Okar Research

Sunday, September 8, 2013

The Mes…Ancient Sumerian Blueprints to Civilization (3,000 BC)

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"The Mes were documents or tablets which were blueprints to civilization…..In Sumerian mythology, a me (Sumerian, conventionally pronounced [mɛ]) or ñe [ŋɛ] or parşu (Akkadian, [parsˤu]) is one of the decrees of the gods foundational to those social institutions, religious practices, technologies, behaviors, mores, and human conditions that make civilization, as the Sumerians understood it, possible. They are fundamental to the Sumerian understanding of the relationship between humanity and the gods.

The legendary, mythical 7-gated Sumerian city of Aratta, the original homeland of the Sumerians .... appears to refer to Bactria at the eastern end of the "Great Khorasan Road".... the source of valuable gems and minerals, in particular lapis lazuli.....'Civilization' may have traveled from East to West along the Sun’s path rather than blossoming first in the land of the Two Rivers of Genesis....

"…Inanna and the Mes….According to one story, Inanna tricked the god of culture, Enki, who was worshipped in the city of Eridu, into giving her the Mes. The Mes were documents or tablets which were blueprints to civilization. They represented everything from abstract notions like Victory and Counsel and Truth to technologies like weaving to writing to social constructs like law, priestly offices, kingship, and even prostitution. They granted power over, or possibly existence to, all the aspects of civilization (both positive and negative). Inanna traveled to Enki's city Eridu, and by getting him drunk, she got him to give her hundreds of Mes, which she took to her city of Uruk. Later, when sober, Enki sent mighty Abgallu (sea monsters, from ab, sea or lake + gal, big + lu, man) to stop her boat as it sailed the Euphrates and retrieve his gifts, but she escaped with the Mes and brought them to her city. This story may represent the historic transfer of power from Eridu to Uruk."….http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inanna

"Ninmah (Ninhursag, Enki‘s wife), devastated with grief, was crying like a woman in childbirth: “tidal waves washed away all lives,” she lamented, mourning and groaning. Inanna, who stood beside her, wept and wailed too: “everything is buried, all living things, everything has returned to clay.”....http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enki

"The mes were originally collected by Enlil and then handed over to the guardianship of Enki who was to broker them out to the various Sumerian centers beginning with his own city of Eridu and continuing with Ur, Meluhha, and Dilmun. This is described in the poem, "Enki and the World Order" which also details how he parcels out responsibility for various crafts and natural phenomena to the lesser gods. Here the mes of various places are extolled but are not themselves clearly specified, and they seem to be distinct from the individual responsibilities of each divinity as they are mentioned in conjunction with specific places rather than gods. After a considerable amount of self-glorification on the part of Enki, his daughter Inanna comes before him with a complaint that she has been given short shrift on her divine spheres of influence. Enki does his best to placate her by pointing out those she does in fact possess…..'….http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Me_(mythology)

"We never learn what any of the mes look like, yet they are represented as physical objects of some sort. Not only are they stored in a prominent location in the E-abzu, but Inanna is able to display them to the people of Uruk after she arrives with them in her boat. Some of them are indeed physical objects such as musical instruments, but many are technologies like "basket weaving" or abstractions like "victory". It is not made clear in the poem how such things can be stored, handled, or displayed…."….http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Me_(mythology)

"Inanna, the goddess of love and war, with a lion. No other image of Inanna better illustrates her dual nature. She is depicted as a goddess of love, "showing some leg"; while the lion and the weapons of battle (maces) seen rising up behind her shows that she is also the goddess of war. In all of ancient mythology, no other deity is the goddess of love and war combined. The eight-pointed star (Venus) is another symbol associated with Inanna. ....Although she is called the goddess of love, Inanna is really the goddess of lust. She is not associated with romance, marriage, fertility or child bearing. She is so extreme in her emotions, so psychotic in her desires, and so relentless in getting what she wants, she thus symbolizes the violence of human passion. This is why she is also represents the destruction and carnage of war."....http://sumerianshakespeare.com/106901.html

"Early in Mesopotamia's history (around the mid-4th millennium BC...4,000-3,000 BC) cuneiform script was invented for the Sumerian language. Cuneiform literally means "wedge-shaped", due to the triangular tip of the stylus used for impressing signs on wet clay. The standardized form of each cuneiform sign appears to have been developed from pictograms. The earliest texts (7 archaic tablets) come from the E Temple dedicated to the goddess Inanna at Uruk, from a building labeled as Temple C by its excavators….."….http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Mesopotamia

The Archaic Texts from Uruk Hans J. Nissen…. World Archaeology……http://clio.missouristate.edu/mcooper/HST541/Articles/Nissen_archaic_texts.pdf

"According to the Sumerian myth, once Inanna made her throne out of the Huluppu Tree she decided she would need more power than what Enki{the god of wisdom} had given her. Enki was the keeper of the Mes or Me. The Me was the wisdom of civilization. It was the code of how the spirit world and the physical world interacted. So one day Inanna goes to Enki and asks for a larger allocation of the Me; since it was handed out among all the other gods each with their own sphere of influence. Enki denies his daughter Inanna her request and Inanna is not happy. So she gets him drunk. Then in his drunkenness he hands over ALL the Me to Inanna. Inanna flees quickly in her boat up the Euphrates."….http://onlyadmitone.blogspot.com/2010/03/blueprint-of-goddessinanna.html

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Email....okarresearch@gmail.com

September 2013

John Hopkins....Northern New Mexico

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Inanna, Anahiti & Historical Aratta (4,000 BC)

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"The legendary, mythical 7-gated Sumerian city of Aratta, the original homeland of the Sumerians .... appears to refer to Bactria at the eastern end of the "Great Khorasan Road".... the source of valuable gems and minerals, in particular lapis lazuli.....'Civilization' may have traveled from East to West along the Sun’s path rather than blossoming first in the land of the Two Rivers of Genesis....

Inanna.....Sumerian: Inanna; Akkadian: Ištar..... is the Sumerian goddess of sexual love, fertility, and warfare.

"Inanna can be considered the most prominent female deity in ancient Mesopotamia. As early as the Uruk period (ca. 4000–3100 BC), Inanna was associated with the city of Uruk. …. A Sacred Marriage to Inanna may have conferred legitimacy on a number of rulers of Uruk. Gilgamesh is reputed to have refused marriage to Inanna, on the grounds of her misalliance with such kings as Lugalbanda and Damuzi…..Inanna was associated with the celestial planet Venus. There are hymns to Inanna as her astral manifestation. It also is believed that in many myths about Inanna, including Inanna's Descent to the Underworld and Inanna and Shukaletuda, her movements correspond with the movements of Venus in the sky……Inanna also was associated with rain and storms and with the planet Venus, the morning and evening star….as was the Greco-Roman goddess Aphrodite or Venus….."….http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inanna

"Uruk's fertility goddess, Inanna, "Queen of Heaven," the vase shows a procession in her honor. A long parade of naked priests winds their way up three tiers of friezes, returning first fruits to their source: animals and other good things to eat to sacrifice to the goddess.....The goddess herself stands at the top: robed, long-haired, and crowned with what appears to be the horned hat or head-dress that denotes a supreme deity. Not only may this be the first place where this divine sign appears; this may also be the first representation of the goddess in human form."......http://www.ancientworlds.net/aw/Article/764564

"… The city Aratta is structured as a mirror image of Uruk, only Aratta has natural resources (i.e. gold, silver, lapis lazuli) that Uruk needs…..

"Aratta is described as follows in Sumerian literature:
It is a fabulously wealthy place full of gold, silver, lapis lazuli and other precious materials, as well as the artisans to craft them.
It is remote and difficult to reach.
It is home to the goddess Inana, who transfers her allegiance from Aratta to Uruk.
It is conquered by Enmerkar of Uruk.
…http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aratta

"Boyce (1982:29-31) proposes that there was once a Perso-Elamite divinity named *Anahiti (as she reconstructs it from the Greek rendering of Anaitis, being otherwise unattested in old Persian) that was an analogue of Semitic Ishtar–Inanna. "That the concept [of *Anahiti] owes much to that of Ishtar was first suggested by H. Gressman, Archiv f. Religionswissenschaft XX, 1920, 35ff., 323ff."…..Boyce, Mary (1982), A History of Zoroastrianism, Vol. II, Leiden/Köln: Brill

4th-6th century silver and gilt Sassanian vessel, assumed to be depicting Anahita. (Cleveland Museum of Art)

"…What made Bactria sacred was a great temple of the ancient Iranian goddess, Anahit (in Pahlavi or Middle-Persian) and Anahita (Ânâhitâ) in the Avesta hymns. …The temple was so rich that often it attracted the needy Syrian kings who sat out to plunder it. In her name and honor, in Armenia, girls prostituted themselves. Anaitis was a Scythian goddess, but she is identified also as Assyrian Mylitta, the Arabian Alytta and the Greek Venus Urania. Artaxerxes Mnemon, one of the emperors of Achaemenid dynasty was among her devotees. She is also associated with the Persian Mithra. Her association with Zoroaster adds to her popularity…..

"Anahita & Balkh… the female protectress of the city, just as the ancient patroness of Balkh, Anahita goddess of the Oxus, was in Alexander’s day. Anahita’s magnificent gilded statue had been gifted by one of Darius’s predecessors, Artaxerxes II. Thousands had come to licentious rites in the precinct of the ‘High girdled one clad in a mantle of gold, on her head a golden crown with rays of light and a hundred stars clad in a robe of over thirty otter skins of shining fur’….http://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/texts/hhshu/notes13.html

"In the Mesopotamian pantheon Inanna is the daughter of the sky-god An, but also is depicted as the daughter of the moon-goddess Ningal and her consort Nanna. Alternately, she is the daughter of the god of wisdom Enki and sister to Ereshkigal (goddess of the underworld) and Utu the sun god. Her husband Dumuzi transforms in time (as Inanna does into Ishtar) into the dying-and-reviving god Tammuz and, annually at the autumn equinox, the people would celebrate the holy marriage rites of Inanna and Dumuzi as he returned from the underworld to mate again with Inanna, thus bringing the land to life. Her temples throughout Mesopotamia were numerous, and sacred prostitutes of both genders were employed to ensure the fertility of the earth and the continued prosperity of the communities."……

"It has indeed been proposed that Jiroft is Aratta, the seven-gated city, the mythical land of origins of the Sumerians which they situated past many mountains to the Orient. The only name of a king of Aratta recorded in Sumerian literature, Ensukeshdanna or Ensukushsiranna, bears some analogy to the Inshusinak who was the chief god of the Elamites of Khuzestan, on the ancient site of Susa which later became the meridional capital of the Achaemenid Kings of Kings as Cyrus himself was originally the ruler of Anzan, part of old Elam. Some six centuries before Cyrus became lord over Babylon, the Elamite monarchs of Susa had plundered the city and taken away some of its fabled landmarks, including the famous Stela (kudurru) of Hammurabi, thereby laying claim to the succession of the Sumero-Chaldean paramount kings."….http://www.comecarpentier.com/pdf/iran.pdf

"Sumerian literature…..Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta - The goddess Inanna resides in Aratta, but Enmerkar of Uruk pleases her more than does the lord of Aratta, who is not named in this epic. Enmerkar wants Aratta to submit to Uruk, bring stones down from the mountain, craft gold, silver and lapis lazuli, and send them, along with "kugmea" ore to Uruk to build a temple. Inana bids him send a messenger to Aratta, who ascends and descends the "Zubi" mountains, and crosses Susa, Anshan, and "five, six, seven" mountains before approaching Aratta. Aratta in turn wants grain in exchange. However Inana transfers her allegiance to Uruk, and the grain gains the favor of Aratta's people for Uruk, so the lord of Aratta challenges Enmerkar to send a champion to fight his champion. Then the god Ishkur makes Aratta's crops grow."…..http://www.ancient.eu.com/Inanna/

"Aratta was originally taken to be an epithet of the Sumerian city Shuruppak related to its local name for the god Enlil; however that is no longer seen to be the case. Although Aratta is known only from myth, some Assyriologists and archaeologists have speculated on possible locations where Aratta could have been, using criteria from the myths:
Land travelers must pass through Susa and the mountainous Anshan region to reach it.
It is a source of, or has access to valuable gems and minerals, in particular lapis lazuli, that are crafted on site.
It is accessible to Uruk by watercourse, yet remote from Uruk.
It is close enough to march a 27th century BC Sumerian army there.
Other speculations referred to the early gem trade route, the "Great Khorasan Road" from Balkh to Mesopotamia, which ran through northern Iran.

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Email....okarresearch@gmail.com

September 2013

John Hopkins....Northern New Mexico

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Friday, September 6, 2013

Aratta: The 'Mythical' Seven Gated City (3000 BC)

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"About four thousand years ago a collection of tribes known as the Aryans swept into South and West Asia - by a series of wave-like migration….First tribes were the Aryan tribe, which later were pushed down over the Paropamisus [mountains] into Punjab. The Iranians split into two sections, one section went West and founded settlements on the Tigris and Euphrates valley - which later became strong Kingdoms. Of this section, separated yet other tribes such as the Persians and the Medes. The Persians spread over the elevated lands of the Persian golf region. The Medes subdivided into smaller clans and occupied The land between the Caspian Sea to the land of Persis. The other section of the Iranians took the easterly direction. They also pushed the Aryans before them to the mountains and settled on the banks of the Oxus. They made Bactra {modern Balkh} their capital, and seized the ancient shine of Bactra. Forming an aristocracy over the local people they lived in isolation. They had a swift cavalry which suddenly attacked the enemy from the slopes and quickly retired to their strongholds…..The Aryans and the Iranians of Bactria, had a lot in common. They spoke the same language, worshiped the forces of nature, such as: Varuna, the shining Vault of Heaven; Mithra, the friendly light of the sun; Vayu; the wind that pushes aside the storms and clears the heaven…."….http://www.iranchamber.com/geography/articles/balkh.php

"An even more striking feature of the Jiroft is the existence of a writing system as far back as the third millennium BC, more precisely around 2800 BC, which is earlier than the oldest tablets left by Sumerian civilization. The implications of those finds, taken together with other discoveries about the Indus and Sarasvati river cultures, spread out as far North as the Kashmir valley and modern day Afghanistan, are that “Civilization” may have traveled from East to West along the Sun’s path rather than blossoming first in the land of the Two Rivers of Genesis….."…http://www.comecarpentier.com/pdf/iran.pdf

"Aratta is a land that appears in Sumerian myths surrounding Enmerkar and Lugalbanda, two early and possibly mythical kings of Uruk also mentioned on the Sumerian king list. A "possible reflex" has been suggested in Sanskrit Āraṭṭa or Arāṭṭa mentioned in the Mahabharata and other texts….http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aratta

Click on the map to enlarge

Aratta is described as follows in Sumerian literature:
It is a fabulously wealthy place full of gold, silver, lapis lazuli and other precious materials, as well as the artisans to craft them.
It is remote and difficult to reach.
It is home to the goddess Inana, who transfers her allegiance from Aratta to Uruk.
It is conquered by Enmerkar of Uruk.
…http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aratta

Click on the map to enlarge.

Lapis Lazuli....By the second half of the 4th millennium BCE, Badakshan lapis lazuli (stone of blue) was being traded in countries as far west as Sumer and Akkad (Mesopotamia), and the Nile Delta (Egypt) .... The 2500m / 9,000ft high Sar-e Sang, Badakshan mines, now in north-eastern Afghanistan, were the only known source of lapis lazuli in the ancient world. The British Museum site that describes the seal described below also states, "The Sar-i Sang mines in the region of Badakhshan in north-east Afghanistan were probably the source for all lapis lazuli used in the ancient Near East. From here it was carried across Iran, where several lapis working sites have been discovered, and on to Mesopotamia and Egypt."....http://www.heritageinstitute.com/zoroastrianism/aryans/trade.htm

"One of the most constant references found in Iranian royal lore alludes to the seven climes of the world which are regions of both space and time and over which the universal monarch rules. The Iranian emperor is the “Lord of the Seven Regions” (keshwars) and he dwells in the central one, in the heart of the universal six-pointed star or Sun-shaped flower. For many centuries the central region of that heptarchy was seen as being located in today’s Iraq as the holy city of Babylon, with its major sanctuary of Baal Marduk, the Esagil –for more than a millennium a fount of sacred learning and initiation - regarded as the world’s navel since the days of Nabuchednazzar II at least, was adopted as capital by Cyrus and his successors."…..….http://www.comecarpentier.com/pdf/iran.pdf

"…Successive Persian dynasties which could generally not maintain their hold on Iraq tended to look to the province of Fars, the heartland of the first kingdoms of their forbears, as the centre of their world but they never seemed to be sure whether their remote ancestors had come from the Caucasus (Azerbaijan) or from the East of the Caspian Sea, beyond the Oxus and Iaxartes (Syr and Amu Darya). This ambiguity about the geographic cradle of the Iranian people and of the Zoroastrian religion has influenced national history….."…..http://www.comecarpentier.com/pdf/iran.pdf

The name Khorasan is a compound word Khur+san meaning Sun+land. '-san' is an older form of '-shan' and '-stan'. Most authors take this to mean land of the rising sun ...http://www.heritageinstitute.com/zoroastrianism/khorasan/index.htm

Click on the map to enlarge.....Khorasan, also written as Khurasan (Middle Persian: Khwarāsān, Persian: خراسان بزرگ or خراسان کهن‎ .... is a historical region lying in the northeast of Persia. "In pre-Islamic and early Islamic times, the term "Khurassan" frequently had a much wider denotation, covering also parts of Central Asia and Afghanistan.

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"Aratta was a city, city-state, or country with which Sumerians had close trade and religious ties in the third millennium B.C. Its location is not known......Aratta, apparently, was under the special protection of the Sun god's daughter, Inanna, the goddess of love and war. In "Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta", the goddess and/or her statue were taken from Aratta to the Sumerian city of Uruk by the ruler of Uruk, Enmerkar. Now believing himself to have the goddess' protection, the Sumerian king challenged the lord of Aratta.....The four myths outlined above portray Aratta as a wealthy and militarily powerful state with which Sumer had relations from very early times. It was located some distance from Sumer and protected by its forbidding mountains, but it was not so distant as to prevent trade relations. Aratta had building materials, precious stones, metals and craftsmen skilled in their transformation. Aratta also had primacy with regard to the religion of the mother goddess, Inanna, who resided in Aratta, was the patron of that state, and was taken or lured south to Sumerian cities. Uruk and Aratta also were in contest for military superiority—each demanding the submission of the other. The method of transporting the "stones of the mountain" from Aratta to Uruk and of transporting grain from Uruk to Aratta seems consistent with such trade historically between the Armenian highlands and areas to its south, namely, by boat from Aratta south, and by pack animal from Uruk north. If Aratta is indeed located in eastern Asia Minor, the general implication of the Aratta cycle of myths is that Aratta played a seminal role in the development of religion in Sumer, as well as in the construction of its cult structures; and that trade and diplomacy between the two states was of such importance that writing was developed specifically for them.".....http://rbedrosian.com/Memyth.htm

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Email....okarresearch@gmail.com

September 2013

John Hopkins....Northern New Mexico

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Chakravala Chakravartin & The Universal Monarch

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Chakravartin (चक्रवर्तिन् cakravartin; Pali cakkavatti), is an ancient Indian term used to refer to an ideal universal ruler, who rules ethically and benevolently over the entire world. Such a ruler's reign is called sarvabhauma. It is a bahuvrīhi, literally meaning "whose wheels are moving", in the sense of "whose chariot is rolling everywhere without obstruction". It can also be analyzed as an 'instrumental bahuvrīhi: "through whom the wheel is moving" in the meaning of "through whom the Dharmacakra ("Wheel of the Dharma) is turning" (most commonly used in Buddhism and Hinduism).

A Chakravatin (possibly Ashoka the great), 1st century BCE/CE. Andhra Pradesh, Amaravati. Preserved at Musee Guimet

In the Mahabharata, twelve princes beginning with Bharata are considered Chakravartins.

"Jainism…..During the each motion of the half-cycle of the wheel of time, 63 Śalākāpuruṣa or 63 illustrious men, consisting of the 24 Tīrthaṅkaras and their contemporaries regularly appear. The Jain universal or legendary history is basically a compilation of the deeds of these illustrious men. As per Jain cosmology, out of these 63, twelve are Chakravartins, who are Universal Monarch or World Conquerors. The Jaina Puranas give a list of twelve such Cakravartins who flourished in this Avasarpini. Golden in complexion, they all belonged to the Kasyapa gotra. The mother of a Cakravartin sees some dreams at the time of conception. According to the Adipurana, Bharata's mother saw the sun and the moon, the mount Meru, the lake with swans, earth and the ocean. According to Acharya Hemachandra, Marudevi, mother of Bharata, sees fourteen great dreams. A chakravartin is considered an ideal human being endowed with thirty-two major signs of excellence and many minor signs of excellence."….http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chakravartin

In Buddhism and Jainism, three types of Chakravartins are distinguished:
Chakravala Chakravartin: a ruler over all four continents postulated in ancient Indian cosmography
Dvipa Chakravartin: a ruler over only one of four continents
Pradesa Chakravartin: a ruler over only part of a continent.
The first references to a cakravala cakravartin appear in monuments from the time of the Maurya Empire (322–185 BCE), dedicated to Chandragupta Maurya and his grandson Ashoka Maurya. It has not been generally used for any other historic figure. The cakravartin in Buddhism came to be considered the secular counterpart of a Buddha. In the Majjhima Nikaya, Gautama Buddha is quoted as stating that a woman can never be(come) a chakravartin. In general, the term applies to temporal as well as spiritual kingship and leadership, particularly in Buddhism and Jainism. In Hinduism, the term generally denotes a powerful ruler, whose dominion extended to the entire earth.

"…the palace and the tombs were of the Near Eastern type, because culturally, the ancient Elamites were very close to the Babylonians. The monument for which Choga Zanbil is famous, its temple tower (or ziggurat), is not an Iranian architectural form either: it was developed in southern Mesopotamia. The most famous ziggurat was in the city of Babylon itself, and was called Etemenanki. It was dedicated to the god Marduk and its builders, king Nabopolassar and king Nebuchadnezzar, claimed that it reached into heaven. This boast is repeated in the famous Biblical story of the "tower of Babel", which is simply the story of a ziggurat. And that is exactly what the monument in Choga Zanbil was: a stairway to heaven."…..http://www.livius.org/cg-cm/choga_zanbil/choga_zanbil1.html

"In Jainism, a chakravartin was characterized by possession of saptaratna, or "seven jewels":
chakram…the precious golden wheel (Skt. cakraratna; Wyl. 'khor lo rin po che),
queen… (Skt. strīratna; Wyl. btsun mo rin po che),
chariot...
jewel, precious wish-fulfilling jewel (Skt. maṇiratna; Wyl. nor bu rin po che)
wealth
horse…(Skt. aśvaratna; Wyl. rta mchog rin po che)
elephant…kt. hastiratna; Wyl. glang po rin po che),

"What do you think, Subhuti, is the Tathagata to be seen by means of his possession of marks? -Subhuti replied: No indeed, O Lord. -The Lord said: If, Subhuti, the Tathagata could be recognized by his possession of marks, then also the universal monarch would be a Tathagata."….from Cakkavatti Sutta.

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John Hopkins.....Northern New Mexico….September 2013

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Thursday, September 5, 2013

Elamite Ziggurat ... Chogha Zanbil (1250 BC)

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"Chogha Zanbil (Persian: چغازنبيل‎); Elamite: Dur Untash) is an ancient Elamite complex in the Khuzestan province of Iran. Chogha in Bakhtiari means hill. It is one of the few existent ziggurats outside of Mesopotamia….Choga Zambil means 'basket mound.' It was built about 1250 BC by the king Untash-Napirisha, mainly to honor the great god Inshushinak. Its original name was Dur Untash, which means 'town of Untash', but it is unlikely that many people, besides priests and servants, ever lived there. The complex is protected by three concentric walls which define the main areas of the 'town'. The inner area is wholly taken up with a great ziggurat dedicated to the main god, which was built over an earlier square temple with storage rooms also built by Untash-Napirisha. The middle area holds eleven temples for lesser gods. It is believed that twenty-two temples were originally planned, but the king died before they could be finished, and his successors discontinued the building work. In the outer area are royal palaces, a funerary palace containing five subterranean royal tombs"….http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chogha_Zanbil

The ziggurat of Chogha Zanbil in Khuzestan Province, near Susa. Ziggurats were pyramidal structures built in receding tiers with sun-baked brick cores and multi-coloured glazed-brick exteriors.) It was built on a plateau above the banks of the Dez River. ….the largest of all the ziggurats) and dates to circa 1250 BCE. It is surrounded by 3 huge concentric walls. The outer city wall was about 4 kilometres long and enclosed an area of approximately 100 hectares. The first (outer) wall has 7 gates. Between the inner and middle walls, several temples dedicated to different Elamite divinities were built. Thousands of baked mud bricks bearing inscriptions with Elamite cuneiform characters, all inscribed by hand, adorn the most important buildings. Chogha Zanbil is the best preserved of all the ancient ziggurats.

At the time of its construction this part of present-day Iran was part of ancient empire of Elam. Within an ethnological and cultural context the ancient Elamites were close to the Mesopotamian civilisations. However, it is not unusual to come across the claim that the written history of Iran began circa 3200 BCE with the Proto-Elamite civilization and was followed by the Elamite civilization. The ziggurat at Chogha Zanbil was part of an ancient Elamite complex built by the Elamite King Untaš-Napiriša (1275-1240 BCE) near the Elamite capital city of of Susa.

The ziggurat is a square structure with its base measuring 105 metres x 105 metres. It had 5 levels and it's height is variously estimated but believed by some to have been 52 metres. The ziggurat was a temple dedicated to Inshushinak, the bull-god of near-by Susa. It has been speculated that it may also have served an astronomical purpose. This four-sided, broadly stepped ziggurat is aligned so that its corners face the cardinal directions. Ziggurats originally had a cosmic significance. They were an image of the 7 spheres of the world and were also the seat of the Sun-god. The building complex at the site of the ziggurat includes 11 temples, a palace, and burial chambers…… It is believed that 22 temples were originally planned, but King Untaš-Napiriša died before the construction of the complex could be finished….Some schol….which would unite the gods/goddesses of both highland and lowland Elam at one site.

The first enclosure contains the temenos…..The ziggurat was built within a sacred precinct, which was, again, surrounded by a wall ("the outer temenos wall"), almost rectangular in shape of 400 x 500 meter, its corners facing the north, east, south, and west. The eastern corner was occupied by several minor sanctuaries….In the center of this rectangular zone was a second wall ("the inner temenos wall") of irregular shape…..

"Following some geophysical studies, Iranian archeologists have managed to discover the remains of an age-old ziggurat, possibly dating back to 6,00 years, near the 3,000-year-old famed Chogha Zanbil Ziggurat, Iranian Cultural Heritage News Agency reported…..http://www.payvand.com/news/04/sep/1116.html

"The building materials in Chogha Zanbil are mainly mud bricks and occasionally baked bricks. The monuments were well built and beautifully decorated with glazed baked bricks, gypsum, ornaments of faience and glass. Thousands of baked bricks bearing inscriptions with Elamite cuneiform characters were all inscribed by hand, ornamenting the most important buildings. Glazed terracotta statues such as bulls and winged griffins guarded the entrances to the ziggurat. Near the temples of Kiririsha and Hishmitik-Ruhuratir, kilns were found that probably were used for the production of baked bricks and decoration materials….

Click to enlarge

"Faint traces of blue terracotta glazing show that once upon a time this grand ziggurat was completely blue, not unlike the mesopotamian structures..... Sun-baked bricks made up the core of the ziggurat with facings of fired bricks on the outside. The facings were often glazed in different colors and may have had astrological significance. Kings sometimes had their names engraved on these glazed bricks. The number of tiers ranged from two to seven. It is assumed that they had shrines at the top, but there is no archaeological evidence for this and the only textual evidence is from Herodotus.[3] Access to the shrine would have been by a series of ramps on one side of the ziggurat or by a spiral ramp from base to summit. The Mesopotamian ziggurats were not places for public worship or ceremonies. They were believed to be dwelling places for the gods and each city had its own patron god. Only priests were permitted on the ziggurat or in the rooms at its base, and it was their responsibility to care for the gods and attend to their needs. The priests were very powerful members of Sumerian society.....http://www.flickr.com/photos/youngrobv/2511614456/

"Ziggurats in the ancient world were the centerpiece in any city where they were built, and they were more than a place of worship to the ancient Mesopotamians, they were the dwelling places of the gods. Babylon for example had a Ziggurat in the heart of their city. The Ziggurat was a temple on a man-made mountain where they would perform religious ceremonies exalting the god of that city..... Ziggurat's usually contained seven stories, the bottom story would be the largest, the next story would be slightly smaller, and the next would be slightly smaller, and that is why it looked like a stepped pyramid. The Temple of Ishtar built by in ancient Nimrud by King Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon was actually built over the ruins of an earlier Ziggurat believed by some to have been the Tower of Babel.....The Ziggurat was a word which means "mountain top" and in the ancient world it was a pyramid which was constructed in stages, with a Temple at the top. It was believed that the gods dwelt at the top and they called this "The Mountain Of The World." The Gods dwelt at the peak of the mountain top and strangely enough the colors of each stage of the Ziggurat were the seven different colors of the rainbow......They were representative of man-made mountains that were created for the gods that they worshiped on the high mountain peaks. The Ziggurat at Ur is an example of when men came down to worship on the flat plains of the Tigris Euphrates Valley."....http://www.bible-history.com/biblestudy/ziggurats.html

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Email....okarresearch@gmail.com

John Hopkins.....Northern New Mexico….September 2013

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Monday, September 2, 2013

The Sogdian Civilization & the Tibet Migration (500 BC)

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"The Sogdians were the inhabitants of fertile valleys surrounded by deserts, the most important of which was the Zeravshan valley, in today’s Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. This Iranian-speaking people had a fifteen-centuries-long historical identity between the sixth century BCE and the tenth century CE when it vanished in the Muslim, Persian-speaking world. Although the Sogdians constructed such famous towns as Samarkand and Bukhara, they are quite unknown.....When did the first Sogdian arrive in China to trade? Various answers have been given to this quite simple question, but one of the most popular, which can still be found in many recent books or articles, makes Alexander the Great the villain of the story. Due to the disaster which befell Sogdiana during his campaigns there in 329-328 BCE, the Sogdians would have been forced to emigrate as far east as China.... the Chinese, Yuezhi, Bactrians, Indians and Sogdians who created the historical Silk Road did not need Greek help....Trade is yet another item that should be removed (after irrigation, town-planning and state-formation) from the long list of supposed Greek influences in the history of Central Asia. The list of real influences is already full enough with coinage, iconography and the alphabet (in Bactria)!".....http://www.silkroadfoundation.org

".....the Sogdian civilization as well as the Kushanian state arose on the territory of Central Asia in Sogd (the motherland of the Kushan state was Bactria)......pre-Moslem Sogd remained a relatively small country in the basins of the Zeravshan and Kashka-Darya rivers. In the 6th - 9th centuries it was far from being a united centralized state and could be rather defined as a conglomeration of separate domains..... the pre-Moslem rulers of the Central Asian Mesopotamia bore a much stronger resemblance to ancient Greek basileis than to the Asiatic despots (meaning the Achaemenian "king of kings").....Bartold (1896a, 1964b), A few words about the Arian Culture in Central Asia // Sochineniya, XI, 2, Moscow (in Russian).

"The Arabian and Persian authors reporting about the Moslem conquest of Central Asia related on mass migrations to that region from Iran and the Middle East, and on departure of the Sogdian merchants from there to the oases of the present Sinkiang (Hsin-chiang, Xinjiang) and to China1. Impressing are also the records of the Chinese sources on migrations of the Sogdian emigrants to China - to the region Tun-huang (Dunhuan), Druan in Sogdian, to Inner Mongolia, and so on...The migration from Sogd to the present Sinkiang (Hsin-chiang, Xinjiang)....was enormous. "....http://www.cais-soas.com/CAIS/Culture/peculiarities_sogdian.htm#footnote14

"Chinese geographical text of the 9th century from Tun-huang (Dunhuan) relates on Kan Yang-tian’s arrival here, "the great chieftain from the Kan empire" who along with other Samarkandians inhabited the city which had been founded during the reign of the Sui dynasty (ruled Northern China from 581 until 618 - B. Stavisky) and abandoned by the Chinese after 618. Kan Yangtian, "the great chieftain from the Kan empire (Samarkand)", came to the East and settled in this town. He was accompanied by many Hu (i.e. by the Sogdians), so this place became populated and was called Tian-he, (i.e. "associated with Kan Yangtian") ..."....Chuguevsky (1971), New Materials on the History of the Sogdian Colony in the Region of Tsun Khuasian // Strany i narody Vostoka, X, Moscow (in Russian).

"Alexander united Sogdiana with Bactria into one satrapy in 327 BC.... The military power of the Sogdians never recovered. Subsequently Sogdiana formed part of the Hellenistic Greco-Bactrian Kingdom, founded in 248 BC by Diodotus, for about a century.".....http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sogdia

"...The Sogdians' main religion was Zoroastrianism...... the discovery of murals depicting votaries making offers before fire-holders and ossuaries from Samarquand, Panjikent and Er-Kurgan held the offerings in accordance with Zoroastrian ritual......However, the Sogdians epitomized the religious plurality found along the trade routes. The largest body of Sogdian texts are Buddhist, and Sogdians were among the principal translators of Buddhist sutras into Chinese. However, Buddhism did not take root in Sogdiana itself. Additionally, the Bulayiq monastery to the north of Turpan contained Sogdian Christian texts and there are numerous Manichaean texts in Sogdiana from nearby Qocho.".....J. Rose, 'The Sogdians: Prime Movers between Boundaries', Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa

".....Sogdiana had multi-layered links with India. R H Sulemanov in a paper presented in a seminar held in Tashkent in 2000 AD on India and Central Asia (pre Islamic period) has brought out many Indian parallels in ancient cults of Sogdiana. He has especially mentioned the funeral rites among the tribes and the same in Vedic tradition, the cult of fire worship and Mithraism the legend of Gandharvas (water deities) and the Ganges. Place names such as Kanka or Ganga has also the central Asian connections. The Mahabharatha mentions the name of Kanka (Kangu tribe). The water deity was also worshipped in Central Asia as an ideal of perfect womanhood. Apart from the Puranic cults mentioned above, five Hindu gods were known to have been worshipped in Sogdiana, namely Brahma, Indra, Mahadeva (Shiva), Narayana and Vaishravana, who had the Sogdiana names of Zravan, Adabad and Veshparkar respectively. The four-armed goddess riding the lion may be Durga. Portable fire altars associated with Mahadeva-Veshparkar, Brahma-Zravan and Indra-Abdab found in an 8th-century mural at Panjakent also deserves special mention...".....India and Central Asia: classical to contemporary periods By J. N. Roy, Braja Bihārī Kumāra, Astha Bharati

"The Yarlung dynasty appears to have continued the collaborative relationship the Zhang Zhung had with the Iranian Aryans. The relationship continued even after the Arabs had conquered the Persian empire. Since it is the Tibetans who had become the dominant eastern power in the seventh century CE, it is they who provided the Persians and Sogdians sanctury. As they fled east, the Persians first took refuge in Sugd (Sogdiana) and their presence there has been recorded on Sogdian inscriptions in Panjakand and Paykand. Then as the Persians and Sogdians continued east into China, their presence during the ninth century was recorded on a Chang’an funerary stele belonging to Mahshi Suren."....Fang-kuei Li, "Notes on Tibetan Sog", Central Asiatic Journal, III, 2, 1957-58: 139-142

"...Author A. Nikitin (A. Nikitin, G. Roth, "A New Seventh-Century Countermark with a Sogdian Inscription", The Numismatic Chronicle, 155, 1995: 277-279.) has proposed that the rise of Tibetan power was because of the assistance of Persian refugees fleeing from the Arab invasion of Persia in the 650s CE. According to Nikitin, when the Persians arrived in the Tibetan court, they trained the Tibetans in the art of imperial warfare. According to another author Beckwith, a Chinese source describes the Yarlung Tibetan warriors and horses as being completely clad in armour in the Sassanian fashion. An important military technological advance and advantage for the Tibetans was their newly acquired ability to produce chain mail for armour. After the Arab take over of the Sassanian Iranian state, the Yarlung Tibetans fought against the Arabs together with his Turkic allies in order to expel them from Sugd (Sogdiana)( C. I. Beckwith, The Tibetan Empire in Central Asia: a History of the Struggle for Great Power among Tibetans, Turks, Arabs, and Chinese During the Early Middle Ages, Princeton, 1987: p. 108-110.)."

"The Yarlung captured Khotan – an Iranian-Tajik kingdom allied with Kashmir and Sugd (Sogdiana). The Tibetan conquest of Khotan was followed by the immigration of many Khotanese Buddhist monks, craftsmen and merchants into Tibet...."...H. H. R. Hoffmann, "The Tibetan Names of the Saka and the Sogdians", Asiatische Studien, XXV, 1971: p. 451-453

"Since 715, the Arabs had been trying to conquer Sogdiana without the intervention of the Chinese army. Only the Tibetans (circa 630-846 A.D.) and the Eastern Turks of Mongolia (683-734 A.D.) helped the Sogdians...."....http://iranian.com/History/2001/July/Sogdiana/

"The importance of Sogdian music and dance particularly in Central Asia, and later at the Tang court, should not be underestimated. The Uighurs, who nowadays have an adaptation of the Arabic alphabet, in the beginning adopted the Sogdian script (derived by the Syriac alphabet but written in vertical lines). The Uighurs handed down such an alphabet to the Mongols and it is still used in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Chinese Province. Later, even the Manchu founders of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) adopted the same alphabet with some modifications."......http://iranian.com/History/2001/July/Sogdiana/

Click on the map to enlarge......http://www.heritageinstitute.com/zoroastrianism/images/maps/sugdMed.jpg

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Email....okarresearch@gmail.com

John Hopkins.....Northern New Mexico….September 2013

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Sunday, September 1, 2013

The Mukpo Clan & the Black Headed People

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MUKPO CLAN...The six clans (dong) of Tibet: Mukpo, Gade, Drupa, Denma, Shenpa, Tagrong, Dege(?)..."I have kept the name Mukpo as my family name, my identity, my pride." (Trungpa:1984..pg 94)

...."rMu bza (Mu wife) was the grandmother of Gesar." "sMug'po gdong or Idong, one of the four original tribes of Tibet from which the people of gLing were descended. Ancient saying: 'The descendants of the Mugpo Dong race think only of conquering other peoples." (Norbu: 1995..pg 5-8)

".... a thirteenth century manuscript called "The Appearance of the Little Black-Headed Man" (dBu nag mi'u dra chag), and in that case a yak is substituted for the snow lion, which had not yet emerged as the national symbol of Tibet. In the text, a nyen (wylie: gNyan, mountain spirit) kills his son-in-law, Khri-to, who is the primeval human man, in a misguided attempt to avenge his daughter. The nyen then is made to see his mistake by a mediator and compensates Khri-to's six sons with the gift of the tiger, yak, garuda, dragon, goat, and dog. The first four brothers then launch an exhibition to kill robbers who were also involved with their mother's death, and each of their four animals then becomes a personal drala (wylie: dgra bla, "protective warrior spirit") to one of the four brothers. The brothers who received the goat and dog choose not to participate, and their animals therefore do not become drala. Each of the brothers represents one of the six primitive Tibetan clans (bod mi'u gdung drug), with which their respective animals also become associated.".....Karmay, Samten G. The Arrow and the Spindle: Studies in History, Myths, Rituals and Beliefs in Tibet. Mandala Publishing: 1998 pg. 420

"The term "Sumerian" is the common name given to the ancient non-Semitic inhabitants of southern Mesopotamia, Sumer, (4th millennium BC).....by the Semitic Akkadians. The Sumerians referred to themselves as ùĝ saĝ gíg-ga (cuneiform: 𒌦 𒊕 𒈪 𒂵), phonetically uŋ saŋ giga, literally meaning "the black-headed people"....... W. Hallo, W. Simpson (1971). The Ancient Near East. New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich. p. 28.

The garuda and the dragon have their origin in Indian and Chinese mythology, respectively. However, regarding the origin of the animals as a tetrad, "neither written nor oral explanations exist anywhere" with the exception of a thirteenth century manuscript called "The Appearance of the Little Black-Headed Man" (dBu nag mi'u dra chag), and in that case a yak is substituted for the snow lion, which had not yet emerged as the national symbol of Tibet.

Within the territory of Olmo Lung-ring there are seven royal races (rgyal rigs) and chief among them is the clan of Mu shen (dmu-gshen) from which Tonpa Shenrab descended. Thus the word "gshen" is also the name of a clan, as well as the term for a kind of practitioner. Besides the Mushen, there were six more royal races or clans (rgyal rigs) ruling in Olmo Lung-ring: "Hos", "Shag", "dPo", "rGya", "gTo", and "gNyan". There are also classes of ministers, merchants, artisans, commoners, and so on.

Tonpa Shenrab was born at the palace Barpo Sogye of Tagzig Olmo Lung Ring. His father was Gyalbon Thodkar of the Mu clan and his mother Yonchi Gyalzhedma.

The major ancestral tribes of Tibet ....
The Se (se), closely associated with the Azha (a zha) tribe
The Ba (sbra or dbra)
The Dön (ldon, ‘don, gdon, sdon) associated with Minak (mi gnag)
The Tön (ston, gton, don) associated with Sumpa (sum pa)
The Ga (lga, sga, rga, dga’)
The Dru ('bru) divided into white, black and mixed
The Ma or Mu (smra, rma, dmu, rmu, smu) which corresponds with the clan name of the founder of Bon
The Wa and Da (dpa, zla)
The Go (sGo)
(R.A. Stein, in Les Tribus Anciennes des Marches Sino-Tibetaines)

..."The personal 'shen' of the Shangshung King Thothori was of the Mu clan." (Stein: 1972..pg 230)

...."Shenrab Miwo's clan is considered to be descended from the bMu deities, an ancient class of celestial deities. dMu is also the name of one of the four original tribes of Tibet." (Tharthang: 1986..pg 114)

..."According to legend, a messenger of Phyva goes to the heaven of dMu, asking for a dMu king to rule over the black headed men." (Bansal: 1994..pg 86)

..."then the dMu people, belonging to gShen rabs forefather dMu-rgyal"..(Francke: 1950: 169)

....."one of the six semi-legendary royal races of Olmolungring: dMu, dPo, Shag, rGya, gNyan, Hos"..(Norbu: 1995..pg 271)...

"The Bonpo texts further speak of the three portals or doors of Zhang-zhung and some of these texts assert that Tazig is the middle door (sgo bar-ma). According to Lopon Tenzin Namdak, the outer door (sgo phyi-pa) is Zhang-zhung itself, the middle door (sgo bar-ma) is Tazig, and the inner door (sgo phug-pa) is Olmo Lung-ring. From the innermost gate outwards this represents the movement or progress of the teachings of Yungdrung Bon into the outer world and especially Tibet. At that time Tazig was said to have been inhabited by the "sTag-gzig hos rigs", the royal race (rgyal rigs) of the "Hos" or Persians (the Chinese "Hu"). But in an even earlier time the people belonged to the lineage of the "rGyal-bu 'thing-ge". And in the "Ma-rgyud" is found the story of the emperor Gyer-wer of Tazig who ruled most of the known world......Within the territory of Olmo Lung-ring there are seven royal races (rgyal rigs) and chief among them is the clan of Mu shen (dmu-gshen) from which Tonpa Shenrab descended. Thus the word "gshen" is also the name of a clan, as well as the term for a kind of practitioner. Besides the Mushen, there were six more royal races or clans (rgyal rigs) ruling in Olmo Lung-ring: "Hos", "Shag", "dPo", "rGya", "gTo", and "gNyan"......http://www.surajamrita.com/bon/Shambala.html

..."gdong: face, a synonym of cha-chen; clan, beak, countenance"...For a description of the different lineages see: (Karmay: 1972)

"Based on the statuaries and steles of Babylonia, the Sumerians were “of dark complexion, short stature, but of sturdy frame, oval face, stout nose, straight hair, full head; they typically resembled the Dravidians, not only in cranium, but almost in all the details.” (A Study in Hindu Social Polity by Chandra Chakaberty, Delhi: Mittal Publications, 1987, pg. 33)

"The Cyrus the Great Cylinder is said to be the first charter of right of nations in the world ... Cyrus says there that he shepherded with justice and righteousness all the black-headed nations that he conquered their lands....The phrase "black-headed people" ocurs very often in sacred cuneiform texts.... in a prayer to Nergal, there exists the verse "Bel, thy father, hath given thee the Black-headed people, all living creatures."......

".....the inscriptions of the Sumerian King Shulgi (c. 2161 - 2113 BC)..... "The theme of the black-headed people is recurrent and appears twice in Shulgi C, once in Shulgi P, and once in Shulgi V.... it seems that there was an ethnic difference between the barbarous Gutians and all of the black-headed people of ancient Mesopotamia, not between the Sumerians and Akkadians."....http://www.gmalivuk.com/otherstuff/fall02/echanows.htm

"The title Shenrab Miwoche means ‘the great human being who is the supreme Shen practioner.’ The ancient word gshen is untranslateble and is sometimes used as a synonym for Bon and Bonpo. Shen was also the name of the clan to which Tonpa Shenrab belonged, that is, dMu-gshen, the celestial Shen. The Shen clan (gshe gdung-rus) continues as one of the principal Bonpo lineages even today. In the early days, transmission of the teachings was often through family lineages.” -Bonpo Dzogchen Teachings.....http://bonpo.wordpress.com/

dMu Demons. On occassion, identified as dMu, Lha, Lha, Hindu Deva, rMu, rMu, lha or lha.
dMu-bDud Kam-Po Sa-Zan A Bon sky god. Also commonly referred to as dMu-bDud Kam-Po Sa-Zan.
dMu-rgyal Early ancestors of the race. These were the first beings to employ ritual and magic. They were followed by the 'dre. At times, known as dMu-rgyal.

"Nangzher Lopo (snang bzher lod po) was born in the eighth century somewhere near Darok Tso, a large freshwater lake located in the western Changtang (byang thang)....on his father's side, Nangzher Lopo belonged to the Gurib (gu rib; also: gu rub), a clan native to Zhangzhung (zhang zhung). Zhangzhung was a kingdom that flourished in western Tibet until being annexed by the Tibetan emperor Songtsen Gampo (srong btsan sgam po) in the seventh century. The Gurib clan, which continues to this day, was derived from the Mu (dmu), one of the greatest and most ancient genealogical groupings in Tibet......Nangzher Lopo mastered many Bon traditions and ritual practices as a younger man. The chief teacher of Nangzher Lopo was Tapihritsa (ta pi hri tsa), the last master of an exclusively orally transmitted mind training lineage known as the Zhangzhung Nyengyu (zhang zhung snyan rgyud), an important school of Bon Dzogchen."....http://treasuryoflives.org/biographies/view/Nangzher-Lopo/13164

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Email....okarresearch@gmail.com

John Hopkins.....Northern New Mexico….September 2013

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Okar Research

Sunday, September 8, 2013

The Mes…Ancient Sumerian Blueprints to Civilization (3,000 BC)

Inanna, Anahiti & Historical Aratta (4,000 BC)

Friday, September 6, 2013

Aratta: The 'Mythical' Seven Gated City (3000 BC)

Chakravala Chakravartin & The Universal Monarch

Thursday, September 5, 2013

Elamite Ziggurat ... Chogha Zanbil (1250 BC)

Monday, September 2, 2013

The Sogdian Civilization & the Tibet Migration (500 BC)

Sunday, September 1, 2013

The Mukpo Clan & the Black Headed People

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