Pami-Elyon via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
History is filled with incredible stories, some true, and many made up for entertainment, to teach a moral, to explain the unknown, or for some other reason. One topic that has many different stories is the creation of the universe itself, and according to a study published in the Journal of the Ancient Near Eastern Society “Ex Oriente Lux” one artifact may be the oldest yet to cover this subject.
The study was done based on an ancient silver cup that was found in the West Bank. It was first discovered in 1970 in the tomb of a Bronze-Age individual who was of a high ranking at the time, residing in the Judean Hills. The artifact is called the ˁAin Samiya goblet.
It is just 8 centimeters (3.1 inches) tall and estimated to be 4300 years old. The goblet is inscribed with two scenes, which contrast each other.
The first scene shows a world of chaos that is ruled by a serpent. The authors of the study explain that the scene shows a time…
“when heaven and earth, animals, and plants were fused together so that they could not develop their potential”.
On the other scene, the snake can be seen dead on the floor with two human figures holding up the sun, which represents them bringing order to the universe.
Nattering Nabob of Nanofabrication via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
There have been previous interpretations of the engravings that said that they represented Enuma Elish, which is a Babylonian creation myth involving a god named Marduk defeating an agent of chaos named Tiamat. The new study, however, say that this is unlikely since the goblet itself is over 1000 years older than the earliest recording of the Babylonian myth.
More likely, they say, the goblet is associated with the creation myth that was also found on a piece of pottery that is over 11,500 years old. That artifact is called the Lidar Höyük prism. It was found in southeast Türkiye, and it has scenes that show how the universe came into existence at a time when order overcame chaos.
Whatever the case, the ancient goblet remains an incredible artifact that will undoubtedly be studied for years to come.
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