Day 2: Dance and Love Songs in Mesopotamia

I was super excited to start my next day in Ninevah! I planned on learning some traditional Mesopotamian dances and listening to some original music. Dancing was a sacred and beautiful act in Mesopotamian culture. In fact, during times of happiness, the people were known to dance and sing for joy! In a letter sent to King Assurbanipal by Adad-Shumu-Usur, he said “he old men dance, the young men sing, the women and the girls are merry and happy” (Adad-Shumu-Usur, 7th century). This letter further proves the point of how dance was a joyful activity. Dance is still to this day, a sense of

joy and fun for people. I spent some time reading the lyrics to one of the first love songs, it was called The Myth of Negral and Ereshkigal. In the song, the god, Negral enters underworld and falls in love with Ereshkigal, Negral escapes and goes into heaven. In response to this, Ereshkigal sends her messenger to heaven to demand that Negral comes back. Here is a part of the song, “Send me [that g]od, that he may be my husband, that he may spend the night with me!"(Uri Gabbey, “Dance in Textual Sources from Ancient Mesopotamia). A majority of the love songs from this time period are usually told by young girls. It also embraces their sexuality. Dance performances were noted as ascraed and sensual act. Although its unknown the movements involved in the dance, it is still interesting to hear about the worlds first love song and its beautiful origins. During the same time frame, the Hitties were also dancing! Usually the dancers were professional performers and men were typically seen in the inscriuptions dancing. Along with this passage there is images of ancient inscriptions or deities. This was a successful secocnd day exploring the old world, cant wait to see what happens in my next trip!