In Sumer, sex was lived and practiced with great disinhibition. The goddess who became the greatest of the Sumerian pantheon was Inanna (later Ishtar), goddess of love, sex and war, as well as protector of the crown and... of prostitutes . How was it possible that a great goddess protected prostitutes?
When today we pronounce the word “prostitution ”, images of sexual slavery, white slavery and humiliation of women come to mind. A sordid world, in short. This was not so among the Sumerians. Among them, prostitutes enjoyed prestige and social position. It was one more trade, with the addition of being considered extremely important, since the goddess Inanna was, in turn, the courtesan of the gods. We must keep in mind that the Sumerian gods ignored humans. The only divinity that had details with humanity was Inanna, who gave them her own sex.
Inanna from my countryman Luis Royo
The work of the different prostitutes changed according to the times and the cities, so it is difficult to unravel the skein of names that has survived to this day. Generalizing a little we can distinguish the following types, in increasing order of importance:
- The lowest level were the simple prostitutes of the common people, who sought their clients in the ports and at the entrances of the cities. They were respected, because as I said, it was just another job. It had no negative connotation, except in the case of the “beer wives ”, who were slaves in the service of the taverns with whom the clients could lie, even in front of the whole world (I already said it, they were very uninhibited). The latter were despised, not because they were prostitutes, but because they were slaves.
- The Shamhatum they were graceful young women who engaged in high-level prostitution. What today we would call an “escort ”. They had social prestige, culture and collaborated on certain dates with the temples to serve the faithful for free in exchange for more social recognition.
- The Kulmashitum (sometimes that word was used to designate the working staff of the temple) they were sacred prostitute priestesses – hierodules – low level. Sometimes without studies or culture. Many times a humble widow or orphan would take shelter as a hierodula in a temple of Inanna. She thereby escaped from hunger and acquired social prestige. The bad thing is that she only accepted those who had no physical defects.
- The Kezertum they were hierodules who were distinguished from the others by having curly and long hair (some also think that they could have a kind of dreadlocks). It is believed that they acted on the street, possibly helping secular prostitutes and controlling small neighborhood altars.
- The Assinum they were men who dressed and put on makeup as women (transvestites). The Sumerians accepted homosexuality although with a certain humor and ridicule -lesbianism was not spoken of-.
- The Ishtaritum (women) and the Ishtarium (men) were the high level holy clergy. Obviously they only slept with rich people and people with a lot of power. Some Ishtaritum, such as the Nin-Dingir (lady-goddess), they did it with the king or the governor, because they were the goddess reincarnated in the world. By having sexual intercourse with the ruler, they transmitted her powers of command. Without that act of sex, the boss on duty could not be ratified in office.
When a hierodula priestess slept with one of her faithful, it was the goddess herself who did it through the priestess, as a curious moment of sexual transubstantiation. In short, and although it may seem strange, it was a prostitution for religious reasons and out of compassion. The priestesses represented the only act of mercy that a member of the divine pantheon had towards his human servants. No husband was offended because her churri went off brown peaks with an Ishtarium, nor did they throw a vase at the head of the Manolo on duty for having been with a Kezertu. They considered it something normal and something to be proud of if the couple had been with someone of a high level. Obviously an amount was given to the hierodule for the maintenance of the temple; It is already known that all religions pass the brush, although in this case it had a bureaucratic character, since in Sumerian society taxes were paid almost even for breathing. If we also add that the temples were managed by the priestesses themselves, we obtain an exotic image of a world that today disgusts us and that, undoubtedly, it is difficult for us to understand.
In any case, over time the Sumerian society became increasingly patriarchal and, in the time of the Babylonians, the priestesses no longer counted anything, they did not manage or direct any business and it was the men who ran the show treating the women. priestesses as mere objects for sex. As a certain historian once said:
When men began to direct the sexuality of women, prostitution went from being a sacred act to becoming a vulgar and terrible act of sexual slavery.
Contributed by Joshua BedwyR author of In a Dark Blue World