03 July 2011, Rome
Professor Vladimir Emelianov
St.-Petersburg State University, Faculty of Oriental Studies, Department of Ancient Near East
CONSTRUCTION OF THE WORLD PICTURE
IN THE CULTURE OF ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA

Lecture 1 - Sacred Space as Model and System

What is the Universe and its Genesis in Sumerian Sources? Parts of the Sacred Space: Vertical and Horizontal Images of the World. On the Problem of Eden in Cuneiform Sources: Where is it and what is it? Babylonian Map of World and the World Picture of the II millennium B.C.

Lecture 2 - Sacred Time of the Cultic Calendar as Model and System

The Idea of Eternal Return in Sumerian and Akkadian Sources. Mythology of seasons and months in the Nippur Calendar. The Nippur Calendar and the Early History of Zodiac: transformation of month rituals to the names of zodiacal signs. Hermeneutics of Calendar and Zodiac according to Mesopotamian Explanatory Texts. Before Theology and Physics: Space-and-Time (Chronotopos) of the Ancient Mesopotamian Culture as the Symbolic System. The World Picture and the System of Values in Early Antiquity.