#levantine gods

[tsalmu]

Phoenician Bowl with encircling Serpent Bernardini Tomb (Palestrina, Italy) c. 700 BCE The National Etruscan Museum of Villa Giulia Rome, Italy

[teecupangel]

Imagine Altaïr just minding his own business then all of a sudden, he hears one of the recruits go

Altaïr just stops and he's just "????" the entire time while the recruits continue to do their drill.

The Abbas in Trails of series under the cut

[bi-numi-aliyani]

Jehovah, Jehovah, Jehovah!... No, actually, it's Yahweh,

A somewhat notable Deity considered by the ancient Israelite people their National God and first attested from c. early 9th century BCE.¹

This c. 1518 painting by Raphael is based on a mystical vision of 𒀭Yahweh attributed to the prophet Ezekiel who belonged to a priestly lineage said to be descended from the legendary Joshua. Ezekiel was active during the time the Kingdom of Judah was conquered by the Neo-Babylonian Empire in the early 6th century BCE. (Public domain)

𒀭Yahweh was also apparently worshipped among the Edomites, the Israelites' southern neighbors, based on a reference to “Yahweh of Teman” in an inscription on a c. early 8th century BCE jar discovered at the site of Kuntillet Ajrud in the Sinai.¹ It's believed that at this time the Ajrud outpost was controlled by the northern Kingdom of Israel as it fell into their hands after a botched invasion by the southern Kingdom of Judah. The two kingdoms were also under the yoke of the Neo-Assyrian Empire at this time with contemporaneous Assyrian records noting both Judahite and northern Israelite representatives.²

Illustrations of the two vessels from Kuntillet Ajrud with translations. It's debated if the 𒀭Bes-type figures on Pithos A are meant to depict 𒀭Yahweh and His 𒀭Asherah, but it should be noted the righthand figure does not actually have visible genitals as the outdated illustration here shows.³ (Source)

Although 𒀭Yahweh is primarily associated with monotheistic religion nowadays for obvious reasons, historical evidence indicates He was first worshipped in a polytheistic context as the Israelite culture distinguished itself from the Canaanite milieu it emerged from. This can even be seen within the Hebrew Bible. A wonderful example is found in the Book of Habakkuk in the form of an archaic Hebrew poem describing 𒀭Yahweh and His Company including the Plague-God 𒀭Resheph (His Name is usually mistranslated as “plague” in English Bibles) battling sea monsters. Another one of the most noted can be seen in the Book of Deuteronomy and indicates 𒀭Yahweh was probably worshipped as One of the Seventy (symbolically “many”) Sons of 𒀭El:

⁸ When [Elyon] apportioned the nations, when he divided humankind, he fixed the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the gods; ⁹ [Yahweh's] own portion was his people, Jacob his allotted share.

Deuteronomy 32:8–9 (Translation: New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition, 2021)

𒀭Yahweh very much fits the form of other Storm-Gods worshipped in cultures of the Syro-Palestinian region during the Iron Age. The other most famous example of such a Deity is the Levantine manifestation of 𒀭Ba'al Who is cast as 𒀭Yahweh's greatest Rival in the collection of texts within the Hebrew Bible known as the Deuteronomistic history, although the presence of 𒀭Ba'al's name at Ajrud would suggest this conflict is a fairly late idea. It's even been suggested 𒀭Yahweh was originally associated specifically with destructive elements of weather such as flash floods.⁴ Although there are some academic claims of pre-Israelite attestations of 𒀭Yahweh from the Late Bronze Age, none of these are secure and all of them are very much contested.⁵ The scholar Christian Frevel also fascinatingly proposed in 2021 that 𒀭Yahweh was the Tutelary Deity of the Omride clan which came to rule the northern Kingdom of Israel for over a century and established its capital of Samaria.¹

A modern artistic impression of a ritual performed by ancient Israelites at the Temple of 𒀭Yahweh in Jerusalem during the Iron Age. The dedication of the Temple in Jerusalem built by King Solomon (c. 1910) by William Hole. (Public domain)

The emergence of monotheism from traditional Israelite belief is an incredibly convoluted topic that I don't intend to get into the weeds of here. One of the most recognizable milestones therein, though, was the religious reforms of King Josiah of Judah shortly before our dear Ezekiel's time. This saw the absolute consolidation of religious authority in the Temple of 𒀭Yahweh at Jerusalem and even the forced closure of all other cultic sites in Judah. However, there's also direct evidence that 𒀭Yahweh continued to be worshipped among other Gods and Goddesses well after the monotheistic, Jerusalem-centric religion which came to be known as Judaism had entered its Second Temple Period.

Most notably a community of Israelites living on the island of Elephantine at ancient Egypt's southern frontier had a Pantheon in which 𒀭Yahweh was associated with the Goddess 𒀭Anat and another God named 𒀭Bethel.⁶ They were also apparently on good terms with Jerusalem. An analysis of the narrative of Aaron's Rod in the Book of Numbers has also led to the alluring proposition that worship of the famous 𒀭Asherah as 𒀭Yahweh's Consort may have continued even within the Jerusalemite cult itself during this period.⁷

An altar of incense discovered at the site of ancient Ta'anakh. Although it's dated to the tenth century BCE, predating any secure attestations of 𒀭Yahweh, some researchers believe the top and second-to-bottom registers are intended to symbolize Him with His 𒀭Asherah likewise on the alternating registers. (Source)

There's so many fascinating developments being made in archaeology and the study of history unraveling more about the ancient Israelites and the worship of 𒀭Yahweh before our very eyes. I honestly feel incredibly privileged to be alive just in time to witness such a thing. Although I haven't “worked with” 𒀭Yahweh myself within my primarily Canaanite Pagan practice, I'd be very interested to hear and discuss different perspectives on this fascinating ancient Deity and it'd make me very happy to see what some of you think. Shulmu 𒁲𒈬 and thank you so much for reading!

Another thing

Given what part of the world this all concerns, I feel I would be morally remiss to say nothing of the genocide taking place against the Palestinian people in their homeland and particularly in Gaza. I find this important because earlier today the so-called President of the United States Donald Trump expressed the US's intent to “take over” and ethnically cleanse Gaza at a public event alongside Benjamin Netanyahu, the so-called Prime Minister of Israel. In the face of such great evil, I feel obligated by simple virtue of being a human to state I wholeheartedly support the full liberation of Palestine and an end to the unjust and unlawful occupation with all it has wrought. Arab.org is a website which allows you to support Palestinians via a simple click of a button with no donation necessary along with providing further resources. Free Palestine 🇵🇸

References

Frevel, Christian. “When and from Where Did YHWH Emerge? Some Reflections on Early Yahwism in Israel and Judah.” Entangled Religions 12:2 (March 30, 2021). https://doi.org/10.46586/er.12.2021.8776.

Na’aman, Nadav. “Samaria and Judah in an Early 8th-Century Assyrian Wine List.” Tel Aviv 46:1 (January 2, 2019): pp. 12–20. https://www.academia.edu/43169801.

This was clarified by archaeologist Ze'ev Meshel in communication, https://www.facebook.com/share/1JASsUsdcN.

Fleming, Daniel E. “Yahweh among the Baals: Israel and the Storm Gods.” Essay. In Mighty Baal: Essays in Honor of Mark S. Smith, edited by Stephen C. Russel and Esther J. Hamori, pp. 160–74. Harvard Semitic Studies 66. Leiden, Netherlands; Boston, Massachusetts, United States: Brill, 2020.

Pfeiffer, Henrik. “The Origin of YHWH and its Attestation.” Essay. In The Origins of Yahwism, edited by Markus Witte and Jürgen van Oorschot, pp. 115–44. Beihefte Zur Zeitschrift Für Die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 484. Berlin, Germany; Boston, Massachusetts, United States: De Gruyter, 2017.

Cornell, Colin. “Judeans and Goddesses at Elephantine.” Ancient Near East Today 7:11 (November 2019). American Society of Overseas Research (ASOR). https://www.asor.org/anetoday/2019/11/Judeans-and-Goddesses-at-Elephantine.

Eichler, Raanan. “Aaron’s Flowering Staff: A Priestly Asherah?” TheTorah.com, 2019. https://www.thetorah.com/article/aarons-flowering-staff-a-priestly-asherah.

[argumate]

ding-dong-dumbass said: Mouse Hitler implies Mouse Jesus and Mouse Moses and therefore Mouse Levantine God. I’m too sleep drunk to figure out what rodent geopolitics this would have sprung from

Mouse Napoleon... Mouse Cleopatra... Mouse Julius Caesar... Mouse Akhenaten and Mouse Hatshepsut... Mouse Qinshihuangdi... Mouse Zedong...

[hailmaryfullofgrace55675]

“Ashkenazi Jews don’t actually have Levantine genetic ancestry” has been floating around lately among naïve and conspiracy minded anti-Zionists, a problematic claim that undermines actually correct anti-Zionist principles and defense of Palestinian rights. This claim is

absolutely irrelevant, as “blood” originating on the “soil” does not grant anyone any right to an ethnostate on any land. Using area-native ethnicity to justify discrimination and mass killing is bad when it’s Yamato Japanese discriminating against Korean, Mainland Chinese, and Taiwanese minorities in Japan and it’s bad when it’s Celtic-Germanic descent Brits oppressing Celtic-Germanic descent Irish who they’re genetically undifferentiatable from. It was bad when it was Hutus killing Tutsis and it was bad when it was the Khmer Rouge killing Chinese and Vietnamese Cambodians. The actions of the Israeli state in immiserating and slaughtering non-Jewish Palestinians would be equally harmful and wrong if the diaspora had never happened and every Israeli could trace their resident lineage in an unbroken line back to the time of the Second Temple, because it is bad to destroy people’s homes, burn their crops, imprison them, and kill them.

incorrect, at least according to current scientific consensus. Most genetic studies seem to indicate that Ashkenazim are of majority European descent and also have ancestry in the Levant, that is: the Ashkenazi population had some Levantine founders and there’s been significant amounts of intermarriage over the hundreds and hundreds of years of the diaspora into Southern Europe and from there across Central and Eastern Europe.

irrelevant again because even if, through a combination of conversions, adoptions, intermarriage, and adulterous and out of wedlock pairings between Jews and local gentiles, the diasporic European Jewish population had become completely genetically indistinguishable from local gentiles, those Jews would still have been the children of Israel. They still would have learned to read the Torah and celebrate its festivals. They still would have learned, from their families and communities in an unbroken line, to pray “Sh’ma Yisrael, Adonai eloheinu, Adonai echad” (Hear, Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one) as the rabbinic sages of Roman Judea observed in the Talmud that they were commanded to do. They still would have spoken languages with Hebrew and Aramaic elements, and they still would have written them with letters recognizable in the Dead Sea Scrolls. They still would have had the same interests, affirmed daily and yearly, in the land that their people left so many hundreds of years ago.

One formulation of the claim is “Israel bans direct to consumer genetic testing because it shows that (Ashkenazi) Jews don’t have Middle Eastern ancestry”. The Israeli government does ban DTC genetic testing as part of a genetic information privacy and nondiscrimination law passed in 2000, before companies like 23andMe existed. DNA testing for ancestry can be interpreted and presented many ways, and the ancestry breakdowns given by DTC GT companies just do not correspond to the question “where, how, and through what migrations did this population originate?”.

Once again, Zionism is not bad because people residing in places their ancestors are not from is bad. That is fine. Zionism is bad because from its beginning the Zionist project has been one of violent dispossession and because that violent dispossession continues in and through this very present moment.

[pinkgy]

Belphegor Theory

Ok, so I might and might have not spent about two hours doing some research about Belphegor because that "Halo" of his has me questioning a lot of things, and this is what I came up with, but extremely summarized.

I'm most definitely no expert on the topics I'm about to talk about, I just dug a bit too deep into the internet and got some interesting things, I would like to know if I'm wrong and I would love to read opinions about this.

I got the information from looooots of sources, and credit to all of them.

So, we know that What in Hell is Bad is heavily inspired by biblical concepts, the Seven Deadly Sins are from Christianity, the Seraphims are mentioned in Christian, Islamic, and Jewish Literature, and pretty much all of the nobles are from the Ars Goetia, and many of them are associated with Christian Demonology.

The game also has many references to other religions and beliefs, but if I were to make a list of all those references, I'd be here writing for days.

Let's dig a bit into who is Belphegor outside the game.

Belphegor is referenced in both Jewish and Christian traditions, he originates from the Moabites, a very ancient tribe that habited the region of Moab, an ancient Levantine kingdom. Belphegor is originally the Moabite god Baal-Peor, who was associated with fertility, sexual power, and orgies, then he was absorbed into Hebrew mythology and later into Christian demonology.

In Christian Demonology, Belphegor is one of the seven princes of hell, and he represents the deadly sin of Sloth. He is also associated with laziness, apathy, and negligence and his name means "Lord of the Opening"

Belphegor is physically described in many ways, a very interesting fact is that in the Dictionnaire Infernal, a book written by Jacques Auguste Simon Collin de Plancy that summed up, is an illustrated version of the demonology, he is described as always having his mouth open, and the hand placement he has in the banner that Prettybusy recently released could be making a reference to that.

(Another interesting fact is that he's said to be hard to conjure because his sacrificial offering is excrement, but I prefer to ignore that)

Belphegor is also referenced in the Kabbalah, which is like a philosophy, or to be more precise, an esoteric method, discipline, and school of thought in Jewish mysticism that deals with the essence of God and the universe (I just copy&pasted this, it's a bit hard to explain, srry)

In the Kabbalah, guess what Belphegor is.

A fallen angel.

To be more precise, he was an angel in the order of the principalities.

Belphegor is known to be an enemy to the sixth sephiroth and the archdemon (or the leader) of the Togarini, they are the demonic counterparts to the angels that rule over the 10 Sephirot of the Tree of Life.

For context, the Sephirot are the ten emanations or attributes of God in Kabbalah.

I also read that some demons under the Togarini are Lilith, Samael, and Thaumiel, but there's very little information about that so I'm not going to use this as a fact.

The reason why he fell from grace is not explicitly mentioned, but it's somewhat implied that it was related to his association with the sixth Sephirah "Beauty" and the fact that he is depicted as a demon who tempts individuals with ingenious inventions, wealth, and discoveries (I also copy&pasted this)

It's also said that he rules over seduction, promiscuous men, and MISOGYNY.

I'm not sure if there are references from the Kabbalah in What in Hell is Bad, but if there were, it would be super interesting, as I said in the beginning, the game has a lot of references from various religions and beliefs, I would love to make a separate post about that just because I may have way too much free time to investigate that.

Or maybe I just spent 2 whole hours writing almost 700 words about a ton shit of things I barely know anything about and creating a theory just because of a black circle above a fictional character's head that it's probably just a horn just like @thrones-of-buer said on a post.

(I still have some doubts about that because it seems like in the new illustration that pb released of him today he has a unicorn horn just like Beelzebub, but I could be wrong)

This is just a theory tho, I'm most likely wrong, but I thought it would be interesting to share this with y'all :D

Sorry if there are any typos, I'm reaaally sleepy right now.

[littlestpersimmon]

some excellent trees for trans men to kiss under:

Fire trees

Bodhi (very auspicious!! very enlightening!!)

Mango trees.. for the south and southeast asians!!

Olive trees for the Mediterranean and Levantine men

Magnolias

Weeping Willow

Frangipani Rubra

Strangler Figs if you're secretly a forest god

Mimosas ♡

[noctilionoidea]

drop the favorite oc lore noct 🔫👁️👁️

haha what do you mean favourite I love all my children equally!!!!!

anyways Ash

My horrible gremlin girl I love you so much. This is going to be so fucking long but so many details and the big twists are excluded so uh. Yeah it’s fairly convoluted

So in this universe there’s a bunch of stories happening across history, and the idea is that there’s truth to literally all belief systems. Because I like studying ancient religion and shit and I also really love fairytales folklore and cryptids! It’s a huge part of my childhood so it’s the main root of literally all my ocs’ stories. Ash’s story mainly centers around demonology and abrahamic religions as well as Greek, Roman and a pinch of ancient levantine. Let’s just say for now the devil is kinda a good guy??? And the designs for the Greek gods are the same as my general ones, but I want to make it clear as day that they are very much just characters. I have a lot of issues with people blurring the line between character versions and the actual religious figures so I just want to state that. This is also the same universe that Toxaris and Ciara exist in!!! They are 700 to 600 BCE and 2023 CE respectively.

Ash is from a very complicated family history on both sides much of which is spoilers for this project I want to do shit for, but the story starts in 1997, she’s a edgy goth 17 year old in Springfield Massachusetts, she is very loved by her family and knows it but still has classic teenage angst and gets into fights constantly. Shes a loner and only really hangs out with her adopted/god-brother Will who’s literally just her whole world at this point and her stoner friend Matt.

She’s kinda just fucking around through her senior year so that then she can dedicate herself to her tattoo apprenticeship. Then comes Quincy, this sweet socially awkward kid from Appalachian Tennessee who’s come to live with his aunt after his parents died. Ash originally thinks he’s some cute butch, he is not but somehow she’s still kinda into him despite assuming she was gay as shit (she’s a girl with complicated sexuality for today living in the fucking nineties), and they get really close. As friends. So they have a solo hangout. As friends. So they decide to explore some old house from the colonial period that’s rumored to be haunted together. As friends. Quincy’s fairly superstitious but not enough to take it that seriously, Ash fundamentally disbelieves in anything supernatural but wants to do it for the goth cred and thinks it’s fun. She likes spooky things. She may be atheist as fuck and not believe in the existence of souls, but fun is fun!

yea turns out there be ghosts. So these ghosts are shitty fucking puritans, and for some reason they’re specifically targeting Quincy. Ash doesn’t understand why (she’s clearly the less godly one) so she has to try and get him out of there. Eventually she gets so worried for her friend (they’re just friends guys) that she ends up cussing them out and calling them out on their shit, and decides in a moment of adrenaline to set the place on fire. Somehow it ends up pacifying them???

so it turns out supernatural shut is real. Okay. She’s trying to play it off. But she notices a lot of things happening just out of view that’s always accompanied by ringing in her ears. It’s demons and they’re stalking her. Her mom is a professor of religious studies at an unnamed university so she borrows some of her (…) more relevant books. At this point her kinda-ex-but-also-the-feelings-are-still-there girlfriend who left a year ago to pursue a music career returns, but something’s very wrong with her. The demons are also starting to physically attack her and Quincy, yet somehow she is able to fight them back in almost the same way she fights other kids. They’re scared, they don’t know what to do, Ash is kinda caught between trying to save two people she loves romantically (because that this point she’s stating to feel that her feelings for Quincy aren’t exactly platonic) and also figure out why she’s wrapped up in this.

that’s the first arc, immediately afterwards Aphrodite gets involved, even when face to face and having conversations with several deities Ash will consider herself atheist, ash’s dad comes from the linage of Aeneas and that’s only mildly important, Quincy is a changeling, something something antichrist and rebellion in hell, uncle Satan??? Mommy issues happen, the consequences of pulling yourself away from the people you love as a means to protect them, Will goes through religious trauma, she makes more friends that become family because of shared trauma and finding community through the weirdest fucking ties. Will and Matt are totally fucking

Eventually Ash does play a part in Ciara’s story! Shes the cool aunt who shows up sometimes and is deeply protective, She and Morgan have friendly beef, she’s really confused about how Ciara deals with her supernatural bullshit like running errands and not having her world view massively deconstructed, she and Quincy are married and also have a kid they stole from the fairfolk in wales.

Anyways random stuff here- Ash’s dad Snaketongue ( his given name is Joseph) is an atheist (ex Pentecostal from West Virginia) and his philosophy is heavily influenced by his hatred of corporations and the devastation that was his first two and a half decades of life. Ash is very much like him and looks up to him. He lost his leg in a mining accident at 16, loves being a mechanic and is terrified ash will follow in his steps (…). He was involved with motorcycle gangs in his late teens and early twenties and got his tongue split as torture in a fight. He thinks this is cool as shit.

Will moved up to Springfield in his infancy with his mom, who despite loving his father didn’t want Will to grow up like him or be hurt by his lifestyle, and worked with Snaketongue, and they had a really close bond and ended up raising their kids together. Will’s mother ended up dying in a car accident when he was 7, and was legally adopted by Snaketongue and Ellie (not ash’s mom’s real name lmao). He already saw Snaketongue as his dad, but took awhile to consider Ellie a mom since he was still mourning his mom and didn’t want to replace her. This was when Ash became super protective of him. He’s a year younger than her. He is a good Christian boy (…) who genuinely wants to do everything to help others. Unfortunately he joined an evangelical church, which has the rest of the family on edge about how it effects him… it’s won’t end well. He’s very clearly in a relationship with Matt and trying to hide it, however the more deeply his feelings and the worse Matt’s situation gets he starts slipping.

“Ellie” is Ash’s mother, as previously mentions a professor of religious studies, and most of the other stuff is either a spoiler or needs to be worked out a bit more. Lmao

Ash’s full name is Ashley Sahar Bellone, she is 4’10 on a good day and salty as fuck about it, she is a cis intersex woman (complete androgen insensitivity syndrome) and has a lot of issues in her relationship with womanhood both as a result and because of how her behavior and attitude is perceived (she has no problem being seen as boyish androgynous or even full on a boy when crossdressing, but being treated like a failure of a woman hurts her a lot), she’s only ever been attracted to women and David Bowie as Jareth before Quincy. She loves apple pie and mourning doves. Her weapon of choice is a sica, gun, or punching and kicking people

so yea that’s Ash! And the start of her situation. So much is spoilers but I love her a lot

[yourlocalaphrodisian]

Hi, it's me again.

Missed me? I know I've missed y'all <3 This has been a LOOOOONGGGG three years LMAO. Last I was here I was still a kid, but now I am, surprising even myself, an adult. Yes, ya boi is 18 as of September 24th.

But this isn't a personal blog, so I'd lay off on the personal stuff except for that I've had a shit ton of ups and downs in these three years and a lot has changed... Including my faith.

Religion, to me, has been a constant in life. From birth to this very day, I seek religion. I was born Muslim, grew up Muslim, but then fell away from Islam. That much I'm sure my old followers know. I leaned back on Hellenic Polytheism when Islam became inhospitable. I leaned back on what to me was the most important thing in life: Love. And that Love was Mother Aphrodite.

Love holds the world together. Humans are communal creatures. Love is at the centre of our existence, our society and our civilization. From Prometheus, from Adam, from Manu and from the first modern homo erectus — Humanity has relied on love. Love for oneself, which manifests as survival instinct. Love for one's family, which manifests as protectiveness. Love for one's neighbours, which manifests as community. And even Love for one's enemy, which manifests as diplomacy. Love is a great power. I might even go as far as to say Love is the only power.

Perhaps it was my monotheistic upbringing which made my praxis so centric on Aphrodite, and I acknowledge that many may have not shared that henotheistic view, of a supremacy over all other divine beings. Perhaps it was my reason, of my then childish brain, which made me put Aphrodite on a pedestal above all.

I still exalt Her greatness, and I miss her dearly.

No, I have not practiced in these three years. However, I have never felt safer going out of a religion than I have with with faith. I must give it that credit. So what pushed me away?

I'd promised I wouldn't turn this vent-y, but here I am, laying my heart bare to you all. But alas, this is a temple of Love, is it not? Hearts are to be laid bare.

I'd considered reason, I'd considered need. I rationed with all I had, tried to reason with myself the existence of a divine being. Perhaps it is my idea of divinity as a personal force rather than a universal one which drove me away. I am not immune to bias, alas.

But reason was often at war with me. I needed divinity, I needed religion. I needed a crutch to lean back on, to lay my problems at the feet of in sacrifice. I needed a God. Allah didn't fulfill that role, so I sought the old gods.

Old Gods of a nation which isn't mine. I'm Bengali, that much you must know. This feeling wasn't there when I first practiced, but as I've grown into a bigger age, though still relatively measly at 18, I felt the rift between me and the gods grow. I prayed to them in Greek or English, which always felt a bit odd on my Bengali tongue. I know, the Gods don't care about the language you use. But, again, it is my own bias acting against me.

So where do I stand now?

Nowhere. I wish I could say I've achieved anything, but really I've got nothing very fruitful out of these three years. I'm still me, but, I don't intend to come off as boastful, more mature, more introspective, more... Indifferent. I've grown into a rather nonchalant person. Nothing bothers me, or at least I don't think too much about it to let it bother me.

Another way to put it would be I've turned shallow. The differences of blood and bone faze me. It is a bit cruel to say this, and I do not intend any offence to anyone, but I cannot bring myself to pray to a white man's god.

Aphrodite isn't a white goddess. She originated in the Levant, and in my practice she retained her Levantine aspects. However, even so, it's become harder for me to connect. It's been painful, but I do, in some corner of my mind, believe that the Mother has given her baby Dove the chance to fly on his own.

So, do I believe in Aphrodite?

It's... Complicated. Currently I don't practice any religion, though you could call my beliefs Hindu to some degree. So I do not engage in worship, nor do I call myself religious. But do I believe in Aphrodite? Yes. A thousand times yes. I'd be a fool not to believe in her. I'd be stupid not to believe in Love. Cheesy as it sounds, you'd know what I mean if you read the ramble on Love earlier in this post.

So, will I continue to post, now that I've finally decided to pay Tumblr a visit? I'm not sure, to be fairly honest. We'll see what the Gods have in mind, but the chances are... I won't. Or at least, I don't think I'll be posting theological or votive posts. So while I don't want to call it a goodbye, I also don't want to potentially lie and say I'll be consistent. I genuinely do love this community, and I've made good friends from it. So what I can say is — I'll be here. If you need me, I'll be here. As a friend, as a listening ear. I'm still around, and life will be well.

So, in short. I've missed you all, and I continue to miss you. I've been absent, I can't promise to be present, but I'll be here as a roadside hermit of sorts.

Khairete <3

In other news, FREE PALESTINE 🇵🇸 FREE SYRIA 🇸🇾 FREE SUDAN 🇸🇩 and may all revolutions be in the people's favour, gods willing <3

[tsalmu]

Stele of Set Sapouna (Baal Zephon) c. 1350 BCE Rash Shamra, Ugarit (modern Syria) Louvre Museum AO13176 A dedicatory stele by Maymi, the royal scribe, and former supervisor of the treasury, identifying the mountain/storm god Baal Zephon (Baalu Sapunu) with the Egyptian deity Set (Sutekh). Found within the temple of Baal-Hadad in Ugarit.

[teecupangel]

You know what would be funny?

If Desmond didn’t get to Ravensthorpe by accident, he was invited there.

By who?

It would be easy for it to be Eivor but it would be funnier if it was Hytham.

So now Hytham has this sense of responsibility to support Desmond in this (covert) bake off.

He’s usually the one who gets Desmond the ingredients he sorta remembers (“It makes food red.” “A lot of things makes food red.” “But it doesn’t affect the taste!” “I don’t think that kind of thing exist?” “Well, I guess get me all the things that can make things red then?” “I… I’ll see what I can do…” - smashcut to Azar feeling things were going to get profitable very, very soon).

He helped Desmond get the lay in the land because Desmond, in his own words, believed his idea of what the land looks like isn’t correct… right now.

But the most important thing… he was Desmond’s taste tester. Or, as Desmond liked to call it, his guinea pig. Any experiment Desmond made, as long as it tastes edible and cooked, Hytham would more or less taste them to give Desmond his honest opinion. They never tasted bad since Desmond always tasted them before giving them to Hytham but ‘okay’ was a word that Desmond did not accept.

Not because it was bad to just be ‘okay’ but… Desmond surprisingly has a competitive side to him. It doesn’t appear all that much but baking?

Oh, yes, his competitive side shows up in that regard.

But he and Tarben are cordial with each other.

… like rivals respecting each other’s skills but doing everything they can to not lose.

Tarben’s style is to keep making the same bread over and over again, perfecting his skill to a frightening level.

Desmond’s style is to keep bombarding Ravensthorpe with every and any idea he had, making it a unique experience every single time.

What Desmond lacked in perfection, he makes up with the ‘novelty’ of his breads.

As Desmond says it “Tarben is a basic bitch and I’m the manic pixie dream girl.”

… Hytham has no idea what Desmond meant about that but Desmond tended to use a lot of phrases and words Hytham didn’t understand. If Hytham was to translate it, Desmond must meant that Tarben’s bread is a staple, something every person should have in their home, while Desmond’s bread is more of a luxury, something one eats as a treat.

But it was clear who some of the people of Ravensthorpe side with.

The most obvious ones were the parents sided with Tarben while their children sided with Desmond. It really helped that Desmond likes to ask the children for favors in exchange for bread. Just simple stuff like foraging the nearby forest for berries or fishing in the docks. The children love it because they get to do something and be rewarded for it. The parents hate it because their children always have so much energy after eating Desmond’s breads.

Desmond doesn’t care though because “children are the hope of our future” and Hytham was pretty sure he got that line from someone else.

Octavius also preferred Desmond’s breads because they, according to him, were the food of the Romans! Desmond doesn’t like that all that much because Octavius likes to request the same bread over and over again and Desmond’s setup is more of ‘today’s bread is whatever I felt like making!’.

Other than that, Randvi is in Tarben’s corner mainly because his bread always go well with the feasts (although a lot of people go and eat Desmond’s bread afterwards as dessert anyway) and his breads are also the ones being made into rations. Tarben is just better in making rations that can last for months.

Then again, Desmond doesn’t really like making rations in the first place because he preferred the ephemeral beauty of fresh bread.

At this point, Hytham was pretty sure Desmond was liberating using dramatic words just to mess with him. He doesn’t use any of these words or phrases around others.

A lot of the other people try to keep an open mind (and reap the rewards of both sides), especially Yanli who profited from both of them (and gave Hytham the stink eye when he helped Desmond find spices using another merchant) and Petra who do get requests for her hunts from both of them (although Desmond likes to request meat as well while Tarben only requests animal fat).

And then there was Basim.

The first time he visited Ravensthorpe, he beelined to Desmond’s bakery immediately where he and Hytham stared at each other while Hytham was eating bread. After that awkward silent “what are you doing here?” “what am I doing here, what are you doing here?” stareoff, Basim sat next to Hytham and ate bread as well.

Hytham wasn’t surprised.

For some reason, Desmond just… He has this bread that taste like home.

Not home as in the home Hytham had as a child but home…

As in the Hidden Ones.

To be more presence, it tastes so similar to the bread baked in Alamut that Hytham had to try and check if Desmond had ever been to Alamut.

Desmond just shrugged as he said that it was the first few breads he learned but it wasn’t from Alamut.

And he knew…

With this single bread…

Desmond definitely got Basim’s attention.

‘What if desmond time travels and has to deal with such and such, or turns into an animal, or gets hurt, or-’

What if Desmond time travels and learns how to bake bread!! Huh!!? What about that!! What if he opens a super successful bakery, and solves all the worlds problems with the best fresh baked bread every!!

(This is /j but like. 👏🏻 anons let Desmond have peace challenge👏🏻 (but also don’t cause I love reading all of them I’m just like ‘how did you even come up with this? Sometimes lmao))

Anyway, since we already have a Desmond is a baker in Renaissance Italy idea, here’s Desmond is a baker during the Third Crusades instead:

So in this setup, Desmond would say fuck it and just open a bakery in Acre.

Jerusalem was too much of a hotspot at the moment and Acre had ports which meant there would be new customers that Desmond could lure in with the smell of freshly baked bread. 

And it worked.

Maybe a bit too well because…

Kadar visited while he was out looking for information for his brother’s current target. 

They both stared at one another for a moment and then Desmond just did his usual ‘Welcome! Are you looking for anything specific or would you like to hear today’s recommendations?’ spiel while Kadar just stares at him.

When Kadar went “Altaïr?”, Desmond just gave him his best bartender ‘I’m being respectful but also distant so you’ll still tip me’ smile as he goes, “I’m sorry, we don’t have a bread called ‘Altaïr’.”

Then he showed Kadar the star-shaped pull apart sweet bread he’s just perfected and go “But maybe I can interest you in this pull apart start bread? It’s sweet and fluffy and freshly baked.”

And sweet poor Kadar leaves the bakery with a basket of breads instead because Desmond was good at using both Ezio’s charms and his bartending social skills to get customers to buy more than they should.

Hey.

A man needed to profit to keep the roof over his head while trying to experiment for the upcoming debut of his sugar-free pastries.

The next day, Malik entered the bakery but Desmond was ready.

Desmond had planned for this!

“Welcome!” Desmond greeted, giving Malik his sweetest smile that he knew would completely unnerve Malik.

Desmond weaponized the similarity between him and Altaïr to unnerve Malik to the point that he cannot focus on observing Desmond, distracted by such a sweet smile that looked so disturbing in his eyes because he’s imagining Altaïr doing such an expression and it was horror beyond Malik’s wildest imagination. 

Okay.

Desmond was exaggerating but that got Malik to not ask too many invasive questions and leave the bakery after purchasing two baskets worth of bread so Desmond was going to consider that a mission successful.

And then…

His greatest adversary entered his little quaint bakery.

And Desmond was ready for him.

“Welcome!” Desmond greeted happily, “Are you looking for anything specific or would you like to see today’s recommendations?”

Altaïr simply stared at him.

But that didn’t matter.

Desmond held all the cards.

Because he knew one of Altaïr’s greatest weakness…

Altaïr secretly loved sweets.

“Today’s a special day!” Desmond clapped his hands in practiced joy that wasn’t over the top, “Today’s the debut of our dessert line! Here.”

Desmond took out a tray of sweet deserts, glistening in either honey or fruit jams. 

“Would you like a taste?” Desmond asked with the sweetness of the snake that tempted Eve to take a bite.

And Altaïr…

Altaïr left the bakery with a basket filled with desserts and pastries, quietly sinking into the shadows before anyone could see him and ask for one of the forbidden sweets he had acquired.

[irhabiya]

God free me from the shackles of levantine men

[alchemy-fic]

Bibliography:

Alchemy and the Occult:

Western:

Alchemy Unveiled, Johannes Helmond (Translated into English and Edited by

Gerard Hanswille and Deborah Brumlich); (1963)

Practical Alchemy, A Guide To The Great Work; Brian Cotnoir (2006)

The Black Arts (50th Anniversary Edition); Richard Cavendish (1968)

Alchemy & Mysticism: The Hermetic Cabinet; Alexander Roob (2009)

The Forge and the Crucible: The Origins and Structures of Alchemy (2nd Edition); Mircea Eliade (1962, 1978)

History of Alchemy; M. M. Pattison (1902)

Alchemy (Revised Edition); E. J. Holmyard (1990)

Dictionary of Symbolism, Cultural Icons and the Meanings Behind Them; Hans Biedermann, Translated by James Hulbert (1994)

The Encyclopedia of Witches, Witchcraft, and Wicca; Rosemary Ellen Guiley (1989)

The Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits; Rosemary Ellen Guiley (1992)

Levantine:

The Jewish Alchemists: A History and Source Book; Raphael Patai (1994)

Ancient Magic and Divination, A Microhistorical Study of the Neo-Assyrian Healer Kiṣir-Aššur; Troels Pank Arbøll (2017)

Fuck Your "Magic" Antisemitism: A Lesser Key To The Appropriation Of Jewish Magic & Mysticism; Ezra Rose (2022)

“His wind is released” - The Emergence of the Ghost Ritual of passage in Mesopotamia; Dina Katz, Leiden (2014)

Cursed Are You! The Phenomenology of Cursing in Cuneiform and Hebrew Texts; Anne Marie Kitz (2014)

Egyptian Magic; E.A. Wallis Budge (1901)

Mesopotamian Planetary Astronomy-Astrology (Cuneiform Monographs); David Brown (2000)

Astrology in Ancient Mesopotamia: The Science of Omens and the Knowledge of the Heavens; Michael Baigent (July 20, 2015)

Ancient Jewish Magic: A History; Gideon Bohak (2008)

PERFORMING DEATH: SOCIAL ANALYSES OF FUNERARY TRADITIONS IN THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST AND MEDITERRANEAN; Nicola Laneri, Ellen F. Morris, Glenn M. Schwartz, Robert Chapman, Massimo Cultraro, Meredith S. Chesson, Alessandro Naso, Adam T. Smith, Dina Katz, Seth Richardson, Susan Pollock, Ian Rutherford, John Pollini, John Robb, and James A. Brown (2007)

Mesopotamian Conceptions of Dreams and Dream Rituals; Sally A. L. Butler (1998)

Forerunners to Udug-Hul: Sumerian exorcistic incantations; Markham J. Geller (1985)

Šurpu. A Collection of Sumerian and Akkadian Incantations; Erica Reiner (1958)

Mesopotamian Protective Spirits: The Ritual Texts; F. A. M. Wiggermann (1992)

The Alchemist's Handbook- Manual for Practical Laboratory Alchemy; Frater Albertus (1960)

Licit Magic: The Life and Letters of al-Ṣāḥib b. ʿAbbād (d. 385/995); Maurice A. Pomerantz (09 Nov 2017)

Further Studies on Mesopotamian Witchcraft Beliefs and Literature; Tzvi Abusch (2002)

The Heavenly Writing: Divination, Horoscopy, and Astronomy in Mesopotamian Culture; Francesca Rochberg (2004)

Greco-Roman:

Magic, Witchcraft, and Ghosts in Greek and Roman Worlds: A Sourcebook; Daniel Ogden (2002)

Far East Asia:

I Ching; Fu Xi (~1000 BCE)

Myths, Legends, Religious Texts And Folktales

Levantine:

The Treasures of Darkness: A History of Mesopotamian Religion; Thorkild Jacobsen (1976)

Persian Myths; Jake Jackson (2022)

Myths of Babylon; Jake Jackson (2018)

The Epic Of Gilgamesh (2nd Edition); Anonymous, Andrew George (????, 2000)

The First Ghost Stories; Dr. Irving Finkel (2021)

On Jewish Folklore; Raphael Patai (1983)

Sumerian Mythology, a Deep Guide Into Sumerian History and Mesopotamian Empire and Myths; Joshua Brown (2021)

Sumerian Mythology, a Study of Spiritual and Literary Achievement in the Third Millennium B.C. (Revised Edition); Samuel Noah Kramer (1961)

Sumerian Liturgies; Anonymous, Stephen Langdon (1919)

Inanna, Lady of Largest Heart, Poems of the Sumerian High Priestess Enheduanna; Enheduanna, Betty De Shong Meador (1989)

Ninurta's Journey to Eridu; Daniel Reisman (1971)

A Sumerian Proverb Tablet in Geneva With Some Thoughts on Sumerian Proverb (2006)

Enki's Journey to Nippur: The Journeys of the Gods; Al-Fouadi, Abdul-Hadi A. (1969)

The Arthur of the Welsh: The Arthurian Legend in Medieval Welsh Literature by Rachel Bromwich (1991)

Encyclopedia of American Folklore; Linda S. Watts (2006)

Jewish Magic and Superstition: A Study in Folk Religion; Joshua Trachtenberg (1939)

Amulets and Talismans; E.A. Wallis Budge (The copy I have was published in 1992 but he died in 1934. Not sure when the original work was created.)

Ashkenazi Herbalism: Rediscovering the Herbal Traditions of Eastern European Jews; Deatra Cohen, Adam Siegel (2021)

Encyclopedia of Catholicism; Frank K. Flinn (2007)

As Through a Veil: Mystical Poetry in Islam; Annemarie Schimmel (1982)

You Will Have Other Goddesses in Addition to Me: Polytheism Among Ancient Israelite Women; Liora Finke (2022)

Gods That Travel: On The Ritual Aspects of Divine Journeys And Processions; Klaus Wagensonner (2014)

NINURTA AND ENKI; A new divine journey of the warrior god to Eridu; Klaus Wagensonner (2013)

Jewish Music in Its Historical Development; Abraham Zevi Idelsohn (1929)

The God Enki in Sumerian Royal Ideology and Mythology; Peeter Espak (2010)

The Encyclopedia of Jewish Myth, Magic & Mysticism: Second Edition; Geoffrey W. Dennis (2007)

Book of Jewish Knowledge: An Encyclopedia of Judaism and the Jewish People, Covering All Elements of Jewish Life from Biblical Times to the Present (03 May 1948); Nathan Ausubel

Encyclopedia of Judaism (Encyclopedia of World Religions); Sara E. Karesh & Mitchell M. Hurvitz (2006)

Aboriginal Australia: 

Gadi Mirrabooka: Australian Aboriginal Tales from the Dreaming; Pauline E. McLeod, Francis Firebrace Jones, June E. Barker, Helen F. McKay (2001)

The Two Rainbow Serpents Travelling: Mura Track Narratives from the 'Corner Country'; Jeremy Beckett, Luise Hercus (2009)

Mixed or Other:

Egyptian Myths & Tales; Japanese Myths & Tales, Aztec Myths & Tales, Scottish Folk & Fairytales, Viking Folk & Fairytales, Chinese Myths & Tales, Greek Myths & Tales, African Myths & Tales, Native American Myths & Tales, Persian Myths & Tales, Celtic Myths & Tales, Irish Fairy Tales; Anonymous, Flame Tree Publishing

Tales of King Arthur & The Knights Of The Round Table (Le Morte D’Arthur); Thomas Malory

The Encyclopedia of Celtic Mythology and Folklore; Patricia Monaghan (2004)

Academic (Science including Psychology)

Stellar Alchemy: The Celestial Origin of Atoms, Michel Cassé, Stephen Lyle (2003)

Aboriginal Suicide Is Different: A Portrait of Life And Self Destruction; Colin Tatz (2005)

Fruit Domestication in the Near East; Shahal Abbo, Avi Gopher & Simcha Lev-Yadun (2015) 

Astronomical Cuneiform Texts: Babylonian Ephemerides of the Seleucid Period for the Motion of the Sun, the Moon, and the Planets (Sources in the History of Mathematics and Physical Sciences, 5); Otto E. Neugebauer (1945)

Studies in the History of Science;  E. A. Speiser; Otto E. Neugebauer; Hermann Ranke; Henry E. Sigerist; Richard H. Shryock; Evarts A. Graham; Edgar A. Singer; Hermann Weyl (Compiled In 2017)

Studies in Civilization;  Alan J. B. Wace; Otto E. Neugebauer; William S. Ferguson (Compiled In 2016)

Astronomy and History: Selected Essays; Otto E. Neugebauer (Compiled In 1983)

The Encyclopedia of the Brain and Brain Disorders; Carol Turkington (2002)

The Encyclopedia of Poisons and Antidotes; Deborah R. Mitchell & Carol Turkington (2010)

The Encyclopedia of Suicide; Glen Evans, Norman L. Farberow, Ph.D. & Kennedy Associates (1988)

Academic (History)

Western:

Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes; Carl Waldman (2006)

Levantine:

Sounds from the Divine: Religious Musical Instruments in the Ancient Near East; Dahlia Shehata (2014)

Gender and Aging in Mesopotamia: The Gilgamesh Epic and Other Ancient Literature; Rivkah Harris (05/12/2003)

House Most High: The Temples of Ancient Mesopotamia; A. R. George (1993)

The Cultural Atlas of Mesopotamia and the Ancient Near East; Michael Roaf (1990)

The Meaning of Color in Ancient Mesopotamia; Shiyanthi Thavapalan (2020)

The Loss of Male Sexual Desire in Ancient Mesopotamia; Gioele Zisa (2021)

Materials and Manufacture in Ancient Mesopotamia: The evidence of Archaeology and Art. Metals and metalwork, glazed materials and glass; P. R. S. Moorey (3/1/1985)

Collections; Bendt Alster, Takayoshi Oshima (2006)

Political Agency of Royal Women; Paula Sabloff (2019)

Studies in Sumerian Civilization: Selected Writings Of Miguel Civil; Miguel Civil, edited by Lluís Felu (2017)

A study on the natural heritage and its importance in the Sumerian civilization in southern Iraq; Al-Hussein Nabeel Al-Karkhi, Isam Hussain T. Al-Karkhi (2021)

A Sumerian Riddle Collection; Bendt Alster (1976)

SUMERIAN “CHILD”; Vitali Bartash (2018)

The civilizing of Ea-Enkidu an unusual tablet of the Babylonian Gilgamesh Epic; Andrew R George (2007)

Celibacy in the Ancient World: Its Ideal and Practice in Pre-Hellenistic Israel, Mesopotamia, and Greece; Dale Launderville OSB (07/01/2010)

House and Household Economies in 3rd Millennium B.C.E. Syro-Mesopotamia; Federico Buccellati ,Tobias Helms & Alexander Tamm (2014)

The Harps That Once… Sumerian Poetry In Translation; Thorkild Jacobsen (1987)

The Divine Origin Of The Craft Of The Herbalist; Sir E. A. Wallis Budge (1928)

Disease in Babylonia; Edited by Irving Finkel and Markham (Mark) Geller (2007)

Royal Statuary of Early Dynastic Mesopotamia; Gianni Marchesi and Nicolo Marchetti (2011)

Myths of Enki, The Crafty God; Samuel Noah Kramer, John Maier (1989)

Household and State in Upper Mesopotamia; Patricia Wattenmaker (July 17, 1998)

Assyrian Rulers of the Early First Millennium; Albert Kirk Grayson (1987)

Gudea's Temple Building: The Representation of an Early Mesopotamian Ruler in Text and Image (Cuneiform Monographs); Claudia E. Suter (January 1, 2000)

Reading Sumerian Poetry (Athlone Publications in Egyptology & Ancient Near Eastern Studies); Jeremy Black (2001)

Handbook to Life in Ancient Mesopotamia; Stephen Bertman (2002)

Weavers, Scribes, and Kings: A New History of the Ancient Near East; Amanda H. Podany (2022)

History Begins at Sumer: Thirty-Nine Firsts in Recorded History; Samuel Noah Kramer (1981)

A History of the Animal World in the Ancient Near East; Edited by Billie Jean Collins (2002)

The Sumerians: Their History, Culture, and Character; Samuel Noah Kramer (1963)

The Ancient Near East in Transregional Perspective: Material Culture and Exchange Between Mesopotamia, the Levant and Lower Egypt from 5800 to 5200 ... Sudan and the Levant; Katharina Streit (11/10/2020)

Colonialism and Christianity in Mandate Palestine; Laura Robson (September 1, 2011)

Poetic Astronomy in the Ancient Near East The Reflexes of Celestial Science in Ancient Mesopotamian, Ugaritic, and Israelite Narrative; Jeffrey L. Cooley (2013)

Hasidism, Haskalah, Zionism: Chapters in Literary Politics (Jewish Culture and Contexts); Hannan Hever (October 17, 2023)

Mourning in the Ancient Near East and the Hebrew Bible; Xuan Huong Thi Pham (1999)

Medieval Hebrew Poetry in Muslim Egypt; Joachim J.M.S. Yeshaya (2011)

The Land that I Will Show You: Essays on the History and Archaeology of the Ancient Near East in Honor of J. Maxwell Miller; J. Andrew Dearman & M. Patrick Graham (January 9, 2002)

Jerusalem in Ancient History and Tradition; Thomas L. Thompson (2003)

Prisons in Ancient Mesopotamia, Confinement and Control until the First Fall of Babylon; Dr. J. Nicholas Reid (2022)

Prophets Male and Female: Gender and Prophecy in the Hebrew Bible, the Eastern Mediterranean, and the Ancient Near East; Jonathan Stökl & Corrine L. Carvalho (2013)

The Calm before the Storm- Selected writings of Itamar Singer on the late Bronze Age in Anatolia and the Levant; Itamar Singer (2012)

"Holiness" and "purity" in Mesopotamia;  E. Jan Wilson (1994)

The Material Culture of the Northern Sea Peoples in Israel; Ephraim Stern (2013)

Family and Household Religion in Ancient Israel and the Levant; Rainer Albertz and Rüdiger Schmitt (2012)

Scribal Education in Ancient Israel: The Old Hebrew Epigraphic Evidence; Christopher A. Rollston (11/2006)

Neanderthals in the Levant- Behavioural Organization and the Beginnings of Human Modernity; Donald O. Henry (10/2003)

Suddenly, the Sight of War- Violence and Nationalism in Hebrew Poetry in the 1940s; Hannan Hever (2016)

Gender and Law in the Hebrew Bible and the Ancient Near East; Victor H. Matthews, Victor H. Matthews, Bernard M. Levinson, Tikva Frymer-Kensky (1998)

The concept of fate in ancient Mesopotamia of the 1st millennium: Toward an understanding of 'simtu'; Jack N. Lawson (1992)

The Myth of the Jewish Race; Raphael Patai, Jennifer Patai Wing (01/01/1975)

The Dream of the Poem: Hebrew Poetry from Muslim and Christian Spain, 950-1492; Peter Cole (01/22/2007)

Encyclopedia of Jewish Folklore and Traditions; Raphael Patai (2013)

Hebrew Myths; Robert Graves and Raphael Patai (2005) 

Vast as the Sea - Hebrew Poetry and the Human Condition; Samuel Hildebrandt (12/05/2023)

Sex & Eroticism in Mesopotamian Literature; Gwendolyn Leick (1994)

Far East Asian:

Encyclopedia of Ancient Asian Civilizations; Charles Higham (2004)

Aboriginal Australia:

Aboriginal Peoples: Fact and Fiction; Pierre Lepage, Maryse Alcindor, Jan Jordon (2009)

Visions from the Past: The Archaeology of Australian Aboriginal Art; M.J. Morwood, Douglas Hobbs, D.R. Hobbs (2002)

Mixed or Other:

Early Civilizations of the Old World: The Formative Histories of Egypt, The Levant, Mesopotamia, India and China; Charles Keith Maisels (May 20, 2001)

20,000 Years of Fashion: The History of Costume and Personal Adornment; Francois Boucher (1967)

Black Morocco: A History of Slavery, Race, and Islam; Chouki El Hamel (2012)

The Birth of Science: Ancient Times to 1699; Ray Spangenburg & Diane Kit Moser (2004)

The Architecture of Castles: A Visual Guide; Reginald Allen Brown (1984)

Encyclopedia of War Crimes and Genocide; Leslie Alan Horvitz and Christopher Catherwood (2006)

Linguistic

Cuneiform; Irving Finkel, Jonathan Taylor (2015)

An Introduction to the Grammar of Sumerian; Gábor Zólyomi (2017)

Learn to Read Ancient Sumerian: An Introduction for Complete Beginners; Joshua Aaron Bowen, Megan Lewis (2020) Learn to Read Ancient Sumerian: An Introduction for Complete Beginners, Volume 2; Joshua Aaron Bowen, Megan Lewis (2023)

The Sur₉-Priest, the Instrument giš Al-gar-sur₉, and the Forms and Uses of a Rare Sign; Niek C. (1997/1998)

Sumerian Grammar (Handbook of Oriental Studies. Section One, the Near [And] Mi) (English and Sumerian Edition); Dietz Otto Edzard (2003)

A Late Old Babylonian Proto-Kagal / Nigga Text and the Nature of the Acrographic Lexical Series; Niek VELDHUIS -Groningen (1998)

Learning To Pray In A Dead Language, Education And Invocation in Ancient Sumerian; Joshua Bowen (2020)

Aboriginal Sign Languages of The Americas and Australia: Volume 1; North America Classic Comparative Perspectives; Garrick Mallery (auth.), D. Jean Umiker-Sebeok, Thomas A. Sebeok (eds.) (1978)

 The Literature of Ancient Sumer; Jeremy Black, Graham Cunningham, Eleanor Robson, Gabor Zolyomi (2004)

Sumerian Lexicon: A Dictionary Guide to the Ancient Sumerian Language; John Alan Halloran (2006)

A Sumerian Chrestomathy; Konrad Volk (1911)

Online Articles, Dictionaries And Other Resources:

https://nationalclothing.org/middle-east/305-traditional-clothing-of-mesopotamia-what-did-it-look-like.html 

https://www.getty.edu/news/meet-the-mesopotamian-demons/ 

https://factsanddetails.com/world/cat56/sub363/ 

https://ehistory.osu.edu/articles/marriage-ancient-mesopotamia-and-babylonia 

https://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/section5/tr561.htm 

http://psd.museum.upenn.edu/nepsd-frame.html 

https://www.britannica.com/place/Africa/Trade 

https://www.worldhistory.org/article/2185/festivals-in-ancient-mesopotamia/

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/25/well/family/cutting-out-the-bris.html 

http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/amgg/listofdeities/nannasuen/ 

https://phys.org/news/2023-08-idea-imprisonment-prisoners-earliest-texts.html 

http://www.mathematicsmagazine.com/Articles/TheSumerianMathematicalSystem.php 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ooHEYR30oNCdI4Xxop9qBjKQGnqTPwLHQzT8cvv5oxA/edit Sumerian Grammar Made Easy! (2022 Edition)

Historians, linguists, etc:

https://sumerianlanguage.tumblr.com/ aka http://www.jamesbarrettmorison.com/sumerian.html

https://sumerianshakespeare.com/

https://www.youtube.com/c/DigitalHammurabi aka https://www.digitalhammurabi.com/

https://twitter.com/digi_hammurabi and https://twitter.com/DJHammurabi1 

Podcasts and online-exclusive documentaries, video essays, etc

8. The Sumerians - Fall of the First Cities (2020)

13. The Assyrians - Empire of Iron (2021)

The Complete and Concise History of the Sumerians and Early Bronze Age Mesopotamia (7000-2000 BC) (2021)

The Royal Death Pits of Ur (2022)

Gilgamesh and the Flood (2021)

The Birth of Civilisation - Rise of Uruk (6500 BC to 3200 BC) (2021)

The Earliest Creation Myths - Mythillogical (2022)

Enuma Elish | The Babylonian Epic of Creation | Complete Audiobook | With Commentary (2020)

 Eridu Genesis | The Sumerian Epic of Creation (2021)

 Irving Finkel | The Ark Before Noah: A Great Adventure (2016)

Cracking Ancient Codes: Cuneiform Writing - with Irving Finkel (2019)

Ancient Demons with Irving Finkel I Curator's Corner S3 Ep7 #CuratorsCorner (2018)

 How to perform necromancy with Irving Finkel (2017)

 Mesopotamian ghostbusting with Irving Finkel I Curator's Corner + #CuratorsCorner (2018)

Video Games

Sonic The Hedgehog Encyclospeedia; Ian Flynn (2021)

Direct Inspiration

The Golden Compass (1995), The Subtle Knife (1997); The Amber Spyglass (2000); Philip Pullman

The Last Unicorn; Peter S. Beagle (1968)

The 13 and ½ Lives Of Captain Bluebear: A Novel; Walter Moers (1999)

Allerleirauh; Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm (1812)

The Epic of Beowulf; Anonymous (c. 700–1000 AD)

The Writing In The Stone; Irving Finkel (October 10, 2017)

[108garys]

Randolph Hodgson journal audio transcribed

For hoa's 21st in inuniverse anniversary I have transcribed Hodgson's diary using this video

You can also check out my previous transcriptions of Manny Sherman's tapes and all puritan dialogue in little hope

I will always love this plotline and so wish there was more to it, I love that Randolph is such an unreliable narrator and damn do I wish I had the music in this separate, well at any rate...

September the 24th 1945.

When Lady Bradshaw summons you, you go. Mary and I were bound for our honeymoon, but the chance to dine with one of Britain's finest antiquarians was too great for us to miss. When we met, Bradshaw wore a brooch that caught Mary's eye: a Sumerian relic recovered from a dig site in the Hashemite Kingdom of Iraq. After dinner, she showed us another find from the same site, a gold cuneiform tablet. She called it the final puzzle piece in her life's work - a map that pinpoints the tomb of Alexander the Great. If she's right, the tomb lies somewhere on the border between Syria and Iraq. Lady Bradshaw wants us to lead her expedition. I realise now that our honeymoon will take place in a dusty dig site in the Zagros Mountains. __

April the 2nd 1946.

We have assembled our team. Top of my list was my old comrade from the wars, Captain Sherman Crow, the bulldog of Omaha Beach. We found him in Cairo, brawling for money in a Levantine drinking club. Crow recommended an experienced dig foreman, Arthur Pulman, and in Haifa we picked up my assistant, the always inquisitive Aline Journeau. Lady Bradshaw insisted on the presence of her own advisor, Ellis van Huyten, an archaeologist I know only from his poor reputation. Our team complete, we shall head to the Lebanon and from there by train to Baghdad. __

October the 21st, 1946.

Crow was the first to break into the tomb: an honour he shared with "Bessie", that damned machinegun of his. It was a beast of a weapon, but it seemed to comfort the fellahin doing the digging. This place has lain undisturbed for centuries. It is not the tomb of Alexander the Great, but a temple of an even older God-King: the Akkadian despot Naram-sin. We have been mistaken, but Lady Bradshaw still declares it a find for the ages. A discovery that will write our names in the annals of history. Looking out at this sceptered hall, I have no reason to doubt her. __

The catacombs beneath the temple are heaped with human bones. Aline has worked sacrificial digs in El Castillo, but even she hasn't seen death on this scale before. The Akkadians killed thousands in the name of their gods: most ritually decapitated, but others crudely slain and dumped in charnel pits, as though the slaughter had spiralled out of control. What plague of cataclysm demanded such a price? So much blood spilled, and for what? Whatever happened here, a millennia ago, is a secret waiting to be discovered. Our work begins in earnest. __

7th of December, 1946.

Our finds have been so spectacular, I couldn't resist breaking out the champagne. As I entered the survey tent to pour a glass for Mary, I realised something was awry; she'd found Bradshaw's crate of dynamite. I tried to calm her, but she worked up a full head of steam, sounding off about the risks of using explosives at a dog site. She was right, of course, and I feel terrible for hiding it from her. Just then Crow arrived and picked up the dynamite. When Mary ordered him to put it down, he looked her boldly in the eye and said they'd found something below. __

The bottom of the chasm stank of death and was littered with corpses, fresh enough to be covered in flies. Crow thinks that local bandits must have tossed their victims down here after robbing them. I pity those hapless wanders; the fear they must have felt as they tumbled to their doom. But this was not what he wanted to show us. An unearthly light pierced the rocks. When Mary asked us what it was, Bradshaw nodded to Crow who broke open the dynamite. She said she intended to find out. __

Blowing a hole through the rock face, we found a gateway to a strange world below. A phosphorescence emanated from beneath, casting its eldritch light over us all. Lady Bradshaw was insistent that we descend further. Perhaps Mary is right, and Bradshaw is becoming reckless and uncontrollable, but I can't stop thinking about what's down there. I am now working with Crow and Pulman to set up a winch and elevator to descend into the shaft. What mysteries lie below, I wonder, undisturbed by the world above? __

13th December.

Crow, Bradshaw and I descended in the elevator. As we left, I was struck by the change in Bradshaw's temperament. She seemed eager, almost manic, in the face of our new discovery. When we reached the bottom, Crow could not prevent himself from letting loose an oath. There before us, set in a dizzying vault, lay a city. It was loathsome, colossal and sleeping, a great carcass built in some ancient age before men. Overcome with awe, I fell to my knees. __

28th December.

God, forgive us. For days we have studied this dead, silent realm and its entombed abominations. Now the horrors have come for my own dear Mary. Crow found her unconscious in the Star Chamber, her notes scattered around her. He carried her back to our supply room and laid her down in one of the cells. When Bradshaw learned what had happened, she was evasive about Mary's work down there. As I cleaned my wife's face, she spoke to me in a fever, sounding distressed and confused. I have resolved to keep a vigil over her. I pray her fever abates so we can escape this cursed place. __

29th December.

Pulman says the radio has been sabotaged; an expert job, with vital wires severed. Someone wants us cut off from the outside world. Aline fought in the Resistance, but while she is undoubtedly capable, I refuse to accept she's responsible. Personally, I still harbour doubts about van Huyten, although without proof, everyone remains a suspect. All I can do now is place sentries on the expedition's equipment. __

30th December.

Mary's condition worsens. This evening, I awoke from an exhausted daze to find Lady Bradshaw asking my wife more of her damned questions. Mary was babbling something about winged demons. At this, Bradshaw's eyes lit up and she asked whether Mary could sense them now. Gripped by delirium, my wife lashed out, clawing at Bradshaw's chest. Lady Bradshaw withdrew, and I was, after a while, able to calm my wife. __

31st December.

Mary is dead. I sat with her in her final moments, telling her how sorry I was. Sorry for accepting Bradshaw's offer. For ever coming to this hell-forsaken place. For placing my vanity above our love. When Mary spoke about "the end of everything." I knew she sensed death coming. With her last words, she made me swear to bury this place. __

9pm.

Something unholy has happened. As I sat with my wife, I noticed something in her hand; Lady Bradshaw's brooch. She must have pulled it from her shirt when she grabbed at her. Turning it over, I noticed that it looked like one of the creatures we exhumed from the cocoons. Were these the demons Mary had spoken about? Had Bradshaw known all along what we'd find down here? Then Mary's corpse moved. It was not my wife - it was something inhuman! It leapt at me, and only the bars of the cell spared me from its fury. __

The camp is in uproar. Workers are missing, and Lady Bradshaw has returned to the city deep below. No-one knows why, but I can guess. She yearns for the same fate that befell Mary. She wants to be one of them. __

1st of January, 1947. 1 am.

The saboteur has struck again, sealing us in here. We are hopelessly trapped with those things. All around us, they shriek from the darkness. Crow has set up his machinegun, pointed towards the catacombs. Mary was right. We cannot fight that which does not live. There is only one option now: bring the whole damned temple down on them, even if it means bringing it down on our own heads. They cannot be allowed out of here. __

When this temple falls, my wife and I will be buried together, side-by-side. I owe her that, at least. The portrait that I carry in my watch case is the Mary that I remember. Not that thing in the cell. __

This is all Lady Bradshaw's doing. She knew all along what was down here. She led us to them. I found her below, hunched over the murdered corpse of Van Huyten. As she turned to face me, I saw that she had changed. My hand fell to the closest weapon I could find - an iron tent peg. I stabbed her with the metal, impaling her in the heart. As she died, unholy screams echoed from below, as if answering The sudden release of blood. __

The are coming. We must end it here, with fire and gunsmoke. If there is time, my last act will be to dictate this diary onto tapes; perhaps if it is found in the rubble, it can serve as a warning to any who follow us. __

The bones of this temple are drenched in blood. We have set foot on an uncharted shore and roused something ancient and wicked; a blasphemy that comes in indescribable shapes and forms. For eons, we lived as children in this world, unaware of the horrors that slumber beneath our feet. Now, we have blindly thrown open the gates to madness. I fear being taken, but I must do what I must. We must seal this place for eternity. For all mankind. Mary, I'm sorry.

___

@kassiekole22 @delurkr @ctrvpani @tatjana-fantasy

@tinynightmarewoman @blubary @oblivious-troll

I always be pouring over these things and then I don't have the remaining space to figure out who to tag 😅

[starburst2000]

A gift for @the-ind1gen0us-jude4n, @spacelazarwolf , @magnetothemagnificent , @atiredjew , @loki-god-of-mischief-13 , @trainqueen379, @mixmangosmangoverse, @aqlstar, @thelast28yearsinohio and @homochadensistm

This is Schlep, the Israeli National Engine. He's based on a Staedler JT 42BW, and he's very strong, hard-working, brave, and caring about his passengers' safety during his trips from Haifa to Jerusalem.

Likes: Super spicy food, Mizrahi pop music (especially Ofra Haza), the sky at sunset.

Dislikes: When his service is interrupted by missile attacks, sandstorms, anyone who beats around the bush.

Schlep is the grandson of Rivka the Palestine Railways P Class, who was the Levantine National Champion back when Israel was still known as "British Mandate Palestine", until she was succeded by Ofir the EMD G12 in 1959.

[life-take]

Bloodborne: Menstruation and Ministration

Just some thoughts I had about the parallels of Bloodborne's Healing Church and real-world Catholic/Levantine teachings.

In Bloodborne, every Great One loses their child. The association of childbirth, miscarriage, and menstruation with blood in the real world is also made in the game. (The Blood Moon heralds miracle pregnancies, the "Mensis" ritual, e.g.) But also consider how the discovery of the Old Blood led to the foundation of the Healing Church and blood ministration, which is meant to heal and transcend the people but instead causes a scourge and rampant chaos.

I think it's interesting that it is a healing church, and delivers blood by ministration, and not administration. Hospitals administer medicine, but churches have ministers. Blood transfusions in Bloodborne are framed as a religious act in this way. In the real world, a well-known religious ministration of blood is the rite of the Eucharist, wherein taking in the transubstantiated blood of Christ is a representation of His covenant to absolve humanity's sin.

Ok, so there's some parallels between blood ministration and the Eucharist. Let's now think about childbirth. In the story of the Fall of mankind, woman's curse for Eve's part in the Fall is the pain and difficulty of menstruation and childbirth, both of which involve losing blood. Woman's blood loss is a curse, while the Lord's blood offers absolution from the original sin that precipitated that curse.

It's not known why Great Ones always lose their child. But this is something that happens regardless of the existence of the Healing Church or the beast scourge. It is not a punishment for sin. In Bloodborne, the Catholic story is reversed: humans bear a curse for the act of blood ministration, while gods themselves bleed for their children.

(Notes: This is simply my interpretation of what I have experienced of Bloodborne and not a commentary on intended themes of the writers. Also, apologies if I used any religious terms or ideas incorrectly. I was raised in the catholic church but am no longer practicing, nor am I a religious scholar. This post is simply, Hey based on my lived experience, here's what Bloodborne makes me think of.)