Comparing Sumerian

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Comparing Sumerian
Egyptian Religion
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Religion

• 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 mans attempt to answer the
  fundamental questions of life.

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Sumerian Egyptian Religion

• Five Aspects
• Cosmology
• Worship Forms
• Deities
• Practice
• Mythology

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Cosmology

• What is Cosmology?
• Cosmology is what people believe about the nature
  of the universe and reality in which they live.

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Sumerian Cosmology

• 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.

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Sumerian Cosmology

• 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.

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Sumerian Cosmology

• 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.

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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.

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Sumerian Cosmology Afterlife

• 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.

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Sumerian Cosmology Afterlife

• The Sumerians believed extensively in a spiritual
  world, filled with both gods and demons.

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Egyptian Cosmology

• The Egyptians viewed the components of reality as
  separate gods and goddesses.

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Egyptian Cosmology

• 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.

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Egyptian Cosmology

• 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.)

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Egyptian Proverbs

• 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

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Egyptian Cosmology Afterlife

• 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.

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Egyptian Cosmology Afterlife

• 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
  persons 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.

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Egyptian Cosmology Afterlife

• Weighing of the Heart

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Worship Forms

• The question we must ask ourselves
• How do a particular group of people express
  worship and adoration of the divine?

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Hymns

• 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)

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Sumerian Hymn to Utu

• 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
  

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Egyptian Hymn to Ra

• 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.

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Deities

• By studying what a culture considers to be
  divine, one can gain insights into its values and
  world-view.

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Sumerian Egyptian Deities

• 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

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Sumerian Egyptian Deities Utu/Ra

• 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.

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Sumerian Egyptian Deities Utu/Ra

• 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.

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Sumerian Egyptian Deities Enlil/Shu

• 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.

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Sumerian Egyptian Deities Enlil/Shu

• 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.

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Sumerian Egyptian Deities Dumuzi/Osiris

• Dumuzi was a Sumerian fertility-god.
• The Sumerians believed that he was married to
  Inanna, the goddess of love.
• Mesopotamian religious texts describe Dumuzis
  death at the hands of demons from the underworld.
  (Explanation of seasonal cycles)
• Dumuzi is temporarily resurrected by
• his wife Inanna

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Sumerian Egyptian Deities Dumuzi/Osiris

• 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.

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The practice of the Sumerian Relgion

• 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.

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The practice of the Egyptian Relgion

• 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 Maat (world-order).
• Individuals were believed to be judged, following
  death, according to Maat.

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Mythology

• 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)