Download WR Chapter 7 Fall 2016

Ancient Religions
of Iraq and Iran
Chapter 7
Ancient Mesopotamia
Ancient Mesopotamia
 Evidence of life in Mesopotamia from 10,000 BCE
 The Fertile Crescent
 Cradle of Civilization
 Agriculture and domestication of animals
 Cultivation of wild grains and cereals 9000 BCE
 Irrigation of agricultural crops 5000 BCE
 Cultivation of wool bearing sheep 4500 BCE
 Food distribution and surplus for trade 3400 BCE
Empires of Mesopotamia
 Sumerian – irrigation, first cities 5400 BCE
 Akkadian – building, art, literature 2300 BCE
 Assyrian – 600 BCE
 Babylonian – law, science, math 580 BCE

Law of Hammurabi – justice for oppressed people
 Persian – Cyrus the Great 539 BCE
 Greek – Alexander the Great 334 BCE
 Rome – 116 CE
Ancient Mesopotamia
 Cuneiform Tablets
 Sumerians
 Pictograms
 Multiple languages
 Record of culture
 Non alphabetic
 Library of Ashurbanipal
 Found mid 19th Century
 Story of Gilgamesh
Myth of Enuma Elish
 Tiamat (salt water) marries Apsu (fresh water)
 Tiamat births many descendants
 Apsu kills them because they are noisy
 Enki kills Apsu and Tiamat rages
 Marduk splits Tiamat in half
 Top half is heaven/Bottom half is earth
 Only god strong enough to subdue Tiamat
 Creates cosmos from Kingsu (Tiamat’s husband)
 Gets help from Enlil
Dumuzi and Inanna
 Dumuzi (fertility god) and Inanna (queen of heaven)
 Married and increased the vital forces of the world
 Ereshkigal (Inanna’s sister) is ruler of the underworld
 Inanna went to visit and arrived a naked hostage
 While Inanna held hostage and all vegetation dies
 Enki saves Inanna and Dumuzi and family sub for
her
Epic of Gilgamesh
 Mesopotamian King of Uruk who sought immortality
 Enkidu a wilderness creature who befriended him
 Kills monster Huwara on a campaign with Gilgamesh
 Gets killed by Enlil to revenge Huwara’s death
Epic of Gilgamesh
 Utnapishtim warned by the gods of a great flood
 Survives the flood with wife and animals (2 of each)
 Enlil gives Utnapishtim immortality plant
Gilgamesh and the Search for Immortality
 Gilgamesh wants to bring
Enkidu back to life
 Utnapishtim tells Gilgamesh
the immortality plant is in the
sea
 Gilgamesh searches for the
plant which is eaten by a
serpent who becomes
immortal
Mesopotamian Deities
 Anu (An) – god of the sky
 Sin – good of the moon
 Enlil – god of the weather for good agriculture
 Ninhursaga – goddess over birth
 Enki – god of fresh water
 Shamash – god of the sun
 Ishtar – goddess of the planet Venus (Inanna)
Ziggurat of Uruk
The Absolute for Mesopotamia
 Gods changed with the fortunes of worshipers
 Earlier gods accounted for the forces of nature
 Later gods perceived as rulers of governments
 Gods of city-states merged into families
 Political unions led to unity of gods
 Explains multiple names for the same god
 Gods acted in parental roles
Ancient Mesopotamia
 King was god and also subservient to god
 Humans performed personal devotions
 No rights of passage recorded
 Religion not sustainable
 No immortality
 Code of Hammurabi
 Astronomy and Astrology
Religions from Ancient Iran
 Aryans brought deities to India and the Vedas
 Zoroastriansim
 Founder was Zarathustra (Zoroaster) 600’s BCE
 Noble family initiated into the Rig Veda
 Left home at 20 and had spiritual crisis at age 30
 Vision of Vohu Manah (Angel of Good Thought)
 Ahura Mazda revealed immortality in heaven
Zoroastrianism
 Angra Mainyu – god of
cattle rustlers
 Followers should live
good lives for Ahura
Mazda
 Immortality given as
reward in pleasant
courts
 Alternative was the pits
of Angra Mainyu
Zoroastrianism
 Monotheistic – Ahura Mazda
 Served by Amesha Spenta – 6 angels
 Dualism – Inspired later dualistic religion
 Manichaeism 3rd Century CE
 Augustine 4th Century CE
 Avesta – Book of the Law
Later Zoroastriansim
 Added deities
 Anahita – fertility
 Haoma – animal sacrifices
 Mithra – god of light, protector of truth,
guardian of cattle
The Magi
Rituals of Zoroastrianism
 Sacred Flame
 Burned for 1500 years in Yazd, Iran
 New Year’s priests burning of sacrifices in masks
 No Roz ritual cleansing
 Festival of New Day giving gifts to the poor
 Naozot rite of passage
 at 6 receive sudreh (shirt) and kusti (thread)
Sky Burial
 Bodies are prepared
 Avesta prayers
through night
 Carried to Tower of
Silence
 Left for vultures to
strip bones
 Bones crumble in a
central pit
Chinvat Bridge
Absolute and World View
 Ahura Mazda is either more powerful or
struggles against the equal evil force of Angra
Mainyu
 Ahura Mazda relies on Amesha Spenta
 Humans are soul and body
 Humans are responsible for moral decisions
 Humans are born and die only once