Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hung. Volume 70 (3), 277 – 294 (2017) DOI: 10.1556/062.2017.70.3.1 0001-6446 / $ 20.00 © 2017 Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest MOTHER OF HER SON: THE LITERARY SCHEME OF THE ADAD-GUPPI STELE SUNGDUK YUN Yonsei University, Seoul 13 Songhwaro 124-1201, Pajusi Kyeongido, Seoul, Korea e-mail: mumkhe@yahoo.com The inscription on the Adad-guppi Stele is an unusual literary work due to both its innovative struc- ture and its contents describing Adad-guppi as the intercessor for Nabonidus. The literary structure of the inscription was the combination of the three-tier royal inscription (theological 1st person nar- rative) and a memorial text at her mother’s funeral (secular 3rd person narrative). It is a literary in- vention of Nabonidus’s scribes to meet the need of the occasion, and is surely a creative attempt. The mother’s role is described as an intercessor for her son: First, she gave birth to Nabonidus and provided an opportunity for him to have a court career. Secondly, the mother led her son to the sin- cere faith to Sîn and became the source of his blessings. Thirdly, she worked hard to build a bridge between Nabonidus and the ancient Mesopotamian political ideology, to achieve the legitimisation of her son’s ascension to the Babylonian throne. His line of propaganda seemed to work very well for 17 years, which is 8 more years after the death of the queen mother, but it lost its leverage at the appearance of Cyrus, king of Persia. Key words: Nabonidus, Adad-guppi, literary structure, royal inscription, funerary text, intercessor, propaganda. The literary world of the ancient Near East was a stage on which male characters played the leading roles, so it was not common to find a literary composition focused on the life of a female human protagonist. Goddesses were merciful mothers, beau- ties or terrible young women in myths, and historical sources cite a few royal women who appeared to exercise power over male retainers (Teppo 2007a; 2007b; Nemet- Nejat 2014). Still, the absolute majority of literary works focused on the lives of male gods and human beings and their great achievements. This is the cultural atmosphere in which Nabonidus, king of Babylon, left us a long and fascinating story honouring his mother, Adad-guppi. The text, therefore, occupies a unique position in the history of ancient Near Eastern literature.