Iddin-Dagan

Iddin-Dagan (, Di-din-Dda-gan; died 1954 BC) was the 3rd king of the dynasty of Isin. He is best known for his participation in the sacred marriage rite and the sexually-explicit hymn that described it.

Reign Iddin-Dagan was preceded by his father Shu-Ilishu and succeeded by his son Išme-Dagān. The Sumerian King List indicates his reign lasted 21 regnal years. His titles included: “Mighty King” — “King of Isin” — “King of Ur” — “King of the Land of Sumer and Akkad.” Several year-names are known.

+ Year-Names of Iddin-Dagan Year Event 01 Year Iddin-Dagan (became) king 02 Year Matumniatum daughter of Iddin-Dagan was taken in marriage by the king of Anshan 03 Year after the year in which Matumniatum daughter of Iddin-Dagan was taken in marriage by the king of AnszanYear (Iddin-Dagan) chose (by means of the omens) the high-priestess of Iszkur 04 Year after the year (Iddin-Dagan) chose (by means of the omens) the high-priestess of Iszkur 05 Year (Iddin-Dagan) chose by means of the omens the en-priest of Inanna 06 Year (Iddin-Dagan) made a great copper statue for Nin-Isin 07 Year after the year (Iddin-Dagan) made a great copper statue for Nin-Isin 08 Year (Iddin-Dagan) chose by means of the omens the high-priestess of Nin-kilim (gilil is a glosse for kilim) 09 Year Iddin-Dagan elevated to office the en-priest of Inanna a Year Iddin-Dagan made a throne dais for Iszkur of Karkar. b Year Iddin-Dagan made a throne dais for the Dublamah of Nanna / the magnificent accounting office of Nanna b+1 Year after the year Iddin-Dagan made the throne dais for the Dublamah of Nanna / the magnificent accounting office of Nanna c Year Iddin-Dagan the king made a great emblem for Nin-Isin c+1 Year after the year Iddin-Dagan the king made a great emblem for Nin-Isin

Marriage alliance with Anshan The first year name recorded on a receipt for flour and dates reads: “Year Iddin-Dagān (was) king and (his) daughter Matum-Niatum (“the land which belongs to us”) was taken in marriage by the king of Anshan.” Vallat suggests it was to Imazu (son of Kindattu, who was the groom and possibly the king of the region of Shimashki) as he was described as the King of Anshan in a seal inscription, although elsewhere unattested. Kindattu had been driven away from the city-state of Ur by Išbi-Erra (the founder of the First Dynasty of Isin), however; relations had apparently thawed sufficiently for Tan-Ruhurarter (the 8th king to wed the daughter of Bilalama, the énsí of Eshnunna.) His daughter must have been at marriage age (coming-of-age) when he became king, indicating that the king himself maybe was in his 30s.

Sacred Marriage Hymn A praise poem to Iddin-Dagān, King of Sumer. Cuneiform script inscribed on a clay hexagonal prism, currently located at the Musée du Louvre (dated to c. 1950 BC). The continued fecundity of the land was ensured by the annual performance of the sacred marriage ritual in which the king impersonated the god Dumuzi-Ama-ušumgal-ana and a priestess played the role of Inanna. A hymn describing Iddin-Dagan's performance of this ritual in ten sections (Kiruḡu) indicates that this ceremony involved a procession of: male prostitutes, wise women, drummers, priestesses, and priests bloodletting with swords to the accompaniment of music, followed by offerings and sacrifices for the goddess Inanna, or Ninegala.

The ceremony reached its climax with the copulation of the king and priestess and is described thus:

There are four extant hymns addressed to Iddin-Dagan: this Sacred Marriage Hymn, a praise poem dedicated to the king, a war song, and a dedicatory prayer.

Attestations There is only one contemporary monumental text of Iddin-Dagan that is extant. This is a fragment of a stone statue with a votive inscription which invokes Ninisina and Damu to curse those who foster evil intent against it. Two later clay tablets preserve an inscription recording an unspecified object fashioned for the god Nanna. These were found by the British archaeologist Sir Charles Leonard Woolley in a scribal school house in Ur. A tablet from the Enunmaḫ in Ur dated to the 14th year of Gungunum (fl. c. 1868 BC — c. 1841 BC) of Larsa, after his conquest of the city, bears the seal impression of a servant of his. A tablet described Iddin-Dagān's fashioning of two copper festival statues for Ninlil, which were not delivered to Nippur until 170 years later by Enlil-bāni. Belles-lettres preserve the correspondence from Iddin-Dagān to his general Sîn-illat about Kakkulātum and the state of his troops, and from his general describing an ambush by the Martu (Amorites).