The Sumerian Influence

The Sumerians were the first civilization to develop writing and urbanization in the ancient Near East, in what is now southern Iraq. 

They spoke a language that is unrelated to any other known languagemhey invented a system of cuneiform script that was later adopted and adapted by other cultures, such as the Akkadians, Babylonians, Assyrians, and Hittites. They also produced a rich and varied body of religious literature that expressed their worldview and cosmology.

The Sumerian religion was a polytheistic religion that centered on a supreme god named An and his consort Ki, who represented the sky and the earth respectively. 

They also worshiped a host of other gods and goddesses who were associated with various aspects of nature, such as Enlil (wind and storm), Enki (water and culture), Ninhursag (fertility and earth), Utu (sun and justice), Nanna (moon), Inanna (sex, beauty, and war), and so on. These deities were often depicted as anthropomorphic beings who had human emotions and relationships.

The Sumerian religion also influenced and interacted with other religions in the region, especially those of the Canaanites and the Israelites. 

Many of the Sumerian deities were adopted or adapted by these cultures, either directly or indirectly. For example, the Canaanite god El was derived from the Sumerian god An, and his consort Asherah was derived from the Sumerian goddess Ki. The Canaanite god Baal was derived from the Sumerian god 

Enlil, and his consort Anat was derived from the Sumerian goddess Inanna. 

Enki was originally a Sumerian god of water, wisdom, and creation, who was later known as Ea in Akkadian religion. He was one of the Anunnaki, a group of gods who descended from heaven to earth and created humans from clay. Therefore, Enki turned into Satan through a process of cultural transmission, syncretism, and reinterpretation. 

He went from being a benevolent creator god to a malevolent adversary of God and humans. His original attributes of water, wisdom, and creation were distorted into symbols of chaos, deception, and corruption.  

The Israelite god Yahweh was also influenced by some aspects of the Sumerian gods, such as An’s role as the creator of heaven and earth, Enlil’s role as the lord of wind and storm, Enki’s role as the giver of wisdom and culture, etc.

For more info. see The Way: Yahweh and The amalgamated Enlil and Enki

The Sumerian religion also influenced some of the stories and myths that are found in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament. 

Many of these stories have parallels or similarities with the Sumerian literature, either in terms of plot, characters, themes, or motifs. 

For example, 

• The story of creation in Genesis 1-2 has parallels with the Sumerian myth of Enuma Elish, which describes how An and his children created the heavens and the earth from the body of a primordial sea monster named Tiamat. 
• The story of Noah’s ark in Genesis 6-9 has parallels with the Sumerian myth of Atrahasis or Ziusudra, which describes how Enki saved a righteous man from a great flood that Enlil sent to destroy humanity. 
• The story of Abraham’s journey from Ur to Canaan in Genesis 11-12 has parallels with the Sumerian myth of Etana, which describes how a king of Kish traveled to heaven on an eagle to obtain a plant of life.

These examples show that the Sumerian religion had a significant impact on the development and diversity of the Abrahamic religions. They also show that these religions are not based on historical facts or divine revelations, but on human culture and imagination. They suggest that these religions are more similar than different, and that they share a common origin in ancient polytheism.

Thank you for reading this article. I hope you learned something new and interesting about the origins and differences of the Abrahamic religions. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to share them with me. 😊