These are three cuneiform tablets from the Sumerian city of Shuruppak
(modern Fara, Iraq). They are dated in the Early Dynastic IIIa period, 2600 – 2500
BC.
Sumerian "known prostitutes"
At first glance, these tablets seem unimportant. They are Sumerian
“administration tablets” that were used for accounting purposes. As such, the
tablets are similar to thousands of other Sumerian tablets (a cuneiform tablet
is not as rare as most people think).
Generally, administration tablets are deadly dull to read.
It’s like reading account ledgers. But these three tablets hold a few
surprises.
The tablets record the distribution of rations (wages) to
various workers. Among other commodities, most of the workers receive a
standard issue ration of grain. The grain is measured in 2 large barig units
and 4 smaller ban2 units.
It's a very eclectic group of workers, including one (or
more) of the following occupations: administrator, barber, carpenter, cook (and
head cook), cup-bearer, doctor, farmer, felter, herald, lamentation singer, land recorder,
leather worker, maltster, merchant, midwife, musician, official (and high
official), priestess, scribe, secretary, household steward, stone cutter, servant/slave, and weaver.
There are eight workers who are listed as šubur (see Footnote 1 on a separate page) meaning either a servant or a slave.
2 barig and 4 ban (grain units for the) servant/slave
These tablets are important because they have
the world’s first written reference to prostitutes (seven of them, in fact).
Not only is this among the first times in history that the word “prostitute” is
written, but the tablets actually refer to the prostitutes by name. Their names
are written down and their profession is listed as “prostitute.” To use the modern vernacular, each woman is a “known prostitute.” Now we know the names of
the first professional prostitutes in recorded history.
The name of one prostitute is heavily damaged and cannot be
read. This leaves a total of six women.
In alphabetic order, the women are: An-ama-gu, An-mu-da, Igi-gun, Nin-gu-gal, Nin-men, and Nin-ni-gi. (2)
The
Sumerian word for prostitute is kar-kid3. A professional prostitute is
designated as geme2-kar-kid3.
Geme2
means “a female worker, servant, or slave.” It denotes a professional status.
A known Sumerian prostitute:
An-mu-da
The upper corner of this tablet shows the record for An-mu-da receiving her rations of grain.
Notice that the scribe wrote the signs out of order. He wrote
kid3-kar instead of kar-kid3. A scribe didn’t always bother to keep the signs
in the proper sequence. He often wrote them to best fit within the space provided,
without worrying too much about the niceties of correct spelling. He just threw
the signs in a box and expected the reader to sort them out. This was a common practice
in early Sumerian writing. It is one of the many reasons why the language is so
incredibly difficult to translate.
Fortunately, after the ED III period, the Sumerian scribes
became more conscientious about keeping the signs in the correct order.
Five more Sumerian prostitutes:
We have already met An-mu-da. Here are the names of the other five prostitutes that are listed on the tablets:
An-ama-gu10
Needless to say, the numeric subscript of a sign is not
pronounced when the word is said aloud.
Igi-gun3
Nin-gu2-gal
On the front of the tablet, Nin-gu-gal receives a standard grain ration of 2barig 4ban units. On the reverse side, she receives an identical
grain ration (!). Did she get back in line? Is she “double dipping”? In both
instances she is clearly identified as a prostitute, so it’s not like she’s
fooling anyone. Perhaps there's a mundane explanation for the extra rations (back wages?) but there seems to be something else going on here. Did the
scribe who recorded the transactions let her get extra food? Or did his supervisor let her do it? Is the food a gift, or was something expected in return? (3)
Nin-me-en
Two adjacent vowels are pronounced as one, so me-en is pronounced
as “men.”
There’s something very surprising about Nin-men, as we shall soon discover.
The record of Nin-men’s grain ration occurs sequentially
right after the record for An-mu-da. That means Nin-men and An-mu-da were standing
in line right next to each other while they waited for their rations.
This is how the signs look on the tablet. Notice that the
signs are written out of order, in both her name (Nin-gi-ni) and her profession
(kar-kid3-geme2).
The first known prostitute in world history:
All of the women listed above are "known prostitutes," but is it possible to pick just one as the absolute first prostitute known to history?
This "honor" belongs to the first woman listed on the tablet that was written the earliest. Unfortunately, none of the tablets have a date. We know they belong within the 100 years of the ED IIIa period, but that's a very wide range.
Fortunately, we do know that all three tablets are contemporary to each other. They were written within a span of a few years, or most probably within the same year.
That's because there are many names in common on the three tablets. I did a quick count and came up with a partial list of 18 names that match on any two or all three of the tablets including five ugulas (overseers).
Even so, the fact that the tablets are not dated means we cannot pick out the world's first prostitute in recorded history. The name of the prostitute on one tablet is damaged and cannot be read, so we will have to settle for a two-way tie, with the names written first on the other two tablets.
They are: An-mu-da and Nin-ni-gi. These are the first prostitutes known to history,
However, the fact that the tablets are closely
contemporary to each other tells us something very interesting about the seven women: They lived in the same city, they were in the same
profession, and they received rations from the same facility (either a
temple or a government warehouse). This means all the prostitutes no
doubt knew each other. They may have been friends, perhaps rivals, and some of them probably
worked together.
One tablet tells us that An-mu-da and Nin-men were standing in line right next to each other while waiting for their gran rations. On another tablet, Nin-ni-gi, Nin-gu-gal, Igi-gun, and An-ama-gu were all standing in the same line. On a third tablet, An-ama-gu shows up again with two other prostitutes (5).
I believe they all knew each other. As the outcasts of society, prostitutes are their own little community. Through their shared experiences (and hardships) they tend to bond most closely with each other.
Remember when I said there is something surprising about Nin-men?
The pound sign “#” means that a Sumerian sign is damaged but
still readable. The exclamation point “!” usually indicates a scribal error, like an incorrect word or a miswritten sign.
Occasionally, the exclamation point indicates
surprise on the part of the translator. This is certainly the case here. It’s
like he’s saying, “Damn! Look at that!”
This is because dam
is actually the Sumerian word for “spouse.” It means that Nin-men, the prostitute,
is married! This is shocking enough to begin with, but there’s more.
The
husband is listed as šim-mu2 (pronounced as “Shimu”). It’s not quite clear if
that is his name or his profession (6). Šim-mu2 is defined
as a “perfumer,” so perhaps Nin-men married a man who made perfume. Šim-mu2
also occurs in later Babylonian texts as a translation of the Akkadian word ašīpu, meaning “an incantation priest, sorcerer, magician, or
dream interpreter” (all Sumerian signs have multiple meanings).
Now there’s an interesting couple, a prostitute
married to a sorcerer/magician.
However, we must not over romanticize this union. As we will see, Shimu is
no magic man.
I’m inclined to believe that Shimu is the man’s name, not
his profession.
Besides that, I don’t think Shimu was anything glamorous like
a sorcerer or a magician, or even a perfumer or an incantation priest. It speaks
volumes about Shimu’s character that his wife is still a prostitute even
after their marriage. He kept his wife in prostitution and he thus benefited
from the money she made by selling her body to strangers. What kind of man would do such a thing? This tells us everything we need to know about Shimu’s
character.
Usually, when a prostitute gets married, she becomes an ex-prostitute. For her, that’s the whole
point of the operation. So why is Nin-men still a prostitute?
And what happened to the money she made by prostituting
herself?
Legally,
the husband has control over the finances, so Shimu directly benefited from his wife’s
prostitution.
I
suggest that so far as husbands go, Shimu is the lowest of the low.
But wait, there’s more!
2 barig units for A-lal3
wife of Šim-mu2
2 barig units for An-ama#-gu10
This
tablet tells us that Shimu is also married to a woman named A-lal (!) And standing right beside her is An-ama-gu (!!) Their rations were recorded consecutively. Remember, An-ama-gu is a known prostitute. This strongly
suggests that A-lal is also a prostitute (!!!).
An-ama-gu
I bet you didn't see that one coming.
On this tablet, A-lal isn't officially labeled as a
prostitute, but this particular tablet doesn't usually list a person's profession (An-ama-gu isn't labeled as a prostitute either).
However, A-lal is in the company of a known prostitute and she is
wedded to a man who married another prostitute. I therefore suggest that
if A-lal isn’t already a prostitute, she soon will be.
We don’t know for certain which woman Shimu married first.
Was it Nin-men or A-lal? Had one of them died, or been divorced?
It’s also possible that Shimu was married to both women
simultaneously. Polygamy was sometimes practiced in ancient Sumer, so it’s entirely possible that Shimu was married to both
women at the same time.
However, there are a couple of problems with this
assumption. First, there’s a specific word for a secondary wife (usar) but this
word isn’t used, it’s just dam, “a wife.” Second, polygamy (maintaining two or
more wives) is an expensive habit, so it was usually reserved for rich merchants
and members of the nobility. We know that Shimu, with at least one wife in
prostitution, was neither rich nor noble. Nonetheless, it's still possible that Shimu is married to both women at the same time. Remember, these tablets were probably written within the same year.
It’s also possible that "Shimu" is actually two
different men with the same name. But… really? Two different men named Shimu consorting with known prostitutes? And marrying them? I’m not buying it. It's the same Shimu, there’s no question about it.
Shimu
I tried to give Shimu the benefit of the doubt. I thought,
“Perhaps after the death of his beloved wife A-lal, Shimu married her dearest
friend, Nin-men, and they comforted each other during their loss.” Or perhaps Shimu
was a decent man who married “the prostitute with a heart of gold” (Nin-men). Or
something like that. I wanted to believe it.
Then I remembered that Nin-men was
still a prostitute after she married Shimu. There’s just no getting around
that one central fact. Again, this tells us everything we need to know about
Shimu.
With one, and probably two wives in prostitution, Shimu is a
very unsavory character. It would be difficult to find another man in history
who married an active prostitute that continued to practice her profession
after her marriage. It would be doubly difficult to find a man who married two prostitutes (either consecutively or simultaneously).
A woman of Diqdiqqeh
I’m beginning to doubt the validity of these so-called
marriages. I'm thinking they are sham marriages. Perhaps each marriage was a
pretense that the women willing agreed to, for their own personal reasons. Maybe
Shimu promised to make “honest women” of them. If this is what Nin-men
thought, she was sorely mistaken, because her prostitution continued after her
marriage. In any case, I believe Shimu “married” these women (legitimately or
not) so he could use them.
Again, what kind of man would do such a thing?
I’ll tell you what kind of man – a pimp. That kind of
man.
Shimu had two wives in prostitution, and he lived off their
earnings. Even if both women were already prostitutes, Shimu kept them that
way, even after marriage. He probably did it in the usual way, through lies and
manipulation, threats and violence. In my opinion, Shimu is a predator,
preying on the most vulnerable women in society. I think he was building his
own little harem.
I therefore suggest that Shimu is the first pimp known to
history.
I have no proof of it, but that’s what I’m saying.
If you don’t believe me, then just ask yourself, “What kind
of man keeps a wife (or two) in prostitution?"
Anyway, that’s my opinion. In the meantime, I’ll let the
readers make up their own minds about Shimu, his character and his motives.
==================================
kar-kid3 (ak)
kar-kid
Right
after the ED IIIa period, in the ED IIIb period (of course), kar-kid3 (ak)
became kar-kid.
Ama-ab (Amab) prostitute
Besides the three tablets from Shuruppak, this ED IIIb
tablet from Girsu is one of only four administrative tablets listed on the CDLI that mention a prostitute (CDLI 020349). The tablets are ED IIIb.
This leads us to the question: Why are these the only tablets that mention prostitutes?
Obviously, there were plenty of prostitutes in the ED III
period (2600 – 2340 BC), but they don’t show up on any other tablets. Neither
do they show up on the hundreds of thousands of administrative tablets during
the 340 years remaining in Sumerian history. "Prostitute" appears on some lexical
and literary tablets in the Babylonian period (2000 – 1600 BC) but not on any administrative
tablets. There is no
mention of prostitutes receiving rations along with all the other workers in Sumerian
society. Basically, the prostitutes disappear from the public record. Why is that?
Here’s my best guess: I think the women resented being
labeled as prostitutes every time they received their rations (whether or not
it was true). I believe that in deference to these women, the administrators
accepted the polite custom of simply labeling them as gemes, “female workers.” I suggest that many of the "female workers" that are listed on some other administrative tablets were actually prostitutes.
Surprisingly,
there was a bird called kar-kid. It’d be interesting to know how or why the bird got its
name (though these birds are not necessarily "known kar-kids").
CDLI 
CDLI 
CDLI 
2 barig and 4 ban (grain units for the) servant/slave
An-mu-da
An-ama-gu10
Igi-gun3
Nin-gu2-gal
Nin-me-en
Nin-ni-gi (
geme2-kar-kid3
An-ama-gu
A woman of Diqdiqqeh
Ama-ab (Amab) prostitute
