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The god Marduk and his dragon Mušḫuššu. Ancient Mesopotamian religion encompasses the religious beliefs (concerning the gods, creation and the cosmos, the origin of man, and so forth) and practices of the civilizations of ancient Mesopotamia, particularly Sumer, Akkad, Assyria and Babylonia between circa 6000 BC [1] and 500 AD.
Sumerian religion was the religion practiced by the people of Sumer, the first literate civilization found in recorded history and based in ancient Mesopotamia, and what is modern day Iraq. The Sumerians widely regarded their divinities as responsible for all matters pertaining to the natural and social orders of their society.
Assyrian hero grasping a lion and a snake Single bull-man wrestling with a lion, Mesopotamia, 3rd millennium BC. Although such figures are not all, or even usually, deities, the term may be a generic name for a number of deities from a variety of cultures with close relationships to the animal kingdom or in part animal form (in cultures where that is not the norm).
Early Hittite religion bore traits descended from Proto-Indo-European religion, but the later Hittite religions became more and more assimilated to Mesopotamian religion. Persian Zoroastrianism is a reformed form of the hypothesized ancient Iranian religion , which shares a common Proto-Aryan root with the Indian Vedic religion .
Immortality in religion refers usually to either the belief in physical immortality or a more spiritual afterlife. In traditions such as ancient Egyptian beliefs, Mesopotamian beliefs and ancient Greek beliefs, the immortal gods consequently were considered to have physical bodies.
The Mesopotamian pantheon evolved greatly over the course of its history. [16] In general, the history of Mesopotamian religion can be divided into four phases. [16] During the first phase, starting in the fourth millennium BC, deities' domains mainly focused on basic needs for human survival. [17]
To this day there are numerous traces in European popular belief, especially in Germany, of respect for the snake, possibly a survival of ancestor worship: The "house snake" cares for the cows and the children, and its appearance is an omen of death; and the lives of a pair of house snakes are often held to be bound with that of the master and ...
Mythology portal; Asia portal; NOTE: Since the Sumerians, Akkadians, Babylonians, Assyrians and others all shared essentially the same pantheon and belief systems, the Sumerian and Akkadian (and Assyro-Babylonian) articles should be combined under the Mesopotamian mythology / deities / legendary creatures categories.