Nisaba Charts the Heavens

Nisaba is the Sumerian goddess who invented written language. She likely began as a goddess of grain, and inspired her priestesses to keep track of the harvest with marks on clay tablets, which gradually become more complex until the first written alphabet was created. The cunieform symbol for Nisaba combines the symbols for deity and wheat.

She was the Goddess of scribes, and all writing began with her praises. She was described circa 2125 BC in the Gudea cylinder as holding a gold stylus and a clay tablet carrying the image of starry heaven. In the Hymn to Nisaba, her tablet is made is of lapis lazuli, a semi-precious gemstone prized for its deep blue color.

Nisaba Charts the Heavens original painting available through Saatchi Art. Prints, stickers, and other merch available in shop or through RedBubble or Fine Art America.

"Inscriptions make clear that her temple at Eresh was known as Esagin, 'House of Lapis Lazuli,' which was a center of worship for over 1,000 years. Her worship eventually seems to have consisted primarily of the act of writing; in composing a written work, an author was honoring the goddess with the gifts she had given. She became synonymous with wisdom and learning and was invoked regularly by scribes, scholars, priests, astronomers, and mathematicians for inspiration and guidance in their work" (source).

Nisaba Cylinder Seal, on display at the Penn Museum, Philadelphia. Captioned: "Lapis Lazuli, Ur (Iraq), A female worshipper is introduced to an enthroned goddess. Inscribed: 'Ningal-Namninhedu daugher of Lugaldingira, scribe.'" The wheat behind the Goddess and the identification of the seal's owner as daugher of a scribe indicates that this Goddess is most likely Nisaba.

Nisaba was called "great knowledgeable perceptive one" and "woman who knows everything". An architect, she drew up temple plans for her people. She was also an accountant, an astrologer, an oracle, and an interpreter of dreams (source).

Hymn to Nisaba, circa 2500 BCE

Lady coloured like the stars of heaven, holding a lapis-lazuli tablet! Nisaba, great wild cow born by Urac, wild sheep nourished on good milk among holy alkaline plants, opening the mouth for seven ...... reeds! Perfectly endowed with fifty great divine powers, my lady, most powerful in E-kur!

Dragon emerging in glory at the festival, Aruru (mother goddess) of the Land, ...... from the clay, calming ...... (1 ms. has instead: the region with cool water), lavishing fine oil (3 mss. have instead: plenty) on the foreign lands, engendered in wisdom by the Great Mountain (Enlil)! Good woman, chief scribe of An, record-keeper of Enlil, wise sage of the gods!

In order to make barley and flax grow in the furrows, so that excellent corn can be admired; to provide for the seven great throne-daises by making flax shoot forth and making barley shoot forth at the harvest, the great festival of Enlil -- in her great princely role she has cleansed her body and has put the holy priestly garment on her torso.

In order to establish bread offerings where none existed, and to pour forth great libations of alcohol, so as to appease the god of grandeur, Enlil, and to appease merciful Kusu and Ezina, she will appoint a great en priest, and will appoint a festival; she will appoint a great en priest of the Land.

He (Enki (?)) approaches the maiden Nisaba in prayer. He has organised pure food-offerings; he has opened up Nisaba's house of learning, and has placed the lapis-lazuli tablet on her knees, for her to consult the holy tablet of the heavenly stars. In Aratta he has placed E-zagina at her disposal. You have built up Erec in abundance, founded from little ...... bricks, you who are granted the most complex wisdom!

(source)

Comments

Ardipithecus ramidus, Eve of Bipedalism

Ardipithecus ramidus. Our first great grandmother to walk upright. The Eve of bipedalism. Dating to about 4.4 million years ago. Males and females of the species are similarly sized and both have canine teeth that are feminized. The males don't bare their fangs to scare off rivals. They don't have fangs. Based on these features, it can be assumed that Ardipithecus society was likely relatively egalitarian and cooperative. That's nice. Inspired by Cat Bohannon's new book, Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution. Ardipithecus ramidus, Eve of Bipedalism, original painting by Echoing Multiverse available via Saatchi Art . Stickers and other merch available through RedBubble or Fine Art America .

Homo Habilis, Eve of Serious Tool Usage

Homo Habilis as a species lived from about 2.8 - 1.5 million years ago. They are best known for the vast quantity of stone tools found with their fossils, and according to Cat Bohannon, "associated intelligent sociality". Old, sexist, white male anthropologists associated the development of tools with men's needs during the hunt. However, based on primatology studies, that theory seems unlikely to be correct. In modern chimpanzees (with whom we share 99 percent of our DNA), females are three times more likely than males to hunt with spears. Female chimps are also more adept than males at using stones to crack nuts. In Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Millions Years of Human Evolution, Cat Bohannon discusses how female chimps use sticks to stab sleeping bush babies (nocturnal squirrel-like creatures). Using sticks while hunting allows her to keep her distance, which is important, since she's often carrying her offspring while hunting. Male chimps are bigger

Sophia and the Apocryphon of John

In 1945, thirteen leather-bound papyrus codices buried in a sealed jar were found by an Egyptian farmer near the town of Nag Hammadi, Egypt. These early Christian texts date from the 3rd century CE, and include writings attributed to John the Baptist. The writings of John became known as the Secret Book of John, or the Apocryphon of John. A translation by Frederik Wisse can be read online . In the Apocryphon, there is a female counterpart to the Father - the holy Mother, Barbelo. "She is the forethought of the All - her light shines like his light - the perfect power... The first power, the glory of Barbelo, the perfect glory in the aeons, the glory of the revelation... she became the womb of everything, for it is she who is prior to them all, the Mother-Father." I became aware of the Apocryphon of John after reading a graphic novel by Marisa Acocella, The Big She-Bang, The Herstory of the Universe According to God the Mother (highly recommended, by the way). In addit

Bi Pride Symbol

It's Diversity and Inclusion week at the offspring's school. Last year they had Wear the Rainbow day and of 1700ish students and staff, the teen saw three others participating. So afterwards I asked teachers and her guidance counselor to consider participating next time because it didn't make the kid feel good diversity and inclusion vibes to be so alone. Direct result or just coincidence: this year's Diversity and Inclusion week substituted On Wednesdays We Wear Pink day in the place of Wear the Rainbow day. Mean Girls peer pressure totally says diversity and inclusion to me. So, in protest, the kid has made every day this week gay day with their wardrobe choices. So proud. And it coincided with me reading I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston, which is an amazing book. Quote from the author: "...you deserve ridiculous, over-the-top high school rom-coms about teenagers like you, just like the straight kids have!" Recent surveys have shown that mor

Having a Child Is Like Having Your Heart Walk Around Outside Your Body

I've been reading a lot about evolutionary psychology lately. It seems that what really made us human was the bond between mother and child. Our big brains force us into the world before we can even hold up our own heads. We essentially must continue gestating outside the womb. The learning and empathy that develops between mother and child in infancy forms the basis of everything we call love, and lays the foundation for our cooperative culture. Evolution, driven by the mothers. It's been a series of fascinating reads, and it's reminded me of the quote about how having a child is like forever having a piece of your heart walking around outside your body. Or, in the case of my painting, your whole heart. My heart and I, walking through the parking lot of the New York Renaissance Faire a couple of years ago. Having a Child Is Like Having Your Heart Walk Around Outside Your Body, original painting by Echoing Multiverse. Available via Saatchi Art . Prints, stickers,

Feminist Protest Fist

I first saw a version of the feminist protest fist symbol on a t shirt that said, "I'd rather be fighting the man." I really wanted it, but didn't have the money to buy it at the time. If I was making a new version, I'd pair the symbol with "I'd rather be fighting the patriarchy." It's a system, not an individual. Feminist Protest Fist - I'd Rather Be Fighting the Patriarchy, original painting by Echoing Multiverse available via Saatchi Art . Stickers, t shirts, and other merch available through RedBubble or Fine Art America . Patriarchy is also not a universal system. There are many matrilineal cultures still existing in the world, even with the global imperial capitalist missionary patriarchy actively working to squash them into submission. Patriarchy with patrilineal descent is not the natural state of humanity. It is one possibility, that is actually pretty rare historically. Fighting the patriarchy is not futile. Figure 1. M

Echoing Multiverse

Search This Blog