THE SUMERIANS

By Stephen Knapp

One widely held view about the Sumerians is that they arrived in Mesopotamia before 3000 BCE when they acquired the prosperity of the inhabitants that were living there. However, another view is that the Sumerians were actually the earliest cultivators in Mesopotamia. They had a philosophy which was especially influential on the succeeding Babylonians and Assyrians who assimilated much of their beliefs. The Sumerians believed the universe and all within it reflected the supreme mind and supernatural activity. They believed that the universe was created from the primeval sea along with all the planets, stars, sun, and moon, each of which had its own orbit. After the creation of the planets came superhuman and invisible beings, who then made human, animal, and plant life. This Sumerian theology, which is very similar to the Vedic version, can still be found in the detailed texts dating back to 1900 BCE.

Though the Mesopotamian cities shared a common pantheon, not all of the gods were worshiped in all of the cities, neither were they known by the same names. And when the Semites invaded the area, they changed the gods’ names, characteristics, and relations. So, presently it is not clear which were the Sumerian gods or which were carry-overs from the Vedic Aryans, to whom the Sumerians at least were closely related if not a part of Vedic civilization.

The Sumerians had many temples, such as the temple of Enki at Eridu, and of Marduk at Babylon. The images of the gods were worshiped by being given offerings of food and drink, fruit, incense, and new garments on festival days. This is the same system used in worshiping the Vedic deities in India. Anu was the god of heaven and was at first the ruler of the other gods, such as Enlil (lord of the winds and creator of the sun, moon, and vegetation), Ninki (the lady of the earth), and Enki (lord of the underworld). Anu was especially worshiped at Uruk, around 300 BCE, but was replaced by Enlil when the city of Nippur defeated Uruk, the biblical city of Erech and modern Warka. However, the god Marduk, son of Enki, replaced Enlil in Babylonia when his city of Babylon ruled Mesopotamia by the influence of a powerful dynasty, and was also replaced by Ashur in Assyria near the middle of the second millennium. The consort of Enlil, Ninlil, became the Babylonian Ishtar, who represented many earlier female deities and was also known to Syrians as Anat, and to Arabs as Atar, to Greeks as Astarte, and to Egyptians as Isis. In Assyria, Adad was the god who controlled the rain. In Syria he was called Ramman the thunderer, among the Hittites he was Teshub, and in the Vedic tradition, he was called Indra. Thus, we can see the interconnectedness of the Sumerian culture with others of the region, most of which have roots that go back to India and the Vedic traditions. In fact, L. A. Waddell concluded that the Sumerians were Aryans in many ways. (More about the Sumerians and their Vedic connection is described in the beginning of Chapter Four.)

Book: Proof of Vedic Culture's Global Existence by Stephen Knapp,