Project Details
Projekt
Divinities and domains of the netherworld. Reconstruction, stratification and comparative analyses of mythical Stoffe from ancient Mesopotamia
Applicant
Professorin Dr. Annette Zgoll
Subject Area
Egyptology and Ancient Near Eastern Studies
Term
from 2015 to 2024
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 235014259
Mesopotamian myths about transitions from the sphere of the living into the underworld are providing scholars with complex challenges, as we have seen in phase 1 of the RU 2064. By utilizing the theoretical framework and the methodology of the RU, we have been able to reconstruct mythical Stoffe as a conglomerate of interwoven strata in the epic poem angalta and other sources. Working on some of the earliest mythical sources, project AM was able to demonstrate feasability of the method in its entirety.In terms of content we have found that the Mesopotamian tradition, although dominated by sinister descriptions of the underworld, also presents other perspectives: the reconstructed mythical Stoffe contain traces of underworld divinities and domains that appear in a positive light, e.g. an area inside the underworld where the dead are provided with food and drink, or numinous instruments of power that are retrieved from the underworld and brought into the world of the living.In phase 2, AM will continue to pursue these traces in the context of myths about powerful entities and their dominions in the underworld. These are myths involving the queen of the underworld Ereš-ki-gal, subordinate entities such as demons, guardians, and the ferryman, and the border regions they inhabit between the spheres of the living and the dead (gateways, rivers). The concrete aims are:- philological (re-)examination of the sources according to the current state of research, i.e. new editions of central texts,- mythological examination of the sources using the methodology of mythological research as the study of Stoffe (hyleme analysis, hylistics) developed by the RU, in order to reconstruct the relevant myths (e.g. their variants), and - by analyzing the mythical strata - to gain advanced historical insights into myths that were transmitted over centuries, about the entities of the underworld and the spaces they inhabit, - by a comparative evaluation of myths about powerful entities and their domains, both within the same culture and trans-culturally across different ancient cultures (involving GR, KA, KM), with methodological support from the projects DH and KM, to throw into relief, and contrast, the specific needs addressed in the Mesopotamian myths and in the mythical figures associated with the underworld in their respective historical contexts and interpretive horizons, and to analyze them for possible typological or genetic relationships, - through transmedial comparisons, together with the other participating and associated projects, to identify specific differences of mythical Stoffe in textual, visual, and performative manifestations.Through the reconstruction of myths, their stratification, and transmedial comparative studies, AM will, within the collaborative RU 2064 STRATA framework, play its part in the concluding synthesis to establish a transmedial, comparative study of myths based on the analysis of mythical Stoffe and their stratifications.
DFG Programme
Research Units
