Akitu festival

Akitu: the Babylonian New year's festival, celebrated to honor the supreme god Marduk, his crown prince Nab and other gods. The name Akitu is very ancient. In the third millennium BCE, the Sumerian population of southern Mesopotamia celebrated the ki-ti-e-gur10-ku5, the festival of the sowing of barley. It was celebrated in the first month of the year, that is in March/April. In the Babylonian calendar, this month was known as Nisannu (and in the modern Jewish calendar is still called Nisan). Since the festival was celebrated on the first days of the Babylonian year, we can call it a New year's festival. In fact, the ancient Babylonians already called it r attim, 'beginning of the year'. The festival -better: conglomerate of festivities- was celebrated on two locations in Babylon: in the temple of the supreme god Marduk, the Esagila, and the 'house of the New year' which was situated north of the city. The two gods who were in the center of the festival were Nab and his father, the supreme god Marduk, who was in the first millenium BCE usually called 'Bl', Lord, because his real name was considered too holy to be pronounced. On 4 Nisannu, the high priest of the Esagila (egallu) opened the festival, saying that the new year had begun. To the populace, this meant the beginning of a holiday of a week. On the same day, the king went to the temple of Nab, where the high priest gave him the royal scepter. He then traveled to Borsippa, a city 17 kilometers downstream from Babylon that had a famous Nab temple. Here, he spent the night. At the same time, the egallu recited the Babylonian creation epic (Enma eli) in the house of the New year.

Babylon

Marduk and his snake dragon (from J. Black & A. Green, Gods, demons and symbols ofancient Mesopotamia,1992; !!!)

The fifth of Nisannu saw the king's return to Babylon, accompanied by the statue of Nab from Borsippa. The statue was left behind in the Ura gate, and the king went to the Esagila to greet Marduk. He had to do this humbly, laying down his weapons, crown and scepter. The egallu listened to the king's words that he had not sinned against Marduk and hit him very hard on the cheek (the king had to have tears in his eyes). Perhaps, this was a punishment for sins that were unwillingly committed. Kneeling in front of the statue of Marduk, the king receives an oracle about the glorious future, and was given back his royal insignia. At sunset, the king and the egallu performed a not completely understood ritual with a white bull. Next day, the statue of Nab visited the temple of Ninurta, where it defeated two enemies (in the form of golden statuettes). Then, it continued to the Esagila, where it joined Marduk's statue. At the same time, other statues of other gods arrived at Babylon.

On 7 Nisannu, the statues were cleaned and received new

On 7 Nisannu, the statues were cleaned and received new dresses. On the next day, the festival reached its climax when all statues were brought out from their rooms and shown to the Babylonian populace. All gods were now present to honor Marduk, and their 'parliament' announced its policy for the next year. (One is reminded of the 'state of the union' speech by the The Akitu procession American president.) As far as we know, this policy was always (From W. Andrae, one of blessing, fortune and success. After these joyful tidings, the gods started a tour through the city to the river. Here, they boarded Das wiederentstandene a small fleet, that brought them to the house of the New year. The Assur, 1977, !!!) king himself guided the supreme god. On the last part of the route, the ships were placed on chariots, so that the gods were driven to the house of the New year in ships. The people were singing all kinds of songs. Three of them can be reconstructed: a frivolous hymn to the goddess of sexuality and love Itar, a song in which Marduk's father Enlil was ridiculed as a god in the gutter, and an antiphonal hymn in which the gods were asked why they were not in their temples and replied that they had to be with Marduk. What happened in the house of the New year on 9-10 Nisannu, is not known, but it seems that sacrifices were made by the king and that the spoils of war were presented to the gods. On 11 Nisannu, the gods returned to the Esagila, where they repeated their parliament. After this, they saw Nab off, and went home. The Akitu festival continued for centuries, and not only in Babylon. In Palmyra, the temple of Baal was inaugurated on the same date as Akitu. At the beginning of the third century CE, it was still celebated in Emessa in Syria, to honor the god Elagabal; the Roman emperor Heliogabalus (218-222) even introduced the festival in Italy (cf. Herodian, Roman History, 5.6).