Sykes' History of Persia - Heritage Institute

ELAM, SUMER, AND AKKAD 67
their cruelty, and their boldness accentuated, just
as the
goddesses were glorified women. Each had its special
city-state in which the patesi or priestly ruler governed
by virtue of being the representative and interpreter of
the god's will. Other gods, however great, were merely
allies and subordinate to the particular god in his own
city, just as he himself ranked below the chief god
in a
neighbouring state. Nevertheless, Anu, the heaven ; Ea,
the Abyss ; and Bel, the earth, formed a supreme triad in
later times.
The next world was painted in depressing colours ;
for hunger, thirst, and misery were the lot of those who
were fortunate enough not to be sentenced to eternal
torments. Consequently every one prayed for health
during his lifetime, for a large family, and for wealth, as
a reward for devotion to the local god. The latter, if his
worshippers displayed any lack of zeal in his service,
would overwhelm them with crushing disease and
calamities of every kind. The priest who presided at
the burial of a Sumerian demanded as a fee for himself
'' seven urns of wine, four hundred and twenty loaves of
bread, one hundred and twenty measures of corn, a
garment, a kid, a bed, and a seat." In a temple there
were included treasuries, store-rooms, granaries, and pens
for cattle and sheep ; in fact everything was ordered as if
the god were an earthly monarch who lived surrounded
by a great retinue.
It is clear that the Sumerians were, in doctrine,
terribly priest-ridden ; but the extent and severity of
their thraldom become still more apparent, when we know
that the god, through
owner and also a great
his servants, was a
great land-
merchant, facts which seem to
imply a priestly trade monopoly.
The Earliest Sumerian Settlements.—The houses of the
dwellers in Babylonia were probably at first constructed
from reeds, which are still a prominent feature of
the country, and these were gradually succeeded by
hovels of clay or sun-dried bricks. The early Sumerian's
greatest friend and enemy was the river on )vhose low
banks he had pitched his settlements. While it gave him