Mesopotamian · Akkadian · c. 800 BCE
Erra and Ishum
Attributed in its own colophon to Kabti-ilani-Marduk
The plague god talks Marduk into leaving his throne unattended and lays waste to Babylon while it is empty. Unusually, the poem states its own purpose: copies were displayed to ward off plague, so the text is both an account of a catastrophe and an object used against one.
Read Erra and Ishum in full at the linked edition →What this text attests · 1
| Name here | Rank given | # | Powers described |
|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | Talked off his throne by Erra on the pretext that his regalia needs cleaning, and Babylon is destroyed while the seat is empty. A text about what happens when the god in charge is absent, written by people who had watched it happen. |
