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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ancient Near Eastern cosmology | 2/12 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Near_Eastern_cosmology | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T09:33:43.951701+00:00 | kb-cron |
==== Terminology ==== There were many ways to speak about or refer to the totality of the world, equivalent to contemporary words like "cosmos" or "universe". This included phrases like "heaven and earth" or "heaven and underworld". Terms like "all" or "totality" similarly connoted the entire universe. These ideas are found in hymns and royal inscriptions found in temples. Temples symbolized cosmic structures that reached heaven at their height and the underworld at their depths/foundations. Surviving evidence does not specify the exact physical bounds of the cosmos or what lies beyond the region described in the texts.
==== Unity ==== Mythical bonds, akin to ropes or cables, played the role of cohesively holding the entire world and all its layers of heaven and Earth together. These are sometimes called the "bonds of heaven and earth". They can be referred to with terminology like durmāhu (typically referring to a strong rope made of reeds), markaṣu (referring to a rope or cable, of a boat, for example), or ṣerretu (lead-rope passed through an animals nose). A deity can hold these ropes as a symbol of their authority, such as the goddess Ishtar "who holds the connecting link of all heaven and earth (or netherworld)". This motif extended to descriptions of great cities like Babylon which was called the "bond of [all] the lands," or Nippur which was "bond of heaven and earth," and some temples as well.
==== Center ==== The idea of a center to the cosmos played a role in elevating the status of whichever place was chosen as the cosmic center and in reflecting beliefs of the finite and closed nature of the cosmos. Babylon was described as the center of the Babylonian cosmos. In parallel, Jerusalem became "the navel of the earth" (Ezekiel 38:12). The finite nature of the cosmos was also suggested to the ancients by the periodic and regular movements of the heavenly bodies in the visible vicinity of the Earth.
=== Heaven and earth === "Heaven and earth" was a common phrase to the refer to the entire cosmos, describing it by its two main parts. Sometimes, a third region was added to refer to the entire cosmos in addition to these two, usually the netherworld or the region between heaven and earth. Heaven was believed to be located in the direction up (the word "heavenward" was synonymous with "upward"). It was the dwelling place of the gods, whereas earth was the dwelling place for humans. "Earth" means the land and the sea, but sometimes, it only means land (the terrestrial regions inhabited by humans and where they grew vegetation). The word heaven could refer to the general plane upwards inaccessible to humans, but often, it specifically means the firmament (a solid celestial barrier believed to be located above the sky). Although the gods and humans live in the two different planes of the cosmos in the present, some creation mythologies held that gods and humans once co-existed in the primordial past. In some myths, gods could dwell at the extreme ends of the earth, still beyond human reach. Temples could function as a cosmic axis that united the heavenly and earthly planes.
==== Three heavens and earths ==== In Mesopotamian cosmology, heaven and earth both had a three-part (tripartite) structure: a Lower Heaven/Earth, a Middle Heaven/Earth, and an Upper Heaven/Earth. The Upper Earth was where humans existed. Middle Earth, corresponding to the Abzu (primeval underworldly ocean), was the residence of the god Enki. Lower Earth, the Mesopotamian underworld, was where the 600 Anunnaki gods lived, associated with the land of the dead ruled by Nergal. As for the heavens: the highest level was populated by 300 Igigi (great gods), the middle heaven belonged to the Igigi and also contained Marduk's throne, and the lower heaven was where the stars and constellations were inscribed into. The extent of the Babylonian universe therefore corresponded to a total of six layers spanning across heaven and Earth. Notions of the plurality of heaven and earth are no later than the 2nd millennium BC and may be elaborations of earlier and simpler cosmographies. One text (KAR 307) describes the cosmos in the following manner, with each of the three floors of heaven being made of a different type of stone:30 “The Upper Heavens are Luludānītu stone. They belong to Anu. He (i.e. Marduk) settled the 300 Igigū (gods) inside. 31 The Middle Heavens are Saggilmud stone. They belong to the Igīgū (gods). Bēl (i.e. Marduk) sat on the high throne within, 32 the lapis lazuli sanctuary. And made a lamp? of electrum shine inside (it). 33 The Lower Heavens are jasper. They belong to the stars. He drew the constellations of the gods on them. 34 In the ... .... of the Upper Earth, he lay down the spirits of mankind. 35 [In the ...] of the Middle earth, he settled Ea, his father. 36 [.....] . He did not let the rebellion be forgotten. 37 [In the ... of the Lowe]r earth, he shut inside 600 Anunnaki. 38 [.......] ... [.... in]side jasper. Another text (AO 8196) offers a slightly different arrangement, with the Igigi in the upper heaven instead of the middle heaven, and with Bel placed in the middle heaven. Both agree on the placement of the stars in the lower heaven. Exodus 24:9–10 identifies the floor of heaven as being like sapphire, which may correspond to the blue lapis lazuli floor in KAR 307, chosen potentially for its correspondence to the visible color of the sky. One hypothesis holds that the belief that the firmament is made of stone (or a metal, such as iron in Egyptian texts) arises from the observation that meteorites, which are composed of this substance, fall from the firmament.
==== Seven heavens and earths ====