Chapter 48 - Clemency
The Township of Babba. SW Asia
‘Ittidu my dear, here you are, we were worried for your safety on those streets’ greets the chubby-faced Merkar from the steps of the E-babba. This temple has an open plan, permitting its priests to worship the god of the sun.
Until Engur itself lies conquered by the joint forces of the Moon Alliance, Merkar feigns cooperation with the nomination of NinShudapa’s replacement. He’d invited NinEriš to bring her apprentice priestess Anuma to this celebration of victory to be held in a vanquished sanctuary. This innocent, plain shorn young holy woman smiles politely, as Merkar introduces her to Ittidu, and responds,
‘I’m flattered to meet the famous Ittidu, slayer of lions, and victor of today’s battle’.
Introductions complete, sangas, priestesses and captains of the guruš enter the solar hall of Utu. Their prize of a bloody war. Less splendid than the architecture of Inanna’s temple, but ingenious. A solarium with an open plan, welcoming a Sun-god. Tall pillared windows follow the journey of the sun, its roof is open and absent of any ceiling. A small terrace rises above Utu’s shrine. From that elevation, priests chant daily to urge the movements of their deity. Pillars align with annual solar events. A shaft of light allows sun rays to enter the enclosed eš on the dawn of midwinter solstice.
Within its shrine, Utu’s effigy is as with Abzu, neither male nor female, but has the organs of both. A fantastical hawk-bird, with open wings terminating as rays of gold Human arms sprout beneath each wing. One of Utu’s hands holds a large ring of copper. The other a golden staff. A polished copper disc crowns Utu’s hawkish head. Within talons, the god clutches a small reed-boat.
Lying prostrate in front of the idol are Utu’s priests. The defeated clergy shake in submission to dreaded conquerors. One senior sanga of the sun, shuffles on hands and knees up to Merkar’s feet. The bishop kisses the toes of the victor, and begs,
‘Please do not molest our lord of light. I urge you not to desecrate his eš. I beseech you as a fellow holy man to respect our religion, and to leave this holy house in peace’.
This pitiful sight of frightened priests upsets Ittidu. She’s seen too much horror and feels shame at this display of tyranny. It is difficult to watch as the sanga of Utu sobs, and gently pulls onto Merkar’s woollen kilt. Behind him, more of the prostate priests begin to weep.
Merkar kicks the sanga in the face. He cries out and this encourages the bully to kick again, and again. Merkar loses self control and erupts,
‘Your pathetic complaints offend Inanna’. Spitting this out in disgust, Merkar turns to face Anuma, Gishirgal’s compliant candidate. Red faced, he barks at her,
‘Lady Anuma, I'll support your nomination should you prove yourself fit to rule over Engur as our proxy. Here’s your chance to impress, by blessing the execution of Uguli’s snakes’. He points an accusative finger across the subjugated priests of the E-babba.
Anuma is unsure. She looks to NinEriš for approval. The high priestess and chieftain of Gishirgal feels compromised. She fears the repercussions of Merkar, should she fail to support this massacre. The lives of many of her supporters would be gravely endangered. To her shame she considers this request.
‘No!’ shouts Ittidu who rushes to intervene. She comes forth to prevent a heinous crime, bravely demanding,
‘The gods would wish for clemency, not the murder of their servants. Should we commit such an injustice, neither the citizens of Babba nor those of Engur will accept our intrusions’.
Merkar’s face screws up with rage. He turns on Ittidu, ‘Would the daughter of Nammu wish to join these traitors in Death?’
His anger is followed by an unexpected cheer from the temple steps. More guruš squeeze inside, and among these fighters emerges a disciplined, hooded cohort carrying shields and spears. The guruš all loudly cheer in support of Ittidu,
‘Ittidu the lion slayer, Ittidu the Merciful’.
Some of these bloodied soldiers from Gishirgal, begin to claim they saw an apparition of Nanna enter Ittidu’s body while she valiantly fought in the wheatfields. Others from Anna, claim that Ittidu is their own goddess carnate, the divine maiden of civilisation. In this mayhem, NinEriš smiles, and claps her hands with glee, as sliding away from the side of a flushed Merkar and closer to Ittidu, joined by an equally rebellious Sagmi. The sanga of Inanna, suddenly feels afraid. NinEriš and Sagmi join in the chorus of support. Anuma gawks on stupidly, before she fades to the margins of the crowd. Her high priestess calls for silence from the soldiers, and proudly proposes,
‘It isn't Anuma, nor the harimtu’, she glances with accusation at Merkar, ‘who will be rightful successor to the late NinShudapa of Engur. It is our brave lion-slayer chosen by the gods to lead us to victory’.
Ittidu herself is left breathless by this sudden turn of events. A short pause following this announcement, triggers a great roar of approval across the sanctuary of the E-babba. A new mantra forms across the lips of military supporters,
‘Ittidu the Merciful, lead us to victory against all tyrants. Ittidu, rightful Nin of Engur’.
Grateful priests of Babba’s Sun-god, crawl closer, showering Ittidu with praise.
This humiliation for Merkar isn't yet complete. That disciplined cohort of hooded warriors marches towards Ittidu, and encircles. Merkar mistakes them for loyalists, here to restore his rule. In excitement, he yells out,
‘Arrest this usurper and her upstart supporters’.
Rather than comply with that order, the tall, anonymous captain of this militia steps forward, and peels back his hood. The wrinkled features of Sanga Agga are revealed. Agga’s leathery old lips twitch as he defies Merkar’s instruction,
‘No Brother Merkar, we'll not arrest nor harm the brave daughter of Arrapu. We have arrived to offer her protection and our support for the succession of NinShudapa’.
The high priestess of Gishirgal leads the next roar of approval. The local priests join in this joy. As do Merkar’s own citizen-fighters of Anna.
Merkar searches the temple for support. He finds it only in the face of his lover Šamkat, who beckons him to flee with her entourage. He slides across with a sliver, and they disappear into the shadows of the night.
Messenger
Two globes orbit in Space. These are the planets you know as Mars and Jupiter. Between their distant orbits is the great asteroid belt, and it's from this region a small cluster of space matter deviates, attracted by the mass of Earth. Shooting stars herald their arrival in our atmosphere. They streak across the night sky of An, With high velocity each fragment burns up, until only one space rock remains to fall to Earth.
An explosion of sand in the Western Desert, the dust clouds blow clear. Utu rises to light a blue sky. Nomads encounter the wide crater and in its epicentre, an alien, metallic black rock. They report this news to their priests. This event reaches the ears of the sangas gathered at Babba. Agga requests the desert tribes fetch this meteorite to be examined. The message must be revealed before the final battle.
On the eve before the battle, the space-rock is delivered to the war camp of the Moon Alliance. Both Agga and NinEriš examine it in front of their idols. Ittidu is summoned to join this investigation. She enters the goat-skin tent, Agga acknowledges her arrival,
‘NinEriš believes we need your help to reveal a message from immortals. Our high priestess tells me you've a gift we may be able to use. Please, Ittidu, join us’.
A dark, metallic rock is placed on a plinth at the centre of the tent. NinEriš sits by it, as the two idols of Inanna and the Moon-god watch from behind. The high priestess beckons Ittidu to sit,
‘I'll need your assistance in revealing its message’.
Ittidu takes her place, and NinEriš instructs,
‘With pure minds and open hearts we must work together. I require your powers as a Moon daughter. We must place our hands upon this divine stone’. While Agga and the idols watch, the two women mirror each other's actions putting palms onto the meteorite.
This stone is sharp and warm, Ittidu reflects, not unbearably so, but it tingles against the skin. Beyond these initial sensations, she detects a pulsing vibration. Ittidu feels light headed. She observes her mentor fading from focus. The high priestess can be seen dropping her eyelids, and Ittidu does the same. In the background, she hears the chant of a sorceress. All darkens.
A vision reveals itself within this darkness. A manifestation forms. Ittidu knows Agga is nearby, and she tries to describe to him this vision,
‘I see a figure, part goat, part fish’, she knows this capricorn-like being to be the guardian spirit of Engur’s mound. ‘Enki holds out a cup of wine in a human hand, as he sprawls across on a wide cot. He smiles mischievously at me’. This vision twists and transforms itself. Ittidu finds herself outside, standing on a grassy steppe,
‘I’m on the wild Eden and I see gazelles and oryx drinking from a pond. There’s a strange figure among their herds. It grazes on the same herbs as other beasts. It is hairy and horned, yet elevates on two hooves like a man. He isn't a citizen, neither a barbarian, but a wild man of Nature’.
‘The creature startles from his grazing and sees me. He knows my ghost. He knows I am a Moon sister’.
As though an echo in Space, I discern Agga warning me ‘Ittidu, stay away from that wild man.’
‘The beast man raises, and produces a stone dagger. He lowers his horns and charges at me’ This, she screams out loudly, before returning to darkness, consciousness falls away. Ittidu regains senses laid beneath a goatskin canvas, but this is of a temporary shrine in a war camp. It is NinEriš who nurses her, as Agga paces up and down. Ittidu gapes around to see the meteorite, finding it harmlessly on the plinth. Her throat lubricated with water, she asks her companions,
‘What does Enki wish of me, and who was the monster who I encountered among the wild herds?’
Agga and NinEriš stare at each other with a sober seriousness before it's the latter who replies to my question,
‘Enki will not easily favour any conquest of Abzu’s house on Earth. He wishes to challenge your suitability as Abzu’s bride. A test of battle. The man-beast who you saw on the Eden, was Enki’s greatest demon. A divine bull man and ghost warrior, who encapsulates the spirits of savages who once dwelled in Eden’.
Agga adds to this,
‘This wild ghost of the savages, half man, half beast is called the Enki-du. He’ll challenge the Moon sisters in the gardens of Engur. Only if you can defeat this demon, may we conquer his city’.