🌌 Babylonian Cosmology

🌊 The Apsû - Primordial Fresh Waters

Beneath the earth lies the Apsû, the cosmic ocean of fresh water. Originally personified as the primordial god Apsû (consort of Tiamat), this realm became the dwelling place of Ea after the god slew the primordial being. The Apsû feeds all springs, rivers, and wells, making it essential to life. It represents the chaotic but life-giving forces that underlie creation, now tamed and channeled by divine wisdom.

The Tigris and Euphrates rivers were believed to flow from Tiamat's eyes, connecting the Apsû's fresh waters to the surface world. Underground water was literally divine presence bubbling up from the cosmic deep.

⭐ The Celestial Realm - Path of the Gods

The heavens were divided into three sections: the Way of Anu (northern sky), the Way of Enlil (equatorial sky), and the Way of Ea (southern sky). The stars, planets, and constellations were divine beings or markers of divine activity. The planets were the great gods themselves: Jupiter was Marduk, Venus was Ishtar, Mars was Nergal, Mercury was Nabu, and Saturn was Ninurta.

Astronomical observation was thus theological observation - tracking the gods' movements and reading their intentions. The MUL.APIN star catalogs systematically recorded celestial phenomena as divine communication.

🏔️ The Cosmic Mountain

Mountains were considered meeting points between heaven and earth. The great ziggurats (temple towers) were artificial cosmic mountains, with each tier representing a different cosmic level. The ziggurat's summit temple served as the point where divine and earthly realms intersected, where gods could descend and humans could ascend through ritual.

The most famous was Babylon's Etemenanki ("House of the Foundation of Heaven and Earth"), Marduk's ziggurat, which may have inspired the Biblical Tower of Babel narrative.

🌅 The Eastern Mountain - Gate of Dawn

The sun god Shamash emerged each morning through the eastern mountain gate to begin his daily journey across the sky. At night, he traveled through the underworld, bringing light to the dead before reemerging in the east. The eastern mountains were thus liminal spaces - thresholds between light and darkness, life and death.

🌑 Irkalla - The Land of No Return

The underworld, called Irkalla or the "Land of No Return," lay beneath the earth, accessed through seven gates. This dark, dusty realm was ruled by Ereshkigal and Nergal. Unlike later concepts of paradise and punishment, Babylonian afterlife was generally bleak for all - a shadowy existence where the dead ate dust and clay, clothed in feathers like birds.

Learn more about the afterlife →

The Tablet of Destinies (Ṭup Šīmāti)

This sacred tablet contained the decrees that governed the cosmos. Whoever possessed it controlled fate itself. Originally held by Anu, it passed to Enlil, then was seized by the chaos-bird Anzû before Marduk reclaimed it. Marduk's possession of the Tablet legitimized his kingship - he ruled not just through force but through cosmic authority to determine destinies.

The Me - Divine Powers/Laws

The me were fundamental divine powers or cosmic laws that governed all aspects of existence - kingship, priesthood, warfare, sexuality, crafts, music, truth, falsehood, and more. These were not abstract concepts but actual forces that could be possessed, transferred, or stolen. The gods' control of specific me determined their domains and powers.

Cosmic Maintenance - Ritual and Order

The ordered cosmos required constant maintenance through ritual. Temple services - feeding the gods, performing hymns, making offerings - were not symbolic but essential cosmic work. If rituals ceased, the gods would weaken, and chaos might return. The New Year festival (Akitu) annually renewed cosmic order by ritually reenacting Marduk's victory over Tiamat.