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Rougette Gallery
Sandra Bart Heimann Art
All Images copyright of the artist
click on art for larger picture
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"Songs From Sumeria" -
Paintings
The ancient
Sumerian text which inspired each painting accompany each image.
Scroll to the end of this page to read more about Sandy's research.
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"(Inanna) of her
grandeur, of her greatness, of her exceeding nobility, of her
brilliant coming forth in the evening sky, of her lighting up in the
sky, a pure torch, of her stepping up onto the sky like moon and
sun, noted by all lands from south to north of the greatness of the
holy one of heaven, to the young lady I will sing!" Thorkill Jacabsen (translating from "Hymn to Inanna as warrior, star, and bride") |
"Sister, who have your fill of lofty trees, Lordly Queen, who have
your fill of lofty trees..." (Utu (sun god and sometimes brother of Inanna) addresses her.) Samuel N. Kramer (translator) The Sacred Marriage Rite |
(Inanna sings to her
beloved, Damuzi, for the sacred marriage to initiate kingship and to
bring fertility for the year.) "When for the wild bull...I shall have bathed... When for the shepherd Dumuzi, I shall have bathed..." Samuel N. Kramer (translator) |
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"Magnificent one (Inanna),
lioness amoung the Igigi (gods) who make the angry gods relent" Chikako E. Watanabe (translator) |
(The Imdugud Bird is also known as Anzu or Zu and is the powerful
thunder storm appearing like a black eagle with wings out stretched
as it rises over the southern horizon. The roar of thunder is
represented by a lion head.) "Imdugud-bird (Anzu), the heavens quake, whose fierce majesty reaches heaven." Samuel N, Kramer (translator) |
(Inanna finds a sacred tree, tends and grows it in her garden until
it is ready to be made into her throne and bed.) "...at that time, a tree, a single tree, a huluppu-tree was planted by the banks of the Euphrates. The whirling South Wind arose, pulling at its roots and ripping at its roots and ripping at its branches until the waters of the Euphrates carried it away... (Inanna) plucked the tree from the river and spoke: I shall bring this tree to Uruk. I shall plant this tree in my holy garden. Inanna cared for the tree with her hand. She settled the earth around the tree with her foot. She wondered: How long will it be until I have a shining throne to sit upon? How long will it be until I have a shining bed to lie upon?" Diane Wolkstein and Samuel N. Kramer (translaters) |
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(Inanna) "Steps, yes she
steps her narrow foot on the furred back of a wild lapis lazuli bull
and she goes out. White-sparked, radiant in the dark vault of
evening's sky star-steps in the street through the Gates of Wonder." Betty De Shong Meader (translator) |
"The numen-plant is a
fire-kindler, it cannot be tied into bundles... Having kindled a
fire, it spreads wide. The numen-plant, among the
bitter waters that are its habitat hops about: I will set, I will
set fire'. It set fire to the base of the Eanna (Inanna's
temple house) there it was bound, there it was fettered, when it
protested, Inanna seized a raven (death bird), set over it.
The shepherd abandoned his sheep in their enclosures (offerings) to
Inanna who had seized the raven." Samuel N, Kramer (translator) |
(Dogs were guardians of the doorway
for protection both in the earthly and spirit realms. Painted
figurines were placed in or under entry gates) White dogs with red spots were those: "who make evil go out...who lets the good ones enter." Samuel N, Kramer (translator) |
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"Once upon a time, there was
no snake, there was no scorpion, there was no hyena, there was no
lion, there was no wild dog, no wolf, there was no fear, no
terror..." Samuel N, Kramer (translator) |
"In primeval
days, in distant days, in primeval nights, in far off primeval
nights in primeval years, in distant primeval years - in ancient
days when everything vital had been brought into existence...the
great earth-crust was resplendent, it's surface was jewel-green, the
wide earth-- it's surface was covered with precious metals and lapis
lazuli, it was adorned with diorite, nir-stone, carnelian,
the earth was arrayed luxuriantly in plants and herbs, it's presence
was majestic...." |
Nammu by herself
created heaven (an) and earth (ki) mingled together. from the primal
water.) "The mother, who gave birth to heaven and Earth." Samuel N, Kramer (translator) |
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Deer is associated with Diane the Moon Goddess and ancient celebrations of cycles of renewal. |
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Butterfly has long been a symbol/metaphor of transformation. |
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The big cats were depicted
in Neolithic and Bronze age art associated with Great Mother as
protector as she gave birth to all life. The python was
revered as part of the natural cycles of death and renewal, and
associated with intuition and seeing. Birds of all sorts were sacred
symbols of the great Mother. Vulture was the purifier who
cleaned the bones for burial and rest before new beginnings. |
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"We became human, not when we first made tools, but when we first
told stories. The people of Sumer(ia) were non-Semitic (based on their language) whose earlier roots are not known,. They made their way to present day Iraq and Iran as the glacial melting subsided. The Neolithic farmers settled along the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates and formed complex population centers surrounded by agriculture. They invented irrigation, had bicameral forms of governance, and a richly woven mythology to explain the creative life force energy, natural phenomena, and how their universe and existence came into being. Writing was invested in Sumer(ia). By the 3rd millennium BC, Sumerian pictographs evolved and emerged as wedge shaped impressions representing syllabic sounds. The trained scribes recorded the old oral tradition of stories and myths. The wedge shaped (cuneiform) impressions made by a reed stylus into damp clay tablets were collected by the thousands as the Near East came under the spades of archeologists in recent centuries. The Sumerian tablets have been translated only for the last 10 years. Thousands of dusty tablets were taken from museum closets and pieced together; we are able to learn directly from scribal writing 4000-5000 years old: who the "black haired" people were, how they lived and organized, in what they believed, and their song-poems for praising and petitioning their divine pantheon. The most popular divine personality was the goddess Inanna. Her lineage is likely from the earliest big belief systems, a great Goddess. Inanna is chthonic, strong, indomitable, and able to tame or incite the gods. She is the evening start and the morning star (our Venus) and had twice the temple listings as the next most popular deity. Inanna was Queen of heaven and earth, multi-faceted and fascinating. She assured fertility of the land through her allure; her bed granted kingship and is the origin of the "sacred marriage rite". She was goddess of : love, storehouse, weather, war, and judgments. Her animal emblems were the lion and Imdugud (Anzu) bird. She was always young aristocratic, impetuous, and owner of the mes (powers and duties). Inanna loved her "black-haired" people and they loved her. Sumerian Inanna was the prototype for Aphrodite, Venus, Anat, Anath, and other goddesses." Sandra Bart Heimann These paintings emerged while Heimann researched the translated song-poems for a book on the sacred feminine which she is writing. She researched during her mornings and painted during the afternoon. |
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