36 r Brannon Wheeler
inscriptions record the erection of statues, pillars, temples, and cities by
kings in order to ensure their good fortune and the well-being of their
kingdoms. The “List of Date Formulae” of the reign of Hammurabi pro-
vides a catalog of activities later attested in scattered popular inscriptions
and in the Arabic literary descriptions of the cult at the Meccan sanctu-
ary and elsewhere through pre-Islamic Arabia. Hammurabi establishes
justice, constructs thrones, builds walls, erects temples and shrines, pro-
vides water for pilgrims, gives protection to his people, dedicates sacred
objects such as thrones, statues, and daises for deities, and digs canals. The
parallel building activities of Marduk in the Enuma Elish suggest a close
relationship between the creation of the natural world by the gods and the
construction of civilization by kings. More specific examples from South
Arabia demonstrate that the model was current in the Arabian Peninsula,
and examples from Nabataean and Lihyanite inscriptions show the spread
and continuity of the practices.^85
Early Islamic accounts of ̔Abd al-Muttalib’s recovery of Zamzam and
the eventual reestablishment of the sanctuary under the prophet Muham-
mad conform to this general ancient model.^86 In other ancient civiliza-
tions, the king or cult officiant circumambulated the walls of his capital
city, ritually linking his authority to the establishment and protection of
that territory. The different accounts of the recovery of the True Cross
and the building of the churches in Palestine are another example of this
ancient model linking the recovery of the cult object with the establish-
ment of a sanctuary and the pilgrimages to the sanctuary to visit the cult
object. In other ancient and Arabian contexts the custodian of the sanctu-
ary establishes his status as cult officiant by erecting the cult object, often
accompanied by divination or receiving a vision from the deity.^87 Muslim
exegetes construct the image of prophethood, linking the civilizing func-
tion of the cult officiant with the founding of the sanctuary, from this
general model found in the legends of the True Cross, the ancient Near
East, and also in China, Rome, Egypt, and Southeast Asia.
Conclusion
In his al-Kāmil fī al-ta’rīkh, ̔Alī b. Abī al-Karam Ibn al-Athīr (555–630)
refers to the Jews’ rejection of the prophets Hūd and Sālih as being men-
tioned in the Bible.