| Notes on the Zagros Mountains Notes to accompany my fictional stories. by James W. Bell © 2003 |
| What follows contains some few facts, but mostly my notes on the Zagros Mountains. I have delineated my speculations by enclosing them in * [ --- ] *. For factual information about the Zagros, click here. The Zagros Mountains were located east of Sumer and were an almost impenetrable barrier to Sumerians seeking to obtain obsidian, gemstones and other high-value resources from the Indus River Civilization known to them as Meluhha. The central part of the Zagros directly east of southern Akkad and northern Sumer is a long 150-mile mountainous ridge known today as the Kabir Kuh, a ridge that runs from the vicinity of Diyala River southeast to near the Karun River. It is mostly in the modern-day Iranian province of ?l?m. In ancient times, it formed the northern extension of a land named Elam. The northern tip of the Kabir Kuh ended in the ancient land of Warum which had Eshnunna as its principal city. The southern tip reached into the Elamite province of Susiana in which Susa (modern day Shush) was its principal city and the capital of the land of Elam. Rainfall on the Kabir Kuh varies from 10 to 20 inches a year. On the east side of the range is a grassy valley holding the Saidmarreh River which legend says is where the storm god Ninurta fought the mountain god Asag in the ‘Battle of the Gods.’ The ‘Saidmarreh Landslip,” the largest landslip in the world, was supposedly a result of that battle. The Saidmarreh River southeast and merges into the Karkheh River. Der (the citadel), *[ in my stories, this fortress was built by the Sumerian god Anu to protect Sumer from the ravages of the mountain bandits ]* was built to cover the central pass crossing the Kabir Kuh (east of the modern-day city of Badra in Iraq). To see a photo of the Kabir Kuh taken from space, click here. * [ In my stories, after Enlil slew Tiamat, he cleaved her corpse in half and carried it down to place it on the Earth where it formed dry land. Tiamat’s breasts became the Zagros Mountains. When the younger gods descended from Heaven to settle upon the Earth, they chose to live in these mountains, which they named ‘The Land of the Gods.’ They built a great city named Aratta in the mountains near Zard Kuh (‘Yellow Mountain’). ] * To see photos of the Zard Kuh and descriptive text, click here. * [ As soon as the gods settled on the Earth, they found themselves subject to earthly desires and needs, including hunger. They attempted to grow food for themselves, but found the work hard and tiring. So they encouraged the lesser gods who had remained in Heaven to come down and help them. ] * * [The 600 Anunnaki were the first of the lesser gods to come down. Like the major gods living on the Earth, they also found growing food to be tiring work and refused to till the ground. Afterwards, at the time of the Flood, the Anunnaki were sent below into the Netherworld to judge those human mortals who had died. ] * * [ Next, the Igigi gods came down from Heaven but, like the Anunnaki, they found the work too hard. They downed their tools and returned to Heaven. ] * * [ Needing someone to grow food for them, the gods on the Earth asked Enki to create servants who would till the soil the soil for them. Enki created many creatures, but none were able to till the soil and grow foodstuffs suitable for the gods. Enki then conceived the idea of shaping creatures in the image of the gods and, with the help of the goddess Ninmah, he created seven pairs of human mortals, male and female and all different. He sent these creatures up to the Land of the Gods to be servants to the gods and grow food for them. ] * * [ The human mortals soon found, however, that they were treated like wild beasts, left without clothing or shelter and having to forge for themselves. They called to their creator in their distress and asked him to save them. Enki led those who wanted to leave down into the plain of Sumer. He provided them with seed for new types of barley and wheat that would grow in the lowlands. ] * * [ The humans worked together to irrigate the land and grow crops on it. The food they produced was finer and more abundant than anything produced in the mountainlands. Starting with Enlil, who left the Land of the Gods to come down and build the city of Nippur on the Euphrates River, the gods left the Land of the Gods, abandoning it to those who chose to stay. Gradually, the humans who remained behind became roving gangs of bandits. ] * * [ A young goddess born in the mountainlands, by name of Innin, took charge of the City of Aratta after the other gods left and appointed herself its queen. In the course of queenship, she met Anu, the god who founded Der, a fortress in the mountain pass to protect the land of Sumer from the bandits. He became infatuated with young Innin and her audacity. He renamed her Inanna, Queen of Heaven, Inanna. After that, Inanna left the mountainlands to come down to Sumer and become the tutelary goddess of Zabalam. ] * * [ This left the mountainlands, once called The Land of the Gods, abandoned by all save the old mountain storm god, Ishkur, the roving bands of bandits and the brave shepherds who ventured into its foothills to graze their flocks. ] * |