The Babylonian Akitu Festival Ritual Text

Anonymous / tradition (Esagila temple priests) · c. 3rd-2nd century BC (Seleucid-period copy of a much older ritual tradition) · Babylon (Iraq) · scripture

A procedural instruction tablet for Babylon's New Year festival argues that royal power must be ritually surrendered before it can be renewed, staging a scene in which the high priest strips the king of his regalia and only restores it once the king's negative confession is accepted, striking his cheek afterward and reading the tears that follow as a favorable omen ratifying, rather than gating, the king's renewed authority.