The Babylonian View of the Universe. There are limited and conflicting views of the universe in ancient Mesopotamian cosmology. One envisioned a six-level universe with three heavens and three different "earths": the heaven of the stars, two additional heavens above the sky, the earth, the underground waters of Apsu, and, beneath it, the underworld of the dead. The most common perception of the universe, however, was three-fold. The heavens included everything above the ground. They were where the birds fly, the winds blow, the clouds float, as well as where the moon and the five visible planets drift among the fixed stars and—above them—the Upper Heavens where the gods reside. Below the heavens was the earth, where humankind live. Below the earth lay a body of fresh underground water and, below that, the underworld of the dead. Presumably the...