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.They named her The Goddesswith a Vase because she was holding a cylindrical object. Unlike the flat carvings or bas-reliefs, this life-size, three-dimensional representation of the goddessreveals interesting features about her attire.On her head she wears not a milliner's chapeau but a specialhelmet; protruding from it on both sides and fitted over the ears are objects that remind one of a pilot'searphones.On her neck and upper chest the goddess wears a necklace of many small (and probablyprecious) stones; in her hands she holds a cylindrical object which appears too thick and heavy to be avase for holding water.Over a blouse of see-through material, two parallel straps run across her chest, leading back to andholding in place an unusual box of rectangular shape.The box is held tight against the back of thegoddess's neck and is firmly attached to the helmet with a horizontal strap.Whatever the box held insidemust have been heavy, for the contraption is further supported by two large shoulder pads.The weightof the box is increased by a hose that is connected to its base by a circular clasp.The complete packageof instruments - for this is what they undoubtedly were - is held in place with the aid of the two sets ofstraps that crisscross the goddess's back and chest.The parallel between the seven objects required by Inanna for her aerial journeys and the dress andobjects worn by the statue from Mari (and probably also the mutilated one found at Ishtar's temple inAshur) is easily proved.We see the "measuring pendants" - the earphones - on her ears; the rows or"chains" of small stones around her neck; the "twin stones" - the two shoulder pads - on her shoulders;the "golden cylinder" in her hands, and the clasping straps that crisscross her breast.She is indeedclothed in a "PALA garment" ("ruler's garment"), and on her head she wears the SHU.GAR.RA helmet -a term that literally means "that which makes go far into universe."All this suggests to us that the attire of Inanna was that of an aeronaut or an astronaut.The Old Testament called the "angels" of the Lord malachim - literally, "emissaries," who carried divinemessages and carried out divine commands.As so many instances reveal, they were divine airmen:Jacob saw them going up a sky ladder, Hagar (Abraham's concubine) was addressed by them from thesky, and it was they who brought about the aerial destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.The biblical account of the events preceding the destruction of the two sinful cities illustrates the factthat these emissaries were, on the one hand, anthropomorphic in all respects, and, on the other hand,they could be identified as "angels" as soon as they were observed.We learn that their appearance wassudden.Abraham "raised his eyes and, lo and behold, there were three men standing by him." Bowingand calling them "My Lords," he pleaded with them, "Do not pass over thy servant," and prevailed onthem to wash their feet, rest, and eat.Having done as Abraham had requested, two of the angels (the third "man" turned out to be the Lordhimself) then proceeded to Sodom.Lot, the nephew of Abraham, "was sitting at the gate of Sodom; andwhen he saw them he rose up to meet them and bowed to the ground, and said: If it pleases my Lords,pray come to the house of thy servant and wash your feet and sleep over-night." Then "he made for thema feast, and they ate." When the news of the arrival of the two spread in the town, "all the town's people,young and old, surrounded the house, and called out to Lot and said: Where are the men who came thisnight unto thee?"How were these men - who ate, drank, slept, and washed their tired feet - nevertheless so instantlyrecognizable as angels of the Lord? The only plausible explanation is that what they wore - theirhelmets or uniforms - or what they carried - their weapons - made them immediately recognizable.Thatthey carried distinctive weapons is certainly a possibility: The two "men" at Sodom, about to be lynchedby the crowd, "smote the people at the entrance of the house with blindness.and they were unable to find the doorway." And another angel, this time appearing to Gideon, as he was chosen to be a Judge inIsrael, gave him a divine sign by touching a rock with his baton, whereupon a fire jumped out of therock.The team headed by Andrae found yet another unusual depiction of Ishtar at her temple in Ashur.Morea wall sculpture than the usual relief, it showed the goddess with a tight-fitting decorated helmet with the"earphones" extended as though they had their own flat antennas, and wearing very distinct goggles thatwere part of the helmet.Needless to say, any man seeing a person - male or female - so clad, would at once realize that he is en-countering a divine aeronaut.Clay figurines found at Sumerian sites and believed to be some 5,500 years old may well be cruderepresentations of such malachim holding wandlike weapons.In one instance the face is seen through ahelmet's visor.In the other instance, the "emissary" wears the distinct divine conical headdress and auniform studded with circular objects of unknown function.The eye slots or "goggles" of the figurines are a most interesting feature because the Near East in thefourth millennium B.C.was literally swamped with wafer-like figurines that depicted in a stylizedmanner the upper part of the deities, exaggerating their most prominent feature: a conical helmet withelliptical visors or goggles.A hoard of such figurines was found at Tell Brak, a prehistoric site on theKhabur River, the river on whose banks Ezekiel saw the divine chariot millennia later.It is undoubtedly no mere coincidence that the Hittites, linked to Sumer and Akkad via the Khabur area,adopted as their written sign for "gods" the symbol clearly borrowed from the "eye" figurines.It is also nowonder that this symbol or hieroglyph for "divine being," expressed in artistic styles, came to dominatethe art not only of Asia Minor but also of the early Greeks during the Minoan and Mycenaean periods.The ancient texts indicate that the gods put on such special attire not only for their flights in Earth's skiesbut also when they ascended to the distant heavens.Speaking of her occasional visits to Anu at hisCelestial Abode, Inanna herself explained that she could undertake such journeys because "Enlil himselffastened the divine ME-attire about my body [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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.They named her The Goddesswith a Vase because she was holding a cylindrical object. Unlike the flat carvings or bas-reliefs, this life-size, three-dimensional representation of the goddessreveals interesting features about her attire.On her head she wears not a milliner's chapeau but a specialhelmet; protruding from it on both sides and fitted over the ears are objects that remind one of a pilot'searphones.On her neck and upper chest the goddess wears a necklace of many small (and probablyprecious) stones; in her hands she holds a cylindrical object which appears too thick and heavy to be avase for holding water.Over a blouse of see-through material, two parallel straps run across her chest, leading back to andholding in place an unusual box of rectangular shape.The box is held tight against the back of thegoddess's neck and is firmly attached to the helmet with a horizontal strap.Whatever the box held insidemust have been heavy, for the contraption is further supported by two large shoulder pads.The weightof the box is increased by a hose that is connected to its base by a circular clasp.The complete packageof instruments - for this is what they undoubtedly were - is held in place with the aid of the two sets ofstraps that crisscross the goddess's back and chest.The parallel between the seven objects required by Inanna for her aerial journeys and the dress andobjects worn by the statue from Mari (and probably also the mutilated one found at Ishtar's temple inAshur) is easily proved.We see the "measuring pendants" - the earphones - on her ears; the rows or"chains" of small stones around her neck; the "twin stones" - the two shoulder pads - on her shoulders;the "golden cylinder" in her hands, and the clasping straps that crisscross her breast.She is indeedclothed in a "PALA garment" ("ruler's garment"), and on her head she wears the SHU.GAR.RA helmet -a term that literally means "that which makes go far into universe."All this suggests to us that the attire of Inanna was that of an aeronaut or an astronaut.The Old Testament called the "angels" of the Lord malachim - literally, "emissaries," who carried divinemessages and carried out divine commands.As so many instances reveal, they were divine airmen:Jacob saw them going up a sky ladder, Hagar (Abraham's concubine) was addressed by them from thesky, and it was they who brought about the aerial destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.The biblical account of the events preceding the destruction of the two sinful cities illustrates the factthat these emissaries were, on the one hand, anthropomorphic in all respects, and, on the other hand,they could be identified as "angels" as soon as they were observed.We learn that their appearance wassudden.Abraham "raised his eyes and, lo and behold, there were three men standing by him." Bowingand calling them "My Lords," he pleaded with them, "Do not pass over thy servant," and prevailed onthem to wash their feet, rest, and eat.Having done as Abraham had requested, two of the angels (the third "man" turned out to be the Lordhimself) then proceeded to Sodom.Lot, the nephew of Abraham, "was sitting at the gate of Sodom; andwhen he saw them he rose up to meet them and bowed to the ground, and said: If it pleases my Lords,pray come to the house of thy servant and wash your feet and sleep over-night." Then "he made for thema feast, and they ate." When the news of the arrival of the two spread in the town, "all the town's people,young and old, surrounded the house, and called out to Lot and said: Where are the men who came thisnight unto thee?"How were these men - who ate, drank, slept, and washed their tired feet - nevertheless so instantlyrecognizable as angels of the Lord? The only plausible explanation is that what they wore - theirhelmets or uniforms - or what they carried - their weapons - made them immediately recognizable.Thatthey carried distinctive weapons is certainly a possibility: The two "men" at Sodom, about to be lynchedby the crowd, "smote the people at the entrance of the house with blindness.and they were unable to find the doorway." And another angel, this time appearing to Gideon, as he was chosen to be a Judge inIsrael, gave him a divine sign by touching a rock with his baton, whereupon a fire jumped out of therock.The team headed by Andrae found yet another unusual depiction of Ishtar at her temple in Ashur.Morea wall sculpture than the usual relief, it showed the goddess with a tight-fitting decorated helmet with the"earphones" extended as though they had their own flat antennas, and wearing very distinct goggles thatwere part of the helmet.Needless to say, any man seeing a person - male or female - so clad, would at once realize that he is en-countering a divine aeronaut.Clay figurines found at Sumerian sites and believed to be some 5,500 years old may well be cruderepresentations of such malachim holding wandlike weapons.In one instance the face is seen through ahelmet's visor.In the other instance, the "emissary" wears the distinct divine conical headdress and auniform studded with circular objects of unknown function.The eye slots or "goggles" of the figurines are a most interesting feature because the Near East in thefourth millennium B.C.was literally swamped with wafer-like figurines that depicted in a stylizedmanner the upper part of the deities, exaggerating their most prominent feature: a conical helmet withelliptical visors or goggles.A hoard of such figurines was found at Tell Brak, a prehistoric site on theKhabur River, the river on whose banks Ezekiel saw the divine chariot millennia later.It is undoubtedly no mere coincidence that the Hittites, linked to Sumer and Akkad via the Khabur area,adopted as their written sign for "gods" the symbol clearly borrowed from the "eye" figurines.It is also nowonder that this symbol or hieroglyph for "divine being," expressed in artistic styles, came to dominatethe art not only of Asia Minor but also of the early Greeks during the Minoan and Mycenaean periods.The ancient texts indicate that the gods put on such special attire not only for their flights in Earth's skiesbut also when they ascended to the distant heavens.Speaking of her occasional visits to Anu at hisCelestial Abode, Inanna herself explained that she could undertake such journeys because "Enlil himselffastened the divine ME-attire about my body [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]