World of the gods. Myths of Babylon, myths of Babylon, surviving legends, tales of gods and heroes Mythology of ancient Babylon in brief
Babylonian myths
For convenience, we have designated the myths described in this section as Babylonian, although many of the texts were written down by Assyrian scribes and kept in the library of the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal. Professor Sidney Smith says: “It is clear that the Assyrian scribes were engaged in reworking literary texts that they borrowed from the Babylonians. They changed the style of the first dynasty of Babylon and gave these texts the form in which they were found in the Assyrian library." Assyrian gods were also worshiped in Babylon, and Assyrian Religious holidays were celebrated at the same time and in exactly the same way as in Babylon. There are several myths or legends that we can call purely Assyrian. For example, the legend of Sargon of Akkad, which had a very interesting history. But basically the myths we will talk about have Babylonian roots and represent a Semitic development of more ancient Sumerian material.
We begin by introducing the Babylonian version of the three foundational myths discussed in the previous section.
Ishtar's Descent into the Underworld
In both the Sumerian and Babylonian versions of this myth, no explanation is given for the reasons for Ishtar's descent into the underworld. However, at the end of the poem, after the release of Ishtar, Tammuz is presented as the brother and lover of Ishtar, again without explaining how he ended up in the underworld. The following lines make it clear that the return of Tammuz to the world of the living was greeted with joy. And only from the text included in the ritual of worship of Tammuz, we learn about the imprisonment of Tammuz in the underworld and about the desolation and despair that settled on the earth during his absence. In the Babylonian version of the myth of Ishtar’s descent into the “land of no return,” there is a description of how general sterility reigned in her absence: “the bulls stopped covering the cows; Donkeys do not leave their semen in female asses, nor do men in maidens.” With these words, the vizier of the great gods, Papsukkal, announces that Ishtar will not return, and the consequences of this. Description of Ishtar's descent world of the dead is basically the same as the Sumerian text, but there are some differences. When Ishtar knocks on the gate of the underworld, she threatens to tear down the gate if she is not allowed in, and to release all the dead in the underworld. This is how the scene is described:
O guardian of the gate, open it, Open the gate and I will enter! If you do not open the gate, I will break the bolts and tear down the gate; I will tear down your tower and come there; I will raise up the dead who devour the living, so that they will outnumber the living.
In this version of the myth, Ishtar is a more aggressive and even menacing figure than among the Sumerians. Ishtar's threat to release the dead and set them on the living reflects the Babylonians' fear of spirits, which was distinctive feature their religions. As in the Sumerian version, passing through each gate, Ishtar takes off some piece of clothing. The Babylonian version, however, does not contain a description of how the terrible “eyes of death” turn Ishtar into a corpse. Nevertheless, she does not return to earth, and what follows is Papsukkal’s appeal to the gods. In response to this plea, Ea (Enki in Sumerian myth) creates the eunuch Asushunamir and sends him down to Ereshkigal for a vessel of living water. Thanks to his charm, he manages to persuade Ereshkigal to give him living water, but Ereshkigal does this very reluctantly: she orders her vizier Namtar to sprinkle Ishtar with living water. Ishtar is released and returns to earth, having received back all the jewelry and clothes that she gave at each gate of the underworld. However, she must pay a ransom for her release. Ereshkigal tells Namtar: “If she does not give you ransom for herself, bring her back.” The myth does not specify what is meant by ransom, but the mention of Tammuz's name at the end implies that he is the one who must descend into the underworld. However, there is no indication of how exactly it gets there. We already know that there is a Sumerian myth about the overthrow of Enlil into the underworld and that Inanna accompanied him there. Also, the cult texts indicate that Enlil and Tammuz are, in principle, the same deity. Therefore, it is quite natural that as the myth develops, the descent of Tammuz into the underworld becomes increasingly important and is associated with the extinction and revival of plant life. As this myth eventually spread to other countries, the theme of his death and mourning for him came to the fore. Hence Ezekiel’s mention of the women of Israel mourning Tammuz, and the myth of Venus and Adonis, the ancient Greek analogue of the myth we are considering. The death of Baal in Ugaritic mythology may represent the earliest stage in the development of the myth.
Creation Myth
We have already seen that in the Sumerian creation myth all creative activity was divided among various gods, with Enlil and Enki being the main figures. In Babylon, the creation myth took a dominant position in the hierarchy of myths due to the fact that it was associated with the main holiday of Babylon - the New Year (or Akitu). This myth was embodied in a liturgical poem known from its opening lines as Enuma Elish (When Above...). The main role is given to the god Marduk. It is he who defeats Tiamat, saves the “tables of fate” and performs various creative actions described in the poem. Seven tablets with the text of the myth were discovered by a British expedition during the excavations of Nineveh. Some of them were translated and published by George Smith in 1876. Some scholars have been too quick to draw a parallel between the seven days of creation and the seven tablets of the Babylonian myth, and have put forward the theory that the Hebrew retelling of the creation story was borrowed entirely from the Babylonian myth. We will return to this later when we consider Jewish mythology. Later other parts of the text were found and thus some of the gaps in the myth were filled. Most modern scholars date this work to the beginning of the second millennium BC. BC, the period when Babylon came to the fore among the Akkadian city-states. From the cult New Year's poem we know that during the New Year's celebration, the clergy twice quoted the lines of the Enuma Elish, accompanying the reading magical rituals.
Excavations at the site of the ancient city of Ashur, the first capital of the Assyrian Empire, discovered tablets with the text of the Assyrian version of Enuma Elish, in which Ashur took the place of the Babylonian god Marduk, main god Assyria.
In general terms, the Babylonian version is as follows: the first tablet begins with a description of the ancient state of the universe, when nothing existed except Apsu, an ocean of pure, sweet (fresh) water, and Tiamat, an ocean of salty sea water. From their union the gods were born. The first pair of gods, Lahmu and Lahamu (Jacobsen interpreted these gods as silt deposited at the junction of the ocean and rivers), gave birth to Anshar and Kishar (the horizon line of the sea and sky - in the interpretation of the same scientist). In turn, Anshar and Kishar gave birth to Anu, the god of the sky, and Nudimmud or Ea, the god of earth and water. There is some difference here from the Sumerian tradition. Enlil, whose activities are already familiar to us from Sumerian mythology, is replaced by Ea, or Enki, who in Babylonian mythology is designated as the god of wisdom and the source of magic. Ea gives life to Marduk, the hero of the Babylonian version of the myth. However, even before the birth of Marduk, the first conflict arises between the progenitor gods and their offspring. Tiamat and Apsu are annoyed by the noise created by the lesser gods, and they confer with their vizier Mummu, considering how to destroy them. Tiamat is not particularly keen on destroying her own children, but Apsu and Mummu develop a plan. However, their intention becomes known to the younger gods, and this naturally worries them. However, the wise Ea comes up with his own plan: he casts a sleeping spell on Apsu, kills him, blinds Mummu and puts a cord through his nose. He then builds a sacred monastery and names it "Apsu". Marduk is born there, followed by a description of his beauty and extraordinary strength. The first tablet ends with a description of preparations for a new conflict between the elder and lesser gods. The older children reproach Tiamat for being calm when Apsu was killed. They manage to “stir up” her and take measures to destroy Anu and his assistants. She forces Kinga, her first-born son, to lead the attack, arms him and gives him "tables of destiny". She then gives birth to a horde of terrible creatures, such as the scorpion man and the centaur, whose image we see on Babylonian seals and boundary stones. She places Kinga at the head of this horde and prepares to avenge Apsu.
The second table describes how the assembly of gods perceives the news of an impending attack. Anshar is alarmed and, lost in thought, tears his thigh. First, he reminds Ea of his past victory over Apsu and offers to deal with Tiamat in the same way; but Ea either refuses to do this, or he simply fails to defeat Tiamat; at this very point the text is interrupted, and it is not entirely clear what happened to Ea. The council of gods then sends the armed Anu to convince Tiamat to abandon her intentions, but he also fails to do this. Anshar suggests that this task be entrusted to the mighty Marduk. Marduk's father Ea advises him to agree to complete this task, and he agrees, but on the condition that he is given complete and unconditional “power on the council of the gods”, that his word will be decisive in determining fate. This ends the second table.
The third tablet once again reiterates the decision made by the gods and ends with a description of the feast where Marduk formally receives the power he demanded.
The fourth table begins with a description of the presentation of the symbol of royal power to Marduk. The gods demanded from him proof that he had sufficient strength to cope with the task entrusted to him. To do this, he, by his will, makes his mantle disappear and then reappear. The gods were pleased and proclaimed: “Marduk is king.” Marduk then arms himself for battle; his weapons are a bow and arrows, lightning and a net held at the corners by the four winds; he fills his body with flame and creates seven terrible hurricanes; he boards his storm-drawn cart and marches against Tiamat and her horde. He challenges Tiamat to a duel; he throws a net to capture her, and when she opens her mouth to swallow him, he rides into it on an evil wind and hits her with an arrow right in the heart. Her demon assistants flee but are caught in a net. Their leader Kingu is also captured and tied up. Marduk then takes the "tables of fate" from Kingu and ties them to his chest, thereby emphasizing his supremacy over the gods. Following this, he divides Tiamat's body in two; He places one half above the earth like the sky, strengthens it on poles, and places guards. He then builds Esharra, the abode of the great gods, modeled after that of Ea - Apsu, and forces Anu, Enlil and Ea to settle there. This ends the fourth table.
The fifth tablet is too fragmentary for us to glean information about the first steps in the structure of the universe, but its opening lines indicate that Marduk first of all created a calendar (this was always one of the primary duties of the king). He determined the months of the year and their sequence in accordance with the phases of the moon. He also defines three earthly "paths" - the path of Enlil in the northern heavens, the path of Anu in the zenith and the path of Ea in the south. The planet Jupiter must oversee the celestial order of things.
The sixth tablet tells about the creation of man. Marduk declares his intention to create man and make him serve the gods. On the advice of Ea, it was decided that the leader of the rebels, Kingu, should die in order to create people in his image and likeness. So, Kingu is executed, and from his blood people are created who must “free the gods,” that is, perform actions related to the implementation of temple rituals and obtain food for the gods. The gods then build the great temple of Esagila in Babylon with the famous “ziggurat” for Marduk. At the command of Anu they proclaim the fifty great names of Marduk. Their listing takes up the rest of the poem. This is the plot of the Babylonian creation myth. It clearly shows a Sumerian basis. However, those elements that are scattered across several Sumerian myths are brought together in the Enuma Elish to form a coherent whole. We have no evidence that the various Sumerian myths were ever part of the ritual. The poem "Enuma Elish" became a ritual myth with magical power and playing a vital role in the Babylonian New Year festival, in connection with the dramatic embodiment of the plot of the death and resurrection of the gods.
Flood myth
The third of our founding myths is the flood myth. In this case, the somewhat fragmentary Sumerian myth was greatly expanded, and the Babylonian version of the flood myth became part of the Epic of Gilgamesh. We will deal with the actual Babylonian version of the Epic of Gilgamesh a little later, but the myth of the flood is associated with the Epic of Gilgamesh as part of the hero’s adventures.
The issue of death, disease, and the quest for immortality was virtually absent from Sumerian mythology, but is very prominent in Semitic myths. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, it appears to Gilgamesh when his friend Enkidu dies, which we will talk about later when considering other parts of the epic. For now we are more interested in the connection between the epic and the flood myth. After describing the death of Enkidu and Gilgamesh's grief for his friend, the myth tells us that Gilgamesh was shocked by the idea that he, too, was mortal. “When I die, won’t I be like Enkidu? Fear settled in me.
Fearing her, I wander through the desert.” The only mortal who managed to escape death and find the secret of immortality was Gilgamesh's ancestor Utnapishtim. This is the Babylonian equivalent of Ziusudra, the Sumerian hero of the flood story. Gilgamesh decides to go in search of his ancestor to discover the secret of immortality. He is warned about the dangers that await him along the way. He is told that before he reaches his goal, he will have to cross the Mashu Mountains and the River of Death. Only the god Shamash could do this. However, Gilgamesh overcomes all obstacles and comes to Utnapishtim. The text breaks off right at the point where their meeting is described. When the text becomes legible again, we read that Utnapishtim tells Gilgamesh that the gods have kept for themselves the secret of life and death. Gilgamesh asks him how he managed to achieve immortality. In response, Utnapishtim tells him the story of the flood. It is recorded on the eleventh tablet of the Epic of Gilgamesh. This is the most complete and well-preserved part of the epic, which is recorded on twelve tablets. This myth was widely known in the Ancient East. This is confirmed by recently discovered fragments of the Hittite and Hurrian versions of this myth.
Utnapishtim warns Gilgamesh that the story he is about to tell him is “the secret of the gods.” Utnapishtim speaks of himself as a man from Shuruppak, the oldest of the cities of Akkad. Ea secretly tells him that the gods have decided to destroy all the sprouts of life on earth by sending a flood on it. However, nothing is said about the reasons for this decision. Ea tells Utnapishtim to build an ark, onto which he must bring “the offspring of all living things on earth.” The myth gives the size and shape of the ship. Judging by this description, the ship had the shape of a cube. Utnapishtim asks Ea how he should explain his actions to the people of Shuruppak, and Ea says that he must say that he allegedly angered Enlil, and he expelled him from his land. Utnapishtim tells them: “Now I will go down to the very bottom, where I will live with my lord Ea.” He then says that Enlil will send abundance upon them. Thus, the inhabitants are deceived about the intentions of the gods. The following is a description of the process of building the ship and its loading:
“Everything that I had” I loaded there: I put all the silver on the ship; And he brought everything gold; And I drove all God’s creatures there. And also family and relatives. And from the fields and from the steppe I brought all the insects there; And he brought all the artisans onto the ship.
Then a description of the storm is given in color. Adad roars with peals of thunder; Nergal demolishes the gates that hold back the pressure of the waters of the upper ocean; The Anunnaki raise their torches to "ignite the earth with their fire."
The gods themselves are alarmed by what is happening and, like dogs, cowardly huddle against the wall of the heavenly house. Ishtar, who apparently persuaded the gods to destroy people, regrets what she did, and the gods echo her. The storm rages for six days and nights. On the seventh day it subsides. Utnapishtim looks outside and sees a devastated plain in front of him: “All people have turned to clay.”
The ship docks on Mount Nizir. Utnapishtim waits seven days and sends a dove, which returns without finding shelter. Then he sends the swallow flying, but it also returns. Finally, he sends out a raven, which finds food and does not return. Utnapishtim releases everyone gathered there from the ship and makes a sacrifice to the gods. The gods sense the aroma and, like flies, flock to the place of sacrifice.
Ishtar arrives, touches his necklace made of lapis lazuli, and vows to never forget what happened. She reproaches Enlil for deciding to destroy her people. Then Enlil appears. He is furious that any of the people were allowed to escape death. Ninurta reproaches Ea for revealing the secret of the gods. Ea argues with Enlil in defense of Utnapishtim. Enlil relents and grants Utnapishtim and his wife the immortality possessed by the gods. He commands that from now on they will live far away at the mouth of the rivers. This ends the story of the flood. The remainder of this tablet and the entire twelfth tablet are devoted to the story of Gilgamesh. Although excavations in Mesopotamia have proven that in ancient times Ur, Kish and Uruk suffered from terrible floods more than once, there is still no reason to believe that any of these floods inundated the entire country, in addition, the floods occurred at different times and were of different sizes. strength. However, this myth is based on the fact of an unusually large flood, although it was associated with funerary rituals and the idea of \u200b\u200bthe search for immortality. However, there is no convincing evidence that the flood myth, like the creation myth, became a ritual myth. We will now move on to describe other Assyro-Babylonian myths that have been discovered in various burials discovered by archaeologists in recent years.
Epic of Gilgamesh
This remarkable literary work, which includes the myth of the flood, is part myth, part saga. It describes the adventures of the semi-mythical king of the city of Uruk, who in the Sumerian Chronicle of Kings is listed as the fifth king of the first dynasty of Uruk, who allegedly reigned for one hundred and twenty years. In ancient times in the Middle East, this work enjoyed extraordinary popularity. Fragments of a translation of this text into the Hittite language, as well as fragments of the Hittite version of this work, were discovered in the archives of Boğazköy. During excavations carried out by one of the American expeditions to Megiddo, fragments of the Akkadian version of the epic were discovered. It is worth quoting the words of Professor Speiser about this work: “For the first time in history such a meaningful narrative of the exploits of a hero has found such a noble expression. The size and scope of this epic, its purely poetic power, determine its timeless appeal. In ancient times, the influence of this work was felt in the most different languages and cultures."
The Akkadian version consisted of twelve tablets. Most of the fragments of these tablets were kept in the library of Ashurbanipal in Nineveh. The best preserved tablet is the eleventh tablet, which contains the myth of the flood. The epic begins with a description of the strength and qualities of Gilgamesh. The gods created him as a superman with extraordinary height and strength. He was considered two-thirds god and one-third man. However, the noble inhabitants of Uruk complain to the gods that Gilgamesh, who should be the leader of his people, behaves arrogantly, like a real tyrant. They beg the gods to create a being like Gilgamesh, with whom he could measure strength, and then peace would reign in Uruk. The goddess Aruru sculpts from clay the figure of Enkidu, a savage nomad, endowing him with superhuman strength. He eats grass, makes friends with wild animals and goes to water with them. He destroys traps that hunters set and rescues wild animals from them. One of the hunters tells Gilgamesh about the character and strange habits of the savage. Gilgamesh tells the hunter to take the temple harlot to the watering hole where Enkidu drinks water with wild animals so that she can try to seduce him. The hunter carries out the order, and the woman lies waiting for Enkidu. When he arrives, she shows him her charms, and he is overcome by the desire to possess her. After seven days of lovemaking, Enkidu emerges from oblivion and notices that some changes have occurred in him. Wild animals run away from him in horror, and the woman says to him: “You have become wise, Enkidu; you have become like God.” She then tells him of the glory and beauty of Uruk and the power and glory of Gilgamesh; she begs him to take off his clothes made of skins, shave, anoint himself with incense and leads him to Uruk to Gilgamesh. Enkidu and Gilgamesh compete in strength, after which they become best friends. They vow eternal friendship to each other. This ends the first episode of the epic. Here we are inevitably reminded of the biblical story, when the serpent promises Adam that he will become wise and like God, and will know good and evil, if he tries the forbidden fruit.
There is little doubt that the epic, as we know it, consists of various myths and folk tales, brought together around the central figure of Gilgamesh.
The next episode follows the adventures of Gilgamesh and Enkidu as they go to battle the fire-breathing giant Huwawa (or Humbaba, in the Assyrian version). As Gilgamesh tells Enkidu, they must “drive out evil from our land.” Probably, these stories about the adventures of Gilgamesh and his faithful friend Enkidu formed the basis Greek myth about the exploits of Hercules, although some scientists completely deny this possibility. In the epic, Huwawa guards the cedar forests of Aman, which extend for six thousand leagues. Enkidu tries to dissuade his friend from such a dangerous undertaking, but Gilgamesh is determined to carry out his plan. With the help of the gods, after a difficult battle, they manage to cut off the giant's head. In this episode, the cedar forests are described as the domain of the goddess Irnini (another name for Ishtar), thereby connecting this episode of the epic with the next one.
When Gilgamesh returns in triumph, the goddess Ishtar is captivated by his beauty and tries to make him her lover. However, he rudely rejects her, reminding her of the sad fate of her previous lovers. Enraged by the refusal, the goddess asks Ana to avenge her by creating a magical Bull and sending him to destroy the kingdom of Gilgamesh. The bull terrifies the people of Uruk, but Enkidu kills it. After this, the gods gather in council and decide that Enkidu must die. Enkidu has a dream in which he sees himself being dragged into the underworld and Nergal turns him into a ghost. This episode contains a very interesting moment - a description of the Semitic concept of the underworld. It's worth listing here:
He [god] turned me into something, My hands are like the wings of a bird. God looks at me and draws me straight to the House of Darkness, where Irkalla rules. To that house from which there is no exit. On the road of no return. To a house where the lights have long been extinguished, Where dust is their food, and food is clay. And instead of clothes - wings And all around - only darkness.
After this, Enkidu falls ill and dies. What follows is a vivid description of Gilgamesh's grief and the funeral ritual he performs for his friend. This ritual is similar to that performed by Achilles after Patroclus. The epic itself suggests that death is a new, very painful experience. Gilgamesh fears that he too will suffer the same fate as Enkidu. “When I die, won’t I become like Enkidu? I was filled with horror. Fearing death, I wander through the desert." He is determined to set out on a quest for immortality, and the tale of his adventures forms the next part of the epic. Gilgamesh knows that his ancestor Utnapishtim is the only mortal who achieved immortality. He decides to find him to find out the secret of life and death. At the beginning of his journey, he comes to the foot of a mountain range called Mashu, the entrance there is guarded by a scorpion man and his wife. The Scorpion Man tells him that no mortal has ever crossed this mountain and warns him of the dangers. But Gilgamesh informs about the purpose of his journey, then the guard allows him to pass, and the hero goes along the path of the sun. For twelve leagues he wanders in the dark and finally reaches Shamash, the sun god. Shamash tells him that his search is in vain: “Gilgamesh, no matter how much you wander around the world, you will not find the eternal life you are looking for.” He fails to convince Gilgamesh, and he continues on his way. He comes to the shore of the sea and the waters of death. There he sees another guardian, the goddess Siduri, who also tries to persuade him not to cross the Dead Sea and warns that no one except Shamash can do this. She says it's worth enjoying life while you can:
Gilgamesh, what are you looking for? The life you seek You will not find anywhere; When the gods created men, They destined them to be mortals, And they hold life in their hands; Well, Gilgamesh, try to enjoy life; May every day be filled with Joy, feasts and love. Play and have fun day and night; Dress yourself in rich clothes; Give your love to your wife and Children - they are your Task in this life.
These lines echo the lines of the Book of Ecclesiastes. The thought involuntarily comes to mind that the Jewish moralist was familiar with this passage of the epic.
But the hero refuses to listen to Siduri's advice and moves towards the final stage of his journey. On the shore he meets Urshanabi, who was the helmsman on Utnapishtim's ship, and orders him to be transported across the waters of death. Urshanabi tells Gilgamesh that he must go into the forest and cut down one hundred and twenty trunks, each six cubits long. He must use them alternately as pontoon poles, so that he himself never touches the waters of death. He follows Urshanabi's advice and finally reaches Utnapishtim's home. He immediately asks Utnapishtim to tell him how he obtained the immortality that he so passionately desires to gain. In response, his ancestor tells him the story of the flood, which we have already met, and confirms everything that the scorpion man, Shamash and Siduri have already told him, namely: that the gods reserved immortality for themselves and sentenced most people to death. Utnapishtim shows Gilgamesh that he cannot even resist sleep, much less the eternal sleep of death. When the disappointed Gilgamesh is ready to leave, Utnapishtim, as a parting gift, tells him about a plant that has a wonderful property: it restores youth. However, to get this plant, Gilgamesh will have to dive to the bottom of the sea. Gilgamesh does this and returns with the miraculous plant. On the way to Uruk, Gilgamesh stops at a pond to bathe and change clothes; While he is bathing, the snake, sensing the smell of the plant, carries it away, shedding its skin. This part of the story is clearly etiological, explaining why snakes can shed their skin and begin life anew. Thus, the journey was unsuccessful, and the episode ends with a description of the inconsolable Gilgamesh sitting on the shore and complaining about his own bad luck. He returns to Uruk empty-handed. It is likely that this is where the epic originally ended. However, in the version in which we know it now, there is another tablet. Professors Kramer and Gadd proved that the text of this tablet is a translation from Sumerian. It has also been proven that the beginning of this tablet is a continuation of another myth, an integral part of the Epic of Gilgamesh. This is the myth of Gilgamesh and the Huluppu tree. Apparently, this is an etiological myth that explains the origin of the sacred pukku drum and its use in various rites and rituals. According to him, Inanna (Ishtar) brought the huluppu tree from the banks of the Euphrates and planted it in her garden, intending to make a bed and a chair from its trunk. When hostile forces prevented her from fulfilling own wish, Gilgamesh came to her aid. In gratitude, she gave him a "pucca" and a "mikku", made from the base and crown of a tree respectively. Subsequently, scientists began to consider these objects to be a magic drum and a magic drumstick. It should be noted that the big drum and its drumsticks played an important role in Akkadian rituals; a description of the procedure for its manufacture and the rituals that accompanied it is given in Thureau-Dangin’s book “Akkadian Rituals”. Smaller drums were also used in Akkadian rituals: it is quite possible that the pukku was one of these drums.
The twelfth tablet opens with Gilgamesh lamenting the loss of the "puku" and "mikku", which somehow fell into the underworld. Enkidu tries to go down to the underworld and bring back magic items. Gilgamesh advises him to follow certain rules of conduct so that he is not captured and left there forever. Enkidu breaks them and remains in the underworld. Gilgamesh calls on Enlil for help, but to no avail. He turns to Sin - and also in vain. Finally, he turns to Ea, who tells Nergal to make a hole in the ground so that Enkidu's spirit can rise up through it. “The spirit of Enkidu, like a breath of wind, rose from the lower world.” Gilgamesh asks Enkidu to tell him how the underworld works and how its inhabitants live. Enkidu tells Gilgamesh that the body he loved and embraced is swallowed up by the swamp and filled with dust. Gilgamesh throws himself on the ground and sobs. The last part of the tablet is badly damaged, but, apparently, it talks about the different fate of those whose burial took place in full accordance with existing rituals and those who were buried without the appropriate ritual.
Here ends the circle of Gilgamesh's wanderings. The epic is clearly a collection of ancient Sumerian and Akkadian myths and tales. Some of the myths included in it are of a ritual nature, others are intended to explain the origin of certain beliefs and rituals of the inhabitants of Mesopotamia. The theme of fear of death and bitterness from the loss of immortality runs like a red thread throughout the entire epic.
The Myth of Adapa
Another myth is dedicated to the problem of death and immortality, which was also popular outside Mesopotamia, since its fragment was found in the archives of Amarna in Egypt. A specialist in Assyrian history, Ebeling draws a parallel between the name of the hero of this myth - Adapa - and Jewish name Adam. Therefore, the myth can be considered the myth of the first man. According to him, Adapa was the son of Ea, the god of wisdom. He was the priest-king of Eridu, the oldest of the cities of the Babylonian kingdom. Ea created him as a “model of man” and gave him wisdom, but did not grant him eternal life. The myth describes his duties as a priest: in particular, he must provide the gods with fish. One day he was fishing when suddenly the South Wind blew and capsized his boat. In a rage, Adapa broke the wing of the South Wind, and it did not blow for seven whole years. The high god Anu noticed what had happened and sent his messenger Ilabrat to find out the reasons for the incident. Ilabrat returned and told Anu what Adapa had done. Anu ordered Adapa to appear before him. Ea, "who knows all that happens in heaven," gave his son valuable advice on how to deal with Anu. He told Adapa to put on mourning clothes and mess up his hair. When he approaches the gates of heaven, he sees that they are guarded by Tammuz and Ningizzida. They will ask him what he wants and why he is in mourning. He must answer that he mourns for two gods who have disappeared from the earth. When asked what kind of gods these are, he will answer: Tammuz and Ningizzida. Flattered by this answer, the gods will support him in the face of Anu and invite him to the supreme god. Ea warned his son that when he appeared before Anu, he would be offered the bread of death and the water of death, which he must refuse. He will also be offered clothes and body oil, which he can take. He must follow all these instructions strictly.
Everything turned out just as Ea said. Adapa gained the favor of the gods who guarded the gate, and they led him to Anu. Anu received him favorably and listened to an explanation of what happened to the South Wind. Then Anu asked the assembly of gods what to do with Adapa, and, supposedly intending to grant him immortality, ordered them to offer him the bread of life and living water. Adapa, following his father's advice, refused these gifts, but put on the dress offered to him and anointed his body with the offered oil. Anu laughed and asked why Adapa behaved so strangely. Adapa explained that he did this on the advice of his father Ea. Anu told him that by doing this, he had deprived himself of the priceless gift of immortality. The end of the sign is broken. Apparently, Anu sent Adapa back to earth, giving him privileges, but with some restrictions.
Eridu was freed from feudal duties, and his temple was given a special status. However, the lot of humanity was to be misfortune and illness. True, illnesses were mitigated to some extent by the favor of Ninkarrak, the goddess of healing.
There are other interesting points in the myth. As is common in such myths, the loss of immortality is attributed to the jealousy of one god or another, and the belief is expressed that the gods reserved immortality for themselves. We also see that the disappearance of Tammuz is a recurring element of Semitic mythology. In the clothing given to the hero, one can see a connection with the Jewish myth of the Fall, in which Yahweh gives Adam and Eve clothing made from skins. There is also an etiological element in the myth, which explains why the priests of Eridu were exempted from duties.
The Myth of Ethan and the Eagle
Many Mesopotamian cylinder seals depict scenes that are associated with mythological subjects. Some of these scenes were thought to depict the exploits of Gilgamesh, but only a few can be identified. Of particular interest is the fact that scenes from the myth of Etana can be confidently recognized on the oldest seals. In the chronology of the Sumerian royal dynasties, the first to rule after the flood is the legendary Kish dynasty. Its thirteenth king was Etana, a shepherd who ascended to heaven. The seal represents a figure rising to heaven on the back of an eagle, sheep grazing below, and two dogs looking at the ascending man.
This time the myth is not about death, but about birth. Gradually, this myth became closely intertwined with folklore works about the eagle and the snake. The myth begins with a description of the situation of people after the flood, who were left without the pointing and guiding hand of the king. The symbols of royal power - the scepter, crown, tiara and shepherd's whip - lie in heaven in front of Anu. Then the great Anunnaki, the arbiters of destinies, decide that royal power should be sent down to earth. It is implied that Etana is this very sent down king. For the normal existence of the kingdom in the future, an heir was needed, and Etana did not have a son. The myth tells that Etana made a daily sacrifice to Shamash and begged God to give him a son. He cried out to Shamash: “O lord, hear me, give me the sprout of life, let me give birth to life, free me from this burden.” Shamash tells the king to overcome the mountain peak, there he will find a hole, and in it - a captive eagle. He must free the eagle, in gratitude the eagle will show him the way to the sprout of life.
Here the folk tale about the eagle and the snake is woven into the myth. The story says that at the beginning of all things, the eagle and the snake swore to each other eternal friendship. The eagle had a nest with a chick in the branches of a tree, and the snake and its offspring lived at the foot of the mountain. They vowed to work together to protect their offspring and provide food for them. For a while everything went well. However, the eagle harbored evil in his heart and broke his oath: when the serpent was hunting, the eagle pecked the serpent's cubs. When the serpent returned, he appealed to Shamash, demanding justice: he asked for revenge on the perjurer. Shamash showed him how to lure an eagle into a trap, break its wings and put it in a hole. Since then, the eagle has remained there, vainly begging Shamash for help. Then Etana appears and frees the eagle, who promises to take him to the throne of Ishtar, where he can receive the sprout of life. It is this episode that is captured on the cylinder seal. The myth colorfully describes the stages of Etana’s ascent to the throne of Ishtar: gradually the picturesque landscape becomes smaller and smaller and finally disappears altogether far below. When the description reaches the middle, the text on the sign breaks off (the sign itself is broken). But, apparently, this story has a good ending - after all, the son and heir of Etana is listed in the chronological table of the kings.
It may also be noted that the tale of the eagle and the snake contains one of the oldest elements of this literary genre. In this tale, the youngest of the eagle's children has wisdom and warns his father that breaking an oath could lead to trouble. This myth forms the basis of the ritual on the occasion of the birth of a person, just as the Epic of Gilgamesh contains elements of a funeral ritual.
This is another of the few myths recorded on cylinder seals, another variation on the theme of life and death that appears so often in Akkadian mythology. On the seals Zu is depicted as a bird-like figure. Frankfort calls him a bird-man, but most likely he is one of the minor gods, perhaps a god of the lower world, who, being one of the offspring of Tiamat, is an enemy of the higher gods. His name appears frequently in ritual texts, and he is always in conflict with the great gods. Another theme of this myth, also found in other texts, addresses issues of the significance and sacredness of royal power in Akkad.
The myth, which has come down to us in an incomplete version, begins with the statement that Zu stole the “tables of fate,” which are a symbol of royal power. In the creation myth we have already seen that Marduk forcibly took away the “tables of fate” from Kingu and thereby established his supremacy over the gods. Zu stole them from Egglil while he was bathing and flew away with them to his mountain. Despair reigned in the heavens, and the gods gathered in council to decide who to entrust to find Zu and take away the “tables of fate” from him. The whole scene is very reminiscent of a similar plot from the creation myth. Various gods are offered this honorable task, but they all refuse, and ultimately the lot falls on Lugalband, the father of Gilgamesh. It was he who undertook to kill Zu and return the “tables of fate” to the gods. In the hymn of Ashurbanipal we find the name of Marduk, who “broke the skull of Zu.”
One of the texts commenting on the ritual mentions that running competitions were an integral part of the Babylonian New Year festival. They symbolized Ninurta's victory over Zu. The ritual for the creation of the sacred drum "lilissu", translated by Thureau-Dangin in his Akkadian Rituals, mentions the sacrifice of a black bull. Before killing a black bull, the priest whispers magic spells into each ear of the bull. At the same time, in the right ear the sacrificial animal is addressed as “The Great Bull who tramples the sacred grass,” and in the left ear as “the offspring of Zu.” Consequently, this curious myth played an important role in the ritual traditions of Babylon.
Before we leave the Akkadian myths, it is worth mentioning one more short, but very interesting myth. It can serve as an example of how the myth can be used in charm spells and in driving out evil spirits. The Tammuz myth has often been used in this way, and the example below uses a creation myth.
Worm and toothache
The Babylonians believed that the various diseases that plagued the people of the Delta were caused by the attacks of evil spirits or the machinations of wizards or witches. Therefore, the use of medicines was accompanied by the reading of spells. The concluding lines of this verse state that it should be repeated three times on the sick person after he has been given medicine or performed any procedure.
When Anu created the heavens, And the heavens created the earth, The earth gave birth to rivers, And the rivers created a canal. Then swamps appeared, Those where the worm lives. He came to Shamash crying, And tears flowed before Ea: “What should I eat, tell me? And tell me, what should I drink?” I'll give you a ripe date, and I'll also give you an apricot. Why do I need them, both apricot and date. Lift me up and let me Live among teeth and resin. I will drink blood from teeth, and I will sharpen their roots on resin. Take a pin and secure it. After all, you yourself wanted it this way, worm, And let your hand be like Ea’s.(From instructions to a dentist)
"Cosmogony and anthropogony in Sumerian-Babylonian mythology"
Introduction
2.1 Sumerians: about the beginning of the world order
Conclusion
Bibliography
Applications
Introduction
The Sumerian-Babylonian period dates back almost three thousand years; during this huge period of time, the culture, religion and worldview of the ancient people underwent enormous changes. Originating between the rivers Tigris and Euphrates, the Sumerian civilization became the foundation for religious teachings based on ancient myths. Over the course of twenty-five centuries, Sumerian cults changed, absorbing the culture and religion of neighboring peoples, and formed into a fairly perfect system of religious, ideological and everyday views. Sumerian myths created a fairly complete picture of the world and the universe, told about the creation of the world and man, explained the structure of human society and the cyclical nature of natural phenomena. After the Amorite dynasties came to power, the Sumerian epic was slightly transformed and the new Semitic god Sin, the patron of nomadic peoples, came to the forefront, and became on a par with the ancient gods of the Sumerians. After a long period of development of the Sumerian-Akkadian civilization, the time came for the rise of the Babylonian kingdom, where the great city of Babylon became its capital. After the change of capital, it became necessary to establish the primacy of Babylon, and this role was called upon to fulfill the god Marduk, the patron saint of the great city. Ancient myths were rewritten and new ones appeared, which told about the creation of everything and everyone by a new god.
Relevance of the topic
determined by the need to study the history and culture of Eastern civilizations in the conditions of modern dynamically developing geopolitical relationships. Mesopotamian civilization is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, in the world. It was in Sumer at the end of the 4th millennium BC. human society has emerged from the stage of primitiveness and entered the era of antiquity, which means the formation of a new type of culture and the birth of a new type of consciousness. Moving from the primitive communal system to the slave system, people personified the natural elements, giving them anthropomorphic features, the gods were capricious and eccentric, they played with human destinies like experimenters, but time passes, and heroes appear - people capable of arguing with the gods and even imposing their own terms of relationships. Further, the kinship of the rulers with the gods occurs and this leads to the unlimited power of the Akkadian dynasties, and later the Babylonian kings. The Sumerians became the discoverers of the wheel and bronze, began to build cities of stone and invented a writing system called cuneiform, a decimal number system. The Sumerian Kingdom reached its zenith, but gradually began to decline and the stronger, numerous mountain tribes of the Akkadians were able to conquer the fading state. The East Semitic tribes of the Akkadians have long been neighbors of the Sumerians, inhabiting the north of Mesopotamia. Gradually, the Akkadians moved further south and by the end of the 3rd millennium BC. have already populated all of southern Mesopotamia. Apparently this was not a campaign of conquest, but rather a slow penetration. Being at first just nomadic shepherds, the Akkadians quickly adopted the high culture of the Sumerians and began to worship the Sumerian gods, giving them Semitic names: they called the sun god Uttu Shamash, the goddess of love and war Inana - Ishtar, the storm god Adad - Ishkur, the moon god Nannu - Sin , god of the demiurge Enki - Eyey. Since the 2nd millennium BC. Sumerian and Akkadian cultures cannot be separated from each other. The Akkadians reworked and continued Sumerian mythology, just as the Babylonians later did. After the fall of the third dynasty of Ur, the territory of the interfluve was divided into many states warring with each other. At first, Amorite warriors entered the service of warring kings, and then overthrew their employers and proclaimed themselves kings. About a hundred years after the fall of Ur, almost all the cities of Mesopotamia were ruled by Amorite dynasties. One of these leaders, Sumu Abum, in 1894 BC. fortified himself in a small town in the north of Ising. Previously, there stood the Sumerian city of Kadingirr - “Gate of God”, which in Akkadian sounded like “bab-ilu”, from where the Greek name of the city of Babylon later came. In a hundred years, the descendant of Sumu-Abum, King Hammurabi, will turn Babylon into the center of a huge, powerful power, the heir of Sumerian and Akkadian culture, mythology and religion. The Babylonian religion, despite the long time interval between the fall of the third dynasty of Ur and the formation of the great Babylonian kingdom, remains faithful to the traditions of Sumer and Akkad, but a previously unnoticed god comes to the fore in the pantheon of Sumerian gods, Marduk. In the Old Babylonian period, he became the main god - the creator of everything and everyone. The reason for this rise is the patronage of Marduk over the city of Babylon: the patron of the main city of the state should become the main deity of the pantheon of gods. Sumerian civilization is considered one of the first forms of unification of people during the transition from a primitive communal system to a slave system. At this time, not only the formation of the social system changes, but also the worldview of people in relation to the world around them - man is no longer a child of nature, he can transform it by building canals and dams. This makes us take a fresh look at the world order and the origins of man in this world. A mythology appears that will serve as the basis of religious cults in the future. It is here, at this time and in this place, that stories, legends and myths are born that have passed through millennia and live in the present day. The study of this topic is of interest from the perspective of the dependence of the change of dynasties and, as a consequence, the change of dominant deities in the religion of the Sumerian-Babylonian civilization. When they came to power, the rulers of new dynasties adapted old cults to worship new gods. The Sumerian-Babylonian religion perfectly shows the birth and transformation of myths, and the skillful adaptation of old religious cults by the new rulers of the royal dynasties of Mesopotamia. The modern region of Central and Western Asia is not politically and demographically stable, while possessing colossal natural resources, which, in this regard, ensures the geopolitical interest of the world's leading powers in this region. This process today is represented by the massive participation of a number of hegemonic powers in armed conflicts and political processes in the region. Interested in control over the states of Central and Western Asia, the world hegemons unceremoniously exercise their own “right of force”: “It seems obvious that the creation of the BPCA will allow the United States not only to snatch the Central Asian states from the “embrace of Russia and China” and finally gain a foothold in Central Asia, but also to turn the region into its own protectorate. It is also clear that the creation of the PBCA in the form outlined by F. Starr in his work presupposes strict adherence of the participating states in the wake of US policy, as Poland, the Baltic states, and Georgia do. will very quickly lead to a severance of political, economic and military ties with today's main allies. This is why Moscow and Beijing have long perceived the American presence in Central Asia as a threat to their interests. At the same time, it is rather doubtful that the United States can become an equivalent replacement for the Russian-Chinese tandem. After all, the actions of the current Republican government are not only criticized, but also often condemned by Democrats. Therefore, it is unlikely that, having come to power, they will fully continue some of today’s initiatives of the White House, including in Central Asia... cosmogony Sumerian Babylonian myth Political losses from the creation of the PBCA will inevitably be accompanied by economic ones. This is, first of all, the curtailment of economic ties with Russia and China, the loss of Russian and Chinese markets for the export of “hydrocarbons, electricity and cotton,” as well as transport communications providing access to Europe and Southeast Asia. The existing alternative European route through the Caspian Sea is much less profitable, and communications with Asian countries bypassing China and Iran are not developed. A problem will arise with labor migrants, thanks to whom the population of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan largely survives today. But the local unemployed will be joined by Afghans seeking a better life in the more economically prosperous Central Asian states. It should also be said that the creation of a security system under the patronage of the United States is possible only with the transition of the armed forces of the states of the region to NATO standards and the complete replacement of Soviet-style weapons. Not a single Central Asian state today can afford this. Again, there is not much hope for US help. Consequently, their security will depend entirely on Washington. You can avoid dependence by joining NATO, but this is impossible without switching to NATO standards. In addition, it must be taken into account that NATO members themselves are not yet very keen to expand through Central Asia. Achieving security is unthinkable without curbing various large and small terrorist organizations and the newly active Taliban. Judging by the position of the US Congress, they would like to entrust this task to the shoulders of the Central Asian states. In this case, significant human losses are inevitable, as well as economic damage and increased internal instability. The implementation of Washington's plans for further combating terrorism threatens to drag the Central Asian states into an armed conflict with Iran, which will make them targets of terrorist organizations. In addition, Central Asia threatens to be overwhelmed by the flow of drugs, which will be facilitated by the development of trade relations between the Central Asian states and Afghanistan. Opium production in Afghanistan increased from 1,350 metric tons in 1998 to approximately 5,000 tons in 2006. It is obvious that the United States is not interested in reducing drug production in Afghanistan. This conclusion, in particular, is confirmed by the fact that NATO ignored the CSTO’s proposal to take part in Operation Channel to block the flow of drugs...” In the context of the rapid development of changes in geopolitical relationships, there is a complex set of contradictions, especially between the three powers - the United States, the People's Republic of China and the Russian Federation. The modern foreign policy course of development of the Russian Federation is also aimed at strengthening the role of Russia’s presence in the region of Western Asia: “An analysis of Russia’s foreign policy steps in the Central Asian direction gives grounds for the conclusion that in Lately The Russian presence in this strategically important area of the planet is clearly stagnant. Undoubtedly, in the previous year or two, Russia has managed to significantly strengthen its position in Central Asia. It seems that this was largely facilitated not only by the extremely coherent and well-thought-out foreign policy line of the Kremlin in Central Asia and the macro-region of Eurasia as a whole, but also by the aggressive and offensive policy of the West with its pseudo-revolutionary technologies, which knocked the states of the region out of the orbit of what seemed to be a fairly strong attraction transatlantic community." In this regard, on the television screens of a number of central Russian television channels, single points of view of specialist analysts in the field of geopolitics from the press services of the Government of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation were repeatedly expressed on the possibility of deployment in the near future in the territory Central and Western Asia of large-scale military operations, including the participation of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. As a result, there is a need to study and analyze the cultural and historical traditions of the ancient East, which became a kind of basis for the formation of the mentality of the population of the modern region of Western and Central Asia. This work has educational value in studying the topic of the emergence and transformation of religious cults, the foundations of which are found in modern religious movements in the region, and in society’s idea of the dominant role of certain gods. How these ideas changed during the development of the most powerful Sumerian-Babylonian civilization. Historiography of the problem.Topics of the social system, everyday life, laws, etc. have been sufficiently studied, many authors have described the life of the Sumerians in some detail from all sides. Samuel N. Kramer in his books “History Begins in Sumer” and “The Mythology of Sumer and Akkad” examined in some detail both the life and mythological ideas about the world of the Sumerians, but he did not go further, considering Babylon as the successor of the Sumerian-Akkadian culture. "Legends and myths of the Ancient East" Ovchinnikov A.G. - myths and legends are popularly presented in books Ancient Egypt, Ancient Mesopotamia and Assyria. The books briefly and artistically present the tales of the peoples of the East, concisely revealing the essence of this or that epic. "Mythology of the East" Samozvantsev A.M. The book provides a very brief analysis of the main trends in the mythology of the ancient civilizations of the East. A very wide territorial belt from Ancient Egypt to Southeast Asia including Korea and Japan is considered. Regarding Mesopotamia, the main myths and deities are revealed and the hierarchy of the pantheon of Sumerian-Babylonian gods is briefly built. “Babylon and Assyria” Suggs H. The author, using materials from archaeological expeditions and linguistic research, made an attempt to reconstruct the life of people who lived four thousand years ago in the valley of the Tigris and Euphrates. The author colorfully described the world of ancient Mesopotamia: its religion, political structure, customs, arts and crafts. The author examines in detail the period from Babylon to Assyria without touching on the more ancient periods of the history of Mesopotamia. "Ancient Sumer" Emelnova V.V. Unlike previous monographs devoted to the problem of studying the Sumerian civilization, the author tried to combine the components of the life of the state, such as: artistic culture and the ethnic character and peculiarities of the Sumerian worldview. The period of studying the problems and a wide range of spheres of life of the Sumerians gives a holistic picture of the Sumerian civilization, but mythology is woven into the life story and is inextricably linked with life, religion and laws. "Man in the culture of the ancient Near East" by Weinberg I.P. scrupulously analyzing the sources of ancient Eastern culture: Ancient Egypt, Sumer, Babylonia, etc. the author tries to recreate the inner world, worldview ancient man, the most important aspects of personality. The author set the goal of his work to describe the way of life of an ancient Eastern man as plausibly as possible, trying to describe the entire ancient Eastern civilization through the eyes of this man. Dividing the book into chapters, he describes the Ancient East as integral to the human personality. These literary sources describe in detail the facts and phenomena of the life of the Sumerians within the stated period, but there is still no narrow overview of Sumerian-Babylonian mythology from its origins to the rise and fall of Babylon. In this work, the Sumerian-Babylonian period is combined into one time period; within this period, the mythology of the peoples who succeeded each other on the territory of Mesopotamia and inherited the culture from their predecessors is considered. This is a time period of more than two thousand years, however, the mythology of Mesopotamia has changed little, transforming only as necessary to explain certain changes in the political life of the state, remaining as close as possible to the original source. Thus, when
Based on ancient Sumerian texts, many works have been written covering the civilization of the ancient Sumerians. There are books describing in detail the origin and development of the Sumerian kingdom, the culture and life of its inhabitants, works on the rise of Akkad and the rise to power of the Amorite dynasties, a significant amount of materials in which there are detailed description way of life in Ancient Babylon, religious views and legal relations of the Babylonians. Literature with generalizing material on the Ancient East is also often found, including Ancient India and Ancient China. Goal of the workconsists of studying the first religious views of the Sumerians and their influence on the development of modern religious movements within Western and Central Asia. The purpose of the work dictates the following research objectives:
analyze the Sumerian divine pantheon during the birth of religion and mythology; explore the main myths about the appearance of the gods; consider the transformation of religion in the process of development of the state during periods of its rise and fall; identify periods of dominance of one or another deity and religious cults based on their worship; determine the main pantheon of gods during the birth of Sumerian mythology; consider the process of changing the hierarchical structure of the divine pantheon of the Sumerians with the accession of the Amorite dynasty to the throne of the rulers of Mesopotamia; study the religious views of the Old Babylonian kingdom, in comparison with the hierarchy of the gods of the Babylonians with the pantheon of gods of previous dynasties in Mesopotamia; to find out whether there was a change or transformation of the role of the main and minor gods in the process of changing dynasties and kings who ruled in Mesopotamia from ancient Sumer to the Neo-Babylonian kingdom; identify patterns of change in the dominant gods in connection with the change of ruling dynasties; Object of studyis a religious cult of the civilizations of the Ancient East. Subject of researchis the process of formation of Sumerian-Babylonian religious mythology. Chronological framework works:period from the end of the 4th millennium BC. until the 7th century BC, i.e. from the beginning of the formation of the Sumerian kingdom until the fall of the Babylonian state. Territorial scope:the territories of Mesopotamia and Western Asia in general. Methodological basisthis work is the theory scientific knowledge, the main principle of which is objectivity, historicism, as well as connection with socio-political practice. The author of this work used a variety of theoretical tools, which allowed him to implement the objectives of this study. Objectivity of the studyconsists of an accurate accounting of all historical facts. IN analysis of historical phenomena and factsa formational-civilizational approach was applied to the study of the formation of civilizations of the Ancient East. At the same time, it is necessary to take into account the national mentality, cultural, geographical and other characteristics of civilizations. Source base of the studyincludes the results of a study of material finds by archaeologists - clay tablets with texts in the area of the palace of King Ashurbanipal in Kuyundzhik. Monographs and articles by domestic and foreign authors were used as secondary sources. Practical significance researchis that this work can be used to analyze historically religious features modern cultures of the East. The work can be used to prepare lectures, seminars, and lessons at school. The structure of this work includesintroduction, three chapters, conclusion, list of sources and literature. 1. Two thousand years of Sumerian-Babylonian myths
1.1 Origin and development of Sumerian mythology
“Mesopotamia” - “The land between the Euphrates River and the Tigris River. Now Mesopotamia is understood mainly as the valley in the lower reaches of these rivers, and the lands east of the Tigris and west of the Euphrates are added to it. In general, this region coincides with the territory modern Iraq, with the exception of the mountainous regions along the country's borders with Iran and Turkey, Mesopotamia is the country where the world's oldest civilization arose, which existed for about 25 centuries, from the creation of writing to the conquest of Babylon by the Persians in 539 BC. Unlike Egyptian culture, in Mesopotamia numerous peoples rapidly replaced each other, fought, mixed and disappeared, so the overall picture of culture, one of the main aspects of which is religion, appears extremely dynamic and complex. The Sumerians, representatives of one of the very first ancient civilizations, tried to understand the nature of the universe, and, above all, its origin and structure, the laws of the universe. Already in the third millennium BC. in Sumer there were thinkers and teachers who tried to answer similar questions and for this purpose developed their own cosmogony and theogony. Since the Sumerians did not have a literary genre similar to scientific treatises, they expressed their ideas in myths. There is no need to talk about a single Sumerian mythology, since the number of communities was greater than the gods, and the myths were significantly different from each other. The same gods had different “pedigrees” in different communities. Myth and religion are forms of culture that reveal a deep relationship in the course of history. Religion, as such, presupposes the presence of a certain worldview and attitude, centered on belief in the incomprehensible, deities, the source of existence. The religious view of the world and the accompanying type of worldview initially develop within the boundaries mythological consciousness. Different types of religion are accompanied by dissimilar mythological systems. Myth is the first form of rational comprehension of the world, its figurative and symbolic reproduction and explanation, resulting in a prescription for action. Myth transforms chaos into space, creates the possibility of comprehending the world as a kind of organized whole, expresses it in a simple and accessible scheme, which could be translated into a magical action as a means of conquering the incomprehensible. Religion is one of the forms of social consciousness, one of the forms of ideology. And any ideology is, ultimately, a reflection of the material existence of people, the economic structure of society. In this regard, religion can be placed on a par with such ideological forms as philosophy, morality, law, art, etc. The history of the formation of mythological ideas of the peoples of ancient Mesopotamia can be traced on materials of fine art from approximately the middle of the 6th millennium BC, and according to written sources - from the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC. The primary one here is Sumerian mythology. The Sumerians are tribes whose origin, as well as their language, remains unclear, at the end of the 4th millennium BC. mastered the Mesopotamian Tigris and Euphrates and formed the first city-states - U Ruk and Ur, Nippur and Sippar, Larsu and Eredu, Lagash, Umma, Kish, Shuruppak and others, the antiquity of which allowed S. Kramer to say that history begins in Sumer. The Sumerian period in the history of Mesopotamia covers about one and a half thousand years and ends at the end of the 3rd millennium BC. - beginning of the 2nd millennium BC together with the so-called III dynasty of the city of Ur and the dynasties of Isin and Larsa, of which the latter was already partly Sumerian. Apparently, by the time of the formation of the first Sumerian city states, ideas were emerging about anthropomorphic deities - patrons of communities, who were primarily personifications of the forces of nature, aimed not at destruction, but at creation, with which are combined ideas about the power of the tribal (community) leader, who also performs the functions high priest. From the first written sources of the late IV - early III millennium BC, the period of the archaeological cultures of Jemdet-Nasr and Uruk I, the names or symbols of the gods Inanna, Enlil and some others written in pictographic form are known, and from the time of the so-called period of Abu - Salabikh (settlement near Nippur) and Fara (settlement near Shurup-pak), dating back to the 27th-26th centuries. BC, are already the names of a number of Sumerian gods, presented in the form of a list. Sumerian civilization was theocratic and was considered the property of a local deity, whose representative on earth was the high priest (patesi), endowed with religious and administrative authority. The earliest actual mythological texts of the Sumerians - hymns addressed to the gods, lists of proverbs, presentation of some myths (for example, about Enlil) - date back to the period of Abu Salabih - Farah. From the reign of the ruler of the city of Lagash, Gudea (around the 22nd century BC), who was actively involved in construction, building inscriptions containing cult and mythological material have come down. However, the bulk of mythological Sumerian texts - and these are literary, educational, and mythological texts themselves - date back to the end of the 3rd and, especially, the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC, i.e. to the period when the Sumerian language was already dying out, but the Babylonian tradition preserved the system of teaching in it. Although for Sumer at the end of the 4th - beginning of the 3rd millennium BC. It is noteworthy that a unified system of mythological ideas had already been recorded; each city-nome had its own deities and heroes and, accordingly, its own cycles of myths. However, until the end of the 3rd millennium BC. there was no systematized pantheon of gods, although there were several common Sumerian deities. This is, first of all, Enlil, the deity of fertility and at the same time the “lord of the air”, “king of gods and men”, “king of all countries” and the god of the ancient cult and tribal center of the Sumerians - Nippur; Enki, the ruler of the world ocean of underground fresh waters (Abzu), as well as surface waters, later - the god of wisdom, spells, the main god of the ancient cultural center of Sumer, the city of Eredu; AN, the god of the sky, whose name opens the lists of gods, and Inanna, the goddess of war and carnal love, fertility, the deity of the city of Uruk, which rose at the end of the 4th - beginning of the 3rd millennium BC; the lunar god Nanna, worshiped in the city of Ur, and the warrior god Ningirsu, who was worshiped in the city of Lagash and was later identified with the Lagash deity Ninurta, etc. The oldest list of gods from Fara (circa 26th century BC), which has already been mentioned, identifies the six main gods of the early Sumerian pantheon: Enlil, An, Inanna, Enki, Naina and solar god Utu. Enki or Ea, one of the three great Sumerian gods. Enki is closely associated with Apsu, the personification of fresh water. Because of the importance of fresh water in Mesopotamian religious rituals, Enki was also considered the god of magic and wisdom. He did not awaken fear in the hearts of people. Prayers and myths invariably emphasize his wisdom, benevolence and justice. In Enuma Elish he is the creator of man. As the god of wisdom, he ordered life on earth. The cult of Enki and his wife Damkina flourished in Eridu, Ur, Larsa, Uruk and Shuruppak. Enki received from his father An the divine laws - “me”, in order to transmit them to people. “Me” played a huge role in the religious and ethical system of views of the Sumerians. Modern researchers call “me” “divine rules”, “divine laws”, “factors that regulate the organization of the world”. “Me” were something like patterns established and controlled by Enki, prescribed for every phenomenon of nature or society, relating to both the spiritual and material aspects of life. These included a variety of concepts: justice, wisdom, heroism, kindness, fairness, lies, fear, fatigue, various crafts and arts, concepts associated with cult, etc. Enlil, along with Anu and Enki, is one of the gods of the main triad of the Sumerian pantheon. Initially, he is the god of storms (Sumerian “en” - “lord”; “lil” - “storm”). In Akkadian he was called Belom ("lord"). As the "lord of storms" he is closely connected with the mountains, and therefore with the earth. This god was truly feared. Perhaps they were even more afraid than they were honored and respected; he was considered a ferocious and destructive deity, rather than a kind and merciful god. In Sumerian-Babylonian theology, the Universe was divided into four main parts - heaven, earth, waters and the underworld. The gods who ruled over them were Anu, Enlil, Ea and Nergal, respectively. Enlil and his wife Ninlil (“nin” - “lady”) were especially revered in the religious center of Sumer, Nippur. Enlil was the god who commanded the “heavenly army” and was especially enthusiastically worshiped. The Sumerian pantheon existed already at the early stages of civilization and statehood. Gods and goddesses entered into complex relationships with each other, the interpretation of which changed over time and depending on the change of dynasties and ethnic groups (the Semitic tribes of the Akkadians, who mixed with the ancient Sumerians, brought with them new gods, new mythological stories). Ancient Sumerian deities, including astral deities, retained the functions of a fertility deity, who was considered as the patron deity of an individual city (community). One of the most typical images of this kind is the image of the mother goddess, generally characteristic of agricultural cults; she was revered in Sumer under different names: Damgalnuna, Ninhursag, Ninmah, Nintu, etc. Akkadian parallel versions of the image of the mother goddess are Belet, “Lady of the gods”, Mami - “helping with childbirth” (the Sumerians had a similar deity) and Aruru - the creator of people in Babylonian and Assyrian myths, and in the epic of Gilgamesh - the “wild "man (first man) Enkidu. It is possible that the images of the patron goddesses of the cities of Bau and Gatumdug, who bear the epithets “mother”, “mother of all cities”, and Gatumdug is also “mother of Lagash”, are also associated with the image of the mother goddess. 1.2 Akkadian succession mythology
Sumer developed actively and diversified over more than two millennia. The period of greatest prosperity of the Sumerian city-states occurred in the middle and end of the 3rd millennium BC. At the same time, some of the rulers of the most powerful cities attempted to unite all the Sumerian regions into a single Sumerian kingdom, which, however, did not last long and was united only later under the rule of Sargon the Great, the founder of the mighty Akkadian state. Since ancient times, the Eastern Semites - Akkadians, who occupied the northern part of the lower Mesopotamia, were neighbors of the Sumerians and were under strong Sumerian influence. In the second half of the 3rd millennium BC. The Akkadians also established themselves in the south of Mesopotamia, which was facilitated by the unification of Mesopotamia by the ruler of the city of Akkad, Sargon the Ancient, into the “kingdom of Sumer and Akkad” (later, with the rise of Babylon, this territory became known as Babylonia). History of Mesopotamia in the 2nd millennium BC. - this is the history of the Semitic peoples. However, the merger of the Sumerian and Akkadian peoples occurred gradually; the displacement of the Sumerian language by Akkadian (Babylonian-Assyrian) did not mean the complete destruction of Sumerian culture and its replacement with a new, Semitic one. Not a single early purely Semitic cult has yet been discovered on the territory of Mesopotamia. Over time, the Akkadian names of the gods simply replaced the Sumerian ones. All Akkadian gods known to us are of Sumerian origin or have long been identified with Sumerian ones. Thus, the Akkadian sun god Shamash was identified with the Sumerian Utu, the goddess Ishtar - with Inanna and a number of other Sumerian goddesses, the storm god Adad - with Ishkur, etc. The god Enlil receives the Semitic epithet Bel (Baal), "lord". Sin, in Akkadian mythology, the god of the moon, the father of the sun god Shamash, the planet Venus (Inanna or Ishtar) and the fire god Nusku. He was conceived by the god of air Enlil, who took possession of the goddess of agriculture Ninlil, and was born in the underworld. Sin's wife is Ningal, the "great lady." Usually the god was depicted as an old man with a blue beard, who was called the “shining heavenly boat.” Every evening, sitting in a wonderful crescent-shaped boat, the god sailed across the sky. Some sources claim that the month is the instrument of God, and the moon is his crown. Sin is the enemy of malefactors, since his light revealed their vicious plans. One day, the evil utukku spirits started a conspiracy against Sin. With the help of Shamash, the goddess of love and fertility Ishtar and the thunder god Adad, they obscured his light. However, the great god Marduk went to war against the conspirators and returned Sin to his radiance. Sin, whose symbol was the crescent moon, was considered a sage and it was believed that the moon god measured time by waxing and waning. In addition, the tides of water in the swamps around the city of Ur, where his temple was located, provided abundant food for livestock. Anu, the Akkadian form of the name of the Sumerian god An, is the king of the heavens, the supreme deity of the Sumerian-Akkadian pantheon. He is the “father of the gods”, his domain is the sky. According to the Babylonian creation hymn Enuma Elish, Anu came from Apsu (originally fresh water) and Tiamat (sea). Although Anu was worshiped throughout Mesopotamia, he was especially revered in Uruk and Dera). The first ruler who declared himself during his lifetime to be the “patron god of Akkad” was the Akkadian king of the 23rd century. BC. Naram-Suen; During the III dynasty of Ur, cult veneration of the ruler reached its apogee. The cult of the ruler-symbol, a mediator between the world of the living and the dead, people and gods, was closely connected not only with the idea of the holiness of the ruler who possessed magical powers, but also with the confidence that it was the prayers and requests of the leader that would most likely reach the deity and will be most effective. The development of the epic tradition from myths about cultural heroes, characteristic of many mythological systems, did not, as a rule, take place on Sumerian soil. A characteristic actualization of ancient forms (in particular, the traditional motif of travel) often found in Sumerian mythological texts is the motif of a god’s journey to another, higher deity for a blessing (myths about Enki’s journey to Enlil after the construction of his city, about the journey of the moon god Naina to Nippur to Enlil, his divine father, for a blessing). The period of the III dynasty of Ur, the time from which most of the written mythological sources come, is the period of development of the ideology of royal power in the most complete form in Sumerian history. Since myth remained the dominant and most “organized” area of social consciousness, the leading form of thinking, it was through myth that the corresponding ideas were affirmed. Therefore, it is no coincidence that most of the texts belong to one group - the Nippur canon, compiled by the priests of the III dynasty of Ur, and the main centers most often mentioned in myths: Eredu, Uruk, Ur, gravitated towards Nippur as the traditional place of general Sumerian cult. A “pseudo-myth”, a myth-concept (and not a traditional composition), is also a myth that explains the appearance of the Semitic tribes of the Amorites in Mesopotamia and gives the etiology of their assimilation in society - the myth of the god Martu (the very name of the god is a deification of the Sumerian name for the West Semitic nomads). The myth underlying the text did not develop an ancient tradition, but was taken from historical reality. But traces of a general historical concept - ideas about the evolution of humanity from savagery to civilization (reflected - already on Akkadian material - in the story of the "wild man" Enkidu in the Akkadian epic of Gilgamesh) appear through the "actual" concept of myth. After the fall at the end of the 3rd millennium BC. under the onslaught of the Amorites and Elamites of the III dynasty of Ur, almost all the ruling dynasties of individual city-states of Mesopotamia turned out to be Amorites. However, in the culture of Mesopotamia, contact with the Amorite tribes left almost no trace. The cities and tribal communities of Mesopotamia constantly fought among themselves, and if a city managed to capture several neighboring ones, then for a short time a state arose that had the character of a small empire. However, around the middle of the 3rd millennium BC. Semitic tribes from the Arabian Peninsula, who settled in the northern regions of Babylonia and adopted Sumerian culture, became so strong that they began to pose a threat to the independence of the Sumerians. Around 2550 BC Sargon of Akkad conquered them and created a power that stretched from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea. After approximately 2500 BC. The Akkadian power fell into decline, and a new period of independence and prosperity began for the Sumerians, this is the era of the third dynasty of Ur and the rise of Lagash. It ended around 2000 BC. with the strengthening of the Amorite kingdom - a new Semitic state with its capital in Babylon; The Sumerians lost their independence forever, and the territory of the former Sumer and Akkad was absorbed by the power of the ruler Hammurabi. With the rise of Babylon, the main god of this city, Marduk, begins to play an increasingly important role, but this name is also Sumerian in origin. The Akkadian mythological texts of the Old Babylonian period are much less known than the Sumerian ones; Not a single text was received in full. All the main sources on Akkadian mythology date back to the 2nd - 1st millennium BC, that is, to the time after the Old Babylonian period. 1.3 Change of traditions in the mythology of Babylon
Babylon in the ancient Semitic language was called "Bab-ilyu", which meant "Gate of God", in Hebrew this name was transformed into "Babel", in Greek and Latin - into "Babilon". The original name of the city has survived centuries, and to this day the northernmost of the hills on the site of ancient Babylon is called Babil. If very fragmentary information has been preserved about the Sumerian and Akkadian cosmogony and theogony, then the Babylonian cosmogonic doctrine is represented by the large cosmogonic epic poem “Enuma elish” (according to the first words of the poem - “When above”; the earliest version dates back to the beginning of the 10th century BC .). The poem assigns the main role in the creation of the world to Marduk, who gradually occupies the main place in the pantheon of the 2nd millennium, and by the end of the Old Babylonian period receives universal recognition outside Babylon. In comparison with the Sumerian ideas about the universe, what is new in the cosmogonic part of the poem is the idea of successive generations of gods, each of which is superior to the previous one, of theomachy - the battle of old and new gods and the unification of many divine images of the creators into one. The idea of the poem is to justify the exaltation of Marduk, the purpose of its creation is to prove and show that Marduk is the direct and legitimate heir of the ancient powerful forces, including the Sumerian deities. The “primordial” Sumerian gods turn out to be young heirs of more ancient forces, which they crush. He receives power not only on the basis of legal succession, but also by the right of the strongest, therefore the theme of struggle and the violent overthrow of ancient forces is the leitmotif of the legend. The traits of Enki - Eya, like other gods, are transferred to Marduk, but Eya becomes the father of the “lord of the gods” and his advisor. In the Ashur version of the poem (late 2nd millennium BC), Marduk is replaced by Ashur, the main god of the city of Ashur and the central deity of the Assyrian pantheon. This became a manifestation of a general tendency towards monotheism, expressed in the desire to highlight the main god and rooted not only in the ideological, but also in the socio-political situation of the 1st millennium BC. A number of cosmological motifs from the Enuma Elish have come down to us in Greek adaptations by a Babylonian priest of the 4th - 3rd centuries. BC. Berossus (through Polyhistor and Eusebius), as well as the Greek writer of the 6th century. AD Damascus. Damascus has a number of generations of gods: Taute and Apason and their son Mumiyo (Tiamat, Apsu, Mummu), as well as Lahe and Lahos, Kissar and Assoros (Lahmu and Lahamu, Anshar and Kishar), their children Anos, Illinos, Aos (Anu , Enlil, Eya). Aos and Dauke (i.e. the goddess Damkina) create the demiurge god Bel (Marduk). In Berossus, the mistress corresponding to Tiamat is a certain Omorka (“sea”), who dominates darkness and waters and whose description is reminiscent of the description of the evil Babylonian demons. God Bel cuts it down, creates heaven and earth, organizes the world order and orders the head of one of the gods to be cut off in order to create people and animals from his blood and earth. Myths about the creation of the world and the human race in Babylonian literature and mythography are associated with tales of human disasters, deaths, and even the destruction of the universe. As in the Sumerian monuments, the Babylonian legends emphasize that the cause of disasters is the anger of the gods, their desire to reduce the number of the ever-growing human race, which bothers the gods with its noise. Disasters are perceived not as legal retribution for human sins, but as the evil whim of a deity. The myth of the flood, which, according to all data, was based on the Sumerian legend of Ziusudra, came down in the form of the myth of Atrahasis and the story of the flood, inserted into the epic of Gilgamesh (and little different from the first), and was also preserved in the Greek transmission of Berossus. The myth of the plague god Erra, who fraudulently takes away power from Marduk, also tells about the punishment of people. This text sheds light on the Babylonian theological concept of a certain physical and spiritual balance of the world, depending on the presence of a rightful owner in its place (among the Sumerian-Akkadian motif of balance between the world of the living and the dead). Traditional for Mesopotamia (since the Sumerian period) is the idea of the connection of a deity with his statue: by leaving the country and the statue, the god thereby changes his place of residence. This is done by Marduk, and the country is damaged, and the universe is threatened with destruction. It is characteristic that in all epics about the destruction of humanity, the main disaster - the flood - was caused not by a flood from the sea, but by a rain storm. Connected with this is the significant role of the gods of storms and hurricanes in the cosmogony of Mesopotamia, especially the northern one. In addition to the special gods of wind and thunderstorms, storms (the main Akkadian god is Adad), winds were the sphere of activity of various gods and demons. So, according to tradition, he was probably the supreme Sumerian god Enlil (the literal meaning of the name is “breath of the wind”, or “lord of the wind”), although he is mainly the god of air in in a broad sense words. But still Enlil owned destructive storms, with which he destroyed enemies and cities that he hated. Enlil's sons Ninurta and Ningirsu are also associated with the storm. The winds of the four directions were perceived as deities, in any case, as personified higher powers (the south wind played a particularly important role - cf. the myth of Adapa or the fight with Anzu, where the south wind is Ninurta’s assistant). The Babylonian legend of the creation of the world, the plot of which was built around the personality of a powerful deity, the epic development of episodes telling about the battle of a hero-god with a monster - the personification of the elements, gave rise to the theme of a hero-god in Babylonian epic-mythological literature (and not a mortal hero, as in Sumerian literature). The motif of tables of fate is associated with Sumerian ideas. According to Akkadian concepts, tables of fate determined the movement of the world and world events. Possession of them ensured world domination (among the Enuma Elish, where they were initially owned by Tiamat, then by Kingu and finally by Marduk). The scribe of the tables of destinies - the god of scribal art and the son of Marduk Nabu - was also sometimes perceived as their owner. Tables were also written in the underworld (the scribe was the goddess Beletseri); Apparently, this was a recording of death sentences, as well as the names of the dead. If the number of god-heroes in Babylonian mythological literature prevails in comparison with Sumerian, then about mortal heroes, except for the epic of Atrahasis, only the legend (obviously of Sumerian origin) about Etan, the hero who tried to fly on an eagle to heaven, and a relatively later story are known about Adapa, the sage who dared to “break off the wings” of the wind and provoke the wrath of the sky god An, but missed the opportunity to gain immortality, and the famous epic of Gilgamesh is not a simple repetition of Sumerian tales about the hero, but a work that reflected the complex ideological evolution that, together with the Babylonian society was carried out by the heroes of Sumerian works. The leitmotif of the epic works of Babylonian literature is the failure of man to achieve the fate of the gods, despite all his aspirations, the futility of human efforts in trying to achieve immortality. The monarchical-state, rather than communal (as in Sumerian mythology) nature of the official Babylonian religion, as well as the suppression of the social life of the population, leads to the fact that the features of archaic religious and magical practice are gradually suppressed. Over time, “personal” gods begin to play an increasingly important role. The idea of a personal god for each person, who facilitates his access to the great gods and introduces him to them, arises from the time of the Third Dynasty of Ur and in the Old Babylonian period. On reliefs and seals of this time there are often scenes depicting how the patron deity leads a person to the supreme god to determine his fate and to receive blessings. During the Third Dynasty of Ur, when the king was seen as the protector-guardian of his country, he assumed some of the functions of a protective god (especially the deified king). It was believed that with the loss of his protector god, a person became defenseless against the evil willfulness of the great gods and could easily be attacked by evil demons. In addition to the personal god, who was supposed, first of all, to bring good luck to his patron, and the personal goddess, who personified his life “share,” each person also had his own shedu - an anthropomorphized or zoomorphized life force. In addition to these defenders, a resident of Babylonia in the 2nd-1st millennium BC. his own personal guardian also appears - lamassu, the bearer of his personality, possibly associated with the cult of the placenta. A person’s “name” or his “glory” (shumu) was also considered as a material substance, without which his existence was unthinkable and which was passed on to his heirs. On the contrary, the “soul” (napishtu) is something impersonal; it was identified either with breath or with blood. Personal guardian gods opposed evil and were, as it were, the antipodes of the evil forces surrounding man. Among them is the lion-headed Lamashtu, rising from the underworld and leading with her all kinds of diseases, the evil spirits of diseases themselves, ghosts, embittered shadows of the dead who do not receive victims, various kinds of serving spirits of the underworld (utukki, asakki, etimme, galle, galle lemnuti - “evil devils,” etc.), the god-fate Namtar, who comes to a person at the hour of his death, the night spirits-incubus Lilu, visiting women, the succubi Lilith (Lilitu), possessing men, etc. The surprising fact is that none of the Mesopotamian deities was an exclusive source of power, none had supreme power. The full power belonged to the assembly of gods, which, according to tradition, elected a leader and approved all important decisions. Nothing was set in stone or taken for granted. But the instability of space led to intrigue among the gods, which meant it promised danger and created anxiety among mortals. The most complex system of demonological ideas that developed in Babylonian mythology (and not attested in Sumerian monuments) was also reflected in the visual arts. The general structure of the pantheon, the formation of which dates back to the III dynasty of Ur, basically remains without much change throughout the entire era of antiquity. The entire world is officially headed by the triad of Anu, Enlil and Eya, surrounded by a council of seven or twelve “great gods” who determine the “shares” (shimatu) of everything in the world. All gods are thought of as divided into two clan groups - the Igigi and the Anunnaki; the gods of the earth and the underworld, as a rule, are among the latter, although among the heavenly gods there are also Anunnaki gods. In the underworld, however, it is no longer Ereshkigal who rules so much as her husband Nergal, who has subjugated his wife, which corresponds to the general decrease in the role of female deities in Babylonian mythology, who, as a rule, were relegated almost exclusively to the position of impersonal consorts of their divine husbands (essentially a special Only the goddess of healing Gula and Ishtar remain important, although, judging by the Epic of Gilgamesh, her position is under threat). But steps towards monotheism, manifested in the strengthening of the cult of Marduk, which monopolized the end. II millennium, almost all areas of divine activity and power continue to occur. Enlil and Marduk (in Assyria - Enlil and Ashur) merge into a single image of the “lord” - Bel (Baal). In the 1st millennium BC. Marduk in a number of centers is gradually beginning to be replaced by his son, the scribal god Nabu, who is tending to become a single Babylonian deity. The properties of one god are endowed with other deities, and the qualities of one god are determined using the qualities of other gods. This is another way to create the image of a single omnipotent and all-powerful deity in a purely abstract way. The monuments make it possible to reconstruct the general system of cosmogonic views of Babylonian theologians, although there is no complete certainty that such a unification was carried out by the Babylonians themselves. The microcosm seems to be a reflection of the macrocosm - “bottom” (earth) - as if a reflection of the “top” (heaven). The entire universe seems to float in the world's oceans, the earth is likened to a large inverted round boat, and the sky is like a solid semi-vault (dome) covering the world. The entire celestial space is divided into several parts: the “upper sky of Anu”, the “middle sky” belonging to the Igigi, in the center of which was the lapis lazuli cella of Marduk, and the “lower sky”, already visible to people, on which the stars are located. All heavens are made of different types of stone, for example, the “lower heaven” is made of blue jasper; above these three heavens there are four more heavens. The sky, like a building, rests on a foundation attached to the heavenly ocean with pegs and, like an earthly palace, protected from water by a rampart. The highest part of the firmament is called the "middle of the heavens." The outer side of the dome (“the interior of heaven”) emits light; This is the space where the moon - Sin hides during his three-day absence and where the sun - Shamash spends the night. In the east there is the “mountain of sunrise”, in the west there is the “mountain of sunset”, which are locked. Every morning Shamash opens the “mountain of sunrise”, sets out on a journey across the sky, and in the evening through the “mountain of sunset” he disappears into the “inside of heaven”. The stars in the firmament are “images” or “writings,” and each of them is assigned a firm place so that none “goes astray from its path.” Earthly geography corresponds to celestial geography. The prototypes of everything that exists: countries, rivers, cities, temples - exist in the sky in the form of stars, earthly objects are only reflections of heavenly ones, but both substances each have their own dimensions. Thus, the heavenly temple is approximately twice the size of the earthly one. The plan of Nineveh was originally drawn in heaven and existed from ancient times. The celestial Tigris is located in one constellation, and the celestial Euphrates in the other. Each city corresponds to a specific constellation: Sippar - the constellation Cancer, Babylon, Nippur - others, whose names are not identified with modern ones. Both the sun and the month are divided into countries: on the right side of the month is Akkad, on the left is Elam, the upper part of the month is Amurru (Amorites), the lower part is the country of Subartu. Under the firmament lies (like an overturned boat) “ki” - the earth, which is also divided into several tiers. People live in the upper part, in the middle part - the possessions of the god Eya (an ocean of fresh water or groundwater), in the lower part - the possessions of the earth gods, the Anunnaki, and the underworld. According to other views, seven earths correspond to the seven heavens, but nothing is known about their exact division and location. To strengthen the earth, it was tied to the sky with ropes and secured with pegs. These ropes are the Milky Way. The upper earth, as is known, belongs to the god Enlil. His temple Ekur ("house of the mountain") and one of its central parts - Duranki ("connection of heaven and earth") symbolize the structure of the world. Thus, a certain evolution is outlined in the religious and mythological views of the peoples of Mesopotamia. If the Sumerian religious-mythological system can be defined as based primarily on communal cults, then in the Babylonian system one can see a clear desire for monolatry and for a more individual communication with the deity. From very archaic ideas, a transition is planned to a developed religious-mythological system, and through it - to the field of religious and ethical views, no matter in what rudimentary form they may be expressed. Literary monuments of this ancient people- myths, epic poems, instructions, scientific treatises are interesting not only in themselves. Much of the Sumerian heritage was borrowed by the unknown authors of the Bible. The legend of the Flood is the most striking, but not the only example of this. The mythological basis of the Sumerian civilization served as a rich source for subsequent civilizations, giving ideas for the most dramatic plots in the mythology and religion of other peoples. The subjects of Sumerian beliefs were inherited by the new state under the rule of the Akkadian dynasties, creating the foundation for the religion of not only the Akkadians, but their heirs, the Babylonians. Myths created in ancient times at the dawn of the foundation of the Sumerian civilization turned out to be so universal that the plots of these works can be traced in religious teachings, which still exist today. Christians and Muslims in their holy books retell myths about the flood, the discovery of a baby in a basket floating down the river. Myths that originated in ancient times at the dawn of the Sumerian civilization turned out to be so universal that the plots of these works can be traced in religious teachings that exist to this day. 2. Cosmogony from the Sumerians to the Babylonians
The mythology of Mesopotamia includes stories about the creation of the earth and its inhabitants, including people sculpted from clay, in whom images of the gods were imprinted. The gods breathed life into man, i.e. created him to serve them. A complex cosmological system was developed of several heavens, a semi-vault covering the earth floating in the world's oceans. Heaven was the abode of the highest gods. Myths tell about the beginning of the world, about the gods and their struggle for the world order. It speaks of primeval chaos - Apsu. This may be the male personification of the underground abyss and underground waters. Tiamat is the female personification of the same abyss or primeval ocean, salt water, depicted as a four-legged monster with wings. There was a struggle between the newly born gods and the forces of chaos. The god Marduk becomes the head of the gods, but on the condition that the gods recognize his primacy over all others. After a fierce struggle, Marduk defeats and kills the monstrous Tiamat, dissecting her body and creating heaven and earth from its parts. The myth of the creation of the world defines the beginning of the world with the fact that - many thousands of years ago - there was only the World Ocean, in the depths of which the daughter of the ocean, the great Nammu, was hiding. It is not established from whom Nammu became pregnant, but from her womb a mountain was born with a base of soft clay and a top of hard tin. On the top of this mountain lived ancient god An (Sky), and below, on a flat disk floating in the ocean, lay the goddess Ki (Earth). Nammu waited until the children grew up and united them in marriage. From An and Ki was born the god Enlil, who raises a violent wind with his breath, shaking the world mountain with his steps. Following Enlil, seven more gods were born who began to rule the world together with their elder brother, deciding the destinies of the present and the future. But then Anna and Ki continued to give birth to children and many more Anunnaki, the youngest gods, were born. Both the younger and older gods gave birth to their children, and they had grandchildren and great-grandchildren. They all possessed divine immortality. Soon there was no place left to live on the mountain; a huge number of descendants of Annu and Ki cramped each other’s lives. And then Enlil, seeing the inevitable catastrophe from the overpopulation of the mountain, decides to take action: armed with a copper knife, he trimmed the edges of the sky. An broke away from Ki and soared into the air, where he hung in the form of a huge tin hemisphere. Small pieces of tin, some where broken off from it, people still find particles of heavenly metal on the earth. The gods rejoiced and ran across the now spacious and wide earth, and Enlil contentedly sheathed the knife. His brave deed was solemnly accepted by all the gods, and they unanimously chose the wise first-born An as their ruler. This is how the earth and the gods were created, who became masters on it. Enlil dominated all the gods, but he was not the only builder of the world order. One of the more meaningful and detailed Sumerian myths is about how Enki, the Sumerian god of water and also the god of wisdom, established order in the universe. The myth begins with a hymn of praise addressed to Enki. This hymn exalts Enki as the god who oversees all things and on whom depends the fertility of fields, gardens and herds. The song ends with the story of Enki's journey in the makurru boat called the "goat Abzu" , along the Persian Gulf lagoon. After this journey, the countries of Magan, Dilmun and Meluhha send heavily laden boats with rich gifts for Enlil to Nippur. Then the Anunnaki again pay homage to Enki, especially in his capacity as the god who makes up the divine laws that govern the universe and oversees their operation. Starting with Sumer itself, he first extols this country as a chosen, sacred land with "exalted and “inviolable” me, the country which the gods made their abode, then blesses its sheep and cattle, its temples and sanctuaries. Enki then turns his gaze to Ur, extols him in sublime, metaphorical terms, and blesses him with prosperity and excellence. From Ur he moves to Meluhha and generously blesses it with trees and reeds, cattle and birds, gold, tin and bronze. Further, in the same way, he bestows various useful things on Dilmun, Elam, Marhasi and Martha. Now Enki, having determined the destinies and fate of various countries that, in the view of the Sumerians, constituted the entire inhabited world, carries out a whole series of acts that should ensure the fertility of the earth. Turning first of all to its physical qualities, he first fills the Tigris River with fresh, sparkling, life-giving water - in the concrete metaphorical imagination of the poet, Enki appears as an angry bull connecting with the river, which is represented in the form of a wild cow. Then, in order to ensure the proper functioning of the Tigris and Euphrates, he appoints the god Enbilulu, "overseer of the canals", to oversee them . Next, Enki “calls by name” the swamps and reed beds, endows them with fish and reeds and appoints a god “who loves fish (his name cannot be read) to supervise them. Then he turns to the sea, builds his sanctuary here and appoints the goddess Nanshe, “Lady of Sirara”, to oversee . Finally. Enki “calls by name” the life-giving rain, makes it fall to the ground and appoints the storm god Ishkur to oversee it. Next, Enki moves on to satisfy the cultural needs of the earth. He takes care of the plow, yoke and harrow and appoints Enkimdu, the farmer god Enlil, to look after them. Next, he “calls by name” the arable land, produces its grains and fruits, and transfers all this under the responsibility of the grain goddess Ashnan. Enki takes care of the hoe and the mold for making bricks, appointing the god of bricks Kullu to supervise them. He lays the foundation, aligns the bricks, builds the "house" and appoints the god Mushdamma, "the great builder of Enlil, to oversee .
After peasant farming, fields and houses, Enki pays attention to the mountainous countries, covers them with earthly vegetation, multiplies their livestock and transfers them to the jurisdiction of Sumukan, “the king of the mountains.” . Then he builds stalls and pens, provides the cattle with the best fat and milk, and appoints the god of the shepherds, Dumuzi, to supervise them. Enki draws “borders” (apparently of cities and states), sets boundary stones and appoints the sun god Utu “to oversee the entire universe . Finally, Enki cares about "that which is the work of women , especially about spinning and weaving, and places them under the supervision of the goddess of clothing, Uttu. Based on this, we can conclude that the Sumerians, even at the initial stage of development of mythology and culture, developed a completely holistic idea of the origin of the world. The Sumerians explained natural phenomena and the movements of heavenly bodies with myths, justifying the world order with a coherent mythical theory of the universe. 2.2 Akkadian view of the origin of the world
The change of dynasties to the Semitic rulers of Akkad occurred slowly and naturally. The Akkadian mountain tribes settled next to the Sumerians, gradually adopting the culture, way of life, religion and mythology of their more developed neighbors. By the time the Akkadian dynasties ruled all the city-states of Mesopotamia, the culture of the new state had completely absorbed and reworked the ancient Sumerian epic. Borrowing the plots of Sumerian myths, Semitic authors added drama and dynamics to them. Although some myths can only be found in the Akkadian version. The monuments are mainly from the 1st millennium BC. make it possible to reconstruct the system of cosmogonic views of Akkadian theologians, although there is no complete certainty that such a unification was carried out by the Akkadians themselves. “Bottom” (earth) was, as it were, a reflection of “top” (heaven). The entire universe seems to float in the world's oceans, the earth is likened to a large inverted boat, and the sky is like a solid semi-vault - a dome covering the world. The entire celestial space is divided into several parts: the “upper sky of Anu,” the “middle sky,” which belongs to the Igigi, and the “lower sky,” already visible to people, on which the stars are located. All heavens are made of different types of stone, for example, the “lower sky” is made of blue jasper. Above these three heavens there are four more heavens. The sky, like a building, rests on a foundation attached to the heavenly ocean with pegs, and, like an earthly palace, is protected from water by a rampart. The outer side of the dome emits light: this is the space where the moon-Sin hides and where the sun-Shamash spends the night. In the east there is the “mountain of sunrise”, in the west there is the “mountain of sunset”, which are locked. Every morning Shamash opens the “mountain of sunrise”, sets out on a journey across the sky, and in the evening through the “mountain of sunset” he disappears into the “insides” of heaven. It was believed that the stars in the firmament are “images” or “writings”, and each of them was assigned a specific place. Earthly geography corresponds to celestial geography. The prototypes of everything that exists - countries, cities, temples, rivers - exist in the sky in the form of stars, earthly objects are only a reflection of heavenly ones, but both substances have different dimensions. Thus, the heavenly temple is approximately twice the size of the earthly one. According to legend, the plan of the capital of the New Assyrian kingdom of Nineveh was originally drawn in heaven and existed since ancient times. Each city here corresponded to a specific constellation. The sun and the month were divided into countries: on the right side of the month - Akkad, on the left - Elam, its upper part - Amurru (Amorites), the lower - the country of Subartu. Under the vault of heaven lies the earth, it is also divided into several tiers. People live in its upper part; this part of the earth belongs to the god Ellil; in the middle part there are the possessions of the god Eya (an ocean of fresh water, or underground waters), in the lower part there are the possessions of the Anunnaki gods and the Underground Kingdom. According to other ideas, the seven heavens correspond to the seven tiers of the earth. To strengthen the earth, it was tied to the sky with ropes and secured with pegs. These ropes are the Milky Way. Although the first literary texts in the Akkadian language appear in Mesopotamia around the middle of the 3rd millennium BC, i.e. while Sumerian literary works already existed, the bulk of Akkadian literary texts appear only in the second half of the 2nd millennium BC. Meanwhile, the bulk of Sumerian literary monuments have reached us from the period between 2000 and 1800. BC. - from a time when, apparently, Sumerian was no longer a spoken language. In this regard, it should be noted that it is not always possible to establish in what language a particular literary monument was originally created - in Sumerian or Akkadian: translations from one language to another were made regularly, especially when it came to liturgical texts. In lists and catalogs of literary works, their names in Sumerian and Akkadian are found mixed up. Apparently, linguistic affiliation did not determine the cultural basis of literary work here. Thus, we can assume that there were no significant changes in the idea of the convergence of the world in the views of the Akkadians, and discrepancies in the texts can be considered the costs of translations. The cult of the god Marduk gradually became increasingly important, and by the end of the 2nd millennium BC. monopolized almost all spheres of divine activity. 2.3 Rise of Babylon, accession of Marduk
If very fragmentary information has been preserved about Sumerian cosmogony and theogony, then the Babylonian cosmogonic doctrine is represented by the large cosmogonic epic poem “Enum-ma elish” (according to the first words of the poem - “When above”; the earliest version dates back to the beginning of the 10th century BC .). The poem assigns the main role in the creation of the world to Marduk, who gradually occupies the main place in the pantheon of the 2nd millennium, and by the end of the Old Babylonian period receives universal recognition outside Babylon. In comparison with the Sumerian ideas about the universe, what is new in the cosmogonic part of the poem is the idea of successive generations of gods, each of which is superior to the previous one, of the battle of old and new gods and the unification of many divine images of the creators into one. The idea of the poem is to justify the exaltation of Marduk, the purpose of its creation is to prove and show that Marduk is the direct and legitimate heir of the ancient powerful forces, including the Sumerian deities. The “primordial” Sumerian gods turn out to be young heirs of more ancient forces, which they crush. He receives power not only on the basis of legal succession, but also by the right of the strongest, therefore the theme of struggle and the violent overthrow of ancient forces is the leitmotif of the legend. The traits of Enki - Eya, like other gods, are transferred to Marduk, but Eya becomes the father of the “lord of the gods” and his advisor. In the Ashur version of the poem (late 2nd millennium BC), Marduk is replaced by Ashur, the main god of the city of Ashur and the central deity of the Assyrian pantheon. This became a manifestation of a general tendency towards unification and monotheism, or more precisely, monolatry, expressed in the desire to highlight the main god and rooted not only in the ideological, but also in the socio-political situation of the 1st millennium BC. A number of cosmological motifs from the Enuma Elish have come down to us in Greek adaptations by a Babylonian priest of the 4th-3rd centuries. BC. Berossus (through Polyhistor and Eusebius), as well as the Greek writer of the 6th century. AD Damascus. Damascus has a number of generations of gods: Taute and Apason and their son Mumiyo (Tiamat, Apsu, Mummu), as well as Lahe and Lahos, Kissar and Assoros (Lahmu and Lahamu, Anshar and Kishar), their children Anos, Illinos, Aos (Anu , Enlil, Eya). Aos and Dauke (i.e. the goddess Damkina) create the demiurge god Bel (Marduk). In Berossus, the mistress corresponding to Tiamat is a certain Omorka (“sea”), who dominates darkness and waters and whose description is reminiscent of the description of the evil Babylonian demons. God Bel cuts it down, creates heaven and earth, organizes the world order and orders the head of one of the gods to be cut off in order to create people and animals from his blood and earth. As for Marduk, it was difficult to squeeze him into the existing hierarchy of gods, but the ancient poem "Enuma elish" turned out to be just right. Apparently found deep in the archives and carefully processed by contemporaries, it fully explained the dominant status of Marduk among the elder gods. Marduk is the main god of Babylon. The temple of Marduk was called E-sag-il. The temple tower, a ziggurat, served as the basis for the creation of the biblical legend of the Tower of Babel. It was actually called E-temen-an-ki ("House of the Foundation of Heaven and Earth"). Marduk was the god of the planet Jupiter and the main god of Babylon, and therefore he absorbed the signs and functions of other gods of the Sumerian-Akkadian pantheon. Since the rise of Babylon, from the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC, Marduk has come to the forefront. He is placed at the head of the host of gods. The priests of the Babylonian temples invent myths about the primacy of Marduk over other gods. They are trying to create something like a monotheistic doctrine: there is only one god, Marduk, all other gods are just his different manifestations. This tendency towards monotheism reflected political centralization: the Babylonian kings just took over the entire Mesopotamia and became the most powerful rulers of Western Asia. But the attempt to introduce monotheism failed, probably due to the resistance of the priests of local cults, and the former gods continued to be revered. The poem "Enuma Elish" - named after its two initial words, meaning "when at the top" . In fact, the poem was created not so much to tell the story of creation as to glorify the Babylonian god Marduk. But it is precisely for this purpose that it narrates the creative deeds of Marduk and is thus the main source of Akkadian cosmogonic ideas. So, the poem tells us that at the beginning of time, when “the sky was unnamed above, the earth was nameless below , only the original oceans Tiamat and Apsu (Sumerian Abzu) existed. Then, at some unspecified time, several generations of gods were born, and one of these gods was Ea, the Sumerian Enki, god of wisdom. However, these gods irritated Apsu and Tiamat with their incessant bustle and noise, and Apsu decided to put an end to them, although his wife Tiamat persuaded him to have mercy. Fortunately for the gods, Ea managed to kill Apsu with magic spells. Ea then built his own abode on the dead Apsu, and here his wife gave birth to Marduk, a heroic and imposing god. Soon Marduk had the opportunity to actually prove his valor and save the gods from Tiamat, who set out to avenge the death of her husband Apsu with the help of several defector gods and an entire army of evil monsters. After this victory, Marduk created heaven and earth from the gigantic body of Tiamat, cutting it in two. Then he created the abodes of the gods, outlined the heavenly constellations, erected gates through which the sun could rise and set, and made the moon shine. Then, in order to relieve the gods of physical labor, Marduk, with the help of his father Ea, created people from the blood of Kingu, the rebellious god who was the leader of the hostile armies of Tiamat. After this, the grateful gods erected Esagila, the temple of Marduk in Babylon, held a joyful feast and proclaimed the fifty names of Marduk, transferring to him the power of almost all the main gods of the Akkadian pantheon. There are, in addition to the Enuma Elish version , many other, much shorter accounts of the creation of the world, which differ in numerous details both from each other and from the Enuma Elish . Thus, there is one story that was used as a prologue to the spell for the cleansing of the Babylonian temple. He says that in the beginning there was nothing: no reed, no tree, no house, no temple, no city, no living creatures, and that “all countries were a continuous sea . Then the gods were created and Babylon was built. After this, Marduk built a structure of reeds on the surface of the waters and, with the help of his mother the goddess Aruru (Sumerian Ninmah, aka Nintu, aka Ninhursag), created people. After man, Marduk created steppe animals, the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, grass, reeds and reeds, green growth of fields, earth, swamps and thickets, cow and calf, sheep and lamb. And thus the solid earth arose, and from bricks made into molds such cities as Nippur and Uruk with their temples and houses were built. Thus, evolution is visible in the religious and mythological views of the peoples of Mesopotamia. If the Sumerian religious-mythological system can be defined as based primarily on communal cults, then in the Babylonian system one can see a clear desire for monolatry and for a more individual communication with the deity. From very archaic ideas, a transition is planned to a developed religious-mythological system, and through it - to the field of religious and ethical views, no matter in what rudimentary form they may be expressed. Although the main plot about the origin of the world has changed, presenting the wreath of the creator of the world and the world order to the patron god of Great Babylon, Marduk, the view on the creation of man from remained the same. As before, the myths of the Babylonians speak of the creation of man from clay. But in the epic poem “Enu-ma elish” there is a clearer emphasis on the purpose of creating man: the gods are tired of working, and in order to give them the opportunity to rest, Marduk creates a man who will take on the responsibilities of digging canals and cultivating the land. Upon closer examination, the role of mythology in maintaining power by the rulers of Babylon is undeniable. Trying to identify the patron of the main city of the Babylonian kingdom, the priesthood, philosophers and scribes in the service of the ruler compiled new myths based on the ancient ones, designed to glorify the king and instill in the people unshakable faith in his divine destiny. Obvious connections with the ancient traditions of Sumerian mythology did not prevent the Babylonian epic from becoming an independent movement. The Babylonian religious-mythological system, associated with the extensive knowledge of the Babylonian priests, especially in the field of astronomy, timekeeping, and metrology, spread beyond the country. It influenced the religious ideas of Jews, Neoplatonists, and early Christians. In ancient and early medieval times, Babylonian priests were considered the guardians of some unprecedented, deep wisdom. Demonology especially left a lot: the entire medieval European phantasmagoria about evil spirits, which inspired the inquisitors in their wild persecution of “witches,” goes back mainly to this source. 3. Sumerian-Babylonian myths about the origin of man
3.1 Human origins: Sumerian tradition
Quite a lot is known about how, according to the Sumerians, the gods created man. The myth about the creation of man, which begins with the complaints of the gods about their bitter and difficult lot, tells the most detailed and expressive story about this. The only god who could help them, the god of wisdom and the depths of the sea, Enki, sleeps deeply in his Abzu temple at the bottom of the ocean. To awaken him, his mother Nammu, the primordial ocean, “the mother who gave life to all the gods,” “brought the tears of her children” to Enki, called him to awaken, rise from his bed and “do what is wise”: create “servants for gods." Having listened to her pleas, Enki placed himself at the head of many “excellent and royal masters”, after which he addressed the goddess with the following words: O my mother, the creature whose name you mentioned already exists - Imprint in it the image of the gods; Knead the heart of clay that is above the abyss - Excellent and royal craftsmen will make the clay thick. You give birth to limbs, Ninmah (mother earth) will work for you, The goddesses (of birth) ... will stand beside you while you sculpt. O my mother, determine the fate of him (the newborn), Ninmah will imprint in him the image of the gods, This is a man... Two points in this passage deserve special attention: the first is that man is created from clay, the second is that the goddess Ninmah must imprint in him the image of the gods. We also know from other sources that clay or earth was the material from which man was molded. In one of the legends, Enki creates some kind of living creature from the mud (dust) under his nails. The creation myth of the hoe also says that Enlil made a man's head from dust and placed it in the ground. Based on these words, T. Jacobsen came to the conclusion that, according to Sumerian beliefs, man was created underground and there he went through the first stages of development - “ripened”, and then came to the surface through a hole made in the earth’s shell by Enlil. Although certain aspects of different versions are assessed differently by scientists, everyone agrees that there is an undeniable similarity between the ideas of the Sumerians and the text of the Bible. “And the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground.” The requirement to imprint in man the “image of the gods” is also consonant with the words of the Bible about the creation of man in the image and likeness of God. As for Enki, who is in his palace where, according to myth, there is a feast of the gods, arranged by the owner in honor of a grandiose event - the creation of man. The anthropomorphic gods of Sumer were not free from human weaknesses - to celebrate, Enki and Ninmah drank too much. The wine clouded the minds of the good and wise gods: Ninmah, taking clay, blinded six freaks, and the amused Enki determined their fate and “gave them to taste bread.” So far it has been possible to establish defects in only two of Ninmah’s creations. It is difficult to understand what the first four monsters were, but the fifth was a barren woman. Enki commanded her to stay in the "women's house." The sixth being, "without male organs and without female organs", according to Enki's decision, he had to "appear before the king." Thus, the above myth names the god of the deep sea, the god of wisdom Enki, as the main creator of man. Perhaps the reason for the special worship of this god lies in the prevalence of such ideas, although along with them there were other, less popular beliefs that attributed the creation of man to other gods. Enki was revered as the most merciful to people, kind and omniscient god. Enki is spoken of as a god who received from his father Ana the divine laws - “me”, in order to transmit them to people; he is called the "second Enlil." Unlike Enlil, who sometimes acts as a father, sometimes as a brother to the god of wisdom, Enki does not awaken fear in the hearts of people. Prayers and myths invariably emphasize his wisdom, benevolence and justice. The Sumerians have an interesting view of the power of the gods over the world and people. The ruler god Enki helped manage the world order not only from the admiration of his younger brothers and sisters, but also from something that the Sumerians called “The Essence of the Ways of Me.” These are something like concepts, institutions that give their owner power over objects that are determined by the data “Me”. Like everyone else Egyptian god there was a secret name that contained the power of this deity. And the Sumerian “Me” was the secret name of phenomena and things - therefore, the one who took possession of the Essences took possession of the phenomena and things themselves. Gradually, in parallel with the development of social, political and spiritual life, the number of Sumerian gods grew. Learning more and more new natural phenomena, people sought to penetrate the mystery of the forces that control them and learn how to influence them. Real, tangible phenomena were given the appearance of gods, whom people imagined to be similar to themselves, only stronger and more powerful. The religious ideas of the Sumerians reflected phenomena and processes Everyday life. The society of the gods, according to Sumerian concepts, was structured like the society of people, with more or less powerful representatives, with those who issue orders and who carry them out. If people live in families, then the gods must also have families. If the word of a person who has power in society is the law for others, then the gods cannot have anything else. And since the word of God has incomparably greater power than the word of man, it is enough for God to express his will so that it is immediately fulfilled; it is enough to name the object that he wants to create, and the object is ready. Thus, the increased number of gods (there were already more than three thousand of them, including demons), the information about the universe accumulated by the Sumerians required the development of theological and cosmological concepts. It must be assumed that such concepts existed among the Sumerians, although no systematic presentation of them was found in their literature. It is possible that they found some special way to present their views. In any case, the system of ideas created by Sumerian thinkers and theologians about the problems of earthly life and the universe, about the relationship between gods and people turned out to be so convincing that it was accepted by the peoples who lived at the same time with the Sumerians, in their neighborhood; Moreover, these views had a decisive influence on the mythology that developed in later eras. The Sumerians' ideas about the origin of the world, about the appearance of man, as well as many mythological stories, reworked in accordance with new philosophical and ethical concepts, were reflected in the Bible and have survived to this day. 3.2 Akkadians, on the creation of man
Sumerian mythology left a lasting legacy and, having survived centuries and changes in reigning dynasties, the epics about the creation of man by the gods differed little from the original versions created by the blackheads. There is an Akkadian poem dedicated to the creation of man, continuing the Sumerian tradition of creating man from clay and the blood of the artisan gods. This version begins with the message that, after "the heavens were separated from the earth" and the earth was given shape, and the Tigris and Euphrates with their dams and canals were "built" and given their proper direction, the gods sat in their high sanctuary and Enllil, the king of the gods asked: Now that the destinies of the world are indicated, the Canal and the dam are improved, The solid banks of the Euphrates and Tigris, What else do we have to do? What else do we want to create? O Anunnaki, great gods. What still we have to do? What what else do we want to create? Then the Anunnaki convince Ellil that the gods should create man from the blood of the first two Lamga (artisan gods), whom they would kill for this purpose. The destiny of man, the gods continue, in all ages will be to serve the gods - cultivating and irrigating fields, and building temples and sanctuaries for them. And so two mortals were created, named Ullegarra and Zallegarra (Sumerian words, the meaning of which is unclear), and this couple was blessed with abundant fertility and magnificent abundance, so that they could glorify the gods “day and night.” How well the Akkadian poets modified common cosmogonic ideas in accordance with the needs of the moment is shown by the version of the creation myth used as a spell against toothache, the cause of which, in the understanding of the Akkadian healers, was a blood-sucking worm living in the gums. This is how the author, who was at the same time a poet, priest and healer, puts it: After Anu created the sky, Heaven created the earth, Earth created rivers, created rivers canals, canals created a swamp, The swamp created the worm. Worm came to Shamash crying, his tears give me something to drink will you give me?" "I will give you figs and apricots." "What do I need figs and apricots? Pick me up and give me live in the middle of teeth and gums, I will suck blood from a tooth, I’ll gnaw its roots out of my gums.” The text ends with instructions to the healer-exorcist to “insert a needle and grab his (worm’s) leg,” i.e., probably, remove the diseased nerve, and perform an additional ritual consisting of mixing “second-rate beer” and oil. However, the most significant, truly great epic-mythological work of Akkad and the Ancient East as a whole is rightly considered the epic of Gilgamesh. Compared to the Sumerian songs about Gilgamesh, the Akkadian epic is already truly epic in depicting the image of the hero. THEM. Dyakonov, analyzing the image of Gilgamesh in the Akkadian epic, notes that the main thing in it is a certain internal development; in his opinion, it is the image of Gilgamesh that conveys to us the deep ideological and philosophical pathos of the poem. Three versions of this great epic have survived. The earliest version was found in the records of the 1st quarter of the 2nd millennium BC, but apparently dates back to the last third of the 3rd millennium BC; the most complete version - the poem “About Who Has Seen Everything” - reached the records of the 7th millennium BC -VI centuries BC. The poem is presented in 12 songs (tables), the last of which is a literal translation from the Sumerian language of the second part of the song “Gilgamesh, Enkidu and underworld", compositionally it is not connected with the poem. Trying to explain the merger of the Sumerians with the more backward people Akkadians under the Semitic dynasties, the poem about Gilgamesh sounds in a new way, giving the wild and strong Enkidu the characteristics of the Akkadian people as a whole. Enkidu, who lived in the mountains with animals, becomes a reliable friend and adviser to the glorious ruler of Uruk. The internal development of the images of Gilgamesh and Enkidu in the poem is subject to the laws of development of epic images: no longer thanks to magical helpers, as was the case in the circle of legends about the heroes of Sumer, but as a result of the high physical and moral qualities that developed in them, Gilgamesh and Enkidu rise above other mortals. One might think that the Akkadian epic of Gilgamesh is the creation of a poet who not only combined scattered Sumerian epics and legends, deliberately abandoning some, but carefully thought out and compiled the material known to him, giving it a deep philosophical meaning. Thus, in Akkadian mythology there are no fundamental changes in views on the origin of man. Having inherited from the Sumerians the concept of the creation of man by the gods from clay and the blood of younger gods, the Akkadians did not deviate from it. But adding dynamics and drama to storyline, the Akkadians created complete dramatic works from old tales. 3.3 Marduk, creator of man
The poem "Enuma Elish" colorfully tells the story of the exploits of Marduk, who saved the gods from the furious Tiamat and created the world, creating trees, reeds, animals and birds. The gods praised Marduk by presenting him with various gifts and dishes. The young god, who became the first among the entire pantheon, planned another great thing. He decided to create people: let mortals work, freeing the gods from work. In order to create a person, divine blood was required, therefore, Marduk invited the gods to decide which of the captured gods, after the battle with the legion of Tiamat, should be sacrificed in order to knead clay with his blood to create man. By all accounts, it was decided to kill Kingu, the leader of Tiamat's army, and her new husband. “From his blood, create the creatures you have conceived.” Taking the blood of Kingu, Marduk mixed it with clay and molded people endowed with divine intelligence, but short human life. From now on, man had to work instead of the gods - such was the will of Marduk. In gratitude to the Lord, who freed them from hard work, the Anunnaki founded the city of Babylon and erected the temple of Marduk Esagil there. Then the Anunaki built temples in Babylon for Annu, Enlil and Aya. In honor of the completion of construction, the gods threw a large, magnificent feast, glorifying Marduk - the creator of the earth, sky and people, their supreme ruler. Thus, the Myths in which Enki and Enlil took a direct part in the creation of the world and man fall into oblivion, the time of Marduk’s rule comes. He was given the leading role, he became the initiator of the universe and the creator of man. Since the rise of the city of Babylon, from the beginning of the second millennium BC, the patron god of Babylon, the god Marduk, has come to the fore. He is placed at the head of the host of gods. The priests of the Babylonian temples invent myths about the primacy of Marduk over other gods. Moreover, they are trying to create something like a monotheistic doctrine. Arranging mythological tales in this way: there is only one god Marduk, all other gods are just his different manifestations: Ninurta - Marduk of power, Nergal - Marduk of battle, Enlil - Marduk of power, etc. This tendency towards monotheism reflected political centralization: the Babylonian kings just took over the entire Mesopotamia and became the most powerful rulers of Western Asia. But the attempt to introduce monotheism failed, probably due to the resistance of the priests of local cults, and the former gods continued to be revered. And later, Marduk lost his primacy, gradually yielding the throne of the ruler to his son Nabu, the enlightener god, the patron of scribes. Conclusion
The history of the mythology of Mesopotamia provides an example of the opposite type of cultural process, namely: intense mutual influence, cultural inheritance, borrowing and continuity. Mesopotamia found itself at the crossroads of civilizations. Many trade routes passed through the Sumerian lands, but the early birth of Sumerian culture gave it the opportunity to develop into a stable form before neighboring ethnic groups could influence it. Moreover, the Sumerian culture formed into a strong conglomerate of mythology, religion, law and statehood, which changed over thousands of years, but the roots of the Sumerian epic were visible through dozens of centuries. According to most scientists, the Sumerian civilization arose first on earth, and, thanks to writing, developed rapidly. Already in the early stages of the formation of the state, the Sumerians had a fairly developed system of understanding the world, expressed in large quantities cosmogonic myths. By the time of the advent of statehood, the Sumerians already had a formed mythological structure of worldview. Developing over one and a half thousand years, the hierarchy of the gods maintained a clearly structured order. New gods appeared, personifying the forces of nature. Having adopted their culture and mythology from the Sumerians, the Akkadians were able to transform this heritage to suit the characteristics of their rule. Those Akkadian myths for which no Sumerian correspondence has been found contain mythological themes and motifs reflected in Sumerian sources. Just like most of the gods mentioned in myths are part of the Sumerian pantheon. The reason for the change of power later in divine hierarchy can be considered the rise of Babylon in Mesopotamia. The first religious views of the Sumerians and their influence on the development of modern religious movements within Western and Central Asia were studied. analyzed the Sumerian divine pantheon during the birth of religion and mythology; the main myths about the appearance of the gods are explored; the transformation of religion in the process of development of the state during periods of its rise and fall is considered; periods of dominance of one or another deity and religious cults based on their worship have been identified; the main pantheon of gods during the birth of Sumerian mythology was determined; the process of changing the hierarchical structure of the divine pantheon of the Sumerians with the accession of the Amorite dynasty to the throne of the rulers of Mesopotamia is considered; the religious views of the Old Babylonian kingdom were studied, in comparison with the hierarchy of the gods of the Babylonians with the pantheon of gods of previous dynasties in Mesopotamia; it has been clarified whether there was a change or transformation in the role of the main and minor gods in the process of changing dynasties and kings who ruled in Mesopotamia from ancient Sumer to the Neo-Babylonian kingdom; patterns of changes in the dominant gods in connection with the change of ruling dynasties are indicated; Thus, if we consider the time of influence of Sumerian myths on the beliefs and worldview of people in a period of about three thousand years, from the ancient Sumerian to the late Babylonian kingdom, then the changes that occurred in myths and epics can be considered insignificant. The mythology created by the Sumerians during the formation of the Mesopotamian civilization turned out to be so universal that even today we can trace the motives of Sumerian myths in the interpretations of various religions. Bibliography
1. Monographic publications 1.1 Badak, A.N. and etc. The World History: Formation of Asian states / A.N. Badak, I.E. Voynich, N.M. Volchek, O.A. Vorotnikova, A. Globus and others - Minsk: Harvest, M.: AST, 2000. - 544 p. 2 Belitsky, M. Sumerians. Forgotten world / Belitsky M. - "Veche", 2000. - 432s. 3 Babylon and Assyria. Life, religion, culture. - M. 2004 - 234s. 4 Vasiliev, L.S. History of the East. - T.1/ L.S. Vasiliev. - M.: graduate School, 1998. - 495 p. 5 Weinberg, I.P. Man in the culture of the ancient Middle East / Weinberg I.P. - "The science". 1986 - 208s. 6 World history. Encyclopedia: in 10 volumes / Ed.I. Lurie, M. Poltavsky. - M.: State Publishing House of Political Literature, 1955. 7 Dubrovskaya, O. Revealed mysteries of ancient civilizations / O. Dubrovskaya. - M.: RIPOL CLASSIC, 2003. - 480 p. 8Dyakonova, I.M. and others. History of the ancient world / I.M. Dyakonova, V.D. Neronova, I.S. Sventsitskaya. - M.: Science. Main editorial office of the Eastern Literature Publishing House, 1989. - 572 p. 1.91.5 Emelyanov, V.V. Ancient Sumer. Essays on culture. /Emelyanov V.V. - St. Petersburg 2001 - 368s. 101.6 Kramer, S.N. History begins in Sumer / Kramer S.N. - M. 1965 - 254s. 11Kramer, S.N. Mythology of Sumer and Akkad / S.N. Krammer. - M.: Education, 1977. 12Kuzishchin, V.I. and others. History of the Ancient East / V.I. Kuzishchin, A.A. Vigasin, M.A. Dandamaev, M.V. Kryukov. - M.: Higher School, 2003. - 462 p. 13Ovchinnikova, A.G. Legends and myths of the Ancient East / Ovchinnikova A.G. - St. Petersburg 2002 - 512s. 14Razin, E.A. History of military art / E.A. Razin. - M.: Polygon, 1994. - 560 p. 15Reder, D.G. etc. History Ancient world. - part 1/ D.G. Reder, E.A. Cherkasova. - M.: Education, 1970. - 271 p., ill. 16Samozvantsev, A.M. Mythology of the East / Samozvantsev A.M. - M. 2000 - 384s. 17Soviet historical encyclopedia. T.3 - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1963. - 975 p. 1.
Internet resources.
The Epic of Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh mourns Enkidu
With the development of science, more rationalized thinking skills emerge and gradually emerge. However, in Babylonia they are still not formed as such. Even during the Neo-Babylonian period, the Babylonians viewed the universe in context. Being part of religious ideology, science, which was in the hands of the priests, was sacred. Its development has stopped. Science and critical thinking were not expressed in a worldview.
In mythological form Abzu the Sumerians personified freshwater chaos. This is what they found in southern Mesopotamia: a reedy, swampy jungle filled with mosquitoes, snakes, lions and other living creatures. In the depths of the Abzu the foremother was born Nammu. Abzu and Nammu are only partially demythologized. The third link of the Sumerian theogony - giant mountain Kur with clay base and tin top. This is not accidental, since where the Sumerians lived, the soil is clayey, and the hot sky looks like liquid tin. The Sumerians made houses and books from clay. These are the first three links of the Sumerian theogony. They are cosmogonic, especially the third, where there is no personification.
However, what follows is the real theogony. At the base of the mountain is earth goddess Ki, and at the top - sky god An. An and Ki, Heaven and Earth, give birth to air, i.e. goddess of air Ninlil And god of air Enlil. It was Enlil who divided Heaven and Earth and raised An above Ki. This is how the cosmic gap is formed, the stage on which the life of people and gods unfolds further. Another son of An and Ki, Enki, - god of underground waters and the oceans. Grandchildren of Heaven and Earth - Moon god Nannar, god of the underworld Nergal etc. Great-grandson - Sun god Utu; great-granddaughters - goddess of the underworld Ereshkigal, the wife of his uncle Nergal, and goddess of the planet Venus, queen of the sky, goddess of love and fertility Innana. Listing other gods of Sumerian mythology is too tedious and makes no sense. Natural phenomena were mastered in this consanguineous system. The Sun came from the Moon, the Moon from the air, the air from the Earth and Sky. No matter how fantastic such a picture was, it allowed us to somehow navigate the universe.
People, according to Sumerian mythology, were created by the aforementioned Enki, brother of Enlil, son of An and Ki. Unlike Abzu - freshwater chaos, Enki is the element of water already mastered by people. Enki is wise and kind to people. He populates the Tigris and Euphrates with fish, the forests with game, and teaches people agriculture and construction. The rest of the gods are hostile to man. Having decided to destroy people, they plan global flood. Enki warns someone about him Ziusidr y, and this Sumerian Noah saves himself and saves his closest relatives. These are the Sumerian origins biblical myth about the global flood. Sumerian mythology also knew the prototype of the biblical paradise. In the country Dilgun there is no evil, no disease, no death.
Akkadian-Babylonian mythology
It developed on the basis of Sumerian. Sumerian An corresponds to Akkadian Anu, Enlil corresponds Ellil, Innane - Ishtar, Enki - Ea. However Akkadian sun god - Shamash, not Utu. There were other discrepancies between Sumerian and Akkadian mythologies.
"Enuma Elish"
The most significant phenomenon of Akkadian-Babylonian Mesopotamian mythology as a whole was theogonic poem "Enuma Elish" (“When at the top...”). It is written on seven clay tablets found in the library of Ashurbanipal. The poem began like this: “When the heavens above were not named, and the earth below had no name, but the original Apsu, their parent, Mummu andTiamat, who gave birth to everyone, the waters interfered together, when the trees were not yet formed and the reeds were not visible, when none of the gods had yet appeared, when names had not yet been named, fate had not yet been determined, then the gods were created in the middle of the heavens.”
The new gods seek to organize chaos, personified in vague images Apsu, Mummu And Tiamat. Organizing the primordial chaos meant, first of all, separating moisture from the firmament, air from fire. Akkadian Enki - god Ea puts Apsu to sleep and dismembers him. He also binds Mummu. However, the third face of chaos - Tiamat breeds monsters and wins over God to her side King. All the new gods are terrified. Only the son of Ea is god Marduk decides to fight Tiamat and her allies. But first he wrests consent to his superiority from the demoralized gods. This is how the Babylonian priests justified the rise of the hitherto ordinary town of Babylon over other cities. Marduk was the god of the city of Babylon, other gods were the gods of other cities. This is an example of the ideological function of mythology in an early class society.
Marduk defeated Tiamat. He cut her body into two halves. From the lower one Marduk created the earth, from the upper one the sky. Next, the god of Babylon, the son of Ea, creates the constellations, seasons and twelve months, animals, plants and humans.
Man is dual. His body consists of clay mixed with the blood of the traitor god Kingu, executed by Marduk. His soul is the fruit of the breath of Marduk.
Descent of Ishtar
The Descent of Ishtar is an agricultural calendar myth . All nations had such myths. They explained the change of seasons and the annual cycle of agricultural work. In Sumer it is myth of Innan and Dumuz. In Babylonia it corresponded myth of Ishtar and Tammuz. Tammuz - beloved Ishtar - dies, goes to the “land of no return”, to the underground kingdom of the dead, where Nergal and Ereshkigal reign, who hates her younger sister Ishtar. Therefore, when Ishtar, wanting to return Tammuz, descends into dead kingdom, Ereshkigal sends 60 diseases to her and detains her. There is no longer a goddess of fertility and love on earth; neither animals nor people are born. The gods are alarmed. If there are no people, who will make sacrifices for them? Therefore, they force Ereshkigal to release both Ishtar and Tammuz. Spring is coming again on earth - the time of love.
Epic of Gilgamesh
The Tale of Gilgamesh is the greatest poetic work of ancient Eastern literature. The Songs of Gilgamesh are written in cuneiform on clay tablets in four ancient languages of the Middle East - Sumerian, Akkadian, Hurrian and Hittite. The oldest texts are Sumerian. They are three and a half thousand years old. Slightly younger are the first surviving records of the Akkadian poem about Gilgamesh. The final version of the poem took shape in the first half of the first millennium BC. e. The corresponding text has been preserved. That's what it is "The Epic of Gilgamesh, or the One Who Has Seen It All". If Enuma Elish is an example of a religious-mythological worldview, then the Epic of Gilgamesh is an expression of an artistic-mythological worldview. At the center of the epic is a man who fights against God and claims immortality.
Gilgamesh- ruler of a Sumerian city Uruk. The gods themselves fear him. Wanting to weaken him, they create an opponent equal in strength to him, a hero Enkidu. This is a child of nature. He understands the language of animals. The cunning Gilgamesh sends a harlot to Enkidu. She seduces Enkidu, and he loses his primitive connection with nature, the animals turn away from him. Enkidu's strength no longer exceeds the strength of Gilgamesh. Their struggle ends in friendship. Together they accomplish many feats. Gilgamesh outwitted the gods. Then the gods send death to Enkidu. For the first time, Gilgamesh realizes his own mortality. This is where Gilgamesh's self-awareness begins. In the face of his friend's death, Gilgamesh laments: “And will I not die the same way as Enkidu? Melancholy has entered my womb, I am afraid of death and am running into the desert... I am afraid of death, I cannot find life, like a robber I am wandering in the desert... How can I remain silent, how can I calm down? My beloved friend has become earth! Just like him, will I not lie down, so as not to rise forever and ever?”
Gilgamesh goes on a journey to achieve immortality Utnapishtim. This is Akkadian Ziusidru. Utnapishtim-Ziusidru once received the gift of immortality from the gods. Utnapishtim hands Gilgamesh the “grass of immortality,” but he loses it on the way back. In the epic of Gilgamesh, it sounded with great force ideological theme of life and death, the theme of the tragedy of human existence. Man realizes his finitude against the background of the immortality of the gods and the eternity of the universe. The unbridled temper of the despot Gilgamesh is curbed by the consciousness of his mortality, without losing his active principle. Gilgamesh begins to improve his city. A guess arises in him that the immortality of a person is in his deeds, in his creativity.
Songs and legends about Gilgamesh are recorded in cuneiform on clay tiles called “tables” in four ancient languages of the Middle East - Sumerian, Akkadian, Hurrian and Hittite...
Seven tablets with text telling about the structure of the universe were found in the library of the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal. The Babylonian poem dates back to the second half of the 2nd millennium BC. e. In all likelihood, it was a liturgical text for the New Year holiday.
The myth of Atrahasis is a continuation of the Mesopotamian flood theme. Table I begins with a description of time immemorial, when the Anunnaki divided the world among themselves, and the Igigi were forced to dig rivers and canals, build palaces and dwellings...
Adapa was the human son of the god Eya, who endowed him with all sorts of wisdom, gave him the ability to contemplate the interior of the earth and sky, but deprived him of immortality...
In the holy city of Nippur, the god of the hurricane north wind Ninurta, the son of Enlil, sat on the throne with his father. One day his weapon Sharur, whose brilliance was terrible, turned to its owner...
A cosmogonic hymn-myth that tells the story of Ninurta’s endowment with the sacred attributes of life and power. The ritual of Ninurta's journey to Eridu was supposed to take place shortly before the New Year...
Nergal and Ereshkigal "When the gods gave a feast..."
One day the great gods got together and decided to have a feast. According to the laws of the lower world, their sister Ereshkigal could not rise from her kingdom to their heaven. Then the gods ask her to send someone to take her share of the treats...
Nergal and Ereshkigal "Queen of Nations..."
One day all the great gods gathered for a feast in the palace of their father Anu. Only the mistress of the lower world, Ereshkigal, obeying the laws of her kingdom, could not attend the holiday. Anu sent a messenger, Gaga, to her with a proposal to send someone for her share of the food...
Ishtar, the daughter of Sin, descends to the lower world and demands that the gatekeeper open the gates for her. Otherwise, she threatens to break down the door and raise the dead...
The poem has reached us in the form of several dozen fragments from many cities in Mesopotamia and Northern Syria, which indicates the wide popularity of the text. The work itself dates back to the end of the 2nd millennium BC...
This only Babylonian tale known to us dates back to the second half of the 2nd millennium BC, but the surviving copies date back to the 8th-7th centuries. BC. An entire tablet and a separate fragment of text were discovered during excavations at the Sultan Tepe site...
The Babylonian theodicy is the conventional name of an Akkadian poem written down in the first half of the 11th century. BC e. Theodicy - justification of God - is a term in Christian theology that means reconciliation with the coexistence of evil and the omnipotent Creator in the world...
A poem about an innocent sufferer "A Husband with a Moan..."
The Old Babylonian poem about an innocent sufferer is a small (90 verses) poem, which is essentially a prayer framed by the author's text - the complaint of the Sufferer, to which is added the advice of the deity...
Poem about an innocent sufferer “I want to glorify the Lord of wisdom...”
The widely known “Innocent Sufferer” (circa 13th century BC) was written in the form of a lengthy monologue in which the Sufferer talks about the misfortunes that befell him...
When supreme god While washing, he took off his royal regalia, Anzu stole them along with the tables of destinies in order to become more powerful than all the gods, and flew away to the mountains...
World of the Gods
The Babylonians worshiped a whole host of different gods, whose origins can be traced back to Sumerian times. Borrowing the gods of the Sumerian pantheon, they for the most part only changed their names, while the functions and purpose of the god remained unchanged. Already among the Sumerians there was a hierarchy within the world of gods and each god occupied a certain position, for the pantheon of gods was structured in the image of earthly society and state order. At the top of the divine hierarchy originally stood the Sumerian god Anu. This was the god of the sky, where he made his abode. Other gods were considered his children. But despite such a high position of the god Anu, he was worshiped only in relatively few temples. He seemed inaccessible and hostile to people, he sent various troubles to them, so that closeness and trust never arose between him and the believers. Already in the Sumerian period, Anu's place was in many respects taken by his son Enlil.
The god Enlil, whose Sumerian name can be translated as “Lord of the Wind,” rose to the position of supreme god. He had tables of destinies and could foresee the fate of the world - thanks to this, both the fertility of nature and the lives of people were subject to him. Since Enlil was also subject to the destructive forces of nature - storms, floods and other misfortunes, he could punish people at his whim. It was he who sent the global flood to destroy all life on earth. It was he who brought misfortune to the mythological heroes Gilgamesh and Enkidu. These examples show that Enlil, like Anu, is a formidable, punishing god, and it is very difficult for people to win his favor.
Giant fairy-tale creatures with the body of a lion and the wings and head of a man guarded the entrance to the palace of the Assyrian kings. 1st half of the 9th century BC e. Height 3.13 m. (Gypsum copy in the Western Asian Museum. Berlin.)
His opposite was the god whom the Sumerians called Enki, and the Semitic peoples later called Ea. He was considered the god of the watery abyss and was the son of Enlil. Since, according to the Sumerians, wisdom lived in the depths of the waters, they believed that it was to him that they owed all their knowledge. He was the patron of crafts, wisdom and sciences; the invention of writing was also made possible thanks to his help. His intelligence allowed him to penetrate into the deepest secrets of earth and sky, so he knew the remedies against illness, misfortune and evil spells. Such secret sciences as divination, sorcery and spells were subordinate to him, and people turned to him for help and advice. According to the epic tale of the creation of the world, Ea was the god who created people, whom he personally sculpted from clay and filled with the blood of the monster Kingu. Thanks to these qualities, Ea, in contrast to both gods standing above him, was friendly to people, as the epic of Gilgamesh tells us. Resorting to cunning, he saved people and animals from death, to which, at the insistence of Enlil, they were condemned by the assembly of the gods. He was forbidden to warn people about the impending disaster; but he reported this to the reed hut of Utnapishtim:
Hut, hut! Wall, wall!
Listen, hut! Wall, remember!
Shurippakian, son of Ubar-Tutu,
Demolish the house, build a ship,
Leave abundance, take care of life,
Despise wealth, save your soul!
Load all living things onto your ship,
The ship that you build
Let the outline be quadrangular,
Let the width and length be equal,
Like the Ocean, cover it with a roof!
The world was divided between the named gods. Anu belonged to the air and the sky. Enlil is earth and Ea is water. They formed the first divine triad compiled by priests and listed. The second triad included the sun god Shamash, the moon god Sin and the goddess Ishtar. The Babylonians perceived the moon as a celestial body friendly to humans, to which they treated almost more respectfully than even the sun, which sent scorching rays from the sky almost all year round. The moon was considered the father of the sun god. Thanks to the changes in its appearance, the moon has always seemed something mysterious to people; the Babylonians called it “the fruit that gives birth to itself.” The different phases of the moon received poetic names; on the new moon it was believed that the god Sin retired to the underworld. By observing the phases of the moon, people learned to measure time. Sin was therefore also “the lord who sets the day, month and year.” There were special temples dedicated to Sin in Harran and Ur. Nabonidus, one of Nebuchadnezzar's successors, even made Sin his personal chief deity.
Burial with a trough-shaped coffin, opened during excavations
The sun god, revered by the Sumerians under the name Utu, was called Shamash in Babylonian times. He was “the illuminator of the earth, the heavenly judge, illuminating the darkness from above and below.” Every morning he began his journey, rising above the mountains; the deities subordinate to him opened the gates leading to heaven for him; in the evening he sank into the sea. At night, Shamash rode his chariot through the underworld so that the dead could receive light and food. On his way, he saw and judged all the injustices and all the evil deeds of people. Therefore, he was called the supreme judge, who - as Hammurabi said - gave people truth and justice. He patronized merchants, sailors and hunters - those who were on the road all day and whose affairs were full of dangers; he also provided assistance and brought salvation to the sick and weak. Since nothing can hide from its bright rays, he could also predict the future, and in this capacity he was called upon by the priests in approximately the following expressions: “Shamash, king of heaven and earth, keeping everything above and below in order! Shamash, you have the power to awaken the dead to life, to free the chained! An incorruptible judge who established order among people, the highly revered son of the god Namrassit! Surpassing all in strength, a beautiful son, the light of all countries, the creator of everything and everyone in heaven and on earth - you, O Shamash!
All the gods we named, according to the Babylonians, had wives. Most of them, however, played a secondary role, and mythology mentions them only in passing. They were revered either as assistants to their husbands in their deeds, or as goddesses of fertility.
All of them were overshadowed by the goddess Ishtar, who occupied a prominent place in the Babylonian pantheon. Ishtar was considered the daughter of Sin and from the concubines of the god Anu rose to the position of his legal wife, mistress over the gods. Ishtar was a very versatile goddess who performed a variety of functions. On the one hand, as the goddess of love and fertility, she gave the country wealth and prosperity. On the other hand, she was considered the goddess of war and battles, who marched in battle ahead of the victorious king. A seductively beautiful woman, she charmed men, often bringing misfortune upon them. In one of the ancient Babylonian hymns, she is praised as follows: “Be praised to the goddess, especially revered among goddesses; Be glorified, mistress of people, greatest of the Igigi! Be praised, Ishtar, especially revered among the goddesses! Be glorified, mistress of women, greatest of the Igigs! She is full of strength, charm, fertility, seductive charm, lush beauty. Her lips are sweet as honey, her lips are life, her appearance gives birth to joy.” In Sumerian mythology, Ishtar can be identified with some caution with Inanna. She was portrayed as the lover and wife of the young hero Dumuzi (Tammuz), whom, however, she was ultimately betrayed and sent to the underworld. Special temples were dedicated to the goddess in almost all Mesopotamian cities. Her main temple was located in Uruk from ancient times, and also existed in Babylon big temple Ishtar.
The seal impression shows a stepped tower; in front of her, a praying person makes a sacrifice. End of the 2nd millennium BC e. Height 4.7 cm
God Adad personified the elemental power of the thunderstorm; he controlled rain, storm, hail and lightning. He was both the god of natural phenomena that bring fertility to the earth, and the ruler of floods and floods, that is, destructive phenomena. Its role especially increased in the ancient Babylonian period, for in Sumer, a country with little rainfall, its activities were not as decisive as in the northern regions of Mesopotamia and Syria, where agriculture depended on natural rainfall. The importance of Adad increased with the invasion of Mesopotamia by Semitic tribes, who revered him very much and called him the “heavenly manager of dams.” He was depicted with a beam of lightning in one hand and an ax in the other, symbols of his power over the elements. At the same time, Adad, along with Shamash, was the keeper of the oracle, and therefore prayers were often turned to him during spells.
In addition to the sky, earth and water, the gods also ruled the underworld. The ruler of the “Land of No Return” is the goddess Ereshkigal. She was Ishtar's sister, but never acquired the same importance as the latter. Apparently, she was jealous of Ishtar, for when she arrived in the underworld, she was treated there very harshly and she had to take off her clothes and jewelry at the seven gates in order to finally appear naked before the ruler of the underworld. And leaving there was very difficult for Ishtar. When the god Nergal once descended into the underworld, he managed to defeat Ereshkigal and make her his wife. Thanks to this, Nergal became the ruler of the underworld, but he remained connected to the earth. He personified some unpleasant natural phenomena - the scorching heat of the sun, as well as fever and contagious diseases.
The extent to which the political position of a city affected the importance of its main god is clearly seen in the example of the god Marduk, who played a secondary role in Sumerian times. Only the rise of Babylon under Hammurabi brought Marduk to the forefront and allowed him to eventually become the supreme god of the Babylonian pantheon. He ousted Anu and Enlil from their positions, and they ceded their power over people to him. In mythology, Marduk also took the place of both great gods. In the didactic poem “Enuma Elish” - “When Above” - he is assigned the role of a creator god. Especially in Neo-Babylonian times under Nebuchadnezzar, Marduk displaced many other gods from their former spheres of activity; all the rest turned into only different hypostases of his dominant personality over everything. All good qualities became inherent in him, he was “the lord of countries, mighty in battle, inspiring great respect, magnificent, constantly renewed, perfect, omnipotent, distinguished, noble, whose word is unchangeable, capable, wisest, sparkling, exalted...”. His wisdom made him a desirable adviser to people who turned to him with all kinds of questions. He was disposed towards people, healed the sick and bewitched. Its main temple, Esagila, and the adjacent temple tower of Etemenanki were, of course, in Babylon itself.
The goddess Tsarpanit was revered as the wife of Marduk, who also acted generally as an assistant and protector. As the supreme god, Marduk had a large staff of courtiers, modeled after the royal court, consisting of "ministers", overseers, gatekeepers, servants, butlers, barbers, bakers and many others. Tsarpanit was also surrounded by a large retinue. The same applies to other gods, who, in proportion to their importance, disposed of a more or less extensive staff of servants from among the lower deities.
The son and confidant of the god Marduk was Nabu, whose role increased with the rise of his father. The close relationship of both gods was emphasized by the fact that their main sanctuaries were located nearby - in Babylon and Borsippa. Nabu was the god of scribes and the patron of wisdom and science. He was also Marduk's scribe, writing tables of fate for him, thanks to which he enjoyed great influence. His symbol - the writing stick - corresponded to this range of ideas. At the same time, he was revered as the god of vegetation.
We can here characterize only the most important gods of the Babylonian pantheon; most of the others did not acquire such universal significance as, for example, Marduk or Ea, but had a closely defined circle of functions. One can name, for example, the god Ninurta, who, along with the fact that he was one of the gods of vegetation, later acted primarily as a god of battles. Erra played approximately the same role as the god of the underworld Nergal, since he was in charge of diseases that he could send to people at his discretion. Nusku was the god of light and fire, and his wife Gula was the goddess of healing.
Most of the gods we named had not only symbols that personified them - Marduk had a spade, Nabu had a writing stick - but also sacred animals with which they were depicted. Next to Marduk was depicted a strange creature called "mushkhushshu" - with a head and body like a snake, with front legs like a lion, with bird legs behind and a scorpion sting on its tail. Ishtar was personified by a lion, and the thunder god was depicted with a bull.
Since the Babylonians highly valued astronomy and astrology, in their imagination the gods were embodied in certain celestial bodies. The Moon and the Sun corresponded to Sin and Shamash, Jupiter to Marduk, Mars to Nergal, Venus to Ishtar, and Mercury to Nabu. Often these astral symbols denoted the gods themselves. The Babylonian, and before them the Sumerian priests, diligently studied the secret sciences, from which the manipulation of numbers developed. Each of the gods was given a sacred number, which sometimes replaced the name of one or another god in cuneiform. The most big number used to convey the name of the first supreme god Anu. His sacred number was (in accordance with the then prevailing sexagesimal system) - 60, the sacred number of Enlil - 50. Then came Ea with the number 40 and Sin - 30. Marduk, who only later entered the circle of especially revered gods, was designated by a lower figure - 10; this figure also served to designate the god Adad.
The Sumerians, and after them the Babylonians, represented the gods in the form of people. They attributed to them “supernatural size and majestic appearance, their facial features were sparkling, and a tongue of flame burst out of their mouths with every breath. The gods had never-ending power, and no one could resist them." Their images could be distinguished by certain characteristics. The statues installed in the temples represented sitting or standing figures in luxurious clothes, with crowns or hats on their heads; as a sign of divinity, two or three bull horns were attached to the headdresses. The statues themselves usually consisted of a wooden base, covered with gold or other metal. Faces with large false eyes could be carved from ivory or stone. Particularly precious statues were even made from pure gold. In their hands the gods held symbols of their power: Marduk, for example, a ring and a rod, and Ea - like the god of water - an overflowing vessel. The fertility gods had branches, ears of corn and poppy heads growing from their bodies or shoulders. According to the people of the ancient East, these statues contained the power of the corresponding god. Therefore, the victors usually took with them statues of the gods who were worshiped by their defeated enemies, and sought to obtain help from foreign gods by bringing them sacrifices and gifts. The statue of Marduk, for example, was repeatedly taken from Babylon to Assyria and only returned back years later. The priests claimed that God was angry and left the country. However, more often the victors smashed the images of foreign gods in order to deprive the power of the gods and the country. The power of divine statues could, of course, be used for good. Thus, the Mitannian king sent the sick pharaoh from Nineveh to Egypt a statue of Ishtar, which gave healing.
The reconstruction of the Processional Road in Babylon allows us to imagine the impression it made on visitors to the city in its time. This road in the city was 300 m long and 16 m wide. Part of the Gate of the goddess Ishtar is visible in the background. VI century BC e.
Representing the gods in the guise of people, they were credited with human qualities. Although they were considered immortal, they could still die and had to be resurrected using the water of life. Like mortals, they needed food: after the global flood that destroyed all people, with the exception of Utnapishtim and his wife, the gods at the first sacrifice pounced on food, “greedy like flies.” Like people, they loved to eat deliciously, accompanying their food with wine and other intoxicating drinks, while drinking to excess and swaying like drunken people. They used comfortable beds and chairs. At night, the servants undressed and put the statues of the gods to bed, and in the morning they washed them clean and combed their hair. Quarrels arose between the gods, which had to be settled by the supreme god. Envy, arrogance and other human qualities were not alien to them. They were constantly trying to outwit each other and were not omniscient at all.
The task of the priesthood was precisely to bring into a single picture these very diverse ideas about the gods, ideas created by myth-making at different times and in different regions of the country. They tried to simplify the confusing diversity by giving - as already noted - Semitic names to the Sumerian gods, establishing a new hierarchy within the divine family, collecting and canonizing myths and tales. The priesthood also took into account the new balance of forces, as we saw in the example of the rise of the god Marduk. Many deities revered in individual cities and villages were only local modifications of the main gods. Although they bore different names, their meaning and their functions fully corresponded to the meaning and functions of the great examples. Certain features of the most respected gods could also acquire independent significance and be revered as a god bearing a special name.
What impact such priestly efforts had on the population is not always clear. Of course, the ideas inherited from old times were held more firmly than the priesthood wanted. In the eyes of the population, official deities could sometimes be of less importance than their old city gods. People preferred to worship certain local modifications of the great gods that were better known to them. They were more willing to trust their sorrows and worries to them than to the impregnable luxurious statues in large sanctuaries and temples. Among the people, the world of heroes, demigods and demons was much more alive, the world to which Dumuzi, Gilgamesh, as well as the seven sages and other characters belonged. With their intercession it was probably easier to ensure that the great god heard the request of a mere mortal. Their images were widespread among the population in the form of clay or wooden figurines, with which certain ceremonies were performed. Even kings could not do without these creations of the popular faith, who believed that their palaces were under special protection of bird-headed, winged and other fabulous creatures that were depicted on stone reliefs. The complex theological manipulations of the priesthood with numbers, symbols and stars were probably known and understood by only a few people. Magic and the art of spells dominated among the people.
It was possible to receive the help of the gods and achieve their favor by following certain instructions. These instructions concerned various areas of life and had both a cultic, moral and legal character. People, for example, were not supposed to commit any sins in relation to the gods, “not to eat what is disgusting to the gods, not to drink water from unclean vessels, not to swear in the name of God, raising unwashed hands to the sky, not to sit in front of the sun god, not trespass on a sacred site, and outcasts should not touch people,” etc. Some of these regulations are related to hygienic considerations, since they required the maintenance of bodily cleanliness of people and prohibited them from eating certain types of food at certain times of the year. The commandments about a morally impeccable life relate to the rules of community life and are rooted in the area family relations, community customs, respect for elders accepted in the community. These injunctions forbade believers, among other things: “to speak evil, to deny instead of affirm, to disrespect father or mother, to hate elder brothers, to enter (uninvited) into a neighbor’s house, to approach a neighbor’s wife, to shed the blood of a neighbor, to scatter a single family, to rebel against the rulers , to be righteous in words and sinful in the soul, to teach evil and much more.”
The legal regulations generally dealt with matters for which, at the discretion of the legislator, punishment was imposed. Misdemeanors were punished, therefore, not only by the gods, but also by people.
If a believer followed the instructions, he could hope that the gods would be merciful to him. If he violated at least one of the commandments, the angry gods could punish him with illness and misfortune. In more or less abstract prescriptions, it was only about the duties of people in relation to the gods. Equally important were works for the benefit of the gods, regular sacrifices and the performance of religious rituals. Since people were created from the very beginning precisely in order to take care of the gods, about their vital blessings - as was said in the epic about the creation of the world - then people had to make sacrifices to the gods established by the priesthood. At the same time, the gods could become angry if they were brought a sheep that was not completely spotless or flour that was not pure enough. With the help of such instructions, the priests guaranteed themselves the best piece and did not allow believers to bring anything of less than good quality to the temple. It was undesirable for believers to perform the sacrificial rite themselves - the performance of this ceremony was the work of the priests. So, there were, for example, exact instructions about the order in which everything had to be done: “You must sprinkle holy water, set up an altar, slaughter the sacrificial lamb, put the right side of the carcass and other pieces of meat, pour in dates, flour, put in a mixture of honey and oil, set up a censer with cypress resin, bring sesame wine and pour it, prostrate yourself, cleanse the incense burner, torch, bowl for holy water, cedar rod and then say, turning to Shamash...” - the text of the prayer follows.
Alabaster figure of a reclining nude woman. Around 200 BC e. Length 19 cm
When making sacrifices, believers had to say prescribed prayers in order to attract the attention of God. The text of these prayers was often recorded in writing. Prayers for various purposes are known: praising the gods, invoking them, prayers of complaint, prayers of repentance, requests and spells. At the same time, it was required that in each case the worshiper take the required position: for example, kneel down, touch the floor with his forehead, kiss the feet or hem of the god’s robe, stand with his hands raised and calling on God.
Worshipers turned to the mediation of priests, while kings and rulers could count on the support and intercession of the lower gods. Similar scenes were repeatedly depicted on reliefs. On them you can see, for example, how a ruler, led by the hand of a lower goddess, approaches God, to whom he addresses prayer. The rulers asked the gods, in general, for completely different things than ordinary people, although concerns about numerous offspring worried everyone equally. Thus, Nebuchadnezzar addressed Nabu in one of his prayers: “Nabu, rightful heir, highly noble vizier, victorious favorite of Marduk, look favorably and graciously on my deeds and grant me eternal life, numerous offspring, the strength of the throne, a long reign, victory over enemies and the conquest of enemy lands."
In many cases, people could incur the wrath of the gods - whether by breaking the commandments, making insufficient sacrifices, not accurately following the rules of the cult, or making mistakes in everyday life. As punishment, the gods could send upon them illnesses, misfortunes, need, poverty, personal or business failures, and generally misfortunes of all kinds. Then there was nothing else left to do but intensify efforts, without losing sight of a single prescription, make additional sacrifices and ask God in your prayers for leniency.
Here is the text of a prayer with the help of which someone, apparently a great sinner, is trying to achieve mercy from God: “Who is he who has not sinned against his god, who has fulfilled all his instructions? All people, no matter how many there are, know sin! I, your servant, constantly sinned in everything, turned to you, but again and again I was drawn to the wrong. I constantly lied, easily brushed aside my sins, and every now and then I said the wicked: you know all this! I did everything that was abominable to the God who created me, I blasphemously stepped where one should not tread, I did evil again and again. I looked greedily at your vast possessions, and my greed extended to your precious silver. I raised my hand and I overturned what had not yet been overturned; I entered the temple unclean again and again. I constantly did what was especially disgusting to you; I have done again and again what you hate. In the rage of my heart I reviled your divinity, I sinned incessantly, voluntarily and involuntarily; I blasphemed, relying on my own reason. My God, your heart wants one thing: for peace to come! Let the angry goddess calm down completely. Leave, O goddess, your indignation, with which you continue to burn so strongly, as your whole being speaks of, make peace with me! Let my sins be great, forgive me my debt; let me blaspheme seven times, but may your heart calm down towards me! How many times have I sinned, so many times have mercy on me!”
It was more difficult for those with whom God was angry for many years, not forgiving the contrite sinner. In such cases, it was recommended, without naming a specific name, to call on all the gods for help, so as not to miss any of them.
The priests had great influence on believers, for they were intermediaries between the people and the almighty gods. They knew complex rituals and prayers and thus possessed the key to the remission of sins. Only a few people dared to express skepticism towards the world order proclaimed by the priests; bitter disappointment sounds, for example, in “The Sage’s Complaint”: “Attention, my friend, take my advice! Remember my words of wisdom! The word of a noble person is valued - one who has learned to kill. They humiliate the weak who has not sinned. They testify in favor of a sinner whose crimes are serious. They persecute the righteous who seeks advice from God. They fill the pockets of the robber with precious metal, but the rapists empty the closets, taking food from the helpless. They give power to the victorious, whose modesty is feigned. They destroy the wretched and prostrate the weak. So I, helpless, am being pursued by upstarts!” . The disappointment expressed in these words indicates that already in the 1st millennium BC. e. faith in the “order given by the gods” was thoroughly shaken; Of course, this concerned only a small circle of educated people, to which the author of the literary work we quoted belonged.
For such blasphemous speeches, the angry gods - as the priests claimed - could send not only illness and misfortune, but also death, which for the life-loving Babylonians was associated with many fears. For they - unlike the ancient Egyptians - did not believe in the continuation of a happy earthly life in the afterlife, but represented their stay in the kingdom of the dead in a very gloomy light. Their philosophy valued primarily the pleasures of life:
Fill your stomach
May you be cheerful day and night,
Celebrate the holiday every day,
Play and dance day and night!
Let your clothes be bright,
Keep your hair clean, wash yourself with water,
Look how the child holds your hand,
Make your friend happy with your hugs.
Even the one whose stomach was empty was afraid of the dark kingdom of the dead and, just like the wealthy Babylonian, he prayed for an extension of life. However, no one was destined to live forever. The day came when “life was cut off like a reed,” and the body, decomposing, turned into clay; the soul had to embark on a path full of torment to the underworld.
To ensure peace for the soul of the deceased in the underworld, various ceremonies had to be performed over the body of the deceased. Mourners came to the house of the deceased and uttered the proper lamentations; those mourning the dead tore their clothes, disheveled their hair and beard, and even inflicted bodily wounds on themselves. The priests performed mourning music and prepared the burial. For mere mortals it was not difficult. Poor people were wrapped in a reed mat; rich people were given a clay coffin or grave, covered with bricks and rubble, in a place reserved for burying the dead - in an undeveloped vacant lot between houses or near the city wall. Some small items belonging to the deceased, as well as food and drinks, were placed with him in the grave, then the grave was covered with earth. The kings were buried with great luxury. They were placed for eternal rest in stone crypts and huge sarcophagi. “I sealed the coffin, his resting place, with strong copper, I made his spells strong. I placed dishes made of gold and silver, all kinds of utensils for the grave, his royal jewelry, which he loves, in front of Shamash along with the father who gave birth to me, I placed them under the arches of the tomb, gifts to the rulers, the Anunnaki and the gods living underground, I offered ". In these words, the heir to the throne clearly described the rich burial of his father. During the burial of both the poor and the rich, sacrifices were also performed at the grave, during which the priests killed sacrificial animals and poured drinks for the gods so that they would favorably accept the soul of the deceased.
So that all these actions and sacrifices were not in vain, it was strictly forbidden to disturb the peace of the dead. No one had the right to open the grave and take away the objects placed in it. However, as for the royal tombs, this apparently remained only a wish, since the tombs of the kings were for the most part opened and plundered during enemy invasions. Where else could one count on such valuable loot? And if the warriors wanted to profit, they were not very afraid of the threatening divine punishment.
Demon Pazuzu. VI century BC e. Height 5.5 cm
The soul of the deceased, already during these funeral ceremonies, was on its way to the underworld, the gates to which were located in the desert - in the west. She had to first cross the river that flowed in the underworld. The delivery of the souls of the dead to the other side of the river was carried out by a terrible carrier, a creature “with four arms and four legs and with the head of a petrel bird”; he had a characteristic name: “Take it away quickly.” He carried souls to the kingdom of the dead. At each of the seven gates of the underworld, the gatekeepers took one or another piece of clothing from the dead. Only after the permission of the ruler of the underworld, the goddess Ereshkigal, could the soul finally enter “the abode of darkness, the dwelling of Irkalla, to the house from which the one who enters never leaves, to go along the road from which there is no return, to the house where the living are deprived of light, where their their food is dust, and their food is clay, but they are dressed like birds, with the clothing of wings, and they do not see the light, they live in darkness.” The scribe of the underworld entered the name of the deceased in the book of the dead, and the judges pronounced the final death sentence.
In such a gloomy environment, according to the Babylonians, the afterlife. Only those who had descendants who diligently made the sacrifices due to the dead at certain times were given the opportunity to enjoy fresh water. The rest had to eat scraps, dust and dirt and drink tainted water. Moreover, it could happen that the soul did not find peace in the underworld and rose again to the top to disturb the living. These spirits brought illness and misfortune to people, and it was necessary to induce them to return to the underworld through sacrifices and prayers, spells and other ritual actions. The one who was visited by these spirits addressed a prayer to all the spirits who were well disposed towards him, asking them for help: “Oh, you, the spirits of my deceased relatives, the spirit of my father, my grandfather, my mother, my grandmother, my brother, my sister, my family, my family and my tribe, all of you, resting in the earth, I made funeral sacrifices to all of you, poured water for everyone, always took care of you, praised you, honored you, now intercede for me before Shamash and Gilgamesh, lead my case, may it be decided in my favor.” Having listed his good deeds and sacrifices, he then said: “Take him and take him down to the land of no return! Let me, your servant, remain alive and healthy. May I be pure in your name, protected from all intrigues! I will give your ancestors cool water to drink, give me life, I will glorify you."
If these spells were successful, illnesses and misfortunes left the person alone, then he expressed his gratitude to the gods during major holidays. These were usually joyful events in the life of the Babylonians, accompanied by many entertainments. The whole city was filled with people, bustle, music, noise. Various holidays were celebrated throughout the year. They were dedicated either to a rich harvest or to certain events in the life of the gods. Over the centuries, people continued to celebrate mythical weddings of gods or victorious battles. In addition, there were holidays dedicated to individual events, for example, the consecration of a new temple or a procession to the mountains and springs. Since it was believed that the gods themselves loved to gather for good food and good drinks, there were enough reasons for people to, imitating the gods, organize such celebrations according to the proverb: “A day of worship of the gods is a joy to the heart, a day of following the path of the goddess is enriching.”
The biggest and most important was the New Year's holiday. It was of fundamental importance for the entire life of the country. During this holiday, not only friendly meetings of people took place. What happened there was, according to the Babylonians, very important for the very existence of the state. If the New Year's holiday could not take place due to war, enemy invasion or the absence of the king, this was perceived as a general disaster. The holiday was celebrated in all parts of the country, but the most important events took place in Babylon itself.
The New Year's holiday was celebrated in March, from the 1st to the 11th of Nisan, that is, at a time when nature was in full bloom and new life was triumphant everywhere after the end of winter. The center of the festive events was the temple of Marduk - Esagila - and the stepped tower of Etemenanki. Long ceremonies took place here every year, the traditions of which date back to Sumerian times. The main attention at the holiday was paid to the statue of Marduk, which the Babylonians especially luxuriously dressed and decorated for this occasion. On the second day after the start of the holiday, the high priest addressed a long prayer to the deity, then other priests also entered the holy of holies and offered drinks and food to Marduk as a sacrifice. The same ceremony was repeated on Nisan 3, when wooden statues of the gods, decorated with gold and precious stones and dressed in a red outfit. On the fourth day, prayers were also said and sacrifices were made to Marduk and his wife Tsarpanit. The high priest had to observe the stars and determine their exact location, and then cast special spells. In the evening, in front of the statue of Marduk, the epic about the creation of the world was read and, probably, corresponding dramatized actions were also performed. After the usual prayers and sacrifices, on the fifth day of the holiday, the exorcist priest performed the ritual of cleansing the shrine. The cook slaughtered the ram, and the priest-exorcist sprinkled the walls of the temple with blood from the animal’s body. It was believed that in this case everything unclean and everything sinful was transferred to the animal; then as atoning sacrifice he was thrown into the river. During this procedure, the cook and the exorcist priest became unclean in a cultic sense and, upon completion of the ceremony, had to leave the temple into the desert until the end of the holiday. The chapel of the god Nabu in Esagila was decorated with the “golden sky” and then they waited for his arrival from the temple in Borsippa.
In subsequent ceremonies the king played an important role. He was led into the temple, and he laid down all the signs of his power in front of the statue of God. Then the king gave God an account of the affairs of the past year and confessed his sins. At the same time, he had to try to attribute all his unrighteous deeds to some accidents. The high priest then hit the king in the face, pulled his ears and reminded him of the need to strictly observe all religious instructions. After this, the king received the right to again put on the signs of his power. In the evening, the king and the high priest jointly sacrificed a white bull in the temple courtyard. On the sixth day, the god Nabu arrived from Borsippa along the Processional Road. Pre-made and decorated dolls were waiting for him, then during the further cult action they were burned.
Unfortunately, we know very little about how the subsequent days of the New Year's holiday passed, since the signs describing the holiday in this place are badly destroyed and allow us to draw only a few conclusions. On last days The holiday included its most important events. Before the statue of Marduk, in the presence of his scribe Nabu and other gods, the fate of the coming year was determined in a special room. The population was probably admitted to all the ceremonies described only to a limited extent or not at all. Actually folk holiday began on the tenth day of the New Year, when the king touched the hands of the god Marduk and asked him to rise. With this act the king was again established on the throne. Marduk and his entire retinue were removed from their place, the statues were loaded onto the ship Makua, on which they were probably transported outside the city up the Euphrates. There, outside the walls of Babylon, there was “Bit Akitu” - “House of the New Year’s Festival”, in which further important ceremonies were performed. Dramatic performances based on the plots of individual myths in which Marduk played the main role were probably staged here. In accordance with these stories, the god was annually taken to the mountains along with one of the criminals, who was then killed. Marduk was interrogated and beaten there, and at that time there was unrest in the city over his disappearance. Due to the absence of God, the sun and moon disappeared from the country. They could only return with the return of God. Marduk's wife went in search of her husband, and eventually they came back to the city together.
The procession with the statues of the gods returned to Babylon by land. For this purpose, Nebuchadnezzar ordered the construction of a luxurious Processional Road, which led from the House of the New Year's holiday to the Gate of the goddess Ishtar. In one of his prayers, he conjured the gods: “Nabu and Marduk, when you joyfully enter the city along this road, let your lips say good things about me! While I walk along it in front of you until my very distant days, in the health of my body and the joy of my heart, may I grow old and remain forever!” .
The statues of the gods were carried on a large decorated chariot along a 300-meter-long road. Its walls were covered with reliefs - on a blue background, large lions with yellow manes, sacred animals of Ishtar, walked towards the gods. The road, 16 meters wide, was paved with limestone slabs in the middle and breccia slabs with white and red veins along the edges - a chariot could easily roll along it. A gigantic crowd of people followed the chariot with music and dancing; There was general rejoicing. The Ishtar Gate, which appeared before the procession, was also decorated from top to bottom with glazed brick, and several rows of relief figures of bulls and serpentine dragons of Marduk were depicted on it. From the gate the procession moved along the high walls of the palace to the grounds of the Temple of Marduk.
The next spectacular event during the New Year's holiday was the sacred marriage of Marduk and his wife Tsarpanit. This wedding was probably depicted by the king and the high priestess, and it was supposed to ensure fertility and wealth for the country for the coming year. This action was also based on an ancient tradition that dates back to the Sumerian era. During the New Year's holiday, class distinctions disappeared, slaves were served by their masters, and the place of the ruler of the country was taken by a dummy king, who, apparently, was later supposed to atone for the sins of the king over the past year. With the return of the gods to their temples and the departure of Nabu to Borsippa, the great holiday ended.
All these holidays were, of course, a profitable enterprise for the priests, since believers, flocking from all over the country, usually sought refuge near the temple and made many purchases, rewarding themselves for the hardships they suffered throughout the year. The priests were selling sacred figurines, symbols of the holiday (a table, bed, chair and chariot of Marduk, made of clay); everyone could bring home a small souvenir in memory of the big event. Traders set up their shops around the temple and, having laid out numerous goods, lured the villagers who arrived in the city. Probably, the hierodules who offered themselves to men in honor of the goddess of love Ishtar found many lovers. So this holiday was not only the official holiday of the king and the priesthood, the whole people took part in it.
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