Babylonian and Assyrian Religion
Religion is the backbone of all cultural societies. The Rev. Professor E. O. James has assembled a great collation of studies on Babylonian and Assyrian religions. E. O. James has chosen a wide view of their ancient culture through their temple building, rituals, mythology, and daily life and government world.
Anyone studying Babylonian and Assyrian religion will find it somewhat similar to early western civilization religions. Early western civilization compared to Babylonian and Assyrian with a hierarchy with kings and priests being the highest rulers. It is hard to realize that very little more than a century ago the script and languages in which the records of the great civilizations of the Tigris-Euphrates valley lay concealed were completely unknown. Anyone who reads this book can fascinate the process of bring to light after so many centuries of oblivion, and the vast treasures of Babylonian and Assyrian civilizations. Much of this has been done since the Flood story was translated and revealed to the world, the astonishing resemblance’s between the Hebrew story of the Flood and its more ancient Babylonian predecessor. Students of anthropology, the science of man are beginning to recognize that a Babylonian myth may be as worth of study. The author shows how the “Ibo myth'; for the light is may throw on man’s early reactions to his environment and his early social patterns.
The myths of Assyrian and Babylonian religion are given here to explain the book and why it is not possible to prevent Assyrain religion in a separate treatment. Broadly speaking, Babylonian religion, built on the foundation laid by Sumerians, was a mystic religious system based on the fear of evil sprits, and other incalculable elements in the social environment. Also the author points out the existence of important differences between the civilization of Assyria and that of Babylon, in spite of the facts, (a) that an earlier Sumerian culture underlay the civilization of bother countries; (b) that both Assyrians and Babylonians were of Semitic stock and spoke very closely related forms of Semitic language; (c) that the Assyrians borrowed largely from the Babylonians especially in the law and religion.
This book is a general outline of the religion of the Babylonians and Assyrians is mainly concerned with the elements common to both countries, but such outstanding differences as occur will be pointed out in their place.
An Assyrian Emperor’s Resume: Ferocious Conquests a Specialty, written by an unknown author, offers evidence about the Assyrian Society around the time of 875 BCE, under the rule of Emperor Ashur-Nasir-Pal II, including insight in to the Assyrian society as well as what they valued and thought was important, however we cannot believe that this source is one hundred percent accurate.
The rendition of the historic, worldwide Flood recorded in Genesis of the Old Testament is similar to the account recorded on Tablet 11of the Sumero-Babylonian version of the epic of Gilgamesh, discovered in the 1800’s by British archaeologists in Assyria. Let us compare the two in this essay.
They destroyed the Kassite in Akkad and Sumer. Not long after the Assyrians new capital Nineveh was built. It was very beautiful with a library, and a zoo. The water supply was poor. The Assyrians were very hated. The Medes took over Assyrian in 612 BCE and invades Anatolia. The Chaldeans (New Babylonians) became the new masters of Mesopotamia. Their greatest cultural accomplishments were in astronomy. They studied the sky because they believed gods lived there.
During this era, ancient Mesopotamia was under the rule of theocratic monarchies. It was believed that the sole ruler was governing specifically for the gods and catering to their wishes. Mesopotamians were polytheistic, or worshippers of multiple gods, and extremely devout in their faith. They believed that the gods determined all situations and occurrences. As a ruler, King Hammurabi found Mesopotamia to be tremendously divided. At the time of his rule, Mesopotamia was dissected into separate city-states that were often feuding. The creation of King Hammurabi’s code of laws was a means to provide unification for all of the people of Mesopotamia. It was King Hammurabi’s hope that a central system of laws would bind the separate city-states into a single, peaceful entity.
Two of the earliest and greatest civilizations, Mesopotamia and Egypt, show the transition from a Paleolithic society into a settled civilization. Both cultures had established kings; however, the Pharaoh is the god-king of Egypt, while in Mesopotamia the monarchs are priest-kings whom serve the gods. Although Mesopotamia and Egypt have some characteristics in common, which bring them under the “First Civilizations” category, their different views and beliefs about divine authority and how it is practiced set these civilizations apart and make them unique.
Chamberlain Charles. “Mesopotamian Background of The Hebrew Bible--Creation”. Making of The Modern World Program. University of California, San Diego, La Jolla. January 7, 2011. Lecture.
There were many ways that the Ancient Egyptian society and the Mesopotamian society were similar yet at the same time they were very different. Egyptians and Sumerians agreed on religion in a sense that both cultures were polytheistic. However, the relationships between the gods and goddesses were different between the Sumerians and Egyptians. This essay will discuss those differences in culture, religion and the viewpoints on death and afterlife.
Everyday in the Egyptian way of life, both men and women would adorn themselves with beautiful jewelry and makeup. Wearing these pieces of jewelry and makeup was part of their everyday life.
People of the ancient world often had questions about their existence and how life and people came to be on earth. Most ancient people answered these questions through religion. The Sumerians were the first important group of people to inhabit Mesopotamia and they were known to practice a form of worship called polytheism, which is the worship of several gods. Mesopotamians associated different gods with natural events, emotions, and other occurrences. Their main deities included An (the god of the heavens), Enlil (Lord Storm), Enki (god of wisdom), and Nihursaga (the mother of all living things)(p.22). The Mesopotamians believed that the gods controlled all of the events and occurrences in life. An ancient text called “Creation of Man by the Mother Goddess” (p.34) helps us understand how the M...
Throughout time, many civilizations have been noted as ‘great’ pertaining to not only the characteristics of their leaders, but also by how well they spread and influence other nations. The Mongol and Achaemenid (Early Persian) empire are two empires that held a significant amount of power during their time period. There were many different religions practiced in the civilizations, and the practice and tolerance of religion is an important aspect to the power of a nation. The Mongol empire and the Achaemenid empire are two empires that are considerably different in regards to their belief systems that were practiced and the motivation behind their religious tolerance, but share a similarity in the the influence and power that they had over surrounding nations.
The Egyptian and Mesopotamian religion and society were similar, but their government/leadership was different. Religion in Egypt and Mesopotamia were very similar because both faiths were polytheistic and had priestly authority. Both cultures had powerful priests, both had a belief of an afterlife, and religion was part of their daily lives. Both societies had similar rigid social classes, relied on slavery; both also had a religion which played an important role in their daily lives. Although, their societies were very common, they still had some differences in government. The Egypt, the government was a theocracy, whereas the government in Mesopotamia was run by a monarchy. Despite their similarities, the differences between these two civilizations were most likely a result of unique geographical and topographical conditions.
Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt are both cradles of civilization. Both contributed greatly to human development through their achievements, failures, peoples, scientific accomplishments, philosophies, religions, and contributions.
Centuries before Julius Cesar, Galileo, Aristotle, Socrates, and albert Einstein; There was an ancient civilization that arose out of nowhere. They Settled upon the Tigris, and Euphrates Rivers, known as the fertile crest of Mesopotamia. These settlers are known as the Sumerians. The Sumerians were an agricultural society, who lived off their crops and the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers to trade goods. So when presented the terrible question “Why they existed?” The Sumerians believed that they existed to serve their gods by worship and dedicated work. Through the Sumerian Literature, architecture, and artwork the Sumerians let their purpose be known.
The Assyrian civilization located in the Middle East. It rose due to their intimidating army. They had chariots, mounted weapons, and siege weapons used to break down gates and walls to take over kingdoms. They were famous for being sly and quick in battle. They would overturn a village without anyone knowing the Assyrians were on the verge of taking over. They had cruel and gruesome ways to instill fear in villagers of the newly conquered area. They would cut off appendages, ears, nose, or their head. This left everyone petrified of the Assyrians. They would split up the population they took over by spreading them to different parts of the empire to prevent uprising. Due to the population growing, governors were assigned to rule over province.
Due to this, women wore amulets during and after childbirth to drive away what they believe is a god that steals baby after birth. To Mesopotamians, the recording was very important to them. They need to write everything down. Which led to the presence of their own system of writing which was called the cuneiform. So there is an existence of schools which were attached to temples but only boys are privileged to go to school. In school, students need to do a perfect job or they are beaten up as a punishment. Also, the existence of the Code of Hammurabi became a guide to the Mesopotamians on what not to do in order to avoid punishments as stated in the book (Brien and Fin, 2012).