Thief, 'Tooth', and Trickster

Mesopotamian culture  - like a lot of pre-modern societies - had little familiarity with the notion of false personal identity. Little need arose or opportunity existed to pretend to be someone you weren’t. Two Babylonian figures, however, give evidence for a shared quality of imposture and impersonation: the “thief” (Akk. šarrāqu) and the enigmatic “trickster” (Akk. aluzinnu). The two were connected, I argue, by etymological threads and shared semantics suggesting fraudulence as a binding conceptual metaphor. Tracking these seemingly very different topics shows that both related to misrepresented identity being worked out at different discursive levels. Theft reflected a legal culture in which stolen property and property rights were epiphenomenal to primary concerns about betrayals of social identity through fraud. I then trace this legal precept about false representation to concepts of parody by way of an etymological bridge. The “thief” (Sum. lu2-ni2-zuḫ/zu [KA]), in his ability to imitate professional roles (i.e., as fake businessman, shepherd, witness, etc.), served as a model for the “trickster” (Sum. alan-zu2/zu[KA]), who lampooned not specific persons but professionals such as doctors, exorcists, craftsmen, priests, etc. The theme of impersonation lying at the core of both characters exposes anxieties about status and identity, becoming cruxes in both law and social criticism.

The AWRC have reserved a Lunch Table in Hall for Cluster members from 12.30. Lunch will be an opportunity to meet our speaker Seth Richardson. Seth's talk will start at 13.15 in the Buttery, and will be catered with tea/coffee and cakes (all welcome)