Happy Passover/Easter/Whatever

Aside from the fact that 4.20 is an important day having its origins San Rafael, California in the late '70s, on the same day there is another celebration April 20, 2019 Passover and April 21, 2019 Easter, which Passover and Easter in certain Monotheistic cults such as Christianity and Judaism are tied together. Now, discussing Easter as having some of its origins in Celtic cultism would take so much blog space, and discussing Akitu's origins and evolution as the holy celebration of the New Year in Akkad and Sumer for their "shag-zul zag-muk" (happy new Year in Sumerian) and later being adopted into the Jewish Passover would also take too long to discuss. Easter has traditions surrounding its fertility credo, which is easily seen concerning the Biblical Mary.

During the 16th Century reformation, Protestants accuse the Roman Catholic Church of taking ideologies from the Greco-Roman world. The idea was that Christianity wanted to eradicate any possibility of paganism; which essentially "pagan" was an insulting word, and people who refused to convert to Christianity were killed, modernly Monotheists alike arbitrarily use the word pagan to describe anyone who dabbles in what is considered occultism, ignoring that occultism begins in Monotheistic circles with Yahweh. Regardless the crude and aggressive attacks by Protestants were countered by Roman Catholic Scholars.

Since Passover in Biblical literature required those thought to be captive in the land of Egypt to smear blood on the door as the Judeo-Christian God would Passover and not take a male child in death, and since Easter is tied with Passover, this could mark a very cultic death and life cycle, which are abundant from Babylon especially and onward (as with any fertility deity there are life and death cycles, this is reflected as far as the Biblical Jesus whose modus operandi is to die and rise with an agenda of "salvation" traditionally. Easter as a "pagan" tradition and later a monotheistic adoption is respectively related to fertility cults in Indo-Euro traditions and even in Mesopotamia but has its direct and indirect influence stemming its "hand" to monotheistic belief traditions, which the Monotheistic traditions inherently accept as their origin.

Linguistically; Sumer a language isolate and Akkad the first Semitic speaking people arise, as Sumer is a Pre Semitic, Non-Semitic, language isolate and from Sumer the Akkadian's invent a new mother tongue, Semitic. I suggest the Sumerian and subsequent Akkadian lexicon', as a great starting point for this. Both cultures are Polytheistic, and later down the chronology "line" emerge the Israelite’s a Semitic speaking faction stemming from Mesopotamia respectively.

Regardless, Christian's are set to eradicate all traces of paganism as the war rages on between Protestants and the Roman-Catholic church. In its veneration Mary in Roman-Catholicism replaces fertility deities but at the same time absorbs Greek and Roman female deities, then continues in Christian form. The recognition of the Virgin Mary which can subsequently be viewed as Mariolatry is what modern-day Christian's might be alluding to when the Catholic view of Mary is being discussed.
The observation of Mary monotheism was not originally meant to be an adoption of pagan motifs, schemes, patterns but is transformed by merging pagan attributes with a monotheistic view of Mary while discarding those pagan attributes and claiming they are original to monotheism.

Mary in monotheism enters as the Mother of Jesus, a fertility concept from its forerunners, she is with child by the invisible force that is the Judeo-Christian God. Generally, and for fertility purposes, to include female a male is needed, historically the Judeo-Christian God is male, and in old Monotheistic traditions females are somewhat ostracized, but for copulation a conduit is needed hence, the female. The concept of control is even echoed clearer in Islamic legalism such as in An-Nisa of the Qu'ran wherein per the commandment of Allah men oversee women, and a woman to some degree should be obedient, do regard that this is not a discussion on abuse, but gendering roles in a relationship. Christian literature indicates that even in Trinitarian form the Judeo-Christian God is male, never female. In "paganism" the case was that female deities were worshiped, so this concept is at some point in time is eradicated and hence females are ostracized.

Aristophanes reflects Hesiod wherein the image of a primeval unity concerning creation the world was created as a series of separate events, and from primeval unity everything developed, which is weighted and seen in earlier Biblical creation narratives. In Genesis creation is the act of the Judeo-Christian God, who creates, and the outcome is "creation", thus exemplifying the polarization of androgynous human and the outcome being the split of "male", "female". Even in Jewish mysticism the first man is androgynous and "this view is reflected in the biblical account of the creation of Eve from Adam, which, according to the text, is the reason why a man and a woman have intercourse". In Pagan and in Christian circles copulation being a reality, but, intercourse separation did not exist. So, there is a unity and return to unity in early Christian theology both Orthodox and Heterodox and it was set to point that overcoming that separation arrived at unity. The Eucharist obscures however, sacred intercourse which was prominent in the Ancient Near East. In Mark 12:18-25, Matthew 22:23-30, Luke 20:27-36 Jesus indicates there is no differentiation between the sexes in the Heaven mythos. However, this isn't apparent originally in the New Testament or in the Old Testamentary creation epic, as male and female are inherently separated and would seem to conflict as well is problematic with the New Testament by implying that in Heaven both male and female are neither but "like angels" as the New Testament and the words of Jesus proclaim. Noting that most angelic figures are male in Judeo-Christian literature. Either way, Mary is impregnated by the Judeo-Christian God as she is a virgin or is presumed to be a virgin.

Finally the deity Inanna (Sumerian), Ishtar (Akkadian), Astarte (Greek) a Hellenized female deity for Ashtoreth (Northwest Semitic) which all of these female deities operate as deities of love, beauty, sex, desire, fertility, war, justice, and political power in Mesopotamian mythology has roots in Christian mythology; with some variations due to cultural adaptations and beginning with Moses who is commanded in Leviticus 24:5-9 "take fine flour and bake twelve cakes of it; two tenths of an ephah shall be in each cake. And you shall set them in two rows, six in a row, upon the table of pure gold. And you shall put pure frankincense with each row, that it may go with the bread as a memorial portion to be offered by fire to the Lord." The offering of cakes to a deity is earlier paralleled in Mesopotamia as flour itself is offered to Inanna in some customs bread is sacred "bread was an offering to the mother of the gods and its offering was a joyful occasion; when mourning or in grief, eating of bread was forbidden." Bread becomes associated later with Jesus as the 'bread of life' and was earlier given as an offering to the Akkadian deity Ishtar. Mary is seen as a giver of life to the Biblical Jesus, stemming from a tradition rich in female deity worship and is harmonious with New Testamentary birth and death cycle epics.

Storm Gods from Iskur to Jesus.

Storm Gods from Iskur to Jesus.

Shown here, a surviving image of El as an idol and who is the God the Hebrews used as the basis for their later Yahwism. El or Elu or Ilu whom was called and associated with Daganu whom an epithet of Ilu was \Elu.

Three distinct and prominent early Israelite characters who are intertextualized in Biblical literature are El, Yahweh, Baal. Though at times El is coupled with Yahweh. For this I recommend Mark Smith "The Early History of God" as well "Yahweh and Gods and Goddesses of Canaan", and "afterlife in early civilizations". Yahweh and Baal are amalgamated, while El and Yahweh are coupled in Old Testament literature. The outcome of the three deities becomes reminiscent throughout the annals of history and we see an emerging hero in the New Testament who garners characteristics of Baal, Yahweh, El. The best evidences to use are Biblical verses themselves as well extra Biblical literature.

In the Old Testament Yahweh is called El, but these are two different deities, even in characteristics. The sources that some might use are Priestly, El, J for Yahweh, Deuteronomy sources or PEJD. In the OT (Old Testament) the E & P sources imply the patriarchs didn't know who Yahweh was; Exodus 3:13-15, Exodus 6:2-3 and the opposition to this is the J source in Genesis 4:26 that the name Yahweh was already known. The P sources says that the name El-Shaddai was known Exodus 6:3, a scholar asserted that Yahweh is the same as El, and another scholar didn't like this. So, there was an "argument"; in Ugarit (a neighboring people to the Canaanite) El reveals himself (note that masculine terms are used for Biblical deities, which shows clearly females are ostracized) a being benevolent, and this differs from his buddy Yahweh who is shown as fierce yet kind. In Judges 5:4-5 Yahweh is seen as a storm deity, and El is not shown as a storm deity. But, Baal is, and in the earlier Elimelek tablets there is also some discontinuity as well continuity. In one epic Baal the son of El asks Anat to petition El to build Baal a palace, and El's wife Asherah send an Egyptian to build the palace. In another epic King Danel has no son, so he asks Baal for help, Baal petitions El and El grants a son to king Danel. Another issue is that in El's cult title it is "he who creates hosts" and is pure speculation, but this is not in Biblical literature at all. The text reads "Further, hyh (hwh) is not attested in Hebrew in the hiphil ('cause to be', 'create ' ), though this is the case in Aramaic and Syriac. Yahweh in any case more likely means 'he is' (qal) rather than 'he causes to be/creates' (hiphil): to suppose otherwise requires emendation of the Hebrew text in Exod. 3.14 ('ehyeh, 'I am ' ), which explains the name Yahweh", hence, Yahweh and El are two different deities. The OT however doesn't seem to have a problem making El and Yahweh the same, this is "contrast to its vehement opposition to Baal, let alone the equation of Yahweh with Baal (cf. Hos. 2.18 [ET 16])".

Since Mr. Yahweh is a distinct deity from El the Canaanite deity, there are plenty of OT materials that show Yahweh as a storm deity, very much so like Baal, the son of El in Canaan, the downtrodden God in the Israelite belief traditions who is depicted as a "false god". In the Ugarit Baal is shown as a storm deity, he is also shown as a divine warrior, I suggest KTU are Ugaritic (KTU 1.4 V 6-9, 1.6 III 6f., 12f., 1.19 I 42-46) or his role as warrior (KTU 1.2 IV, 1.5 I 1-5, 1.119.26-29, 34-36; RS 16.144.9).

The text follows showing "Biblical material deriding other deities reserves power over the storm for Yahweh (Jer. 10:11-16; 14:22; Amos 4:7; 5:8; 9:6). Biblical descriptions of Yahweh as storm-god (1 Sam. 12:18; Psalm 29; Job 38:25-27, 34-38) and divine warrior (Pss. 50:1-3; 97:1-6; 98:1-2; 104:1-4; Deut. 33:2; Judges 4-5; Job 26:11-13; Isa. 42:10-15, etc.) exhibit this underlying unity and pattern explicitly in Psalm 18 (= 2 Sam. 22):6-19, 68:7-10, and 86:9-19.337 Psalm 29, 1 Kings 19, and 2 Esdras 13:1-4 dramatize the meteorological progression underlying the imagery of Yahweh as warrior. All three passages presuppose the image of the storm moving eastward from the Mediterranean Sea to the coast. In 1 Kings 19 and 2 Esdras 13:1-4 this force is portrayed with human imagery. The procession of the divine warrior is accompanied by a contingent of lesser divine beings (Deut. 32:34; 33:2; Hab. 3:5; KTU 1.5 V 6-9; cf. Judg. 5:20). The Ugaritic antecedent to Resheph in Yahweh’s entourage in Habakkuk 3:5 may be KTU 1. 82.1-3, which perhaps includes Resheph as a warrior with Baal against tnn, related to biblical tannînîm.338 Though the power of other Near Eastern warrior-gods was manifest in the storm (e.g., Amun, Ningirsu/Ninurta, Marduk, and Addu/Adad),339 the proximity of terminology and imagery between the Ugaritic and biblical evidence points to an indigenous cultural influence on meteorological descriptions of Yahweh. Israelite tradition modified its Canaanite heritage by molding the march of the divine warrior specifically to the element of Yahweh’s southern sanctuary, variously called Sinai (Deut. 33:2; cf. Judg. 5:5; Ps. 68:9), Paran (Deut. 33:2; Hab. 3:3), Edom (Judg. 5:4), and Teiman (Hab. 3:3 340 and in the Kuntillet ‘Ajrûd inscriptions; cf. Amos 1:12; Ezek. 25:13). This modification may underlie the difference between Baal’s epithet rkb ‘rpt, “cloud-rider” (e.g., CTA 2.4[KTU 1.2 IV].8), and Yahweh’s title, rokeb bāa‘ărābôt, “rider over the steppes,” in Psalm 68:5 (cf. Deut. 33:26; Ps. 104:3),341 although a shared background for this feature is evident from other descriptions of Baal and Yahweh. The notion of Baal riding on a winged war chariot is implicit in one element in Baal’s meteorological entourage in KTU 1.5 V 6-11.342 Psalm 77:19 refers to the wheels in Yahweh’s storm theophany, which presumes a divine war chariot. Psalm 18 (2 Sam. 22):11 presents Yahweh riding on the wind surrounded by storm clouds. This image forms the basis for the description of the divine chariot in Ezekiel 1 and 10. Psalm 65:12 (E 11) likewise presupposes the storm-chariot image: “You crown your bounteous year, and your tracks drip with fatness.” Similarly, Yahweh’s storm chariot is the image presumed by Habakkuk 3:8 and 15"

There are plenty of storm deities in the Ancient Near East (ANE) such as Tessub the son of Anu and Kumbarbi, who also like Yahweh rides on a chariot or even in the early dynastic period Baal is referred to as Balu or Belu and even in Neo Assyria the King's might garner the name Hadad or Haddad to reflect on the earliest of storm deities from Akkad, the earliest of storm deities is, Iškur a Sumerian storm deity who would predate Baal, as well Yahweh. So, we see a long line and tradition of storm deities, one conquering different region’ in the Ancient Near East with the spread of storm deities well into the New Testament.

Speaking of the New Testament the very last storm deity I'd like to discuss is Jesus (Hebrew) Christ (Greek), in Luke 8:25 like Baal and Yahweh Jesus is shown as with the ability (so along as they have faith in the New Testament, though faith may not be a requirement as it is presumed Jesus can do “anything”) to control the storm. In Matthew 14:22 Jesus has his disciples enter onto a ship, he overlooks the sea, he prays for them, and he divinely planned a storm. The earliest literature this parallels to is Yahweh the storm deity who can control the storms. When Jesus dies in the New Testament, what follows is an earthquake of epic proportions, from Matthew 27:45 then in Matthew 27:51 there is an earthquake after darkness falls on the land, to show that Jesus can cause disastrous events, religiously it is said to signify divine revelation storms similarity are reserved for Yahweh as well earthquakes. When Yahweh appeared to Moses on Sinai to give His law, “the whole mountain shook violently” Exodus 19:18 (though the laws are derived originally from Hammurabi), however, the context of storm language is apparent, as earthquakes are noted as "a sudden and violent shaking of the ground,". Earthquakes shake the earth while a storm is a "a violent disturbance of the atmosphere with strong winds and usually rain, thunder, lightning, or snow". But, as I know there is some evidence that suggest that storms can cause earthquakes, while this is not a specificity in Biblical literature, but as I know there was a study that "demonstrated the correlation between typhoons and tiny earthquakes known as "slow quakes". Big storms cause air pressure to plummet and underground water and air to rush to the Earth's surface, therefore reducing friction between tectonic plates and making earthquakes more likely. These slow quakes, over time, reduce the pressure between tectonic plates and can cause real earthquakes." Regardless there is a long line of storm deities stemming from Sumer to the popularized Jesus.

Yahweh and Child Sacrifice

Yahweh permits of child death, in some cases and condemns it in others and yet somehow modern Apologetic’ will argue that the Bible is against abortion. In Genesis 22 Abraham is stopped from sacrificing his son, and in Genesis 22 again a wandering ram is sacrificed which pleases Yahweh for the time being. It's clear that even in Old Testament times child sacrifice is an occurrence such as child sacrifice in Leviticus 20:3 and the sins are placed on the scapegoat, Yahweh doesn't seem to have such a problem with this issue of child sacrifice that he forgives the sin on the day of atonement. This stands in contrast to Exodus 21:22-24, Yahweh considers the life of the unborn to be just as valuable as the life of an adult, yet this isn't done or seen in 1 Samuel 15, Yahweh has essentially discarded life, including unborn life.

Child sacrifice, such as when Yahweh commands killings en mass such as 1 Samuel 15, this will include pregnant women. Generally, however, abortion is the willful killing of an unborn fetus, in the 1542 - 1543 abortion is deliberate and unintended miscarriage, regardless the killings of Yahweh on entire villages entertain the idea of an unintended abortion, though the mechanisms for abortion are a bit different, the outcome is the same.

In Mesopotamia self-induced abortions are mentioned, in this context it appears to be a factum for prostitutes as they would remain childless. In legal texts in Mesopotamia if a man has three daughters and one is a prostitute and the daughter who is a prostitute has a child and if the child makes a claim on the father's estate, claims by competing other children will have to be sorted out. This will differ from the later Exodus 22:28-29 when in pre-exilic times Yahweh commands sacrifice of the first born "the firstborn of your sons you shall give to me". Implying it is males who are worthy of death for Yahweh, as well Ezekiel 20:25–26 attests to such a pre-exilic practice of Yahwistic child sacrifice. Even in the Deuteronomy Jeremiah redaction Yahweh condemns child sacrifice to Baal, but child death is not restricted from Yahweh.

Since then and in modern times the voice of anti-abortion is strongly rooted in Biblical mythology. In modern times Roe V Wade clears in origin the path for abortion, though subsequent case law has been updated. God according to Christian's does not accept abortion, yet this concept is entirely nuanced to the Old Testamentary Yahweh who has a lust for blood, which is clearly shown in 1 Samuel 15, and in other verses where Yahweh is offended, as well Yahweh commands sacrifice.

disposal

In the New Testament Christ is the final expiation of sin, he is a gateway into Heaven. We can only assume that by Jesus dying on two pieces of wood that he knew this. Also, that Jesus was fulfilling the Old Testament by his death, Jesus fulfilling the Old Testament is vague and broad language of course asserted in John 5:46 as an example Jesus says in the verse "for had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me".

In the Old Testament Leviticus 16, the day of atonement there is a dispatch of a scapegoat. It's an annual day of purification and its mechanisms are that the evils being expelled by sending a goat into the wilderness to Azazel. The haṭṭâ't rituals are that Aaron purified the Tabernacle with blood, gets blood from the haṭṭâ't bulls and cleans his house with it. He then goes to the adytum, sprinkles the blood on the kapporeth then 7 times on the floor in Leviticus 16:14, in Leviticus 16:15 he repeats the action but does it for Yahweh, wherein Leviticus 16:8 the scapegoat was reserved for Azazel. Next, he purifies the shrine with blood, Bible doesn't say how he does this, so it relates to the phraseology "thus shall he do for the Tent of Meeting", there is another 7 times of blood being sprinkled. After that exhaustive part of the ritual is over, Aaron goes to an alatar of burnt offerings in the court. He takes blood from the bull, the goat and applies it to the horns of the altar, then sprinkles blood 7 times. Everything he set to purify is purified. Part two of the rite, there are two goats, one is for Azazel, and Aaron puts his hands on the goat, and confesses the sins of the Israelite people, so the sins are on the animal now, then the goat is sent to the wilderness.

So what sins are removed? These are Israelite impurities, that are attached to the adytum, shrine, altar, just to note it's weird that the holy places where Yahweh is (adytum, shrine, altar) at are also filled with sin, this indicates that Yahweh is sinful as well or allowed sin in his holy places.

On to the good part the goat sent to the wilderness, to eliminate impurities and this is all sanctioned by Yahweh. In Leviticus 16:21 and next in Leviticus 16:22 the goat is going to carry the sins into the wilderness. The scapegoat rites wherein Aaron places sin of the Israelite’s on the scapegoat. Some of the sins such as a person who does not purify from corpse contamination, pollutes the Lord's tabernacle in Number 19:30, 20. Also, sex impurities that can pollute the sanctuary in Leviticus 15:31. Also, child sacrifice in Leviticus 20:3, to which the sins can be placed on the scapegoat as well. Also, the person who leads the goat to the wilderness is subject to ablutions Leviticus 16:26.

Who is Azazel? Lots are cast, and one goat is Yahweh and the other for Azazel. The goat sent to Azazel, Azazel is thought to be a god or demon, and the wilderness in Israelite mythology is said to be a place where demons dwell. Though the etymology of Azazel is not certain, the "zz-l" indicates a fierce god or angry god, see G A Barton (https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/3260228), though Azazel is a "demon" his role and function in the rite Azazel doesn't function as a demon. The Bible tends to lack largely in the function and description of demons or false gods and is more concerned about following commandments not to worship them per Yahweh.

Parallelism in earlier Mesopotamia to the rites, the Hittite's for example would earlier and similarly remove evil by banishing from an ill patient who is suffering from evil. The evil would be transferred onto an object and the evil was passed onto the object. This is an earlier and much more primitive type of expiation. As well detergents much like the now famous "tide pods" would be used to remove the evils.

We can see somewhat parallelism in earlier Mesopotamia and later Levitical rites, then we see parallelism between the Jesus epic and the Levitical rites. In Hittite rites much like the transfer of evil to an inanimate object and to the scapegoat in Levitical rites, is to dispose of the evils properly and to ensure the consequences of evil falls elsewhere.

Of noted importance:

• In Hittite religion the patient is sick and filled with evils, the evils are removed by object. We will see this concept carried on with the Israelite people.

• In Israelite purification rites Yahweh is offended by sin, including child sacrifice, impure sex, corpse contamination and the only way to remove the sin and is a two tiered sacrificial and release to the wilderness ritual to a demon, which Yahweh has no qualms with. We will see Yahweh's favorite past time of blood sacrifice carried on with the epic of Jesus.

• Later parallelism to the Old Testament is the death of Jesus who dies on a cross and he is bearer of sin, taking all sin from the sick world and the sin is expiated with the death of Jesus. Which completes the concept of blood sacrifice by a popularized death and satisfies the Judeo-Christian God' need for blood by sacrifice or at least it temporarily seems. It could be asserted that sin is cast into hell fire (a popular biblical concept) and that all who engage in denying the Christ will suffer, this could be parallelism to the Yahweh of the Old Testament who enjoys destroying his enemies and is a type of sacrifice as sacrifice in Biblical concepts requires a death or death itself.

Sources:

https://www.amazon.com/Disposal-Impurity-Elimination-Mesopotamian-Literature/dp/B004YPD1PS

Flood epic

The following is a depiction of "The Sumerian Flood Story tablet from Philadelphia," the photo is by the Gertrude Bell Archive. Courtesy of the Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology.

This is a photo of an ancient Sumerian (a pre Semitic, non-Semitic, agglutination isolate language) Nippur (Nibru, located in Nuffar, Al-Qādisiyyah Governorate, Iraq) tablet and describes the oldest account of the deluge (flood), the listing of flood epics are as follows:

Old Babylonian is from 1900-1600 BC
Middle Babylonian is from 1600-1200 BC
Late Assyrian is from 800-600 BC
Late Babylonian is from 600-500 BC

For the stages of Sumerian writing:

Archaic Sumerian – 3100 BC – 2600 BC
Old Sumerian – 2600 BC - 2300 BC
Neo-Sumerian – 2300 BC - 2100 BC
Late Sumerian – 2000 BC - 1800 BC
Post-Sumerian – after 1700 BC

Early Cuneiform is around 2900 BC, the Bible account is written after the Babylonian tablet epic which is about 1600 BC - 1200 BC. Irving Finkel the British Museum curator pens "While it is certain that the Late Assyrian Gilgamesh Ark-cum- Flood narrative derives from earlier accounts written in the second millennium BC, there is no known example of an Old Babylonian Gilgamesh story that deals with these iconic events." While the "there are strong links between the Genesis narrative and the seventh-century BC text of Gilgamesh XI. At the same time it has been widely acknowledged that the cuneiform tradition as known in the case of Atra-hasīs at least is of greater antiquity than the biblical, for the earliest cuneiform flood stories that we have go back at least to the eighteenth century BC", the epic of Atrhasis is much older than the Noah and yet still the Sumerian epic of Ziusudra is much older still. It's unfathomable to think that the Biblical flood epic was written as an original flood epic historically, but it is a first influenced intertextual writing of older flood epics in the Ancient Near East based on etymology, archeology and an array of other factors.

The Sumerian version begins as a pious man named Ziusudra laments to Enki the Sumerian deity in Sumer, when Enki's brother Enlil becomes enraged and decides to send a flood to wipeout "the world", by world the geography should be limited to Iraq.

Whereas in the much later version Noah a pious man is warned by the Judeo-Christian God that he will send a flood. The reason is then invented, the Judeo-Christian God is sending the flood due to wickedness.

While the popularized Biblical epic fits a role for a target audience, it has its own issues to begin with, Irving Finkel pens:

“Genesis 6:14–16
Make yourself an ark (tēvāh) of gopher wood [came the instruction]; make rooms (qinnīm) in the ark, and cover it (kāpar) inside and out with pitch (kopher). This is how you are to make it: the length of the ark three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. Make a roof for the ark, and finish it to a cubit above; and put the door of the ark in its side; make it with lower, second, and third decks.

Such was the order to Noah, facing in his turn the awful task of saving the world more or less single-handedly with the help of a custom-order boat. This is the breakdown of the specs:

Ark: tēvāh (unknown word for rectangular boat)
Material: gopher-wood (unknown species)
Rooms: qinnīm (cells; the basic word means ‘bird’s nest’)
Waterproofing: pitch or bitumen (kopher), smeared on (kāphar), inside and
out
Length: 300 cubits (ammah) = 450 ft = 137.2 m
Width: 50 cubits = 75 ft = 22.8 m
Height: 30 cubits = 45 ft = 13.7 m
Roof: 1 cubit high(?)
Door: 1
Decks: 3

Compare the sparser data for Moses’ ‘arklet’ in Exodus 2:2–6:
Ark: tēvāh (unknown word for rectangular boat)
Material: gomeh, bulrushes; rush/reed/papyrus; wicker
Waterproofing: hamār, slime; bitumen/asphalt; bitumen; zefeth, pitch.

The biblical word tēvāh, which is used for the arks of Noah and Moses, occurs nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible. The flood and baby episodes are thus deliberately associated and linked in Hebrew just as the Atrahasis and Sargon Arks are linked associatively in Babylonia.Now for something extraordinary: no one knows what language tēvāh is or what it means. The word for the wood, gopher, is likewise used nowhere else in the Hebrew
Bible and no one knows what language or what kind of wood it is. This is a peculiar state of affairs for one of the most famous and influential paragraphs in all of the world’s writing!
The associated words kopher, ‘bitumen’, and kāphar, ‘to smear on’, are also to be found nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible, but, significantly, they came from Babylonia with the narrative itself, deriving from Akkadian kupru, ‘bitumen’, and kapāru, ‘to smear on’. In view of this it is logical to expect that tēvāh and gopher are similarly loanwords from Babylonian Akkadian into Hebrew, but there has been no convincing candidate for either word. Suggestions have been made for gopher-wood,
but the identification, or the non-Hebrew word that lies behind it, remains open. Ideas have also been put forward over the centuries concerning the word tēvāh, some linking it – because Moses was in Egypt – with the ancient Egyptian word thebet, meaning ‘box’ or ‘coffin’, but these have ended nowhere. The most likely explanation is that tēvāh, like other ark words, reflects a Babylonian word.”

While I commend Christianity, Judaism, and even Islam for making a much older epic their own, the realization that the epic is borrowed should be realized as not to be misled.

Sources:
https://www.arch.cam.ac.uk/about-us/mesopotamia/mesopotamia-history/mesopotamia-languages
https://www.amazon.com/Ark-Before-Noah-Decoding-Story/dp/0385537115

Christian and Jewish myth systems

Before I begin, when discussing mythology, it's important to define terms. The myths discussed are for the most part religious narratives that transcend the possibilities of common experience and that express any given culture's literal or metaphorical understanding of various aspects of reality. In this sense myths have to do with the relation of the culture, or of human beings in general, to the unknown in the cosmos.

To so-called fundamentalists of any given culture the religious stories of that culture are literally true, while stories of other cultures and religions are understood to be mere folklore—what in common usage we in fact mean by "myth." For others, both within given cultures and outside of them, myths are important metaphorical constructs reflecting understandings that cannot be expressed in any other way. For many mythologists these literally false stories are "true" in the sense that they form an actual, real part of any culture's identity.

What are Hopis without the kachina myths, the ancient Norse people without Odin, the Greeks without the deeds of Apollo, Dionysos, and Odysseus, the Jews without Yahweh's covenant, the Christians without the resurrection?

Understood in this way, it is possible to speak of the "myths" of the three monotheistic Abrahamic religions just as we speak of the "myths" of the ancient peoples whose sacred stories are no longer treated as the scripture of viable religions.

The Israelites brought with them a mythology in the process of development that—although influenced at various periods by the mythologies of Egypt, by the indigenous religions of Canaan, and later by the traditions of the Babylonians—would follow a highly individual course.

Are closer in spirit to the mythology of the Hebrews were those of other small neighboring clan-based tribes such as the Moabites, the Ammonites, and the Edomites, for instance, who spoke Canaanite languages related to Hebrew and who all had dominant patriarchal clan gods. A still more specific influence on the religion and mythology that would become Judaism and that of the Midianites in the northwestern Arabian Peninsula (Hijaz), people who were said to have provided the biblical hero Moses not only with a wife but with important elements of the Yahweh cult.

The Midianite connection is suggested mythologically by the fact that the story of Yahweh speaking to Moses from the burning bush takes place in Midian (Exodus 2). The god of the Hebrews was the god of the Habiru, the many foreign nomads—including the Israelites—who for a time inhabited the Sinai and Negev regions.

The mythology of the Torah or "law," technically the first five books—the Pentateuch—of the Hebrew Bible, is traditionally attributed to Moses. Given the various versions of events and obvious changes in emphasis, style, and chronology in particular books, however, the actual composition of the Torah is now generally traced to several sources. The earliest is referred to as the Yahwist author, or simply J, because of his use of the name Yahweh for the creator god in Genesis. J apparently wrote in southern Israel (Judah) during the early monarchy, that is, around 950 B.C.E. a rival document by an Elohist writer (E, because of the use of the term Elohim for the high god) was written in northern Israel in about 850 B.C.E., although it clearly makes use of much older oral material. The material of J and E were combined in about 750 B.C.E. Finally, exilic and post-exilic (587-400 B.C.E.) priestly writers, usually designated as P, assimilated and somewhat altered the J and E sources and added a great deal of material on genealogies, liturgies, temple ceremonies, and rules. To the original Torah were added eventually the other books of the Jewish Bible, compiled by several writers, including 8th cent BCE figure labeled by scholars as the Deuteronomic Historian or DH.

The Pentateuch and the added books—the Nevi'im (Prophets), the Ketuvim (Writings), and the Apocrypha— form what some refer to now as a whole as the Torah and what Christians call the Old Testament to differentiate the Jewish scriptures from the purely Christian ones (New Testament) in the Christian Bible.

The Christian form of the Bible, then, is a combination of Jewish and Christian scriptures. Much of the mythology of the Hebrews, who in Canaan became known as Israelites and who established the foundations of Judaism, was clearly intended to justify the Hebrew conquest and settlement of Canaan eventually described in the first part of the Nevi'im, the "Former Prophets," containing six biblical books: Joshua, Judges, I and 2 Samuel, and I and 2 Kings. The justification of conquest is based on the belief in a single god who gradually emerged from the clan and tribal "god of Abraham."

The mythology suggests that this god, later identified as Yahweh, favored the Hebrew-Israelites, and therefore the Jews, above all peoples of the earth. He favored them so much that even though Canaan was heavily populated by other peoples— most of them fellow Semites—it was only right that they should take it for themselves.

This was so because the Lord had promised this land to his chosen people in a covenant made with the patriarch Abram (Abraham) and reaffirmed with Isaac, Jacob (Israel), and Moses. The special relationship of a sole and living deity directly with a whole people marked a significant change in the religion and mythology of the Middle East. Deities such as those of the Sumerians, Assyrians, Hittites, Canaanites, and Philistines were clearly metaphorical and therefore easily assimilated by various peoples at various times (including many of the pre-exilic Hebrew-Israelites who required the teachings and admonitions of the patriarchs, judges, prophets, and priests to turn them away from "pagan" worship).

But for Judaism as it developed, the divine was represented only by a jealous and not always compassionate god who had no divine rivals or companions. To the extent that they are fundamentalists, Jews, and later Christians and Muslims, tend to take the monotheistic god as a literal rather than metaphorical fact. For Jews especially, whose religion and nationhood are so intricately tied to a mythology that stresses lineage and the exclusivity of the race or tribe, the perceived reality of a covenant with the deity in the mythological past continues to affect the concept of nationhood and land rights in the Middle East today. The concept is clearly symbolized mythologically by the establishing by the patriarchs of altars to Yahweh specifically on sites sacred to the Canaanites in Hebron, Bethel, and elsewhere.

Christian Mythology as for the Christians, their mythology, in the New Testament and various noncanonical or apocryphal gospels and writings and traditions, centers on the person of Jesus of Nazareth, a Jewish reformer whose god and "father" was the god of the Jews. As it evolved, Christian mythology was able indirectly to incorporate various aspects of Middle Eastern and Greek mythology, especially in relation to dying god and hero motifs and that of the mother goddess.

Most of all, however, Christianity is a religion that looks back to its Jewish roots but in so doing expands the possibility of redemption by extending the "kingdom" and the "promised land" beyond the Hebrew race or Jewish religion to the world at large. To the extent that the religion has insisted over the centuries that its way is the only way and/or that its myths are literally true, it has developed a militancy and a tendency toward fundamentalism that have often placed it at odds with the actual teachings of its de facto founder by instigating or supporting violence, abuse, and repression.

The Pantheons Central to the Canaanite pantheon in its many local versions is a movement toward an understanding of deity that includes a high god associated with weather and storms who is somewhat distant from everyday life, a fertility god who is more present, and a feminine form of that deity. The Arameans, too, had their storm god with a strong fertility aspect, and they assimilated several goddesses from Mesopotamia and Phoenicia. The Hebrews developed a god who reigned alone as at once a weather-storm deity, a god of judgment, and a war god, but who contained within himself aspects of the old deities who concerned themselves with fertility and life on earth.

For the Christians that god became a somewhat distant figure whose nevertheless more loving purpose was to be accomplished by Jesus, a figure eventually seen as both human hero and an aspect of God. Christians, perhaps inadvertently, would over the centuries restore something of the feminine to the godhead through the esoteric understanding of Sophia, or divine wisdom—even for some the Holy Spirit aspect of God—and especially through the person of the Virgin Mary. The High God a Semitic word for "god" is el or Elohim and al-ilah or Allah.

In second-millennium B.C.E. god lists found at Ugarit there are several Els or versions of El. There is the El of the holy mountain Sapan (Tsafon); the Ilib (Elib), or "father god," who contains the spirits of the dead; and the El who, like so many Near Eastern high gods, is associated with the bull and is perhaps the creator. The Greeks thought of El as Kronos, the father of Zeus. Dagan (Dagon) is another vehicle for the high-god concept, perhaps an early personification of El. He has fertility aspects, as his name seems to mean "grain." Dagan existed at Ebla as early as the third millennium B.C.E. and was assimilated as the high god of the Philistines in the late second millennium. It can be argued that the most important expression of the high god in Canaan, however, was Baal in his many forms.

But usually Baal took second position to a father, sometimes El, sometimes Dagan. Baal was at once a weather-storm god of great power and a dying god and fertilizer of the earth. For the Philistines he was Beelzebub, a healer, whom the Greeks associated with Asklepios. In a list of Phoenician deities contained in a 677 B.C.E. treaty between the king of Assyria and the king of Tyre he was the chief god, Baal-Shamen, the "lord of heaven," the El, the storm god, Baal-Safon of the Holy Mountain, Zeus of Phoenicia. The Aramean high god, Hadad, was a counterpart of the Mesopotamian-Assyrian weather-storm-fertility god Adad. He was sometimes combined with or displaced by the anaanite Baal—as Baal-Hadad or at least as the baal, or "lord." Later he was associated with the Greek Zeus and Roman Jupiter.

The god of the Hebrews dominates the myths of the Hebrew scriptures. This god, too holy to name, was expressed in the form of the tetragrammaton YHWH (usually transliterated as Yahweh or Yahveh), based on the verb for "to be"—thus he reveals himself to Moses as "I am." In later times the name of this god was not to be spoken, since to speak the name might release its power and bring about destruction. Rather, he is addressed as Adonai ( " my Lords " or Elohim ( " the gods " .

At first, he may have been, like the Moabite Chemosh or the Canaanite Baal and numerous other Middle Eastern gods of the third and second millennia B.C.E., a tribal god among many gods. It seems apparent both from scriptural and historical sources that in common practice the Hebrews assimilated the gods and goddesses of Canaan. The lack of cohesion among the early Hebrews in Canaan made even monolatry—the exclusive worship of one god among many—an impossibility.

The pull of polytheism was so strong that even the monarchy frequently succumbed to it. Monotheism (as opposed to monolatry) among the Israelites was not common until the time of the exile in Babylon and the reestablishment of Israel after the exile, that is, not until the sixth century B.C.E. And even then it can be argued that the firm establishment of monotheism in Judaism required the rabbinical or Talmudic input of the first century B.C.E. to the sixth century C.E. Whether one among many or one alone, the god of the Hebrew Bible possessed many familiar Middle Eastern characteristics. He was a storm or weather god who could push aside the sea and lead with a pillar of fire. He was a god of war who could mercilessly kill the enemies of the Israelites. He was a fertility god who could create the world, replenish the earth after the flood, and make even the barren Sarah bear a child. And he was a jealous god of judgment who expelled Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden and punished his chosen people for their sins. He was the god who denied humans a common language—through which they might become too powerful—by destroying the Tower of Babel, the Babylonian ziggurat-temple (Genesis 11:1-9). He was the angry god who answered the much-maligned Job "out of the tempest," asking him sarcastically, "Where were you when I laid the earth's foundations?" (Job 38-41). It seems almost certain that the god of the Jews evolved gradually from the Canaanite El, who was in all likelihood the "god of Abraham."

In Genesis 17, an 8th century B.C.E. text, God introduces himself to Abraham as El Shaddai (El of the mountain), and that El's name is preserved in such words as Elohim, Israel, and Ishmael (Armstrong, History of God, 14). In Exodus (6:2-3) the deity introduces himself to Moses as Yahweh and points out that he had revealed himself to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as El Shaddai and that they had not known that his name was Yahweh. The early Christians in the Middle East were Jews for whom the high god was the god of the Hebrew Scriptures. In his appearances in the New Testament (the Christian books of the Bible), however, he was less of a war god than in the Old Testament, less of a weather or storm god.

Rather, he was the loving and approving father of Jesus. And it was Jesus as the Son of God who took up much of the role of the old Jewish god who had concerned himself directly and sometimes in person with the activities of humans. In the Gospel of John (1:1) he is seen as the Logos (the Word), or divine ordering principle, which had existed from the beginning of time and which was equated with God and was incarnated ("became flesh " , took human form, as Jesus.

Through Jesus and the spiritual presence of God as the Holy Spirit, the Christian god evolved in post New Testament times into a complex philosophical construct known as the Trinity, in which God has three aspects or "persons"—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Thust he Christian child learns that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are not each other but that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are mysteriously all God.

The Canaanite God El

This is a surviving image of El as an idol and who is the God the Hebrews used as the basis for their later Yahwism and also in taking the name El which is a proper name as well as a word for a God regardless of ancient Semitic languages.

El or Elu or Ilu whom was called and associated with Daganu whom was an epithet of Ilu \Elu.

Influence of Mesopotamian ritual practices in Egypt

Here is an interesting read to gain insight into Ancient Mesopotamian magic's influences on Ancient Egyptian Magic "Papyrus Leiden I 343 + 345 is one of the most extraordinary manuscripts providing a deeper insight into magic and medicine in Ancient Egypt.

The main part of the papyrus deals with the ancient Near Eastern disease demon Sāmānu, who is well known from Sumerian and Akkadian incantations and medical texts. In addition, a broad range of other conjurations and spells against any pain and feet swelling are included. The papyrus also contains two curious spells dealing with ‘falling water from the sky.'

Eight out of fourteen incantations against the demon Sāmānu were incorporated twice in this papyrus. The texts are not only presented as parallel text edition but also with photographs of the papyrus. This re-edition of Papyrus Leiden I 343 + 345 is a revised transliteration, transcription, translation and up-to-date commentary."

https://www.amazon.com/Exorcism-Illness-Ancient-Eastern-Context/dp/9088905398/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1519653334&sr=8-2&keywords=history+of+exorcism

Babylonian teachings on city building

YouTube

Paleolithic Period to Sumerian

I have heard through the grapevine, that there have been digs where archaeologists have uncovered giant bone structures of people (i.e. Giant Humans). I am not much of a conspiracy theorist, however some things to consider when people talk about Giant Humanoid structures and reference to Biblical mythologies especially the term 'Nephilim'.
According to Strong's Concordance the term are Nephilim: "giants," name of two peoples, one before the flood and one after the flood http://biblehub.com/hebrew/5303.htm and originates from the word "naphal" naphal: to fall, lie, but of course Hebrew as I know is a defunct Canaanite language and develops through the Phoenician. Essentially, my assertion is that the Israelite's were Canaanite in origin. So it is possible the polytheistic Canaanites knew of these legends or alternatively that there was a flood but it wasn't a major flood as the epic of Noah adopts from Atrahasis in Babylon and earlier Ziusudra.
So, when these huge bones are found I don't think it is accurate to reference Biblical literature. As in the Epic of Noah, all the Giants on the earth are swept away. Yet we see Giants after the Epic of Noah such as King Og, Goliath, The great warriors in Ezekiel 32:27, and in Numbers 13:33, also in Native American culture's Giants are referenced.
To add to this, in relation to archaeology when you look at linguistics, I provided http://www.ancientscripts.com/ws_timeline.html as reference for the development of languages, yet I thank Jonah Mason for providing the information on the cultures that Kastoria predates the Sumerian language http://greece.greekreporter.com/2012/07/16/7270-year-old-tablet-found-in-kastoria-calls-into-question-history-of-writing/ and this period being the Neolithic period.
However, something to keep in mind that the Neolithic period may begin about 10,000 BC and end about 5,000 BC. So during this period it might be safe to say the Vinča culture existed, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinča_culture (I generally am not a fan of Wikipedia, but for some references it is easy) I myself would not consider these "civilizations" but scattered groups of people, which I am thoroughly interested in their religious views. I tend to see these groups as Proto Sumerian and I am not sure how far back they predate. Even, the Ubaid and builders of Gobekli Tepe I would consider Proto Sumerian, for example the poem of the "debate between the sheep and the grain" might allude to Sumerian's who built Gobekli Tepe.
The problem is that drawings on caves or pictography is hard to place together to make an assumption about what a certain set of people did culturally or believed religiously. Hence, comparing drawings from the Paleolithic era to drawings in Sumer, might be much like comparing Ziusudra to Noah in the Bible, so much time has passed and so many translations, have gone by.
Another example, I am not sure whether some of the cave drawings such as in "Cave of the Castle" in Spain might be religious drawings as it seems oxen or cows are depicted and much later on in Babylon they are worshiped; part of the worship is that they are sacrificed and eaten as the bovine becomes part of the Babylonian worshiper. As the cave drawings could be Paleolithic Period drawings, and it might be hard to piece together those Humanoids, their beliefs, cultural and hierarchal operations just based on rock findings and cave drawings. "Cave of the Castle" in Spain could also be Paleolithic period, meaning that we would have no idea of what those languages would mean from Paleolithic period until the end of Neolithic period. Even in Sumer the language is difficult to understand Cuneiform.
Pictograph is hard to decipher same with making a connection between Giant Bones and Biblical Mythologies. But also I would assert that culture adopts from other cultures, we even see some trends now from the 1980's sort of making an appearance in the upper 2000's period with the Hipster culture and Millennial’s.
Also, comparing any large founded bones does not conclude a Biblical or a conspiracy theory is correct. In fact it does the opposite as mythologies (which a mythology might not happen unless an actual event happened unrelated or semi related to the mythology at hand) have to be scrutinized, and researched.
But, how do we know the statues and drawings mean? Here is an example from https://www.britannica.com/event/Paleolithic-Period a "Venus" figure is show female sexuality and fertility, but do we know if the statue is a a Goddess? Or is it a fertility statue to protect pregnant women and bring on a healthy childbirth? In Sumer Inanna (Female God) is the provider of love, beauty, sex, desire, fertility, war, combat, justice, and political power.
A bone flute is shown, however, in order to play music one might need musical notation. If this existed, or found, then it is possible that Neolithic languages can be surely understood or found and deciphered.