There Are Rivers in the Sky

by Elif Shafak

In the present order, the goddess of writing is stripped of her powers, all of which are now assigned to a male god—Nabu. From now on Nabu will be the patron of literacy and storytelling. Nabu will embody knowledge, memory and wisdom. And in hundreds of schools, young scribes are made to finish their assignments with these four words: Praise be to Nabu As for Nisaba, she is transmuted into “the loving wife of Nabu”—faithful, giving and dutiful. Next she becomes his diligent secretary, helpfully hovering in the background. The only vestige of her glorious past is a lapis lazuli pendant in the shape of a stylus that hangs around her neck. Thus expunged not all at once but by degrees, Nisaba retreats into the shadows, from where she watches Nabu gather accolades and adulations. How fast he ascends! As Marduk is crowned the king of the gods, Nabu is declared the son of the king of the gods. He stands tall and proud by his father’s throne, carrying in his hands the blue tablet that once belonged to Nisaba. By the time of the sixth king of the first dynasty of Babylonia, writing is no longer regarded as a suitable occupation for women. Nabu’s fame will continue to soar, spreading from Mesopotamia to the Mediterranean basin, where he is embraced by multiple civilizations—Greek, Roman and Christian. But the tradition of Nisaba will remain rooted in the very place where it was born, and it will also perish there, her tablets broken, her stylus buried by the banks of the Tigris. The...