Probably an en, or priest-king, the net-skirted fyure in this seal impression dating to 3100 BC carries offerings to the Temple rfInanna, fallowed by an assistant bearing farther gifts.
They prepare bread in date syrup for her. They pour wine and honey for her at sunrise. Thepfods and people of Sumer ?fo to her with food and drink. They feed Inanna in the pure clean place.
FROM A HYMN TO INANNA
Amid the wafting scents of burning aromatics brought in from Mediterranean forests, the inhabitants of Sumer conducted a rich variety of rituals in the often magnificent temples that they built to serve as homes to the gods. Here, on the sacred floors and altars, animals regularly met their deaths through religious sacrifice, and each day the tables were laid with such fare as bread, fish, cakes, fruit, and wine to fortify the temple god and his or her family. Crafted in human form and treated as if they were living beings, cult statues of the divinities presided over these banquets and “accepted” the offerings, which afterward passed to the king for his consumption. Having been “blessed” during the serving ritual, the food was believed to confer divine blessings upon the king—and, by extension, upon his people.
In addition to being fed, the statues were showered with gifts of clothing and jewelry. A large temple staff adorned the figures in their finer)', entertained them with music and circuslike acts—and even transported them to neighboring temples so that they might visit with other members of their divine fam-
Ily. The staff could number more than 200 men and women, who held such diverse roles as snake charmer, barber, weaver, scribe, and priest of lamentation or purification. Although Sumerian texts do not specifically mention eunuchs, many of the temple singers apparently displayed telltale womanly traits, as indicated by the figure shown at far right, a male by the name of Ur-Nanshe.
World History
