The God Oannes: the wise alien out of the sea
What do we know about Oannes who came from the sea?
You have surely heard of the Babylonian deities, many of whom over the centuries shared with the Assyrian people.
One of the many was Oannes, a fish-like humanoid being.
The story about the creation of the world and humanity starts from afar with Berosus, based on the Enuma Elish is actually lost but appears summarized in the Armenian tradition by Eusebius in the “Chronicon” and then is translated by Gerald Verbrugghe and John Wickersham .
Berosus tells us about an entity that came from the sea of Eritrea and that contributed in a preponderant way to the spread of civilization on our planet, he was half man and half fish.
This creature explained the sciences, law, astronomy, agriculture, mathematics, legislation, how to sow and plow fields and much, much more.
A bit ‘the story of what happened with the Dogon people, was it perhaps the same being?
Some curiosities about Oannes:
During the reign of Ammenon, the third of the ten antediluvian kings whose dynasty ended with Xisuthros, the Chaldean Noah, appeared.
Oannes spent his days with men and never ate, at night he retired to the sea, he was an amphibious being, Polistoro and Apollodorus also tell us.
He belonged to two planes, the spiritual and the physical.
The Greek word “amphibios” means “life on two planes” from “amhpi” “on two sides” and bios-life.
A curiosity, Sumerian mythology often depicts the god Enki in the Abzu the kingdom of water but also in Hindu mythology we find similarities, for example Varuna, the water god of Vedism is almost identical to Oannes.
He came out of an egg, the myth tells us, showing his fish body, but whose head was human as well as the feet joined to the fish tail, even voice language were typical of the human being.
According to Layard, the fish head was actually a hat, the miter, the one that prelates and priests wear, the Goddess Osiris herself wore one and the fish tail would be the final part of a rigid cloak, a train in simple words.
Oannes is defined a creature “Musari” or “Anecdotes” the word means something repulsive, while the word “Mursarus” means abomination, I allow myself in my small way to disagree with Layard on the fact that those worn by Oannes were simple furnishings, I don’t think at the time they were unable to fail to distinguish simple ornaments on a figure, when in fact it may have been a full-fledged monstrous being as described.
The myth of the fish men is also present in the sumerical inscriptions in cuneiform, here 7 wise men are referred to the Apkallu (Akkadian) and Abgal (Sumerian: ????????)
The seven wise men: The Apkallu
In various contexts the Apkallu are seven demigods, associated with human wisdom; these creatures are often referred to in academic literature as the Seven Sages.
Also described as fish-men sent by the gods to teach mankind knowledge.
The terms Apkallu (as well as Abgal) are also used as an epithet for kings and gods as a sign of wisdom or knowledge.
A further use of the term Apkallu is when referring to figurines used in apotropaic rituals; these figurines include fish-man hybrids representing the seven sages, but also include bird heads and other figures.
What to say? the usual allegory? coincidentally, different peoples, in different periods with different cultures tell, represent and describe almost the same traditions.
A case?
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Cesare Valocchia
