1st Edition

In the Garden of the Gods Models of Kingship from the Sumerians to the Seleucids

By Eva Anagnostou-Laoutides Copyright 2017
276 Pages
by Routledge

274 Pages 6 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

274 Pages 6 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

Examining the evolution of kingship in the Ancient Near East from the time of the Sumerians to the rise of the Seleucids in Babylon, this book argues that the Sumerian emphasis on the divine favour that the fertility goddess and the Sun god bestowed upon the king should be understood metaphorically from the start and that these metaphors survived in later historical periods, through popular... Read more

Introduction: Laying the groundwork / Dying kings in the ANE: Gilgameš and his travels in the garden of power / Sacred marriage in the ANE: the collapse of the garden and its aftermath / Renewing the cosmos: garden and goddess in first millennium ideology / The Seleucids at Babylon: flexing traditions and reclaiming the garden / Synthesis: cultivating community memory.

Biography

Eva Anagnostou-Laoutides is a senior Lecturer in Classical Studies at Monash University, Australia. She holds degrees from Aristotle University, Greece, and the Universities of Leeds and Kent at Canterbury in the UK. She studied Akkadian through Macquarie University, Australia. She has published extensively on ancient comparative literature and religion and her work has appeared in a number of journals including The Classical Quarterly, Viator, GRBS, American Journal of Philology, The Classical Journal, Arethusa, Maia and Latomus.