Valentine's Day - love in ancient languages

Eisenbrauns
Eisenbrauns (alternative URL)

Good fun - and two of the entries are written in ancient Egyptian.

Love is in the air! We went looking for a few good scholars to display both eros and erudition in our first (and possibly last!) Ancient Near Eastern Valentines contest.

We asked for no more than three original compositions or original interpretations in any ancient Near Eastern language (we bent the rules to allow Greek), accompanied by an English translation. Music and artwork were similarly welcome. We memorized the entire corpus of Near Eastern poetry, and watched for cheating.

You amazed us. You made us laugh. You made us smile. You made us cringe. (Any further contests will come with a strict "PG-13" rule. Oy!) You submitted Valentines with footnotes, references, and errata. After much deliberation, we're proud to present this year's winners.

We did our best to match prizes to the entries; we figured a free book in the entrant's area of interest was more valuable than a more expensive free book of something else. There were, of course, exceptions.

See the above page for all the entries and, of course, the winner!