The Magnitude of Religion

The vast amount of resources delegated to the promotion of religious ideologies exemplifies the devotion that ancient Babylonians had to religion. The complex system of the pantheon is one example of how much attention was given to the hierarchy and sanctuaries of the Gods. The presence of religion gave way to the allocation of different jobs in Babylonian society, while simultaneously creating a path to social hierarchy based on position within the religious sphere. The amount of food that was served to the Gods also shows how people placed the well-being of the Gods in front of their own. Joannes describes it as an “enormous amount of food to the gods of Babylonia…equivalent of the basic food ration for 100 people”. This is truly an outstanding amount of resources that was allocated as offerings to the Gods that could have been given to people in lower social positions that actually needed this food.
As stated above, the various complexities of Babylonian religion created a number of jobs within Babylonian society. The “erib-biti”, for example, were “those who had the right to enter the sacred part of the temple”. Joannes says that these people were seen as religious employees who had the right to go to the private parts of the sanctuaries. This position gave way to higher positions in administrative matters, and thus, a hierarchy seemed to form based initially on statuses within the religious sphere. There were also jobs based on the administration of prayers, as well as other religion-based careers such as those involved in soothsaying and ecstatics. It can be seen that although religion was responsible for the consumption of many resources in Babylonian society, it also shaped the way for a number of careers within this diverse world.