Sex and Eroticism in Mesopotamian Literature

by Leick; Gwendolyn

• ISBN13: 9780415065344
• ISBN10: 0415065348
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1994-11-04
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Sex & Broticism in Mesopotamian Literature allows a glimpse of a world with a sexual culture and erotic values very different from our own, through exploration of the earliest preserved written evidence on the subject -- the Sumero-Akkadian cuneiform sources of the twenty-first to fifth centuries BC. Drawing on sophisticated and astonishing literary texts -- courtly love poems and bridal songs, myths, narratives and incantations -- Gwendolyn Leick uncovers a fascinating range of perspectives on the subject of passion and pleasure. The reader is treated to eloquent and freely-expressed views on topics from prostitution, love magic and deviant sexual practice to gender, fertility and potency. This revealing and candid volume celebrates a wealth of erotic material from one of the world's earliest literate civilisations, and encompasses archaeological, religious, historical, anthropological and gender-based themes and approaches. It will be of interest to students and teachers in all these disciplines. Book jacket.

Author Biography

Gwendolyn Leick is author of several books on the ancient Near East

Table of Contents

List of plates	p. ix
Preface	p. x
Acknowledgements	p. xii
Notes for non-Assyriologist readers	p. xiii
Abbreviations	p. xiv
Chronological chart	p. xv
Map	p. xvi
Introduction	p. 1
The Sumero-Akkadian tradition of the third and early second millennia
The Cosmological Articulation of Sexuality	p. 11
Masculine Sexuality in Sumerian Literature	p. 21
Enki and Ninhursaga: A Myth of Male Lust?	p. 30
From Adolescence to Maturity: The Myth of Enlil and Ninlil	p. 42
Phallicism in Sumerian Literature	p. 48
Femininity and Eroticism in Sumerian Literature	p. 55
The Bridal Songs	p. 64
Inanna and Her Brother	p. 80
Inanna Rejoicing in Her Vulva	p. 90
'My Consort, Maid Inanna, Lady, Voluptuousness of Heaven and Earth'	p. 97
'Words of Seduction': Courtly Love Poetry	p. 111
The Rites of Divine Love	p. 130
L'amour Libre or Sacred Prostitution?	p. 147
Liminal Sexuality: Eunuchs, Homosexuals and the Common Prostitute	p. 157
Sources from the later second and first millennia
Eroticism in Akkadian Literature	p. 173
Ballads, Hymns and Dialogues: Akkadian Love Poetry	p. 180
Love Magic and Potency Incantations	p. 193
Problematic Aspects of Sexuality: Sin and Pollution	p. 211
Witches, Demons and the Ambivalence of Love	p. 220
The Articulation of Sexual Jealousy	p. 232
Love and Eros in Akkadian Narrative Literature	p. 247
Glossary	p. 270
Notes	p. 276
Bibliography	p. 298
Index	p. 311
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