REL S 101 Chapter Notes - Chapter Ancient Middle East: Ancient Near East, Mother Goddess, Abrahamic Religions
Document Summary
Sacrifice and public religion in the early historical era. Cosmic religions - emphasis on a group of gods and goddesses who are associated with the great powers of the natural world, especially the celestial bodies. Pantheons - families of gods were held to be responsible for the movements of the seasons, fertility of living on. Nammu - mother goddess was seen as the creator of all. Mother goddess began to diminish and father god rose. Sacrifice - offering of food in the form of animals and plants upon open-air or temple-enclosed altars. Ziggurates - sumerians built the earliest empties, pyramid-like structure that reached hundred of feet into the air to be closer" to the gods. Myths - stories of the supernatural powers that inhabited the earth and the heavens. Akkadians - early semitic people who lived in central mesopotamia and conquered the sumerians.
