with verbs used to describe the way a person in chains
cowers. The splendor is imposed upon the text by the translators.

Yet in spite of their attempt to overlook the failure of the
speaker to recognize the figure and to romanticize his return,
they cannot obscure the fact that he comes on foot.

When King Ninurta, a Babylonian warrior god, returns to Nippur
victorious from battle, he comes in full regalia, driving a chariot
and bearing the trophies of his victory.

He is greeted: "My sovereign, perfect warrior, heed yourself.
Ninurta, perfect warrior, heed
yourself. Your radiance has covered Enlil's temple like a cloak.
When you step into your chariot, whose creaking is a pleasant
sound, heaven and earth tremble. " The text goes on to describe
his booty: "directed his captive wild bulls into the temple.
He directed his captivebut there was no helper
I stared, but there was no one to sustain me;
So my own arm brought me victory, and my wrath sustained me.
I trampled down peoples in my anger,
I crushed them in my wrath,
And I poured out their lifeblood on the earth.

This depiction of the heroic feats of the victor stands in
sharp contrast with the sorts of battle hymns sung by the Egyptians.
In the Victory Hymn of Ramses II over the Hittites, Rhamses, depicted
as the son of the God Ammon, stands upon his chariot and takes
pleasure in the killing.

The Hymn narrates a similar circumstance. Ramses, in the midst
of battle, states:

Here I stand,
All alone;
There is no one at my side,
My warriors and chariots afeared,
Have deserted me,
none heard My voice,
when to the cravens I, their king, for succor,