著者

松島 英子

出版者

法政大学キャリアデザイン学部

雑誌

法政大学キャリアデザイン学部紀要 = 法政大学キャリアデザイン学部紀要 (ISSN:13493043)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.2, pp.225-241, 2005-03

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This paper discusses several aspects of idolatry in Ancient Mesopotamia,especially in the first millennium. In each city of Mesopotamia,there was at least one temple where the city god and his consort were enshrined. As a matter of fact,gods were represented by statues generally made of wood and covered by gold. People identified the statue with the god himself(or the goddess herself)and treated it as if it were a living being. Every day they delicated food and drink to the god('s statue)and changed the clothes,jewelry and articles belonging to it in spring and in autumn. People thus took care of the gods(in fact their statues). As long as the god,being treated carefully,is satisfied and atayed in his own temple,the city as well as its citizens were protected. But if he was not satisfied and angry with his people,he could abandon them and leave the city. In the history of Mesopotamia,such accidents often occurred. In the 8th century B.C.,the Assyrian king Sennacherib attacked Babylonia and its capital Babylon,the most eminent and holy city in Mesopotamia. He destroyed many temples,including Esagila,the temple of the city god Marduk. We do not know whether his statue was completely destroyed or simply captured by the Assyrians. Anyway,Marduk's stantue disappeared from Babylon in 689 B.C. for certain political reasons Esarhaddon, who succeeded Sennacherib,wanted to restore the Marduk's statue and the cult of this god in Babylon by himself. However,the stantue returned home not in his reign but in the first year of his successor,i.e.,668 B.C. We have several written documents concerning this event. Most of them are letters written by high officials in the court of Esarhaddon. They informed the king the details of restorative work. Some of them speak of a clothing ceremony for Marduk in Babylon. This is embarrassing because the statue of this god had not been completed during the reign of this king. After several examinations and dicussions,this paper concludes that both the statue and the cult of Marduk were under restoration under the direction of Esarhaddon. It can be supposed that this very fact is most important because the cult is availabe only with the statue. If the statue disappears,so does the religious cult. This is one of the characteristic aspects of idolatry in Mesopotamia,and certainly of idolatry in general.