Sun, you see all … (1)

Text
Both in Mesopotamian and Greek sources the Sun-god is thought to see everything. In the Iliad the Sun-god is addressed as ‘thou that overseest all things’ (1.277, also Od. 12.323). The Babylonian Šamaš has the same title, ‘surveyor of everything whatever’ (OECT 6.82 bār kal mimma šumšu). Of Marduk it is said that ‘like Šamaš he surveys the lands’. In Erra Epic 1.116, Erra claims ‘like Šamaš I survey the circle of everything’. In both Akkadian and Greek (and Latin) we find the expression ‘show (something) to the sun’, meaning to expose it in the open: Gilgameš Epic (SBV) 8.204, Hesiod, Works and Days 612.

Sources (list of abbreviations) (source links will open in a new browser window)
Erra Epic 1.116
Gilgameš Epic (SBV) 8.204
Hesiod, Works and Days 612
Homer, Iliad 1.277
Homer, Odyssey 12.323
Oxford Editions of Cuneiform Texts 6.82

Bibliography

Amar Annus

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