Chapter 2 In the Beginning

Early Mesopotamian civilizations began to form around 12,000 BCE, the time of the Neolithic Revolution. Some of the major Mesopotamian civilizations include the Sumerian, Assyrian, Akkadian, and Babylonian civilizations.¹

In many ancient cultures Priests and Priestesses were considered equals. In Mesopotamian society for example the Priests and Priestesses held the same power and honor as the king and were thought to be the intermediaries between Divinity and the people. As in many ancient societies each temple was dedicated to a main Deity, who was also the central God or Goddess of the city. The temple was the home of the honored deity and thus became a sacred household.

They were built with kitchens, tables (in the form of altars), living rooms, and the most important of the rooms, an inner sanctuary where a statue of the major deity stood in one of the building’s walls.²

Thus, the Priestesses main role was to not only please the Gods/Goddesses, but to decipher their will and convey those words to the sovereign and the community. Perhaps their oracular words came to them in trance or spontaneously as a hallucination or feeling. Though I prefer to move away from certain topics, it was oftentimes recorded that animal entrails were used as a sort of divination tool. Whatever the means, these Priestesses were thought to have the power to interpret these celestial messages. The Sumerian civilization with the records dating between 4500 and 4000BC had a well-documented religious temple society. The Sumerian Temple Priestesses served Inanna who was the Goddess of “love, sexuality, prostitution and war.”³

Sumerian Priestesses were also important in a different way:

Deified kings may have re-enacted the marriage of Inanna and Dumuzid with Priestesses.⁴

In Sumerian mythology, Dumuzid also known as Tammuz is an ancient Mesopotamian God and the primary consort of the Goddess Inanna. Thus, we have the sacred marriage which shows how integral the Priestesses role was in enacting this vital and powerful ritual.

The most famous Sumerian Priestess in the Mesopotamian region was the first known chronicled Priestess and poet Enheduanna. She was the first author in the world known by name because she was the first to actually sign her name to her work. Though there were other instances of written works well before Enheduanna’s time, she was unique in that she took credit for being the author with her own signature.

She was the High Priestess of the goddess Inanna and the moon god Nanna (Sin). She lived in the Sumerian city-state of Ur.⁵

Later, Nanna/Sin would be identified as the Sumerian Goddess Inanna, the Akkadian Goddess Ishtar and, still later, as the Greek Goddess Aphrodite.

As a devoted and talented Priestess, she composed personal prayers to her Goddess. They were known as the Sumerian Temple Hymns that were carved onto 37 tablets amounting to 42 translated hymns. It was in 1927 that the British archaeologist Sir Leonard Woolley first discovered the Enheduanna calcite disc in excavations of the Sumerian city of Ur. Sir Wooley recorded his discoveries in a volume entitled Excavations at Ur. As the High Priestess of the Temple of Sumer, Enheduanna lived in approximately 2285-2250 BCE and was the daughter of Sargon of Akkad, also known as Sargon the Great, and Queen Tashlultum who might also have been a Priestess.

With the political intrigue of the tumultuous times in which she lived, her influence as poet and Priestess was significant. Religion played a very necessary role in the society, as did the deities themselves. Yet she was able to compose 42 hymns that addressed the temple at “Sumer and Akkad including Eridu, Sippar and Esnunna.”⁶

Her hymns were copied by scribes for at least five centuries, and her writings are believed to have influenced the merger of the Sumerian Inanna with the Akkadian Ishtar. After her death, a hymn was devoted to her by an anonymous composer, indicating that she may even have been venerated as a deity herself.⁷

Enheduanna being the first Mesopotamian Princess to serve as a Temple High Priestess, she set in motion a long tradition of royalty serving the Goddess. It was the shrewd political ambitions of her father, King Sargon, to secure power in the south that prompted his appointing her as High Priestess of the City of Ur, her birthplace. She held the office for over 40 years. It was said that during the reign of her brother there was a coup and she was thrown out. Mythology records that with the help of the Goddess Inanna (Nanna), whom she served, she was restored to her proper place in the temple.

From historic records, it would seem that Enheduanna was the first woman to serve such a prominent position in Ur. This not only elevated the status of Nanna but also set an example for future priestesses.⁸

Ultimately Enheduanna had the task to combine the two deities of Inanna and Nanna into a single, omnipotent Goddess, which she did through her devotional hymns. According to historian Paul Kriwaczek:

Enheduanna is credited with creating the paradigms of poetry, psalms, and prayers used throughout the ancient world… Her compositions, though only rediscovered in modern times, remained models of petitionary prayer for even longer. Through the Babylonians, they influenced and inspired the prayers and psalms of the Hebrew Bible and the Homeric hymns of Greece. Through them, faint echoes of Enheduanna, the first named literary author in history, can even be heard in the hymnody of the early Christian church.⁹

In ancient Mesopotamia many Priestesses were Oracles or visionaries of a sort because they were thought to be adept at interpreting prophetic signs and omens. They were also known as healers. Enheduanna in her official Priestess role was more of an administrator who took care of the day- to- day temple business. But as High Priestess she would also have been required to officiate at various religious ceremonies.

Although shrouded in the mists of an ancient culture, Enheduanna’s importance is likely to rise in stature. She is, after all, probably the world’s oldest known author as well as a figure who evidences a significant role of women in the history of literature.¹⁰

Her amazing contributions to Sumerian literature are still recognized by scholars today.

Your great deeds are unparalleled; your magnificence is praised! Young woman, Inana, your praise is sweet!¹¹

Lines 272-274 of the translated Hymn to Inanna, a 274-line devotional hymn to Inanna as the “Lady of the Great Heart.”

Other ranks of priestesses are known, most of them to be considered orders of nuns. The best-known are the votaries of the sun god, who lived in a cloister (gagûm) in Sippar. Whether, besides nuns, there were also priestesses devoted to sacred prostitution is a moot question; what is clear is that prostitutes were under the special protection of the goddess Inanna (Ishtar)¹²

Sacred prostitution was and is a subject of controversary that I will address again. Historical research does acknowledge the possible reality of such an idea which does appear in a number of ancient Temple Priestess cults.

Mesopotamian Priestesses had varied spiritual duties and responsibilities. In exchange for their valued service, they received respect, esteem and a comfortable life. Since religion and the service to Deity was so integral to the well-being of the society, each city was organized around a temple complex. There were many private chambers for the Priestesses plus work and public areas. Temple buildings were almost small cities functioning as a complex network of religious activity. Those who lived and worked within its walls were not just devoted to religious service, but to the prosperous function of the temple and all of its assets. So, each temple had many servants to help manage land holdings, tend to the crops and animals plus weave cloth all in an effort to create a functioning enterprise. In many instances the temple employed many of the city’s inhabitants.

Temples employed accountants, scribes, guards, butchers, messengers, artisans and seamstresses. Temples cared for orphans and charity wards; they also held numerous slaves who worked in a variety of capacities.¹³

There were purification rites and other sacred duties for both the Priests and Priestesses to perform. For temple life to function effectively and sometimes even as a profitable commercial enterprise, many servants (both slaves and paid workers) were employed. In many instances temples were usually the local landowners and employers. Even in the ancient world, religion was so often a business. Though we are focusing specifically on the role of the Priestesses, in Egypt the Priests sold spells and prayers to help the deceased in their journey into the underworld. It was a very lucrative business. And in many ancient temple complexes religious souvenirs in the likeness of a deity along with little altar shrines were sold to weary pilgrims.

In Mesopotamian society the temples had two overseers to supervise the scores of Priests and Priestesses. One Priest or Priestess had the responsibility of managing all sacred and religious duties including purifications and exorcisms. Another supervised the Oracles or Sibyls who understood the Divine will of the Gods and were able to communicate these messages to the ruler and to the people.

Priestesses also sang, danced and played musical instruments during religious ceremonies and in the case of Enheduanna wrote sacred hymns all in the honor of their Deity.

Perfect bodies and impressive lineage seem to have been important requirements for acceptance into a Mesopotamian temple as it was throughout the ancient world of religious sanctuaries. Training was demanding and challenging, and in many societies took many years. But the rewards were plentiful.

Priestesses served as the first dentists and doctors in Mesopotamia. They treated their patients in the temple’s outer court. Priestesses were required to be celibate. Although they could not bear children, they could marry and be stepmother to their husband’s children.¹⁴

The Priestesses of the Goddess Ishtar

Ishtar is the Akkadian name for the Sumerian Goddess Inanna. Ishtar was also associated with the Semitic Goddess Astarte. She was both a Goddess of fertility and war. The ancient Babylonian empire and the cities of Uruk and Nineveh built many grand temples and altars in her honor. Archeologists have discovered many inscriptions and art objects that attest to her popularity. There is not much known about her Priestesses but as with most Priestesses of the ancient world they were virginal and not permitted to marry.

Ishtar was sometimes described as the daughter of the Moon Goddess, Ningal, and her consort, Sin, another Moon God. Together with the Moon God, Sin and the Sun God, Shamash, Ishtar is the third figure in a triad personifying the moon, the sun, and the earth.

This powerful Mesopotamian goddess is the first known deity for which we have written evidence.¹⁵

Ishtar’s Priestesses would honor her with incantations and singing hymns. Invoking Ishtar/Inanna was a celebration for the Goddess and was a powerful force within Sumerian culture. The ancient Priestess Enheduanna’s wrote 42 personal temple hymns to the Goddess in veneration of her. Called Ishtaritu, these Priestesses specialized in the arts of dancing, music, and singing as they served in Ishtar’s temples.

The Ishtar Gate was constructed by (575 BCE by order of King Nebuchadnezzar) as the eighth gate to the inner city of Babylon which is in the present day city of Hillah, Babil Governorate, Iraq. The mammoth structure was constructed to honor the Goddess. The Pergamon Museum in Berlin, Germany created a partial reconstruction of a small frontal segment of the gate, which is now on display.

The Minoan Snake Goddess and her Priestesses

In the Middle East and parts of Asia, the Bronze Age lasted from roughly 3300 to 1200 BCE, ending abruptly with the near-simultaneous collapse of several prominent Bronze Age civilizations.

The Minoan’s Era of Crete was a Bronze age civilization from 2000 BCE until 800 BCE. The ancient Minoan religion is still very much an enigma. Their language remains untranslatable, thus without any clear readable written texts from the period archaeologists and scholars have had to focus on excavated paintings, statuettes, ritual vessels, seals and rings for guidance in telling the story of this mysterious society. Yet it has been difficult to differentiate between depictions of worshippers, Priests or Priestesses, rulers and Deities. It is plausible to say that humans represented Deity in rituals which would then be reflected in Minoan art, adding to confusion in the interpretation.

Abundant amounts of statuettes of Priestesses in very elaborate ritual attire have been unearthed at Cretan archaeological sites. With almost every figurine the Priestess (or perhaps Goddess) is holding a wiggling snake in each hand. If one looks at the expression in the large and ornately painted eyes of these faces, it becomes obvious that these women were in a definite trancelike state. She is a provocative image.

In some of the temple rooms of the sprawling building found in Knossos, there were also snake pits. In small doses snake venom is a hallucinogen. Clearly these priestesses were engaging with the snake and her medicine to receive oracular information.¹⁶

Were these statuettes representations of “snake Priestesses”? Did snakes speak to them giving prophetic information that they would share with the community?

In Minoan Crete, they believed they were speaking literally to the snake goddess in these communions.¹⁷

Historians concur that the dominant figure in Minoan religion was a Goddess. It is also agreed that there was a male figure (a worshiper) often associated with the Goddess.

She seems to have been served by priestesses, and one complicating issue is that some scholars have proposed that these imitated or performed as the deity in the course of rituals, confusing what images in Minoan art represent, for example in the case of the snake goddess figurines, at least one of which may represent “priestesses”, which was Sir Arthur Evans’ original thought.¹⁸

How important was the snake to Minoan culture? The Snake Goddess was considered the most significant deity and with her snake cult of Priestesses helped to define the religious philosophy of the civilization. The snake was thought to be one of the aspects of the Great Mother Goddess. As an underworld deity, the snake was also associated with the welfare of the Minoan household.

The first who identified this Minoan Goddess and who described her domestic and chthonic role and her cult, was A. Evans. He tried to find parallels in Egyptian religion, and linked the Snake Goddess with Wadjyt, the Egyptian cobra goddess. From his point of view the attribute of the goddess — a snake — was a form of an underworld spirit, which had domestic and a friendly significance.¹⁹

Direct communication with the consciousness of another species has been an accepted means of oracular trance and divination throughout the ancient world. In Minoan society did we have the snake sharing her wisdom with the Priestess so that she alone could decipher the sacred knowledge? Is that why almost every statuette unearthed is in the form of a female (Priestess) holding a wriggling snake in each hand?

In our modern world Pentecostal “snake handling” is practiced primarily in a very small area of the Appalachian region of the United States. “It is the handling of live, venomous snakes during worship and is intended as an act and expression of faith.”²⁰

Whether Priestesses or Goddesses, these excavated figurines with their ornate and elegant garments have become the first style icons for the ancient world. What was the meaning of such stylized women with long skirts consisting of flounced layers of multicolored cloth, decorative belt/girdles and tight vestlike garments that revealed abundant naked breasts? She is also youthful and wears a crown on her head which symbolizes her high status and her power. Shortly after the Minoan culture faded it became customary for clothing to be fashionable instead of just practical. Beauty suddenly became an accepted concept.

There is much historical controversary as to what this very specific style of clothing meant. I believe the Minoan society was totally a Goddess dominate society. These are images of women who are in charge of their bodies. The well-known Egyptian Goddess Isis gave spiritual sustenance to the Pharaohs, and on and on in many ancient cultures. Did these depictions with such ample breasts symbolize giving divine nourishment?

The debate over the meaning of the ruffed flounced skirts worn by Minoan women is also intriguing. Looms were found in Minoan palaces. Being a nautical society sails would have to be made for ships. Throughout history women were weavers so perhaps our Minoan women not only made sails but created exquisite garments for themselves as well. Or were these garments so divinely designed reserved for the Priestess class? Perhaps we will never know.

Part of the attraction of the figurines is that they can be interpreted as embodying many of the perceived, and admired, characteristics of the Minoans: their elegant, fashionable costumes, their physical gracefulness, their sensitive yet forthright personalities, their sophisticated tastes and love of luxury, their refined manners and worldly ways, their seemingly high intelligence combined with an endearing forthright innocence, and their apparent love of beauty, nature, and peace.²¹

As a seafaring culture, the dress for Minoan males was fairly light and little more than a loin cloth. With our Snake Goddess, her clothing (and that of her Priestesses) represents her status and the power that she wields. In each hand of the Snake Goddess statuettes and frescoes she is holding snakes, which represents the renewal of life.

Minoans were dominant on the sea, yet there has been no significant discovery of any kind of militaristic structures or materials on the land. Perhaps we have a divided society with the men away at sea and the women at home. If this is true Minoan women not only performed ordinary tasks but used their skills to create beauty.

What was life as a Minoan Priestess like? There is evidence that they led religious rituals and it was believed that they had close associations with the Deities. Though I am focused on the mysterious Snake Goddess, it is known that the Minoans worshipped numerous other deities. Another important feature of the Minoan culture was that Priestesses and women in general were afforded status that didn’t exist in other societies of the period. They were not only respected but given positions of authority.

During the Paleolithic period archeologists discovered the statute of the what is now known as the “The Venus of Willendorf”. In the Bronze age we have the “Snake Goddess” which has become the manifestation of Minoan religion, art and society. Once again all of these theories support the fact that very likely Minoan society was matriarchal with a very significant Priestess cult.

And that Priestess cult is still alive and well in the modern version of the Minoan Sisterhood of Priestesses which began in New York City in 1975 with a connection to Gardnerian Witchcraft and a strong focus on the feminine mysteries.