The Sumerian 'Flood-Storm' weapon.

The Sumerian Sar-Ur weapon of Ningirsu/Ninurta, or 'Flood-Storm', was described as the ultimate weapon, it could fly...


'No-resisting-this-storm, a falcon against the foreign lands whose wing bears the deluge of battle'


In his heart he beamed at his lion-headed weapon, as it flew up like a bird, trampling the mountains for him. It raised itself on its wings to take away prisoner the disobedient, it spun around the horizon of heaven to find out what was happening.

It also gave off great radiance, and brought forth light like the day, it could also speak, and was capable of bringing fire, deluge and poison, all in all the ultimate weapon that could obliterate mountains.

"85-96: The Sharur, the heavenly mitum mace finished in gold and lapis lazuli. The exceedingly magnificent fifty-headed battle-mace who has no equal. The-enemy-cannot-escape, trustworthy in battle. The mighty general of the E-ninnu who in battle subdues all of the foreign lands. Crushes-a-myriad, whose presence is amazing. The hero who comes down from the great mountains. The Sharur, that which brings forth light like the day. The perfect weapon which consumes the rebellious land like fire. Obliterator-of-the-mountains, the maintainer of the people in heaven and earth. The tireless one who never sleeps. No-resisting-this-storm, a falcon against the foreign lands whose wing bears the deluge of battle. The right arm of Lagash whose awesome radiance covers the Land."




The hero Ninurta led the march through the rebel lands. He killed their messengers in the mountains, he crushed (?) their cities, he smote their cowherds over the head like fluttering butterflies, he tied together their hands with hirin grass, so that they dashed their heads against walls. The lights of the mountains did not gleam in the distance any longer. People gasped for breath (?); those people were ill, they hugged themselves, they cursed the Earth, they considered the day of the Asag's birth a day of disaster. The lord caused bilious poison to run over the rebel lands. As he went the gall followed, anger filled his heart, and he rose like a river in spate and engulfed all the enemies. In his heart he beamed at his lion-headed weapon, as it flew up like a bird, trampling the mountains for him. It raised itself on its wings to take away prisoner the disobedient, it spun around the horizon of heaven to find out what was happening. Someone from afar came to meet it, brought news for the tireless one, the one who never rests, whose wings bear the deluge, the Šar-ur. What did it gather there …… for Lord Ninurta? It reported the deliberations of the mountains, it explained their intentions to Lord Ninurta, it outlined (?) what people were saying about the Asag.


Ninurta's exploits: a šir-sud (?) to Ninurta: c.1.6.2
The weapon which loved the lord, obedient to its master, the Šar-ur …… for Lord Ninurta to his father in Nibru ……. The awesome splendour enveloped Ninurta like a garment, ……. …… bound him: therefore the lord ……. The weapon …… spoke to Enlil.

Ninurta's exploits: a šir-sud (?) to Ninurta: c.1.6.2
The weapon, its heart ……, was reassured: it slapped its thighs, the Šar-ur began to run, it entered the rebel lands, joyfully it reported the message to Lord Ninurta:

Ninurta's exploits: a šir-sud (?) to Ninurta: c.1.6.2
The lord …… the wind. In his battle he smote the mountains with a cudgel. The Šar-ur made the storm-wind rise to heaven, scattering the people; like …… it tore. Its spittle alone destroyed the townspeople. The destructive mace set fire to the mountains, the murderous weapon smashed skulls with its painful teeth, the club which tears out entrails piled up noses. The lance was stuck into the ground and the crevasses filled with blood. In the rebel lands dogs licked it up like milk. The enemy rose up, crying to wife and child," You did not lift your arms in prayer to Lord Ninurta." The weapon covered the mountains with dust, but did not shake the heart of the Asag. The Šar-ur threw its arms around the neck of the lord:



The building of Ninĝirsu's temple (Gudea, cylinders A and B): c.2.1.7
"I am Ninĝirsu who has turned back the fierce waters, the great warrior of Enlil's realm, a lord without opponent. My house the E-ninnu, a crown, is bigger than the mountains; my weapon the Šar-ur subdues all the lands. No country can bear my fierce stare, nobody escapes my outstretched arms."

The building of Ninĝirsu's temple (Gudea, cylinders A and B): c.2.1.7
Lord Ninĝirsu directed Gudea into the impenetrable mountain of cedars and he cut down its cedars with great axes and carved the Šar-ur, the right arm of Lagaš, his master's flood-storm weapon, out of it



He embedded its Šar-ur weapon beside Lagaš like a big standard, placed it in its dreadful place, the Šu-galam, and made it emanate fearsome radiance. On the dais of Ĝir-nun, on the place of making judgments, the provider of Lagaš lifted his horns like a mighty bull.



The building of Ninĝirsu's temple (Gudea, cylinders A and B): c.2.1.7
With his divine duties, namely to carry the seven-headed mace; to open the door of the an-kar house, the Gate of Battle; to hit exactly with the dagger blades, with the mitum mace, with the "floodstorm" weapon and with the marratum club, its battle tools; to inundate Enlil's enemy land, Gudea introduced Lugal-kur-dub, the warrior Šar-ur, who in battle subdues all the foreign lands, the mighty general of the E-ninnu, a falcon against the rebel lands, his general, to Lord Ninĝirsu.

The building of Ninĝirsu's temple (Gudea, cylinders A and B): c.2.1.7
After the heavenly mitum mace had roared against the foreign lands like a fierce storm -- the Šar-ur, the flood storm in battle, the cudgel for the rebel lands -- after the lord had frowned at the rebellious land, the foreign country, hurled at it his furious words, driven it insane


The temple hymns: c.4.80.1
O E-ninnu (House of 50), right hand of Lagaš, foremost in Sumer, the Anzud bird which gazes upon the mountain, the šar-ur weapon of …… Ninĝirsu, …… in all lands, the strength of battle, a terrifying storm which envelops men, giving the strength of battle to the Anuna, the great gods, brick building on whose holy mound destiny is determined, beautiful as the hills, your canal ……, your …… blowing in opposition (?) at your gate facing towards Iri-kug, wine is poured into holy An's beautiful bowls set out in the open air

The weapon Sar-ur did have a celestial counterpart in terms of the stinger of the Scorpion constellation, the twin stars Sar-ur and Sar-gaz being associated with the war God Ningirsu, obviously in the sense of the sudden death dealing strike,



When Sarur and Sargaz of the sting of Scorpio are bright, the weapons of Akkad will come



The weapon could be described as a mace with seven or fifty heads, in this illustration of Ningirsu he is seen holding the seven 'headed' version.




What i find most interesting here is that destruction by deluge, or flood storm, had differant connotations to the Sumerians other than the literal, that it could be a metaphor for destruction by other means.

This subject matter has always fascinated me. Thank you for presenting it.

When you take the time to consider the entries, this is quite terrifying. A tool of such magnitude, was purely and simply a method of subjugation for the masses.

It is quite apparent that the operators of this beast had no feeling or compassion for those they released their deluges on. They so completely overwhelmed them by power and technology, that they could wipe them out without compunction.

This was a true picture of Master/Lord and slave/minion. Those the terror reigned upon had no defense, whatsoever.

Gives me chills.

BT

I'd say it reminds me of a military strategy...

Blitzkrieg (German, "lightning war"; About this sound listen (help·info)) is an anglicised word[1][2][3][Notes 1] describing all-motorised force concentration of tanks, infantry, artillery, combat engineers and air power, concentrating overwhelming force at high speed to break through enemy lines

en.wikipedia.org...

It seems as if 'Flood-Storm' could parallel some form of "lightning war"... with a few differences. Also, a little bit of embellishment as to the descriptions given.

reply to post by FractalChaos13242017


Clearly if you read the sumerian translation is sounds more like an atomic bomb then anything else, or a device capable of producing radiation. The line in the story, where it says that they all became ill and sickness took over the rebel land. This sounds to me like chemical warfare and the light the device gave off as well and spit fire. Either a craft or something that doesn't quite make sense, it doesn't sound like a metaphor for an army.

is he depicted holding the 7 or 50 headed weapon, or is he merely using a fan to keep himself and his pet cool?

I would go as far to say that spreading of disease and plague was possibly a means of warfare at the time.

also...

Rudimentary forms of biological warfare have been practiced over and over again throughout history. Many examples are recorded from antiquity.[5] During the 6th century BC, the Assyrians poisoned enemy wells with a fungus that would render the enemy delirious. In 184 BC, Hannibal of Carthage had clay pots filled with venomous snakes and instructed his soldiers to throw the pots onto the decks of Pergamene ships.

en.wikipedia.org...

Whoa!

Originally posted by NoJoker13
reply to post by FractalChaos13242017

 

Clearly if you read the sumerian translation is sounds more like an atomic bomb then anything else, or a device capable of producing radiation. The line in the story, where it says that they all became ill and sickness took over the rebel land. This sounds to me like chemical warfare and the light the device gave off as well and spit fire. Either a craft or something that doesn't quite make sense, it doesn't sound like a metaphor for an army.

Hmm, possibly.

To me though it sounds more like an ancient description of total war (scorched earth policy combined with targeting of civilian populations). I really like Fractalchaos' interpretation. That makes a whole lot of sense to me.

ETA:

Another S & F to Kantzveldt for yet another interesting take on the ancient world. Keep up the good work, it is much appreciated.

reply to post by BearTruth



It's surprising that Sitchin seems to have been unaware of these texts describing the flood-storm weapon, the Heavenly weapon of the Anuna, as far as i'm aware.


They do generally appear to have enjoyed deploying it ruthlessly, but curiously it could also take prisoners'



It raised itself on its wings to take away prisoner the disobedient, it spun around the horizon of heaven to find out what was happening


One very smart weapon...




reply to post by FractalChaos13242017




In some aspects it could perhaps be seen as a literal channeling of lightening war, harnessing the forces of nature, but it is the more intelligent aspects of the weapon that intrigue me, spinning around the Heavens observing, gathering reports, taking prisoners.




reply to post by gostr



What would you say this version of Ninirta holding 'storm'-weapon' looks like...?










reply to post by wildapache




He is in a sense the proto Archangel Michael, in that he counters the seven headed Mashu serpent, obviously having a seven headed mace with cosmic powers helped in such matters.








reply to post by Indellkoffer



This does establish a precedent for any number of later miraculous weapons, but it is worth considering the difficulties the Sumerians would have encountered in describing any advanced technological weapons if they had seen such. For example a flying disc spinning around the skies observing and obliterating ones foes could only be compared in form to a flying mace head, in terms of weapons of war of the period.

The poison, gasping for breath, engulfing the mountains, giving off light, fire etc all sound like a volcano. Volcanic eruptions can put massive amounts of toxic gas into the atmosphere and it would seem to roll across the land as it spread.

reply to post by Kantzveldt

Off topic: Does anyone else think of Ninurta as the biblical archangel Michael?after reading much sumerian litterature as much as babylonian egyptian akkadian hittite and hebrew,im more than convince that most of the gods including the christian muslim romano greek and nordic and meso american can be traced back to those sumerian gods....
On topic all i can say is I WANT THIS WEAPON!!!!!!!!!!SO I CAN OBLITERATE ALL OF YA jk of course

Originally posted by Kantzveldt
reply to post by BearTruth

 

It's surprising that Sitchin seems to have been unaware of these texts describing the flood-storm weapon, the Heavenly weapon of the Anuna, as far as i'm aware.

He was a reporter and not an archaeologist or anthropologist who could read the texts.

Wikipedia says the thing is a mace, and it does sound like all the other maces of the deities (endowed with inhuman powers.) I don't think there's any evidence these gods or weapons were actually real -- something like that would leave scars on the landscape worse than an atomic bomb. You'd see lava glass everywhere that there weren't volcanoes.

reply to post by Kantzveldt

In some aspects it could perhaps be seen as a literal channeling of lightening war, harnessing the forces of nature, but it is the more intelligent aspects of the weapon that intrigue me, spinning around the Heavens observing, gathering reports, taking prisoners.

well... if there's a place for an example of great military intelligence from ancient history, no better place to start than early Sumeria.

Around 4000 B.C. city-states began to develope in ancient Mesopotamia. With their growth, conflicts developed among them.

Warfare often arose as the result of wealth, control of the Tigris and Euphrates for transportation and irrigation, boundary disputes, and the need to acquire luxury goods such as timber, stone and metals.



The almost constant occurrence of war among the city-states of Sumer for two thousand years spurred the development of military technology and technique far beyond that found elsewhere at the time.

joseph..._berrigan.tripod.com/ancientbabylon/id46.html

Originally posted by Indellkoffer

Wikipedia says the thing is a mace, and it does sound like all the other maces of the deities (endowed with inhuman powers.) I don't think there's any evidence these gods or weapons were actually real -- something like that would leave scars on the landscape worse than an atomic bomb. You'd see lava glass everywhere that there weren't volcanoes.

Apparently there are places that show evidence of ancient atomic type blasts. Here are just a few links:

www.nasca.org.uk...

rense.com...

www.bibliotecapleyades.net...

There are many more to explore. Of course, during investigation you have to include other possibilitiies like the blast from a huge meteor strike etc. But evidence is there of melted sand/rock which has been crystalized.

BT

These were all plasma strikes from close interactions with the other planets. Giant interplanetary lightning bolts. The orbits were not always the way they are now. And there are scars everywhere from these types of strikes. Think of the Grand Canyon, or the Rift Valley.

Saturn is God

Originally posted by BearTruth
Apparently there are places that show evidence of ancient atomic type blasts. Here are just a few links:

www.nasca.org.uk...

rense.com...

www.bibliotecapleyades.net...
BT

I'm hurrying off now to do a day of education for Audubon with snakes and lizards (my snakes, and my lizard) and will answer more later -- but I'm familiar with those sites, and the facts aren't quite what they report. If you get some time, do check on the geology of the area (and on tourist reports, etc.) You'll find that the situation is not what's reported (in one case of "radioactive area" it's actually a well-known uranium mining area and not the result of a weapon detonation.)

reply to post by Kantzveldt
To me it sounds like a griffin, what we know as a mythological bird half lion half eagle. More than likely part of the genetic experiments that where going on in those days. But by hearing this text it also has to be robotic like a type of drone with different types of weapons included. I can think of quiet a few places that show extreme damage, and the feeling is odd to know that there was such a capacity of destruction. What I would like to know is do they have a date for when these possible battles where happening.

Someone must of taken this weapon down, because if not we would be still governed by its threat.It sounds to me that that leader was a very confused being. It would be interesting to know what the rebels were like.

Would love to know if it really was a weapon or just a myth? I know we would be astonished with the level of technology that existed in the ancient past and who knows what really was developed back then.

reply to post by ancientthunder



The date for this conflict would be in the 3rd millenia BC regarding the city of Lagash. Interesting regarding the Griffin, in that the sacred bird of Lagash and Ninurta was the Anzu bird, half lion and eagle.

From inscriptions found at Girsu such as the Gudea cylinders, it appears that Lagash was an important Sumerian city in the late 3rd millennium BC. It was at that time ruled by independent kings, Ur-Nanshe (24th century BC) and his successors, who were engaged in contests with the Elamites on the east and the kings of "Kienĝir" and Kish on the north. Some of the earlier works from before the Akkadian conquest are also extremely interesting, in particular Eannatum's Stele of the Vultures and Entemena's great silver vase ornamented with Ningirsu's sacred animal Anzu: a lion-headed eagle with wings outspread, grasping a lion in each talon. With the Akkadian conquest Lagash lost its independence, its ruler or ensi becoming a vassal of Sargon of Akkad and his successors; but Lagash continued to be a city of much importance and above all, a centre of artistic development.

en.wikipedia.org...




There was a tablet called the tablet of Destinies in Sumerian myth, which gave absolute control over the Universe, supposedly to Enlil or Enki, it was held against the forehead and if the holder said make it so, then it was...


The Anzu bird was also a controller of Destinies, and at some point steals the Tablet for itself, before Ninurta recovers the tablet from it and also himself is tempted to retain control of it. The myths may be suggesting the extent of power that was potentially available to Ninurta through his weaponary.

reply to post by Kantzveldt
Thanks for your reply, it seems that these hero/rulers lives lasted an awful long time.That 's what makes it more confusing, one minute they are together, the next they are at war. Inanna for instance is very hard to know what her intentions were even with relatives.One minute the bird sounds like it follows commands and the next it steels the book of destiny as if it has independent thought.The only thing that comes to mind is they are not the same thing, one could be a flying machine made to look like the griffin and the other means something else altogether.But with a book of destiny around, anything could be created and that kind of book would certainly change your normal personality.