Mysteries of Dilmun

Dilmun, the land of the living that became as it were the land of the dead, the land of the star and crescent and deepest of mysteries...

Dilmun, sometimes described as "the place where the sun rises" and "the Land of the Living", is the scene of some versions of the Sumerian creation myth, and the place where the deified Sumerian hero of the flood, Utnapishtim was taken by the gods to live forever.

For Dilmun, the land of my lady's heart, I will create long waterways, rivers and canals, whereby water will flow to quench the thirst of all beings and bring abundance to all that lives.


What remains today in places such as Bahrain are scattered ruins and thousands of burial mounds dating back over the millenia, but i want to look here at the seals of Dilmun and the evidence they provide toward reconstrucing religious traditions centred on Dilmun with refards to a place of First creation and the plant of Life, the key toward immortality.



The Sumerian mysteries of Dilmun are as i suggested those of the star and crescent symbolism were the crescent is the 'Lady of the Month', the Goddess Nin-Ti, whose name translates as 'Lady of Life', a Lunar symbol and one that originates in the myth of Enki and Ninhursaga, were Nin-Ti as the rib is one of eight children given birth to by Enki and Ninhursag related to plants and parts of the body in conjunction with the spider Goddess Uttu.

To the right can be seen Nin-Ti within the Abzu portal, Enki and Ninhursag either side, seen in conjunction with the plant of Life and the crescent symbol above.



The eight children born in the myth have strong associations with Dilmun and Magan, two of them being Lords of those places, the Goddess Nazi was of the Persian gulf waters, there is Ab-U Lord of grasses and cereals and Nin-kasi who changed the water into beer.

"For the little ones to whom I have given birth may rewards not be lacking. Ab-u shall become king of the grasses, Ninsikila shall become lord of Magan, Ningiriutud shall marry Ninazu, Ninkasi shall be what satisfies the heart, Nazi shall marry Nindara, Azimua shall marry Ninĝišzida, Ninti shall become the lady of the month, and Ensag shall become lord of Dilmun."

These eight have relationship to the eight pointed star or floret of Dilmun which represents Sirius as their pseudo-Mother was the spider Goddess Uttu of Canis Major, depictions of her are very rare but she is seen here in the image to the right in connection with the Dilmun tree of Life, at the top.



The crescent then also relates to Canis Major, whether as the rib Goddess Nin-Ti are just an aspect of the spider Goddess.

Uttu in Sumerian mythology is the goddess of weaving and clothing. She is both the child of Enki and Ninkur, and she bears seven new child/trees from Enki, the eighth being the Ti (Tree of "Life", associated with the "Rib"). When Enki then ate Uttu's children, Ninhursag cursed him with eight wounds and disappears. Uttu in Sumerian means "the woven" and she was illustrated as a spider in a web

The only other representation of her i'm aware of is one i sourced were she is seen in conjunction with the earliest configuaration of Orion, but she is important in terms of the celestial axis symbolism of Dilmun in that she sits at the very top of a tree/axis that has it's base in Pegasus.



In reconstructing their interest in that Celestial axis it can be seen that the Apkallu are generally ever present and seemingly concerned with it's establishment, so as i said it has it's base as the Pegasus square which is attested as associated with the Abzu of Enki, known as the 'Field Constellation' and understood as the place were land emerged from the seas, the Abzu portal can be represented by a grid.



So seen in connection with Enki are constellations such as the stag/Andromeda and the ram/Aires a curious sea serpent/Cetus, Perseus as the Panther is also often seen in conjunction with the stag and ram on Near Eastern tree of Life symbolism, but it is only at Dilmun were this axis can be seen to extend to Canis Major, extending upward from the grid portal of Pegasus terminating in the star and crescent



As the Celestial axis passes through Taurus there is also seen concern with a secondary grid portal above that constellation which can be commonly found in Sumerian iconography, the Pegasus portal is that of the Abzu but that at Taurus has connection to the Underworld entrance, there is correlation to the intersection point of the ecliptic and Galactic planes above Taurus and just below Gemini and the configuartion is as best seen in the West, the place of setting.



So at Dilmun can be seen the common interest in that portal and it can also be represented by a grid, indeed a pair of Apkallu can be seen in one example sort of clambering out of it, the Goddess Inanna will also be generally seen in this region given her connectivity to the Pleiades.



The overall celestial axis presented by the Dilmun iconography is a curious one, it can be said to connect the portals to the Abzu and Netherworld and arguably the High Heavens if such can be represented by Sirius, and it could have been readily observed and followed by observing the line up through Sirius-Orion-Taurus toward Pegasus, all highly important constellations to the Sumerians, it very much relates to the cult of Enki and the Apkallu so strong in the gulf region and fittingly terminates with his spider Goddess daughter.

In connection with Canis Major there is found the cult of artificial insemination, were the seed of Enki is removed from the body of the Goddess Uttu and used to create eight plants and then these are eaten by Enki, and Ninhursag has to help him in giving birth to the eight children relating to plants/body parts, also physician Goddesses had connectivity to Canis Major such as Bau and Gula, Ninisin, Ninsumen, these were understood as creating heroes and Rulers through artificial impregnation with the essence of Anunnaki in the form of Shuba stones, diamonds, the general concern is always with Life, no matter how strangely created

a reply to: Kantzveldt

I haven't got time to read this now, but at last something of real interest. As usual great post Kantzveldt S&F.
I will read this when I get back and have the time to give it.

a reply to: Shiloh7

Actual Sumerian cosmology is rather strange and complex, understandable that people prefer the Sitchin version for dummies, involving as it does creatures of the Abzu that ascend even through the gates of death toward a Goddess of fates and weaving, of patterns and of destiny, as represented by Uttu in the form of Canis Major, accompanied by the haunting melodic strains of the throat Goddess Nazi, the brightest star in the sky and Paradise...

Wonderful and exotic thread. I use to work in Bahrain and would walk in the early morning within those vast burial fields many of which have been destroyed in the last twenty years as Manama expands.

Actual Sumerian cosmology is rather strange and complex, understandable that people prefer the Sitchin version for dummies

That group is fortunately fading away like the EVD fans and Velikovskian followers.

Great thread! Thank you for sharing.

I love to read about this things because I believe there is a lot of history unknown to common man. And because of that I enjoy pondering about this and that. I am sorry because I don't have anything to add of value. And would just like to point out that I was smiling when you presented info about Nin-kasi who changed the water into beer. Man I would sure like to know here and learn this skill

Do you maybe have any links or more info for us? Not that this was not enough contribution on your part. But this is just so fascinating.

a reply to: Hanslune

Impressive that you have journeyed even to the fabled Paradise of Dilmun, a pity that the place is not as pristine as it used to be though.

Virginal is Dilmun land. Pristine is Dilmun land.

He laid her down all alone in Dilmun, and the place where Enki had lain down with his spouse, that place was still virginal, that place was still pristine.

In Dilmun the raven was not yet cawing, the partridge not cackling. The lion did not slay, the wolf was not carrying off lambs, the dog had not been taught to make kids curl up, the pig had not learned that grain was to be eaten.

When a widow has spread malt on the roof, the birds did not yet eat that malt up there. The pigeon then did not tuck the head under its wing.

No eye-diseases said there: "I am the eye disease." No headache said there: "I am the headache." No old woman belonging to it said there: "I am an old woman." No old man belonging to it said there: "I am an old man." No maiden in her unwashed state …… in the city. No man dredging a river said there: "It is getting dark."

a reply to: Kantzveldt

I worked there just a year and a half helping to set up a college but had to run for it when the Arab Spring broke out. It did allow me time to go thru all the various Dilmun and later ruins on the islands especially the temples on the north shore of the island.

Awesome.
Subscribing for later.

This is a great thread.

I was thinking while reading your first paragraph....

....coastlines change. At the end of the last ice age there were quite few floods from glacial ice melt (and the lakes it had), the sea levels rose quite quickly (possibly over the course of weeks/days in some instances), I would surmise the shifting water would create some earthquakes and other upheavals, etc, etc.

Creation myths discuss how we were "given" various things in the lands we inhabit in those first days of recording history and myth.

The mind can't help but wander and wonder.

a reply to: UniFinity

Ninkasi, she who gladdens the heart, made so much beer it was comparable to the waters of the Tigris and Euphrates, a very good Goddess and there's a hymn devoted to her describing the entire process;

When you pour out the filtered beer of the collector vat,
It is [like] the onrush of Tigris and Euphrates.
Ninkasi, you are the one who pours out the filtered beer of the collector vat,
It is [like] the onrush of Tigris and Euphrates.

Hymn to Ninkasi

a reply to: bigfatfurrytexan

It's also though a region strongly associated with the activities of the Apkallu in terms of givers and teachers, though in Dilmun representations they often look like cosmic Ninja turtles ,but of course that a creature capable of crossing the widest oceans.

Now here's something of a mystery, i was looking at the ground viewing potential of this Celestial axis in Stellarium and there are all sorts of questions and issues, the main one being you could never see it in a straight line from any Earthly perspective, from a Heavenly one everythings fine, Sirius at the top, Pegasus as the roots in the Abzu at the bottom, as configured for viewing in the Persian gulf 5,000 years ago.



The normative observed rising order will always be Pegasus first, but by the time Sirius is rising Pegasus is setting in the West, so you can observe from Sirius rising a line up through Orion and Taurus as far as Perseus due South, but then Andromeda, Aires, Pegasus are going down into the West.

It's also obvious that the star that should be at the top of the tree, Sirius, is the last to rise and so never can be, when all those constellations are above the horizon Perseus is the highest due South, the axis pretty much covers the extent of the Southern skies from the Eastern to Western horizon.

It could be considered as an idealized hypothetical model in the same sense perhaps that you can set out all the constellations of the ecliptic plane without ever seeing them all at once, but it has an inbuilt best seen from perspective, Pegasus at the bottom and Sirius at the top which really presents a challenge.

Often the individual constellations related to the axis are seen singularly relative to the horizon in conjunction with the sacred tree, the winged Panther/Perseus, the stag/Andromeda, the ram/Aires, sometimes those three seen in conjunction, but even that half grown tree would never hsve been seen upright but rather on an ascending/descending diagonal, so it previously puzzled me why they should even have interest in that limited axis, as it doesn't relate to the ecliptic or galactic plane.

Here then a reconstruction of the basis for the classic version of the Mesopotamian Tree of Life according to the evidence for the Celestial axis sourced from Dilmun seals and the textual evidence from the myth of Enki and Ninhursaga;

a reply to: Kantzveldt

Interesting, where does the tree image come from?

a reply to: Hanslune

Babylon i think that particular example 600 BC, the later Northern Mesopotamian examples are of course more complex and elaborate than the earlier examples but i think still had the same basis, a truly cosmic vision

What a great surprise for me this was today, i came across an article regarding the oldest seal ever discovered in the Arabian Peninsula and was so pleased to see it was a great version of seated Orion and Canis Major as spider Goddess Uttu, that went on to become the symbol of the star and crescent...!

A cylinder seal of Late Uruk (late fourth millennium BC) type from Abu Dhabi is presented and analysed

The Abu Dhabi seal published here is not merely the earliest cylinder seal yet found in the U.A.E. It is the oldest seal of any type ever found in the Arabian Peninsula.

The Earliest Cylinder Seal in the Arabian Peninsula.

In 2009 I had been scanning Bahrain for interesting things that could be archeological in nature, and I came across these underwater anomalies that I couldn't explain. I have since looked for them on Google Maps and the updated imagery shows some man-made islands that have been put in this same area and seems to have contributed to covering up a number of them. But, there are still some that are as plain as day. One very noticable one is southwest of Karbabad Beach, so I'm sure a Google Maps search for that in Bahrain will get you where you need to be if you're interested in seeing what I'm talking about--look in between Karbabad Beach and west to the man-made island of "Northern City."

They look like arrows, generally pointing north, but are located underwater. Nothing I have come across really explains them to me. I've thought of everything between some sort of fish traps to sewer/drainage outlets, but I can't figure them out. Any thoughts?

(No intentions of hijacking a thread, but this old mystery of mine seems appropriate for this topic)