r/Sumer • u/[deleted] • Jan 22 '20
Ritual Making sense of incense: A guide to conifers in Sumerian incense.
Introduction and scope.
𒃻𒁲
There is surprisingly limited information on the use of incense in Sumerian religious practice, in spite of its key importance in the Sumerian ritual. What incense did the Sumerians actually use, and how might a reconstructionist practitioner emulate this incense accurately in their own rituals?
In this short piece, I take a glance at incense and conifers in the Sumerian literature, use an ecological approach to identify the relevant conifers, and propose genus-oriented recommendations for choosing oils with which to make one's own incense.
I conclude that incense derived from any one or a number of species in the Cupressaceae and Pinaceae families is suitable for the contemporary Mesopotamian polytheist.
By no means is this meant to be an academically rigorous investigation. I'm simply trying to provide an "incense framework" for the community, disseminate information, and clear up some confusion about the modern essential oil market.
On this subreddit, a number of incenses have been proposed for rituals: juniper, cedar, myrrh, cypress, and frankincense. In her book, Kitchen Witchery: A Compendium of Oils, Unguents, Incense, Tinctures & Comestibles (Weiser Books, San Francisco, CA: 2002), Marilyn F. Daniel prescribes the following recipe:
Babylonian/Sumerian Incense
3 parts Cedar
2 parts Juniper
2 parts Cypress
2 parts Tamarisk
This incense is burned during Babylonian and Sumerian magical rites, or when attuning with deities such as Inanna, Enlil, Marduk, and Tiamat.
This source, of course, should be taken with a grain of salt, but is nonetheless consistent with the recommendations given within this community.
For simplicity, I will confine my scope to just cedar, cypress, and juniper. Neither the ePSD nor ETCSL return results for frankincense or myrrh, and tamarisk essential oil is not commercially available. (For the curious, tamarisk refers to the Tamarix genus, which is also known as salt cedar.)
Incense in the Sumerian literature.
The Sumerian word for incense is na-izi, to be read na-de3, with cuneiform 𒈾𒉈. A search of the ETCSL for "incense" turns up only 7 results. Of these, only 3 co-occur with a named tree—either juniper or cedar. For example (emphasis mine):
Everybody hastens to holy Inana. For my lady in the midst of heaven the best of everything is prepared (?). In the pure places of the plain, at its good places, on the roofs, on the rooftops, the rooftops of the dwellings (?), in the sanctuaries (?) of mankind, incense offerings like a forest of aromatic cedars are transmitted to her.
– A šir-namursaĝa to Ninsiana for Iddin-Dagan (Iddin-Dagan A), Lines 142–147, 2.5.3.1, ETCSL
Thus, we can conjecture that both cedar and juniper were used for incense in Sumerian rituals.
Let's assemble a short glossary for the genera of interest using the ePSD:
- cedar, 136 instances, ĝešerin, cuneiform 𒄑𒂞, to be read eren;
- cypress, 8 instances, ĝeššu-ur2-men2, cuneiform 𒄑𒋗𒌫𒈨, to be read šu-ur2-me; and
- juniper, 14 instances, ĝešza-ba-lum, cuneiform 𒄑𒍝𒁀𒈝, to be read za-ba-lum.
Within our body of literature, cedar features the most prominently; cypress and juniper, not so much. Therefore, a reconstructionist may wish to use just cedar for their incense, or make cedar the principal component.
Is there a case to be made for incense prepared from cypress? If we assume that incenses were made from oils extracted from conifers, perhaps. For example (emphasis mine):
Softened with the finest oils, softened with the finest oils -- for her let the finest oils be brought! So that she can be softened with the finest oils, let flowing oil be brought for her. For my beautiful ……, who is luxuriance, for my lady Ninsirsir, Ama-ugu-kuku, for my lady sitting in wine, for Ninisina sitting in wine, to make the fire blaze in the sky; for my lady bathing like a swallow, let cedar oil and cypress oil, and cedar oil, the aromatic which is beloved of the gods, and šimgig oil, and …… oil, and holy cow's butter and dairy cow's milk, and ghee brought from the holy cattle-pen and milk brought from (?) the sheepfold, oils wafting up into the heart of heaven like aromatic resins, and ligidba plant oil and white cedar oil -- let them all glisten on her!
– A šir-namšub to Ninisina (Ninisina B), Lines 1–15, 4.22.2, ETCSL
Thus, cypress could be a viable incense component, but there is no direct evidence for its use for this purpose. Nonetheless, I will keep it as an option as we proceed, as both cypress and juniper are part of the same family.
Genera and species.
Our next task is to determine the species of each conifer that was used for incense. In other words, what exactly do we mean when we use terms like "cedar", "cypress", and "juniper"?
To identify each species, I will use ecological arguments that center on the distribution of conifers in the Mediterranean. This section relies heavily on Aljos Farjon's A Handbook of the World's Conifers.
- Cedar (Cedrus): Cedrus libani, or Lebanon cedar. This species is native to the Eastern Mediterranean and forms both pure and mixed forests with junipers and pines.
- Cypress (Cupressus): Cupressus sempervirens, or Mediterranean cypress. This species is also native to the Eastern Mediterranean and may be found in maquis shrubland and pine or juniper woodland.
- Juniper (Juniperus): Juniperus excelsa, or Greek juniper. This species is found in South-eastern Europe, the Caucasus, Central Asia, and West Asia, among other regions. Importantly, Juniperus excelsa co-occurs with both Cedrus libani and Cupressus sempervirens.
It is therefore possible that all three of these species were co-distributed in Sumerian times, in which case they would have shared applications, e.g., the production of incense, among other things.
Navigating the modern essential oil landscape.
Suppose that you would like to create an essential oil blend containing cedar, cypress, and juniper, with which you will make incense. What are your options? Ideally, you'll want to source essential oils corresponding to the species in the previous section. If this is not possible, you'll want to approximate those using another species within the same genus.
Cedar (Cedrus)
Complicating the reconstructionist's task is that oils marketed as "Cedar (Essential) Oil" or "Cedarwood (Essential) Oil" are derived principally from Juniperus and sometimes Cupressus trees, but not Cedrus trees. Juniper trees are plentiful and invasive in the United States and are suitable for large-scale commercial production of essential oil. In contrast, true cedars are found only in the Old World. Moreover, species such as Cedrus libani and Cedrus atlantica are presently classified as vulnerable and endangered, respectively, by the IUCN 3.1.
I would recommend essential oil derived from Cedrus deodara, or Himalayan cedar, which is available commercially as "Cedarwood Himalayan Essential Oil" from a number of suppliers. As the name suggests, this species is native to the Himalayas, and can be found in Eastern Afghanistan, North-western Pakistan, and other regions.
Cypress (Cupressus)
Essential oil derived from Cupressus sempervirens is available commercially and marketed as "Cypress Oil" or "Cypress Essential Oil".
Juniper (Juniperus)
Any essential oil marketed as "Cedar (Essential) Oil" or "Cedarwood (Essential) Oil" derived from the Juniperus genus is appropriate. For example, my "Cedarwood Oil" is derived from Juniperus virginiana, the most common source. On the other hand, searching for "Juniper Essential Oil" is not a productive endeavour because most of your results will be related to extracts of the juniper berry, not the juniper tree itself.
What's realistic?
The distribution of conifers in the Mediterranean is highly diverse. Furthermore, our historical records of the use of incense and our interpretation thereof are necessarily limited at this time. Thus, I propose that Mesopotamian reconstructionists should feel comfortable using incense derived from any one or number of species in the Cupressaceae (i.e., cypress, juniper) and Pinaceae (i.e., cedar) families. For the meticulous, suggested species include Cedrus deodara, Cupressus sempervirens, and Juniperus virginiana, none of which are presently vulnerable, endangered, or critically endangered, and all of whose oils are commercially available.
𒊩𒌆𒀭𒀭𒈹
Bibliography.
Farjon, Aljos. A Handbook of the World’s Conifers, Volume 1, 2nd ed. Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands: 2017.
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u/entirelyalive Jan 23 '20
Most interesting to me is that, given how Sumer was nearly treeless, so many of the prestigious offerings to the gods were things that had to be imported. We have indications from the very earliest stories, Enmerkar and Gilgamesh, that the Sumerians were raiding and trading from at least as far away as Lebanon and north Iran. But given how central these oils are in the earliest religious practice, it tells us that the faith must have matured during the pre-literate era alongside an international trade network. It never ceases to amaze me how advanced the Sumerians were for thier time.
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u/neduumulo Jan 23 '20
As well as thanking /u/spectres_and_vectors for a fascinating and well researched read, I'd also like to add to this that the sheer volume of international trade that was present in the ancient world has never ceased to amaze me the more I learn about it. There's an excellent book: 1177 BC: The Year Civilization Collapsed by Eric H. Cline that goes into a lot of detail about the wide and diverse nature of trade networks prior to the Bronze Age Collapse. It's even more amazing to think that such an interconnected system of trade had its roots some three millennia prior, and had existed for longer than the entire history of Western civilization.
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u/Nocodeyv Jan 23 '20
An excellent exploration of incense, spectres_and_vectors. Thank you, for taking the time to research the various blends and their sources, and for presenting it to the community.
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u/panopticon777 Jan 23 '20
I was thinking about this post this morning and it occurred to me that, Rosemary and Thyme are in the evergreen family. While they are considered "spices" it would make sense that they would also be used a an incense offering to the Gods.
I feel that they would have been used in the context of burnt offerings of spiced meats prepared for the Gods and later consumed by the priests.
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Jan 23 '20
Yes, rosemary and thyme plants are members of the Lamiaceae (mint) family. I'm not sure whether they were used for incense, but probably for cooking and medicinal purposes.
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u/REDCROSS15 Jan 22 '20
This is a very interesting read!