[22], Initially, the pantheon was not ordered, but later Mesopotamian theologians came up with the concept of ranking the deities in order of importance. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). He was not referred to with the usual Akkadian term for "king", arrum; that was instead reserved for the city's patron deity Ashur, of whom the ruler was the high priest. Authority was considered to lie with "the city", and the polity had three main centres of poweran assembly of elders, a hereditary ruler, and an eponym. "[71] While Mesopotamian religion had almost completely died out by approximately 400500 CE after its indigenous adherents had largely become Assyrian Christians, it has still had an influence on the modern world, predominantly because many biblical stories that are today found in Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Mandaeism were possibly based upon earlier Mesopotamian myths,[citation needed] in particular that of the creation myth, the Garden of Eden, the flood myth, the Tower of Babel, figures such as Nimrod and Lilith and the Book of Esther. Other artifacts can also be useful when reconstructing Mesopotamian religion.

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. The Amorite dynasty was deposed in 1595 BC after attacks from mountain-dwelling people known as the Kassites from the Zagros Mountains, who went on to rule Babylon for over 500 years. Mesopotamian religion was polytheistic, worshipping over 2,100 different deities,[17] many of which were associated with a specific state within Mesopotamia, such as Sumer, Akkad, Assyria or Babylonia, or a specific Mesopotamian city, such as; (Ashur), Nineveh, Ur, Nippur, Arbela, Harran, Uruk, Ebla, Kish, Eridu, Isin, Larsa, Sippar, Gasur, Ekallatum, Til Barsip, Mari, Adab, Eshnunna and Babylon. For in one hour your judgment has come.' From then on the cultures of the north and south move through a succession of major archaeological periods that in their southern forms are known as Ubaid, Warka, and Protoliterate (during which writing was invented), at the end of whichshortly after 3000 bcerecorded history begins. [34], The king was thought, in theory, to be the religious leader (enu or ang) 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:[35] a supervising or "watchman" priest (egallu), priests for individual purification against demons and magicians (ipu), priests for the purification of the temple (mamau), priests to appease the wrath of the gods with song and music (kal), as well as female singers (nru), male singers (zammeru), craftsmen (mr ummni), swordbearers (n pari), masters of divination (br), penitents ('ilu), and others. They were thought to be more powerful, all-seeing and all-knowing, unfathomable, and, above all, immortal. The Sumerians remained largely dominant in this synthesised culture, however, until the rise of the Akkadian Empire under Sargon of Akkad circa 2335 BC, which united all of Mesopotamia under one ruler.[2]. 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]. Circa 1750 BC, the Amorite ruler of Babylon, King Hammurabi, conquered much of Mesopotamia, but this empire collapsed after his death, and Babylonia was reduced to the small state it had been upon its founding. After Alexander's death increased Hellenistic influence was brought to the region by the Seleucid Empire. [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. Mesopotamian religion refers to the religious beliefs and practices of the civilizations of ancient Mesopotamia, particularly Sumer, Akkad, Assyria and Babylonia between circa 3500 BC and 400 AD, after which they largely gave way to Syriac Christianity practiced by today's Assyrians. [4] 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. Mesopotamian religion, culture, history and mythology has influenced some forms of music. 2110 bce) of Uruk and the rulers of the 3rd dynasty of Ur (c. 2112c. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. [9] In the 3rd century CE, another native Mesopotamian religion flourished, Manicheanism, which incorporated elements of Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, and Zoroastrianism, as well as local Mesopotamian elements.

Omissions? Updates? These peoples were members of various city-states and small kingdoms. 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. What is known about Mesopotamian religion comes from archaeological evidence uncovered in the region, particularly numerous literary sources, which are usually written in Sumerian, Akkadian (Assyro-Babylonian) or Aramaic using cuneiform script on clay tablets and which describe both mythology and cultic practices. 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. Larchologie de lempire achmnide (Paris, France), ASSYRIAN IDENTITY IN ANCIENT TIMES AND TODAY, Simo Parpola, page 17, Learn how and when to remove this template message, "Ancient cultic area for warrior-god uncovered in Iraq", "Ancient Mesopotamian Beliefs in the Afterlife", Comprehensive list of Mesopotamian gods (World History Encyclopedia), Castro culture/Proto Gallaecian-Lusitanian, List of religions and spiritual traditions, Military history of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ancient_Mesopotamian_religion&oldid=1098914528, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles lacking in-text citations from June 2015, Articles with unsourced statements from March 2022, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, 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! The Akkadian-speaking Semites 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. For historical background, see Mesopotamia, history of. Other theories treat the tower as an image of the cosmic mountain where a dying and rising god "lay buried." One of the most notable goddesses was the Sumerian sex and war deity Inanna. In the 3rd millennium BC objects of worship were personified and became an expansive cast of divinities with particular functions. [29] If the deity approved, it would accept the image and agree to "inhabit" it. [4] The Assyrian king, while not being a god himself, was acknowledged as the chief servant of the chief god, Ashur. Like many nations in Mesopotamian history, Assyria was originally, to a great extent, an oligarchy rather than a monarchy. It yielded the forms in which that civilizations social, economic, legal, political, and military institutions were, and are, to be understood, and it provided the significant symbols for poetry and art. With the later rise to power of the Babylonians in the 18th century BC, the king, Hammurabi, declared Marduk, a deity who before then had not been of significant importance, to a position of supremacy alongside Anu and Enlil in southern Mesopotamia.[24]. Often interpretation of these phenomena required the need for two classes of priests: askers (sa'ilu) and observer (baru), and also sometimes a lower class of ecstatic seer (mahhu) that was also associated with witchcraft. The Middle Assyrian Empire at its height stretched from the Caucasus to modern Bahrain and from Cyprus to western Iran. The historical periods of the 3rd millennium are, in order, Early Dynastic, Akkad, Gutium, and 3rd dynasty of Ur; those of the 2nd millennium are Isin-Larsa, Old Babylonian, Kassite, and Middle Babylonian; and those of the 1st millennium are Assyrian, Neo-Babylonian, Achaemenian, Seleucid, and Parthian. Incense was also burned before the image, because it was thought that the gods enjoyed the smell. "The Achaemenid Period in Northern Iraq" (PDF). [23], One of the most important of these early Mesopotamian deities was the god Enlil, who was originally a Sumerian divinity viewed as a king of the gods and a controller of the world, who was later adopted by the Akkadians. 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 has also inspired various contemporary neo-pagan groups. [21] Nonetheless, many Mesopotamians, of all classes, often had names that were devoted to a certain deity; this practice appeared to have begun in the third millennium BC among the Sumerians, but also was later adopted by the Akkadians, Assyrians and Babylonians as well. In 1894 BC the initially minor city-state of Babylon was founded in the south by invading West Semitic-speaking Amorites. [7][8] Despite this period of revival, from the first century AD onwards, Christianity spread through Mesopotamia, with much of the populace converting to Eastern Rite Christianity in the form of the Church of the East and Syriac Orthodox Church, as well as Judaism. Similarly the Sumerian moon god Nanna became the Akkadian Sn while the Sumerian sun god Utu became the Akkadian Shamash. And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more", This page was last edited on 18 July 2022, at 02:51. 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. During this period the Syriac language and Syriac script 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. [25][26], "Enlil! As with most dead religions, many aspects of the common practices and intricacies of the doctrine have been lost and forgotten over time. They created the first city-states such as Uruk, Ur, Lagash, Isin, Kish, Umma, Eridu, Adab, Akshak, Sippar, Nippur and Larsa, each of them ruled by an ens. Sin also was described as anything which incited the wrath of the gods. Babylon had a brief late flowering of power and influence, initially under the Chaldean dynasty, which took over much of the empire formerly held by their northern kinsmen. [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 am and the netherworld of iritu. This was even taken to the point that everything he experienced was considered a reflection of what was happening to his personal god. [21] They were thought to offer good luck, success, and protection from disease and demons,[37] and one's place and success in society was thought to depend on his personal deity, including the development of his certain talents and even his personality. Politically, an early division of the country into small independent city-states, loosely organized in a league with the centre in Nippur, was followed by a unification by force under King Lugalzagesi (c. 23752350 bce) of Uruk, just before the Akkadian period.

Please select which sections you would like to print: Sites associated with ancient Mesopotamian history. [4] For the Assyrians who lived in Assur and the surrounding lands, this system was the norm. In 539 BC, Mesopotamia was conquered by the Achaemenid Empire (539332 BC), then ruled by Cyrus the Great. 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. These devotees were often from a particular city or city-state that held that deity as its patron deity, for instance the god Enki was often associated with the city of Eridu in Sumer, the god Ashur with Assur and Assyria, Enlil with the Sumerian city of Nippur, Ishtar with the Assyrian city of Arbela, and the god Marduk was associated with Babylon. To trick counterfeiters, Benjamin Franklin deliberately misspelled Pennsylvania when printing official currency for the American colony. It was thought that one of the reasons the gods gave power to the king was to exercise justice and righteousness,[51] described as maru and kettu, literally "straightness, rightness, firmness, truth". However, the last king of Babylonia, Nabonidus, an Assyrian, paid little attention to politics, preferring to worship the lunar deity Sin, leaving day-to-day rule to his son Belshazzar. [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). 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. [40], There was a strong belief in demons in Mesopotamia, and private individuals, like the temple priests, also participated in incantations (iptu) to ward them off. Corrections? [33], Generally, the god's well-being was maintained through service, or work (dullu). One of the remains was a duck-shaped bronze figurine with eyes made from bark which is thought to be dedicated to Nanshe. Assyria had evolved during the 25th century BC, and asserted itself in the north circa 2100 BC in the Old Assyrian Empire and southern Mesopotamia fragmented into a number of kingdoms, the largest being Isin, Larsa and Eshnunna. The Mesopotamian worldview as expressed in myth, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Mesopotamian-religion, The Oriental Institute - Ancient Mesopotamia: Religion, Ancient History Encyclopedia - Mesopotamian Religion. Additionally, certain days required extra sacrifices and ceremonies for certain gods, and every day was sacred to a particular god. 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. 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. 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. The institution of the eponym as well as the formula iiak Assur lingered on as ceremonial vestiges of this early system throughout the history of the Assyrian monarchy.[3]. Deities, characters, and their actions within myths changed in character and importance over time, and occasionally depicted different, sometimes even contrasting images or concepts. Indeed, similarities between both religious traditions may draw from even older sources. These images were also entertained, and sometime escorted on hunting expeditions. In the fourth millennium BC, the first evidence for what is recognisably Mesopotamian religion can be seen with the invention in Mesopotamia of writing circa 3500 BC. This idea of retribution was also applied to the nation and history as a whole. "[56], The ancient Mesopotamians believed in an afterlife that was a land below our world. [20] The historian J. Bottro was of the opinion that the gods were not viewed mystically, but were instead seen as high-up masters who had to be obeyed and feared, as opposed to loved and adored. Images of protecting spirits were also made and placed at gates to ward off disaster. [13], Mesopotamian religion was polytheistic, thereby accepting the existence of many different deities, both male and female, though it was also henotheistic,[15] with certain gods being viewed as superior to others by their specific devotees. Perhaps the most significant legend to survive from Mesopotamian religion is the Epic of Gilgamesh, which tells the story of the heroic king Gilgamesh and his wild friend Enkidu, and the former's search for immortality which is entwined with all the gods and their approval. Similarly, they often acted like humans, requiring food and drink, as well as drinking alcohol and subsequently suffering the effects of drunkenness,[18] but were thought to have a higher degree of perfection than common men. Various new religious movements in the 20th and 21st centuries have been founded that venerate some of the deities found in ancient Mesopotamian religion, including various strains of neopaganism that have adopted the worship of the historical Mesopotamian gods. Another was the Sumerian god An, who served a similar role to Enlil and became known as Anu among the Akkadians. [17], The Mesopotamian gods bore many similarities with humans, and were anthropomorphic, thereby having humanoid form. 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.