Heathens, Pagans and Witches discussion

A thread to discuss comparative religion...

I can recommend Aryan Sun Myths: The Origin of Religions - so many links...

Interesting, Jaq, thanks for the link.

An Introduction to the Study of Comparative Religion is free for Kindle at the moment.

Although the single reviewer says that it has 'too many words' and is 'rather dated'.

Please ignore that one - I've just checked - it was written in 1908 as a guide for missionaries and 'dated' is an understatement - it's a dinosaur but not so appealing...

I'm up to page 168 of Folk-Lore in the Old Testament: Studies in Comparative Religion, Legend and Law by Sir James George Frazer; very comprehensive, detailed and thought-provoking. You can read Volume 1 of 3 Here - I think the others are also in the archive.

Re. the above: I think Frazer must have collected every version of every flood myth from everywhere in the world. I'm up to page 205 and, fascinating as the nuances of the different stories are, beginning to wish I'd started the abridged version instead.

Nell, do you have the link for the abridged version?

This is the abridged version - the three volume edition was published in 1918 or 1919.

Here's the Amazon link.

Thanks, Nell. I just found the kindle edition. Buying it now $2.99 :
http://www.amazon.com/Folklore-Old-Te...

Gina, that's not the abridged version - it's volume 1 of three...

I just figured that too :0 *sigh* Oh, well will save this one for a time when I have lots of time! Couldn't find a kindle version of the abridged edition, do you know of one?

Sorry, no. It is the sort of book to dip and and out of though - you don't have to read it all at once. :)

That's o.k. It looks great. I'll find and download No 2 and 3 too. :) Gina

Linking this thread on the Egyptian Gods here too: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

And also this thread: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Adding The 12th Planet by Zecharia Sitchin to this thread. Great chapters on Sumerian mythology and comparative mythology/pantheons.

For my third novel I did a lot of research on Inanna, the great mother goddess of the Sumerians (later to be known as Ishtar and many other names all the way down to Venus/Aphrodite and Demeter). To understand the Sumerians, one of the first great agricultural civilizations, I think it's essential to understand Inanna. She was central to their culture. Inanna had her own version of the dying god, Dumuzi, and her own descent into the underworld, where she became Ereshkigal, the Queen of the Underworld. She's the prototype of Demeter and Persephone rolled into one, but without losing one bit of her power to male dominance. She's the great goddess in all her glory, all her sexual and fertile power.

The book I would recommend most for Sumerian mythology is Inanna, Queen of Heaven and Earth: Her Stories and Hymns from Sumer by Diane Wolkstein and Samuel Noah Kramer.

What I love about this book is that it is Sumerian mythology as told by the Sumerians themselves. Kramer, the leading cuneiformist at the time and until his death, did a literal translation of everything regarding the great goddess, and Wolkstein, a folklorist and storyteller, reworked them into a form for modern readers.

Gilgamesh is also important, as this epic is the basis for much of the stuff that winds up in the Bible, like the great flood and Noah. Mostly, what I love about it is the way it portrays friendship, grief, and transformation. There are several translations of this epic poem, from the literal prose Oxford version to many poetic retellings. My all time favorite version is Gilgamesh: A Verse Narrative by Herbert Mason. It's beautiful and quite moving. Stephen Mitchell does an interesting version of Gilgamesh. Although I'm a fan of Mitchell's I didn't like his as well as Mason's.

I do not recommend Daily Life in Mesopotamia or any of the books in the Daily Life series.

Going a little farther afield I'd recommend two books that are harder to find these days (and expensive when you do find them), but great works of rebel scholarship. Great iconoclastic works, both of them.

The first is The Metamorphosis Of Baubo: Myths Of Woman's Sexual Energy
by Winifred Milius Lubell This doesn't deal specifically with Inanna and Sumeria (although both are covered in the book), but with the forgotten (repressed?) figure of Baubo. Baubo was the nurse maid who comforted Demeter after her loss of Kore/Persephone to Hades by making her laugh. Baubo raised her skirts to show her pudenda, reinforcing to Demeter that she had not lost her power when robbed of Kore. Baubo is the rawest form of female potency. Lubell traces her from the ancient myths, down to the Sheilah-Na-Gig of Celtic myth (and a subversive element in Christian church decoration, celebrating the old goddess).

And for an original and breathtaking look at Neolithic myth and culture, I'd recommend Plato Prehistorian: 10,000 to 5000 B.C. Myth, Religion, Archaeology by Mary Settegast. This one is especially hard to find, I'm afraid, but Settegast put out a subsequent volume that's a little easier to find and not quite as expensive: When Zarathustra Spoke: The Reformation Of Neolithic Culture And Religion. She emphasizes Zarathustra, which is important because he glorified agriculture over hunter-gatherer modes, and the great agricultural civilizations revered the fertility goddesses. Settegast also pushes Zarathustra's time and religion back to about 5000 B.C.A., which modern scholars balk at. They like to assign him to 500 B.C.A., but Settegast argues that he makes more sense in a far earlier era, as was originally thought of him. Her original book is longer and full of gorgeous artwork, so if by some miracle you can find a reasonable copy, grab it.

Anyway, I've nattered on quite long enough.

Have added the last three books. Thanks Peejay! Agree on Inanna book and the Gilgamesh and Enkidu epic.

I've packed all my books ready to move. When I get them out I'll add some to this thread too. :)