Ideology > Sumerian Religion

Sumerian Religion

Background

Part of a series onAncientMesopotamian religionChaos Monster and Sun GodPrimordial beings[hide]Abzu and TiamatLahmu and LahamuAnshar and KisharMummuSeven gods who decree[hide]Four primaryAnuEnlilEnkiNinhursagThree sky godsInanna/IshtarNanna/SinUtu/ShamashOther major gods[hide]AdadDumuzid/TammuzEnkimduEreshkigalKinguGeshtinannaLaharMardukNergalNinurtaMinor gods[hide]AgasayaAnunnakiAsaruluduAshnanBelEnbiluluGeshtinannaLaharMami/NintuMamituNabuNamtarNansheNidabaNingalNinkasiNinlilNinsunNuskuSarpanitUttuDemigods and heroes[hide]AdapaEnkiduEnmerkarGilgameshLugalbandaShamhatSiduriAtra-HasisSpirits and monsters[hide]UtukkuLamassu/SheduAsakkuEdimmuSirisAnzûHumbabaAsagHanbiKurLamashtuPazuzuRabisuTales[hide]Atra-HasisEnmerkar and the Lord of ArattaEnûma ElišEpic of GilgameshRelated topicsAncient Near Eastern religionsSumerian religionBabylonian religionv t eThe 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 [hide]1Worship1.1Written Cuneiform1.2Architecture1.3The Priesthood1.4Ceremony2Cosmology2.1Creation story3Deities4Earliest deities4.1Pantheon5Legacy5.1Akkadians5.2Babylonians5.3Hittites5.4Parallels6See also7References8External linksWorship[edit]Cuneiform temple hymn from the 19th century BC; the hymn is addressed to the Lugal Iddin-Dagan of LarsaWritten Cuneiform[edit]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 as temple praise hymns[1] and as a form of "incantation" called the nam-šub (prefix + "to cast").[2]Architecture[edit]Main article: Sumerian architectureIn 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.[3] Temples served as cultural, religious, and political headquarters until approximately 2500 BC, with the rise of military kings known as Lu-gals (“man” + “big”)[2] after which time the political and military leadership was often housed in separate "palace" complexes.[3]The Priesthood[edit]Sumerian WorshiperUntil the advent of the lugals, 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.[citation needed]Ceremony[edit]During the Third Dynasty of Ur, the Sumerian city-state of Lagash was said to have had 62 "lamentation priests" who were accompanied by 180 vocalists and instrumentalists.Cosmology[edit]The Sumerians envisioned the universe as a closed dome surrounded by a primordial saltwater sea.[4] Underneath the terrestrial earth, which formed the base of the dome, existed an underworld and a freshwater ocean called the Apsû. The deity of the dome-shaped firmament was named An; 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 Kigal. The primordial saltwater sea was named Nammu, who became known as Tiamat during and after the Sumerian Renaissance.Creation story[edit]Main article: Sumerian creation mythAccording to Sumerian mythology, the gods originally created humans as servants for themselves, but freed them when they became too much to handle.[citation needed]The primordial union of An and Ki produced Enlil, who became leader of the Sumerian pantheon. After the other deities banished Enlil from Dilmun (the “home of the deities”) for raping the air goddess Ninlil; she had a child, Nanna, god of the moon. Nanna and Ningal gave birth to Inanna, the goddess of war and fertility, and to Utu, god of the sun.[5]Deities[edit]Statue of a Sumerian deity, ca. 2550 and 2520 BCThe Sumerians originally practiced a polytheistic religion, with anthropomorphic deities representing cosmic and terrestrial forces in their world. During the middle of the 3rd millennium BC, Sumerian deities became more anthropocentric and were "...nature gods transformed into city gods."[according to whom?] Deities such as Enki and Inanna were viewed as having been assigned their rank, power, and knowledge from An, the heavenly deity, or Enlil, head of the Sumerian pantheon.This cosmological shift may have been caused by the growing influence of the neighboring Akkadian religion, or as a result of increased warfare between the Sumerian city-states; the assignment of certain powers to deities may have mirrored the appointment of the Lugals, who were given power and authority by the city-state and its priesthood.[6]Earliest deities[edit]The earliest historical records of Sumer do not go back much further than c. 2900 BC, although it is generally agreed that Sumerian civilization started between c. 4500 and 4000 BC.[7] The earliest Sumerian literature of the 3rd millennium BC identifies four primary deities; Anu, Enlil, Ninhursag and Enki. The highest order of these earliest gods were described occasionally behaving mischievously towards each other, but were generally involved in co-operative creative ordering.[8]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.[9]Pantheon[edit]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; alternatively, "those from heaven (An) who came to earth (Ki)"]).[citation needed] During the Third Dynasty of Ur, the Sumerian pantheon was said to include sixty times sixty (3600) deities.[10]The main Sumerian deities are:Anu: god of heaven, the firmamentEnlil: god of the air (from Lil = Air); patron deity of NippurEnki: god of freshwater, male fertility, and knowledge; patron deity of EriduEreshkigal: goddess of the underworld, Kigal or IrkallaInanna: goddess of warfare, female fertility, and sexual love; patron deity of UrukNammu was the primeval sea (Engur), who gave birth to An (heaven) and Ki (earth) and the first deities; eventually became known as the goddess TiamatNinhursag: goddess of the earth[11]Nanna: god of the moon; one of the patron deities of Ur[12]Ningal: wife of Nanna[13]Ninlil: an air goddess and wife of Enlil; one of the matron deities of Nippur; she was believed to reside in the same temple as Enlil[14]Ninurta: god of war, agriculture, one of the Sumerian wind gods; patron deity of Girsu, and one of the patron deities of LagashUtu: god of the sun at the E-babbar temple[15] of SipparLegacy[edit]Akkadians[edit]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 Arabian culture,[16] 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; and the Sumerian gods Ninurta and Enlil remained very much the same in the Akkadian pantheon.[citation needed]Babylonians[edit]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,[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). 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.Hittites[edit]Main article: HurriansThe 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,[17] whose mythos had been drastically expanded by the Babylonians.[citation needed]Parallels[edit]Some stories in Sumerian religion appear similar to stories in other Middle-Eastern religions. For example, in the Epic of Gilgamesh, the biblical account of Noah and the flood myth resembles some aspects of the Sumerian deluge myth. The Judaic underworld Sheol is very similar in description with the Sumerian and Babylonian Kigal, ruled by the goddess Ereshkigal and in the Babylonian religion, with their introduced consort, the death god Nergal. 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.[18]See also[edit]Ancient Near East portalAncient Near Eastern religionAncient Semitic religionBabylonian religionMesMesopotamian mythologySumerian literatureReferences[edit]^ Jump up to: a b "Sumerian Literature". Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature. Retrieved 2009-06-22.^ Jump up to: a b "The Sumerian Lexicon" (PDF). John A. Halloran. Retrieved 2009-06-23.^ Jump up to: a b "Inside a Sumerian Temple". The Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship at Brigham Young University. Retrieved 2009-06-22.Jump up ^ "The Firmament and the Water Above" (PDF). Westminster Theological Journal 53 (1991), 232-233. Retrieved 2010-02-20.Jump up ^ "Enlil and Ninlil". Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature. Retrieved 2009-06-22.Jump up ^ Karen Rhea Nemet-Nejat, (1998). "Daily Life in Ancient Mesopotamia ", 178-179.Jump up ^ Bertman, Stephen (2003). Handbook to life in ancient Mesopotamia. Facts on File. p. 143. ISBN 978-0-8160-4346-0.Jump up ^ The Sources of the Old Testament: A Guide to the Religious Thought of the Old Testament in Context. Continuum International Publishing Group. 18 May 2004. pp. 29–. ISBN 978-0-567-08463-7. Retrieved 7 May 2013.Jump up ^ God in Translation: Deities in Cross-cultural Discourse in the Biblical World. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. 2010. pp. 42–. ISBN 978-0-8028-6433-8. Retrieved 7 May 2013.Jump up ^ Karen Rhea Nemet-Nejat, (1998). "Daily Life in Ancient Mesopotamia", 182.Jump up ^ "Gilgamec, Enkidu and the nether world". Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature. Retrieved 2010-02-20.Jump up ^ "A balbale to Suen (Nanna A)". Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature. Retrieved 2010-02-20.Jump up ^ "A balbale to Nanna (Nanna B)". Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature. Retrieved 2010-02-20.Jump up ^ "An adab to Ninlil (Ninlil A)". Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature. Retrieved 2010-02-20.Jump up ^ "A hymn to Utu (Utu B)". Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature. Retrieved 2010-02-20.Jump up ^ "Mesopotamia: the Sumerians". Washington State University. Retrieved 2009-06-22.Jump up ^ "Hurrian Mythology REF 1.2". Christopher B. Siren. Retrieved 2009-06-23.Jump up ^ Samuel Noah Kramer, (1952). "From the Tablets of Sumer", 133-135.External links[edit]Ancient Mesopotamian Gods and Goddesses, on OraccSumerian Hymns from Cuneiform Texts in the British Museum at Project Gutenberg (Transcription of book from 1908)[hide] v t eSumerian mythologyAn Abzu Anshar Enki Enlil Isinu Nammu Antu Ninki Zu Ninhursag Ereshkigal Hushbishag Ishtar Kingu Nanna Nebo Nabu Namtar Nergal Nidaba Ningal Ninisinna Ninkasi Ninlil Sin Tiamat Utu Nusku Utukku Shamash Dumuzi Gilgamesh Geshtinanna Gugalanna Huwawa Enkidu Inanna