Mesopotamian Cosmologies: Religion of Babylonia and Assyria

Originally the third in a series of five lectures delivered at Harvard University, this extract is an early attempt to tackle a formidable subject: the religion of ancient Iraq, or Mesopotamia. In this essay Rogers considers the great cosmologies of ancient Mesopotamia. In an easy narrative style, he recounts the discovery of the Enuma Elish and providing a brief summary of its contents. He makes a comparison of this cosmology with those of Genesis, demonstrating the interconnectedness of the ancient world of western Asia. Engaging and informative, Rogers' narrative is accessible to the specialist and general reader alike.