Ancient near eastern cosmology

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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 (including Ancient Egypt, Babylonia, Sumer, Akkad, Ugarit, and ancient Israel and Judah) 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. This system of cosmology went on to have a profound influence on views in Egyptian cosmology, early Greek cosmology, Jewish cosmology, patristic cosmology, and Islamic cosmology. Until the modern era, variations of ancient near eastern cosmology survived with Hellenistic cosmology as the main competing system.

Overview[edit]

Ancient near eastern cosmology can be divided into its cosmography, the physical structure and features of the cosmos; and cosmogony, the creation myths that describe the origins of the cosmos in the texts and traditions of the ancient near eastern world.[1]

Cosmography[edit]

Ancient near eastern civilizations held to a fairly uniform conception of cosmography. This cosmography remained remarkably stable in the context of the expansiveness and longevity of the ancient near east, but changes were also to occur.[2][3] Widely held components of ancient near eastern cosmography included[4][5][6]:

  • a flat earth and a solid heaven (firmament), both of which are disk-shaped
  • a primordial cosmic ocean. When the firmament is created, it separates the cosmic ocean into two bodies of water:
    • the heavenly upper waters located on top of the firmament, which act as a source of rain
    • the lower waters that the earth is above and that the earth rests on; they act as the source of rivers, springs, and other earthly bodies of water
  • the region above the upper waters, namely the abode of the gods
  • the netherworld, the furthest region in the direction downwards, below the lower waters

Keyser, categorizing ancient near eastern cosmology as belonging to a larger and more cross-cultural set of cosmologies he describes as a "cradle cosmology," offers a longer list of shared features.[7] Some cosmographical features have been attributed to Mesopotamian cosmologies but are not likely to actually have been held by them. Two examples include the idea that the cosmos was represented by a ziggurat reaching up to a peak and the idea that the firmament was shaped as a dome or a vault as opposed to being flat.[8]

Cosmogony[edit]

Ancient near eastern cosmogony also included a number of common features that are present in most if not all creation myths from the ancient near east. Widespread features included[9]:

  • creation ex materia[10]; that is, the organization of the world from pre-existing, unformed elements, represented by a primordial body of water
  • the presence of a divine creator
  • an antagonist or primordial monster
  • a battle between the forces of good and evil
  • the separation of the elements
  • the creation of mankind

In earlier Sumerian accounts, supreme dominion over the cosmos was held by a trio of Gods in their respective domains: Anu ruled the remote heaven, Enki ruled the waters surrounding earth and below it, and Enlil ruled the region between the great above and the great below. In later Babylonian accounts, the god Marduk alone ascends to the top rank of the pantheon and over all domains of the cosmos.[11]

There is evidence that Mesopotamian creation myths reached as far as Pre-Islamic Arabia.[12]

Cosmographies[edit]

Overview[edit]

The entire cosmos[edit]

A variety of terms or phrases were used to refer to the cosmos as a whole, acting as rough equivalents to contemporary terms like "cosmos" or "universe". This included phrases like "heaven and earth" or "heaven and underworld". Terms like "all" or "totality" similarly connoted the entire universe. These motifs can be found in temple hymns or royal inscriptions which, inside of temples whose size was in some way symbolized to reach heaven in their height or the underworld in their depths or foundations.[13][14] Surviving evidence does not specify the exact physical bounds of the cosmos or what lies beyond the region described in the texts.[15]

The Mesopotamian cosmos can be imagined along a vertical axis, with parallel planes of existence layered above each other. The uppermost plane of existence was heaven, being the residence of the god of the sky Anu. Immediately below heaven was the atmosphere. The atmosphere extended from the bottom of heaven (or the lowermost firmament) to the ground. This region was inhabited by Enlil, who was also the king of the gods in Sumerian mythology. The cosmic ocean below the ground was the next plane of existence, and this was the domain of the sibling deities Enki and Ninhursag. The lowest plane of existence was the underworld. Other deities inhabited these planes of existence even if they did not reign over them, such as the sun and moon gods.[16]

The layers of heaven and earth[edit]

In Mesopotamian cosmology, heaven and earth both had a tripartite structure: a Lower Heaven/Earth, a Middle Heaven/Earth, and an Upper Heaven/Earth. The Upper Earth was where humans existed. Middle Earth, corresponding to the Abzu (primeval underworldly ocean), was the residence of the god Enki. Lower Earth, the Mesopotamian underworld, was where the 600 Anunnaki gods lived, associated with the land of the dead ruled by Nergal. As for the heavens: the highest level was populated by 300 Igigi (great gods), the middle heaven belonged to the Igigi and also contained Marduk's throne, and the lower heaven was where the stars and constellations were inscribed into. In total, the extent of the Babylonian universe therefore corresponded to a total of six layers spanning across heaven and Earth.[17][18][19] Notions of the plurality of heaven and earth are no later than the 2nd millennium BC and may be elaborations of earlier and simpler cosmographies.[20] One text (KAR 307) that post-dates the Enuma Elish describes the cosmos in the following manner, with each of the three floors of heaven being made of a different type of stone[21][22]:

30 “The Upper Heavens are Luludānītu stone. They belong to Anu. He (i.e. Marduk) settled the 300 Igigū (gods) inside.

31 The Middle Heavens are Saggilmud stone. They belong to the Igīgū (gods). Bēl (i.e. Marduk) sat on the high throne within,

32 the lapis lazuli sanctuary. And made a lamp? of electrum shine inside (it).

33 The Lower Heavens are jasper. They belong to the stars. He drew the constellations of the gods on them.

34 In the … …. of the Upper Earth, he lay down the spirits of mankind.

35 [In the …] of the Middle earth, he settled Ea, his father.

36 […..] . He did not let the rebellion be forgotten.

37 [In the … of the Lowe]r earth, he shut inside 600 Anunnaki.

38 […….] … […. in]side jasper.

Another text (AO 8196) offers a slightly different arrangement, with the Igigi in the upper heaven instead of the middle heaven, and with Bel placed in the middle heaven. Both agree on the placement of the stars in the lower heaven. Exodus 24:9–10 identifies the floor of heaven as being like sapphire, which may correspond to the blue lapis lazuli floor in KAR 307, chosen potentially for its correspondence to the visible color of the sky.[23] One hypothesis holds that the belief that the firmament is made of stone (or a metal, such as iron in Egyptian texts[24]) arises from the observation that meteorites, which are composed of this substance, fall from the firmament.[25]

Some texts describe seven heavens and seven earths, but within the Mesopotamian context, this is likely to refer to a totality of the cosmos with some sort of magical or numerological significance, as opposed to a description of the structural number of heavens and Earth.[26] Israelite texts do not mention the notion of seven heavens or earths.[27]

Cosmic ropes[edit]

Mythical bonds, akin to ropes or cables, played the role of cohesively holding the entire world and all its layers of heaven and Earth together. These are sometimes called the "bonds of heaven and earth". They can be referred to with terminology like durmāhu (typically referring to a strong rope made of reeds), markaṣu (referring to a rope or cable, of a boat, for example), or ṣerretu (lead-rope passed through an animals nose). A deity can hold these ropes as a symbol of their authority, such as the goddess Ishtar "who holds the connecting link of all heaven and earth (or netherworld)". This motif extended to descriptions of great cities like Babylon which was called the "bond of [all] the lands," or Nippur which was "bond of heaven and earth," and some temples as well.[28]

Cosmic center[edit]

The idea of a center to the cosmos played a role in elevating the status of whichever place was chosen as the cosmic center and in reflecting beliefs of the finite and closed nature of the cosmos. Babylon was described as the center of the Babylonian cosmos. In parallel, Jerusalem became "the navel of the earth" (Ezekiel 38:12).[29] The finite nature of the cosmos was also suggested to the ancients by the periodic and regular movements of the heavenly bodies in the visible vicinity of the Earth.[30][31]

Firmament[edit]

Main article: Firmament

The firmament was believed to be a solid boundary above the Earth, separating it from the upper or celestial waters. In the Book of Genesis, it is called the raqia.[32][33] In ancient Egyptian texts, and from texts across the near east generally,[34] the firmament was described as having special doors or gateways on the eastern and western horizons to allow for the passage of heavenly bodies during their daily journeys. In Egyptian texts particularly, these gates also served as conduits between the earthly and heavenly realms for which righteous people could ascend. The gateways could be blocked by gates to prevent entry by the deceased as well. As such, funerary texts included prayers enlisting the help of the gods to enable the safe ascent of the dead.[35] Ascent to the celestial realm could also be done by a celestial ladder made by the gods.[36] Multiple stories exist in Mesopotamian texts whereby certain figures ascend to the celestial realm and are given the secrets of the gods.[37]

Four different Egyptian models of the firmament and/or the heavenly realm are known. One model was that it was the shape of a bird: the firmament above represented the underside of a flying falcon, with the sun and moon representing its eyes, and its flapping causing the wind that humans experience.[38] The second was a cow, as per the Book of the Heavenly Cow. The cosmos is a giant celestial cow represented by the goddess Nut or Hathor. The cow consumed the sun in the evening and rebirthed it in the next morning.[39] The third is a celestial woman, also represented by Nut. The heavenly bodies would travel across her body from east to west. The midriff of Nut was supported by Shu (the air god) and Geb (the earth god) lay outstretched between the arms and feet of Nut. Nut consumes the celestial bodies from the west and gives birth to them again in the following morning. The stars are inscribed across the belly of Nut and one needs to identify with one of them, or a constellation, in order to join them after death.[40] The fourth model was a flat (or slightly convex) celestial plane which, depending on the text, was thought to be supported in various ways: by pillars, staves, scepters, or mountains at the extreme ends of the Earth. The four supports give rise to the motif of the "four corners of the world".[41]

Earth[edit]

Further information: Flat Earth
Babylonian Map of the World

The ancient near eastern Earth was a single-continent flat disc.[5][6] A common honorific that many kings and rulers ascribed to themselves was that they were the rulers of the four quarters (or corners) of the Earth. For example, Hammurabi (ca. 1810–1750 BC) received the title of "King of Sumer and Akkad, King of the Four Quarters of the World". Monarchs of the Assyrian empire like Ashurbanipal also took on this title. (Although the title implies a square or rectangular shape, in this case it is taken to refer to the four quadrants of a circle which is joined at the world's center.) Likewise, the 'four corners' motif would also appear in some biblical texts, such as Isaiah 11:12.[42]

The cosmography of the Earth is pictorially elucidated by the Babylonian Map of the World. Here, the city Babylon is near the Earth's center and it is on the Euphrates river. Other kingdoms and cities surround it. The world is flat and circular and it is surrounded by a bitter salt-water ocean. The north is covered by an enormous mountain range, akin to a wall. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh journeys past this mountain range to an area that can only be accessed by gods and other heroes.[43] Furthermore, the entire earth is represented as a continent surrounded by an Ocean (called marratu, or "salt-sea")[44] akin to Oceanus described by the poetry of Homer and Hesiod in early Greek cosmology, as well as the statement in the Bilingual Creation of the World by Marduk that Marduk created the first dry land surrounded by a cosmic sea.[45] The furthest and most remote parts of the earth were inhabited by fantastic creatures.[46]

Cosmic mountain[edit]

Further information: Mashu

According to iconographic and literary evidence, the cosmic mountain, known as Mashu, was thought to be located at or extend to both the westernmost and easternmost points of the earth, where the sun could rise and set respectively. As such, the model may be called a bi-polar model of diurnal solar movement. The gates for the rising and setting of the sun were also located at Mashu.[47] Some accounts have Mashu as a tree growing at the center of the earth with roots descending into the underworld and a peak reaching to heaven.[48] The cosmic mountain is also found in Egyptian cosmology, as Pyramid Text 1040c says that the mountain ranges on the eastern and western sides of the Nile act as the "two supports of the sky."[24]

Sun[edit]

The sun god (represented by the god Utu in Sumerian texts or Shamash in Akkadian texts) rises in the day and passes over the earth. Then, the sun god falls beneath the earth in the night and comes to a resting point. This resting point is sometimes localized to a designated structure, such as the chamber within a house in the Old Babylonian Prayer to the Gods of the Night. To complete the cycle, the sun comes out in the next morning. Likewise, the moon was thought to rest in the same facility when it was not visible.[49] These images result from anthropomorphizing the sun and other astral bodies also conceived as gods.[50] For the sun to exit beneath the earth, it had to cross the solid firmament: this was thought possible by the existence of opening ways or corridors in the firmament (variously illustrated as doors, windows or gates) that could temporarily open and close to allow astral bodies to pass across them. The firmament was conceived as a gateway, with the entry/exit point as the gates; other opening and closing mechanisms were also imagined in the firmament like bolts, bars, latches, and keys.[51] During the suns movement beneath the earth, into the netherworld, the sun would cease to flare. This enabled the netherworld to remain dark. But when it rose, it would flare up and again emit light.[52] This model of the course of the sun had an inconsistency that later models evolved to address. The issue was to understand how, if the sun came to a resting point beneath the earth, could it also travel beneath the earth the same distance under it that it was observed to cross during the day above it such that it would rise periodically from the east. One solution that some texts arrived at was to reject the idea that the sun had a resting point. Instead, it remained unceasing in its course.[53]

Overall, the sun god's activities in night according to Sumerian and Akkadian texts proceeds according to a regular and systematic series of events: (1) The western door of heaven opens (2) The sun passes through the door into the interior of heaven (3) Light falls below the western horizon (4) The sun engages in certain activities in the netherworld like judging the dead (5) The sun enters a house, called the White House (6) The sun god eats the evening meal (7) The sun god sleeps in the chamber agrun (8) The sun emerges from the chamber (9) The eastern door opens and the sun passes through as it rises.[54] In many ancient near eastern cultures, the underworld had a prominent place in descriptions of the sun journey, where the sun would carry out various roles including judgement related to the dead.[55]

In legend, many hero journeys followed the daily course of the sun god. These have been attributed to Gilgamesh, Odysseus, the Argonauts, Heracles and, in later periods, Alexander the Great.[56][57] In the Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh reaches the cosmic mountain Mashu, which is either two mountains or a single twin-peaked mountain. Mashu acts as the sun-gate, from where the sun and sets in its path to and from the netherworld. In some texts, the mountain is called the mountain of sunrise and sunset.[47] According to the Epic[58]:

The name of the mountain was Mashu. When [he] arrived at Mount Mashu, which daily guards the rising [of the sun,] – their tops [abut] the fabric of the heavens, their bases reach down to Hades – there were scorpion-men guarding its gate, whose terror was dread and glance was death, whose radiance was terrifying, enveloping the uplands – at both sunrise and sunset they guard the sun…

Another texts describing the relationship between the sun and the cosmic mountain reads[59]:

O Shamash, when you come forth from the great mountain, When you come forth from the great mountain, the mountain of the deep, When you come forth from the holy hill where destinies are ordained, When you [come forth] from the back of heaven to the junction point of heaven and earth…

A number of additional texts share descriptions like these.[60]

Stars and planets[edit]

Further information: Classical planet

Mesopotamian cosmology would differ from the practice of astronomy in terms of terminology: for astronomers, the word "firmament" was not used but instead "sky" to describe the domain in which the heavenly affairs were visible. The stars were located on the firmament, arranged by Marduk himself into constellations to depict the images of the gods. The fixation of these stars also organized the year into 12 months. Each month was marked by the rising of three stars along specified paths. The moon and zenith were also created. Creation and characterization of other phenomena, including lunar phases and an overall lunar scheme, precise paths and the rising and setting of the stars, stations of the planets, and more, occurred.[61][62][63] An alternative account of the creation of the heavenly bodies is offered in the Babyloniaca of Berossus, where Bel (Marduk) creates stars, sun, moon, and the five (known) planets; the planets here do not help guide the calendar (a lack of concern for the planets also shared in the Book of the Courses of the Heavenly Luminaries, a subsection of 1 Enoch).[64] Concern for the establishment of the calendar by the creation of heavenly bodies as visible signs is shared in at least seven other Mesopotamian texts. A Sumerian inscription of Kudur-Mabuk, for example, reads "The reliable god, who interchanges day and night, who establishes the month, and keeps the year intact." Another example is to be found in the Exaltation of Inanna.[65]

The word "star" (kakkabu) was inclusive to all celestial bodies, stars, constellations, and planets. A more specific concept for planets existed, however, to distinguish them from the stars: unlike the stars fixed into their location, the planets were observed to move. By the 3rd millennium BC, the planet Venus was identified as the astral form of the goddess Inanna (or Ishtar), and motifs such as the morning and evening star were applied to her. Jupiter became Marduk (hence the name "Marduk Star", also called Nibiru), Mercury was the "jumping one" (in reference to its comparatively fast motion and low visibility) associated with the gods Ninurta and Nabu, and Mars was the god of pestilence Nergal and thought to portend evil and death. Saturn was also sinister. The most obvious characteristic of the stars were their luminosity and their study for the purposes of divination, solving calendrical calculations, and predictions of the appearances of planets, led to the discovery of their periodic motion. From 600 BC onwards, the relative periodicity between them began to be studied.[66]

Sun God Tablet

Upper waters[edit]

Main article: Cosmic ocean

Above the firmament was a large, cosmic body of water which may be referred to as the cosmic ocean or celestial waters. In the Tablet of Shamash, the throne of the sun god Shamash is depicted as resting above the cosmic ocean. The waters are above the solid firmament that covers the sky.[67] Mesopotamian cosmology held that the upper waters were the waters of Tiamat, contained by Tiamat's stretched out skin.[63] Egyptian texts depict the sun god sailing across these upper waters. Some also convey that this body of water is the heavenly equivalent of the Nile River.[68]

Lower waters[edit]

Main article: Abzu

Both Babylonian and Israelite texts describe one of the divisions of the cosmos as the underworldly ocean. In Babylonian texts, this is coincided with the region/god Abzu.[69] In Sumerian mythology, this realm was created by Enki. It was also where Enki lived and ruled over. Due to the connection with Enki, the lower waters were associated with wisdom and incantational secret knowledge.[70] In Egyptian mythology, the personification of this subterranean body of water was instead Nu. The notion of a cosmic body of water below the Earth was inferred from the realization that much water used for irrigation came from under the ground, from springs, and that springs were not limited to any one part of the world. Therefore, a cosmic body of water acting as a common source for the water coming out of all these springs was conceived.[30]

Underworld[edit]

Main article: Ancient Mesopotamian underworld

The underworld, or the netherworld, was the lowest of all the regions, below Abzu. It was geographically in parallel with the plane of human existence, but was so low that both demons and gods could not descend to it. It was, however, inhabited by beings such as ghosts, demons, and local gods. The land was depicted as dark and distant: this is because it was the opposite of the human world and so did not have light, water, fields, and so forth.[71] According to KAR 307, line 37, Bel cast 600 Annunaki into the underworld. They were locked away there, unable to escape, analogous to the enemies of Zeus who were confined to the underworld (Tartarus) after their rebellion during the Titanomachy. During and after the Kassite period, Annunaki were largely depicted as underworld deities; a hymn to Nergal praises him as the "Controller of the underworld, Supervisor of the 600".[72]

Cosmogonies[edit]

Main themes[edit]

Origins of the cosmos[edit]

The world was thought to be created ex materia. That is, out of pre-existing and unformed, eternal matter. This is in contrast to the later notion of creation ex nihilo, which asserts that all the matter of the universe was created out of nothing. The primeval substance had always existed, was unformed, divine, and was envisioned as an immense, cosmic, chaotic mass of water (corresponding to the idea of an ocean). In the Mesopotamian theogonic process, the gods would be ultimately generated from this primeval matter, although a distinct process is found in the Hebrew Bible where God is initially distinct from the primeval matter. For the cosmos and the gods to ultimately emerge from this formless cosmic ocean, the idea emerged that it had to be separated into distinct parts and therefore be formed or organized. This event can be imagined of as the beginning of time. Furthermore, the process of the creation of the cosmos is coincident or equivalent to the beginning of the creation of new gods. In the 3rd millennium BC, the goddess Nammu was the one and singular representation of the original cosmic ocean. From the 2nd millennium BC onwards, this cosmic ocean was represented by two gods, Tiamat and Abzu who would be separated from each other to mark the cosmic beginning.[73]

Sumerian and Akkadian sources understand the matter of the primordial universe out of which the cosmos emerges in different ways. Sumerian thought distinguished between the inanimate matter that the cosmos was made of and the animate and living matter that permeated the gods and went on to be transmitted to humans. In Akkadian sources, the cosmos is originally alive and animate, but the deaths of Abzu (male deity of the fresh waters) and Tiamat (female sea goddess) give rise to inanimate matter, and all inanimate matter is derived from the dead remains of these deities.[74]

Origins of the gods[edit]

A core Mesopotamian mythology explaining the origins of many of the gods appears to have survived for over 2,000 years. The primeval ocean, represented by Nammu, contained Father Sky and Mother Earth inside of her.[75] The representation of Sky as male and Earth as female may derive from the analogy between the generative power of the male sperm and the rain that comes from the sky, which respectively fertilize the female to give rise to newborn life or the Earth to give rise to vegetation.[76] Sky and Earth are originally joined and are in union. As they are male and female, they inevitably reproduce and within them grows successive generations of gods that are known as the Enki-Ninki deities (whose name literally mean "Lord and Lady Eath"). Eventually, two important gods are born: Enlil ("Lord Air") and his elder sister Ninhursanga ("Lady of the Mountain Massif"). A consequence of the birth of Enlil was that the heaven and earth were separated from each other, and the primeval ocean was divided into the upper and lower waters. The Sky, now Anu, is capable of mating with deities other than Earth after no longer being joined to Earth. Anu mates with his mother, Nammu, and this leads to the birth of Enki who takes dominion over the lower waters. The siblings Enlil and Ninhursanga also mate to give birth to Nanna (also known as Sin), the moon god, and Ninurta, the warrior god. Nanna fathers Utu (known as Shamash in Akkadian texts), the sun god, and Inanna (Venus). At this point, all the main features of the cosmos had been generated.[75]

Separating heaven and earth[edit]

The idea that heaven and earth were originally joined and then separated is widespread in ancient near eastern cosmology, going back at least to the 3rd millennium BC, and appears not only in Sumerian and Akkadian mythology, but also Phoenician, Egyptian, and likely early Greek cosmology.[77] In these texts, the separation usually occurs as a product of the agency of the god Enlil or spontaneously.[78] One recovered Hittite text states that there was a time when they "severed the heaven from the earth with a cleaver", and an Egyptian text refers to "when the sky was separated from the earth" (Pyramid Text 1208c).[24] OIP 99 113 ii and 136 iii says Enlil separated Earth from Sky and separated Sky from Earth. Enkig and Ninmah 1–2 also says Sky and Earth were separated in the beginning. The introduction of Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Netherworld says that heaven is carried off from the earth by the sky god Anu to become the possession of the wind god Enlil.[76] Several other sources also present this idea.[79]

There are two strands of Mesopotamian creation myths regarding the original separation of the heavens and earth. The first, older one, is evinced from texts in the Sumerian language from the 3rd millennium BC and the first half of the 2nd millennium BC. In these sources, the heavens and Earth are separated from an original solid mass. In the younger tradition from Akkadian texts, such as the Enuma Elish, the separation occurs from an original water mass. The former usually has the leading gods of the Sumerian pantheon, the King of Heaven Anu and the King of Earth Enlil, separating the mass over a time-frame of "long days and nights", similar to the timeframe given in the Genesis creation narrative (six days and nights). Genesis also parallels another version of these stories where a primordial darkness pervades prior to the creation of light. The Sumerian texts do not mention the creation of the cosmic waters but it may be surmised that water was one of the primordial elements.[74]

Stretching out the heavens[edit]

The idiom of the heavens and earth being stretched out plays both a cultic and cosmic role in the Hebrew Bible where it appears repeatedly in the Book of Isaiah (40:22; 42:5; 44:24; 45:12; 48:13; 51:13, 16), with related expressions in the Book of Job (26:7) and the Psalms (104:2). One example reads "The one who stretched out the heavens like a curtain / And who spread them out like a tent to dwell in" (Is 40:22). The idiom is used in these texts to identify the creative element of Yahweh's activities and the expansion of the heavens signifies its vastness, acting as Yahweh's celestial shrine. In Psalmic tradition, the "stretching" of the heavens is analogous to the stretching out of a tent. The Hebrew verb for the "stretching" of the heavens is also the regular verb for "pitching" a tent. The heavens, in other words, may be depicted as a cosmic tent (a motif found in many ancient cultures[80][81]). This finds architectural analogy in descriptions of the tabernacle, which is itself a heavenly archetype, over which a tent is supposed to have been spread.[82] The phrase is frequently followed by an expression that God sits enthroned above and ruling the world, paralleling descriptions of God being seated in the Holy of Holies of the Tabernacle where he is stated to exercise rule over Israel.[83] Biblical references to stretching the heavens typically occur in conjunction with statements that God made or laid the foundations of the earth.[84]

Similar expressions may be found elsewhere in the ancient near east. A text from the 2nd millennium BC, the Ludlul Bēl Nēmeqi, says "Wherever the earth is laid, and the heavens are stretched out", though the text does not identify the creator of the cosmos.[85] The Enuma Elish also describes the phenomena, in IV.137–140[86]:

137 He split her into two like a dried fish:

138 One half of her he set up and stretched out as the heavens.

139 He stretched the skin and appointed a watch.

140 With the instruction not to let her waters escape.

In this text, Marduk takes the body of Tiamat, who he has killed, and stretches out Tiamat's skin to create the firmamental heavens which, in turn, comes to play the role of preventing the cosmic waters above the firmament from escaping and being unleashed onto the earth. Whereas the Masoretic Text of the Hebrew Bible states that Yahweh stretched heaven like a curtain in Psalm 104:2, the equivalent passage in the Septuagint instead uses the analogy of stretching out like "skin", which could represent a relic of Babylonian cosmology from the Enuma Elish. Nevertheless, the Hebrew Bible never identifies the material out of which the firmament was stretched.[87] Numerous theories about what the firmament was made of sprung up across ancient cultures.[88]

Main texts[edit]

Overview and limitations[edit]

The Hebrew Bible, especially in the Genesis creation narrative, undergirds known beliefs about biblical cosmology in ancient Israel and Judah. The cosmology of the other civilizations has fragmentarily survived in the form of cuneiform literature primarily in the languages of Sumerian and Akkadian, like the Enuma Elish.[4] A less abundant source of evidence comes from pictorial/iconographic representations, the most important example being the Babylonian Map of the World.[89]

A number of limitations exist regarding the ability to use the available sources to learn about ancient near eastern cosmology. The majority of known texts are administrative and economic in their nature, saying little about cosmology. Broad descriptions of the structure of the cosmos before the first millennium BC are unknown. As such, information about cosmographies in earlier periods depends on the degree to which information can be gleaned from the creation myths and etiologies known from that time period.[89]

Enuma Elish[edit]

Main article: Enūma Eliš

The Enuma Elish is the most famous Mesopotamian creation story and was widely known in among learned circles across Mesopotamia, influencing both art and ritual.[90] The story was, in many ways, an original work, and as such is not a general representative of ancient near eastern or even Babylonian cosmology as a whole, and its survival as the most complete creation account appears to be a product of it having been composed in the milieu of Babylonian literature that happened to survive and get discovered in the present day.[91] On the other hand, recent evidence suggests that in periods after its composition, it played an important role in Babylonian scribal education.[92] The story is preserved foremost in seven clay tablets discovered from the Library of Ashurbanipal in Nineveh. The creation myth seeks to describes how the god Marduk created the world from the body of the sea monster Tiamat after defeating her in battle, after which Marduk ascends to the top of the heavenly pantheon.[93][94] The creation account in this source is the earliest complete Mesopotamian creation account. Earlier cosmogonies must be reconstructed from disparate sources.[95]

The following is a synopsis of the account. The primordial universe is alive and animate, made of Abzu (male deity of the fresh waters) and Tiamat (female sea goddess of salt waters). The waters mingle to create the next generations of deities. However, the younger gods are noisy and this noise eventually incenses Abzu so much that he tries to kill them. In trying to do so, however, he is killed by Ea (Akkadian equivalent of the Sumerian Enki). This eventually leads to a battle between Tiamat and the son of Ea, Marduk. Marduk kills Tiamat and fashions the cosmos, including the heavens and Earth, from Tiamat's corpse. Tiamat's breasts are used to make the mountains and Tiamat's eyes are used to open the sources of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Parts of the watery body were used to create parts of the world including its wind, rain, mist, and rivers. Marduk forms the heavenly bodies including the sun, moon, and stars to produce periodic astral activity that is the basis for the calendar, before finally setting up the cosmic capital at Babylon. Marduk attains universal kingship and the Tablet of Destinies. Tiamat's helper Kingu is also slain and his life force is used to animate the first human beings.[74][96]

The Enuma Elish shares continuity with earlier traditions like in the Myth of Anzû. In both, a dragon (Anzu or Tiamat) steals the Tablet of Destinies from Enlil, the chief god and in response, the chief god looks for someone to slay the dragon. Then, in both stories, a champion among the gods is chosen to fight the dragon (Ninurta or Marduk) after two or three others before them reject the offer to fight. The champion wins, after which he is acclaimed and given many names. The Enuma Elish may have also drawn from the myth of the Ninurta and the dragon Kur. The dragon is formerly responsible for holding up the primordial waters. Upon being killed, the waters begin to rise; this problem is solved by Ninurta heaping stones upon them until the waters are held back. Another myth involves Enlil fighting against the sea monster Labbu. As in the Enuma Elish, Enlil only fights when another god fails to. Both Enlil in his fight against Labbu and Marduk in his fight against Tiamat use the wind and storm in order to defeat their enemy. Traditions of the combat between Marduk and Tiamat may also be rooted in stories of the battle between the thunderstorm god Baal and the sea god Yam. One of the most significant differences between the Enuma Elish and earlier creation myths is in its exaltation of Marduk as the highest god. In prior myths, Ea was the chief god and creator of mankind.[93]

Genesis creation narrative[edit]

Main article: Genesis creation narrative

The Genesis creation narrative, composed sometime between the 7th and 6th centuries BC and spanning Gen 1:1–2:3, corresponds to a one-week (or seven-day) period. In each of the first three days there is an act of division: day one divides the darkness from light, day two the "waters above" from the "waters below", and day three the sea from the land. In each of the next three days these divisions are populated: day four populates the darkness and light with "greater light" (Sun), "lesser light" (Moon) and stars; day five populates seas and skies with fish and fowl; and finally land-based creatures and mankind populate the land.[97] According to Victor Hamilton, most scholars agree that the choice of "greater light" and "lesser light", rather than the more explicit "Sun" and "Moon", is anti-mythological rhetoric intended to contradict widespread contemporary beliefs that the Sun and the Moon were deities themselves.[98]

Babyloniaca of Berossus[edit]

Main article: Babyloniaca (Berossus)

The first book of the Babyloniaca of the Babylonian priest Berossus, composed in the third century BC, offers a variant (or, perhaps, an interpretation) of the cosmogony of the Enuma Elish. This work is not extant but survives in later quotations and abridgements. Berossus' account begins with a primeval ocean. Unlike in the Enuma Elish, where sea monsters are generated for combat with other gods, in Berossus' account, they emerge by spontaneous generation and are described in a different manner to the 11 monsters of the Enuma Elish, as it expands beyond the purely mythical creatures of that account in a potential case of influence from Greek zoology.[99] The fragments of Berossus by Syncellus and the Armenian of how he described his cosmogony are as follows[100][101]:

Syncellus: There was a time, he says, when everything was [darkness and] water and that in it fabulous beings with peculiar forms came to life. For men with two wings were born and some with four wings and two faces, having one body and two heads, male and female, and double genitalia, male and female ... [a list of monstrous beings follows]. Over all these a woman ruled named Omorka. This means in Chaldaean Thalatth, in Greek it is translated as ‘Sea’ (Thalassa) ... When everything was arranged in this way, Belos rose up and split the woman in two. Of one half of her he made earth, of the other half sky; and he destroyed all creatures in her ... For when everything was moist, and creatures had come into being in it, this god took off his own head and the other gods mixed the blood that flowed out with earth and formed men. For this reason they are intelligent and share in divine wisdom. Belos, whom they translate as Zeus, cut the darkness in half and separated earth and sky from each other and ordered the universe. The creatures could not endure the power of the light and were destroyed. When Belos saw the land empty and barren, he ordered one of the gods to cut off his own head and to mix the blood that flowed out with earth and to form men and wild animals that were capable of enduring the air. Belos also completed the stars and the sun and the moon and the five planets. Alexander Polyhistor says that Berossus asserts these things in his first book.

Syncellus: They say that in the beginning all was water, which was called Sea (Thalassa). Bel made this one by assigning a place to each, and he surrounded Babylon with a wall.

Armenian: All, he said, was from the start water, which was called Sea. And Bel placed limits on them (the waters) and assigned a place to each, allocated their lands, and fortified Babylon with an enclosing wall.

The conclusion of the account states that Belus then created the stars, sun, moon, and five planets. The account of Berossus agrees largely with the Enuma Elish, such as its reference to the splitting of the woman whose halves are used to create heaven and earth, but also contain a number of differences, such as the statement about allegorical exegesis, the self-decapitation of Belus in order to create humans, and the statement that it is the divine blood which has made humans intelligent. Some debate has ensued about which elements of these may or may not go back to the original account of Berossus.[102] Some of the information Berossus got for his account of the creation myth may have come from the Enuma Elish and the Babylonian Dynastic Chronicle.[103]

Other cosmogonies[edit]

Additional minor texts also present varying cosmogonical details. The Bilingual Creation of the World by Marduk describes the construction of Earth as a raft over the cosmic waters by Marduk. An Akkadian text called The Worm describes a series of creation events: first Heaven creates Earth, Earth creates the Rivers, and eventually, the worm is created at the end of the series and it goes to live in the root of the tooth that is removed during surgery.[74]

Influence[edit]

Survival[edit]

Copies from the Sippar Library indicate the Enuma Elish was copied into Seleucid times. One Hellenistic-era Babylonian priest, Berossus, wrote a Greek text about Mesopotamian traditions called the Babyloniaca (History of Babylon). The text survives mainly in fragments, especially by quotations in Eusebius in the fourth-century. The first book contains an account of Babylonian cosmology and, though concise, contains a number of echoes of the Enuma Elish. The creation account of Berossus is attributed to the divine messenger Oannes in the period after the global flood and is derivative of the Enuma Elish but also has significant variants to it.[104][105] Babylonian cosmology also received treatments by the lost works of Alexander Polyhistor and Abydenus. The last known evidence for reception of the Enuma Elish is in the writings of Damascius (462–538), who had a well-informed source.[105] As such, some learned circles in late antiquity continued to know the Enuma Elish.[106] Echoes of Mesopotamian cosmology continue into the 11th century.[107]

Zoroastrian cosmology[edit]

Main article: Zoroastrian cosmology

The earliest Zoroastrian sources describe a tripartite sky, with an upper heaven where the sun exists, a middle heaven where the moon exists, and a lower heaven where the stars exist and are fixed. Significant work has been done on comparing this cosmography to ones present in Mesopotamian, Greek, and Indian parallels. In light of evidence which has emerged in recent decades, the present view is that this idea entered into Zoroastrian thought through Mesopotamian channels of influence.[108][109] Another influence is that the name that one of the planets took on in Middle Persian literature, Kēwān (for Saturn), was derived from the Akkadian language.[110]

Early Greek cosmology[edit]

Main article: Early Greek cosmology

Early Greek cosmology was closely related to the broader domain of ancient near eastern cosmology, as is reflected by works from the 8th century BC such as the Theogony of Hesiod and the works of Homer, and prior to the emergence of an independent and systematic Hellenistic system of cosmology that was represented by figures such as Aristotle and the astronomer Ptolemy, starting with the Ionian School of philosophy at the city of Miletus from the 6th to 4th centuries BC. In early Greek cosmology, the Earth was conceived of as being flat, encircled by a cosmic ocean known as Oceanus, and that heaven was a solid firmament held above the Earth by pillars.[111] Many believe that a Hurro-Hittite work from the 13th century BC, the Song of Emergence (CTH 344), was directly used by Hesiod on the basis of extensive similarities between their accounts.[112]

Jewish cosmology[edit]

Main article: Jewish cosmology

The primary influence that ancient near eastern cosmology continued to have on subsequent civilizations and traditions was by the form it had taken on in the Genesis creation narrative. For example, rabbinic cosmology as described by the authors of rabbinic literature borrowed its fundamental grasp of the cosmos from ancient near eastern cosmology.[113]

Christian cosmology[edit]

Further information: Hexaemeron

Christian texts were familiar with ancient near eastern cosmology insofar as it had shaped the Genesis creation narrative. A genre of literature emerged among Jews and Christians dedicated to the composition of texts commenting precisely on this narrative to understand the cosmos and its origins: these works are called Hexaemeron.[114] The first extant example is the De opificio mundi ("On the Creation of the World") by the first-century Jewish philosopher Philo of Alexandria. Philo preferred an allegorical form of exegesis, in line with that of the School of Alexandria, and so was partial to a Hellenistic cosmology as opposed to an ancient near eastern one. In the late fourth century, the Hexaemeral genre was revived and popularized by the Hexaemeron of Basil of Caesarea, who composed his Hexaemeron in 378, which subsequently inspired numerous works including among Basil's own contemporaries. Basil was much more literal in his interpretation than Philo, closer instead to the exegesis of the School of Antioch. Christian authors would heavily dispute the correct degree of literal or allegorical exegesis in future writings. Among Syrian authors, Jacob of Serugh was the first to produce his own Hexaemeron in the early sixth century, and he was followed later by Jacob of Edessa's Hexaemeron in the first years of the eighth century. The most literal approach was that of the Christian Topography by Cosmas Indicopleustes, which presented a cosmography very similar to the traditional Mesopotamian one, but in turn, John Philoponus wrote a harsh rebuttal to Cosmas in his own De opificio mundi.[115][116] Syrian Christian texts also shared topographical features like the cosmic ocean surrounding the earth.[117]

Mosaic of Alexander the Great from Pompei

Cosmographies were described in works other than those of the Hexaemeral genre. For example, in the genre of novels, the Alexander Romance would portray a mythologized picture of the journeys and conquests of Alexander the Great, ultimately inspired by the Epic of Gilgamesh. The influence is evident in the texts cosmography, as Alexander reaches an outer ocean circumscribing the Earth which cannot be passed.[118] Both in the Alexander Romance, and in later texts like the Syriac Alexander Legend (Neshana), Alexander journeys to the ends of the Earth which is surrounded by an ocean. Unlike in the story of Gilgamesh, however, this ocean is an unpassable boundary that marks the extent to which Alexander can go.[119] The Neshana also aligns with a Mesopotamian cosmography in its description of the path of the sun: as the sun sets in the west, it passes through a gateway in the firmament, cycles to the other side of the earth, and rises in the east in its passage through another celestial gateway. Alexander, like Gilgamesh, follows the path of the sun during his journey. These elements of Alexander's journey are also described as part of the journey of Dhu al-Qarnayn in the Quran.[120] Gilgamesh's journey takes him to a great cosmic mountain known as Mashu; likewise, Alexander reaches a cosmic mountain known as Musas.[121] The cosmography depicted in this text greatly resembles that outlined by the Babylonian Map of the World.[122]

Islamic cosmology[edit]

The Quran conceives of the primary elements of the ancient near eastern cosmography, such as the division of the cosmos into the heavens and the Earth, a solid firmament, upper waters, a flat Earth, and seven heavens.[123] As with rabbinic cosmology, however, these elements were not directly transmitted from ancient near eastern civilization. Instead, work in the field of Quranic studies has identified the primary historical context for the reception of these ideas to have been in the Christian and Jewish cosmologies of late antiquity.[124] This conception of the cosmos was carried on into the traditionalist cosmologies that were held in the caliphate, though with a few nuances that appear to have emerged.[125]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

Citations[edit]

  1. ^ George 2016.
  2. ^ Horowitz 1998, p. xii–xiii.
  3. ^ Hezser 2023, p. 11.
  4. ^ a b Simon-Shoshan 2008, p. 70.
  5. ^ a b Panaino 2019, p. 16–24.
  6. ^ a b Seely 1997.
  7. ^ Keyser 2020, p. 18–19.
  8. ^ Lambert 2016, p. 120.
  9. ^ Tamtik 2007, p. 65–66.
  10. ^ De Almeida 2021, p. 392.
  11. ^ Rochberg 2008, p. 39–40.
  12. ^ Al-Jallad 2015.
  13. ^ Rochberg 2020, p. 306.
  14. ^ Rochberg 2008, p. 46.
  15. ^ Horowitz 1998, p. xiii.
  16. ^ Mander 2006, p. 204–207.
  17. ^ Horowitz 1998, p. 9–19.
  18. ^ Rochberg 2020, p. 311–313.
  19. ^ Lambert 2016, p. 118–119.
  20. ^ Rochberg 2008, p. 43–44.
  21. ^ Horowitz 1998, p. 3–5.
  22. ^ Panaino 2019, p. 93–96.
  23. ^ Horowitz 1998, p. 8–9, 13–14.
  24. ^ a b c Seely 1991, p. 233.
  25. ^ Johnson 1999, p. 13.
  26. ^ Wright 2000, p. 41.
  27. ^ Wright 2000, p. 54–55.
  28. ^ Rochberg 2008, p. 44–45.
  29. ^ Rochberg 2008, p. 45.
  30. ^ a b Lambert 2016, p. 111.
  31. ^ Grosu 2019, p. 53–54.
  32. ^ Seely 1991.
  33. ^ Seely 1992.
  34. ^ Kulik 2019, p. 243.
  35. ^ Wright 2000, p. 19, 33–34.
  36. ^ Wright 2000, p. 22.
  37. ^ Wright 2000, p. 43–44.
  38. ^ Wright 2000, p. 6–7.
  39. ^ Wright 2000, p. 7–8.
  40. ^ Wright 2000, p. 8–10.
  41. ^ Wright 2000, p. 10–16.
  42. ^ Hannam 2023, p. 17–18.
  43. ^ Hannam 2023, p. 19.
  44. ^ Horowitz 1988.
  45. ^ Horowitz 1998, p. 41.
  46. ^ Keyser 2020, p. 11.
  47. ^ a b Bilic 2022, p. 9–11.
  48. ^ Keyser 2020, p. 10.
  49. ^ Heimpel 1986, p. 128–132.
  50. ^ Heimpel 1986, p. 147–148.
  51. ^ Heimpel 1986, p. 132–140.
  52. ^ Heimpel 1986, p. 142.
  53. ^ Heimpel 1986, p. 147.
  54. ^ Heimpel 1986, p. 150.
  55. ^ Sedlacek 2015.
  56. ^ Bilic 2022.
  57. ^ Van der Sluijs 2020.
  58. ^ Sedlacek 2015, p. 196–197.
  59. ^ Sedlacek 2015, p. 191–192.
  60. ^ Sedlacek 2015, p. 199–200.
  61. ^ Lambert 2013, p. 180–192.
  62. ^ Rochberg 2008, p. 48–50.
  63. ^ a b Rochberg 2020, p. 313.
  64. ^ Lambert 2013, p. 172.
  65. ^ Lambert 2013, p. 172–180.
  66. ^ Rochberg 2020, p. 315–317.
  67. ^ Wright 2000, p. 36–37.
  68. ^ Wright 2000, p. 10–13.
  69. ^ Wright 2000, p. 53–54.
  70. ^ Rochberg 2020, p. 314.
  71. ^ Rochberg 2020, p. 314–315.
  72. ^ Horowitz 1998, p. 18–19.
  73. ^ De Almeida 2021.
  74. ^ a b c d Horowitz 2015.
  75. ^ a b George 2021, p. 196–197.
  76. ^ a b Rochberg 2020, p. 306–307.
  77. ^ Lambert 2013, p. 169–171.
  78. ^ George 2021, p. 194.
  79. ^ George 2021, p. 192, 194.
  80. ^ Habel 1972, p. 428.
  81. ^ Klein 2006.
  82. ^ Habel 1972.
  83. ^ Kim 2020, p. 38–39.
  84. ^ Kim 2020, p. 39–40.
  85. ^ Kim 2020, p. 42.
  86. ^ Kim 2020, p. 43.
  87. ^ Kim 2020, p. 44–45.
  88. ^ Rappenglück 2004.
  89. ^ a b Lambert 2016, p. 108–110.
  90. ^ Talon 2001, p. 268–269.
  91. ^ Lambert 2013, p. 464–465.
  92. ^ George 2021, p. 187–188.
  93. ^ a b Tamtik 2007.
  94. ^ Rochberg 2008, p. 41–42.
  95. ^ George 2016, p. 8.
  96. ^ Rochberg 2020, p. 307–308.
  97. ^ Ruiten 2000, pp. 9–10.
  98. ^ Hamilton 1990, p. 127.
  99. ^ Beaulieu 2021, p. 152–156.
  100. ^ Beaulieu 2021, p. 156.
  101. ^ George 2021, p. 186–187.
  102. ^ Beaulieu 2021, p. 157–161.
  103. ^ George 2021, p. 187–189.
  104. ^ Beaulieu 2021, p. 152.
  105. ^ a b Talon 2001, p. 270–274.
  106. ^ Decharneux 2023, p. 116n381.
  107. ^ Talon 2001, p. 275–278.
  108. ^ Panaino 1995, p. 218–221.
  109. ^ Panaino 2019, p. 97–98.
  110. ^ Panaino 2019, p. 142.
  111. ^ Simon-Shoshan 2008, p. 70–71.
  112. ^ Kelly 2021.
  113. ^ Simon-Shoshan 2008, p. 69, 72.
  114. ^ Robbins 1912.
  115. ^ Kochańczyk-Bonińska 2016.
  116. ^ Tumara 2024.
  117. ^ Tesei 2015, p. 24–25.
  118. ^ Debié 2024, Chapter 3 § Une cosmographie mésopotamienne.
  119. ^ Debié 2024, Chapter 3 § La mer morte ou fétide : l’océan qui entoure le monde.
  120. ^ Debié 2024, Chapter 3 § Le chemin du soleil et les portes du ciel.
  121. ^ Debié 2024, Chapter 3 § Le mont Mashu.
  122. ^ Debié 2024, Chapter 3 § La carte babylonienne du monde et la carte d’Alexandre.
  123. ^ Tabatabaʾi & Mirsadri 2016.
  124. ^ Decharneux 2023.
  125. ^ Anchassi 2022, p. 854–861.

Sources[edit]

Further reading[edit]

  • Assman, Jan. The Search for God in Ancient Egypt, Cornell University Press, 2001, pp. 53–82.
  • Dalley, Myths from Mesopotamia: Creation, the Flood, Gilgamesh, and Others, Oxford University Press, 1998.
  • George, A. Babylonian Topographical Texts, Peeters, 1992.
  • Hunger, Hermann, and John Steele, The Babylonian Astronomical Compendium MUL.APIN, Routledge, 2018.
  • Jacobsen, Thorkild. "The Cosmos as a State" in The Intellectual Adventure of Ancient Man: An Essay of Speculative Thought in the Ancient Near East, University of Chicago Press, 1977.
  • Lambert, Wilfred. "Mesopotamian Creation Stories" in Imagining Creation, Brill, 2008, pp. 15–59.
  • Lisman, Jan. Cosmogony, theogony and anthropogeny in Sumerian texts, 2013.
  • Sjöberg, Å. "In the beginning" in Riches Hidden in Secret Places: Ancient Near Eastern Studies in Memory of Thorkild Jacobsen, Eisenbrauns, 2002, pp. 229–247.
  • Wiggermann, F. "Mythological foundations of nature" in Natural Phenomena: Their Meaning, Depiction and Description in the Ancient Near East, 1992.
  • Zago, Silvia. A Journey through the Beyond: The Development of the Concept of Duat and Related, Lockwood Press, 2022.

External links[edit]

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