¹ Some recent studies on various aspects of this issue include: Arnaud, Daniel, “La prostitution sacrée en Mésopotamie, un mythe historique?” RHR 183 (1973) 111–15Google Scholar; Astour, Michael, “Tamar the Hierodule: An Essay in the Method of Vestigal Motifs,” JBL 85 (1966) 185–96Google Scholar; Fisher, Eugene J., “Cultic Prostitution in the Ancient Near East? A Reassessment,” BTB 6 (1976) 225–36Google Scholar; Lerner, Gerda, “The Origin of Prostitution in Ancient Mesopotamia,” Journal of Women in Culture and Society 11 (1986) 236–54CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Oden, Robert A. Jr, The Bible Without Theology (New York: Harper & Row, 1987)Google Scholar chap. 5: “Religious Identity and the Sacred Prostitution Accusation,” 131–53; Yamauchi, Edwin M., “Cultic Prostitution, A Case Study in Cultural Diffusion,” in A., Harry, Hoffner, , Jr., ed., Orient and Occident: Essays Presented to Cyrus H. Gordon on the Occasion of His Sixty-fifth Birthday (AOAT 22; Kevelaer: Butzon & Bercker, 1973) 213–22.Google Scholar

² NJB, 65 note h on Gen 38:21. Other translations include: “harlot” vs. “harlot” (KJV); “prostitute” vs. “prostitute” (Good News Bible [New York: American Bible Society, 1978])Google Scholar; “harlot” vs. “temple prostitute” (New American Standard Bible); “prostitute” vs. “temple prostitute” (NEB). The commentators mostly vary their translations: Haines, Lee, Genesis and Exodus (The Wesleyan Bible Commentary; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1967)Google Scholar: “harlot” vs. “prostitute”; Skinner, John, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Genesis (2d ed.; ICC 1; Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1930)Google Scholar: “harlot” vs. “sacred prostitute”; Speiser, E. A., Genesis (AB 1; Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1964)Google Scholar: “harlot” vs. “votary”; Vawter, Bruce, On Genesis: A New Reading (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1977)Google Scholar: “harlot” vs. “temple prostitute.” A few commentators maintain the traditional translation “harlot” vs. “harlot”: Rad, Gerhard von, Genesis, A Commentary (3d ed.; London: SCM, 1972)Google Scholar, and Simpson, C. A. and Bowie, W. R., The Book of Genesis (The Interpreter's Bible; New York: Abingdon, 1952).Google Scholar

³ Astour, “Tamar the Hierodule.” Note the criticism of the biblical side of the argument by Emerton, J. A., “Some Problems in Genesis XXXVIII,” VT 25 (1975) 357–60.Google Scholar

⁴ Speiser, Genesis, 300; Haines, Genesis and Exodus, 124; Brenner, Athalya, The Israelite Woman: Social Role and Literary Type in Biblical Narrative (Sheffield: JSOT, 1985) 82.Google Scholar

⁵ Skinner, Genesis, 454; Simpson and Bowie, Genesis, 760.

⁶ Veiling upon marriage in the patriarchal period has been inferred from the fact that Rebecca covered herself with a veil on the approach of Isaac (Gen 24:65) and that Leah was unrecognizable during the marriage ceremony (Gen 29:23). Likewise, according to the legal system, the adulterous woman is punished by the loosening of her hair (Num 5:18). In the New Testament, Paul admonishes the Corinthians that women should choose between cutting off their hair, shaving their heads and wearing a veil to symbolize their subjection to men (1 Cor 11:4–7). For the Islamic world, see Kurān Surah XXXIII 53–59; for the Assyrian world, see Middle Assyrian Laws § § 40–41.

⁷ Von Rad, Genesis, 359.

⁸ For a similar opinion see Vawter, Genesis, 397.

⁹ Cf. Gruber, Mayer I., “Hebrew qĕdēšāh and her Canaanite and Akkadian Cognates,” UF 18 (1986) 133–48. Gruber is not alone in visualizing the female role without taking into consideration the male counterpart; see references below, n. 11.Google Scholar

¹⁰ Speiser, Genesis, 300; Haines, Genesis and Exodus, 125; see also the NEB note on this line.

¹¹ Cf. Bird, Phyllis, “The Place of Women in the Israelite Cultus,” in Hanson, Paul D., Miller, Patrick D., Jr., and McBride, S. Dean, eds., Ancient Israelite Religion: Essays in Honor of Frank M. Cross (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1987) 397–419 and references collected there.Google Scholar

¹² Cf. Xella, Paulo, I testi rituali de Ugarit I (Studi Semitici 54; Rome: Consiglio Nazionale della Ricerche, 1981) 43–48. Note that in his comment on this line, Xella refers also to sacred prostitution: “Ci pare più plausible una resa ‘consacrato,’ senza particolari allusioni alla prostituzione sacra, per cui non vi sono finora tracce nella documentazione ugaritica” (48).Google Scholar

¹³ Soden, Wolfram von, “Zur Stellung des ‘Geweihten’ (qdš) in Ugarit,” UF 2 (1970) 329–30.Google Scholar

¹⁴ Gröndahl, Frauke, Die Personnamen der Texte aus Ugarit (Studia Pohl 1; Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute, 1967) 371 (Abdi-pí-dar_x d. Bin-qadišti), 348 ([bin(?)-qa-diš-ti), 407 (bn qdšt).Google Scholar

¹⁵ Cyrus H. Gordon, UT Gloss, no. 2210; Aistleitner, J., Wörterbuch der Ugaritischen Sprache (Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1963) no. 2393.Google Scholar

¹⁶ Rainey, Anson F., “The Kingdom of Ugarit,” BA 28 (1965) 124.Google Scholar

¹⁷ Tarragon, Jean-Michel de, Le culte à Ugarit d'après les textes de la pratique en cunéiformes alphabétiques (Cahiers de la Revue Biblique 19; Paris: Gabalda, 1980) 138–41.Google Scholar

¹⁸ Ibid., 140.

¹⁹ For a treatment of the nominal formations, see Edzard, Dietz Otto, “Zu den akkadischen Nominalformen parsat-, pirsat- und pursat,” ZA 72 (1982) 74–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

²⁰ Published in Benno Landsberger, Die Serie ana ittišu (Materialien zum sumerischen Lexikon 1; Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute, 1937) Ana ittišu VII iii 7ff.Google Scholar

²¹ CAD s.v. sūqu.

²² Amaud, “La prostitution sacrée,” 114.

²³ Civil, Miguel, “Enlil and Ninlil: The Marriage of Sud,” JAOS 103 (1983) 43–64.Google Scholar

²⁴ Given the present state of our knowledge, we can adduce that the first two titles are of professions related to secular prostitution and brothels whose patroness was the goddess Inanna (see Gruber, “Hebrew qĕdĕšāh,” 146), whereas the kezertu was linked to the cult of various goddesses whose service obligations may have included some sexual activities. For preliminary studies of the last, see Finkelstein, Jacob J., “Introduction,” Late Old Babylonian Documents and Letters (Yale Oriental Series 13; New Haven/London: Yale University Press 1972) 10–11Google Scholar; Gallery, Maureen, “Service Obligations of the kezertu-Women,” Or 49 (1980) 333–38Google Scholar; Lerberghe, K. van, New Data from the Archives Found in the House of Ur-Utu at Tell ed-Dēr (AfO.Beih. 19; 1982) 280–83.Google Scholar Note their importance in the court of Yasmah-Addu of Mari: see Durand, Jean-Marie, “Les dames du palais de Mari,” Mari Annales de Recherches Interdisciplinaires 4 (1985) 390–91.Google Scholar

²⁵ For a review of the evidence, see Renger, Johannes, “Untersuchungen zum Priestertum in der altbabylonischen Zeit,” ZA 58 (1967) 179–84CrossRefGoogle Scholar; for Sippar see Harris, Rivkah, Ancient Sippar (Istanbul: Nederlands Historisch-archaeologisch Instituut te Istanbul, 1975) 328–31.Google Scholar

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³² Clay, Albert T., Documents from the Temple Archives of Nippur Dated in the Reigns of Cassite Rulers (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, the Museum Publications of the Babylonian Section, 1912) 122.22.Google Scholar

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³⁴ Meier, Gerhard, Die assyrischen Beschwörungen Maqlû (AfO.Beih. 2; Berlin, 1937) Tablette III 40–55Google Scholar, V 51–60, VI 26–31 = 37–42; Reiner, Erica, Šurpu, A Collection of Sumerian and Akkadian Incantations (AfO.Beih. 11; Graz, 1958) Tablette III 116–17Google Scholar, VIII 69; cf. Rollin, Sue, “Women and Witchcraft in Ancient Assyria,” in Cameron, Averil and Kuhrt, Amélie, eds., Images of Women in Antiquity (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1983) 34–45.Google Scholar

³⁵ Parpola, Simo, Letters from Assyrian Scholars to the Kings Esarhaddon and Assurbanipal (AOAT 5/2; Kevelaer: Butzon & Bercker, 1983) 183.Google Scholar

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³⁸ For a treatment of this text, see Menzel, Assyrische Tempel, 2. T2–T4.

³⁹ Ebeling, Erich, Parfümrezepte und kultische Texte aus Assur (Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute, 1950) Pl. 17 r. II 5Google Scholar; see Ebeling, , “Kultische Texte aus Assur,” Or n.s. 22 (1953) 43.Google Scholar

⁴⁰ Harper, Robert Francis, Assyrian and Babylonian Letters Belonging to the Kouyunjik Collection of the British Museum (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1892–1914) no. 1126:13; see Parpola, Letters from Assyrian Scholars, no. 187.Google Scholar

⁴¹ See the references collected in Edzard, Dietz Otto, “Sumerische Komposita mit dem ‘Nominalpräfix’ nu-,” ZA 55 (1963) 104ff.Google Scholar; Falkenstein, Adam, “Sumerische religiöse Texte,” ZA 56 (1964) 118ff.CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Römer, Willem H. P., Sumerische ‘Königshymnen’ der Isin-Zeit (Leiden: Brill, 1965) 150Google Scholar, 152; Hallo, William W. and Dijk, Johannes J. A. van, The Exaltation of Inanna (New Haven/London: Yale University Press, 1968) 87Google Scholar; Sjöberg, Åke W., The Collection of the Sumerian Temple Hymns (Texts from Cuneiform Sources 3; Locust Valley, NY: Augustin, 1969) 123.Google Scholar

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⁴³ Falkenstein, “Sumerische religiöse Texte,” 120; Jestin, Raymond R., “Les noms de profession en NU-,” in Symbolae Biblicae et Mesopotamicae F. M. Th. de Liagre Böhl Dedicatae (Leiden: Brill, 1973) 212Google Scholar; von Soden, AHw 399; Römer, AOAT 1. 295; Kramer, Samuel N., Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 107 (1963) 494:37Google Scholar (“my wife who is a hierodule”); Daniel Reisman, JCS 25 186:2 and passim; Hallo and van Dijk, Exaltation of Inanna, 87 (“civil state of Inanna in the Sumerian Pantheon”); Cooper, Jerrold S., The Curse of Agade (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1983) 61:241Google Scholar

⁴⁴ CAD 1/J 270 s.v. ištarītu; Landsberger, Materialen zum sumerischen Lexikon IV (Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute, 1956) 17Google Scholar, 78–79; Jacobsen, Thorkild, The Harps That Once—Sumerian Poetry in Translation (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1987) 6 n. 9.Google Scholar

⁴⁵ Römer, Königshymnen, 136:2 and passim.

⁴⁶ Astour, “Tamarthe Hierodule,” 189.

⁴⁷ Edzard, “Sumerische-Komposita,” 104; Sjöberg, Temple Hymns, 36:320; Berlin, Adele, Enmerkar and Ensuḫkešdanna: A Sumerian Narrative Poem (Occasional Publications of the Babylonian Fund 2; Philadelphia: The University Museum, 1979) 45:97.Google Scholar

⁴⁸ Cooper, Curse of Agade, 60.441; see also translations of Attinger, Pierre, “Remarques à propos de la ‘Malédiction d'Accad,’” RA 78 (1984) 106Google Scholar: “puissent ta hiérodule (devenue) mère, ta courtisane (devenue) mère faire avorter (son)/ son enfant!”; Jacobsen, The Harps That Once, 372: “May your hierodule who is a mother, and your courtesan who is a mother stab the child!”

⁴⁹ Edzard, “Sumerische Komposita,” 91–102. Note his reluctance to state the etymology, linguistic structure, and semantics of this compound. See also Jestin, “Les noms de profession,” 211–13.

⁵⁰ Astour, “Tamar the Hierodule,” 189 n. 28.

⁵¹ Published after Astour's article, CAD 9. 199 s.v. lipištu (written (UZU).NU in Akkadian texts) is translated as “an abnormal fleshy or membranous substance,” not a sexual organ.

⁵² It is not possible that gig stands here for mí + nunuz, which appears as part of the title of the en-priestess of Nanna of Ur (cf. Sollberger, Edmond, “Notes on the Early Inscriptions from Ur and El-'Obēd,” Iraq 22 (1960) 86 n. 22; Jestin, “Les noms de profession,” 212) because of syllabic renderings as well as the Emesal mugib. Likewise, it is not probable that the nu- prefix is a phonetic indicator.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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⁵⁴ U.13607 = Woolley, , Ur Excavations 11 (London/Philadelphia, 1934) 207Google Scholar no. 214 = Pl. 191 (inscription), description 312–13, 352, 588 = Legrain, , Ur Excavations III (London/Philadelphia, 1936) Pl. 30 no. 518 = Pl. 57 no. 518.Google Scholar

⁵⁵ Cooper, Jerrold S., Sumerian and Akkadian Royal Inscriptions, vol. 1: Presargonic Inscriptions (American Oriental Society Translation Series 1; New Haven: American Oriental Society, 1986) 98, Ur 5.3.Google Scholar

⁵⁶ Renger, J., “Heilige Hochzeit,” Reallexikon der Assyriologie (Berlin: De Gruyter, 1975) 256a.Google Scholar

⁵⁷ Asher-Greve, Julia M., Frauen in altsumerischer Zeit (Bibliotheca Mesopotamica 18; Malibu: Undena, 1985) 158.Google Scholar

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⁶⁰ Sjöberg, Temple Hymns, 1. 309.

⁶¹ For a discussion of the word nigìn-gar, lit. “House in which the foetus lies,” see Sjöberg, Temple Hymns, 92–93; Römer, AOAT 1, 296; Jacobsen, The Harps That Once, 475: “Nig͂ing͂ar was a temple which served as a cemetery for stillborn or premature babies and as a depository for afterbirths.”

⁶² Farber-Flügge, Gertrud, Der Mythos “Inanna und Enki” unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Liste der me (Studia Pohl 10; Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute, 1973) 109.Google Scholar

⁶³ Chiera, Edward, Sumerian Religious Texts (Upland, PA, 1924) no. 6 rev. III 1–8 = 7.11Google Scholar; see Römer, W. H. Ph., “Einige Beobachtungen zur Göttin Nini(n)sina,” Lišān Mitḫurti (AOAT 1; Kevelaer: Butzon & Bercker, 1969) 295, lines 74–82.Google Scholar

⁶⁴ Civil, “Enlil and Ninlil,” line 154.

⁶⁵ Berlin, Enmerkar and Ensuḫkešdanna, 74.

⁶⁶ The three sources are: (1) Enmerkar and Ensuḫkešdanna, line 97, (2) Lugalbanda and Enmerkar, line 315 = 381, (3) Bird and Fish, line 117 var.

⁶⁷ The geographical area covered by the term Mesopotamia includes the land between the two rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates, and is divided into two geopolitical regions: Babylonia is the alluvial plain of the south and Assyria is situated on the highlands to the north. Evidence from the peripheral areas surrounding Mesopotamia will not be considered in the following since those areas belong to the Hittite, Neo-Hittite, or Hurrian culture areas.

⁶⁸ Astour, “Tamar the Hierodule,” 185.

⁶⁹ Marglin, Frédénque Apffel, “Hierodouleia,” in Eliade, Mircea, ed., Encyclopedia of Religion (16 vols.; New York: MacMillan, 1987) 6. 309.Google Scholar

⁷⁰ The best discussion is that of Oden, Bible Without Theology, but note also Amaud, “La prostitution sacrée,” and Fisher, “Cultic Prostitution.”

⁷¹ Yamauchi, “Cultic Prostitution,” 213.

⁷² Oden, Bible Without Theology, 140–47.

⁷³ Lemer, “Origin of Prostitution,” 239.

⁷⁴ Fisher, “Cultic Prostitution,” 230: “whole-scale debauchery connoted by the term cultic prostitution.”

⁷⁵ OED 8. 1497.

⁷⁶ Van Lerberghe, “New Data,” 280–83.

⁷⁷ Amaud, “La prostitution sacrée,” 114.

⁷⁸ Toom, Karel van der, Sin and Sanction in Israel and Mesopotamia: A Comparative Study (Assen/Maastricht: van Gorcum, 1985) 79.Google Scholar

⁷⁹ Riener, E., “Lipšur Litanies,” JNES 15 (1956) 137 line 84.Google Scholar

⁸⁰ Van der Toom, Sin and Sanction, 79.

⁸¹ Ravn, Otto E., Herodotus' Description of Babylon (Cophenhagen: Arnold Busck, 1942)Google Scholar; Baumgartner, William, “Herodots babylonische und assyrische Nachrichten,” Archiv Orientální 18 (1950) 69–106.Google Scholar

⁸² Arnaud, “La prostitution sacrée,” 115.

⁸³ Oates, Joan, Babylon (London: Thames & Hudson, 1979) 9.Google Scholar