Babylonian Théodicée

The Babylonian Théodicée is a text of the Littérature sapientale mésopotamienne. It was written in Babylonia, towards the last part of the 2nd millenium.

This text is appeared as a dialog and tells the history of an young man, junior by his family, which finds itself without protection after the death of her parents. He addresses himself to a friend, and asks him how such an injustice can be tolerated by the gods. This one answers him that there is necessary to remain pious, and that then the gods will hear its prayers. But the other answers that it always acted thus, and that did not prevent it from being found in this situation. It even starts to wonder whether the gods are right. His/her friend, scandalized by this attitude, does not find an other answer only the preceding one. In front of this weak support, the orphan carries himself, and claims that the gods are unjust, and that they do not reward the goods. His/her friend admits that weakest are subjected to the law of the strongest but, faithful to his convictions, it says that the gods must have their reasons to let that occur. He even says that the injustice belonged to the human nature, such as it was made not the gods. That would thus rise from a divine decision. But there continues to tell his friend to remain pious, because it is the only solution who remains to him to attract himself the divine graces.

This work presents a rather thorough reflection on the relationship between the men and the gods, but it remains faithful to morals mésopotamienne all the same, since the doubt in the divine decisions is not allowed. To say that the gods are responsible for the injustice does not go against the religious morals, which wants that the evils concerning the human ones have summers created by the gods to prevent that those do not become too awkward, and that after all the injustice is an evil like another.

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