Preview

Mesopotamians Worshiped Gods

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
162 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Mesopotamians Worshiped Gods
The Mesopotamians worshiped gods, and they believed the gods were aspects of everyday life. The spiritual world was, therefore, important in their culture, creating their religion to be a form of polytheism. Rulers have created strong armies, but their real success depended on their relations with the gods. The Mesopotamian people believed that the winds and precipitation in the climate were acts of the supernatural; humans became insecure of themselves because they never knew what the gods' actions were. The Mesopotamian texts were written by the Sumerians, who wrote using the cuneiform writing system with a reed stylus on clay tablets. The system of writing was important for the Mesopotamian people to keep records and sustain knowledge of

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Many components of Mesopotamia’s polytheistic beliefs are shown. They believed in many Gods and Goddesses. “I will lead you to Uruk where you belong, to the temple of Anu” (G, p.20). The people of Mesopotamia built temples in dedication to their Gods. “May Shamash, bring you victory” pg31. After Gilgamesh rejected the proposal of the goddess Ishtar she became enraged, an asked her father to send down the bull of heaven to cause havoc on the earth and take the life of Gilgamesh. Pg45 But Enkidu protected Gilgamesh and killed the bull of heaven after it had killed 300 men, an action which enraged the goddess Ishtar, and she mourned her loss pg45. The goddess Ishtar showed both anger and lamentation because these travails. This is accurate of the beliefs of Mesopotamians as they believed the gods were like people in “form and conduct. They thought the gods had bodies and senses sought nourishment from sacrifice, enjoyed the worship and obedience of humans and were driven by lust love hate anger and envypg.34. The Mesopotamians believed the gods also influenced acts in nature also as shown in Gilgamesh. The gods conspired when they created a great flood by means of much rain, causing many people to die in the process. When Uthnapishtim mentioned that within his city of Shurrupak which contained many Gods within it. This is also a Mesopotamian belief than God’s took residence within…

    • 652 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Emergence of Kings, exercised distinct political rather than religious authority. Also warring Sumerian city-states, which fought for control of the river valleys in the lower Mesopotamia.…

    • 1457 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    A marker event in the history of Mesopotamia was the sumerian invention of writing the…

    • 1502 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ap Summer Assignet

    • 816 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The most prominent religion of ancient Mesopotamia was polytheism. In the surrounding areas of Mesopotamia, polytheism was mostly practiced also. The Israelites, Jews and Hebrews were in contact with Mesopotamians quite often and they were impacted by their religion and beliefs. They believed in similar gods as the Mesopotamians, including several nature spirits. It wasn’t until the time of Moses, when the Israelites embraced a monotheistic way of worshiping. When Judaism was introduced, it wasn’t widely accepted among the area. The religion did influence the development of other religions. Writing systems in Mesopotamia showed that Mesopotamia and the other areas surrounding it were intermixing and adapting to one another. Syrian and Phoenician cultures developed their own systems of writing based off of Mesopotamian culture. Writing evolved over time by the intermixing of cultures. During this time, the ancient peoples developed new ways of building and constructing ships, iron and metal welding, developed several tools still used today and trade networks. The…

    • 816 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mesopotamia and Egypt are both similar because they both have their own form of writing. The Sumerian form of writing was called cuneiform and consisted of pictures that represented letters. It was written on clay tablets with a tool called a stylus. Hieroglyphics (sacred inscriptions) were pictures that represented letters and words or sounds. It was written on papyrus using inks and pens, made out of plants that contained ink inside of them. Both of these forms of writing were used to keep records, document different buildings and structures. In the Mesopotamian and…

    • 672 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The passages in this chapter illustrate various ways in which humans relate to their gods. How do the Sumerian, Egyptian, and Hebrew people differ in this respect?…

    • 538 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ap World History Dbq

    • 455 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Let’s begin with cuneiform. The ancient Sumerians invented cuneiform, which made it possible for change to be made in the future. Cuneiform, being the first written language, was invented over 5000 years ago (Doc. 1). Many Sumerians used this process of writing to keep records, document business transactions, and pass new ideas from generation to generation (Doc. 1). In other words, the early Sumerians were the first to use language in a permanent way. Writing on clay tablets took up much more work than most would think. You had to go to school to learn how to be a scribe, meaning only children of the highest people in Sumer could become scribes (OI). Cuneiform, other that for the reasons listed…

    • 455 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Eridu Description

    • 287 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Eridu was the first of a series of city-states throughout Mesopotamia and the Fertile Crescent that comprised the first ancient civilization, Sumer. Archeologists have discovered historical evidence suggesting that the Sumerians were the first to develop a reliable writing system, cuneiform. They practiced slavery, observed religions, and, according to Biblical scholars, possibly built the infamous Tower of Babel.…

    • 287 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The different civilizations in Mesopotamia were not united by a single language or government; they did however have a common world view and a common belief system of polytheism. Mesopotamia’s gods and goddesses were associated with the forces of nature. The gods and goddesses of Mesopotamia shared characteristics with the climate such as fierce and capricious. With the division of labor came the development of social order. The social order prevailed around 2700 BCE. In the first civilizations each different class had certain responsibilities that contributed to the society. There is a theme of searching for immortality in Mesopotamian literature. This shows how the Mesopotamian people were on a journey to find the physical limits of human beings. The people could be described as insecure of their vulnerability.…

    • 1446 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    | Sumerians believed in Polytheism and devoted all their prayers and offerings to their Gods, in believing that they controlled the nature of their agriculture. City-states ruled by a king who claimed divine authority. The government helped regulate religion and enforce duties, also providing a system of courts for justice. To keep his people in order King Hammurabi created a document for his people creating justice for the innocent and the guilty. Each city-state regulated their own trade and controlled much of their own businesses. Their business dealt with agriculture and clothing, basic needs for a society.…

    • 2231 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mesopotamia and Egypt had similar writing systems. Both Ancient civilizations used writing for recording data. Writing was also used to represent actual things and objects. Mesopotamian writing was called Cuneiform. Cuneiform were pictographs. Egyptian writing was called Hieroglyphs. Hieroglyphs were also pictograms. Cuneiform was done on clay tablets, and Hieroglyphs was done on papyrus. Mesopotamian and Egyptian writing systems were similar because of the purpose of the use, and the pictogram writing style.…

    • 391 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mesopotamia, also known as the land between two rivers, became the grounds of many ancient civilizations that we know about today. Perhaps one of the most famous is Sumer. Sumer was a civilization that thrived off of the two river, the Tigris and the Euphrates. Using irrigation systems, the Sumerians used the floods of the rivers produced to grow crops and support the growing population. This civilization grew into an early form of a modern city, with things like business, jobs, currency, and social classes. How were the Sumerians able to keep track of money and payments and when floods happened without a writing system? Eventually, the Sumerians were able to create to world's earliest writing system to keep record of all this. Later, that system evolved and became what we…

    • 692 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    There are three pieces of evidence that shows that Ancient Mesopotamia had a written language. The clay tablet shows evidence of a written language because according to the archaeologists there were some type of writing on the tablet. Another piece of evidence is in the chapter 5 handout it states,” The earliest examples of cuneiform show that it recorded information that the sumerians exchanges with one another”. Last piece of evidence in the chapter 5 handout it states,”At first, they may have used many as 2,000 symbols to stand for ideas and sounds”. Written contributed to the success of Mesopotamia because communication is key. So written language helps them communicate and transfer ideas.…

    • 538 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Sumerian civilization also known as Mesopotamia/The Fertile Crescent is located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers….this is how it gets its name the Fertile Crescent. The climate for this civilization is dry except in the area between the rivers. The river flood at least once a year leaving a thick layer of mud called silt behind. There were draw backs to living hear though flooding was often unpredictable and very dry through the summer months. There were also no natural barriers so if you were a village out in the open you were likely to be attacked. Natural resources were also limited. The solutions to some of these problems were; they built irrigation ditches, put up walls and traded with people around them for resources that they lacked. Mesopotamia’s government structure was a city state. Each city in Mesopotamia had its own government, rulers, and warriors. Each city had its own god also in the center of each city-state was a ziggurat a place where that city-state’s god could be worshipped. Even though the cities all shared common culture they all functioned independently. The different rules often kept the ruling in the family for many generations this also known as a dynasty. The religion aspect of this civilization was polytheistic or believed in many gods. There were 3 branches to the social class priests and royalty were on top followed by wealthy merchants and ordinary workers. Women in this civilization were not allowed to attend school making it so they could not read or write unless you were wealthy. Slaves were used and they were not free. This civilization invented one of the first forms of writing…

    • 1053 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    After reading about the Mesopotamian culture, I reached the end of the exhibit. There I started reading plaques about their religion. Religion in Mesopotamia was Animistic. Suddenly, something caught my eye. I found myself standing before a massive statue of a human-headed winged bull called a Shedu. It was the strangest creature that I’ve ever seen in my entire life! The statue stands sixteen feet tall. It was a beautiful site and at the same time intimidating. The Shedu was used to protect important doorways in the palace, gates to the cities, and most importantly, guard the doors to a king’s tomb. Therefore, they were considered protective deities. The head of the creature usually was the head of the king that ruled at the time. This gave…

    • 205 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays