Collection: Mesopotamian Traditions

Mesopotamian religion covers the beliefs and practices of the Sumerians and Akkadians, and their Babylonian and Assyrian successors in ancient Mesopotamia (modern Iraq). Its adherents honoured many gods. They understood each god as owning an estate, meaning a temple and its lands, and controlling the city where it stood. An, god of heaven, ranked highest, followed by Enlil, god of winds and agriculture. Enki, god of fresh water and cleverness, was also widely invoked. Many believed that humans exist to meet the gods' needs through worship. Practice changed over the millennia, and later periods placed more weight on personal religion, with ideas of sin and forgiveness.

As a continuous tradition it belongs to antiquity, and scholars date it from about 6000 BC to about 500 AD. We know it mainly through cuneiform tablets, which scholars read and interpret. Today it is practised only by small modern groups who revive it. They are often described as Sumerian-Mesopotamian Neopaganism or Zuism, a collection of Neopagan movements, not one organised church. Their approaches differ, and their worship often differs from that of the ancient Mesopotamians. Some groups aim at careful reconstruction, and others are more esoteric.

Sacred images were central to the ancient cult. The god was present in, but not bounded by, a statue of precious wood overlaid with gold. Priests served the statue daily meals, clothed it, bathed it and escorted it to bed. The best-known festival was the spring New Year, Akitu. In Babylon it included reciting the Enuma elish, the creation epic of Marduk. It ended with a procession of god statues and a banquet. In the same festival the king was ritually humbled and then restored to his office.

Sources: Britannica: Mesopotamian religion · Britannica: Mesopotamian religion – Institutions and practices · Britannica: Akitu · Wikipedia: Ancient Mesopotamian religion · Wikipedia: Zuism