Samuel David

Samuel David is a Mesopotamian polytheist, artist, writer, and researcher based in the American Midwest. His presentations at local pagan festivals, national, and international conventions include lectures, rituals, and workshops. As a representative for Temple Sangamon and the host of the YouTube channel “Rod & Ring: Ancient Near East Meets Modern West”, he actively networks and collaborates with others to represent the interests of those who seek to revive the worship of the Ancient Near Eastern gods.

His adaptation of “The Descent of Inanna” has been featured as classroom material for California State University, Los Angeles’ 2020 ancient history syllabus. His accessible published work includes the novella, “I, Adapa” (featured in “Circe's Cauldron: Pagan Poems and Tales of Magic and Witchcraft”, published by Bibliotheca Alexandrina); “Rod & Ring” and “The Red Shepherd” both published by Anathema Publishing, Ltd.; “Lioness: The Song of Inanna”, published by Grayle Press.

Publications

Featured
Lioness: The Song of Inanna
Grayle Press, Samuel David, Lioness, Song of Inanna, Rowan E. Cassidy
Lioness: The Song of Inanna
Grayle Press, Samuel David, Lioness, Song of Inanna, Rowan E. Cassidy

The heart of “LIONESS” is a haunting hymn, taking readers through call-and-response invocations in which the hierophant beckons Inanna by her traditional epithets, each adorned with stunning cuneiform depictions in rich scarlet ink.

Grayle Press, Samuel David, Lioness, Song of Inanna, Rowan E. Cassidy
The Red Shepherd
Anathema Publishing, Samuel David, The Red Shepherd, Rowan E. Cassidy
The Red Shepherd
Anathema Publishing, Samuel David, The Red Shepherd, Rowan E. Cassidy

Myth would inform us that Dumuzid was merely the effete, hapless shepherd god who invoked the anger of his wife, Inanna, and became little more than a footnote in myth.

Anathema Publishing, Samuel David, The Red Shepherd, Rowan E. Cassidy
Rod & Ring
Anathema Publishing, Samuel David, Rod & Ring
Rod & Ring
Anathema Publishing, Samuel David, Rod & Ring

In Mesopotamian art, the rod and ring, like the horned helm or crown, are indicators of the depicted being’s divine status. The most famous depiction being that of Shamash, the solar god of justice holding both divine symbols of power before Hammurabi the king on the Code of Hammurabi stele.

Anathema Publishing, Samuel David, Rod & Ring

Periodicals

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