Inanna and
the New Lugal
Historical fiction set in Ancient Sumer
by James W. Bell © 2003
It was court day. The doorkeeper thumped his staff on the limestone floor and the next petitioner entered the throne room.
She curtsied with no more than a dip before approaching the throne. “My lord, I am Kumumba, keeper of the tavern on the quay -”
Sipaddu interrupted the middle-aged woman. “Yes, Kumumba, I recognize you. We frequent your tavern often. Why have you come to a grievance hearing?”
“Because, my lord, I have a complaint. The palace has stopped paying me for beer drunk at my tavern.”
“You’re not being paid?”
“No longer, my lord. In the past two weeks, I’ve not received a shekel.”
“We will see about this,” Sipaddu assured the woman. There had been numerous celebrations at her tavern during the past two months. Why had Bartan stopped paying the woman? He sent the doorkeeper to summon his sukkal.
Bartan appeared and bowed. “My lord, you wanted me?”
“This woman, Kumumba, keeper of the tavern on the quay, claims she has not been paid for the past two weeks.”
The sukkal blushed. “An oversight, my lord.”
“Then let her be paid!”
“My lord,” Bartan said, “we need to confer … ” he leaned forward to whisper in Sipaddu’s ear, “ … in private.”
“Now? In the middle of court day? Is it necessary?”
“Absolutely, my lord. Never more so than at this moment. Now!”
Sipaddu nodded and turned back to the innkeeper. “My apologies, Kumumba, but an urgent matter of state has just arisen. It is necessary I adjourn today’s session. When you return next week, your account will be paid in full – to the last shekel.”
Kumumba mumbled, obviously disappointed, but she acquiesced with an audible “My lord,” and remembered to curtsy again as she left.
When she was gone, Sipaddu had the doorkeeper bolt the doors shut and tell other petitioners to come back next week. He then turned his attention to Bartan. “Why have we ceased paying the woman’s bills? I go drinking in her tavern almost every night.”
“Yes, with your friends.”
“True. We are celebrating my accession to the throne. It is not good to drink alone.”
“My lord, you and your friends have been celebrating night after night. For two long months.”
“Who am I to restrain the joy of my people?”
“Celebrating in a tavern is expensive.”
“There is the city treasury, is there not?”
“No longer, my lord. You have drained the treasury. It is now empty.”
“How can that be? Where are my chests of gold?”
“Your chests are still there but the gold is gone—used to pay your army.”
“And chests of silver?”
“You gifted the silver to the ladies of the wall. Remember?”
“And my chests of copper … ?”
“Paid to the tavern for beer drunk in your celebrations last month. My lord, the chests are all now empty. I must warn you, the end of your reign may be at hand.”
“It cannot be!” Sipaddu declared. “I have been lugal scarcely two months. There must still be money in Dabrum.”
“There is, my lord, in the Temple of Inanna.”
“Ah, my good sukkal. Go and get it for me.”
Bartan’s eyes opened wide. “My lord, I can’t just walk in a temple of the goddess and take it. That would be sacrilege.”
“You refuse to follow an order of your lugal?”
“I refuse to cause the curse of Inanna to fall on the head of my lugal.”
“Bah. You are overly superstitious, Bartan. I will find someone not so gullible. Go. I will summon you when I need you.”
>>
Dan-Inanna brought the news. “My lady, your temple at Dabrum has been seized.”
Inanna put down her breakfast fig, licked her fingers and sat upright on her couch. It wasn’t often her chief priest came into her bedroom unannounced. “By whom?” she asked.
“The lugal of Dabrum. His army entered your temple yesterday and took it over.”
The goddess laughed nervously. “I wouldn’t have thought old Purig-Dabrum capable of such action.”
Dan-Inanna shook his head. “It wasn’t old Purig-Dabrum, my lady. Old Purig was overthrown two months ago. A new lugal sits on the throne of Dabrum.”
“Remind me.”
“Sipaddu, a donkey master. He gathered an army in the hills and seized the city.”
“And who appointed him lugal of Dabrum?”
“After exiling Purig-Dabrum, my lady, he proclaimed himself the new lugal.”
“A headstrong mortal.”
“So it seems.”
“How did you learn of my temple’s seizure?”
“A fire message last night, received from your temple at Zabalam.”
“My staff at the Dabrum temple in Dabrum, do you know what’s become of them?”
“All safe, my lady. Apparently, Sipaddu’s troops were exceedingly noisy. Your temple staff became aware of their approach and escaped, fleeing south to Zabalam.”
“Good. But we need deal with this upstart lugal. Tonight, Dan-Inanna, have our fire tower send the message, Dabrum is placed under interdict. No ships are to moor at her quay. I will curse any ship that trades with Dabrum. I will see that it is utterly destroyed.”
“It shall be done as you command, my lady.”
>>
Sipaddu summoned his sukkal. Bartan came running.
“My lord.”
“Go to the port inspector, Bartan, and have him seize the biggest ship moored at our quay.”
“My lord, the ship’s owner is sure to protest. You have enough troubles already.”
“Nonsense. Have the port inspector inform the owner Dabrum is being placed under interdict. By dawn, his boat will be of no use to him, unable to leave port without risk of destruction. Have the inspector promise the owner we will pay him well for the use of his boat.”
“As you will, my lord.”
“Then, tonight, have it filled with precious metals—all our gold, silver and copper.”
“My lord, you well know our treasury chests are empty. We have none.”
“No? Need I remind you my army has taken control of the Inanna temple?”
“You would take treasury from the temple of the goddess?”
“Every shekel’s worth.”
“But, my lord, that would be theft—sacrilege!”
Sipaddu smiled. “Not in this instance, Bartan. You can rest easy. It is my intent to ship the temple valuables to Inanna at Uruk.”
“How, my lord? We are under interdict.”
“Inanna is busy and acts slowly. Uruk is only a few days downwater from us.”
“My lord, things are already bad. Would it not be wiser to let them be?”
“Need I remind you, Bartan, that I did not become lugal by letting things be?”
“Where’s the gain if you take from Inanna’s temple only to give it back to her?”
Sipaddu smiled again. “That is my concern, Bartan, not yours. Now, go to the harbor master and have him secure the boat. Then, come back for we have another job to do.”
“What else, my lord?”
“We’re going to rebuild the Inanna Temple as an offering to the goddess.”
Sipaddu’s sukkal shook his head. “My lord, I cannot believe my ears. I –”
“Go, Bartan! Have the harbor master take possession of the boat.”
“Yes, my lord. I’m already on my way.”
>>
The freighter left Dabrum the next morning, filled with valuables from the temple. A zu-bird patrol sighted it and followed. The boat traveled by daylight and moored at night. In four days, the ship sailed down the Iturungal from Dabrum to the White Quay at Uruk, which was Inanna’s most holy quay. That was where the vessel moored.
Not only did the zu-birds arrive in a great flap to inform the goddess, and the harbor master rush to the Eanna Temple to tell her, but she witnessed the mooring herself from the roof of her temple. She saw the crew disembark. “How dare they!” she exclaimed to Dan-Inanna. “They have defiled my holy quay! Now they come ashore to defile my city.”
Her high priest advised her, “Dabrum is under interdict and you have proclaimed any ship sailing from there would be destroyed. Is it not time for Anu to strike? Let him strike and teach them what happens when they disobey his beloved goddess.”
“Dan-Inanna, for four days, I have been waiting for Anu to strike. Where is he?”
“Up in Heaven. On some important matter as I recall.”
“His wife, no doubt.” Inanna gritted her teeth. “He’s never around when I need him.”
“Call to him, Inanna. He dare not refuse to heed your voice.”
Inanna cupped her hands and called up to Heaven. “Anu, hear me. After seizing my temple, Sipaddu, self-proclaimed lugal of Dabrum, has sent a boat to Uruk, violating the interdict I imposed on his city. His ship sits moored at my holy quay, defiling it. Unleash a lightning bolt, my lord. Let it strike his ship and smash it to smithereens. Decree the destiny of his vessel to be as if it had never been.”
Inanna stood by Dan-Inanna and watched as the sky thickened. A dark cloud formed overhead and the sound of thunder was heard. Then a bolt of lightning, brighter than the sun, zagged down from the cloud and struck the boat moored at the White Quay. The vessel exploded, flying into a myriad bits, none larger than a mote of dust.
When the sky cleared and water calmed, nothing remained of the boat. It was as if it had never existed.
“There, my priest, Anu has done the deed. Let us go inside and refresh ourselves.”
>>
Soon after they were in the temple, an acolyte came to announce the arrival of the captain and his crew. “My lady, the captain seeks an audience with you.”
“Some nerve,” Inanna said.
“Why not grant him an audience?” Dan-Inanna asked. “It could be amusing.”
The idea tickled Inanna and she asked the acolyte to show them in.
The captain introduced himself and the two members of his crew. “We have just arrived from Dabrum, my lady. We bring you good news. Your temple in Dabrum is being remodeled and enlarged.”
Inanna’s eyes opened wide. “What? My temple at Dabrum is being rebuilt?”
“Yes, my lady, as a gift from Sipaddu, lugal of Dabrum. But the temple staff became frightened and fled, so we brought you the temple valuables for safekeeping.”
“You mean they were on the boat you just arrived on?”
“Safe in its hold, my lady. The ship is moored at your quay in the harbor.”
“Are the temple valuables still onboard?”
The captain nodded. “As far as I know, my lady, every last one. Our lugal made sure everything was loaded—so nothing would be lost.”
“Captain,” she cried out, “a storm came!”
He looked at his sailors and they shrugged. “We saw no sign of one.”
“It was brief,” the goddess explained, “no more than a cloud and a single bolt of lightning. I’m afraid, captain, your boat has been completely destroyed.”
“Completely?” he asked. “Nothing left?”
“I saw it happen,” Inanna said. “I assure you there’s nothing left.”
“That means your treasure … ”
Inanna sighed. “Yes, misfortune has befallen both of us.”
“My lady,” the captain exclaimed, “without my ship, I have no livelihood!”
“Be at ease, captain. We will see your boat is replaced.” She turned to her high priest. “Have these men fed and order our temple administrator to secure another vessel for them. When that’s done, Dan-Inanna, come and join me on the roof.”
>>
The high priest climbed the stairs to the roof and came out as the goddess was arguing with her lover.
The deep voice of Anu boomed down from Heaven. “You were too impetuous again, Inanna! You always are. It’s like when you went down into the Netherworld. ”
“Anu, I never dreamt what would happen. Besides, you’re always away when I need you. Was it your wife again?”
“Inanna, I have things to tend to besides you. I decreed the destiny of the boat, exactly as you requested. It is as if the ship had never existed. What’s done cannot be undone.”
“I’ve lost all the valuables from my temple at Dabrum. Sipaddu is at work rebuilding my temple and enlarging it. What will I do?” she asked.
“My dear, you will have no choice. When Sipaddu is ready to turn over the rebuilt temple to you, you will have to travel to Dabrum to properly receive it. During the ceremony, you will have to smile and thank him for his generosity. He, in turn, will probably request you crown him lugal of Dabrum.”
Inanna gritted her teeth. “I have been undone.”
“My dear, it is you who have undone yourself.”
>>
Bartan came into the throne room. “The chests in the city treasury are full again, my lord, filled with many items of precious metals. But they resemble objects from the temple.”
Sipaddu nodded. “That’s because they are from the temple. On the first night, while the zu-birds roosted, we loaded the temple valuables aboard the ship we seized. In the morning, it sailed for Uruk. The zu-birds followed the boat all the way but, when they nested at night. So we briefly moored the boat the first night out and unloaded the temple treasures into panniers on the backs of my donkeys. It was they who carried the valuables back to Dabrum.”
Bartan drew back. “Pardon the question, my lord, but is that not stealing?”
Sipaddu shook his head. “No, my good sukkal, when the goddess saw our ship dock at her quay, having sailed from Dabrum after being placed under interdict, she flew into a rage and had it struck by a lightning bolt. The ship and all its contents were utterly destroyed, as if they never had been.”
“So now that the treasure’s unclaimed, it’s ours?”
“Yes, my sukkal.”
Bartan’s eyes expressed admiration for his lugal. “You are most clever, my lord.”
“Thank you.”
“But, my lord, I must caution you. You are playing a dangerous game with the gods. Next time, they will be more aware.”
The new lugal of Dabrum smiled.
The End
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