Mesopotamian Temple Hymns

What can temple hymns tell us of early Mesopotamian perceptions of the temple?

The genre of "temple hymns" is a peculiar part of ancient Mesopotamian religious texts, leading to the question what purpose these hymns were composed for. As everyone would anticipate, there are numerous hymns to deities or (deified) kings to be found in the Mesopotamian text corpus, their worship thus being fixed in written records. That worship is conducted in a special sacred surrounding, most commonly in a sanctuary or a temple complex seems to be a normal procedure as well. But to raise temples as such from their status of being a means of worship to being the object of worship, thus shifting the focus from a being to its dwelling, strikes the modern as an odd expression of religious feelings.

This raises the question, how the perception of the temple in Mesopotamia was different from ours, who mostly reduce it to its architecture and social and religious function.

Therefore, the religious image of the temple as it is conveyed in temple hymns shall be examined in order to gain insight to the perception of the temple and its role in regards other than mere social and political functions.

The texts- background and content

There are three main texts counted among the genre of temple hymns.

Chronologically the first is the inscription to be found on the two Gudea cylinders. It deals with the erection of a temple (the É-ninnu) for Ningirsu, the patron deity of Lagaš, where Gudea was governor. The text is written down on two cylinders , called cylinder A and B.

Cylinder A differs from other temple hymns in that it is not directed towards the temple itself and does not praise the building directly, but it is rather a detailed description of how the É-ninnu came into being. It starts off with the description of how Lagaš drew the gods' attention by looking up self-confidently. They decide to make the É-ninnu "most influential in heaven and on earth" and therefore Gudea receives a dream vision in which he is instructed by Ningirsu to build a temple. After having the dream interpreted by the goddess Nanše, who gives him further detail about the setting up of the temple, Gudea describes the very process of constructing the temple. The fact, that he receives the ground-plan of the house by the gods enhances the whole undertaking. Gudea is not only a pious worshipper of the god but Ningirsu's agent, his divine tool as it were. Thus, the building of the temple is creating an especially strong bond between Gudea and Ningirsu, the former promising to the latter: "Ningirsu, I will build you your House, do it for you as exactly as I can" .

Gudea obviously is very careful about abiding by the rules of piety by conducting purification rites and inspecting