The rapid increase in the number various languages, the Bible also provides the only satisfactory explanation. If all humans descended from the same ancestors, as most evolutionary anthropologists today believe, they must have all originally spoken the same language. As long as they lived together and continued to communicate with each other, the emergence of clear differences in language was impossible. Therefore, if anthropologists insist on an evolutionary explanation for differences in languages, then they must also assume the existence of extremely long periods of isolation and inbreeding of various tribes, almost as long as the history of mankind itself. This in turn means that each of the major language groups must correspond to one of the major racial groups. Therefore, each "race" must have a long evolutionary history, and it is natural to assume that some races have evolved into more, than others. Such a natural combination of racism with evolutionary philosophy is very revealing, it has become a pseudoscientific basis a wide range racist political and religious philosophies, which during years brought incalculable harm and suffering to people.

On the other hand, it seems obvious that all peoples, tribes and languages, no matter how different they may be, do indeed have common roots in the not so distant past. Representatives of different nations can enter into mixed marriages, have equal mental faculties and the same ability to learn. Even Australian Aborigines are quite capable of getting doctoral degree and some of them actually got it. And although languages ​​​​are very different from each other, they can all be classified according to linguistic categories and they can be learned by a person who speaks another language - which testifies in favor of one common source. In fact, there is only one genus people, namely the human race! And only one race - race of people.

The origin of various languages ​​cannot be explained in terms of evolution, although the existence different dialects and similar languages within the main groups, of course, due to the gradual development of the general source language. But the main groups are so different from each other that this difference cannot be explained by any naturalistic scheme.

Only the Bible provides a complete explanation. Initially, after the great flood, “the whole earth had one language and one speech” (Gen. 11:1). But when the people rebelled against God, refused to be scattered throughout the world, as He commanded, and gathered in the vicinity of Babylon, "the Lord confounded the language of all the earth, and from there the Lord scattered them over all the earth" (Gen. 11:9).

If we take into account that seventy families are mentioned in the descendants of the sons of Noah from Genesis 10, then this "scattering" supposedly began with seventy original groups that laid the foundation for different nations and languages. In total there were about a thousand people, divided into three large generic groups:

sons of Japheth, sons of Ham, and sons of Shem. “These are the families of the sons of Noah, according to their genealogy, among their nations. From them the nations spread over the earth after the flood” (Genesis 10:32).

It is not impossible that the people of Babylon resisted the Lord and wanted to build a tower with their own hands to reach heaven, as follows from Genesis 11:4 in the King James Version. The word "achieve" is not in the original; the original meaning of the passage obviously implies the erection of a huge tower to worship the "host of heaven" - a kind of temple that would unite all mankind in the worship and service of the creature, and not the Creator (Rom. 1:25). The most effective way to prevent sacrilege and get people to fulfill the command of God to spread across the Earth was the mixing of languages.

Since people now could not communicate with each other, it was difficult for them to work together. The primitive confusion of languages ​​emphasizes a fact that is not realized modern people: the true difference between them is not racial, not physical, and not geographical, but linguistic. When people stopped understanding each other, they had no other choice but to split up.

If anyone is inclined to question such a reason for the deep differences between languages, let him offer a naturalistic version that would explain all the facts better. So far, no one has succeeded. Obviously, a miracle is involved here, for the seriousness of the attacks forced God to intervene in a special way.

Although the main language groups so different from each other that it is difficult to imagine how they were formed from one original language group (unless we assume - we talked about this above - that they went through a very a long period the fact that all languages ​​can be classified on the basis of linguistic theory, and that a person can learn foreign languages, suggests their origin from the same source. One of the world's leading linguists, Noam Chomsky, is convinced that languages, even if they differ greatly in appearance, show a deep commonality associated with the fundamental Uniqueness of the person himself.

Dr. Günther Stent, Professor of Molecular Biology at University of California(Berkeley) summarizes Chomsky's views in this way:

Chomsky believes that the grammar of a language is a system of transformational rules that establishes the relationship between sound and meaning. The weight includes syntactic, semantic and phonological components. The Surface Structure contains information related to the phonological component, while the Deep Structure contains information related to the semantic component, and the Syntactic component establishes the relationship between the Surface and Deep Structures. Consequently, only the phonological component has undergone significant differentiation in the course of human history, or, according to at least since the construction of the Tower of Babel.

Of course, for Stent, as for Chomsky, the Tower of Babel is nothing more than a figure of speech, but it is appropriate precisely because the miraculous mixture of languages ​​in Babylon does indeed provide the only meaningful explanation for the phenomenon of human languages.

Thus, the "phonological component" of speech (or its external form) is a set of sounds that convey certain meaning and by which people of the same tribe can communicate with each other. Each tribe has its own unique phonology, so one group cannot understand the other. However, at the semantic level, in the deep structure, in " universal grammar» ( inner man!) the thoughts of both groups, which find expression in words, are essentially the same. It is the phonological levels, or external forms languages ​​were supernaturally disunited in Babylon, so that although ordinary logic and awareness of reality remained the same for everyone, people could no longer work together and eventually dispersed simply because they no longer understood each other.

It is important that legends similar stories about the Babylonian pandemonium exist among various ancient peoples and even among primitive tribes. Although they are not as common as the legends of the great flood, many peoples still retained the memory of the times when all people spoke the same way, until the angry gods confused their languages.

Thus, there is every reason to consider the biblical story of the confusion of languages ​​in Babylon as a reliable description of how large language groups appeared in the world. Evolutionists certainly don't have a better answer, and modern scientists dismiss this version just because it was a miracle. However, to say that this could not be done is not only to deny the omnipotence of God, but also to assert that scientists know much more about the nature of language than they really know.

No one has yet fully understood how the brain works and how it controls human speech. Therefore, no one understands what physiological changes in the brain and central nervous system were necessary to force various groups people to connect with certain concepts various sounds. Perhaps future research will shed light on the this problem, but no explanation yet better than that, which God gave, saying: "Let us confuse their language there, so that one does not understand the speech of the other" (Gen. 11:7).

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Language contacts are not limited to the processes of integration and differentiation. Representing a complex non-simultaneous phenomenon, they can take on different forms.

Intensive and long-term contacts of peoples often lead to bilingualism (or bilingualism Y ‘double, double’, lingua'language'). It has been found that about half of the total population the globe is either bilingual or multilingual, and in many countries of the world bilingualism is the norm (compare, for example, the situation in Russia, on the territory of which, along with Russian, there are such languages ​​as Tatar, Bashkir, Yakut, Buryat, Ossetian and many others , in connection with which the population of the respective republics speaks several languages; or in India, in West Africa and New Guinea, where residents generally speak the local, regional and colonial languages).

Bilingualism, therefore, is the functioning of two languages ​​within the same society, whose members in Everyday life they constantly use both languages: at home, for example, they can speak one language, but at work or in a store they can easily switch to another. Many educated Africans living in cities speak English at home. local language, and on public service use French or English.

The coexistence of languages ​​within the same society (state) often leads to the fact that languages ​​begin to differentiate functionally, as a result of which there is a functional inequality of languages ​​when one of them is used only in one area of ​​communication, where the second language, as a rule, is not allowed. . This is how the phenomenon of functional diglossia arises (di ‘two’, glossa‘language’, i.e. literally "bilingual"). Diglossia is characterized by a whole set of features: 1) the functional distribution of languages ​​leads to the fact that one of them is used in "high" spheres and situations of communication (for example, in church, science, education), while the other - in everyday communication or in some, strictly defined genres of writing (for example, in contracts, office work, advertising, etc.); 2) in linguistic consciousness society, the language used in high spheres has a special prestige; 3) this language is a supra-ethnic language, i.e. it is not the native (mother) language of any ethnic group population; 4) mastery of this language is possible only in the process special education, because naturally(i.e. in family and everyday communication) it is not transmitted. An example of such a functional diglossia is the situation in Muscovite Russia before the Petrine reforms, when two related languages- Old Russian and Church Slavonic were in a relationship of functional distribution: the “correct”, normalized language of the Russian Middle Ages was Church Slavonic (they spoke with God in this language, liturgical books were translated into it from Greek), while in everyday life and in office work (for example, when inventorying property or making court decisions) Old Russian was used.

Language contacts often lead to the formation of so-called contact languages, which are auxiliary mixed languages ​​with an extremely poor vocabulary and minimal, unsettled grammar. Contact language is the result failed attempt learn the language of a neighbor, partner, but communication, i.e. it is a language of interethnic communication, hybrid in origin (since phonetics and most of the vocabulary go back to one of the contacting languages), limited in function (used most often as a language of trade in ports or markets). Among such intermediary languages, lingua franca and pidgins are distinguished.

Lingua franca (lingua franca ‘Frankish language’) is a trading language that developed in the Middle Ages in the Eastern Mediterranean based on French and Italian vocabulary and was used as a means of communication between Arab and Turkish merchants and Europeans. In modern sociolinguistics, this term has expanded its meaning and has come to mean any contact language in interethnic communication (for example, a simplified version of Swahili in East and Central Africa).

Pidgin (business ‘business’) is spoken language trade and business contacts, which is based on a mixture of elements of one of European languages(English, Dutch, Spanish, French, etc.) with elements of the native language. This language, as a rule, has a European vocabulary, and phonetics, word formation and grammar are native. The functional use of this language is limited only to business interethnic communication (an example of such a language is sea ​​pidgin beachlamar on the English based: it was used on the islands of Oceania in the places of whaling camps and on the ships themselves, since the crews were recruited from oceanic sailors; another example - trade pidgin- language russenorsk established in the 19th century. and used by Norwegian fishermen and Russian merchants in the border regions: it has only 300 words and a rather simple grammar).

Sometimes these pidgin languages ​​can expand their communicative functions and be used not only as a means of communication between natives and Europeans, but also as a means of communication between local ethnic groups in interethnic contacts.

This is how the Creole language arises, which gradually becomes the mother tongue of a certain ethnic community. In this language, the vocabulary is expanding, the phonetic and grammatical structure is becoming more complicated, i.e. a pidgin language tends to become a natural language. Creole languages ​​are an example of such a language. French based about. Haiti and about. Martinique, which became native to the vast majority of the population, as well as the Creole language that arose on the basis of English talk-pisin, one of national languages Papua New Guinea being the means social communication between people who speak different languages, especially in cities; This is the main working language in Parliament and in public institutions, the language of the press, radio, television, and in recent times and schools traditionally taught in English.

Creole languages ​​are an example of a true "mixed" language with its own substratum and superstratum elements. The study of them by scientists makes it possible to trace the formation and development of the grammatical system of the language, for all of them reveal an amazing structural similarity.

Phraseologism "Mixing languages" meaning

This expression is familiar to us from the biblical event, the so-called "". In ancient Babylon, people decided to build a tower, as high as the sky. However, God was angry with the people, and in order to prevent their proud plans, he mixed up all languages. People who previously spoke the same language suddenly began to speak many and ceased to understand each other.
The explanation for this legend is quite simple. ancient babylon stood at the crossroads trade routes and roads, therefore, there has always been a multilingual population. In those days, people did not understand why everyone does not speak the same way, but each in his own dialect. Many versions were invented, sometimes quite witty. The tale of the "Babylonian pandemonium" fit perfectly.

Curiously, even the name of the city of Babylon, according to some Hebrew books, means "mixing." However, this is an erroneous opinion, since the word "Babylon" ("Babilon" among the inhabitants of the city) comes from the word "Bab Ilu" from the ancient Akkadian, which means "Gate of God". For comparison: on Arabic: "Bab-el-Mandeb", which means "gate of tears", in Hebrew: Gabriel - "God's man", Michael - "like God", Raphael - "God's help". Legends, in order to look true, can very cleverly twist everything in their own way!

Today the expression confusion of languages" is used when it comes to confusion, confusion, a motley crowd in which nothing can be made out. “Since yesterday, there has been a complete mixture of languages ​​​​in the house - daughter graduation class finished!”

Confusion of languages

Dictionary of sociolinguistic terms. - M.: Russian Academy of Sciences. Institute of Linguistics. Russian Academy of Linguistic Sciences. Responsible editor: doctor philological sciences V.Yu. Mikhalchenko. 2006 .

See what "Mixing languages" is in other dictionaries:

confusion of languages- (Babylonian) foreign language: stupid, noisy conversation (so that one does not understand the other) Cf. The touch struck a second time... Karachaev clapped his hands even more furiously and stamped his feet. A perfect mixture of languages ​​reigned in the hall. Grigorovich. Countryside… …

Confusion of languages- A mixture of languages ​​​​(Babylonian) foreign language. stupid, noisy conversation (so that one does not understand the other). Wed The ink boomed a second time... Karachaev clapped his hands even more furiously and stamped his feet. A complete confusion reigned in the hall ... ...

mixing French with Nizhny Novgorod- (inosk.) distorted French French Russians Cf. At large congresses, on parish holidays, Is there still a mixture of French and Nizhny Novgorod languages? Griboyedov. Woe from the mind. 1, 7. Chatsky. Wed We have anyone who can only ... Michelson's Big Explanatory Phraseological Dictionary

Mixing French with Nizhny Novgorod- A mixture of French languages ​​with Nizhny Novgorod (foreigner) distorted French language of French Russians. Wed At large congresses, on parish holidays, Is there still a mixture of French and Nizhny Novgorod languages? Griboidov. ... ... Michelson's Big Explanatory Phraseological Dictionary (original spelling)

Mixing [languages] French with Nizhny Novgorod- Razg. Shuttle. Oh confused bad speech. /i>

Babylonian confusion of languages.- (nonsense, where they do not understand each other). See TALK BITCH... IN AND. Dal. Proverbs of the Russian people

Babylonian confusion of languages- noun, number of synonyms: 2 stupid (181) Babel(16) ASIS Synonym Dictionary. V.N. Trishin ... Synonym dictionary

MIXING- MIXING, mixing, pl. no, cf. (book). 1. Action according to Ch. mix in all values ​​except 4. Mix colors. Allow confusion. 2. Action and status according to Ch. mix in 1 and 2 digits. A mixture of languages. Confusion of concepts. 3. That ... ... Dictionary Ushakov

MIXING- [languages] French with Nizhny Novgorod. Razg. Shuttle. About confused, incorrect speech. /i> Quote from A. S. Griboyedov’s comedy “Woe from Wit” (1822–1824). BMS 1998, 534 ... Big Dictionary Russian sayings

1. Unmotivated bilingual transition in progress speech communication from one language to another, and the border of codes can even pass within a closely related phrase: Well, then, the troika harnesses it (a mixture of Russian and gypsy languages: ... ... Dictionary of sociolinguistic terms

Books

• The measure is not of all things. The polylinguistic project of the collection "The Measure of Not All Things" undoubtedly grew out of the creative workshops of the artists Vik, V. Trofimov, A. Lotsman, S. Sergeev (in the early 90s they created a group ...

CHAPTER 6 GATES OF HEAVEN

The Sumerians left mankind a long list of "inventions" without which modern civilization. In addition to those already listed, it is necessary to mention one more "invention" that has come down to us. Like everyone else, it was given to the Sumerians by the Anunnaki. The Sumerian King List says: "After the flood washed away (the country) and the kingdom was sent down from heaven (for the second time), Kish became the seat of the throne." Apparently, therefore - that is, because the kingdom is "sent down from heaven" - the kings claimed to be ascended to heaven through the Heavenly Gates. Numerous stories about attempts to meet the gods, about passionate desires and failures are devoted to this. And in the vast majority of these stories, dreams played a key role.

Mesopotamian texts relate that Enlil, faced with the reality of a devastated planet, came to terms with the fact that mankind had been saved and blessed those who managed to survive. Realizing that now the Anunnaki would not be able to exist on Earth without the help of people, Enlil, together with Enki, began to help humanity move along the path of civilization from the Paleolithic (early stone Age) to the Mesolithic and Neolithic (Middle and New Stone Age), and then to the sudden emergence of the Sumerian civilization. These stages - separated from each other by intervals of 3600 years - are characterized by the domestication of animals and the cultivation of plants, the transition from stone tools to ceramics and bronze, and then the emergence of a full-fledged civilization.

The Mesopotamian texts explicitly state that the kingdom, as one aspect of a highly developed civilization with complex hierarchical relationships, was created by the Anunnaki in order to separate themselves from the ever-increasing mass of people. Even before the Flood, Enlil complained: "The hubbub of them disturbs me, it is impossible to sleep in such a hubbub." Now the gods took refuge in sanctuaries, step pyramids (ziggurats), which were called “E” (literally: house, abode) of the god, and only a select few of the mortals were allowed to approach them: they could hear the speech of the deity and convey the divine message to other people. If Enlil becomes angry with mankind again, then he has every right to change the king; in Sumerian the word "kingdom" was pronounced as "power of Enlil".

From ancient texts, we learn that the decision to grant the kingdom to people was taken by the Anunnaki after serious unrest and bloody internecine wars. In The Wars of Gods and Men, we called them the Pyramid Wars. These fierce conflicts ended with a peace agreement, according to which the Earth was divided into four regions. Three of them were given to mankind and became the cradle of three great civilizations: the Tigris and Euphrates region (Mesopotamia), the Nile Valley (Egypt, Nubia) and the Indus Valley. The fourth region, or no man's land, was TILMUN ("Land of Rockets") in the Sinai Peninsula, where the spaceport built after the Great Flood was located. So,

The great Anunnaki, who determine the fate, having gathered a council, they divided the earth into four sides.

In those days, the lands were divided between the clans of Enlil and Enki. One of the texts says that before the tiara, or royal crown, was set on the head of a mortal, and a scepter was put into his hands, these symbols of royal power - as well as the shepherd's staff, a symbol of virtue and justice - lay at the feet of Anu.

However, after the gods decided to divide the Earth into four regions, as well as to grant civilization and a kingdom to people, "the scepter of the kingdom was lowered from heaven." Enlil instructed the goddess Ishtar (his granddaughter) to find a suitable candidate for the first throne in the "city of people" - Sumerian city Kish. bible text confirms that Enlil relented and blessed the remnants of mankind: "And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them: be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth." Then, in the so-called "List of Nations" (Chapter 10 of the Book of Genesis), the tribes and peoples that are the descendants of the three sons of Noah are listed: Shem, Ham and Japheth - the three main groups to which we today rank the Semitic peoples of the Middle East, the Hamitic peoples of Africa, and also Indo-Europeans who settled in Europe and India. Among this list, lines about the origin of the “kingdom” suddenly appear and the name of the first king, Nimrod, is given:

Cush also begat Nimrod:

this one began to be strong on the earth.

He was a mighty hunter before the Lord;

therefore it is said: a strong trapper,

like Nimrod before the Lord.

His kingdom was originally composed of:

Babylon, Erech, Akkad and Halneh, in the land of Shinar.

Out of this land came Assur.

And he built Nineveh, Rehobothir, Kalah.

And Resen between Nineveh and between Kalah;

this is a great city.

This is accurate though Short story kingdoms of Mesopotamia. Here, in compressed form information from the Sumerian King List is presented: the kingdom began in Kish (biblical Kush), then moved to Uruk (biblical Erech), after some time to Akkad, then to Babylon and, finally, to Assyria (Asur). All these kingdoms are the heirs of Sumer (the land of Shinar). The fact that the first kingdom appeared on the territory of Sumer is confirmed by the words that Nimrod was "strong on earth." it literal translation Sumerian term LU.GAL - "great / strong man».

Researchers have repeatedly tried to identify the name "Nimrod". According to Sumerian myths, Ninurta, the eldest son of Enlil, was entrusted with establishing the kingdom in Kish, and therefore it was suggested that "Nimrod" was Ninurta. If this is the name of a person, then it is not possible to recognize him - in this place the clay tablet is badly damaged. According to the Sumerian King List, the first dynasty of Kish ruled "24,510 years 3 months and 3.5 days", and individual rulers were in power for 1200, 900, 960, 1500, 1560 years. Given the confusion in the digits "1" and "60", which arose as a result of numerous copies, we get more plausible periods of reign - 20.15 and so on years. In total, the dynasty ruled for a little over four hundred years, which is confirmed by archaeological data obtained during the excavations of Kish.

royal list deviates from a simple listing of names and years of reign only once, when the thirteenth king is mentioned. The following is said about him:

Etana, the shepherd who ascended to heaven, who established all countries, reigned 1560 years as king.

There is a long epic poem titled Etana's Flight, which describes this ruler's encounters with the gods and his attempts to reach the Gates of Heaven. Full text the poem could not be found, but scientists have restored it from the surviving Old Babylonian, Middle Assyrian and Neo-Assyrian fragments. There is no doubt that they are all based on an older Sumerian version - in one of the editions, a sage who lived at the court of the Sumerian king Shulgi (XXI century BC) is mentioned as a compiler.

It turned out to be a difficult task to restore the text of the poem from scattered fragments, because two plots were closely intertwined in it. One of them told about the king Etan, beloved by the people, the great statesman(he "approved all the countries"), who did not have a son and heir due to the barrenness of his wife. Only the "grass of birth" could help the royal couple, which could only be obtained in heaven. The poem tells of Etana's dramatic attempts to reach the Gates of Heaven by riding an eagle (illustrations for this part of the story can be found on cylinder seals dating from the 24th century BC - fig. 30). Another storyline tells about the eagle - about his friendship and subsequent quarrel with a snake, as a result of which the bird ended up in a pit, from which Etana rescued it. The eagle and the Sumerian king made a mutually beneficial agreement: Etana frees the eagle and heals its wings, and the eagle lifts Etana into the sky.

In several Sumerian texts, historical data are reported in the form of allegorical stories (some of which we have already mentioned above), and scholars cannot say exactly where the allegory of the eagle and snake ends and the historical chronicle begins. The fact that in both storylines it was Utu / Shamash, the head of the Anunnaki spaceport, who was the deity who determined the fate of the eagle and organized the meeting of Etana with the eagle, suggests a connection with the real space travel. Moreover, in the part that scholars call the "historical introduction" to both episodes, the era when these events took place is described. It was a time of violent conflict and armed clashes when IGI.GI ("those who watch and see") - a detachment of astronauts who remained in Earth orbit and served space shuttles (unlike the Anunnaki who landed on Earth) - "locked gates" and "patrolled the city", protecting it from enemies, which could not be identified due to damage to the clay tablets. All this looks like a statement of facts, a description of real events.

Unusual fact the presence of the Igigi in the Earth settlement, the fact that Utu/Shamash was the head of the spaceport (located in the fourth region of the Earth), as well as the identification of Etana's manned ship with the "eagle" - all this indicates that the conflict reflected in the legend of Etana related to space flight. Maybe it was an attempt to build another space center who did not obey Shamash? Maybe the "eagle man" who undertook this failed attempt, or even the whole spaceship rebels was imprisoned in a "pit" - an "underground missile silo?" "pit" in ancient times meant a rocket in an underground mine.

If we take the Bible as an abbreviated but chronologically correct version of the older Sumerian texts, then we learn that after the Great Flood, people began to multiply rapidly, and the valley between the Tigris and Euphrates gradually dried up and became habitable. “Coming from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, Let us make bricks and burn them with fire. And they became bricks instead of stones, and earthen tar instead of lime.

This is an accurate, albeit concise, description of the origin of the Sumerian civilization, as well as some of its "inventions" - the first bricks, the first kilns, the first cities. Following this, people set out to build "a city and a tower as high as the heavens."

Today we call such a structure a "launch facility" and its "top" capable of reaching the heavens is a space rocket.

The biblical narrative brings us to the legend of the Tower of Babel - illegal construction space object. "And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men were building."

The Lord did not like what he saw on Earth, and he turned to unnamed colleagues: "... let's go down and mix their language there, so that one does not understand the speech of the Other." This is how it all ended. “And the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth; and they stopped building the city.”

The Bible says that the attempt to reach heaven was made in Babylon and that the name of the city itself comes from the word "mix". In fact, the original Mesopotamian name "Bab-Ili" means "City of the Gods"; Enki's first-born Marduk expected this place to become a spaceport independent of the Enlil clan. This incident, which caused the "Pyramid Wars", took place around 3450 - several centuries after the founding of the kingdom in Kish, which coincides with the dating of the legend of Etana.

This correspondence between the Biblical and Sumerian chronologies sheds light on the personalities of the gods, who, like Jehovah in the biblical version, descended to earth to see what was happening in Babylon, and with whom Jehovah shared his doubts. It was the Igigi who landed on Earth, occupied the city, locked its seven gates, and controlled the area until order was restored and a king who could "establish all countries" ascended the throne. Etana became the new ruler. In ancient times, this name, which can be translated as "strong man", was probably popular among the people of the Middle East, since it appears several times in the Bible. Like modern personnel officers, Ishtar was looking for a "shepherd" and a "king." Enlil approved the candidate presented by the goddess and announced that a throne was prepared for him in Kish. After that, the Igigi left the city and, apparently, returned to the orbital stations.

Etana, "the one who approved all the countries", took up the problem of the heir.

With the tragedy of a childless wife, unable to give birth to her husband an heir, we meet in the Bible even when describing the life of the Old Testament patriarchs. Abraham's wife Sarah was childless until she met the Lord at the age of ninety. At the same time, her servant Hagar gave birth to Abraham's son (Ishmael), which laid the foundation for the future conflict between the firstborn and the youngest legitimate heir (Isaac). Isaac, in turn, asked God to deliver his wife from barrenness. She became pregnant only after divine intervention.

All biblical stories are imbued with the belief that the ability to have children is a gift from God. So, for example, when Abimelech, the king of Gerar, took Sarah's wife from Abraham, the Lord punished all Abimelech's household members with barrenness. The curse was lifted only after the intercession of Abraham. Anna, Elkan's wife, had no children, because "the Lord shut up her womb." She gave birth to Samuel only after she promised - if she had a boy - to give her son "to the Lord for all the days of his life, and a razor will not touch his head."

In the case of Etana's wife, the problem was not the inability to conceive, but recurrent miscarriages. She suffered from a disease called LABU, which prevented her from bearing a child. A desperate Etana saw bad omens. He had a dream in which the inhabitants of the city of Kish wept and sang a funeral song. Whom did they mourn - himself, because he could not have heirs, or his wife?

The wife then told Etana her dream. She saw a man holding in his hand shszhma sha aladi - "herb of birth". He poured cold water on the plant so that it would "take root in his house." Then he brought the grass to native city where it first bloomed and then withered.

Etana was sure that this was a prophetic dream and that in this way the gods pointed to a means of salvation.

The king asked where this "herb of birth" grows, but the wife could not tell. Convinced that the dream was a prophecy that would come true, Etana set off in search of the plant. He crossed rivers and mountain ranges, but nowhere could he find the miraculous plant. In desperation, he turned to the gods for help. Every day, Etana prayed to Shamash, accompanying prayers with sacrifices. He hoped that God, who received the best parts of the sacrificial sheep, would interpret the meaning of the dream.

If the “herb of birth” really exists, Etana turned to Shamash, let God show where to find it. The magic plant will save the king from shame and give him a son.

The text does not indicate exactly where Etana sacrificed to Shamash, the head of the Anunnaki spaceport. But this was hardly a personal meeting, because in response, "Shamash raised his voice and turned to Etana": the god showed Etana the mountain on which he was to find a hole. An eagle languishes in the pit, which will deliver Etana to the cherished goal.

Following instructions from Shamash, Etana found a hole and an eagle in it. The eagle spoke to Etana. The king told him about his misfortune, and the bird told his sad story. They then made a deal: Etana would help the eagle get out of the pit and make it fly again, and the eagle would find "birth grass" for the king. With the help of a ladder consisting of six steps, Etana pulled the eagle out of the pit and "repaired" its wings with copper sheets. Having regained the ability to fly, the eagle began to look for a magical plant in the mountains. But the “herb of birth” was not here.

Etana was in despair, but he had another dream. The king told the eagle about his dream. This part clay tablet badly damaged, but according to the surviving fragments it can be judged that it was about the divine symbols of power that were sent down from " high skies". "My friend, this dream is auspicious!" the eagle said to Etana. Then Etana had another dream: reeds from all over the earth were heaped in his house; an evil snake tried to stop them, but the reeds "bowed before him like slaves." And again the eagle began to convince Etana that this was an auspicious sign.

However, nothing happened until the eagle also had a dream. "My friend," he said to Etana, "the same god has shown me a dream."

We passed through the gates of Anu, Enlil and Ea together, we bowed before them, you and I. Together we passed through the gates of Sin, Shamash, Adad and Ishtar, we bowed before them, you and I.

If you look at the map (Fig. 17), it becomes obvious that the eagle describes the return journey - from the center of the solar system, where the Sun (Shamash), Moon (Sin), Mercury (Adad) and Venus (Ishtar) are located, to outer planets, the farthest of which is Nibiru, the domain of Anu!

The dream seen by the eagle consisted of two parts. In the second part, he sees a house with an unlocked window, throws it open and goes inside. There sits a young woman of fine appearance, with a crown on her head. In front of her throne there is a flat platform, on which, crouching to the ground, lions sit. When the eagle approached, the animals expressed submissiveness. And then the eagle suddenly woke up.

The dream was full of auspicious omens: the window turned out to be open, the young woman on the throne (the king's wife) was surrounded by radiance, the lions subdued. This dream, said the eagle, clearly indicates what needs to be done: "My friend ... up to the heavens of Anu I will carry you!"

Rising up with Etana on his back and retiring at a distance of one beru (the Sumerian measure of the distance and angle of the celestial arc), the eagle asks:

- Like a hill - the land, the sea - like a well.

The higher the eagle lifts Etana, the smaller the earth becomes. Having retired one more beru, the eagle repeats his question:

Look, my friend, what is the land like there?

- The earth has become like a millstone, And my eyes cannot see the wide sea ...

After they had passed another beru, the ground seemed to Etana no bigger than a watering can. Then she was completely out of sight. Here is how Etana talks about her feelings:

I distinguish the earth no clearer than a speck of dust,

And the wide sea cannot be seen by my eyes.

Thus, they moved away from the Earth at such a distance that they ceased to distinguish it!

Frightened, Etana ordered the eagle to turn back. It was a dangerous descent, because I had to literally "dive to the ground." A fragment of a tablet called by scholars "The eagle's prayer to Ishtar as he and Etana fell from the sky" (J. W. Kinnear Wilson " The Legend of Etana: A New Edition*), indicates that the eagle turned to Ishtar in search of salvation - her ability to fly through the sky is reflected in numerous texts and drawings (Fig. 32). The eagle and Etana fell into the pond - the water would soften the blow, but the unlucky astronauts would certainly drown. Ishtar's intervention resulted in the eagle and its passenger landing in the forest.

In the second region that became the center of civilization - the Nile Valley - the kingdom was founded around 3100 BC. We are talking about mortal kings, because, according to Egyptian legends, before this country for a long time ruled by gods and demigods.

According to the testimony Egyptian priest Manetho, who made up the history of Egypt in the era of Alexander the Great, "gods of heaven" in time immemorial descended to earth from the Heavenly Disc (Fig. 33). After the waters of the Flood flooded Egypt, the same god who came to earth in ancient times, "raised" the earth from under the water, building dams and breaking channels. This god was called Ptah (“organizer”), and he was a great scientist who took part in the creation of man. He was often depicted with a staff in his hand, marked in exactly the same way as a modern surveying rod (Fig. 34a). Over time, Ptah ceded the Egyptian throne to his first-born Ra (“shining” - Fig. 34b), who has since been at the head of the Egyptian pantheon.

The Egyptian word NTR, meaning "deity" or "god", is translated as "guardian, watcher", and the Egyptians believed that the gods came from Ta-Ur, that is, "an unfamiliar / distant land." AT previous books we have identified this land with Sumer ("the land of the guardians"), and the Egyptian gods with the Anunnaki. Ptah is Ea/Enki (the Sumerians also called him NUDIMMUD, which means "skillful creator"), and Ra is his first-born Marduk.

After Ra, the Egyptian throne was inherited by two married couples, consisting of brothers and sisters. First, these were his children Shu (“dryness”) and Tefnut (“moisture”), and then the children of Shu and Tefnut, whose names were Geb (“one who uplifts the earth”) and Nut (“stretching firmament”). Geb and Nut had four children. These are Asar ("all-seeing"), whom the Greeks called Osiris and who married his sister Act (Isis), as well as Seth ("southerner"), who married his sister Nebt-Hat (Nefthys).

To keep the peace, Egypt was divided between Osiris (he got Lower Egypt in the north) and Set (he got southern part country, or Upper Egypt). However, Set longed for power over all of Egypt and did not recognize such a division. He tricked Osiris into a trap and cut his brother's body into fourteen pieces, scattering them all over Egypt. But Isis managed to collect parts of her husband's body (with the exception of the phallus) and revive the dead Osiris to life in the afterlife. One of the sacred Egyptian texts says about him like this:

He entered the Secret Gates, the Glory of the Lords of eternity

Accompanies him, shining over the horizon, On the path of Ra.

This is how the belief was born that if the king of Egypt (Pharaoh) after death is “collected”, that is, mummified like Osiris, then he will be able to travel to the abode of the gods, enter the secret Heavenly Gates, meet the great god Ra and, if he is allowed, forever enjoy life in the afterlife.

The journey to this last meeting with the gods was imaginary, but it repeated the real journey of the gods themselves, in particular Osiris, from the banks of the Nile to Neter-Kert, the "Land of the Mountain Gods", whence aircraft delivered them to the Duat - "a magical abode for ascension to the stars."

Most of the information about this is contained in the Pyramid Texts, the origin of which is lost in the mists of time. The texts have come down to us in the form of inscriptions on the walls in the corridors and galleries of the pyramids of the pharaohs (especially Unis, Teti, Pepi I, Merenra and Pepi II, who ruled Egypt from about 2350 to 2180 BC). It was believed that the deceased pharaoh leaves his burial chamber (it was never placed inside the pyramid) through a false door, and he is met by the messenger of the gods, who takes the ruler by the hand and leads him to heaven. When the pharaoh began his journey afterworld, the priests exclaimed: “The King is on his way to Heaven! The king is on his way to Heaven!”

The journey - so realistic and geographically accurate that one forgets its imaginary character - began at a false door facing east; thus, the pharaoh was heading east from Egypt, towards the Sinai Peninsula. The first obstacle in his path is Kamyshovoye Lake. It is noteworthy that the same name is given in the Bible to the sea that the Israelites crossed when its waters miraculously parted. There is no doubt that in both cases they mean a chain of lakes that stretches from north to south along almost the entire border between Egypt and the Sinai Peninsula.

In the case of the pharaoh, the divine ferryman decides after biased interrogation whether to transport the deceased across the sea. The divine ferryman sails in his magical boat from the opposite shore, but the magic spells needed to way back, says the pharaoh himself. After that, the boat begins its independent journey - the oars and steering wheel on the ferryman's boat are set in motion by supernatural forces. In other words, the boat moves on its own!

On the other side of the lake is a desert, beyond which the pharaoh discerns the outlines of mountains in the east. But as soon as he disembarks from the boat, he is met by divine guards with unusual hairstyles - jet-black curls cover the forehead, temples and back of the head, and braids extend from the crown of the head. Before letting the pharaoh go further, they also ask him questions.

The text, called The Book of Two Paths, describes the choice that the pharaoh has to make: he sees in front of him two roads leading through the mountains, behind which is the Duat. These two passes, Giddi and Milta, as we call them today, from time immemorial were the only way to get into the center of the Sinai Peninsula for both armies and travelers and pilgrims. The pharaoh casts the necessary spells and finds out the right way. Ahead lies a waterless and lifeless desert. Suddenly, the guards appear and again ask him: "Where are you going?" They must know everything about mortals entering the lands of the gods. The guide of the pharaoh answers the guards: "The king goes to Heaven to gain life and joy, to see his father, to see Ra." While the guards are thinking, the pharaoh himself appeals to them with a request: “Open the border ... remove the barrier ... let me go the way of the gods!” Ultimately, the divine guards let the pharaoh through, and he gets to the Duat.

The Kingdom of the Duat was represented as a closed Circle of the Gods with a hole in the sky (they were personified by the goddess Nut), through which the path to the Eternal Star was opened (it was depicted as a Heavenly Disk) (Fig. 35). Geographically, this was depicted as an oval valley surrounded by mountains, along which small or completely dry rivers flowed, and therefore, for most of the way, the barge of Ra had to be pulled on a rope, or it itself moved overland, turning into an “earth boat”, or sleigh.

The Duat was divided into twelve regions, over which the pharaoh was given twelve hours during the day on the surface of the earth and twelve hours at night underground, in Amen-Ta, the "Secret Land". It is from here that Osiris himself was raised to eternal life, and therefore the pharaoh says the prayer to Osiris, which is given in the Egyptian Book of the Dead in the chapter "Spell the name (ren) of the deceased":

May my name be given to me in the Great House (Par-Wer), and may I remember my name in the House of Fire (Par-Nasr), in the night,

when the years are counted there and the number of months is declared. I dwell with the Divine and I take my place from the east side of the sky

We have already suggested that the “name”—them in Hebrew or MU in Sumerian—that the ancient kings asked for was a rocket capable of taking them to heaven and thus immortalizing them.

Pharaoh really sees "that which raises up to Heaven." But this aircraft is located in the House of Fire, which can only be entered from underground. The way down leads through winding corridors secret rooms and doors that open and close on their own. In each of the twelve parts underworld the pharaoh meets the gods: headless, formidable, benevolent, hiding their faces. Some show hostility, others greet the pharaoh. The deceased ruler is constantly being tested. However, in the seventh region environment begins to lose its "underground" features, acquiring heavenly characteristics. The pharaoh is met by a god with a falcon's head, in the hieroglyphic spelling of whose name there is a ladder icon; his head is adorned with the emblem of the Heavenly Disk. In the ninth region, the pharaoh sees the twelve "Divine Rowers of the Boat of Ra", which set in motion the celestial vessel of the god Ra, the "Heavenly Boat of Millions of Years" (Fig. 36).

At the tenth hour, the pharaoh passes the gate and enters a place where activity is in full swing. The task of the gods who are here is to provide the boat of Ra with “Fire and Flame”. In the eleventh region, the pharaoh meets the gods with the symbols of the stars; the duties of these gods are that the boat of Ra rises into secret house Upper Heaven. In this place, the gods prepare the pharaoh for a journey "through the sky", taking off his earthly clothes and dressing him in the costume of the falcon god.

In the twelfth region, the pharaoh is led through a tunnel to the hall where the Divine Ladder is installed. The hall itself is located inside the "Mountain of Ascension Ra". The Divine Ladder is fastened with "copper veins" with "that which elevates to Heaven". This Divine Ladder was used by Ra, Set and Osiris, and the pharaoh prays that (as it is written on the wall of the tomb of Pharaoh Pepi) "it was bestowed on Pepi, and Pepi could ascend to Heaven on it." Some illustrations for the Book of the Dead depict a scene when the pharaoh receives the blessing of Isis and Nephthys, then he is led to the winged Grandfather (a symbol of eternity, Fig. 37).

Two goddesses help the pharaoh, dressed in divine clothes, enter the "Eye" of the heavenly boat, the command module of "that which raises to Heaven." He takes a place in the boat between the two gods - this place is called "the truth that sustains life." The pharaoh is fastened to two ledges; now it's ready to fly. “Pepi is dressed in the clothes of Horus” (commander of the falcon gods) “and in the dress of Thoth” (scribe of the gods); "Opening the Way shows the way"; "the gods Anna" (Heliopolis) "help him climb the Stairs and place him before the Arch of Heaven"; "Nut, the goddess of the sky, extends her hand to him."

Now the pharaoh says a prayer to the Twin Gates - the Earth Gate and the Heavenly Gate - asking them to open. Suddenly, the "double doors of heaven" open: "The window of heaven has opened! The Steps of Light appeared…”

Inside the "eye" commands of the gods are heard, outside the "radiance" is intensified, which should raise the pharaoh to heaven. Then the silence is broken by a loud roar, and everything around begins to shake: “The sky speaks, the Earth shakes; The earth trembles; two countries of the gods scream; The earth is parted... When the king ascends into Heaven", "a roaring storm carries him... Guardians of Heaven open the doors of Heaven for him."

The inscriptions in the tomb of Pharaoh Pepi explain to those who remained on earth what happens to the pharaoh:

He flies;

King Pepi flies away

from you mortals.

He does not belong to the earth,

and Heaven...

King Pepi flies

like a cloud in the sky.

Taking off into the sky in the east,

Pharaoh circles the Earth:

He embraces the sky like Ra

He crosses the sky like Thoth...

He sails over the lands of Ror,

He sails over the lands of Set...

He circles the Heavens twice.

It revolves around two lands...

The rotation around the Earth allows "that which lifts up to Heaven" to gain speed in order to leave the Earth and reach the "double doors of Heaven". The priests remaining below exclaim: “The double doors to Heaven have opened for you,” and promise the pharaoh that the sky goddess will protect him and guide him on this journey through the sky. The purpose of the journey is the Eternal Star, symbolized by the Winged Disc.

Sacred incantations assure the faithful that when the pharaoh reaches his destination, “the king will be there, on a star, on the other side of Heaven. He will be accepted as a god ... "

When the pharaoh approaches the "double doors of Heaven", he will be greeted by four gods "who stand on Dem, the scepters of Heaven". They will announce his arrival to Ra, who is waiting for the traveler beyond the Gates of Heaven in the Heavenly Palace:

You will find Ra waiting for you there.

He will take your hand

He will lead you to the double Shrine of Heaven;

He will put you on the throne of Osiris...

After meetings with gods of various ranks, the pharaoh finally appears before the great god Ra himself. He is put on the throne of Osiris, confirming his right to eternal life. The heavenly journey is completed, but the goal has not yet been reached. Pharaoh has yet to achieve immortality. It remains to perform the last action - to find and taste the "food of immortality", an elixir that prolongs the life of the gods in their heavenly abode.

Some ancient texts say that the pharaoh is going to the field of life, in others it is about the Great Lake of the Gods. He must find the Water of Life and the fruits of the tree of life. The illustrations for the "Book of the Dead" depict the pharaoh (sometimes accompanied by a queen, fig. 38), water drinker Life from the lake, on the shore of which the tree of life (date palm) grows. In the Pyramid Texts, the pharaoh is accompanied by the Great Green Divine Falcon, who takes him to the field of life and helps him find the tree of life growing there. The goddess of life meets the king on the field. She holds in her hands four jugs, "with which she refreshes the heart of the great god on the day of his awakening." She offers the divine drink to the pharaoh, "bringing him back to life".

Ra, watching with satisfaction what is happening, says to the king:

You have been given a life full of pleasures; You have been granted immortality... You have not died and disappeared forever.

After this last meeting with the god on the Eternal Star, the pharaoh achieves immortality - he is granted eternal life.

According to the Book of Genesis (chapter 11), before the territory of Sumer became inhabited, "the whole earth had one language and one dialect." But after the people began to build the Tower of Babel, the Lord, descending to earth to see what was happening, declared to his unnamed colleagues: “Behold, one people, and one language for all ... let's go down and confuse their language there, so that one did not understand the speech of the other. This happened, according to our calculations, around 3450 BC.

This legend reflected the Sumerian myths that tell about the Golden Age in the distant past, when there was no rivalry among people, peace reigned on all lands, and people spoke the same language.

These idyllic times are described in a text called Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta. It tells about the confrontation between Enmerkar, the ruler of Uruk (biblical Erech), and the king of Aratta (a territory in the Indus Valley), which took place around 2850 BC. e. This dispute had to do with Enlil's granddaughter Ishtar, who could not decide whether to stay in distant Aratta or settle in Erech.

Enki, who was annoyed by Enlil's growing influence, conceived to unleash a "war of words" between the two rulers by "mixing" their languages: "Enki, lord of Eridu, endowed with knowledge, changed the words on their lips" in order to sow a quarrel between "the prince and the prince, the king and king."

According to J. Van Dijk (La confusion des langues, Orientalia, no. 39), this phrase should be understood as follows: "The languages ​​of the people were mixed once again."

It is impossible to understand from the text whether Enki “mixed” languages ​​for the second time, or whether he is responsible only for the second case, but not for the first.