Religion and Humanity in Mesopotamian Myth and Epic

Review of the Literature
The study of humanity and religion in Mesopotamian literature encompasses several distinct 
areas of specialization in the general field of Assyriology. The study of Mesopotamian religion 
began in the late 19th century. The obscurity of the cuneiform sources and difficulties involved in 
reading Sumerian and Akkadian were serious obstacles to initial efforts to interpret 
Mesopotamian literature, and difficulties involving the reading and interpretation of cuneiform 
languages and the fragmentary (yet extensive) nature of the evidence still exist in the present 
day.
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The modern analysis of Mesopotamian myth and religion has been heavily influenced by two 
dominant historiographical traditions linking myths with ritual. These traditions are the Myth 
and Ritual school of theory, most famously associated with Samuel Hooke, and Mircea Eliade’s 
Myth of Eternal Return.
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 Although both theories have fallen out of favor, the stigmatism of 
connecting myth with ritual has lingered to the present day and continues to present some 
challenges to the development of the study of Mesopotamian myth and religion.
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Religion and Humanity in Mesopotamian Myth and Epic
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Despite translational difficulties and the influence of historiographical traditions, much 
productive work has been done in the modern studies of Mesopotamian religion and literature. 
Important commentaries on epic texts (such as Andrew George’s 
2003 
Gilgamesh
volume and 
Wilfred G. Lambert’s 
Enuma Elish
), and the development of electronic repositories of primary 
sources in the past twenty-five years have considerably opened up the field to new viewpoints 
and the influence of other fields (see Further Reading and Primary Sources for references). Tikva 
Frymer-Kensky’s 
In the Wake of the Goddesses
(1992)
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 has been most influential in bringing the 
discussion of women and gender into the field of Assyriology.
Exploring the interplay between Mesopotamian religion and literature with the religious and 
literary traditions of other ancient cultures has been a feature of Assyriology since the field’s very 
inception. George Smith’s modern translation of the 
Epic of Gilgamesh
in the late 19th century is 
often cited as the beginning of the academic discipline devoted to the study of Mesopotamian 
history and culture.
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Smith’s observation of the similarities between the Flood narrative in 
Gilgamesh
and the account of the biblical Flood in the book of Genesis generated a great deal of 
interest in Mesopotamian religion and cultural exchange in antiquity, which has continued (to 
varying degrees) to the present day. Comparisons involving Mesopotamian religion and literature 
with biblical and classical traditions have both assisted in the growth of Assyriology as an 
academic discipline and influenced the course of its development, issues that are the subject of 
detailed analysis in 
The Legacy of Mesopotamia
(1998), edited by Stephanie Dalley.
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Despite the 
long history of considering Mesopotamian culture in light of other ancient traditions, this 
remains a rich field of study with much still to be established; the problems in attempting to find 
connections between the ancient Near Eastern and classical worlds have been discussed by Scott 
Noegel in 
A Companion to Greek Religion
(2007).
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The interplay between Greek religion and the 
ancient Near East has been the subject of recent analysis by Jan Bremmer in 
The Oxford Handbook 
of Ancient Greek Religion
(2015),
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 demonstrating the continuing relevance of this area of research.
The continued violence and social upheaval in the modern Middle East creates a serious obstacle 
to the modern appreciation of the world’s most ancient literature. The ongoing threat to the 
region’s cultural heritage means it is crucially important to bring the ancient literature of 
Mesopotamia to a broader modern audience, and to continue to explore and research the rich 
cultural history of the “cradle of civilization.”