Editing Sumer (section)

===Religion===
{{Main|Sumerian religion}}
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| image1   = Wall plaque showing libation scene from Ur, Iraq, 2500 BCE. British Museum (adjusted for perspective).jpg
| caption1 = Wall plaque showing libations to a seated god and a temple. [[Ur]], 2500 BC
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| caption2 = Naked priest offering libations to a Sumerian temple (detail), [[Ur]], 2500 BC
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The Sumerians credited their divinities for all matters pertaining to them and exhibited humility in the face of cosmic forces, such as [[death]] and [[divine wrath]].<ref name=Kramer1963/>{{rp|3–4}}

Sumerian religion seems to have been founded upon two separate [[Cosmogeny|cosmogenic]] myths. The first saw creation as the result of a series of ''[[hieros gamos|hieroi gamoi]]'' or sacred marriages, involving the reconciliation of opposites, postulated as a coming together of male and female divine beings, the gods.

This pattern continued to influence regional Mesopotamian myths. Thus, in the later Akkadian [[Enuma Elish]], creation was seen as the union of fresh and salt water, between male [[Abzu]], and female [[Tiamat]]. The products of that union, [[Lahm]] and Lahmu, "the muddy ones", were titles given to the gate keepers of the E-Abzu temple of [[Enki]] in [[Eridu]], the first Sumerian city.

Mirroring the way that muddy islands emerge from the confluence of fresh and salty water at the mouth of the Euphrates, where the river deposits its load of silt, a second hieros gamos supposedly resulted in the creation of Anshar and Kishar, the "sky-pivot" (or axle), and the "earth pivot", parents in turn of [[Anu]] (the sky) and [[Ki (goddess)|Ki]] (the earth).

Another important Sumerian hieros gamos was that between Ki, here known as [[Ninhursag]] or "Lady of the Mountains", and Enki of Eridu, the god of fresh water which brought forth greenery and pasture.

At an early stage, following the dawn of recorded history, [[Nippur]], in central Mesopotamia, replaced Eridu in the south as the primary temple city, whose priests exercised political [[hegemony]] on the other city-states. Nippur retained this status throughout the Sumerian period.

====Deities====
[[File:Ea (Babilonian) - EnKi (Sumerian).jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Akkadian cylinder seal from sometime around 2300 BC or thereabouts depicting the deities [[Inanna]], [[Utu]], [[Enki]], and [[Isimud]]]]
Sumerians believed in an anthropomorphic polytheism, or the belief in many gods in human form. There was no common set of gods; each city-state had its own patrons, temples, and priest-kings. Nonetheless, these were not exclusive; the gods of one city were often acknowledged elsewhere. Sumerian speakers were among the earliest people to record their beliefs in writing, and were a major inspiration in later [[Mesopotamian mythology]], [[religion]], and [[astrology]].

The Sumerians worshiped:
* [[Anu|An]] as the full-time god equivalent to heaven; indeed, the word ''an'' in Sumerian means sky and his consort [[Ki (goddess)|Ki]], means earth.
* [[Enki]] in the south at the temple in Eridu. Enki was the god of beneficence and of wisdom, ruler of the freshwater depths beneath the earth, a healer and friend to humanity who in Sumerian myth was thought to have given humans the arts and sciences, the industries and manners of civilization; the first law book was considered his creation.
* [[Enlil]] was the god of storm, wind, and rain.<ref name="ColemanDavidson2015">{{citation |last1=Coleman |first1=J. A. |title=The Dictionary of Mythology: An A–Z of Themes, Legends, and Heroes |date=2015 |location=London, England |publisher=Arcturus Publishing Limited |isbn=978-1-78404-478-7 |last2=Davidson |first2=George}}.</ref>{{rp|108}} He was the chief god of the Sumerian pantheon<ref name=ColemanDavidson2015 />{{rp|108}}<ref>{{citation |last=Kramer |first=Samuel Noah |title=The Sumerian Deluge Myth: Reviewed and Revised |date=1983 |journal=Anatolian Studies |volume=33 |pages=115–121 |doi=10.2307/3642699 |jstor=3642699 |s2cid=163489322}}.</ref>{{rp|115–121}} and the patron god of Nippur.<ref>{{citation|last=Hallo|first=William W.|article=Review: Enki and the Theology of Eridu|title=Journal of the American Oriental Society|volume=116|issue=2|date=1996}}</ref>{{rp|231–234}} His consort was [[Ninlil]], the goddess of the south wind.<ref>{{citation|last1=Black|first1=Jeremy A.|last2=Cunningham|first2=Graham|last3=Robson|first3=Eleanor|title=The Literature of Ancient Sumer|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a1W2mTtGVV4C&pg=PA106|date=2006|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-929633-0}}</ref>{{rp|106}}
* [[Inanna]] was the goddess of love, sexuality, and war;<ref name="Black">Black, Jeremy; Green, Anthony (1992), ''[[iarchive:gods-demons-and-symbols-of-ancient-mesopotamia-an-illustrated-dictionary 202012|Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia: An Illustrated Dictionary]]'', University of Texas Press, {{ISBN|0-292-70794-0}}.</ref>{{rp|109}} the deification of Venus, the morning (eastern) and evening (western) star, at the temple (shared with An) at Uruk. Deified kings may have re-enacted the marriage of Inanna and [[Dumuzid the Shepherd|Dumuzid]] with priestesses.<ref name=Black/>{{rp|151, 157–158}}
* The sun-god [[Utu]] at [[Larsa]] in the south and [[Sippar]] in the north,
* The moon god [[Sin (mythology)|Sin]] at Ur.

[[File:Genealogy of Sumero-Akkadian Gods.jpg|thumb|upright=2.05|Sumero-early Akkadian [[Pantheon (gods)|pantheon]]]]

These [[deity|deities]] formed the main pantheon, and in addition to this there were hundreds of other minor gods. Sumerian gods were often associated with different cities, and their religious importance often waxed and waned with those cities' political power. The gods were said to have created human beings from clay for the purpose of serving them. The temples organized the mass labour projects needed for irrigation agriculture. Citizens had a labor duty to the temple, though they could avoid it by a payment of silver.

====Cosmology====
Sumerians envisioned Earth to be a rectangular field with four corners.<ref name=":0" /> The Sumerian [[afterlife]] involved a descent into a gloomy [[Sumerian nether-world|netherworld]] to spend eternity in a wretched [[existence]] as a [[Gidim]] (ghost).<ref name=":0">{{cite book |last1=Black |first1=Jeremy |author-link1=Jeremy Black (assyriologist) |last2=Green | first2=Anthony |title= Gods, Demons, and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia: An Illustrated Dictionary |date=1992 |publisher=University of Texas Press |isbn=978-0-292-70794-8}}</ref>

The universe was divided into four quarters:
* To the north were the hill-dwelling [[Subartu]], who were periodically raided for slaves, timber, and other raw materials.<ref>Whatever the assertions of cosmography here, when modern-day archaeologists carve out areas of exploration based on physical-remains and other data, there is an emphasis on three, ''vide'' Marcella Frangipane, "Different Trajectories in State Formation in Greater Mesopotamia: A View from Arslantepe (Turkey)", ''Journal of Archaeological Research'' 26 (2018): 3–63. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10814-017-9106-2. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221123080651/https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10814-017-9106-2|date=2022-11-23}}: "southern Mesopotamia, northern Mesopotamia, and [to the west] Upper Euphrates valley" (3), with no reference to any of these proper-names.</ref>
* To the west were the tent-dwelling [[Amorite|Martu]], ancient Semitic-speaking peoples living as pastoral nomads tending herds of sheep and goats.
* To the south was the land of [[Dilmun]], a trading state associated with the land of the dead and the place of creation.<ref name="Carl Phillips 2013">Geoffrey Bibby and Carl Phillips, ''Looking for Dilmun'' (London, England: Stacey International, 1996; reprinted London, England: Knopf, 2013). {{ISBN|978-0-905743-90-5}}.</ref>
* To the east were the [[Elamites]], a rival people with whom the Sumerians were frequently at war.

Their known world extended from ''The Upper Sea'' or Mediterranean coastline, to ''The Lower Sea'', the [[Persian Gulf]] and the land of [[Meluhha]] (probably the [[Indus Valley]]) and [[Majan (civilization)|Magan]] ([[Oman]]), famed for its copper ores.

====Temple and temple organisation====
[[Ziggurat]]s (Sumerian temples) each had an individual name and consisted of a forecourt, with a central pond for purification.<ref>Leick, Gwendolyn (2003), Mesopotamia: The Invention of the City' (Penguin).</ref> The temple itself had a central [[nave]] with aisles along either side. Flanking the aisles would be rooms for the priests. At one end would stand the [[podium]] and a [[mudbrick]] table for animal and vegetable [[sacrifice]]s. [[Granary|Granaries]] and [[Warehouse|storehouses]] were usually located near the temples. After a time the Sumerians began to place the temples on top of multi-layered square constructions built as a series of rising terraces, giving rise to the Ziggurat style.<ref>Mark M. Jarzombek and Vikramaditya Prakash, ''A Global History of Architecture'' (London, England: Wiley, 2011), pp. 33–39. {{ISBN|978-0-470-90248-6}}.</ref>

====Funerary practices====
It was believed that when people died, they would be confined to a gloomy world of [[Ereshkigal]], whose realm was guarded by gateways with various monsters designed to prevent people entering or leaving. The dead were buried outside the city walls in graveyards where a small mound covered the corpse, along with offerings to monsters and a small amount of food. Those who could afford it sought burial at Dilmun.<ref name="Carl Phillips 2013"/> [[Human sacrifice]] was found in the death pits at the Ur royal cemetery where Queen [[Puabi]] was accompanied in death by her servants.