Conny Waters – AncientPages.com – Researchers have deciphered a unique yet fragmentary Sumerian myth about the storm-and-rain god Iškur’s captivity in the netherworld, from which he appears to be rescued by a clever Fox.
The intriguing story was recorded on a broken ancient Sumerian clay tablet and unearthed in Nippur (Sumerian: Nibru, “Enlil City”), one of the most ancient Sumerian cities and a significant religious center throughout Mesopotamia.
Samuel Noah Kramer (1897-1990), an expert in Sumerian history and language, dated the fragmentary tablet numbered Ni 12501 to approximately 2400 BC, during the Early Dynastic IIIb period.
The tablet was first noticed by the scientific world thanks to Kramer in 1956. But now, Dr. Matuszak has published her analysis regarding the Sumerian tablet Ni 12501, which was reassembled from several fragments.
Her study is the first full publication and translation of this extraordinary text. The artifact was almost forgotten for nearly 70 years,
Hand copy of Ni 12501. Credit: Jane Matuszak
“The tablet measures 13.7 × 12.2 cm. The preserved left-hand edge measures 3 cm. in thickness but the tablet is nearly twice as thick at the break on the right; the impressive profile indicates that this was once a massive tablet. Judging from the curvature, less than one-third of the tablet is preserved. Upper and lower parts, as well as the right-hand half, are missing…”
From the story recorded on the clay tablet, we learn that Ishkur is trapped in the netherworld (kur), the realm of the dead, along with his flock, and the consequences of his absence can be dramatic.
As the storm god, he is responsible for bringing rain and ensuring fertility for the region. Iskur’s imprisonment leads to a famine in which “newborn babies die for lack of food.
Enlil, the second in the triad of Sumerian supreme gods (“The Great Mountain” or “King of All the Lands” (lugal-kur-kur-ra) and “Father of the Gods, informs the gods that his son Iškur has been taken captive in the netherworld and asks who can bring him back from a land from which, he says, no one returns.
One willing participant in this risky mission is a Fox.
During the expedition to the underground world, the animal exhibits an unusual level of cunning. He rejects the temptation to consume the food and drink offered to him, which would probably condemn him to eternal slavery. Instead, the Fox hides gifts in special containers. This behavior allows him to avoid traps and continue the mission. Unfortunately, the rest of the story is lost.
Was Fox’s offer sincere? Did his mission succeed?
Ni 12501 tablet cannot provide the answer, and from this moment, we can only speculate …about the course of history.
Fox is known as a cunning animal and trickster, and as the Fox-rescuer appears in later Mesopotamian texts.
The myth of Iškur and the Fox offers a fresh perspective on the early beliefs of Mesopotamia, and it can also be read as a metaphor for the cycles of nature, particularly during periods of drought that threaten agricultural communities, which are dependent on weather changes and irrigation systems.
Perhaps we can’t trust the fox, the trickster, but can we trust the weather?
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Written by Conny Waters – AncientPages.com Staff Writer
