Cattivi presagi: analisi della raffigurazione della Stanza 132 del Palazzo Reale di Mari

Abstract

Mari is an ancient site located in odiern Syria in the modern village called Tell Hariri; since the
beginning of the excavations was clear to archaeologists the importance of the site and especially of
the Royal Palace. Inside this building researchers have found many pieces of different wall paintings
located mainly in Court 106 and in Hall 132. The last is the subject of this article, particularly the
register who shows the god Sin seated in a throne carved in the mountain. To Parrot, Margueron and
Matthiae, the principal researchers who studied and debated this wall painting, this register seems
somewhat enigmatic. It becomes more clear, in my opinion, if we consider it a visual representation
of an ancient ritual called “substitute king”; in fact if we do so each character, and especially every
iconographic oddity (for example god Sin seated in a throne in a mountain in which usually sits
Shamash, mace symbol of royalty in the hand of a “high priest” and so on), seems to be in the right
place with the right meaning. Unfortunately, if this analysis is correct, this is the only know
representation of “substitute king” rite and we can’t do comparison with other depictions that could
strengthen this hypothesis