>Merchan’s daughter’s company worked for Chinese Communist Party
>Dragonflies and insects
>Dragonflies and insects
After the conquest of Anatolia by Seljuk Turks, a form of traditional freestyle wrestling called Karakucak Güreşi (literally "Ground hug") was popularized, where special leather clothing was worn and wrestlers commenced the competition by pouring olive oil on their bodies.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seljuk_dynasty
Double-headed eagle, used as a symbol by several Seljuk rulers
Can consciousness exist in a black hole?
https://nypost.com/2024/05/13/us-news/trumps-hush-money-nyc-trial-live-updates-michael-cohen-set-to-testify/
Trump’s ‘hush money’ NYC trial live updates: Trump claimed ‘locker room talk’ spin on ‘damaging’ Access Hollywood tape was Melania’s idea, Cohen says
https://nypost.com/2024/05/13/entertainment/steve-buscemi-spotted-with-black-eye-swollen-face-after-random-nyc-attack/
Steve Buscemi spotted with black eye, swollen face after random NYC attack
https://nypost.com/2024/05/13/entertainment/king-charles-officially-makes-prince-william-colonel-in-chief-of-harrys-old-regiment-as-strain-intensifies-photos/
King Charles officially makes Prince William colonel-in-chief of Harry’s old regiment as strain intensifies: photos
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_wrestling
Oil wrestling can be traced back to ancient Sumer and Babylon.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumer
The origin of the Sumerians is not known, but the people of Sumer referred to themselves as "Black-Headed Ones" or "Black-Headed People"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_humid_period
Sumerians were a North African people who migrated from the Green Sahara into the Middle East and were responsible for the spread of farming in the Middle East.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Ringbearer
Yeskov bases his novel on the premise that the Tolkien account is a "history written by the victors". Mordor is home to an "amazing city of alchemists and poets, mechanics and astronomers, philosophers and physicians, the heart of the only civilization in Middle-earth to bet on rational knowledge and bravely pitch its barely adolescent technology against ancient magic", posing a threat to the war-mongering faction represented by Gandalf (whose attitude is described by Saruman as "crafting the Final Solution to the Mordorian problem") and the Elves.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumerian_King_List#Lines_1%E2%80%9339:_before_the_flood
The section ends with the line "Then the flood swept over".
Sumer was conquered by the Semitic-speaking kings of the Akkadian Empire
After the flood had swept over, and the kingship descended from heaven, the kingship was in Kish.
His successor Aga of Kish, the final king mentioned before Kish fell and kingship was taken to E-ana, also appears in the poem Gilgamesh and Aga.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilgamesh_and_Aga
Old Babylonian poem written in Sumerian. The only one of the five poems of Gilgamesh that has no mythological aspects.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aga_of_Kish
relations between Sumerians and Semitics
>Sumerians were a North African people who migrated from the Green Sahara into the Middle East and were responsible for the spread of farming in the Middle East, conquered by the Semitic-speaking kings of the Akkadian Empire
The Ubaidians, though never mentioned by the Sumerians themselves, are assumed by modern-day scholars to have been the first civilizing force in Sumer. They drained the marshes for agriculture, developed trade, and established industries, including weaving, leatherwork, metalwork, masonry, and pottery.
>Ubaidians
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubaid_period#Ubaid_3
The earliest evidence for sailing has been found in Kuwait
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Kuwait
Following the post-glacial flooding of the Persian Gulf basin, debris from the Tigris–Euphrates river formed a substantial delta, creating most of the land in present-day Kuwait and establishing the present coastlines.
Mesopotamians first settled in the Kuwaiti island of Failaka in 2000 B.C. Traders from the Sumerian city of Ur inhabited Failaka and ran a mercantile business.
For Dilmun, the land of my lady's heart, I will create long waterways, rivers and canals,
whereby water will flow to quench the thirst of all beings and bring abundance to all that lives.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dilmun#History
The Dilmun civilization was the centre of commercial activities linking traditional agriculture of the land—then utterly fertile due to artesian wells that have dried since, and due to a much wetter climate—with maritime trade between diverse regions such as the Indus Valley and Mesopotamia in its early stage and later between China and the Mediterranean. The Dilmun civilization is mentioned first in Sumerian cuneiform clay tablets dated to the late third millennium BC, found in the temple of goddess Inanna, in the city of Uruk.
>utterly fertile due to artesian wells
The Sumerian tale of the garden paradise of Dilmun may have been an inspiration for the Garden of Eden story.
Dilmun encompassed Bahrain, Kuwait, and eastern Saudi Arabia. This area is certainly what is meant by references to "Dilmun" among the lands conquered by King Sargon II and his descendants.
>inspiration for the Garden of Eden
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden_of_the_gods_(Sumerian_paradise)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Song_of_the_hoe
The song of the hoe features Enlil creating mankind with a hoe and the Anunnaki spreading outward from the original garden of the gods.
>Enlil creating mankind with a hoe and the Anunnaki spreading outward from the original garden of the gods.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ekur
"Not only did the lord make the world appear in its correct form, the lord who never changes the destinies which he determines – Enlil – who will make the human seed of the Land come forth from the earth – and not only did he hasten to separate heaven from earth, and hasten to separate earth from heaven, but, in order to make it possible for humans to grow in "where flesh came forth" [the name of a cosmic location], he first raised the axis of the world at Dur-an-ki."
Duranki, is a Sumerian term meaning "mountain house". It is the assembly of the gods in the Garden of the gods, parallel in Greek mythology to Mount Olympus and was the most revered and sacred building of ancient Sumer.
"dead people are also brought up from the ground by the hoe. With the hoe, the hero honoured by An, the younger brother of Nergal, the warrior Gilgamesh – is as powerful as a hunting net. The sage son of Ninsumun is pre-eminent with oars. With the hoe, he is the great "kindajal" of the watercourses."
>For Dilmun, the land of my lady's heart, I will create long waterways, rivers and canals, whereby water will flow to quench the thirst of all beings and bring abundance to all that lives.
The hoe makes everything prosper; the hoe makes everything flourish. The hoe is good barley; the hoe is an overseer. The hoe is brick moulds; the hoe has made people exist. It is the hoe that is the strength of young manhood. The hoe and the basket are the tools for building cities. It builds the right kind of house; it cultivates the right kind of fields. It is you, hoe, that extend the good agricultural land!
>The hoe makes everything prosper; the hoe makes everything flourish. The hoe is good barley; the hoe is an overseer. The hoe is brick moulds; the hoe has made people exist. It is the hoe that is the strength of young manhood. The hoe and the basket are the tools for building cities. It builds the right kind of house; it cultivates the right kind of fields. It is you, hoe, that extend the good agricultural land!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lament_for_Ur
The good house of the lofty untouchable mountain was entirely devoured by large axes. The people of Šimaški and Elam, the destroyers, counted its worth as only thirty shekels. They broke up the good house with pickaxes. They reduced the city to ruin mounds.
My steppe, established for joy, was scorched like an oven.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debate_between_sheep_and_grain
The Annunaki, the great gods, did not even know the names Grain or Sheep. There was no grain of thirty days; there was no grain of forty days; there was no grain of fifty days; there was no small grain, grain from the mountains or grain from the holy habitations. There was no cloth to wear.
From sunrise till sunset, may the name of Grain be praised. People should submit to the yoke of Grain. Whoever has silver, whoever has jewels, whoever has cattle, whoever has sheep shall take a seat at the gate of whoever has grain, and pass his time there.
>Whoever has silver, whoever has jewels, whoever has cattle, whoever has sheep shall take a seat at the gate of whoever has grain, and pass his time there.
It is there that mankind had their first habitat, the god An creating the cattle-goddess, Lahar, and the grain goddess, Ashnan, to feed and clothe the Anunnaki, who in turn made man. Lahar and Ashnan are created in the "duku" or "pure place" and the story further describes how the Anunnaki create a sheepfold with plants and herbs for Lahar and a house, plough and yoke for Ashnan, describing the introduction of animal husbandry and agriculture. The story continues with a quarrel between the two goddesses over their gifts which eventually resolves with Enki and Enlil intervening to declare Ashnan the victor.
note the parallels between the story of Cain and Abel
man can live without domestic animals, but cannot survive without bread
>man cannot survive without bread
note the use of measuring rods in the tale as being linked to the history of writing, which developed in order to keep count of animals and produce
They brought wealth to the assembly. They brought sustenance to the Land. They fulfilled the ordinances of the gods. They filled the store-rooms of the Land with stock. The barns of the Land were heavy with them. When they entered the homes of the poor who crouch in the dust they brought wealth. Both of them, wherever they directed their steps, added to the riches of the household with their weight. Where they stood, they were satisfying; where they settled, they were seemly. They gladdened the heart of An and the heart of Enlil.
Though the tree taunts the reed for its frailty and yielding to every wind, the reed does not answer back. The wisdom of its behaviour becomes apparent when the tree is snapped in the buffeting of a storm.
A reed before the wind lives on, while mighty oaks do fall.
>post-glacial flooding of the Persian Gulf basin, debris from the Tigris–Euphrates river formed a substantial delta
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debate_between_Winter_and_Summer
Enlil answered Summer and Winter: "Winter is controller of the life-giving waters of all the lands – the farmer of the gods produces everything. Summer, my son, how can you compare yourself to your brother Winter?" The import of the exalted word Enlil speaks is artfully wrought, the verdict he pronounces is one which cannot be altered – who can change it? Summer bowed to Winter and offered him a prayer. In his house he prepared emmer-beer and wine. At its side they spend the day at a succulent banquet. Summer presents Winter with gold, silver and lapis lazuli. They pour out brotherhood and friendship like best oil. By bringing sweet words to the quarrel, they have achieved harmony with each other. In the dispute between Summer and Winter, Winter, the faithful farmer of Enlil, was superior to Summer – praise be to the Great Mountain, father Enlil!"
>they have achieved harmony with each other
He copulated with the great hills, he gave the mountain its share. He filled its womb with Summer and Winter, the plenitude and life of the Land. As Enlil copulated with the earth, there was a roar like a bull's. The hill spent the day at that place and at night she opened her loins. She bore Summer and Winter as smoothly as fine oil. He fed them pure plants on the terraces of the hills like great bulls. He nourished them in the pastures of the hills. Enlil set about determining the destinies of Summer and Winter. For Summer founding towns and villages, bringing in harvests of plenitude for the Great Mountain Enlil, sending labourers out to the large arable tracts, and working the fields with oxen; for Winter plenitude, the spring floods, the abundance and life of the Land, placing grain in the fields and fruitful acres, and gathering in everything – Enlil determined these as the destinies of Summer and Winter.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%A0umugan
Šumugan was a shepherd god
The god of wild animals had not gone out into the barren lands. The people of those days did not know about eating bread. They did not know about wearing clothes; they went about with naked limbs in the Land. Like sheep they ate grass with their mouths and drank water from the ditches.
>The people of those days did not know about eating bread. They did not know about wearing clothes; they went about with naked limbs in the Land. Like sheep they ate grass with their mouths and drank water from the ditches.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enkidu
Uruk refuses to participate in the digging of wells for the benefit of Kish, whose kingdom had the hegemony of Sumer. Its king Agga submits the city to a siege. Enkidu is sent to prepare the weapons and wait for Gilgamesh's order. After the battle, Gilgamesh defeats Agga, and makes him return, defeated and humiliated, to Kish.
>shepherd god
Enkidu learns to behave like a man with the shepherds eating, drinking and defending them from wolves and lions at night. Upon reaching Uruk, Enkidu closes the path to Gilgamesh who was going to sleep with a newlywed. Enraged, they fight brutally until the two end up tired, but at the end both appreciate each other's strength, and decide to be friends. Enkidu is depressed by having abandoned his old wild life, to which Gilgamesh proposes an expedition to the Cedar Forest to kill Humbaba. But his friend explains that he knew the forest while he was a wild being, and that the expedition is dangerous.
The goddess Ishtar, fascinated by the beauty of Gilgamesh, offers to be his wife in exchange for wealth and fame; these offerings do not sway Gilgamesh, who recalls all the misadventures her previous loves had, such as Tammuz.
Ishtar, furious and crying, goes to her father Anu, to demand the Bull of Heaven take revenge, or she will scream so loud that the dead will devour the living. Anu, in fear, gives her the Bull from Heaven in exchange for preparing food for the seven years of famine that the city will suffer from the destruction of the bull. Ishtar releases the bull in Uruk, which kills a large percentage of people. Enkidu grabs the bull by the horns and Gilgamesh stabs his neck. Hearing Ishtar's cry, Enkidu ridicules the goddess by throwing a bull's leg at her head.
After bouts of love-making with Shamhat over two weeks, Enkidu tries to reunite with his herd. But the gazelles run from him, indicating that he is not accepted any more amongst the savage kind. Enkidu has lost his primitive nature, such as running as fast as a gazelle.
We can see here the motif of transferring negative or positive qualities (weakness or knowledge) from one being to another through intimate contact. Another motif is the role of women as seducer towards civilization, such as Adam and Eve in Genesis. By offering Adam the fruit of the tree of knowledge, Eve ultimately drew him to civilized life.