Yesterday, I discussed the Babylonian Theodicy, an ancient document debating divine justice, and one of the most important examples of acrostic literature. I also translated a sample stanza of it into a graphic acrostic.
However, the Theodicy is written in Akkadian, and written Akkadian is a set of syllabic signs, not an alphabet. So perhaps a syllabic acrostic would be a more accurate translation, even though syllabic acrostics are rarely found in English. In fact, I’ve never really seen this form of wordplay done in our language—which motivated me immediately to try it.
Here are the first two stanzas from the original translation:
Strophe I-Sufferer
1 Wise one, [...] come, [let] me tell you,
2 I go[t (it)], companion, [let] me recount to you [(my) pl]ight.
3 [...] [...].. in your stomach (i.e. the seat of emotions),
4 let [me], who am greatly in distress, praise you.
5 Where is the wise person who equals you?
6 What learned man can compare with you?
7 Where is the sage (to) whom can I recount my grief?
8 I am finished (i.e. exhausted). Anguish has come straight to (i.e. attacked) me.
9 When I was still a young child, fate struck (my) begetter (i.e. my father died);
10 the Land-of-No-Return took away (lit.: killed) the womb who bore me (i.e. my real mother).
11 My father and my mother left me (behind) with no guardian.
Strophe II-Friend
12 My attentive friend, what you have said is dreadful (lit.: misery),
13 (What) is brewing in the beloved one of your meadow (i.e. your mind') is bad.
14 You have reduced (lit.: made equal to) your attentive intelligence to (that of) an incompetent (person),
15 you make your shining appearance become very dark.
16 Our fathers have been given (to us), but they must go the path of death (before us):
17 "I shall cross the river Hubur," (so) it has been said since ancient time.
18 When you look at people, countless (i.e. mankind) as a whole,
19 does any son of a poor man become rich by se[rvi]ng' him?
20 Who is the (servant) in fine shape whom the wealthy man treated kindly? (I.e. no wealthy man treats a servant generously.)
21 The one who serves deity has (his) protective-sp[irit],
22 the one, who is in danger but (nevertheless) honors she-deity, amasses wea[lth].
To turn the poem into a syllabic acrostic, we once more need to convert the key—and we once more need to get rid of the author’s name. The original key, once again, is:
I, Saggil-Kīnam-Ubbib, the incantation priest, am adorant of the god and the king.
That’s twenty-three syllables, pretty close to the twenty-seven we need, but some of those syllables are essentially impossible to work with. The syllable “priest” doesn’t begin any word that isn’t tightly related to “priest.” The same applies to “ub” and “bib” or “beeb” in Saggil-Kīnam-Ubbib’s name—and the pronunciation of that name isn’t widely known anyway.
After tinkering around with a few variants, I came up with…
I am the ho-ly sor-cer-er of Ba-byl-on S.K.U., ad-or-ant of the de-it-y and em-per-or.
“Holy sorcerer” is a bit of a swerve from “incantation priest,” and using Saggil-Kīnam-Ubbib’s initials is another change…but each of those syllables phonetically begins a variety of English words. Sometimes one common word is almost all you need, as in “I” and “the,” which begin many distinct sentences. Let’s see how “I” and the more challenging “am” can apply to the sentences in question:
Strophe I-Sufferer
1 Icon of wisdom, [...] come, [let] me tell you,
2 I go[t (it)], companion, [let] me recount to you [(my) pl]ight.
3 [...] [...].. in your stomach (i.e. the seat of emotions),
4 I, who am greatly in distress, shall praise you.
5 I know no wise person who equals you.
6 I know no learned man can compare with you.
7 I know no other sage (to) whom can I recount my grief.
8 I am finished (i.e. exhausted). Anguish has come straight to (i.e. attacked) me.
9 I was still a young child when fate struck (my) begetter (i.e. my father died);
10 Island-of-No-Return took away (lit.: killed) the womb who bore me (i.e. my real mother).
11 Aye, my father and my mother left me (behind) with no guardian.
Strophe II-Friend
12 Amigo mio, what you have said is dreadful (lit.: misery),
13 Amber of evil brews in the beloved meadow of your mind,
14 Amputating your attentive intelligence to (that of) an incompetent (person),
15 Ameliorating your shining appearance until it becomes very dark.
16 Ambassadors our fathers are in our world; they must go the path of death (before us):
17 "Am I to cross the river Hubur?" (so) it has been said since ancient time.
18 Amidst all people, look at countless (i.e. mankind) as a whole,
19 Am I to see any son of a poor man become rich by se[rvi]ng' him?
20 Am I to see a (servant) in fine shape whom the wealthy man treated kindly? (I.e. no wealthy man treats a servant generously.)
21 Am I to serve deity? Then I have (my) protective-sp[irit].
22 Amass wealth does he who is in danger but (nevertheless) honors she-deity.
Next: Bringing in some music.