Lve's Ritual I he Judahite ^acred jV]arriage j\ite by ^tepnane fj)eaulieu Library and Bibliotheque et 1*1 Archives Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-40814-8 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-40814-8 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives and Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par Plntemet, prefer, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans loan, distribute and sell theses le monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, worldwide, for commercial or non­ sur support microforme, papier, electronique commercial purposes, in microform, et/ou autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. this thesis. Neither the thesis Ni la these ni des extraits substantiels de nor substantial extracts from it celle-ci ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement may be printed or otherwise reproduits sans son autorisation. reproduced without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne Privacy Act some supporting sur la protection de la vie privee, forms may have been removed quelques formulaires secondaires from this thesis. ont ete enleves de cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires in the document page count, aient inclus dans la pagination, their removal does not represent il n'y aura aucun contenu manquant. any loss of content from the thesis. Canada Eve's Ritual: The Judahite Sacred Marriage Rite Stephane Beaulieu A Thesis in The Department of Religion Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts (History and Philosophy of Religion) at Concordia University Montreal, Quebec, Canada December 2007 © Stephane Beaulieu, 2007 ABSTRACT Eve's Ritual: The Judahite Sacred Marriage Rite Stephane Beaulieu There are many elements at play in the Genesis story of the Garden of Eden, all of which instigated a multitude and diverse range of interpretations. However, the text has only rarely been interpreted as possibly having a link to an ancient ritual. Remarkably, all of the elements present in the tale of Adam and Eve can be found in several Ancient Near Eastern and Mediterranean sources, many of which have been interpreted as being associated with rituals. What I propose for this thesis is that the written account of the Eden narrative could be both a record of an historical ritual, and an attempt to standardize a choice women's rite of passage that was used to attain an exalted status within the Israelite religious and social institutions. For this, I investigate the development of the sacred marriage ritual in the nations surrounding Israel by defining its history, its purpose, and its main religious experts. I then explore the Israelite religious landscape around the time the text was composed to find the proper circumstances that would lend themselves to the existence of a Judahite sacred marriage rite akin to that of these other ancient cultures. Finally, using a comparative approach to the Eden text, that mainly relies on the Ritual School, I briefly explore the many elements at play in the tale and define their purpose in the ritual. in Table of Content List of Maps: VI List of Figures: vii Introduction: 1 Development: 5 1. Methodology: 5 A. Myth School: 6 I. Myth Definition. 7 II. Myth Theories. 8 B. Myth & Ritual School: 18 C. Ritual School: 22 D. Rites of Passage: 26 I. Van Gennep. 27 II. Turner. 30 III. Eliade. 32 IV. Note on Women's Ritual. 37 2. Ritual: 39 A. The Sacred Marriage Rite: 39 I. History of the HierosGamos. 40 n. What the Ritual Entailed. 47 HI. Who Incarnated the Goddess? 51 a. Priestess. 51 b. Attendants. 63 IV. The Purpose of the Rite. 67 a. New Year Fertility Rite. 69 b. Coronation Festival. 76 c. Priestess Promotion Ritual. 81 IV B. The Judahite Sacred Marriage Rite: 89 I. Asherah. 89 a. The Goddess. 89 b. Part of the Official Cult. 111 c. Nehushtan. 125 II. Reli gious Experts. 128 a. Kingship. 128 b. Ladyship. 135 c. Zadokites. 145 d. Priestesses. 148 i. Qedeshot. 148 ii. Zonot. 155 III. The Ingathering Festival, 160 a. Rosh cHodesh. 161 b. Asif Festival. 165 i. Rosh ha-Shanah 168 ii. Yom Kippur. 175 iii. Sukkot. 180 IV. The Eden Narrative. 186 V. The Ritual Text. 196 VI. Proposed Reconstruction. 213 Conclusion: 219 End Notes: 222 Bibliography: 273 Appendix l;Maps: 287 Appendix 2; Figures: 290 Appendix 3; Text: 315 v List of Maps APPENDIX 1 Map 1: Europe and the Near and Middle East 287 Map 2: Eastern Mediterranean and the Near and Middle East 288 Map 3: The Levant 289 vi List of Figures APPENDIX 2 Figure 1: Lovers embracing on a bed 290 Figure 2: Lesser goddess bring priest to Inanna 291 Figure 3: Warka Vase 292 Figure 4: Goddess of the Tree of Life 293 Figure 5: Athirat/Asherah 294 Figure 6: Ivory box cover 295 Figure 7: Gold pendant 296 Figure 8: The Canaanite goddess Qetesh/Qudshu 297 Figure 9: Qudshu-Astarte-Anat 298 Figure 10: Pitcher inscription;'Elat' 299 Figure 11: Clay cult stand 300 Figure 12: Pithos A drawing; Tree of Life 302 Figure 13: Pithos A drawing; Yahweh and his Asherah 303 Figure 14: Pillar Figurines 304 Figure 15: Woman at the Window 306 Figure 16: Two human figures flanking a tree 307 Figure 17: Tuthmosis III suckled by Isis in the guise of a sycamore tree 308 Figure 18: Design from a stone vase 309 Figure 19: The Anguipede amulet 309 Figure 20: Goddess of Gagarino 310 Figure 21: Winged Bull of Heaven 311 vii Introduction: Generally speaking, a text is purposely crafted and artfully written by an author with a particular intent and meaning that is expressed in its original language. We must realize that the biblical text of Genesis 2-3 is also a product of a particular time, place, culture, and language, a consideration which has not received enough attention in modern studies. This should not be ignored when offering an interpretation, for the text is both responsive to and reflective of that world. Thus, we should place the Israelite religion in perspective of the ancient Near Eastern world's general patterns, contemporary texts, and religions.1 With knowledge of the conditions of that world, we can uncover the existence of the text before it was linked to sin and suffering.2 As part of the literary heritage of Jews, Christians, and Muslims, this religious text is one of the world's most famous tales.3 Estimated to have been written roughly around 920 BCE4, there are major implications in misreading a text that predates the religious traditions that have appropriated it after a millennium; at least 2000 years of 'dogmatic tradition'5 followed this appropriation.6 These chapters of Genesis have greatly influenced gender roles and identity in the West. Sexual sinfulness, disobedience, and punishment have long negatively characterized the narrative. The 'human failure' and 'disgraceful actions' of the first human pair have been referred to as having affected all of humanity after them with their 'original sin', to use a Christian term. However, it is surprising to find that Adam and Eve are never cited as examples or moral allegories in the rest of the Hebrew Bible. Considering the history of Israel's repeated disobedience of their god's command, the story offers plenty of occasions to draw such analogies.7 1 There are many elements at play in the Eden story. As an object of study, more than any other episode of the Bible, it enjoys an immense bibliography, which instigated a multitude and diverse range of interpretations.8 The traditional dogmatic perspective assumed that the serpent had malicious motives and elicited the human couple's disobedience, that their disobedience was disastrous, that the creator was omnipotent, and that the removal of the couple from the Garden constituted a loss of paradise.9 When interpreting the simple yet powerful narrative of Genesis 2-3, it is limiting to give importance only to the theme of disobedience. Doing so would mean that other features of the rich narrative, that were perhaps more significant for the ancient Israelites, may be oversimplified or obliterated.10 To solely analyze this text as literature, with no regard to its possible ritual and cultic setting, may also lead to a misinterpretation of the text. Remarkably, all of the elements present in this tale can be found in several Ancient Near Eastern and Mediterranean sources, many of which have been interpreted as associated with rituals. There are probably numerous reasons as to why this association has not been made in relation to the biblical text, and I will not speculate on them. In contrast, I intend to demonstrate the applicability of a ritual to the Genesis passage. To be more precise, I will focus on the main player in the ritual, a novice identified with the personage of Eve. In fact, I argue that she is more than the heroine of the story12; she is a representative of priestesses. For this purpose, I will not identify Eve as a personal name, but as the title of a religious expert.