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Document Details : Title: The Sumerian Coronation Ritual PBS 5, 76 Subtitle: A Cultic Sitz im Leben for Gilgameš and Ḫuwawa? Author(s): PETERSON, Jeremiah Journal: Orientalia Volume: 91 Issue: 1 Date: 2022 Pages: 1-37 DOI: 10.2143/ORI.91.1.3293001 Abstract : The following is an edition of the coronation ritual PBS 5, 76, which is currently known from only one copy found at Old Babylonian Nippur, an unlikely point of origin. Occurring at the Eana temple in Uruk, the ritual also involves a tree chopping ceremony in a sacred grove referred to as the kiriĝi’edena. An enigmatic line in the ritual articulating the king’s relationship to the sun god Utu seems to serve as a type of memento mori for the ascending king. As was noted more than fifty years ago by van Dijk, numerous similarities can be observed between this ritual and the actions of Gilgameš prior to his excursion to the mountain of the eren tree in Gilgameš and Ḫuwawa, to the extent that it is a distinct possibility that they involve the same underlying ritual. Perhaps it was enacted both at coronation and at other key points in the king’s reign such as military expeditions. |
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