Mother of her son: The literary scheme of the Adad-guppi Stele

Abstract

The inscription on the Adad-guppi Stele is an unusual literary work due to both its innovative structure and its contents describing Adad-guppi as the intercessor for Nabonidus. The literary structure of the inscription was the combination of the three-tier royal inscription (theological 1st person narrative) and a memorial text at her mother’s funeral (secular 3rd person narrative). It is a literary invention of Nabonidus’s scribes to meet the need of the occasion, and is surely a creative attempt. The mother’s role is described as an intercessor for her son: First, she gave birth to Nabonidus and provided an opportunity for him to have a court career. Secondly, the mother led her son to the sincere faith to Sîn and became the source of his blessings. Thirdly, she worked hard to build a bridge between Nabonidus and the ancient Mesopotamian political ideology, to achieve the legitimisation of her son’s ascension to the Babylonian throne. His line of propaganda seemed to work very well for 17 years, which is 8 more years after the death of the queen mother, but it lost its leverage at the appearance of Cyrus, king of Persia.