MARRIAGE

Throughout the Sumerian period, when a young woman married she required the permission of both her father and her mother. According to the law-code of Eshnunna (c. 2000 BCE) a husband was punished by exile for taking up with another wife while abandoning a wife who had borne a child (not specifically a male child). Conversely, a wife who has a child by another man while her husband is at war legally remains the wife of the first man -- but there is no mention of punishment for adultery. Finally, the legal reforms of Urukagina (c. 2300 BCE) note that in earlier times women took two husbands. Some scholars have tried to take this as a reference to remarriage after widowhood, but it seems clearly to indicate polyandry -- especially since the reforms note that at the current time such an act would be punished by stoning.

PRIESTESSES

Apparently in early Sumeria the priestess was supreme, as there are references to the male priest appearing naked in the presence of the priestess. An important group of women called naditu may or may not have been viewed as priestesses. In either case, they kept temple records and managed temple business transactions. (They also owned land and other goods in their own names.)
A third group not necessarily viewed as priestesses, but important in the religious community, were the "sacred women" who bestowed the goddess' gift of sexual intercourse. Some women devoted their lives to this calling, others were wives and mothers who temporarily set aside family obligations to live in the temple community.

NINHURSAG

The most common of her several names, she is the Mother Goddess. This is meant literally in the biological sense and metaphorically in the matrifocal sense. She gave birth to the gods parthenogenetically, then mates with them as she chooses. She may be referred to as a wife, but this is an optional condition for her, not a defining element in her nature. She is the creator of the paradaisical garden of Dilmun, and when the great god Enki eats plants from the garden, she punishes him with death (although she later revokes the decree).

NINLIL and NUNBARSHUGUNU

This pair is a realization of the Twin Goddesses. Ninlil is the "young maid" of the city of Nippur, Nunbarshugunu is its "old woman," and the god Enlil is its "young man." Nunbarshugunu advises Ninlil to bathe where she will be noticed by Enlil. She does so, but when Enlil proposes intercourse, she declines: "my vagina is too small, it knows not how to copulate; my lips know not how to kiss." Enlil rapes her and impregnates her with the moon god, Sin. Even though Enlil is king of the gods, the other gods seize him and send him to the land of the dead for his immoral act. Ninlil chooses to accompany him. Enlil is unhappy, because this means his son Sin, when born, will be consigned to the underworld instead of taking his rightful place in the heavens. On their journey, Enlil takes on the forms of the gatekeeper of Nippur, the man of the Otherworld river, and the Otherworld Ferryman. In each form he impregnates Ninlil; these three children remain in the Underworld, and Sin is free to take his rightful place.

INANNA and DUMUZI

Inanna is the Sumerian fertility goddess; she is also the culture bearer. Dumuzi is her consort. The story of Inanna's journey to the Underworld once was thought to be a version of a widespread Middle Eastern myth known as the Dieing and Reviving God. It involves a fertility goddess who periodically mourns her absent consort. When he returns to her, the earth once again becomes fruitful. (With some possibly significant gender changes, this is also the Greek myth of Demeter and Persephone.)

The story reports that Inanna decides to visit her sister Ereshkigal, queen of the Underworld. Inanna apparently anticipates possible danger to herself, as she makes arrangements for her rescue. Ereshkigal holds her captive, but she is rescued. She returns from the Underworld, but now must find someone to take her place.

For many years there was only one source for the Sumerian myth of Inanna and Dumuzi, and its ending was missing. Scholars assumed the standard dieing and reviving pattern. That is, Innana's consort Dumuzi agreed to spend part of each year in the Underworld. During his absence, Inanna grieved and the earth's fertility waned. Imagine the great surprise when a new text was discovered and everyone learned that Dumuzi did not "revive!" As the story proceeds, Inanna searches among her temple priests for a candidate for the Underworld, but all are pious worshippers. She returns home in frustration, but as fate would have it her return coincides with Dumuzi's celebration of her apparent failure to return. She has found the one to replace her!