All about history book of myths and legends. ( PDFDrive )

INTRODUCTION

WHATEVER A MAN MAY

DO, HE IS BUT A REED IN

THE WIND. Mesopotamian proverb

the story of the great flood, a theme that occurs

in many mythologies all around the world. The

West Asian flood story concerns a patriarchal

figure called Utnapishtim who builds a boat to

escape a deluge unleashed by a wrathful god. It

is remarkably similar to the story of Noah and

the Ark in the Old Testament – Utnapishtim

even takes animals of each species into his “ark”

to ensure their survival. Such powerful stories,

most of them written in the Babylonian, or

Akkadian, language, are now as well known as

the ancient cultures that produced them. Iraq’s

archaeological sites have recently become highly

vulnerable to war damage, so these stories may

become the culture’s most enduring remains.

But the stories from great cities such as Ur,

Uruk, Ashur, and Babylon are not the only

mythical traditions of West and Central Asia.

At opposite ends of this extensive region, the

Hittites of ancient Turkey and the peoples of

the Arabian Peninsula added their own rich

stores of myths. So too did the ancient

Persians, whose prophet Zoroaster described a

vision of the cosmos dominated by a constant

struggle between the Wise Lord, Ahura Mazda,

and his wicked opponent, Ahriman. When the

Mongols travelled west from their homelands,

they, too, brought with them yet more tales of

great heroism and extraordinary adventure.

This rich mix of cultures and their deities,

from the weather gods of the Hittites to the

Wise Lord of the Persians, makes the region

of West and Central Asia one of the most

mythologically fascinating of all. There is so

much variety in these very diferent ancient

mythologies that there is always something

new and exciting for the reader to discover.

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