The Sumerian 'Stargates'

That the Sumerians concieved of gates located at the Eastern and Western extremeties of horizon, that provided ascent to the Heavens or descent into the Underworld is a fairly non-contentious issue regarding their mythology, for example In Wayne Horwitz 'Mesopotamian Cosmic Geography';






And again one finds these gates often referanced throughout the study as seen here;


Sumerian Heavenly Gates




The gates in question obviously relate to the intersection of the ecliptic plane with the local E/W horizons, the place were the Sun, moon, planets are seen to rise and set, as well as the stars along the ecliptic plane/zodiac.

Two furthur aspects though i also want to consider here, the mountain located at these gates, and any concern with the galactic equator/Milky Way also intersecting with the ecliptic plane and local horizon.


The basic cosmological model then was a straight forward one, the mountain located at E/W horizons providing either ascent into the high Heavens or into the Underworld and/or watery abyss, the Abzu of Enki.







There is also good evidence for the identification of many of the constellations of the Sumerians, so we can get a basic fix on how they saw the Heavens, and the constellations around the ecliptic plane/zodiac thus;








When the Milky Way intersects with the ecliptic plane at the local horizon it will always be at two relatively fixed points, in the region of Gemini/Taurus/Orion and Scorpio/Sagittarius opposite. Here then is an example of the horizon/ecliptic plane/Milky Way intersecting at Sunrise, in this case in the Scorpio region.


What should be noted also here is the location of Pisces located between the two gates, to the Sumerians this was the watery region of the Enki and the Abzu, the abyss, this giving the fix then on their cosmology, the circumpolar region will also be opposite in the North.







The location of the Abzu shrine is noted here as being situated by the constellation 'The Field', this being in the region of Andromeda, thus seemingly the Abzu shrine is the 'fish' constellation between Pisces and the sea goat, Capricorn, thus the region, perhaps not surprisingly, of Aquarius, that overall quadrant having association with the sea.

The lord established a shrine, a holy shrine, whose interior is elaborately constructed. He established a shrine in the sea, a holy shrine, whose interior is elaborately constructed. The shrine, whose interior is a tangled thread,is beyond understanding.


The shrine's emplacement is situated by the constellation the Field, the holy upper shrine's emplacement faces towards the Chariot constellation. Its terrifying sea is a rising wave, its splendour is fearsome


ETCSL TextT




The iconography that first suggested to me that the Sumerians had an interest in the intersection of the Milky Way with the ecliptic plane was from these cyclinder seals;







Here is seen a winged gate or ladder above the Bull of Heaven, which i would take as Taurus, thus the concern here would be with the Taurus/Orion/Gemini intersection point. Inana is seen emerging from the gate, or her serpent/rainbow necklace seen associated, or a figure of Death is seen emerging in the case of the Gilgimish example.

Other points to note in those seals, top right, the plant of life, top left Gilgimish fishing out the double helix serpent which has swallowed the plant of life, bottom left a Semitic version were the sky God Hadad stands upon the mountain of the two horizons, thus putting Ishtar/inana and the Bull of Heaven in the context of the horizon event. The portal super-structure which often has flanking guardians i would take as the Sumerian 'Twin' constellation, Gemini.



Furthur examples;








Top left, Inana asks for the Bull of Heaven from Anu, top right horned Ishtar enthroned with double helix serpent, bottom left winged Ishtar emerges from portal with two twin guardians above Bull of Heaven, bottom right enthroned horned Ishtar, stars planets rising above mountain of the horizon, Scorpion seen above this.


Furthur examples,







Generally Shamash the sun God emerging in association with the mountain of the horizon, Ishtar seen also bottom example and plant of life as well as Enki present.


Inana/Ishtar as Venus the evening or morning star thus has very strong association with thse portals;




I shall greet her who ascends above, her who ascends above,
I shall greet the Mistress who ascends above,
I shall greet the great lady of heaven, Inana!
I shall greet the holy torch who fills the heavens,
the light, Inana, her who shines like daylight,
the great lady of heaven, Inana!
I shall greet the Mistress,
the most awesome lady among the Anuna gods;
the respected one who fills heaven and earth with her huge brilliance;
the eldest daughter of Suen, Inana!
For the young lady I shall sing a song about her grandeur, about her greatness,
about her exalted dignity;
about her radiantly ascending at evening;
about her filling the heaven like a holy torch;
about her stance in the heavens, as noticeable by all lands,
from the south to the highlands, as that of Nanna or of Utu;
about the greatness of the mistress of heaven


In fact she rather demanded it;


Ishtar on arriving at the gate of the land of no return,
To the gatekeeper thus addressed herself:

"Gatekeeper, ho, open thy gate!
Open thy gate that I may enter!
If thou openest not the gate to let me enter,
I will break the door, I will wrench the lock,
I will smash the door-posts, I will force the doors.
I will bring up the dead to eat the living.
And the dead will outnumber the living."



DESCENT OF THE GODDESS ISHTAR INTO THE LOWER WORLD



Her primary role then was based on her role as evening/morning star, in the myths one finds the tradition of seven gates into the Underworld or into the Heavens, this numeric tradition perhaps deriving from the sun, moon and five planets passing through the gates along the ecliptic plane.



The name of the mountain at the horizons, Masu, means again 'Twin', there is always confusion as to whether this is two opposite peaks or a singular mountain, in a sense it is both and neither, it is a mountain that appears above the horizon before sunrise and/or sunset, and thus seen in the singular, and is the same mountain in both cases.

The confusion lies in the mountain moving in conjunction with the ecliptic plane, such that it is always above the point of sunrise or sunset, whatever the time of year, and thus the mountain is an aspect of the ecliptic plane, ie the zodiacal light, to be explained furthur part II

Part II....


The primary concern of the Gilgimish epic is of of the journey to the Masu mountains, the descent of Gilgimish into the underworld, his search for the plant of Life, his entrance into the Heavenly realms, along the road of the sun, ie ecliptic plane;



The Mashu mountains I give to you freely (!),
the mountains, the ranges, you may traverse ...
In safety may your feet carry you.
The gate of the mountain ..."
As soon as Gilgamesh heard this
he heeded the utterances of the scorpion-being.


The mountain is called Mashu.
Then he reached Mount Mashu,
which daily guards the rising and setting of the Sun,
above which only the dome of the heavens reaches,
and whose flank reaches as far as the Netherworld below
Along the Road of the Sun he journeyed


As noted in the opening post, i consider the mountain of the horizon that appears before sunrise and after sunset the zodiacal light, as this is in conjunction with the ecliptic plane, so again factors under consideration, the ecliptic plane/Mlky Way interesction with the horizon, the primary role of Venus, the zodiacal light, as all seen here;







It's the importance of the mountain symbolism i now want to look at, as i believe this is of the utmost importance in realising what the ziggurat represented, and its central role in Sumerian culture.


Here is what they wrote of their ziggurats;


House of terrifying radiance, iiterior full with princely divine powers, a beaming light which shines, exuding great awesomeness, foundation of heaven and earth, shrine where destiny is determined, floating in the heavens like a princely barge, the heroes make their way straight into its interior and perform its oracle rites perfectly, the true house of youth....for him who declares that he is of the mountain, the house comes forth like the daylight


E-unir (House which is a ziqqurat), grown together with heaven and earth, foundation of heaven and eart



O ......, shrine where destiny is determined, ......, foundation, raised with a ziqqurat, ......, settlement of Enlil, your ......, your right and your left are Sumer and Akkad. House of Enlil, your interior is cool, your exterior determines destiny. Your door-jambs and architrave are a high mountain, your projecting pilasters a dignified mountain. Your peak is a ...... peak of your princely platform. Your base serves heaven and eart



O E-melem-huc (House of terrifying radiance) exuding great awesomeness, Ec-mah (Magnificent shrine), to which princely divine powers were sent from heaven, storehouse of Enlil founded for the primeval divine powers, worthy of nobility, lifting your head in princeship, counsellor of E-kur, pillar of the surroundings, your house ...... the platform with heave


O E-mu-mah (House with a magnificent name), rising mountain of heaven, your holy sides and your great foundation are most precious. Interior full with princely divine powers, a beaming light which shines, shrine with your back to the blue sky and your prominent front to all people, in the Land it represents a binding agreement and a single track. Magnificent river with open mouth gathering together your ...... divine powers, your base is great in awesomeness, a righteous hill grown in a broad place.


O E-sikil (Pure house) whose pure divine powers are supreme in all lands, whose name is high and mighty, magnificent dwelling of the warrior, holy house of Ninazu, house of the holy divine powers! House, your divine powers are pure divine powers, your lustration is a cleansing lustration. The warrior refreshes himself in your dwelling. Ninazu dines on your platform



Good house, built in a good location, house Kec, (some mss. add here: good house,) built in a good location, floating in the heavens like a princely barge, like a holy barge furnished with a ...... gate, like the boat of heaven, the platform of all the lands! ...... from the riverbank like a ...... boat cabin! House roaring like an ox, bellowing loudly like a breed-bull! House in whose interior is the power of the Land, and behind which is the life of Sumer!

Its king is worthy of Enlil the king in the true house of youth. The hero Ninurta is worthy of Enlil the king in the true house of youth. The offspring (?) of Ninlil is worthy of Enlil the king in the true house of youth. The lord, the hero (?) of the E-kur, is worthy of Enlil the king in the true house of youth. The offspring (?) of Enlil is worthy of Enlil the king in the true house of youth. Lord Acimbabbar is worthy of Enlil the king in the true house of youth. The princely son of the E-kur is worthy of Enlil the king in the true house of youth



The recurring theme in the hymns is of a mountain, foundation of Heaven and Earth, coming forth as the dawn, restorer of youth, shining with radiance, full of Divine powers, floating in the Heavens. If the mountain of the horizon is then taken as the premise for the ziggurat, there follows the associations of a place, path, stairway, gateway granting ascension to the Heavens, or descent into the dark, tangled levels of the Underworld/Abzu, this in relationship to the sun descending into the underworld at sunset and being reborn/youth restored, at sunrise...these would be aspects of the sacred mountain.


One can add to that again the Deities of the sun, moon and five planets would ascend into the mountain at sunset and emerge from beneath at sunrise, as well as the stars of the constellations, and that ziggurat becomes a mighty powerful symbolic structure to create in the centre of your city...a ritual focus for the daily cosmic mysteries.



To furthur clarify, the zodiacal light will always be in conjunction with the ecliptic plane, and manifest before and after sunrise/sunset, though not always easily seen, dependant upon atmospheric conditions.

The Milky Way will only move into conjunction with the ecliptic plane at particular times of year, when this occours shifts over time.

At present as is well known the conjunction with the Scorpio/Saggitarius point will occour at the Winter Solstice, what is less well known is that the Gemini/Taurus point will be in conjunction at the Summer solstice, and it's this that according to the iconography the Sumerians seemed the more interested in , or so it seems to me.

Hi,

Read your thread...and it seemed very interesting, at least noted a very good piece of work/study, but dont you want to make a conclusion on it?

Regards

reply to post by quelmarth




Hi, guess my conclusion would be that as well as the known and accepted gateways of the horizon with regards to the ecliptic pathway, the Sumerians also took into account when this intercepted with the Milky Way, and were particularly interested in the intersection at Taurus/Gemini, in terms of descent into the Underworld/Abzu regions to recover the plant of life, under the auspices of Ishtar, and made the mountain symbolism of the horizon events the focal point of their culture...not sure if that helps any though.

Have you looked into ursa major the seven star sof the big dipper which in egypt is the leg of shem being the seven gateways to another realm?

these seven stars also represent the 7 chakras.

as above so below.

reply to post by metalholic




It would be unlikely because the number was directly associated with the gateways of the ecliptic plane, sometimes the Deities rode out on seven beasts through seven gates for example, and obviously the stars of Ursa cannot travel the ecliptic plane.



Having said that the gateways into the underworld were associated with parts of Ishtars ornamentation/body.



Ereshkigal opened her mouth and spoke,
To Namtar, her messenger, she addressed herself.
"Go, Namtar, knock at the strong palace,
Strike the threshold of precious stones,
Bring out the Anunnaki, seat them on golden thrones.
Sprinkle Ishtar with the waters of life and take her out of my presence.
Namtar went, knocked at the strong palace,
Tapped on the threshold of precious stones.
He brought out the Anunnaki and placed them on golden thrones,
He sprinkled Ishtar with the waters of life and took hold of her.
Through the first gate he led her out and returned to her her loin-cloth.
Through the second gate he led her out and returned to her the spangles of her hands and feet
Through the third gate he led her out and returned to her the girdle of her body, studded with birth-stones.
Through the fourth gate he led her out and returned to her the ornaments of her breast.
Through the fifth gate he led her out and returned to her her necklace.
Through the sixth gate he led her out and returned her earrings.
Through the seventh gate he led her out and returned to her the large crown for her head.

Microcosm and Macrocosm, Reality and Fantasy, and the Gate Between: the Seventeen Axioms.

1. There is a world we see, and a world we don't see.
2. Actions that take place in the world we see can influence circumstabces in the world we don't.

3.Actions that take place in the world we don't see influence circumstances in the world we see.
4.The world we see is a visible emblem of the world we don't see.

5.The human life cycle begins at birth, lasts through life, and ends at death. At death another phase of existence may be experienced.

6.Since our bodies can be destroyed by fire or water decay or some form of burial if there is a experience beyond death there must be some of form of the body we can't see

7.I fhtere is a form of our bodies we can't see it belongs to the world we don't see.
8.SInce we cannot see the underworld it belongs to the world we don't see.

9.The world we see is related to light which makes things visible and measureable. The world we don't see is related to darkness which makes things invisible and unmeasureable.

10.At night the stars and planets are visible points of light.
11.Asthese lights are actually themselves seen then they must have unseen counterparts in the world we can't see.

12.There must be points of tangence between the visible world and the invisible world: a channel of communication.

13.There are functions within our bodies that remain invisible to us.
14.The gate used to pass from the visible world to the invisible world outside our bodies may be the same gate as used to travel from visible centers to the invisible centers within our bodies.

15.If there is no visible sign of a phenomenon the that phenomenon is deemed not to have an invisible existence.

16.Communication between the two worlds can be weak or strong.
17.It is advisable to practice strong communication through the medium magic.

The gates are related to the seven philosophical planets that is mercury,venus,mars,jupiter,and saturn. Together with two luminaries sun and moon.

You should look up shangqing Daoism and learn about the three in one as Anu Enki and Enlil must be provoked to enter the gates.

The seven gates are seals to the 7 gods of summeria.

And the reason why I said Ursa Major or the big dipper is because the big dipper never leaves the northern hemisphere. If I remeber right.

All this information is stored in Necronomicon Gateways. It tells you all you need to know.

reply to post by metalholic

The gates are related to the seven philosophical planets that is mercury,venus,mars,jupiter,and saturn. Together with two luminaries sun and moon.

You should look up shangqing Daoism and learn about the three in one as Anu Enki and Enlil must be provoked to enter the gates.

The seven gates are seals to the 7 gods of summeria.

And the reason why I said Ursa Major or the big dipper is because the big dipper never leaves the northern hemisphere. If I remeber right.

The paths and associated gates of Enlil, Ea, Anu, were understood as being across the horizons, thus they divided the horizon into bands E/W, and astral bodies could be described in terms of which band they were in, the gates may have related to the two solstice points and due E/W equinox...see





Referances to Ea, Enlil, Anu paths


You are right about Ursa Major being a circumpolar constellation.

Sounds interesting.
I'll come back later and read all.

very interesting thread allow me study it at more depth

I find the Sumerian culture fascinating but all I am gathering out of this article is that they had an understanding of constellations similar to other ancient cultures. This isn't surprising considering that's all they had to look at for a good 9 hours every night. Life was probably pretty mundane back then, look at the sky every single night for hours, for the rest of your life and I am certain we would all develop a deep understanding of it. While their understanding was pretty advanced their way of explaining this was primitive. Such as describing the sun sinking into the underworld. The Ziggurat buildings are also fascinating but most stories describe it like the bible, they built stairways into heaven, or as it describes, boats/vehicles, ways of passage into the heavens above. Whether one believes they were copying some UFOs they once saw or doing as they were instructed to by some more advanced beings is for us conspiracy theorists to speculate but I always prefer to keep an ear open to the most simplest of explanations and that they were just big buildings, architectural achievements, places of worship and excuses to get society organized towards some sort of project. Just some thoughts of mine.

reply to post by metalholic


Star for you.Your words hold a great truth and remind me of a friend I lost,someone who preached the same,unfortunately most people don't care ,they find that insufficient,they want benevolent alien overlords,reincarnation,karma,ascension,cheap spirituality and instant enlightenment.

reply to post by Kantzveldt


Thank you for this post. I have always been intrigued with the history of the Sumerians, along with other ancient cultures. Always enjoy any info about them ...... great post.

S&F

snarky

reply to post by adnachiel21


Good work I love it.

reply to post by LausDeo



Thanks for your thoughts, i find it interesting how concepts were developed from direct observation of natural phenomena and in conjunction with the intellect and imagination manifest in what we would now consider 'the mundane'.


Take the image below, showing i would consider the mountain of the horizon, the zodiacal light cone, this also the premise for the ziggurat, the ladders/stairway into the Heavens. Above this probably the schematic for the Earth and it's four quadrants, or naturally a ziggurat seen from above, as the ideas developed in tandem, and the four faces of a ziggurat would be correspondant to the Earth.

reply to post by snarky412



Thanks, and also to the others that have expressed interest ...

Here is a mystery to contemplate, it has been considered that the Dynastic count of Nippur began at point zero between the transition from the zodiac age of Gemini into the age of Taurus, at the Spring Equinox;




The Sumerians consider the New Year to begin at the exact moment when the Sun crossed the Spring equinox. Professor Stephen Langdon (Tablets from the Archives of Drenhem) found that records left by Dungi, a ruler of Ur circa 2400 B.C., show that the Nippurian calendar selected a certain celestial body by whose setting against the sunset it was possible to determine the exact moment of the New Year’s arrival. This, he concluded, was done "perhaps 2,000 years before the era of Dungi" - that is, circa 4400 B.C


Professor Jeremias (The Old Testament in the Light of the Ancient East) found evidence showing that the Sumerian zodiacal-chronological "point zero" stood precisely between the Bull and the Twins; from this and other data he concluded that the zodiac was devised in the Age of Gemini (the Twins)


Professor H. V. Hilprecht (The Babylonian Expedition of the University of Pennsylvania) went even farther.



Studying thousands of tablets bearing mathematical tabulations, he concluded that,

"all the multiplication and division tables from the temple libraries of Nippur and Sippar, and from the library of Ashurbanipal [in Nineveh] are based upon [the number] 12960000."

Analyzing this number and its significance, he concluded that it could be related only to the phenomenon of the precession, and that the Sumerians knew of the Great Year of 25,920 years.








As can be seen this would be circa a quarter turn of the zodiac or great precession era ago, the transition through three zodiac sectors having elapsed. As mentioned in the OP, the Gemini/Taurus intersection of the ecliptic plane and Milky Way that then would therefore have trasnspired at the Spring equinox now occours at the Summer Solstice, a quarterly progression having transpired (and thus the Sorpio point of intersection now occuring at Winter Solstice would have been then at the Autumn equinox, due East, as was the Spring equinox naturally).

There is certainly good iconographic evidence for the Sumerians having interest in the Gemini/Taurus point of intersection relationship to the horizon, and if this marked the commencement of their Dynastic calenders understandably so.


The mystery deepens, in that as i outline, an aspect of the Gilgimish mythology is his descent into the watery underworld in seach of the plant of Life, this began at the Gemini/Taurus mountain/gate, and from there he decends into the Abzu, the bottom of which would correspond to the Pisces/Aquarius point of intersection, in this constellation based mythological narrative,then he rises toward the gate of the Scorpion people and from there to the High Heavens.


The plant of Life lies at the very bottom of the watery region, amongst the fishes, and as the story goes it has been swallowed by the serpent, generally represented in intertwined/double helix form, this maintaining the secrets of immortality and eternal youth within it.








A very cool story...



'I have come in search of life,
To see Ziusudra, my forefather -
He who survived the Flood
And joined the Assembly of the Gods
I wish to ask him about life and death.'
The Scorpion-Man opened his mouth to speak, said to Gilgamesh:
'There never was a mortal, Gilgamesh,
Never one who could do that.
No one has travelled the mountain's path
For twelve double-hours its bowels....
Dense is the darkness and there is no light.
To the rising of the Sun.......
To the setting of the Sun



'Whether it be in sorrow,
Whether it be in pain,
In cold, in heat,
In sighing, in weeping,
I will go!
Let the gate of the mountain now be opened!'
The Scorpion-Man opened his mouth to speak,
Said to Gilgamesh:
'Go, then, Gilgamesh, go you forth.
May you cross the mountains of Mashu,
May you traverse the mountains and ranges.
May you go in safety.
The gate of the mountain is now open to you!'
When Gilgamesh heard this,
When he heard the words of the Scorpion-Man,
He travelled from the east to west
Along the road of the Sun.



He knows the moment of rising is near.
He is impatient for the end of the double hours.
When he had gone eleven double hours
He rose just before the Sun
When he had gone twelve double
Day had grown bright (Upon seeing the bejewelled shrubs, he approaches them
The carnelian bears its fruit
And hung it is with goodly vines,
The lapis lazuli bears leaves
Lush fruit also hangs from it
It is fine to the eye.

.

The Egyptians among others were also obsessed with the heavenly gates .

Through History various cultures created structures ..

The Tower of Babel the Great pyramid at Giza the Pyramid of Cholula and many others were dedicated towards that purpose .

The language describing all these structures say they were created to open the Gates of heaven .

Because that is what they did ...

This is in each case an attempt to recreate a lost technology .

These are not myths of gods and mythical creatures and catastrophes they are real .

These places were built and at least in the case of the middle eastern examples led to cataclysmic events

I just wanted to point that out .. Your post is excellent !

Thy this on for size ....

The gates are on other worlds too .

You open one here and one there and you can traverse the distance instantly .

How ? The Gates create holes in time / space .... Think Philadelphia Experiment .

Star for you

.

just saw this image THX I have goose bumps

files.abovetopsecret.com...

Do you understand the eternal youth aspect I think I do but that will take some typing though ..

It has to do with consuming the mufcut and the field generated in the well lets cal it queens chamber area of one of these structures .

.

reply to post by R0CR13



Yes certainly the Egyptians shared this interest in gates of the horizon, but that for another thread at a later date...

Gates that actually functioned and transported you to other planets, i'm not aware of any physical evidence for, nor would i understand how they worked, thus i try to stick to evidence that i am aware of and my expertise is in understanding symbolic iconography.


Do i understand what was intended by the plant of Life... maybe

reply to post by Kantzveldt


That is rather fascinating, it does appear to be a aerial view of the Ziggurat. What was the significance of the two snakes intertwined mean in Sumerian culture? I have heard some conspiracy theorists say it looks awfully similar to the DNA helix and may be some way of interrupting that in a primitive way. I do find the stories of this Enki character interesting as well, teaching science, agriculture to human beings. A couple more questions, do you have any idea on how the Sumerians stored written knowledge, I understand it was on stone tablets in a very early cuniform but where did they store these tablets? The world's first libraries? Temples? Did anyone have access to this info or maybe just an elite few as it is in some third world countries and throughout history, I also wonder who the genius was who developed the written written word.. What a debt we owe him. What's interesting is if you follow the spoken word and how it transformed over time, like the earliest word for "god".