Pantheon, Poetry And Religious Beliefs In The Neo-Babylonian Royal Inscription
Daniel E. Setness
In this dissertation I argue that the neo-Babylonian or Chaldean royal inscriptions serve as a collective repository of official religious attitudes. Sigmund Mowinckel, among others, views the pious characterizations of the neo-Babylonian kings as tendentious; that is to say, the neo-Babylonian kings, to his mind, are portrayed as having an exaggerated piety primarily for the sake of posterity. I see this interpretation as unduly peremptory in dismissing what I regard as distinctive pious elements, despite the generally piercing insight of Mowinckel's overall interpretation. My own interpretation is supported by the work of Bertil Albrektson, who underscores the fact that the main point in the royal inscriptions is the dedication of some object, not infrequently a temple or other building, to the gods by the king. Taken as such, the inscriptions, in the most basic sense, are religious communications from the kings to their gods. Therefore, despite the overlay of apparent royal boasting and self-aggrandizement in the present form of the inscriptions, it is argued that an authentic religiosity surfaces in the texts.
These inscriptions carry significance from contrasting viewpoints. On the one hand, by invoking descriptions and images of what a king thought he must be in relationship to the gods, they define the religious socio-political conventions of the neo-Babylonian period as well as those from previous periods. The remarkable consistency in the wording and structure of these inscriptions defines a norm for the king's religiosity during the period. On the other hand, distinctive and unexpected expressions emerge in most cases that apparently demonstrate pious attitudes singular to the king then addressing the gods. Especially when these distinctive expressions express attitudes inconsistent with the religious conventions already defined, I argue that a genuine, individualized piety is being invoked by the king. The piety which comes to clear expression through the statements of humility and servility in the neo-Babylonian royal inscriptions in the middle of the First Millennium is arguably truly distinctive, and it may take its impulse from the Aramaean heritage of the Chaldean rulers.