#Assyrian stuff

[aqlstar]

If you don’t mind answering, I have a few questions about Assyrian independence, cause I’ve been wondering for a while. Also apologies in advance if my phrasing is accidentally wildly inaccurate, I’m not very educated about the topic at all but it’s very interesting to me still.

I know the Assyrian independence movement exists, but how popular is it, and how put together is the actual movement? Are there any steps being made towards the idea of independence or is it basically just a hope for people that one day it will come?

I think it was you who talked about how many groups that fall under the larger ethnic group have different beliefs about who they originate from. Like an Assyrian could believe that they’re descended from ancient Assyrians, an Aramean could believe they’re descended from ancient Arameans, but to my understanding they will still think of themselves as the same group, or at least connected to each other? So how does that factor into everything? I’ve read a bit and it seems that it makes it much harder to figure out what to do because nobody can agree properly on a shared group and place of origin.

Connecting to that question, do people generally want independence to be in historic Assyria/Aram/wherever a group believes they originate from, or the places where they’ve been for a long time? (ex for the latter type of place. the area where half of my family spent galut in is part of Iran and has spent most of its existence in the Persian empire, was never part of the Assyrian one, but Assyrians have been there in substantial numbers for about a millennium because of I think the Mongol invasion of Baghdad)

Also, is there a general consensus of how there should be independence? Like a state, or more of an Assyrian controlled area in another country, similar to the currently more independent parts of the Kurdish world?

Sorry for kind of overloading you here, plus idk if Shabbat has finished wherever you are. Again, this is just a very interesting topic to me haha. Have a nice day!

Shavua Tov and thanks for the question! I’ll add some more info when I have my computer on me, but for now I’ll just say your instincts are right and it is a very very complicated situation.

So disclaimer- I’m one person who is genetically 1/2 Assyrian, and I’m not even a Christian, so even though I’ve done my best to talk to my dad’s family about it and look things up on my own, I am definitely not the final authority on this subject.

There is general agreement that Arameans and Assyrians are the same people, (if you call them related peoples, you will make exactly no one happy 😭- trust me ). The disagreement lies in what that people should call themselves in English, and where exactly they should call home (beyond generally the northern levant).

Some of this confusion comes from the fact that the Aramaic endonym for the group is “Suryoye” should be translated literally (and was, for a time) as “Syrian.” With the establishment of the Syrian Arab Republic in 1944, using “Syrian” as an ethnic designation became increasingly problematic as “Syrian,” the adjective describing nationality, gained prevalence.

The push for independence is strongest in Iraq and Iraqi Kurdistan, which is home to the largest Assyrian minority. So you’ll see a lot of sources citing the areas most densely populated by Assyrians in Iraq as the sole indigenous homeland of the Assyrian people for political purposes. (IMO the Assyrian homeland is probably much larger than that and should include northern syria and parts of Lebanon too).

Remember that the Assyrians living in modern day Iraq were hit very very hard by the Seyfo under the ottomans and anti-Assyrian pogroms (we’re using the word because it fits) under British and Iraqi leadership.

So much of the Assyrian desire for independence comes from not trusting the Muslim Arabs to south and the Kurds to north not to try to murder them all again like they have in the past.

It’s a very difficult situation because the independence movement faces the challenge of the Iraqi federal government and the Kurdish autonomous government/Kurdish separatists.

[jorrated]

MY COLLECTION GROWS.......

[lostrealities0]

Slight volume warning

If they ever met (they're from different stories), Assyrian would despise Rowan because she was given so much less trauma and a much happier life than him

[rosenmarille]

nothing makes you feel like a real ancient historian than flipping through a handwritten book from 1924 on the translations and uses of ancient assyrian plants and their remedial purposes

[sams-apron]

LMFAAOAO ITS EITHER THAT OR KHMARA ITS THE FUNNIEST

i drew this in a 19 hours long carride

[kanagenwrites]

Hey folks. My name is Kanagen (It's pronounced Ka-na-ngen. Kana is fine.), and I'm a writer. I mostly write sci-fi with a more or less sapphic bent, and I'm not shy about putting lewd content in what I write because fuck petty moralism.

I'm active in the Human Domestication Guide writing community, where apart from being an author (see below), I'm also a Loret, which means I help maintain and update the lore of the setting, help new creators with questions about it or how to fit a story into it, and so on. All of my publicly available fiction at the moment is HDG content, but I plan on working more on my own original settings and concepts in the future.

I have a Patreon, where I post my current long-form project's drafts chapter by chapter, once weekly. I also occasionally talk about my writing process. I'm hoping to expand content there in the future as well.

I don't use social media very much because I remember what the internet used to be like before walled gardens and techbros ruined it. (You kids really don't know what you're missing.) Nevertheless, the life of a freelance writer rather demands I put myself out there somehow, so here I am. You can also follow me on Bluesky, if you want. Ask me questions, behold the weird stuff I reblog, and try not to get too parasocial with me. I'm just a weird lady who puts words in funny shapes.

Bibliography

Long-Form Fiction

To Dine on Dust (ongoing) - A detective walks the streets of a weird, Jazz-Age Neo-Assyrian Empire that never was, trying to track down a missing goddess. A noir mystery-thriller with ancient Mesopotamian flavor, the coruscating power of divinities and the dead, and of course lesbians. Lots and lots of lesbians. This is one of my stories, after all. This is my current project, and unlike my HDG work, I won't be liveposting it publicly every week; if you want to know more about it, check out my Patreon.

Human Domestication Guide

Long-Form Fiction

No Gods, No Masters - A revolutionary leftist copes with the subtle differences between her own idea of the perfect world and the just-a-little-off version of it the Affini offer. First novel-length work in the Tillandsia Trilogy; highly suggested you read this before The Floret in the Mirror and especially Freedom's Ember.

The Floret in the Mirror - A mystery/thriller about identity, digitization, and impossible simulated lewdness. Content warning for amnesia resulting from traumatic brain injury as part of the setup. Sequel to* No Gods, No Masters*.

Freedom's Ember - Sixty years after the Affini conquered her world, a woman clings to her independence; sixty years after being frozen for cryogenic flight from the Affini, a woman struggles to discover who she really is when freed from her father's influence. What is freedom, and what does it mean in the context of the Compact? Sequel to No Gods, No Masters and The Floret in the Mirror, conclusion of the Tillandsia Trilogy.

Sui Generis - A martian attorney living on Earth finds adjusting to life with the Affini easier than most; she was already keeping her wife as a pet before they arrived. The real question is, where's that strange jealousy coming from?

Short Fiction

Mainspring - A Terran secret agent is captured by the Affini, trapped by artist for whom his body is a canvas, and she means to make of him her magnum opus. Wind-up doll content, and probably my most commonly cited story for "this rewired my brain"-style reactions.

Reading the Leaves - A tea-obsessed barista, an affini new to humanity, and a sweet (if awkward) romance culminating in a very raunchy ending. Entry for the HDG February Fluff Fic Jam 2024.

The Fifth Fundamental Force - This story is a silly joke. It should not be taken seriously, though many inevitably do.

Aftertaste (stalled) - A former quadrillionaire and epicure who just barely avoided domestication is tracked down by an affini culinary anthropologist who wants to use his brain to reconstruct a lost flavor using his long-buried memory - he was the last human to ever taste bluefin tuna. This fic is only sporadically updated because the stars must precisely align for my brain to be in a state to write boyliker fic. Sorry, I'm just really gay, y'all.

[igorlevchenko-blog]

Babylon Noir

Because you've failed to make me rich and famous you won't get the really good stuff, like: a film noir about a homicide detective in Ancient Babylon, who uses mostly logic to solve crimes but also contemporary methods like hepatoscopy (i.e. liver divination). The woo-woo doesn't work of course, it's there to move the plot into stranger directions, a comical set piece and, well, a deus ex device when needed. Also the haruspex (i.e. divination specialist) the hero partners with is a sardonic boozer like Jocko Madigan from Pat Novak, for Hire. Everyone has Assyrian style beards. Point is: everything about the movie - props, police procedures, legal aspects- is authentic and historical. But at the same time, everyone talks in a stereotypical film noir fashion i.e. with a New York accent or whatever: calls women toots and all that. Yes, the opening scene has the hero lamenting: ..these streets ain't what they used to be, - as he walks through the Ishtar Gate. And instead of cigarettes, he (chain-)sips beers through a straw (as is period proper).

[fatehbaz]

what does your username mean?

Cat ghost.

As child. Would go to library, to look at books about creatures, with a pen and notepad. Or sit before a television watching "nature" documentary stuff, with a pen and notepad. Was fixated on habitats. The context. Did not like to isolate an individual creature from the wider ecological community. This led to interest in geography, distribution range maps. Was aware that, in popular perception, some creatures were strongly associated with a particular place. "Lion is an African animal. Tiger is an Asian animal." Allegedly. And other stereotypes (many of them, I would later come to learn, due to chauvinism, exoticism, Orientalism, colonialism, etc.). Came across a kind of large textbook on wild cats. Saw the historical distribution maps. Only a few centuries ago, tigers were in Anatolia, the Caucasus, near the shores of the Black Sea. Was intrigued. From the middle of the twentieth century onward, the lion and cheetah were so closely associated with Africa, where like over 99% of their range was located. And yet. There remains a small remnant population of nearly-extinct Asiatic lions far away within India''s borders. And there remains a small remnant population of nearly-extinct Asiatic cheetahs within Iran's borders. And all that space, in between, where both cats were now extinct. Only 100 years ago, tiger, lion, leopard, and cheetah all lived generally near each other, still, in eastern Anatolia, near Mesopotamia, etc. And now, only a few dozen wild native cheetah remain on the entire continent of Asia.

"Cheetah". The word for this cat is from South Asia. Through Hindi, from Sanskrit.

"What happened?" I read on. Cheetahs were present within the national borders of what is now India, along with tigers, lions, and leopards. By the 1500s, there was a tradition in South Asia, where some in the Mughal aristocracy enjoyed using cheetahs as companions in sport hunting. The cats would be captured in the wild, and then trained, and then brought along on royal hunts. The cat was the star athlete, goaded into chasing down prey, for the entertainment of the hunting party. There are elaborate paintings, commissioned by Mughal courts and some now displayed in collections of European museums, depicting trained cheetah hunts. It has since been popularly said that Akbar was particularly fond of cheetahs. (Akbar the Great was the "emperor" who is credited often for consolidating Mughal state power across India, solidifying regional power by building administrative systems/structures in India ["forging an empire out of fiefdoms"] that would later eventually be manipulated and overtaken by the British Empire. According to some tellings of the historical narrative.)

Accurate or not, it was said that at any one time, Akbar possessed one thousand cheetahs. A vast royal menagerie. The names of several of the most celebrated cheetahs are still known. In some stories, when he was still young, Akbar was presented with a gift. His very first cheetah: Fatehbaz.

This disturbed me. A child, reading this book, I was upset by the idea of such a vast menagerie of wild animals. Large wild animals, with great need for food, space, enrichment. I was upset by the exploitation of captive wild animals as displays of aristocratic wealth, not just in the Mughal state(s), but also those menageires and exhibitions elsewhere, both earlier and later in time: the royal hunts of Assyrian kings, the Roman arenas, Charlemagne's elephants, European circuses.

So, as a child, I imagined that Fatehbaz resisted the captivity. Like in a daydream, a fantasy. I imagined a royal menagerie breaking free from restraint. I imagined elephants and rhinos and tigers and lions and leopards and jackals and crocodiles. I imagined the beasts attacking an emperor's court. But there are now less than one hundred cheetahs which survive in the wild in Asia. And when Mughal statecraft gave way to European statecraft, when Britain moved into South Asia, the bounty hunting specifically targeted big cats. And, meanwhile, the cats were confronted indirectly with habitat destruction, commodity crop monocultures, industrial-scale resource extraction. So I came to imagine the ghosts of cats. The ghost of a cheetah like Fatehbaz on the Indus plain. The ghost of a jaguar in the Sonoran desert. The ghost of a lion on the Mediterranean coast. The ghost of a tiger on the Amu Darya shore beyond Bukhara, where even the Aral Sea itself has vanished.

[procrasimnation]

Remember in TS3 when they made that Rococo store pack after this one guy waged a solid 2+ year campaign on the Store Stuff forum begging for it, and he just moaned about the skirts not being full enough lmao

I approve of the Castle Kit, despite not playing that era, because the only good use for kits is niche stuff for nerds that EA can't justify making a whole pack around.

[aqlstar]

One last (probably) think about Salwan Momika: I do not think burning a Quran is the same as burning a Tanach. (Articles that discuss this usually mention burning a Torah, which- idk about you guys- brings to my mind someone burning a Sefer Torah which is already illegal because you can’t just burn someone else’s stuff, and there’s no way to just buy a kosher Sefer Torah with the intent to set it on fire. Also why would you purposefully destroy a very expensive piece of history like that. No new regulation necessary there, thanks. )

Now, if you’re burning a Tanach or a Quran, you’re looking to offend someone.

But people hand out free Qurans and free Bibles on street corners. They will put up signs about how they are right and you are wrong, so you must read their very special book and start doing things their way.

That is just as offensive, if not more so, than someone burning a Quran or a Bible on occasion.

If you’re out here giving something contentious away for free, you don’t get to be mad when people don’t treat it with respect.

(Obviously- I’m taking into account the policy of the host country here. I think it would be gross for a Muslim to burn a Bible in Iraq, considering that Assyrians are not allowed to and do not proselytize in Iraq. )

How I feel about people burning religious texts has less to do with the action’s ability to offend people- and much more to do with if the person setting the text on fire intends to scare anyone. There’s a big difference in my book between an edgy occasional asshole and a bully.

[yamayuandadu]

I'm trying to research the historical syncretism between Ishtar and Anahita (turns out the Alireza Qaderi article I sent wasn't that good on the Iranian sources part either lol) and I've noticed soooo much of this stuff quotes outdated Assyriology, such as "Anahita: Ancient Persian Goddess and Zoroastrian Yazata", which considers Ishtar to be a "virgin mother", quoting sources from the 1960s. Are there any good sources on Ishtar/Anahita syncretism that aren't outdated? Or am I outta luck? lol

I’m afraid that the short answer is that, yeah, there isn’t really much to depend on. Long answer with some reading recommendations under the cut.

A pretty huge problem with evaluating the nature of the connection between Anahita and virtually any other figure (maybe barring Artemis in Anatolia) is that it seems the full reckoning with the fact that for most of the twentieth century researchers basically treated her as a wastebasket (a phenomenon already criticized in the 1980s) had yet to come. Generally speaking, I so far failed to find any work which would convince me there’s no reason to follow Shenkar’s warning: “It is an oft-repeated convention that Achaemenian Anāhitā was influenced by the cult and the visual representation of (...) Ištar. However, the evidence for such influence is not compelling and for the most part, late and indirect” (Intangible Spirits and Graven Images, p. 68). He doesn’t rule -some- sort of influence, but points out that if it happened, it must have ocurred later than in the Achaemenid period, and should not be automatically treated as full on acquisition of ex. one’s iconography by the other. As an example of faulty reasoning he singles out the frequent claims that the Ishtar-ish goddess on a lion depicted on a seal from Gorgippia (who is not labeled in any way) is necessarily Anahita just because her clothing is distinctly Iranian, even though she was never associated with this animal. I agree with his conclusion that it might plausibly be Nanaya, or even an uncommon but not unparalleled instance of dedication to Ishtar proper in a (largely) Iranian context (Intangible Spirits…, p. 68-69). As I understand, the Gorgippia seal is particularly commonly cited to claim influence of Ishtar on Anahita; but then the identification of the goddess on it boils down to “since it is known that they were associated, it HAS to be Anahita”. Seems like a severe case of circular reasoning.

It might be worth noting that late antique Mandaic sources - which are generally relatively reliable as far as texts involving demonization of neighbors’ deities go - do mention (demonized) Anahita, but make no reference to her having anything to do with Ishtar (same goes for Nanaya). Meanwhile, the Neo-Assyrian Mullissu-Ishtar syncretism does get a shoutout in an exorcistic formula referring to a demon described as “the Istarte who sits on the bank of the Euphrates and calls herself Mulit” (Christa Müller-Kessler, Interrelations between Mandaic Lead Rolls and Incantation Bowls in: Mesopotamian Magic: Textual, Historical and Interpretative Perspectives, p. 207-208). While I haven’t seen this category of sources discussed in relation to the phenomenon you’ve asked about, I think it would be a promising fresh approach to try to place them in a broader context of Mesopotamian-Iranian acculturation. Hopefully we’ll see such publications at some point. For what it’s worth, it does seem that at least from the 2010s on there's been a slow shift towards avoiding treating Anahita as some sort of wastebasket. Accepting that art might depict other female supernatural figures, or even ordinary women, is becoming more common (see ex. Matteo Compareti, Armenian Pre-Christian Divinities: Some Evidence from the History of Art and Archaeological Investigation, p. 196-198). The wastebasket trend is nonetheless not dead, I am afraid. While looking for additional sources for this reply, I had the questionable pleasure to be exposed to Christopher I. Beckwith’s The Scythian Empire (p. 270-271, to be specific) where he somehow tries to connect Anahita with… Shaushka…? He seems unaware that in Mitanni context the theonym Ishtar is a logogram and refers to a completely different deity, who never had anything to do with Anahita, and as a matter of fact ceased to be worshiped before Iranians even showed up in Mesopotamia. It didn’t surprise me to learn Beckwith is controversial at best, to be fair, given that this weird romp is part of an attempt to prove that Zoroaster’s name is theophoric and invokes Ishtar? This rests on high grade mental gymnastics - somehow Mitanni ruled over the Medes, you see (the easternmost dependency of Mitanni, Arrapha, was largely Hurrian-speaking and the part not covered under “largely” was, rather obviously, not related to the Medes), and thus... "Ishtar" (once again, actually Shaushka) was equated with Anahita... Seems pretty bold to connect Anahita’s development with a deity who wasn’t even worshiped anymore by the time any speakers of Iranian whatsoever pop up in the textual record and who has virtually no overlapping traits with her.

Critical comments aside, I think two specific cases of possible Mesopotamian influence of Anahita can be nonetheless pointed out.

As noted in Encyclopedia Iranica, it’s sensible to assume that the shift towards referring to Anahita as “the lady” (bānū) which must have started in the Parthian period and remained widespread at least up to early Islamic times, with the bulk of attestations being Sasanian, reflects an influence of Mesopotamian terminology. This is not actually exclusive to her, though, it seems - the same title is also attested for Spenta Armaiti (Alexander W. Marcus, Demons in Early Judaism and Christianity. Characters and Characteristics, p. 249). In other words, it’s probably safe to say we are dealing with an example of broader Iranian-Mesopotamian acculturation (perhaps with some sort of Elamite involvement too - though I am not sure if zana was actually anywhere near as common of a designation as bēlet), as opposed to a direct association developing between Anahita and a specific deity.

The other case would be the astronomical/astrological side of Anahita. It is generally assumed that the traditional assignment of names of Anahita, Ahura Mazda, Tir and Bahram to, respectively, Venus, Jupiter, Mercury and Mars reflected the influence of Mesopotamian astronomy. The fact that the name of Saturn, Kewan, is an Akkadian loanword definitely supports this assumption (Antonio Panaino, A Walk Through the Iranian Heavens. For a History of an Unpredictable Dialogue between Nonspherical and Spherical Models, p. 142). - the “godless” planet (the original Kayyamanu is not a theonym) likewise doesn’t get a yazata assigned to it. However, this once again might very well just reflect a broader pattern of acculturation - not some specific link between Anahita and Ishtar. In this case at the very least there would be a potential parallel in Tir/Tishtrya (which we talked about before) -  though on the other hand I don’t think Nergal had any impact whatsoever on Bahram (Nergal did likely acquire Iranian elements in Hatra, though), and I’m not sure if Ahura Mazda necessarily acquired any traits specifically from Marduk as opposed to another pantheon head like Humban or even Zeus (who at least was used as an iconographic model for him very commonly; Intangible Spirits…, p. 61). Furthermore, I think it’s up for debate if this really proves a connection between Anahita and Ishtar, as opposed to Anahita and the purely astronomical Dilbat - who could be a representation of Ishtar but didn’t have to. 

While I can’t really recommend a specific study dealing with the influence itself, the astronomical aspect of Anahita - and more broadly the position of planets in Zoroastrian and more broadly Iranian beliefs - does have a fair share of solid publications, and would probably be the best direction for further reading. Panaino’s book listed above is a good start, but his (much shorter) Planets article in the Encyclopedia Iranica is really solid too (and even mentions the elusive second Zoroastrian Venus, the explicitly demonic Xišm). Final digression: it probably helps the average quality of relevant studies that less speculation is required. Sources make it abundantly clear the astronomical aspect was integral to the understanding of Anahita’s character over… much of the world, really - from Spain to China. You could go as far as call it primary in some cases! Even though she is very sparsely attested in Sogdia, Naxie (那頡), a derivative of Nāxid, the Sogdian form of her name, appears in the Qiyao Rangzai Jue (七曜攘災決; “Secrets of Seven-Planet Apotropaism”), a ninth century Buddhist astrological compendium, as a designation of Venus (Jeffrey Kotyk, Buddhist Astrology and Astral Magic in the Tang Dynasty, p. 170). On the other end of Eurasia, her name appears in the Picatrix in the same context, though there we are apparently dealing with an Arabic transliteration of the Persian form, then adapted into Latin as “Anyhyt” (Buddhist Astrology…, p. 171-172). Ironically, you probably can make a case for it being the most well known characteristic of her even though it has little to do with her Avestan role and, arguably, her royal cult which elevated her to a position of prominence compared to other yazatas in the first place..

[jollmaster]

Unpopular opinion and anyone feel free disagree to me

Lilith can be anything including being a goddess

One can argue that lilith and lilitu while are connected they are not the same entity which is can be true, but if we also think about judaism they probably borrow or inspired or even trade with other religion. Asmodeus Asherah this two are from different pantheon asmodeus from zoroastrianism and asherah come from canaanites. While Lilith is more in jewish folklore mysticism she is powerful, she is the dark feminine while Eve and Shekinah are the light feminine. She not only rival her on feminity she manage to defeat her and literally god the holy one having an affair or remarried with lilith. That's goddess level stuff

I think I agree with you too

given the mixing of cultures (judaism also has a lot of overlap with assyrian mythology, for example), the tendency for myth to change and the difference in interpretations depending on time/scientists/theologists, Lilith of course can have traits of a goddess

[lostrealities0]

Rowan (she/her)

Story: still hasn't been named 😭

Assyrian (he/him)

Story: The Last Human

[nordseehexe]

🦁🧿🌙 Pre Islamic Goddesses 🌙🕋☀️

Al-Lāt, syrian and arabian goddess of destiny and the city Mecca, Lady of the temple, her Name means „Goddess“ and is the female version of „Allah“, represented by the lion, married to Bel, prototype for the greek goddess of wisdom, Athena, her followers took her figures with them in battles, one of the three goddesses of Mecca, the kaaba 🕋 was build for them, her shrine was a red stone cube

Al-Uzza, syrian and arabian goddess of destiny and the venus, one of the three goddesses of Mecca, the youngest of the them, she got worshipped at the kaaba 🕋 and was the greatest idol of the Qurayash who controlled Mecca, they used to journey to her, offer gifts and sacrifices, her shrine was a white stone cube

Anat, syrian and egyptian goddess of war and protector of wild animals, goddess of love and eternal virgin, mother of all, life and death

Ašera, syrian-canaanite sea goddess

Astarte, semitic goddess of love and fertility

Aštoreth, ugarit goddes, bride of the tyrrhenian sea,

Athirat, ugarit sea and sky goddess, lady of the sea, producer of gods, lady of gods

Ereškigal, sumerian goddess of the underworld and Inannas older sister, she can kill with her eyes, snake goddess, she is naked, with eyes out of stone and black hair, sometimes she wears a lions head and her palace is out of lapislazuli

Han-Ilat, northern arabian big goddess

Inanna, sumerian goddess of war, sex, love and the venus, lady of the sky, lady of all houses, city godess of Uruk, female leader goddess, her symbols are the moon and the star

Išhara, syrian underworld goddess

Ištar, babylonian and mesopotamian goddess of war, sex and the venus, most important diety in the ancient world of middle east, many goddesses are versions of her symbols are lions and the star

Ištar of Arbela, assyrian goddess of war

Kiriša, elamic mother goddess with an aspect of war, Lady of the sky, benefactor of the kings, mother of gods

Kulitta, servant of Ištar/Šauška

Lamaštu, babylonian sky goddess, demon with lion head who eats children and makes people sick, kills innocent people, always around rotten and filthy stuff like feces and dead animals,

Lilithu, sumerian goddess of mischief, misery, the night and the storm who lives in ruins, seduced men and stole children

Manat, arabian goddess of the moon, the venus, destiny, and one of the three big goddesses of Mecca. Her shrine was a black stone cube, pilgrims used to cut their hair at her shrine to conplete their journey to the kaaba 🕋

Nammu, sumerian creator goddess of the primordial sea, created together with her son Enki the first men out of clay

Nanše, sumerian goddess of water sources, and brooks, divination, dream interpretation and the holy order, most important goddess in Lagaš, Mother of her daughters Ninmah and Nunmar

Ninatta, servant of Ištar/Šauška

Ningal, mesopotamian goddess, wige of the moon god Nanna, great queen, high lady, lady, star of the prince, sevenfold light, treasured, goddes of the city Ur, goddess of epiphany, mother of Inanna and the sun god Ut

Ninmah, sumerian goddess of midwivery

Ninsianna, babylonian goddess, rust red lady of the sky, pure and sublime judge, sometimes war goddes with a scimitar and a lion headed club, she is the goddess of venus and she wears a star on hear horned crown

Ninšubur, sumerian goddess and holy servant of Inanna, Lady of the servants, been very popular because she was seen as a messenger between men and gods, seen as personal goddess by some kings, guardian who fights with the weapons of air and the sky

Nisaba, sumerian goddess of corn, goddes of writing texts, science and architecture, sister of Nanše and Ningirsu

Pinikir, elamian, later mesopotamian, hurrian and hittian mother goddess

Šauška, hurrian goddess of love, war, incantations and healing

Tiamat, babylonian goddess of the sea, embodiment of salt water, married to Abzu the embodiment of fresh water

Tunit, punish goddess of fertility and guardian of cartago, virgin mother of Baal, who gives him every year new life, her attributes are pomehrenates, figs, ears of corn and the dove

[art-o-bart-o]

I don't think I shared this oc species called Stargazers here. Just stuff for comic lore

(The first character shown is named kokhwa (star in Assyrian so the pronunciation of his name might be hard lol))

First image is old

I'd be happy to share the lore of these aliens

[jeannereames]

I see a lot of popular history depicting Ancient Macedon in the style of a Prussia of Antiquity, a martial kingdom that's more an army than a state. How much of this is true?

How Much Like Prussia Was Ancient Macedon?

Especially as the Prussians also used a long pike, it can be very tempting to compare them to Macedon. But it’s problematic, as it imposes backwards some modern concepts of statehood that just don’t really fit antiquity.

Certainly, the ancient world had “states” and “nations,” as well as various democratic systems with voting by citizens (more or less formally defined). But their concepts of nations and democracies were less complex. And monarchies, including chieftainships, were the most common form of government.

Furthermore, in many, if not most of these early systems (monarchy, oligarchy, or democracy), the subject/citizen (male) was also a fighting soldier. I can’t think of any that didn’t assume military duty of subjects/citizens unless one were too young, too old, infirm, or property (e.g., a slave). In many, even resident foreigners (where that was a concept) also owed military service, and sometimes slaves, as well.

In short, the “state” was virtually always the army too.

The real question is which states had a professional, citizen army. That’s a bit different, and much rarer. We see it in Assyria, in Sparta, and in Macedon, to name the three I’m most familiar with, but they’re not the only ones.

In order to exist, these professional citizen-soldier armies required a support system. In Sparta, it was the helots. In Assyria, it was the feudal serf system bucked up later by the provincial system. In Macedon, it was a similar serf system. BUT in Macedon, at least, Philip’s development of citizen soldiers came late, and—perhaps ironically—Philip’s citizen soldiers wound up creating a middle class independent of the early feudal system. (Trying to pick this stuff apart, btw, is really tough, given the state of our evidence. So I’m riffing, based on emerging archaeology.)

Historically, Macedon was an absolute monarchy where the king WAS the law. He had estate-owning aristocratic Hetairoi (Companions) to advise him—but he made them and could break them. Their offices, and their land, owed to him. The king WAS the state, and his Hetairoi helped him to hold power. But this wasn’t particularly unusual at that point in time. The same thing held true for the Thracians and Illyrians, near as we can tell. Also, the Assyrians, and the Medes and Persians when they arrived on the plateau.

What Philip did was form, out of a serf system, a separate professional army supported BY that serf system. It’s pretty much the same thing the Middle and Neo-Assyrian kings did, too. Just as in Assyria, ALL subjects owed military service when demanded, and Assyria had two draft systems in addition to their professional standing army. The Macedonians had a professional army, but also could draft citizen-subjects at need too.

Ergo, ALL these systems interwove the function of the state/king with the army. The two were virtually inseparable. But it was normal for the time, rather than all that exceptional.