4.0 KiB
| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ancient Near Eastern cosmology | 12/12 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Near_Eastern_cosmology | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T09:33:43.951701+00:00 | kb-cron |
Cosmographies were described in works other than those of the Hexaemeral genre. For example, in the genre of novels, the Alexander Romance would portray a mythologized picture of the journeys and conquests of Alexander the Great, ultimately inspired by the Epic of Gilgamesh. The influence is evident in the texts cosmography, as Alexander reaches an outer ocean circumscribing the Earth which cannot be passed. Both in the Alexander Romance, and in later texts like the Syriac Alexander Legend (Neshana), Alexander journeys to the ends of the Earth which is surrounded by an ocean. Unlike in the story of Gilgamesh, however, this ocean is an unpassable boundary that marks the extent to which Alexander can go. The Neshana also aligns with a Mesopotamian cosmography in its description of the path of the sun: as the sun sets in the west, it passes through a gateway in the firmament, cycles to the other side of the earth, and rises in the east in its passage through another celestial gateway. Alexander, like Gilgamesh, follows the path of the sun during his journey. These elements of Alexander's journey are also described as part of the journey of Dhu al-Qarnayn in the Quran. Gilgamesh's journey takes him to a great cosmic mountain Mashu; likewise, Alexander reaches a cosmic mountain known as Musas. The cosmography depicted in this text greatly resembles that outlined by the Babylonian Map of the World.
=== Quranic cosmology ===
The Quran conceives of the primary elements of the ancient near eastern cosmography, such as the division of the cosmos into the heavens and the Earth, a solid firmament, upper waters, a flat Earth, and seven heavens. As with rabbinic cosmology, however, these elements were not directly transmitted from ancient near eastern civilization. Instead, work in the field of Quranic studies has identified the primary historical context for the reception of these ideas to have been in the Christian and Jewish cosmologies of late antiquity. This conception of the cosmos was carried on into the traditionalist cosmologies that were held in the caliphate, though with a few nuances that appear to have emerged.
== See also == Ancient Mesopotamian religion Creation of life from clay Hexaemeron Pre-Islamic Arabian inscriptions King of the Universe Mandaean cosmology Panbabylonism Quranic studies
== References ==
=== Notes ===
=== Citations ===
=== Sources ===
== Further reading == Assman, Jan. The Search for God in Ancient Egypt, Cornell University Press, 2001, pp. 53–82. Clifford, Richard. Creation Accounts in the Ancient Near East and in the Bible, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 1994. Dalley, Myths from Mesopotamia: Creation, the Flood, Gilgamesh, and Others, Oxford University Press, 1998. George, A. Babylonian Topographical Texts, Peeters, 1992. Hetherington, Norriss S (ed.). Encyclopedia of Cosmology, Routledge, 2014. Hunger, Hermann, and John Steele, The Babylonian Astronomical Compendium MUL.APIN, Routledge, 2018. Jacobsen, Thorkild. "The Cosmos as a State" in The Intellectual Adventure of Ancient Man: An Essay of Speculative Thought in the Ancient Near East, University of Chicago Press, 1977. Keel, Othmar & Silvia Shroer, Creation: Biblical Theologies in the Context of the Ancient Near East, Eisenbrauns, 2015. Lu, Rosanna (2024). The Transformation of Tĕhôm: From Deified Power to Demonized Abyss. Brill. Sjöberg, Å. "In the beginning" in Riches Hidden in Secret Places: Ancient Near Eastern Studies in Memory of Thorkild Jacobsen, Eisenbrauns, 2002, pp. 229–247. Wiggermann, F. "Mythological foundations of nature" in Natural Phenomena: Their Meaning, Depiction and Description in the Ancient Near East, 1992. Zago, Silvia. A Journey through the Beyond: The Development of the Concept of Duat and Related, Lockwood Press, 2022.
== External links == Mesopotamian Creation Myths (Metropolitan Museum of Art)