Religion and Humanity in Mesopotamian Myth and Epic
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date: 22 December 2022
of
Atrahasis
, individual deities interact with humans in different ways: there is no “one size fits
all” divine connection in Mesopotamian literature. Despite a rigid hierarchy in favor of the divine,
these relationships are frequently close, involving strong emotional bonds. The human/divine
connection is not solely beneficial to either party, with a great deal at stake on both sides of the
relationship. Perhaps because of the crucial nature of the divine/human connection,
relations
between deities and humans involve risk. Relations between the divine and human worlds can be
dangerous and destructive, and capable of jeopardizing the survival of humankind, animals, and
the natural world.
While there are limits to the permeability of the conceptual boundaries separating the human and
divine worlds, in literature there are numerous ways for humans and deities to interact.
Communication takes many forms, including sacrifice, attendance of festivals, dedicatory
offerings
and building works, prayer, song, direct and indirect dialogue, omens, prophecy, and
divinely inspired dreams.
Animals in Mesopotamian literature provide an important mortal yet nonhuman “other” to
contrast with the activities and qualities of divine and human actors. Animal imagery used in
figurative language is found throughout Mesopotamian literature, and humans and deities can be
ascribed positive or negative traits associated with particular animals.
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Animals can function as
sacrificial offerings,
companions, warriors, and dangerous opponents—indeed, the Bull of
Heaven in the
Epic of Gilgamesh
is employed in all of these roles. In myth and epic, animals are
recognized for their commercial and intrinsic values;
they provide a source of food, transport,
and material goods,
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but are often presented in a sensitive manner that acknowledges their
capacities as sentient creatures, holding several qualities in common with humans (such as
mortality and dependence on the natural environment for survival).
Like animals, hybrid creatures and monsters in literary sources also provide insight into cultural
perceptions of humanity, and the complexity of human and divine relations. Figures such as the
Scorpion People can be seen to span the divide between the natural
and supernatural spheres in
terms of both their form and function. Scorpion People are the best-attested animal/human
hybrids in Babylonian literature,
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appearing most notably in Tablet IX of the
Epic of Gilgamesh
.
These hybrid creatures, with human heads and scorpion tails, are presented as being created
alongside other animal/human hybrids to function as warriors for Tiamat in Tablet I of
Enuma
Elish
, with the differing roles of the Scorpion People in the two epics
likely to be a result of
different literary traditions.
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In the
Epic of Gilgamesh
, Scorpion People are liminal creatures. As
well as inhabiting a space between human and animal, their role in the narrative is to guard the
tunnel linking the sun, earth, and sky.
The liminality of the forest guardian Humbaba, from the
Epic of Gilgamesh
, allows for the
consideration
of the humanity of the heroes, Gilgamesh and Enkidu. The importance of family in
the experience of humanity is explored through Humbaba’s speech following his capture in
Tablet V. Humbaba uses animal imagery (significantly, a terrapin and a turtle) to contrast
Enkidu’s status as an orphan with Gilgamesh’s divine parentage, and his own genesis as one
created by a god but with no “parent” to provide nurturing. Humbaba adds the comment that
Enkidu, like the spawn of a fish,
did not know his father, and like the two reptiles, he did not
suckle his mother’s milk. These comments reflect the biological reality of reptiles as egg-laying
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