The cosmic perception of the Assyrians
The Assyrian cosmic perception permeated various aspects of their lives, from their religious practices to their political strategies, their understanding of the cosmos guided their rituals, divination, and interpretation of omens, it shaped their architectural designs, artistic expressions, and the organization of their cities, their belief in divine guidance influenced their military campaigns and foreign policies, as they sought to expand their empire in accordance with the cosmic order.
The influence of the Assyrians on the Babylonians
The stories of the creation of the universe among the Assyrians were nothing more than those narratives that had been transmitted to them since ancient times especially those proven by the Seven Tablets, and the Assyrians accepted the stories contained in their ancient texts as if they were a confirmed issue that is not devoid of doubt or suspicion, especially after they introduced fundamental changes to its original awful texts.
They transmitted this legend from Babylon, where its hero,
Marduk, was a local Babylonian, when the Assyrians transmitted it, they
replaced this hero of Babylon with the hero of their region, Assyria, and this
was indeed a common impersonation among a group of priests, if Murduk was the
son of Ea, as the Babylonian legend tells him, then the Assyrian legend goes until the local god, Ashur bin Lakhmu and Lakhmu.
In this context, that is, knowing the cosmic perception of the Assyrians, we see that most worldly events are contained in the events of the people and their customs were linked to major cosmic events, and perhaps an interesting example in this area is the spell against the worm that the Assyrians in a thousand BC saw as the cause of toothache, and the spell begins from the origin of the universe and concludes with the treatment of toothache.
Some Assyrian gods
Assur
The main supreme god of the Assyrian empire, who was elevated from a local deity of the city of Ashur to the supreme god of the Assyria pantheon and associated with war, fertility, and justice.
Ishtar
The goddess of love, war, and fertility, worshipped across the Mesopotamian region.
Nabu
The god of wisdom, writing, and knowledge, associated with the city of Borsippa.
Basic perceptions about the universe in Mesopotamian civilization
We conclude from all of the above that the conflict between the cosmic system and the metaphysical system was a tragedy worth recording from the people of ancient Mesopotamia are renewed every year .
Hence, the epic that deals with these events has a special significance and impact in religious literature in seven paintings known in Akkadian as Enuma-Elish, which means in the heights, Enuma, and we do not know Investigating the date of its compilation or composition, historians trace the epic back to the Old Babylonian era around the second millennium B.C Birth.
The epic refers to the formation of the first matter of the universe from two elements: fresh water (male) and salt water (feminine). (They are: Aboob and Etyamb, they are the origin of everything - and after the conflict between them, order will be established in the universe, and perhaps we see behind this the battle against the sea water and the victory by gaining part of the sea.
In this context, the historical and cultural reality confirms that the Sumerian perception of the universe extended its influence to the Babylonian civilization, where the science of the formation of creation among the Chaldeans was introduced into one of the finest elements of moisture in the origin of things, and from the first marriage came first, Al-Ahamoub and his wife Al-Ahamoub, and they were both idols, the role they played was not noticeable.
Then an indefinite period passed, and from the original pair emerged Aansharip and Akisharip, representing each in their own essence heaven and earth, and from them came three other gods, the group of Babylonian gods: Anu, Enlil, and Ea, and these three gods divided the universe among themselves, because according to Semitic views, nothing could be existed without having a master, and Anub was the greatest god ruling in the sky, and Enlibe was a master the air and the earth, and the Ayyab, called Enkeb in Sumerian, ruled the waters of the primordial ocean, and each of them had his own way, their homes were in the orbit of the sun, and their dwellings were at the top of the heavens .
This trinity was followed by another trinity consisting of the moon god Asneb, the sun god Ishmashab, and the goddess Venus. Ishtareb, the moon god, measured time and punished guilty kings by spending their lives in groans and tears. The sun god was the greatest judge, who dictated the laws of justice to kings, while Ishtareb was the goddess of war the goddess of pleasure who seeks to seduce humans, and at the same time she was considered the sister of the sun god sister of the goddess of the underworld.
From here we see that every city in this ancient civilization originally had a god and gods for itself, then the gods multiplied over time, led by the trinity consisting of Anu (the sky) and Enlil (the atmosphere and the earth), and Aya (water), therefore, it can be said that there are mythological stories that explained the news of the story of the creation of the world, the flood, and the vain search for eternal life, some of whose general features could not be reached by ancient man - not even modern man. except in the light of divine guidance, through which religions, most notably Islam, came to crystallize these features.