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Istanbul 2461

Istanbul #2461 (also Ni 2461,[1] L.2461) is an ancient Sumerian cuneiform tablet. Some have labelled it the world's oldest love poem.[2][3] It is on display at the Istanbul Museum of the Ancient Orient (Mesopotamia Hall).[3]

Istanbul #2461

terracotta

10.7 x 6 x 3.1 cm[1]

Sumerian language in cuneiform script[1]

2037–2029 BC (long chronology)
1972–1964 BC (short chronology)

late 1880s
Nippur

Istanbul Museum of the Ancient Orient

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.

Interpretations[edit]

It is believed that the poem is a script for the yearly "sacred marriage", a rite in which the king would symbolically marry the goddess Inanna, 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 Shu-Sin would represent Dumuzi, the god of shepherds, on the eve of their union.[4][3]


Variants of the poem may have been sung during ritual ceremonies commemorating the divine marriage between the two gods all over the ancient Near East, particularly in Egypt.[9][4] The translation of this tablet shed light on the Song of Solomon in the Old Testament, because some phrases are similar to the poems sung during such fertility feasts, as well as Sumerian weddings.[3]

Sefati, Yitschak. "Sumerian Canonical Compositions. A. Divine Focus. 6. Love Poems: Dumuzi-Inanna Songs (1.169)". In The Context of Scripture, I: Canonical Compositions from the Biblical World. Hallo, William W. (ed). Leiden/New York/Köln: Brill, 1997. 541–542. (title: Bridegroom, spend the night in our house till dawn)

Sefati, Yitschak. Love songs in Sumerian literature: critical edition of the Dumuzi-Inanna songs. 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.

"A love song of Shu-Suen (Shu-Suen B)" at the : translation, composite text, bibliography

Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature