Mythology
Mesopotamian mythology
Mesopotamia, the “land between the rivers” Tigris and Euphrates, in present-day Iraq, is one of the places where writing was born, more than five thousand years ago. Sumerians, Babylonians and Assyrians wrote on clay tablets with a reed, and they left us some of the oldest stories in the world: the creation, the flood and above all the adventure of Gilgamesh, the king who searched for immortality. Many of these stories were rediscovered and read only in the nineteenth century.
Who they were, where, and how we know
Mesopotamia, the «land between the rivers», is the region between the Tigris and the Euphrates, in today's Iraq. Here, among Sumerians, Akkadians, Babylonians and Assyrians, the first cities and writing were born about 5,000 years ago.
These are the oldest myths we have in writing. They wrote on clay with a wedge-shaped pen (cuneiform), and the tablets have survived better than any paper. Many were found at Nineveh, in the library of the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal (7th century BC): from there come the Epic of Gilgamesh and the creation poem «Enuma Elish».
The gods are Anu, the sky; Enlil, of the air; Enki, of fresh water and wisdom; Inanna (Ishtar for the Babylonians), goddess of love and war; Marduk, king of the gods of Babylon. Gilgamesh, king of Uruk, looks for the secret of immortality and finds old Utnapishtim, who survived a great flood.
The cards
GilgameshUruk, in present-day Iraq · king and hero a little scary
Enkiduthe steppe and Uruk · wild man not scary at all
Inanna (Ishtar)Uruk · goddess of love and war a little scary
Marduk and TiamatBabylon · the creation scary
EnkiEridu · god of fresh water not scary at all
Humbabathe Cedar Forest · guardian of the forest scary
Utnapishtim and the FloodShuruppak · flood survivor a little scary
The LamassuNineveh and Khorsabad · guardians not scary at all
EnlilNippur, in Iraq · god of wind and air a little scary
LilithMesopotamia · night spirit scaryWho comes from whom
Tap a name: its parents and children light up. Names with a medallion open their card (with a finger: tap them twice).
Places of the myths
- Uruk
- the city of Gilgamesh, with its very long walls: one of the first great cities in history.
- Babylon
- the city of Marduk, with the Ishtar Gate and the great stepped tower.
- The Cedar Forest
- the sacred wood guarded by Humbaba, which was perhaps in what is now Lebanon.
- Nineveh
- the Assyrian capital where the library of King Ashurbanipal was found, with thousands of tablets.
Main sources
- Epic of Gilgamesh (Nineveh version, 7th century BC)
- Enuma Elish
- Atrahasis
- The Descent of Inanna into the Underworld
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Who's behind this
Ciro Simone Irmici
I build websites, apps and games. I built the Atlas with artificial intelligence and I check every card and every source myself. I am not a scholar of mythology: I tell these legends with respect and always say where they come from. If you know a legend from your town, write to me.
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