• 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) Cosmology2) Worship Forms3) Deities4) Practice5) 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)