Why was religion important in mesopotamia?

Answer 1

religion was what brought people together. It signified that people were progressing from individual city-states to more progressive conglomerates that were uniting for a common cause which often tended to be religion.

Answer 2

Religion was important in Mesopotamia because it gave the people a reason to live. It answered some questions like "Why do we live and die?", "Why does the sun rise and set?", and "How can we be better people?". It explained events in their life that could not be proven any other way. Nowadays we use science to prove many things that occur. But back then, science did not exist. They had to rely on the spirit and whatever deities they believed in to explain the natural events of the world.

Answer 3

For the same reason that religion was important everywhere else. Though tradition and belief has weakened in some places, the entire ancient world possessed the original traditions of the Creation, the existence of the human soul and the afterlife, etc.

One thing that researchers agree upon is that mankind has always believed in a Higher Power. Archaeology has shown that no ancient society ever existed that did not believe in the supernatural. (See:Can you show me that God exists?)

Based upon a massive worldwide study of the most ancient inscriptions and the earliest levels of civilization, Dr. Wilhelm Schmidt (in his twelve-volume Der Ursprung Der Gottesidee) concluded that the original belief was monotheistic; a belief in One God (see footnote 1, below). It was a simple belief in the Creator (Dyeus Pater; Sky-Father) with no imagery of any kind.

Footnote:

1) Albright, "From the Stone Age," p.170; and J.A. Wilson, "The Culture of ancient Egypt," p.129. Also Baron, "A Social and Religious History," vol. I, p.44 and 311. Also James Meek, "Hebrew Origins," p.188, quoting Langdon, Lagrange and John Ross. Also Martin Nilsson, Handbuch der Altertumswissenschaften, 2nd ed., p.61, 141, 220 and 394.