Religion and Food
Mesopotamian religion and food were closely connected. Food was often offered to the Gods as a sacrifice. The God Anu was given the following foods and beverages during a spiritual meal: 12 vessels of wine, 2 vessels of milk, 108 vessels of beer, 243 loaves of bread, 29 bushels of dates, 21 rams, 2 bulls, 1 bullock, 8 lambs, 60 birds, 3 cranes, 7 ducks, 4 wild boars, 3 ostrich eggs, and 3 duck eggs. The everyday food that people ate included beef, lamb, pork, goat, duck, and geese. Bread was also very popular, there were 300 Mesopotamian words for bread. All Mesopotamians enjoyed eating, and the richer the family was, the more food they had. Religion in Mesopotamia was rather complex. The Mesopotamians created their religion on the questions: Who are we, Where are we, and How did we get here? They believed that the world was a flat disk that was surrounded by hollow space. They also believed that the ocean surrounded them on the top, bottom, and sides. The Mesopotamian word for universe, was an-ki. This derived from the God An and Goddess Ki. An and Ki were the parents of Enlil, the air God. Enlil was the Mesopotamian equivalent of Zeus and Jupiter; he was the most powerful God. Ancient Mesopotamians were polytheistic and relied on spiritual remedies to stay healthy. Other Gods and Goddesses include, Utu, the sun God, Ninhursag, mother earth, Inki, the lord of wisdom, and Inanna, the Goddess of war and love. Mesopotamians believed that the Gods must be treated with respect, because they were the providers for the Mesopotamian civilization. The Mesopotamian also built structures called ziggurats. Ziggurats were believed to be the stairways of the Gods.