Basket-Bearing Ritual In Barbara Nevling Porter's Babylon A

Barbara Nevling Porter’s thesis in this article was how a ritual could result in the opposite effect of its original purpose. To support this idea she uses the basket-bearing ritual performed by Easarhaddon and later his two sons. Easarhaddon’s performance of the ritual allowed him to gain popularity and respect amongst the Babylonians despite being an Assyrian king. His embracing and embodiment of Babylonian kingship allowed him to be accepted as a legitimate Babylonian ruler. On the other hand, when his sons performed the ritual it gave the Babylonians the idea of choosing between two kings because each son had claimed to be the true king through the performance of the ritual. The author supports her thesis by examining inscriptions and artwork.

The inscriptions describe Easarhaddon as a Babylonian king, which increased his popularity among the Babylonians. For example, the inscriptions referred to Easarhaddon using ancient Mesopotamian titles, as stated in the following quote: “the text begins immediately to establish his Babylonian credentials, assigning him the ancient Mesopotamian titles "regent (for the gods) of Babylonia, king of Sumer and Akkad” (Porter, 262). The referral to Easarhaddon with ancient Mesopotamian titles helped to legitimize his rule over Babylon by embracing Babylonian kingship. The basket-bearing ritual further legitimized Easarhaddon’s rule over

The artwork suggested that there were two kings and led to a revolt led by Shamash-shum-ukin. For example, the two stelai erected in Borsippa illustrate the possibility of choice between the two brothers as king. “Although the effect was certainly unintentional, the two stelai were unmistakably competitive, underlining the prospect of choice that had been only implied by the Babylon stelai” (Porter, 271). The two stelai show each brother performing the basket-bearing ritual, causing Babylonians to see the possibility of choosing between two kings, which weakened Ashurbanipal’s rule. Stelai erected in Babylon also suggested that each brother performed the basket-bearing