Iraq

Today is Iraq’s National Day—the anniversary of Iraqi independence from the United Kingdom in 1932. Now, I don’t want to write about the current situation: we hear about it day after day. And yet, it would seem strange to try and write about the twentieth century in Iraq without getting into the more recent conflict. What I do want to write about is the early history of what is now Iraq. I feel like it’s easy to forget the Sumerians, Akkadians, Assyrians and Babylonians when thinking of Iraq, as instead we hear about the Surge.

The Epic of Gilgamesh comes out of this early milieu—what I didn’t know is that Gilgamesh, on the Sumerian king list (which I didn’t know existed prior to… well, right now), as the son of Lugalbanda and the fifth king of Uruk. Incidentally, there are a few different theories as to where the name “Iraq” comes from, and one links the name to the city of Uruk. So: this is the region that brought us one of the earliest known works of literature.

It’s also the site of Babylon—which emerged in what is now southern Iraq during the lifetime of Hammurabi around the 17th century BCE. Babylon? Yes, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon once stood near present-day Al Hillad. But there is a question, still, as to whether the Hanging Gardens were real, and not just a poetic creation. Babylonian chronicles don’t document them—a Chaldean priest described them, and then Greek historians Strabo and Diodorus elaborate. Nebuchadnezzar is he one who is said to have constructed the gardens, and I like to think of them as real. (But then, I also like to think of poetic creations as real. I’m not a Babylonian scholar, nor could I pretend to be.) Oh, and don’t forget the Tower of Babel. Because the tower wasn’t built to the glory of god, I speak English and not the original language of Adam—or so the story goes.

And, of course, it’s the site of the Babylonian captivity—the name given to the exile of the Jews from the Kingdom of Judah, also under Nebuchadnezzar—after the Persian rule Cyrus the Great overthrew the Babylonia, the Jews were able to return to Israel.

This is all woefully inadequate—but when you open the newspaper to read about the current situation, think about this ancient world from time to time.

In the mean time, today’s poem is by Iraqi poet Nazik al-Mala’ika, and it comes from Language for a New Century.

Insignificant Woman

When she closed her eyes
No face faded, no lips quivered.
Doors heard no retelling of her death.
No curtain was lifted to air the room of grief.
No eyes followed her coffin
To the end of the road.
Only a memory of a lifeless form
           passing in some lane.

The word echoed in alleyways,
Hushed sounds, finding no shelter,
Settled in secluded den.
A moon mourned
In silence.

Night, unconcerned, gave way to morning.
Daylight crept in with the milk cart
           and a call to fasting.
A meager cat mewing
Amidst the shrill of vendor’s cries.
Boys squabbling
           throwing stones.
Muddy waters spilling
           along the gutters
As the wind carried foul smells
To rooftops.
Oblivion.

—Nazik al-Mala’ika
translated from Arabic by Kamal Boullata
from Language for a New Century