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Religion in Ancient Mesopotamia
One of the world's foremost experts on Assyriology, Jean Bottéro has studied the religion of ancient Mesopotamia for more than fifty years. Building on these many years of research, Bottéro here presents the definitive account of one of the world's oldest known religions. He shows how ancient Mesopotamian religion was practiced both in the public and private spheres, how it developed over the three millennia of its active existence, and how it profoundly influenced Western civilization, including the Hebrew Bible.
246 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
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About the author
Jean Bottéro
42 books30 followersJean Bottéro (30 August 1914 – 15 December 2007) was a French historian born in Vallauris. He was a major Assyriologist and a renowned expert on the Ancient Near East.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
July 6, 2022
Having just read Thorkild Jacobsen's The Treasures of Darkness: A History of Mesopotamian Religion from 1976, I decided to read this more recent book on the same subject. I'm not sure how much more recent it is, because although it was "thoroughly rewritten" in 1998, it is actually based on Bottero's earlier book on the subject written in 1948. Neither book references the other; Jacobsen's in not in the rather meager bibliography of this book, and his book has no bibliography at all.
Although both books begin with Rudolf Otto's idea of the "numinous experience" at the beginning of religion, they come to very different conclusions, and in fact Bottero often seems to be directly contradicting Jacobsen. For example, where Jacobsen's first "metaphor" is non-anthropomorphic personifications, which later became the "emblems" of the anthropomorphic gods, Bottero says repeatedly that Mesopotamian religion was anthropomorphic from the beginning and never conceived of the gods in any other way, and that we have no way to understand why various gods were associated with certain emblems; where Jacobsen's second "metaphor" of the gods as rulers originated later, Bottero says that the gods were always considered as rulers although they were only later arranged in a hierarchy.
Most importantly, where Jacobsen considers his third "metaphor" of the gods as parents to be the highest achievement of Mesopotamian religion, Bottero explicitly denies that the Mesopotamians ever did, or ever could have, conceived of a personal, loving relationship to the gods, who were too far above and too indifferent to man to inspire anything but fear and awe.
The one respect in which Bottero seems more recent is in his emphasis on the limitations of our knowledge and the fact that he needs to defend the project of writing about the subject, undoubtedly a response to post-modern criticisms of the enterprise of writing history at all.
The book has seven chapters, but the first four are short preliminaries, on the history of the region, the nature of the sources, and the idea of numinous experience, and the last is a brief and superficial account of survivals and influence, mainly on the development of Mesopotmian astrology into astral religion in the Hellenistic age (He argues that in Mesopotamia astrology was in the context of other forms of divination, and represented signs or omens that the gods used to indicate their decisions, which could be appealed or averted through "exorcism", rather than the later fatalism in which the stars were the cause or at any rate an unchangeable sign of what would necessarily happen.) The bulk of the book, more than half, is composed of chapters five and six, "Religious Representation" and "Religious Behavior". The fifth chapter deals with the same subject as Jacobsen's book, although with different emphases; the sixth chapter deals with the things Jacobsen didn't include, that is the actual religious cult in the temples and the practice of divination and exorcism.
Although both books begin with Rudolf Otto's idea of the "numinous experience" at the beginning of religion, they come to very different conclusions, and in fact Bottero often seems to be directly contradicting Jacobsen. For example, where Jacobsen's first "metaphor" is non-anthropomorphic personifications, which later became the "emblems" of the anthropomorphic gods, Bottero says repeatedly that Mesopotamian religion was anthropomorphic from the beginning and never conceived of the gods in any other way, and that we have no way to understand why various gods were associated with certain emblems; where Jacobsen's second "metaphor" of the gods as rulers originated later, Bottero says that the gods were always considered as rulers although they were only later arranged in a hierarchy.
Most importantly, where Jacobsen considers his third "metaphor" of the gods as parents to be the highest achievement of Mesopotamian religion, Bottero explicitly denies that the Mesopotamians ever did, or ever could have, conceived of a personal, loving relationship to the gods, who were too far above and too indifferent to man to inspire anything but fear and awe.
The one respect in which Bottero seems more recent is in his emphasis on the limitations of our knowledge and the fact that he needs to defend the project of writing about the subject, undoubtedly a response to post-modern criticisms of the enterprise of writing history at all.
The book has seven chapters, but the first four are short preliminaries, on the history of the region, the nature of the sources, and the idea of numinous experience, and the last is a brief and superficial account of survivals and influence, mainly on the development of Mesopotmian astrology into astral religion in the Hellenistic age (He argues that in Mesopotamia astrology was in the context of other forms of divination, and represented signs or omens that the gods used to indicate their decisions, which could be appealed or averted through "exorcism", rather than the later fatalism in which the stars were the cause or at any rate an unchangeable sign of what would necessarily happen.) The bulk of the book, more than half, is composed of chapters five and six, "Religious Representation" and "Religious Behavior". The fifth chapter deals with the same subject as Jacobsen's book, although with different emphases; the sixth chapter deals with the things Jacobsen didn't include, that is the actual religious cult in the temples and the practice of divination and exorcism.
August 26, 2022
This scholarly but readable work looks at the 3,000-year history of Mesopotamian society through the lens of its religious beliefs and practices.
We see a world that is quite "religious" in the sense that people are continually conscious of the many gods and their relationship with them, but that is also "secular" in that there is an absence of mysticism or what we would recognize as spiritual feeling. In the Mesopotamian view, human beings were created as servants of the gods, and the best we can hope for in life is to avoid their wrath for our failings and perhaps to be appreciated for a job well done. But the same death and afterlife as a shade or phantom awaits us all, the upright and the wicked alike. Like slaves, we all live for the simple pleasures of life.
I became more excited by the concluding section of the book in which the author discusses how astrology and "astral religion" arose from the Mesopotamian views of the stars and their relationship with the gods. The question of whether we are fated remains central today.s
In all, this is a mature work by a leading expert in the field--a bit dry, but suffused with knowledge of the original sources.
We see a world that is quite "religious" in the sense that people are continually conscious of the many gods and their relationship with them, but that is also "secular" in that there is an absence of mysticism or what we would recognize as spiritual feeling. In the Mesopotamian view, human beings were created as servants of the gods, and the best we can hope for in life is to avoid their wrath for our failings and perhaps to be appreciated for a job well done. But the same death and afterlife as a shade or phantom awaits us all, the upright and the wicked alike. Like slaves, we all live for the simple pleasures of life.
I became more excited by the concluding section of the book in which the author discusses how astrology and "astral religion" arose from the Mesopotamian views of the stars and their relationship with the gods. The question of whether we are fated remains central today.s
In all, this is a mature work by a leading expert in the field--a bit dry, but suffused with knowledge of the original sources.
January 19, 2017
Any book written by Bottéro is necessary reading for anyone who has an interest in Mesopotamia, whether one agrees with his ideas or not, they are a must!
November 27, 2025
Really enjoyed the perspective given. It is an older book, but worth reading if you are interested in the topic.
September 11, 2018
Scholarly yet accessible. From reading this book I got a sense of what Ancient Mesopotamian religions "felt" like, and how they varied over time. As I read the book, I found myself comparing and contrasting AM religious views/practices with classical paganism (which I don't understand that well) and the modern Abrahamic religions (which I have a better sense of).
October 19, 2008
This book was nicely translated from French and easy to read. The author balances philosophical and theoretical discussions with facts and selections from texts. He repeated his main points throughout the book so that one knew them by the end. My only quibble is that he often does not specify date date or cultural period a particular text or custom is from.
April 18, 2013
although it is a wonderful book about mesopotamian religion, it is a little dry.
January 4, 2016
Thorough and interesting, but also out-of-date, especially with regard to monotheism and "Semitic" traits.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews