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Contrary to previous assumptions, it was not a man but a woman who was able to write one of the oldest works in world literature, the so-called Gula Hymn, one of the most important surviving texts of ancient Mesopotamia, dating from around 1300 BC, German researchers said.
Researchers at the Lajos-Miksa University in Munich (LMU) say the author was mistakenly identified as a man, and it is possible that other ancient literary relics attributed to men actually came from women. Thursday’s announcement is a minor sensation in professional circles.
The old hymn did not survive in its original form, it is only known from later copies. In these manuscripts, there is a masculinity sign in front of the name of the author of the work, Bullusababi, indicating that the author was a man. However, former researchers at the University of Munich found that the author’s gender was incorrectly defined as male.
LMU scholars found the name Bullussababi in nine previous administrative documents, which to their great surprise named a female person in each case. According to Enrique Jiménez, a professor at the University’s Institute of Assyrology and Hettitology, it is clear that once only women used this name. According to the professor, it could easily be that this is not the only case where ancient literary texts written by women have been wrongly attributed to men.
As for the authors, our main source is a list of the famous library of Nineveh, founded by Assur-ban-apli, the last significant ruler of the New Syrian Empire, the so-called Catalog of Texts and Authors. If an author was mistakenly listed as a male there, it could have happened elsewhere.
The researcher explained.
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