WHITE TEMPLE, URUK The layout of Sumerian cities re-
flected the central role of the gods in daily life. The main temple to
each state’s chief god formed the city’s monumental nucleus. In fact,
the temple complex was a kind of city within a city, where a staff of
priests and scribes carried on official administrative and commercial
business, as well as oversaw all religious functions.
The outstanding preserved example of early Sumerian temple
architecture is the 5,000-year-old White Temple (FIG. 2-2) at Uruk, a
city that in the late fourth millennium BCEhad a population of about
40,000. Usually only the foundations of early Mesopotamian temples
can still be recognized. The White Temple is a rare exception. Sumer-
ian builders did not have access to stone quarries and instead formed
mud bricks for the superstructures of their temples and other build-
ings. Almost all these structures have eroded over the course of time.
The fragile nature of the building materials did not, however, prevent
the Sumerians from erecting towering works, such as the Uruk tem-
ple, several centuries before the Egyptians built their famous stone
pyramids. This says a great deal about the Sumerians’ desire to pro-
vide monumental settings for the worship of their deities.
Enough of the Uruk complex remains to permit a fairly reliable
reconstruction (FIG. 2-3). The temple (whose whitewashed walls
lend it its modern nickname) stands atop a high platform, or ziggu-
rat,40 feet above street level in the city center. A stairway on one side
leads to the top but does not end in front of any of the temple door-
ways, necessitating two or three angular changes in direction. This
bent-axis plan is the standard arrangement for Sumerian temples, a
striking contrast to the linear approach the Egyptians preferred for
their temples and tombs (see Chapter 3).
Like other Sumerian temples, the corners of the White Temple
are oriented to the cardinal points of the compass. The building,
probably dedicated to Anu, the sky god, is of modest proportions
(61 16 feet). By design, it did not accommodate large throngs of
worshipers but only a select few, the priests and perhaps the leading
community members. The temple has several chambers. The central
hall, or cella,was set aside for the divinity and housed a stepped altar.
The Sumerians referred to their temples as “waiting rooms,” a reflec-
tion of their belief that the deity would descend from the heavens to
appear before the priests in the cella. Whether the Uruk temple had
a roof and, if it did, what kind, are uncertain.
The Sumerian idea that the gods reside above the world of hu-
mans is central to most of the world’s religions. Moses ascended
Mount Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments from the Hebrew
God, and the Greeks placed the home of their gods and goddesses on
Mount Olympus. The elevated placement of Mesopotamian temples
on giant platforms reaching toward the sky is consistent with this
widespread religious concept. Eroded ziggurats still dominate most
of the ruined cities of Sumer. The loftiness of the great temple plat-
forms made a profound impression on the peoples of the ancient
Near East. The tallest ziggurat of all, at Babylon, was about 270 feet
high. Known to the Hebrews as the Tower of Babel, it became the
centerpiece of a biblical story about the insolent pride of humans
(see “Babylon, City of Wonders,” page 48).Sumer 33T
he Sumerians and their successors in the ancient Near East wor-
shiped numerous deities, mostly nature gods. Listed here are
the Mesopotamian gods and goddesses discussed in this chapter.
❚Anu. The chief deity of the Sumerians, Anu was the god of the sky
and of the city of Uruk. One of the earliest Sumerian temples
(FIGS. 2-2and 2-3) may have been dedicated to his worship.
❚Enlil. Anu’s son, Enlil was the lord of the winds and the earth. He
eventually replaced his father as king of the gods.
❚Inanna.The Sumerian goddess of love and war, Inanna was later
known as Ishtar.She is the most important female deity in all peri-
ods of Mesopotamian history. As early as the fourth millennium BCE,
the Sumerians constructed a sanctuary to Inanna at Uruk. Amid
the ruins, excavators uncovered fourth-millennium statues and
reliefs (FIGS. 2-4and 2-5) connected with her worship.
❚Nanna.The moon god,Nanna was also known as Sin.He was the
chief deity of Ur, where his most important shrine was located.
❚Utu.The sun god,Utu was known later as Shamashand was
especially revered at Sippar. On a Babylonian stele (FIG. 2-1) of
ca. 1780 BCE, King Hammurabi presents his law code to Shamash,
who is depicted with flames radiating from his shoulders.
❚Marduk, Nabu,and Adad.Marduk was the chief god of the Baby-
lonians. His son Nabu was the god of writing and wisdom. Adad
was the Babylonian god of storms. Representations of Marduk and
Nabu’s dragon and Adad’s sacred bull adorn the sixth-century BCE
Ishtar Gate (FIG. 2-24) at Babylon.
❚Ningirsu.The local god ofLagash and Girsu, Ningirsu helped Ean-
natum, one of the early rulers of Lagash, defeat an enemy army.
Ningirsu’s role in the victory is recorded on the Stele of the Vultures
(FIG. 2-7) of ca. 2600–2500 BCE. Gudea (FIG. 2-16), one of Ean-
natum’s Neo-Sumerian successors, built a great temple about
2100 BCEin honor of Ningirsu after the god instructed him to do
so in a dream.
❚Ashur.The local deity of Assur, the city that took his name, Ashur
became the king of the Assyrian gods. He sometimes is identified
with Enlil.The Gods and Goddesses of Mesopotamia
RELIGION AND MYTHOLOGY2-3Reconstruction drawing of the White Temple and ziggurat, Uruk
(modern Warka), Iraq, ca. 3200–3000 bce.
The White Temple at Uruk was probably dedicated to Anu, the sky god.
It has a central hall (cella) with a stepped altar where the Sumerian
priests would await the apparition of the deity.