Ancient Mesopotamian religion
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Mesopotamian religion was the original religious beliefs and practices of the civilizations of ancient Mesopotamia, particularly Sumer, Akkad, Assyria and Babylonia between circa 6000 BC[1] and 400 AD. The religious development of Mesopotamia and Mesopotamian culture in general, especially in the south, were not particularly influenced by the movements of the various peoples into and throughout the area. Rather, Mesopotamian religion was a consistent and coherent tradition, which adapted to the internal needs of its adherents over millennia of development.[2]
The earliest undercurrents of Mesopotamian religious thought are believed to have developed in Mesopotamia in the
History
The very earliest undercurrents of Mesopotamian religious thought are believed to have developed in the first half of the sixth millennium BC, at the time people first began to permanently settle in Mesopotamia owing to improved irrigation. The early religious developments of the region are unknown since they preceded the invention of writing.[1] The first evidence for what is recognisably Mesopotamian religion can be seen with the invention in Mesopotamia of writing circa 3500 BC.
The people of Mesopotamia originally consisted of two groups, East Semitic speakers of Akkadian and the people of Sumer, who spoke Sumerian, a language isolate. These peoples were members of various city-states and small kingdoms. The Sumerians left the first records, and are believed to have been the founders of the civilization of the Ubaid period (6500 BC to 3800 BC) in Upper Mesopotamia. By historical times they resided in southern Mesopotamia, which was known as Sumer (and much later, Babylonia), and had considerable influence on the Akkadian speakers and their culture. Akkadian speakers are believed to have entered the region at some point between 3500 BC and 3000 BC, with Akkadian names first appearing in the regnal lists of these states c. 29th century BC.
The Sumerians were advanced: as well as inventing writing, they developed early forms of
There was increasing syncretism between the Sumerian and Akkadian cultures and deities, with the Akkadians typically preferring to worship fewer deities but elevating them to greater positions of power.
Effect of Assyrian religious beliefs on its political structure
Like many nations in Mesopotamian history, Assyria was originally, to a great extent, an oligarchy rather than a monarchy. Authority was considered to lie with "the city", and the polity had three main centres of power—an assembly of elders, a hereditary ruler, and an eponym. The ruler presided over the assembly and carried out its decisions. He was not referred to with the usual Akkadian term for "king", šarrum; that was instead reserved for the city's patron deity Ashur, of whom the ruler was the high priest. The ruler himself was only designated as "steward of Assur" (iššiak Assur), where the term for steward is a borrowing from Sumerian ensí. The third centre of power was the eponym (limmum), who gave the year his name, similarly to the eponymous archon and Roman consuls of classical antiquity. He was annually elected by lot and was responsible for the economic administration of the city, which included the power to detain people and confiscate property. The institution of the eponym as well as the formula iššiak Assur lingered on as ceremonial vestiges of this early system throughout the history of the Assyrian monarchy.[4]
Religion in the Neo-Assyrian Empire
The religion of the Neo-Assyrian Empire centered around the Assyrian king as the king of their lands as well. However, kingship at the time was linked very closely with the idea of divine mandate.[5] The Assyrian king, while not being a god himself, was acknowledged as the chief servant of the chief god, Ashur. In this manner, the king's authority was seen as absolute so long as the high priest reassured the peoples that the gods, or in the case of the henotheistic Assyrians, the god, was pleased with the current ruler.[5] For the Assyrians who lived in Assur and the surrounding lands, this system was the norm. For the conquered peoples, however, it was novel, particularly to the people of smaller city-states. In time, Ashur was promoted from being the local deity of Assur to the overlord of the vast Assyrian domain, which spread from the Caucasus and Armenia in the north to Egypt, Nubia and the Arabian Peninsula in the south, and from Cyprus and the eastern Mediterranean Sea in the west to central Iran in the east.[5] Assur, the patron deity of the city of Assur from the late Bronze Age, was in constant rivalry with the patron deity of Babylon, Marduk. Worship was conducted in his name throughout the lands dominated by the Assyrians. With the worship of Assur across much of the Fertile Crescent, the Assyrian king could command the loyalty of his fellow servants of Assur.
Later Mesopotamian history
In 539 BC, Mesopotamia was conquered by the Achaemenid Empire (539–332 BC), then ruled by Cyrus the Great. This brought to an end over 3000 years of Mesopotamian dominance of the Near East. The Persians maintained and did not interfere in the native culture and religion and Assyria and Babylon continued to exist as entities (although Chaldea and the Chaldeans disappeared), and Assyria was strong enough to launch major rebellions against the Achaemenids in 522 and 482 BC. During this period the Syriac language and Syriac alphabet evolved in Assyria among the Assyrian people, and were centuries later to be the vehicle for the spread of Syriac Christianity throughout the near east.
Then, two centuries later in 330 BC, the
During the
In the third century AD, Manichaeism, which incorporated elements of Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, and local Mesopotamian religion, developed.[10]
Mythology
There are no specific written records explaining Mesopotamian religious cosmology that survive today. Nonetheless, modern scholars have examined various accounts, and created what is believed to be an at least partially accurate depiction of Mesopotamian cosmology.[11] In the Epic of Creation, dated to 1200 BC, it explains that the god Marduk killed the mother goddess Tiamat and used half her body to create the earth, and the other half to create both the paradise of šamû and the netherworld of irṣitu.[12] A document from a similar period stated that the universe was a spheroid, with three levels of šamû, where the gods dwelt, and where the stars existed, above the three levels of earth below it.[13]
Deities
Mesopotamian religion was
The Mesopotamian gods bore many similarities with humans, and were
Initially, the
One of the most important of these early Mesopotamian deities was the god
Perhaps the most significant legend to survive from Mesopotamian religion is the
Akkadian religion sometimes took inspiration from influential
Recent discoveries
In March 2020, archaeologists announced the discovery of a 5,000-year-old cultic area filled with more than 300 broken ceremonial ceramic cups, bowls, jars, animal bones and ritual processions dedicated to Ningirsu at the site of Girsu. One of the remains was a duck-shaped bronze figurine with eyes made from bark which is thought to be dedicated to Nanshe.[25][26]
Cultic practice
"Enlil! his authority is far-reaching; his word is sublime and holy. His decisions are unalterable; he decides fate forever! His eyes scrutinize the entire world!"
A prayer to the god Enlil.[27]
Public devotions
Each Mesopotamian city was home to a deity, and each of the prominent deities was the patron of a city, and all known temples were located in cities, though there may have been shrines in the suburbs.[28] The temple itself was constructed of mud brick in the form of a ziggurat, which rose to the sky in a series of stairstep stages. Its significance and symbolism have been the subject of much discussion, but most regard the tower as a kind of staircase or ladder for the god to descend from and ascend to the heavens, though there are signs which point towards an actual cult having been practiced in the upper temple, so the entire temple may have been regarded as a giant altar. Other theories treat the tower as an image of the cosmic mountain where a dying and rising god "lay buried." Some temples, such as the temple of Enki in Eridu contained a holy tree (kiskanu) in a holy grove, which was the central point of various rites performed by the king, who functioned as a "master gardener."[29]
Mesopotamian temples were originally built to serve as dwelling places for the god, who was thought to reside and hold court on earth for the good of the city and kingdom.[30] His presence was symbolized by an image of the god in a separate room. The god's presence within the image seems to have been thought of in a very concrete way, as instruments for the presence of the deity."[31] This is evident from the poem How Erra Wrecked the World, in which Erra deceived the god Marduk into leaving his cult statue.[32] Once constructed, idols were consecrated through special nocturnal rituals where they were given "life", and their mouth "was opened" (pet pî) and washed (mes pî) so they could see and eat.[29] If the deity approved, it would accept the image and agree to "inhabit" it. These images were also entertained, and sometime escorted on hunting expeditions. In order to service the gods, the temple was equipped with a household with kitchens and kitchenware, sleeping rooms with beds and side rooms for the deity's family, as well as a courtyard with a basin and water for cleansing visitors, as well as a stable for the god's chariot and draft animals.[33]
Generally, the god's well-being was maintained through service, or work (dullu). The image was dressed and served banquets twice a day. It is not known how the god was thought to consume the food, but a curtain was drawn before the table while he or she "ate", just as the king himself was not allowed to be seen by the masses while he ate. Occasionally, the king shared in these meals, and the priests may have had some share in the offerings as well. Incense was also burned before the image, because it was thought that the gods enjoyed the smell. Sacrificial meals were also set out regularly, with a sacrificial animal seen as a replacement (pūhu) or substitute (dinānu) for a man, and it was considered that the anger of the gods or demons was then directed towards the sacrificial animal. Additionally, certain days required extra sacrifices and ceremonies for certain gods, and every day was sacred to a particular god.[34]
The king was thought, in theory, to be the religious leader (enu or šangū) of the cult and exercised a large number of duties within the temple, with a large number of specialists whose task was to mediate between men and gods:
Private devotions
Besides the worship of the gods at public rituals, individuals also paid homage to a personal deity. As with other deities, the personal gods changed over time and little is known about early practice as they are rarely named or described. In the mid-third millennium BC, some rulers regarded a particular god or gods as being their personal protector. In the second millennium BC, personal gods began to function more on behalf of the common man,
There was a strong belief in
Morality, virtue, and sin
"Do not return evil to the man who disputes with you, requite with kindness your evil-doer, maintain justice to your enemy... Let not your heart be induced to do evil... Give food to eat, beer to drink, the one begging for alms honor, clothe; in this a man's god takes pleasure, it is pleasing to Shamash, who will repay him with favour. Be helpful, do good"
Although ancient paganism tended to focus more on duty and ritual than morality, a number of general moral virtues can be gleaned from surviving prayers and myths. It was believed that man originated as a divine act of creation, and the gods were believed to be the source of life, and held power over sickness and health, as well as the destinies of men. Personal names show that each child was considered a gift from divinity.[48] Man was believed to have been created to serve the gods, or perhaps wait on them: the god is lord (belu) and man is servant or slave (ardu), and was to fear (puluhtu) the gods and have the appropriate attitude towards them. Duties seem to have been primarily of a cultic and ritual nature,[49] although some prayers express a positive psychological relationship, or a sort of conversion experience in regard to a god.[50] Generally the reward to mankind is described as success and long life.[48]
Every man also had duties to his fellow man which had some religious character, particularly the king's duties to his subjects. It was thought that one of the reasons the gods gave power to the king was to exercise justice and righteousness,[51] described as mēšaru and kettu, literally "straightness, rightness, firmness, truth".[52] Examples of this include not alienating and causing dissension between friends and relatives, setting innocent prisoners free, being truthful, being honest in trade, respecting boundary lines and property rights, and not putting on airs with subordinates. Some of these guidelines are found in the second tablet of the Šurpu incantation series.[47]
Sin, on the other hand, was expressed by the words hitu (mistake, false step), annu or arnu (rebellion), and qillatu (sin or curse),[47] with strong emphasis on the idea of rebellion, sometimes with the idea that sin is man's wishing to "live on his own terms" (ina ramanisu). Sin also was described as anything which incited the wrath of the gods. Punishment came through sickness or misfortune,[50] which inevitably lead to the common reference to unknown sins, or the idea that one can transgress a divine prohibition without knowing it—psalms of lamentation rarely mention concrete sins. This idea of retribution was also applied to the nation and history as a whole. A number of examples of Mesopotamian literature show how war and natural disasters were treated as punishment from the gods, and how kings were used as a tool for deliverance.[53]
Sumerian myths suggest a prohibition against premarital sex.[54] Marriages were often arranged by the parents of the bride and groom; engagements were usually completed through the approval of contracts recorded on clay tablets. These marriages became legal as soon as the groom delivered a bridal gift to his bride's father. Nonetheless, evidence suggests that premarital sex was a common, but surreptitious, occurrence.[55]: 78 The worship of Inanna/Ishtar, which was prevalent in Mesopotamia could involve wild, frenzied dancing and bloody ritual celebrations of social and physical abnormality. It was believed that "nothing is prohibited to Inanna", and that by depicting transgressions of normal human social and physical limitations, including traditional gender definition, one could cross over from the "conscious everyday world into the trance world of spiritual ecstasy."[56]
Afterlife
The ancient Mesopotamians believed in an
Eschatology
There are no known Mesopotamian tales about the end of the world, although it has been speculated that they believed that this would eventually occur. This is largely because Berossus wrote that the Mesopotamians believed the world to last "twelve times twelve sars"; with a sar being 3,600 years, this would indicate that at least some of the Mesopotamians believed that the Earth would only last 518,400 years. Berossus does not report what was thought to follow this event, however.[59]
Historical study
Challenges
The modern study of Mesopotamia (Assyriology) is still a fairly young science, beginning only in the middle of the Nineteenth century,[60] and the study of Mesopotamian religion can be a complex and difficult subject because, by nature, their religion was governed only by usage, not by any official decision,[61] and by nature it was neither dogmatic nor systematic. Deities, characters, and their actions within myths changed in character and importance over time, and occasionally depicted different, sometimes even contrasting images or concepts. This is further complicated by the fact that scholars are not entirely certain what role religious texts played in the Mesopotamian world.[62]
For many decades, some scholars of the ancient Near East argued that it was impossible to define there as being a singular Mesopotamian religion, with Leo Oppenheim (1964) stating that "a systematic presentation of Mesopotamian religion cannot and should not be written."[63] Others, like Jean Bottéro, the author of Religion in Ancient Mesopotamia, disagreed, believing that it would be too complicated to divide the religion into many smaller groups, stating that:
- Should we dwell on a certain social or cultural category: the "official religion, " the "private religion, " the religion of the "educated"... Should we emphasise a certain city or province: Kassite, the Old Babylonian, the Neo-Sumerian, or the Old Akkadian period? Since, contrary to what some would imprudently lead us to believe, there were no distinct religions but only successive states of the same religious system... – such an approach would be excessive, even pointless.[64]
Panbabylonism
According to Panbabylonism, a school of thought founded by Hugo Winckler and held in the early 20th century among primarily German Assyriologists, there was a common cultural system extending over the ancient Near East which was overwhelmingly influenced by the Babylonians. According to this theory the religions of the Near East were rooted in Babylonian astral science- including the Hebrew Bible and Judaism. This theory of a Babylonian-derived Bible originated from the discovery of a stele in the acropolis of Susa bearing a Babylonian flood myth with many similarities to the flood of Genesis, the Epic of Gilgamesh. However, flood myths appear in almost every culture around the world, including cultures that never had contact with Mesopotamia. The fundamental tenets of Panbabylonism were eventually dismissed as pseudoscientific,[65] however Assyriologists and biblical scholars recognize the influence of Babylonian mythology on Jewish mythology and other Near Eastern mythologies, albeit indirect. Indeed, similarities between both religious traditions may draw from even older sources.[66]
Influence
Biblical eschatology
In the New Testament Book of Revelation, Babylonian religion is associated with religious apostasy of the lowest order, the archetype of a political/religious system heavily tied to global commerce, and it is depicted as a system which, according to the author, continued to hold sway in the first century CE, eventually to be utterly annihilated. According to some interpretations, this is believed to refer to the Roman Empire,[67] but according to other interpretations, this system remains extant in the world until the Second Coming.[68][69][70]
- Revelation 17:5: "And upon her forehead was a name written, mystery, Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth,"
- Revelation 18:9: "The kings of the earth who committed fornication and lived luxuriously with her will weep and lament for her, when they see the smoke of her burning, standing at a distance for fear of her torment, saying, 'Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! For in one hour your judgment has come.' And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more..."
Popular culture
Mesopotamian religion, culture, history and mythology has influenced some forms of music. As well as traditional
New religious movements
Various
Reconstruction
As with most dead religions, many aspects of the common practices and intricacies of the doctrine have been lost and forgotten over time. However, much of the information and knowledge has survived, and great work has been done by historians and scientists, with the help of religious scholars and translators, to re-construct a working knowledge of the religious history, customs, and the role these beliefs played in everyday life in Sumer, Akkad, Assyria, Babylonia, Ebla and Chaldea during this time. Mesopotamian religion is thought to have been an influence on subsequent religions throughout the world, including
Mesopotamian religion was
.Some of the most significant of these Mesopotamian deities were
.Mesopotamian religion has historically the oldest body of recorded literature of any religious tradition. What is known about Mesopotamian religion comes from
See also
- Anunnaki
- Mesopotamian prayer
- Music of ancient Mesopotamia
- Religions of the ancient Near East
- Yazdânism
Notes
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8028-2959-7. Archivedfrom the original on 31 July 2022. Retrieved 31 July 2022.
- ^ a b "Mesopotamian religion". Britannica. Archived from the original on 21 June 2018. Retrieved 19 July 2016.
- ^ Bottéro (2001:7–9)
- ^ Larsen, Mogens Trolle (2000). "The old Assyrian city-state". In Hansen, Mogens Herman (ed.). A comparative study of thirty city-state cultures: an investigation / conducted by the Copenhagen Polis Centre. pp. 77–89.
- ^ a b c Bertman, Stephen (2005). Handbook to Life in Ancient Mesopotamia. New York: Oxford UP. p. 66.
- ^ Bottéro (2001:17–18)
- ^ ^ Crone & Cook 1977, p. 55
- ^ Curtis, John (November 2003). "The Achaemenid Period in Northern Iraq" (PDF). L’archéologie de l’empire achéménide (Paris, France)
- ^ Crone & Cook 1977, p. 55
- ^ Widengren, Geo (1946). Mesopotamian elements in Manichaeism (King and Saviour II): Studies in Manichaean, Mandaean, and Syrian-gnostic religion. Lundequistska bokhandeln.
- ^ Bottéro (2001:77–78)
- ^ Bottéro (2001:79)
- ^ Bottéro (2001:80)
- ^ Bottéro (2001:41)
- ^ Bottéro (2001:53)
- ^ a b Bottéro (2001:45)
- ^ Bottéro (2001:64–66)
- ^ a b Ringgren (1974: 50)
- ^ Bottéro (2001:50)
- ^ a b Bottéro (2001:37)
- ^ Bottéro (2001:39)
- ^ Bottéro (2001:48–49)
- ^ Bottéro (2001:54)
- ISBN 0-393-00292-6.
- ^ Owen Jarus (30 March 2020). "Ancient cultic area for warrior-god uncovered in Iraq". livescience.com. Retrieved 19 February 2024.
- ^ Gavin (11 April 2020). "Ancient cultic area for warrior-god uncovered in Iraq". Most Interesting Things. Archived from the original on 28 October 2021. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
- ^ Bottéro (2001:30–31)
- ^ Schneider (2011: 39)
- ^ a b Ringgren (1974:78)
- ^ Schneider (2001: 66)
- ^ Ringgren (1974:77)
- ^ Bottéro (2001:65)
- ^ Schneider (2011:68)
- ^ Ringgren (1974: 81–82)
- ^ Ringgren (1974: 79)
- ^ Ringgren (1974:80)
- ^ a b Schneider (2011: 59)
- ^ a b Bottéro (2001:91ff)
- ^ Bottéro (2001:29–30)
- ^ Dhorme, P. (1910). La Religion Assyro-Babylonienne. Paris. p. 199.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Ringgren (1974: 89)
- ^ Bottéro (2001:63)
- ^ Ringgren (1974: 90–91)
- ^ a b Ringgren (1974: 92–93)
- ^ Bottéro (2001:92)
- ^ Ringgren (1974: 93–95)
- ^ a b c Ringgren (1974:113–115)
- ^ a b Ringgren (1974:108)
- ^ Ringgren (1974:111–112)
- ^ a b Ringgren (1974:116)
- ^ Ringgren (1974:110)
- ^ Ringgren (1974:112)
- ^ Ringgren (1974:118)
- ^ Celibacy in the Ancient World: Its Ideal and Practice in Pre-Hellenistic Israel, Mesopotamia, and Greece by Dale Launderville, page 28
- ISBN 0-226-45238-7.
- ^ Meador (2000:164)
- ^ Bottéro (2001:108)
- ^ Choksi, M. "Ancient Mesopotamian Beliefs in the Afterlife". World History Encyclopedia. Archived from the original on 13 July 2021. Retrieved 25 June 2014.
- ^ Bottéro (2001:95)
- ^ Scheider (2011: 128)
- ^ Bottero (2001: 47)
- ^ Schneider (2011:38–39)
- ^ Bottéro (2001:26)
- ^ Bottéro (2001:27)
- ISBN 9781782202967– via Google Books.
- ^ R. Herbert, PhD. (September–October 2013). "Creation, Flood, and Covenant – In the Bible and Before". The Sabbath Sentinel: 19–20.
- ^ Keener, Craig S. (1993). The IVP Bible Background Commentary, New Testament. Downers Grove, Illinois: Intervarsity Press. p. 806.
- ^ Clarke, Adam. Commentary and Critical Notes. Vol. 3. Nashville, Tennessee: Abingdon Press. p. 1045.
- ^ Jamieson, Rev. Robert; Fausset, Rev. A. R.; Brown, Rev. David. Commentary, Critical and Explanatory of The Whole Bible. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House. p. 591.
- ^ Barker, Kenneth L.; Kohlenberger, John (1994). The NIV Bible Commentary. Vol. 2. p. 1209.
- ^ Bottéro (2001:21–22)
References
- ISBN 978-0226067179.
- ISBN 978-0801868641.
- Chavalas, Mark W. (2003). Mesopotamia and the Bible. Continuum International Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-567-08231-2..
- Davies, Owen (2009). Grimoires: A History of Magic Books. New York: Oxford University Press.
- ISBN 978-0-664-25392-9..
- Schneider, Tammi (2011). An Introduction To Ancient Mesopotamian Religion. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.
- Ringgren, Helmer (1974). Religions of The Ancient Near East, Translated by John Sturdy. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press.
- Meador, Betty De Shong (2000). Inanna, Lady of Largest Heart. Austin: University of Texas Press. ISBN 978-0-292-75242-9