Thanks Red Badger. This has come up before, still no sale. :') Buuuuut, a nice too-list topic, so, kudos.
|
Thanks Red Badger. This has come up before, still no sale. :') Buuuuut, a nice too-list topic, so, kudos.
|
The Sumerian civilization dwindled approximately 3500 years ago, replaced by peoples from the North and East; a replacement that was often the result of war. There are several lament texts that have been found, each mourning the destruction of a different Sumerian city. These texts are all from the same time period, causing one to wonder if the laments are simply reflections of humans at war, or truly those of wars of the Gods themselves - quarreling over their own ideologies.
http://www.gatewaystobabylon.com/myths/texts/lamentations/lamentur.html
excerpt:
(Great) fires he lit that heralded the storm. The people mourn.
And lit on either flank of furious winds the searing heat of the desert.
Like flaming heat of noon this fire scorched.
The storm ordered by Enlil in hate, the storm which wears away the country,
covered Ur like a cloth, veiled it like a linen sheet.
On that day did the storm leave the city; that city was a ruin.
O father Nanna, that town was left a ruin. The people mourn.
On that day did the storm leave the country. The people mourn.
Its people(’s corpses), not potsherds,
littered the approaches.
The walls were gaping;
the high gates, the roads,
were piled with dead.
In the wide streets, where feasting crowds (once) gathered, jumbled they lay.
In all the streets and roadways bodies lay.
In open fields that used to fill with dancers,
the people lay in heaps.
The country’s blood now filled its holes, like metal in a mold;
bodies dissolved — like butter left in the sun.
http://www.gatewaystobabylon.com/myths/lamentations.htm
Lament for the Cities of Turin and Sumer
92...The dark time was roasted by hailstones and flames. The bright time was wiped out by a shadow. (2 mss. add 2 lines: On that bloody day, mouths were crushed, heads were crashed. The storm was a harrow coming from above, the city was struck by a hoe.) On that day, heaven rumbled, the earth trembled, the storm worked without respite. Heaven was darkened, it was covered by a shadow; the mountains roared. Utu lay down at the horizon, dust passed over the mountains. Nanna lay at the zenith, the people were afraid. The city ...... stepped outside. The foreigners in the city even chased away its dead. Large trees were uprooted, the forest growth was ripped out. The orchards were stripped of their fruit, they were cleaned of their offshoots. The crop drowned while it was still on the stalk, the yield of the grain diminished...
