SUMERIAN
RELIGION
![](640px-Wall_plaque_showing_libation_scene_from_Ur,_Iraq,_2500_BCE._British_Museum_(adjusted_for_perspective).jpg)
Wall
plaque showing libations by devotees and a naked priest, to a
seated god and a temple. Ur, 2500 BCE
Sumerian
religion was the religion practiced and adhered to 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 ziggurats—tall, 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 Period and afterward,
Inanna, the goddess of love, 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 many parallels between the stories of the ancient
Sumerians and those recorded later in the early parts of the Hebrew
Bible.[citation needed]
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-šub (prefix + "to cast"). These
tablets were also made of stone clay or stone, and they used a
small pick to make the symbols.
Architecture
:
![](577px-Plaque_with_libation_scene_BM_120850.jpg)
Plaque with a libation scene. 2550 - 2250 BCE, Royal Cemetery
at Ur
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
:
![](513px-Sumerian_Worshiper.jpg)
Statuette
of a Sumerian worshipper from the Early Dynastic Period, ca. 2800
- 2300 BC
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.
Creation
story :
Early religious relief (c.2700 BCE)
![](640px-Carved_figure_feathers_Louvre_AO221.jpg)
![](640px-Tablet_of_the_figure_with_feathers,_circa_2700_BCE,_Girsu,_Sumer.jpg)
Carved figure with feathers. The king-priest, wearing
a net skirt and a hat with leaves or feathers, stands before the
door of a temple, symbolized by two great maces. The inscription
mentions the god Ningirsu. 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.
Afterlife
:
![](Dumuzi_aux_enfers.jpg)
Ancient Sumerian cylinder seal impression showing the
god Dumuzid being tortured in the Underworld by galla demons
![](VAM_-_Rollsiegel_1.jpg)
Devotional
scene, with Temple
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.
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
:
Development :
![](297px-Mushussu_on_a_vase_of_Gudea,_circa_2100_BCE.jpg)
The
dragon Mušhuššu on a vase of Gudea, circa 2100
BCE
It is generally agreed that Sumerian civilization began at some
point between c. 4500 and 4000 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 :
![](640px-Ea_(Babilonian)_-_EnKi_(Sumerian).jpg)
Akkadian
cylinder seal from sometime around 2300 BC or thereabouts depicting
the deities Inanna, Utu, Enki, and Isimud
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.
![](640px-Seal_of_Inanna,_2350-2150_BCE.jpg)
Ancient
Akkadian cylinder seal depicting Inanna resting her foot on the
back of a lion while Ninshubur stands in front of her paying obeisance,
c. 2334 - 2154 BC
Inanna was the Sumerian goddess of love, beauty, and warfare.
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. The Sumerians
had more myths about Inanna 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.
Ereshkigal
was the goddess of the Sumerian Underworld, which was known as
Kur. She was Inanna's older sister. 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 :
Assyrian
stone relief from the temple of Ninurta at Kalhu, showing the
god with his thunderbolts pursuing Anzû, who has stolen
the Tablet of Destinies from Enlil's sanctuary (Austen Henry Layard
Monuments of Nineveh, 2nd Series, 1853)
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.[citation needed]
Babylonians
:
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 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.
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.[citation
needed]
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.
Source
:
https://en.wikipedia.org/
wiki/Sumerian_religion