In my book Between Two Rivers, I dedicate a chapter to the origin of rule by a single person and ideas about the quintessential king in ancient Mesopotamia.
I also explore queens, including the very enigmatic Ku-Bau, a tavern-keeper turned queen in the ancient city of Kish.
I also explore queens, including the very enigmatic Ku-Bau, a tavern-keeper turned queen in the ancient city of Kish.
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the woman tavern-keeper,
who made firm the foundations of Kish,
was king. 100 years she ruled”
Ku-Bau is the only woman to be listed in the Sumerian King List. Parts of this historical record blend history and myth in ways that tell us how people understood the past and authenticity.
“Shiduri was a woman tavern-keeper who lived by the seashore.” She confronted a depressed Gilgamesh before sending him on his way.
One named Magurre served as a witness to a sale contract around 2000 BCE.
(The close-up is her name in cuneiform on clay, followed by “sābītum”, her profession.)
And I told the landlady my money was spent.
I asked her for credit, she answered me, 'Nay -
Sure it’s custom like yours I can get any day!'
And it’s no, nay, never…"
- The Wild Rover
(Willing to bet there was an ancient Babylonian equivalent! 😃😋)
“Omen of Ku-Bau, the tavern-keeper, referring to an attack”, reads one.
After she offered aid to a fisherman, Marduk “entrusted to Ku-Bau the tavern-keeper, sovereignty over the whole world”.
Including an Assyrian queen so formidable I think she should be as much of a household name as Cleopatra. You can read about her and others in my book, Between Two Rivers https://lnk.to/BetweenTwoRivers