The Underworld Vision of an Assyrian Prince

Anonymous / tradition, framed as the account of the crown prince Kumma · c. 7th century BC (Neo-Assyrian, from the library of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh) · Nineveh (Iraq) · epic

A prince's nightmare journey through the netherworld's gallery of monstrous demon-gods, followed by a wrenching lecture on his own moral failures from the ghost of a past king, argues that even a member of the royal house could be shown, in a single terrifying vision, exactly how little his birth protected him from judgment.