The aim of this article is to examine the reasons why theodicy, as we understand the term today, is virtually absent from ancient Mesopotamian literature. The purpose is to discover what factors in that culture led to the exclusion of theodicy and the idea of innocent suffering from their worldview and literature. Three reasons are suggested: the gods are rarely blamed for human suffering, all suffering is due to a perversion of the Mesopotamian concept of "ma‘at," and inequity or injustice will be rectified in the afterlife.