Sex is Violence. War and Hunting Metaphors in Akkadian Love and Sexual Literature

In Akkadian love literature and therapies for the recovery of male sexual desire (nīš libbi), war and hunting imagery are often used to describe sexual intercourse, male and female desire, and male vigor. These metaphors, as shown cross-culturally by anthropological and gender studies, especially normalise male sexuality. Male sexual power and ability in battle are praised by the continuous use of symbolic metaphors between the two semantic domains. In general, those symbols denoting male military activities refer to male sexual vigor as well. By contrast, the metaphorical imagery of hunting, used in female love speeches, describes the man as a victim of the traps of female seduction, charm, and attraction.