Religion/Polytheism in Mesopotamia
The people of ancient Mesopotamia literally did everything in their lives in the name of their Gods. In short, they believed the creation of the Earth started when the younger gods were annoying the older gods. One of the elder gods named Apsu, was planning to kill the younger gods. In shock, a fellow elder god named Tiamat came to warn the younger gods. They acted quickly and killed Apsu. A younger god named Ea, made the Earth out of Apsu's corpse later on. Tiamat had a change of heart over Apsu's death, so she unleashed forces of evil to kill the younger gods. Out of those forces, was Marduk, the storm god. He agreed to kill Tiamat if under the conditions of getting worshiped by the younger gods. After he killed Tiamat, her body was used to create the sky.
To contain the forces of evil, so the gods needed humans to provide resources to run the world. The humans were able to accomplish this, so the gods allegedly assisted humans in their everyday lives. Mesopotamian people revered their gods so much, that they built temples to house them on Earth. Not only that, but they made music for the gods, bathed them, entertained them, offered meals and even beer to statues of these gods. They turned their statues into reality, and even carried statues over to other statues so they could visit each other. Unlike most religion today, the Mesopotamian people believed that human dead do not exist in the same realm as the gods. Dead people lived in the underworld, and gods lived in a paradise known as Dilmun. However, more attention was given to the humans in the aspect, because they believed that dead people who weren't honored, were eligible to haunt living humans. Though religion still plays a significant role throughout the world, it most likely wasn't accounted for nearly as much as it used to.
To contain the forces of evil, so the gods needed humans to provide resources to run the world. The humans were able to accomplish this, so the gods allegedly assisted humans in their everyday lives. Mesopotamian people revered their gods so much, that they built temples to house them on Earth. Not only that, but they made music for the gods, bathed them, entertained them, offered meals and even beer to statues of these gods. They turned their statues into reality, and even carried statues over to other statues so they could visit each other. Unlike most religion today, the Mesopotamian people believed that human dead do not exist in the same realm as the gods. Dead people lived in the underworld, and gods lived in a paradise known as Dilmun. However, more attention was given to the humans in the aspect, because they believed that dead people who weren't honored, were eligible to haunt living humans. Though religion still plays a significant role throughout the world, it most likely wasn't accounted for nearly as much as it used to.