Greetings from the Scribe

Hillah, Iraq. Ulūlu, 2017.

Greetings from the ziggurat at Borsippa.

After I finished writing the fate of the land on the Tablet of Destiny, back in the month of Nisanu, I decided to distract myself from the less than pleasant events that the god Marduk had allowed by reading the work of some of the scribes of today. While most of them do not acknowledge me as their patron, being the god of writing is also the source of my not insignificant wisdom. Imagine my surprise, when, while perusing the library of my modern tablet, I came across the work of a scribe who had worshipped me, many centuries ago.

I would scarcely have thought, when I first read the work of Sîn-lēqi-unninni, that his Epic of Gilgamesh would still be considered great literature, some 3000 years later. Surely there is a place for an epic written by Nabu? While the mortals are of course fascinated by Gilgamesh, his challenge to the gods, and his search for eternal life, we gods have our own tales. As the god of writing, I am doubtless capable of becoming a successful writer myself. Goodness knows I have had plenty of practice writing the fate of the land, but it would be really excellent to have a wider audience than Marduk. While some of the Babylonian gods, like my lovely wife Tašmetu, have a great appreciation for beauty, Marduk is more interested in action. At least he will give me an interesting subject for my book.

Alas, despite the continued success of Gilgamesh, not many readers today seem interested in stepping back in time to ancient Mesopotamia. But we gods are immortal, and can easily appear in any time. When do you think your world was created? We were there. When have men not been betrayed by those in power and called out to their god to save them? When have jealous sisters and uncaring husbands not plagued the world and even the gods?

May the goddess Innana bless you with victory in love and war,

Nabu

Image Credits: "Birs Nimrud the Tower of Babell." Wikimedia.