances.)
13 The name of the second river Gihon: it flows around the whole land of Kush. (Gihon is probably the Karun River in the southwest of modern Iran, in ancient times the state of Elam was located there.)
14 The name of the third river is Hiddekel: it flows before Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates. (These geographical names have long been identified: Hiddekel – the Tigris River, Assyria – the defunct state of Assur (Assur), whose capital was located on the western bank of the Tigris, and therefore flowing «before» it, and the Euphrates River.)
15 And the LORD God took the man, and put him in the garden of Eden, to cultivate it and to keep it. (The ancient Sumerian legend about the origin of the primary culture of the Sumerians was connected with the settlement of Eridu (modern southern Iraq, the settlement of Abu-Shahrein), located on the shore of the «exciting sea» (now separated from the Persian Gulf at a distance of more than 100 km), Eridu was also the oldest political center of the