Me (mythology)

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.

Mythological origin and nature

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.[1] 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.[2]

There is no direct connection implied in the mythological cycle between this poem and that which is our main source of information on the mes, "Inanna and Enki: The Transfer of the Arts of Civilization from Eridu to Uruk", but once again Inanna's discontent is a theme. She is the tutelary deity of Uruk and desires to increase its influence and glory by bringing the mes to it from Eridu. She travels to Enki's Eridu shrine, the E-abzu, in her "boat of heaven", and asks the mes from him after he is drunk, whereupon he complies. After she departs with them, he comes to his senses and notices they are missing from their usual place, and on being informed what he did with them attempts to retrieve them. The attempt fails and Inanna triumphantly delivers them to Uruk.[3]

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.

Not all the mes are admirable or desirable traits. Alongside functions like "heroship" and "victory" we also find "the destruction of cities", "falsehood", and "enmity". The Sumerians apparently considered such evils and sins an inevitable part of humanity's lot in life, divinely and inscrutably decreed, and not to be questioned.[4]

List of mes

Although more than one hundred mes appear to be mentioned in the latter myth, and the entire list is given four times, the tablets on which it is found are so fragmentary that we have only a little over sixty of them. In the order given, they are[5]

  1. ENship
  2. Godship
  3. The exalted and enduring crown
  4. The throne of kingship
  5. The exalted sceptre
  6. The royal insignia
  7. The exalted shrine
  8. Shepherdship
  9. Kingship
  10. Lasting ladyship
  11. "Divine lady" (a priestly office)
  12. Ishib (a priestly office)
  13. Lumah (a priestly office)
  14. Guda (a priestly office)
  15. Truth
  16. Descent into the nether world
  17. Ascent from the nether world
  18. Kurgarra (a eunuch, or, possibly, ancient equivalent to modern concepts of androgyne or transsexual [6])
  19. Girbadara (a eunuch)
  20. Sagursag (a eunuch, entertainers related to the cult of Inanna [7])
  21. The battle-standard
  22. The flood
  23. Weapons (?)
  24. Sexual intercourse
  25. Prostitution
  26. Law (?)
  27. Libel (?)
  28. Art
  29. The cult chamber
  30. "hierodule of heaven"
  31. Guslim (a musical instrument)
  32. Music
  33. Eldership
  34. Heroship
  35. Power
  36. Enmity
  37. Straightforwardness
  38. The destruction of cities
  39. Lamentation
  40. Rejoicing of the heart
  41. Falsehood
  42. Art of metalworking
  43. Scribeship
  44. Craft of the smith
  45. Craft of the leatherworker
  46. Craft of the builder
  47. Craft of the basket weaver
  48. Wisdom
  49. Attention
  50. Holy purification
  51. Fear
  52. Terror
  53. Strife
  54. Peace
  55. Weariness
  56. Victory
  57. Counsel
  58. The troubled heart
  59. Judgment
  60. Decision
  61. Lilis (a musical instrument)
  62. Ub (a musical instrument)
  63. Mesi (a musical instrument)
  64. Ala (a musical instrument)

See also

References

  1. ↑ Kramer, p. 122
  2. ↑ Kramer, pp. 171-173
  3. ↑ Kramer, pp. 160-162
  4. ↑ Kramer, pp. 125-126
  5. ↑ Kramer, p. 116. Although they are numbered consecutively here, there is an unexplained jump in the numbering as Kramer gives it, with four items missing between "art of metalworking" and "scribeship". It presumably represents a place where it is clear in the texts that items occur, but are unintelligible.
  6. ↑ Meador, p.204
  7. ↑ Meador, p. 163

Bibliography

External links

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