“Now everything was different. If the gods meant to expand to encompass everything, they could no longer deny the fact that the Underworld was beyond them. They could not cohabit with death and the dead. And this left them diminished. They refused even to talk about it. The Anunnaki realized they were gods only up to a point.

“Substitution had insinuated itself among the gods. It was no longer merely an expedient to make life easier and more powerful. It was also the breach that death had opened among the gods. Nor did it change much that Dumuzi had to spend only half the year in the Underworld thanks to his sister Geshtinanna’s willingness to sacrifice herself and substitute for him. Geshtinanna was also a child of Ea’s, hence a divine being. And Inanna would have to acknowledge that the hundred and five mes she had taken from Ea when he was drunk did not give her power over everything. Death was impervious to them. Something else was required: a substitute, a living being.

“If life were to expand to its furthest limits, substitution was a must, but substitution brought death. Or rather, it was death that brought about substitution. Whether as killing or disappearance.”

“The gods were not the only ones devoted to order; so were men, or Black Heads, as they were called. They studied what went on, whatever went on, seeking out omens. Ill omens for the most part. Their kings lived in perpetual fear of an eclipse or a misshapen liver or an abnormal birth.

“When order was threatened, they, too, saw substitution as a necessary expedient. If some ill omen cast a shadow on the king—astral events were always the most frightening—a substitute had to be found to take his place at all regal functions, hold his scepter, sit on his throne, sleep in his bed, beside a queen, who was also a substitute. Meanwhile the real king disappeared to a safe place known only to a very few. This state of affairs would go on for a while, but not too long, until a prophetess or a minister of court announced to the substitute that he must meet his destiny. Meaning, in his case, that he was to be killed. And his temporary queen with him.

“After which, solemn funerals were held. When at last the substitute was about to be buried, people whispered: ‘Take all evils down to the land of no return.’”

“The Black Heads were forever tormented by the fear that something, anything they did might upset one of the Anunnaki and arouse their hostility. The gods were not remote; on the contrary, they were too close for comfort. You had to protect yourself behind a barrier of prayers, invocations, exorcisms. Such gestures were never superfluous; they marked the hours day by day.

“On the other hand, the fact that the Anunnaki were so present exposed them to certain mishaps. Even Ishtar, sovereign of sovereigns, had to come to terms with this. In general, the Anunnaki paid attention only to things that had specifically to do with them, rites and ceremonies. The occasional war. Aside from Ea, Ishtar was the only one who was interested in everything that went on on earth. It wasn’t beyond her to come down from the mountains, from Elam, from Subir, like some mysterious stranger, wrapped in her royal cloak.