Holy Profanity

Defiled, vile, wicked, and frail,

Is how the world recalls my tale,

Not recalling my service, oh king of the east,

Enlightening Enkidu, the wildman beast.

Many have forgotten my name by the day,

Calling me "fallen one" is all that they'll say.

My name is Shamat, maiden of the Temple,

Sacred is my task, of union resemble.

Without me, the gods would forget us below,

Leaving alone to wallow and sow,

Gilgamesh never to Humbaba would strive,

Without the bold, Enkidu astride.

So call me defiled, and call me a whore,

History misremembers the burdens I bore,

I straddled the beast, the wildest of men,

And taught him to fight, and our homeland, defend.

Without me, Enkidu, to the beast would remain,

And the world as we see it would not be the same.

I brought him the powers of sex and desire,

And taught him to build with that holy fire.

This is my true tale, my legend, my name,

Do not forget, without me, the beast is untamed.

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Sacred prostitutes were not uncommon in the ancient world. Many ancient peoples believed women held a special power of the creation of life and death over the whole city. Without them performing the sacred rituals, not only would be become infertile, but the land and beasts would as well. You can read about it more here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacred_prostitution#:~:text=Antiochus%20IV%20Epiphanes.-,Cyprus,to%20Aphrodite%20in%20their%20culture.

Some scholars speculate that these maidens were required to continue the actions which brought the earth into being. Since many ancient cultures believed the world was formed by the mingling of the sky and earth, the act of sacred sex was thought to perpetuate this cycle. If this cycle stopped, so would the world.

This poem is meant to be a cry from the past. While the women are often viewed as vile and undignified to us today, this is not how they were viewed back then nor how I believe they should be remembered. The fact is, they sacrified their bodies to the temple so that the world could continue (in their perspective). Without them, the world would cease to grow and prosper.

I used Shamat, the priestess from the Epic of Gilgamesh, to tell this story. (Read more here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shamhat). The action is often brushed over or out rightly ignored and changed in many modern retellings of this tale.

I believe we do these people a dis-service by changing the sexual encounter between Shamat and Enkidu. This portion of the tale shows how the feminine energy tames the violent and undirected urges of the masculine energies. (I use these terms in their archetypical sense).

From a Jungian perspective, this portion of the tale is heavily symbolic. It explains how these energies mingle to create civilization. By mingling with the feminine (Shamat) the masculine (Enkidu) becomes an invaluable asset to the Sumerian people.

I hope you enjoy :) :)