The
site of Eridu had a special place in the Mesopotamian tradition. In Babylonian
literature the relevance of Eridu was always more religious than political. For
example, in the Sumerian King List the gods first handed kingship down to
Eridu. In Babylonian mythology Eridu was founded by the god Enki/Ea, who warned
Zuisudra, the Sumerian Noah, about the flood. Moreover, the central core of the
site of Eridu, whose name became later interchangeable with Babylon, was
Enki/Ea’s temple, called the House of the Aquifer. Our project on the
Eridu Hinterland focuses on both the cultural and symbolic functions of the
Holy Sanctuary of Enki in the Abu Shahrein landscape through more than eight
millennia. See pictures and read the entire article at -- http://asorblog.org/2017/09/12/rebuilding-eden-land-eridu/
The witnesses, laying their coats at the feet of Saul, were the men that would cast the first stones at Stephen in Acts 7. Why did they all lay their coats at Saul’s feet? The Talmud contains a very interesting account of the act of stoning that may provide the answer. “When the trial was over, they take him [the condemned person] out to be stoned. The place of stoning was at a distance from the court, as it is said, ‘Take out the one who has cursed.’ [i] A man stands at the entrance of the court; in his hand is a signaling flag [Hebrew sudarin = sudar , ‘scarf, sweater’]. A horseman was stationed far away but within sight of him. If one [of the judges] says, ‘I have something [more] to say in his favor,’ he [the signaler] waves the sudarin , and the horseman runs and stops them [from stoning him]. Even if [the condemned person] himself says, ‘I have something to say in my favor,’ they bring him back, even four of five times, only provided that there is some substance to...
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