Ancient Sumerian culture: Death of King

Mesopotamia is an ancient region of southwest Asia between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in modern-day Iraq. By 6000 B.C., Mesopotamia had been settled, chiefly by migrants from the Turkish and Iranian highlands.

When a king of the Sumerian city state of Ur died he did not go alone to his tomb. His entire household of some 70 people was buried with him, having taken poison in order to follow their sovereign into the next life – where they would continue to serve him loyally as before.

The preparation for this mass burial was meticulous. First along, sloping shaft was dug down to a pit that would serve as the tomb chamber. This was filled with rich offerings, and the king’s corpse was placed in it.

In ancient Mesopotamia mourning were physical expressions of emotion. Mourners were supposed to perform certain acts. One of the mourning acts was weeping. For example, in the Death of Urnamma, the king’s personal god Ninsuna is said to show her grief by weeping.

Furthermore, self-mutilation was another act of mourning for the Mesopotamians, which was probably done in public, this may have happened during the funerary procession.The bereaved emotions of frustration and grief were expressed as aggression enacted upon their own body, which included scratching themselves and tearing their hair out.
Ancient Sumerian culture: Death of King

Enuma Elish

One of the most famous accounts of the creation of the universe from the ancient Near East was the Babylonian creation epic known as the Enuma elish.

The name comes form the first three words of the first two lines of the poem:

When on high the heavens were not yet named.
And below, the earth was not called by a name.

The Enuma elish tells how the good Marduk was endowed with absolute power by the other gods to do battle with Tiamat, a primordial goddess who personified the forces of watery chaos.

Marduk defeats Tiamat in battle and proceeds to create the universe by dividing Tiamat in two, one part becoming the heavens and the other the earth with her breasts as mountains.

From her eyes came the Tigris and Euphrates river. The Enuma elish was cited during the New Year Festival celebrated in honor of Marduk in the city of Babylon, which the all-powerful god founded as an earthy residence for the gods after his creation of the universe.

The Mesopotamians viewed their city states as earthy copies of a divine model and order. Each city state was scared because it was linked to a god or goddess.

Hence Nippur , the earliest center of Sumerian religion, was dedicated to Elil, the god of wind. Moreover, located at the heart of each major city state was a temple complex.

Occupying several acres their sacred area consisted of a ziggurat with a temple at the top dedicated to the god or goddess who owned the city.

The temple complex was the true center of the community. The maim god a or goddess dwelt there symbolically in the form of a statue and the ceremony of dedication included a ritual that linked the statue to the god or goddess and thus supposedly harnessed the power of the deity for city’s benefit.
Enuma Elish