Monday, July 10, 2023
The Scope of His Activities Is Very Wide
Ahmet Ünal, "The Textual Illustration of the 'Jester Scene' on the Sculptures of Alaca Höyük,"
Anatolian Studies (1994) 207-218 (at 215, notes omitted):
Related post: Rectal Music.
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From an exhaustive study on Mesopotamian LUALAN.ZU by Römer we see that the Akkadian word for "jesters" is probably of Anatolian origin. He disguises himself like a woman or a king, thus holding kings as well as religious persons up to public ridicule; he is "Imitator" and "Persiflator", i.e. satirizer. He deals with tamed bears, billy goats and appears as tightrope-walker (Seiltänzer) and glutton (Vielfrass); he sits on chamber pots and lets off farts. He pretends to eat unimaginable foods. The scope of his activities is very wide.Cf. the figure baring his buttocks at the upper right in this illustration from John Derricke, The Image of Irelande (1581):
Labels: noctes scatologicae
