Two Temple Rituals from Babylon

Abstract

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.