Communal blessings depend on the king (1)

Text
Assurbanipal’s Royal Inscription A.1.45-51:
Adad released his rains, Ea opened his fountains. The corn grew five ells tall in its furrow, the ear five-sixths of an ell long. The harvest was successful, Nisaba’s expansiveness continually made the pastures burgeon. The orchards brought the fruit to ripeness, the cattle had easy calving. In my reign there was plenty of abundance, in my years the surplus was piled up.

SAA 10 226 (Letter of an Exorcist to Assurbanipal):
The reign is propitious, orderly the days, the years are of justice. The rains are abundant, the spring floods massive, the cost of living favourable. The gods are well disposed. Godfearingness is widespread, temples are prosperous, the great gods of heaven and earth have become exalted in the time of the king, my lord.

Homer, Odyssey 19.109-114:
Like some flawless king, who, god-fearing, ruling a numerous and doughty people, upholds justice, and the dark earth brings forth wheat and barley, and the trees are heavy with fruit, the sheep and goats give birth without fail, and the sea provides fish from his good leadership, and the peoples flourish under him.

Sources (list of abbreviations) (source links will open in a new browser window)
Royal Inscriptions, Assurbanipal A.1.45-51
SAA 10 226
Homer, Odyssey 19.109-114

Bibliography

Amar Annus

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