Sumerian at the Well Christ or Jesus Contemporary Art

Christianity has its origins in a Middle Eastern religion, Judaism, so it is little surprise that there are some remainder similarities between Christian theological thought and ancient Center Eastern religions in full general. For instance, Jesus and the Akkadian god Tammuz were both referred to every bit shepherds. They were also both associated with dying and rising over again. Although in that location are some superficial commonalities, there are too significant differences between Jesus Christ and the shepherd god Tammuz.

Tammuz the Shepherd

Tammuz is the Hebrew proper noun for the Mesopotamian god Dumuzi. Tammuz was associated with vegetation and fertility. He was also believed to exist responsible for making the basis fertile. Additionally, he was a shepherd god who was believed to provide milk to ewes to nourish their lambs. As a effect, he was very of import to shepherds.

The marriage of Inanna and Dumuzid. ( Public Domain )

Another important part of the myth regarding Tammuz is his death at the hands of his lover, the goddess of dearest, Inanna. According to the myth, Inanna went downwardly to the underworld. While in the underworld, she was struck dead for sitting on the throne of the queen of the underworld. Considering she was the goddess of love and sexual practice, all sexual practice on earth ceased and a way had to be establish to revive her. She was able to get out of underworld somewhen. When she returned to her home city, however, she found that her lover, Tammuz, had non properly mourned her and was sitting on her throne. In rage, she struck him dead.

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Fragment of a stone plaque from the temple of Inanna at Nippur showing a Sumerian goddess, maybe Inanna (c. 2500 BC) ( CC Past-SA 3.0 )

Somewhen, Inanna brought her husband dorsum from the expressionless temporarily for part of the year, though he was not able to exist completely restored to the realm of the living. In the ancient Near East, this myth was commemorated at the summer solstice when women would weep for several days for the death of Tammuz. This myth may allegorize the seasons.  During the hot, dry seasons with piddling agricultural productivity of the footing, Tammuz was expressionless which began at the summer solstice. The rainy season in autumn and winter was the fourth dimension when Tammuz would render from the underworld and life could once over again flourish on the earth.

Tammuz vs. Jesus

There are parallels between this myth and the story of the resurrection of Jesus. Similar Tammuz, Jesus also died and rose from the dead. Jesus was also divine. Beyond these similarities, all the same, the story of Tammuz and Jesus are rather different. One main difference is the reason for their deaths. Jesus died for the sins of humanity while Tammuz was killed out of rage by his lover. Information technology is truthful that Tammuz was killed as role of a cede, but it was not something that he did willingly. Jesus, on the other manus, willingly went to the cantankerous to exist crucified if the gospel text is taken at face value. Another difference is that Tammuz appears to only save people from physical starvation and expiry. He did not save people from sin or judgement for disobedience to God or the Gods.

Crucifixion of Christ. Victor Vasnetsov (1885-1926). ( Public Domain )

Some other deviation is the kind of life that Tammuz offered versus what Jesus offered. Tammuz offered material prosperity in the present life, salubrious flocks and plentifully crops. Jesus, however, offered spiritual renewal and eternal life later a final, bodily resurrection. Ancient Christians believed, and modern Christians still believe, that 1 mean solar day the saints will rising from the dead in the same way that Jesus did. Worshipers of Tammuz believed that they might accept a materially abundant life on earth because of their deity, only they would not rising from the dead like Tammuz. They would spend eternity as fluttering ghosts in a shadowy underworld. Tammuz appears to exist much more limited in scope than Jesus in terms of what he offered. Tammuz was primarily a nature deity.

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Tammuz, alabaster relief from Ashur, c. 1500 bc; in the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Frg. (Image: Foto Marburg/Art Resources, New York)

It is true that Tammuz was called a shepherd like Jesus, just this would not be surprising for a pastoralist order to utilise the term shepherd to refer to a divine ruler and caregiver. Of course, another reason that Tammuz is called a shepherd god is the fact that he was literally a shepherd. Another notable similarity is that Tammuz and Jesus were also healers, merely the ability to heal is something that is the property of many a deity.

Essentially Unlike Deities

There are some parallels betwixt Jesus and Tammuz, but there are also significant differences. Jesus came to relieve humanity from sin and divine judgement. Tammuz was believed to relieve his worshipers only from starvation and physical decease. Tammuz was a shepherd of sheep. Jesus was a shepherd of men. Jesus promised eternal life while Tammuz promised a materially abundant, just still finite, life to those who worshiped him. Jesus and Tammuz represent two very different stages in the history of Middle Eastern religion. An interesting question continuing from this might be what changed in the civilization of the Middle Eastward to motility them from worshiping a deity like Tammuz to one like the Abrahamic God which was believed in by Moses, the Christian Apostles, and eventually Muhammad.

Top image: A shepherd (Jesus? Tammuz? Other?) with his flock. ( CC By-SA 4.0 )

By Caleb Strom

References

Jacobsen, Thorkild. Toward the paradigm of Tammuz and other essays on Mesopotamian history and culture . Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2008.

"Tammuz vs. Jesus" by James Patrick Holding. Tekton Apologetics Ministries. Bachelor at:   http://www.tektonics.org/copycat/tammuz.php

Yamauchi, Edwin Grand. "Tammuz and the Bible." Journal of biblical Literature  84.3 (1965): 283-290.

Powell, Barry B. "Classical Myth 2nd ed. With new translations of ancient texts past Herbert M. Howe." (1998).

Prince, J. Dyneley. "A Hymn to Tammuz (Cuneiform Texts from the British Museum, Tablet 15821, Plate 18)." Journal of the American Oriental Order  30.1 (1909): 94-100.

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Source: https://www.ancient-origins.net/history-famous-people/tammuz-and-jesus-more-distant-connection-009567

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