In this article I focus on the soundscapes that emerge from Sumerian literary texts. In the introduction, I deal with the terminology and relevance of hearing in Sumerian culture and sensory model. I then discuss the relationship between hearing and knowledge, the power of the word, and the sensorial dimension in cosmogonies. In the main part of the article I analyse the dichotomy between the ordered positive urban space and the chaotic negative outer space. From the sensory point of view, this opposition is conveyed through the topoi of the noisy city and the silent outskirts. I then consider a third soundscape which eludes this dichotomy, the marsh, a mythical and liminal place whose soundscape is marked by animal and bird voices.

Noisy city, silent steppe, tweeting marsh. Soundscapes in Sumerian literature / Verderame, Lorenzo. - (2020), pp. 85-99. (Intervento presentato al convegno Sensing the past tenutosi a Roma).

Noisy city, silent steppe, tweeting marsh. Soundscapes in Sumerian literature

Verderame, Lorenzo
2020

Abstract

In this article I focus on the soundscapes that emerge from Sumerian literary texts. In the introduction, I deal with the terminology and relevance of hearing in Sumerian culture and sensory model. I then discuss the relationship between hearing and knowledge, the power of the word, and the sensorial dimension in cosmogonies. In the main part of the article I analyse the dichotomy between the ordered positive urban space and the chaotic negative outer space. From the sensory point of view, this opposition is conveyed through the topoi of the noisy city and the silent outskirts. I then consider a third soundscape which eludes this dichotomy, the marsh, a mythical and liminal place whose soundscape is marked by animal and bird voices.
2020
Sensing the past
Mesopotamia; cuneiform; Sumerian; literature; senses; hearing; soundscapes
04 Pubblicazione in atti di convegno::04b Atto di convegno in volume
Noisy city, silent steppe, tweeting marsh. Soundscapes in Sumerian literature / Verderame, Lorenzo. - (2020), pp. 85-99. (Intervento presentato al convegno Sensing the past tenutosi a Roma).
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11573/1369606
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