Myths of Mesopotamia Trivia Quiz

Answer: Nippur

Enlil's temple, the Ekur ("Mountain House"), was the focal point of the city of Nippur. Interestingly, despite its religious importance, Nippur was never the capital city of any major Mesopotamian state.

Answer: True

This term has endured for millennia, and is seen in modern Semitic languages like Arabic (alshams) and Hebrew (shemesh) as the term for "sun".

Answer: Dumuzi

An interesting story with parallels in other myths comes from the tale "Inanna's Descent to the Netherworld" which says that, after some drama with her lover Dumuzi, the goddess agreed to have him stay in the netherworld for half the year, and then switch places with his sister, helping to explain the cycle of seasons in Mesopotamia. Dumuzi lives on, as the Arabic name for the month of July is Tammuz, derived from the Sumerian god's name.

Answer: Ishtar

In the story, Gilgamesh doesn't just reject her advances, he recites a litany of her past lovers who have all ended up worse for wear by being with her. Angry and humiliated, she goes to her father, the sky god Anu, and demands that he release the Bull of Heaven to attack Gilgamesh and his friend.

When he refuses, she threatens to open the gates of the netherworld to unleash a zombie apocalypse on the world and so her dad relents. The resulting battle with Gilgamesh and the Bull of Heaven is epic.

Answer: Ebabbar ("White House")

Located in the ancient city of Sippar, the "White House" is a good name for a temple dedicated to a sun god in Mesopotamia. This is especially so since the term "babbar" is written with the same cuneiform sign as the word for "sun" and graphically represents the sun rising over the mountains in the east.

The Eanna ("House of Heaven") might also make sense, but that is the name for the goddess Inanna's temple in the city of Uruk.

Answer: Shamash, the sun god

While Shamash is known foremost as the sun god, he's also the god of justice. This association may seem odd, but perhaps it comes from the fact that the sun slowly moves along the sky and effectively sees all-- a good quality for an adjudicator of right and wrong.

Answer: Pazuzu

If you've seen the 1973 film "The Exorcist" then you've seen some quick glimpses of the demon, which is what possesses Regan MacNeil (played by Linda Blair). Despite some negative associations, in ancient Mesopotamia it also served apotropaic (i.e. protective) functions.

Its menacing and grotesque features were thought to be enough to repel other evil spirits. Some inscriptions on Pazuzu figurines note its use in protecting pregnant women. Since some of those figurines had loops or small holes in them, it was thought that they might be worn by expectant mothers to protect against malevolent forces!

Answer: Suen (the moon god)

Suen (later Sin with vowel coalescence) was associated with the number 30 likely because of the lunar connection to the month (ideally 30 days, but of course in reality a little less than that). His daughter Ishtar is 15, or half of her father. Shamash was associated with 20, Anu with 60, and Adad with 10.

Answer: He survived a worldwide flood

The flood story bears striking similarities to the Noah story told in the book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. Marduk DID fight Tiamat in a cataclysmic battle, but that was before humans existed. The magic flower and the snake-shedding-skin are both elements that happen later in The Epic of Gilgamesh, but it was the snake that ate the magic flower by which it was then was able to shed its skin-- a nice etiological tidbit the story gives us.

Answer: A tavern

Women are often associated with beer and taverns in ancient Mesopotamia, so the setting is fitting. And of course, the trope of a bartender offering advice to a customer who seems down on his luck continues to this day!