Mythemes I

SKY-GODS:

Sky-gods have played a prominent role in countless theologies.  In ancient (Zhou) China, the godhead was “Tian” [Heavens].  Interestingly, the positing of a sky-god as the preeminent deity was a transition from the earlier (Shang) godhead, Shang-di, who was a primordial Earth deity.

The Vedic sky-god was Dya[u]s Pita (later, “Varuna” in the Hindu pantheon).  An Indo-European derivative was the sky-god, “Dyeus”; who ended up as the godhead of pre-Christian Germanic peoples. {10}

Also notable were:

• Egyptian sky-goddess, Nut / Hathor
• Sumerian sky-god, Tarum / An[u]
• Akkadian / Assyrian sky-god, An-shar
• Kassite sky-god, Turgu
• Persian sky-god, Vayu [followed by the Sogdian version: “Weshparkar”]
• Hurrian sky-god (alt. storm-god; god of thunder), Teshub
• Hittite sky-god, Tarku
• Luwian sky-god, Tarhunta[s]
• Greek sky-god, Uranus
• Roman sky-god, Caelus [later incorporated with Jupiter to yield “Caelus Aeternus Iuppiter”]
• Canaanite / Phoenician / Nabataean / Palmyrene sky-god, Baal Shamim [alt. “Shamayim”]
• Chuvash sky-god, Tura
• Turkic sky-god, Kayra
• Slavic sky-god, Perun
• Georgian sky-goddess, Tamar
• Nubian (Nuer) godhead: the spirit of the sky, “Kuoth Nhial” [god in heaven]
• Norse sky-god, Ullr
• Mayan sky-god, Itzamna

Sky-gods proliferate around the world to the present day.  In the Common Era, the most prominent has been “Tengri” of the Turkic and Mongol peoples–prevalent across the Eurasian Steppes.  In Mongolian, the moniker is translatable as “heaven”, “sky”, and “godhead”; meaning the three were considered synonymous.  This is the epitome of deifying the “Eternal Blue Sky” [“Munkh Khukh Tengriin”].

This god of “the Eternal Blue Sky” is worshipped by many Mongolians to the present day.  He was the godhead of the Mongols at their prime; and seems to have been a derivative of the Xiongnu sky-god.

Sky-gods elsewhere include:

• The godhead and creator-deity in Ashanti myth: Nyame (King of Heaven)
• The godhead and creator-deity in Guanche myth: Achaman (Father of mankind)
• The creator-deity in Mayan myth: Itzamna
• The creator-deity in Maori myth: Rangi[nui]
• The creator-deity in Yoruba myth: Obatala [alt. Olorun / Olofin-Orun; Sky Father]
• The creator-deity in Ugandan myth: Rugaba
• The creator-deity in Haitian voodoo: Damballa

In all these cases, the divine was associated with the sky.  This stands to reason, as the imperious vault of the sky (the “welkin”, as the Germans call it) appears to pervade all creation–an apt metaphor for omni-presence and omniscience.  For the heavens seem to preside over the entire world in a manner analogous to an all-seeing godhead; and it is natural to associate the celestial spheres with the divine.

Hence even godheads that are not explicitly sky-gods are often associated with the “welkin”.  This, of course, includes the Abrahamic deity–regardless of whether in the context of Judaism, Christianity, or Islam.  We even find this with the godhead of Abrahamic variants–as with Samaritanism, Yazidism, Druze, Baha’i, Sikhism, etc.

The deification of the sky might be contrasted to the ideation of a chaotic void–typically associated with dark, primordial waters, which are–in turn–associated with a monstrous cosmic serpent (as with Tiamat), which must be slain by the godhead (as with Marduk) to bring about the cosmic order.  Tiamat was analogous to the “Livyatan” [Leviathan] found in the Hebrew Bible, which was derived from the Ugaritic “Lotan”.  In Judaic lore, the godhead slew the serpent (ref. the Book of Isaiah), just as in Babylonian lore.

Meanwhile, “Tiamat” was derived from the Assyrian “tamtu[m]”, which was related to the Ugaritic root, T-H-M [alt. Th-M-T].  Lo and behold: It was from this early Semitic lexeme that the Ancient Hebrew “tehom” (primordial waters) was derived–as found in the opening passage to the book of Genesis.  The moniker was likely adopted from the “Enuma Elish”, as the ancient Babylonian epic speaks of winds blowing across the face of these waters…before the godhead divided it, thereby making the heavens and the Earth…EXACTLY as the Book Of Genesis would later describe it.  This is no coincidence; as the Torah was first written down during the Exilic period…IN BABYLON.

The earliest sky-god was the highest Sumerian deity, An[u], father of Enlil and Enki.  He was the chief of the pantheon of sub-deities known as the “Anunaki” [alt. “Igigi”].  An[u] represented the first conception of the heavens as a dome (of primordial waters, associated with the feminine “Tiamat”) magically suspended over a flat Earth–a leitmotif also found in Vedic cosmology (the heavens as primordial waters, associated with the feminine “Danu”).  Later, we are told of Enlil (later in the Canaanite rendering: “Marduk”) who slew the serpent (the beast of the primordial waters: Tiamat), symbolizing order triumphing over chaos.

The dichotomy of ORDER (the masculine, typically a sun-god or sky-god) prevailing over CHAOS (the feminine, typically associated with the primordial waters, and portrayed as a serpent) could be found in ancient Egyptian myth–with Ra (associated with Ma’at) and Apep.

The dichotomy of order and chaos has informed mythemes around the world.  Already mentioned was Ra / Ma’at and Apep in ancient Egypt.  In the Norse Creation myth, the primordial void was called the “Ginnungagap” (ref. Snorri Sturluson’s “Gylfaginning”).  In the Aztec Creation myth, “Cipactli” was a serpent goddess that emerged from primordial waters, thereby creating the world. Etc.  Carl Jung based his posited “archetypes” on this dichotomy, which served as the lens through which he viewed ALL mythology.  The mytheme of Creation starting from chaos (from which the Earth and Heavens are cleaved) can also be found in the Chinese myth of Pan-ku [alt. “Pangu”].  In Egyptian myth, the serpent of chaos, “Apep[i]” [rendered “Aphoph” in Coptic; “Apothis” in Greek] was the counterpart of cosmic order, “Ma’at”. Etc.

We encounter this motif not only in Sumerian / Assyrian myth, but in myriad ancient origin myths from around the world.

• In Siberia, Tungusic creation myth involves a primordial ocean.  The godhead, Buga set fire to these primordial waters, thereby exposing land.  He then created light and separated it from darkness.
• The Mongolian creation myth ALSO involves a primordial ocean.  The patriarchal Lama, Udan (Old Turkic / Altaic: “Bai-Ülgen”) stirred these waters, bringing about wind and fire, thereby exposing land.
• In Hindu theology, the cosmic waters were associated with “Danu”.
• In ancient Persian theology, the cosmic waters were called the “fraxkard”. 
• In ancient Egyptian theology, the cosmic waters were called “[Nu]nu” / “Nu[n]”.

The primordial waters correlate with the dome over the Earth; while the LITERAL waters correlate with the ocean.  Hence the waters above us (the heavens) and the waters of Earth (the seas), as we find in the first ten verses of (Hebrew) Genesis.

In the Torah, the “rakia” [firmament] is equated with “waters of the sky”; as the Hebrew term for heaven (“shamayim”) is derived from combing the Assyrian term for “sky” (“s[h]amu”) with the Old Semitic term for “waters” (“mayim”).  The primordial waters” motif is also found with the “Tohu wa-Bohu” of Genesis.

Sure enough, these primordial waters would be associated with a cosmic serpent: the Leviathan (Isaiah 27:1, 51:9; as well as Job 41).  The Abrahamic deity slays the Leviathan in keeping with earlier myths about the Canaanite godhead, Baal…which were likely inspired by the Babylonian tale of Marduk slaying Tiamat.  In the Akkadian “Epic of Gilgamesh”, Enkidu slays Humbaba.

The Egyptian “Nu” (often feminized to “Nunet”) and “Mehet-Weret” / “Mehet-Urt” [“Great Flood”] were both feminine conceptions of the primordial waters; and were associated with Creation, sustenance, and Rebirth.  This is what enabled people to make their way into the afterlife.  (The CHAOS aspect is represented by the goddess, Hathor.)

Note that in Ovid’s version, the godhead appears and “rent asunder land from sky, and sea from land…[then] forming the seas and [commanding] the plains to stretch out.”  (This should sound familiar to those who have read the Koran.)  The godhead then created man, who was “molded into the form of the all-controlling gods” (echoing the “created in god’s image” trope of Genesis).

This motif seems to have ALSO been a common amongst Arabia’s Bedouin pagans during the Dark Ages…which explains why it wound up in the Koran.