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Istanbul 2461
Istanbul #2461 (also Ni 2461, L.2461) is an ancient Sumerian cuneiform tablet. Some have labelled it the world's oldest love poem. It is on display at the Istanbul Museum of the Ancient Orient (Mesopotamia Hall).
It is an erotic poem addressed to king Shu-Sin (reigned 20th or 21st century BC) by an unnamed female speaker. It is thought that the poem may be connected to a "sacred marriage" between the king and a priestess of Inanna.
The tablet was unearthed at Nippur, in lower Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq). It was one of several thousand Sumerian tablets found by archeologists during excavations between 1889 and 1900.
The tablet was identified among 74,000 others and translated by Samuel Kramer 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 History Begins at Sumer:
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 love, a joyous bride and a king named Shu-Sin … 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.
The tablet contains a balbale (a kind of Sumerian poem) which is known by the titles "Bridegroom, Spend the Night in Our House Till Dawn" or "A Love Song of Shu-Suen (Shu-Suen B)". Composed of 29 lines, this poem is a monologue directed to king Shu-Sin (ruled 1972–1964 BC, short chronology, 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 honey and sweetness.
The following is the start of the poem (in Kramer's translation):
Bridegroom, dear to my heart,
Goodly is your beauty, honeysweet,
Lion, dear to my heart,
Goodly is your beauty, honeysweet.
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Istanbul 2461
Istanbul #2461 (also Ni 2461, L.2461) is an ancient Sumerian cuneiform tablet. Some have labelled it the world's oldest love poem. It is on display at the Istanbul Museum of the Ancient Orient (Mesopotamia Hall).
It is an erotic poem addressed to king Shu-Sin (reigned 20th or 21st century BC) by an unnamed female speaker. It is thought that the poem may be connected to a "sacred marriage" between the king and a priestess of Inanna.
The tablet was unearthed at Nippur, in lower Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq). It was one of several thousand Sumerian tablets found by archeologists during excavations between 1889 and 1900.
The tablet was identified among 74,000 others and translated by Samuel Kramer 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 History Begins at Sumer:
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 love, a joyous bride and a king named Shu-Sin … 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.
The tablet contains a balbale (a kind of Sumerian poem) which is known by the titles "Bridegroom, Spend the Night in Our House Till Dawn" or "A Love Song of Shu-Suen (Shu-Suen B)". Composed of 29 lines, this poem is a monologue directed to king Shu-Sin (ruled 1972–1964 BC, short chronology, 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 honey and sweetness.
The following is the start of the poem (in Kramer's translation):
Bridegroom, dear to my heart,
Goodly is your beauty, honeysweet,
Lion, dear to my heart,
Goodly is your beauty, honeysweet.