Humans at the Mercy of God

Ronak Patel

Near Eastern Studies R1B

Response Paper; Age of Empires (Ch. 7)

Chapter 7 of Francis Joannes’ book gives an overview of how religion and culture influenced Babylonian culture in the first millennium BC. Babylonian society consisted of a pantheon of gods that resided in different cities. Marduk was considered the great god by the Babylonian’s, and there seems to have been events in Babylonian history that lead us to believe that there were feuds between the different gods. At the same time the Babylonians worshipped their gods through special rituals, meals, and the upkeep of the temple statues’ home. Like many others in ancient Mesopotamia, the symbolic imagery depicted by the gods had a great influence on the people of Babylon.

There are very important implications for societal values in ancient Mesopotamian society that can be evaluated from the document at the end of the chapter. The document reveals how the god Erra fooled the great god Marduk into leaving his town (Joannes 200). Erra then entered the capital in disguise and convinced the people to rebel. Then he appeared as a lion in front of the governor, making him attack his own population (Joannes 201). Marduk heard about what had happened and he cursed his own town (Joannes 201).

There are two very important images to consider from the above paragraph. First, Erra’s disguise, getting the people to rebel was important. Joannes does not tell us what the disguise was, but it is appropriate to assume that it was a common symbolism for an ensuing rebellion. This is proof of the people being at the mercy of the gods. Erra was able to take advantage of the power he had over the population to convince them to rebel. This means that if the gods had conflicts with each other, as Joannes mentioned at the beginning of the chapter, mankind could be used as pawns to take revenge. Second, Erra’s disguise as a lion is even more important because it influenced the governor to attack his own people. This means even the upper level of society was bound to the gods. It also proves that human nature is naïve and must be controlled because it can be fooled very easily. The symbolic nature of the disguise may even be proof for why many kings and governors invaded other territories. It seems humans are unable to judge wrong from right, and make sure to tell humans what to do.

The document is evidence of how the gods could alter the perception of humans in ancient Mesopotamia. The social and political implication of this seem to have been enormous.