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WHEN THE KING BECAME A GOD

 

In Hittite texts the death of a king not only was considered taboo word but the entire fabric of words was designed to avoid offending the monarch. Hittites used the expression 'the king became a god' instead of 'the king died'. As a sign of respect Hittites added ubiquitously the suffix -ili to the name of a king to solidify the worship of a king even while he was alive. This particular suffix meant 'god' among Semitic people adjacent to the Hittites. Near the ancient Wilusa in Asia Minor lived Dardanians, an Illyrian tribe. The founders of Ilios, Illyrians used the same practice as Hittites to deify their own kings. The origin of Indo European suffix -ili 'god' is in the ancient Uruk, the kingdom of Sumerians who regularly added the title of Enlil to the name of a king.

 

 

 

 

 

It is obvious that Indo European sun god was created after the Sumerian god Enlil. Enlil, lord wind, Mesopotamian (Sumerian) [Iraq], is god of the air. He was worship from 3500 BC, or before, to about 1750 BC. The son of primordial An and Ki, Enlili was the tutelary deity of Nippur where, in his honor, the Ehur sanctuary was built, not rediscovered, and he became the most important god of southern Mesopotamia during the third millennium BC. His consort was Ninlil who was impregnated by the "waters of Emlil" to give birth to the moon god Nanna. (In the Akkadian pantheon his consort becomes Mulliltu.) He is depicted in a horned headdress and a tiered skirt, or by a horned crown on a pedestal.

 

According to the Hymn to Enlil, he works alone and unaided. He is said to have made the pickax, "caused the good to come forth," and "brought forth seed from the earth." He was invoked to bless his cities to ensure prosperity and abundance. So great was his importance that other tutelary deities were said to have traveled to Nippur to give Enlil offerings. Enlil created several deities concerned with the overseeing of the natural world. In his destructive aspect, he permitted the birth goddess to kill at birth and was responsibility for miscarriages in cows and ewes. His believers saw him manifest himself in both benevolence and destructive violence. His natural status was gradually decreased in the Babylonian and Assyrian pantheons, being superseded by Marduk and Assur. A.G.H.

 

 

Enlil

by Micha F. Lindemans

 

In ancient Sumero-Babylonian myth, Enlil ("lord wind") is the god of air, wind and storms. Enlil is the foremost god of the Mesopotamian pantheon, and is sometimes referred to as Kur-Gal ("great mountain"). In the Sumerian cosmology he was born of the union of An heaven and Ki earth. These he separated, and he carried off the earth as his portion. In later times he supplanted Anu as chief god. His consort is Ninlil with whom he has five children: Nanna, Nerigal, Ningirsu, Ninurta, and Nisaba.

Enlil holds possession of the Tablets of Destiny which gives him power over the entire cosmos and the affairs of man. He is sometimes friendly towards mankind, but can also be a stern and even cruel god who punishes man and sends forth disasters, such as the great Flood which wiped out humanity with the exception of Atrahasis. Enlil is portrayed wearing a crown with horns, symbol of his power. His most prestigious temple was in the city Nippur, and he was the patron of that city. His equivalent is the Akkadian god Ellil.

 

 

Ellil

by Micha F. Lindemans

 

The Akkadian god of earth and wind. He is the son of Ansar and Kisar, the primordial deities, and the father of the moon god Sin. Together with Ea and Anu he forms a powerful triad of gods in the ancient Mesopotamian religion. He is represented wearing a headband which is decorated with horns. He is equivalent to the Sumerian god Enlil.

 

 

Ellil is one of the most important gods of Mesopotamia. Ellil is so powerful that the other gods can't even look at him. He is therefore only shown as a horned cap. The Hebrews called him Elohim which means basically god. What is striking about the list of Sumerian kings is that the kings are divided into two groups - those who ruled before a great flood and those who ruled after it.  Equally striking is that the lengths of the reigns (and life spans) of these kings drastically decreased after the flood, as did life spans of people recorded in the Bible. The very idea of a monotheistic god, the very fabric of Judaism and then Christianity was actually based on the Babylonian hierarchy of gods where Enlil was the god of air, land, earth, and men's fates. He later became the head of the gods. He was responsible for the Great Flood. Since all Indo European languages use the same root lemma for the sun god identical with Ellil, this is a proof that all Indo European languages derive from the same ancestor language spoken in Asia Minor. Illyrians could have been the first Indo Europeans to worship a sun god called Ellil. The simultaneous practice of Hittite and Illyrian priestly class to call a king Enlil means that those people shared the same kingship, the same customs and origin.

 

The first recorded Illyrian king was Hyllus (The Star) whose death was recorded in 1225 B.C. The deification of the first Illyrian king corresponds to the rein of the last Hittite king. The ancient custom of king deification was subsequently revived after the death of Bardylis who reigned from 385 to 358 BC. The deification tradition was refreshed after the death of Bardylis II - attested in 295 to 290 BC. There was another deification of Mytilius- attested about 270 BC. The last king to be deified was Skerdilaidas - who reigned from 212 to 206 BC. In Latin, Albanian and other Indo European tongues -il suffix lost its divine value and became a diminutive, marking affection.

 

 

 

The Illyrian King List

 

Hyllus (The Star) whose death was recorded in 1225 B.C.

Bardylis - Usurper and founder of this dynasty. Reigned 385 to 358 BC.

Grabus - Attested in 356 BC.

Pleuratus - Testified in 344 BC.

Kleitus - Son of Bardylis. Attested in 335 BC.

Glaukias - Ruler of the Taulanti and then Illyrian king from 317 to 303 BC.

Bardylis II - Attested in 295 to 290 BC he was the son of Kleitus.

Monunius - Attested in 280 BC.

Mytilius- Attested about 270 BC.

Pleuratus - Founder of this dynasty. Attested in 260 BC (?).

Agron - Son of Pleuratus. Reigned from 250 to 230 BC.

Pinnes - Reigned from 230 to 217 BC.

Skerdilaidas - Reigned from 212 to 206 BC.

Pleuratus - Son of Skerdilaidas. Reigned from 205 to 180 BC.

Gentius - Son of Pleuratus. Ruled from 180 to 168 BC.

 

 

Illyrians were not the first people to identify their king with a god. Virtually every great civilization employed the device of deification of its kings. Other cultures, namely Sumerians, Egyptians based their entire fabric of their society around a king who was believed to be god on earth. Yet of all Indo European people only Hittites and Illyrians employed the -ili suffix to denote the sacred nature of a dead king. Since the custom of calling a king 'god' came from Asia Minor it is natural to believe that Hittites and Illyrians stemmed from the same craddle of civilization. The elevation of kings to the status of a god is the tip of the iceberg since Illyrians (Albanians) and Hittites share their basic Indo European inherited root words. Both Hittites and Illyrians use the epithet alba 'white' to classify the white race of indo Europeans. Illyrians were named after their kinship to Ilios, Wilusa in Hittite texts. But they were also named Albanians 'white people' in contrast to other colored races in Mesopotamia.

 

 

ALBANIAN AN ILLYRIAN DIALECT

 

Ancient civilizations were organized around city states. People who lived around those city states were often named after the capital of their kingdom. Romans were initially called Latin but their name changed after their introduction of Romulus’ myth (the legendary founder of Rome) in the Etruscan capital of Alba Longa. Hittites were named after their capital Hattusas and their deified king was called Hattus-ili. Similarly Athenians were named the champion of their city, goddess Athena. Albanians (as one of innumerous Illyrian tribes) were named after their city state Albanopolis near a mountain called Alp 'mountain', Hittite alpa 'white'. The most spectacular name belonged to Dardanus (founder of Troy) because it is related to the myth of the Great Flood (which allegedly took place after the last ice age) hence it should be one of the oldest tribal names among Illyrians who like Greeks, Celts and Romans were obsessed with their divine ancestry. The origin of gods and myths of creation were not pure fantasy but instruments for survival. Ancient people were divided into two categories - those who were condemned to be slaves and those who were born to rule. Those people who failed to come up with a convincing divine lineage were often condemned to be slain, mutilated and exterminated. There was no mercy for godless ancestors. That is why Greeks embraced Hellen, Illyrians adored Hyllus and Romans worshiped Romulus. People even altered the myths, changed the names, ignored their real ancestors and abandoned inherited names to adopt new idols which were more fashionable at that time. It seems that the name Albania 'white' was not attractive enough to Albanians since it didn't carry any significant weight. Actually the descendants of Illyrians preferred another name - the imperial double headed eagle. Romans had always employed the single head eagle as their military ensign or standard. When Illyrian generals got elevated to the imperial throne they introduced the Hittite double headed eagle they had inherited from their Anatolian ancestors. (There is still a mountainous region in Albania called Hoti similar to ancient HATTI - the capital of Hittites.)

 

Hittites together with Persians probably borrowed the symbol of double headed eagle from an older civilization - Sumerian. Here there is the image of the double headed eagle at Persepolis - capital of the ancient Persian Empire.

 

The final proof that Illyrians had employed the double headed eagle before they introduced that symbol to Roman standards exists in the city of Sirkap (Pakistan). Along the main street of Sirkap, the ancient city, sits the Double-Headed Eagle Shrine.  Its original name is lost, but is now referred to as the double-Headed Eagle Shrine because of the bird bas-relief that adorns the arch (images two and three). The Double-Headed Eagle Shrine was built by Macedonian, Greek and Illyrian soldiers. Alexander the Great employed Illyrian and Greek troops in his campaign to India.

The eagle was considered to be the sacred bird of Jupiter - the sky god among Indo Europeans.