The Cult-Image & the God's Real Presence
After the rite that 'opened its mouth,' the statue was no image but the god himself — to be fed, clothed, and consulted.
At the heart of each temple stood the cult-image — a statue of the god, richly made and adorned. Crucially, after special consecration rituals known as the 'washing of the mouth' and 'opening of the mouth,' the image was not regarded as a mere representation but as the god's genuine, living presence: it could see, eat, and be addressed directly. Priests bathed, clothed, and fed it daily, carried it in procession, and consulted it. The capture or destruction of a god's statue by an enemy was therefore a religious catastrophe — the god himself taken into exile — and its return a moment of national joy.
Key passages(13)
A dedication of a statue (Išme-Dagan S)