

The Origin
Of
Our Belief In God
by Erik Langkjer

Part I: El and Baal, the Shepherd and the Hunter
6. The Nabataean Tammuz and the Mandaean Baba ("Father")
These transformations could be the key to what Ibn Wa´hshijah has preserved about a Nabataean Tammuz. He translates into Arabic from a book on "Nabataean Agriculture":
In this there is a long report on Tammuz who was the first to teach a king to honour the 7 planets and the 12 signs of the Zodiac. The king had him killed, but after each execution he came back to life. After that the king had him executed 3 times, one after the other and in a very cruel manner, but after each execution he would come back to life until the third and last, after which he finally stayed dead[1].
This information about the Nabataean Tammuz is very important because, in spite of its shortness, it contains the very kernel of the myth about the god of vegetation. He can not die, but after each cruel execution he comes back to life in a new form, cf the English folksong about Jack Barleycorn, who is cut down by his ankle (I death), cast to the ground, bound and threshed with clubs (II death), and finally grinded between millstones (III death), and yet he lives in the fermented drink. Also Osiris is killed two times, and yet he comes back to life in his son Horus (to take revenge).
Also the Mandaean writings have preserved many traces of old folk religion:
"Sheep (Ram) is the chief of all creations ... For they call it 'Ram' and all mothers at their pregnancy call it 'my impregnator' because all things proceed from it ... Ewe and Ram (tata u baba) ... there is nothing like unto these two ancient and powerful primeval beginnings" The ram is the symbol of the life-giving juice: "…the lamb is of water, and water of life is the soul implanted in it, derived from it".[2]
[1] Chwolson, Die Ssabier, II, p.606
[2] E.S.Drower, The Thousand and Twelve Questions, 1960, pp.175f.


Disclaimer:
Some material presented will contain links, quotes, ideologies, etc., the contents of which should be understood to first, in their whole, reflect the views or opinions of their editors, and second, are used in my personal research as "fair use" sources only, and not espousement one way or the other. Researching for 'truth' leads one all over the place...a piece here, a piece there. As a researcher, I hunt, gather and disassemble resources, trying to put all the pieces into a coherent and logical whole. I encourage you to do the same. And please remember, these pages are only my effort to collect all the pieces I can find and see if they properly fit into the 'reality aggregate'.
Personal Position:
I've come to realize that 'truth' boils down to what we 'believe' the facts we've gathered point to. We only 'know' what we've 'experienced' firsthand. Everything else - what we read, what we watch, what we hear - is what someone else's gathered facts point to and 'they' 'believe' is 'truth', so that 'truth' seems to change in direct proportion to newly gathered facts divided by applied plausibility. Though I believe there is 'truth', until someone representing the celestial realm visibly appears and presents the heavenly records of Facts And Lies In The Order They Happened, I can't know for sure exactly what "the whole truth' on any given subject is, and what applies to me applies to everyone. Until then I'll continue to ask, "what does The Urantia Book say on the subject?"
~Gail Bird Allen