Lapushanski TEMPLE PERSONNEL AND RITUAL PRACTICE OF THE ESAGIL TEMPLE IN THE SECOND MILLENNIUM BC

TEMPLE PERSONNEL AND RITUAL PRACTICE OF THE ESAGIL TEMPLE IN THE SECOND MILLENNIUM BC

I. Yu. Lapushanski

PhD Student Belarusian State University 6, Krasnoarmeyskaya Str., Minsk, 220030, Belarus mixweidner@gmail.com

The composition of temple personnel and ritual practice of the main Babylonian temple Esagil (dedicated to the god Marduk) in the second millennium BC is insufficiently studied, a situation caused directly by the state of preservation of the relevant sources. The author examines parts of the Code of Hammurapi, administrative texts, and New Year festival fragment VAT 16435 to partially reconstruct the composition of the temple personnel (nadītu-priestesses, pašīšu-priests, and šangû-priests). The following conclusions are drawn based on the data of prayers, incantations, and Poem of the righteous sufferer (Ludlul bēl nēmeqi) concerning ritual practice in Esagil: 1. The temple was considered to be a place of healing and “liberation” (paţāru, aşû) from the “curse” (mamītu) or illness, restoration of a person’s social status; 2. Semi-divine creatures, residents of Esagil, were mediators of these processes; 3. Healing of a person was accompanied by sacrifices in the temple, made for Marduk, his divine wife Zarpanitu, and protective gods of Esagil.

Keywords: Esagil, Babylonian religion, priesthood, ritual

Preislamic Near East 2021, (2):109-112

https://doi.org/10.15407/preislamic2021.02.109

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