2018/01/01 by Rocío Da Riva, Gianluca Galetti · 1 citation
Arts and Humanities · #Ancient Near East History #Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies #Biblical Studies and Interpretation #Cult #Temple #Perspective (graphical) #Agency (philosophy) #History #Art #Ancient history #Sociology #Visual arts #Social science
paper · doi:10.5615/jcunestud.70.2018.0189
openalex publication_date 2018/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/11
BM 40790 (81–04–28, 335) and BM 40854 (81–04–28, 401) + BM 41208 (81–04–28, 756) bear ritual instructions to be carried out in the Esagil. The main activities described deal with Nabû and Nanāya in their cellas: Ezida and Euršaba, respectively. These two tablets clearly belong together, and—together with other tablets now lost—may have originally constituted a series of rituals for the whole year that were connected, in a way or another, to the New Year Festival of Nisan. A striking aspect of BM 40790 and BM 40854+ is the presence of female deities and of female and sexually ambiguous cult attendants. The two texts show a new perspective on temple rituals, in which female agency appears stronger than previously assumed.