Sex and Eroticism in Mesopotamian Literature

Editorial Reviews. Review. 'In this excellent study, Gwendolyn Leick presents an extensive Sex and Eroticism in Mesopotamian Literature - Kindle edition by.
Table of contents

Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen. The History of King Lear: The Last Days of Socrates Plato. The Art of Rhetoric Aristotle. The Elder Edda Andy Orchard. Viking Language 1 Jesse L. Ancient Rhetoric and Oratory Thomas N. Theogony and Works and Days Hesiod. Introduction to Manuscript Studies Raymond Clemens. Antigone; Oedipus the King; Electra Sophocles. Review quote 'In this excellent study, Gwendolyn Leick presents an extensive body of Sumerian an dAkkadian cuneiform poems, magic spells, myths and stories bearing on a wide range of sexual themes.

The author also acknowledges this. Some parts did drag a little and seem a little repetitive that may be because a lot of the texts are repetitive! In the end, it did say a lot without saying anything, which is good, because it means the author allowed the texts to speak for themselves and provided only guidance.

A pretty thorough overview of the subject that holds up well even at time of writing. Leick frequently provides translations, even differing translations of the same text where unravelling hidden layers of meaning is required, and casts a critical eye over past s A pretty thorough overview of the subject that holds up well even at time of writing. Leick frequently provides translations, even differing translations of the same text where unravelling hidden layers of meaning is required, and casts a critical eye over past studies, pointing out where she thinks other authors may have misunderstood the original text.

Although this is not an overview of sex and eroticism in ancient Mesopotamia, merely how the Mesopotamians wrote about these subjects in literature, it still provides an insightful window into their world. This book is composed of short chapters, each with a distinct focus. Leick writes clearly, and as others have noted, helpfully shares her own interpretations where she reads the source texts differently from other experts. That said, I found myself struggling to believe many of the interpretations, because so many of the ancient texts are riddled with lacunae.

If I read a number of the quoted passages dropping everything that is a reconstruction of what might have filled the holes, it becomes ve This book is composed of short chapters, each with a distinct focus. If I read a number of the quoted passages dropping everything that is a reconstruction of what might have filled the holes, it becomes very hard to reach any conclusion about what the texts are saying.

One line of interpretation throughout the work is that ancient Mesopotamian writers took for granted that sex should be pleasurable for women as well as men. Another theme that echoes in multiple sources is a heavy association of semen with ritual pollution. It would be lovely to be able to supplement the analysis of texts with archeological evidence, but if such evidence exists, it isn't part of this account.

Those could turn out to be two quite different things, we don't know. The closest we get to records of real life are collections of 'spells' to attract desire and keep partners faithful, suggesting for example that jealousy played a stronger role in real life than it does in the fragmented texts. I wish I had a copy, but it costs too much.

View all 3 comments. Shirley Graetz rated it it was amazing Dec 15, Shauntey Kalweit rated it really liked it Nov 27, Chloe rated it really liked it Nov 22, Patrick rated it really liked it May 03, Megan rated it it was amazing Dec 08, Johanna rated it it was amazing Jan 20, Karen rated it did not like it Aug 27, Daniel rated it it was ok Aug 06, Aug 23, Harper Jean added it Shelves: Dry, academic, sometimes insular, but full of fascinating stuff.

Joshua Armstead rated it really liked it Nov 22, Trevor rated it really liked it Mar 03, Patrick rated it it was amazing Nov 16, Ummia Gina rated it really liked it Nov 05, However, there is nothing in the text to confirm this assumption 5 and it is more in keeping with the whole tenor of the work to begin with a scene where the gods are amorously entwined. Dilmun, though 'holy', is strangely lacking in essential commodities, and the behaviour of people and animals differs from that of later times.

These descriptions were probably meant to be funny and absurd. Ninsikila is obviously aware of the anomalous situation when she tells Enki: What good is your gift? A [city] that has no river quay? A city that has no fields, fallow and arable land. You have given a city. But how could 'wise' Enki have made such a mistake? One possible clue is to remember that Enki is easy prey to intoxication, as is well known from other texts. But he rises to the challenge with great aplomb and makes a magnificent speech, very much in the style of the blessings in Enki and the World Order, but probably satirical for all its pomposity.

He not only promises abundant water but blesses Dilmun with everlasting agricultural and trade superiority lines 39—50, plus fragment. Dilmun became a store house on the quay for the country's produce. At this moment, on this day, and under this sun, thus is verily became. The actual passage is ambiguous and different interpretations have been proposed for some of the lines.

Before the goddess, now called Nintu r , 7 he uses his penis. He was digging his phallus into the levee, plunging his phallus into the canebrake. But that passage is an isolated instance of phallic display, where the sexual aspect is only implied, with the river representing the female. Here the presence of the goddess and the whole atmosphere of the composition provide a very definitely erotic situation. But the marshes and reed-beds were generally considered to have erotic associations. The female body itself was often likened to the earth and the damp area of the marshes especially provided an apt metaphor for female genitals.

Then Enki calls out: Kramer and Maier At any rate he commands the goddess to lie down line Line 74 complicates matters by introducing a new name for the goddess, Damgalnunna, literally the Great Spouse of the Prince; it was the official name of Enki's wife: Enki pours semen into Damgalnunna, lying in the marshes. In line 75 the name of the goddess changes again, to that of Ninhursaga, the well known mother-goddess, and the text is now quite straightforward: Enki ejaculates sperm into the womb of Ninhursaga, She received the sperm into her womb, the sperm of Enki.

The twofold change of names for Enki's female partner has given rise to the assumption that different goddesses were involved and that the sperm designed for Damgalnunna was received or removed by Ninhursaga so Kramer and Maier, and Alster. But there is nothing beyond the change of names, or rather epithets, to suggest that more than one goddess was meant. Her pregnancy, as befitting a goddess, is miraculously short, lasting only nine days. The delivery is also remarkably easy like butter, like oil' and she gives birth to a daughter, Ninnisiga, 'Lady Verdure', as Jacobsen calls her.

The next episode concerns Enki's continuous desire for any female who ventures into his territory, the marshland. The names of the goddesses change, but otherwise the text is repeated practically verbatim four times. The scene is always the same: Then we meet the same daughter, obviously nubile by now, by the riverbank, where Enki 'sticks out of the marshland'.

Kramer was puzzled by what Enki could be 'stretching out', but I think that this is a rather obvious reference to an erection. The sight of the lovely young girl in the marshes has produced an immediate effect on the god.


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We hear him speak about it to his confidant and minister Sumerian sukkal , Isimud. Isimud encourages Enki with a phrase full of double meanings and allusions, 13 impossible to translate in all its resonances. Literally, it means that 'alone he set foot in the boat. Then he lodged it on dry land'. With a favourable downstream wind blowing for my master A downstream wind is blowing! He has put one foot in the boat, May he not stay the other on dry land.

Then follows the full, if formulaic, description of their lovemaking: He embraced her, kissed her, Enki poured sperm into her womb, She received the sperm in her womb, the sperm of Enki. The set pattern could continue, but now Nintur, one of the names of Enki's original partner, intervenes and speaks to the beautiful Uttu with motherly advice.

Unfortunately, the passage is very damaged and the details of her speech are lost. However, there is a literary parallel in Enlil and Ninlil, where Nunsebargunu warns Ninlil to beware of the riverbank where the god here Enlil will see and desire her; he will make her pregnant and leave her. In this text, all that is preserved is Nintur telling Uttu that there is somebody in the marshes; 16 it is Enki lines who 'sticks out' in the marshes. The implications for a young girl are clear: After a gap in the text, somebody, probably Uttu, asks for gifts; they are highly symbolic ones; some fruits, especially apples, were appreciated for their aphrodisiac qualities.

This is the first time that Enki's desire is frustrated. Instead of making love to Uttu straightaway, he has to bring her gifts. For the second time he fills the ditches with water, fills up The canals. An actual gardener is introduced at this point, who is delighted by Enki's efforts. Enki orders him to bring the fruit, which he lays in his 'lap', 19 and approaches the house of Uttu. He tells her that he is the gardener and has brought cucumbers, apples and grapes, 'for your "so be it'".

Uttu, 'full of joy', opens the door and Enki presents her with his gifts and pours out a 'large measure of beer' line At last he is able to take her in his arms: But instead of ending in yet another pregnancy, Uttu, 'the seductive woman' calls out: It somehow got into the ground, as eight plants, each one named separately, emerge lines The text is badly preserved, but no doubt the names have some bearing on the content. So although Uttu failed to become pregnant, Enki's sperm is still fertile.

At the next scene, Enki is back in the marshes, 'sticking out'. He perceives the plants, which, like his daughters before, have now grown, and again he is overcome with desire and curiosity. He asks Isimud to name the plants and then proceeds to eat them one by one. This so enrages Ninhursaga that she curses Enki, threatening that she will 'not look on him with the eye of life' until he is dead. The gods are worried and it is only through the mediating offices of a fox that Ninhursaga is persuaded to cure Enki from his affliction.

The details of the fox's mission and the possible rituals for removing the curse are missing. Ninhursaga then takes Enki, places him in her vagina and asks him where he hurts. For each affected limb she gives birth to a deity, four males and four females, and their names correspond phonetically to the different ailing parts of Enki's body.

The text ends with a 'decreeing of fate' — each deity is assigned a function, the last one is Enzag, the Lord of Dilmun, and the final doxology is 'Praise to Father Enki'. It would go far beyond the scope of this study to enumerate all the propositions about Enki and Ninhursaga; I have selected those which regarded sexuality as its salient feature. The scene with Uttu and the gardener, for instance, he relates to the extension of irrigation beyond the natural area of inundation into the desert fringes and he emphasizes the aetiological aspect of the text.

Alster took up the subject of irregular sexual behaviour and applied it to all the scenes of the text that describe intercourse. In this way he detected a series of 'unnatural' acts: He saw Enki's illness as a pregnancy from which he can only be successfully delivered by Ninhursaga placing him into her own womb.

He concluded that 'only after the first male god became pregnant with himself and gave birth like a woman could other males come into being, and the continuous sequence of incest relations be broken'. But like Alster he considered the establishment of exogamous marriage as the main theme of the composition. Jacobsen in his last translation a refrained from any overall interpretation and remarked that the story was probably intended to entertain and flatter visiting dignitaries to Ur from Dilmun and emphasized their 'sailor's robust sense of humour'. Like Alster, he noticed the motif of male womb-envy and believed that Enki became pregnant and suffered because he was unable to give birth himself.

Even the measured approach of Kramer and Maier , which underlines that Ninhursaga's anger was caused by the eating of the plants, contends that it was the series of sexual acts that 'wellnigh caused his death' ibid.: I shall not try to formulate an 'interpretation' that accounts for all the motifs of this composition. There are still too many passages that remain beyond my comprehension linguistically or are just too damaged. But the observations by Jacobsen and Kramer and Maier, that it might in parts be satirical, seem worth pursuing.

Jacobsen mentioned the 'sailors of Dilmun' and their hypothetically 'rough sense of humour'; he imagined the work to have been recited at the court of Ur. But it was fairly well distributed as a text, judging from the different versions and fragments that have come down to us, which proves that it was admired as a work of literature. We have now reached a stage in the study of Sumerian at which we are able to recognize a few puns the names of the plants, for instance, or the eight deities born from them.

But we lack knowledge about the so-called extra-textual framework, the social customs, the allusions to actual people and events, within which most humour operates. Faced with these limitations, I can only take stock of what I think is humorous, taking into account what we know about the literary protagonists. As this narrative is to a considerable extent concerned with sex, a prime target for humour see also Lacan's phrase: It might be useful here to refer to a short Sumerian tale, 'The Fowler and his Wife', recently re-edited by Alster One of the several preserved versions goes like this: His wife spoke to him at the door to the bed-room: Fowler, let your net be drawn up, let not your net The double entendre permeating these lines was already perceived by Diakonoff private communication to Alster, quoted in Alster and Michalowski The wife complains that, owing to a surfeit of beer, the fowler is unable to do his professional job properly, but as she says it 'at the entrance to the bed-room', her words take on another level meaning, which makes her criticism of his performance as 'fowler' also hold good for his lack of success as a lover — the little swamp drying up is an obvious reference to her neglected vulva.

The whirlwind is often invoked in potency incantation, and the 'rising' of the raven, a most useless bird to be caught, points to the desired effect of the fowler's phallus and, at the same time, the proper professional course of action to take. This composition is a good example of the witty anecdote, sometimes with a moral warning here probably against intoxication , that was so popular in Sumer as to acquire proverbial status.

As a work of literature it obviously does not bear comparison with Enki and Ninhursaga, but it reveals how much the Sumerian audience appreciated cleverly camouflaged sexual innuendo and how much the imagery of the swamp and its activities were associated with sex.

I have pointed out some of these absurdities in my synopsis, such as the description of Dilmun lacking water, Enki's constant display of his phallus, the significance of the fruit, the glut of sperm all over Uttu, the lewd comments of Isimud, the appearance of the fox, well known from popular proverbs and fables as a clever fixer etc. The principle source of merriment is the priapic state of Enki, 'sticking out of the marshes', as the text repeatedly puts it. Strong sexual urges lead to excessive libido.

This in itself is hilarious to observe, and most antique as well as modern comedy is based on this principle.


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    4. In the grip of desire, the 'wise' Enki becomes a fool; he forgets to provide 'water' for the city; he does not recognize his own offspring, or the trap the mother- goddess sets for him when she frustrates his immediate satisfaction; all he thinks about is sex — even the consumption of the plants is a form of sexual greed.

    To say nothing of the humiliation of being at the mercy of the Wife and having to borrow her sexual equipment to rid himself of this painful progeny. The successful delivery of the eight deities, and the various clever aetiologies they embody, is already the anticlimax, the restoration of 'normality' — the joke is over. Male gods are being born, normal marriage prevails, etc. This does all happen after the outrageously phallic rather than amoral activities of Enki. One reason why such a 'reading' is not improbable is a purely linguistic one that I have referred to several times, but which seems to me to be fundamental for the development of Enki's literary personality, the double meaning of the Sumerian sign a, denoting 'sperm' as well as 'water'.

    In this composition, the two levels of meaning constantly refer back to each other; the whole framework of the story is built on this ambiguous symbol. It takes place in Dilmun. Dilmun is famous for its abundant water. If Enki is also in Dilmun, he naturally is the source of all this bounty; his own 'springs' are full of fluid, hence the irrepressible urge to ejaculate. The debate whether he filled the 'ditches' with 'water' or a 'glut of semen' is rendered futile by this observation: It is not primarily a question of how important irrigation and water supply were for the Mesopotamians that was all taken for granted , but how, given that there is this connection with seminal fluid and water, this can be funny, or problematic, or both.

    Another reason for adopting such a reading is the time of composition, the time of the Third Dynasty of Ur. Doubtless, the author made use of other sources, probably much older ones, but he turned them into a typical product of an age that admired wit, style and a certain 'raciness' in a literary composition Rosengarten ; also Jacobsen a. We do not get the impression of great religious intensity. A work such as Enki and Ninhursaga therefore makes no sense as a 'myth' or a deeply significant theological treatise. Kramer and Maier admitted that 'none of the currently known Sumerian theological credos or myths Another point worth raising is Enki's 'trickster'-like personality that I have alluded to before.

    On the subject of the Huichol god Kauyumari, Barbara Myerhoff He is an inexhaustible source of humour and entertainment and in his own way regarded responsible for several important Huichol characteristics and practices. There remains the dramatic climax of the story, the threat to Enki's existence. Are we to take this seriously? I have pointed out above that Enki's humiliation by Ninhursaga marks the high point of the comic situation that develops over many separate incidents.

    However, in these lines, when Enki's life is in serious danger, the gods, who have so far kept out of the story, make an appearance. They 'sit in the dust' line , a well-known gesture of despair, until the Fox brings about the appeasement of Ninhursaga's anger. They are, then, instrumental in removing the curse by some ritual. This is the deus ex machina solution to Enki's threatened doom, and it occurs where comedy is on the verge of turning into tragedy. But because Enki is one of the major deities of the Sumerian pantheon, his disappearance cannot be condoned. It brings to mind another composition, which in many ways is not dissimilar to Enki and Ninhursaga, namely The Descent of Inanna to the Underworld, where the goddess of sexuality is resuscitated from death.

    If she were to remain in the Underworld, there 'would be no reproduction on earth, and likewise without Enki there would be no more a, the source of all life. It is no coincidence that it is Enki, alone among all major gods, who contrives to rescue Inanna! The reasons why Ninhursaga was in a position to threaten Enki are never clearly stated.

    Nowhere does she utter a reprimand or judgement on his actions towards his daughters; she only intervenes three times: I do not believe that incest or rape has anything to do with her anger; it is more likely his untoward assumption of responsibility regarding the plants — she remember that she represents Earth considers them as belonging to her domain. So is there no hubris in Enki's behaviour apart from the comical exaggeration of his sex drive?

    Enki allows himself to be manipulated by the young and voluptuous goddess, who uses his infatuation to her own ends — Uttu receives the fruit — and likewise Ninhursaga gains control over his life. After all, the game of love was usually played by the woman see p. But as it is primarily concerned with conception and fertility it fits in well with the narratives studied so far. It is set in the city of Nippur, the traditional seat of Enlil. There are various explicit references to actual localities in Nippur, such as canals, wells, parts of the temple area and especially gates.

    This makes it likely that it may have been used in some ritual procedures Behrens The framework of the plot is to some extent a coming-of-age scenario, which describes the transition of the main characters from adolescence to full adulthood. The protagonists are introduced in the beginning of the text by age-classifications: Enlil is its adolescent boy gurus, tur , Ninlil its adolescent girl ki. He will make love to you and when he has happily filled your womb with fertile semen, he will leave you. Enlil is her male counterpart, the prototypical gurus, tur, a young unmarried male.

    When he first sets eyes on Ninlil by the canal, he makes no secret of his intentions: Enlil is not easily discouraged. He tells Nusku that he desires to make love to 'this beautiful and shapely girl', who has not yet had sex with anyone.

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    The following passage also has a reference to a boat-like thing, 'a big one and a little one'. This is generally understood as Nusku providing Enlil with a raft or similar conveyance, which would allow him to achieve his aim. They seize Enlil, who is wandering about there, and tell him that he has to leave the city because he has become u-zug, 'impure'.

    She is determined not to let him escape. Enlil is aware of her pursuit and tries to hide his whereabouts. His motives for doing so are less clear. At any case, he instructs the man in charge of one of the city gates" not to disclose his presence to Ninlil. The goddess does indeed ask the man for Enlil but he gives an evasive answer.

    Then Ninlil draws herself up and speaks out: As Enlil is your master, so am I also your mistress! According to Jacobsen a: The following line makes the situation clear: Enlil lay down in the bed chamber in place of the man of the city- gate' 88 and there makes love to Ninlil again, ejaculating the semen of Nergal-Meslamta'ee into her womb. Enlil leaves, followed by Ninlil, and each time he makes love to her in the guise of an official in charge of a particular locality in and around Nippur.

    The text then ends quite abruptly with a paean to the fertilizing powers of Enlil and praises Ninlil as the mother and nin 'queen' the female equivalent of Enlil. Commentators on this work have mainly concentrated on the reasons for Enlil's banishment and the rationale behind the successive impregnations. Like Kirk, he linked the conception of several sons to fertility. The goddess Ninlil has received considerably less attention, and then primarily as a passive character in Enlil's story, the recipient of male sexual violence. For Jacobsen she is intrinsically bound to Enlil by virtue of sharing the same natural phenomenon, the wind lil on the basis of a doubtful etymology.

    He also mentions the 'all- engrossing craving for a child' as the motive for her actions. Behrens has drawn attention to the final doxology, which praises 'Father Enlil' and 'Mother Ninlil'. In Enki and the World Order and Enki and Ninhursaga it was employed to make use of the full semantic possibilities of this sign, and, especially in the latter text, there is a persistent double meaning of 'water' and 'sperm'.

    Enki and Ninmah shifts the emphasis to the procreational aspect when it describes the role of the male in conception. The same happens in Enlil and Ninlil. However, the locale is not a mythical place, but the city of Nippur, and sexuality is seen in a social context. The characters are defined by age-categories. Enlil and Ninlil are both tur, 'under-age', 'immature', at the beginning. With the onset of her menstruation, Ninlil needs to undergo purification in the 'pure canal'.

    Biologically she is now ready to bear children, although she is warned not to engage in intercourse without a formalization of her relationship with the man, as, so her mother tells her, he will leave her to fend for herself. Enlil's transition into manhood seems here to be achieved by his ability to impregnate. Having conceived his sperm, Ninlil will eventually give birth to the moon-god. This is the biological pattern of events that we found described in the cosmogonic sections of Enki and Ninmah.

    But as this narrative is set in a city, where social constraints operate against spontaneous procreation, the situation becomes complicated. Enlil's impetuous impregnation is punished by his temporary removal from the city. Ninlil is not to follow him. On the surface, Ninlil pursues Enlil because she does not want him to escape, as her mother had predicted. She wants him to marry her. She is, one might say, after the Phallus — as the means to provide status and power. And she does indeed receive three more doses of Enlil's sperm.

    This allows her to prove her own capacity for conception — to be pregnant with four sons at the same time is a considerable achievement.

    Sex and Eroticism in Mesopotamian Literature

    The final result is described in the doxology: Enlil is hailed as 'lord' en and 'king' lugal of heaven and earth, who is almighty, whose word is unalterable and who produces abundance. He is confirmed as the supreme deity of Nippur. Ninlil, as we know, became his wife. At the end both are hailed as 'Father' and 'Mother'. They have achieved the transition from the socially powerless state of being tur to full adulthood and the top position in the city's hierarchy through their reproductive efficiency and tenacity.

    It is instructive to set this text in relation to another composition known as Enlil and Sud Civil , Wilcke This also concerns Enlil and a young goddess. But she does not allow him to engage in a conversation and goes straight back to her mother's house. Enlil then sends his envoy Nusku to her mother, with a proposal and the obligatory engagement presents, and thereby wins the hand of Sud in the most traditional manner.

    Afterwards Enlil assigns her divine functions. This text portrays the girl as behaving in a restrained manner, winning Enlil's hand with her reticence, rather than her acquiescence. NinliPs behaviour is different. She wins her man and her position because of her fertility and she offers Enlil a chance to prove his manhood. On the subject of eroticism, neither work has much to say. Ninlil speaks at first as a barely nubile girl who does not, as yet, exult in her sexuality. On the contrary, she is doubtful of her ability to have proper intercourse.

    Sex and Eroticism in Mesopotamian Literature - Dr Gwendolyn Leick, Gwendolyn Leick - Google Книги

    Enlil's reaction is described in the usual mechanical manner, as the result of seeing a beautiful and presumably naked woman. He follows the urge and makes love, ejaculating into her womb. The lovemaking is seen as an expedient to conceive further gods, rather than a situation of intimacy, although the fact that Ninlil has intercourse with apparently three different men adds a touch of frivolity. Sud and Ninlil both use their physical attraction to obtain their position. One behaves in the respectable manner and allows her mother to marry her off on advantageous terms, the other takes risks and shows herself worthy of her exalted position because of her intelligence and fertility, although Enlil's role as the provider of sperm is stressed.

    Enlil's behaviour in Enlil and Sud is more in keeping with his character as the supreme god of Sumer, whereas in the story of Ninlil he resembles licentious Enki. This may have been a deliberate parallel, especially with regard to the possible ritual background of the Tummal celebrations Behrens In this context Enlil is the local god of Nippur and thereby involved in local fertility rites, which seem to make use of the reed- bed symbolism. This may also explain the impetuous urge of Enlil, who thereby personifies the sexual ambience of the marshes. Both stories, although Enlil and Ninlil more so, raise the question of virginity, or the value placed on virginity.

    It is said explicitly that Ninlil had not yet had sex with anyone, and she herself does not acknowledge the reality of her biological nubility. The legal texts show clearly that defloration, especially of a free girl, was a serious offence 'against the property of another person', specifically the girl's father or her betrothed future husband Finkelstein In Sumerian times it was sanctioned by forcing the man to marry the girl.

    But there is no actual word that denotes our concept of virginity; it could only be expressed negatively, as the absence of sexual experience. In a singular, mythical compression, the goddess experiences the crossing of several biological as well as social boundaries. Significantly, this does not evolve any social ritualization for the divine protagonists, but it leaves open the possibility that the Tummal rituals may also have had some connection with rites of passage.

    Is this statement applicable to the presentation of masculine sexuality in Sumerian literature in general?

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    Let us begin with the last item, reproduction. We have seen that the myth of Enki and Ninmah encapsulated the Mesopotamian theory of conception. But it was described in many other texts, as in this passage from a ritual for successful childbirth: The fine bull in the pure stall, in the pure fold, has mounted this cow , has deposited in her womb the rightful seed of mankind. The male is responsible for the fertilization, the woman provides the environment for the foetus' growth and finally gives birth 'out of her womb'. The fertilizing power of sperm is one of the key topics in Enki and Ninhursaga and Enlil and Ninlil.

    In both these myths, the male protagonists, typically young, vigorous gods, achieve impregnation with each orgasm. These acts prove their maleness and the biological, procreative function of copulation is thereby strongly emphasized. On a mythological level, the divine semen has generative or irrigational powers when the recipient happens not to be a woman: Enki's seed thrown on the ground produces plants; he fills the Tigris and Euphrates, as well as the springs of Dilmun with water.

    Enlil is lauded as the 'Lord Abundance', 'who lets the grain grow', 2 surely a reference to his fertilizing power. A hymn to Enlil also makes a connection between him and the fecundity of animals: Without Enlil, the Great Mountain The description of the sexual acts which precede the successful impregnation is rather summarily treated with a typical sequence of events. The young male god sees a young female and desires to kiss her and copulate with her.

    Apart from the fact that the ambience of the reed-grown riverbanks or of the marshes is as such highly conducive to amorous adventure, it is the sight of female nudity which triggers the overwhelming sexual attraction. When Enlil meets Sud on the road, for instance, the situation is different, and Sud is safe from his ardour because it is a public space. In Enlil and Ninlil the subsequent series of impregnations with the disguised Enlil take place after he has been made to swear an oath, which seems to involve the touching of her genitals, an act he finds irresistibly arousing.

    He always begins by articulating his desire, either to his companion, Nusku, or to Isimud: But as these texts are primarily concerned with the male perspective, the girl's tacit compliance is taken for granted. The urgency of the masculine desire to impregnate is in keeping with its biological function and the myths underline the basic justification of the physical need. Enlil andNinlil also shows the constriction which society puts upon the procreative urge: In keeping with the male god's laconic verbal approach is the minimal attention given to amatory technique: The point of these myths is precisely not to dwell on erotic preliminaries and the enjoyment of the female partner, but to focus on the result, the impregnation.

    There is a much older Sumerian text from the archives of Abu Salabikh, dating from about the middle of the third millennium Jacobsen It concerns the love-affair between Lugalbanda and Ninsuna, who from later sources are known as the parents of Gilgames. The following is Jacobsen's provisional and very tentative translation: Cherub Ninsuna was lifting out baked beer bread confections. Cherub Ninsuna was very shrewd, she stayed awake And lay down at his feet. Wise Lugalbanda, passed his arm around Cherub Ninsuna Could not resist kissing her on the eyes Could not resist kissing her on the mouth Also taught her much love-making.

    A happy ending is to be expected. Jacobsen's translation of the few lines suggests the loving relationship of the couple her tentative advances and his tender response which leads to her initiation into lovemaking , but this may well be based on his own perception of an extremely difficult poetic text.

    On the other hand, considerate and loving treatment of the young bride, as being conducive to conjugal happiness, is often invoked in Sumerian Bridal Songs. But the comparative brusqueness in the myths of Enki and Enlil should not be taken as typical. As pointed out above, it is strictly in keeping with the reproductive function of the male.

    The concept of rape is inappropriate here since these myths are not concerned with social customs and institutions but portray the activities of deities in a world largely devoid of human regulations. They should not be taken as a reflection of Sumerian attitudes generally. We have evidence from legal texts that forcible intercourse inflicted upon a free woman was a punishable offence.