[DF] Arabian Nights questions

[Phantasm]

Originally Posted by b-dog

Maybe the Sumerian and Babylonian gods could be djinn too. Maybe in the past these pantheons of gods battled each other as they protected each civilization against the other. Once monotheism became dominant these djinn/gods were diminished but they still had the ability to teach magic and that is why wizards are often in contact with them.

If your metaphysics are "angels, demons, and djinn, representing good, evil, and neutrality", perhaps. But in our world, djinn are almost exclusively an Arabic deal; the Annunaki could be mistaken for djinn, however.

Confusing the issue is the whole "Enlil = El Ellyon = Yahweh" issue that pops up over time when tracing the Genesis timeline back to Uruk (the biblical Ur) in Sumeria. Consider that Enlil, who was later equated with the Canaanite/Hebrew Yahweh, was no friend to humanity (seriously, read the Gilgamesh epic; he sent the flood against humanity because we were too noisy!), while Enki, who is often equated with the serpent (who was later equated with Satan), was in the Sumerian/Babylonian tales was the friend, teacher, and protector of humanity, and you have to wonder which religion got it wrong and why.





I don't mean to offend anyone's sensibilities or faith, but the drift towards "all pagan gods, even the benevolent ones, were demons/djinn/capricious fae/etc." annoys and slightly offends me. Surely there's room in a setting based on Arabian Nights mythology for more than just "One True God, everyone else is a pale imitation" when a reading of the other stuff makes one wonder if perhaps the men who wrote and edited the Bible and/or Quran got stuff wrong - perhaps even intentionally. Even in Genesis, Yahweh admits other gods exist; why can't the Annunaki of Mesopotamia and/or the gods of Mount Olympus be equally powerful as Yahweh, but decided for their own reasons to let Yahweh have his three or four religions that are constantly warring between themselves?