Myths of Babylonia and Assyria - Donald A. Mackenzie

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the daughters had no share allotted to them, and could be sold by fathers and brothers. Among the peoples who observed "male right", social life was reflected in the conception of controlling male deities, accompanied by shadowy goddesses who were often little else than figures of speech.

      The Ancient Sumerians, on the other hand, like the Mediterranean peoples of Egypt and Crete, reverenced and exalted motherhood in social and religious life. Women were accorded a legal status and marriage laws were promulgated by the State. Wives could possess private property in their own right, as did the Babylonian Sarah, wife of Abraham, who owned the Egyptian slave Hagar.[26] A woman received from her parents a marriage dowry, and in the event of separation from her husband she could claim its full value. Some spinsters, or wives, were accustomed to enter into business partnerships with men or members of their own sex, and could sue and be sued in courts of law. Brothers and sisters were joint heirs of the family estate. Daughters might possess property over which their fathers exercised no control: they could also enter into legal agreements with their parents in business matters, when they had attained to years of discretion. Young women who took vows of celibacy and lived in religious institutions could yet make business investments, as surviving records show. There is only one instance of a Sumerian woman ascending the throne, like Queen Hatshepsut of Egypt. Women, therefore, were not rigidly excluded from official life. Dungi II, an early Sumerian king, appointed two of his daughters as rulers of conquered cities in Syria and Elam. Similarly Shishak, the Egyptian Pharaoh, handed over the city of Gezer, which he had subdued, to his daughter, Solomon's wife.[27] In the religious life of ancient Sumeria the female population exercised an undoubted influence, and in certain temples there were priestesses. The oldest hymns give indication of the respect shown to women by making reference to mixed assemblies as "females and males", just as present-day orators address themselves to "ladies and gentlemen". In the later Semitic adaptations of these productions, it is significant to note, this conventional reference was altered to "male and female". If influences, however, were at work to restrict the position of women they did not meet with much success, because when Hammurabi codified existing laws, the ancient rights of women received marked recognition.

      There were two dialects in ancient Sumeria, and the invocatory hymns were composed in what was known as "the women's language". It must not be inferred, however, that the ladies of Sumeria had established a speech which differed from that used by men. The reference would appear to be to a softer and homelier dialect, perhaps the oldest of the two, in which poetic emotion found fullest and most beautiful expression. In these ancient days, as in our own, the ideal of womanhood was the poet's chief source of inspiration, and among the hymns the highest reach of poetic art was attained in the invocation of Ishtar, the Babylonian Venus. The following hymn is addressed to that deity in her Valkyrie-like character as a goddess of war, but her more feminine traits are not obscured:--

       HYMN TO ISHTAR

      To thee I cry, O lady of the gods,

      Lady of ladies, goddess without peer,

      Ishtar who shapes the lives of all mankind,

      Thou stately world queen, sovran of the sky,

      And lady ruler of the host of heaven--

      Illustrious is thy name.... O light divine,

      Gleaming in lofty splendour o'er the earth--

      Heroic daughter of the moon, oh! hear;

      Thou dost control our weapons and award

      In battles fierce the victory at will--

      crown'd majestic Fate. Ishtar most high,

      Who art exalted over all the gods,

      Thou bringest lamentation; thou dost urge

      With hostile hearts our brethren to the fray;

      The gift of strength is thine for thou art strong;

      Thy will is urgent, brooking no delay;

      Thy hand is violent, thou queen of war

      Girded with battle and enrobed with fear...

      Thou sovran wielder of the wand of Doom,

      The heavens and earth are under thy control.

      Adored art thou in every sacred place,

      In temples, holy dwellings, and in shrines,

      Where is thy name not lauded? where thy will

      Unheeded, and thine images not made?

      Where are thy temples not upreared? O, where

      Art thou not mighty, peerless, and supreme?

      Anu and Bel and Ea have thee raised

      To rank supreme, in majesty and pow'r,

      They have established thee above the gods

      And all the host of heaven... O stately queen,

      At thought of thee the world is filled with fear,

      The gods in heaven quake, and on the earth

      All spirits pause, and all mankind bow down

      With reverence for thy name.... O Lady Judge,

      Thy ways are just and holy; thou dost gaze

      On sinners with compassion, and each morn

      Leadest the wayward to the rightful path.

      Now linger not, but come! O goddess fair,

      O shepherdess of all, thou drawest nigh

      With feet unwearied... Thou dost break the bonds

      Of these thy handmaids... When thou stoopest o'er

      The dying with compassion, lo! they live;

      And when the sick behold thee they are healed.

      Hear me, thy servant! hearken to my pray'r,

      For I am full of sorrow and I sigh

      In sore distress; weeping, on thee I wait.

      Be merciful, my lady, pity take

      And answer, "'Tis enough and be appeased".

      How long must my heart sorrow and make moan

      And restless be? How long must my dark home

      Be filled with mourning and my soul with grief?

      O lioness of heaven, bring me peace

      And rest and comfort. Hearken to my pray'r!

      Is anger pity? May thine eyes look down

      With tenderness and blessings, and behold

      Thy servant. Oh! have mercy; hear my cry

      And unbewitch me from the evil spells,

      That I may see thy glory... Oh! how long

      Shall these my foes pursue me, working ill,

      And robbing me of joy?... Oh! how long

      Shall demons compass me about and cause

      Affliction without end?... I thee adore--

      The gift of strength is thine and thou art strong--

      The weakly are made strong, yet I am weak...

      O hear me! I am glutted with my grief--

      This flood of grief by evil winds distressed;

      My heart hath fled me like a bird on wings,

      And like the dove I moan. Tears from mine eyes

      Are falling as the rain from heaven falls,

      And I am destitute and full of woe.

      * * * * *

      What have I done that thou hast turned from

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