Journal of Anthropology and Archaeology

Mythological Scenes from Ancient Mesopotamia on Elamit Cylinder Seals
Nooraddin Mehdi Ghaempanah, Reza Mehr Afarin, Malake Heydari

Abstract
Elamite civilizationis the most ancientcivilizationthat was formedinside thepresent bordersof Iran. It had dominatedlarge partsof theWesternand South-Western Iran, sincethe late fourth millenniumtill the mid-first millennium B.C. Like other ancientcivilizations, Elamite civilization had been established based onreligion andits people's beliefs. In the ancient, base of religion was formed by myths,so identification of Elamitemythscan playan important roleto understand the culture and religion ofthesepeople. Till now, any written document of Elamite myths has been obtained, but according tothe similarities between Elamand Mesopotamian culture, by comparing the my thological sceneson Elamite seals with Mesopotamianseals and myths, in this article it has been tries to present some Mesopotamian myths, those which are also common in Elam. These myths include: "Rising of Shamash", "Etana; the first king", "Zu and tablets of destiny" and "Gilgamesh".

Full Text: PDF