Welcome to the 2022 A to Z Blogging Challenge! My theme this year is Gemstone Folklore. Because I love stories about shiny things. Read the introduction to the project here.
LAPIS LAZULI
Lapis lazuli is a metamorphic rock of intense blue color that has been mined for millennia. It often contains pyrite with gives it gold-colored veins. In the middle ages, it was the source of ultramarine blue pigment.
Inanna's descent into the Underworld
Sumer
This old Sumerian myth from about 4000 years ago tells the story of the goddess Inanna's journey into "The Land of No Return." The goddess of beauty, sex, and war (among other things) dresses in her finest, and descends down into the underworld to visit her elder sister Ereskhigal, queen of the dead. Among her adornments whe wears a necklace of lapis lazuli beads, and carries a lapis lazuli measuring rod and measuring line. Ereshkigal herself lives in a palace made of lapis lazuli. Passing through seven gates, Inanna's adornments are taken away one by one - including the beads and the measuring instruments - until she enters the palace naked, and is turned into a corpse. Later on, she is brought back to life.
Lapis lazuli figures into the mythology of Inanna and Ereshkigal in other texts as well. In the Babylonian epic of Gilgamesh (which is claimed to be inscribed on tablets of lapis lazuli itself), Gilgamesh makes various offerings to the gods at his partner Enkidu's funeral. He offers a cup of lapis lazuli to Ereshkigal, and a chair and staff of lapis lazuli to Namtar, her underworld vizier. When Inanna tries to seduce the king, she promises him a chariot of gold and lapis lazuli.
Also, when Uta-napishti tells Gilgamesh the story of the epic deluge he'd survived, he mentions another mother goddess, Belet-ili. Belet-ili mourns for humanity swept away by the flood, and after it ends, she appears to the survivors. She makes an oath to remember the deluge, and swears on her necklace of flies carved for lapis lazuli. Apparently she received the precious necklace from her lover, Anu the sky god. It is the Bablyonian equivalent of the Bible's rainbow...
What is your favorite kind of blue?
Posts
It's so pretty! I first heard of this stone in Vampire Diaries when the Salvatore brothers said their magical rings were made of it.
ReplyDeleteRonel visiting for the A-Z Challenge My Languishing TBR: L
Oh I love lapis! One of my favorite pieces of jewelry is a ring of Afghan lapis - the deep blue is so mesmerizing. I'm familiar with today's tale. I make a point to read it when Venus moves from her guise as morning star and returns as an evening star, and vice versa. When she disappears, she's assumed underground, and either removing her garments in order to visit her sister, or having finished visit, reclaiming each of her garments as she leaves the underground.
ReplyDeleteOh this is super interesting!
DeleteWhat marvellous legends about lapis - a stone that's my favourite shade of blue.
ReplyDeleteLove the colors on this one.
ReplyDeleteI love all these legends and love the color of lapis lazuli indeed.
ReplyDeleteThis is some cool stuff. You've clearly done a lot of research for this A-to-Z
ReplyDeleteThose are beautiful stones and Inanna is one of my favorite stories.
ReplyDeleteBlue has such variety, but I think my favourite is cornflower blue, well in my current mood anyway. I might go for ultramarine on a different day.
ReplyDeleteOne has to wonder why Inanna kept going if things kept being taken off her. Did she have a reason for visiting her sister?
Tasha
Tasha's Thinkings: YouTube - What They Don't Tell You (and free fiction)
I love lapis lazuli. I went to a rock and mineral show a few weeks ago, and even the small specimens were too expensive for me. They've really inflated in price. My favorite blue is pretty much the color of the photo you show! My front door exterior, interior kitchen door, interior bedroom French Doors are all that blue. Near to cobalt, just a bit less purple. Lapis lazuli blue I guess.
ReplyDeleteThis beautiful stone seems to have significance for everyone who encounters it. During the middle ages and renaissance, the pigment made from it was mostly reserved for depicting the virgin Mary's robes.
ReplyDeleteL is for Language
For some reason, I really like underworld goddesses.
ReplyDeleteMy favourite blue is light greenish blue or light purplish blue.