The cult of the goddess Ishtar. Ritual prostitution BC.
The cult of the goddess Ishtar was one of the most significant in ancient Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and Syria). Ishtar, known as the goddess of love, fertility, war, and sexuality, played a key role in the pantheon of Sumerians, Akkadians, Babylonians, and Assyrians. Almost all the ancestors of the peoples of the Middle East. Its cult flourished from the middle of the third millennium BC until the fall of Babylon.
How could the goddess Ishtar be the goddess of love and war at the same time? What rituals were performed in honor of the goddess? And could mass have been a way to control society? I will answer these some other questions in this article.
Chapter 1. A versatile goddess who combines opposites.
Some cults passed from people to people, so the goddess Ishtar has many names. The worship of the goddess refers to the Akkadian tribes and to the Babylonians. An analogue of this cult existed among the Sumerians, only in this case the goddess Inanna was called.
What do war, love, and the richness of the soil have in common? I think only the Sumerians could answer this question. It was Ishtar who patronized all these spheres, despite the fact that they have very few points of contact.
Ishtar had androgynous features, according to researchers, due to the fact that initially people believed in the existence of two separate deities, male and female, who eventually merged into one hypostasis. The name of the deity has an interesting origin. It is believed that it was based on the word “astar”, which called the “star” Venus, which was visible in the sky in the morning and evening. This suggests that Ishtar was the prototype of the goddess Venus in Roman mythology. Moreover, the Sumerians believed that the star appeared to them in two different guises, and therefore embodies the feminine and masculine principles. Therefore, the goddess could, depending on the situation, manifest her different essences.
She was the patroness of fertility, rich harvests, and carnal love. According to one of the myths, Ishtar was born from an egg, fluttering out of it as a dove, hence the wings in her iconography. In many surviving sculptural images, her hips are hypertrophied, which is a symbol of productive forces (see Figure 1).
In addition, the energy of Ishtar was invoked during wars and disasters. It was believed that the power of this female goddess was in no way inferior to that of men, and therefore the great warrior would certainly come to the rescue. Now you can appreciate how many people revered this deity – from the military to the peasants.
Figure 1 – Ishtar is the goddess of love, fertility, sexuality and war.
Chapter 2. Ritual prostitution as a way to receive the blessing of the goddess
So, who is the goddess Ishtar, we have figured out. But what rituals were held in her honor? There were several rituals associated with Ishtar:
Rite of Sacred Matrimony: The sacred marriage (hieros gamos in Akkadian) was one of the key rituals of the cult of Ishtar. In this rite, the king (or other high-ranking man) entered into an alliance with the high priestess representing Ishtar. This union was considered a symbolic marriage between the goddess and the king and was supposed to ensure the fertility and prosperity of the state.
This ritual is directly related to the legend of the “Descent of Ishtar into the underworld”, which has not been preserved in full, but the fragments are very eloquent. Legends testify to many of the goddess’s favorites. For example, Dumuzi (Tammuz), the legendary ruler of Assyria and the god of shepherds, his image was revered together with the cult of Ishtar (Innana), personified dying and resurrection.
The legend describes Dumuzi’s death, Ishtar’s lament for her dead lover, her determination to descend into the underworld, where her sister, the goddess of death and darkness Ereshkigal, rules. Descending into the underworld and crossing the river, Inanna appears in front of a luxurious palace, knocks and asks to be let in. Ereshkigal is outraged by her sister’s behavior, she will allow her to enter, but let her do it like all mortals. Ishtar passes through seven gates, each of which has a piece of her garment, crossing the last gate, she remains naked and powerless, like all people before death. The sister’s rage falls on the unfortunate woman. She sentences her to live in eternal darkness, leaving her and Dumuzi forever in the underworld.
While the goddess is held captive by Ereshkigal, nothing grows on earth, nothing is born. Tears and death in the state. Earthly deities do everything to rescue Inanna and Dumuzi from the realm of death. In the end, an agreement is concluded, according to which Dumuzi spends half the year in the abode of darkness, half the year on earth with his beloved.
An attentive reader may notice one interesting detail – this legend resembles the famous ancient Greek legend about Demeter and Persephone. In both cases, the earth was on the verge of destruction, and the former harmony was miraculously restored. It turns out that the legend of the descent of Ishtar can tell us the story of a catastrophe on a global scale, a cataclysm that was noticed not only by the inhabitants of Mesopotamia.
Figure 2 – Ishtar and Tammuz, ancient Sumerian image, 2111-2003 BC
The legend refers to the so-called calendar myths, which tell about the constant circulation in the world. Most mythologies of different peoples and civilizations contain legends about a dying and resurrecting god, who embodies the cyclical nature of nature. Every spring, the rite of the sacred marriage of Dumuzi and Ishtar was performed, and nature came to life, blossomed and bore fruit during this act of love.
Mass Ritual: in the cult of Ishtar may have been associated with mass ritual festivals that were celebrated in her honor. Some historians believe that mass sexual acts may have been performed during certain religious festivals, involving both priestesses and ordinary citizens.
An example is the return of Dumuzi and the onset of spring. The wedding of the gods was necessarily accompanied by carnivals, songs, ritual battles and copulations. It was believed that these rites could appease supernatural forces. These actions may have been related to the belief that sexual energy has magical powers that can bring fertility and prosperity. Thus, mass sexual rituals could be seen as a way to attract the favor of the goddess and ensure the success of the community.
Ritual prostitution: One of the features of the cult of Ishtar was the so-called ritual prostitution. This term may not be entirely accurate, since in the modern sense prostitution is commercial, while in fertility cults such as the cult of Ishtar, sexual acts were part of the rituals and were symbolic in nature. And sexual acts with them were a symbol of the divine union aimed at ensuring the fertility of the land and the well-being of society.
In Vidal Gore’s book “The Creation of the World” there is a curious passage about this. Although the book is fictional, this description does not contradict historical sources.
“Like all visitors to Babylon, the first thing we did was go to the temple of Ishtar, where women sell the body. According to ancient Babylonian law, every local woman must go to the temple of Ishtar once in her life and wait for a man to offer her silver to lie down with her. The first person to offer money receives it. In other temples of this goddess, boys and young men sell themselves, it is believed that those who come here receive a special blessing from the goddess. Fortunately for Babylonian men, they are not required to go to the temple once in a lifetime to sell themselves. Only ladies have had such an honor.
With staring eyes, we stood in formation on the edge of the courtyard. On the ground under the scorching sun sat a thousand women of all kinds of complexion, height, age, class. And no canopy or awning. The portico at the far end of the courtyard was occupied by the temple eunuchs, who lazily watched that visitors did not step over the lines drawn on the ground. Each man was supposed to stay in the lane allotted to him, otherwise there would be a big mess. Between these strips sat women.
It is rather strange that Babylonian men rarely come to this temple. Probably, they are used to it. In addition, they must be embarrassed to see their wives and sisters serve the goddess. Fortunately, there are always enough visitors from all over the world to help the ladies earn the blessing of Ishtar.
Xerxes, Mardonius, and I walked in a line through the crowd of seated women. We were warned that cheerful and joyful women are actually whores and only pretend to serve the goddess. No matter how attractive they may seem at times, they should be avoided. It is better to choose from thoughtful and sad ones, as if in some way moving away from their bodies, offered as a sacrifice to the deity.
According to custom, you throw a silver coin on the lap of the chosen woman. A woman stands up, takes you by the hand and leads you to the temple, where hundreds of wooden partitions are arranged, forming a row of cages without doors. If you find an empty one, you copulate right on the floor. Although eunuchs do not welcome viewers, pretty couples often gather a significant number of curious people around them – not for long. The circumstances there are such that the rule of Ishtar’s service is swiftness and swiftness. To suppress the smell of sexual activity that permeates everything, incense is burned everywhere on braziers, which makes blue smoke hang in the air, and if you stay there too long to praise the goddess, you risk turning blue yourself.
Most foreigners strip naked, but we, decent Persian youths, did not take off anything, and this especially amused the Greeks. In a matter of moments, we consecrated three girls who seemed more decent to us. They seemed to be satisfied, but when Mardonius asked his lady if they should not see each other again, she replied in all seriousness that she would be cursed for it forever. And, besides, she is married. Then she politely thanked him for the work he had done.
My chosen one seemed very embarrassed by this whole ritual. She said that she had recently married, that she wanted to serve Ishtar as a virgin, but her mother dissuaded her. Apparently, too many Babylonian virgins had had sad experiences with rude foreigners, and so the girl postponed it until now. We straightened our clothes after copulation, which greatly amused the two blond northerners, who spoke broken Greek:”And how do they manage in such an outfit?” You don’t know who you’ll get caught. My mother used to say that if some dirty guy came up, you’d better pretend to be ugly or stupid. And if, on the contrary, I see a neat man, I need to smile. She wanted to flatter me, and I was flattered. We stood in the fresh air, clearing our lungs of odorous smoke, and the girl told us that ugly women have to come here day after day, and sometimes for months, waiting for someone to buy them. I’ve even heard of families having to pay a foreigner to go to bed with their woman. This is not good, of course, and very sinful. But it is not so sinful in the eyes of the goddess as not to sell oneself to a man at all.”
Chapter 3. The union of flesh and power
So could mass ritual in honor of Ishtar be a way not only to attract divine power, but also to control society? Let’s figure it out. In fact, yes, they could influence the distribution of power in several ways:
Strengthening the power of the tsar
First, when the king participated in rituals such as a sacred marriage with a priestess, it strengthened his power because people believed that he had a connection with the goddess. This helped him maintain his position as a ruler.
Bringing people together
Second, these mass sexual rituals helped create a sense of unity among people, making them feel part of something important. This contributed to the fact that the people were more supportive of the rulers and religious leaders.
Priest Influence
Third, the priests who administered the rituals played an important role in controlling society. They determined who could participate in the rituals and how they should be performed, which gave them great power and influence over people’s lives.
In this way, these rituals helped rulers and priests maintain their power and influence society by combining religious and political goals.
Risunok 3 – «Ishtar» – card of Isačeva A.A.
In conclusion, I want to summarize all of the above. As we have learned, and sexual rituals in the cult of Ishtar were not just acts of physical gratification, but had a deep religious and symbolic meaning. These rituals served as expressions of worship of the goddess, who personified both the creative and destructive forces of nature. Sexual rituals, such as sacred marriage and ritual (temple) prostitution, were considered to be a means of attracting divine power and ensuring fertility and well-being. Refusal of the ritual was a sin, it was condemned in the society of that time, as it could incur the wrath of the goddess. As we have seen from the passage, paying a foreigner for drinking with a woman was also a sin in the eyes of the goddess and the people of that time. It is also interesting that if a married girl gives herself to a foreigner more than once, she will be cursed forever. Although it sounds wild now, the cult of Ishtar flourished from the middle of the third millennium BC until the fall of Babylon in 539 BC.
So, what have we learned?
Is it true that the goddess Ishtar was the prototype of the Roman goddess Venus? Yes. Both goddesses are named after the planet Venus and both symbolize love, beauty, sexuality, and fertility.
Is it true that the rite of the sacred marriage was held because of the legend of the “Descent of Ishtar into the underworld”? Yes, in this rite, the ruler personified the beloved Ishtar from the legend of Dumuzi (Tammuz), and the high priestess personified the goddess Ishtar herself.
Is it true that mass sexual rituals helped rulers and priests maintain their power and influence society? Yes, these rituals were aimed at strengthening the power of the ruler, supporting the people, and the priests determined who and how could participate in the rituals.
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