Sumerian Religion
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Ancient Sumerian religion started in Sumer in the late third millenium BCE. It lasted for a good two millenia and was able to spread into Assyria and Babylon. Followers of the Sumerian religion believed that the universe was ruled by a pantheon comprising of a group of living humans with powers that were immortal and superhuman. These beings were believed to be invisible to mortal eyes and also believed to control the cosmos in accordance with well-laid plans and daily presribed laws. There were four leading deities for the Sumerians. First was An- the god of heaven, Second was Ki- the goddess of earth, third was Enlil- the god of air, and fourth was Enki- the goddess of water. The Ancient Sumerians believed that the act of creation was accomplished through utterance of the divine word. They believed that the creating deity merely had to make plans and pronounce the name of the thing to be created. For continuous and harmonious operation and in order to avoid confusion and conflict. it was believed by the Sumerians that the gods devised the ME, a set of universal and unchangeable rules and laws that all beings were obliged to obey. After the four major deities, the next important deities for the Sumerians were: Nanna- the god of the moon, Utu- the sun god, Inanna- queen of heaven and the goddess of love procreation and war, Ninurta- the goddess in charge of violent and destructive south wind, and Dumuzi (the Biblical Tammuz) a shepherd god whose marriages to Inanna queen of heaven ensured fertility of the land and fecundity of the womb. Legend has it that the marriage of Inanna and Dumuzi was ended when the goddess became offended by her husband's unfeeling behavior towards her and therefore decreed for him to be taken to the netherworld for six months out of each year. This myth is believed by manu scholars to have been used as their explanation for the barren months of the hot summer. At the end of autumnal equinox and the beginning of the Sumerian new year, Damuzi returned to earth. His reunion with his wife caused all animal and plant life to be fertile again. Each new year, the Sumerians celebrated the marriage between Damuzi and Inanna. The high point of this celebration was when the king would impersonate Damuzi, and one of Inanna's priestesses at her temples would impersonate her. The Sumerians also believed in Gods in charge of rivers, mountains, plains: gods in charge of cities, fields, and farms; and gods in charge of tools like pickaxes, brick molds, and plows. Each important deity was the patron of a city where they had temples erected in their name where rituals were conducted by priests, priestesses, singers, musicians, sacred prostitutes, and eunuchs. there were daily sacrifices at the temples. Human beings were believed by the Sumerians to have been furnished out of clay and created for the purpose of supplying gods with food, drink, and shelter, so the gods would ahve full leisure in their divine activities. Life was viewed as humanity's most precious possession although it was filled with insecurity. The Sumerians that believed that after death, human's spirits were carried to the netherworld which would be more wretched than life on earth.
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