Thursday, 26 February 2009

Nabu: The Bad Witch's God of the Week

I opened to a page at random in The Concise Mythological Dictionary to find my god of the week and my eyes landed on a familiar name: Nabu.

I didn't know Nabu as the ancient Sumero-Babylonian god of writing and knowledge, but I certainly recognised the name of the shaman who constantly comes to the rescue of Vince Noir (Noel Fielding) and Howard Moon (Julian Barratt) in my favourite TV comedy series, The Mighty Boosh. OK, in the BBC programme Micheal Fielding's magical character is actually called Naboo, but close enough.

Naboo the Enigma, to give him his full name, is an alien from the planet Xooberon who was accidentally sent to Earth to protect a sacred amulet, but generally just hangs out in London's Camden with his familiar, the gorilla Bollo, and his mates Vince and Howard, who are always getting into trouble.

It took me a little longer to realise that Naboo is also the name of a planet in the movie Star Wars, the home of the irritating Jar Jar Binks - a character far more forgettable than Naboo the Enigma.

But as to the Sumero-Babylonian god Nabu, the website http://www.godchecker.com/ says he is most famous for inventing Cuneiform writing for the Babylonians. He was apparently the scribe of the gods - definitely an important role. I wonder what he thinks of his fictional namesakes?

The Mighty Boosh - Series 1-3 - Complete [DVD] cost £25.98 from Amazon.

Links:
The Mighty Boosh - Series 1-3 - Complete [DVD]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naboo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mighty_Boosh
http://www.godchecker.com/

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