This article presents the ancient Mesopotamian Mīs Pî ceremony as a case study in the relationship between ritual and the natural world using Roy Rappaport’s framework of Ecological Anthropology as a guide. Rappaport’s premise is that human populations do not operate independently but are instead, “ecological populations in an ecosystem that also includes the other living organisms and the nonliving substances found within the boundaries of [their] territory.” In Rappaport’s framework, rituals involving the use of animal, plant, and other organic materials link human communities to the ecosystems in which they dwell and to that which they seek to ritualize. Applying this mode of analysis to the Mīs Pî ritual yields the thesis that, from the perspective of the Mīs Pî, nature is integral to the ritual maintenance and well-being of the divine and human realms, and, in effect, the well-being of the cosmos.

本文以罗伊·拉帕波特（Roy Rappaport）的生态人类学框架为指南，介绍了古代美索不达米亚MīsPî仪式，作为仪式与自然世界之间关系的案例研究。Rappaport的前提是人类并非独立运作，而是“在一个生态系统中的生态种群，其中还包括在其领土范围内发现的其他生物和非生物物质”。在Rappaport的框架中，涉及使用动物，植物和其他有机材料的仪式将人类社区与他们居住的生态系统以及他们寻求仪式化的生态系统联系在一起。将此分析模式应用于米斯庇护仪式，得出的论点是，从米斯庇护的角度来看自然是神圣和人类领域的仪式维护和福祉，以及实际上是宇宙福祉不可或缺的组成部分。