Humanization

The cities of Babylon, Akkade, Uruk, and the other cities of the Ancient Near East had many temples reserved for gods and the residents performed duties for the happiness of god. This shows that these people saw the gods with great respect and maybe even fear. Although the people of Uruk looked up to gods as higher beings, it is interesting how human-like the characteristics of gods are through the myths presented.

The text of Naram-Sin has the lesson “of patience: wait for the gods, do nothing without their sayso.” This suggests that the gods were always right and if anything was done without their approval, the results would be detrimental. It contrasts the myths of how humans came to be on earth, which showed gods with the same qualities as human beings – lazy, untrustworthy, imperfect. Laziness was shown through how the gods made man in order to have someone else do the chores they had to do. Untrustworthiness is shown from how the god Ea tells Uta-napishti the plan to minimize the human race even though he promised Enlil she wouldn’t. Lastly an example of imperfectness is shown through how Enlil’s solution to minimize the human race led to the gods “to die of want.”

This shows something about the people of Uruk. They saw the gods as being with flaws, but they still prioritized the “god’s way.” It could mean the liked the idea of the gods being similar to them and knowing the suffering they were going through. Whatever the reason, the people of the Ancient Near East were devoted to their gods.