The World-Oldest Erotic Literature
by Akira Kato
March 2, 2001

The World-Oldest Erotic Literature, or How Woman Lost Her Equality

      Around 2000 B.C., Gilgamesh, the Assyrian ruler, had a recurring problem. Enkidu, a wild warlord, lived in the desert with his warlike bandits who, led by the barbarian leader, had harassed Assyria for quite some time. Gilgamesh desperately wanted to subdue the wild hero Enkidu. One day, therefore, he sent a captivating courtesan to reduce his enemy's strength.
      Naturally, this charming woman captivated the heart of the wild beast at once. The Epic of Gilgamesh described how Enkidu lost his power.

The lady of pleasure untied her loin-cloth       And spread her legs.       Enkidu took possession of her beauty.       For six days and seven nights       He made love with her.       When the beast had had enough of her charms       He once again turned his face toward his prey,       But now the gazelles fled before him,       And when Enkidu tried to pursue them       His knees failed him. He had become feeble,       And his strength was not as it had been.

      Even Alexander the Great read this epic. How did he react? I'll talk about it in another article (“Alexander the Great and his courtesans”).
      Supposedly, this epic first included erotic literature as part of poetic composition in the recorded history. But there existed another important piece, which prevailed before this epic.

The Story of Inanna

      The Sumerians, one of the first literate peoples, left some tablet fragments (written before 2300 B.C.) that provide a glimpse into their world view and sexual attitudes.
      Some of the clay tablets, fragments and seals tell us their fascinating stories, including the story of Inanna. Of all the Sumerian deities, Inanna remained the most revered for a long period. This goddess created the realm of love and procreation, and became a forerunner of Anath of Canaan, Isis of Egypt, and Ishtar of Babylonia—with whom she is sometimes identified.
      Inanna rejoiced in her sexuality. The story tells how “her vulva became wondrous when she leaned back against the apple tree”. Inanna herself spoke of making love with her consort—the shepherd Dumuzi.

He shaped my loins with his fair hands,       The shepherd Dumuzi filled my lap with cream and milk,       He stroked my pubic hair,       He watered my womb.       He laid his hands on my holy vulva.       He caressed me on the bed."             . . .       Bridegroom, let me caress you,       My precious caress is more savory than honey,       In the bedchamber, honey filled,       Let us enjoy your goodly beauty,       Lion, let me caress you,       My precious caress is more savory than honey.

      The sexual union of Inanna and Dumuzi became the prototype of the Sumerian custom of the “sacred marriage”, ritually performed at the New Year festival. This rite later became widespread in other societies—notably Babylon and Greece. In its Sumerian form, the high priestess, known as the Entu, would ceremonially mate with the high priest or king who personified the life force of the earth. The kings of Sumeria may have been sons, fathers and consorts of the high priestesses.
      As the representative of the goddess, the priestess would bestow her divine power through sexual union with the king, thereby making him fit to rule. In the ceremony, the priestess took the initiative. The god-king had to bring her offerings and await her pleasure. The people considered any child born of such a union half-human and half-divine. This ceremony supposedly guaranteed the renewed growth of all human, animal and plant life.
      Although primarily benevolent and merciful, Inanna appeared like a fierce, warlike goddess because of her lion-like power, with which she could confront dangerous forces and which gave her the ability to protect her followers from suffering.

The Sumerian women, judged from present-day standards, had little modesty about sex.

      Those tablets show that the Sumerians, by present-day Western standards, had little modesty about sex. In the context of the Inanna story, with its delight in the erotic encounter, this comes as no surprise. The pictographs of their early language depict the sexual parts to represent male and female while juxtaposing the two to show a married person.
      The importance attached to the goddess reflected the higher position (compared with that of the later generations) enjoyed by the women within society. Early in Sumerian times, as in both early Egypt and Crete, women took an active role in public life—far from being confined in their home. The women owned property and transacted business. The sisters and brothers equally inherited their family estates. A daughter, when she married, brought a dowry to her husband, but she could regain it in the event of a divorce.

Around 2300 B.C. the women lost her equality.

      Sometimes around 2300 B.C., all this began to change. The laws inscribed on the tablets changed and, as the status of women deteriorated, their menfolk took a more authoritarian role. A woman might still own property but she could no longer dispose of freely. Now she must first consult her husband and obtain his permission. This would have been unthinkable during the time when the worship of Inanna as giver and supporter of life remained paramount and women, as representatives of Inanna, accorded respect and social position. Naturally, both Inanna and other female Sumerian deities lost the high position they had once enjoyed.

By the time of the Code of Hammurabi, formulated between 1792 and 1750 B.C, the privilege of women had greatly eroded.

      As recorded on the tablets at this time, witchcraft and female adultery outnumbered all other crimes. According to the Code, the accused woman had to go through the harsh ordeal. The castigator submerged her into a river. If she survived the ordeal, she got absolved from any crime. Were she to drown, however, the judge considered this to be proof of her guilt. In Europe, women accused of witchcraft would take the same ordeal until the end of the medieval times.

The Epic of Gilgamesh served as the story of Adam and Eve.

      In the epic, Gilgamesh has a dream in which he foresees the arrival of a strange being whom he will embrace "like a wife", and soon after he meets Enkidu. Though playing an archfiend at first, Enkidu later becomes his friend.
      Both of them meet the goddess Ishtar, who offers to marry Gilgamesh, promising him untold delights. However, preferring his friend Enkidu, Gilgamesh rejects her advances in an insulting way, referring to her in derogatory terms.
      Enraged, Ishtar asks her father to create a heavenly bull to destroy the insolent hero. Both men kill the bull and Enkidu throws its organs into Ishtar's face.
      Given that myths tend to reflect aspects of the culture prevalent at the time, you may surmise that some foreign influence took away equality from the women. More than likely from the north came some hostile tribes who took a predominantly masculine way of thinking and established their customs in the region populated by the early-settled, goddess-worshiping people.
      Patriarchal values indeed increased in importance at this time, especially in the northern area of Sumeria known as Akkadia, later called Babylonia. As the archaeological evidence shows, the women in Sumeria had, by now, an inferior role. These Semitic tribes regarded women as the possession of the menfolk. The fathers and husbands had the power of life and death over their wives and daughters.
      Those people welcomed the birth of a son as a blessing but exposed an unwelcome baby girl to die. Not only was a daughter unable to inherit property but she could with impunity be sold into slavery by the men responsible for her. Needless to say, these people had no priestesses. This attitude would take an important role in the later development of Judaism.
      Soon, the masculine god Marduk appeared. Having killed the female god, he prevailed as the supreme creator of the world. And the people talked about an ancient tale of Gilgamesh, in which the sexually aggressive woman seduced Enkidu and made him powerless.
      “So beware of the wicked woman, otherwise ...”