• Religions of Man – Huston Smith
• All people have a sense that something
is not quite right with the world.
• Something is missing, there is a void in
life.
• Religion is man’s attempt to answer the
fundamental questions of life.
Five Aspects:
1) Cosmology
2) Worship Forms
3) Deities
4) Practice
5) Mythology
• What is “Cosmology”?
• Cosmology is what people believe
about the nature of the universe
and reality in which they live.
• To the Sumerians, the earth was a
flat round disk.
• Over this disk, like an inverted
bowl was heaven.
• The bowl of heaven was thought to
be made of tin.
• They believed that the sun, moon, and
stars were made of glowing air.
• The sun visited the underworld every
night, but the moon only went there
once a month.
• This is how the Sumerians explained the
universe and the cycles of nature.
• The Sumerians maintained a rather
pessimistic world-view.
• They felt that the world was unpredictable
and that they were at the mercy of the gods.
• Some historians believe that this sense of
pessimism that the Sumerians felt, may have
originated in the unpredictable flooding of the
Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.
• This view is reflected in many Sumerian
proverbs.
“The destruction is from his own personal
god; he knows no savior.”
“Wealth is hard to come by, but poverty is
always at hand.”
“He who drinks too much beer must drink
water.”
• The Sumerians did not have a very
developed concept of afterlife.
• The Sumerians believed that
regardless of what kind of life a
person lived, everyone would end
up in a shadowy underworld where
the dead would eat clay and dust.
• The Sumerians believed
extensively in a spiritual world,
filled with both gods and demons.
• The Egyptians viewed the
components of reality as separate
gods and goddesses.
• The dome of the starry night sky
was believed to be a goddess, Nut.
• The earth that stretched out below
her was the god, Geb.
• In contrast with the Sumerians, the
Egyptians maintained a rather
optimistic world view.
• Some scholars believe that this was due
to the predictable, and life giving, flood
cycle of the Nile River.
• Another contributing factor could be the
natural barriers that protected Egyptian
civilization from invasion. (Natural
barriers included deserts, cataracts, and
bodies of water.)
• Dress-up a stick and you get a doll.
• If your friend is like honey, then
don't lick all of it!
• The skilful spinster spins with the
leg of a donkey
• The Egyptians had a very
developed concept of Afterlife.
• During the Old Kingdom, only the
Pharaoh had the possibility of
achieving an afterlife.
• Later, the possibility was extended
to common people.
• The Egyptians believed that a person
had to pass a test known as “Weighing
of the Heart” before entry to the
Afterlife was granted.
• The Afterlife was a glorified version of a
person’s actual life.
• Much of the information pertaining to
Egyptian views of the Afterlife come
from the Book of the Dead, Coffin Texts,
and Pyramid Texts.
• Weighing of the Heart
• The question we must ask
ourselves:
• How do a particular group of
people express worship and
adoration of the divine?
• Both the Sumerians and Egyptians
wrote songs/poems of praise to
their deities.
• Hymn to Utu (Sumerian sun-god)
• Hymn to Ra (Egyptian sun-god)
• At your place of calling upon Utu, at
your oven bringing bread to eat, on your
ziqqurat, a magnificent shrine
stretching toward
• heaven, at your great oven rivalling the
great banqueting hall, your prince, the
prince of heaven and earth ...... can
never be changed,
• the ......, the creator, the ......, the wise
one ……
• Homage to thee, O thou who dwellest in
thy Boat. Thou rollest on,
• thou rollest on, thou sendest forth light,
thou sendest forth light. Thou decreest
rejoicing for [every] man for millions of
years
• unto those who love him. Thou givest
[thy] face to the Hememet spirits, thou
god Khepera who dwellest in thy Boat.
Thou hast
• overthrown the Fiend Aapep.
• By studying what a culture
considers to be divine, one can
gain insights into its values and
world-view.
• There exist some similarities among
Sumerian & Egyptian deities.
• Utu / Ra
sun-gods
• Enlil / Shu
air-gods
• Dumuzi / Osiris
fertility-gods
• Inanna / Isis
fertility/love/magic goddesses
• Utu was the Sumerian god of the
sun.
• The Sumerians believed that every
evening he descended to the
underworld to judge the fate of the
dead.
• Ra was the Egyptian sun-god.
• Many Egyptians believed that Ra
was responsible for creation.
• Most Egyptians believed that Ra
sailed across the sky in his barge,
only to enter the underworld
(Duat) at sunset.
• Enlil was the Sumerian air-god.
• The Sumerians believed that Enlil
was responsible for the creation of
life.
• They believed that Enlil separated
the sky and the earth to make
room for life.
• Shu was the Egyptian god of air.
• The Egyptians believed that Shu
separated Nut (sky goddess) from
Geb (earth-god) to life on earth
possible.
• Dumuzi was a Sumerian fertility-god.
• The Sumerians believed that he was married to
Inanna, the goddess of love.
• Mesopotamian religious texts describe
Dumuzi’s death at the hands of demons from
the underworld. (Explanation of seasonal
cycles)
• Dumuzi is temporarily resurrected by
his wife Inanna
• Osiris was the Egyptian god of the
underworld and fertility.
• His wife was Isis, the goddess of magic
and fertility.
• Osiris was murdered by his evil brother
Set.
• Later, he was resurrected by Isis, but
remained in the underworld.
• Sumerian and Egyptian religion differed
in practice.
• The Sumerian religion was based on
ritual.
• If the proper rituals and festivals were
observed, then the gods would be
appeased.
• If not, the gods might unleash their
wrath in the form of war, floods, plague,
or personal misfortune.
• The Egyptian religion was ritualistic, but
also ethical.
• Following the proper rituals was not
enough to ensure a happy afterlife,
ethical living was also required.
• Even pharaohs were expected to follow
the principles of Ma’at (world-order).
• Individuals were believed to be judged,
following death, according to Ma’at.
• Many Sumerian and Egyptian myths
bear some similarity.
• Myth of Enlil and the creation of life.
• Myth of Shu and the separation of sky
and earth
• Myth of Dumuzi (Fertility and
Resurrection)
• Myth of Osiris (Resurrection)