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There is an interesting passage in Ephrem Syrus’ Hymns against Heresies 55, where he describes the mythological views of Bardesanes, the second century heretic of Edessa (154-222 CE), who founded the school of Bardesanites. In 55.7 he says that Bardesanes ignores the law of Moses when he writes: “the top of the building (rēšā d-benyānā), whose gates open to the Mother at command” and adds as his comment: “In a shameful place he situated paradise”. H. Drijvers was puzzled by the expression rēšā d-benyānā and translated it as ‘palace’, commenting: “One might also think of the summit of the building, but what that would mean is not clear either” (1966: 147). The “top of the building” here quite certainly refers to what is the mythological equivalent to the top of the ziggurat. The entry of the Mother into paradise is hinted at here, and “its gates” open to her at command. The backgound picture may be of a Mesopotamian goddess ascending through the gates of the ziggurat to its top, “the paradise”, as described in the myth of Ištar’s descent to the netherworld. The shamefulness of Bardesanes’ paradise picture is that there takes place a sexual union between the Father and the Mother, in Ephrem’s words (55.8): “He also hated the blessed paradise of the Holy One and believed in another paradise of shame, (saying:) ‘Gods measured it and laid it out, that is the Father with the Mother, by their sexual union they founded it, they planted it with their descendants (durkātā).’” E. Beck notes in his philological commentary, that durkātā in Syriac “zunächst ‘Schritte’ bedeutet” (1957: 189). The Syriac word probably derives from Akkadian darkātu, ‘successors’, or otherwise it can be taken as a reference to the ‘steps’ or storeys of a ziggurat. The whole context can also be taken as a hint that the offspring of Mother and Father were each associated with the storeys of the building.
According to Babylonian metrological texts (see George 1992: 117, 430-433), the famous ziggurat of Marduk’s temple in Babylon, E-temen-anki, consisted of seven storeys, perhaps with an eighth roof-top structure above it, as the place for the divine bed-chamber (Babylonian kissu elû). According to Herodotus, only the god-chosen women could spend the night there with the deity (1.181). The “sexual union” between Father and Mother on the “top of the building” comes as a late confirmation of the data supplied by Herodotus. It is even strange that cuneiform sources do not inform us at all of any ‘sacred marriage’ rite on the top of the ziggurat, apart from the bed-chamber terminology associated with the rooms at the top of it (see George 1992: 432-433).
The following strophe in Ephrem’s account (55.10) finally tells who the Father and the Mother were according to Bardesanes, viz. Sun and Moon: “He considered Sun and Moon; with the Sun he compared the Father, with the Moon he compared the Mother, male and female gods and their children” (Drijvers 1966: 147-148). From the Gudea Cylinders we know that the two last stages of the temple tower of E-ninnu were exactly associated with the sun and moon (A 21.9-12): “He marked out a sixth square on the site of the temple, (saying,) ‘It is the day of supply, full of luxuriance’. He marked out a seventh square on the site of the temple, (saying,) ‘It is the E-ninnu bathing the Land with moonlight at dawn.’”
Thus we find the association of the sun and moon with the top of the temple tower both in Gudea Cylinders and in Bardesanes’ mythological views, which are separated in time by about 2300 years. Bardesanes also knew of a “sexual union” on the top of the ziggurat, but no humans were involved among the participants of this sacred marriage rite, in contrast to what Herodotus tells. There is additional information concerning the relationship between the Mother and Father in the biography of Bardesanes, as transmitted by Agapius of Mabbug and Bar Hebraeus. They write that “according to Bardesanes the Mother of Life every month discards her clothing and goes in to the Father of Life, who has communion with her. She then bears seven sons. All the authors state that this happens by analogy with the moon, who every month ‘discards’ her light and goes to the sun. The idea is, therefore, that the moon is impregnated by the sun. Bar Hebraeus in the Chronicon ecclesiasticum goes even further, and says that the Moon is the Mother of Life and the Sun the Father of Life. The Moon receives from the Sun the ‘spirit of preservation’, which she sends into the world” (Drijvers 1966: 149).
The moon discarding her clothing and going to the sun can be seen as a development of ancient Mesopotamian ideas. The loss of purity of the waning moon symbolized the gradual defilement, and descent of the Mesopotamian goddess to the netherworld, and its total disappearance symbolized corruption, or spiritual death. The waxing of the moon symbolized increasing purity, and after the disappearance, ascent and return to the original state (Parpola 1997: xc-xci n. 111). When the moon is found shedding her light during her ascent to the “top of the building” in Bardesanes’ view, this can be seen as a development of ancient Mesopotamian ideas.
Sources (list of abbreviations) (source links will open in a new browser window)
Ephrem Syrus, Hymns against Heresies 55.7-10
Gudea Cylinder A 21.9-12
Herodotus 1.181
Bibliography
| Beck 1957 | Beck, Edmund. Des Heiligen Ephraem des Syrers Hymnen contra Haereses. Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium 170. Leuven: Durbecq 1957. |
| Drijvers 1966, 147-149 | Drijvers, Han J. W. Bardaisan of Edessa. Studia Semitica Neerlandica 6. Assen: Van Gorcum 1966. |
| George 1992, 117, 430-433 | George, Andrew R. Babylonian Topographical Texts. Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 40. Leuven: Peeters 1992. |
| Parpola 1997, xc-xci n. 111 | Parpola, Simo. Assyrian Prophecies. State Archive of Assyria 9. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press 1997. |
Amar Annus
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