Incest and Patricide are the highlights of today’s tale, sometimes also called the Dynasty of Dunnum or the Harab Myth. The ancient Mesopotamian religious tradition was far from unified, and from an obscure town survives a creation story that has pwerful resonances all the way to ancient Greece. And while we are on the topic, this is a good chance to look at the men who wrote all these strange and wonderful stories and histories that the show has been depending on. How did they come to be educated, and what were their lives like?
Translation for the Theogony of Dunnu comes primarily from Stephanie Dalley, also consulting with Wilfred Lambert and Peter Walcot and Wikipedia.
When was the Theogony of Dunnu written? That is an open question, with dates proposed as early as 1900 BCE and as late as 1200 BCE, but I personally prefer the idea that it was written sometime during the Late Old Babylonian period, under one of the kings following Hammurabi, which is why is is being featured at this point in the show, though it could well be a Kassite era story.
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