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Sumerian goddesses
May. 29th, 2012 09:45 pmTikva Frymer-Kensky, outlining the role of goddesses in Sumerian civilisation:
ETA: The same volume contains Frymer-Kensky's take on the Inanna-Dumuzi love songs. She notes that this "Lolita-Inanna" (pp 83-88) is very different to the Inanna of other sources: "... there is nothing defiant about her, nothing angry, nothing dangerous, nothing wild. She is the conventional well-brought-up daughter... There is no hint in this girl-child of the complex Inanna that she will later become."
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Frymer-Kensky, Tikva. "Goddess: Biblical Echoes". in Studies in Bible and Feminist Criticism. Philadelphia, Pa. : Jewish Publication Society ; London : Eurospan [distributor], 2006. pp 69-82.
- "The second millennium... was a time of tremendous transformation... Religion was transformed in a way that continually and constantly diminished the role of goddesses... Female deities that had control over certain cultural events and activities in the early period, let's say in 2300 BCE, become sidekicks by the later period." (p 70) (She goes on to note that the Babylonians were "prudes" who "desexualized" creation - a forerunner of the sexless Biblical deity, who is a "talking torso" (p 78-9).)
- Goddesses take the same roles as human women: "the mother, the sister, the mother-in-law, the daughter... and the wife. The mother is wonderful. There is no dark side to the mother in Mesopotamian mythology." The mother is dedicated and loyal, the sister similarly loyal. "Even the mother-in-law is a lovely figure. She is particularly the friend of the daughter-in-law. If you can imagine such a thing. She is her key ally in the house." (pp 70-1)
- The wife is a more obscure figure. The "prototype of all wives" (p 71) is the goddess of spinning and weaving, Uttu, crucial in the introduction of culture to humanity. There's an obvious contrast with the bride Inanna's systematic rejection the entire process of textile production - "Anything connected to making clothing, basically, was a woman's job." (p 74) Even elite women had to oversee the making of textiles, but Inanna has no such "economic duties". (By contrast, in Genesis, human beings are not taught culture but invent clothing, agriculture etc for themselves (p 79), becoming not spectators in a cosmic game but its players (p 80).)
- Although there are references to two minor children of Inanna, she never becomes a "mother figure". "She is eternally young and nubile - the Playboy bunny - the object of love and the personification of lust." But with no womanly chores to use her energy, Inanna is restless and power-hungry. "She is known by the epithet of 'the one who walks about'. Only demons and Inanna walk about." (p 75)
- Pondering the possible origins of figures like Lady Wisdom, Frymer-Kensky speculates that all such female figures might have their origin in early childhood, where an "all-wise" mother "brings us into civilization". She points out that "transformational" skills, such as making food, clothing, and beer, are the business of goddesses, but so are divination, singing, and dancing - the "cultural arts" in general. (Eventually, the god Enki assimilates all the goddesses' powers in these areas.) (pp 81-82)
ETA: The same volume contains Frymer-Kensky's take on the Inanna-Dumuzi love songs. She notes that this "Lolita-Inanna" (pp 83-88) is very different to the Inanna of other sources: "... there is nothing defiant about her, nothing angry, nothing dangerous, nothing wild. She is the conventional well-brought-up daughter... There is no hint in this girl-child of the complex Inanna that she will later become."
__
Frymer-Kensky, Tikva. "Goddess: Biblical Echoes". in Studies in Bible and Feminist Criticism. Philadelphia, Pa. : Jewish Publication Society ; London : Eurospan [distributor], 2006. pp 69-82.
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