Le vin et « les vrais rois ». Approche comparée du lien entre ivresse et transmission du pouvoir / Wine and “the True Kings”. A Comparative Approach to the Link between Drunkenness and Power Transmission

Abstract

In various narratives from ancient Mesopotamia, Ugarit, or in the book of Genesis, drunkenness plays a decisive role in the transmission of power. Drunkenness thus facilitates the continuity of sovereignty between men and gods, or within a particular lineage important for the destiny of mankind. This narrative pattern is here analyzed from a comparative perspective, taking as a starting point Kantorowicz's theory of the King's two bodies, before extending our analysis to Bantu myths concerned with the origins and transmission of sacred kingship as studied by the anthropologist Luc de Heusch.