Entu priestess
The title Entu-Priestess , also high priestess , ( Sumerian EREŠ.DINGIR , Akkadian enu / entu ) denotes the high priest of equal rank in the 3rd and 2nd millennium BC. The highest religious office in Sumer and later after a long vacancy in Babylonia . After the fall of Sumer, the office of Entu priestess in Babylonia was replaced by a male high priest. Only under the last neo-Babylonian king Nabonidus did this title and the cult associated with it experience a renaissance .
origin
The function of the Entu priestess is closely related to the early days of Sumerian religion and the cult centers Ur , Uruk , Lagasch , Nippur and Umma . Further cult centers were in the outskirts of Mesopotamia, for example in Harran . With the end of Sumer and the Lament of the Ningal , the successors inherited the divine request for the rebuilding of the city of Ur and the sanctuaries. The office of the Entu priestess found its way into the Gilgamesh epic as a central theme . In the heartland of Babylonia, this custom was rejected because Marduk, the supreme deity, represented the male and female part.
Mythological background
The male counterpart of the Entu priestess symbolized the legendary Sumerian king Dumuzi . The high priest held the title Lagal / lagallu / lu-mach ; in Umma as a representative egizimach of the local city god Šara . During the processions of the Akitu festival , the high priest performed the holy wedding with the Entu priestess, who took on the part of Inanna . The goddess Ningal played a subordinate role in the early days and only enjoyed an equal position as Inanna in the late Sumer epoch.
Life of an Entu Priestess
The award of the title of Entu priestess was mostly reserved for the kings, who invariably tried to raise their daughters to the office. Since the title could not be inherited and was valid for life after it was awarded, it was not uncommon that the appointment of one's own daughters was not possible due to these circumstances alone.
Adolescence
Shortly after birth or in childhood , the respective king consecrated his daughter to the supreme deity (ana-naschum) ; in Babylon different than Marduk-naditum . Her first Nadītum name was given at the latest at the time of the consecration in the Anunitum Temple . The following years are used for sample preparation and the monastery (gagum) in order for the later introduction to the family of the gods , the ritual purity to gain.
Farewell to earthly life
An appointment as the new Entu priestess could only take place after the death of the predecessor. The festivities for the inauguration of the new Entu priestess lasted three days. After the burial of the old Entu priestess, the presentation of the gods Šamaš and Aja followed on the first day . Then the holy feast and the announcement of the later acceptance into the household of the responsible god were celebrated. The parents of the future high priestess received the dowry from the temple treasure and, in return, made sacrifices to the temple.
After completion of this formality anointed on the second day, the day of the fate of nadītu that lower-ranking temple servants with anointing oil from the cult shell (purru) of the city god of the new Entu Priestess head and equipped it with the wedding dress. The city elders paid homage solemnly and gave her permission to return to her parents' house for the last time.
On the third and last day of the handover feast (isin-tadnati) , the new Entu priestess left her place of residence for the rest of her life and moved into the sanctuary with household furniture . On arrival there, the last step to ritual purity was solemnly carried out. After shaving the head (shaving), the temple servants dressed the head of their new mistress with the holy head insignia , a diadem (paršigu) , and their body with a woolen robe.
Obtaining the status of a divine wife
Shortly before the end of the festivities, at dusk, the climax of the festival took place with the handover to God , which was confirmed by the rite of the Holy Wedding . As a new family member of the gods , the new Entu-priestess moved into the god's apartment . The task that fell to her now consisted of the care and washing of the deity and as a direct mediator of his wishes and orders to the respective king.
The people now had to respect and honor the Entu priestess as a holy wife. A sexual union with her fulfilled the criteria of adultery and outweighed the earthly betrayal of one's own wife and was accordingly punished with death. Against this background it is understandable that the consecrated Entu priestesses were no longer eligible as mothers for the royal offspring.
Special case of Babylonia
Nabonidus was the first king to introduce the office of Entu priestess in Babylonia as a half-Assyrian . With this symbolic outrage he violated the guidelines of the main deity Marduk. The Babylonian priesthood consisted only of male representatives who did not exercise their function as members of a family of gods , but as their authorized representatives.
The rites that were introduced with the office of Entu priestess therefore met with a lack of understanding and ignorance on the part of the Marduk priesthood, who also saw their traditional positions endangered. With the fall of the Babylonian Empire, Nabonidus' attempt to introduce Old Sumerian traditions into Babylonia ended. The title of Entu priestess then appeared only in literary form.
literature
- Dietz Otto Edzard et al. (Hrsg.): Reallexikon der Assyriologie and Near Eastern Archeology . Volume 9: Nab - Nuzi. de Gruyter, Berlin et al. 2001, ISBN 3-11-017296-8 , pp. 355-356.
- Dietz Otto Edzard et al. (Hrsg.): Reallexikon der Assyriologie and Near Eastern Archeology. Volume 10: Oannes - Priest disguise. de Gruyter, Berlin et al. 2005, ISBN 3-11-018535-0 , pp. 619–628.
