Jean Bottero In Mesopotamia

Jean Bottero in Mesopotamia: Writing, Reasoning, and the Gods outlines his thesis on why the ancient Mesopotamians appear to have used a “substitute king” in order to save the life of their own ruler. The text makes it clear that the ancient peoples of this area did, in fact, substitute other lives for their own or for that of their king, and Bottero makes an interesting argument as to why that is. However, I believe there may be more to the story, perhaps the purpose of a “substitute king” evolved over time and that is lost in translation. It is my theory that perhaps the “substitute king” ritual had become a way for the king to remind his people, especially those in high standing, to respect and fear their sovereign leader. It is clear
Examples of these signs included, “The birth in the stable of a lamb with two heads… Someone who laughed while they fell asleep… If the planet Venus appeared to be stationary at its zenith… A horse tried to couple with a cow… Bright red splotches on the lungs of a sacrificial sheep” (Bottero 141). However, when these signs pointed to the death of a person, the people would find an animal or another person to take their place. On page 143 Bottero tells of an ancient Mesopotamian text that when translated, tells of how these people believed that they could heal a diseased person through substitution. Evidently, when a person had become so sick that it was apparent the gods wished for them to die, they would take a goat to bed as to associate themselves with that animal and share the sickness, and then a ritual would be performed the next morning that resulted in the goat ceremoniously taking their place by being killed and then prepared, buried, and mourned the same way as would have been done for the person (Bottero 143). It seems they believed this was enough to appease the vengeance of the gods while sparing the life of the diseased