Not just ‘eunuchs’ or sex workers: in ancient Mesopotamia, gender-diverse people held positions of power
- Written by The Conversation
Today, trans people face politicisation of their lives and vilification from politicians, media and parts of broader society.
But in some of history’s earliest civilisations, gender-diverse people were recognised and understood in a wholly different way.
As early as 4,500 years ago in ancient Mesopotamia, for instance, gender-diverse people held important roles in society with professional titles. These included the cultic attendants of the major deity Ištar, called assinnu, and high-ranking royal courtiers called ša rēši.
What the ancient evidence tells us is that these people held positions of power because of their gender ambiguity, not despite it.
Where is Mesopotamia and who lived there?
Mesopotamia is a region primarily made up of modern Iraq, but also parts of Syria, Turkey and Iran. Part of the Fertile Crescent, Mesopotamia is a Greek word which literally means “land between two rivers”, referring to the Euphrates and Tigris.
For thousands of years, several different major cultural groups lived there. Amongst these were the Sumerians, and the later Semitic groups called the Akkadians, Assyrians and Babylonians.
The Sumerians invented writing by creating wedges on clay tablets. The script, called cuneiform, was made to write the Sumerian language but would be used by the later civilisations to write their own dialects of Akkadian, the earliest Semitic language.
Who were the assinnu?
The assinnu were the religious servants of the major Mesopotamian goddess of love and war, Ištar.
The queen of heaven, Ištar was the precursor to Aphrodite and Venus.
Also known by the Sumerians as Inanna, she was a warrior god, and held the ultimate political power to legitimise kings.
She also oversaw love, sexuality and fertility. In the myth of her journey to the Netherworld, her death puts an end to all reproduction on Earth. For the Mesopotamians, Ištar was one of the greatest deities in the pantheon. The maintenance of her official cult ensured the survival of humanity.
As her attendants, the assinnu were responsible for pleasing and tending to her through religious ritual and the upkeep of her temple.
The title assinnu is an Akkadian word related to terms that mean “woman-like” and “man-woman”, as well as “hero” and “priestess”.
Their gender fluidity was bestowed on them by Ištar herself. In a Sumerian hymn, the goddess is described as having the power to
turn a man into a woman and a woman into a man
to change one into the other
to dress women in clothes for men
to dress men in clothes for women
to put spindles into the hands of men
and to give weapons to women.
The assinnu were viewed by some early scholars as a type of religious sex worker. This, however, is based on early assumptions about gender-diverse groups, and is not well supported by evidence.
The title is also often translated as “eunuch”, though there is also no clear evidence they were castrated men. While the title is primarily masculine, there is evidence of female assinnu. In fact, various texts show they resisted the gender binary.
Their religious importance allowed them to possess magical and healing powers. An incantation states:
May your assinnu stand by and extract my illness. May he make the illness which seized me go out the window.
And a Neo-Assyrian omen tells us that sexual relations with an assinnu could bring personal benefits:
If a man approaches an assinnu [for sex]: restrictions will be loosened for him.
As the devotees of Ištar, they also had powerful political influence. A Neo-Babylonian almanac states:
[the king] should touch the head of an assinnu, he shall defeat his enemy his land will obey his command.
Having their gender transformed by Ištar herself, the assinnu could walk between the divine and the mortal as they maintained the wellbeing of both the gods and humanity.
Who were the ša rēši?
Usually described as eunuchs, the ša rēši were attendants to the king.
Court “eunuchs” have been recorded in many cultures throughout history. However, the term did not exist in Mesopotamia, and the ša rēši had their own distinct title.
The Akkadian term ša rēši literally means “one of the head”, and refers to the king’s closest courtiers. Their duties in the palace varied, and they could hold several high-ranking posts at the same time.
This royal lion hunt relief from Nineveh (in modern-day Iraq) shows beardless courtiers in a royal chariot.
The Trustees of the British Museum/Asset number 431054001, CC BY-NC-SA
The evidence for their gender ambiguity is both textual and visual. There are various texts that describe them as infertile, such as an incantation which states:
Like a ša rēši who does not beget, may your semen dry up!
The ša rēši are always depicted beardless, and were contrasted with another type of courtier called ša ziqnī (“bearded one”), who had descendants. In Mesopotamian cultures, beards signified one’s manhood, and so a beardless man would go directly against the norm. Yet, reliefs show the ša rēši wore the same dress as other royal men, and so were able to display authority alongside other elite males.
A stele of a ša rēši named Bēl-Harran-bēlī-ușur, from Tell Abta, west of Mosul, Iraq.
Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin/Wikimedia/Ancient Orient Museum, CC BY-SA
One of their main functions was supervising the women’s quarters in the palace – a place of highly restricted access – where the only male permitted to enter was the king himself.
As they were so closely trusted by the king, they were not only able to hold martial roles as guards and charioteers, but also lead their own armies. After their victories, ša rēši were granted property and governorship over newly conquered territories, as evidenced by one such ša rēši who erected their own royal stone inscription.
Because of their gender fluidity, the ša rēši were able to transcend the boundaries of not just gendered space, but that between ruler and subject.
Gender ambiguity as a tool of power
While early historians understood these figures as “eunuchs” or “cultic sex workers”, the evidence shows it was because they lived unbound by the gender binary that these groups were able to hold powerful roles in Mesopotamian society.
As we recognise the importance of transgender and gender-diverse people in our communities today, we can see this as a continuity of respect given to these early figures.
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