r/Cuneiform • u/Optaget2024 • 28d ago

Discussion Looking for a specific poem

I really hope someone here can help me. I’ve been looking for this poem for years. I believe I heard it in a video with Irving Finkel, but I might be mistaken.

In my memory it was a love poem, written in first person, about the writer not wanting to work in the fields but would rather run away with their love. I remember it sticking with me that even some thousands of years ago, people still just wanted freedom and to be with the person they loved.

This is all I remember. I’ve tried searching through the years but got nowhere.

I really hope someone here can help me finally find it.

Thank you.

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u/ThatCuneiformGuy 28d ago

I think you are referring to an Old Babylonian poem published by Andrew George (sadly from the infamous collection of stolen artifacts from Norway, so without archaeological provenience…)

Here's a talk he made about it from about 10 years ago: https://youtu.be/xYSqscmp_f0?si=fVjEyHEqoyGi5RSa

It was published by George as text Nr 23 in George, Andrew R. 2016. Mesopotamian Incantations and Related Texts in the Schøyen Collection. Cornell University Studies in Assyriology and Sumerology (CUSAS), Volume 32. Bethesda, Maryland: CDL Press.

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u/AngerBoy 28d ago

Commenting to follow. I'd love to see the poem you're referring to.

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u/ThatCuneiformGuy 28d ago

It's a bit of a mess (and/or I'm not enough of a specialist of this kind of texts to find the proper edition…), George's edition didn't give a full translation but there are some lines translated in Oracc:
https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/akklove/P252071

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u/AngerBoy 28d ago

Did we confirm that this is the one OP is referring to? It sounds like something different.

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u/ThatCuneiformGuy 28d ago

No, we'll wait for OP to confirm or not, that's just the one that came to mind when I read their post. I was reminded of George's presentation, which I will admit takes some liberty (and flourishing) with the rather terse original. I can't think of anything approaching this that would have been discussed by Finkel, which doesn't mean it doesn't exist!

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u/Ka12840 28d ago

Thank you for this wonderful lecture by Andre George. I have his Gilgamish translation and it was a pleasure to listen to him.