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Dance in Textual Sources from Ancient MesopotamiaAuthor(s): Uri GabbayReviewed work(s):Source: Near Eastern Archaeology, Vol. 66, No. 3, Dance in the Ancient World (Sep., 2003), pp.103-105Published by: The American Schools of Oriental ResearchStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3210912.

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a n c e n T e x t u a l S o u r c er o m A n c i e n t esopotamiaUri Gabbay

The textual ourcesromMesopotamia ortraydancebothas a private ctof spontaneousoyandplayand as aculticact performedn religious ituals.Its connectionwithsexualitycan beseenin a few passageswherethedanceofgirlsandwomen s mentionedn a sexual ontextandinpassagesdescribinghe cult dancesperformed ythecross-dressingersonnel f thegoddessshtar.The oyandvitality ssociated ithdancingsillustratedin a letter oKingAssurbanipalseventh entury CE)inwhich heAssyrian cholarAdad-shumu-usurescribesthereign fhiskingasa golden ra:A goodreign,righteous ays,yearsofjustice,plentifulrains, normousloods, goodmarketrice Thegodsareappeased, here s muchreverence f god,thetemplesabound; hegreatgodsof heavenandearthhavebeenexalted n the timeof theking,mylord Theoldmendance, heyoungmensing, hewomen ndthegirlsaremerry ndhappy;women remarriedndprovided ithrings,boysandgirlsarebroughtorth, hebirthshrive(translationdaptedromParpola993:178).Adad-shumu-usuroeson tomention heaidthat thekingbestows n hispeople,pointing utthathisownsonUrad-Gulahoweverhasnot benefitedromtheking's

beneficence.dad-shumu-usursks ora post orhimandexpresses wishthathe andhisson can behappyike herestofthe amiliesnthekingdom:We ooshould emerryanddancewithall thepeople, ndbless heking,my ord "In thisletter, he danceof old men is symbolicof theutopian nature of the king's reign. That dance wasconsidered joyful activityand indicativeof a happy,normal life, is further seen in the Old Babylonianversion of the Epic of Gilgamesh. Here, the hero,devastatedby the deathof hisfriend,Enkidu,travelsto the end of the worldseekingthe immortality hatwill sparehimfromthe samefate. On theshoreof thewaters that encirclethe world,he arrivesat a tavern.He tells the tavern-keeperof his sorrow and of hisfear of death.The tavern-keepernswershim:"OGilgamesh, here reyou wandering?Thelifethatyouseekyouneverwill ind:when hegodscreatedmankind,death heydispensedomankind,life theykept orthemselves.

Butyou, Gilgamesh,etyourbellybefull,enjoyyourself lwaysby dayandby nightMakemerry achday,danceandplaydayandnightLetyourclothesbeclean,letyourheadbewashed,mayyoubathe nwaterGazeonthechildwhoholds ourhand,letyourwifeenjoy ourrepeatedmbraceForsuch s thedestinyofmortalmen]"(George 999:124).

Gilgamesh'siminal tate-he is unbathed ndwearinganimal kins-is contrasted ith theblessingsf a mortallife,which ncludeamily, ood,enjoymentndcleanlinessInothercontexts, ancingwasa signof irresponsibilitanddisrespect,s in a letterdating o thefirsthalfof thesecondmillenniumBCE. n thisletter,Namram-sharurand the eldersof thecitywriteto Shapirini omplainingabout a certain woman: "The woman has greatlyaggravatedhematter.nadditionodancing bouteveryday,shehasslighted s greatlyby consistently ehavingthoughtlessly"citedn CAD R: 167s.v.raqadu).Elsewhere, ancings an actperformed y youngmenor women.TwoMesopotamianiteraryexts, hemythofNergal and Ereshkigal and a Sumerian love song,describehedanceofyounggirls.Althoughheverbusedin these wopassagesiterallymeans"play,"ts semanticrange ncludes anceas well.'Inthemythof NergalandEreshkigalfirstmillenniumBCE),hegodNergalenters heUnderworldnd becomesEreshkigal'sover,buthe laterescapesandgoes up toheaven. WhenEreshkigal,Queen of the Underworld,realizesthat her lover has escaped,she summonshermessenger,hegodNamtar,and ordershimto go up toheavenanddemand hatNergalreturn o bewithher ntheNetherworld.na dramaticpeech he tellsNamtar odeliver he ollowingmessageothegods n heaven:

Since wasa young irl,Ihavenotknownhedance fmaidens,Norhave knownhe rolic flittle irls[Thatgodwhom]yousentto me has lainwithme,lethim leepwithmeSendme[that ]od, hathemaybemyhusband,hathemay pendhenightwithme "(translationdaptedromFoster 996:424-25).

In an earlysecond-millenniumBCEcopyof a culticSumerian love song, the goddess Inanna tells of hermeetingwithherlover, hegodDumuzi.Afterhe takesher n his armsand embraces er, nannaaskshimto sether reeso thatshe cango backhome o hermother.But

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Dumuzi nstructsherto tellher mothera lieso that shemaynotfindout whereherdaughter asspenther time:Letmeteach ou, etmeteach ouInanna,etmeteach ou he iesofwomen:"My irlfriendasdancing ithme nthe quare,Sheranaround ithme,playinghe ambourine

and herecorder,Herchants, eingweet,he ang orme,Inrejoicing,weetness,passedheday herewithher"-Thisas a liedoyoupresentefore our wnmother.Asforus-let memake ove oyouby hemoonlight(lines13-20;Sefati 998:186)Bothpassages efer o danceas a natural nd naiveactperformed yyounggirls,yetat the sametime,bothareconnectedwithsexualitynd ntimacy. yjuxtaposingheinnocent ancing f younggirlswithadult exualactivity,bothpassages ortray ancewithsomeambiguity.As a partofcultic eremonies,anceplaysanespeciallyimportantole nthecultof Ishtar.nritual exts rom helate-firstmillennium CE, wefindtwoof Ishtar's ulticpersonnel, the assinnu and kurgarru,takingpart inperformances,ncludingecstatic maskeddancingandpossibly ross-dressing,spartof bothculticactivitiesntemples, ndof magicandhealing ctivities,where hesepersonnelhaveparticipatedn chasingawaydiseaseordemonicnfluencesrom hepatient see,withreferences,Maul 1992). Butdancingn Ishtar's ult was not limitedtothese pecial ersonnel.nanAkkadianmythbelongingto the irsthalfof the secondmillenniumCE,we hearofthegoddessSaltumwho confronts he aggressivewargoddess shtar, alledAgushayan thismyth.Inorder ocommemoratethe event, the god Ea commandsthepeople n the street to performa ceremony ncludingawhirl-dance which nAkkadian s a wordplayon thenameAgushaya), nd he tellsIshtar:

Let a whirling ance akeplace n the ... of theyear.Look bout t all thepeopleLet themdance n thestreet,Hear heir lamor(lines16-20;Foster 996:90).

These and otherreferences,whichare not citedhere,can shedsome ighton thesociologicalnd cultic ettingsof dancein ancientMesopotamia.As revealedby thetextual sources, dance was closely connected to theconceptsof "play" nd "frolic."tsperformancevokedjoy, vitalityandsexuality, nd couldalso be used n cultas a symbol f mythical vents.

Drawingof a cylinder-sealimpressionshowingdancers with a seated instructor.Earlycuneiform listsof professions include dancers in both the secular andreligiousspheres. Louvre Museum.Drawing byM.Matousova-Rajmova.After Kilmer 995: 2609).Note1. The verbused n thesepassagessmelulun Akkadian nde.ne-dug4nSumerian (glossed by Akkadianmelulu). Although the verb melululiterally means "play,"t can include the meaning "dance" n somecontexts (andnote the the sameroot is used for Hebrewmahol"whirl,dance"),see Landsberger 960: 119-20, n. 30). Note also the lexicalequationsof Sumerian .ne-di.diwith Akkadianraqadu("dance") ndsaru("whirl"),ndthe equationof meluluwith sdru(see CAD M/II:16,lexical section andAttinger 1993:471). Fora surveyof the Akkadianvocabularyordance,see Kilmer 1995:2609).ReferencesAttinger,P.1993 Elementsde linguistiquesumerienne.Fribourg:EditionsUniversitaires;6ttingen:Vandenhoeck ndRuprecht.CAD1956- TheAssyrian ictionaryftheOrientalnstituteftheUniversityof Chicago.Chicago:The Oriental nstituteof the Universityof Chicago.Foster,B.1996 BeforeheMuses:AnAnthologyfAkkadian iterature.econdedition.Bethesda,MD: CDL.GeorgeA.1999 TheEpicofGilgamesh.ewYork:Barnes& Noble.Kilmer,A. D.1995 Music and Dance in Ancient WesternAsia. Pp.2601-13 inCivilizations f the Ancient Near East, Vol. IV,edited by J.Sasson.New York: cribner's.Landsberger,.1960 Einigeunbekanntgebliebeneoderverkannte Nomina desAkkadischen.Wiener eitschriftir dieKunde esMorgenlande56: 109-29.Maul,S. M.1992 Kurgarru nd assinnuund ihr Stand in derbabylonischen

Gesellschaft.Pp. 159-71 in Aussenseiter ndRandgruppenBeitrdgeueinerSozialgeschichteesAltenOrients, ditedbyV.Haas. KonstanzerAlthistorischeVortageundVorschungen,32. Konstanz: niversitatsverlagonstanz.Parpola, .1993 LettersromAssyrian ndBabyloniancholars. tate ArchivesofAssyria,10. Helsinki:HelsinkiUniversity.Sefati,Y.1998 LoveSongsin SumerianLiterature:Critical Editionof theDumuzinanna ongs.RamatGan:BarIlanUniversity.

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H i t t i t e a n c eDancingwas alwaysan integralpartoflife orthe nhabitantsfAnatolia modemTurkey)and someof the earliest knownfigural representations, dating to theaceramicNeolithicperiod ca.8000-6300

BCE), areofdance. n theLateBronzeAge,dance was no less important,and of thedances hat heHittites,whoruledAnatoliain the latterhalf of thesecondmillenniumBCE,participatedn, somemust have hadtheirorigins eep nprehistory.he contextfordance n Hittite ources, oth extual ndiconographic,s invariablyultic:Weknownothingabout the roledancingmayhaveplayedndaily ifeamong hesmall armingcommunitiesftheAnatolian lateau.Despite the numerous occasions fordancingdescribed n the Hittite textualsources,the actualstepsthatmighthavebeenperformedredifficulto reconstruct.Onetextdescribes seriesofdance teps norder, utdoesnotgive hecontextn whichthe dance takesplace (deMartino 1995:2665). And whilewe knowother tylesofdancefromtheirnames,we do not knowwhat they might have looked like. Forexample,peopleare described s dancing"in he mannerof the townof Lahsan" r,moredescriptively,"in the mannerof aleopard,"he dancers ossibly rouchingrspringing. In one case, it is possible toreconstruct dance that is reminiscentffolk dances in the Mediterranean egiontoday,whichwas "executed ya groupofdancerswhopositionhemselvesnparallelrows or concentriccircles,and whofirstdance nplace,thencatchupwith the rowinfront"deMartino1995:2665).Bothmen and womendance n thetextsalthoughmenarementioned orerequently.Often the dancers were professionalperformers,lthoughther articipantsn theceremony mightalso be called upon todance. Certain religiousfunctionariesregularlyperformed n the cult. On twooccasions,heHittitequeendances; n oneofthese ccasionshedignitarieslsodance.The extensive vocabularly for dancesuggests hat dancemovements admanyvariations. Dancers are described asturningaround, bending, running andevenstanding n theirheadsor hands(deMartino1995:2665; Alp 2000: 52-53).Such acrobaticmovesare also attested ntheart;a reliefvasefoundin theregionofInandikdepictsa seriesof musiciansandperformers,woof whom arejumpingorturning omersaults.

The uppertier of the Hittite reliefvase from Inandik hows two acrobaticdancersperformingo the accompaniment f musicians.The other three tiers complete the visualreenactmentof a Hittite estival,perhapsa marriage.

Adancing eitymadeofivoryromTemple atHattushamodern oghazk6y),he Hittitecapital.MostHittite anceswereperformedefore hegodsor heroyalamily. eve 1993: ig.82).

Among hemostdistinctiveormsofHittitedance were mimeticperformances,wherecostumed dancers would engage in roleplaying. These mimes might involve re-enactinga hunt,orparticipatingn a mockbattleorwrestlingmatch.Re-enactmentsfthe huntwerea partof the cultof Teteshapi,goddess of wild nature, where, on oneoccasion, a hunter dances with a bow,pretending o shoot an arrowwhereuponanotherperformerressed s a bearwashesthefeet of theperformersnd thenperformsa dance(deMartino1995:2667).Music and dance ormthecoreof Hittiteprocessions,which were essential to thecelebrationfallHittiteestivals. spartoftheprocessionuringheKI.LAMestival, troopofdancersincludingnaked crobat)aradesbeforetheking. Imagesof wildanimals inpreciousmetalandsymbols f thehunt ollowthem.Although y heLateBronzeAgehuntingwas no longera regularpart of life on theplateau,heKI.LAMestival learlyelebratedaprehistoricradition here untingndculticperformanceerenextricablyinked.

-BJCSourcesAlp,S.2000 Song,Music,and Danceof Hittites.Ankara: Kavaklidere CulturalPublications.deMartino, .

1995 "Music,Dance, and Processions nHittite Anatolia." Pp. 2661-69 inCivilizationsftheAncientNearEast,edited by J. M. Sasson. New York:Scribner's.Neve, P1993 lattta: StadtderGotterundTempel.Mainz: on Zabern.Thisorthostat elief romKarkamishnddatingto ca. 700BCE hows he closerelationshipbetweenmusicanddanceamong he Neo-Hittites.The igureon the rightdances o theaccompanimentf the double lute andcastanetsplayedbythe two musicians esidehim.Such ateexamples upplementhe limitedvisual vidence or dance rom he HittiteEmpireperiod. ?The ArtArchive Museum of AnatolianCivilizations Dagli Orti.

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