Sumerian mythology. Sumerian gods, initial knowledge of cosmology, mythology and ideas about anthropomorphic deities

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At the beginning of the 4th millennium BC. In Lower Mesopotamia, a new people settled in Lower Mesopotamia, newcomers to the area - the Sumerians, who, according to the assumption of modern scientists, moved from the east. However, the question of the ancestral home of the Sumerians remains unresolved, because their language has no analogues with any of the currently known language groups.

With the arrival of the Sumerians, the Ubeid culture was replaced in Lower Mesopotamia by the Uruk culture (IV millennium BC). The Sumerians mixed with the local subareans and assimilated them, adopting elements of crafts and art from them. For example, the temple buildings of the Uruk period continue the construction of the Ubaid era. A similar thing took place in religious culture, providing the basis for the development of one of the dominant religions of the East at the turn of the 4th - 3rd millennium BC: “During the 3rd millennium BC. e. The Sumerians developed religious ideas and spiritual concepts that had a huge impact on modern world, especially through Judaism, Christianity and Mohammedanism. On the intellectual level, the Sumerian thinkers and holy fathers, as a result of reflections on the origin and nature of the universe and its driving forces, developed a cosmology and theology that was so convincing that it became the basic creed and dogma of most of the Middle East,” noted orientalist researcher S.N. Kramer.

Already the earliest Sumerian documents indicate that the temple occupied a central place in the life of the city. At the head of the city was a respected man who bore the title ensi (“priest in charge of laying the foundation of the temple”). Characteristic is the fact that the Sumerians do not speak about the ensi of the city, but about the ensi of God (the patron god of the city community and its territory). The temple in Ancient Sumer was not just a religious organization, but also represented a certain socio-political system - an organization that formed the ideological consciousness of the masses. The temple was allowed to have its own land holdings, temple service personnel, a budget, temple archives, schools, and armed forces, which was determined by the understanding of the church as a kind of bridge between the Gods and man. This is precisely what is evidenced by the monuments of Sumerian art - clay figurines of gods and their admirers. The gods are endowed with various attributes indicating their greatness (headdresses, astral signs, etc.). Their earthly admirers are completely impersonal and devoid of any individuality. The only thing that their prayerfully folded hands at their chests express is God-fearing devotion. Relationships with God do not have the character of a personal connection: a person is only a participant in a communal cult.

In the source heritage that has come down to us, there is not a single documentary source that holistically reflects the philosophical concept of the divine pantheon and the world order system of the society of Ancient Mesopotamia. Thus, modern researchers have to obtain almost all information about the religious philosophy, theology and cosmology of the ancient Sumerians through a critical analysis of a significant mass of myths, epic tales and hymns. The work of researchers is also complicated by the fact that by the modern period in original form Few documents from Ancient Sumer with a religious context dating back to the 3rd millennium BC have survived. Most of the surviving works were rewritten by priests in the 2nd - 1st millennium BC, after the crisis of the Sumerian civilization and the fall of the statehood of Ancient Sumer, when the main provisions of the Sumerian religion were perceived and assimilated by other tribes and peoples, mainly the Semitic group.

The functions of the pantheon of gods, according to Sumerian theology, included the management of all processes that took place in the universe and its constituent elements - the great spheres (sky, earth, sea), the main celestial bodies (sun, moon, planet), atmospheric phenomena(wind, storm, hurricane, etc.), cultural units of human civilization (city, state). Each of these processes was in the power of one or another anthropomorphic, but superhuman being - God.

In Sumerian religious philosophy, the main elements of the universe were earth and sky, which determined for a long period of time the dominance in the divine pantheon of the Sumerians, as well as the understanding of the dominant role of the universe as “an-ka” (“heaven - earth”), the World Ocean (“abzu "), Earth, Firmament, Sun, Moon. These forces of nature were unevenly distributed in the system of religious views of the ancient Sumerians and dominated depending on changes in the geopolitical situation in the Mesopotamian region. The Other World, where the souls of the dead found peace, formed a special place in the worldview of the ancient Sumerians. The Universe was thought of as a ball or bubble surrounded by a salty primordial ocean.

A clear structural hierarchy of the provisions of religious philosophy and theological views of the ancient Sumerians was given by researcher I.M. Dyakonov.

In accordance with the researcher’s data, the sacred space of Sumerian culture had a vertical and horizontal orientation and changes depending on the dominant role of one or another god. The divine vertical according to I.M. Dyakonov looks like this:

The upper world (an) consists of seven tiers of the firmament and is ruled by the wise elder of the gods, the Sky deity An, who sits on a throne in the seventh heaven and rules the entire universe. The upper world in the Sumerian pantheon was considered a model of stability and order, the center of the laws of the universe.

The middle world consisted of the so-called. “our country” (kalam), “steppe” (eden) and “foreign lands” (kur). It was ruled by the god of air and wind Enlil.

“Our country” (kalam) is the territory of a specific Sumerian city-state with a temple to the patron deity in the center and with an adobe fence around the city. Outside the city walls there was a “steppe” - an area neither bad nor good, where they could act as good gods, and the evil forces of demons.

All foreign lands that lay outside the “steppe” are called the same as the land of the dead in the lower world, because “foreign lands” are unknown to the people of “our country”, and the laws of their life are simply incomprehensible to him.

The lower world is formed by two regions: the region of fresh underground water (abzu) and the region of dead water (chickens).

The area of ​​underground waters is subject to Enki, the sage god, creator of mankind, guardian of crafts, art and knowledge

The region of the world of the dead is the place where souls reside, the kingdom of a terrible couple - the god and goddess of death Nergala and Ereshkital, where the seven Anunnaki gods pass judgment for the sins of mankind, while reading out the provisions of the “Book of Fates” - an analogue of the Egyptian “Book of the Dead”.

In addition, each clan, community, city-state in Sumer had its own patron gods, who were considered mythical ancestors. Each person had his own, lower in the positive pantheon of gods, personal guardian spirits - shedu and lamassa - and patronizing gods and goddesses who protected the personality and soul of a person from negative spirits - nikub, lila, lilith.

The fate of a person was recorded in cuneiform by the gods in the “Table of Fates”, and at the hour of death, the god of fate - Namtar (“kidnapper”) came for his soul, taking the soul to the underworld - the domain of the god Nergal and the goddess Anunnaki.

The central place in the religion of the ancient Sumerians from the 4th millennium BC. had a firmament with the council of the gods. Sumerian gods are often mentioned in ancient documents, but three of them had general Sumerian significance: Enlil, An, Enki.

For a long period of time, the main god was Enlil - a god whose cult was professed by the Sumerians of the Uruk era, who formed a tribal union with a center in Nippur - the proto-city.

Enlil (“Lord Wind”, “Lord Breath”) is a deity with big amount functions: master of wind and air; ruler of the world located between heaven and earth; the second leading person after An in the Assembly of the Gods, confirming the king on the throne; master of foreign countries; leader of all external forces; the organizer of the disastrous flood; patron of the state power of kings, punishing kings for neglecting ancient holidays and constant sacrifices; god of War.

Gradually, with the change in the geopolitical situation on the territory of Ancient Mesopotamia, the status of the veneration of Enlil also changes, which becomes higher than the veneration supreme god Ana. Thus, Enlil now becomes the head of the entire divine pantheon of the Sumerians.

The theologians of Nippur, however, made Enlil the ruler of all mankind, the “king of kings.” If An formally retained the regalia of royal power, then it was Enlil who chose and placed the rulers of Sumer on the throne, “placing a sacred crown on their heads.”

However, the god Enlil was not a sovereign despot. On important issues, the entire council of gods met, and sometimes, as reflected in Sumerian myths, he was forced to give in to some other gods. Thus, the order in the pantheon of the Sumerian gods resembles the social system of the period of “military democracy”, characteristic of a barbarian society on the threshold of the formation of a state.

It should be emphasized that not all of Enlil's activities were beneficial to humanity. Enlil's potential hostility relates to the dual nature of the wind.

No less important in the pantheon of the three main gods were An (Anu) - the God of Heaven, personifying the firmament, Enki (Ea) - the deity of underground waters and the world Ocean, the personification of the entire water element.

An (Anu) was considered the most powerful deity in the heavens and occupied a central dominant place in the divine pantheon of the ancient Sumerians. He is considered the father and ancestor of all other gods, as well as demons and negative spirits. An is considered the primary source and bearer of all power: parental, household (household), state.

“An is the force that brings existence out of chaos and anarchy and transforms it into an orderly whole. Just as a structure rests on a foundation and reveals the foundation laid in it, so the ancient Mesopotamian universe is supported by and reflects the creative will of An.

However, in classical Sumerian mythology, he did not play a significant role in earthly affairs and always remained aloof from them, being located in the heavenly palaces, while representing a majestic and somewhat abstract figure.

The name of an important deity of the Sumerian pantheon - the god Enki - is translated as “Lord of the Earth”, “House of Waters”, which is directly related to the geographical location and climate of Mesopotamia - in to a greater extent desert territory and sharp temperature changes, where the presence of water was a necessary condition for humanity to live in the Mesopotamian plain. Enki (Ea) also had jurisdiction over the waters of the World Ocean, at the bottom of which, according to legend, he built his palace.

In the worldview of the ancient Sumerians, Enki stood above other gods in his learning and wisdom, while also being the patron of crafts, arts, science, literature, magic and witchcraft, Sumerian schools and scribes, and medicine.

It was Enki who compiled and kept “me” - the divine laws that govern the universe. There is also a myth about Enki's involvement in the act of creating man.

The Sumerians prescribed the creation of the universe, earth, water, etc. to these three gods. and revered for a long period of time in its history.

The religious ideas of the Sumerians reflected features of social reality or traces of a past era. A huge role in everyday rituals was played by female deities, whose Sumerian names included the word “nin” (“mistress”): Ninhursag - the ancestor goddess, mother goddess, Inana - the goddess of fertility.

Inanna, according to one version, was the daughter of the Sky god An, and according to another, the daughter of the Moon god Nanna (Sina) and the goddess Ninlil, the sister of the Sun god Utu (Shamasha).

Ancient Sumerian mythology named Inanna the queen of heaven, the goddess of love, the goddess of the planet Venus, the patroness of carnal lust, earthly fertility, strife and discord, the wife of the shepherd god Dumuzi. Inanna is a complex deity of the Sumerians. Initially, Inanna was considered the goddess of food and a symbol of bountiful harvests, the goddess of thunderstorms and rain. Nevertheless, subsequently the cult of this goddess supplanted the cult of the god An in Uruk. Having taken the place of An, the patron god of Uruk, Inanna simultaneously performed the functions of the goddess of victory, and the goddess of the harvest, and the goddess of justice, and the patroness family life. It was with her that the cult of dying and the rebirth of life was associated. However, at the same time, the goddess Inanna was also the goddess of discord and strife.

We can agree with the opinion of some scientists who claim that the origins of this cult were the connection of the legendary ruler of Uruk, the shepherd Dumuzi, with the goddess of fertility and harvests, the patroness of his city, Inanna. The cult of this couple originated in Uruk. Having occupied a dominant position in the country at some point in Sumerian history, the priests of Uruk created a religious and political theory, according to which one of the ancient kings of Uruk married a goddess, which ensured prosperity for the city. Since this concept did not contradict the beliefs and magical rites of other regions of the country, it was accepted everywhere. The marriage of the king of Sumer with the goddess Inanna turned into a ritual that was clearly formed by the 3rd millennium BC, which in the religious practice of the Sumerians was presented in the form of mysteries performed during the celebration of the New Year. A complex ritual arose: the king solemnly married the goddess; her role was played by the priestess chosen for this purpose. The king became Dumuzi, the priestess - Inanna, which ensured confirmation of royal power by divine patronage. Thus, the inviolability of the tsarist power and the illegality of actions opposing it were ensured.

The powerful and revered gods of the ancient Sumerians and Sumerian city-polises included: Utu (Shamash) - the god of the Sun, justice, the soothsayer of human destinies in fortune-telling and oracle predictions; God of the Moon - Nanna (Sin); Inanna (Ishtar); Addu - thunder god; Enlil; Ninurtu is the patron of warriors and Era is the god of plague and disease. Thus, in each community, in each “nome” they honored their local god (goddess), considering him primarily as a deity of fertility. In Uruk, such main deities were the Sky god An and his daughter - the goddess Inanna (Ishtar), in Ur - the Moon god Nanna and his wife Ninlil, in Sippar - the Sun god Utu (Shamash).

In general, it can be stated that the political history of the period of Ancient Sumer throughout its entire length was marked by a tendency of gradually increasing struggle between individual new city-states for hegemony. Characteristic feature This struggle was the tendency of the hegemonic rulers to seek official recognition of their hegemony and the title of “lugal” from the Nippur Temple of Enlil. Kings of Sumer for a long time tried to follow the traditions of pan-Sumerian unity of the Uruk era and realized that the only institution capable of asserting and strengthening the state power of the king was the temple of Nippur.

Throughout the 3rd millennium BC. many Sumerian cities laid claim to supremacy in the region. The resulting unequal alliances of city-states were extremely fragile. However, not a single center for a long period of time could establish its own hegemony.

Sumerian gods consisted of a complex and clear hierarchy. The listing of all the gods of the Sumerians will take several pages, because Akkadian, Babylonian and Assyrian gods were later added to the original Sumerian version, and as a result, a considerable “catalog” is formed, which numbers at least two hundred deities, so we will focus on the most significant. Main " governing body“There was a Council of great gods, all of them were related to each other and had clear, shared rights and responsibilities. This Council consisted of 50 gods, and as the ancient Sumerians claimed, it was they who took the main part in the lives of people. The first Sumerian gods were An (created the heavens) and Ki (created the earth). An had an honorable position on the Council, but almost did not interfere in the governance of the world. This role was taken on by Enlil and a group of worthy gods. But they did not have all the power; Enlil and his “team” obeyed the seven main gods, who “created destiny.”

Main Sumerian gods had their own advisors and made decisions together with them.
An is the supreme god, he leads the Great Council of Gods, but does this almost silently. His advice is always useful, but he does not actively participate in the meeting. His responsibilities include keeping the mysterious “ME”, which he transmits to all the main elements and forces of nature.

Enlil is the lord of wind and air, in the hierarchy he comes after the supreme An. He confirms rulers to reign, and is also the ruler of distant countries. In the early versions of the Sumerian religion, this deity was opposed to man and tried to drive him out of new, still uninhabited lands. In later versions, Enlil had the duties of the guardian of royal power and the controller of the conscientious performance of rituals, festivals and ceremonies by people. It was Enlil who was the instigator of the global flood, because... believed that there were too many people and they were out of control.

Enki is the keeper of fresh water, the antipode of Enlil. He created people and became their patron. In later versions of the Sumerian religion he would become the god of education and schools for scribes. He is always purposeful, at any cost he wants to change the established laws of existence; in his aspirations, Enki can go against other gods. He loved humanity and tried to share his knowledge and secrets with them. It is Enki who secretly saves a family of worthy people from the flood (a prototype of Noah and his family). For his rebellious character and attitude towards people as their children, Enki was disliked by the other supreme gods.

Dumuzi is the god of the beginning of natural processes and the patron saint of cattle breeders. They prayed to him with a request to increase the number of livestock. Dumuzi was the husband of Inanna, their marriage took place every spring. It was believed that the Sumerian god goes to the underworld during summer solstice, he leaves his fertile energy on the surface.
Inanna - the goddess of love, intelligence and the patroness of warriors, personifies the planet Venus, she has strong feelings, emotions. Her responsibilities do not include protecting the process of conception and the birth of a new life; Inanna is focused on the passion itself that arises between a man and a woman. It was believed that Inanna did not create or protect anything from the material world; she was primarily responsible for feelings and subtle processes in the spiritual world.

There were also other important Sumerian gods, for example, Ninmah, Ninhursag, they were responsible for communications born world with the ancestral mother. But these deities did not have any bright characters or actions; each of them humbly performed its function, so we will not focus on them.
There was also a so-called “second echelon” of Sumerian gods. This included the moon goddess Nanna, the sun god Utu, as well as the god of hard work, Ninurta, who has the greatest individuality and expressiveness among other gods. In addition to being the god of work, Ninurta is also skilled warrior, who will boldly defend his land if necessary. He is full of strength and life, constantly active at work. This deity represented the ancient Sumerians' attachment to their land, and if an enemy came, they would defend it fiercely. Later, Ninurta also began to be revered as the god of thunder.
The “evolution” of the goddess Nisba is also interesting: initially she personified barley, which was used for sacrifices, then she became the patroness of calculations and accounting, and at the end of Sumerian history she was transformed into the goddess of learning, school and writing.

Little information has been preserved about demonology in ancient Sumerian. There were three types of spirits: ancestral spirits, protective spirits and evil spirits.
As mentioned above, the gods of the Sumerians consisted of a clear hierarchy. The creator gods were considered the highest, then the moon god and the sun god, then the mother goddesses and the war gods. It is curious that the creator gods always took the floor in the Great Council under one name (if you do not take into account numerous epithets). The rest of the deities had two or more names.
Each city-state in Sumer worshiped specific gods. In the city of Uruk, An and Inanna were revered, and a special temple (“House of Heaven”) was built for them. Dumuzi settled in Lagash. Enlil reigned in Nippur, the most important city of ancient Sumer, where all the gods lived and where the Great Meetings took place. Enlil himself was not depicted in any way, because was the god of air. Enki was the ruler of Eridu, due to the fact that the city was located on the shores of the Persian Gulf, this god was often depicted as a fish. Nanna reigned in the city of Ur, he was depicted as a ruler sitting in a heavenly boat. The god Utu ruled the cities of Larsa and Sippar, he was depicted as young man with a dagger that divides the mountains from behind which he appears. Nergal, the king of the underworld, was the patron saint of the city of Kutu. The rest, insignificant deities, were not depicted in any way.
We know almost nothing about family ties. God could enter into various relationships with other deities in different cities. These connections were largely influenced by the political and ideological situation in Sumer itself. In later history, many Sumerian deities merged with Akkadian ones. For example, Inanna became Ishtar; Ishkur became Adad, and Enki became Ea.

In 3 thousand BC. The pantheon of Sumerian gods underwent great changes. Enlil became the main one in the Great Assembly, after him came An and Enki, then there were 9 Anunnaki - Inanna, Nergal, Utu and other minor gods, followed by about two hundred different gods.
All the cities of Sumer had their own patron gods, they had families and servants, also of divine origin, i.e. The Sumerian pantheon of gods became very large.
In the late period of Sumerian history, the gods finally “merged” with the Akkadian and Semitic ones. Each god received a genealogy, and the kings of the city of Ur, whose dynasty ruled at that time in Sumer, also began to be “recorded” as deities.
The mysterious “ME” played a key role in the beliefs of the ancient Sumerians. It is believed that these are the foundations of all living things, which radiate from deities and sanctuaries, a certain collection of laws for every creature, thing and event, a kind of “universal charter”.

Sumerian gods, initial knowledge of cosmology, mythology and ideas about anthropomorphic deities were formed at the time of the formation of the Sumerian state. The Sumerians are a people of unknown origin who, at the end of the fourth millennium BC, mastered the valley of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and formed the first city-states in human history. The gods of the ancient Sumerians were primarily the patrons of the community, embodiments of the elements of nature and forces that the inhabitants of the ancient empire encountered in everyday life. From the written sources with which the Sumerian religion was rich, you can find out the names of such gods as Innana and Enlil, who embodied the forces of earth and sky. The earliest religious and literary texts, which are hymns to the gods, prayers to the gods of Sumer, tales and legends, lists of proverbs originating from the excavations of Abu Salyabih and Farah, give ideas about the mythology and cult of the deities of the Sumerian state.

Sumerian gods are prototypes of the creators of the universe.

Sumerian civilization is a state with a centuries-old history. The oldest list The deities discovered in Fara, which contained information about all the gods of the ancient Sumerians of that era, identified six supreme beings, namely Ennil, Anu, Inanna, Nanna, Utu and Enki. Sumerian gods, including astral deities, throughout history have retained the function of patrons of land fertility and harvests. One of the most frequently encountered images of the Sumerian gods is the image of mother earth, the protector of humanity with a child in her arms. In the mythology of the Sumerian and later Babylonian people, the Sumerian goddesses who nursed their children were known as Ninhursag, Ninmah, Nintu, Mami and Damgalnuna. This image of the foremother of people and Sumerian gods is also found in Akkadian legends - the goddess Beletili, in Assyrian myths - Aruru, and even in later Babylonian legends - the mother goddess Enkidu. It is possible that the goddesses who served as patrons of the Sumerian city-states, for example Bau and Gatumdug, were also associated with the face of the earth goddess, to whom the Sumerian gods owed their lives. By the way, the Sumerian female gods who protected human settlements are mentioned in legends and hymns under the epithets “mother” and “mother of all cities.”

In the legends of the Sumerian people, revealing which gods the ancient Sumerians worshiped, one can trace the close dependence of mythology on cult and, conversely, cult on mythology. Cult songs from the city of Ur, dating back to the third millennium BC, speak of the priestess’s love for the king, and most importantly emphasize the official status and nature of their relationship. Hymns in which the Sumerian gods are mentioned, tales dedicated to the deified rulers of Ur, show that a marriage ceremony was annually carried out between the king and the high priestess, during which the king, the representative of the Sumerian gods, appeared in the form of Dumuzi, and the priestess in the guise of Inanna. The plot of the works of the cycle “Inanna and Dumuzi” contains descriptions of the courtship and wedding of the heroes, who were the patrons of the Sumerians, the gods of this people, as well as details of the goddess’s descent into the underworld and her salvation at the cost of the life of her god-husband. Tales of this nature, describing the obstacles faced by the Sumerian gods, are in fact drama-action, forming the basis of the metaphorical ritual “life-death-life”. The numerous myths of tragedy affecting the lives of the Sumerian gods and the deities themselves found in these narratives are explained primarily by the disunity of the Sumerian religious communities.

Sumerian gods, the underworld and trials of the soul.

Legends that are directly related to the cult of the Sumerian gods of fertility give ideas about the mythological underworld. Almost nothing is known about the location of the underworld, called Eden, Irigal, Arali or Kur-Nu-Gi, which translates as “land of no return”. What is clear is that the Sumerian goddesses and deities created the underground kingdom in such a way that one could not only go down there, but also fail. The mythology that the Sumerians created, the religion of this people, says that the border of the underworld was an underground river through which the souls of people were transported with the help of a carrier. They could be supportive, but they could also be cruel. The fate of the dead people was difficult, their bread was bitter, and their water was not water. The underworld that the Sumerian gods created is a dark world, a world full of dust.

Tales about the Sumerian gods do not contain a specific description of the court of the dead, where the dead would be judged according to the rules and norms established by the deities; there are only guesses and theories of researchers. It can be argued that a tolerable life in the afterlife the Sumerian gods honored only those people who were buried underground or sacrificed, as well as those who died in battle. The judges of the underworld were the ancient Sumerian gods, the Anunnaki, who sat on a pedestal in front of the mistress of the underworld. The supreme god of the Sumerian underworld, the goddess Ereshkigal, passed only death sentences. The names of the dead were entered into the book by the Sumerian gods - the Anunnaki, as well as by a female scribe called Geshtinanna. According to the legends, the “honorable” inhabitants of the underworld included the Sumerian gods, numerous legendary heroes and figures of the Sumerian civilization, for example Sumukan and Gilgamesh, the former was the founder of the third dynasty of Ur, the latter was a god by birth.

The Sumerian gods, dominant in the underworld, returned people who were not buried at death and brought misfortune to earth, and those who were buried according to the rules were sent across the border of the underworld, the dark river, into the kingdom of dead souls. Souls of the dead And all the gods of Sumer, who were unlucky enough to end up in the underworld, were transported across the Ur-Shanab River by boat.

Sumerian religion - cosmology and mythology of human origins.

The Sumerian civilization was a practical people in its own way. However, the cosmology that the Sumerians possessed and the religion of this people, oddly enough, do not contain any specific theories and unambiguous hypotheses of the origin of man. Almost all the gods of the ancient Sumerians participated in the creation of man, at least this is the conclusion one can come to with a cursory study of the mythology of the Sumerian and Babylonian empires. Specifically, in the Sumerian religion one can only judge the time of the creation of humanity and the creation of the underworld. The text that the Sumerian religion produced, Gilgamesh, Enkidu and the Underworld, states that the sacred events, namely the creation of humanity, took place during the period when the earth was separated from the heavens and when the gods of the Sumerian civilization, An and Enlil, divided the world's possessions among themselves. The legend of the hoe and the ax says that the earth was separated by the god Enlil, after which the pantheon of Sumerian gods moved to live in heaven, and those who did not make it went to and under the earth. Another fact that the Sumerian religion operates on is also known: the primordial paradise before the division of the universe was the island of Tilmun.

Several myths created by the Sumerian religion have survived to this day about the creation of people. But only one of them is completely independent - about Enki and Ninmah. Sumerian legends say that the gods Enki and Ninmah molded a man from clay. They were helped by Nammu, the goddess to whose life all the gods of the Sumerians and, as it turns out, humanity owe. The purpose for which people were created was to work for the glory of the gods. From this legend it becomes clear why and what gods the Sumerians worshiped. Sumerian mythology has a unique perspective on the lives of people and their role in this world. Sumerian religion says that people were obliged to cultivate the land, collect fruits, graze livestock, and most importantly, feed the gods with their lives, sacrificing them. Religious singing, which was organized by the Sumerians, prayers to the gods were also an integral duty common man. When the first people were born, created by the gods with whom the Sumerian religion is rich, the inhabitants of the pantheon determined their future fate and organized a great feast on this occasion. The Sumerians worshiped gods who were completely in charge of their lives. Ancient tales, legends, Sumerian myths and photos of Sumerian gods show that at the feast the drunken creators Ninmah and Enki created bad people. This is how the Sumerians explained human diseases and illnesses: infertility, deformities, etc.

In myths, and specifically in the legend of the hoe and the ax, which describes the ancient Sumerian religion, the need to create man is explained primarily by the fact that the first gods were unable to manage a household. The same legend mentions the Sumerians and the names of the gods, who supposedly sprouted from the ground, and therefore did not know anything about labor. The people who also emerged from the ground were already endowed with knowledge about agriculture, which means they could serve their creators well.

The gods of the ancient Sumerians - the origin of the inhabitants of the pantheon.

A significant part of the myths of ancient Sumerians and Babylonians is devoted to the origin of divine beings. The gods of the ancient Sumerians are generally widely represented in mythology. The gods of the ancient Sumerians Enlil and Enki, who later created humanity, act as creator-demiurges in legends. Also visited as the first gods who created ancient Sumerian, goddesses Ninkasi and Uttu, responsible for brewing and weaving. Another significant character is mentioned in Sumerian legends about the creation of the world and the gods, the archaic king Enmeduranka, who was considered a predictor of the future. In general, the Sumerian civilization and its gods clearly separated roles, for example, one of the first gods Ningal-Paprigal was the inventor of the harp, and the great Gilgamesh was the creator of urban planning and the forefather of architecture. The line of fathers and mothers, creators and ancestors, related to the gods of the ancient Sumerians, is clearly visible in the myths about the flood and the “wrath of Inanna.”

Unfortunately, in Sumerian mythology very little information has been preserved about the gods of the ancient Sumerians who performed heroic deeds, about destructive natural forces and great monsters. Only two legends are known that tell about great divine deeds, namely the struggle of Ninurta with the demon Asag and the confrontation of Inanna with the monstrous Ebih. Essentially, heroic deeds were the prerogative of the people.

The Sumerian gods, photographs, engravings and images describing them, represent the ancient creators of the world as beings of two moods and hypostases. Alone gods of the ancient Sumerians were evil towards humanity and passive, others were kind and forgiving. So the most living images of the gods were Inanna, Enki, Dumuzi and Ninhursag, as well as some minor and local deities. The Sumerian gods, photos, tablets and ancient texts, say that An, Enlil and Enki were evil, and therefore passive towards people. These gods of the ancient Sumerians, their faces and images, had elements of comedy: people did not like them, which means they presented them in the appropriate light and made up ambiguous legends and tales about them. It is partly obvious why the alliance between the Sumerian gods and 2012 is endowed with such unfavorable predictions.

The development of the epic tradition of representing gods as heroic figures, characteristic of many mythological and cosmological systems, was not typical of the Sumerian empire. The Sumerian civilization and their gods developed according to their own, unique scenario. Their relationship was not characterized by love, and the Sumerians were not imbued with deep respect for their creators; on the contrary, the gods of the ancient Sumerians, at least today, appear as tyrants who in every possible way interfered with a calm way of life. Is it good or bad? Who knows? But one thing is certain: the Sumerian people with such an ambiguous pantheon of deities existed for many centuries, while civilizations with more gentle and good-natured gods were wiped out from the face of the earth almost immediately after their formation.

Mesopotamian deities and mythological creatures

Adad, the god of storms, was known in Sumer as Ishkur; the Arameans called him Hadad. As a thunder deity, he was usually depicted with lightning in his hand.

Since agriculture in Mesopotamia was irrigated, Adad, who controlled the rains and annual floods, occupied an important place in the Sumerian-Akkadian pantheon. He and his wife Shala were especially revered in Assyria. Temples of Adad existed in many major cities of Babylonia. Adapa, main character

Anu(m), Akkadian form of the name of the Sumerian god An, meaning "sky". 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 (primordial fresh water) and Tiamat (sea). Although Anu was worshiped throughout Mesopotamia, he was especially revered in Uruk (the biblical Erech) and Dera. Anu's wife was the goddess Antu. His sacred number is 6.

Ashur, the main god of Assyria, like Marduk - the main god of Babylonia.

Ashur was the deity of the city that bore his name from ancient times, and was considered the main god of the Assyrian Empire. The temples of Ashur were called, in particular, E-shara (“House of Omnipotence”) and E-hursag-gal-kurkura (“House of the Great Mountain of the Earth”). “Great Mountain” is one of Enlil’s epithets, passed on to Ashur when he became the main god of Assyria.

Dagan, a non-Mesopotamian deity by origin. Entered the pantheons of Babylonia and Assyria during the massive penetration of Western Semites into Mesopotamia ca. 2000 BC

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. 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. His sacred number is 50.

Enmerkar, the legendary king of Uruk and hero of Sumerian myth. Wanting to conquer rich country Arattu, turned to the goddess Inanna for help.

Following her advice, he sent a messenger to the ruler of this country, demanding his submission. The main part of the myth is devoted to the relationship between the two rulers. Aratta eventually gave Enmerkar treasures and gems for the temple of the goddess Inanna.

Etana, the legendary thirteenth king of the city of Kish. Having no heir to the throne, he tried to get the “herb of birth” that grew in heaven. Eta saved the eagle from a snake attacking him, and in gratitude the eagle offered to carry him on his back to the sky. The end of this myth is lost. Gilgamesh, the mythical ruler of the city of Uruk and one of the most popular heroes of Mesopotamian folklore, is the son of the goddess Ninsun and a demon. His adventures are described in a long tale on twelve tablets;

. One of the main centers of the cult of Ishtar was Uruk. Marduk, chief 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

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. In Neo-Babylonian times, in connection with the development of monotheistic ideas, other deities began to be seen as manifestations of various aspects of the “character” of Marduk. Marduk's wife is Tsarpanitu. Nabu, god

planet Mercury

, son of Marduk and patron god of scribes. Its symbol was the “style,” a reed rod used to mark cuneiform marks on unfired clay tablets for writing texts. In Old Babylonian times it was known as Nabium; his veneration reached its highest point in the Neo-Babylonian (Chaldean) empire.

Ninhursag, the mother goddess in Sumerian mythology, also known as Ninmah (“Great Lady”) and Nintu (“Lady Who Gives Birth”). Under the name Ki (“Earth”), she was originally the consort of An (“Sky”); from this divine couple all the gods were born.

According to one myth, Ninmah helped Enki create the first man from clay.

In another myth, she cursed Enki for eating the plants she created, but then repented and cured him of the diseases that resulted from the curse.

Ninurta, Sumerian god of the hurricane, as well as war and hunting. Its emblem is a scepter topped with two lion heads. The wife is the goddess Gula. As the god of war, he was highly revered in Assyria. His cult especially flourished in the city of Kalhu. Shamash, Sumerian-Akkadian sun god, his name means “sun” in Akkadian. The Sumerian name of the god is Utu. The symbol is a winged disk. Shamash is the source of light and life, but also the god of justice, whose rays highlight all the evil in man. On the stele of Hammurabi he is depicted conveying laws to the king. The main centers of the cult of Shamash and his wife Aya were Larsa and Sippar. His sacred number is 20.

Sin, Sumerian-Akkadian deity of the Moon. Its symbol is a crescent. Since the Moon was associated with the measurement of time, he was known as the “Lord of the Month.” Sin was considered the father of Shamash (the sun god) and Ishtar, also called Inanna or Ninsianna, the goddess of the planet Venus. The popularity of the god Sin throughout Mesopotamian history is evidenced by the large number of proper names of which his name is an element. The main center of the cult of Sin and his wife Ningal (“Great Lady”) was the city of Ur.