Sumerian Dreaming

Author: * Diantha Livius - 2 Posts on this thread out of 1,859 Posts sitewide.
Date: Jan 19, 2004 - 11:59

(A repost)

Divination was a common practice among many ancient cultures. The Sumerians were some of those who used this skill to contact the gods. Among the various forms of communication between this world and that of the mystical realm was dreaming. More importantly, through dream interpretation, a ruler, noble, priest or priestess not only saw the future, but was able to perform the will of the gods.

In the Epic of Gilgamesh we catch a glimpse of the importance of dreams. After Enkidu sleeps with the prostitute, and loses his wildness, his animal friends leave him. They sense he is now more human. After this happens, Gilgamesh dreams and tells his mother, the Goddess Ninsun, his dream:

I saw a star
Fall from the sky, and the people
Of Uruk stood around and admired it,
And I was jealous and tried to carry it away
But I was too weak and I failed.

He asks his mother what this means and she interprets the dream for him. According to Ninsun his dream portends this:

Your equal is the star
Which fell, as if a sign from Heaven
Had been sent which is too heavy
But which you will try to lift
And drive away, and fail.

But I have never failed before, he interrupted
Her, surprised himself at his anxiety.
It will be a person, she continued,
Speaking in her somber monotone,
A companion who is your equal
In strength, a person loyal to a friend
Who will not forsake you and whom you
Will never leave.

Gilgamesh then dreams of an ax that night and recounts it to his mother:

The people stood around the ax
When I tried to lift it, and I failed.
I feel such tiredness, I cannot explain.

His mother interprets this dream thus:

The ax is a man
Who is your friend and equal.
He will come. A graceful man
Who will lift you out of tiredness.

(Above text from “Gilgamesh” by Herbert Mason © 1970.)

Those of you who have read this tale know that Enkidu and Gilgamesh become the best of friends until Enkidu dies. For a time, he does lift Gilgamesh out of his tiredness and makes him a better man and king for his people.

In another myth, entitled, “The Death of Dumuzi”, the lover and consort of the Goddess Inanna has a dream. Dumuzi, the shepherd of Erech, has a premonition about his death. He sent up a lamentation, then fell asleep. The shepherd then dreams a dream that makes him tremble. In confusion, he calls to his sister, Geshtinanna, who is the divine poetess, singer and interpreter of dreams. Dumuzi tells her of his dream:

My dream, O my sister, my dream,
This is the heart of my dream!
Rushes rise up all about me, rushes sprout all about me,
One reed standing all alone bows its head for me,
Of the reeds standing in pairs, one is removed for me,
In the wooded grove, tall (?) trees rise fearsomely all about me,
Over my holy hearth, water is poured,
Of my holy churn - its stand (?) is removed,
The holy cup hanging from a peg, from the peg has fallen,
My shepherd’s crook has vanished,
An owl holds a ....,
A falcon holds a lamb in its claws,
My young goats drag their lapis bards in the dust.
My sheep of the fold paw the ground with their bent limbs,
The churn lies (shattered), no milk is poured,
The cup lies (shattered), Dumuzi lives no more,
The sheepfold is given over to the wind.
(Translation from “The Sumerians” by Samuel Noah Kramer © 1963)

Geshtinanna is also disturbed by her brother’s dream. In her interpretation, the rushes sprouting all about him represent outlaws rising up to attack her brother. The lone reed standing represents his mother showing him respect, bowing her head to her son. As for the reeds standing in pairs, this represents Geshtinanna and Dumuzi. One reed is removed, which means one of them will be removed. She continues to interpret the dream, item by item for her brother. In the end, she warns that the demons of the underworld, the galla are after Dumuzi.

But, not all dreams foretell great events or disaster. Some merely give instructions of the gods. Another Sumerian account, in which dreams play a prominent role, is that of the King Gudea of Lagash. The city had been blessed with the rich overflow of the Tigris River. This is when the God, Ningirsu, decided to contact the king through a dream. He wanted a temple, the Eninnu, built in his honor.

Gudea did not know what he was seeing at first. In the dream he saw a large man wearing a divine crown on his head, the wings of a lion-headed bird, and for the lower part of his body, a “flood wave”. On the right and left of this man there were a pair of crouched lions. He commanded Gudea to build him a temple, but the king could not understand the god’s instructions. In the dream, dawn broke and a woman was standing before the king. In her hand she held a golden stylus and was looking at a clay tablet in which the starry heavens were depicted. A “hero” appeared after the vision of the woman, and in his hands he held a tablet of lapis lazuli. On this, he drew the picture of a house, then placed bricks in a brick mold that stood before the king along with a carrying basket. While this occurred, at the same time, a male donkey stood pawing the ground.

As the dream was not clear to Gudea, he decided to go to the Goddess Nanshe, who interpreted the dreams of the gods. Gudea had to travel by boat, as Nanshe lived in a district (called Nina) of Lagash in which traveling by canal was the easiest way to reach her house. Along the way, the king stopped at several important shrines to pray and make sacrifices. Then, upon reaching the temple, he made yet another sacrifice. He poured out libations and offered prayers to the goddess, then told her of his dream. Nanshe interpreted the dream, point by point, thus:

“The man of tremendous stature with a divine crown on his head, the wings of a lion-headed bird, a flood wave of the lower part of his body, and lions crouching to his right and left - that is her brother Ningirsu, who commanded him to build the temple Eninnu. The breaking of day over the horizon - that is Ningishzida, Gudea’s personal god, rising like the sun. The woman holding a gold stylus and studying a clay tablet on which the starry heaven was depicted - that is Nidaba (the goddess of writing and patron deity of the edubba), who directs you to build the house in accordance to the “holy stars”. The hero holding a tablet of lapis lazuli - that is the (architect) god Nindub drawing the temple plan. The carrying baskets and brick mold in which “the brick of fate” was placed - these betoken the bricks for the Eninnu temple. The male donkey pawing the ground impatiently - that, of course, is Gudea himself, who is impatient to carry out his task.” (“The Sumerians” by Samuel Noah Kramer, © 1963)

Nanshe then gave Gudea further instructions on how to please the god Ningirsu. She told the king to make a new, beautifully decorated chariot for her brother. Gudea was to present the conveyance, along with its span of male donkeys in a grand procession, accompanied by drums. Along with the asses and chariot, he was to also have the god’s emblem and weapons. After receiving these instructions, Ningirsu visited Gudea in another dream. The god gave the king more detailed instructions, then blessed the city of Lagash with abundance and overflow. He then assured Gudea that his people would work thoroughly and build Ningirsu’s temple, the Eninnu, with various woods and stones brought to Lagash from distant lands. The dream ended and Gudea rose to accomplish the task he had been given.

In all of these accounts, someone else was consulted to decipher the dream. In these cases, it was a goddess who is the interpreter - the link between this world and the mystical realm. It was an important connection for the ancient Sumerians.