Comprehensive Views of the Past in Ancient Mesopotamia: The Problematic Balance between the Mythical and the Historical

Abstract

Documents originating from diverse traditions show that in ancient Mesopotamia the past was conveyed in various ways. Among those texts are royal lists, narratives with strong mythical components, stories with evident literary features, omens that link positive or disastrous results with iconic kings, royal inscriptions recounting the exploits of kings and, later, the Assyrian annals that register royal campaigns. There are also chronicles of eclectic content. The agents of change are punishing or rewarding gods, implacable sovereigns or simply change itself. The truthfulness of events and characters from the past, whether mythological, fantastic or real, does not seem to have raised too much suspicion. In this work I analyze the way in which the Sumerian King List and Berossus’s Babyloniaca intertwine fictitious and real events and characters to offer comprehensive views of the past in a game of balance between the mythical and the historical.