statue therefore suggests a procession headed to Nippur, a city most likely selected for
the autumnal akitu-festival in the Protoliterate period because it was located at the very
center of Sumer. Such a role would account for Nippur’s later prominence as the
religious capital of Sumer. Hockmann’s second reading of the ring post next to the
lower figure as a component of the city sign of Zabalam (MUSˇ.UNUG) is questionable
because the ring post might only signify the thing itself; if he is correct, the procession
also stopped at Zabalam.
The middle register of the Uruk Vase can also be read as a continuous narrative.
Instead of a consecutive narrative about a file of anonymous priests transporting
offerings to the temple, it can be understood as a continuous narrative that depicts the
repeated actions of a single person. Marking the seasonal differentiation by depicting
the ruler in the nude as in the top register, the middle register portrays the ruler
working magically and tirelessly on behalf of his subjects to deliver a bountiful spring
harvest. Even in the Protoliterate, therefore, the festivities of the two akitu-festivals
appear to have promoted the power and ideology of the monarchy (cf. royal rituals as
historical phenomena, Winter 1992 : 16 – 17 ).
NEW TEXTUAL EVIDENCE
From the visual evidence, we learn that Sumerian artists depicted the Sacred Marriage
from different perspectives, some more literal than others. Texts also provide varied
perspectives, although only a few examples can be offered here. In the Debate Between
Hoe and Plow(Sjöberg and Bergmann 1969 : 186 , lines 24 ff.; Hallo 2005 : 155 ), the seed
plow brags that the ruler himself attends ezem-g ̆u 10 “my festival,” which is celebrated
in the autumn. At this festival, the ruler sacrifices animals; he has drums sounded; he
harnesses oxen and plows a symbolic furrow. The Sacred Marriage rite may have been
performed on this occasion because the festival also features the ruler pouring beer into
stone bur-containers (the number of bur-vessels is uncertain because the Sumerian
language does not make plurals out of non-person nouns) and then distributing the
contents in some manner. Other Sumerian texts, for instance Sˇulgi X(lines 52 – 54 , Klein
1981 : 194 f.) and Inanna and Enki(II iv 45 – 48 , Farber-Flügge 1973 : 52 , 89 ), describe a
similar kasˇ de 2 – a“beer pouring ritual” performed by the ruler at a festival setting in
Uruk. After a ceremonial boat trip to Uruk-Kullab, the area of the Anu ziggurat, the
ruler proceeds to the Gipar in the Eanna precinct, where he again libates beer into
stone bur-containers, sacrifices animals, and has the drums sounded. These descrip-
tions can be understood as presenting a more situated view of the libation ceremony,
enabling us to step back from the immediacy of the love songs and view the symbolic
marriage as one of many ritual duties performed by the ruler at the akitu-festival.
Some “outsider” compositions, namely, texts that have seemed out of place in scribal
groupings, make better sense as literal references to the Sacred Marriage. One notorious
“outsider” is Ninkasi A(= ETCSL Balbale to Bau;Civil 1964 ), an ode to brewing and
the beer goddess, which is included on two composite tablets of Inanna-Dumuzi songs.
Lines 23 – 25 , which allude to the ruler sexually pleasuring Inanna, hint that Ninkasi A
is more than a simple drinking song. Nevertheless, the inclusion of a song about beer
in the corpus of Sacred Marriage liturgies has been puzzling, causing Steve Tinney
( 2000 : 25 ) to propose an unknown connection. Cross-referencing Ninkasi Awith other
texts that juxtapose beer and Inanna suggests that the hymn celebrates the preparation
–– The Sumerian sacred marriage ––