The image of a mother commemorated by her son in the autobiographical text of the Adad-guppi Stele

What is it about?

This article is about the literary scheme of the inscription on the Adad-guppi Stele. This inscription has been mainly used to reconstruct the past events in history, but the main theme of the work is to create certain images to readers by various literary devices. So the structure of the inscription is analyzed in comparison with the other Babylonian literary works, and its contents and expressions are examined through the light of historical events. As a result, the son, Nabonidus, is found to promote his mother, Adad-guppi, as an intercessor to legitimatize his kingship in three different ways.

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Why is it important?

This article is different from other researches on the inscription, when it tries to offer a critical commentary on an ancient Babylonian work (not to use it as a historical source). By understanding the literary scheme of the inscription, however, readers get wider and richer picture of the history of the time period. The image of an intercessor appears in three different areas: (1) the intercessor that gave birth to him and led him to the state career; (2) the intercessor who led the son to great gods; (3) the intercessor who legitimatized him in connection to the tradition of royal succession. Each and every points of the inscription comes to reveal the life of Nabonidus at the end of Neo-Babylonian history.

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