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Sumerian religion was the religion practiced by the people of Sumer,
the first literate civilization of ancient Mesopotamia. The Sumerians regarded
their divinities as responsible for all matters pertaining to the natural and
social orders.
Overview:
Before the beginning of kingship in Sumer, the city-states were effectively
ruled by theocratic priests and religious officials. Later, this role was
supplanted by kings, but priests continued to exert great influence on Sumerian
society. In early times, Sumerian temples were simple, one-room structures,
sometimes built on elevated platforms. Towards the end of Sumerian
civilization, these temples developed into zigguratstall, pyramidal
structures with sanctuaries at the tops. The Sumerians believed that the
universe had come into being through a series of cosmic births.
First, Nammu, the primeval waters, gave birth to Ki (the earth) and An (the
sky), who mated together and produced a son named Enlil. Enlil separated heaven
from earth and claimed the earth as his domain. Humans were believed to have
been created by Enki, the son of Nammu and An. Heaven was reserved exclusively
for deities and, upon their deaths, all mortals' spirits, regardless of their
behavior while alive, were believed to go to Kur, a cold, dark cavern deep
beneath the earth, which was ruled by the goddess Ereshkigal and where the only
food available was dry dust.
In later times, Ereshkigal was believed to rule alongside her husband Nergal,
the god of death. The major deities in the Sumerian pantheon included An, the
god of the heavens, Enlil, the god of wind and storm, Enki, the god of water
and human culture, Ninhursag, the goddess of fertility and the earth, Utu, the
god of the sun and justice, and his father Nanna, the god of the moon. During
the Akkadian Empire, Inanna, the goddess of sex, beauty, and warfare, was
widely venerated across Sumer and appeared in many myths, including the famous
story of her descent into the Underworld. Sumerian religion heavily influenced
the religious beliefs of later Mesopotamian peoples; elements of it are
retained in the mythologies and religions of the Hurrians, Akkadians,
Babylonians, Assyrians, and other Middle Eastern culture groups. Scholars of
comparative mythology have noticed parallels between the stories of the ancient
Sumerians and those recorded later in the early parts of the Hebrew Bible.
Worship:
Written cuneiform Evolution of the word "Temple" (Sumerian:
"É") in cuneiform, from a 2500 BCE relief in Ur, to Assyrian
cuneiform circa 600 BCE. Sumerian myths were passed down through the oral
tradition until the invention of writing (the earliest myth discovered so far,
the Epic of Gilgamesh, is Sumerian and is written on a series of fractured clay
tablets). 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 as temple praise hymns and as a form of
"incantation" called the nam-ub (prefix + "to cast")
These tablets were also made of stone clay or stone, and they used a small pick
to make the symbols.
Sumerian architecture:
In the Sumerian city-states, temple complexes originally were 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. Temples served as cultural, religious, and political headquarters
until approximately 2500 BC, with the rise of military kings known as Lu-gals
(man + big) after which time the political and military
leadership was often housed in separate "palace" complexes.
Priesthood:
Until the advent of the Lugal ("King"), Sumerian city-states were
under a virtually theocratic government controlled by various En or
Ensí, who served as the high priests of the cults of the city gods.
(Their female equivalents were known as Nin.) Priests were responsible for
continuing the cultural and religious traditions of their city-state, and were
viewed as mediators between humans and the cosmic and terrestrial forces. The
priesthood resided full-time in temple complexes, and administered matters of
state including the large irrigation processes necessary for the civilization's
survival.
Ceremony :
During the Third Dynasty of Ur, the Sumerian city-state of Lagash was said to
have had sixty-two "lamentation priests" who were accompanied by 180
vocalists and instrumentalists.
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 Abzu.
The deity of the dome-shaped firmament was named An; that of the earth was
named Ki. First the underground world was believed to be an extension of the
goddess Ki, but later developed into the concept of Kur. The primordial
saltwater sea was named Nammu, who became known as Tiamat during and after the
Ur III period.
Creation story:
Main article: Sumerian creation myth :
Early Dynastic Period, circa 2700 BCE.
The main source of information about the Sumerian creation myth is the prologue
to the epic poem Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Netherworld, which briefly
describes the process of creation: originally, there was only Nammu, the
primeval sea. Then, Nammu gave birth to An, the sky, and Ki, the earth. An and
Ki mated with each other, causing Ki to give birth to Enlil, the god of wind,
rain, and storm. Enlil separated An from Ki and carried off the earth as his
domain, while An carried off the sky.
Heaven :
Main article: Seven Heavens:
The ancient Mesopotamians regarded the sky as a series of domes (usually three,
but sometimes seven) covering the flat earth. Each dome was made of a different
kind of precious stone. The lowest dome of heaven was made of jasper and was
the home of the stars. The middle dome of heaven was made of saggilmut stone
and was the abode of the Igigi. The highest and outermost dome of heaven was
made of luludanitu stone and was personified as An, the god of the sky. The
celestial bodies were equated with specific deities as well. The planet Venus
was believed to be Inanna, the goddess of love, sex, and war. The sun was her
brother Utu, the god of justice, and the moon was their father Nanna. Ordinary
mortals could not go to heaven because it was the abode of the gods alone.
Instead, after a person died, his or her soul went to Kur (later known as
Irkalla), a dark shadowy underworld, located deep below the surface of the
earth.
Afterlife :
The Sumerian afterlife was a dark, dreary cavern located deep below the ground,
where inhabitants were believed to continue "a shadowy version of life on
earth". This bleak domain was known as Kur, and was believed to be ruled
by the goddess Ereshkigal. All souls went to the same afterlife, and a person's
actions during life had no effect on how the person would be treated in the
world to come. The souls in Kur were believed to eat nothing but dry dust and
family members of the deceased would ritually pour libations into the dead
person's grave through a clay pipe, thereby allowing the dead to drink.
Nonetheless, there are assumptions according to which treasures in wealthy
graves had been intended as offerings for Utu and the Anunnaki, so that the
deceased would receive special favors in the underworld. During the Third
Dynasty of Ur, it was believed that a person's treatment in the afterlife
depended on how he or she was buried; those that had been given sumptuous
burials would be treated well, but those who had been given poor burials would
fare poorly, and were believed to haunt the living. The entrance to Kur was
believed to be located in the Zagros mountains in the far east. It had seven
gates, through which a soul needed to pass. The god Neti was the gatekeeper.
Ereshkigal's sukkal, or messenger, was the god Namtar. Galla were a class of
demons that were believed to reside in the underworld; their primary purpose
appears to have been to drag unfortunate mortals back to Kur. They are
frequently referenced in magical texts, and some texts describe them as being
seven in number. Several extant poems describe the galla dragging the god
Dumuzid into the underworld. The later Mesopotamians knew this underworld by
its East Semitic name: Irkalla. During the Akkadian Period, Ereshkigal's role
as the ruler of the underworld was assigned to Nergal, the god of death. The
Akkadians attempted to harmonize this dual rulership of the underworld by
making Nergal Ereshkigal's husband.
Pantheon:
See also: List of Mesopotamian deities
It is generally agreed that Sumerian civilization began at some point between
c. 4500 and 4000 BC, but the earliest historical records only date to around
2900 BC. The Sumerians originally practiced a polytheistic religion, with
anthropomorphic deities representing cosmic and terrestrial forces in their
world. The earliest Sumerian literature of the third millennium BC identifies
four primary deities: An, Enlil, Ninhursag, and Enki. These early deities were
believed to occasionally behave mischievously towards each other, but were
generally viewed as being involved in co-operative creative ordering. During
the middle of the third millennium BC, Sumerian society became more urbanized.
As a result of this, Sumerian deities began to lose their original associations
with nature and became the patrons of various cities. Each Sumerian city-state
had its own specific patron deity, who was believed to protect the city and
defend its interests. Lists of large numbers of Sumerian deities have been
found. Their order of importance and the relationships between the deities has
been examined during the study of cuneiform tablets. During the late 2000s BC,
the Sumerians were conquered by the Akkadians. The Akkadians syncretized their
own gods with the Sumerian ones, causing Sumerian religion to take on a Semitic
coloration. Male deities became dominant and the gods completely lost their
original associations with natural phenomena. People began to view the gods as
living in a feudal society with class structure. Powerful deities such as Enki
and Inanna became seen as receiving their power from the chief god Enlil. Major
deities
Major deities :
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). During the Third Dynasty of Ur,
the Sumerian pantheon was said to include sixty times sixty (3600) deities.
Enlil was the god of air, wind, and storm. He was also the chief god of the
Sumerian pantheon and the patron deity of the city of Nippur. His primary
consort was Ninlil, the goddess of the south wind, who was one of the matron
deities of Nippur and was believed to reside in the same temple as Enlil.
Ninurta was the son of Enlil and Ninlil. He was worshipped as the god of war,
agriculture, and one of the Sumerian wind gods. He was the patron deity of
Girsu and one of the patron deities of Lagash.
Enki was god of freshwater, male fertility, and knowledge. His most important
cult center was the E-abzu temple in the city of Eridu. He was the patron and
creator of humanity and the sponsor of human culture. His primary consort was
Ninhursag, the Sumerian goddess of the earth. Ninhursag was worshipped in the
cities of Kesh and Adab.
Inanna was the Sumerian goddess of love, sexuality, prostitution, and war. She
was the divine personification of the planet Venus, the morning and evening
star. Her main cult center was the Eanna temple in Uruk, which had been
originally dedicated to An. Deified kings may have re-enacted the marriage of
Inanna and Dumuzid with priestesses. Accounts of her parentage vary; in most
myths, she is usually presented as the daughter of Nanna and Ningal, but, in
other stories, she is the daughter of Enki or An along with an unknown mother.
The Sumerians had more myths about her than any other deity. Many of the myths
involving her revolve around her attempts to usurp control of the other
deities' domains.
Utu was god of the sun, whose primary center of worship was the E-babbar temple
in Sippar. Utu was principally regarded as a dispenser of justice; he was
believed to protect the righteous and punish the wicked.
Nanna was god of the moon and of wisdom. He was the father of Utu and one of
the patron deities of Ur. He may have also been the father of Inanna and
Ereshkigal.
Ningal was the wife of Nanna, as well as the mother of Utu, Inanna, and
Ereshkigal.
Ereshkigal was the goddess of the Sumerian Underworld, which was known as Kur.
She was Inanna's older sister. In later myth, her husband was the god Nergal.
The gatekeeper of the underworld was the god Neti. Nammu was a goddess
representing the primeval waters (Engur), who gave birth to An (heaven) and Ki
(earth) and the first deities; while she is rarely attested as an object of
cult, she likely played a central role in the early cosmogony of Eridu, and in
later periods continued to appear in texts related to exorcisms. An was the
ancient Sumerian god of the heavens. He was the ancestor of all the other major
deities and the original patron deity of Uruk. Most major gods had a so-called
sukkal, a minor deity serving as their vizier, messenger or doorkeeper.
Legacy:
Akkadians:
The Sumerians had an ongoing linguistic and cultural exchange with the Semitic
Akkadian peoples in northern Mesopotamia for generations prior to the
usurpation of their territories by Sargon of Akkad in 2340 BC. Sumerian
mythology and religious practices were rapidly integrated into Akkadian
culture, presumably blending with the original Akkadian belief systems that
have been mostly lost to history. Sumerian deities developed Akkadian
counterparts. Some remained virtually the same until later Babylonian and
Assyrian rule. The Sumerian god An, for example, developed the Akkadian
counterpart Anu; the Sumerian god Enki became Ea. The gods Ninurta and Enlil
kept their original Sumerian names. Babylonians Further information: Babylonian
religion The Amorite Babylonians gained dominance over southern Mesopotamia by
the mid-17th century BC.
During the Old Babylonian Period, the Sumerian and Akkadian languages were
retained for religious purposes; the majority of Sumerian mythological
literature known to historians today comes from the Old Babylonian Period,
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 Eli). The Sumerian-Akkadian pantheon was altered, most
notably with the introduction of a new supreme deity, Marduk.
The Sumerian goddess Inanna also developed the counterpart Ishtar during the
Old Babylonian Period.
Hurrians:
Main article: Hurrians:
The Hurrians adopted the Akkadian god Anu into their pantheon sometime no later
than 1200 BC. Other Sumerian and Akkadian deities adapted into the Hurrian
pantheon include Ayas, the Hurrian counterpart to Ea; Shaushka, the Hurrian
counterpart to Ishtar; and the goddess Ninlil, whose mythos had been
drastically expanded by the Babylonians. Parallels Some stories recorded in the
older parts of the Hebrew Bible bear strong similarities to the stories in
Sumerian mythology. For example, the biblical account of Noah and the Great
Flood bears a striking resemblance to the Sumerian deluge myth, recorded in a
Sumerian tablet discovered at Nippur. The Judaic underworld Sheol is very
similar in description with the Sumerian Kur, ruled by the goddess Ereshkigal,
as well as the Babylonian underworld Irkalla. Sumerian scholar Samuel Noah
Kramer has also noted similarities between many Sumerian and Akkadian
"proverbs" and the later Hebrew proverbs, many of which are featured
in the Book of Proverbs.
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