Note: forwarded message attached.
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Hi Jesse,
I've made two attempts now to reply to your posting to REH-fans about Shem, but
neither seems to have gotten through. Odd, since I am supposedly one of the
moderators of the group. I've written to the admin at xenite for help, but in the
meantime I thought I would send this to you directly and ask if you would be so good
as to forward it on to the group.
Thanks,
Rusty
From: Rusty Burke <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "REH Fans" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Fri, 03 Oct 2003 11:06:11 -0400
Subject: Re: [rehfans] Shem
> jesse white wrote:
>
> There is strong evidence
>that Howard's physical descriptions seem to point
>towards the Shemites being a proto-semetic people,
Unquestionably.
>on the other hand, names such as Belit seem to me to
>be confirmed ancient persian. (Who's Who in The
>Ancient Near East, Gwendolyn Leik, 1999 Routledge
>Press) What are your thoughts?
In Howard's library was a book by Zénaïde A. Ragozin titled THE STORY
OF ASSYRIA, on page 19 of which may be found:
"Another interesting detail in the same direction is that, the planet
Venus appearing in the evening, soon after sunset, and then again in the
early morning, just before dawn, it was called Ishtar at night and Bêlit
at dawn, as a small tablet expressly informs us; a distinction which,
apparently confusing, rather tends to confirm the fundamental identity
between the two, -- Ishtar, "the goddess," and Bêlit, "the lady."
There is a footnote here that refers the reader to the author's THE STORY
OF CHALDEA, p. 245. Whether Howard had a copy of, or access to, this book
is unknown. The brief passage above would be more than enough to create an
impression, in his mind, that Bêlit was a Semitic goddess, basically
identical with Ishtar. Here is a more detailed discussion from Ragozin's
CHALDEA:
"And as all the gods were in reality only different names and forms of the
Supreme and Unfathomable ONE, so all the goddesses represent only BELIT,
the great feminine principle of nature -- productiveness, maternity,
tenderness -- also contained, like everything else, in that ONE, and
emanating from it in endless succession. Hence it comes that the goddesses
of the Chaldeo-Babylonian religion, though different in name and apparently
in attributions, become wonderfully alike when looked at closer. They are
all more or less reptitions of BELIT, the wife of BEL. Her name -- which
is only the feminine form of the god's, meaning 'the Lady,' as Bel means
'the Lord,' -- sufficiently shows the two are really one."
Rusty
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