Transition and Continuity of Assyrian Religion

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1.Characteristics of Assyria.Assyria, the country in northern Mesopotamia and in the center of the Ancient Near Eastern world, lasted for 1400 years from ca. 2000 BC to 612 BC. This exceptional longevity of Assyria strengthened the continuity of Assyrian religion. This research, however, pointed out that the continuity of Assyrian religion rather made the longevity of Assyria possible. On the other hand, Assyria had been accepting Babylonian culture in southern Mesopotamia and the other cultures of the surrounding countries. It yielded some important transitions of Assyrian religion.2.The transition and the continuity analyzed form both philological and iconographical points of view.(1)Philologically, this study showed how some traditional curses which had been prevailed for more than a thousand years in Babylonia were partly changed in Assyria, after they had been borrowed at latest in the 9th century BC. Assyria also adopted the curses from the west of Assyria. Some parallel curses can be found in Hittite and Hebrew texts, but not in Babylonian texts.Those curses were attached to legal texts, especially oaths and international treaties in order to enhance their effects. Assyria, the largest empire theretofore, made the texts to be more "international" than ever.(2)Iconographical study is focused on the "winged sun disc" as a symbol of the sun god Shamash adopted from the west in the latter half of the second millennium BC. In Babylonia, the symbol of Shamash was always "sun disc" without wings. In Assyria, "winged sun disc" symbolized not only the sun god, but also the guardian of the kingship. It can be traced back to Hittite culture which had a similar symbol of "winged sun disc."