Editing Ancient Mesopotamian religion (section)

== History ==
{{See also|Prehistoric religion|Sumerian religion|Babylonian religion}}
[[File:NC Mesopotamia sites.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Overview map of ancient Mesopotamia.]]
The very earliest undercurrents of Mesopotamian religious thought are believed to have developed in the first half of the sixth millennium BC, at the time people first began to permanently settle in Mesopotamia owing to improved irrigation. The early religious developments of the region are unknown since they preceded the invention of writing.{{Sfn|Schneider|2011|p=19–20}} The first evidence for what is recognisably Mesopotamian religion can be seen with the invention in Mesopotamia of [[writing]] circa 3500 BC.

The people of Mesopotamia originally consisted of two groups, [[East Semitic languages|East Semitic speakers]] of [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]] and the people of [[Sumer]], who spoke [[Sumerian language|Sumerian]], a [[language isolate]]. These peoples were members of various [[city-state]]s and small [[monarchy|kingdoms]]. The Sumerians left the first records, and are believed to have been the founders of the civilization of the [[Ubaid period]] (6500 BC to 3800 BC) in [[Upper Mesopotamia]]. By historical times they resided mostly in southern Mesopotamia, which was known as Sumer (and much later, [[Babylonia]]), and had considerable influence on the Akkadian speakers and their culture. Akkadian speakers are believed to have entered the region at some point between 4000 BC and 3000 BC, with Akkadian names first appearing in the regnal lists of these states c. 29th century BC.

The Sumerians were advanced: as well as inventing writing, they developed early forms of [[mathematics]], early [[wheel]]ed vehicles/[[chariot]]s, [[astronomy]], [[astrology]], written [[code of law]], organised [[medicine]], advanced [[agriculture]] and [[architecture]], and the [[calendar]]. They created the first [[city-state]]s such as [[Uruk]], [[Ur]], [[Lagash]], [[Isin]], [[Kish (Sumer)|Kish]], [[Umma]], [[Eridu]], [[Adab (city)|Adab]], [[Akshak]], [[Sippar]], [[Nippur]] and [[Larsa]], each of them ruled by an ''[[ensí]]''. The Sumerians remained largely dominant in this synthesised culture, however, until the rise of the [[Akkadian Empire]] under [[Sargon of Akkad]] circa 2335 BC, which united all of Mesopotamia under one ruler and conquered areas of [[Anatolia]], [[Levant]] and [[Ancient Iran]].{{Sfn|Bottéro|2001|p=7–9}}

There was increasing [[syncretism]] between the Sumerian and Akkadian cultures and deities, with the Akkadian speakers  typically preferring to worship fewer [[deity|deities]] but elevating them to greater positions of power.

=== Effect of Assyrian religious beliefs on its political structure ===
Like many nations in Mesopotamian history, Akkadian speaking Assyria was originally, to a great extent, an [[oligarchy]] rather than a monarchy. From the 21st century BC authority was considered to lie with "the city", and the [[polity]] had three main centres of power—an assembly of elders, a hereditary ruler, and an [[eponym]]. The ruler presided over the assembly and carried out its decisions. He was not referred to with the usual Akkadian term for "king", ''šarrum''; that was instead reserved for the city's patron deity [[Ashur (god)|Ashur]], of whom the ruler was the [[high priest]]. The ruler himself was only designated as "steward of Assur" (''iššiak Assur''), where the term for steward is a borrowing from Sumerian ''ensí''. The third centre of power was the eponym (''limmum''), who gave the year his name, similarly to the [[eponymous archon]] and [[Roman consul]]s of [[classical antiquity]]. He was annually elected by [[Sortition|lot]] and was responsible for the economic administration of the city, which included the power to detain people and confiscate property. The institution of the eponym as well as the formula ''iššiak Assur'' lingered on as ceremonial vestiges of this early system throughout the history of the Assyrian monarchy.<ref>{{cite book |author=Larsen, Mogens Trolle |year=2000 |chapter=The old Assyrian city-state |editor-last=Hansen |editor-first=Mogens Herman |title=A comparative study of thirty city-state cultures: an investigation / conducted by the Copenhagen Polis Centre |pages=77–89}}</ref><!-- Refers to entire paragraph on political structure -->

==== Religion in the Neo-Assyrian Empire ====
The religion of the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire]] centered around the Assyrian king as the king of their lands as well. However, kingship at the time was linked very closely with the idea of divine mandate.<ref name="Bertman66">{{Cite book|last=Bertman|first=Stephen|title=Handbook to Life in Ancient Mesopotamia|location=New York|publisher=Oxford UP|year=2005|pages=66}}</ref> The Assyrian king, while not being a god himself, was acknowledged as the chief servant of the chief god, [[Ashur (god)|Ashur]]. In this manner, the king's authority was seen as absolute so long as the high priest reassured the peoples that the gods, or in the case of the [[Henotheism|henotheistic]] Assyrians, the god, was pleased with the current ruler.<ref name="Bertman66" /> For the Assyrians who lived in [[Assur]] and the surrounding lands, this system was the norm. For the conquered peoples, however, it was novel, particularly to the people of smaller city-states. In time, Ashur was promoted from being the local deity of Assur to the overlord of the vast Assyrian domain, which spread from the Caucasus and [[Armenia]] in the north to Egypt, Nubia and the Arabian Peninsula in the south, and from Cyprus and the eastern [[Mediterranean Sea]] in the west to central Iran in the east.<ref name="Bertman66" /> [[Ashur (god)|Assur]], the patron deity of the city of Assur from the late [[Bronze Age]], was in constant rivalry with the patron deity of the fellow Akkadian speaking state of [[Babylonia]], [[Marduk]]. Worship was conducted in his name throughout the lands dominated by the Assyrians. With the worship of Assur across much of the [[Fertile Crescent]], the Assyrian king could command the loyalty of his fellow servants of Assur.

=== Later Mesopotamian history ===
In 539 BC, Mesopotamia was conquered by the [[Achaemenid Empire]] (539–332 BC), then ruled by [[Cyrus the Great]]. This brought to an end over 3000 years of Mesopotamian dominance of the Near East. The Persians maintained and did not interfere in the native culture and religion and Assyria and Babylon continued to exist as entities (although Chaldea and the Chaldeans disappeared), and Assyria was strong enough to launch major rebellions against the Achaemenids in 522 and 482 BC. During this period the [[Syriac language]] and [[Syriac alphabet]] evolved in Assyria among the Assyrian people, and were centuries later to be the vehicle for the spread of Syriac Christianity throughout the near east.

Then, two centuries later in 330 BC, the [[Macedonia (ancient kingdom)|Macedonian emperor]] [[Alexander the Great]] overthrew the Persians and took control of Mesopotamia itself. After Alexander's death, increased [[Hellenistic period|Hellenistic influence]] was brought to the region by the [[Seleucid Empire]].{{Sfn|Bottéro|2001|p=17–18}} Assyria and Babylonia later became provinces under the [[Parthian Empire]] ([[Achaemenid Assyria]] and province of [[Persian Babylonia|Babylonia]]), [[Ancient Rome|Rome]] (province of [[Assyria (Roman province)|Assyria]]) and [[Sasanian Empire]] (province of [[Asoristan]]). Babylonia was dissolved as an entity during the Parthian Empire, though Assyria endured as a geopolitical entity until the [[Muslim conquest of Persia]] in the 7th century AD, while the [[Assyrian people]] are still present today.

During the [[Parthian Empire]] there was a major revival in Assyria between the second century BC and fourth century AD,<ref>^ Crone & Cook 1977, p. 55</ref> with temples once more being dedicated to gods such as [[Ashur (god)|Assur]], [[Sin (mythology)|Sin]], [[Shamash]], [[Hadad]], [[Bel (mythology)|Bel]] and [[Ishtar]] in various Assyrian vassal states in Mesopotamia, while [[Christianity]] was introduced from the 2st century AD and Assyria became the centre of the Assyrian  founded [[Church of the East]] and a major centre of the [[Syriac Orthodox Church]].<ref>Curtis, John (November 2003). "The Achaemenid Period in Northern Iraq" (PDF). L’archéologie de l’empire achéménide (Paris, France)</ref><ref>Crone & Cook 1977, p. 55</ref>

In the third century AD, [[Manichaeism]], which incorporated elements of Christianity, [[Judaism]], [[Buddhism]], [[Zoroastrianism]], and local Mesopotamian religion, developed.<ref>{{cite book |last=Widengren |first=Geo  |title=Mesopotamian elements in Manichaeism (King and Saviour II): Studies in Manichaean, Mandaean, and Syrian-gnostic religion |publisher=Lundequistska bokhandeln |year=1946}}</ref>