79. Rocío Da Riva and Nathan Wasserman: Carnival in Babylon

79. Rocío Da Riva and Nathan Wasserman: Carnival in Babylon

From Thin End of the Wedge by Jon Taylor

September 13, 2025 · 45 min

About this episode

Rocío and Nathan explore a remarkable public ritual from the Late Babylonian period involving divine love lyrics and a conflict between goddesses.

Rocío and Nathan take us to Babylon in the Late Babylonian period for a remarkable public ritual. The divine love lyrics are one of the most surprising literary survivals from antiquity. Sarpanitu discovers that Marduk has been sleeping with Ishtar. The two goddesses become embroiled in a very public shouting match, throwing insults at each other. What was this ritual and what did it mean? 3:56 introduction to the Divine Love Lyrics 5:42 one text, a series, or somethin...

People in this episode

Host: Jon Taylor

Guests: Rocío Da Riva, Nathan Wasserman

Topics covered

  • Babylon
  • public ritual
  • Divine Love Lyrics
  • ancient literature
  • goddess mythology

Keywords

  • Babylon
  • Divine Love Lyrics
  • Marduk
  • Ishtar
  • Sarpanitu
  • ancient rituals
  • mythology

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