Water

Mesopotamian tradition

• Water is associated with Flood.

  The Gilgamesh flood is water as world-covering disaster, survived by Utnapishtim. It is not baptism and not Daoist softness.

  from Epic of Gilgamesh, c. 1200 BCE (this recension)

  associated with · sourced · documented

• Water is associated with Underworld.

  Gilgamesh’s journeys include waters that bound the world of the dead and the far-away. Mesopotamian waters of the dead are not the Styx by another name until later readers say so.

  from Epic of Gilgamesh, c. 1200 BCE (this recension)

  associated with · partially sourced · documented

Daoism

• Water appears in Daoism.

  Daoist writing often praises water’s lowliness and persistence. That is a Chinese philosophical use of water, not a flood epic.

  appears in · interpretive · culturally specific

Alchemy

• Water is associated with Transformation.

  Alchemical work uses dissolution. Water here is a solvent in a craft, not Utnapishtim’s flood.

  from Tabula Smaragdina (Emerald Tablet), medieval Latin tradition (Arabic antecedents)

  associated with · partially sourced · culturally specific

• Water is associated with Salt.

  Salt and water meet in brine, preservation, and body fluids. The pairing is material before it is symbolic.

  associated with · interpretive · documented

• Moon is associated with Water.

  Many later readers join moon and tide. The pairing is widespread in maritime observation; it is not therefore a religious law.

  associated with · interpretive · modern interpretation

• Serpent is associated with Water.

  Snakes swim and live at wells and rivers in many local stories. The association is ecological and folkloric, not a single sacred water-serpent.

  associated with · interpretive · culturally specific

• Mirror is associated with Water.

  Still water returns a face. Before glass, water is an ordinary mirror; that fact has been used in many places without becoming one rite.

  associated with · interpretive · culturally specific

• Rain is connected to Water.

  Rain is water arriving from the sky. The identity is material.

  connected to · interpretive · documented

• River is connected to Water.

  A river is water with a course. The identity is material.

  connected to · interpretive · documented

• Blue is associated with Water.

  Water is often named blue in ordinary speech. The likeness is optical and local, not a cult.

  associated with · interpretive · culturally specific

• Lotus appears in Water.

  The plant grows in water. Egyptian and Indian jobs both start from a water plant without sharing a theology.

  from Raymond O. Faulkner (translation) · Book of the Dead, New Kingdom spells; Faulkner trans. 1972; Burton Watson (translation) · The Lotus Sutra, 1993 (this translation); Sanskrit/Chinese recensions much older

  appears in · sourced · documented

Hellenic religion

• Water is associated with Offerings.

  Greek cult used lustral water and libation. Purification by water at an altar is not the same act as a Vedic fire offering.

  from Pausanias · Description of Greece, c. 150–180 CE

  associated with · partially sourced · documented

Egyptian religion

• Water is associated with Nile.

  The Nile is water as a named inundation. It is not Utnapishtim’s flood and not Daoist softness.

  associated with · interpretive · culturally specific

Chinese tradition

• Chinese dragon is associated with Water.

  Chinese dragons are creatures of rain and watercourses in art and text. Not fire-breath as a European default.

  from Berthold Laufer · Jade, 1912

  associated with · partially sourced · documented