Sacred prostitution in ancient Babylon; Herodotus

a reply to: Ridhya

Thanks for your reply. It makes sense, I suppose. The fact that all the big porn sites serve this and in such large amounts, we're often talking about at least 50% of featured material being "teen-porn", well, it's a problem I think. I know Ann. and others perform regular and massive ddos attacks against them because of this, but only thing that happens is that the sites get a slight hickup, they don't even go down. Their infrastructure is more solid than most banks and governments. There is more porn on the net than anything else.

Anyway, thread's drifting again. But interesting what you wrote.

a reply to: Utnapisjtim

Mylitta, sometimes called Mulliltu, is an amalgam of the goddesses Inanna and Ninlil.

Aššūr, the Assyrian state-god, was originally modeled on the Sumerian state-god Enlil, albeit with some modification from the Sumerian sun-god Utu, and the Sumerian war-god Ninurta. Enlil's spouse was the Sumerian goddess Sud, later called simply Ninlil. Unfortunately, due to syncretization, the goddess Inanna absorbed the cults of most other Ancient Near Eastern goddesses, including Sud-Ninlil. Thus, when Aššūr's mythology was being composed between 1500-700 BCE, it was both Ninlil and Inanna who were given as his spouse, this spouse being Mulliltu or Mylitta, depending on whether you're in Assyria or Babylonia respectively.

As for sacred prostitution, you cannot look at this practice through modern, or even Greek, eyes. Modern Puritancal and Christian values have greatly damaged the beauty and power of sex and sexuality, and, unfortunately, the Greeks are neither reliable, not unbiased, in their presentation of non-Greek (read barbarians) cultures and customs.

Sacred prostitution did occur in Babylonia and Assyria, but it did not begin in either city. Sacred prostitution, as a practice, began in Sumer nearly 2000 years earlier with the goddess Inanna. Quoting from my own writing and research into Inanna:

Archaeology, however, offers two more substantial theories, both of which center around the local pantheon of Erech, the city-state where Inanna may have originated in the pre-Dynastic period (c. 4000 BCE). Both theories identify Inanna as a tutelary Sumerian goddess, who is either a sky-goddess named Nin.an.na (the Lady of Heaven), or else the focus of a localized tree-cult, where she is known as Nin.an.ak (the Lady of the Date [Palm] clusters). In either instance the prototypical Inanna is regarded as a daughter of Erech's city-god, the primordial sky-god An, the Sumerian Lord of Heaven and King of the Anunnaki. Whether a sky-goddess of the focus of a tree-cult, the Sumerian Inanna was a resident at Uruk's temple É.ana—the Heavenly House—where she served as hierodule and gala-priestess, performing sexual acts and singing joyous songs to gladden the heart of her father, An.

As a goddess of prostitution and sexuality, Inanna was not seen as a "street hooker" but as a sacred sexual priestess, whose function was to provide an outlet for the innate sexual urges of the Sumerian people. She was respected, loved, and considered the single most worshiped goddess in all the Ancient Near East, boasting more than 42 unique temples across the land, nearly 4 times as many as most other deities.

Whether her sexual acts were done to soothe the libido of unmarried men in a city, to initiate those who had come of age, as assistance for soldiers whose tours of duty kept them away from wife and family, or as a sacred rite participated in by those wishing to petition the goddess, Inanna's use of sexuality was not a base, foul, and naughty act, but a beautiful one.

Sex was seen as intimacy and power. By participating you were contributing to the act of creation, and were honoring the Anunnaki, who, if you're familiar with the myths, absolutely loved boning. Additionally, as is slowly becoming more commonplace today, Inanna and her cult were also open to any and all genders and sexual orientations. For reference, I again quote from my own writings on Inanna:

(3) The presence of hermaphroditic of trans-gendered elements within the makeup of the goddess herself, or members of her cult. This theory is supported by the inclusion of asexual (kur.ĝar.rû), bisexual (lu.ur.sal), trans-gendered (as.sin.nū), and eunuch (sag̃-ur-sag̃) priests and priestesses in the official personnel of Inanna's temple staff.

Those of us who identify with an "aberrant" sexual orientation, and who have come to understand our libidos and sexual desires not as "ugly" and "wrong" but as natural and beautiful would probably have been quite at home with Inanna and her sacred prostitutes.

Anyway, just my input! Coming to terms with, and understanding my own, sexual orientation only happened because I started studying Inanna, her cult, and the influence she had on human sexual expression. So I kind of take it to heart whenever I see people misinterpreting what sex meant to the Sumerian and Mesopotamian spirit.


~ Wandering Scribe

originally posted by: Wandering Scribe
a reply to: Utnapisjtim

Mylitta, sometimes called Mulliltu, is an amalgam of the goddesses Inanna and Ninlil.

Kool! Thanks a lot for clearing that out. Is she mentioned in any of the Inanna texts under that name?

Whether her sexual acts were done to soothe the libido of unmarried men in a city, to initiate those who had come of age, as assistance for soldiers whose tours of duty kept them away from wife and family, or as a sacred rite participated in by those wishing to petition the goddess, Inanna's use of sexuality was not a base, foul, and naughty act, but a beautiful one.

That's actually my impression too. Thanks again for clearing up and sharing some of your insight into matters Mesopotamian. In the same batch of books as I received the books I mention in the OP -- was also a book called Inanna - Queen of Heaven and Earth - containing a selection (made by Samuel Noah Kramer) of the source literature involved, written in the pen of Diane Wolkstein, taking up about half the book, while the remaining half is dedicated to commentaries by the aforementioned scholar/writers. I've read a few of the translations, and my impression is that they seem legit and the language is poetical and many of the usual repetitions you often see in cuneiform texts-- have been omitted.

originally posted by: Wandering Scribe
a reply to: Utnapisjtim

Mylitta, sometimes called Mulliltu, is an amalgam of the goddesses Inanna and Ninlil.

Aššūr, the Assyrian state-god, was originally modeled on the Sumerian state-god Enlil, albeit with some modification from the Sumerian sun-god Utu, and the Sumerian war-god Ninurta. Enlil's spouse was the Sumerian goddess Sud, later called simply Ninlil. Unfortunately, due to syncretization, the goddess Inanna absorbed the cults of most other Ancient Near Eastern goddesses, including Sud-Ninlil. Thus, when Aššūr's mythology was being composed between 1500-700 BCE, it was both Ninlil and Inanna who were given as his spouse, this spouse being Mulliltu or Mylitta, depending on whether you're in Assyria or Babylonia respectively.

Do you have some kind of timeline for this development? There seems to be a bit of confusion as to these gods and their names and roles and where and when they were "active". They are all sort of carnations of Venus or embodiments of the astrological star, our neighbour Venus, the Morningstar, Queen of Heaven. Light of the Adobe.

a reply to: Utnapisjtim

Hello,

The translations in "Inanna, Queen of Heaven and Earth: Her Hymns and Myths" are good translations. Diane Wolkstein, who presented a lecture on Inanna back in the day, does lose her way a little bit in her analysis. She believes, apropo of nothing, that Inanna must experience the Greco-Roman "maiden-mother-crone" transformation, and so she looks for evidence to support her thesis, rather than forming a thesis based on the evidence (Hint: Inanna does not experience the Greco-Roman mythic cycle, as Inanna is not a Greco-Roman goddess). Because of this, I would take her analysis of the myths with a grain of salt. The translations are true enough though, although Wolkstein did rework them to better suit her desired goal, altering phraseology and terminology where she believed a better word suited the story.

As for timelines, I do actually. There are a number of "chronologies" floating around for Mesopotamia, most of them based on a variety of astronomical and celestial events. I adhere to what was the scholarly model until very recently, it's called the Middle Chronology. I can briefly outline it for you with the image below, which is too large to upload to ATS (again, of my own creation):

4.bp.blogspot.com...

Briefly put:

The Sumerians were conquered by the Akkadians, but enjoyed a brief Renaissance before the invasion of Semitic Tribes that lead to the rise of the Babylonians. The Babylonians than enjoyed dominance until they were unseated by Hittite invaders, which allowed the nation of Assyria to gain power. Assyria and Babylonia were then competing powers for several hundred years, until Babylon conquered Assyria. Babylon itself was then governed by a tribe of peoples known as the Chaldeans, who eventually gave way to the Persians.

So (all dates BCE):

The Sumerians (4100-2338)
The Akkadians (2334-2100)
The Sumerian Renaissance (2100-2012) - destroyed by the Guti
The Semitic Incursion (2012-1900)
The Old Babylonians (1895-1595) - destroyed by the Hittites
The Old Assyrians (1595-1050)
The Middle Babylonians (983-729)
The Neo-Assyrians (727-625)
The Babylonian Chaldeans (625-539) - destroyed by the Persians

For a list of who's-who in which culture, something far too long to get into on a thread like this, go ahead and send me a PM!

Hope this brief reply helps you make some sense of the complex history of Mesopotamia!


~ Wandering Scribe

a reply to: Utnapisjtim

Awesome info.

They don't call it a mystery religion for no reason. Indeed prostitution has been involved with religion since The First Day of religion, back to King Nimrod and flood times.

Now the reason why prostitution was involved in religion since the beginning, and on through the bible days, is because one secret of the mystery religion is that the sky was called Father, because the rain would come down and give birth to life on the earth, and in the first days they equated this to a sexual act, not of human sex but sex of God.

a reply to: Utnapisjtim

Awesome info.

They don't call it a mystery religion for no reason. Indeed prostitution has been involved with religion since The First Day of religion, back to King Nimrod and flood times.

Now the reason why prostitution was involved in religion since the beginning, and on through the bible days, is because one secret of the mystery religion is that the sky was called Father, because the rain would come down and give birth to life on the earth, and in the first days they equated this to a sexual act, not of human sex but sex of God.

originally posted by: greyer
a reply to: Utnapisjtim

Awesome info.

They don't call it a mystery religion for no reason. Indeed prostitution has been involved with religion since The First Day of religion, back to King Nimrod and flood times.

Now the reason why prostitution was involved in religion since the beginning, and on through the bible days, is because one secret of the mystery religion is that the sky was called Father, because the rain would come down and give birth to life on the earth, and in the first days they equated this to a sexual act, not of human sex but sex of God.

Well there are different configurations of the ancient pantheons around the world. One place Heaven is male like you say, while other places Heaven is female, like in Egypt where Nut is the (female) heaven deity and Geb (male) is the Earth. This is why AT Shamayim is plural. Male and female. I always saw heaven as female though. Besides. Every atom in our bodies was forged inside (androgynous) nebulas and stars. Heaven is the (female or androgynous) womb of all life and matter the way I see it, well everything there is. And some.

If there is such a thing as a God of everything, the Great Architect-- the cosmos is this God's materialised mind, God's thoughts and ideas, some bright others dark. And Man, through his studies into anything present in the cosmos, can acquire this elevated mindset and be One with this Divine Designer connect with the Cosmos in understanding how it works, and See like God sees, Hear like God hears. Understand stuff like the meaning of life, or life itself, or why fire trucks are normally red. If only in a brief flash.

Too much thinking or understanding, and you crash. The story goes it's because God is jealous and don't like the thought of sharing his honours. Sort of makes sense in a way I guess.

a reply to: Utnapisjtim

Yes, I think they give too much to the sexual interpretation of the mystery religions. Like the Obelisk being a male symbol. I mean that is what it means in the dictionary. Same as pen, or pencil. But going back to the art of the ages, a very small part of it was designated to sexual representation. Most of it brings us to forums like these, because there is no denying that a civilization older than Egypt knew what Neptune and Saturn looked like. There is no way they could know that, but the pictures resemble knowledge of space travel. A glowing cross meaning Nibiru, but I haven't read Nibiru myself in literature, or that Mardok was a future name for the planet of the crossing.

As the Freemasons call Him, the Great Architect. He is much more of an architect than a Zues or humanlike being. There has to be something deeper than our direct perception, the thing that you and I are seeing right now, as we talk, we are perceiving each other over the net and sharing our thoughts, in order to think of new thoughts. Basically, it is proven that there is much more to it than that, but a real subconscious. It goes back to how much percentage of our brain do we use? Well what are the characteristics, of a person who uses 3 more percent than normal? He or she calls themselves Illuminati. They become rich. They join the media. They think they are better than the rest of the world. It isn't ancient bloodlines or anything mysterious, it is just using a power that we all have, not don't have access to.

There was an eclipse yesterday. I know when God is around. I knew God was around that day. I didn't know it was because of the eclipse. But now I know that reason why i saw God, it was because there was an eclipse. An eclipse is an important thing. For it shows the knowledge of the architect of the universe, that it is not all random as some believe. God is pleased to do such things, but God is Glorified for doing such things. If one were to say, what being is God? That would have to be Dark Matter or Dark Energy. Because it is invisible, yet also the force behind the creation of space and gravity (time).

It does make sense. Indeed I did not make the law of God, or the way the law of nature is. But after years of looking into this, it is correct as the ancients say in that for some reason - God does not like pride in oneself, when a person thinks that he knows it all. That is Murphy's law. It is because of this delusion in the ego which is like an act against God. So that is indeed mysterious. Because it means that God is inside of us, but we are not God in our minds, we are opposing God, yet God is still a part of us in body and in mind. So it must be the subconscious.

a reply to: Wandering Scribe

I recently watched a tv documentary about how

some prestigious universities have been exploring the area

I wonder what else they might dig up someday ?