1 00:00:04,080 --> 00:00:07,520 Speaker 1: Welcomed Aaron Mankey's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of I 2 00:00:07,640 --> 00:00:14,240 Speaker 1: Heart Radio and Grim and Mild. Our world is full 3 00:00:14,320 --> 00:00:17,960 Speaker 1: of the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, 4 00:00:18,239 --> 00:00:21,600 Speaker 1: all of these amazing tales are right there on display, 5 00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:27,560 Speaker 1: just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet 6 00:00:27,840 --> 00:00:38,519 Speaker 1: of Curiosities. When the world makes one weary, it's not 7 00:00:38,600 --> 00:00:41,720 Speaker 1: uncommon for that person to imagine something better world where 8 00:00:41,760 --> 00:00:45,080 Speaker 1: there is no war or famine or homelessness, where people 9 00:00:45,120 --> 00:00:48,000 Speaker 1: take care of one another and live in harmony. It's 10 00:00:48,040 --> 00:00:50,479 Speaker 1: a lovely sentiment, but while it may work in theory, 11 00:00:50,760 --> 00:00:54,840 Speaker 1: it almost always falls apart in practice. Communes and organizations 12 00:00:54,920 --> 00:00:57,600 Speaker 1: led by one person, often a man, end up the 13 00:00:57,640 --> 00:01:01,120 Speaker 1: same way. They turn into cults. That wasn't the goal 14 00:01:01,200 --> 00:01:04,959 Speaker 1: for religious philosopher and preacher John Humphrey Nous, but even 15 00:01:05,040 --> 00:01:09,200 Speaker 1: his idealistic troop wound up with that notorious label. However, 16 00:01:09,280 --> 00:01:13,600 Speaker 1: unlike other cults, his didn't end with mass death or suicide. 17 00:01:14,120 --> 00:01:18,400 Speaker 1: It ended with spooning. John was born in eighteen eleven 18 00:01:18,400 --> 00:01:21,680 Speaker 1: in Brattleboro, Vermont. His father had been a teacher, a minister, 19 00:01:21,880 --> 00:01:24,360 Speaker 1: and had even served with the U. S House of Representatives, 20 00:01:24,360 --> 00:01:26,280 Speaker 1: while his mother happened to be the aunt of the 21 00:01:26,440 --> 00:01:30,880 Speaker 1: nineteenth U S President Rutherford B. Hayes. John was religious 22 00:01:30,920 --> 00:01:33,920 Speaker 1: like his father, but even more so. After witnessing a 23 00:01:34,000 --> 00:01:36,960 Speaker 1: revival in eighteen thirty one, he went through a conversion 24 00:01:37,080 --> 00:01:39,840 Speaker 1: and abandoned his law degree at Dartmouth in favor of 25 00:01:39,840 --> 00:01:44,319 Speaker 1: the seminary. Instead, he studied the Bible well religiously and 26 00:01:44,440 --> 00:01:46,880 Speaker 1: learned how to preach before diving into the world of 27 00:01:46,959 --> 00:01:51,520 Speaker 1: antislavery activism. However, the more he studied, the more obsessive 28 00:01:51,560 --> 00:01:55,400 Speaker 1: he grew. His beliefs shifted. For example, while enrolled at 29 00:01:55,440 --> 00:01:58,600 Speaker 1: the Yale Theological Seminary, John had tried to pin down 30 00:01:58,600 --> 00:02:01,560 Speaker 1: the date of Christ's second coming, which, too many was 31 00:02:01,600 --> 00:02:03,680 Speaker 1: meant to be a date set far into the future, 32 00:02:04,320 --> 00:02:06,840 Speaker 1: but not to John, he believed that it had already 33 00:02:06,840 --> 00:02:09,840 Speaker 1: happened in seventy a d. And that humans were on 34 00:02:09,880 --> 00:02:14,720 Speaker 1: a downward spiral towards sin and degradation. He preached perfectionism, 35 00:02:14,760 --> 00:02:17,399 Speaker 1: that those who had converted could be free of all sin. 36 00:02:17,840 --> 00:02:22,399 Speaker 1: He also believed in keeping multiple wives, known as complex marriage. 37 00:02:22,880 --> 00:02:26,080 Speaker 1: His views got him expelled from Yale, with his professors 38 00:02:26,120 --> 00:02:29,240 Speaker 1: labeling him as a heretic, but that didn't deter him 39 00:02:29,240 --> 00:02:31,760 Speaker 1: from exploring them further. He believed that his faith had 40 00:02:31,760 --> 00:02:35,520 Speaker 1: given him carte blanche to ignore the traditional moral values 41 00:02:35,560 --> 00:02:37,840 Speaker 1: of the time, and that he could do as he pleased. 42 00:02:38,400 --> 00:02:40,760 Speaker 1: His family encouraged him to return home and find a 43 00:02:40,760 --> 00:02:44,760 Speaker 1: new path, but John refused. He instead traveled around preaching 44 00:02:44,760 --> 00:02:47,600 Speaker 1: to anyone who would listen and picking up strays in 45 00:02:47,639 --> 00:02:50,079 Speaker 1: a way. One of those strays happened to be a 46 00:02:50,120 --> 00:02:53,200 Speaker 1: woman named Abigail Merwin, who was already married when she 47 00:02:53,280 --> 00:02:57,240 Speaker 1: started following John's teachings. John, however, developed feelings for his 48 00:02:57,280 --> 00:03:00,280 Speaker 1: students and wouldn't let a trivial thing such as marriage 49 00:03:00,320 --> 00:03:03,520 Speaker 1: getting his way. In eighteen thirty seven, he created the 50 00:03:03,560 --> 00:03:06,960 Speaker 1: idea of a spiritual spouse, which flew in the face 51 00:03:07,000 --> 00:03:10,799 Speaker 1: of traditional monogamy. To John, relationships were meant to be shared, 52 00:03:10,880 --> 00:03:13,760 Speaker 1: and the more wives a man had, the marrier. In fact, 53 00:03:13,760 --> 00:03:16,239 Speaker 1: the term free love, which picked up steam during the 54 00:03:16,320 --> 00:03:20,520 Speaker 1: late nineteen sixties, was originally coined by John. As he 55 00:03:20,560 --> 00:03:23,560 Speaker 1: continued to preach, he gained more followers, leading to the 56 00:03:23,600 --> 00:03:27,960 Speaker 1: creation of the Society of Inquiry around eighteen forty five, 57 00:03:28,280 --> 00:03:31,160 Speaker 1: with almost thirty six members under its wing. The society 58 00:03:31,200 --> 00:03:35,920 Speaker 1: became the start of John's grand utopian vision. Unfortunately, John's 59 00:03:35,960 --> 00:03:40,360 Speaker 1: unorthodox beliefs, especially those concerning his nine wives, were not 60 00:03:40,520 --> 00:03:44,200 Speaker 1: shared by the Vermont legislature. The spiritual leader was arrested 61 00:03:44,240 --> 00:03:47,520 Speaker 1: and charged with adultery. However, he was released before the 62 00:03:47,520 --> 00:03:49,960 Speaker 1: start of his trial in April and used that time 63 00:03:50,000 --> 00:03:53,800 Speaker 1: to organize his followers and leave Vermont entirely. So they 64 00:03:53,840 --> 00:03:56,240 Speaker 1: moved to New York, where they settled in a small 65 00:03:56,280 --> 00:03:58,720 Speaker 1: city in the middle of the state. John happened to 66 00:03:58,720 --> 00:04:01,240 Speaker 1: know some of the fellow perfect Actionists there, who were 67 00:04:01,240 --> 00:04:03,560 Speaker 1: able to share a portion of their land and help 68 00:04:03,600 --> 00:04:06,640 Speaker 1: his people get established. He even renamed the group after 69 00:04:06,680 --> 00:04:09,840 Speaker 1: their new home. What had started as a modest commune 70 00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:12,880 Speaker 1: eventually grew into a palatial state that they called the 71 00:04:12,920 --> 00:04:16,880 Speaker 1: Mansion House, completed in eighteen sixty two. And how did 72 00:04:16,920 --> 00:04:19,360 Speaker 1: they get the money to build such a house. Well, 73 00:04:19,400 --> 00:04:21,960 Speaker 1: they sold all manner of goods, such as canned fruits 74 00:04:22,000 --> 00:04:25,960 Speaker 1: and vegetables, thread leather bags, and hats. But it was 75 00:04:26,000 --> 00:04:29,000 Speaker 1: the production and sale of something even more desirable that 76 00:04:29,080 --> 00:04:31,480 Speaker 1: put their commune on the map, and even after their 77 00:04:31,480 --> 00:04:35,240 Speaker 1: community fell apart in the early eighties, that business continued 78 00:04:35,279 --> 00:04:39,080 Speaker 1: to thrive. Look in most kitchens today and you're likely 79 00:04:39,120 --> 00:04:41,880 Speaker 1: to find something from the company, some product of the 80 00:04:41,960 --> 00:04:47,159 Speaker 1: lucrative business they began almost two hundred years ago. Forks, knives, 81 00:04:47,200 --> 00:04:51,400 Speaker 1: and spoons, all made and sold by a utopian community 82 00:04:51,520 --> 00:05:08,720 Speaker 1: at the New York town of Oneida. Read any book, 83 00:05:09,000 --> 00:05:11,919 Speaker 1: watch any movie or TV show, or see any play, 84 00:05:12,040 --> 00:05:14,600 Speaker 1: and you probably don't realize that they all have one 85 00:05:14,640 --> 00:05:18,560 Speaker 1: thing in common William Shakespeare. Even though the play right 86 00:05:18,600 --> 00:05:22,279 Speaker 1: behind Othello, Hamlets and King Lear may not have written 87 00:05:22,279 --> 00:05:25,720 Speaker 1: the works being produced today, his tropes and his words 88 00:05:25,760 --> 00:05:29,400 Speaker 1: are all over them. Stories about deceitful family members, star 89 00:05:29,520 --> 00:05:32,880 Speaker 1: crossed lovers, and enemies who become lovers can all chart 90 00:05:32,920 --> 00:05:36,679 Speaker 1: their origins back to Shakespeare. So can words like lonely, 91 00:05:36,920 --> 00:05:41,120 Speaker 1: swagger and zany. Shakespeare was responsible for more than seventeen 92 00:05:41,200 --> 00:05:44,240 Speaker 1: hundred words in the English language that we still used today, 93 00:05:44,920 --> 00:05:47,159 Speaker 1: but he was far from the only writer of his time. 94 00:05:47,520 --> 00:05:51,080 Speaker 1: Many had come before him and had also contributed significantly 95 00:05:51,120 --> 00:05:54,560 Speaker 1: to the written word. However, one stands above them all. 96 00:05:55,279 --> 00:05:59,279 Speaker 1: Before Romeo and Juliet, before Plato and Aristotle, there was 97 00:05:59,520 --> 00:06:02,920 Speaker 1: an ad Wuanna and Aduana was the daughter of Sargon 98 00:06:03,080 --> 00:06:06,800 Speaker 1: of a Cad, founder of the Achadian Empire in ancient Mesopotamia. 99 00:06:07,200 --> 00:06:10,280 Speaker 1: She lived during the twenty third century BC, but almost 100 00:06:10,360 --> 00:06:14,080 Speaker 1: nothing was known about her until nineteen seven. That year, 101 00:06:14,200 --> 00:06:17,680 Speaker 1: a British archaeologist named Sir Leonard Woolley found several ancient 102 00:06:17,760 --> 00:06:21,160 Speaker 1: relics in his travels that carried her name. One was 103 00:06:21,240 --> 00:06:24,159 Speaker 1: a disc made of alabaster that had broken apart into 104 00:06:24,240 --> 00:06:28,600 Speaker 1: several pieces. The artifact was eventually reconstructed, which allowed scholars 105 00:06:28,640 --> 00:06:31,080 Speaker 1: to read its contents. The back of the disc mentioned 106 00:06:31,200 --> 00:06:35,000 Speaker 1: Sargon of a cod and Aduana and her husband Nana Suan. 107 00:06:35,680 --> 00:06:38,400 Speaker 1: Sargon had been a ruthless conqueror who had laid waste 108 00:06:38,440 --> 00:06:41,000 Speaker 1: to dozens of cities and city states across the region 109 00:06:41,080 --> 00:06:44,000 Speaker 1: with his massive army. One of those city states was 110 00:06:44,040 --> 00:06:47,480 Speaker 1: a place called Er located in present day Iraq, R 111 00:06:47,640 --> 00:06:51,080 Speaker 1: had been home to a Sumerian cult built around Nena Suan. 112 00:06:51,440 --> 00:06:54,160 Speaker 1: Sargon knew the importance of bridging the gaps between the 113 00:06:54,200 --> 00:06:57,440 Speaker 1: Acadian and Sumerian empires, and Nana Suan was at the 114 00:06:57,520 --> 00:07:00,040 Speaker 1: center of each, so he appointed and Aduana to the 115 00:07:00,160 --> 00:07:03,520 Speaker 1: role of High priestess handled the job, but Nana Suan 116 00:07:03,800 --> 00:07:07,080 Speaker 1: wasn't a human like an Aduana or even Sargon. He 117 00:07:07,320 --> 00:07:11,480 Speaker 1: was a god, specifically the moon God, and an Aduana 118 00:07:11,600 --> 00:07:14,960 Speaker 1: worshiped him. As high priestess. She came to embody Nana 119 00:07:15,000 --> 00:07:19,320 Speaker 1: Suan's actual wife, the goddess Ningle, hence her being listed 120 00:07:19,400 --> 00:07:22,640 Speaker 1: on the disc as the moon God's spouse. The other 121 00:07:22,720 --> 00:07:25,200 Speaker 1: side of the disc bore a relief of an Aduana 122 00:07:25,520 --> 00:07:28,360 Speaker 1: standing before a nude figure pouring some kind of drink. 123 00:07:28,720 --> 00:07:33,280 Speaker 1: It was possible that the figure was Nana Suan. Soon after, 124 00:07:33,520 --> 00:07:37,040 Speaker 1: other objects were excavated and reassembled, shedding more light on 125 00:07:37,120 --> 00:07:39,880 Speaker 1: the identity of the elusive daughter of Sargon the Great 126 00:07:40,360 --> 00:07:44,600 Speaker 1: and Aduana's Sumerian name translated to ornament of Heaven, and 127 00:07:44,680 --> 00:07:47,480 Speaker 1: she had a great political sway among her people. Her 128 00:07:47,520 --> 00:07:50,559 Speaker 1: parentage and her high ranking status made her a leader, 129 00:07:50,640 --> 00:07:53,040 Speaker 1: and with the help of her writings, she was able 130 00:07:53,080 --> 00:07:58,120 Speaker 1: to unify Mesopotamia. Poems, religious hymns, and other works that 131 00:07:58,240 --> 00:08:00,720 Speaker 1: have been lost for thousands of years. Now being dug 132 00:08:00,800 --> 00:08:04,000 Speaker 1: up and analyzed, they gave deeper insight into a woman 133 00:08:04,240 --> 00:08:07,200 Speaker 1: who didn't know her true place in history, and a 134 00:08:07,280 --> 00:08:12,120 Speaker 1: Duana was the world's first named author. She composed odes 135 00:08:12,200 --> 00:08:15,920 Speaker 1: to the Sumerian goddess Nana and the Akkadian goddess Ishtar, 136 00:08:16,280 --> 00:08:19,560 Speaker 1: odes that exalted the deities of both cultures and brought 137 00:08:19,640 --> 00:08:23,360 Speaker 1: them together. Her work was instrumental in building one central 138 00:08:23,440 --> 00:08:26,880 Speaker 1: belief system for the people of Mesopotamia. She did this 139 00:08:27,040 --> 00:08:30,640 Speaker 1: through her poems, which she wrote for forty two southern temples, 140 00:08:30,960 --> 00:08:34,520 Speaker 1: expounding on the individual qualities that she admired in each 141 00:08:34,600 --> 00:08:37,840 Speaker 1: of them, all of which had been chiseled into clay tablets. 142 00:08:38,320 --> 00:08:41,520 Speaker 1: Many of the tablets recovered by Wooly and other archaeologists 143 00:08:41,640 --> 00:08:44,920 Speaker 1: were only fragments, with large chunks of her writing broken 144 00:08:44,960 --> 00:08:48,440 Speaker 1: off and missing, But what was there was still enlightening. 145 00:08:49,280 --> 00:08:53,199 Speaker 1: In a hymn titled the Exaltation of Nana, and Aduana 146 00:08:53,320 --> 00:08:56,920 Speaker 1: wrote of the goddess's pensiont for violence, The author prayed 147 00:08:56,960 --> 00:09:00,240 Speaker 1: to her for help with a Sumerian rebel named google Anna, 148 00:09:00,600 --> 00:09:03,640 Speaker 1: who had knocked her from her purchase high priestess. She 149 00:09:03,760 --> 00:09:06,440 Speaker 1: begged for revenge against the rebel and to have her 150 00:09:06,480 --> 00:09:09,559 Speaker 1: title restored. In the end, her prayers were answered, and 151 00:09:09,720 --> 00:09:12,800 Speaker 1: an Aduana was once again made high priestess to her people. 152 00:09:13,400 --> 00:09:16,520 Speaker 1: Another hymn, which was told from the goddess and Nana's perspective, 153 00:09:16,800 --> 00:09:20,040 Speaker 1: spoke of revenge against the mountains of Eba because they 154 00:09:20,120 --> 00:09:22,800 Speaker 1: would not bow down to her. After being turned down 155 00:09:22,920 --> 00:09:26,160 Speaker 1: for help from the other gods, she destroyed the mountains herself. 156 00:09:26,800 --> 00:09:29,600 Speaker 1: According to some experts, this hymn was an Aduanna's way 157 00:09:29,640 --> 00:09:33,000 Speaker 1: of telling a fictional story about a very real ecological 158 00:09:33,120 --> 00:09:37,040 Speaker 1: disaster that had occurred. Anna Duanna was a person unlike 159 00:09:37,120 --> 00:09:39,880 Speaker 1: any other. She didn't just pray to her gods. She 160 00:09:40,040 --> 00:09:44,120 Speaker 1: wrote poetic narratives about them. They became like characters to her, 161 00:09:44,400 --> 00:09:47,840 Speaker 1: with lives and wills of their own. Not many people 162 00:09:48,040 --> 00:09:50,800 Speaker 1: know who Anadu Wanna is today, and that's a shame, 163 00:09:51,160 --> 00:09:53,600 Speaker 1: because there is still so much she can teach us. 164 00:09:54,080 --> 00:09:57,280 Speaker 1: She wasn't just the first named author. She was among 165 00:09:57,360 --> 00:10:04,560 Speaker 1: the very best whoever lived. I hope you've enjoyed today's 166 00:10:04,600 --> 00:10:08,240 Speaker 1: guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free 167 00:10:08,280 --> 00:10:10,960 Speaker 1: on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the show by 168 00:10:11,040 --> 00:10:16,000 Speaker 1: visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was created by 169 00:10:16,080 --> 00:10:19,640 Speaker 1: me Aaron Manky in partnership with how Stuff Works. I 170 00:10:19,800 --> 00:10:23,559 Speaker 1: Make Another Award winning show called Lore which is a podcast, 171 00:10:23,679 --> 00:10:26,640 Speaker 1: book series, and television show and you can learn all 172 00:10:26,679 --> 00:10:29,440 Speaker 1: about it over at the world of Lore dot com. 173 00:10:30,240 --> 00:10:32,600 Speaker 1: And until next time, stay curious.