Mesopotamian Religion

The practice of a king appointing his daughter as the High Priestess and consort of an important male deity arose independently in the Ancient Near East and Egypt. In Mesopotamia, the prime example of such an appointee was the EN-priestess of Nanna (EPN), spouse of the moon-god Nanna/Sin at Ur; in Egypt, its most important embodiment was the God's Wife of Amun (GWA), consort of the creator-god Amun(-Re) at Thebes. Both institutions operated – with interruptions and periods of uncertainty – for about a millennium (Ur, ca. 2288-1104 BCE; Thebes, ca. 1552-525 BCE). The office of EPN began strongly, with a peak period that lasted ca. 525 years, whereas the GWA's heyday came at the end of its trajectory and lasted only half as long (ca. 265 years). In both cases, the incumbents were powerful royal figures who served as spiritual and economic leaders of their communities. The cultic roles of the EPN and GWA were similar, and the "god's wife" role of both has attracted similar academic controversies over their sexual, marital and maternal status. This paper, which provides the first systematic comparison of the two institutions, focuses on comparing the two offices in their respective periods of peak strength. The analysis reveals that the High Priestesses were typically political appointments made in turbulent times, often to help the king secure control over a remote region and/or rival institution. As spiritual leaders, the incumbents were often instrumental in integrating distinct cultural or ethnic groups within their respective countries, thereby promoting the royal agenda of national unity. Despite social and political uncertainties, many of the High Priestesses managed long incumbencies (EPN typically 30-40 yrs, GWA 40-65 yrs), their tenures thereby spanning multiple kings and often dynasties as well (e.g., Enanatuma of Isin served long into the succeeding dynasty of Isin's traditional enemy, Larsa). Both offices were collaborative institutions in which the incumbent was potentially assisted by a novice/heiress and perhaps also a retiree; for the GWAs in particular, the resulting "college" often required long-term collaboration between women of different ethnicities (possibly 25+ years for the Libyan/Nubian changeover, and probably 2-15 years for the Nubian/Saite one). For both types of High Priestess, the long incumbencies and the collaborative nature of their institutions combined to provide stability and continuity in their respective countries.

It is now firmly established that Sargon II's brother Sīn-aḫu-uṣur was also his vizier (sukkallu). He was the addressee of many letters written by the subjects of the Empire. He appears on a number of contemporary documents. The present study demonstrates that the correspondence of Sargon's brother and vizier, together with some historical documents, show that Sīn-aḫu-uṣur was ruling Babylonia on behalf of his brother, the king. The paper will analyse the spheres of the king's brother's involvement in the state affairs. The article investigates the extraordinary status and functions of the sukkallu of Sargon, who restored the grandeur of this office based on the Middle Assyrian precedent especially for his brother. The author further explores Ḫarrān as the seat of the collateral royal family members and the role of the precedent of the Middle Assyrian dynasty of sukkallus, the kings of ḪaniGALbat, 2) in the ideology of the Sargonids. Lastly, I will argue that the relationship between Sargon and Sīn-aḫu-uṣur served a model for Esarhaddon in his division of power between his two sons and heirs, Assurba-nipal and Šamaš-šumu-ukīn.

Disgusted with ISIS, some Kurds turned away from Islam following the fall of Mosul in 2014. Many became atheists, while others sought comfort in Zoroastrianism. Zoroastrianism, according to converts, was the “original” religion of the Kurds before they embraced Islam. In 2015, two Zoroastrian centers opened in Sulaimani, both of which are recognized by the Kurdish Regional Government in northern Iraq. Notably, neither has tried to recreate Zoroastrianism the way it is currently and has been historically practiced in Iran and South Asia. Instead, they have created their own versions of Zoroastrianism, which is nationalist, postmodern, and liberal. Kurdish Zoroastrians argue that the reason Kurds are “backward” is Islam. They seek to rectify the present situation through a Kurdish “authenticated” and “original” form of Zoroastrianism. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork at these two centers, the present article examines this new religious movement in Sulaimani, an important city in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq. It analyses the rise and distinctiveness of Kurdish Zoroastrianism looking at how Zoroastrian Kurds articulate their views on Islam, women’s rights, human rights, and Kurdish independence.

Diversos textos nos muestran a la Música como una realidad especialmente considerada en Mesopotamia, aunque ninguno de esos textos nos dice por qué tenía esa importancia. No obstante, un análisis del relato sobre la construcción del Templo de Ninĝirsu, contenido en los Cilindros de Gudea, podría indicarnos que la importancia de la Música residiría en definir a las divinidades como gobernantes sabios y prudentes del Universo, importante conducta a la hora de mantener la tan ansiada estabilidad del Universo en Mesopotamia.

Several texts show the Music as a specially considered reality in Mesopotamia, but none of those texts say why the Music had this importance. However, an analysis of the tale about the building of Ninĝirsu’s Temple, contained in the Cylinders of Gudea, could indicate us that the Music was important because it defined to the deities as wise and prudent governors of the Universe, an important conduct in order to maintain the so eagered Universal stability in Mesopotamia.

This article presents an edition of three Old Babylonian literary texts relating to the goddess Nanaya: A new edition of the well-known, but difficult hymn VS 10, 215, and the editio princeps of two fragmentary texts UET 6/2, 404 (hymn) and UET 6/3, 889 (ritual? and hymnic section).

The present work aims at reexamining the evidence related to a group of entities usually known as mārāt Ani " daughters of Anu " , who act frequently in second and first-millennium Mesopotamian magical texts. On the basis of a new analysis of their action in a recently published witness, CUSAS 10.11, and by means of the typological organization of their occurrence in magical cuneiform literature, it is intended to both shed light on the motive's variability throughout the times and to propose a reconstruction of the evolution of the features of this group of divine beings.