Ritual Humiliation Tag

Fragment of a clay tablet, Prayers of Amil-urgal, New Year ritual at Babylon, 72 lines of inscription, neo-Babylonian. © The Trustees of the British Museum (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)

September 27, 2022

The Babylonian Akītu Festival and the Ritual Humiliation of the King

September 2022 | Vol. 10.9 By Sam Mirelman Many Mesopotamian festivals are known, but only one involved a priest striking the king. The akītu was one of the most importa