When the two primeval waters, the salt and fresh water, entered into marriage, and brought into being the first of the gods, thus the Babylonian Creation Epic begins its strange and incredible tale with the words 'ENUMA ELISH' meaning 'WHEN THE HEAVENS ABOVE...' Plunge into a mystic realm of dragons ranging the depths of the primordial sea, when god declared war on god, and the winner emerged as the powerful ruler of all men and matter. With formidable powers the gods set into motion the universe, and made mankind to perform their work upon the earth, to shape the natural world and raise...

The Gilgamesh Cycle, or Epic of Gilgamesh, is a 5,000 year old human drama spanning the distance from a long-ago kingdom called Uruk to a bewildering mythological landscape. Its tragic hero is Gilgamesh, the king of Uruk, who upon his search for eternal youth takes on the role of Everyman. Facing a myriad of obstacles, he finds fortitude in the companionship of his dear friend and adoptive brother Enkidu, a once wild man of the countryside. Going together upon their perilous and iconic quest they face fathomless depths, incredible dreams, vile demons, and portending doom. Yet within the...

Here is presented for the first time the 'Accretion Theory' of Biblical textural study, a case of the 'Documentary Hypothesis' which stresses the distinction between the sources making up the Pentateuch, or five Books of Moses. The Accretion Theory pursues this approach further, from Genesis through Kings, while also distinguishing even more subtle sources and refinements, and developing a revised and surprising timeframe for text composition. Within it establishes the predominant distinction between the two most early sources does not arise from one being from the ancient Kingdom of Israel...

One of the best known stories out of myth is that of the Garden of Eden; with its players of God, Adam and Eve, the sly serpent, and the 'forbidden fruit'. Yet behind its captivating simplicity it holds a secret which is only to be uncovered through delving into the deep origins of human belief. These depths are explored for the first time in this revealing exposition of narrative progression which crosses paths of genre, subject, and discipline. Across continents and eons it collects the elements necessary to disclose the true nature of the garden story, while revealing a far more...

Out of the misty depths of the gloomy sea and the bubbling bog, step into the realm where ghouls and goblins dwell, the wellspring of fears that lie deep at the heart of folk tales and nightmares. Here is where the creatures of myth emerge from out of the darkness in a dialectic presentation of such vivid tales as the Epic of Gilgamesh from ancient Mesopotamia, the slaying of Medusa from Greek mythology, and the Anglo-Saxon heroic tale of Beowulf, intertwined within a developing narrative that sweeps across continents and cultures. From the advent of time and the origins of the gods to the...

If gods made the world then who made the gods? What spark brought about the creation of the cosmos? What must mankind do to assure the universe continues in its orderly motion? The mysterious forces which rule the mystical universe have been found through the uncovering of the curious connection of the heroes of the Trojan War with the patriarchs of the Holy Bible and the legendary hero-king of ancient Babylon. These dramatis personae emerge out of mythology as facets of a more complex and ancient conception: of the creation of the universe, of the measurement of time, and of a cosmic cycle...

The Mistress of Heaven, the goddess Ishtar, stands in a unique position of supremacy among the goddess figures of the world; and her descent into the underworld is her essential distinctive myth. The primacy of the goddess and her lover, Dumuzi, to the seasonal cycle, and the ritual marriage which was a ceremony of the union essential to civilized life, was not retained within the textual Judeo-Christian tradition. As a result this mythological cycle of the goddess restores the expressive sexual metaphor of agricultural fertility, which merges the domestic concerns of womanhood with the...