The Encyclopedia of World Religions

Mesopotamian religions S 289

rians imagined that the gods of their city-states met in assembly. At any given time, the most influential god in the assembly was the one whose city had the most power on Earth. Each city’s gods resided in image form in temples. Servants—that is, priests—tended to their needs. They were supported in part by the land that the god owned. For several centuries various city-states com peted for power. One city would take control of an area. But its rule never lasted very long. In about 2350 B . C . E ., that pattern began to change. Rulers arose who sought to dominate all of Mesopota mia. In the end two regional powers, Babylon and Assyria, competed with each other to be supreme. When Assyria was in charge, its god Assur was thought to be the greatest; when Babylon ruled, its god Marduk was supreme. But neither the Assyrians nor the Babylonians could maintain their rule indefinitely. They could not resist the rising power of Persia to the east, in the area known today as Iran. In 539 Cyrus the Persian conquered Babylon and thus became the ruler of the entire region. If Cyrus’s victory is remembered today, that is because he allowed the Jews who were living in exile in Babylon to return home to J ERUSALEM . BELIEFS The names of some Mesopotamian gods clearly connect them with forces in nature. Inanna’s name means “mistress of the sky,” Enki’s means “lord of the earth.” But the Mesopotamians thought that their gods looked like human beings. They also thought that the gods of the different cities were relatives of one another, and that they met in assembly to discuss their differences. By the third millennium B . C . E . (3000–2001 B . C . E .), Mesopotamians had ranked their gods in order of importance. The highest god was An, god of the sky and father of the gods. Enlil, the god of wind and storms, was the leader of the assem bly of gods. Other important gods included Nin hursaga ( GODDESS of the foothills), Inanna and her lover Dumuzi, Ereshkigal (queen of the dead), and Enki. These gods were eventually eclipsed in

in disaster relief, in promoting world peace, and in fostering economic development, especially among indigenous Americans and people living in the Third World. The Mennonite Central Com mittee (MCC), founded in 1920, coordinates these efforts for the Mennonite and Brethren churches in North America. (The Brethren are similar to the Mennonites but have a different history.) At the beginning of the 21st century the MCC was active in more than 50 countries worldwide as well as in the United States and Canada. Mesopotamian religions The ancient religions of the area that is now Iraq. Mesopotamian reli gions existed from the beginnings of city-based culture down to 539 B . C . E ., when Mesopotamia was conquered by the Persian Empire. HISTORY Mesopotamia means “the land between the riv ers.” It refers to the land between the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers. In ancient times the north ern and western half of this region was known as Assyria. The southern and eastern half was known as Babylonia. Both regions figure prominently in the B IBLE . The Assyrians destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel; the Babylonians destroyed the southern kingdom of Judah, and with it S OLOMON ’s temple in J ERUSALEM . In the earliest days, Babylonia was itself divided into two parts. Its northwestern half was known as Akkadia; its southeastern half was known as Sumer. Around 3500 B . C . E . civilization, that is, city based culture, emerged in Sumer. Earlier there had been small cities in other parts of the Near East. But Sumer appears to have been the earliest civi lization. The historian Samuel Noah Kramer once claimed that “history begins at Sumer.” He had in mind the many “firsts” that the Sumerians could boast. They devised the first system of writing; they were the first to have mass production (they had mass-produced dishes); and they built the first monumental temples. The Sumerians lived in independent city states, each with its own special god. The Sume