Introducing the Deities of writing in Ancient Elam from the historical perspective

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 PhD student of Archeology, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran

2 Assistant Professor of Archaeology, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract
A look at ancient civilizations such as Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece, etc. shows that writing was mainly related to the realm of a specific Deities. Based on the available documents, we know that Elam is also one of the civilizations in which writing had a rich and ancient history; Despite this, the topic of deities of writing in the civilization of Elam has been neglected and has not received the attention of researchers in this field; Therefore, in this research, with the aim of identifying and introducing the deities of writing in ancient Elam and its relationship with the Mesopotamian and Iranian tradition, the question is asked that based on the available evidence, which deities were responsible for the domain of writing and authorship in the mythology of ancient Elam? What is the relationship between the mythological-religious attitude of ancient Elam and the Iranian and Mesopotamian attitude in the field of deities of writing? The results of the studies from the “historical approach” (comparative study of written documents with archaeological material evidence) indicate that probably Napirisha, Tirumithir / Tirutur, Nebu and perhaps Nisaba were responsible for writing in ancient Elam; Among the deities of writing, Nebu and Nisaba had Mesopotamia roots (Amorite and Sumerian, respectively) and Mesopotamian influences can also be suggested about Tirumithir / Tirutur. Meanwhile, Nebu and Napirisha were male and Nisaba was female, and we do not know the gender of Tirutur / Tirumithir. It is also possible that this Elamite tradition influenced the Iranian tradition; in particular, about the similarity of the name and epithet (Dabiri) of Izad Tir and Tirumithir / Tirutur. However, the existence of reverse effects is also possible, which is not very possible to talk about with the current evidence. Obviously, a deep understanding of the connection between Tire and Tirumithir / Tirutur depends on the discovery of data about the names of the planets and the functions of the deities in ancient Elam, the origin of Indo-Europeans and Indo-Iranians, and the connections between Elamites and Iranians.

Keywords


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  • Receive Date 05 March 2024
  • Revise Date 08 June 2024
  • Accept Date 09 July 2024
  • Publish Date 22 July 2024