Ancient Near East - Mesopotamian religion II

11 important questions on Ancient Near East - Mesopotamian religion II

What is the Akitu festival?

  • New year's celebration
  • Marduk's triumph over Tiamat
  • Renewal of the king's authority over the land and legitimation of his rule

What is the Bīt rim festival?

"House of cleansing"
Purifying the king in order to ward off evil.

What is the Pīt/mīš pî festival?

"Opening/washing of the mouth"
Bringing to life a new statue of a deity or purifying an existing statue.
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What were substitute rituals?

  • It was a protecting procedure in case an ominous forecast (some sort of eclipse) predicted the death of the king.
  • A man substituted the king, and died.

What were military rituals?

  • Protection of troops
  • Purification of weapons
  • Sacrifice and invocation of the gods for success in battle

What use did the festivals and ceremonies have in a social perspective?

  • They created a collective social identity
  • political legitimation of the ruling elite

What were nam.bur.bi rituals?

Meant to avert evil foreseen by an omen.

What were Utukkū lemnūtu rituals?

Meant to ward off evil demons.

What is the active/solicited divination practice?

  • Extispicy: mostly sheep livers but many internal organs.
  • Queries/oracle questions

What is the passive/unsolicited divination divination practice?

  • Observation and interpretation of phenomena or dreams.
  • Casuistic relation between protasis and apodosis: if x then y.

How was the interaction between religion and law in the Ancient Near East?

They usually didn't interact (ca. 60 out of ca. 800 statutes)

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