c. 2030 BCE

What is now southern Iraq, about 2000 BCE. A woman speaks to a king and a goddess. The clay in the case is a later copy. The song is older.

What does desire want?

Man of my heart, my beloved man, your allure is a sweet thing, as sweet as honey.

Before the treatise, before the word we use, someone baked a voice into clay.

Lad of my heart, my beloved man, your allure is a sweet thing, as sweet as honey.

Someone held this while the clay was wet. A woman is speaking. She tells the king, Shu-Suen, that wanting him is as sweet as honey. The song is for Inana, a goddess of desire. The city was Nippur, in what is now southern Iraq. The tablet was baked, then copied centuries later. What you see is that copy, now in Istanbul. The number on the museum label is not on the clay.

A woman speaking.To the beloved.A king. A goddess. Honey on the line.