Inanna and The Sacred Marriage The King

Inanna and the Sacred Marriage by Johanna Stuckey 2015-08-02, 3:21 PM
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Goddess Earth Cosmology Women's Health Reader Contributions Book Reviews Editor's
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Inanna and the "Sacred Marriage"
by Johanna Stuckey
The king goes with lifted head

to the holy lap,
Goes with lifted head to the
holy lap of Inanna,
[Dumuzi] beds with her,
He delights in her pure lap.
(Sefati 1998: 105)
The "Sacred Marriage" was

"joyously and rapturously"
celebrated in the ancient
eastern Mediterranean for over
two thousand years (Kramer Couple on terracotta bed, perhaps representing the
1969:49). "Sacred Marriage" "Sacred Marriage." Object could have been bought at the
festival. Mesopotamia 3rd. millennium BCE.
translates Classical Greek hieros © S. Beaulieu, after Teubal 1983: 117.
gamos, originally the marriage larger view of image
of Zeus and Hera, but Classicists

used the term for alliances
between other deities or deities and humans, particularly when
marked by ritual. Sir James Frazer (1854-1941), author of The
Golden Bough, expanded the term to mean "mythic and ritual sexual
acts" connected with fertility (Cooper 1993:82).
Although, for ancient Mesopotamia, the term refers to "the ritual

enactment of the marriage of two deities or a human and a deity"
(Cooper 1993:82), the participants were understood as deities:
usually Inanna-Ishtar and Dumuzi-Tammuz. [1] In historic times, the
main aim was "to decree a good fate for the king and his country"
(Lapinkivi 2004:7).[2] Nonetheless, as I shall speculate later, early
file:///Users/johanna/Desktop/matrifocus%20complete/Inanna%20and%20the%20Sacred%20Marriage%20by%20Johanna%20Stuckey.htm Page 1 of 10
priests could have appropriated to their own ends a rite which,

originally, had a very different function.
From extant hymns, we can piece

together what happened in the ritual
(Lapinkivi 2004:47,#29;50,#35). First,
Inanna was bathed, perfumed, and
adorned, while Dumuzi and his retinue
processed towards her shrine. The
famous Uruk vase may represent this
procession. All the while, temple
personnel sang love songs, many of
which are extant (Sefati 1998:25,120-
364). Resplendent Inanna greeted
Dumuzi at the door, which, on the Uruk
vase, is flanked by her signature
standards (gateposts), and there he
presented her with sumptuous gifts.
Subsequently, the pair seated
themselves on thrones, although
sometimes the enthronement took place
only after sexual consummation
(Jacobsen 1976:38).
The deities entered a chamber fragrant

with spices and decorated with costly
draperies. Lying down on a ceremonial
bed constructed for the occasion
(Jacobsen 1976:38), they united in
sexual intercourse (Henshaw 1994:238).
Uruk Vase, with procession of naked priests Afterwards, pleased by and with her
carrying gifts to Inanna's shrine., Inanna
greeting them at its door marked by her lover, Inanna decreed long life and
gateposts. Alabaster. 3'. Uruk, Mesopotamia. sovereignty for him and fertility and
Fourth millennium BCE.
© S. Beaulieu, after Gadon 1989:137. prosperity for the land. She might also
have presented him with the ring, rod,
and line, emblems of royal power. The
ritual over, the people celebrated in a huge festival.
The earliest "detailed direct evidence" of the ritual comes from the
time of King Shulgi of Ur (2095-2048), but the first ruler named
"beloved of Inanna" reigned in Uruk around 2700 BCE, a hint that the
ritual was already occurring by then (Lapinkivi 2004:2; Sefati
1998:30-31).
How do we know that the ritual actually took place? Some consider
this question "controversial" considering the paucity of evidence

(Henshaw 1994:239). When and how often it occurred is also
controversial. However, since a number of poems describe the ritual
in detail and some of the details are supported in "important and
reliable evidence" such as "royal inscriptions, economic texts, etc."
(Sefati 1998:32), we can assume that Sumerians did celebrate the
"Sacred Marriage."
Did the participants actually engage in sexual intercourse? Again the

subject is controversial, some scholars arguing that they did (Frayne
1983, Kramer 1969; see Cooper 1993:87-88), others insisting that
the act was "purely symbolic" (Steinkeller 1999:133).
Who, then, were the participants? It

appears certain that, at Uruk, the
priest-ruler, the en, spent at least one
ritual night in the high-priestly
residence, the gipar, "during which
[period] he consummated the
marriage with Inanna" (Steinkeller
1999:132). Further, poems name two
historically identifiable kings as
participants in the rite, but only for
the period 2100-2000 BCE. A king of
Sumer could take part only if he held
the office of en of Uruk and bore the
title "spouse of Inanna" (Steinkeller
1999:130-131). By 2000 BCE,
according to some scholars, the
monarch of Sumer normally
represented Dumuzi in the rite. As a
result of the ceremony, he received
the authority to manipulate "the
natural and human environments for
greater productivity and security"
(Wakeman 1985:13).
The texts refer to the female

participant only as Inanna (Frayne
1985:14), a possible indication that
Inanna had incarnated herself in a Couple on terracotta bed, perhaps representing
priestess.[3] The likeliest candidate the "Sacred Marriage." Object could have been
bought at the festival. Mesopotamia 3rd.
would be the priestess known as nin- millennium BCE.
dingir, Sumerian for "Lady Deity" or © S. Beaulieu, after Teubal 1983: 117.
"Lady Who Is Goddess."[4]
A man could achieve authority in

Inanna's temple community at Uruk as either her "trusted servant" or
her consort or both. Indeed, traditionally, the ruler of Uruk and its
goddess co-habited in the gipar. The "Sacred Marriage," which at first
conferred authority temporarily on one man, eventually provided
religious sanction for male exercise of power (Wakeman 1985:12).
Around 2900 BCE, Inanna, incarnated in the nin-dingir,[5] "chose

[Uruk's] en" (Wakeman 1985:23-my emphasis). By around 2300
BCE, however, the Mesopotamian king had appropriated the right to
appoint an en.[6] Eventually, around 2100 BCE, the nin-dingir/entu
became merely spouse of the city god she served and/or the consort
of Dumuzi. Furthermore, after about 1700 BCE, the title entu
disappeared from archival texts (Frayne 1985:22). Concomitantly,
the "Sacred Marriage" also altered, until, in its latest form, it
probably involved two statues (Cooper 1993:91; Frayne 1985:22).
According to Steinkeller, "the earliest Sumerian pantheon was

dominated by female deities," and a goddess, the divine "owner" of
most early cities, "controlled ... fertility, procreation, healing, and
death." Paired with each was a god, "a personification of male
reproductive power." Over time, the power of male deities increased,
"though never superseding that of goddesses" (1999:113). Perhaps
Inanna's domination of much "Sacred Marriage" material (Jacobsen
1976:39-40) reflects those earliest times, when the "Sacred
Marriage" centred on goddesses. Is it possible that the ceremony
originally dealt with her concerns alone?
Part of the answer lies, I

think, in an exciting theory
propounded by Sumerologist
Douglas Frayne, who presents
a convincing explanation of
the evidence.[7] After showing
that nin-dingir and entu refer
to the same office, Frayne
suggests that this priestess
was the Inanna of the "Sacred
Marriage" poems. He then re-
examines the available
evidence and concludes that
the ritual was integral to the
installation of "new entu
priestesses" (Frayne
Detail, Uruk Vase, with procession of naked priests carrying 1985:12ff.,14-18).
In supporting his theory,

gifts to Inanna's shrine., Inanna greeting them at its door
marked by her gateposts. Alabaster. 3'. Uruk, Mesopotamia.
Fourth millennium BCE. Frayne discusses what
© S. Beaulieu, after Gadon 1989:137.scholars call "year formulae";
larger view of image
the Mesopotamians named a
year by its significant event
and recorded it on, for
instance, building bricks (Cohen 1993:4). One such happening was
the installation of an en: for instance, "The year the entu of Nanna
was chosen by omens" or "The year Nur-Adad installed the entu of
Utu [the sun god]" (Frayne 1985:15). The latter correlates with a
passage in a "literary letter of Sin-Iddinam" who describes significant
occurrences in the early reign of his father Nur-Adad:
An entu priestess who perfected the immaculate lustration rites, he
installed for [Utu] in her gipar. From evening to morning he added
[offerings?], and filled it with abundance (Frayne 1985: 15).
The last sentence recalls the ruler's bringing gifts to Inanna in the
"Sacred Marriage."
Frayne then points to archival texts that "record disbursements of

materials that were used to construct cult objects, or were used in
ceremonies ..." (1985:17). One, almost certainly relating to the
installation of an entu, lists as cult objects: "[One] lady's throne/one
bed ..." "Sacred Marriage" hymns often describe the setting up of a
bed and a throne before the ritual (Frayne 1985:18ff.). Thus, Frayne
concludes that the installation of a nin-dingir/entu entailed the
celebration of the "Sacred Marriage."
The question is: Why? The nin-dingir/entu was probably the priestess
who, at Uruk, incarnated Inanna, and in other cities she sometimes
embodied the female half of the divine couple that protected the city
(Steinkeller 1999:123). If her installation necessitated the "Sacred
Marriage," she might also have incarnated Inanna. The
Mesopotamians clearly understood Inanna to be closely connected
with fecundity. Originally, then, the ritual might have been a fertility
rite, a possibility supported by Wakeman's suggestion that the
"Sacred Marriage" was central to an early Urukian harvest festival.[8]
My high field
that which is
well
watered,
My own
nakedness, a
well-
watered, a
rising
mound--
I, the
maiden-who
will plough
it? . . . .
Young lady,
may the king
plough it for
you,
May Dumuzi,
the king,
plough it for
Couple on terracotta bed, perhaps representing the "Sacred Marriage." Object
you!" could have been bought at the festival. Mesopotamia 3rd. millennium BCE.
(Sefati 1998:225) © S. Beaulieu, after Teubal 1983: 117.
The
agricultural
Sumerians metaphorically equated ploughing of land with sexual
intercourse (Jacobsen 1976:46). Therefore, it seems reasonable to
theorize that "Goddess on Earth" Inanna, whose body was identified
with arable land, would not be able to bring about the land's fertility
until she herself, at least potentially, became fertile. Thus, the
"Sacred Marriage" might have been integral to the installation of nin-
dingir/entu as Inanna because, I suggest, like the land, she had to be
"ploughed" to be fertile and to bring fecundity and prosperity to
Sumer.
Possibly, then, the "Sacred Marriage" rite was not originally

concerned with king-making at all, but rather with "goddess-
making"; perhaps it was a ritual for, as it were, "activating," making
fertile a "Goddess on Earth." To that end, the ceremony entailed
ritual mating between the entu-designate and, say, a temple priest,
since, for the Mesopotamians, fertility on earth, as in heaven,
resulted from the union of male and female.
The ritual would, I

theorize, have
confirmed the priestess
as Inanna —
permanently — and, for
a short time, the priest
would have incarnated
a divine lover. However,
to have embodied a
deity, if only
temporarily, would have
set him apart: for a
time he had been a

god!
At some point, one

priest might have seen
the advantage of
continuing to incarnate
the goddess's lover, of
using the role's
charisma to achieve
power in the
community. Indeed he
could have been the
first en!
According to Kramer,
the "Sacred Marriage"
Dumuzi (man in net kilt; see Steinkeller 1999: 104-111) approaching was being celebrated
Inanna at shrine, procession of naked priests following, with gifts. for several generations
Reconstruction. Alabaster Vase. 3'. Fourth millennium BCE. Uruk,
Mesopotamia. before the Sumerians
© S. Beaulieu, after Meador 2000: 59. associated Dumuzi with
it (1969:57-8).
Furthermore, Dumuzi
occurs in the Sumerian
"King List" as an early en of Uruk (Kramer 1969:328). Could it have
been this very Dumuzi who appropriated the mating ritual for the
validation of kingship? As en, he would have been the main
administrative officer of the temple complex and its estates, in effect
the ruler of the city (Steinkeller 1999:105; Henshaw 1994:44).
Possibly also a talented general, he could slowly have increased the
significance of his role through military activity at the city's need.
Nevertheless, he would have remained aware of the importance of
continuing his relationship with Inanna and of keeping the title en to
indicate that connection.
Succeeding male
ens, now
perhaps also
using the title
lugal "big man,"
could have
followed suit,
until gradually
they became
kings in their
own right.[9]
Steinkeller's
view, that
"enship
apparently was
the original form
of Sumerian
kingship,"
supports this
theory
(1999:112).
However, as
many later
Mesopotamian
kings appear to
have done, early
en/lugals would
still have had to
rely on a
relationship with
Inanna to
confirm their
kingship.
Although
eventually
Mesopotamian
kings ruled Inanna holding date frond. Fragment of a relief vessel. Mesopotamia. About
2400 BCE.
without © S. Beaulieu, after Gadon 1989:134.
reference to an
entu or a
"Sacred Marriage" rite, many of them continued to style themselves
"beloved" or "spouse" of Inanna or her counterpart Ishtar (Lapinkivi
2004:59-62).
As we saw, Mary Wakeman argues that the "Sacred Marriage"

originated in early Uruk to provide religious sanction for male
exercise of power. Although this explanation throws light on how an
increasingly male-dominated city might have exploited the ritual, it
does not explain why the city would have needed to use this
particular rite instead of developing another which was less
empowering of the goddess. Nor does it really speak to the origin of
the ritual. I have hypothesized, however, that the "Sacred Marriage"
originated as a ritual for activating a nin-dingir/entu to ensure the
fertility of her land. Not only does this suggestion explain the
historically attested references to the association of the "Sacred
Marriage" with the installation of entus, but it also illuminates the

powerful fertility elements in the ritual.
The inviolability of religious tradition would explain why an

increasingly male-dominant society would have been forced to
continue to use the time-honoured ritual to achieve its own ends;
why the ritual survived for so long; and why, even after the entu had
disappeared from archival texts, most kings of Mesopotamia
continued to call themselves "spouse/beloved of Inanna-Ishtar."
Notes
1. Or a city goddess normally, but not always, identified with Inanna and a city god
normally, but not always, identified with Dumuzi (See Steinkeller 1999:130-131).
2. For a review of interpretations of the ritual, see Lapinkivi 2004:3-13.
3. Incarnation or spirit possession is a phenomenon of many religions today and in the
past. A deity or spirit takes over the body of a medium (often incorrectly called shaman)
in order to have direct communication with worshippers (Bowker 1997:884-885,1083-
1084). There is no reason to think that Mesopotamian religions were exempt from this
practice.
4. Also see Steinkeller (1999:120-121) for a different interpretation of the role of this
religious functionary.
5. In Sumerian, a non-gendered language, en could be feminine or masculine (Henshaw
1994:44). In gendered Semitic languages, the equivalents of en are enu and entu, the
latter meaning nin-dingir, "Goddess on Earth" (Frayne 1985:14; Henshaw 1994:45-51).
6. For example, Mesopotamian king Sargon (ca. 2300 BCE) appointed his daughter
Enheduanna as entu of the god Nanna, protector deity of Ur. See previous column.
7. Jerrold Cooper disagrees with Frayne's thesis, as do some other scholars (Cooper
1993:88-89).
8. Following Jacobsen, Wakeman says that, at Uruk, Dumuzi was "the power inherent in
seasonal foods (grain, milk, dates)" and Inanna, in whose temple the produce was
deposited, was the power in the storehouse (Wakeman 1985:12; Jacobsen 1976:36).
9. The Sumerian word lugal eventually came to mean "king." See Steinkeller
1999:105,112 and following.
Works Cited
Bowker, John, ed. 1997. The Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. Oxford: Oxford
University.
Cohen, Mark E. 1993. The Cultic Calendars of the Ancient Near East. Bethesda, MY:
CDL Press.
Cooper, Jerrold S. 1993. "Sacred Marriage and Popular Cult in Early Mesopotamia,"
81-96, in Matushima, E., ed. Official Cult and Popular Religion in the Ancient Near
East: Papers of the First Colloquium on the Ancient Near East -- The City and its Life
held at the Middle Eastern Culture Center in Japan (Mitake, Tokyo) March 20-22, 1992.
Heidelberg: Winter.
Frayne, Douglas 1985. "Notes on the Sacred Marriage Rite," Bibliotheca Orientalis
42:5-22.
Gadon, Elinor W. 1989. The Once and Future Goddess: A Symbol for Our Time. San
Francisco: Harper & Row.
Henshaw, Richard A. 1994. Female and Male, the Cultic Personnel: The Bible and the
Rest of the Ancient Near East. Allison Park, Pennsylvania: Pickwick.
Jacobsen, Thorkild 1976. The Treasures of Darkness: A History of Mesopotamian
Religion. New Haven: Yale University.
Kramer, Samuel N. 1969. The Sacred Marriage: Aspects of Faith, Myth and Ritual in
Ancient Sumer. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University.
Lapinkivi, Pirjo 2004. The Sumerian Sacred Marriage in the Light of Comparative
Evidence. Helsinki: The Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project, University of Helsinki.
Meador, Betty D. S. 2000. Inanna, Lady of Largest Heart: Poems of the Sumerian High
Priestess Enheduanna. Austin, TX: University of Texas.
Sefati, Yitschak 1998. Love Songs in Sumerian Literature: Critical Edition of the
Dumuzi-Inanna Songs. Ramat Gan, Israel: Bar-Ilan University.
Steinkeller, Piotr 1999. "On Rulers, Priests and Sacred Marriage: Tracing the Evolution
of Early Sumerian Kingship," 103-137, in Priests and Officials in the Ancient Near East:
Papers of the Second Colloquium on the Ancient Near East, The Middle Eastern
Culture Center in Japan, ed. K. Watanabe. Heidelberg: Winter.
Teubal, Savina 1983. Sarah the Priestess: The First Matriarch of Genesis. Athens, OH:
University of Ohio Swallow.
Wakeman, Mary K. 1985. "Ancient Sumer and the Women's Movement; The Process
of Reaching Behind, Encompassing and Going Beyond," Journal of Feminist Studies in
Religion 1/2:7-27.
Graphics Credits
All images © Stéphane Beaulieu. All rights reserved.
Contributors retain the copyright to their work; please do not take art or words without permission. All other
graphics and reference materials are used and attributed as per the Fair Use Provision of The Copyright Act and
individual terms of use.

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Inanna and the Sacred Marriage by Johanna Stuckey 2015-08-02, 3:21 PM

Inanna and the "Sacred Marriage"

The king goes with lifted head

The "Sacred Marriage" was

of Zeus and Hera, but Classicists

Although, for ancient Mesopotamia, the term refers to "the ritual

priests could have appropriated to their own ends a rite which,

From extant hymns, we can piece

The deities entered a chamber fragrant

this question "controversial" considering the paucity of evidence

Did the participants actually engage in sexual intercourse? Again the

Who, then, were the participants? It

The texts refer to the female

A man could achieve authority in

Around 2900 BCE, Inanna, incarnated in the nin-dingir,[5] "chose

According to Steinkeller, "the earliest Sumerian pantheon was

Part of the answer lies, I

In supporting his theory,

Frayne then points to archival texts that "record disbursements of

Possibly, then, the "Sacred Marriage" rite was not originally

The ritual would, I

time he had been a

At some point, one

As we saw, Mary Wakeman argues that the "Sacred Marriage"

Marriage" with the installation of entus, but it also illuminates the

The inviolability of religious tradition would explain why an

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