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Assur
Assur (also Ashur, Anshar) is the god of the Assyrians who was elevated from a local deity of the city of Ashur to the supreme god of the Assyrian pantheon. His attributes were drawn from earlier Sumerian and Babylonian deities and so he...
Definition
Library of Ashurbanipal
The Library of Ashurbanipal (7th century BCE) is the oldest known systematically organized library in the world, established in Nineveh by the Neo-Assyrian king Ashurbanipal (r. 668-627 BCE) to preserve the history and culture of Mesopotamia...
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Mesopotamian Epic of Creation Tablet
Mesopotamian clay tablet with the episodes of the epic of creation. It narrates how the god Anshar summons the gods together for a banquet. They celebrate Marduk's appointment as champion; Marduk defeated Tiamat in the primeval chaos. From...
Article
How the World Was Made: A Cherokee Creation Story
How the World Was Made is a creation story of the Cherokee nation, which, like many such tales of the Native peoples of North America, begins with a world covered by water from which dry land is formed and natural order created by beings...
Article
Jicarilla-Apache Creation Story & Origin of the Animals
The Jicarilla-Apache Creation Story and Origin of the Animals are two origin myths of the Jicarilla-Apache nation of modern-day New Mexico. The Apache people as a whole have many different creation tales, as do the Jicarilla, but all follow...
Article
Chinookan Peoples, Creation Story, & Blue Jay Tales
The Chinook people (Chinookan peoples) are a Native American nation of the US Pacific Northwest who inhabited the region of modern-day southwest Washington state and northern Oregon; many Chinookans still live there. Among their most famous...
Article
The River of Separation, a Navajo Creation Story
The River of Separation is one of the many versions of the Navajo creation story detailing how the people first came up from below the earth, learned to live on its surface and, just as importantly, learned to live with each other. Versions...
Definition
Cuneiform - The Writing System That Made History
Cuneiform is a system of writing first developed by the ancient Sumerians of Mesopotamia circa 3600/3500 BCE. It is considered the most significant among the many cultural contributions of the Sumerians and the greatest among those of the...
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Native American Creation & Origin Stories
Native American creation and origin stories are tales of the creation of the world and the origin of various aspects of it, including plant and animal life – especially corn and buffalo – and death. Some Native American trickster tales are...
Definition
Literature
Literature (from the Latin Littera meaning 'letters' and referring to an acquaintance with the written word) is the written work of a specific culture, sub-culture, religion, philosophy or the study of such written work which may appear in...