Babylonian+Sin+and+Punishment

**Babylonian Mythology Sin and Punishment** By: Michael Joseph Erickson ​

Sin is believed to be a corruption of "Zu-ena", which signifies "knowledge lord". Like the lunar Osiris of Egypt, he was apparently an instructor of mankind; the moon measured time and controlled the seasons; seeds were sown at a certain phase of the moon, and crops were ripened by the harvest moon. The mountains of Sinai and the desert of Sin are called after this deity.

Most Babylonian myths were transcribed on clay tablets in 700 BCE and stored in the library of the Assyrian King Ashurbanipal at Nineveh. The two major epics, the Epic of Creation about Marduk’s rule over gods and men and The Gilgamesh Epic that shows a mans struggle to overcome death, are known to have originated around 2000 BCE. Marduk was originally a minor deity, but later became a powerful ruler. He was considered a creator god. After defeating Tiamat in single combat, he created the heavens and the Earth, organized the year into months, and arranged the planets and stars. He created the Tigris and Euphrates rivers from her eyes and made mountains from her udders. He smashed the weapons of Tiamat's army and put images of them at the gates to the underworld. He set up his temple at Esharra and his seat in Babylon.

Marduk's arsenal for the battle was listed as a great bow, a single arrow, a mace, lightning, and a net held by the four winds. He also crafted seven windstorms and filled his body with fire. He then mounted his storm chariot and rode off to battle. The seven hurricanes trailed behind him, causing disturbances in Tiamat's ocean. Marduk challenged her to single combat. He cast the net upon her, and snared her and the army of monsters. She tried to swallow him, and he split her jaws with the hurricanes, then split her heart and body with the arrow. He reclaimed the Tablet of Destinies from Kingu and attached it to his own breast, securing his place as overlord of all. He then embarked on his destined course of creation. Among his exploits are the developing of the calendar, and the creation of man. Mankind he crafted from the blood of Kingu, and man’s purpose was to toil and do physical labor so that the gods might spend their time in leisure. It is also worth noting that because of Tiamat’s actions, goddesses were forever after excluded from the various councils the gods held. Nanna, which Jastrow considers to be a variation of "Nannar", the "light producer", the moon god scattered darkness and reduced the terrors of night. His spirit inhabited the lunar stone, so that moon and stone worship were closely associated; it also entered trees and crops, so that moon worship linked with earth worship, as both linked with water worship.

The names for Sin were Suen and Nanna. Addressed in prayer as ‘perfect in lordiness’, Sin was associated with fertility, ‘lord of the cowherders’, the nether world, and kingship. A myth of Nanna's wooing of Ningal, the mother of goddess Inanna, relates how the god is repulsed until he has filled the rivers with the early flood, made the grain grow in the field, and caused fishes to be in the marshes, reeds along the banks of rivers, stags in the forest, plants in the desert, honey and wine in the orchards, cress in the garden, and long life in the palace. Only when all this bounty occurs is Ningal prepared to come and live with Nanna in his lofty dwelling on top of the ziggurat in Ur.  

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[|http://home.comcast.net/~chris.s/assyrbabyl-faq.html]

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[|Myths and Legends of Babylonia and Assyria]  Myths and Legends of Babylonia and AssyriaMyths and Legends of Babylonia and Assyria is a book by Donald Alexander Mackenzie published in 1915.

References [|​]"Babylonian World Mythology: God Marduk." //World Mythology, Folklore, Cultures and Classical Studies//. Web. 14 Jan. 2010. . "Babylonian World Mythology: God Marduk." //World Mythology, Folklore, Cultures and Classical Studies//. Web. 14 Jan. 2010. [].