~*~ Sacred Sexuality ~*~
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The History of the Temple of Ishtar
In Her Temples in many lands from Egypt to Assyria to Babylon to Crete to India, in Rome and Greece and many Celtic lands, Her Temples had Sacred Priestesses who were also called Prostitutes by those of body denial religions. Her worship was in the arms of the Priestess who embodied and represented The Goddess(s). These worshipers are sometimes known as pagans.
A fundamental difference in the concept of worship is important to note: In the Temples of the old ways people would go to the temple TO BE WORSHIPPED not to worship. Women would go to the temple to serve the Goddess to embody Her, to represent Her, to be worshipped as Her. Women would spend a day, or a week, or a year serving at the Temple as a priestess, as a sacred Prostitute, as a whore in service to the Goddess. There they would be worshipped as the incarnation of the Goddess, as The Goddess Herself.
Men would come to Her Temple TO BE WORSHIPPED. Men would be welcomed and served by the Priestesses and men would represent the divine male principal, the Horned One, the Sacred Bull, The God. Men would come to the temple to give their love and passion to The Goddess, and would receive the passion, love, and affection of The Goddess.
But some three millennia ago there came monotheists who refused Her Worship preferring instead to be diminished in body and spirit. They called Her, "The Whore of Babylon, who leads men into fornication." They called our sacred sexuality "sin," and cast shame on Her sacred Priestesses. They held up a "virgin" as the ideal that women should imitate instead of the sacred Goddess that they had always held as the most sacred image of Woman. This is essentially the state of things in the modern world.
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The two principal deities of ancient Babylon were Baal and Ishtar. Baal was the god of war and the elements and Ishtar the goddess of fertility - both human and agricultural. These two deities have roots going back before Babylon to Nimrod at Babel and to Assyria. Through the ages they were imported into other nations and under different names but always retaining the same basic characteristics. Baal was also called Bel, Baalat, Molech, Merodach, Mars and Jupiter, and was frequently represented as a bull. Ishtar was also called Aphrodite, Astarte, Ashtoreth, Cybele or Sybil, Diana, Europa, Isis, Semiramis and Venus. The two main elements in the worship of Baal were fire and human sacrifice, usually children.
Ishtar was worshipped via offerings of produce and money as well as though fornication with temple prostitutes. It is this last characteristic that helps make the tie between religious Babylon and kings and merchants. In his book The Secret of Crete, H.G. Wunderlich reports that before marriage, every woman in Babylon was required to go to the temple of Ishtar and lie with a stranger. We have a similar report from Gerhard Herm in his book, The Phoenicians (1) , where women in the Canaanite cities of Tyre, Sidon and Byblos were required to become prostitutes for a day and give themselves to foreign guests during the spring festival. This festival survives today in the name of "Easter", which is derived from the word "Ishtar". Note that the women were to prostitute themselves with strangers or foreigners. In ancient times, the foreigners in these cities were mostly composed of traveling merchants and political dignitaries. In the third century A.D. the historian Eusebius described the patrons of these temples in this way: "It was a school of godlessness for those dissipated men, who had ruined their bodies in the pursuit of luxuriousness. The men were soft and effeminate, were no longer men; they had betrayed the honor of their sex; they believed they must worship their god with impure lust."
* The above Excerpts are taken from the Internet without any edits mainly for informational purposes only. ~*~ LIGHT OF ATLANTIS ~*~ will not be responsible for any of its contents, misuses or abuses using the information presented. -
Sex in Ancient Civilizations
Sumeria: Ihe Earliest Records
MYTH, RITUAL AND SEXUALITY were almost inseparable in ancient Mesopotamia. The earliest deity, the creator-goddess Nammu, meaning "the sea," was believed to have been responsible for creation by giving birth to both heaven and earth. In a later era, the myth changed. Nammu was supplanted by the hero god Marduk who, having killed her, cut her down the middle and used half of her body to make the sky. The more familiar, and historically far more widespread, myth of a masculine god as the supreme creator of the world was now in place. Although it is impossible to account definitively for this development, it was probably the result of invasions of hostile tribes whose values were predominantly masculine into the areas populated by the early, settled, goddess-worshipping people.
Such was the importance of the gods in early Sumerian times that what was considered morally right was for the people almost wholly identified with what was ritually correct. For instance, it seems that the gods were quite indifferent to the fact that widows and orphans fared very badly and suffered oppression. Yet they were in the habit of becoming very angry if their worshippers ate ritually impure food. The entire Sumerian culture which dates back to about 5000 BC, was largely underpinned by ritual, much of it explicitly sexual in nature.
The Sumerians were the first literate people, and their written remains provide a glimpse into their world view. Some of the clay tablets, fragments and seals which they inscribed exist to this day, to tell fascinating stories, including the fragmentary story of Inanna. Of all the deities, most of whom were personifications of various aspects of nature, Inanna was the most revered for a long period. Hers was the realm of love and procreation, in which she was a forerunner of Anath of Canaan, Isis of Egypt, and the Babylonian goddess, Ishtar, with whom she is sometimes identified. Inanna herself, it is clear, rejoiced in her sexuality. The story tells how, "When she leaned back against the apple tree, her vulva was wondrous to behold." She herself speaks of making love with her consort, the shepherd Dumuzi, in rhapsodic terms:
"He shaped my loins with his fair hands,
The shepherd Dumuzi filled my lap with cream and milk,
He stroked my pubic hair,
He watered my womb.
He laid his hands on my holy vulva.
He caressed me on the bed."
She addresses him tenderly as "dear to my heart" and "honeysweet" and is explicit in her desire:
"Bridegroom, let me caress you,
My precious caress is more savory than honey,
In the bedchamber, honey filled,
Let us enjoy your goodly beauty,
Lion, let me caress you,
My precious caress is more savory than honey"
Some experts believe that the references to "honey" may well be the origin of our "honeymoon" or "honey month."
The sexual union of Inanna and Dumuzi was the prototype of the Sumerian custom of the "sacred marriage." which was ritually performed at the New Year festival. This rite later became widespread in other societies, notably Babylon and Greece. In its Sumerian form, the high priestess, known as the "Entu," in order to ensure the renewal of fertility throughout the land, would ceremonially mate with the high priest or king, who personified the life force of the earth. In fact, as far as we can tell, the kings of Sumeria may literally have been sons, fathers and consorts of the high priestesses. As the representative of the goddess the priestess would, through sexual union with the king, bestow her divine power upon him, thereby making him fit to rule. In the ceremony itself, it fell to the priestess to take the initiative and grant her heavenly favors, thereby furthering life. For his part the god-king had to bring her offerings and await her pleasure: ultimate power was in her keeping. Any child born of such a union was considered to be half-human and half-divine.
Further fragments of the Inanna story emphasize the importance to the people of this ceremony. It was the successful performance of the sacred marriage that guaranteed the renewed growth of all human, animal and plant life:
"The people of Sumer assemble in the palace,
The house which guides the land.
In order to care for the life of all the lands,
Ihe exact first day of the month is closely examined...
So that the New YearÃs Day, the day of rites,
May be properly determined,
And a sleeping place be set up for Inanna."
Inanna is often depicted resting her foot on the back of a lion, offering the king the symbolic objects indicating his ruling power. Lions, when associated with feminine deities, represent the undomesticated, fierce, aggressive aspect of the female. Often such goddesses incorporate a dual nature, the other side of their character manifesting compassion and, gentleness. The Buddhist deity Tara is another example. Although primarily benevolent and merciful she is often represented as a fierce, warlike goddess. But it is precisely because of her lion-like power that she is able to confront dangerous forces and this gives her the ability to protect her followers from suffering.
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From other tablets we learn that the Sumerians, by present-day Western standards at least, had very little modesty about sex. In the context of the myth of Inanna, with its delight in the erotic encounter, this comes as no surprise. The signs or hieroglyphs representing male and female were simplified drawings of the sexual parts whilst a married person was signified by the juxtaposition of the two. Incantations make it clear that masturbation, alone or with a partner, was a popular technique for enhancing potency. This attitude is about as far removed as it could be from the much later myth prevalent in Victorian times which, as we shall see, considered the practice more likely to drive its proponent insane. Often a man could achieve an erection only by rubbing his penis, or having it rubbed, with a special mixture of oil known as puru-oil. It seems likely that this special oil was mixed with pulverized magnetic iron ore and pulverized iron, no doubt to provide additional friction so as to be more stimulating.
Anal intercourse was practiced and there is no evidence to suggest that it was considered taboo. The "Entu-priestesses" allowed such intercourse during sexual rites in the temples if they wished to avoid pregnancy. Other tablets report homosexual anal intercourse. Both sexual intercourse and prostitution were believed to form part of the divine laws which had governed the universe from the days of its creation and were known to the Sumerians as me.
The importance ascribed to the goddess was reflected in the position enjoyed by women within society. Early in Sumerian times, as would happen later in both early Egypt and Crete, women were not confined tothe home but instead had a role to play in public life. This was especially true of the priestesses, who owned property and transacted business. Property from family estates was inherited equally by sisters and brothers. A daughter, when she married, was given a dowry that she was allowed to keep in the event of a divorce.
Sometime around 2300 BC, all this began to change. The laws inscribed on the tablets changed and, as the status of women deteriorated, their menfolk took a more authoritarian role. A woman might still own property but it was no longer hers to dispose of freely. Now she must first consult her husband and obtain his permission. This would have been unthinkable during the time when the worship of Inanna as giver and supporter of life was paramount and women, as her representatives, were therefore accorded respect and social position. It can be no coincidence that by this later stage, both Inanna and other female Sumerian deities had lost the high position they once enjoyed.
By the time of the Code of Hammurabi, formulated between 1792 and 1750 BC, the position of women had obviously been greatly eroded. The crimes recorded on the tablets which now outnumbered all others were those of witchcraft and female adultery. According to the Code the accused woman was subjected to the ordeal of the river. If she survived being thrown into a river, she was absolved from any crime. Were she to drown, however, this was considered to be proof of her guilt. This way of ascertaining her guilt or otherwise had a continuing influence for hundreds of years. In Europe, women accused of witchcraft were subjected to similar ordeals by water up until medieval times.
From a much later period comes another myth, the Sumero-Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh, which examines the question of why man must suffer and die. Central to the story is the close friendship of its two heroes, Gilgamesh and Enkidu. Although it is impossible to know with any certainty whether their relationship was homosexual, erotic feelings are certainly implied. Gilgamesh has a dream in which he foresees the arrival of a strange being whom he will embrace "like a wife," and soon after he meets Enkidu and becomes his friend.
Later they meet the goddess Ishtar, who offers to marry Gilgamesh, promising him untold delights. He, however, preferring his friend Enkidu, rejects her advances in a deeply insulting way, referring to her in derogatory terms:
Thou art but a brazier which goes out in the cold:
A back door which does not keep out blast and windstorm;
A palace which crushes the valiant..."
Enraged, Ishtar asks her father to create a heavenly bull to destroy the insolent hero. Gilgamesh and Enkidu kill the bull and Enkidu throws its organs into Ishtar's face. This is too much for the assembly of the gods, who decide that Enkidu must die. This will be the punishment that Gilgamesh must bear. Later, Enkidu is allowed to emerge from the underworld for a visit and Gilgamesh begs him to reveal what death is like. Enkidu's answer, reluctantly given, implies the former existence of a physical relationship between them:
"That which you cherished,
that which you caressed,
and which brought happiness to your heart,
like an old garment is now devoured by the worms.
That which you cherished,
that which you caressed
and which made your heart glad,
is today covered in dust."
Given that myths tend to reflect aspects of the culture prevalent at the time, we may surmise that intimate relationships between men were not considered unusual. This could perhaps be expected in a society where archaeological evidence has shown that women had, by now, a very inferior role. Dual standards existed for married life, where a wife might be put to death for adultery, while a husband was free to enjoy as many women as he chose, provided he did not seduce the wife of another man.
Patriarchal values were indeed increasing in importance at this time, especially in the northern area of Sumeria known as Akkadia, later called Babylonia. This region was inhabited by Semitic tribes in whose view a woman was entirely the possession of her menfolk. So much was this the case that fathers and husbands had the power of life and death over their wives and daughters. The birth of a son was counted as a blessing but an unwelcome daughter might be left, exposed, to die. Not only was a daughter unable to inherit property but she could with impunity be sold into slavery by the men responsible for her. Needless to say, these peoples had no priestesses. As we shall see, this attitude that devalued women had great significance in the later development of Judaism.
* The above Excerpts are taken from the Internet without any edits mainly for informational purposes only. ~*~ LIGHT OF ATLANTIS ~*~ will not be responsible for any of its contents, misuses or abuses using the information presented. -
Babylon: Home of Sacred Prostitution
Often associated with the Sumerian goddess Inanna and sometimes interchangeable with her was Ishtar, the great goddess of Babylon, who had two main functions. Although the goddess of love and sexuality, she was in another aspect a fierce war goddess, sometimes depicted riding on a lion. Also called Mother of Harlots and the Great Whore of Babylon, she declared of herself, "...a prostitute compassionate am I." Her holy city of Erech was known as "the town of the sacred courtesans." In no way, therefore, was prostitution in the Babylonian era considered a shameful profession. On the contrary, temples to Ishtar were inhabited by sacred prostitutes or priestesses known as ishtartu or Joy-Maidens, dedicated to the service of the goddess. Their sexuality was seen as belonging to her, to be used therefore only in the sacred rites undertaken in her worship. Indeed, the original meaning of the word "prostitute" was "to stand on behalf of," that is, to represent, the power of the goddess. Curiously perhaps, from a contemporary standpoint, Ishtar was often referred to as "Virgin," implying that her creativity and power were self-engendered and not dependent upon a masculine power.
Forbidden to marry in the ordinary sense of the word, the ihtaritu undertook instead the practice of the sacred marriage. Central to this rite was the idea that divine energy was released at the moment of sexual union, where masculine phallic power was received into the feminine embace.
Like Inanna, Ishtar was considered responsible for the power of sexuality and its manifestations. A saying attributed to her makes this clear, "I turn the male to the female. I am she who adorneth the male for the female; I am she who adorneth the female for the male." Sexuality, as the vehicle by which life both physical and psychic was brought into the world, was considered to be a sacred act. What is more, gods and goddesses, as we have seen in the story of Inanna, were believed to enjoy blissful sexual relationships. Human beings, therefore, through sexual intercourse might attain something akin to the state of divine ecstasy. In some temples, only a priest would be allowed to represent the Moon God, symbol of masculine divinity. He would have intercourse with the ishtaritu or another woman whose role was to embody the feminine power of the goddess. Sometimes the woman in question would be one wishing to be initiated into the mysteries of the Great Goddess. She would accordingly sacrifice her virginity in the temple by enacting the sacred marriage, often with the priest but at other times with a representation of the divine phallus. Perhaps the much later custom of droit de seigneur, the right of a feudal lord to have sexual relations with a vassal's bride on her wedding night, was an echo, albeit much distorted, of these ancient religious practices. Some priests, however, although holding office in the temple, would be unable to perform the rite on account of having been castrated. Their devotion to the goddess was such that they had sacrificed their sexuality to her as a way of promoting new life. This practice was later taken up by the Canaanites and in Greece by the priests of Cybele.
What gave the rite of sacred marriage its spiritual significance was its impersonal nature. Those taking the roles of priest and priestess were acting not as man and woman in a human relationship but as incarnations of a divine being. In this way, the participants could expect to have a direct experience of the power of the Great Goddess and feel deeply enriched and energized as a result. Any child born of the union would, as in Sumerian custom, belong to the temple.
In many temples, the priestesses would undertake the sacred marriage with any male worshipper who wanted union with the goddess. The man, whom the priestess had not met before and would not meet again, spent the night with her in the temple precincts. Their intercourse would put him in contact with the rejuvenating energy of the Goddess, mediated through her priestess who would bestow on him an ecstatic experience. For the priestess, the sexual act represented a ritual offering to the goddess. A very real benefit was therefore enjoyed by all concerned, not least the temple itself which could expect to earn considerable income from such worshippers. As a result, priestesses often engaged in commerce and might be involved in import and export, land management, and other profitable endeavors. The modern brothel of our own culture, with its "madam," might perhaps be seen as a somewhat pale reflection of the temple of Ishtar. Apart from their sexual and commercial activities, temple prostitutes demonstrated considerable gifts in other areas. Because their natural secretions were considered to have a beneficial effect, they were greatly respected as healers of the sick. One clay tablet dating from this era tells us that diseases of the eye can be cured by a harlot's spittle. These women also acted as seers and were skilled in sorcery and prophecy.
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The sacred priestesses were not alone in undertaking sexual rites in the temple. Any number of other women, including those from the highest families in the land, would also prostitute themselves in the temple at least once during their lifetime. Indeed, there was at one stage a law which required a woman to do so before she married. This was a precautionary measure to deflect the wrath of the goddess, for she did not hold with monogamy. The Greek historian Herodotus gives us an excellent, if not wholly approving, description of the practice:
"The worst Babylonian custom is that which compels every woman of the land once in her life to sit in the temple of love and have... intercourse with some stranger... the men pass and make their choice. It matters not what be the sum of money; the woman will never refuse, for that were a sin, the money being by this act made sacred. After their intercourse she has made herself holy in the sight of the goddess and goes away to her home; and thereafter there is no bribe however great that will get her. So then the women that are tall and fair are soon free to depart, but the uncomely have long to wait because they cannot fulfill the law: for some of them remain for three years or four."
For a contemporary person such an attitude is very strange indeed. But in its pure form, a deeply spiritual significance was attached to these rites. The goddess, because she presided over fertility, represented the creative power which is an essential aspect of all female beings. By sacrificing her sexuality to the deity, a woman was offering herself as a vehicle for the divine energy. The experience of abandoning herself in this way evidently engendered a sense of spiritual fulfillment which was more important to her than either sensual satisfaction or even human love. Temples to Ishtar, at Erech and other places, were also served by male prostitutes. They were referred to as men "...whose manhood Ishtar has changed into womanhood." Attitudes toward homosexuality, however, seem to have changed at a later stage of Babylonian culture. The Middle Assyrian Law Tablets, dating back to the twelfth century BC make it clear that some kinds of homosexuality, at least, could lead to castration:
"If a seignior lay with his neighbor, when they have prosecuted him and convicted him, they shall lie with him and turn him into a eunuch."
In a culture which laid great stress on the duty to procreate, to the extent that a woman's barrenness constituted grounds for divorce, we can deduce that any crime for which castration was the punishment must have been considered extremely serious. As in most civilizations, incest of any form was strictly forbidden:
"If a man violates his own mother, it is a capital crime. If a man violates his daughter, it is a capital crime. If a man violates his son, it is a capital crime."
Life within the temple precincts was, of course, just one aspect, albeit a central one, of Babylonian culture. An ordinary woman did not enjoy the reverence and exalted position ascribed to the sacred prostitute, her legal position being on the whole inferior to that of her menfolk. Nevertheless, a surprisingly wide field of employment was open to her. As early as the third millennium BC there are records of women working as scribes, hair dressers, shopkeepers, spinners, brewers, diviners, and at numerous other occupations. As a wife, a woman was circumscribed by laws definitely favoring her husband. It was quite within his rights to divorce her for being a spendthrift although he could, if he chose, pardon her should she commit adultery. Although a man was allowed only one legal wife, he was at liberty to take concubines if he could afford them. Should the official wife prove unable to bear children, her husband was at liberty to divorce her. Her only alternative, if he would accept it, was to find another woman for her husband who could assume this role.
* The above Excerpts are taken from the Internet without any edits mainly for informational purposes only. ~*~ LIGHT OF ATLANTIS ~*~ will not be responsible for any of its contents, misuses or abuses using the information presented. -
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Mesopotamian Holy Harlot
I TURN THE MALE TO THE
FEMALE. I AM SHE WHO
ADORNETH THE MALE FOR THE
FEMALE; AM AM SHE WHO
ADORNETH THE FEMALE
FOR THE MALE.
The words of the goddess Ishtar.
A great and powerful civilization once flourished in Mesopotamia (Greek for 'between the rivers'). This area, now in modern Iraq, included the kingdoms of Sumeria, Akkadia, Assyria and Babylonia, although its culture and influence spread over a much wider area of the Middle East.
The earliest evidence from Sumeria reveals a culture which accorded women equal status with men, and which principally venerated the goddess Inanna/Ishtar, lunar goddess of life and love, named as the Whore of Babylon in the Bible. The Mesopotamians held daily religious rituals, offering food and drink to their deities in the temples - which were also centers for trade and acted as banks, extending loans. Monthly rites were held to honor the moon's phases: 'on the day of the disappearance of the moon, on the day of the sleeping of the moon'. The exact observance of the moon's phases was very important for it formed the calendar from which they calculated the precise dates and times of all their religious observances. The focus and centerpiece of their year was a sacred sexual rite of the utmost significance. Every New Year, the ruling king 'married' the goddess Inanna/Ishtar amidst great feasting and celebration. This rite took place annually for thousands of years, profoundly influencing later civilizations, both symbolically and through actual ritual.
IN PRAISE OF ISHTAR
Praise Ishtar, the most
awesome of the Goddesses,
revere the queen of women,
the greatest of the deities.
She is clothed with pleasure and love.
She is laden with vitality,
charm, and voluptuousness.
In lips she is sweet;
life is in her mouth.
At her appearance rejoicing
becomes full.
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The Dance of the Seven Veils by Armand Point. The dance originated with the myth of Ishtar's descent into the underworld in search of her lover.
Ishtar's tides and names - like those of all ancient deities - were many and various. In Babylon, her name meant 'Star', the Light of the World. Semitic people gradually conquered the lands of Sumer, introducing changes to the earliest myths and adding further names for the goddess. She was known as Ashtoreth, to whom King Solomon returns at the end of his days; she was also named -Har, or Hora - from which the words harlot and whore sprang. Inanna/Ishtar was served by powerful prostitute-priestesses who were 'the vehicles of her creative life in their sexual union with the men who came there to perform a sacred ritual'. 24 This goddess exhibited a rich diversity of powers, for she also had a terrifying aspect as goddess of war and storms. Her primordial origins are suggested by images depicting her with the magical Tree of Life, the sacred serpent, and numerous birds - linking her with the earliest snake-bird goddesses known to us in many cultures.
A Phoenician ivory plaque showing the goddess Ishtar
Inanna/Ishtar enjoyed many lovers. Her title 'virgin' indicated her autonomous, unmarried state. Her chief consort was the son/brother/lover Dumuzi, or Tammuz, meaning 'faithful son'. This, and the corresponding goddess roles of mother/sister/lover, reflect the phases of the moon, underlining the importance of its monthly cycle to all ancient peoples. Dumuzi/Tammuz is referred to in poems and hymns as 'Lord of Life', 'the Green One', and 'Shepherd of the People' - often sacrificed in the form of a lamb. The other totemic crea- tures linked to the son/lover are the ram and the magnificent 'Bull of Heaven'.
But, like all early consorts, the grain god Dumuzi/Tammuz was fated to meet an untimely sacrificial end. His ritual death, accompanied by a month of mourning, took place in high summer, after the harvests. This coincided with the reappearance of the dog star, Sirius, rising with the sun in mid-July. At this time, the goddess's lover descended to the 'Land of No Return', the underworld, and life on earth became sterile, scorched and parched by the unforgiving rays of the high summer sun.
The goddess annually mourned the loss of her beloved with piteous laments, intoned by the people in the temples. Naturally, she would eventually retrieve him so that the eternal annual round could be acted out - life affirmed, and life restored. Some scholars suggest that, long ago, an actual human sacrifice took place every Great Year - that is, every eighth year. However, written records did not begin until much later, by which time the death and resurrection of the beloved was acted out symbolically. The god was ever a cyclical deity, while the goddess, like the earth itself, endured. But by the third millennium BC the Epic of Gilgamesh had challenged this received wisdom. In this poem Ishtar desires the hero: 'Glorious Ishtar raised an eye at the beauty of Gilgamesh: "Come, Gilgamesh, be thou my lover! Do but grant me of thy fruit."'
Gilgamesh, however, responds by reciting a long list of Ishtar's previous amours and the sad fate which befell them. He says, 'Which lover didst thou love forever? Which of thy shepherds pleased thee for all time?... For Tammuz, the lover of thy youth, Thou hast ordained wailing year after year... The hero ultimately rejects the goddess's sexual invitation, slays her divine bull and celebrates his bravura with his friend Enkidu, a savage enemy in another tale. This epic poem clearly reflects gradual changes which were taking place in society at that time, for a male figure not only rejects the great goddess, but triumphs over her furious attempts at revenge.
* The above Excerpts are taken from the Internet without any edits mainly for informational purposes only. ~*~ LIGHT OF ATLANTIS ~*~ will not be responsible for any of its contents, misuses or abuses using the information presented. -
This has been a very informative read. I have to admit, I'm not sure exactly what the author's motives/values are reagrding the piece. It sounded very neutral throughout, at a level which I have not come across for a long while.
Some themes though, would be the freedom and lack of guilt associated with sex and sexuality in the ancient past. Nowadays the entire subject is taboo from head to tail. I personally see Oceanos' responsible disclaimer as one proof of this.
I think though, at the end of the day, it is about self mastery. One should not allow oneself to be hindered/repressed by a dependence, nor a guilt/negative outlook on sex. -
Ishtar is depicted as a voluptuous woman, symbolizing her abundant fertility.
In other poems, however, the relationship between the goddess anc her lover is rapturous, erotic, and bursting with images of fertility. Here is the Sumerian Inanna, praising her 'honey-man':
He has sprouted; he has burgeoned;
He is lettuce planted by the water.
He is the one my womb loves best.
My well-stocked garden of the plain,
My barley growing high in its furrow,
My apple tree which bears fruit up to its crown,
He is lettuce planted by the water.
My honey-man, my honey-man sweetens me always.
My lord, the honey-man of the gods,
He is the one my womb loves best.
His hand is honey, his foot is honey,
He sweetens me always.
My eager impetuous caresser of the navel,
My caresser of the soft thighs,
He is the one my womb loves best
He is lettuce planted by the water.26
A Babylonian alabaster figure of Ishtar
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THE WHORES OF BABYLON
Ishtar's sacred harlots belonged to an organized hierarchy, painstakingly recorded by the Babylonians. Her top-ranking priestesses were called entu, and wore special clothing to distinguish them from the others. Their caps, jewellery and ceremonial staff were the same as those of the ruler, and their status equal to those of the male priests.
The Babylonian naditu, ranking next in importance to the entu, were drawn from the highest families in the land. In dedicating their lives to the goddess they were supposed to remain single and childless. However, the naditu cheerfully ignored this stricture, and led full and active lives. They were bright and canny, with considerable business acumen: 'They bought, sold and hired out; lent money and grain; invested, imported, exported, dealt in slaves, managed land and people, played fom the cloisters an essential part in the economy of the country.'27 Beneath these women came the qadishtu (sacred women) and the ishtaritu, many of whom specialized in the arts of dancing, music and singing.
From snippets of information in classical literature, and certain artefacts, it is possible to surmise that these women demonstrated their sexuality by dancing a version of the sensuous, undulating belly dance which is still extremely popular all over the Middle East today. As Wendy Buonaventura writes of the dance: '... everything indicates a connection between birth mime, early creation dance and that which was part of goddess rites in the prehistoric world'. The dance is characterized by 'snake-like and vigorous hip and pelvic movements, the manipulation of veils, a descent to the floor and the ritual wearing of a hip- belt or sash, which we can link with the girdle, Ishtar's symbolic emblem'.28 In the Middle East this alluring dance is still performed by women, at all-female gatherings from which men are banned.
The snake's sensuous coils may have inspired the undulations of Middle Eastern dance.
In addition to the activities of the sacred temple whores, there were sacramental sexual initiations of a slightly different character. The Greek historian Herodotus (3 BC) tells us: 'Babylonian custom... compels every woman of the land once in her life to sit in the temple of love and have intercourse with some stranger... the men pass and make their choice. It matters not what be the sum of money; the woman will never refuse, for that were a sin, the money being by this act made sacred. After their intercourse she has made herself holy in the sight of the goddess and goes away to her home; and thereafter there is no bribe however great that will get her. So then the women that are tall and fair are soon free to depart, but the uncomely have long to wait because they cannot fulfil the law; for some of them remain for three years or four. There is a custom like this in some parts of Cyprus.'29
Many of these women returned home to marry and have children. Later Sumerian texts, however, advised against marrying a fully-fledged temple prostitute since she would be too independent, 'besides being accustomed to sccepting other men, she would make sn unsympathetic and intractable wife'.
Overall, the sacred whores were credited with transformative powers, as the myth of the wild, hairy Enkidu makes plain. The Epic of Gilgamesh tells how the semi-divine hero became so overweeningly arrogant that the other gods created Enkidu to steal some of his power. A hunter discovered this primitive being at a watering hole, drinking with the animals, and informed Gilgamesh of the trap. On hearing the news, Gilgamesh sent a 'child of pleasure' from the temple of love to lure Enkidu away. The woman disrobed 'laying bare her ripeness'. This had the desired effect and the animal man was ensnared:
. . . and [Enkidu] possessed her ripeness.
She was not bashful as she welcomed his ardour.
She laid aside her cloth and he rested upon her.
She treated him, the savage, to a woman's task,
And his love was drawn into her.
After six days and seven nights instructive lovemaking, Enkidu became an initiate - possessed of both 'wisdom' and 'broader understanding'. The harlot then led him to the gates of the city, where he took up a new, more civilized, existence - his animal nature having been transformed by his intensely passionate encounter and his new-found knowledge of the arts of love.
* The above Excerpts are taken from the Internet without any edits mainly for informational purposes only. ~*~ LIGHT OF ATLANTIS ~*~ will not be responsible for any of its contents, misuses or abuses using the information presented. -
The semi-divine hero Gilgamesh with a lion from an Assyrian stone relief (8th century BC)
THE SACRED MARRIAGE
The goddess Inanna speaks to her lover:
Bridegroom, dear to my heart,
Goodly is your beauty, honeysweet.
Lion, dear to my heart,
Goodly is your beauty, honeysweet.
You have captivated me, let me stand tremblingly before you,
Bridegroom, I would be taken by you to the bedchamber.
You have captivated me, let me stand tremblingly before you,
Lion, I would be taken by you to the Bedchamber.
My precious caress is more savory than honey,
In the bedchamber, honey filled,
Let us enjoy your goodly beauty,
Lion, let me caress you.
My precious caress is more savory than honey.30
Ishtar sits at the window - an image of the goddess as the sacred prostitute.
The sacred marriage between priestess and king was the most solemn and numinous of all Mesopotamian religious rituals. Through this act, the fecundity and sheer life-force of the goddess was honored, released, and drawn down to vivify the land and its people. Her blessing was conferred on the earth itself and on the position of the ruling king. Without his wedding to the goddess, in the living form of her priestess, the king was not considered fit or able to rule the people. His temporal potency was inextricably linked with his physical prowess and attuned to his own instinctual sexual energies.
New Year, the 'day of rites', was the time set aside for these ecstatic, hedonistic celebrations. In Mesopotamia, New Year fell at the time of the spring equinox, when the earth was pulsing with fresh, new life. In a feast of collective pleasure lasting many days, the people venerated the divine nature of sexual joy. Everything was designed to stir the senses, and men and women bathed and anointed their oiled skin with herbs and essences. They darkened their eyelids, painted their faces and decorated themselves with jewellery. Scented lotions were used to set curls in their dark hair. Arrayed in all their finery they toasted the goddess and her bridegroom with wine, and performed serpentine, circling dances to the haunting music of lyres, flutes and drums. Sacrifices and libations were made and the perfumed air was thick with the heady scents of cinnamon, aloes and myrrh. In Babylon, a great pyre of incense smouldered atop the legendary, pyramid-like Tower of Babel. At the peak of this lavish carnival the king approached the temple, bearing offerings of oil, precious spices and tempting foods to lay before Inanna/ Ishtar. The crowds thronging the temple precincts chanted sacred erotic poems, creating a highly-charged atmosphere of sensual anticipation and mystical participation. In these poems the goddess, and by extension the priestess who embodied her, prepared for her nuptials with great care: When for the uwild bull, for the lord, I shall have bathed, When for the shepherd Dumuzi, I shall have bathed, . . . When with amber my mouth I shall have coated, When with kohl my eyes I shall have painted. 31
The sacred marriage took place in the heart of the temple, where the king waited for the goddess/priestess to approach and receive him. One poem describes how the profound religious significance of their union made 'the throne in the great sanctuary' as glorious as the daylight, and transformed the king, who became 'like the Sun-god', literally and symbolically enlightened. Inanna's passion is described in rapturous poetry. The hymns and sacred erotic poems of Mesopotamia celebrate sexuality in a way which reveres its power, inspirational energies and transformative qualities. It is this indivisible fusion of the sexual and the spiritual that formed the core of their religion.
The following sensuous text describes the divine love-making of Inanna and Dumuzi - the consummation of the sacred marriage. It is a continuation of the lines quoted above, and was trans- lated from the Gudea Cylinders (C 3000 BC) from ancient Sumer:
When the lord, lying by holy Inanna,
the shepherd Dumuzi,
With milk and cream the lap shall have smoothed...
When on my vulva his hands he shall have laid,
When like his black boat, he shall have... it,
When like his narrow boat, he shall have brought life to it,
When on the bed he shall have caressed me,
Then I shall caress my lord, a sweet fate I shall decree for him,
I shall caress Shulgi, thefaithful shepherd,
A sweet fate I shall decree for him,
I shall caress his loins,
The shepherdship of all the lands, I shall decree as his fate.
The biblical tower of Babel was based on the Babylonian temple of Ishtar.
* The above Excerpts are taken from the Internet without any edits mainly for informational purposes only. ~*~ LIGHT OF ATLANTIS ~*~ will not be responsible for any of its contents, misuses or abuses using the information presented. -
whoa...very interesting topic
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yup this was definitely a very interesting read.... i find it hard to say how the world population views sex and sexuality nowadays...while in some ways openness has become bigger, but there seems also to be a stronger conservative backlash..
is sex and sexuality still natural to humanity?