The Importance of Judgement in afterlife According to the Elamite Texts
Subject Areas : Christianity
1 - پژوهشکدة زبانشناسی، متون و کتیبهها،
Keywords: Inšušinak, the next world, spirit, judgement, Elamites,
Abstract :
A number of ancient people believed that some gods will accompany their spirits in the next world or even will judge them based on their deeds in this world. One of these gods is Inšušinak, the great god of the Elamites, about his judgement in the nether world a number of studies has been done. In this essay, in the light of the Elamite texts we are going to find out why they chose him for this role, and hence, to acknowledge the importance of the judgement after death for the Elamites. They called him with the titles such as “the guardian god of the king”, “the great god”, “the great guardian”, “the guardian of our city”, “my god”, “my ruler”, “my ancestor”, “the guardian of Susa”, “god of the kings”, and also “god of the dead and tombs”. Some other gods like Išme-karāb and Lagamal were also considered as Inšušinak’s helpers and assistants. So it seems that Inšušinak performed a number of functions and as the Elamites feard him, they gave him the role of judgement as well. There is no clear evidence of the importance of the god of the next world or the judgement of the spirit in the Elamite texts, but it seems that the importance of this issue made them to consider it as the function of such a great god.
