Water of Anointment and Water of Destruction. The Symbolic Uses of Water in Iraq from the Sumerians to the Islamic State

Abstract

In charting the regenerative importance of water in Iraq, the land known as ancient Mesopotamia and the “cradle of
civilization” where irrigation and agriculture were first developed, the author deconstructs its polyvalent meanings and
uses from the Sumerian period to the contemporary Islamic State. By drawing on examples from mythology such as
the Babylonian Epic of Creation (Enuma Eliš) in which the world is generated by the mingling together of the primeval
waterly powers Apsu (Ocean of Sweet Water) and Tiamat (Ocean of Salt Water), as well as the Assyrian reliefs from
Nimrud with ritual scenes of anointments of the sacred tree and related agricultural practices of date palm pollination,
it is possible to highlight the beneficial role of water. However, destructive manipulations of water resources both by
the ancient Sumerians and contemporary political powers to threaten enemies and dislodge them from their land allow
understanding of how water can be viewed not only as a positive ingredient of life and ritual but also as a lethal weapon
for erasing cultural differences. An example of the latter is Saddam Hussein’s attack on the Madan, the Marsh Arabs
of southern Iraq who saw their wetlands drained as a punishment for their uprising; or the recent instrumental use of
dams and canals by Islamic State terrorists to displace communities or deprive them of crucial water supplies. The paper
finally shows that in the course of history “water” has always been imbued with symobolic and contradictory meanings,
a powerful intermingling of life and death which regulates social dynamics through time