古代メソポタミアの人々にとっての光と闇

概要

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In the Genesis of the Old Tastement, the God created at first the heaven and the earth. The earth was deserted and empty and there was a darkness. Then the God created the light. We may understand that, for the authors of the Old Tastement, the light created after the darkness. Anyway, it is clear that the light and the darkness are the most important elements for the human life. In this paper, I try to collect, among the akkadian materials, especially myths and literature, a certain number of terms which mean “light, clear, radiance, sheen, etc.” as well as “dark. darkness etc.”, and examine their exact significations with context. It is not an easy work. However I found at least that the people was particularly sensitive of supernatural awe−inspiring sheen. Such a sheen made them think of the extreme power of the gods, who were immortal. Human beings were of course mortal and destined to go, after the death, to the Netherland where there were only the darkness. So then, the people of Mesopotamia tried to enjoy their lifetime, eating and drinking, taking bath and clothing and passing the time with their family, as a scene of the “Gilgamesh Epic” tells us.