La Paix menacée par la Démesure dans le Poème d’Erra

Abstract

The author first explains how war was conceived in Mesopotamia in everyday life, and then which warlike divinities the ancient Mesopotamians had imagined in order to analyze Erra’s unbounded behaviour in the Poem of Erra (an akkadian mythological text written by 800 B. C.). The pattern of “the Star Wars” is then brought into focus since it expresses the acme of the quarrelsome fury of the warlike god Erra which threatens universal peace. During the commentary of the text (and in the appendix), various possible echoes with the Poem of Erra in Greek literature are suggested. In conclusion, the author highlights the apotropaïc function of the poem which may explain the increasing excesses of Erra during the narrative.