The cosmology of the ancient Near East denotes the beliefs concerning the universe's origin, evolution, and structure that prevailed in the ancient Near East, an area equivalent to the modern Middle East and encompassing Mesopotamia, Egypt, Persia, the Levant, Anatolia, and the Arabian Peninsula. Premodern cosmology in this region featured a flat earth, a solid firmament above the sky, a cosmic ocean above that, a divine realm above the ocean, and a netherworld at the bottom. Creation myths explained where the universe came from, including which gods created it (and how), as well as how humanity was created. These beliefs are attested as early as the fourth millennium BC and dominated until the modern era, with the only major competing system being the Hellenistic cosmology that developed in Ancient Greece in the mid-1st millennium BC.
Geographically, these views are known from the Mesopotamian cosmologies from Babylonia, Sumer, and Akkad; the Levantine or West Semitic cosmologies from Ugarit and ancient Israel and Judah (the biblical cosmology); the Egyptian cosmology from Ancient Egypt; and the Anatolian cosmologies from the Hittites. This system of cosmology went on to have a profound influence on views in early Greek cosmology, later Jewish cosmology, patristic cosmology, and Islamic cosmology (including Quranic cosmology).
Summary The cosmology of the ancient Near East can be divided into cosmography, the understanding of the physical structure and features of the cosmos, and cosmogony, the creation myths describing the origins of the cosmos. The cosmos and the gods were also related, as cosmic bodies like heaven, earth, the stars were believed to be and/or personified as gods, and the sizes of the gods were frequently described as being of cosmic proportions.
Cosmography (structure of the cosmos) The many civilizations of the ancient Near East shared most of their main views about the structure of the cosmos, a situation which held for thousands of years. Widely held beliefs about cosmography included:
a flat earth and a solid heaven (firmament), both of which are disk-shaped a primordial cosmic ocean. Paul Keyser groups ancient Near Eastern cosmology into a broader cross-cultural category he terms "cradle cosmology," arguing its members share additional features.
Some misconceptions are held about Near Eastern cosmography. One misconception is the idea that ziggurats were considered cosmic objects that reached all the way up to heaven. Another misconception is that the firmament was shaped like a dome or a vault, whereas in reality, it was believed to be flat.Another controversy concerns whether the ancients thought this cosmography was literal or observational (phenomenological). John Hilber argues that ancient Near Eastern cosmography was not phenomenological, citing several lines of evidence: non-cosmological texts such as incantations assume the cosmography's reality based on cosmological descriptions; anthropological studies indicate that extant primitive cosmologies are not phenomenological; and a human cognitive tendency to construct explanatory models would have been fulfilled by the cosmography of cosmological texts.
A 12th-century BC limestone Kudurru from Susa, dating to the late Kassite period, maps the cosmos in five levels: an upper ocean; beneath it, heaven, where gods are identified with stars and constellations; then the earth, populated by humans, animals, and plants; below that, the netherworld's citadel, upheld by towers or pillars; and underneath, a lower ocean.
Cosmogony (creation of the cosmos)
Many widely held beliefs permeated the creation myths of ancient Near Eastern cosmogony:
Creatio ex materia from a primordial state of chaos; that is, the organization of the world from pre-existing, unordered and unformed (hence chaotic) elements, represented by a primordial body of water the presence of a divine creator the Chaoskampf motif: a cosmic battle between the protagonist and a primordial sea monster the separation of undifferentiated elements (to create heaven and earth) the creation of mankind Lisman uses the broader category of "Beginnings" to encompass three separate though inter-related categories: the beginning of the cosmos (cosmogony), the beginning of the gods (theogony), and the beginning of humankind (anthropogeny).
There is evidence that Mesopotamian creation myths reached as far as Pre-Islamic Arabia.
Cosmos
Overview The Mesopotamian cosmos can be understood as multiple planes of existence, layered above one another. The highest plane of existence was heaven, which was the home of the sky god Anu. Below heaven was the atmosphere which ranged from the bottom of heaven (or the lowermost firmament) to the ground that humans walk on. This region between heaven and earth was inhabited by Enlil, the king of the gods in Sumerian mythology. Below the ground was the cosmic ocean, and this was believed to be the place of residence of the sibling deities Enki and Ninhursag. The lowest plane of existence was the underworld. Other deities inhabited these planes of existence even if they did not reign over them, such as the sun and moon gods. In later Babylonian accounts, the god Marduk alone ascends to the top rank of the pantheon and rules over all domains of the cosmos. The three-tiered cosmos (sky-earth-underworld) is found in Egyptian artwork on coffin lids and burial chambers.
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
Certain writings mention seven heavens and seven earths; within Mesopotamian tradition, however, the figure probably signifies the entirety of the cosmos, carrying magical or numerological weight, not a literal tally of heavens and earths. Israelite texts do not mention the notion of seven heavens or earths.
Firmament