The Religions of the Ancient Near East were mostly polytheistic, with some early examples of emerging Henotheism (Akhenaton, early Judaism). Especially the Luwian pantheon exerted a strong influence on Ancient Greece, see Greek Paganism, while the religion of Elam influenced the Zoroastrianism of the Achaemenid empire.

Overview

There were many different cultures in the Ancient Near East with different languages, different cultures, different religions, and differing mythologies.

The religion of Ancient Mesopotamians (Sumer, Akkad, Assyria, Elam) is treated under Mesopotamian mythology.

For the religion of Ancient Egypt, see Egyptian mythology.

The early Hittite religion bore traits descended from Proto-Indo-European religion, but the later Hittite religions becomes more and more assimilated to Assyria.

The religion of the ancient Minoans. Ancient Greek religion, Greek Mythology. The Mystery religions of Hellenism were influenced by Egyptian mythology.

The polytheistic pagan religions of ancient Canaan and the city-state of Ugarit contributed to the later monotheism of Judaism.

Ancient Near East Pagan Cultures

• Mesopotamians, see also Mesopotamian Mythology
  • Assyrians
    • see Assyrian Paganism
    • see also Assyrian Mythology
  • Babylonians
    • see Babylonian Paganism
    • see also Babylonian Mythology
  • Sumerians
    • see Sumerian Paganism
    • see also Sumerian Mythology
• Canaanites, and
  
  
  
  the cities of Ugarit and Ebla
  • see Natib Qadish
  • or see Canaanite Paganism
• Phoenicians, a daughter culture to Canaanites
  • see Phoenician Paganism
  • see also Phoenician Mythology
• Carthage, daughter colony of Phoenicia
  • see Cartheginian Paganism
  • see also Cartheginian Mythology, or Punic Paganism
• Hurrians
  • see Hurrian Paganism
  • see also Hurrian Mythology
• Hittites
  • see Hatti Paganism
  • see also Hittite Mythology
• Nabateans and the city of Petra
  • see Nabatean Paganism
  • see also Nabatean Mythology
• Egyptians
  • see Kemetic Paganism
  • or see Egyptian Paganism
  • see also Egyptian Mythology
• Amorites
• Cypriots

Common threads

There are broad practices that these paths often hold in common:

• Purification and Cleansing
• Offerings, Sacrifices, and Libations
• Large Pantheons
• Religion tied to State/Government
• Use of Differing Forms of Divination
• Use of Magic, Incantation, Charms, and Amulets

Purification and cleansing

Many Ancient Near East religions believed that in order to approach the Deities, one needed to perform rites of purification. These rites often included, but are not limited to:

• Washing with water
  • Hands
  • Face
  • Feet
  • Any combination of the above
  • Bathing
• Anointing with Oil
  • Usually olive oil
  • Sometimes oil was mixed with herbs and resins, such as myrrh
  • Sometimes sand was used to help scour away dirt
• Purification through the use of incense smoke
• Purification through performance of incantation and/or magic

Offerings, sacrifices, and libations

• Offerings
  • Can be food items:
    • Grain, bread
    • Seasonal fruits, vegetables, herbs
  • Can be material offerings
    • Precious metals, gems, semi-precious stones, art
    • Cloth, clothing
• Sacrifices
  • In ancient times, animals were sacrificed to the Deities. The meat from
    
    
    
    these sacrifices often fed the priests, sometimes the elite of society, and sometimes the widows and orphans.
  • In modern days, our “animal sacrifice” only consists of making an offering of meat that we cook for a meal.
• Libations
  • Offerings of a liquid nature
  • Usually includes:
    • Oil, usually olive oil
    • Wine
    • Beer
    • Fruit juice
    • Sometimes milk, but only in the mornings when it is fresh
    • Sometimes water
    • Sometimes herb-flavored or herb-scented water, such as herbal “teas”

Large pantheons

See above “List of Cultures” for each culture’s mythology.Often, because such great diversity, and religious tolerance, in such a small area of the world, some cultures would adopt Deities from other cultures.

Religions tied to governments

Often, in the Ancient Near East, city-states and sometimes even empires, would have a particular official state religion. This means that the state would provide funds and resources for one particular religion. The state holidays celebrated would be for that religion, and the temples constructed would be for that particular pantheon. If a person was a “foreigner,” her/his religion and religious practices were generally tolerated. Also, in the course of military or economic expansion, oftentimes the god or gods of a newly conquered or tributary area would be adopted into the conqueror's pantheon, almost always in a position subservient to the primary god or gods of the conquerors.

Forms of Divination

These can include:

• Apantomancy: seeing animals
• Cleromancy: drawing lots
• Icthyomancy: watching fish behavior
• Ophiomancy: watching snake behavior
• Hepatomancy, or Hepatoscopy: observing the liver of an animal
• Nephomancy: cloud-watching
• Orniscopy or Ornithomancy: watching birds in flight
• Capnomancy: watching smoke
• Oneiromancy: divination through dreams
• And other forms….

Magic, incantations, charms, and amulets

Neopagan movements

• Federation of Damanhur
• Natib Qadish or Canaanite Paganism
• Judeo-Paganism
• Hellenic polytheism
• Mithraism

See also

• Polytheism
• Paganism
• Henotheism
• Walter Burkert

Further reading

• Ancient Near East, general information:
  • Gordon, Cyrus. The Ancient Near East, 3rd Edition, Revised. W. W. Norton and Company, Inc., New York, 1965.
  • Pritchard, James B., editor. The Ancient Near East: An Anthology of Texts and Pictures. Princeton University Press, New Jersey, 1958.
  • Pritchard, James B., editor. The Ancient Near East, Volume II: A New Anthology of Texts and Pictures. Princeton University Press, New Jersey, 1975.
  • Jack Sasson et al., eds., Civilizations of the Ancient Near East. Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1995.

• Canaan and Ugarit
  • Pardee, Dennis. Ritual and Cult at Ugarit. Society of Biblical Literature, Atlanta, Georgia. 2002.
  • Parker, Simon B., ed. Ugaritic Narrative Poetry. Society of Biblical Literature, U.S.A., 1997.
  • Smith, Mark S. The Ugaritic Baal Cycle, Volume I: Introduction with Text, Translation and Commentary of KTU 1.1-1.2. E.J. Brill, Leiden, the Netherlands, 1994.

• Mesopotamia

Canaan and Ugarit

• by Chris Siren

• by the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.

Phoenicia

• by Salim George Khalat.

Neopagan reconstructionism

• Paganism of Mesopotamian Cultures
  • by Ross Caldwell

• Kemetic (Egyptian) Paganism
  • Kemetic Orthodox Faith (Kemetic/Egyptian Paganism)

• Natib Qadish (Canaanite Paganism)
  • , Canaanite-Phoenician Paganism, by Lilinah Biti-Anat
  • by Tess Dawson
  • Canaanite Pagan Ritual Community

• Hellenic Paganism
  • Hellenic/Greek Paganism