by Sasha Lessin, Ph. D. (Anthropolgy, U.C.L.A.) http://www.enkispeaks.com/
Dakini taming Enkidu, the wildman created to, in turn, tame King Gilgamesh of Uruk
Around 2550 B.C., or so, Inanna, now Ishtar, made life in Uruk, her capitol in Sumer (ancient Mesopotamia, now Iraq), pure pleasure. She made her temple the center of the fun. In the paining below, she’s enraged at her King of Uruk, Gilgamish.
“Every day is a festival in Uruk. With people singing and dancing in the streets, musicians playing their lyres and drums, the lovely priestesses standing before the temple of Ishtar, chatting and laughing, flushed with sexual joy, and ready to serve men’s pleasure, in honor of the goddess, so even old men are aroused from their beds”
“The priestesses of Ishtar, the goddess of love, dedicated their lives to the sacred mystery of sexual union. In opening to the anonymous man who appears before her in her temple, young or old, handsome or ugly, they opened to Everyman, to God. They become incarnations of the goddess, with own bodies reenact cosmic marriage.” They teach men “the glories of sexuality, the intimate understanding of what a woman is and self-awareness as a human being.” [Smith, M., 2004, Gilgamesh, pages 12 -16].
Inanna’s Temple, Uruk
For the background of this, and more of Ishtar’s story, see
http://www.schooloftantra.net/enkispeaks.com/articles/ArticlesDrLessin/UrukTantra.htm
