The Search for Monotheism in the Ancient World
As we look back on Early Civilizations and highlight every contribution they have significantly passed on to us, there is one thing that vividly stands out and has had the most lasting impact: religion. In the beginning, the thought of an omniscient, all-powerful God that created life and controlled the universe was irregular and not believable to people. The reason for this pessimism was because the belief in one God could not explain why natural disasters regularly occurred. People did not understand how an omnipotent God could let catastrophic events and terrible occurrences exist, leading them to conclude that a number of gods controlled certain sectors of the globe. They also could not understand why the good suffered and bad prospered. Polytheism, the belief in more than one God, nourished what people wanted to believe and it was the primary form of religion for many years. But more importantly, polytheism provided explanations of the fundamentals for understanding religion during the fourth millennium B.C. In this paper, I will compare and contrast the Enuma Elish, Genesis, and Hymns to the Sun and Nile. Each documentation will differ in belief and context because of each culture's concept, locale and source o
f agriculture, but all found a similar bond in religion: the search for monotheism. While the Mesopotamians were expanding, the Egyptians emerged with their own culture and beliefs. The "Egyptian Hymns to the Nile and Sun" are religious doctrines that demonstrated Egyptian ethnicity and values. The Nile River and the sun provided Egyptian life; therefore it would make sense to praise them as their deities. The Egyptians valued simplicity and a fixed society, as a result change was obstinate. Egyptian beliefs reflected their lifestyle. Even though there were many similarities, Egyptians differed the Mesopotamians because they did not want change whereas the Mesopotamians could not accept change because there were too many questions left unexplained for them. Similar to the Egyptians, the Mesopotamians wanted change but failed to achieve it due to overpowering dictatorship. While Ikhnaton wanted people to worship Aton (the sun) alone, people were very hesitant to praise one god while the belief other gods exist lingered in their heads. The Mesopotamians faced the same problem of acceptance when they laid the groundwork for all future cultures to come. During this point in history, one can see why there is so much difficulty in accepting the monotheistic view. The Egyptians used what they had to work with. Unfortunately their knowledge of the world was bound by dwelling in the river valleys, the Egyptian found themselves contradictory and tending toward syncretism. Eg
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Approximate Word count = 1003
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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