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The very earliest undercurrents of Mesopotamian religious thought are believed to have developed in the first half of the sixth millennium BC, at the time people first began to permanently settle in Mesopotamia owing to improved irrigation. The early religious developments of the region are unknown since they preceded the invention of writing. [1]
The Sumerian afterlife was a dark, dreary cavern located deep below the ground, [22] [23] where inhabitants were believed to continue "a shadowy version of life on earth". [22] This bleak domain was known as Kur , [ 20 ] : 114 and was believed to be ruled by the goddess Ereshkigal .
Mesopotamians believed that the world was a flat disc, [45] surrounded by a huge, holed space, and above that, heaven. They believed that water was everywhere, the top, bottom and sides, and that the universe was born from this enormous sea. Mesopotamian religion was polytheistic.
The dominant religious rituals and beliefs of ancient Egypt merged and developed over time. As an example, during the New Kingdom, the gods Ra and Amun were syncretized into a single god, Amun-Ra. [5] Such syncretism should be distinguished from mere groupings, also referred to as "families" such as Amun, Mut, and Khonsu.
Mesopotamia's image of the world, following the path Gilgamesh takes in the Epic of Gilgamesh. Ancient Near Eastern (ANE) cosmology refers to the plurality of cosmological beliefs in the Ancient Near East, covering the period from the 4th millennium BC to the formation of the Macedonian Empire by Alexander the Great in the second half of the 1st millennium BC.
Map showing the extent of Mesopotamia. The Civilization of Mesopotamia ranges from the earliest human occupation in the Paleolithic period up to Late antiquity.This history is pieced together from evidence retrieved from archaeological excavations and, after the introduction of writing in the late 4th millennium BC, an increasing amount of historical sources.
Ancient Sumerian cylinder seal impression showing the god Dumuzid being tortured in the underworld by galla demons. The ancient Mesopotamian underworld (known in Sumerian as Kur, Irkalla, Kukku, Arali, or Kigal, and in Akkadian as Erṣetu), was the lowermost part of the ancient near eastern cosmos, roughly parallel to the region known as Tartarus from early Greek cosmology.
The ancient Mesopotamians believed that their deities lived in Heaven, [9] but that a god's statue was a physical embodiment of the god himself. [9] [10] As such, cult statues were given constant care and attention [11] [9] and a set of priests were assigned to tend to them. [12]