Fertile Crescent
myth series | | | | Mesopotamia | | Levantine myth | | Arabian myth | | Yazidic religion | Mesopotamian mythology
Topics | | Gods Semitic gods refers to the gods or deities of peoples generally classified as speaking a Semitic language. ...
// The word mythology (Greek: μυθολογία, from μÏθος mythos, a story or legend, and λόγος logos, an account or speech) literally means the (oral) retelling of myths – stories that a particular culture believes to be true and that use supernatural events or characters to explain the nature of the universe and humanity. ...
Image File history File links Palmsymbol. ...
Mesopotamia refers to the region now occupied by modern Iraq, eastern Syria, southeastern Turkey, and Southwest Iran. ...
In the Levantine pantheon, the Elohim are the sons of El the ancient of days (olam) assembled on the divine holy place, Mount Zephon (Jebel Aqra). ...
Arabian mythology is the ancient beliefs of the Arabs. ...
Malak Ta’us, the peacock angel The Yazidi or Yezidi (Kurdish: Êzidî) are adherents of a small Middle Eastern religion with ancient origins. ...
This article is in need of attention. ...
Heroes
In Sumerian mythology and later for Assyrians and Babylonians, Anu (see also An) was a sky-god, the god of heaven, lord of constellations, king of gods, spirits and demons, and dwelt in the highest heavenly regions. ...
This article is in need of attention. ...
Ishtar (Arabic: عشتار) is the Assyrian counterpart to the Sumerian Inanna and to the cognate northwest Semitic goddess Astarte. ...
The History of astrology encompasses a great span of human history and many cultures. ...
For other uses, see Tiamat (disambiguation). ...
In Mesopotamian mythology, the Tablets of Destiny are a work of carved stone covered in writing of great significance. ...
In Sumerian mythology, the Annuna, the fifty great gods, whose domain appears to be principally but not exclusively the underworld. ...
Zecharia Sitchins photograph from The 12th Planet Zecharia Sitchin (born 1922)[1] is an occult scientist and a best-selling author of books promoting the ancient astronaut theory of mankinds origins. ...
Marduk [märdook] (Sumerian spelling in Akkadian AMAR.UTU solar calf; Biblical Merodach) was the name of a late generation god from ancient Mesopotamia and patron deity of the city of Babylon, who, when Babylon permanently became the political center of the Euphrates valley in the time of Hammurabi...
It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Mesopotamian mythology. ...
Monsters In the Epic of Gilgamesh, Utnapishtim (also known as the Sumerian character Ziusudra) is the wise king of the Sumerian city state of Shuruppak who, along with his wife, whose name was not mentioned in the story, survived a great flood sent by Enlil to drown every living thing on...
The Deluge by Gustave Doré. The story of a Great Flood sent by God or the gods to destroy civilization as an act of divine retribution is a widespread theme in myths. ...
Tammuz or Tamuz Arabic تمّوز Tammūz; Hebrew תַּמּוּז, Standard Hebrew Tammuz, Tiberian Hebrew Tammûz; Akkadian Duʾzu, Dūzu; Sumerian Dumuzi was the name of a Babylonian deity. ...
The category life-death-rebirth deity also known as a dying-and-rising god is a convenient means of classifying the many divinities in world mythology who are born, suffer death or an eclipse or other death-like experience, pass a phase in the underworld among the dead, and are...
Gilgamesh, according to the Sumerian king list, was the fifth king of Uruk (Early Dynastic II, first dynasty of Uruk), the son of Lugalbanda, ruling circa 2650 BCE. Legend has it that his mother was Ninsun, a goddess. ...
The Cedar Forest is the glorious realm of the gods of Mesopotamian mythology. ...
Enkidu and Gilgamesh, cylinder seal from Ur III Enkidu appears in Sumerian mythology as a mythical wild-man raised by animals; his beast-like ways are finally tamed by a courtesan named Shamhat. ...
Therianthropy is a generic term for any transformation of a human into another animal form, or for a being which displays both human and animal characteristics, either as a part of mythology or as a spiritual concept. ...
Related In Akkadian mythology, Zu (called Anzu in Persia and Sumer) was a lesser god, the son of the bird goddess Siris. ...
Shedu at the Louvre In Akkadian mythology the shedu were a type of demon, but they were demons of a benevolent nature, protective spirits of the houses, palaces and cities. ...
Kingu, also spelled Qingu, was a demon in Babylonian mythology, and the consort of the goddess Tiamat before she was slain by Marduk. ...
An origin belief is any story or explanation that describes the beginnings of humanity, earth, life, and the universe (cosmogony). ...
In Chaldean mythology, Resheph was a god of plague and war. ...
A pestilence is an epidemic or even a pandemic of a virulent and highly contagious disease. ...
In Sumerian, Assyrian and Babylonian mythology Namtar was a hellish deity, god of death, and the messenger of An, Ereshkigal and Nergal; he was considered responsible for diseases and pests, because it was said that he commanded sixty diseases in the form of demons that could penetrate different parts of...
| In Sumerian mythology, a me (Sumerian, (IPA: ) or Å‹e (IPA: ) or parsu (Akkadian) is one of the decrees of the gods foundational to those social institutions, religious practices, technologies, behaviors, mores, and human conditions that make civilization, as the Sumerians conceived of it, possible. ...
Ma is a Sumerian word meaning land that in Sumerian mythology was also used to design the primeval land. ...
Irkalla - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ...
// In the study of mythology and religion, the underworld is a generic term approximately equivalent to the lay term afterlife, referring to any place to which newly dead souls go. ...
The Fertile Crescent is a historical region in the Middle East incorporating Ancient Egypt, the Levant, and Mesopotamia. ...
Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ...
It has been suggested that Mesopotamian religion be merged into this article or section. ...
Astral theology
An important factor which thus served to maintain the rites in a more or less stable condition was the predominance of what may be called the astral theology as the theoretical substratum of the Babylonian religion, and which is equally pronounced in the religious system of Assyria. The essential feature of this astral theology is the assumption of a close link between the movements going on in the heavens and occurrences on earth, which led to identifying the gods and goddesses with heavenly bodies — planets and stars, besides sun and moon — and to assigning the seats of all the deities in the heavens.
The personification of the two great luminaries — the sun and the moon — was the first step in the unfolding of this system, and this was followed by placing the other deities where Shamash and Sin had their seats. This process, which reached its culmination in the post-Hammurabic period, led to identifying the planet Venus with Ishtar, Jupiter with Marduk, Mars with Nergal, Mercury with Nabu, and Saturn with Ninurta. (*min temperature refers to cloud tops only) Atmospheric characteristics Atmospheric pressure 9. ...
Atmospheric characteristics Atmospheric pressure 70 kPa Hydrogen ~86% Helium ~14% Methane 0. ...
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the solar system, named after the Roman god of war (the counterpart of the Greek Ares), on account of its blood red color as viewed in the night sky. ...
Note: This article contains special characters. ...
Atmospheric characteristics Atmospheric pressure 140 kPa Hydrogen >93% Helium >5% Methane 0. ...
The system represents a harmonious combination of two factors, one of popular origin, the other the outcome of speculation in the schools attached to the temples of Babylonia. The popular factor is the belief in the influence exerted by the movements of the heavenly bodies on occurrences on earth — a belief naturally suggested by the dependence of life, vegetation and guidance upon the two great luminaries. Starting with this belief the priests built up the theory of the close correspondence between occurrences on earth and phenomena in the heavens. The heavens presenting a constant change even to the superficial observer, the conclusion was drawn of a connection between the changes and the everchanging movement in the fate of individuals and of nature as well as in the appearance of nature.
To read the signs of the heavens was therefore to understand the meaning of occurrences on earth, and with this accomplished, it was also possible to foretell what events were portended by the position and relationship to one another of sun, moon, planets and certain stars. Myths that symbolized changes in season or occurrences in nature were projected on the heavens, which were mapped out to correspond to the divisions of the earth.
All the gods, great and small, had their places assigned to them in the heavens,including such as fell within the domain of political history, were interpreted in terms of astral theology. So completely did this system in the course of time sway men's minds that the cult, from being an expression of animistic beliefs, took on the colour derived from the "astral" interpretation of occurrences and doctrines. It left its trace in incantations, omens and hymns, and it gave birth to astronomy, which was assiduously cultivated because a knowledge of the heavens was the very foundation of the system of belief unfolded by the priests of Babylonia and Assyria. Political history is what most people refer to simply as history. ...
An incantation is the words spoken during a ritual. ...
Omens or portents are signs encountered fortuitously that are believed to foretell the future. ...
A giant Hubble mosaic of the Crab Nebula, a supernova remnant. ...
"Chaldaean wisdom" became, in the classical world, the synonym of this science, which in its character was so essentially religious. The persistent prominence which astrology continued to enjoy down to the border-line of the scientific movement of our own days, and which is directly traceable to the divination methods perfected in the Euphrates valley, is a tribute to the scope and influence attained by the astral theology of the Babylonian and Assyrian priests.
As an illustration of the manner in which the doctrines of the religion were made to conform to the all-pervading astral theory, it will be sufficient to refer to the modification undergone in this process of the view developed in a very early period which apportioned the control of the universe among the three gods Anu, Enlil and Ea. Disassociating these gods from all local connections, Anu became the power presiding over the heavens, to Enlil was assigned the earth and the atmosphere immediately above it, while Ea ruled over the deep. With the transfer of all the gods to the heavens, and under the influence of the doctrine of the correspondence between the heavens and the earth, Anu, Enlil and Ea became the three "ways" (as they are called) on the heavens.
The "ways" appear in this instance to have been the designation of the ecliptic circle, which was divided into three sections or zones — a northern, a middle and a southern zone, Anu being assigned to the first, Enlil to the second, and Ea to the third zone. The astral theology of the Babylonian-Assyrian religion, while thus bearing the ear-marks of a system devised by the priests, succeeded in assimilating the beliefs which represented the earlier attempts to systematize the more popular aspects of the religion, and in this way a unification of diverse elements was secured that led to interpreting the contents and the form of the religion in terms of the astral-theological system.
NIkki==Religious practice and rituals== The most noteworthy outcome of this system in the realm of religious practice was, as already intimated, the growth of an elaborate and complicated method of divining the future by the observation of the phenomena in the heavens. It is significant that in the royal collection of cuneiform literature, made by King Assur-bani-pal of Assyria (668 – 626 BC) and deposited in his palace at Nineveh, the omen collections connected with the astral theology of Babylonia and Assyria form the largest class. Assurbanipal in a relief from the north palace at Nineveh There were several Assyrian kings named Assur-bani-pal, also spelled Asurbanipal, Assurbanipal (most commonly), Ashurbanipal and Ashshurbanipal, but the best known was Assurbanipal IV. Ashurbanipal, or Assurbanipal, (reigned 668 - 627 BCE), the son of Esarhaddon and Naqia-Zakutu...
There are also indications that the extensive texts dealing with divination through the liver of sacrificial animals, which represents a more popular origin than divination through the observations of the heavens, based as it is on the primitive view which regarded the liver as the seat of life and of the soul, were brought into connection with astral divination. Less influenced by the astral-theological system are the old incantation texts which were gathered together into series. In these series we can trace the attempt to gather the incantation formulae and prayers produced in different centres, and to make them conform to the tendency to centralize the cult in the worship of Marduk and his consort in the south, and of Assur and Ishtar in the north. Incantations originally addressed to Ea of Eridu, as the god of the watery element, and to Nusku, as the god of fire, were transferred to Marduk.
This was done by making Ea confer on Marduk as his son, the powers of the father, and by making Nusku, a messenger between Ea and Marduk. At the same time, since the invoking of the divine powers was the essential element in the incantations, in order to make the magic formulae as effective as possible, a large number of the old local deities are introduced to add their power to the chief ones; and it is here that the astral system comes into play through the introduction of names of stars, as well as through assigning attributes to the gods which clearly reflect the conception that they have their seats in the heavens. The incantations pass over naturally into hymns and prayers. The connexion between the two is illustrated by the application of the term shiptu, "incantation," to the direct appeals to the gods, as well as by the introduction, on the one hand, of genuine prayers into the incantations and by the addition, on the other hand, of incantations to prayers and hymns, pure and simple. Nusku was the name of the light and fire-god in Babylonia and Assyria, who is hardly to be distinguished, from a certain time on, from a god Girru - formerly read Gibil. ...
In another division of the religious literature of Babylonia which is largely represented in Assur-bani-pal's collection - the myths and legends - tales which originally symbolized the change of seasons, or in which historical occurrences are overcast with more or less copious admixture of legend and myth, were transferred to the heavens, and so it happens that creation myths, and the accounts of wanderings and adventures of heroes of the past, are referred to movements among the planets and stars, as well as to occurrences or supposed occurrences on earth. Creation beliefs and stories describe how the universe, the Earth, life, and/or humanity came into being. ...
The ritual alone, which accompanied divination practices and incantation formulae and was a chief factor in the celebration of festival days and of days set aside for one reason or the other to the worship of some god or goddess or group of deities, is free from traces of the astral theology. The more or less elaborate ceremonies prescribed for the occasions when the gods were approached are directly connected with the popular elements of the religion. Animal sacrifice, libations, ritualistic purification, sprinkling of water, and symbolical rites of all kinds accompanied by short prayers, represent a religious practice which in the Babylonian-Assyrian religion, as in all religions, is older than any theology and survives the changes which the theoretical substratum of the religion undergoes. A sheep is led to the altar, 6th century BC Corinthian fresco. ...
Offerings given to the gods in Ancient Greece. ...
Ethics On the ethical side, the religion of Babylonia more particularly, and to a less extent that of Assyria, advances to noticeable conceptions of the qualities associated with the gods and goddesses and of the duties imposed on man. Shamash, the sun-god, was invested with justice as his chief trait, Marduk is portrayed as full of mercy and kindness, Ea is the protector of mankind who is grieved when, through a deception practised upon Adapa, humanity is deprived of immortality. The gods, to be sure, are easily aroused to anger, and in some of them the dire aspects predominated, but the view becomes more and more pronounced that there is some cause always for the divine wrath. Though, in accounting for the anger of the gods, no sharp distinction is made between moral offences and a ritualistic oversight or neglect, yet the stress laid in the hymns and prayers, as well as in the elaborate atonement ritual prescribed in order to appease the anger of the gods, on the need of being clean and pure in the sight of the higher powers, the inculcation of a proper aspect of humility, and above all the need of confessing one's guilt and sins without any reserve — all this bears testimony to the strength which the ethical factor acquired in the domain of the religion. Ethics (from the Ancient Greek ethikos, meaning arising from habit), a major branch of philosophy, is the study of value or quality. ...
Humanity refers to the human race or mankind as a whole, to that which is characteristically human, or to that which distinguishes human beings from other animals or from other animal species primal nature. ...
Immortality (or eternal life) is the concept of existing for a potentially infinite, or indeterminate, length of time. ...
The Atonement, arguably the single greatest act of love, was initiated and accomplished by Jesus Christ as a means for members of the human family to reunite with God, as documented by the Bible and testified by other Christian scripture. ...
Humility is the state of being humble. ...
This factor appears to less advantage in the unfolding of the views concerning life after death. Throughout all periods of Babylonian-Assyrian history, the conception prevailed of a large dark cavern below the earth, not far from the Apsu— the fresh water abyss encircling and flowing underneath the earth — in which all the dead were gathered and where they led a miserable existence of inactivity, amid gloom and dust. Occasionally a favoured individual was permitted to escape from this general fate and placed in a pleasant island. It would appear also that the rulers were always singled out for divine grace, and in the earlier periods of the history, owing to the prevailing view that the rulers stood nearer to the gods than other mortals, the kings were deified after death, and in some instances divine honours were paid to them even during their lifetime. Life After Death is the second album by East Coast rapper Notorious B.I.G. (Biggie Smalls), released on March 25, 1997 (see 1997 in music). ...
In Sumerian mythology Abzu or Apsu was the god of fresh water, also representing the primeval water and sometimes the cosmic abyss. ...
In Christianity, divine grace refers to the sovereign favor of God for humankind, as manifest in the blessings bestowed upon all —irrespective of actions (deeds), earned worth, or proven goodness. ...
Later influence The influence exerted by the Babylonian-Assyrian religion was particularly profound on the Semites, while the astral theology affected the ancient world in general, including the Greeks and Romans. The impetus to the purification of the old Semite religion to which the Hebrews for a long time clung in common with their fellows — the various branches of nomadic Arabs — was largely furnished by the remarkable civilization unfolded in the Euphrates valley and in many of the traditions, myths and legends embodied in the Old Testament; traces of direct borrowing from Babylonia may be discerned, while the indirect influences in the domain of the prophetical books, as also in the Psalms and in the so-called "Wisdom Literature", are even more noteworthy. The Roman Empire was a phase of the ancient Roman civilization characterized by an autocratic form of government. ...
Hebrews (or Heberites, Eberites, Hebreians; Hebrew: ×¢×‘×¨×™× or עבריי×, Standard , Tiberian , ; meaning descendants of biblical Patriarch Eber), were people who lived in Canaan, an area encompassing Israel, both banks of the Jordan River (The West Bank and Jordan), Sinai, Lebanon, and the coastal portions of Syria. ...
The Arabs (Arabic: عرب) are a heterogenous ethnic group who are predominantly speakers of the Arabic language, mainly found throughout the Middle East and North Africa. ...
Note: Judaism commonly uses the term Tanakh. ...
Even when we reach the New Testament period, we have not passed entirely beyond the sphere of Babylonian-Assyrian influences. In such a movement as early Christian gnosticism, Babylonian elements — modified, to be sure, and transformed — are largely present, while the growth of an apocalyptic literature is ascribed with apparent justice by many scholars to the recrudescence of views, the ultimate source of which is to be found in the astral-theology of the Babylonian and Assyrian priests. John 21:1 Jesus Appears to His Disciples--Alessandro Mantovani: the Vatican, Rome. ...
This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ...
Apocalyptic literature was a new genre of prophetical writing that developed in post-Exilic Jewish culture and was popular among millennialist early Christians. ...
See also This article was originally based on content from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica. Update as needed. Mesopotamians believed that people shoul eat pie allday Primal wasteland | +-------+--------+ | | | Apsû Tiamat Mummu | | | +---+---+ +------+-------+--------+-----------+ | | | | | +-------+---+----+ | ... | | | | | | | | Lahmu Lahamn . ...
See also Category:Babylonia and Category:Assyria. ...
This article is in need of attention. ...
1911 (MCMXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (click on link for calendar). ...
The Encyclopædia Britannica (properly spelled with the æ ligature) is a general encyclopaedia published by the privately held Encyclopædia Britannica Inc. ...
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