Mesopotamian religious traditions - ASYR20051

• Title: Mesopotamian religious traditions
• Guaranteed by: Institute of Ancient Near Eastern Studies (21-USPV)
• Faculty: Faculty of Arts
• Actual: from 2023
• Semester: winter
• Points: 0
• E-Credits: 4
• Examination process: winter s.:
• Hours per week, examination: winter s.:2/0, Ex [HT]
• Capacity: unknown / unknown (unknown)
• Min. number of students: unlimited
• 4EU+: no
• Virtual mobility / capacity: no
• State of the course: not taught
• Language: English
• Teaching methods: full-time
• Note: course can be enrolled in outside the study plan; enabled for web enrollment
• Guarantor: Dr. Ludovica Bertolini, Ph.D.

Annotation

The aim of the present course is to provide the students with a comprehensive knowledge of the religious
systems developed during the long history of Mesopotamia.
The course will be divided into two parts. The first one (lessons nos. 1-9) will be committed to frontal lectures to be
presented to the students. During these lessons, the main topics related to Mesopotamian religious beliefs will
be analyzed thoroughly also by referring directly to highly relevant excerpts from the emic literature (in translation).
The choice of compositions (see below) fell on outstanding traditional texts that display the religious constructs of
different stages in the history of Mesopotamia. The diachronic approach will allow the students to detect changes
and developments in this highly flexible and permeable religious system.
In the second part of the course (lessons nos. 10-13), the students will be asked to actively participate in the
lessons with presentations on topics previously agreed upon with the teacher. The students will be divided into
pairs and will be asked to deliver a lecture on the assigned topic, presenting both the relevant secondary literature
and a critical interpretation of a short passage (in translation) relevant to their topic.


Lessons breakdown:
1. Polytheism and religious system in Mesopotamia;
2. Temple personnel and the Temple building:
a. Physical structure,
b. Temples as houses,
c. Temples as households,
d. Temple officials
3. Communicating with the gods:
a. Divination
b. Dreams
c. Prayers
d. Hymns
e. Spells
4. Creations:
a. Anthropogonies
i. Eridu Genesis or Sumerian Creation Myth
ii. Debate between sheep and grain
iii. Debate between winter and summer
iv. Barton cylinder
v. The song of the Hoe
b. World ordering
i. Enki and Ninmaḫ,
ii. Enki and the World Order
iii. Enuma Eliš
5. Destructions:
a. Flood stories (Atraḫasis, Utanapištim in the Gilgameš Epos, Ziusudra in the Sumerian Creation Myth)
b. Lament for Ur
c. The Curse of Agade and Naram-Sîn in The Babylonian Chronicles [Weidner];
d. Nin-me-šar2-ra
6. Death and the Netherworld:
a. Gilgameš Epos;
b. Ur-Namma A
c. The Death of Gilgameš
d. Inanna’s Descent to the Netherworld and the Descent of Ištar
e. Nergal and Ereškigal
f. The Underworld Vision of an Assyrian Prince
7. Demons, hybrid beings, liminal figures, witches and sorcerers (Incantations against demons, Lamaštu,
evil spells);
8. The king and the gods:
a. Divine kingship
b. Mediation between cosmic spheres
c. Kingship as a divine construct
d. Sumerian King List
e. The kings of Uruk
f. Akītu Festival
9. Short accounts from the peripheries:
a. Ugarit
b. Ḫatti
c. Ebla
d. Mari
10-13. Presentation of essays in pairs (topic to be assigned later)

Last update: Zemánek Petr, prof. PhDr., CSc. (17.06.2022)

Syllabus

Hrůša, I., Ancient Mesopotamian Religion: A Descriptive Introduction, Münter: Ugarit-Verlag, 2015.

Lambert, W.G. - George, A. - Oshima, T., Ancient Mesopotamian Religion and Mythology, Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2016.

Additional bibliography will be discussed during the lectures. Moreover, the students will be individually provided with supplementary specialistic bibliography in accordance with the topic chosen for the presentation.

Last update: Zemánek Petr, prof. PhDr., CSc. (17.06.2022)