In the 19th century AD, archaeologists descended on the region of Mesopotamia seeking physical evidence which would corroborate the biblical narratives of the Old Testament. While this may not have been initially their driving purpose, their need for funding (based on public interest to justify such funding) soon made it so. When the archaeologist Austen Henry Layard began excavations at Kalhu in AD 1845 , assisted by Hormuzd Rassam, he was under so much pressure to find biblical sites that he jumped to the conclusion the city he had uncovered was Nineveh. His published account of the excavations, in AD 1849, was titled Nineveh and its Remains and, owing to Nineveh’s fame from the Bible, the book became a best seller. The success of the book sparked further interest in Mesopotamian history as a means of corroborating biblical narratives and so further expeditions were sent to the region in search of other cities mentioned in the Bible.
Marriage of Inanna and Dumuzi
Prior to this time, the Bible was considered the oldest book in the world and The Song of Songs from the Bible (also known as The Song of Solomon) the oldest love poem. When Layard excavated the actual site of Nineveh in AD 1846-1847 he discovered the library of the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal (reigned 668-627 BC) and the cuneiform texts, which were then translated by the legendary George Smith, made it clear that the story of the Fall of Man and The Great Flood and Noah's Ark were widely discussed in ancient non-Biblical texts. These new discoveries led scholars to the conclusion that The Song of Songs, dated to approximately the 6th century BC, could no longer be considered the oldest love poem once The Love Song for Shu-Sin (written c.2000 BC) was discovered.
When it was found, the cuneiform tablet of The Love Song for Shu-Sin was taken to the Istanbul Museum in Turkey where it was stored in a drawer, untranslated and unknown, until AD 1951 when the famous Sumerologist Samuel Noah Kramer came across it while translating ancient texts. Kramer was trying to decide what works to translate next when he found the love song in the drawer. He describes the moment in his work 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 (who ruled over the land of Sumer close to four thousand years ago). 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." (245)
The poem was not just a love poem, however, but a part of the sacred rite, performed each year, known as the "sacred marriage" in which the king would symbolically marry the goddess Inanna, to ensure prosperity for the coming year. Kramer writes:
"Once a year, according to Sumerian belief, it was the sacred duty of the ruler to marry a votary of Inanna, the goddess of love...in order to ensure fertility to the soil...The time-honored ceremony was celebrated on New Year's day and was preceeded by feasts and banquets accompanied by music, song, and dance. The poem inscribed on the little Istanbul clay tablet was in all probability recited by the chosen bride of King Shu-Sin in the course of one of these New Year celebrations." (245-246)
The scholar Jeremy Black, also well respected for his work with Mesopotamian texts, interprets the poem along the same lines. Black writes:
"This is one of several love songs composed for this king which articulate a belief in his very close and personal relationship with the goddess of love. In some songs of this type, the king's name seems to have been merely substituted for that of Dumuzi [Inanna's consort]. Almost certainly they were performed in the context of certain religious rituals which have been referred to as the `sacred marriage' but the precise details are unknown." (88-89)
Shu-Sin reigned as king in the city of Ur from 1972-1964 BC according to what is known in scholarly circles as the `short chronology' but, according to the `long chronology' used by some scholars, reigned 2037-2029 BC. The poem, therefore, is dated according to either 1965 BC or 2030 BC but is most often assigned a general date of composition at around 2000 BC. Shu-Sin was the younger son of Shulgi of Ur (reigned 2029-1982 BC) who was the last great king of the Ur III Period (2047-1750 BC). According to the historian Stephen Bertman, besides this poem, "Shu-Sin was also the male lead in a series of poems in Akkadian written in dialogue form similar to the later biblical Song of Songs" (105).
The archaeological work done in Mesopotamia in the 19th century AD completely changed the way history, and the world, could be understood. Following the discovery of Mesopotamia's ancient past, history was enlarged, deepened, and humanity's story became much more complex and interesting. The literature of ancient Mesopotamia provided the first forms of world literature, the first expressions of human emotion and experience and, among them, the experience of romantic love and passion through the world's oldest love poem.
The following translation of the oldest known love poem is from Samuel Noah Kramer's work History Begins at Sumer, pp 246-247:
Bridegroom, dear to my heart,
Goodly is your beauty, honey-sweet,
Lion, dear to my heart,
Goodly is your beauty, honey-sweet.
You have captivated me, let me stand before you.
Bridegroom, I would go to our new home.
You have captivated me, let me stand before you.
Lion, I would be carried by you into our new abode.
Bridegroom, let me see you,
My longing is sweeter than honey,
In our home, honey-filled,
Let me enjoy your goodly beauty,
Lion, let me see you,
My longing is more sweet than honey.
Bridegroom, you have filled my heart with joy,
Tell my mother, she will give you delicacies,
My father, he will give you precious gifts.
Your spirit, I know how to cheer your spirit,
Bridegroom, stay in our house until dawn,
Your heart, I know how to gladden your heart,
Lion, sleep in our house until dawn.
You, because you love me,
Give me pray of your kindness,
My lord god, my lord protector,
My Shu-Sin, who gladdens Enlil’s heart,
Give me pray of your kindness.
Our love is as goodly as honey, pray I,
Bring your hand of protection,
protect me with your outstretched arm.
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