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Episode 144: Ancient Mesopotamian Deities
57 Plays26 minutes ago
Welcome back, witches! In this episode, we’re diving into the myths and magic of two powerful Mesopotamian deities—Enki, the wise god of water and creation, and Marduk, the deity who rose to supremacy with his cunning and divine authority. So get in, loser, we’re unraveling ancient lore and uncovering the divine drama of gods who shaped the cosmos!
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Music by Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio- The Witch
References:
- OMNIKA (2019, July 23). Enki. Retrieved from https://omnika.org/stable/226
- Zare, Masoud, et al. Enki or Ea: The God of Medicine in Mesopotamia from the Sea. (2022) https://modernmedlab.com/article-1-117-en.html
- Enki. World Mythology. https://www.mifologia.com/pantheons/sumerian-pantheon/enki/
- Uncovering the Epic Sumerian Creation story of Enki and Ninhursag. World Mythology. https://www.mifologia.com/myths-and-legends/sumerian-myths/uncovering-the-epic-sumerian-creation-story-of-enki-and-ninhursag/
- World History Edu (2023). Marduk: The Patron God of Babylon. World History Edu. https://worldhistoryedu.com/marduk-patron-god-of-babylon/
- Etemenanki (n.d.). Ancient Mesopotamia. https://ancientmesopotamia.org/structures/etemenanki
- Babylonian Myths (2024). The Cult of Marduk: Rituals and Worship in Ancient Babylon. Babylonian Mythology. https://babylonian.mythologyworldwide.com/the-cult-of-marduk-rituals-and-worship-in-ancient-babylon/
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Transcript
Introduction to Witchcraft and the Occult
00:00:00
Speaker
Do you feel drawn to learn more about witchcraft in the occult, but feel lost in where to start? Then welcome to Get In Loser We're Doing Witchcraft, a podcast all about what it means to be a witch and where to get started on your journey. Join us as we navigate through various witchy topics and share what we've learned
Focus on Mesopotamian Deities
00:00:15
Speaker
about the craft. So get in witches for another deity episode, this time taking a look at some ancient Mesopotamian deities.
Hosts' Health and Wellness Experiences
00:00:49
Speaker
because I've also been very lax on our like immune boosting things. Like we were so good in the States about doing like elderberry syrup or gummies and fire cider and the PCS last year really put a damper on it because we PCS during that season. And then I just never got back into just doing it regularly.
Listener Interaction and Book Recommendation
00:01:11
Speaker
So I need to get better at that because I am sick of being sick all the fucking time. Yes.
00:01:18
Speaker
I'm sick of it for you. I'm sick of losing my voice. I'm sick of sinus issues. I'm sinus headaches. Yeah. And we talked about this earlier, but like just the fact that I don't know what every time you are sick, it only, it will affect your voice for so long. So like, yeah, I don't want this to happen. But what I foresee happening is like the next four episodes we record, you're not gonna have a course. Yeah, like it um it affects your voice so much. I don't understand. I don't either. I woke up this morning and I like went to say something to one of the dogs and I was like,
00:01:58
Speaker
yeah What is this sound getting out of my mouth? oh And you were like, do you want to postpone? And I was like, um, actually, yes, but for other reasons. Yeah. oh man Yeah. Well, just bear with us guys. Yeah. For Tiffany's sake and c send her all the healing vibes and healing things because winter's not been fun for you.
00:02:26
Speaker
No, but I did make a giant bottle of elderberry syrup and I've been taking that and it's so delicious too. I don't know what I did differently this time around, but it turned out so good. And I've been drinking my teas. Yeah, Anthony's lasted so long, like he was like down, like in bed all day for like days. And that part for me was only like 24 hours. So Yeah, but I also like immediately when I started getting symptoms, I was like cold and flu bombs, like multiple times a day, I made the elderberry syrup, I started drinking like my chillin hill tea, because it's got all of the immune boosting um herbs in it. So shout out to sincerely herbs. And sorry if I'm coughing on your guys, like I'm doing my best. So yeah.
00:03:23
Speaker
But yeah, we'll try and edit out as many coughs as we can. But unfortunately, it is what it is. Deal with it. But also, before we start recording, we just recently got a Instagram message from our listener, Melissa. And so if you're listening to this episode, um I responded to your message while we were recording. So just have a ride.
00:03:45
Speaker
but um Yeah, she bought the Witches Apothecary based on our recommendation on the show. And I love getting messages like that. like Those are my favorite kind of messages is whenever just like random interactions with you guys. And you know maybe even you guys giving us a recommendation or, I don't know, just like any sort of small talk. We love it. so Yeah, we absolutely love it. We love your stories. We love just little messages.
Anunnaki in Mesopotamian Mythology
00:04:13
Speaker
All of it's great. And also, I hope you love that book as much as we do because
00:04:17
Speaker
I love that book so much. I hope we didn't overhype it. I think it can be overhyped because it's an amazing book. but Right. i don't think I don't think it can be overhyped, but yeah it's it's so beautiful. It is. You can use it all year. like It's perfect. so Literally. yeah But we're not talking about book recommendations or messages. No, we're not. What are we talking about today?
00:04:44
Speaker
We are talking about some ancient Mesopotamian deities, which is exciting. I'm excited for it' this episode. This was fun. This was a lot of fun, but I absolutely want to preface this by saying that at least probably 99.9% of my pronunciations are going to be shit.
00:05:05
Speaker
because I don't know about you, but when I was trying to find pronunciation guides, they were either like just the robotic ones that you know are wrong, they're just saying it phonetically, or the deity that I'm covering, I guess his name is just too close to the Japanese word for circle, so I kept getting redirected to Japanese pronunciation. I was like, this is not right.
00:05:30
Speaker
So I'm going to do my best. I'm going to go with my gut. And it's probably going to be wrong. And I apologize in advance, but I tried. You know, I feel like with some of these ancient pantheons, it's the thought that counts because we don't know. And they don't really. We're not um ancient, I don't know, historian philosophers or like, you know, we didn't go to school for ancient civilizations like this. Not at all.
00:06:00
Speaker
us researching at so such a surprise. Just pure interest on our
Sumerian God Enki
00:06:04
Speaker
end. just Just be kind guys. And then, but if you know the correct way to pronounce it, we would not be offended if you messaged us and was like, Hey, you actually said blah, blah, blah when it's pronounced blah, blah, blah. Because we've even done that to ourselves before. Like I think recently with, um,
00:06:22
Speaker
yeah that got jonas and I'm like, oh yeah, it's jonas. And it's not, it is like 1000% jonas. And I'm like, okay. So, um you know. It's been a few times where we've come back and been like this whole time. Yeah, this whole, literally the epi episode don that was last week's episode, I had to rerecord myself saying certain things because I said it. Forgot about that. Totally wrong. Oh my gosh.
00:06:52
Speaker
I completely forgot about that. I might say anything y'all would never know, but I mean, since we're on the topic, it's- I mean, it was my fault because I pronounced it a different way. And then you were like, holy fuck. It's like, oh. You pronounced it the right way. And then I realized like, oh my God, not only did I spell it wrong, I heard it wrong. That was my favorite thing about this whole situation, you guys. Like you can't see our notes, obviously.
00:07:20
Speaker
But after she realized it, she goes, holy shit, I spelled it wrong every time. And every time it was spelled a different way, it was never spelled the same way twice. And it's just like every time I would hit the red squiggle underneath the word saying like, this is spelled wrong, I'm like, yeah, because it's like an ancient Greek word, like duh.
00:07:46
Speaker
oh my god it but it's okay it's okay yeah well we got there you know All right, so I'm going to kick off this episode with a little bit of background for everyone, because I don't know about you, but this was a new pantheon for me. So I'm going to talk about the Anu Naki. And this is essentially the origin story of the deities that we're going to be talking about. So according to world mythology, within the Sumerian cosmology, the universe sprang from chaos. And out of that primordial deities,
00:08:22
Speaker
Abzu and Nama were formed. And they were the underground sweet water and the chaotic salt waters. And from them, spring, I think it's on. It could be an, I don't know, it's just A-N. And he was the sky father, and he was sometimes known as Heaven. And then either Kai or Ki, I'm going to go with Ki for the rest of this because that just feels right.
00:08:50
Speaker
but Ki was the Earth Mother. And the descendants of An and Ki were then called the An-Ki, which are now more commonly referred to as the Anunnaki. So the Anunnaki were the higher gods who ruled the cosmos, and their subordinates were the Egi-ji. And Lore states that the Egi-ji were sent to Earth to mine precious minerals like gold,
00:09:18
Speaker
and that they were also expected to care for the earth, to dig canals, and to grow food. The Igigi got tired of being bossed around, and they revolted against the Anunnaki. So the gods came up with assistance to the Igigi, and they created humans. And so that's essentially the origin stories.
00:09:38
Speaker
So I'm going to be discussing the deity Anki, and um he's also known as a monkey, Lord Earth, Lord of the River, Lugal Avzu, Lugalid, Nadeem, Nendubara, and Wonder of the Deep Waters.
00:09:58
Speaker
So Anki is the Sumerian god of water, fish, justice, ship menders, exorcism, creation, intelligence, crafts, fertility, semen, magic, healing, medicine, and mischief. He rules a lot of things apparently.
00:10:18
Speaker
My favorite was Seaman. yeah
00:10:23
Speaker
So the meaning of his name roughly translates to Lord of the Earth. He's also known to be the controller of Apsu, which is the subterranean freshwater ocean, as well as the ruler of the Tigris and Euphrates. It was his control of the fresh waters that was said to be tied to ensuring that fertility and life actually occurred.
00:10:47
Speaker
So he's also considered to be the creator God, who was the protector of humankind, as he would often side with humans against the divine wrath, like during the floods. And often as a trickster, he was also known to cleverly help humans in secret as well.
00:11:06
Speaker
He's a member of the Anunnaki who were the descendants of An, or sometimes Anu, and was part of the seven gods who decree, but decree what? I'm not really sure. I don't know if you came across that. I couldn't find what that meant. I did not come across that. and Yeah, so apparently he's part of the seven gods who decree, but I don't know what they're decreeing.
00:11:30
Speaker
So if anyone knows, let us know. um In the Babylonian Pantheon, he was known as Enki or Ia, I'm not really sure. um The Canaanites knew him as El, and the Hurrian and Hittites considered him a god of contracts and the protector of humanity. His symbols are goats, fish, and goatfish, which basically look like Capricorns, but they're yeah different mythology and cultural rules, and the chimera.
00:12:04
Speaker
And so the goatfish here is tied to divine powers over creation and water versus like the Capricorn zodiac symbol. But wouldn't that have been so cool if it was? Right. So there was one, the first resource that I went to, they were like, and the Capricorn, and the Capricorn. And then I went to a more scholarly article on this. And they were like, it's not the Capricorn. And I was like, rude. So.
00:12:32
Speaker
So his parents are Anu, the sky father, and king of the gods, and Kai, or Ki, the goddess of earth. Though sometimes his mother is said to be Namu, and she is the creator goddess and goddess of primordial salt waters. And his siblings were Enlil, the god of wind, air, earth, storms, and agriculture. Gatumdug, the goddess of fertility and healing.
00:13:00
Speaker
Ninhursaga, the goddess of earth, animals, wildlife, birth, and fertility, and Nanbarshagunu,
00:13:11
Speaker
probably butchered that one, the goddess of flood, justice, grain, scribal arts, writing, accounting, surveying, and wisdom.
00:13:23
Speaker
His consort was Ninhursog, so yes, his sister, so there's that. um But he was also a consort to Ninkuru, the goddess of land, artisans, and sculptures, as well as Ninsun, the goddess of wild cows.
00:13:39
Speaker
Um, Enki had 16 children in total, one of which was known to be a demon, like a literal demon, not an asshole, while the rest were just various gods and goddesses of like a ton of different things. Enki was originally the patron god of the city Eridil, but his cult influence spread throughout Mesopotamia, the Canaanites, the Hittites, and the Hurians. He's associated with the southern band of constellations called the Star of Ea,
00:14:08
Speaker
as well as the constellation Asiku, the field, or the square of Pegasus. His sacred number was 40, and he was associated with the planet Mercury and the star Canopus. Enki was considered to be the keeper of the divine powers that were called mi or meh, not sure, and these powers were the gift of civilization.
00:14:33
Speaker
Depictions of Anki showed water flowing from his shoulders that represented the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers that had fish in them symbolizing life in abundance. He had a long beard that was meant to symbolize his wisdom, and he wore a horned crown that marked him as a god.
00:14:50
Speaker
He would often be surrounded by turtles and other aquatic animals to include the goatfish that symbolized his connection to nature and creation. And in some depictions, there would be an eagle on his arm to showcase his power over that nature.
00:15:07
Speaker
One place that Enki is depicted is on the Adaseel, which highlights his importance as a ruling deity. And each of these depictions show his role as the god of water, life, and replenishment. He often used cunning to outwit other gods. And this is like especially in Lille, which I think is really funny. He was just like, you're the one I'm just going to torture for the rest of our godly lives.
00:15:37
Speaker
And so moving into mythology and lore, there is so much on him. Like he is part of every piece of like lore and mythology I came across. There's at least a mention of him. So I just chose two. So Enki lived in Dilmin, which was an earthly paradise that he brought fresh water to. And his temple was enabsu in in Iridu.
00:16:05
Speaker
um As a creator deity, he was known as Lord Earth and was thought to have shaped the world and created humankind from clay and blood. And it was Enki who taught humans crafts, magic, and essential knowledge while also imparting divine laws and guidance to humans and other gods.
00:16:24
Speaker
So essentially, as I stated before, the Igigi got tired of the hard labor that they were forced to do down on Earth, and they revolted against the Anunnaki. Nama, the primeable mother, came to Enki with the issue, and his solution was to create a new being to take on the burdens of the gods. But to create the humans would require a sacrifice.
00:16:51
Speaker
So the god Gestu, who is the god of wisdom, was chosen as the sacrifice by Enki, and it was his blood that was put into the clay since it was rich with knowledge and vitality to create mankind. So Enki gathers the birth goddess Nama and the goddess Ninhursag, sometimes known as Ninma, and Ninsar, also known as Ninima,
00:17:17
Speaker
to help prepare the clay from the absoom. Sown in her sock molded the clay, shaping it into human form, while Anki infused the clay with Gestu's blood and humans were brought to life and imbued with purpose.
00:17:31
Speaker
These beings differed from the gods in that they were actually made for work and to carry baskets and to dig canals. This marked the new era where the gods could now rest and enjoy their divine existence and Anki's wisdom and creativity was noted to have brought balance to the cosmos once again. So that's essentially how humans were born. Oh yeah, just to be like, you know, that the little canal diggers beat yeah like
00:18:05
Speaker
So next we're going to talk about why humans have flaws. So in the celebration of the creation of humans, the gods held a feast. At the feast they obviously imbibed in some alcohol, um which in turn led Ninma and Enki to start a competition.
00:18:24
Speaker
So the story goes that after some drinks, Nenma fell emboldened to tell Enki that she had the harder task in creation because she had to shape the clay, and that his assigning fates was the easier job. So Enki was like, alright, bet. So he tells her he could assign a fate to any creature she created, and basically he challenges her to this competition.
00:18:50
Speaker
So the competition consisted of Ninma creating humans with flaws. So the first one, she gave weak hands with fragile fingers, making him unable to hold tools or perform heavy tasks. And Enki is like, don't worry, I got you. And he assigns him the fate of being a servant to the king, using his mind instead of his hands. Next, she creates a man whose eyes never close. And he's like basically blind because of this. And Anki assigns his fate to be gifted in the musical arts, always listening and learning, and being chief in the king's court. The third creation was given broken feet, making it impossible for the man to walk or run. So Anki assigns his fate to be that he works with silver and gold, and he creates these beautiful things while sitting down.
00:19:48
Speaker
Then she creates a man that couldn't hold his urine, and Anki showed him compassion by bathing him in enchanted water that drove out the Nemtar demon that caused his affliction. She created a woman that couldn't give birth, but who longed for children, so he declares that she would be longed to the queen's household, weaving and crafting, and her hands would bring life to other creations.
00:20:15
Speaker
Last, Nimna shaped a unique being that was neither male nor female. Enki gave them the name Nibru eunuch and decreed their services before the king as a bridge between the worlds. So Enki was able to find a place and a purpose for every flawed human. And he showed the gods that every flaw was not a curse, but a path to unique role within the world, which I thought was really sweet.
00:20:42
Speaker
and we could all learn and take a little note from. Yeah, especially Nimma. we are How did you say your name? Nimma. Nimma. Nimma. What the hell? It gets better. So to top it off, he flips the script and he challenges Nimma again by saying, let's switch roles. Like you think my role is easy. I'll create, you assign the fate. And she's like, all right. So he creates a human with multiple flaws. He gives it a weak spine, um like a weak head, shaky hips and feet, he's unable to stand or walk or even feed himself, and he names him Umul. I don't know why that was important, but that's what he named him.
00:21:25
Speaker
Ninma tries everything she can think of, but he's unable to speak or even grasps the bread that she attempts to hand him. He couldn't sit, he can't lay down, and it was apparent his existence was a struggle, and she admits to Enki that she felt that the human was beyond even their help.
00:21:44
Speaker
So Anki took this moment to teach that not all creations can thrive without the right background, and that it took both male and female, as well as wisdom and care, to bring forth a flourishing life, where he created fertility, pregnancy, and birth, allowing humans to reproduce and care and shape their own newborns into flourishing human beings. But what happened to Umof? I don't know.
00:22:11
Speaker
that wasn't in the story. So I don't know. I'm choosing to believe that Anki showed him compassion and made him into a flourishing human being with a purpose because that's typically what he did anyway. so Okay, we're just gonna go with that. Yeah, I'm gonna just pretend like it's a very happy ending in my head. So but yeah so moving on to some rituals. um Ceremonial rites involving water played a large part in worshiping Anki.
00:22:40
Speaker
And rituals often involved pools of fresh water, symbolizing life, and purification. ah Fish offerings were another big thing. They were common offerings to Enki, and they included carp bones usually, which I thought was kind of interesting. There was no like explanation to why carp, but carp bones specifically. And this was after communal feasting has occurred during a ceremony.
00:23:08
Speaker
um In terms of incantations, there's not much that was known about the incantations. It was just noted that sacred rites used water for purification and to invoke Anki's blessing while saying them. And then divinations. So this is another area that was not super detailed in any source, but Anki's role was wisdom and magic suggests that his name was invoked in di nations, particularly involving water and crafts. Outside of that, there is not a lot known about how he was worshipped or what
00:23:48
Speaker
the rituals themselves entailed just that these were some of the things that could be found in like the writings of his cult.
Babylon's Chief Deity Marduk
00:23:56
Speaker
That is Enki. There is a ton of mythology, so feel free to look it up. He had so many stories that he was a part of and they were all great. I like how it was preface that the cart bones were like the fish offerings. It was the bones after the communal feasting, because you don't see that very often in offerings to gods or any sort of deities, because it's like, we're going to give this whole goat, or the whole, like you know what I mean? I stub the best. who But here it was like, okay, we're going to have this feast in his honor. We're going to eat the fish, and then we're going to give the bones to him.
00:24:34
Speaker
Yeah. um Also, this is hilarious and I hope that everybody gets this reference, but whenever um we're struggling to pronounce some of these words, these ancient Mesopotamian words, it reminds me of that video of John Travolta introducing Adina Menzel. What did he call her? Adel Nadzim or something exactly like that.
00:25:03
Speaker
and Honestly, that's what I feel like though. I try to go in as confidently as I can and I'm like, this is very wrong. I can feel it. um That's what it reminds me of. Oh, God, that's great. I definitely feel that way. Yeah, I do too, honestly. so If anybody else knows that, I hope that gave you a little chuckle because I was thinking about that the whole time.
00:25:27
Speaker
So I'm going to be covering Marduk or Marduk. I'm not sure how to say it. You know, it is what it is. He was also known as Marutuk and he was the chief deity of the city of Babylon and one of the most important deities in the Mesopotamian pantheon.
00:25:43
Speaker
So, his name is believed to derive from Ammar Utu, which translates to immortal son of Utu, or bull calf of the sun god Utu. um And Utu was a Sumerian sun god, and I'm going to, like, so it's, like, that's what it translates, or I guess that's who Utu was, but then later on,
00:26:07
Speaker
It lists like who his parents actually were and it's not Utu, so I don't understand why he was called that, I don't know. But ah his initial attributes and associations were not clearly defined. So he was like a deity, like a lesser known deity or lesser known god or lesser powerful god, I guess, whenever Babylon was just starting out as a city. But as Babylon grew and became more powerful as a city,
00:26:35
Speaker
and more significant in the area, so did Marduk and his associations. So he was the god of sky and storm. His parents... Oh, look who it is. Aw, look at him. It's Anki.
00:26:50
Speaker
some girl named Don Kena, who I guess is not his sister. so No. so I saw her listed on one source as a consort, but there was nothing about her and I didn't see her in any other source. so I didn't include her because I wasn't sure, but there was one source that said she was a consort of him for some period of time. I'm really glad you read that because I did not research who she was. so I was just curious about all of them. I was like, and what do you do? And what yeah do you do? And um so his that those were his parents. So I guess like, you know, his little sneaky leak on the side consort was a Marduk's mother. And then his siblings were Attu, Ninti, and Nincura. And Marduk's consort was Zarpanitu. Again,
00:27:44
Speaker
These names are so hard. They are really hard. They're so hard, you guys. And but her name specifically meant the shining one, which is cute. And as far as children goes, he had a child named Nabu, who was the god of wisdom, writing, and scribes. Nabu was important in his own right, as he was the figure that was associated with giving Mesopotamia the gift of cuneiform writing, which advanced, of course, our literature, scholarship, et cetera, basically everything.
00:28:16
Speaker
So his Roman equivalent would be Jupiter. His Greek equivalent would be Zeus. His epithets were calf of the sun and solar calf. And he is associated with the mud brick symbolizing construction and the spade, um which symbolizes his, I guess, powers of creation and building.
00:28:37
Speaker
earth and his ties to fertility. A sun disk and lightning bolts were also associated with him since he was the god of the sky and storms. And there's not as much as like there's a lot of information about him. I couldn't find a lot linking back to the sky and storm part. So I don't, I mean, I don't know there. So he was also usually depicted in a human form as a bearded male with a horned cap, like all gods, I guess, yeah during that time period war.
00:29:06
Speaker
I looked it up because I looked up like artwork or pictures of Enki and like then I was looking at the rest of the like gods and it seemed like all the dudes had these like little cones on their head, so I looked it up and it was like, oh, this just marked them as a god. yeah yeah Just wearing a cone on their head. It's interesting. Just wearing a cone is fine. so Going into some mythology and lore.
00:29:29
Speaker
Marduk was not, like I mentioned, he was not originally part of the highest ranking gods in the Sumerian and Mesopotamia pantheon, but Marduk's prominence in Babylon grew throughout the growth of the city. And ah it especially grew during the reign of the Babylonian king Hammurabi. As he was the son of Enki, who Tiffany just covered, this solidified his importance in Babylon.
00:29:57
Speaker
And there were many stories of his prominence in Babylonian cultures that started around the second millennium BC and around the time that Babylon really rose to prominence as an influential city and place in that area. He was prominent in the lore of the creation of Babylon and this is called the Enuma Eilish or Eilish.
00:30:19
Speaker
I don't know. In the eyelash? Yeah, basically. And this story was recited every year during the New Year's festival in Babylon. And so according to the story, Marduk was chosen by the Anunnaki gods to combat the chaos of the sea goddess Tiamat. And if he were to defeat Tiamat, he would reign over the pantheon.
00:30:44
Speaker
So they, of course, battle and he inevitably defeats Tiamat. And there's a whole article that talks about how it was done, but I still want to get into that. And it'd be like an hour long episode just on Marduk. But he defeats her and splits her in half, um which is kind of gross, using her body to create the heavens and the earth. And this story served to establish his legitimacy and dominion over the other deities in the pantheon.
00:31:14
Speaker
He has ties and associations with water and vegetation, again, that tie him to fertility, life-giving, and agriculture. And he's also tied to judgment and magic. So over time, Marduk was associated with both of these as he grew into a chief deity. They just kind of, it seemed like as Babylon grew,
00:31:36
Speaker
they would just assign him to all these other aspects as well since he was their chief deity of that city. And he was also associated with the, I'm going to say this really. and There's really, I mean, there's no other way to say it. I don't know. I don't know how to say it, but it is what it is. The Mushishio, which was a mythical dragon serpent. Sometimes whenever you see pictures or depictions of Marduk, he is depicted with muhau
00:32:07
Speaker
and this symbolized his power and triumph over Tiamat. Marduk, he's listed in a lot of prophecies within ancient Babylon, but prophecies, how they wrote them are is a little bit different than how we see prophecies today. So how we usually see it is it we see it as it's foretelling something. But I guess how prophecies were written in this time period, it was like giving clarification to the history of Babylon itself. And so in the prophecy it talks about three instances where maud Marduk abandoned the city and those three time periods all correspond with the times where his statue was either stolen or removed from the city itself.
00:32:53
Speaker
And so in one instance where this happened, Marduk was taken from Babylon and taken to Assur. And Assur was the name of the major city and the chief deity of the Assyrian Empire, much like how Marduk was the chief deity for the Babylonian Empire. Assur was the chief deity of the Assyrian Empire. So conflict, I guess, broke out between the Assyrian king and the Cassite king, who was the ruler at the time of Babylon. And Marduk's statue was removed from Babylon, transferred to Assyra after you know the Assyrian king won. And the way the Babylonian people viewed it was that he basically abandoned the city and gave favor to the Assyra people.
00:33:45
Speaker
And then over time, as we know, like the fall of Babylon occurred where after many decades, Babylon declined as a political power after like many conquests and just the formation of monotheism in the area. And, you know, there was just a lot of outside invaders, a lot of people who really wanted that area of the world. And Marduk's prominence in Babylon lessened over time. He still remained a prominent figure in and Mesopotamian mythology, but his status as a chief god dimmed with the fall of Babylon.
00:34:20
Speaker
And so quickly to talk a little bit about some of the rituals and temples that are associated with Marduk, the center of worship was located in Babylon in the temple of Isagilla. This temple was in a complex in Babylon that was the religious epicenter of the area, and it was dedicated to Marduk and his consort. This is also where the Anuma Eilish was recited every year, um on that that New Year's celebration.
00:34:48
Speaker
And this is also where the ziggurat Etimanaki was built. And this is what inspired the story of the Tower of Babel in the Bible. I don't really know anything about that in the Bible and I was going to look it up and then I was like, I don't really feel like it. So like I didn't. So if you know about that story with the Tower of Babel. I think it had something to do with Jews or something, right? Yeah, I remember like learning about it, but I don't remember it. Yeah. um but Basically, they took that story in the Bible and it was based off of this particular ziggurat, which is like this, I guess, a type of structure that was built in Babylon.
00:35:31
Speaker
And it was essentially this huge religious structure built in the heart of Babylon. And it was in place for a really long time, like hundreds of years. The temple was originally built as the temple of the seven lights of the earth, but it wasn't ever really completed. And over time, it was ignored by the people in Babylon. So when the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar came to power, he built it up.
00:35:57
Speaker
However, by the time Alexander the Great conquered Babylon in 331 BC, The temple was once again falling apart and he decided to tear it down and rebuild the temple. However, he died during the construction and the project to rebuild stopped. And when I was reading this one article, it was saying that, you know, basically the tiles and the bricks and stuff that were used were just like kind of scattered throughout the city, which is kind of sad because that's, you know, like it was, I guess is elaborate, like amazing ziggurat building thing, but whatever.
00:36:31
Speaker
um So, Marduk's temples, not just in Isagilla, but throughout other sites in Babylon, were characterized by towering structures with elaborate carvings. And it's important to note that in ancient Mesopotamia,
00:36:46
Speaker
Statues of deities were not just a representation of the deity. They believed that the statues actually housed the actual essence of the deity themselves. So his statues in Babylon and in the temple of Isagilla were very important because of that. And that's why like the Babylonian people felt so, I guess, slighted whenever his statue was taken and brought to Assur and Assyria because It's like he literally abandoned the city at another time in Babylonian history. The Elamites, which originated in what is now southwestern Iran, stole the statue of Marduk from Babylon. And this, of course, was devastating to the culture and the religion of Babylon because it was as if their actual God was stolen. And then in 12th century BC, Nebuchadnezzar I, who I believe he was the father of the Nebuchadnezzar who built up the
00:37:43
Speaker
ziggurat. I don't think it was. They're two different Nebuchadnezzars. He was able to recover the statue of Marduk from the Elamites. And so when I was looking up like worshiping of Marduk, there wasn't a ton on there. Like it was just very much like ingrained in the culture that but they just worshiped him through living.
00:38:05
Speaker
So yeah they did daily rituals of offerings like food, incense, and prayers. They would talk to him and they would go and visit the Isagilla, but also they had statues of Marduk all over the city so they could really incorporate their worship of him into all of their daily activities. So it wasn't like they you know had special times of the year outside of New Year's where they just like only celebrated him. They celebrated him constantly.
00:38:31
Speaker
yeah and worshiped him. you know They were just obsessed with him, honestly, but um they did that to maintain his favor throughout the year. so um It was really ingrained in their daily lives, but the Akitu Festival, which is celebrated during the New Years, it included processions throughout the city, ritual combat, symbolizing Marduk's defeat of Tiamat, and ceremonial reenactments of Marduk's creation of the world, and that retelling that I was talking about as well. So that is Marduk.
00:39:08
Speaker
That was a struggle, Jesus Christ. For both of us. Oh my God. That was a rough one. That was. I guess I had more fun researching it than I did talking about it. I know.
Episode Wrap-Up and Teaser
00:39:36
Speaker
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00:39:58
Speaker
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