chapter 10 the monism of darkness and the dualism of limit and ...

104 CHAPTER 10
23. The first god in the succession series of the Epic of Kumarbi is Alalu (II)
who signifies in all likelihood the cosmic watery flow (cf. Schwabl s.v.
Weltschoepfung in PW col. 1486-7), the Ocean. Alalus’ identification with
the Sumerian En-lil (as in Meriggi, I Miti di Kumarpi Il Kronos Currico,
Athenaeum N.S. XXXI, 1953, p. 148) is erroneous (cf. e.g. Schwabl op. cit.
col. 1493) The second god in Kumarbis Epic is Anu, the god of the Sky
(III). The third is Kumarbi (IV-V), the Hettitic El=Cronos (Schwabl, op.
cit. col. 1490. 23 sqq.). Kumarbi swallows Anus’ genitals (V), like Cronos
who severs Sky’s genitals. The sovereign of the present World-Order
follows, the god of weather and atmospheric phenomena (V), Zeus. The
sequence is therefore as follows: Ocean, Sky, Cronos, Zeus precisely as the
Homeric series. The philosophical commentator of the Orphic epic in the
Derveni papyrus makes Zeus swallow the sexual organ that was the first
manifestation in aether = the Sun. The organ belongs to the Sky (Col. IX
Merkelbach = Col. XIII Janko), and is cut by Cronos (Col. X 5-9 M. = Col.
XIV 5-9 J).
24. Days light has the preceding night as mother, Aeschylus, Agamemnon 279:
Ùɘ ÓÜÓ ÙÂÎÔ‡Û˘ ÊᘠÙfi‰’ EéÊÚfiÓ˘ ϤÁˆ.
(Euphrone is the Night in a euphemistic, apotropaic and supplicatory way
of speaking). Ibid. 264-5:
Âé¿ÁÁÂÏÔ˜ ̤Ó, œÛappleÂÚ ì apple·ÚÔÈÌ›·,
≠Eˆ˜ Á¤ÓÔÈÙÔ ÌËÙÚe˜ EéÊÚfiÓ˘ apple¿Ú·.
(≠Eˆ˜ = ^HÒ˜). In Sophocles, Trachiniae 94-6, the Night, dying and
putting her clothes off (âÓ·ÚÈ˙Ô̤ÓË), gives birth to the Sun who full of
flames is put to sleep by her in the evening:
nÓ ·åfiÏ· NfÍ âÓ·ÚÈ˙Ô̤ӷ
Ù›ÎÙÂÈ Î·ÙÂ˘Ó¿˙ÂÈ Ù ÊÏÔÁÈ˙fiÌÂÓÔÓ
≠AÏÈÔÓ etc.
According to a Slovakian song the Sun declares: “my mother begets me
anew as a beautiful boy every morning and buries me every evening as a
feeble old man” (Usener, Kleine Schriften iv. 387 sq.). The tragic poet
Theodectes who was fond of propounding enigmas (cf. Hermippus apud
Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae, X 451 E sqq.) presents the relation of Day
and Night as that between two sisters who alternate in continually giving
birth to each other; Fr. 4 Nauck 2nd. ed. p. 802: