Sumerian religion

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Fertile Crescent myth series
Mesopotamia
Levantine myth
Arabian myth
Yazidic religion
Mesopotamian mythology Topics
Gods Anu & 7 who decree fate Ishtar & astrology Tiamat & Tablets of Destiny Annunaki & fiction Marduk & Babylon Heroes Utnapishtim & world-flood Tammuz & new life Gilgamesh & Cedar Forest Enkidu, the man-beast Monsters Zu, the winged lion Qingu, mankind's blood Resheph, plague and war Namtar, deadly illness Related Me, divine decrees Ma, primeval land Irkalla, the underworld Mesopotamian religion The Fertile Crescent

Sumerian Religon refers to the mythology, pantheon, religious practices and cosmology of the Sumerian Civilization. Sumerian Religion influenced Mesopotamian Mythology as a whole, surviving in the mythologies and religions of the Hurrians, Akkadians, Babylonians, Assyrians, and other culture groups.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Written Cuneiform 1.2 Temples 1.3 The Priesthood 2 Creation Story and Cosmology 3 Gods and Goddesses 4 Legacy 4.1 Akkadians 4.2 Babylonians 4.3 Hurrians and Hittites 4.4 Parallels 5 See also 6 References

[edit] History

[edit] Written Cuneiform

Sumerian myths were passed down through the oral tradition until the invention of writing. Early Sumerian Cuneiform was used primarily as a record-keeping tool. It was not until the late Early Dynastic period that religious writings first became prevalent in the form of temple praise hymns^[1] and a form of "incantation" called the nam-šub (prefix + "to cast"). ^[2]

[edit] Temples

In the Sumerian city-states, temple complexes were originally small, elevated one-room structures. In the Early Dynastic Period, Temples developed raised terraces and multiple rooms. Toward the end of the Sumerian civilization, Ziggurats became the preferred temple structure for Mesopotamian religious centers. ^[3] Temples served as cultural, religious and political headquarters until around 2500 BCE, with the rise of military kings known as Lu-gals (“man” + “big”).^[2] after which point the political and military leadership was often housed in separate "palace" complexes.^[3]

[edit] The Priesthood

Until the advent of the Lugals, Sumerian city states were under a virtually complete theocratic government controlled by independent groups of En, or high priests. Priests were responsible for continuing the oral and written cultural and religious traditions of their city-state, and were viewed as a medium between humans and the rest of the universe. The priesthood resided full-time in temple complexes, and administered to matters of state including the large Sumerian irrigation processes necessary to the civilization’s survival.^[4]

[edit] Creation Story and Cosmology

The Sumerians envisioned the universe as a closed dome surrounded by a primordial saltwater sea. Underneath the terrestrial earth, which formed the base of the dome, existed an underworld and a freshwater ocean called the Apsu. The god of the dome-shaped firmament was named An; the earth was named Ki. The underground world was first believed to be an extension of Ki, but later developed into the concept of Kigal. The primordial saltwater sea was named Nammu, which became known as Tiamat during and after the Sumerian Renaissance.

The primordial union of An and Ki produced Enlil, who became leader of the Sumerian pantheon. After the other gods banished Enlil from Dilmun (the “home of the gods”) for raping Ninlil, Ninlil had a child, Nanna, god of the moon. Nanna and Ningal gave birth to Inanna and to Utu, god of the sun. ^[5]

[edit] Gods and Goddesses

The Sumerians practiced a polytheistic religion, with anthropomorphic deities representing cosmic and terrestrial forces in their world. According to said mythology, the gods originally created humans as servants for themselves but freed them when they became too much to handle.

The majority of Sumerian deities belonged to a classification called the Anunna (“[offspring] of An”), whereas seven deities, including Enlil and Inanna, belonged to a group of “underworld” judges known as the Anunnaki (“[offspring] of An” + Ki).

The main Sumerian deities are as follows:

• An: The god of heaven/the firmament.
• Ki: The goddess of the earth at the E'saggila temple.^{[citation needed]}
• Enlil: The god of the air (from Lil = Air); patron deity of Nippur.
• Enki: The god of water, fertility and knowledge; patron deity of Eridu.
• Inanna: The goddess of sexual love and female fertility; patron deity of Uruk.
• Ninlil: An air goddess and wife of Enlil; one of the patron deities of Nippur.^{[citation needed]}
• Ninurta: The god of war, agriculture, one of the Sumerian wind gods; patron deity of Girsu and one of the patron deities of Lagash.
• Utu: The god of the sun at the E'barbara temple of Sippar.^{[citation needed]}
• Nanna, The god of the moon; one of the patron deities of Ur.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Legacy

[edit] Akkadians

The Sumerians had been experiencing ongoing linguistic and cultural exchange with the Semitic Akkadian peoples in northern Mesopotamia for generations prior to the conquest of their territories by Sargon of Akkad in 2340 BCE. Sumerian mythology and religious practices were rapidly integrated into Akkadian culture,^[6] presumably blending with the original Akkadian belief systems which have been all but lost to history. Sumerian deities developed Akkadian counterparts, and some remained virtually the same until later Babylonian and Assyrian rule. The Sumerian goddess Inanna, for example, developed the Akkadian counterpart Ishtar; the Sumerian god An developed the counterpart Anu; The Sumerian god Enki became Ea; and the Sumerian gods Ninurta and Enlil remained very much the same in the Akkadian pantheon.^{[citation needed]}.

[edit] Babylonians

The Amorite Babylonians had gained dominance over southern Mesopotamia by the mid-17th Century BCE. During the Old Babylonian Period, the Sumerian and Akkadian languages were still used for religious purposes; the majority of Sumerian mythological literature known to historians today comes from the Old Babylonian Period, ^[1] either in the form of transcribed Sumerian texts (most notably the Babylonian version of the Epic of Gilgamesh) or in the form of Sumerian and Akkadian influences within Babylonian mythological literature (most notably the Enûma Eliš).

[edit] Hurrians and Hittites

The Hurrians adopted the Akkadian god Anu into their pantheon sometime no later than 1200 BCE.^[7] Other Akkadian deities adapted into the Hurrian pantheon include Ayas, the Hurrian counterpart to Ea; Shaushka, the Hurrian counterpart to Ishtar; and Ninlil,^[7] whose mythos had been drastically expanded by the Babylonians.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Parallels

Some stories in Sumerian religion appear similar to stories in other Middle-Eastern religions. For example, the Biblical account of Noah's flood resembles some aspects of the Sumerian deluge myth. The Judaic underworld Sheol is very similar in description with the Sumerian and Babylonian Kigal. A number of stories and deities have Greek parallels as well.^{[citation needed]} Sumerian scholar Samuel Noah Kramer noted similarities between many Sumerian and Akkadian "proverbs" and the later Hebrew proverbs, many of which are featured in the Book of Proverbs.^[8]

[edit] See also

• Mes
• Sumerian literature
• Mesopotamian Mythology
• Ancient Near Eastern religion
• Ancient Semitic religion
• Babylonian mythology

[edit] References