>>18887661 >>18887662 >>18887666 >>18887664>The Poem of The Righteous SuffererLudlul is a monologue, written in Akkadian on four Tablets of 120 lines each, in the voice of a Babylonian nobleman called Šubši-mešre-Šakkan (lit. "Create Wealth, O Šakkan!"). Although once rich and powerful, he was forsaken by the god Marduk and suffered all kinds of pains as a result, both moral and physical, before being finally saved by the gods and restored to his former position. Apart from an account of the narrator's suffering, it is also a hymn of praise to Marduk and a justification to exalt him.
Tablet 1 opens with a hymn to Marduk, for which CTN 4, 201 from Kalhu is our main source. The narrator then explains that Marduk got angry with him and punished him. The following passage is better known from the Huzirina manuscript STT 1, 32. As a consequence, his own personal deities leave him, and he becomes homeless. The Tablet then continues with an elaborate litany of the narrator's hardships, beginning with his social decline. He loses favour at court and is the victim of seven conspirators. Then all his friends and family then turn against him and misfortune falls upon those few who wish to help him. Finally he loses all his property and is financially ruined. The Tablet ends with a long lament, yet concluds with few words of hope.
Unfortunately, the narrator's situation does not improve in Tablet 2, and even worsens (see STT 1, 33). A year later, the diviners are unable to predict his future, and the gods are still against him, despite his pious behaviour and all his offerings. The story proceeds with an exhaustive list of illnesses that fall upon the narrator: the healers cannot provide a cure and death is threatening.
(cont'd)
