Symbolism and Omens

The strong belief in symbolism and omens in ancient Mesopotamia reinforce a culture in which ideological forces remain prevalent and cult beliefs in signs from the gods heavily influence decisions. The representation of life through these symbols and the consequences of what may happen to them can also be drawn to modern life and are not simply artifacts of the ideology of the era.

The use of symbolism as representation of the self and omens as portents from the gods held prominent places in ancient Mesopotamian society. The belief that the body itself was composed of multiple parts, both internal and external, which all retained the identity of the self was an important concept in the perception of the body as a mantic instrument (Bahrani 76). The fact that this affiliation extended beyond bodily products such as hair or fluids to material objects like clothing and personal cylinder seals highlights a rigorous association between a person’s identity and their physical manifestation (Bahrani 77). The consequences that befell these representations were then studied through both divination and physiognomy to both portend future events and provide medical diagnoses respectively (Bahrani 91). While the medical diagnoses of symptoms were often drawn to absurdly specific and detailed conclusions, they did provide insight into the significance of even minute physical signs and how they were interpreted (Bahrani 92). The practices of extispicy and hepatoscopy to tell the future epitomized the belief in divine symbols present in earthly objects, in this case the organs of sacrificial animals (Bahrani 80). These innards were examined, and depending on their physical characteristics, certain omens were foretold. While some of the signs in the livers of the sheep sacrificed did not likely have any logical connection to the events that may have occurred, they could have served as accurate representations of possibly poor environmental conditions that affected both people and animals, such as poor drinking water (Bahrani 86).

In addition to symbolic representation of people and events, the gods and kings were also manifested in physical idols. Physical treatment of these idols was immensely significant however as defacing or stealing a monument carried vast ideological consequences (Bahrani 165). The implications of removing a god statue were so powerful that wars were carried out with the intent of recovering or stealing a god statue from an enemy (Bahrani 163). However, this symbolic defeat of a state is not confined to the era of ideological dominance. In modern warfare, an attack upon a symbolic landmark can carry significant repercussions, as in the attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, or the destruction of the Berlin Wall at the end of the Cold War. The physical destruction of hugely significant buildings and monuments represents the defeat or loss of whatever they symbolized, in this case America’s strength and the end of the Cold War and the Soviet Union.