The Ancient Tradition

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Music

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You’re listening to the Ancient Tradition. A Wonk Media Production. Music provided by Joseph McDade. He is your host, Dr. Jack Logan.

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Welcome to The Ancient Tradition. I’m your host, Jack Logan. It’s great to have you with me today. Before I jump into today’s episode, I want to remind you that you can learn more about this podcast and our sister podcast, The Ancient Tradition Audio writ on our website, thea You can find our YouTube channel there, more information about.

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scholars that we’ve mentioned on the podcast and as well as their bios and links to the important books that they’ve written. And in addition you can find show notes for each and every episode of the podcast there. It’s a great resources. If you haven’t had a chance to check it out be sure and check out the show notes. I highly recommend it because you’ll find there a full written transcript of each episode.

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with a lot of links in there to the texts and myths and legends and some of the key figures that we’ve mentioned on the podcast, as well as pictures, pictures of things like the ancient records and the artifacts that we talk about on the program, like the pyramid texts and cylinder sills and bass reliefs and carvings and just anything that’s pertinent to that episode. So for example, in our last episode, we talked about the Norris trolls, if you remember.

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and Norway’s amazing, beautiful fjords. So I posted pictures of both, including a short video even of my boat trip through Norway’s world heritage Nierofjord. So be sure and check it out. Today we’re gonna pick up where we left off in our last episode. So to kind of refresh your memory, we’ve been talking about the great primordial battle that the ancients told us took place in the heavens before the earth was formed.

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In the ancient record, this primordial battle is ubiquitous. And the world’s oldest sacred texts and scriptures and myths and legends, and even in the modern day, remnants of this primordial battle show up, albeit in degenerated and desacralized forms in much, much of the world’s greatest literature and film. This primordial battle represents one of, if not the

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most important and prevalent mythological themes in the ancient world. So it’s one of those stubborn bits par none again. So for this reason it’s really important that we study everything that we can about this battle so that we can truly understand what the ancients are teaching us about the spiritual realm or world and then our relationship to it.

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What you’re going to learn is that this primordial battle is critical to an understanding of the creation of the earth. And that’ll become a little more clear towards the end of today’s episode. And that’s why we’re talking about it here, but it’s also critical to an understanding of the establishment of kingship, both heavenly kingship and earthly kingship. In fact, you’re going to see over the next couple of episodes, how so many of the concepts that we’ve been discussing, the

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battle against the dragon, the special weapons that are needed to defeat the dragon, victory over the dragon, kingship, the building of a temple, and the creation of the world are all tied together in this neat theology that, in fact, through an examination of the Primordial Battle and these myths that express it, you’re going to see the theology of the ancient tradition really began to take shape, which you will find is pretty significant.

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both in its cosmological and cosmogonical implications. But stick with me because we still have a lot to cover before we get there. All of this brings me to today’s episode, the wounded hero. For the past two episodes, we’ve been discussing the special weapons and the special armor that were gifted to the divine son of the high god, be he known by the name Marduk, Bal, Horus, Odin, Indra or Tesla Kapoka. Special weapons and armor.

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that would both protect him and ensure his defeat of the rebel son of the high god, who is usually depicted as a sea serpent or a dragon or a monster when we look at the ancient iconography. In the past couple of episodes, I’ve mentioned Neil Forsyte’s book, The Old Enemy. It’s an important monograph on the combat myth that was published by Princeton University Press. If you go to page 448 of this book, Forsyte provides readers with a table.

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it outlines the sequence of events that most combat narratives follow. Those stubborn bits or themes that seem to show up wherever we see these combat myths in the world. To put this table together, he drew upon his own research. He went through a lot of combat myths himself, and he also drew upon the research of Vladimir Prop and Joseph Fontenrose. These are scholars who also studied combat myths, and then they put together their own kind of sequence of the core themes. And in this table,

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narrows the main sequence of events down to 12, kind of 12 events that these myths follow. And he says this quote, represents a significant incident in the plot structure of most ancient combat narratives. Of those 12, I want to briefly go through the first six so that you can get a feel for where we are in the podcast in terms of the general sequence of events in most combat narratives.

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So the first event is the presentation of a villain or enemy or the repercussions of their presence, like a lack of fertility in the land and things like that. Forsyte says, quote, combat narratives generally begin with a statement of the fundamental situation, a conflict or opposition of some kind, which determines the subsequent events and which the champion’s victory will liquidate.

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And listen to what Forsyte stresses next. He says, quote, such a beginning becomes specifically a combat myth at the moment when the initial situation is attributed to the agency of the enemy figure. And I think this is interesting because here we have two academic scholars. We’ve got Forsyte and Prop who are telling us that all combat myths begin with the misuse of moral agency.

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We talked about the theological significance of moral agency in our last episode. And as we see here, it plays an absolutely fundamental role in what caused the primordial Theomache. These scholars are corroborating the interpretation that the beings in the primordial realm were moral agents.

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After the enemy reveals his ugly head and his destructive works, the second thing we see is the emergence of the hero. As I pointed out previously, the hero god or king or pauper typically volunteers to battle the enemy in order to save his father’s kingdom or his country, the village or the people. And then he makes ready all of the preparations to fight that battle.

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The hero of legend or myth is usually pictured as the representative of his people. He’s already their king or god, for example. And this relationship is often portrayed as the selection of the hero by the divine council or as the hero’s response to his people’s problems. In the sequence of events, the hero, quote, emerges from the group and so becomes a genuine cultural hero.

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It’s at this point in the combat narratives that we see the third event. We see the high God or a God subordinate to the high God, like the craftsman God, Cawther, which we talked about in the Ugaritic literature, who crafts special weapons or armor and then gifts them to the hero God. It’s a universal theme in combat narratives that the hero is gifted supernatural aid as part of his preparations or her preparations for the battle.

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be it in the form of weapons or armor or abilities or even knowledge. Now that the hero is armed and ready for battle, the fourth thing that we see is that the hero god must journey to the land where the battle is going to take place. So like in the Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh journeyed to the Cedar Forest so that he could battle the monster Humbaba.

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And then in the Ugaritic ball cycle, the god ball journeyed to his father’s palace so that he could battle Yam. And in Beowulf, Beowulf sailed to Denmark to battle the monster Grendel. And once the hero god or the hero arrives, the fifth event to take place is the battle. The enemy god attacks and the battle begins.

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The ancient narratives usually include a great deal of violent imagery to kind of capture the gravity of this battle. It’s a battle of both immediate and eternal import. This brings us to the sixth event and the subject of today’s episode, which is the initial and temporary defeat of the hero god or champion.

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nearly always the hero god or champion is wounded during the battle and sometimes the wounds are minor other times are kind of super serious and other times they’re outright fatal foresight writes quote one of the most important elements of fontan rose discerned in his material was the frequency with which the hero is initially defeated or even killed

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And I second this, the wounded hero is one of the most important aspects of the primordial Theomache, or as the scholars and writers refer to it, the combat myth. And that’s because these wounds constitute one of the most important aspects of the theology of the ancient world, the theology of the ancient tradition. So for that reason,

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Let’s take a look today at what we can learn from a few of the divine combat myths that we find all over in the ancient world. So let’s start with ancient Egypt. Upon King Osiris’ death, who was killed by the evil god Set, Horus, Osiris’ son, his beloved son, no less, as is actually stated in the pyramid texts, is born.

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And Horus grows up under the tyrannical reign of Set. Donald McKenzie’s historical narrative tells the story like this, quote, Set continued to rule over Egypt and he persecuted the followers of Osiris. One night, there appeared to Horus in a dream, a vision of his father Osiris, which as a quick aside here appears to be the earliest form of the Hamlet myth.

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The ghost urged him to overthrow Set by whom he had been so treacherously put to death and Horus vowed to drive his wicked uncle and all his followers out of the land of Egypt. Okay, let’s stop here for a second. Note how we are seeing really important combat themes here. The land of Egypt is under the rule of a tyrant. This tyrant is persecuting the quote followers of Osiris.

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Horus is the son of the dead king Osiris, so he is the rightful king, he’s the rightful heir. Egypt is rightfully his to govern. He’s the representative of the people. But he cannot reign because the rebellious one has usurped his throne. In the Book of the Victory over Seth, which is a late heretic text, it’s dated to around 300 BC. It says this of Seth.

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quote, back rebel of abominable character, who did evil, who stepped outside of the prescribed path, who loved the fight, who enjoyed quarrel, who created evil, who caused grief, an enmity to the father of his fathers, who avoids laws, who uses force, robber, lord of the lie, ruler of deceit, leader of criminals.

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whose heart is haughty among the gods, who sows enmity, who creates destruction, the evil one who incites rebellion, who causes grief and creates wounds.” Okay, did you catch that? It says that Set, quote, creates wounds. At this point, our hero Horus is called to action by the ghost of his father Osiris.

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who appeals to him to drive his wicked uncle and all of his wicked uncle’s followers out of Egypt, a feat that would ultimately restore the throne to Horus and restore peace and fertility to the land. So let’s keep reading to see what happens. Quote, so he, we’re talking about Horus still, gathered his army together and went forth to battle. Set came against him at Edfu and slew many of his followers.

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but Horus secured the aid of the tribes that remained faithful to Osiris and Isis. And Set was again attacked and driven towards the eastern frontier. He rested at Zaru and there was the last battle fought. It was waged for many days and Horus lost an eye. But Set was still more grievously wounded and he was at length driven with his army out of the kingdom.

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We have a lot of interesting things going on here. Note how the battle between Set and Horus here is more than a battle between the two of them. It’s more akin to a war, a war between the quote, followers of Osiris, who adhere to Ma’at, which is the Egyptian concept of truth, justice and righteousness, against the rebellious quote, followers of Set, who reject Ma’at and epitomize untruth, injustice and unrighteousness.

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So what we’re really talking about here is a spiritual war. Okay, but did you catch how Horus was wounded in the battle? McKenzie writes, speaking of the battle, quote, “‘It was waged for many days and Horus lost an eye.’ At some point in the battle, Set brutally rips out Horus’s eye, leaving him badly wounded.” Now,

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Obviously, since we’re talking about a spiritual battle here, the loss of Horus’s eye is pretty symbolic. The lost eye is symbolic of the loss of something spiritual. And we’ll get to that in another episode. But for now, it’s important to recognize here that Horus sustains a grave wound during his battle against the evil set. Now let’s turn to the Epic of Gilgamesh.

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In the Epic of Gilgamesh, the god Shamash, who’s the sun god, gifts Gilgamesh great winds, the north wind, the world wind, the stone and the icy wind, the tempest and the scorching wind. And not only does the sun god Shamash give Gilgamesh the great winds, just like what we saw out of the high god in episode number 13, the incomprehensible brooding wind, but the god Shamash also orders blacksmiths to make special weapons for Gilgamesh and Enkidu.

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they head out to kill the monster Humbaba. This is the same theme that we keep seeing over and over and over again. Listen to N.K. Sanders translation where it gives us a description of the special weapons that Shamash gifts the duo. It reads quote, and now they brought to them and them is Gilgamesh and his companion Enkidu the weapons. They put in their hands the great swords

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in their golden scabbards and the bow and the quiver. Gilgamesh took the axe, he slung the quiver from his shoulder and the bow of Anshan and buckled the sword to his belt. And so they were armed and ready for the journey. I don’t know about you, but I love how the ancients give these special gifted weapons names. Gilgamesh’s special axe is actually named the quote, might of heroes.

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And as I just read Gilgamesh’s special bow is named the quote bow of Anshan. Anshan is a district in Southwest Persia. So this is probably where they are arguing the supplies to make the bow or procured. So they’re all geared up in their special weapons. Gilgamesh and his companion, Ekidu take their journey to the Cedar forest to where the terrible monster Humbaba resides. And Ekidu says,

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quote, forward, there is nothing to fear. Follow me for I know the place where Humbaba lives. So now that they’re armed with these special divine weapons, they have no fear, they’re ready. And that’s an important point. Together, the two make their journey to the Cedar forest and they travel over many leagues, crossing seven mountains until they come to the gate of the forest.

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And we don’t have time to discuss this here, but note that they cross precisely seven mountains before they get to the gate of the cedar forest. And this is another one of those tidbits that you’ll want to remember because it’s quite important to the story and to the theology of the ancient tradition. And we’ll definitely cover it in a future episode. Armed to the hilt, they’re standing just outside the gate to the cedar forest and the text reads, quote,

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Together they went down into the forest and they came to the green mountain. There they stood still. They were struck dumb. They stood still and gazed at the forest. They saw the height of the cedar. They saw the way into the forest and the track where Humbaba was to walk. They gazed at the mountain of cedars, the dwelling place of the gods. The hugeness of the cedar rose

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the mountain its shade was beautiful full of comfort. I hope you caught a few of the things we’ve been talking about the podcast to this point. Note that the first thing that Gilgamesh and Enki do see in the cedar forest is a mountain. A green mountain. The two are awed by this mountain. The text says that they are quote struck dumb. They also see a quote track where Humbaba was to walk.

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like a path. They see a path where Humbaba hangs out a path which we presume leads to the mountain. And know how this is the same theme that we saw in the previous episode among the Norse myths and their trolls guarding the fjord or the pathway that ultimately leads to a beautiful mountain. The text also tells us that this cedar forest is quote the dwelling place of the gods.

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where in front of the mountain rose a huge cedar tree that quote, it’s shade, beautiful, full of comfort. Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m starting to see a lot of parallels here between the cedar forest and the Judeo-Christian Garden of Eden. We have a mountain, which if you recall, we argued in episode number four, did God reveal the ancient tradition in the Garden of Eden, that based off of a verse in the book of Ezekiel, that the Garden of Eden was built on elevated ground.

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a mountain. And we also have here a stunning cedar tree, like the tree of life that stands in the center of the garden, which by now you know represents the divine monarch, God seated on his throne. Something that the Epic of Gilgamesh tells us outright. The cedar forest is, quote, the dwelling place of the gods, which is why we are talking about a forest of cedar trees here.

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each tree symbolically represents a god. And as a quick aside, later in architectural forms, these trees are stylized into columns. So a temple or cathedral with a number of internal columns or trees, just like what we saw in Westminster Abbey, is whether the architects recognize it or not, symbolizing a plurality of gods in the Garden of Eden or the Cedar Forest.

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It represents where the gods gather, the assembly place of the gods, which if you remember is exactly what we learned in the Ugaritic literature. The council of the gods met in the Mount of El. I hope you’re beginning to see here how cohesive all of these symbols are. They’re telling the same theological story.

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So it should come as no surprise that the monster Humbaba lives near the tree. He’s trying to thwart anyone who tries to go near it. Just like the dragon in Jason and the Argonauts blocks access to the golden fleece that’s nailed to a tree in the sacred grove of Erez. Or the dragon Fafnir blocks access to his slain father’s enormous treasure of gold. At this point in the story, Gilgamesh

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chops down the huge cedar tree in front of the mountain. He wants the wood of it so that he can build a wall around his city Uruk. Again, this is symbolic. Using the timber or the wood of the sacred cedar tree to build a wall to fortify and protect the city. And remember this, because this is gonna be important in our next episode. The text reads, quote,

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Mbaba heard the noise far off. He was enraged. He cried, Who is this that has violated my woods and cut down my cedar? And then something really interesting happens here. Just as the ugly monster raises his voice, Enkidu and Gilgamesh receive divine assistance. God comes to

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their battle. It reads, but glorious Shamash, who’s the sun god, called to them out of heaven, go forward, do not be afraid. So here we see the theme of the hero being gifted divine assistance in his battle with the monster. Unfortunately, Gilgamesh’s plans are thwarted and he’s overcome by, quote, weakness.

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and he falls to the ground frozen. It’s like he’s paralyzed, which although it’s not directly stated in the text, it appears to be the result of Humbaba’s demonic powers. And the text tells us that this power seizes Gilgamesh and binds him in some way. He can’t move, he can’t speak, he’s bound. Gilgamesh is clearly wounded here in some way. The text reads, quote,

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But now Gilgamesh was overcome with weakness for sleep had seized him suddenly. A profound sleep held him. He lay on the ground, stretched out, speechless as though in a dream. When Enkidu touched him, he did not rise. When he spoke to him, he did not reply. Enkidu’s worried here. He says, quote,

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Enkidu knows that if Gilgamesh stays in this paralyzed state, Humbaba will slay him. Gilgamesh is a sitting duck. He’s easy prey for Humbaba’s consumption. And like we see in so many of these combat myths, it appears as though the hero is doomed to destruction. Fortunately, after lying there for some time, Gilgamesh is miraculously loosened from the grip of Humbaba’s demonic powers.

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and then he regains control of his faculties and his ability to move. It’s at this point in the epic that Gilgamesh does something very, very important, especially in terms of the things we discussed in our previous episode, episode number 21, the cloak of invulnerability. Listen to the text and see if you can’t work out how this is connected to our previous episode. The text reads, quote, “‘At length, Gilgamesh heard him. “‘Him is Enkidu here.'”

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lie put on his breastplate the voice of heroes of 30 shekels weight he put it on as though it had been a light garment that he carried and it covered him all together so what’s the very first thing Gilgamesh does the the second he’s released from Humbaba’s demonic powers the text tells us that he throws on his special armor that special armor we talked about in our previous episode

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get that armor on fast enough. Apparently this special armor, which the text tells us is named the Voice of Heroes, which I love because it makes me think of divine utterance, was pretty heavy. It was of 30 shekels weight, the text says. But as soon as he’s released from Humbaba’s demonic grip, he quote, puts it on as though it had been a light garment.

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At this point in the narrative though, I’m asking myself, you know, what in the world was Gilgamesh thinking? He knew what lied in the cedar forest. He left Uruk armed to the hilt with special weapons so that he could successfully defeat Humbaba, who is the most vile, malevolent, profane creature in existence. Yet, Gilgamesh goes into this battle naked?

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without his special armor on, that special protective armor that the gods gifted Marduk in the Enuma Elish, and that God gifted Adam and Eve in Genesis. What was Gilgamesh thinking? This was inconceivably unwise on Gilgamesh’s part. Not smart Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh figures out very, very quickly that without this special armor, the voice of heroes,

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He’s vulnerable to Humbaba’s attacks. He can’t be successful without this special armor on. And he recognizes this now, and he wants that armor on yesterday. He throws the armor on and the text says, it covered him altogether. So now no part of him is exposed. Now he is clothed in a true cloak of invulnerability.

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whatever the special cloak of invulnerability is, it’s clear that we all need it if we’re to come off victorious against the awful dragon. The point I wanna draw out here is that, like we saw with Osiris and Horus, our hero Gilgamesh is wounded in his battle against the vile monster. Now let’s turn to Norris mythology.

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Norris mythology in the ferocious battle between our hero Sigurd and the terrible dragon Fafnir. Fafnir snorts out awful venomous fire and breath and when Sigurd thrusts his sword into the dragon Sigurd’s entire arm up to his shoulder is covered in the dragon’s venomous blood. Blood that was thought to be fatal on contact. Now Sigurd survives

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But readers are meant to see this as exposure to the wounds that can be caused by the dragon. In the Anglo-Saxon epic, Beowulf, Beowulf journeys to the depths of the sea. And he does this because that’s where the mother of the monster Grendel, whom Beowulf slayed earlier in the legend, lives. And note, you should be seeing some parallels here to the sea monster Tiamat in the Enuma Elish. And if you recall, Tiamat spawned

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a whole legion of monsters. And likewise here, Grendel is the malevolent spawn offspring of a sea monster. At any rate, Beowulf journeys to the bottom of the sea to find Grendel’s mother. And the text in the Prose Edda reads, and this begins with Beowulf’s point of view, quote, he was able to see the sea at its bottom, grisly and greedy, the grim one’s dominion.

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I think that’s interesting. Dominion here is always has references to reigning and kingship. So this sea monster is the king of the primordial waters of chaos. At this point, Grendel’s mother, the sea monster, sends a legion of sea creatures to attack Beowulf. And the text continues, quote, But many a mere beast tormented him swimming, flood beasts no few, with fierce biting tusks.

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did break through his Bernie, the brave one pursued they. So we see here that these vile sea creatures bite through Beowulf’s Bernie, and a Bernie is his armor. Earlier in the epic, we’re told that Beowulf’s Bernie, quote, did shine and sparkle, seemed over by the art of the artist who makes things. This is interesting. So there’s some artisan.

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that made this and the shining and the sparkling of it reflects this maker. Because it shines and sparkles, we know that Beowulf’s Bernie is some of that special armor that we’ve been talking about. The point here though is that Beowulf is wounded by these sea creatures. And although the sea creatures are able to temporarily wound Beowulf, even with his special armor on.

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We learn, as you’re gonna see in just a second, that the special armor actually protects Beowulf from the sea monster, Grendel’s mother, and her fatal blows. It actually will save Beowulf’s life. So after the sea creatures attack and wound Beowulf, Beowulf finds that he’s in some sort of underwater cavern where the sea monster, Grendel’s mother, dwells. The text describes this cavern as, quote,

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firelight flashing resplendent. Note here how we’re getting that same connection that we’ve seen before between the sea monster who lives at the bottom of the chaotic primordial waters and resplendent fire or glory which we argued is meant to remind the audience that this sea monster fell from the heights and was originally a beloved glorious son of the high god who used his moral agency in a way that led him there.

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So in this cavern, Beowulf and the sea monster engage in this really brutal battle and it’s Beowulf’s armor that saves him. Let’s read the text. It says, quote, he shrank not from battle, seized by the shoulder, the mother of Grendel, then mighty in struggle, swung he his enemy since his anger was kindled that she fell to the floor with furious grapple. She gave him her quiddle earlier thereafter.

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and stretched out to grab him, the strongest of warriors. Faint-muted stumbled till he fell in his traces, foot-going champion. Then she sat on the holgast and wielded her war knife wide-bladed flashing. So she’s got him. In the midst of the battle, Beowulf falls, which is symbolic, and the sea monster

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Grendel’s mother sits on Beowulf, binding him to the ground. And she draws up her war knife, wide in blade, and she flashes it in front of Beowulf, poising to slay him. It looks at this point like Beowulf is doomed to defeat. How can he possibly escape? Let’s keep reading. Quote, Then she sat on the holgast, which is Beowulf, which I mentioned, and wielded her war knife, wide bladed flashing. His…

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breast armor woven bowed over his shoulder. It guarded his life. The entrance defended.” Now the entrance is talking about here is the entrance of a blade. So this armor, this special armor protects him from the blade to enter him. Against sword point and edges, Ekthau’s son there had fatally journeyed, champion of Geetman,

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which is the sea monster, had the armor not given. Close woven corset, comfort and sucker. I love that Beowulf’s special armor saves him. And I also love how it says this armor gives him quote, comfort and sucker. And in the next couple of lines, we learn why this armor is so powerful. It reads quote, and had God most holy not awarded

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all-knowing Lord, easily did Heaven’s ruler, most righteous, arrange it with justice.” Sometimes the authors of these legends, they just can’t refrain from sharing with the audience the sacred recondite teachings these legends are meant to express. Here the author, who by the way is unknown, we don’t know who wrote Beowulf, we learn that the special armor Beowulf wears, which ensures Beowulf’s victory is a gift.

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from God. The text says God quote awarded the victory. This is the author revealing his or her hand. The author is letting us know that we aren’t talking about a physical battle here. We’re talking about a spiritual battle. A battle that rages in the heavens and on earth between all of us and the awful sea monster. Beowulf’s armor is spiritual armor. I don’t want to get too far off track here.

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Sometimes there’s just so many amazing things in these narratives that I want to tell you about that I find it difficult to stay on track. But for the purposes of this episode, I hope you’re seeing that in each of these narratives, the hero is wounded. Wounds that must be healed if the champion is to survive. If the kingdom is to be preserved, the earth is to flourish. In the Mesopotamian battle between the terrifying Ansoobird and the god Narnurta,

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We read how Ninurta prepares for battle by marshaling the winds, just like we always see. And it says, quote, the warrior marshaled the seven evil winds who dance in the dust the seven world winds. He mustered a battle array, made war with a terrifying formation. Even the gales were silent at his side, poised for conflict. On the mountainside, Ansu and Ninurta met.

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Note here, like we’ve seen in the other myths, that this battle takes place near a mountain, just outside where God or the gods dwell. And this hearkens back to the myth’s roots in the primordial Theomache, where the battle begins in the council of the gods, which was held in, quote, the Mount of El. Let’s continue. Anzu looked at him and shook with rage at him, bared his teeth like a lion in sudden rage,

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fury shouted to the warrior. So here we’re getting the shouting, the fury, and the rage like we always see with the sea monster. He is an absolutely furious, undisciplined creature who loves to live on in his own shouting. The rebel god screams at the god Nanurta. And this is what he screams. He says, I have taken away every single right and I am in charge of all the god’s orders.

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Who are you to come to do battle against me? This is really interesting because the rebel God tells Nenurta here that he took away all of the rights. Now, this is not R-I-G-H-T rights. This is R-I-T-E-S rights. So we’re talking about sacred religious rights here. And we’ll get into this much later in the podcast, but it’s important to point out here that the rebel God seems to believe here

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the religious rights he has effectively insured his rule. I mean he says as much. He says quote, I am in charge of all the God’s orders now that he’s ruined these rights. This tells us that whatever these rights were they seem to have been absolutely critical to the order of the heavens because by destroying the rights the rebel God seems to think that he’s insured his victory. Let’s continue quote.

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I have taken away every single right, and I am in charge of all the God’s orders. Who are you to come to do battle against me? Give your reasons.” Instantly his speech rushed out at him. The warrior Ninurta answered Anzu, I am the avenger of Duranki’s God. Okay, Duranki actually means where heaven and earth come together. So we’re talking about a temple here.

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And this gives us a clue that the rights that the rebel God claimed to have destroyed are temple rights, rights that are critical to the joining of heaven and earth. He says, I am the avenger of Duranki’s God who established Duranki, Ea, king of destinies. So, Ninurta is going to this battle so that he can avenge the God who built the temple, Duranki, the temple that joins heaven and earth.

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So let’s continue. Anzu listened to his speech, then hurled about furiously amid the mountains. It’s here that we see that the evil Anzu begins to inflict his wounds. But you should pay really close attention here that he’s not just inflicting wounds on Ninurta. He is inflicting wounds on the land, on the world itself. And this is what it says, quote.

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darkness fell over the mountain. Their faces were overcast. Shamash, the light of the gods, was overcast by darkness. A clash between battle arrays wore eminent. The flood weapon masked. The armor-plated breast was bathed in blood. Clouds of death rained down. An arrow flashed lightning. Whizzed, the battle force roared between them.

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The wounds here that are inflicted are darkness, clouds of death and blood. It’s at this point that Nunurta, the god Nunurta takes an arrow out of his quiver and he shoots it at Anzu. So let’s listen to what the text says happens. Ninhursag’s son, which is Nunurta, trusted of Anu, so Anu is the high god, and Dagon, who’s the god Enki.

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beloved of the far-sighted one. There’s beloved again. Beloved here is the far-sighted one is actually an epitaph for the high god Anu. So he’s beloved of the high god Anu. So there’s that reference again. Aimed the shaft at him, shaft being the arrow, at Ansu from the bow’s curve. Then listen to what happens. But it did not go near Ansu. The shaft turned back.

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So the arrow he shot turned around and came back towards him. The evil Anzu had repelled Ninurta’s arrow. He needed this with the tablet of destinies. If you remember, he stole the tablet of destinies, he stole the Enlil ship. So at this point in the story, it appears as though Anzu can’t be defeated. Darkness and death will reign. It’s here in the story that we see, like we’ve seen in the other stories, that God intervenes. In this case,

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the quote, far-sighted one, the high god Anu, tells Nenerta in the middle of this moment where he’s about to be defeated, not to give up. And he tells him that he needs to keep fighting. In fact, the high god Anu tells him exactly how to win the victory. The text reads, don’t let the battle slacken. Press home your victory.

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Tire him out so that he sheds his pinions in the clash of tempests. Take a throw stick to follow your arrows and cut off his pinions, detach both right and left and slit the throat of wicked Ansu.” That’s pretty fabulous stuff here. So we see the same thing. We see God come in this really critical moment and give him divine assistance, encouraging him to keep fighting.

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So I could give you many, many more examples of the wounded hero here. In fact, if you remember in Mezzo America, we talked about the demonic seven Makkah who ripped off the arm of the hero twin Hunapu during their battle. And there’s many, many more. As Forsyte points out in the old enemy, the wounding of the hero during the battle against the sea monster or the dragon or evil is quote, a principal plot construction.

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which Hollywood and television drama continue to exploit. So they put this in all their storylines and that’s because the wounding of the hero is what makes the plots compelling because ultimately these stories are about us, our battle with the dragon, our wounds and what we need to do to come off victors. In each of these accounts, the god, the king, the hero, the pauper, the scullery maid, or you and me don’t…

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escape the battle unscathed. We are all left wounded and many with serious wounds, life-altering wounds. Although these wounds could represent literal physical wounds, most of the time the wounds in these combat narratives are meant to be understood symbolically. They’re meant to be understood as spiritual wounds. So what are these spiritual wounds? What kind of spiritual wounds does the dragon inflict?

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For the answer to that, it’s best if we return to the source of all combat narratives, the great Primordial Theomache. The ancients tell us that in the Primordial Theomache, one of the high gods’ beloved sons rebelled against the high god’s power and authority. He rebelled against the established order of the heavens. He rebelled against the laws of heaven. Those laws that actually led to that order.

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What this means is that if God is order, then the rebel sun is chaos. If God is life, then the rebel sun is death. If God is just, then the rebel sun is unjust. If God is light, then the rebel sun is darkness. To rebel against God, which he did, is to rebel against everything that God is. So with this in mind, it appears that the wounds that the rebel God inflicts

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fit broadly into two categories, into cosmic wounds and spiritual wounds. And this is kind of an arbitrary designation, but I’m going to use it here just for simplicity of discussion. But I do think that they are likely one and the same thing in terms of their eternal implications. On a cosmic level, the ancients tell us that God operates according to laws. Laws…

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which the ancient Egyptians referred to as Maat, truth, justice, and righteousness. Laws which God is bound by if he wishes to bring about order in the universe. And if you recall in episode number 12, the word that changed the universe, and episode number 14, the terrifying second law of thermodynamics, we learned that God abides by these laws, and in so doing the very elements

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obey his commands. When God orders the elements to form into dry land, the elements form into dry land. And we see this in the Christian New Testament in Hebrews chapter one verse three where it says that God quote upholds and upholds here actually means to keep in its ordered state. So the verse says that God upholds

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all things by the word of his power. The very elements honor God’s commands because he lives by the statutes of Maat, truth, justice, and righteousness. What this means on a cosmic level is that God, due to his adherence to Maat, has the ability to bring order to the chaotic

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He has the power to command those elements to form a world. And that’s exactly what the word cosmic means. Cosmic comes from the word cosmos, which in Greek actually means to order or arrange. So God has the power to command the elements to order and arrange themselves in a world. And not just one world, He has the power to form innumerable worlds.

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which interestingly is also exactly what it says in the Christian book of Hebrews in the New Testament. In Hebrews chapter one, verse two, it says, and this is speaking of the high God’s beloved son, Jesus. It says that God, quote, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son, by whom also he made the worlds.

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And yes, it does say worlds, plural. On a cosmic level then, adherence to the laws of heaven empowers God to form worlds, to bring about light, life and fertility. Thus on a cosmic level, the dragon who rebelled against the laws of heaven can only bring about its cosmic opposite, chaos, disorder, darkness, sickness,

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death, destruction, and desolation. Those are the wounds that the dragon inflicts on the cosmos and on the earth itself. In a nutshell, the cosmic wounds he inflicts is the second law of thermodynamics, the inexorable cosmic trend towards decay, degradation, degeneration, corruption, disintegration, and death. Only God, because he complies with the laws of heaven, the strictures of moth,

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has the power to reverse it. Okay, there’s some really powerful stuff here. On a spiritual level, let’s switch to the spiritual level, adherence to the laws of heaven or Maat empowered God himself to become a powerful, glorious being of radiant light. Light which the ancient record tells us is brighter than the sun. It was by abiding by the laws of Maat that God became a being

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of love, generosity, justice, truth, unity, harmony, peace, and righteousness. Thus, on a spiritual level, the dragon, who rebelled against the laws of heaven, can only sow its spiritual opposite. Hate, greed, injustice, deceit, division, discord, betrayal, and unrighteousness. Those are the wounds the dragon inflicts.

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He desires nothing more than that we join him in his shouting, in his misery, in the chaotic outer realms of the universe, in those chaotic primordial waters. So he does everything in his power to tempt or persuade us to reject or violate the laws of heaven, just like he did. And when we do, when we hate or cheat or steal, when we’re envious or deceitful or we use other people, we break the laws of heaven.

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The wounds inflicted by the dragon are spiritual wounds. They are sins. These spiritual wounds are what keep us from returning to God’s presence, which is represented by the tree of life on the top of the mountain sanctuary. Every time we break God’s laws or the laws of heaven, the dragon gains greater and greater victory over us. This is why Marduk, Baal, Nanurta, Sigurd, and Beowulf needed

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And you and I need the special weapons and special armor that we see over and over and over again in the ancient record. From everything I’ve read in the ancient writings, the battle against the dragon cannot be won without these special aids. The dragon’s weapons are powerful. But in the Judeo-Christian biblical canon in the Book of Isaiah, we find this marvelous set of verses, which I can’t even believe is in there, in chapter 54, verses 16 and

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In there we read that God has a blacksmith who forges a weapon that he calls the, quote, waster. I love that, which is often translated as destroyer. It’s a weapon that’s stronger than any weapon wielded by the dragon. And these are the verses, quote, Behold, I have created the

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that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument, which is the weapon, for his work. And I have created the waster to destroy. No weapon that is formed against the shall prosper. This is the great heritage of the servants of the Lord.” Wow, that’s an amazing statement. But don’t miss the details here. This is a weapon that is the, quote,

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heritage of the quote, servants of the Lord. Servant here is actually a title, a title that we’ll definitely need to examine in greater detail in a future episode so that we know what we must do to qualify, to inherit this most essential of weapons. Don’t forget, only the rightful heir can pull that sword from the barn stoker tree. It’s pretty much says the same thing right here. Only the servants of the Lord can inherit this weapon, which means that we need to figure out

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what we need to do to obtain the divine weapon. Now that we know what kind of wounds the enemy causes, we’re much, much closer to figuring out not only what this special weapon is, but also what this weapon does. Because now we know that by necessity, this special weapon has to have the ability to either prevent the enemy from causing cosmic chaos amongst the elements, or the ability to reverse those cosmic wounds.

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when he does. We also know this special weapon by necessity must have the ability to either prevent the enemy from causing spiritual chaos in our lives or the ability to reverse those spiritual wounds when he does. In other words, this special weapon gives the one who holds it divine power to withstand the enemy’s temptations to break the laws of heaven. Whatever this special weapon is,

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Pose order, form worlds, reverse physical death, reverse pride, generate love, bring forth peace, heal sin and foster unity. This is powerful stuff, this is a powerful theology. This special weapon is indeed a spectacular gift. That wraps it up for me. We’ll pick it up here on our next episode.

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Until then, I’ll leave you with the words of William Shakespeare. Knowledge is the wing wherewith we fly to heaven. I’m Jack Logan.

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You’ve been listening to the Ancient Tradition. A Wonk Media Production.