# How The Sumerians Worshiped Their Gods

An episode of [Human History ASMR](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/6793196842), 11 Oct 2026, 1 h 03 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/75561058/how_the_sumerians_worshiped_their_gods_human_voiced_no_ads.mp3



## Transcript

[0:01] Speaker 1: In a Sumerian city, around 2500 BCE, a ziggurat temple
[0:08] Speaker 1: towers above the mud brick houses, its people looking up
[0:13] Speaker 1: at the terrace gleaming in the sun. What happens inside
[0:18] Speaker 1: this sacred compound each day? Today, we'll find out. We
[0:24] Speaker 1: will explore together how the Sumerians, one of the earliest
[0:29] Speaker 1: urban civilizations to exist, worshipped their gods through elaborate temple rituals,
[0:36] Speaker 1: devoted priesthoods, and daily acts of reverence. But Sumerian worship
[0:42] Speaker 1: was not a casual affair. It was the central duty
[0:47] Speaker 1: of a deeply pious society. According to an ancient maxim,
[0:53] Speaker 1: reverence begets favour, sacrifice prolongs life, and prayer atones for guilt.
[1:02] Speaker 1: It was this belief that underpinned every offering and every hymn.
[1:09] Speaker 1: And so by examining their rituals, temples, and priests, we
[1:14] Speaker 1: can gain an insight into a civilization whose entire worldview
[1:18] Speaker 1: was centered on serving the divine. But before we go deeper,
[1:23] Speaker 1: consider this. Why did the Sumerians invest so much in worship?
[1:30] Speaker 1: The answer... lies in their cosmology and sense of purpose.
[1:36] Speaker 1: You see, the Sumerians believed that humans were created to
[1:40] Speaker 1: take care of the gods' material needs on Earth. In return,
[1:45] Speaker 1: the gods would sustain the world with order, fertility and protection. Therefore,
[1:53] Speaker 1: the system of worship was not merely just a pious exercise,
[1:59] Speaker 1: It was humanity fulfilling its role within the cosmos. And
[2:04] Speaker 1: with that in mind, how about we go together through
[2:08] Speaker 1: those ruined temple gates and try to piece together from
[2:13] Speaker 1: the evidence that we have left how Sumerian devotion was
[2:17] Speaker 1: carried out. But first, I welcome you to the channel.
[2:22] Speaker 1: For those new coming, good to meet you. Those returning,
[2:26] Speaker 1: thanks for coming back. And those who have not subscribed yet,
[2:30] Speaker 1: I invite you to do so along with liking the video.
[2:34] Speaker 1: Thank you, once again, to those who have checked out
[2:36] Speaker 1: the merch store and supported on the Patreon. Now, let
[2:41] Speaker 1: us begin. In every Sumerian city-state, the Grand Temple complex
[2:48] Speaker 1: stood at the center, both physically and spiritually. In fact,
[2:55] Speaker 1: the Sumerians called a temple a house. quite literally, God's house.
[3:03] Speaker 1: These temples began as simple one-room shrines, up on raised platforms.
[3:10] Speaker 1: But over the centuries, things evolved. They changed. They grew
[3:15] Speaker 1: into large multi-room sanctuaries atop terrace basins. By the late
[3:22] Speaker 1: 3rd millennium BCE, many temples were built on stepped pyramid towers,
[3:28] Speaker 1: but we don't call them pyramids in this context we
[3:31] Speaker 1: call them ziggurats they're a little bit different the iconic
[3:35] Speaker 1: form of Mesopotamian architecture I'm sure you've seen them before
[3:39] Speaker 1: a famous example is the great ziggurat of Ur a
[3:45] Speaker 1: massive staged tower dedicated to the moon god Nana built
[3:50] Speaker 1: around 2100 BC by King Ur-Nammu climbing its stairways was
[3:56] Speaker 1: a symbolic ascent toward the divine realm. But why would
[4:02] Speaker 1: they bother building temples so high? What's the point of it?
[4:06] Speaker 1: It's certainly hard work, so there better be a good reason. Well,
[4:12] Speaker 1: they likely felt that an elevated, imposing structure befit a
[4:18] Speaker 1: god's abode, served as a bridge between heaven and earth.
[4:24] Speaker 1: One ancient temple hymn describes the sanctuary as, quote, a
[4:28] Speaker 1: great crown reaching heaven, whose foundation is fastened on the Abzu,
[4:34] Speaker 1: that is, the deep waters below. The temple connected cosmic domains, sky, earth,
[4:43] Speaker 1: and the underworld, and that made it the perfect meeting
[4:47] Speaker 1: point for the humans and the gods. Its architecture often
[4:52] Speaker 1: reflected this cosmic role. For example, the temple of Enki
[4:57] Speaker 1: at Eridu was associated with the Abzu, that freshwater abyss,
[5:03] Speaker 1: while Enlil's temple in Nippur was called a Kur, house
[5:08] Speaker 1: of the mountain, anchoring heaven and earth. Inside the temple complex,
[5:16] Speaker 1: there were courtyards, storerooms, kitchens, living quarters for priests and
[5:22] Speaker 1: even workshops, completely self-contained, everything you'd need. The most sacred
[5:29] Speaker 1: area was the inner sanctuary. That was where the statue
[5:33] Speaker 1: of the god resided, or lived. Ordinary people might only
[5:40] Speaker 1: enter the outer courtyard at best, but the innermost chapel
[5:44] Speaker 1: was usually accessible only to the high priest or the priestess.
[5:49] Speaker 1: and perhaps select clergy. As far as archaeological remains, well,
[5:56] Speaker 1: they show altars and offering tables, and the texts mention
[6:01] Speaker 1: doors sealed with locks or clay seals each night, protecting
[6:07] Speaker 1: the holy space from any unwanted guests. I'm sure there
[6:11] Speaker 1: was plenty of curious people trying to look through the
[6:13] Speaker 1: cracks of the doors, one can imagine. And so the
[6:17] Speaker 1: temple truly was a house, Not just in name. I mean,
[6:22] Speaker 1: it had bedrooms, kitchen, and even bathrooms for the divine resident,
[6:27] Speaker 1: believe it or not. And it was all carefully maintained
[6:31] Speaker 1: by those devoted priests. To support these houses of the gods,
[6:38] Speaker 1: each temple owned land, herds, orchards, and workshops. It wasn't
[6:44] Speaker 1: a cheap operation. They had to pay for it somehow.
[6:49] Speaker 1: Think of a temple as kind of like a large estate,
[6:52] Speaker 1: or a small walled-off city within a larger city. Fields
[6:58] Speaker 1: were cultivated for the god. Livestock was raised, with the
[7:03] Speaker 1: produce being bought as offerings. The temple of a major
[7:08] Speaker 1: deity could control vast resources and workers. For example, the
[7:13] Speaker 1: temple of the goddess Inanna in Uruk had its own
[7:16] Speaker 1: weaving workshops and storehouses. while the temple of Ningursu in
[7:21] Speaker 1: Lagash managed extensive irrigation works. Irrigation works that were quite
[7:27] Speaker 1: advanced for the time. I mean, we are talking early
[7:30] Speaker 1: Bronze Age. But before the rise of kings, many Sumerian
[7:36] Speaker 1: city-states were essentially governed from the temple. A system that
[7:40] Speaker 1: you can pretty much equate with a theocratic rule. The
[7:45] Speaker 1: city's chief priest, as we will discuss later on, functioned
[7:49] Speaker 1: as both a religious and also an administrative leader, ensuring
[7:54] Speaker 1: the temple's economic health, which in turn sustained the populace. So,
[8:02] Speaker 1: pretty much, the temple was the heart of worship and
[8:06] Speaker 1: the heartbeat of the city's economy and governance until later
[8:10] Speaker 1: periods where things would change somewhat. At the core of
[8:17] Speaker 1: Sumerian worship, was the belief that the god literally dwelt
[8:22] Speaker 1: in the temple in the form of a cult statue,
[8:25] Speaker 1: a sacred icon. The statue was not a mere representation,
[8:30] Speaker 1: it was a seat for the deity's presence. Though it's
[8:34] Speaker 1: important to mention that the Sumerians acknowledged that the god
[8:38] Speaker 1: was not bound to it. It wasn't like he was
[8:42] Speaker 1: stuck in the statue and couldn't leave. It was typically
[8:46] Speaker 1: made of wood, and adorned with gold and precious stones.
[8:51] Speaker 1: The statue stood on an altar or in a niche
[8:54] Speaker 1: in the sanctuary. Before it, offerings were presented, prayers recited,
[9:02] Speaker 1: as if in the very presence of the god or
[9:04] Speaker 1: goddess themselves, speaking directly. So how did a wooden statue
[9:10] Speaker 1: become the living embodiment of a god? Well, that answer
[9:15] Speaker 1: lies in special consecration rituals. When a new idol was made,
[9:21] Speaker 1: priests performed ceremonies, known in later Mesopotamian tradition as the
[9:25] Speaker 1: washing of the mouth and the opening of the mouth.
[9:30] Speaker 1: In these rites, they usually animated the statue somewhat, purifying
[9:34] Speaker 1: it with water and incantations, opening its eyes and mouth
[9:39] Speaker 1: to receive life. Although our records of these rituals come
[9:43] Speaker 1: from slightly later sources, I mean, we're talking Assyrian and
[9:50] Speaker 1: Babylonian periods. Scholars do believe that similar practices existed in Sumer. Once, quote,
[9:59] Speaker 1: brought the life, the statue was believed to be a
[10:02] Speaker 1: kind of host for the deity's essence. From that moment,
[10:08] Speaker 1: the god required all the care that a living sovereign
[10:12] Speaker 1: would need. Every day, the god's needs had to be met— food, drink, clothing, hygiene,
[10:21] Speaker 1: even entertainment. And so, imagine, as dawn breaks, the priests
[10:27] Speaker 1: enter the sanctuary, perhaps whispering some prayers as they unseal
[10:31] Speaker 1: the doors. They might ring a small bell or play
[10:35] Speaker 1: a musical cue to wake the deity. First things first,
[10:41] Speaker 1: light meal offerings to break the gods fast from the night.
[10:45] Speaker 1: In a typical major temple, a full kitchen staff was
[10:49] Speaker 1: on hand. cooks and bakers, who prepared bread, beer, and
[10:55] Speaker 1: roasted meats from the temple's own flocks. Fruits, dates, and
[11:01] Speaker 1: honey from temple orchards, and fresh milk from the herds
[11:04] Speaker 1: might be laid on the offering table. These were presented
[11:09] Speaker 1: to the statue with a solemn ceremony. A priestly officiant
[11:14] Speaker 1: would present each item. Speaking of formulaic prayers, and perhaps
[11:19] Speaker 1: ring a libation vessel or raise his hands in homage.
[11:25] Speaker 1: But do we think that Sumerians literally believed the statue
[11:28] Speaker 1: ate this food? They understood that the god consumed the
[11:33] Speaker 1: essence of the offering, not the physical substance itself. After
[11:38] Speaker 1: being ritually offered, the food and drink were removed, typically
[11:43] Speaker 1: to be distributed to the temple staff or the poor.
[11:47] Speaker 1: In a sense, it was a divine meal that fed
[11:50] Speaker 1: the humans as well, reinforcing the god's role in sustaining
[11:54] Speaker 1: the community. Think of it kind of like you give
[11:57] Speaker 1: it to the god. The god perhaps takes what he
[12:01] Speaker 1: needs of the nutrition from it, and then the rest
[12:05] Speaker 1: goes back to the people. However, the care for the
[12:09] Speaker 1: statue went beyond food. There were records... indicate that the
[12:15] Speaker 1: statue was dressed in fine garments, which were also changed regularly.
[12:20] Speaker 1: You couldn't leave him in the same clothes, of course.
[12:23] Speaker 1: Just as a king would don regal attire, the god's
[12:26] Speaker 1: idol wore linen or wool robes, sometimes dyed in sacred
[12:31] Speaker 1: colours or embroidered. Jewels, crowns and other regalia adorned the figure.
[12:37] Speaker 1: And yes, the statue was bathed and anointed with oils.
[12:44] Speaker 1: Of course it was. The Sumerians had to treat their
[12:47] Speaker 1: god as an honored living guest in the house. And
[12:52] Speaker 1: we do have one remarkable text from later periods of
[12:56] Speaker 1: Mesopotamia called the Hymn of the Washing of Nana. It
[13:01] Speaker 1: describes the washing of the hands and mouth of the
[13:03] Speaker 1: god's statue each morning with pure water from the Euphrates,
[13:07] Speaker 1: accompanied by hymns. We can imagine a Sumerian priest gently
[13:12] Speaker 1: wiping the gold-covered face of the idol, murmuring blessings as
[13:17] Speaker 1: if attending to a royal personage. Each night, after the
[13:22] Speaker 1: evening offerings, the god was ceremonially put to rest. In
[13:27] Speaker 1: some temples, the innermost sanctuary might even have a bed
[13:31] Speaker 1: or a special retreat for the statue. In Babylonian temples
[13:37] Speaker 1: of later periods, the deity's statue was said to retire
[13:40] Speaker 1: to a bedchamber, on top of the ziggurat, the penthouse,
[13:45] Speaker 1: I suppose. In Sumerian times, temples like the ziggurat at
[13:50] Speaker 1: Ur featured a room at the summit, which could have
[13:54] Speaker 1: been a symbolic marital chamber for the god and his consort,
[13:59] Speaker 1: or for the ritual of sacred marriage, which we will
[14:01] Speaker 1: get to. So as night fell, priests might sing lullabies
[14:06] Speaker 1: or play soothing music. Indeed, some temple staff were Eligists
[14:13] Speaker 1: tasked with singing laments or calm songs to soothe the deity.
[14:20] Speaker 1: A kind of lullaby, that sort of thing. Who knows?
[14:25] Speaker 1: Maybe the deity had his own version of ASMR's story
[14:29] Speaker 1: and telling him little stories of older times as he
[14:33] Speaker 1: drifts off to sleep. Who knows? The sanctity of the
[14:38] Speaker 1: cult statue meant that access was of course highly restricted.
[14:43] Speaker 1: They couldn't let any old riffraff in. This isn't the
[14:46] Speaker 1: bloody fleece and firkin after all. Only ritual pure priests
[14:52] Speaker 1: could come near. One ancient hymn dramatically warns the faithful.
[14:58] Speaker 1: Draw near, man, to the house of Kesh. But do
[15:02] Speaker 1: not draw near. A repeated caution. that although the temple
[15:08] Speaker 1: invites worship, only the worthy may approach its divine inhabitant.
[15:15] Speaker 1: This aura of mystery surely inspired awe in worshippers too.
[15:20] Speaker 1: On festival days, when the statue was brought out in procession,
[15:24] Speaker 1: crowds might finally see the golden visage of their god,
[15:29] Speaker 1: usually hidden deep in that forbidden shrine. And so imagine
[15:35] Speaker 1: the impact of that moment, the god himself emerging from
[15:39] Speaker 1: the temple, carried on a big altar by the priests,
[15:44] Speaker 1: shimmering in gold, preceded by musicians and incense-bearers. A procession
[15:51] Speaker 1: like this would have been pretty rare, and of course
[15:54] Speaker 1: pretty sacred. It reinforced that the everyday presence of the
[15:59] Speaker 1: god remained inside the temple, in that silent inner sanctum.
[16:07] Speaker 1: So who exactly was in charge of these demanding rituals
[16:12] Speaker 1: and guarding those sacred spaces? A whole hierarchy of priests
[16:17] Speaker 1: and priestesses. They were the ones that made the whole
[16:21] Speaker 1: Sumerian worship system possible. In early Sumer, before 2500 BC,
[16:28] Speaker 1: that is, city-states did not yet have separate secular rulers. Instead,
[16:34] Speaker 1: The cities were simply governed by the priest-kings. These leaders,
[16:39] Speaker 1: often titled En, meaning lord or high priest, or Ensi,
[16:45] Speaker 1: the city governor or priest-king, were considered chief intermediaries with
[16:50] Speaker 1: the patron gods. The En of Uruk, for example, was
[16:55] Speaker 1: essentially the high priest of Inanna, responsible for her worship
[16:59] Speaker 1: and the city's well-being under her gaze. Over time, as
[17:03] Speaker 1: military lugars or kings took power, the roles seemed to
[17:08] Speaker 1: have split. The kings were in charge of warfare and
[17:13] Speaker 1: secular administration, but they still took great care to legitimize
[17:17] Speaker 1: themselves through temple building and ritual. They appointed high priests
[17:21] Speaker 1: or priestesses to lead the cult on their behalf. So
[17:26] Speaker 1: let's first focus on the priestly officers themselves. At the
[17:30] Speaker 1: top of the temple administration might be an ennu or sangu,
[17:34] Speaker 1: temple administrative priest, and specialized priests under them. Each deity's
[17:40] Speaker 1: cult had a high priest who was male or a
[17:43] Speaker 1: high priestess female. For instance, the moon god Nana at
[17:48] Speaker 1: Ur had an entu priestess at the head of his cult.
[17:53] Speaker 1: One famous holder of that office was Enheduanna. the daughter
[17:57] Speaker 1: of King Sargon of Akkad himself. He's pretty famous, by
[18:03] Speaker 1: the way. And Hedwana, around 2300 BC, is renowned as
[18:08] Speaker 1: the first named author in history. She composed hymns and
[18:14] Speaker 1: served as High Priestess of Nanna, bridging religious devotion and
[18:19] Speaker 1: royal politics. And her role shows that women could hold
[18:25] Speaker 1: a very high status in Sumerian religion, directing large temple
[18:29] Speaker 1: staffs and ceremonies. The title Endu, also carried prestige, often
[18:35] Speaker 1: translated as High Priestess, and such a woman would participate
[18:40] Speaker 1: in the most important rituals, including possibly the sacred marriage
[18:45] Speaker 1: rite as the human representative of the goddess. Beneath the
[18:51] Speaker 1: High Priest and Priestesses, was a diverse cadre of clergy.
[18:56] Speaker 1: Some were ritual specialists, eccomiasts, song-leaders who chanted praise hymns,
[19:03] Speaker 1: lamentation priests who recited laments and prayers of supplication, and
[19:07] Speaker 1: even musicians who busied themselves playing lyres, harps, horns and
[19:13] Speaker 1: drums during worship. In fact, in Lagash, records from the
[19:18] Speaker 1: Ur III period note an astonishing 62 lamentation priests, accompanied
[19:24] Speaker 1: by 180 singers and instrumentalists for temple ceremonies, basically an
[19:31] Speaker 1: entire orchestra employed in divine service, all for the little
[19:37] Speaker 1: wooden statue. And he didn't even clap when they were finished. Well,
[19:45] Speaker 1: Other priests served practical roles in the temple household, cooks
[19:49] Speaker 1: to prepare offerings, butchers to ritually slaughter the sacrificial animals,
[19:55] Speaker 1: bathers to wash and anoint the god's statue, and of
[19:58] Speaker 1: course gatekeepers to guard the doors. Couldn't do without them.
[20:02] Speaker 1: Then of course they had the scribes to record the
[20:04] Speaker 1: temple's income and outlays. The temple was like a palace.
[20:10] Speaker 1: the priests, the royal servants of the god. But it
[20:15] Speaker 1: was hard to get into. You couldn't just rock up
[20:18] Speaker 1: and hand in your resume and get a job as
[20:21] Speaker 1: a priest. You had to go through lengthy training. But
[20:26] Speaker 1: even so, many positions were hereditary, passed from father to son,
[20:31] Speaker 1: mother to daughter, creating families of priests who served for generations.
[20:39] Speaker 1: Purity Laws govern their lives. For instance, before performing rituals,
[20:44] Speaker 1: a priest might have to abstain from certain foods or
[20:47] Speaker 1: sexual activity for a time, and cleanse themselves thoroughly with water.
[20:53] Speaker 1: In fact, we have evidence that priests wore specific garments,
[20:57] Speaker 1: like linen robes and headbands while on duty, to mark
[21:01] Speaker 1: their sacred status. A priest's day was filled with busy tasks,
[21:08] Speaker 1: At dawn they would open the shrine, light oil lamps
[21:12] Speaker 1: and torches inside, burn fresh incense, and begin the first
[21:16] Speaker 1: round of prayers. All this had to be done exactly
[21:20] Speaker 1: by the book. Any mistakes might offend the god, and
[21:25] Speaker 1: you wouldn't want him to be offended. Sumerian temple inscriptions
[21:29] Speaker 1: sometimes list penalties for errors in ritual, highlighting how seriously
[21:33] Speaker 1: precision was taken. And I should also mention the priestesses
[21:39] Speaker 1: and other female participants. Well, in addition to high priestesses
[21:45] Speaker 1: like Enheduanna, there were orders of women dedicated to the gods,
[21:49] Speaker 1: including temple singers and caretakers. Some women served as naditu,
[21:56] Speaker 1: and in later periods, these were cloistered women of a deity,
[22:00] Speaker 1: though more common in Babylonian times, and possibly earlier equivalents
[22:04] Speaker 1: existed too. In the early city of Uruk, a legendary hero,
[22:11] Speaker 1: Gilgamesh's father, was said to be a priest and his
[22:15] Speaker 1: mother a priestess of Ninsun, suggesting priestly families. Women likely
[22:21] Speaker 1: took part in preparing offerings and weaving sacred garments for
[22:25] Speaker 1: the gods. A hymn from Emnedwana's temple hymn collection praises
[22:31] Speaker 1: the dedication of Nindingir, a priestess. who makes the effort-like
[22:37] Speaker 1: garment for the goddess. So, the priesthood, while hierarchically organized, sure,
[22:44] Speaker 1: was a community unto itself, with both men and women
[22:48] Speaker 1: contributing to the god's service in equal but different roles.
[22:54] Speaker 1: The authority of priests extended beyond the temple walls. They
[23:00] Speaker 1: were seen as mediators, not only between the people and
[23:03] Speaker 1: the gods, but also custodians of tradition and learning. Wise
[23:08] Speaker 1: men and women, this kind of thing. Sumerian schools, called
[23:13] Speaker 1: edubas for scribes, were often attached to the temples too,
[23:17] Speaker 1: and many priests were learned in mathematics and astronomy, since
[23:21] Speaker 1: maintaining the calendar of festivals and timing rituals depended on
[23:25] Speaker 1: celestial observation. When people sought divine guidance, it was the
[23:31] Speaker 1: priests who performed divination, inspecting the liver of a sacrificed sheep,
[23:37] Speaker 1: or casting lots and interpreting omens. Through these acts they
[23:41] Speaker 1: delivered the gods' message to kings and commoners alike. Thus
[23:46] Speaker 1: priests stood at the nexus of religion, governments, and knowledge
[23:52] Speaker 1: in Sumerian society. All in all, they were pretty important.
[24:00] Speaker 1: But religious life in Sumer... revolved around daily rituals as
[24:05] Speaker 1: much as it did the grand festivals. You couldn't just
[24:09] Speaker 1: wait for the yearly or seasonal big party to show
[24:14] Speaker 1: your piety. Every single day, from sunrise to sunset, and
[24:20] Speaker 1: even through the night, the temple conducted a cycle of
[24:24] Speaker 1: worship to sustain and please the gods. The regularity was crucial.
[24:30] Speaker 1: The Sumerians believed that neglecting even a day could displease
[24:34] Speaker 1: a deity and upset the order of the cosmos. An
[24:38] Speaker 1: old Mesopotamian commentary stresses that, quote, every day the sacrifice
[24:42] Speaker 1: was offered, accompanied by a special ritual. But what do
[24:47] Speaker 1: you mean, the sacrifice? What do you mean, the ritual? Well,
[24:53] Speaker 1: let's try and use those sources. and a little bit
[24:58] Speaker 1: of imagination to piece together what a typical day's worship
[25:01] Speaker 1: would be like. Before dawn, the chief priest or an
[25:05] Speaker 1: assistant would purify the sanctuary, this might involve sweeping the floors,
[25:10] Speaker 1: sprinkling water, that is, symbolically cleansing with water from the
[25:14] Speaker 1: Euphrates or the Tigris considered pure, and renewing protection by
[25:20] Speaker 1: burning juniper resin or incense. As the sun rose, They
[25:26] Speaker 1: broke the seal on the shrine doors. Temple doors could
[25:29] Speaker 1: be sealed with clay each night to ensure no one
[25:33] Speaker 1: entered except the god's spirit. Upon entering, the priests likely
[25:38] Speaker 1: prostrated themselves before the deity's statue. An ancient text does
[25:42] Speaker 1: note that worshippers would kneel or even lie flat and
[25:46] Speaker 1: then rise with hands raised in adoration. This gesture of
[25:51] Speaker 1: raising hands was pretty standard for greeting the god each day.
[25:56] Speaker 1: and thus they would greet the deity with hymns and chants.
[26:01] Speaker 1: Following the greeting came the offerings of food and drink.
[26:05] Speaker 1: In a large temple, offerings might occur multiple times a day,
[26:08] Speaker 1: that is morning, midday, evening, kind of like a breakfast,
[26:13] Speaker 1: lunch and tea arrangement, but for spiritual nourishment. So let's
[26:18] Speaker 1: focus on the morning offering. Fresh bread, dates and beer,
[26:22] Speaker 1: those staples of the Sumerian diet and pretty much the
[26:27] Speaker 1: broader Near East Bronze Age diet. Well, they were all
[26:31] Speaker 1: bought in on trays. Now, beer was a common offering. Indeed,
[26:37] Speaker 1: a special brewer-priest might have overseen the fermentation of barley
[26:41] Speaker 1: beer for the god. Meat from an overnight or early
[26:46] Speaker 1: morning animal sacrifice could be included. A prime cut of
[26:51] Speaker 1: a bull or a lamb roasted over the temple hearth.
[26:55] Speaker 1: yielding an aroma the texts call the pleasing scent for
[26:59] Speaker 1: the gods. Milk, butter, and cheese from the temple cows, well,
[27:05] Speaker 1: that might be also placed in bowls. And, of course,
[27:09] Speaker 1: water and wine, if available. Each item was presented with
[27:14] Speaker 1: a recitation. A priest might say, Oh, Inanna, or whichever god,
[27:21] Speaker 1: accept this bread, the bounty of your land. indicating that
[27:25] Speaker 1: it was given in the gods' honour. Of course, you
[27:28] Speaker 1: can't have an honouring of the gods without music. Temple
[27:33] Speaker 1: musicians played lyres and harps. Sometimes a temple hymn was
[27:38] Speaker 1: sung as the food was displayed. In fact, specific hymns
[27:43] Speaker 1: coexisted for different times of the day. We have discovered
[27:46] Speaker 1: some cuneiform tablets with musical notations and hymnic songs. For example,
[27:52] Speaker 1: the Kesh Temple Hymn which is one of the oldest known,
[27:56] Speaker 1: about 2600 BC, not only praises the temple's architecture, but
[28:02] Speaker 1: also references music, stating the wild wolf's horn was made
[28:07] Speaker 1: to growl, the tiki drum to thud during ceremonies. Well,
[28:14] Speaker 1: after that offering, there was a moment of prayer, or
[28:18] Speaker 1: perhaps silent communion. The priest might step back, leave the
[28:23] Speaker 1: food for a short time, allowing the deity to absorb
[28:26] Speaker 1: its essence. Then they would ritually lift the dishes and
[28:30] Speaker 1: remove them. Of course, nothing went to waste. Temple records
[28:35] Speaker 1: showed that after the gods were done with the food,
[28:38] Speaker 1: the remainder of the food, which was, well, all of it,
[28:42] Speaker 1: was appointed to the clergy, with certain portions possibly given
[28:46] Speaker 1: to widows, orphans, or poorer citizens, depending on the temple's charity.
[28:53] Speaker 1: In this way, the god's bounty flowed back to the community.
[28:57] Speaker 1: It's been described as, by Thorkeald Jacobson, the temple staff
[29:04] Speaker 1: were effectively the god's household servants, ensuring that the god
[29:09] Speaker 1: was well-fed and content. Sumerians saw this as humanity doing
[29:14] Speaker 1: its divinely assigned duty. Later in the day, smaller offerings
[29:20] Speaker 1: or libations might be made, Incense was burned periodically to
[29:25] Speaker 1: refresh the atmosphere of the sanctum. The statue might be
[29:29] Speaker 1: tended again, perhaps fanned to keep cool in summer, or
[29:34] Speaker 1: warmed with coals in winter. One text from Babylon actually
[29:38] Speaker 1: mentions warming a deity. with a brazier in colder months.
[29:44] Speaker 1: In the evening, a substantial offering was made, pretty much
[29:48] Speaker 1: like a big dinner, the main event of the day.
[29:53] Speaker 1: This could coincide with the time of sunset, a symbolic
[29:56] Speaker 1: closure of the day. Afterward came a ritual putting of
[30:00] Speaker 1: the god to bed. The priests would recite hymns of
[30:03] Speaker 1: praise and closure. We have references to lullaby-like hymns, or
[30:10] Speaker 1: even evening prayers in cuneiform literature. For example, a lullaby
[30:16] Speaker 1: for a baby god, or the soothing of the heart
[30:19] Speaker 1: for a goddess with music. They likely undressed any ceremonial
[30:24] Speaker 1: garments on the statue to a more simple attire for
[30:27] Speaker 1: the evening. or perhaps covered the statue with a veil.
[30:32] Speaker 1: Lamps were extinguished, and the sanctuary was closed, sealed up
[30:38] Speaker 1: until the next morning. One intriguing detail. Temples often had
[30:43] Speaker 1: a richly decorated bed or couch for a god and
[30:46] Speaker 1: his spouse. In Ur, the ziggurat complex included the House
[30:51] Speaker 1: of Great Light, interpreted as a place where the moon
[30:54] Speaker 1: god Nana spent the night with his wife Ningal. Texts
[31:00] Speaker 1: speak of escorting the god to the bedchamber. Indeed, an
[31:05] Speaker 1: ancient Babylonian letter describes how in one city the people
[31:10] Speaker 1: would consecrate the couch of the god and the god
[31:14] Speaker 1: will enter the bedchamber. On the fourth day, the god
[31:18] Speaker 1: will return to his temple. This indicates a ritual where
[31:23] Speaker 1: the statue was moved to a special bedroom for the
[31:25] Speaker 1: festival night. In Sumerian times, Similar practices may have existed
[31:31] Speaker 1: during festival nights, especially at New Year, or other fertility festivals,
[31:37] Speaker 1: as we'll see with the sacred marriage ritual. Thus, from
[31:42] Speaker 1: morning's first light to the dead of the evening, the
[31:45] Speaker 1: gods were attended without cease. An observer would note that
[31:51] Speaker 1: not a single day went by without prayers, offerings, and
[31:55] Speaker 1: songs resounding from deep within the temple precinct. But don't
[32:02] Speaker 1: just boil the worship down to a matter of physical offerings.
[32:06] Speaker 1: It was also performed through words and sound. And the
[32:09] Speaker 1: Sumerians left behind a rich corpus of prayers, hymns and
[32:12] Speaker 1: incantations that give us a pretty good look into their
[32:16] Speaker 1: devotional life. Many of these texts were likely recited or
[32:20] Speaker 1: sung in the temples by priests and choir members, often
[32:23] Speaker 1: accompanied by musical instruments. So, if we do engage in
[32:28] Speaker 1: a little bit of speculation and imagination, It's entirely within
[32:33] Speaker 1: the context of these hymns that are left behind, but
[32:37] Speaker 1: we'll try to keep it as strictly academic as we can,
[32:40] Speaker 1: while keeping it kind of fun for you. One category
[32:44] Speaker 1: of text is the Temple Hymn, exemplified by the Kesh
[32:47] Speaker 1: Temple Hymn and a collection of 42 hymns attributed to Enheduanna,
[32:52] Speaker 1: that aforementioned daughter of Sargon of Akkad. These were poetic
[32:57] Speaker 1: praises for individual temples and their deities that lived within,
[33:02] Speaker 1: For example, Enheduanna composed hymns for temples all across Sumer,
[33:07] Speaker 1: praising their grandeur and the gods' glory. A temple hymn
[33:12] Speaker 1: would typically enumerate the temple's features. House of Splendor, bedecked
[33:18] Speaker 1: with jewels, standing tall, and Lord the Deity, i.e. words like,
[33:25] Speaker 1: O House of Enlil, your lord is the prince of
[33:28] Speaker 1: all lands, things like this. They're pretty common openings and
[33:34] Speaker 1: endings for these sorts of hymns. But of course, they
[33:38] Speaker 1: would also end with a plea for continued divine favour.
[33:42] Speaker 1: These hymns could be chanted during rituals of temple dedication,
[33:47] Speaker 1: or at regular services, rather, to reaffirm the sanctity of
[33:52] Speaker 1: the place. In fact, the Keshe hymn ends with a
[33:55] Speaker 1: refrain-inviting but cautioning approach, as we saw We already mentioned
[34:01] Speaker 1: that praise be to well-built Kesh. Draw near, but do
[34:05] Speaker 1: not draw near. A kind of poetic paradox device. It
[34:11] Speaker 1: may have been recited to onlookers at the temple threshold,
[34:13] Speaker 1: instilling some kind of reverence. So Sumerian religious ceremonies also
[34:21] Speaker 1: heavily featured music. From clay tablets and depictions, we know
[34:24] Speaker 1: they had harps, lutes, lyres, pipes, drums, and rattles. Hymns
[34:31] Speaker 1: were likely sung by a choir of priests or priestesses.
[34:35] Speaker 1: And so imagine that echo of a chorus in a
[34:38] Speaker 1: high-vaulted hall singing the praise of Inanna. Inanna, great light
[34:43] Speaker 1: of heaven, excellent is your glory, and so on. It
[34:48] Speaker 1: must have been pretty mesmerizing, don't you think? Certain hymns
[34:53] Speaker 1: were possibly call and response, or had refrains from the
[34:57] Speaker 1: congregation to hum along with it, The use of instruments
[35:02] Speaker 1: like the harp and the drum, called the balag and uub, respectively,
[35:08] Speaker 1: are often mentioned in texts, indicating that structured musical liturgy
[35:12] Speaker 1: was a hallmark of Sumerian worship. One text describes a
[35:17] Speaker 1: performance actually. The aga instrument thunders. The drum and cymbals
[35:24] Speaker 1: accompany the hymn. These auditory elements help to create an
[35:29] Speaker 1: immersive spiritual experience. much as organ music or choral singing
[35:35] Speaker 1: might do for us in a modern-day cathedral. It just
[35:38] Speaker 1: adds to the atmosphere. But aside from praise, Sumerians also
[35:43] Speaker 1: engaged in prayers of petition and, of course, lament. People
[35:49] Speaker 1: in need might come to the temple to present prayers
[35:52] Speaker 1: for healing, mercy, or perhaps the gods' intervention in some
[35:56] Speaker 1: kind of crisis, an illness, drought, or perhaps even an eclipse. However,
[36:04] Speaker 1: as the Metropolitan Museum's Ira Spahr had noted, ordinary people
[36:09] Speaker 1: usually prayed to personal gods at home, since direct contact
[36:14] Speaker 1: with the great deities was managed by priests. But still,
[36:19] Speaker 1: there were times when laypersons would join public prayers or processions.
[36:24] Speaker 1: It was in those moments that everyone might recite a
[36:26] Speaker 1: common supplication. For example— During a city's collective mourning, let's say,
[36:33] Speaker 1: I don't know, after some disaster, a drought, something like this,
[36:38] Speaker 1: the temple's lamentation priests would chant dirges, and the people
[36:42] Speaker 1: would chime in with refrains, perhaps like, Oh, my city,
[36:47] Speaker 1: when will it rise again? And actually, we have proper
[36:53] Speaker 1: Sumerian lamentations that were used in rituals. A famous set
[36:58] Speaker 1: are the city laments, etc., the laments for Ur, which
[37:03] Speaker 1: mourn the destructions of cities and temples by invaders or
[37:07] Speaker 1: by the gods' wrath. These laments were likely performed with
[37:11] Speaker 1: harps and voices crying out by the priests to appease
[37:15] Speaker 1: the gods and invite them to return and make things
[37:19] Speaker 1: right again. One moving excerpt from a city lament, paraphrased,
[37:25] Speaker 1: of course, says, The smoke of incense no longer rises
[37:29] Speaker 1: in the holy places. The offerings have ceased. The voice
[37:33] Speaker 1: of prayer has fallen silent in the ruined temple. Doesn't
[37:40] Speaker 1: sound very good. Certainly lives up to its name as
[37:43] Speaker 1: a lament. And such lines tell us what an ideal
[37:47] Speaker 1: temple sounded like, full of incense, smoke, offerings and voice,
[37:53] Speaker 1: by highlighting their absence as such a tragedy. The emotional
[37:58] Speaker 1: power of these laments was a form of worship through sorrow,
[38:02] Speaker 1: I suppose, acknowledging the gods' absence and begging them to
[38:07] Speaker 1: come back to their homes in the temple. But there
[38:12] Speaker 1: were also incantations, specialized spoken rituals, often for protective or
[38:17] Speaker 1: healing purposes. If someone was ill or believed a demon
[38:21] Speaker 1: was afflicting them, a pretty common belief back then, a
[38:25] Speaker 1: priest would often called an ashipu or healer, would recite incantations,
[38:32] Speaker 1: invoking gods to drive out the evil. While these might
[38:36] Speaker 1: not be worship in a celebratory sense, they were part
[38:40] Speaker 1: of religious practice. An incantation might address a god like
[38:45] Speaker 1: Enki or a healing goddess like Gula, praising their power
[38:50] Speaker 1: and asking for help. For example, a priest might chant
[38:55] Speaker 1: something like, Enge, lord of the deep, wise among gods,
[39:00] Speaker 1: your waters bring life, cleanse this illness. Rituals could involve
[39:05] Speaker 1: symbolic actions too, burning a doll that represented demon, etc.,
[39:11] Speaker 1: but always accompanied by the spoken word. Through such acts,
[39:15] Speaker 1: everyday life events were tied back into worship, illness and health,
[39:19] Speaker 1: birth and death, and they all had their proper prayers
[39:23] Speaker 1: and ceremonies. the combination of beautiful hymns, formal prayers, and
[39:29] Speaker 1: potent incantations meant that a Sumerian temple was certainly not
[39:34] Speaker 1: a quiet place. It was filled with words addressing the divine,
[39:39] Speaker 1: pretty much at all times. Even when not singing or speaking,
[39:43] Speaker 1: a visitor might hear the quiet murmuring of a priest reading,
[39:47] Speaker 1: or the faint echoes of a hymn practised by trainees.
[39:51] Speaker 1: Worship was an audible, performative experience, all aiming to please
[39:59] Speaker 1: the gods' senses. In Mesopotamian ritual, the gods' ears were
[40:04] Speaker 1: as important as his stomach was, and that means that
[40:08] Speaker 1: the praises and prayers were as necessary as the food
[40:10] Speaker 1: offerings to keep the deity as satisfied as possible. While
[40:18] Speaker 1: daily rites kept the gods content on an ordinary day,
[40:22] Speaker 1: the festivals were of course the highlights of the year,
[40:26] Speaker 1: and everybody looked forward to it. In fact, Sumerians had
[40:29] Speaker 1: a calendar full of holy days, often tied to seasonal
[40:32] Speaker 1: changes and agricultural cycles. Each major city had its own calendar,
[40:37] Speaker 1: and festivals dedicated to its patron deity. and these could
[40:41] Speaker 1: range from modest monthly observances, like the new moon feast
[40:47] Speaker 1: for the moon god, or specific days of rest and purification,
[40:52] Speaker 1: to multi-day extravaganzas, where the entire city dropped everything and
[41:00] Speaker 1: participated together. One of the most important types of festival
[41:05] Speaker 1: was the New Year celebration, which in some Sumerian cities
[41:10] Speaker 1: included the famous sacred marriage rite. This ritual, known as
[41:15] Speaker 1: Hieros Gamos, symbolically married the god and goddess to ensure
[41:21] Speaker 1: fertility and prosperity for the coming year. In the city
[41:25] Speaker 1: of Uruk, for example, the new year, basically springtime, at
[41:30] Speaker 1: the barley's harvest's beginning, was marked by a ceremony where
[41:34] Speaker 1: the king took on the identity of the shepherd god Dumuzi,
[41:39] Speaker 1: also known as Tammuz, and a high priestess represented Inanna Ishtar.
[41:45] Speaker 1: In a secluded part of the temple, possibly on top
[41:48] Speaker 1: of the ziggurat beneath the stars, they would enact a
[41:52] Speaker 1: ritual union. Texts, including Sumerian love songs, believe it or not,
[41:58] Speaker 1: some attributed to King Shu-Sin of Ur, 2000 BC, describe
[42:03] Speaker 1: such a scenario in romantic and poetic language. It goes
[42:08] Speaker 1: like this. Bridegroom, let me caress you. My precious caress
[42:15] Speaker 1: is more savory than honey. Now this isn't a salacious
[42:20] Speaker 1: detail for its own sake, but deeply religious symbolism. Their
[42:26] Speaker 1: union was thought to revitalize the land, just as the
[42:31] Speaker 1: union of Inanna and Dumuzi bought the spring growth. Afterwards,
[42:37] Speaker 1: The couple, the king and the priestess, would present themselves
[42:40] Speaker 1: to the populace amid the feasting and rejoicing, as a
[42:44] Speaker 1: divine marriage had taken place, ensuring blessings for all. Another
[42:50] Speaker 1: common festival was the procession of the gods. At certain festivals,
[42:54] Speaker 1: the statue of the god would be removed from the
[42:57] Speaker 1: inner sanctum and carried through the streets, or perhaps to
[43:01] Speaker 1: another holy site. Often this involved visiting the temple of
[43:05] Speaker 1: a related deity, For example, during a festival in Nippur,
[43:11] Speaker 1: the statues of gods from other cities might travel to
[43:13] Speaker 1: Nippur to honour Enlil Jeevgod. The logistics were complex, to
[43:20] Speaker 1: say the least. Moving a deity statue itself was a ritual,
[43:25] Speaker 1: with precautions and prayers at every step. And for God's sake,
[43:29] Speaker 1: don't drop it. Could you imagine? Well, that would definitely
[43:35] Speaker 1: get you fired from your priest job. I could imagine that.
[43:39] Speaker 1: A letter from much later, that is 8th century BC,
[43:44] Speaker 1: describes how a statue of Nabu was taken from a
[43:47] Speaker 1: palace shrine out to a special location and back, accompanied
[43:52] Speaker 1: by priests and musicians. And we can use that to
[43:56] Speaker 1: somewhat imagine a Sumerian precedent. So you can imagine an
[44:02] Speaker 1: entire city pretty much in holiday mode. Citizens lining the
[44:07] Speaker 1: processional road. Women with their children upon their shoulders straining
[44:13] Speaker 1: to see. Merchants giving out dates and beers to pass
[44:17] Speaker 1: it by. The statue of the gods, perhaps standing on
[44:21] Speaker 1: a decorated boat-shaped platform. Some gods were carried on model
[44:25] Speaker 1: boats or chariots. Finally comes into view Drummers beat the
[44:31] Speaker 1: steady rhythm. Men carry offerings of flowers and breads in front.
[44:36] Speaker 1: High officials carry incense burners. The air is absolutely electric
[44:41] Speaker 1: with devotion and excitement. For once, the god leaves his
[44:47] Speaker 1: sanctum and is among the people, right there, in a
[44:52] Speaker 1: rare and blessed experience. Festivals also included public sacrifices and feasts, too,
[45:01] Speaker 1: On ordinary days, sacrifices might be conducted behind the scenes,
[45:05] Speaker 1: but during festivals, they'd be a little bit more communal.
[45:11] Speaker 1: A king might personally slaughter a bull in front of
[45:13] Speaker 1: the god, or more likely oversee while the priests did
[45:17] Speaker 1: the act. All this done in front of a crowd
[45:21] Speaker 1: to demonstrate piety. The meat from these sacrifices would then
[45:27] Speaker 1: be cooked and shared in a grand feast. literally a
[45:31] Speaker 1: feast with the gods, as the divine portion was offered
[45:35] Speaker 1: and then the rest given to the celebrants. There where
[45:39] Speaker 1: processional songs were unique to festivals, and likely dramatic reenactments
[45:45] Speaker 1: of myth too, some scholars think that certain myths like
[45:49] Speaker 1: Inanna's descent into the underworld or the epic of Gilgamesh
[45:53] Speaker 1: might have been even performed by temple actors or priests
[45:56] Speaker 1: during the festival times to edify the public and honour
[46:00] Speaker 1: the gods through storytelling it's a compelling thought that we
[46:04] Speaker 1: don't have too much evidence for but perhaps a kind
[46:08] Speaker 1: of sacred theatre may have been part of their worship
[46:13] Speaker 1: additionally There were seasonal agricultural rites. Many month names reflected
[46:20] Speaker 1: agricultural events too. For instance, a festival at ploughing time
[46:26] Speaker 1: might involve hitching up the oxen in a ceremonial way,
[46:30] Speaker 1: asking the earth god and the sky god to bless
[46:33] Speaker 1: the new planting season. Harvest time would see offerings of
[46:37] Speaker 1: first fruits and grains. We also see evidence of lamentation festivals.
[46:42] Speaker 1: If a drought or misfortune hit, people organized special days
[46:46] Speaker 1: of fasting and lament to appease the offended deity. Such
[46:51] Speaker 1: days like these, the usual joyful songs gave way to
[46:55] Speaker 1: mournful prayers. The whole atmosphere is a little bit different.
[47:01] Speaker 1: The temple might only offer water and incense, no rich foods,
[47:05] Speaker 1: as if the gods themselves were in mourning. And the
[47:08] Speaker 1: people didn't show up wearing their Sunday best either. It
[47:12] Speaker 1: was simple clothing. And one particular set of holy days
[47:17] Speaker 1: were the so-called Sabbath, Sabbat. Yes, we get the word
[47:22] Speaker 1: from there. It goes back a long time. Ancient Mesopotamians
[47:27] Speaker 1: observed the new moon and 7th, 14th, 21st, 28th days
[47:32] Speaker 1: of the month as days of rest or reduced activity.
[47:37] Speaker 1: The term Sabbatu or Shabbatu in Babylonian means a day
[47:42] Speaker 1: of rest dedicated to appeasing the heart of the gods.
[47:47] Speaker 1: While the concept is not identical to the later Judeo-Christian Sabbath,
[47:53] Speaker 1: it shows a concern for a regular cyclic observance, where
[47:58] Speaker 1: certain work was forbidden and presumably extra prayers were offered
[48:02] Speaker 1: to avoid angering deities on those critical days. In a
[48:07] Speaker 1: Sumerian city, on those days the king and priests likely
[48:11] Speaker 1: took part in more intense purification rituals, and the public
[48:15] Speaker 1: might gather for additional prayers or simply refrain from normal business,
[48:20] Speaker 1: acknowledging the sacredness of the time. So in essence, the
[48:26] Speaker 1: festivals were times when the whole community came together to
[48:30] Speaker 1: engage in worship, not just the priests. They reaffirmed the
[48:35] Speaker 1: bonds between people and their gods, and between the city
[48:38] Speaker 1: and its patron deity. The excitement of a festival would
[48:42] Speaker 1: break the routine of daily offerings with colour, noise, and
[48:47] Speaker 1: even a carnivalesque kind of joy. Yet underlying all the
[48:52] Speaker 1: merriment was a serious purpose, and that was to renew
[48:56] Speaker 1: the world, thank the gods, and ask for continued bounty
[49:01] Speaker 1: and protection. From the quiet daily prayer of a humble
[49:06] Speaker 1: farmer in his field, to the king himself leading a procession,
[49:12] Speaker 1: worship spanned the gamut of human emotion and activity. truly
[49:17] Speaker 1: permeating life and class. Well, so far we've focused on
[49:25] Speaker 1: official temple practice. But what about the man on the street?
[49:30] Speaker 1: The ordinary Sumerian? How did they worship in daily life? Well,
[49:36] Speaker 1: aside from attending all the big festivals. Now this question
[49:40] Speaker 1: leads us to the realm of personal piety, doesn't it?
[49:43] Speaker 1: And household religion in Sumer. Most Sumerian individuals had what
[49:48] Speaker 1: we would call, at least in our modern concepts, of
[49:52] Speaker 1: a personal god. A deity, often a lesser god or
[49:57] Speaker 1: god associated with a major one, who acted as their
[50:00] Speaker 1: protector or patron. They conceived of this personal god almost
[50:05] Speaker 1: like a guardian angel. who might intercede with the higher
[50:09] Speaker 1: gods on their behalf, sort of like a middleman. Think
[50:14] Speaker 1: of a farmer. He might regard the god Dumuzi, or
[50:17] Speaker 1: a local agriculture deity, as his personal god. A mother
[50:21] Speaker 1: might pray to a goddess like Ninhursag or Gula for
[50:25] Speaker 1: her family's health. People felt a direct connection to these
[50:29] Speaker 1: personal gods and would set up small shrines in their
[50:32] Speaker 1: homes for daily prayer. And think about it. If you're
[50:36] Speaker 1: a farmer, you probably want to pray to a specialist. Sure,
[50:43] Speaker 1: you've got the big gods sitting on the main throne,
[50:47] Speaker 1: but when you've got a specific problem, you want to
[50:49] Speaker 1: go to a specific person, right? A mother nervous about childbirth,
[50:56] Speaker 1: or even somebody just having some kind of general problem.
[51:01] Speaker 1: You want to go to the expert. Archaeologists have indeed
[51:06] Speaker 1: found small statuettes of gods and altars in private houses.
[51:11] Speaker 1: Many homes at sites like Ur and Nippur had these
[51:14] Speaker 1: kind of little wall niches, presumably to place a figurine
[51:18] Speaker 1: or a clay relief of a deity. These home altars
[51:22] Speaker 1: were where families prayed every day, lit oil lamps or
[51:26] Speaker 1: incense and made tiny little offerings, perhaps a bit of
[51:29] Speaker 1: bread or beer before their meal, dedicating it to that
[51:34] Speaker 1: personal god. And it's actually quite human to think of it.
[51:40] Speaker 1: A Sumerian family, thousands of years ago, gathering in the evening,
[51:45] Speaker 1: kneeling in the main room, a little bit of incense,
[51:48] Speaker 1: saying a prayer together to bless their house. A deeply
[51:53] Speaker 1: human scene. And it was that scene that was the
[51:57] Speaker 1: grassroots level of Sumerian worship. It did not involve the
[52:03] Speaker 1: grandeur of temples, sure. but it was likely very widespread
[52:09] Speaker 1: and equally as heartfelt. In these personal devotions, gestures mattered too.
[52:17] Speaker 1: Mesopotamian art shows worshippers with hands raised or one hand
[52:22] Speaker 1: over the mouth, a sign of respect or silence in
[52:26] Speaker 1: the presence of divinity. A commoner might not understand all
[52:30] Speaker 1: the learned hymns that the priests used. They're a bit complicated.
[52:35] Speaker 1: but they certainly had their own simple prayers. They might
[52:39] Speaker 1: not be as wordy, but certainly be honest. One might say,
[52:45] Speaker 1: Dear personal god, speak a good word for me to Enlil,
[52:51] Speaker 1: if they need a general fortune, or please protect my
[52:55] Speaker 1: children and the house. We even have records of prayer
[52:58] Speaker 1: letters too, believe it or not. Clay tablets where people
[53:02] Speaker 1: wrote to the gods about their little troubles. In later
[53:05] Speaker 1: old Babylonian times, some wrote letters to gods like Marduk
[53:09] Speaker 1: or Shamash, complaining about injustice or illness, effectively prayers in
[53:16] Speaker 1: written form. The roots of that custom might go well
[53:21] Speaker 1: back to Sumerian times, too. In fact, some Sumerian letters
[53:25] Speaker 1: to gods exist as well. Not as much as in
[53:29] Speaker 1: Babylonian times, but we have a few. Another way common
[53:33] Speaker 1: people participated was by depositing rather votive offerings in the temples.
[53:39] Speaker 1: A votive, if you don't know, is a gift to
[53:42] Speaker 1: a god given in hope or thanks, kind of like
[53:46] Speaker 1: a donation. And many wealthy worshippers indeed donated jewellery or
[53:51] Speaker 1: precious vessels inscribed with their name and a prayer to
[53:55] Speaker 1: be placed in the temple treasury. But even those of
[53:59] Speaker 1: modest means could give something, For instance, one could dedicate
[54:03] Speaker 1: a small votive statue of themselves. The famous discovery of
[54:08] Speaker 1: the Tel Asmar votive statues gives us a glimpse at that.
[54:11] Speaker 1: These are a group of statuettes from around 2600 BC,
[54:17] Speaker 1: depicting men and women in the pose of worships, that is,
[54:20] Speaker 1: hands clasped together, a wide-eyed gaze. They were found buried
[54:26] Speaker 1: under a temple floor. They had been dedicated to stand
[54:33] Speaker 1: in the temple, praying perpetually on behalf of the donor.
[54:38] Speaker 1: So imagine commissioning a little caricature of yourself in alabaster
[54:42] Speaker 1: or gypsum to live in the temple and pray for you,
[54:45] Speaker 1: even when you're not there. That was pretty much the
[54:49] Speaker 1: idea they were going with. The big eyes of those
[54:53] Speaker 1: statues likely symbolized the attentive gaze toward the god. In essence,
[54:58] Speaker 1: if you couldn't always make it to the temple, you'd
[55:00] Speaker 1: still have your statue there. It maintains your devotion, albeit symbolically. Moreover,
[55:09] Speaker 1: everyday life had many informal rituals. If someone embarked on
[55:14] Speaker 1: a journey, they might sprinkle flour or drink a libation
[55:18] Speaker 1: in honour of Nana or Utu, the moon and sun
[55:21] Speaker 1: gods who watch travellers by day and night. If a
[55:25] Speaker 1: child was born, midwives might speak a blessing, invoking a
[55:29] Speaker 1: protective deity or spirit. When building a house, people buried
[55:33] Speaker 1: foundational deposits, little offerings to the earth gods, and local
[55:39] Speaker 1: deities too, so that their house would be blessed. All
[55:43] Speaker 1: such acts were part of worship in a broader sense,
[55:46] Speaker 1: acknowledging the gods at every turn. And it's important to
[55:50] Speaker 1: note that ordinary people generally did not enter the gods
[55:54] Speaker 1: in a sanctum, or perform complex rites as we have mentioned.
[55:59] Speaker 1: They were the domain of priests only. but that did
[56:03] Speaker 1: not exclude them from worship. They engaged through prayers at
[56:08] Speaker 1: temple courtyards, processions, festival observances, and of course at home,
[56:14] Speaker 1: and crucially, they trusted the priests to represent them. When
[56:20] Speaker 1: the priest made the daily offerings, it was on behalf
[56:23] Speaker 1: of the entire community, not the priest himself. Many offerings
[56:28] Speaker 1: were funded by the city, or the king as a
[56:31] Speaker 1: representative of the people. So, that farmer in the fields
[56:36] Speaker 1: of Lagash could feel secure that even if he didn't
[56:40] Speaker 1: personally present bread at Ningirsu's altar every single morning, the
[56:45] Speaker 1: temple priests were doing as good a job of it
[56:48] Speaker 1: for him, maintaining divine favour for the crops and livestock.
[56:54] Speaker 1: In a reciprocal manner, the temples often gave back to
[56:57] Speaker 1: the people During festivals, temples distributed food and beer to
[57:02] Speaker 1: the populace, a kind of communal meal with the god,
[57:07] Speaker 1: and they also cared for orphans and war widows at times,
[57:11] Speaker 1: functioning as charitable institutions. There is evidence that in some
[57:17] Speaker 1: periods the poor could eat from the temple, possibly a
[57:21] Speaker 1: practice of allowing the needy to have a portion of
[57:24] Speaker 1: the daily offerings, or to glean from temple fields. which
[57:28] Speaker 1: echoes later practices in many religions. Thus worship was not
[57:34] Speaker 1: only vertical, the people looking up to God, but also horizontal,
[57:40] Speaker 1: within the community. It all helped to foster quite a
[57:44] Speaker 1: bit of social cohesion. So by now, I'm sure you've
[57:50] Speaker 1: got a pretty comprehensive picture of how the Sumerians worshipped.
[57:55] Speaker 1: At least I hope you have. from your inspiring temple ceremonies,
[58:01] Speaker 1: that those humble household prayers said before dinner, with the
[58:05] Speaker 1: wife and kids gathered around. But one might ask, how
[58:11] Speaker 1: on earth do we know all of this? Well, it's
[58:17] Speaker 1: a combination of archaeology, and thousands, I mean thousands, of
[58:23] Speaker 1: cuneiform texts, temple administrative tablets, listing offerings, hymns and prayers
[58:31] Speaker 1: etched on clay, royal inscriptions boasting of temple constructions, and
[58:37] Speaker 1: even literature that indirectly references rituals. And it's through all
[58:42] Speaker 1: of these sources, our primary texts, that let us reconstruct
[58:46] Speaker 1: the spirituality of a world long past. And I think
[58:55] Speaker 1: that's a good place to leave it for today. Did
[58:58] Speaker 1: you have fun? Did you learn something? I hope you did.
[59:03] Speaker 1: I'm sure you did. And if you did, which you did,
[59:09] Speaker 1: you should like and subscribe. And leave a comment or something.
[59:13] Speaker 1: I don't know. It's good for the algorithm. Well, those
[59:18] Speaker 1: very kind people supporting on the Patreon have my thanks. Dark, Kimberly, Christine, Sally, Amber, Susan, Cameron, Legitmus. Charlene, Lynn, Therese, Katiana, Nicholas, Ulf, Edna, Alexander, Charles, Christine, Dr. Neuronerd, Aaron, Jaden, Jim, Jeffrey, Jessica, Madeline, Melissa,
[59:38] Speaker 1: Orthodox Review, Scott, Stark Factory, Shell, Wendy, Josie, Sarah, Ryan, Thor, Oh,
[59:45] Speaker 1: it's scrolling too fast. Don't scroll too fast. Where am I? Cameron, Stefan, Kevin, HMSHH, Crystal,
[59:55] Speaker 1: and I think that's how I say it. I don't know.
[1:00:02] Speaker 1: Maybe it's an Irish name or something. Well, as for you,
[1:00:07] Speaker 1: my friend, I will see you in the next video.
[1:00:11] Speaker 1: And to everybody out there who's listening all around the world,
[1:00:16] Speaker 1: I wish you good night and lots of love to
[1:00:19] Speaker 1: you all.

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