33. within the city-states themselves, but it evolved as grammar was added, to be used for letter writing and storytelling. Sasson, “Comparative Observations, 220. While in Atrahasis humans and the divine are linked by the continuing “spirit” which forms a reminder of the blood spilt in human creation, and the body of Kingu is used to create humans in Enuma Elish, divine blood is absent from the creative enterprises of Enki and Ninmah. The Babylonian Flood story Atrahasis contains both creative and destructive relations between humans and deities. Stephanie Dalley, ed., The Legacy of Mesopotamia (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998). 53. The flexibility of cuneiform writing contributed to its longevity and enabled the passing down of recorded stories and techniques from generation to generation. Mesopotamian art and architecture - Mesopotamian art and architecture - Sumerian period: The beginnings of monumental architecture in Mesopotamia are usually considered to have been contemporary with the founding of the Sumerian cities and the invention of writing, about 3100 bce. Unfortunately this lyre was vandalized when the National Museum in Baghdad was looted in April 2003 during the Iraq War. 10 The term “religion” has been the focus of much philological discussion, 11 but it remains difficult to define clearly, and providing a definition of “Mesopotamian religion” is similarly problematic. JoAnn Scurlock, “Death and the Afterlife in Ancient Mesopotamian Thought,” in Civilizations of the Ancient Near East, ed. This small trapezoidal box has two sides, one panel known as the “war side”, the other the “peace side.” Each panel is in three registers. Along with the capacity for supernatural deeds, it is the immortality of deities that most clearly distinguishes the divine and human spheres of existence; yet even in the literary presentation of death, the boundaries between the divine and mortal realms are blurred. Mesopotamian rulers are at times presented in literature as capable of achievements of exaggerated scale on the battlefield and other areas of expertise, or as having adventures containing a supernatural element. The importance of community bonds features in literature involving both divine and human deaths. This means there is virtually no possibility of dating Akkadian literature on linguistic grounds. There is speculation that a  200-year long drought 4,200 years ago may have caused its decline and the loss of the Sumerian language. The spirit of the dead deity is also mixed into the new creation23; the etemmu (“spirit”) of the dead god remains within humanity. Animals in Mesopotamian literature provide an important mortal yet nonhuman “other” to contrast with the activities and qualities of divine and human actors. The narrative of Atrahasis presents a complicated relationship between humans and deities, with an interesting contrast between the individual and the collective. Jeffrey H. Tigay, The Evolution of the Gilgamesh Epic (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1982), 13–16. Communicating with deities through offerings is presented as an effective means of accessing divine support; divine/human communication is foregrounded in the narrative, yet not all communication is positive. While deities and supernatural creatures have a prominent role in literature, Mesopotamian myth is not only concerned with theistic matters, but also with what it means to be human. 55. Sagburu is noted by Gadotti as one of very few women mentioned by name in the Old Babylonian Sumerian literary corpus. 15. Sumerian influences are present in the style, content, format, and vocabulary of Akkadian literature, and Sumerian literature composed after the end of the third millennium bce was likely written by authors from an Akkadian-speaking background.4 The ordering of the selected literary compositions here is based on thematic content rather than following a chronological order. John Maier, ed., Gilgamesh: A Reader (Wauconda, IL: Bolchazy-Carducci, 1997), 1–2. ; Bethesda, MD: CDL Press, 2005), 437. Ea’s advice helps Adapa to impress Anu, who then offers him the divine food and water of life which would make him a deity and release him from Ea’s service. The word “epic” is used in the sense of “a story with a hero as a protagonist.” Heroes inhabit a special role that sits in-between the human and divine spheres. It is interesting to note that the encounter with Uttu is also Enki’s only sexual act in Enki and Ninhursaga that does not result in the pregnancy of a goddess35—an outcome that also parallels the lack of pregnancy following Shukaletuda’s rape of Inanna. The mortality of heroes combined with their extraordinary abilities means that their appearance in Mesopotamian literature often involves the exploration of themes of humanity, divinity, and mortality. The religious significance of sexuality in Mesopotamian life has been well established.31 Sexuality, with all of its creative potential and power, was a divine force, one that was primarily identified with the goddess of love and war, Inanna (Semitic Ishtar). 50. The blending of historical writing and fiction further blurs the already indistinct line between literary styles. Narratives involving the deluge are critically important to the Mesopotamian view of the history of humanity,22 and the nature of human/divine connections. Benjamin R. Foster, Before the Muses: An Anthology of Akkadian Literature (3d ed. They also differed greatly in design and purpose, with ziggurats being built to house the gods, and pyramids built as the final resting place for pharaohs. There is no scholarly consensus on the purpose and meanings of this narrative, although the myth is certainly concerned with exploring the distinction between humans and deities, particularly in terms of immortality and wisdom.57 Liverani has linked the story’s events to the relationship between formality and intimacy in religious observance.58 As Liverani suggests, Adapa’s receipt of oil and clothing show his acceptance of “outer” forms of hospitality, while declining the food and drink mean he does not attain “inner” hospitality, which would have made him divine.59 In this way, Ea protects Adapa’s mortal life while preventing him from gaining immortality as an indirect result of his impious action of cursing the wind. Many of these works can be seen on the website Sumerian Shakespeare. In myth and epic, animals are recognized for their commercial and intrinsic values; they provide a source of food, transport, and material goods,16 but are often presented in a sensitive manner that acknowledges their capacities as sentient creatures, holding several qualities in common with humans (such as mortality and dependence on the natural environment for survival). Hermann Behrens, Darlene M. Loding and Martha T. Roth (Philadelphia: Samuel Noah Kramer Fund, University Museum, 1989), 522–524. 80. For humans, sex fulfilled the necessary function of the continuation of life, yet sexual activity is not presented in literary texts as a purely practical experience. The “peace side” represents the city in times of peace and prosperity, depicting the bounty of the land and a royal banquet. For a recent discussion of the problem see Michael B. Hundley, “Here a God, There a God,” Altorientalische Forschungen 40.1 (2013): 68–72. Abraham Winitzer has noted the eagle’s transgression as part of a thematic concern in the narrative with boundaries and divine limits. While there are limits to the permeability of the conceptual boundaries separating the human and divine worlds, in literature there are numerous ways for humans and deities to interact. Monumental sacral buildings - the temples were the centers of Sumerian city-states and were both religious and administrative centers throughout the Sumerian period. Noel K. Weeks, “Myth and Ritual: An Empirical Approach,” Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions 15.1 (2015): 92–111. In comparison to the timespans inhabited by theistic figures, the brevity of mortal lives contributes to the hierarchical structure of human and divine relations. Characters were generally horizontally arranged, although both horizontal and vertical were used. The theme of divine hunger illustrates the more general interdependence of human and divine relations, as this theme is paralleled, somewhat ironically, with the earlier attempt to destroy humanity through a terrible famine; both humankind and the gods are shown to cause starvation for one another in Atrahasis. Despite translational difficulties and the influence of historiographical traditions, much productive work has been done in the modern studies of Mesopotamian religion and literature. Adapa is a mortal who is given perfect wisdom by Ea. These empires were later replaced in the Iron Age by the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian empires. Theistic and human figures in literature share many qualities, yet they are also presented as inhabiting a clearly defined hierarchy, with the deities always on the top tier of the universal societal order. Mesopotamian religion - Mesopotamian religion - Religious art and iconography: The earliest periods in Mesopotamia have yielded figurines of clay or stone, some of which may represent gods or demons; certainty of interpretation in regard to these figurines is, however, difficult to attain. Atrahasis, warned by Enki, builds a boat to escape, but the rest of humanity is destroyed. Drawing these diverse sources together is the focus on divine protagonists in myth. Jan N. Bremmer, “The Ancient Near East,” in The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion, ed. This area is known as the “cradle of civilization” because of innovations in fields including agriculture, astronomy, and writing that occurred in this region at an early stage of history. Because the land of the fertile crescent was agriculturally productive, people did not have to devote themselves full-time to farming in order to survive, so were able to have a variety of different vocations, including among them artists and craftsmen. It is made of wood inlaid with shell, lapis lazuli, and red limestone, and is approximately 8.5 inches high by 19.5 inches long. Jack M. Sasson (New York: Simon & Schuster Macmillan, 1995), vol. Scorpion People are the best-attested animal/human hybrids in Babylonian literature,17 appearing most notably in Tablet IX of the Epic of Gilgamesh. The destruction of humanity horrifies the gods, who are hungry and thirsty owing to a lack of the offerings usually made to them. 67. The Akkadian epics of King Sargon (c. 2334–2279), such as Sargon in the Lands beyond the Cedar Forest and Sargon and the Lord of Purushkhanda (also known as the King of Battle epic), hold several features in common with well-known episodes from Gilgamesh.46 The composition known as the “Epic of Sargon” involves the king’s ability to avoid a trap set by Ur-Zababa of Kish by reading a cuneiform document, possibly alluding to the invention of cuneiform referenced in the Sumerian epic Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta.47, The blending of history and myth in legendary and royal epic gives the “genre” a mixed quality that is well suited to exploring themes of religion and humanity.

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