Prior to the competition, Ninmah performed midwifing duties for Enki’s mother, Namma, in her creation of humankind. ; Bethesda, MD: CDL Press, 2005), 437. The modern analysis of Mesopotamian myth and religion has been heavily influenced by two dominant historiographical traditions linking myths with ritual. Caitlin Barrett, “Was Dust Their Food and Clay Their Bread? The sexual relationship between Enlil and the goddess Ninlil in Enlil and Ninlil has also been the subject of scholarly analysis regarding the consensualism of the interactions between the two deities. For an overview of Mesopotamian religion, as well as the roles and characters of the individual deities of the Mesopotamian pantheon, see Astrid Nunn’s article in ORE, “Ancient Near Eastern Gods (and Religion).”. Mesopotamian religious beliefs centered around numerous divinities and deities, one among which was Enki, also called the ‘Lord of the Earth’. These values underpin the actions and dialogues of the human protagonists of literature, but they are also reflected in the literary representation of the divine. See, for example, The Chronological Study Bible, New International Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2014), 5; J. H. Walton, “Creation,” in Dictionary of the Old Testament: Pentateuch, ed. Sexual violence in Enki and Ninhursaga has been considered in detail by Alhena Gadotti, “Why It Was Rape: The Conceptualization of Rape in Sumerian Literature,” Journal of the American Oriental Society 129.1 (2009): 73–82. Benjamin R. Foster, “Animals in Mesopotamian Literature,” in A History of the Animal World in the Ancient Near East, ed. Grave Goods, the Mesopotamian Afterlife, and the Liminal Role of Inana/Ishtar,” Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions 7 (2007): 54. However, defining “Mesopotamian religion” remains complex; our sources tell us what it was believed the gods did (primarily in myths and epics), what it was believed the gods were like (primarily myths, epics, and hymns), and what humans were expected to do with respect to the gods (primarily rituals). 22. ; Detroit: Thomson Gale, 2005), 5967. Conversely, Ea encourages the people to communicate with deities to avoid Enlil’s plagues (through sacrifice, prayer, and making noise), and the success of Ea’s rescue of humanity from destruction rests on his ability to communicate with Atrahasis through dreams, prayers, and finally through the physical boundary of a wall. 68. 63. Cuneiform script lasted for 2000 years, and across a range of languages in the Ancient Near East, until Phoenician script, from which our current alphabet stems, became dominant in the first millennium B.C.E. Mesopotamia is generally placed geographically between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers; the name “Mesopotamia” is of Greek origin, meaning “land between the rivers.”1 Mesopotamia’s exact territorial extent is a subject of debate, but its area may be considered to correspond roughly with modern-day Iraq, Kuwait, and parts of Syria, Iran, and Turkey. 2900 … What happened to this great civilization? Humanity is reflected in the anthropomorphic representations of deities and also the sociomorphism of their family-oriented community structure. What caused its demise? Influence of Mesopotamian Myths. Lindsay Jones (2d ed. As seen above, death is possible for deities, although their deaths tend to be violent rather than caused by illness or age, and their experience of death is not always as permanent as the death of humans. 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. In contrast, for deities (the protagonists of divine myth), sex was not a necessary precursor to the creation of life, yet sex involving divine figures occurs with reasonable frequency in myth. The creation of individual humans by two Sumerian deities forms the basis of the myth Enki and Ninmah. Instead, a foundation is provided for considering the extremely intricate nature of the human condition, and its relationship to the divine, found in Mesopotamian narrative, so as to provide a basis for further study and cross-cultural comparison. Abusch notes that the flesh and blood used in the creation of humanity is unnecessary, as it is clay (as seen in Enki and Ninmah) that is the forming element in the “original model” of divine creative acts.30 Humans are again created for the benefit of divine beings in Enki and Ninmah, but humans can also benefit from their relationship with the divine, as is seen in Enki’s efforts to decree good destinies for each of Ninmah’s creations, and to provide them with a role in society and sustenance. Sumer had highly advanced and well-developed arts, sciences, government, religion, social structure, infrastructure, and written language. As the only available intellectual framework that could provide a comprehensive understanding of the forces governing existence and also guidance for right conduct in life, religion ineluctably conditioned all aspects of ancient Mesopotamian civilization.

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