Babylonian religion
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Babylonian religion is the religious practice of
Mythology and cosmology
Babylonian myths were greatly influenced by the
Many Babylonian deities, myths, and religious writings are singular to that culture; for example, the uniquely Babylonian deity,
Religious festivals
Tablet fragments from the Neo-Babylonian period describe a series of festival days celebrating the New Year. The Festival began on the first day of the first Babylonian month, Nisannu, roughly corresponding to April/May in the Gregorian calendar. This festival celebrated the re-creation of the Earth, drawing from the Marduk-centered creation story described in the Enûma Eliš.[4]
Importance of idols
In Babylonian religion, the
The pillaging or destruction of idols was considered to be a loss of divine patronage; during the Neo-Babylonian period, the Chaldean prince Marduk-apla-iddina II fled into the southern marshes of Mesopotamia with the statues of Babylon's gods to save them from the armies of Sennacherib of Assyria.[5]
Babylonian gods
Babylonia mainly focused on the god Marduk, who is the national god of the Babylonian empire. However, there were also other gods that were worshipped. These are the seven deities:
At various times, a single god in Babylonian cities was assigned a primary "special duty" for each city, such as being "the god of earth and the air" or "the god of the sky", and seen as the god with the most influence in that city by far.[6]
See also
- Abba b. Martha, Babylonian scholar (third to fourth century)
- Ancient Mesopotamian religion
- Assyrian religion
- Religions of the ancient Near East
- Sumerian religion
- Tower of Babel
- Zoroastrianism
References
- ^ Jastrow, Morris; Rogers, Robert W.; Gottheil, Richard; Krauss, Samuel. (1901). "BABYLON". The Jewish Encyclopedia: A Descriptive Record of the History, Religion, Literature, and Customs of the Jewish People from the Earliest Times to the Present Day. The Kopalman Foundation.
- ^ HOOKE, S. H. (1953). BABYLONIAN AND ASSYRIAN RELIGION (PDF). PROFESSOR EMERITUS IN THE UNIVERSITY OF LONDON. pp. 1–74.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-500-51615-7.
- ^ McIntosh, Jane R. "Ancient Mesopotamia: New Perspectives". ABC-CLIO, Inc: Santa Barbara, California, 2005. p. 221
- ^ McIntosh, Jane R. "Ancient Mesopotamia: New Perspectives". ABC-CLIO, Inc: Santa Barbara, California, 2005. pp. 35-43
- ^ Caldwell, Wallace E.; Merrill, Edward H. (1964). History of the World. Vol. 1. United States: The Greystone Press. p. 47.
Further reading
- Renger, Johannes (1999), "Babylonian and Assyrian Religion", in Fahlbusch, Erwin (ed.), Encyclopedia of Christianity, vol. 1, Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, pp. 177–178, ISBN 0802824137