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The little tablet numbered 2461 was lying in one of the drawers, surrounded by a number of other pieces. When I first laid eyes on it, its most attractive feature was its state of preservation. I soon realized that I was reading a poem, divided into a number of stanzas, which celebrated beauty and
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in 1951, during his years of studies in the
Istanbul Museum. Kramer was deciding what works to translate next when he found the tablet in the museum drawer. He describes the moment in his book
217:, or 2037–2029 BC, long chronology). In erotic language, the female speaker in the poem expresses her ardent desires and longings for Shu-Sin, drawing heavily on imagery related to
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Bar-Ilan
Studies in Near Eastern Languages and Culture. Publications of the Samuel N. Kramer Institute of Assyriology. Ramat-Gan: Bar-Ilan University Press, 1998. 353–359.
267:, mate with her, and ensure fertility and prosperity for the coming year. A priestess would probably represent Inanna, the Sumerian goddess of fertility, and the king
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188:… As I read it again and yet again, there was no mistaking its content. What I held in my hand was one of the oldest love songs written down by the hand of man.
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Variants of the poem may have been sung during ritual ceremonies commemorating the divine marriage between the two gods all over the ancient
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The last three lines of the poem seem to contain an invitation to a sexual encounter, but in language not adequately clear to us.
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Abstract: "I Am Large, I Contain
Multitudes": Second Isaiah's Lyric Exploration of Divine Relational and Emotional Complexity
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Sefati, Yitschak. "Sumerian
Canonical Compositions. A. Divine Focus. 6. Love Poems: Dumuzi-Inanna Songs (1.169)". In
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168:). It was one of several thousand Sumerian tablets found by archeologists during excavations between 1889 and 1900.
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Zondervan
Handbook of Biblical Archaeology: A Book by Book Guide to Archaeological Discoveries Related to the Bible
140:(reigned 20th or 21st century BC) by an unnamed female speaker. It is thought that the poem may be connected to a
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Dictionary of the Old
Testament: Wisdom, Poetry & Writings: A Compendium of Contemporary Biblical Scholarship
294:, because some phrases are similar to the poems sung during such fertility feasts, as well as Sumerian weddings.
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Treasures of the Bible: Understanding the Bible Through Archaeological Artifacts in World Museums
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33:"The Oldest Love Poem" (L.2461) on display at the Istanbul Museum of the Ancient Orient
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Love songs in
Sumerian literature: critical edition of the Dumuzi-Inanna songs.
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The
Context of Scripture, I: Canonical Compositions from the Biblical World.
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The
Context of Scripture: Canonical compositions from the biblical world
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Hallo, William W. (ed). Leiden/New York/Köln: Brill, 1997. 541–542.
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The following is the start of the poem (in Kramer's translation):
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The tablet was identified among 74000 others and translated by
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The 30th line on the tablet contains a subscript: "It is a
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It is believed that the poem is a script for the yearly
201:(a kind of Sumerian poem) which is known by the titles
275:, the god of shepherds, on the eve of their union.
203:"Bridegroom, Spend the Night in Our House Till Dawn"
346:Fant, Clyde E.; Reddish, Mitchell G. (2008-10-15).
286:. The translation of this tablet shed light on the
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419:– Ancient History Encyclopedia. 13 August 2014.
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549:"A love song of Shu-Suen (Shu-Suen B)" at the
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247:The text is one of the oldest known
144:between the king and a priestess of
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397:// The New York Times, 14-Feb-2006.
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239:Goodly is your beauty, honeysweet.
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395:The Oldest Line in the World
156:The tablet was unearthed at
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648:Alexander Sarcophagus
623:Museum of Islamic Art
485:. Vol. 1. Brill.
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213:(ruled 1972–1964 BC,
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133:(Mesopotamia Hall).
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313:Sefati, Yitschak.
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477:Hallo, William W.
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61:Sumerian language
52:10.7 x 6 x 3.1 cm
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447:Enns, Peter
249:lyric poems
162:Mesopotamia
160:, in lower
802:Love poems
761:Categories
432:of Inana".
322:References
298:Literature
88:late 1880s
85:Discovered
43:terracotta
606:Buildings
280:Near East
223:sweetness
152:Discovery
124:cuneiform
746:Category
193:Contents
121:Sumerian
39:Material
430:balbale
290:in the
269:Shu-Sin
211:Shu-Sin
199:balbale
186:Shu-Sin
138:Shu-Sin
113:Ni 2461
71:Created
57:Writing
812:Inanna
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273:Dumuzi
265:Inanna
158:Nippur
146:Inanna
127:tablet
117:L.2461
111:(also
91:Nippur
717:Egypt
503:(PDF)
284:Egypt
219:honey
527:ISBN
457:ISBN
354:ISBN
221:and
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49:Size
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
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