1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:27,240 Speaker 1: Ridiculous History is a production of I Heart Radio. Welcome 2 00:00:27,240 --> 00:00:30,240 Speaker 1: back to the show Ridiculous Historians. Thank you, as always 3 00:00:30,680 --> 00:00:35,400 Speaker 1: so much for tuning in. This is a weird story 4 00:00:35,600 --> 00:00:39,080 Speaker 1: that takes us to UH, Mesopotamia. What's what's that we 5 00:00:39,120 --> 00:00:42,200 Speaker 1: always say here in the here in English? It's good 6 00:00:42,200 --> 00:00:47,240 Speaker 1: to be king Suzuki to you, Ben Sazuggy. Yes, that's 7 00:00:47,280 --> 00:00:50,360 Speaker 1: the word of the day, Noel, that's something uh. We 8 00:00:50,520 --> 00:00:53,640 Speaker 1: checked in beforehand to make sure that we were both 9 00:00:53,680 --> 00:00:58,720 Speaker 1: pronouncing correctly, because, of course Sazuggi is one of our 10 00:00:58,840 --> 00:01:03,560 Speaker 1: super producer kay See Pegram's favorite words, and our guest 11 00:01:03,560 --> 00:01:07,360 Speaker 1: producer Andrew Howard would never forgive us if we were 12 00:01:07,600 --> 00:01:12,240 Speaker 1: too far off in our pronunciation. They're both really into 13 00:01:12,280 --> 00:01:16,160 Speaker 1: ancient Mesopotamia. Who knew? Who knew? There's a couple of 14 00:01:16,160 --> 00:01:19,720 Speaker 1: good words. Here's another one, sharp pookik at that one later. 15 00:01:20,400 --> 00:01:22,080 Speaker 1: But first of all, we need to talk a little 16 00:01:22,080 --> 00:01:27,160 Speaker 1: bit about celestial bodies, the mechanics of eclipses, the idea 17 00:01:27,400 --> 00:01:30,520 Speaker 1: that humans have been looking to the stars without fully 18 00:01:30,640 --> 00:01:35,920 Speaker 1: understanding how planets align and create the various lunar cycles 19 00:01:35,959 --> 00:01:39,520 Speaker 1: that we see UH and instead attributing them to like 20 00:01:39,840 --> 00:01:46,039 Speaker 1: vengeful deities or some sort of like cosmic super monsters. Yeah, exactly. 21 00:01:46,040 --> 00:01:49,720 Speaker 1: We're fortunate in these our modern times to be able 22 00:01:49,760 --> 00:01:54,480 Speaker 1: to accurately predict these things and enjoy them for the 23 00:01:54,520 --> 00:01:58,640 Speaker 1: beautiful natural phenomena they are. But back in the day, 24 00:01:59,400 --> 00:02:03,440 Speaker 1: we didn't have both of those things at once. Our 25 00:02:03,560 --> 00:02:07,800 Speaker 1: species was able to predict some movements of the heavens, 26 00:02:07,800 --> 00:02:13,400 Speaker 1: but put our own meanings upon why these things were occurring. 27 00:02:14,639 --> 00:02:18,200 Speaker 1: We know that natural phenomena has led to a lot 28 00:02:18,240 --> 00:02:22,760 Speaker 1: of myth making in human history, but the relationship between 29 00:02:22,800 --> 00:02:26,160 Speaker 1: these natural events and the myths we tell about them 30 00:02:26,280 --> 00:02:31,160 Speaker 1: isn't always super clear. As Atlas Obscura puts it, we 31 00:02:31,280 --> 00:02:34,920 Speaker 1: don't know to what extents a lot of ancient cultures 32 00:02:34,960 --> 00:02:38,320 Speaker 1: made up stories to explain eclipses, or you know, to 33 00:02:38,360 --> 00:02:41,800 Speaker 1: what degree they saw their existing myths reflected in the 34 00:02:41,840 --> 00:02:44,000 Speaker 1: movements of things like the sun and the moon and 35 00:02:44,080 --> 00:02:50,120 Speaker 1: other other heavenly bodies. But today's story is a true 36 00:02:50,160 --> 00:02:54,800 Speaker 1: story about a kind of cosmic bait and switch that 37 00:02:54,840 --> 00:02:59,280 Speaker 1: occurred in ancient Mesopotamia. This is the story of the 38 00:02:59,440 --> 00:03:04,480 Speaker 1: substitut tout royals, the substitute Queen, and the substitute king 39 00:03:04,960 --> 00:03:09,480 Speaker 1: of Mesopotamia. It's it's described by the Met Museum as 40 00:03:09,560 --> 00:03:13,080 Speaker 1: quote a tragedy driven by fear all of the gods 41 00:03:13,280 --> 00:03:16,120 Speaker 1: and the uniquely important status of the you know, the 42 00:03:16,240 --> 00:03:20,560 Speaker 1: actual real king. So in ancient Mesopotamia, which today would 43 00:03:20,600 --> 00:03:24,080 Speaker 1: be what we think of as Iraq, Uh, there were 44 00:03:24,280 --> 00:03:29,760 Speaker 1: priests that would use divination to read the tea leaves 45 00:03:29,760 --> 00:03:32,799 Speaker 1: in the sky, the giant celestial tea leaves that are 46 00:03:33,160 --> 00:03:37,720 Speaker 1: the stars and the planets, and they were able to 47 00:03:38,240 --> 00:03:42,520 Speaker 1: kind of use the positions of these bodies to come 48 00:03:42,600 --> 00:03:45,400 Speaker 1: up with kind of theories about, you know, how things 49 00:03:45,440 --> 00:03:48,400 Speaker 1: are going to happen, whether it was the weather or 50 00:03:48,440 --> 00:03:51,720 Speaker 1: you know how the crops would you know, flourish or 51 00:03:51,760 --> 00:03:56,240 Speaker 1: not flourish, etcetera. But over time, you know, what started 52 00:03:56,280 --> 00:03:58,640 Speaker 1: off as ritual and this idea of so sort of 53 00:03:58,680 --> 00:04:03,400 Speaker 1: mystical divination did kind of form almost a system, you know, 54 00:04:03,480 --> 00:04:07,440 Speaker 1: with these observations over thousands of years, uh. And then 55 00:04:07,600 --> 00:04:11,240 Speaker 1: as kind of scholarly knowledge sort of caught up with uh, 56 00:04:11,320 --> 00:04:15,840 Speaker 1: the priestly kind of divinations, it became a pretty decent 57 00:04:15,960 --> 00:04:20,479 Speaker 1: tool for predicting things. Right. So over thousands of years, 58 00:04:20,520 --> 00:04:25,160 Speaker 1: these priests would kind of develop these elaborate rituals to 59 00:04:25,320 --> 00:04:29,600 Speaker 1: help kind of cancel out some of the bad omens 60 00:04:29,600 --> 00:04:32,760 Speaker 1: that they would see, you know, spelled out in the heavens. 61 00:04:33,120 --> 00:04:37,720 Speaker 1: And one of the most dire, absolutely disastrous omens that 62 00:04:37,760 --> 00:04:40,640 Speaker 1: they could see was a solar eclipse. You know, thankfully 63 00:04:40,680 --> 00:04:43,800 Speaker 1: those don't happen too too often, but when they do, 64 00:04:44,200 --> 00:04:48,599 Speaker 1: it indicated some sort of grave danger, uh that might 65 00:04:48,680 --> 00:04:53,240 Speaker 1: befall the ruler of the the the land right and 66 00:04:53,440 --> 00:04:58,400 Speaker 1: h and Mesopotamian astronomers were able to accurately predict the 67 00:04:58,520 --> 00:05:02,640 Speaker 1: solar eclipses themselves, though you know, their interpretation of what 68 00:05:02,680 --> 00:05:05,159 Speaker 1: they meant was probably still a little bit based in 69 00:05:05,440 --> 00:05:08,360 Speaker 1: you know, this mysticism, right. Um, so once they knew 70 00:05:08,400 --> 00:05:12,480 Speaker 1: that an eclipse was coming, they had to come up 71 00:05:12,480 --> 00:05:15,640 Speaker 1: with a plan to make sure that the rulers were 72 00:05:15,839 --> 00:05:21,120 Speaker 1: guarded from this disastrous omen Yeah. Yeah, it's kind of 73 00:05:21,160 --> 00:05:24,560 Speaker 1: like I was thinking of a good comparison for this, so, Uh, 74 00:05:24,680 --> 00:05:28,920 Speaker 1: dog owners or people live with dogs, you you may 75 00:05:29,120 --> 00:05:33,120 Speaker 1: identify with this. Like let's say your pooch knows that 76 00:05:33,200 --> 00:05:38,000 Speaker 1: the mail carrier shows up at three pm every day, 77 00:05:38,040 --> 00:05:41,160 Speaker 1: but they don't know why the mail carrier shows up. 78 00:05:41,200 --> 00:05:44,520 Speaker 1: They don't really have the concept of mail, so they 79 00:05:44,640 --> 00:05:47,359 Speaker 1: kind of invent in their own doggy heads what the 80 00:05:47,400 --> 00:05:50,560 Speaker 1: mail carrier means. And unfortunately for some people in the 81 00:05:50,680 --> 00:05:54,680 Speaker 1: usps uh, some dogs have decided that they are a 82 00:05:54,720 --> 00:05:57,560 Speaker 1: threat and at three PM they must be driven away 83 00:05:57,560 --> 00:06:00,680 Speaker 1: by barking to prevent the collapse of the aggy world 84 00:06:00,680 --> 00:06:03,720 Speaker 1: as the doggie knows it. There's something kind of similar here. 85 00:06:03,960 --> 00:06:06,880 Speaker 1: They could predict eclipses, but as you said, they were 86 00:06:06,960 --> 00:06:11,200 Speaker 1: drawing some strange assumptions from these. So they thought that 87 00:06:11,279 --> 00:06:15,280 Speaker 1: if an eclipse was projected to take place over Assyria, 88 00:06:15,360 --> 00:06:19,960 Speaker 1: then the Assyrian king would be in mortal danger, and 89 00:06:20,440 --> 00:06:24,240 Speaker 1: for the king to be in danger would put everything 90 00:06:24,760 --> 00:06:30,000 Speaker 1: at risk. Civilization might collapse. So their solution was not 91 00:06:30,080 --> 00:06:34,960 Speaker 1: to not have a king, but to create a substitute king, 92 00:06:35,520 --> 00:06:39,560 Speaker 1: something called a sharper key in Akkadian. This was the 93 00:06:39,640 --> 00:06:43,599 Speaker 1: language of the Assyrian court and its official paperwork. So 94 00:06:44,080 --> 00:06:47,440 Speaker 1: imagine that, gig, you know what I mean. Well, maybe 95 00:06:47,480 --> 00:06:49,200 Speaker 1: at the end we can talk about whether or not 96 00:06:49,320 --> 00:06:54,400 Speaker 1: we ourselves listeners and Nolan Casey and I would want 97 00:06:54,440 --> 00:06:59,000 Speaker 1: to be the substitute king. But to do that, let's 98 00:06:59,160 --> 00:07:02,359 Speaker 1: maybe let's look what modern science, says, let's do some 99 00:07:02,440 --> 00:07:07,200 Speaker 1: spoilers about modern science and eclipses. This is where sissy 100 00:07:07,279 --> 00:07:12,080 Speaker 1: g comes in. Scissors g is when three celestial bodies 101 00:07:12,160 --> 00:07:16,000 Speaker 1: find themselves in a straight line within their elliptic orbits, 102 00:07:16,280 --> 00:07:19,680 Speaker 1: kind of imagine billiard balls lining up. The word comes 103 00:07:19,680 --> 00:07:24,040 Speaker 1: from the Greek sisodios, which means paired or yokes. And 104 00:07:24,080 --> 00:07:26,800 Speaker 1: then if you're like us sitting here on planet Earth, 105 00:07:26,880 --> 00:07:30,240 Speaker 1: you see two kinds of eclipses, right, solar eclipses and 106 00:07:30,400 --> 00:07:34,680 Speaker 1: lunar eclipses. No, what can we talk a little bit 107 00:07:34,720 --> 00:07:38,200 Speaker 1: about these eclipses? We absolutely can. I'm very disappointed that 108 00:07:38,200 --> 00:07:40,440 Speaker 1: the word isn't pronounced szugy like I said at the 109 00:07:40,440 --> 00:07:41,880 Speaker 1: beginning of the show, but I'm still going to use 110 00:07:41,920 --> 00:07:45,440 Speaker 1: that as a greeting, says Zoogi to you. Ben Um. No, 111 00:07:45,600 --> 00:07:48,680 Speaker 1: sissy gy is correct. It's a very science fancy sounding 112 00:07:48,720 --> 00:07:52,920 Speaker 1: word that means when the celestial bodies are aligned. So 113 00:07:53,200 --> 00:07:55,360 Speaker 1: in a solar eclipse, you have the Moon that passes 114 00:07:55,400 --> 00:07:57,840 Speaker 1: between the Sun and the Earth, which causes the shadow 115 00:07:57,920 --> 00:08:01,520 Speaker 1: of the Moon to block out the Sun, which you 116 00:08:01,560 --> 00:08:03,640 Speaker 1: know when you say things like block out the sun. 117 00:08:03,840 --> 00:08:08,080 Speaker 1: Even today, that sounds pretty scary. Luckily, this is only temporary. Uh. 118 00:08:08,120 --> 00:08:10,559 Speaker 1: You're definitely not supposed to stare straight into it, super 119 00:08:10,600 --> 00:08:14,240 Speaker 1: bad fear eyeballs. But that's how that happens. In a 120 00:08:14,320 --> 00:08:17,400 Speaker 1: lunar eclipse, you got the Moon that crosses through the 121 00:08:17,480 --> 00:08:20,760 Speaker 1: shadow of the Earth. Uh. And a solar eclipse can 122 00:08:20,800 --> 00:08:24,040 Speaker 1: in fact completely block out the Sun. But like I said, 123 00:08:24,040 --> 00:08:26,920 Speaker 1: it's only temporary. Um, and in certain parts of the 124 00:08:26,920 --> 00:08:30,040 Speaker 1: Earth's surface you can still you know, see parts of it, 125 00:08:30,800 --> 00:08:34,000 Speaker 1: and it can be not too many miles in between 126 00:08:34,160 --> 00:08:36,840 Speaker 1: these different views. So what might be seen as a 127 00:08:36,840 --> 00:08:40,880 Speaker 1: total eclipse in one city just a few hundred miles away, 128 00:08:41,240 --> 00:08:44,400 Speaker 1: it might just look like partial eclipse. So a lunar 129 00:08:44,440 --> 00:08:49,280 Speaker 1: eclipse can be seen throughout the entire hemisphere of the Earth, uh, 130 00:08:49,320 --> 00:08:52,959 Speaker 1: the half of the planet that happens to be on 131 00:08:53,040 --> 00:08:56,440 Speaker 1: the nighttime side. Yeah, which can explain why prediction of 132 00:08:56,480 --> 00:09:01,240 Speaker 1: solar eclipses becomes so important in this ancient civilization, because 133 00:09:01,280 --> 00:09:04,840 Speaker 1: you can pinpoint where it will be a full solar eclipse. 134 00:09:04,960 --> 00:09:09,360 Speaker 1: That's what they mean when they say solar eclipse over Assyria. 135 00:09:09,679 --> 00:09:13,520 Speaker 1: If you go back through human civilization, you can see 136 00:09:13,520 --> 00:09:19,319 Speaker 1: that numerous cultures throughout the ages had very strong opinions 137 00:09:19,400 --> 00:09:24,840 Speaker 1: about solar and lunar eclipses. Often, eclipses were seen as 138 00:09:25,000 --> 00:09:30,240 Speaker 1: ill omens, symbols of obliteration, the subversion of the natural 139 00:09:30,360 --> 00:09:34,760 Speaker 1: order of the world, and according to the Exploratarium in 140 00:09:34,840 --> 00:09:39,040 Speaker 1: San Francisco, the word eclipse comes from a Greek word 141 00:09:39,440 --> 00:09:45,520 Speaker 1: meaning abandonment, so in very literal terms, ancient people's would 142 00:09:45,559 --> 00:09:50,040 Speaker 1: sometimes see in eclipse as the Sun abandoning the earth, 143 00:09:50,200 --> 00:09:52,439 Speaker 1: you know what I mean, like walking out, I'm off 144 00:09:52,480 --> 00:09:54,440 Speaker 1: the clock. Now you are left to your own in 145 00:09:54,480 --> 00:09:57,199 Speaker 1: the darkness. And even in those days, they knew how 146 00:09:57,200 --> 00:10:00,920 Speaker 1: important the sun was to sustenance, to growing things, to 147 00:10:01,320 --> 00:10:05,520 Speaker 1: just absolutely sustaining life on Earth. Yeah, and spoiler, we're 148 00:10:05,520 --> 00:10:08,640 Speaker 1: gonna have another episode in a few weeks. That's a 149 00:10:08,640 --> 00:10:12,319 Speaker 1: little It's about how people in an age a little 150 00:10:12,320 --> 00:10:15,160 Speaker 1: closer to ours would also freak out if the sun 151 00:10:15,200 --> 00:10:17,960 Speaker 1: appeared to behave unusually And you know what, I'll be 152 00:10:18,000 --> 00:10:22,200 Speaker 1: honest with you, fellow ridiculous historians. If I walked outside 153 00:10:22,240 --> 00:10:24,800 Speaker 1: today and all of a sudden, the sun appeared to 154 00:10:25,040 --> 00:10:28,920 Speaker 1: have uh lit out for the territories, I would also 155 00:10:28,960 --> 00:10:31,360 Speaker 1: freak out, you know what I mean, Even if I 156 00:10:31,440 --> 00:10:35,280 Speaker 1: knew it was coming. It's a weird thing to watch. Yeah, 157 00:10:35,280 --> 00:10:37,600 Speaker 1: and this was something that we've seen written about as 158 00:10:37,640 --> 00:10:41,479 Speaker 1: far back as Homer's epic poem The Odyssey. When Odysseus 159 00:10:41,520 --> 00:10:45,440 Speaker 1: comes back, you know, from his journey to see his 160 00:10:45,520 --> 00:10:50,439 Speaker 1: wife Penelope, he is greeted with this vision that has 161 00:10:50,480 --> 00:10:54,360 Speaker 1: been foretold by a seer of an eclipse. The sun 162 00:10:54,400 --> 00:10:57,880 Speaker 1: has been obliterated from the sky and an unlucky darkness 163 00:10:57,880 --> 00:11:02,000 Speaker 1: invades the world. And that seems to according to an 164 00:11:02,080 --> 00:11:05,839 Speaker 1: article from The Guardian about how solar eclipses and vernal 165 00:11:05,880 --> 00:11:10,000 Speaker 1: equinoxes have cast shadows quote unquote on literature because these 166 00:11:10,000 --> 00:11:13,000 Speaker 1: are powerful symbols, right, I mean they really are. They're 167 00:11:13,000 --> 00:11:16,440 Speaker 1: they're very good devices in literature. But also they were 168 00:11:16,559 --> 00:11:21,360 Speaker 1: taken quite seriously. But yeah, it seems to foretell the 169 00:11:21,559 --> 00:11:25,480 Speaker 1: slaying of the suitors who have remembered the whole deal 170 00:11:25,520 --> 00:11:28,679 Speaker 1: with the disseist, like he basically had these interlopers that 171 00:11:28,720 --> 00:11:32,000 Speaker 1: were trying to woo his wife while he was away sliding, 172 00:11:32,840 --> 00:11:34,240 Speaker 1: was sliding in the d m s and then he 173 00:11:34,280 --> 00:11:37,160 Speaker 1: comes back and he's like, oh and uh, yeah, the 174 00:11:37,400 --> 00:11:39,320 Speaker 1: ass is about to hit the for for sure. With 175 00:11:39,360 --> 00:11:44,360 Speaker 1: Odysseus not a happy guy. And it's fascinating because I 176 00:11:44,360 --> 00:11:47,199 Speaker 1: would go a step further and say that in some cases, 177 00:11:47,520 --> 00:11:53,280 Speaker 1: the odyssey being one and eclipse symbolizes a kind of consumption. 178 00:11:53,880 --> 00:11:57,880 Speaker 1: And this is paralleled in other cultures that explained eclipses 179 00:11:58,400 --> 00:12:02,840 Speaker 1: as a moment when demons or evil spirits or heavenly 180 00:12:02,880 --> 00:12:06,760 Speaker 1: animals would eat, would consume the sun or the moon. 181 00:12:07,720 --> 00:12:10,920 Speaker 1: Often that animal was something really cool. It was a dragon. 182 00:12:11,360 --> 00:12:14,680 Speaker 1: The Chinese word for eclipse ship or shure uh not 183 00:12:14,760 --> 00:12:18,640 Speaker 1: sure about the tones there means to eat literally, and 184 00:12:18,679 --> 00:12:21,760 Speaker 1: in Vietnam, people traditionally believe that a solar eclipse was 185 00:12:21,800 --> 00:12:25,520 Speaker 1: caused by a giant frog consuming the sun. And in 186 00:12:25,640 --> 00:12:30,960 Speaker 1: Norse cultures, wolves were the sun eating culprits. So everybody 187 00:12:31,000 --> 00:12:35,800 Speaker 1: had these solutions to combat this consumption of the great 188 00:12:35,880 --> 00:12:39,679 Speaker 1: life giver that the dying star next to us, the sun. Uh. 189 00:12:39,720 --> 00:12:42,400 Speaker 1: A lot of people would you know, bang stuff pots 190 00:12:42,400 --> 00:12:45,080 Speaker 1: and pants. They would make noises or play on drums 191 00:12:45,360 --> 00:12:48,320 Speaker 1: to to distract it, to get the frog or the wolf, 192 00:12:48,360 --> 00:12:52,040 Speaker 1: for the dragon or what have you, to stop trying 193 00:12:52,040 --> 00:12:54,640 Speaker 1: to eat the moon or the sun and to go away. 194 00:12:55,120 --> 00:13:00,520 Speaker 1: And because eclipses are not permanent events. You can see 195 00:13:00,520 --> 00:13:02,600 Speaker 1: how people thought this would work, you know what I mean, 196 00:13:02,720 --> 00:13:06,280 Speaker 1: You can kind of confuse correlation and causation and say 197 00:13:06,320 --> 00:13:09,880 Speaker 1: that I didn't happen to be drumming during an eclipse. 198 00:13:10,120 --> 00:13:13,400 Speaker 1: It's because I brought out the drums that the sun 199 00:13:13,440 --> 00:13:21,320 Speaker 1: came back. Okay, so we've got a little bit of 200 00:13:21,360 --> 00:13:25,520 Speaker 1: this history of various cultures interacting with the sun and 201 00:13:25,679 --> 00:13:29,760 Speaker 1: the clear fear and anxiety behind losing it. Uh So, 202 00:13:29,840 --> 00:13:33,440 Speaker 1: let's go back to the Bronze Age and ancient Mesopotamia, 203 00:13:33,640 --> 00:13:36,719 Speaker 1: where you know these um what we do you call them? 204 00:13:36,720 --> 00:13:41,200 Speaker 1: Then mystics like are you know, priests were essentially kind 205 00:13:41,200 --> 00:13:46,040 Speaker 1: of straddling the barrier between science and religion, and actually, 206 00:13:46,080 --> 00:13:49,600 Speaker 1: you know, they were certainly looking to these events as 207 00:13:49,679 --> 00:13:53,560 Speaker 1: you know, kind of ominous omens, but also over time 208 00:13:54,040 --> 00:13:56,839 Speaker 1: really getting pretty good at predicting them and looking at 209 00:13:56,960 --> 00:13:59,920 Speaker 1: various conditions that would you know, be kind of clue 210 00:14:00,040 --> 00:14:01,920 Speaker 1: is that that these things were on the way or 211 00:14:01,960 --> 00:14:04,160 Speaker 1: tracking the phases of the moon and all of that 212 00:14:04,200 --> 00:14:08,600 Speaker 1: good stuff. Um. So, you know, Mesopotamia, known often as 213 00:14:08,640 --> 00:14:12,360 Speaker 1: the cradle of civilization to be modern day Iraq, had 214 00:14:12,400 --> 00:14:16,400 Speaker 1: several very very important and highly sophisticated civilizations that were 215 00:14:16,400 --> 00:14:21,360 Speaker 1: settled there. You had the Acadians, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, 216 00:14:22,080 --> 00:14:27,840 Speaker 1: and the Sumarians. All of these incredibly advanced empires rose 217 00:14:27,880 --> 00:14:32,320 Speaker 1: and fell between thirty one BC and five thirty nine BC, 218 00:14:32,840 --> 00:14:36,640 Speaker 1: and astronomy was important to all of them. Of course, 219 00:14:36,680 --> 00:14:39,120 Speaker 1: it was important to things like navigating, but it was 220 00:14:39,160 --> 00:14:42,200 Speaker 1: also important to things like predicting the weather and the 221 00:14:42,240 --> 00:14:45,480 Speaker 1: cycles of planting and reaping and all of that. Uh. 222 00:14:45,480 --> 00:14:48,160 Speaker 1: And these priests and these astronomers would kind of work 223 00:14:48,240 --> 00:14:52,640 Speaker 1: together to look to the skies uh and get advice essentially, 224 00:14:52,720 --> 00:14:58,440 Speaker 1: you know, omens that they would apply to things like politics, government, economics, 225 00:14:58,480 --> 00:15:02,080 Speaker 1: all of these things. All of these astral signs were 226 00:15:02,120 --> 00:15:06,760 Speaker 1: interpreted and acted upon, and there, you know, they would 227 00:15:06,760 --> 00:15:10,360 Speaker 1: know based on what was happening in the heavens, you know, 228 00:15:10,680 --> 00:15:14,480 Speaker 1: when good or bad times were coming. Essentially. Yeah, and 229 00:15:14,560 --> 00:15:18,720 Speaker 1: before before any of the more skeptical folks in the 230 00:15:18,760 --> 00:15:22,760 Speaker 1: crowd today decided to poopo on this system of using 231 00:15:22,760 --> 00:15:27,720 Speaker 1: astronomical signs as a predictive tool. Let's not forget that 232 00:15:27,760 --> 00:15:31,360 Speaker 1: people have used things like this. What I would argue 233 00:15:31,440 --> 00:15:35,400 Speaker 1: is basically astrology in the modern days, Ronald Reagan had 234 00:15:35,440 --> 00:15:40,120 Speaker 1: an astrologer, the former US president. The government of Myanmar, 235 00:15:40,760 --> 00:15:43,080 Speaker 1: the military junta that ruled it back in the day, 236 00:15:43,320 --> 00:15:46,960 Speaker 1: relocated the capital on the advice of an astrologer. So 237 00:15:47,080 --> 00:15:53,880 Speaker 1: these these things continue past ancient civilizations. In these societies. 238 00:15:54,440 --> 00:16:00,680 Speaker 1: The Babylonians in particular, incredibly incredibly impressive. They were able to, 239 00:16:00,840 --> 00:16:05,400 Speaker 1: more than two thousand years ago, calculate thirty eight possible 240 00:16:05,440 --> 00:16:11,360 Speaker 1: eclipses or scissorges within a period of about two hundred 241 00:16:11,360 --> 00:16:15,720 Speaker 1: and twenty three months or eighteen years. This two three 242 00:16:15,760 --> 00:16:20,120 Speaker 1: month cycle was called a Sorrows cycle by modern astronomers, 243 00:16:20,160 --> 00:16:24,880 Speaker 1: and the sequence of eclipses generated during that cycle or 244 00:16:24,880 --> 00:16:28,800 Speaker 1: by that cycle uh constitute what's called a Sorrows series. 245 00:16:29,760 --> 00:16:34,280 Speaker 1: Scientists know now that the number of lunar and solar 246 00:16:34,320 --> 00:16:37,680 Speaker 1: eclipses in one of these series is not always the same, 247 00:16:38,400 --> 00:16:43,000 Speaker 1: but still there's no denying it. This is incredibly impressive. 248 00:16:43,360 --> 00:16:47,680 Speaker 1: I mean, these Babylonian scholars were top notch. They were 249 00:16:47,720 --> 00:16:53,320 Speaker 1: smart cookies if they could understand this phenomenon. This understanding 250 00:16:53,360 --> 00:16:57,960 Speaker 1: of this cycle, this two three month period eventually allowed 251 00:16:58,000 --> 00:17:02,400 Speaker 1: them to predict eclipses with As we said earlier, some 252 00:17:02,520 --> 00:17:09,840 Speaker 1: astonishing precision, and it can't be separated from the astrological 253 00:17:10,000 --> 00:17:13,400 Speaker 1: tradition at the time. So their science was getting better 254 00:17:13,560 --> 00:17:18,800 Speaker 1: and they were bringing their astrological beliefs along with them, 255 00:17:18,840 --> 00:17:22,879 Speaker 1: like two sides of the same coin. So the curator 256 00:17:23,040 --> 00:17:26,840 Speaker 1: at the Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art at the 257 00:17:26,840 --> 00:17:31,280 Speaker 1: Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, her studies led 258 00:17:31,280 --> 00:17:35,520 Speaker 1: her to believe that solar eclipses were considered the most 259 00:17:35,560 --> 00:17:40,880 Speaker 1: significant of these astronomical events, uh, and were seen as 260 00:17:40,960 --> 00:17:45,119 Speaker 1: being omens of great evil and misfortunate, which you already 261 00:17:45,280 --> 00:17:48,639 Speaker 1: mentioned a little bit, but specifically the idea that the 262 00:17:48,680 --> 00:17:52,160 Speaker 1: solar eclipse indicated that the gods were very, very angry, 263 00:17:52,200 --> 00:17:57,600 Speaker 1: specifically at the king, and that some awful, awful and 264 00:17:58,119 --> 00:18:01,200 Speaker 1: was in store for him. They looked at it very seriously, 265 00:18:01,240 --> 00:18:04,359 Speaker 1: almost like an assassination threat, you know, from sort of 266 00:18:04,400 --> 00:18:08,840 Speaker 1: some sort of outside you know, organization warring faction for example, 267 00:18:09,280 --> 00:18:12,359 Speaker 1: or you know, a terrorist group. But instead this is 268 00:18:12,440 --> 00:18:15,800 Speaker 1: literally the gods are are angry, uh, and they are 269 00:18:15,920 --> 00:18:18,919 Speaker 1: they mean to do harm to the ruler um. So 270 00:18:19,040 --> 00:18:22,840 Speaker 1: this type of threat was considered a threat on the 271 00:18:23,080 --> 00:18:29,480 Speaker 1: entire structure of power in Mesopotamian society and needed something very, 272 00:18:29,600 --> 00:18:32,000 Speaker 1: very very serious to be done about it. Yeah, you 273 00:18:32,040 --> 00:18:36,160 Speaker 1: could not hold off on this. Babylonian scholars had isolated 274 00:18:36,280 --> 00:18:40,120 Speaker 1: specific eclipses that would foretell the death of the king. 275 00:18:41,240 --> 00:18:44,720 Speaker 1: The conditions for an omen to be considered this we're 276 00:18:44,800 --> 00:18:48,520 Speaker 1: we're pretty exacting, and we know about these from a 277 00:18:48,720 --> 00:18:54,080 Speaker 1: famous astronomical work. That is, the title is usually Numa 278 00:18:54,160 --> 00:18:58,280 Speaker 1: a nil, which translates it's just the first words of 279 00:18:58,320 --> 00:19:01,560 Speaker 1: the document. It means when the odds Anu and nil 280 00:19:02,119 --> 00:19:07,560 Speaker 1: do something something, if Jupiter is visible during the eclipse 281 00:19:07,720 --> 00:19:10,119 Speaker 1: when it occurs, if they know Jupiter is also going 282 00:19:10,160 --> 00:19:13,439 Speaker 1: to be in the mix, no worries, no stress, the 283 00:19:13,560 --> 00:19:17,120 Speaker 1: king is safe. Lunar eclipses seem to have been especially 284 00:19:17,160 --> 00:19:19,879 Speaker 1: concerning when it came to the well being and survival 285 00:19:19,880 --> 00:19:25,480 Speaker 1: of the king. So to keep the eclipse from killing 286 00:19:25,680 --> 00:19:30,200 Speaker 1: the monarch, they made this mechanism up. It's the substitute 287 00:19:30,280 --> 00:19:36,280 Speaker 1: King ritual or sarpui. This ritual has mentioned multiple times 288 00:19:36,320 --> 00:19:39,640 Speaker 1: and various letters from Assyria dating all the way back 289 00:19:39,680 --> 00:19:44,440 Speaker 1: to the first millennium BC, and there are earlier rituals 290 00:19:44,440 --> 00:19:48,040 Speaker 1: that are referenced in text. In hit height Uh and 291 00:19:48,200 --> 00:19:51,000 Speaker 1: that's the language for which we have the earliest written 292 00:19:51,040 --> 00:19:55,040 Speaker 1: records dating back to second millennium in what would be 293 00:19:55,160 --> 00:19:59,159 Speaker 1: modern Turkey today. So this is an established thing, this 294 00:19:59,400 --> 00:20:02,600 Speaker 1: really ha and the fact that you found it in 295 00:20:02,760 --> 00:20:09,360 Speaker 1: this other second millennium writing leads experts to assume that 296 00:20:09,560 --> 00:20:13,480 Speaker 1: this ritual already existed in Mesopotamia during the first half 297 00:20:13,680 --> 00:20:18,520 Speaker 1: of that second millennium. So what happens in this ritual? No, totally, Yeah, 298 00:20:18,520 --> 00:20:22,639 Speaker 1: it's a good question. It's almost like the psychic equivalent 299 00:20:22,840 --> 00:20:25,720 Speaker 1: of a food tester, you know, someone that would taste 300 00:20:25,720 --> 00:20:27,879 Speaker 1: the food before a king, and in the event that 301 00:20:27,920 --> 00:20:31,480 Speaker 1: it was poisoned, would you know, die instead of the king, 302 00:20:31,800 --> 00:20:34,200 Speaker 1: the kind of mystical canary in the coal mine, if 303 00:20:34,200 --> 00:20:38,480 Speaker 1: you will. But in this situation, a lower class citizen 304 00:20:38,760 --> 00:20:41,960 Speaker 1: would be chosen to replace the king during this period 305 00:20:42,359 --> 00:20:44,840 Speaker 1: of threat from the gods. He would be dressed up 306 00:20:44,880 --> 00:20:47,360 Speaker 1: like the king, sat down in the throne of the king, 307 00:20:47,880 --> 00:20:50,240 Speaker 1: and all of this would happen in a ritualistic fashion, 308 00:20:50,440 --> 00:20:55,399 Speaker 1: while these priests would recite or you know, do some 309 00:20:55,480 --> 00:20:59,280 Speaker 1: sort of ritualized chant of the negative omen that was 310 00:20:59,320 --> 00:21:04,880 Speaker 1: triggered by this eclipse, and it didn't even matter if 311 00:21:05,000 --> 00:21:08,040 Speaker 1: the substitute king looked like the real king. It was 312 00:21:08,119 --> 00:21:10,119 Speaker 1: just like a you know, like a body double or 313 00:21:10,160 --> 00:21:14,399 Speaker 1: like a stand in a cosmic body double. But it 314 00:21:14,440 --> 00:21:18,359 Speaker 1: did have to be a man. And this person was 315 00:21:18,480 --> 00:21:22,000 Speaker 1: dressed in the king's you know, finest robes and all that, 316 00:21:22,080 --> 00:21:25,560 Speaker 1: and actually declared to be king and would participate in 317 00:21:25,640 --> 00:21:28,720 Speaker 1: various other rituals that would you know, make it seem 318 00:21:28,840 --> 00:21:31,840 Speaker 1: legit to the gods. It's almost like this, uh, this 319 00:21:32,119 --> 00:21:36,639 Speaker 1: idea of fooling the gods into thinking that this was 320 00:21:36,720 --> 00:21:39,040 Speaker 1: the king, you know, and and the fact that they 321 00:21:39,040 --> 00:21:41,560 Speaker 1: didn't have to go too far to make them look 322 00:21:41,560 --> 00:21:44,119 Speaker 1: the same indicates that they thought the gods were you know, 323 00:21:44,520 --> 00:21:47,600 Speaker 1: only concerned with like the ritual and the kind of 324 00:21:47,640 --> 00:21:49,959 Speaker 1: pomp and circumstance of it all. Uh. He was in 325 00:21:50,000 --> 00:21:53,800 Speaker 1: fact given a young woman as a queen also stand in, 326 00:21:54,280 --> 00:21:58,760 Speaker 1: and then the actual king would basically like hold up 327 00:21:58,840 --> 00:22:02,480 Speaker 1: in some sort of Mesopotamian equivalent of like a bunker 328 00:22:02,800 --> 00:22:06,359 Speaker 1: until the season had passed or the the eclipse had passed, 329 00:22:06,720 --> 00:22:11,000 Speaker 1: and the substitute king and queen were essentially you know, 330 00:22:11,160 --> 00:22:14,159 Speaker 1: cannon fodder for the gods. They were put out there 331 00:22:14,160 --> 00:22:18,200 Speaker 1: offered up as sacrifices for this whatever this evil fate 332 00:22:18,280 --> 00:22:21,760 Speaker 1: might be. Um and they were you know, taking it on. Uh, 333 00:22:22,080 --> 00:22:24,520 Speaker 1: you know, and I'm sure in some sense would consider 334 00:22:24,560 --> 00:22:26,680 Speaker 1: it an honor. But Ben, I mean, like we know 335 00:22:26,720 --> 00:22:31,040 Speaker 1: that there's no cosmic evil associated with these eclipses. I mean, 336 00:22:31,200 --> 00:22:35,359 Speaker 1: what would happen whatever, anything bad ever happened to them. Yeah, Well, 337 00:22:35,480 --> 00:22:37,959 Speaker 1: what I want to do is put this in modern 338 00:22:38,080 --> 00:22:42,720 Speaker 1: terms to make sure everybody gets how official this is. 339 00:22:43,400 --> 00:22:46,720 Speaker 1: Let's think of a modern US president. This is considered 340 00:22:46,760 --> 00:22:51,280 Speaker 1: a credible assassination threat basically right, but from the gods 341 00:22:51,280 --> 00:22:53,840 Speaker 1: instead of a rival state. So what if the U 342 00:22:53,960 --> 00:22:57,120 Speaker 1: S policy was to say, when we think the president 343 00:22:57,200 --> 00:23:00,760 Speaker 1: might be assassinated, we're just gonna pick some god, some 344 00:23:00,800 --> 00:23:02,880 Speaker 1: guy who needs a job. He doesn't have to look 345 00:23:02,880 --> 00:23:05,680 Speaker 1: like Joe Biden or whatever. He We're just gonna pick him. 346 00:23:06,000 --> 00:23:08,240 Speaker 1: We're gonna have him say the oath of office. We're 347 00:23:08,240 --> 00:23:10,720 Speaker 1: going to keep him there, you know, in the week 348 00:23:10,840 --> 00:23:13,920 Speaker 1: leading up to in the week after this eclipse happens, 349 00:23:14,280 --> 00:23:17,280 Speaker 1: and then we'll bring you know, the president out of 350 00:23:17,280 --> 00:23:19,760 Speaker 1: the bunker and will decommission this other guy. That's what's 351 00:23:19,800 --> 00:23:25,280 Speaker 1: literally happening. The idea of it being an honor I 352 00:23:25,320 --> 00:23:28,040 Speaker 1: think is accurate. I think people wanted to do this 353 00:23:28,760 --> 00:23:33,199 Speaker 1: because it was still an opportunity of sorts. We know 354 00:23:33,440 --> 00:23:37,479 Speaker 1: for sure that not all of the substitute kings and 355 00:23:37,600 --> 00:23:41,280 Speaker 1: queens you know, died during the eclipse. So how did 356 00:23:41,320 --> 00:23:44,400 Speaker 1: the priest class rationalize that. They probably just said, well, 357 00:23:44,440 --> 00:23:47,919 Speaker 1: close call, you know what I mean? Close call, yeah, exactly, 358 00:23:48,000 --> 00:23:52,840 Speaker 1: But unfortunately for them, they were gonna die either way, 359 00:23:52,960 --> 00:23:56,840 Speaker 1: right right right. The eclipse was not the cause. Well, 360 00:23:56,880 --> 00:23:58,800 Speaker 1: the eclipse was sort of the cause of their death, 361 00:23:58,840 --> 00:24:01,479 Speaker 1: but it wasn't the god that killed them. For a 362 00:24:01,520 --> 00:24:05,679 Speaker 1: brief time, the just the way the moon and the 363 00:24:05,720 --> 00:24:08,200 Speaker 1: sun were visible in the same place during an eclipse, 364 00:24:08,560 --> 00:24:13,760 Speaker 1: the substitute king and the true king existed. But once 365 00:24:13,840 --> 00:24:18,640 Speaker 1: that dangerous time had passed, Yes, the substitute kings were 366 00:24:18,720 --> 00:24:23,200 Speaker 1: killed by people, Okay, not by the gods. They were killed. 367 00:24:23,640 --> 00:24:27,000 Speaker 1: They had served their purpose. Uh, the true king came 368 00:24:27,080 --> 00:24:31,080 Speaker 1: out of his highi hole and the ritual was considered complete. 369 00:24:31,520 --> 00:24:37,000 Speaker 1: Everything proceeded as planned until astronomer's predicted or priests predicted 370 00:24:37,400 --> 00:24:42,359 Speaker 1: the next dangerous eclipse. This happened all the time. This was. 371 00:24:42,520 --> 00:24:47,040 Speaker 1: You know, this was real human sacrifice, and and there's 372 00:24:47,040 --> 00:24:50,919 Speaker 1: a political reason too. It's not it's like part of 373 00:24:50,960 --> 00:24:54,159 Speaker 1: the ritual to kill the substitute king and queen. But 374 00:24:54,359 --> 00:24:57,280 Speaker 1: the political reason is, you know, the king might be 375 00:24:57,600 --> 00:25:02,080 Speaker 1: willing to let somebody else take this heavenly bullet for him, 376 00:25:02,119 --> 00:25:05,280 Speaker 1: but he definitely doesn't want them around afterwards. The thing 377 00:25:05,280 --> 00:25:08,120 Speaker 1: about kings is you really only want one if you're 378 00:25:08,119 --> 00:25:11,280 Speaker 1: the current king, right, yeah, I mean, like even if, 379 00:25:11,320 --> 00:25:13,080 Speaker 1: even though it was all kind of just like for 380 00:25:13,200 --> 00:25:18,399 Speaker 1: show in theory, this person could make a claim that 381 00:25:18,560 --> 00:25:21,080 Speaker 1: they were the rightful king. And that's just too messy, 382 00:25:21,119 --> 00:25:23,600 Speaker 1: isn't it. So we'll make a different kind of mess, 383 00:25:23,680 --> 00:25:27,000 Speaker 1: you know, a slaughtery kind of mess. Yeah, you're get 384 00:25:27,000 --> 00:25:30,239 Speaker 1: into red wedding territory other big time, big time. But then, 385 00:25:30,280 --> 00:25:33,280 Speaker 1: like you said, Ben, the ritual is complete. Rinse and repeat, 386 00:25:34,320 --> 00:25:39,280 Speaker 1: rinse and repeat. We have two cases of the substitute 387 00:25:39,359 --> 00:25:42,879 Speaker 1: ritual in action. One might be just heads up a 388 00:25:42,880 --> 00:25:47,520 Speaker 1: little bit more legendary than factual. There's a surprising turn 389 00:25:47,520 --> 00:25:51,520 Speaker 1: of events where one of these substitutes managed to outlive 390 00:25:51,960 --> 00:25:54,959 Speaker 1: the king he was supposed to replace, and shout out 391 00:25:55,040 --> 00:25:57,800 Speaker 1: to Vintage News for this great story, as well as 392 00:25:57,840 --> 00:26:02,720 Speaker 1: the Conversation dot com. There's a there's a first millennium 393 00:26:02,760 --> 00:26:06,840 Speaker 1: composition that is known today as the Chronicle of Early Kings. 394 00:26:07,280 --> 00:26:10,520 Speaker 1: It's about a king of the city state of Estan, 395 00:26:11,040 --> 00:26:13,720 Speaker 1: which is uh in modern day. It's it's about a 396 00:26:14,080 --> 00:26:17,399 Speaker 1: d twenty five miles southeast of Baghdad, and the king 397 00:26:17,840 --> 00:26:22,800 Speaker 1: era emity was replaced by a gardener who was named 398 00:26:22,840 --> 00:26:25,399 Speaker 1: an ill Bonny, and this was part of a substitute 399 00:26:25,480 --> 00:26:29,879 Speaker 1: king ritual. But get this, Luckily for an ill Bonny 400 00:26:30,200 --> 00:26:36,119 Speaker 1: the gardener, the real king died after eating hot soup. 401 00:26:36,359 --> 00:26:38,919 Speaker 1: His official cause of death is sipping broth that was 402 00:26:39,000 --> 00:26:44,240 Speaker 1: too hot, And so the population of this city state said, well, 403 00:26:45,280 --> 00:26:48,720 Speaker 1: it's your lucky day, an ill body. Then the gardener 404 00:26:48,840 --> 00:26:52,199 Speaker 1: remained on the throne. He became the actual king. He 405 00:26:52,359 --> 00:26:55,199 Speaker 1: ruled for twenty four years. That guy had to be 406 00:26:55,320 --> 00:26:59,280 Speaker 1: very pro soup. But I ask you, whenever you read 407 00:26:59,359 --> 00:27:02,600 Speaker 1: stuff like this, don't you think it's poison, because it 408 00:27:02,840 --> 00:27:04,879 Speaker 1: has to assume it's poison. Yeah, it has to be. 409 00:27:04,880 --> 00:27:07,840 Speaker 1: I don't know that I've ever sipped a broth that 410 00:27:08,000 --> 00:27:10,800 Speaker 1: was so hot that I was afraid for my life. 411 00:27:11,400 --> 00:27:13,280 Speaker 1: But you know, maybe this person had a baby mouth, 412 00:27:13,400 --> 00:27:18,440 Speaker 1: you know, very very sensitive heat sensitive, you know, Palette. Yeah, 413 00:27:18,480 --> 00:27:21,720 Speaker 1: I mean, I'm not one to brag or toot my 414 00:27:21,760 --> 00:27:25,000 Speaker 1: own horn, but I've eaten my fair share of hot soup, 415 00:27:25,280 --> 00:27:27,640 Speaker 1: you know what I mean. And I'm not Maybe I'm 416 00:27:27,680 --> 00:27:31,680 Speaker 1: not dead because I'm not king of this. Maybe it's 417 00:27:31,720 --> 00:27:34,399 Speaker 1: true you're not. You can't argue with that. Then we 418 00:27:34,480 --> 00:27:37,359 Speaker 1: have another case of a young man named dom Qui 419 00:27:37,440 --> 00:27:41,360 Speaker 1: who was killed along with his queen Um during the 420 00:27:41,880 --> 00:27:45,520 Speaker 1: tenure of the ruler as har had On. I hope 421 00:27:45,560 --> 00:27:48,879 Speaker 1: I'm getting that somewhat right, who ruled from six to 422 00:27:48,920 --> 00:27:53,960 Speaker 1: six sixty nine in order to protect the Assyrian crown prince, 423 00:27:54,359 --> 00:27:58,399 Speaker 1: who has an amazing named Schuma Schumukin, who was at 424 00:27:58,400 --> 00:28:01,800 Speaker 1: the time the ruler of babel On our Babylonian territories 425 00:28:01,920 --> 00:28:05,200 Speaker 1: rather Um, which were part of the Assyrian Empire. Dom 426 00:28:05,280 --> 00:28:10,520 Speaker 1: Qui was a member of the Babylonian elite. He was 427 00:28:10,560 --> 00:28:14,399 Speaker 1: the son of a chief administrator of the temples, so 428 00:28:14,440 --> 00:28:17,120 Speaker 1: I guess this is like the building manager of these 429 00:28:17,160 --> 00:28:22,679 Speaker 1: holy temples in babylon Um and he had some powerful friends. 430 00:28:23,000 --> 00:28:25,119 Speaker 1: So it's just it just goes to show that even 431 00:28:25,280 --> 00:28:27,800 Speaker 1: people in higher classes or that were more well connected, 432 00:28:28,040 --> 00:28:32,360 Speaker 1: could be forced into this role of substitute king and 433 00:28:32,560 --> 00:28:35,600 Speaker 1: down qui Uh may have been selected in order to 434 00:28:35,720 --> 00:28:39,400 Speaker 1: make an example and strike fear into the hearts of 435 00:28:39,400 --> 00:28:43,160 Speaker 1: the Babylonian people who were not playing nice with the 436 00:28:43,200 --> 00:28:46,120 Speaker 1: Assyrian rulers. So this was a bit more of a 437 00:28:46,120 --> 00:28:49,560 Speaker 1: flex or like a you know, a political ploy to 438 00:28:49,640 --> 00:28:52,600 Speaker 1: kind of get people to bend the knee. Right. You know, 439 00:28:52,640 --> 00:28:55,560 Speaker 1: I've been thinking about it. You did agree a little 440 00:28:55,600 --> 00:28:58,040 Speaker 1: too readily that I was definitely not the king of 441 00:28:58,080 --> 00:29:00,400 Speaker 1: the city state of his and so I'm I elect 442 00:29:00,480 --> 00:29:04,400 Speaker 1: myself king of hot soup as another prize you should be. 443 00:29:05,360 --> 00:29:08,680 Speaker 1: So can I be the king of cartoons? Please? Please, 444 00:29:08,800 --> 00:29:11,360 Speaker 1: by all the kings all hail, And of course the 445 00:29:11,440 --> 00:29:15,360 Speaker 1: king of podcasts would be our own Casey Pagraham. Obviously, 446 00:29:20,840 --> 00:29:27,920 Speaker 1: it's interesting we see this mix of politics, religion, and astronomy. 447 00:29:28,000 --> 00:29:31,800 Speaker 1: It's a it's a very interesting csigy of its own right, 448 00:29:31,840 --> 00:29:37,160 Speaker 1: the way these three concepts line up. So we have 449 00:29:37,280 --> 00:29:41,320 Speaker 1: to ask ourselves why did the ritual die out? Let's 450 00:29:41,360 --> 00:29:45,840 Speaker 1: go back to Atlas Obscurrea. We have to look at 451 00:29:45,840 --> 00:29:51,360 Speaker 1: the mythology. So there's this pantheon of these moon thieves 452 00:29:51,480 --> 00:29:55,880 Speaker 1: in these giants, you know, love crafty and cosmic horror 453 00:29:55,920 --> 00:29:58,760 Speaker 1: monsters that want to eat the moon. The plague God 454 00:29:58,840 --> 00:30:03,360 Speaker 1: era brings doomed ancient Mesopotamia the Sibbett to march in 455 00:30:03,560 --> 00:30:08,000 Speaker 1: his wake. There are seven warrior demons that spread sickness 456 00:30:08,000 --> 00:30:10,400 Speaker 1: and death, and occasionally they all get together at a 457 00:30:10,480 --> 00:30:13,520 Speaker 1: party in the sky and blot out the moon. And 458 00:30:13,920 --> 00:30:18,120 Speaker 1: historians like John z we which is an awesome name, 459 00:30:18,720 --> 00:30:24,040 Speaker 1: speculates that these mythological creatures like the Sibitu may have 460 00:30:24,200 --> 00:30:29,600 Speaker 1: functioned as a way of absolving a moon associated king 461 00:30:29,920 --> 00:30:35,640 Speaker 1: of guilt. So why would you continue staging this elaborate 462 00:30:35,680 --> 00:30:38,960 Speaker 1: sacrifice ritual when you can just kind of tweak the 463 00:30:39,000 --> 00:30:42,320 Speaker 1: religious view to cast yourself as the victim of these 464 00:30:42,480 --> 00:30:46,840 Speaker 1: intermittent demons. It's a good question, Ben, Yeah, it's a 465 00:30:46,920 --> 00:30:49,960 Speaker 1: very good question. But it's interesting. I mean, eventually, remember 466 00:30:49,960 --> 00:30:52,840 Speaker 1: how we were saying how the Babylonians weren't really playing 467 00:30:52,920 --> 00:30:57,800 Speaker 1: nice with their Assyrian rulers. Well, eventually uh and the Assyrians, uh, 468 00:30:57,920 --> 00:31:02,240 Speaker 1: you know again, did this symbolic, you know, ritualistic murder 469 00:31:02,280 --> 00:31:06,600 Speaker 1: of one of the Babylonians higher class citizens sons. But 470 00:31:06,720 --> 00:31:08,840 Speaker 1: it turns out that there were lots of other folks 471 00:31:08,880 --> 00:31:11,360 Speaker 1: that had problems with the way the Assyrians went about 472 00:31:11,760 --> 00:31:15,000 Speaker 1: uh their ruling, and so the Babylonians lead up with 473 00:31:15,080 --> 00:31:18,960 Speaker 1: them and eventually exacted their revenge by joining forces and 474 00:31:19,000 --> 00:31:24,560 Speaker 1: destroying the empire in six twelve BC, when their combined 475 00:31:24,720 --> 00:31:30,959 Speaker 1: armies sacked the Assyrian palaces and essentially attempted to blot 476 00:31:31,000 --> 00:31:34,120 Speaker 1: out a lot of their history by smashing a lot 477 00:31:34,160 --> 00:31:37,560 Speaker 1: of the sculptures of these royals that were depicted on 478 00:31:37,680 --> 00:31:42,400 Speaker 1: the palace walls. They erased portraits that were done in 479 00:31:42,440 --> 00:31:46,440 Speaker 1: relief in some of these buildings as well, uh in NINEVAH. 480 00:31:46,520 --> 00:31:50,080 Speaker 1: Now you can see the results of this in the 481 00:31:50,200 --> 00:31:53,240 Speaker 1: museum's collection. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which has an 482 00:31:53,280 --> 00:31:56,760 Speaker 1: incredible historical art collection, is one of my favorite places 483 00:31:56,760 --> 00:32:00,280 Speaker 1: in the world. I love museums. One of the only 484 00:32:00,320 --> 00:32:03,360 Speaker 1: things I miss about life for the pandemic, I used 485 00:32:03,360 --> 00:32:06,000 Speaker 1: to go to a museum. One of my three rules 486 00:32:06,040 --> 00:32:09,360 Speaker 1: to every place I travel is to visit any museum 487 00:32:09,400 --> 00:32:12,760 Speaker 1: they have their Never let a museum go unvisited if 488 00:32:12,800 --> 00:32:16,480 Speaker 1: you can help it. There's some amazing ones out grade. Ben, 489 00:32:16,520 --> 00:32:20,240 Speaker 1: did I tell you that I've got a trip planned? Uh? 490 00:32:20,360 --> 00:32:23,680 Speaker 1: Post COVID Right, You're going to Chicago, I think going 491 00:32:23,720 --> 00:32:27,520 Speaker 1: to Seattle in fact, uh and going to see the 492 00:32:27,560 --> 00:32:31,040 Speaker 1: Minecraft exhibit at the Museum of Pop Culture with my daughter, 493 00:32:31,360 --> 00:32:33,120 Speaker 1: and then we're gonna do some other you know, Seattle 494 00:32:33,160 --> 00:32:36,200 Speaker 1: the tourist things. But I'm really excited to get back 495 00:32:36,240 --> 00:32:38,000 Speaker 1: out on the road again. It's been too long. I 496 00:32:38,040 --> 00:32:42,000 Speaker 1: think we both feel that way. Yeah, I've actually I 497 00:32:42,000 --> 00:32:44,080 Speaker 1: don't want to disclose on air yet, but I've got 498 00:32:44,160 --> 00:32:48,440 Speaker 1: some weird ones coming up. I've got some weird ones 499 00:32:48,480 --> 00:32:51,680 Speaker 1: coming up, probably in summer. But safe travels there, Nolan. 500 00:32:51,720 --> 00:32:55,520 Speaker 1: I hope you enjoy the Minecraft exhibit. Uh. I hope 501 00:32:55,600 --> 00:32:59,040 Speaker 1: also that no one in the audience today has to 502 00:32:59,160 --> 00:33:03,640 Speaker 1: end up being substitute royalty. And although we still have 503 00:33:03,720 --> 00:33:07,960 Speaker 1: a lot to learn about the world and the space 504 00:33:08,040 --> 00:33:12,240 Speaker 1: in which the world moves, it's amazing to look back 505 00:33:12,280 --> 00:33:14,920 Speaker 1: on the progress our species has made and to know 506 00:33:15,080 --> 00:33:18,920 Speaker 1: that nowadays we can go enjoy an eclipse like at 507 00:33:18,920 --> 00:33:22,280 Speaker 1: our at our office over in Atlanta, there was a 508 00:33:22,520 --> 00:33:25,440 Speaker 1: solar eclipse and we were all able to take a 509 00:33:26,040 --> 00:33:28,280 Speaker 1: few hours off and go to the roof of this 510 00:33:28,400 --> 00:33:32,800 Speaker 1: ginormous office building and safely watch it with our special 511 00:33:32,800 --> 00:33:37,080 Speaker 1: eclipse glasses and everything with no fear that some sort 512 00:33:37,240 --> 00:33:41,320 Speaker 1: of monster beyond the stars was going to eat our sun. 513 00:33:41,720 --> 00:33:45,800 Speaker 1: So thank you science, and thank you Ancient Mesopotamia. And 514 00:33:45,840 --> 00:33:49,120 Speaker 1: thank you super producer Casey Pegram and Alex Williams, who 515 00:33:49,160 --> 00:33:52,320 Speaker 1: composed our theme Christopher has the otis here in spirit. 516 00:33:52,840 --> 00:33:56,760 Speaker 1: And thank you, of course to our guest producer Andrew Howard. 517 00:33:57,160 --> 00:34:01,480 Speaker 1: Thank you to our own King of re search, Gabe Louesier, 518 00:34:02,680 --> 00:34:07,640 Speaker 1: and thanks of course to our own mythological sun eating demon, 519 00:34:07,880 --> 00:34:10,560 Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland, a k. The Quister. Do you think he's 520 00:34:10,600 --> 00:34:13,520 Speaker 1: more a sun eater or a moon eater? I don't know. 521 00:34:13,520 --> 00:34:15,160 Speaker 1: I thought you don't think he picks and shoes. I 522 00:34:15,160 --> 00:34:17,640 Speaker 1: think he eats all. He is the eater of worlds. 523 00:34:17,920 --> 00:34:22,360 Speaker 1: That guy. We'll have to have him on this show 524 00:34:22,440 --> 00:34:25,200 Speaker 1: again soon and it's not up to us, but it's 525 00:34:25,200 --> 00:34:29,279 Speaker 1: not at us. It's just happened us. So, folks, we 526 00:34:29,320 --> 00:34:32,600 Speaker 1: hope you enjoyed today's show. Again, we do have another 527 00:34:32,800 --> 00:34:36,800 Speaker 1: episode about a particular dark day coming up in the future. 528 00:34:36,920 --> 00:34:40,359 Speaker 1: Doue Tu into that and no, we also have some 529 00:34:40,480 --> 00:34:44,040 Speaker 1: surprise guests on the way in a bit we should do. 530 00:34:44,280 --> 00:34:48,160 Speaker 1: We'll keep that under our hats for now, but until then, UM, 531 00:34:48,640 --> 00:34:52,000 Speaker 1: may the sun forever be at your back. The wind. 532 00:34:52,320 --> 00:34:56,000 Speaker 1: I don't know which one it is, the sunshine. That's 533 00:34:56,000 --> 00:35:00,560 Speaker 1: the one, the sunshine. Let's see you next time. Books. 534 00:35:20,040 --> 00:35:22,120 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit the I 535 00:35:22,200 --> 00:35:25,120 Speaker 1: heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to 536 00:35:25,160 --> 00:35:26,040 Speaker 1: your favorite shows.