Liturgical Lament & the Soothing of the God's Heart
Grief made into ritual: the priest sings the god's anger to sleep before it can fall on the city.
Beyond the historical city-laments, Mesopotamia developed a standing liturgy of lament: the balag and ershemma songs, performed by a special priest (the gala) in a distinct dialect (Emesal), whose purpose was to soothe the heart of an angry god before his wrath could fall. These were sung especially when a temple was to be torn down for rebuilding — a dangerous moment when the god's house was disturbed — to placate the deity in advance. The same lamenting voice that mourned fallen cities was thus institutionalized as a ritual instrument: grief deployed deliberately to keep catastrophe at bay.
Key passages(15)
He has abandoned his cow-pen and has let the breezes haunt his sheepfold. The wild bull has abandoned his cow-pen and has let the breezes haunt his sheepfold. The lord of all the lands has abandoned i
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A father sent a message to his son, to a far-off place; at that time the son, having gone to a distant place, was far away. The city-dwelling father was stricken with illness. He, precious brilliance
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After the cattle pen had been built for the foremost divine powers -- how did it become a haunted place? When will it be restored? Where once the brick of fate had been laid -- who scattered its divin
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To overturn the appointed times, to obliterate the divine plans, the storms gather to strike like a flood. An, Enlil, Enki and Ninḫursaĝa Ninmaḫ have decided its fate -- to overturn the divine powers
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An evil day …… upon the maiden in her ……. Upon the fair woman, the well-favoured maiden, the evil eye ……. Upon the fledgling overstepping its nest, a net has ……. The fecund mother, the mother of child
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[... ]... [... ]... her places and [... ]... it (a door) fell and has broken. [... ] he does not neglect (the series)' If from (the month) Apinduha'. [... ]... and making (the door) anew [... ]... he
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When the wall of the temple of Anu buckles [... ], in a favourable month on a propitious day during the night [... ] 3 offering tables [... ]. You lay out [... ]. [... ] shoulder, fatty tissue and roa
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The …… which had developed -- its wiping clean (?) was to be accomplished (?). The …… of heaven and earth put their divine powers …… to sleep (?). …… mortal man multiplied to become as numerous as th
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…… is destroyed. …… is destroyed. It is destroyed. …… of Nisaba is destroyed. The house of Nisaba, her of the tablets, is destroyed. The house of …… is destroyed. The house of Nun-bar-še-gunu is destr
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[... ]... [... ] [... ] the ritual procedure in the domain of the kalû - priest of... [... ] [... ]' She has gone out, the wild cow from the temple of Ningal, the woman of... [... ], ' the woman, the
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Ninĝišzida's journey to the nether world
Arise and get on board, arise, we are about to sail, arise and get on board! -- Woe, weep for the bright daylight, as the barge is steered away! -- I am a young man! Let me not be covered against my w
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[... ] the wall of the temple of a god buckles, for the demolishing and renovating of that temple, the diviner deconsecrates [... ] and in a favourable month on a propitious day during the night you s
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For Enlil, king of all land, his master, Išbi-Erra, the powerful king, the king of his land, fashioned a lofty balaĝ - drum, which... the heart, and dedicated it to him for his well-being. The name of
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A person should steadfastly proclaim the exaltedness of his god. A young man should devoutly praise the words of his god; the people living in the righteous Land should unravel them like a thread. May
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May it go well [... ] Antu. [... ] renovating of [... ] temple, [... ] a favourable month on a [... ] during the night [... ] 3 offering tables for the god [... ], the [... ] of the temple and the pro
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