Monday, 1 October 2012

Mesopotamian Religion



Mesopotamia describes the place, people and culture that as ,commonly known now was Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Iran held. Mainly developed in Iraq as it was centralized around the river system named Tigris -Euphrates. The name actually developed due to this as the name literally states "The land between rivers", linking to the name again, as it was located between Tigris & Euphrates.  Apparently started at 3100 BC and ending in AD 226. Going through many time periods of evolution, many different types of people and empires were created.

The main periods of the time were:
  • ·         Early Bronze Age
  • ·         Middle Bronze Age
  • ·         Late Bronze Age
  • ·         Iron Age
  • ·         The Classical Antiquity Period
  • ·         The Late Antiquity Period


The different periods developed new form of technologies and were said to be incredibly advanced for the age that were in. Creating by example, a postal service which worked not far from the one we use today.
Eventhough they were intelligent and advanced to a skill not really seen in the age across the world, they were in between 2 rivals who were fighting for supremacy. These being the Roman and the Parthians. Due to Mesopotamia being linked with the Parthians, their land became a place a battleground for the war to rage. This helping to the fall of the empires that existed through there.

Looking at religion and fantasy as this is what I want my feature to be about, I read a lot about gods, goddesses and demons who exist in the world of the Mesopotamian religion. The religion was one of the first to be recorded ever so a lot of future myths, religions and legends are based of Mesopotamia. As they mainly respected gods and seen demons and heroes, here's a list of some names that they worshipped and followed:
  • ·         Ahsur & Assur
  • ·         Ishtar
  • ·         Nabu
  • ·         Nergal
  • ·         Tiamat
  • ·         Samnuha
  • ·         Kubaba
  • ·         Marduk
  • ·         Elil
  • ·         Ninlil
  • ·         Sin/Nanna
  • ·         Nisroch
  • ·         Hanbi
  • ·         Anu
  • ·         Ea
  • ·         Kishar
  • ·         Suen/ Sin
  • ·         Ishara
  • ·         Shamash
  • ·         Hadad
  • ·         Dagan
  • ·         Bel
  • ·         Tammuz
  • ·         Oannes
  • ·         Gilgamesh
  • ·         Lugalbanda
  • ·         Lilitu
  • ·         Pazuzu
  • ·         Ninurta

These are some examples of the people they worshiped  Supposedly have taken bodily form and were more said to be masters of the skill they possessed, people respected them dearly. Mostly all the gods, deities and demons had some form of link to each other so they were always connected.

If able to, I can find extracts of information from these elements and then use them into drawing and creating something which can suit what I imagine the particular being to be. From creature to human form, by finding particular elements of their story and using them in my drawings, I can design unique elements based on my perception

If I was going to contain a story in my project (which is highly plausible I would), I have thought about using the 4 main periods in the Bronze Age and using them to share out the different thoughts and ideas of the overall religion and myths that surround them. These 4 periods are:
  • ·         Babylonia
  • ·         Sumer
  • ·         Akkadia
  • ·         Assyrai

Gods have been known to protect particular groups of people from these 4 eras and by researching what particular myths are important in these parts, I can split them up and create an overall look to the different creatures and people. So when developing the ideas and then drawing them to paper, I can have in mind what particular overall look would suit the age period, while also keeping the small extract of story that I will use to its full potential.

When further going into the project if I was take this on, I would research more into the Bronze Age period, where the gods become important and how I could implement them, overall feel to each period and pick out some story examples to start a foundation for my project.

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