Who is rewarded in the sumerian afterlife

Religion in literature, as in broader Mesopotamian culture, can be public or private, personal or communal. Two elements of humanity and religion will be considered here: the interconnected relationships among humans, heroes, and the divine in myth and epic, and reflections on the human condition in these works.

The broad scope of the subject means that a complete survey of the topic is beyond reach here, and there are many aspects that would benefit from consideration at greater length. Instead, a foundation is provided for considering the extremely intricate nature of the human condition, and its relationship to the divine, found in Mesopotamian narrative, so as to provide a basis for further study and cross-cultural comparison.

The frequent observation in modern scholarship of the creation of humans to serve divine overlords—often contrasted negatively against biblical creation accounts—gives a sense of a one-sided and fairly exploitative relationship between humans and Mesopotamian deities.

Relations between the divine and human worlds can be dangerous and destructive, and capable of jeopardizing the survival of humankind, animals, and the natural world. While there are limits to the permeability of the conceptual boundaries separating the human and divine worlds, in literature there are numerous ways for humans and deities to interact.

Communication takes many forms, including sacrifice, attendance of festivals, dedicatory offerings and building works, prayer, song, direct and indirect dialogue, omens, prophecy, and divinely inspired dreams. Animal imagery used in figurative language is found throughout Mesopotamian literature, and humans and deities can be ascribed positive or negative traits associated with particular animals.

In myth and epic, animals are recognized for their commercial and intrinsic values; they provide a source of food, transport, and material goods, 16 but are often presented in a sensitive manner that acknowledges their capacities as sentient creatures, holding several qualities in common with humans such as mortality and dependence on the natural environment for survival.

Like animals, hybrid creatures and monsters in literary sources also provide insight into cultural perceptions of humanity, and the complexity of human and divine relations. Figures such as the Scorpion People can be seen to span the divide between the natural and supernatural spheres in terms of both their form and function.

As well as inhabiting a space between human and animal, their role in the narrative is to guard the tunnel linking the sun, earth, and sky. The liminality of the forest guardian Humbaba, from the Epic of Gilgamesh , allows for the consideration of the humanity of the heroes, Gilgamesh and Enkidu. These comments reflect the biological reality of reptiles as egg-laying animals, contrasted with the nursing habits of mammals, including humans.

Mesopotamian myths form a particularly nebulous category of literature. Mythic themes and narratives are referenced in hymns, royal praise poetry, lamentations, ritual and magical texts, incantations, wisdom literature, and psalms. Drawing these diverse sources together is the focus on divine protagonists in myth.

Indeed, humans occur infrequently in mythical narratives, and the divinities also interact with one another, various supernatural beings, animals, and the natural world. While humans are not often protagonists in myth, humanity and the human condition are reflected in these texts through the anthropomorphic qualities of the deities and the microcosm of their social world, as well as through explicit reflections on the nature of humanity and human life.

In myth, Mesopotamian deities are presented as inhabiting human-like bodies and conducting human-like activities. They experience common human emotions such as anger, lust, sadness, envy, and joy.

As well as having anthropomorphic forms, deities were also associated with elements of the natural world, and conceived as incorporated in some sense in astral bodies. Although Mesopotamian deities at times experience elements of life that would seem to define the human condition, such as birth, death, and illness, they experience these events in uniquely supernatural ways.

We will consider how humanity and divinity combine in myth to illuminate the religious aspects of Mesopotamian life and death. While several literary texts center on the divine creation of humanity, along with the natural world, the destructive potential of deities was also the subject of Mesopotamian myth.

The Babylonian Flood story Atrahasis contains both creative and destructive relations between humans and deities. The narrative of Atrahasis presents a complicated relationship between humans and deities, with an interesting contrast between the individual and the collective.

Relations are shown to vary among deities and individual humans, and humanity as a whole, as well as between humanity and individual deities and groups of deities. The myth begins with the greater deities imposing on lesser deities the menial work of food production and the building of canals.

The arduous nature of the work leads to a rebellion by the lesser deities; they go on strike and challenge the primary deity, Enlil. The senior deities agree that the situation requires redress, but also that the rebellion will be punished. The leader of the rebellion is killed and his body and blood are mixed with clay to create a human. Belet-ili next establishes sexuality, birth, and marriage in her human creations, so that they may reproduce themselves, and she is praised greatly for her work.

Yet the spread of humanity creates problems for Enlil, who finds he cannot sleep because of human noise. He sends a variety of afflictions against humanity: first plagues, then a drought, then a famine. Each time, Ea advises the humans to stop making offerings to their favorite deities, but to devote all of their offerings to the deity who could stop the presiding affliction. Later in the narrative, Enlil sends a great storm against humanity. Atrahasis, warned by Enki, builds a boat to escape, but the rest of humanity is destroyed.

The destruction of humanity horrifies the gods, who are hungry and thirsty owing to a lack of the offerings usually made to them. The hunger of the deities shows their dependence on humans for offerings, 25 a theme that is evident earlier in the composition when the humans bribe certain deities with food offerings to avert the plagues.

The theme of divine hunger illustrates the more general interdependence of human and divine relations, as this theme is paralleled, somewhat ironically, with the earlier attempt to destroy humanity through a terrible famine; both humankind and the gods are shown to cause starvation for one another in Atrahasis. Similarly, damaging divine plans can be countermanded in Atrahasis through the intercession of individual gods and appropriate religious observance.

The deities put in place several new developments to prevent human overpopulation from causing problems again, including the establishment of mortality and a reduction in childbirth, juxtaposing divine accountability for human suffering, such as the invention of a demon to increase infant mortality, with the mutually caring and beneficial relationship between humans and deities more generally, as is seen in the reaction of the deities to the destruction of humanity.

A contrast is provided between humanity as a whole, and the individual, in terms of divine connectedness. Enuma Elish is a Babylonian creation narrative which tells the story of how the primary Babylonian god, Marduk, ascended to power, through his battle with the primordial ocean goddess, Tiamat.

In this way, Enuma Elish shows a focus on structure, order, and division that is a common feature of many ancient Near Eastern creation accounts. The creation of humans by a divine ruler, from the body of a dead god, demonstrates the close ties between creation, humanity, and religion in Mesopotamian literature. In both Atrahasis and Enuma Elish , the benefits to the deities of creating humanity are presented as coming at the cost of a divine life.

Alternate accounts of the creation of humans and the world they inhabit, through the endeavors of divine beings, are also seen in narratives involving the hero Gilgamesh, considered below. The creation of individual humans by two Sumerian deities forms the basis of the myth Enki and Ninmah. Again, the motivation for creating humankind is to appease the complaints of overworked deities. Enki advises Namma how to create humans in order to free the deities from the toil of menial tasks such as the digging of canals.

This myth gives an etiology for the causation of the difficult physical labors of humankind, and also for the reality of human frailties and disabilities. The religious significance of sexuality in Mesopotamian life has been well established. For humans, sex fulfilled the necessary function of the continuation of life, yet sexual activity is not presented in literary texts as a purely practical experience.

Both genders were entitled to sexual pleasure, a shared aspect of life linked to intimacy and happiness. In contrast, for deities the protagonists of divine myth , sex was not a necessary precursor to the creation of life, yet sex involving divine figures occurs with reasonable frequency in myth.

Deities are presented as capable of becoming pregnant and giving birth to other deities for example, in the myth of Enki and Ninmah. In myths with an emphasis on narrative plots, sexuality involving deities is at times violent, nonconsensual, and destructive. The presence of violence and rape in myths should not be taken as entirely representative of Mesopotamian thoughts on divine sexuality, as other literature which references mythic narratives gives a different picture—for example, the tender and loving sexuality between deities such as Inanna and her bridegroom, Dumuzi , portrayed in Sumerian hymns.

In the Sumerian myth of Inanna and Shukaletuda , the goddess is raped by the son of a gardener who is himself a gardener. In her anger, she sends three curses against the land—a blood plague, a dust storm, and a traffic jam—with destructive consequences for the mortal community. The Sumerian myth of Enki and Ninhursaga contains sexual violence and incest involving divinities, alongside the usually human concerns of birth and illness. Instead of the distressed goddess Uttu becoming pregnant in Enki and Ninhursaga , it is Enki himself who is impregnated, after ingesting some vegetables sown with his own semen, through a trap set for him by Ninhursaga.

Whereas agricultural symbols in Mesopotamian literature often represent concepts of fecundity and abundance linked to positive sexual encounters, in this myth vegetation that Enki himself has unwittingly poisoned instead causes sickness and distress. The sexual relationship between Enlil and the goddess Ninlil in Enlil and Ninlil has also been the subject of scholarly analysis regarding the consensualism of the interactions between the two deities.

Along with the capacity for supernatural deeds, it is the immortality of deities that most clearly distinguishes the divine and human spheres of existence; yet even in the literary presentation of death, the boundaries between the divine and mortal realms are blurred.

As noted by Sasson, in some myths deities die, and at times in epic, heroes ascend to the heavens. In comparison to the timespans inhabited by theistic figures, the brevity of mortal lives contributes to the hierarchical structure of human and divine relations.

The wide variety of sources for ancient Mesopotamian views on death and the afterlife, including ritual texts, lamentations, magic and medical texts, omens, hymns, and prayers, creates conflicting accounts of how the afterlife experience was conceived.

The suggestion of afterlife skepticism in some texts as noted by Katz 41 implies some variance in conceptions of death and the existence or otherwise that followed the perishing of the body. The experience of the netherworld shows variability even within the course of a mythical composition.

In the Sumerian narrative of Gilgamesh, Enkidu and the Netherworld , Gilgamesh and Enkidu have a discussion about the things Enkidu has seen in the netherworld. The importance of family for a relatively happy and comfortable experience of the netherworld is a recurring theme of the dialogue. The underworld and the terrestrial realm were not entirely separate spheres; some amount of penetrability was tolerated between the two territories.

Behaviors in the upper world had significant consequences for those below, and ghosts and demons were thought capable of rising periodically and haunting or otherwise interfering with living mortals.

Good mourning practices in the upper world resulted in a happier afterlife for those below, and dead relatives and loved ones could be consulted by the living for supernatural advice.

Death was perceived as a gradual weakening of the connections that bound the deceased person to the land of the living, rather than as an abrupt and complete end. While deities in Mesopotamian literature are generally immortal and free from human concerns such as illness and aging, the immortality of deities is not presented in absolute terms.

As seen above, death is possible for deities, although their deaths tend to be violent rather than caused by illness or age, and their experience of death is not always as permanent as the death of humans. Possibly suspecting that Inanna intends to usurp her position as queen of the underworld, Ereshkigal, with the help of the divine Anuna judges, kills her sister and hangs up her lifeless corpse.

Enki responds by creating special beings to rescue the goddess, who is returned to life. The death of the leader of the rebellion of the lesser gods against the greater ones in Atrahasis similarly results in an unusual outcome linked to creation—the genesis of humanity. The importance of community bonds features in literature involving both divine and human deaths.

The epics noted here by no means a comprehensive survey feature the activities of legendary Mesopotamian heroes such as Gilgamesh, Enmerkar, Lugalbanda, and Etana. The ability to span the extremes of human experience, and also to reach toward the other world, gives heroes unique importance for the consideration of humanity and religion in Mesopotamian literature.

Heroes in literature are capable of some supernatural deeds and have the ability to access divine assistance, qualities that are most in line with the capacities of deities rather than humans. Yet even quasi-divine heroes, such as Gilgamesh, remain mortal, and their mortality leads them to contend with the limits of the human condition. The mortality of heroes combined with their extraordinary abilities means that their appearance in Mesopotamian literature often involves the exploration of themes of humanity, divinity, and mortality.

The legendary heroes of epic are not the only literary protagonists to exist in between the mortal and divine spheres. Mesopotamian rulers are at times presented in literature as capable of achievements of exaggerated scale on the battlefield and other areas of expertise, or as having adventures containing a supernatural element.

Like heroes, Mesopotamian kings could present themselves as having special and unusually close bonds with the divine, and even belonging to the immediate family of the primary deities.

Royal epics show a hybridity of genre which makes them difficult to categorize neatly. The blending of historical writing and fiction further blurs the already indistinct line between literary styles.

The Akkadian epics of King Sargon c. The compositions, like their heroic protagonists, contain elements of human historical reality juxtaposed with supernatural features. In Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta , the king Enmerkar is able to benefit from divine wisdom owing to his special relationship with the goddess Inanna. In this story, two rival kings fight for the divine favor of the goddess Inanna. Their contest culminates in a battle of wizardry fought by two human proxies, with the wise woman Sagburu on the side of Enmerkar defeating the sorcerer representing the rival king.

The heroic king Lugalbanda is the recipient of divine healing in Lugalbanda and the Mountain Cave. In the Sumerian epic Lugalbanda and the Anzud Bird , the kindness of Lugalbanda is rewarded by the bestowal of supernatural speed he rejects offers of wealth, power, and high status. The king Etana is also the beneficiary of divine favor, owing to his kindness to animals. At the beginning of the epic The Legend of Etana , the gods build a city for humans to live in.

Later in the narrative, Etana assists a starving eagle on the advice of Shamash Semitic Utu , 55 which then helps him in his attempt to retrieve a special plant from the deities in heaven. The story of Adapa and the South Wind also involves a human stretching beyond the limits of mortality.

Adapa is a mortal who is given perfect wisdom by Ea. Despite his many virtues and the goodwill of several deities, Adapa ultimately falls short of attaining immortality when he visits Anu in heaven. There is no scholarly consensus on the purpose and meanings of this narrative, although the myth is certainly concerned with exploring the distinction between humans and deities, particularly in terms of immortality and wisdom.

Gilgamesh is the most famous and enduring of all Mesopotamian literary works. Gilgamesh is two-thirds divine and one-third human, although the human third makes him entirely mortal. Throughout the twelve tablets of the Gilgamesh Epic , the hero has many adventures involving battles with supernatural enemies—Humbaba, the guardian of the cedar forest, Ishtar, the goddess of love, the Bull of Heaven, and the Stone Ones sailors of Ur-shanabi who are involved in ferrying across the waters of death.

In his early adventures, the young king seeks to make a name for himself through great deeds, and he is accompanied by his companion, Enkidu. As a result of divine punitive measures, Enkidu dies. Enkidu is an intriguing character: he is created out of clay like all of humanity in several myths by a mother goddess in Gilgamesh , Aruru , with his creation inspired by the desire to provide a companion for Gilgamesh.

Like humanity more broadly, Enkidu is born to give a divinely conceived service, yet this does not preclude him from taking individual and rebellious actions, and he is deeply loved by the hero for whom he was generated after some early conflict between the pair.

Gilgamesh then searches for genuine immortality, rather than the lasting fame of great deeds. He seeks out the Flood survivor, Utanapishtim analogous to Atrahasis , the only known mortal to be gifted with immortality by the gods. Finally, Gilgamesh returns home to Uruk and admires the city walls, with the implication being that a type of immortality can be gained through shared human endeavors.

Early in the Epic of Gilgamesh , the hero expresses a concern at the heart of the human condition—the brevity of life and desire to leave a legacy. Religion is central to the exploration of the human condition in Mesopotamian literature. These values underpin the actions and dialogues of the human protagonists of literature, but they are also reflected in the literary representation of the divine.

The study of humanity and religion in Mesopotamian literature encompasses several distinct areas of specialization in the general field of Assyriology. The study of Mesopotamian religion began in the late 19th century. The obscurity of the cuneiform sources and difficulties involved in reading Sumerian and Akkadian were serious obstacles to initial efforts to interpret Mesopotamian literature, and difficulties involving the reading and interpretation of cuneiform languages and the fragmentary yet extensive nature of the evidence still exist in the present day.

The modern analysis of Mesopotamian myth and religion has been heavily influenced by two dominant historiographical traditions linking myths with ritual. Despite translational difficulties and the influence of historiographical traditions, much productive work has been done in the modern studies of Mesopotamian religion and literature. Comparisons involving Mesopotamian religion and literature with biblical and classical traditions have both assisted in the growth of Assyriology as an academic discipline and influenced the course of its development, issues that are the subject of detailed analysis in The Legacy of Mesopotamia , edited by Stephanie Dalley.

Since the mids, the accessibility of translations and transliterations of Mesopotamian literature has greatly improved, with the potential to greatly expand interdisciplinary analyses in this area. Two anthologies, one by Benjamin R. Sumerian Poetry in Translation , , 77 present a great variety of textual evidence in translation, with some commentary.

Harriet Crawford New York: Routledge, , Harriet Crawford New York: Routledge, , — Benjamin R. Carl S. For a recent discussion of the problem see Michael B. Teresa L. Fagan Chicago: University of Chicago Press, , 2—3. Desmond Alexander and David W. Benjamin S. Potts Oxford: Wiley Blackwell, , Wilfred G. Louise M. Pryke , Gilgamesh London: Routledge, Foster notes the main feature of Sumerian myth as the story form; this observation can further be applied to Mesopotamian myth more generally.

Lindsay Jones 2d ed. John R. Hinnells Cambridge, U. This link between beating hearts and drums is poetically described by William L. To ensure the continuity of life after death , people paid homage to the gods, both during and after their life on earth. When they died, they were mummified so the soul would return to the body, giving it breath and life.

Household equipment and food and drink were placed on offering tables outside the tomb's burial chamber to provide for the person's needs in the afterworld. Written funerary texts consisting of spells or prayers were also included to assist the dead on their way to the afterworld. T o prepare the deceased for the journey to the afterworld, the " opening of the mouth " ceremony was performed on the mummy and the mummy case by priests.

This elaborate ritual involved purification, censing burning incense , anointing and incantations, as well as touching the mummy with ritual objects to restore the senses -- the ability to speak, touch, see, smell and hear. The "opening of the mouth" ceremony dates back to at least the Pyramid Age. It was originally performed on statues of the kings in their mortuary temples. By the 18th dynasty New Kingdom , it was being performed on mummies and mummy cases. They were derived from sculptors' tools.

Near the end of the Graeco-Roman Period, the tool kit usually contained only miniature versions of tools. Pesesh-kef knife replica T he journey to the afterworld was considered full of danger.

Travelling on a solar bark , the mummy passed through the underworld, which was inhabited by serpents armed with long knives, fire-spitting dragons and reptiles with five ravenous heads. Upon arriving in the realm of the Duat Land of the Gods , the deceased had to pass through seven gates, reciting accurately a magic spell at each stop.