Sumerian civilization and Sumerian mythology are rightfully considered one of the oldest in the history of all mankind. The golden age of this people, who lived in Mesopotamia (modern Iraq), came in the third millennium BC. The Sumerian pantheon consisted of many different gods, spirits and monsters, and some of them were preserved in the beliefs of the subsequent cultures of the Ancient East.
Common features
The basis on which Sumerian mythology and religion rested was communal beliefs in numerous gods: spirits, demiurge deities, patrons of nature and the state. It arose as a result of the interaction of the ancient people with their feeding country. This faith did not have mystical teachings or orthodox doctrine, as was the case with the beliefs that gave rise to modern world religions - from Christianity to Islam.
Sumerian mythology possessed several fundamental features. She recognized the existence of two worlds - the world of the gods and the world of phenomena that they controlled. Each spirit in her was personified - he possessed the features of living beings.
Demiurge
The main god among the Sumerians was considered An (another spelling is Anu). It existed before the separation of the Earth from Heaven. He was portrayed as an adviser and manager of the assembly of the gods. Sometimes he was angry with people, for example, once sent a curse in the form of a heavenly bull to the city of Uruk and wanted to kill the hero of ancient legends Gilgamesh. Despite this, for the most part, An is inactive and passive. The main deity in Sumerian mythology had its own symbol in the form of a horned tiara.
An identified with the head of the family and the ruler of the state. The analogy was manifested in the image of the demiurge along with the symbols of royal power: the staff, crown and scepter. It was An who kept the mysterious mes. So the inhabitants of Mesopotamia called the divine forces that controlled the earthly and heavenly world.
Enlil (Ellil) was considered the second most important god by the Sumerians. He was called Lord Wind or Mr. Blow. This creature ruled the world located between the earth and the sky. Another important feature that Sumerian mythology emphasized: Enlil had many functions, but they all boiled down to dominion over the wind and air. Thus, it was a deity of the elements.
Enlil was considered the ruler of all alien countries for the Sumerians. It is in his power to arrange a disastrous flood, and he himself does everything to expel people alien to him from his possessions. This spirit can be defined as the spirit of wildlife, resisting the human collective, trying to settle in desert places. Enlil also punished kings for neglecting ritual sacrifices and ancient festivals. As a punishment, the deity sent hostile hill tribes to peaceful lands. Enlil was associated with the natural laws of nature, the passage of time, aging, death. In one of the largest Sumerian cities of Nippur, he was considered his patron. It was there that the ancient calendar of this extinct civilization was located.
Enki
Like other ancient mythologies, Sumerian mythology included directly opposite images. So, a kind of “anti-Enlil” was Enki (Ea) - the lord of the earth. He was considered the patron saint of fresh water and of humanity as a whole. The lord of the earth was prescribed the traits of a craftsman, mage and artisan who taught his skills to the younger gods, who, in turn, shared these skills with ordinary people.
Enki is the protagonist of Sumerian mythology (one of three along with Enlil and Anu), and it was he who was called the defender of education, wisdom, scribe craft and schools. This deity personified the human collective, trying to subjugate nature and change its environment. Especially often Enki was addressed during wars and other serious dangers. But in peaceful periods, his altars were empty, no sacrifices were made there, so necessary to attract the attention of the gods.
Inanna
In addition to the three great gods, in Sumerian mythology there were also the so-called elder gods, or second-order gods. Inanna is reckoned to this host. It is best known as Ishtar (this is the Akkadian name that was later used also in Babylon during its heyday). The image of Inanna, which appeared even among the Sumerians, survived this civilization and continued to be revered in Mesopotamia in later times. Its traces can be traced even in Egyptian beliefs, and in general it existed right up to Antiquity.
So what does Sumerian mythology say about Inann? The goddess was considered associated with the planet Venus and the power of military and love passion. She embodied human emotions, the elemental power of nature, as well as the feminine in society. Inanna was called a virgin warrior - she patronized inter-sexual relations, but she herself never gave birth. This deity in Sumerian mythology was associated with the practice of cult prostitution.
Marduk
As noted above, each Sumerian city had its own patron god (for example, Enlil in Nippur). This feature was associated with the political features of the development of the ancient Mesopotamian civilization. The Sumerians almost never, with the exception of very rare periods, lived within the framework of one centralized state. For several centuries, their cities constituted a complex conglomerate. Each settlement was independent and at the same time belonged to the same culture, connected by language and religion.
The Sumerian and Akkadian mythology of Mesopotamia left its traces in the monuments of many Mesopotamian cities. She influenced the development of Babylon. In a later period, it became the largest city of antiquity, where it formed its own unique civilization, which became the basis of a large empire. However, Babylon was born as a small Sumerian settlement. It was then that Marduk was considered his patron. Researchers attribute it to the dozen older gods that Sumerian mythology spawned.
In short, the importance of Marduk in the pantheon grew with the gradual increase in the political and economic influence of Babylon. His image is complex - as it evolved, it included features of Ea, Ellil and Shamash. Just as Inanna was associated with Venus, Marduk was associated with Jupiter. Written sources of antiquity mention his unique healing powers and the art of healing.
Together with the goddess Gula, Marduk knew how to raise the dead. Also, Sumerian-Akkadian mythology put him in the place of the patron saint of irrigation, without which the economic prosperity of the cities of the Middle East was impossible. In this regard, Marduk was considered the bearer of prosperity and peace. His cult reached its climax during the period of the New Babylonian kingdom (VII-VI centuries BC), when the Sumerians themselves had long since disappeared from the historical scene, and their language was forgotten.
Marduk vs Tiamat
Thanks to cuneiform texts, numerous legends of the inhabitants of ancient Mesopotamia have been preserved. The confrontation between Marduk and Tiamat is one of the main plots that Sumerian mythology has preserved in written sources. The gods often fought among themselves - similar stories are also known in Ancient Greece, where the legend of gigantomakhy was widespread.
Among the Sumerians, Tiamat was associated with the oceans of chaos in which the whole world was born. This image is associated with the cosmogonic beliefs of ancient civilizations. Tiamat was portrayed as a seven-headed hydra and dragon. Marduk fought with her, armed with a club, a bow and a net. God was accompanied by storms and celestial winds, called upon him to fight with monsters generated by a powerful opponent.
Each ancient cult had its own image of the foremother. In Mesopotamia, it was considered Tiamat. Sumerian mythology endowed it with many evil traits, because of which the rest of the gods rebelled against it. It was Marduk who was elected the rest of the pantheon for the decisive battle with the chaos ocean. Having met the foremother, he was horrified by her terrible appearance, but joined the battle. A variety of gods in Sumerian mythology helped prepare Marduk for battle. The water demons Lahmu and Lahamu granted him the ability to invoke a flood. Other spirits prepared the rest of the warrior's arsenal.
Opposing Tiamat Marduk agreed to fight the chaos ocean in exchange for the other gods recognizing their own world domination. A corresponding deal was concluded between them. At the decisive moment of the battle, Marduk drove a storm into Tiamat's mouth so that she could not close it. After that, he shot an arrow inside the monster and thus defeated a terrible rival.
Tiamat had a consort husband, Kingu. Marduk dealt with him, taking away from the monster the tables of fate, with which the winner established his own dominance and created a new world. From the upper part of the body of Tiamat, he created the sky, zodiac signs, stars, from the lower - the earth, and from the eye two great rivers of Mesopotamia - the Euphrates and Tiger.
Then the hero was recognized by the gods as their king. In thanks to Marduk, a sanctuary was presented in the form of the city of Babylon. Many temples dedicated to this god appeared in it, among which were the famous ancient monuments: the ziggurat of Etemenanka and the Esagila complex. Many evidence of Marduk was left by Sumerian mythology. The creation of the world by this god is a classic plot of ancient religions.
Ashur
Ashur is another god of the Sumerians whose image survived this civilization. Initially, he was the patron saint of the city of the same name. In the XXIV century BC, the Assyrian kingdom arose there . When in the VIII-VII century BC. e. this state reached the peak of its power, Ashur became the most important god of all Mesopotamia. It is also curious that he turned out to be the main figure of the cult pantheon of the first empire in the history of mankind.
The king of Assyria was not only the ruler and head of state, but also the high priest of Ashur. So theocracy was born, the basis of which was still Sumerian mythology. Books and other sources of antiquity and antiquity indicate that the cult of Ashur lasted until the 3rd century AD, when Assyria and independent Mesopotamian cities were long gone.
Nanna
The god of the moon among the Sumerians was Nunn (the Akkadian name Sin is also common). He was considered the patron of one of the most important cities of Mesopotamia - Ur. This settlement has existed for several millennia. In the XXII-XI centuries. BC rulers of Ur united under their rule the whole of Mesopotamia. In this regard, the value of Nanna increased. His cult was of great ideological importance. The supreme priestess of Nanna became the eldest daughter of King Ur.
The moon god was favored by cattle and fertility. He determined the fate of animals and the dead. For this purpose, each new moon of Nunn went to the underworld. The phases of the celestial satellite of the Earth were associated with his many names. The Sumerians called the full moon Nanna, the crescent moon - Zuen, the young sickle - Ashimbabbar. In the Assyrian and Babylonian traditions, this deity was also considered a diviner and healer.
Shamash, Ishkur and Dumuzi
If the god of the moon was Nanna, then the god of the sun was Shamash (or Utu). The Sumerians considered day to be the product of night. Therefore, Shamash in their view was Nanne a son and a servant. His image was associated not only with the sun, but also with justice. At noon, Shamash judged the living. He also fought with evil demons.
The main cult centers of Shamash were Elassar and Sippar. The first temples ("houses of radiance") of these cities, scientists attribute to the incredibly distant V millennium BC. It was believed that Shamash gives people wealth, captives - freedom, and land - fertility. This god was depicted as a long-bearded old man with a turban on his head.
In any ancient pantheon there were personifications of each natural element. So, in Sumerian mythology, the god of the thunderstorm is Ishkur (another name is Adad). His name often appeared in cuneiform sources. Ishkur was considered the patron saint of the lost city of Karkar. In myths he occupies a secondary position. Nevertheless, he was considered a warrior god, armed with terrible winds. In Assyria, the image of Ishkur evolved into the figure of Hadad, which had important religious and state significance. Another deity of nature was Dumuzi. He personified the calendar cycles and the change of seasons.
Demons
Like many other ancient peoples, the Sumerians had their own netherworld. This lower underground world was inhabited by the souls of the dead and terrible demons. In cuneiform texts, hell was often called "a country from which there is no return." Dozens of underground Sumerian deities are counted - information about them is fragmentary and fragmented. As a rule, each city had its own traditions and beliefs associated with chthonic beings.
One of the main negative gods of the Sumerians is Nergal. He was associated with war and death. This demon in Sumerian mythology was depicted as a distributor of dangerous epidemics of plague and fever. His figure was considered the main one in the underworld. In the city of Kutu, the main temple of the Nergal cult existed. Babylonian astrologers personified the planet Mars with the help of his image.
Nergal had a wife and her own female prototype - Ereshkigal. She was the sister of Inanna. This demon in Sumerian mythology was considered the master of the chthonic creatures of the Anunnaki. The main temple of Ereshkigal was located in the large city of Kut.
Another important chthonic deity of the Sumerians was Nergal's brother Ninazu. Inhabited in the underworld, he possessed the art of rejuvenation and healing. Its symbol was a snake, which later in many cultures became the personification of the medical profession. With special zeal, Ninazu was revered in the city of Eshnunn. His name is mentioned in the famous Babylonian laws of Hammurabi, which states that offerings to this god are mandatory. In another Sumerian city - Ur - there was an annual festival in honor of Ninaz, during which abundant sacrifices were arranged. His son was considered the god Ningishzida. He guarded the prisoners in the underworld of demons. The symbol of Ningishzida was the dragon - one of the constellations of Sumerian astrologers and astronomers, which the Greeks called the constellation Snake.
Sacred Trees and Spirits
Spells, hymns and recipes of the Sumerians testify to the existence of sacred trees among this nation, each of which was attributed to a particular deity or city. For example, tamarisk was especially revered in the Nippurian tradition. In Shuruppak's spells, this tree is considered a world tree. Tamarisk was used by exorcists in the rites of purification and treatment of diseases.
Modern science knows about tree magic thanks to the few traces of conspiracy traditions and epics. But about Sumerian demonology, even less is known. Mesopotamian magical collections, according to which evil forces were expelled, were compiled already in the era of Assyria and Babylonia in the languages of these civilizations. Surely the Sumerian tradition can only say a few things.
Distinguished ancestral spirits, guardian spirits and hostile spirits. The latter included monsters killed by heroes, as well as personifications of diseases and diseases. The Sumerians believed in ghosts very similar to the Slavic mortal dead. Ordinary people treated them with horror and fear.
The evolution of mythology
Religion and mythology of the Sumerians went through three stages of their formation. At the first, communal-tribal totems evolved into the masters of cities and demiurge gods. At the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC, conspiracies and temple anthems appeared. There was a hierarchy of gods. It began with the names Ana, Enlil and Enki. Then came Inanna, the gods of the sun and moon, gods-warriors, etc.
The second period is also called the period of the Sumerian-Akkadian syncretism. It was marked by a mixture of different cultures and mythologies. Alien to the Sumerians, the Akkadian language is considered the language of the three peoples of Mesopotamia: the Babylonians, Akkadians and Assyrians. Its oldest monuments date back to the 25th century BC. Around this time, the process of merging the images and names of the Semitic and Sumerian deities, performing the same functions, began.
The third, final period is the period of unification of the general pantheon during the III dynasty of Ur (XXII-XI centuries BC). At this time, the first totalitarian state arose in the history of mankind. It subjected to strict ranking and registration not only people, but also scattered and many-sided before gods. It was during the III dynasty that Enlil was placed at the head of the assembly of the gods. An and Enki were on both hands from him.
Below were the Anunnaki. Inanna, Nanna, and also Nergal were counted among them. About a hundred small deities are located at the foot of this staircase. Then there was a merger of the Sumerian pantheon with the Semitic (for example, the difference between the Sumerian Enlil and the Semitic White was erased). After the fall of the III dynasty of Ur in Mesopotamia, the centralized state disappeared for a while . In the second millennium BC, the Sumerians lost their independence, falling under the rule of the Assyrians. A cross between these nations later gave rise to the Babylonian nation. Along with ethnic changes, religious changes took place. When the former homogeneous Sumerian nation and its language disappeared, the Sumerian mythology also disappeared into the past.