An Akkadian Monica Lewinsky
To be honest, the fourteen cuneiform tablets found at Nuzi, in northern Iraq, were discovered by the Harvard Semitic Museum about sixty years ago, but they have suddenly assumed major relevance because of the Clinton-Lewinsky affair. There is nothing new under the sun!
Kush-shi-harbe, the mayor of Nuzi, was found to be having an affair with a young lady by the name of Humer-elli - and the shocking part of it was that it happened twice!
Of course, the issue was not just over the goings-on at the White House of Nuzi. Kush-shi-harbe was also accused of misappropriating crown property, siphoning off tax money for his own use, accepting bribes and even using a government chariot to convey him to his paramour's residence.
Possibly the royal commission that looked into the case could not prove anything conclusive about the money matters, so they made a lot out of the sex scandal in order to discredit his worship the mayor.
Unfortunately we do not have the cuneiform tablets that record the outcome of the case, so we do not know whether the political pressure succeeded in removing the wayward mayor from office, or whether there was a backlash of public opinion that resulted in the failure of the opposition. Only one thing is certain: human nature has not changed much in the 3,000 years since this all happened. Sinners are still sinners in the same old ways.
