COOPER VIRGINITY IN ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA

J ERROLD S. C OOPER Baltimore

Virginity in Ancient Mesopotamia*

1. Virginity, Ours and Theirs

A
“ virgin body has the freshness of would be an older adolescent girl. But in
secret springs, the morning sheen actual Akkadian usage, ardatu is confined
of an unopened flower, the orient to literary texts, whereas batultu, attested
luster of a pearl on which the sun has never only after the Old Babylonian period, is the
shone. Grotto, temple, sanctuary, secret word that would be used for adolescent girls
garden – man, like the child, is fascinated in royal enumerations of booty, and in per-
by enclosed and shadowy places not yet sonnel lists and legal texts. 5 The Sumerian
animated by any consciousness, which wait terms are restricted entirely to literary texts;
to be given a soul: what he alone is to take the only case where a girl seems to progress
and to penetrate seems to be in truth created from k i- s i k il - tu r to k i- s i k il is in Enlil
by him.” 1 What a pity that neither Sumerian and Ninlil, where Ninlil first appears as k i -
nor Akkadian has a proper word for a young s i k i l- t u r (1. 11) alongside Enlil as g u r u š -
woman whose flesh is capable of inspiring t u r, but subsequently is called k i - s ik i l. 6
such marvel! At least since the foundational In western languages, too, there is no word
articles of Finkelstein and Landsberger, 2 that originally designated virgin. Parthenos,7
Assyriologists have recognized that Sume- virgo, Jungfrau – all designate nubile girls
rian k i - s i k i l - t u r and k i - s ik i l, 3 Akkadian before marriage, maidens, and like that word,
batultu and ardatu, are age-grades, cover- came by extension either to denote or to con-
ing the period between the onset of puberty note sexually innocent girls because of the
and marriage. 4 Both Finkelstein and Lands- expectation that respectable girls would re-
berger, influenced, no doubt, by the Sume- frain from sexual intercourse until marriage:
rian, considered the batultu to be the A Jungfrau should be sexually innocent, as
younger of the two, k i- s i k il - tu r, the barely well as a young woman; “in principal, a
nubile to young adolescent, whereas ardatu nubile young woman does not make love.”8

*
Abbreviations follow those of CAD (Chicago Assyrian NITA . SIKIL , so, adolescent girl and boy, as well as one
Dictionary) and PSD (Pennsylvania Sumerian Diction- reference to KI. SIKIL in a context in which it can only
ary). I would like to thank John Baldwin, Toby Ditz, mean a piece of land.
4
Deborah Lyons, Ellen Robbins, Gabrielle Spiegel, Ray For Sumerian and Akkadian age grade terminology in
Westbrook and Joan Westenholz for their help and/or greater detail, see Wilcke 1985: 213-17, 241-43.
5
suggestions. Roth 1987: 38f; Radner 1997: 148, 153f. In light of
1
de Beauvoir 1989: 155. Radner, the Akkadian normalization of the MUNUS. TUR
2
Finkelstein 1966; Landsberger 1968. who are the female counterparts of the GURUŠ . TUR (=
3
In Pre-Sargonic Sumerian, s ik il alone is used for (un- batulu) in the MB labor rosters (Brinkman 1982), should
married) “adolescent girl.” See the Early Dynastic be batultu. See, too, MUNUS . TUR (also batultum?) used
proverbs published by Alster 1991/92 and note the use of for young nubile girls at Mari (Durand 2000: 422).
6
SIKIL with the same meaning in the Ebla-“Abarsal” treaty Cooper 1980: 184; cf. Leick 1994: 47.
7
(Edzard 1992: §§41f). For the various meanings of SIKIL For Greek parthenos, see Sissa 1990: 76.
8
at Ebla, see now Archi 2000, who cites one unpublished Sissa 1990: 90.
reference to a DUMU. MUNUS. SIKIL alongside a DUMU.
S. Parpola and R. M. Whiting (eds.)
CRRAI 47 (Helsinki 2002)
ISBN 951-45-9054-6 91
COOPER VIRGINITY IN ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA

However, the abstract nouns derived formed: there is no *n a m - k i - s ik i l or *ba-

from these words – parthenia, virginitas, tulutu. To refer to a girl’s sexual inexperi-
Jungfräulichkeit – will never simply mean ence, the ancient Mesopotamians could
adolescent girlhood, but, rather, refer spe- only tell us what she was not and had not
cifically to sexual innocence. In Sumerian done, as in the case of the succubus Ardat-
and Akkadian, no s u c h a b s tracts are lilî:9

A maiden who has never had intercourse like a woman,

A maiden who has never been deflowered like a woman,
A maiden who has never felt sensuality in her husband’s lap,
A maiden who never stripped off her clothes in her husband’s lap,
A maiden whose (garment-)pin no handsome lad has loosened,
A maiden in whose breasts there was never milk—bitter liquid came forth,
A maiden who never had her fill of sensuality nor satisfied her desire in a lad’s lap,
A maiden who never had a bedroom, who (was?) never called the name of mother
....
A maiden who never had fun with the (other) maidens,
A maiden who was never seen at her city’s festivals, upon whom no one looked desirously,
A maiden who was deprived of a husband in her boudoir,
A maiden who had no husband, has born no child,
A maiden who had no husband, has raised no child,
A maiden who had no husband, had no child,
A maiden who was deprived of husband, deprived of child,
A maiden who was expelled from her marriage chamber.

Or, in the more concise language of the “her inexperience.” It occurs in a legal text
Middle Assyrian Laws §55, “a maiden who in which a man swears that he unfastened
is residing in her father’s house … who is the pin of his wife’s n u - m u - u n - z u ( - a ),
not spoken for, whose … is not opened, who which reminds us of the pin never unfast-
is not married,” 10 or, more concise still, in ened for Ardat-lilî. 13 In a slightly different
the Laws of Hammurabi, “who has not and more explicit formulation, it appears in
known a man.” 11 the Laws of Lipit-Ishtar, where a slandered
The Sumerian legal texts use the least virgin proves g ìš (or n i ta?) n u - u n - z u - a
tractable term for virgin, a / é - n u - g i 4 - a “un- “her not having known a penis” (or, rather,
deflowered,” translated into Akkadian as la “man”), 1 4 and it may perhaps occur as an
naqbat, as the Sumerian verb a / é —g i 4 is Akkadian loanword, nunzû, in an Old Baby-
rendered by Akkadian naqabu “to de- lonian court record(see below). 1 5
flower.” 12 Another nominalized Sumerian Despite the availability of such very ex-
negative verbal form may be considered a plicit negative phrases to express virginity,
word for virginity: n u - mu - u n - z u - a “her the words ardatu and batultu, underwent
not having known (a man),” or perhaps just the same semantic extension as the Greek,

9
Following Geller 1988: 14-17, translating mainly from berger’s speculations on the term’s etymology (p. 47).
13
the Akkadian. See the lengthy discussion by Malul 1991/92, and
10
Roth 1995: 174. most recently Lafont 1999: 247.
11 14
Roth 1995: 106 §130. Roth 1995: 33 §33. For the question of penis or man,
12
See Finkelstein 1966; Landsberger 1968; CAD s.v. see n. 77.
15
naqbu. For the Sumerian, see PSD s.v. a—gi 4 ; the addi- For k i- si kil nu- un- zu- àm = ardatu la lamittu in a
tion there of the definition “to rape” beside “to deflower” late incantation, see Excursus B.
is not justified. I would not care to venture beyond Lands-

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Latin and German words mentioned earlier, gamos.” 23 That the telos of the nubile virgin
developing in themseleves the connotation is marriage is made explicit in Sumerian:
“virgin,” because, again, an unmarried girl the negative a / é - n u - g i 4 - a means “virgin,”
was expected to be sexually innocent. 1 6 As literaly “undeflowered,” but if the negative
we shall see later, expectations of virginity n u - is deleted, é - g i 4 - a means not just (or
before marriage correlate strongly with pa- not even) “deflowered,” but rather “bride”
trilineal inheritance and descent, and pa- or “daughter-in-law.”
triarchal family structure, and these expec- So Marten Stol is both right and wrong
tations were certainly abroad in ancient Meso- about batultu when he says that the word
potamia, even though, in Malul’s words, had earlier been understood to mean “vir-
“nowhere in Mesopotamian sources is there gin,” but “a meaning ‘teenager’ has been
a clear and unequivocal reference to … the proposed and … found wide acceptance.
bride’s virginity as the conditio sine qua The pendulum is now swinging back – righ-
non for her to be acceptable for marriage.” 17 tly so,” and batultu is “a special word for
Many texts do suggest this, however equi- virgin.” 24 The basic meaning of batultu re-
vocally; 18 the least equivocal is §33 of the mains “unmarried adolescent girl,” but be-
Laws of Lipit-Ishtar, which deals with the cause such girls are assumed to be virgins,
defamation of an é - n u - g i 4 - a, a “virgin.” 19 the word can be used specifically in that
Were virginity not expected and valued, it sense, as it surely is in the Neo-Babylonian
would hardly be a crime to cast doubt on a marriage agreements.
girl’s maidenhood. Were, then, Babylonian virgins just like
Thus, when Neo-Babylonian marriage our own? Despite the biological universals
agreements designate the bride as batultu, we all share, societies construct sexuality in
they mean she is a young woman who has vastly different ways. 25 The following re-
not been married previously and is sexually quest for advice appeared in North Ameri-
innocent, i.e. a virgin. 20 That this is worthy can newspapers in the 1990s:
of mention could be because, as in other
Dear Abby:
Near Eastern cultures, as well as in China
and India, a woman’s first marriage may I am a twenty-six-year-old woman who is
have been in some sense considered differ- about to be married. I have never had sex,
ent than subsequent marriages. 21 Marriage but when I was 24 years old, I agreed to be
artificially inseminated and gave birth to a
is the proper destiny of the batultu or arda-
child for a couple who wanted one, but the
tu, as the Ardat-lilî text cited earlier makes woman was not able to have a child …. Am
abundantly clear. Similarly, Mieke Bal has I still a virgin? My husband-to-be is well
characterized the b etûlot in Judges 11 as aware that I want to wait until our wedding
“young women in transition,” 22 and for night to make love, so he has never press-
Giulia Sissa the Greek parthenos “denoted ured me. I need to know if I am still a virgin.
the expectant hiatus between childhood and The answer:

16 19
E.g. Cassin 1987: 340. Roth 1995: 33.
17 20
Malul 1991/92: 73. See Roth 1987: 743-45; Lafont 1999: 96.
18 21
See, for example, the evidence cited by Locher 1986: Goody 1990: 40. Cf. Westbrook 1988: 60-63; Stol
Chap. 3 and Lafont 1999: 247-49, though I would not 1995: 133.
22
agree with their interpretations in each and every case. Bal 1987: 71.
23
For exceptions to the virginity of an ardatu or batultu, Sissa 1990: 76.
24
one can always point to Inana/Ishtar, and see, too, the Stol 1995: 128.
25
examples cited by Radner 1997: 147f. See, for example, the survey of Frayser 1985.

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COOPER VIRGINITY IN ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA

Since you have never had sexual inter- perform an abortion by cesarean section to
course, you are still a virgin. If your fiancé preserve the hymen and the daughter’s vir-
is not aware that you have given birth to a
ginity. 27 The American construction of vir-
child, I suggest that you tell him. 26
ginity depends solely on whether or not
Also in the 1990s, a Palestinian teenage girl sexual intercourse had taken place; for the
was raped and became pregnant, but be- Palestinian, as in much of contemporary
cause she had been only partially pene- Near East, virginity rests in the intact
trated, her hymen was intact. When the hymen. What, exactly, was virginity in
girl’s mother learned that her daughter was ancient Mesopotamia?
“still a virgin,” she insisted that the doctor

2. Signs of Virginity, Tests of Virginity

If virginity meant the absence of sexual Israelite women most probably did, if we
experience, what were the signs that an- follow the accepted opinion that the cloth
nounced to the ancient Mesopotamians the with the bride’s signs of virginity, her
presence of this absence? Was there a test be tûlim, in Deuteronomy 22 is the infamous
that could verify a woman’s sexual in- bloody cloth known so well in later Near
nocence. In the medieval romance Floris Eastern and other cultures. 29 Let it be said
and Blauncheflur, the Emir of Babylon pos- at the outset that the only Mesopotamian
sesses a magic fountain, and “if an unchaste text dealing in detail with bridal linens is
woman comes down to the fountain in order without blood or stain. 30
to wash her hands clean, the water will We do not know how the slandered vir-
scream out … and become red as blood.” gin of the Laws of Lipit-Ishtar §33
The Emir marries anew at the end of every proved her innocence; other contexts that
year, and “uses the magical fountain to demand proof of chastity or its absence
weed out unsuitable brides. This fountain, rely on oaths or declarations in court.
which runs with blood and screams, is thus Thus, under the Third Dynasty of Ur, a
capable, apparently, of impersonating the man swears that despite a marriage
young woman at the precise moment of agreement, his bride refused to “lie with
penetration” when she was deflowered. 2 8 him as wife;” a woman swears that she
Did women in the real Babylon feel pain has slept with no one besides her hus-
and bleed when they lost their virginity? band; but another woman refuses to take

26
Kelly 2000: 136. latter to the bloody proof of virginity because its Aramaic
27
Shaloub 1999: 163. derivative, šusippa is used in the Targum to translate the
28
Kelly 2000: 8f. Hebrew word for the cloth showing the be tûlim in Deute-
29
See, exhaustively, Locher 1986; also Lafont 1999: ronomy 22. He thus would connect the susapinnu to later
249-52. Near Eastern customs in which a paranymph is witness
30
Dumuzi-Inanna A (Sefati 1998: 121-31). Because to the defloration and custodian of the stained linen.
these are Inana’s bridal linens, and Inana manages her However, although the Akkadian šusuppu can be used to
sexuality and marriage without the inconveniences ex- wipe the genitals as well as the hands, it is never attested
perienced by mortal women (see Cooper 1997: 94-96), with brides or marriage. More importantly, šusuppu is a
her sheets may not be representative of Mesopotamian Sumerian loan in Akkadian, from š u—su- ub “to wipe
bridal linen. Malul 1989 attempts to make an indirect the hands,” whereas susapinnu, to judge from the -innu
case for the bloody cloth by deriving Akk. susapinnu suffix, was borrowed from Anatolia (see Kaufman 1974:
“paranymph” from šusuppu “towel,” and connecting the 94 n. 324).

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 COOPER VIRGINITY IN ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA

an oath to the effect that she had not slept disadvantageous divorce.
with another man unbeknownst to her hus- Another Old Babylonian legal text has
band. 31 Similarly, in the Old Babylonian sometimes been said to imply a physical test
period, a man affirms that he “unfastened for virginity. BE 6/2 58 is the last of three
the pin of her [his wife’s] virginity,” but we documents comprising the dossier of what
don’t learn what makes him so certain. 32 could be called either the case of the repul-
Another swears he did not deflower a slave, sive bride or the case of the extortionary
but witnesses confirm the owner’s charge bridegroom. 37 In the year Samsu-iluna 13
that he did. 33 How they determined this is the woman Ama-sukkal paid Enlil-issu 19
not made clear. In TCL 1 10, 34 a woman is shekels of silver to marry her. Four years
asked to swear over and over that a certain later she added another 5 shekels to the sum.
man did not “know” her. Although the man In Samsu-iluna 23, ten years after the initial
is said to have deflowered two other contract, Enlil-issu has still not completed
women, we do not know if the woman being the marriage! Female witnesses (šibatu)
interrogated is accused of losing her vir- come forward to attest that Ama-sukkal has
ginity, or of adultery. At the text’s end the not insulted Enlil-issi, to attest to nu-un-zu-
interrogator says to her, “If you don’t want ša, her nunzû, and to attest that Enlil-issi
to die, prove (your innocence) to me!” has been pressuring her for more money.
Death is never the penalty for premarital Despite this damning testimony, Enlil-issu
sexual relations, but only for adultery or declares: “Should you testify even worse
consensual sexual relations of a betrothed things about me than this, I will not marry
girl with someone other than her fiancé. 35 her! They can even hang me – I prefer to
So if virginity is at stake in TCL 1 10, it is pay (back) the money!” 38
the virginity of a fiancée. 36 The proof de- The form nu-un-zu(-ša) has been inter-
manded would be in her repeated oaths of preted as a loanword nunzû deriving from
innocence, easy proof to provide, we might Sumerian n u - u n - z u “she did not know (a
think, but in reality, the ancients were man),” as used in the passages cited earlier
loathe to swear falsely; remember the Ur III to designate a girl without sexual experi-
woman who refused to take an oath that she ence, so here nunzûša would mean “her
had been chaste, preferring instead to risk a virginity.” 39 It may be argued that female

31
Falkenstein Gerichtsurkunden 22, 24 and 205: 18-25. bound and thrown in the water, exactly the punishment
In only the first case is it certain that the text is dealing demanded in FLP 1340.
37
with newlyweds; in the second and third, the issue may See the exposition of this case in Westbrook 1988:
be an extramarital affair. 43f.
32 38
TIM 4 48; see Malul 1991/92. eli inanna tubarraninnima ul ahhassi / lihluluninnima
33
3N-T273+ = UM 55-21-426; see, most recently, La- kaspam lušqul. Owen and Westbrook 1992: 203 n. 7
font 1999: 497. correct Westbrook 1988: 116, preferring to follow CAD
34
See Landsberger 1968: 45. and interpret lihluluninnima as a form of halalu C “to
35
Here and throughout I use “betrothed” to designate detain,” rather than of (h)alalu “to hang.” But the cor-
what Westbrook (1988) and others call “inchoate mar- rectness of the latter is proven by the case of another
riage,” wherein the marital agreement has been made and reluctant Old Babylonian bridegroom, who exclaims ina
prestations delivered, but the marriage has not been con- sikkatim ullaninnima mešrêtiya purrisa ul ahhaz “Hang
summated. Cf. Lafont 1999: 58f. me on a stake or tear me limb from limb – I will not marry
36
FLP 1340 (Owen and Westbrook 1992) records the (her)!”
39
assertion of a betrothed man that he will not complete the According to Landsberger 1968: 92 n. 1 this was first
inchoate marriage, telling his fiancée’s father “I will not proposed in CAD s.v. baza’u, and is followed by West-
marry your daughter! Tie her up and throw her in the brook 1988. Landsberger himself, however, preferred to
river!” The only grounds to demand that a fiancée be derive the form from an otherwise unattested nezû, and
drowned would be illicit sexual conduct, and the laws of is followed by Lafont 1999: 497f.
Hammurabi §129 prescribe that an adulterous couple be

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COOPER VIRGINITY IN ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA

witnesses were brought in this case because Furthermore, the wife of Sin-iddinam re-
it was through their physical examination vealed the following: “Before Sin-iddinam
married me, I had come to an agreement
that they established that the bride had re-
(about the marriage) with father and son.
mained nunzû. Two objections may be When Sin-iddinam left his house, the son of
raised to this interpretation: 1) The women Asqudum sent to me saying, ‘Let me marry
were attesting to more than the state of her you!’ He kissed my lips and touched my
nunzû; they were testifying to they way she vagina, (but) his penis did not enter my
treated Enlil-issu and how he was treating vagina. I said, ‘I will not behave improperly
toward Sin-iddinam!’ In my house, I did
her. In a homosocial culture, it would natu- nothing that should not be done against my
rally be other women to whom the bride husband. His … is well/safe.” 40
would speak confidentially about her mari-
tal problems, and it is from these intimate This text certainly defines the limits of il-
conversations that the female witnesses licit sexual conduct, or presents us with the
derived their information. Their testimony earliest example of the rationalization of
about her sex life would no more have to succumbing to an illicit impulse, the famil-
rely on physical examination than their tes- iar spectacle of a betrothed or married per-
timony about the groom’s financial press- son justifying the enjoyment of a forbidden
ure would depend on actually observing embrace and intimate carress because she
him put the squeeze on her. 2) The bride, didn’t, after all, “go all the way.” But what
Ama-sukkal,was probably not a virgin in can this have to do with virginity? The
any case. She had contracted this marriage woman tells us that she herself negotiated
herself and expended considerable finan- her marriage with her father-in-law and
cial resources trying to bring it to pass. husband, 41 so, like the spurned bride in BE
Probably she was an older widow or divor- 6/2 58, she was probably not a young ado-
cée, and nunzûša means not “her virginity” lescent, and this was probably not her first
but rather denotes the fact that her bride- marriage. 42 The editor of the text suggested
groom has not yet slept with her. that the final line, x x x-š[u š]a-al-ma-at be
A final quasi-legal text that has been ad- understood “s[on épouse] est intacte,” and
duced as evidence for a physical sign of is followed by Lafont, who explicitly con-
virginity is ARM 26 488, a letter from Bu- nects this statement with the woman’s vir-
qaqum to Zimrilim, in which, following an ginity. 43 But “son épouse et intacte” would
intelligence report on the activities of Ham- be aššassu šalmat, and here we must rather
murabi and Ibalpiel, he adds: restore a word that would take the unassimi-

40
It is not clear whether the final sentence belongs ent woman is made to say šaptiya la inaššiquma ša
within the wife’s statement, or is a concluding remark of zikarim u sinništim la amaggarušuma “I promise that he
Buqaqum. will not kiss my lips and I will not agree to have sexual
41
Another possible interpretation is that father and son intercourse with him!” This is a much less likely inter-
are Asqudum and the son who later tries to seduce her, pretation, I think, but if valid, makes it even more certain
which would explain why he said “Let me marry you!” that she is no virgin.
43
That is, she had earlier agreed to marry the son of As- Lackenbacher 1988: 425; Lafont 1999: 248 and 498.
qudum, but then subsequently married Sin-iddinam in- L. Marti (Marti 2001) has recently published collations
stead. Cf. Lackenbacher 1988: 424. of ARM 26 488. Most importantly he has established that
42
Durand 2000: 239 thinks she was a former prostitute, there is nothing after ša-al-ma-at in the last line. His
probably because he understands abam u maram amgur restoration of that line as [áš-ša-tu]ša-al-ma-at “the wife
not as “I had come to an agreement (about the marriage) is safe” seems very conjectural, to judge from the accom-
with father and son,” but “I was obliging (sexually) both panying photo, and would assume the omission of mima-
father and son,” interpreting magaru as used in BM tion in letters that otherwise are pretty consistent in using
13192 (Anbar 1975: 120ff), where a sexually independ- it. But his idea that “safe” here refers to the use of šalamu

96
 COOPER VIRGINITY IN ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA

lated suffix -šu, thus excluding aššatu nubile, she eagerly anticipates making love
“wife.” In fact, the woman in question is to her man in Dumuzi-Inana C, which love-
probably the betrothed or newly married making she describes in the deliciously
wife of Sin-iddinam, who is denying having erotic Dumuzi-Inana D. No pain or diffi-
had sexual relations with another man dur- culty here, but perhaps this was not the first
ing his absence, and the text gives no evi- time for the courting couple, and in any
dence for a physical sign of virginity. case, in this corpus Inana’s experience of
If law and legal testimony provide no love, sex and marriage is one of uncompli-
evidence for signs or tests of virginity, what cated pleasure. 44
about the descriptions of first intercourse Quite different is the case of the young
found in Sumerian and Akkadian literature? Ninlil in Enlil and Ninlil, who resists
The young Inana of the Sumerian love Enlil’s blandishments because of her youth
songs seems to have no difficulties. Newly and for reasons of propriety:45

My vagina is small and has not learned to stretch!

My lips are small and have not learned to kiss!
My mother will learn of it and slap my hand!
My father will learn of it and lay hold of me!
And then, when I tell my girl friend, … !

But when Enlil abducts and rapes her, there Enlil and Ninlil’s courtship is found in Enlil
is no mention of blood or pain despite her and Sud, where, after a rude false start,
small size. Pregnant, but nevertheless Enlil properly courts Ninlil and negotiates
called ki-sikil, she follows her ravager into marriage with her mother. Their first night
exile, tricked into having sex with him three together is one of rapture, at least for
more times. An entirely different version of Enlil:4 6

In the bed chamber, on the flowered bed (whose fragrance is) pleasant as the cedar forest,
Enlil copulated with his wife, feeling great pleasure.

The god Enki deflowers an entire series ren,” sexual intercourse itself seems as easy
of daughters born of his daughters in Enki as their miraculous nine-day pregnancies
and Ninhursag, all called l ú - t u r š a 6 - g a and labor-free births. Only the last of these
“beautiful child” until they are pregnant, daughters, Uttu, the textile goddess, has
whereupon they become mu n u s “woman.” agency and resists, and only she is called
Even though they are described as “child- m u n u s “woman” from the moment of her

44
to indicate the succesful completion of the river ordeal is See n. 30 above. Contrary to, e.g., Sefati 1998: III.3.f,
excellent, since an accusation of adultery should have I do not believe that Dumuzi and Inana waited until
been decided by ordeal, and Buqaqum, whose district was marriage to have sexual intercourse, but rather, if we are
downstream of Mari, would have been well placed to hear interpreting the collection of songs as a corpus with a
news from the site of the ordeal at Hit. The other colla- story line, they were sexually intimate already during
tions and suggested restorations don’t affect my interpre- courtship. In fact, the oath that Inana makes Dumuzi
tation of the text. Marti follows Durand in seeing the swear in Dumuzi-Inana B, placing his hand on her geni-
accused as a woman of questionable repute. Even if this tals, suggests a possible tradition of sexual liberties
is the same unnamed “wife of Sin-iddinam” who under- allowed to couples once they were betrothed.
45
goes the ordeal in ARM 26 252, that ordeal was to Lines 30-34; see Cooper 1980: 185.
46
discover the name of her husband’s female traveling Lines 148-149.
companion, and not related to her own marital fidelity.

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COOPER VIRGINITY IN ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA

birth. 47 When Enki finally gains access to negotiating a marriage agreement, is men-
her by a ruse, he is so excited that he ejacu- tioned in a somewhat lurid Akkadian myth-
lates on her abdomen as well as within her, ological fragment, 49 but the tablet breaks off
and in a difficult line she seems to cry out before we can learn if Ningal’s feelings are
in pain or dismay, “O my abdomen, O my described (unlikely). The queen of the
body, O my womb!” 48 This may be the pain Netherworld, Ereshkigal, was a self-de-
we are seeking, but her mother’s response scribed virgin until she seduced a visitor
is to wipe the semen off her abdomen, sug- from heaven, the god Nergal. The experi-
gesting that it may have been the sting of ence, as related in Nergal and Ereshkigal,
divine seed rather than the pain of first in- was one of intense pleasure – “They em-
tercourse that provoked her cries. braced one another, passionately they went
The god Sin’s defloration of Ningal with- to bed” 50 – lasting for seven days, and when
out her father’s permission, that is, without he left her, she demanded his return:

Since I was a young girl,

I have not known the play of maidens (ardati),
Nor have I known the frolic of little girls ($ehreti).
That god whom you sent, he has had intercourse with me, so let him lie with me.
Send me that god that he be my husband and spend the night with me.

If Nergal does not return, she threatens to If, in our search for the signs of virginity,
“raise up the dead to devour the living.” 5 1 we scan Mesopotamian literature for exam-
Another fully adult virgin, a male, Enkidu, ples of the widespread folkloric theme of
has a similarly spectacular initiation in the the wedding night, either tragic or humor-
Gilgamesh Epic, 52 but his experience will ous, we find a single brief, but telling,
tell us even less than Ereshkigal’s about the example:5 3
virginity of adolescent girls.

Something that has never occurred since time immemorial:

A nubile girl was never (before) flatulent in her husband’s lap!

In this proverb transmitted in both Sume- s ik i l - t u rin Sumerian, but the Akkadian,
rian and Akkadian, the nubile girl is k i- rather than translating batultu, the normal

47
Line 127. At the moment Enki finally makes love to presumed to be sexually innocent. This passage is
her, she, like the others, is called lú -t ur, but this is preceded by the continual lovemaking of Enlil and Ninlil
because the line from the previous sexual encounters is that led to Sin’s birth, and in col. vii we learn that “Ninlil
repeated verbatim (line 183). Immediately afterward, she bore Ishum to Shamash, but already having been married,
is mun us ša 6- ga “beautiful woman.” she left him in the street.” That is, Ninlil had been
48
Line 186. impregnated by her own grandson!
49 50
CT 15 5 ii, ed. Römer 1966: 138-47, interpreted fol- Foster 1996: 423.
51
lowing Greengus 1969: 521: [a]na Ningal ištakan Foster 1996: 425.
uzunšu / [S]în igruš ana hiariš iqrab / [iqqi]b ? šima ul išal 52
Cf. n. 84. There are some striking parallels between
abaša “He set his sights on Ningal; Sin came near and the two stories: Ereshkigal seduces Nergal by exposing
approached to wed her, he deflowered ? her but had not her nude body, as Shamkhat does Enkidu, and both
asked for the consent of her father.” Both authors note couples copulate for seven days. Afterwards, both Ere-
the resemblance to the Laws of Eshnuna §27: “If a man shkigal and Enkidu are profoundly changed: Ereshkigal
marries the daughter of another man without the consent can no longer interact as before with the Netherworld
of her father and mother” (balum šâl abiša u ummiša; gods, and Enkidu is estranged from his animal friends.
53
Roth 1995: 63); cf. Lafont 1999: 113. Ningal then, is an Alster 1997: Coll. 1.12.
unmarried adolescent living in her parent’s house, and

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 COOPER VIRGINITY IN ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA

lexical equivalent, translates word for trauma, and that there was no sign that
word: ardatum $ehertum, “young maiden.” marked a virgin, nor were there physical
The choice emphasizes the bride’s youth, tests to determine virginity’s presence or
suggesting inexperience and awkwardness, absence. The magic fountain of the Emir of
but these manifest themselves not through Babylon was quite at home in the European
problems in the performance of the sex act Middle Ages, but would have been strange
itself, but due to the embarrassment of fla- and indecipherable to the Babylonians
tulence at an intimate moment. 54 themselves. For them, the loss of virginity
From the evidence examined, we can only was detectable only through pregnancy or
conclude that defloration was not perceived catching a girl in flagrante delicto. 55
by the ancient Mesopotamians as a physical

3. The Unstable Hymen

From the preceding, it is clear that the con- … In fact, the belief that a thin membrane
cept of an “intact” virgin, the idea of grows in the middle of the vagina, and that
“wholeness” that is the only way we can it is this membrane that tears in defloration
describe virginity without using negative … is an error.” 57 Doubt regarding the exist-
phrases, did not exist in ancient Mesopota- ence of the hymen can be found as late as
mia, despite some hints that intercourse Diderot’s Encyclopédie;5 8 only in the mod-
may have been difficult for young nubile ern period has the hymen emerged as an
girls. This ambiguity was even more pro- uncontested physical structure, the culmi-
nounced in the Classical world, whose nation of the “medicalization of virgin-
“maidenhood without maidenhead” has ity.” 59
been scrutinized in Giulia Sissa’s 1990 “How could this be?” one wonders, or at
monograph Greek Virginity. 56 Neither the least I wondered, when I first encountered
Hippocratic corpus nor Aristotle was aware what has been called the “archeology of
of the hymen, and, in fact, both saw an virginity.” 60 Ideas, concepts, values, even
unobstructed vagina as crucial to feminine emotions may be socially constructed, but
health. Nor does Galen mention a hymen in an organ or body part – the eye, the liver,
his detailed analysis of female genitalia, the foot – should either be there or not. How
and Soranus mentions it only to explicitly was it possible for physicians and anato-
deny its existence. Rather, he says, a vir- mists to argue about the existence of the
gin’s “vagina is depressed and narrower … hymen for 2,000 years? It was only when I
because it contains ridges … when deflora- saw an illustration showing the great mor-
tion occurs, these ridges unfold, causing phological variety in the membrane sur-
pain … resulting in the excretion of blood rounding the vaginal opening that the prob-

54
Flatulence embarrassed the Mesopotamians even in found out … or revealed by its consequences.”
56
somewhat less intimate circumstances, as shown in the Kelly 2000 carries the investigation on into the Euro-
so-called Love Lyrics of Ishtar of Babylon: “Why were pean Middle Ages.
57
you flatulent, embarrassing yourself? Why did you cause Sissa 1990: 113.
58
a … smell in the coach of her lord?” (Lambert Love Sissa 1990: 177.
59
Lyrics 120:11f). See Kelly 2000: Chap. 1.
55 60
Cf. Sissa 1990: 105: “Penetration by a male organ Kelly 2000: 18.
deflowered a virgin, yet the event existed only if it was

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COOPER VIRGINITY IN ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA

lem became clear. As Kathleen Coyne Kelly and around the world, there are lucrative
describes it: medical practices that specialize in the rec-
onstruction of hymens, a practice referred
…the size, shape, and thickness of the hy-
to already centuries ago by Cervantes.62
men can vary remarkably from girl to girl,
woman to woman. It may be barely discern- These tricks are necessary both to protect
ible, simply a thin ridge of tissue that edges brides who don’t conform physiologically
the vaginal opening, or a more obvious tis- to a specific virginal ideal, and to accomo-
sue with one or more perforations. In rare date the very real possibility of male im-
cases, a woman may be found to have an potence on the wedding night (is the latter
imperforate hymen, a condition that re-
quires surgical attention. Given the pro- why the practice of faking virginal blood is
nounced variations in size and shape from winked at in so many cultures?).
woman to woman, perhaps it would be more There is no trace of any of this in ancient
accurate to identify the hymen as a site than Mesopotamia. But did the ancient Mesopo-
as an anatomical part. 61 tamians nevertheless recognize, without
fetishizing, what we call the hymen? In the
And it is a site so variable that no test could anatomical inventory of ur5 -ra (Hh.) 15:
reliably determine that it had not been 205ff, the male genitalia are quickly dis-
breached, and certainly not whether by in- posed of in only five entries, perhaps be-
tercourse or other causes. Clearly, also, ini- cause they are relatively straightforward;
tial intercourse might cause little or no trau- the following twenty-one entries are de-
ma, or serious and painful trauma, voted to female reproductive organs, begin-
depending on the variation that presented ning with the external genitalia (see Excur-
itself. sus A) before moving on to the vagina and
The ambiguity of ancient Mesopotamian uterus. Among the internal parts, Akk.
sources about first intercourse, then, nicely šišitu, which the dictionaries translate
mirrors the variability of the physical evi- “membrane,” is repeated five times with
dence. And this is why in cultures where a Sumerian equivalents of varying degrees of
blood-stained textile is demanded of the opacity. None of the other internal genitalia
bride, there are well-known repertoires of merit so many entries; perhaps this mem-
tricks to simulate virginity as constructed brane is indeed the hymen, and the various
by the particular culture, the most obvious entries reflect the actual variation known to
being the use of animal blood to stain a occur in it. 63
sheet or undergarment. In New York City

4. Virginity’s Value
Mesopotamian law and legal records leave of a husband secured through the marriage
no doubt that a girl’s virginity was con- agreement. Violation of a betrothed girl’s
sidered an asset to her father or her owner, chastity was very serious, punishable as
and defloration was the implicit prerogative adultery in most cases. Rape or seduction of

61 63
Kelly 2000: 10 (emphasis in original). More likely, however, is that the five Sumerian equi-
62
Kelly 2000: Chap. 4. A search of the World Wide Web valents of šišitu represent slang terms for the hymen, as
turns up doctors from Sri Lanka to Morocco who perform do the five Sumerian terms for lipiššatu “labia” (see
hymenal reconstruction. Excursus A).

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 COOPER VIRGINITY IN ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA

a virgin slave girl was punished by compen- rian legal exercise and in a much earlier
sation to the owner; 64 a free virgin’s father provision in the treaty between Ebla and
was compensated for her rape or seduction, “Abarsal,” as well as in the Pentateuch, 69
and in the former case, the Middle Assyrian has been characterized as part of “a dis-
Laws include talionic penalties. 65 To para- course of male power” which “places a
phrase Elena Cassin, a woman’s virginity woman even more securely in the grip of the
was a matter for men that was dealt with by man who assaulted her.” 70 The father re-
men. 66 But the loss of virginity had conse- ceives the full bride-price, but the girl
quences for women, too. Virginity was not might find satisfaction only in knowing that
just a material or practical matter; it had a in her fallen state a better match was unlike-
moral dimension as well. 67 We have seen ly. But the provision also provides an open-
that casting unsubstantiated doubt on a ing for a girl either to avoid a proposed
girl’s virginity was slander punishable by marriage that was odious to her, and/or to
compensation payable to the girl’s father, initiate a love match of her choosing, by
which suggests that the girl’s father was arranging her own abduction or simply
harmed by the damage to the girl’s repu- eloping. 71 In many societies where, as in
tation. The harm should be that a girl ancient Mesopotamia, the choice of a mate
whose reputation is sullied would com- for a daughter was a social and economic
mand a smaller bride-price, and this ex- decision reserved for her parents, daughters
plains, too, the compensation paid to the are betrothed as soon after puberty as
father in case of rape or seduction. The possible, or even before, precisely to pre-
term šim batulte “price of a maiden” in the clude self-selection of a spouse through
Middle Assyrian Laws, corresponding to elopement. 7 2 The provision could also be
the mohar habb e tûlot in the Pentateuch, used to force the deflowerer to take respon-
suggests that a premium was paid for a girl sibility for any pregnancy that might ensue.
of unsullied repute. If virginity was an asset both to a girl and
Of more direct concern to the girl her- to her father in Mesopotamia, there is no
self would be the diminished chances of indication that there existed anything like
making a good match, as well as the pro- the much-discussed “honor and shame”
vision that her father could marry her to complex of the Circum-Mediterranean re-
the man who deflowered her. 68 This provi- gion, in which the honor of a man and his
sion, found in the Middle Assyrian Laws family is to a very great extent determined
but also in a difficult Old Babylonian Sume- by the chastity of the family’s women. 73

64 71
Roth 1995: LU §8, LE §31; 3N-T273+ = UM 55-21- See, e. g., Van der Toorn 1994: 57f.
72
426 (PSD A/1 83; Finkelstein 1966: 359f; Landsberger Finkelstein 1966: 368 notes that if Mesopotamian
1968: 47-49; Lafont 1999: 497). See Westbrook 1998; cases of illicit sexual relations are mapped on a grid with
Lafont 1999: 100-103. married/betrothed and single on one axis, and coercive
65
Roth 1995: MAL §§55-56. (rape) vs. consensual sex on the other, we see that the
66
Cassin 1987: 345. most concern is with consensual sex by married woman
67
Lafont 1999: 97, 131f. (for which there were more motives and opportunities)
68
This possibility is foreseen only if the girl is free. and rape of single girls, since the latter are usually too
Westbrook points out that LE §31 explicitly states that young to be expected to seek out sexual experience on
the deflowered slave girl remains with her owner; her their own. This would point to a relatively young age of
deflowerer has no claim on her. betrothal and marriage for Mesopotamian women (cf.
69
Roth 1995: MAL §55, SLEx §7′ (= YOS 1 28; see Roth 1987).
73
Lafont 1999: 104-21); Edzard 1992: §41; Ex. 22:15f; Dt. See, e.g., the studies in Peristany 1966, Pitt-Rivers
22:28f. 1977, and Stewart 1994. There are definite aspects of this
70
Washington 1998: 211-13. complex in the society of ancient Israel (Matthews 1998),

101
COOPER VIRGINITY IN ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA

This is not to say that honor and shame had again,” which is not at all isolated;75 yet, the
no function in ancient Mesopotamia, but seclusion and ferocious surveillance of
only that there is no evidence of such a women known in other cultures was prob-
narrowly defined “honor” governing all so- ably not a feature of the Mesopotamian so-
cial interaction, and the concomitant per- cial landscape, apart from the Assyrian
ception of women, and especially unmar- royal palace. 76
ried girls, as the greatest threat to men’s Virginity also had a ritual value, both for
standing in the community. There are no offerings of animals which are charac-
stories or proverbs about men coming to terized as la petitu ( NITA NU . ZU ) “unop-
ruin because of their women’s indiscre- ened” (Sum. “not having known a male”) 77
tions; the closest expression of virgin or, in the case of male animals, MUNUS
daughters as a danger may be the isolated NU . ZU “not having known a female,” 78 and
omen apodosis maratu bit abišina uhallaqa when human hair “of a young man who has
“daughters will destroy the house of their not known a woman” and “of an adolescent
father.” 74 Of course, men had great anxiety girl (ardatu)” is used for ritual purposes. 79
about women’s sexuality, as evidenced by But the pursuit of the relationship of sexual
an apodosis like aššat ameli ittanajjak “the activity to pollution and ritual purity must
man’s wife will fornicate over and over be deferred to another place.

5. The Male Virgin

If an unmarried young woman was expected (k i- s i k il - tu r, MUNUS. GURUŠ. TUR , MUNUS.
to be sexually innocent, the same can hardly TUR ) and ardatu (k i - s ik i l), batulu (g u r u š -
be said of the unmarried young man. There- tu r), e#lu (g u r u š) and $ahurtu 80 never con-
fore, the masculine pendants to batultu note an absence of sexual experience. But

as evidenced by Dt. 22, which unlike any Mesopotamian text, not known a male,” NITA should be preferable to GÌŠ, and
decrees that a girl found out to have not been a virgin when provides a better parallel to the male counterpart, MUNUS
she married should be put to death at her father’s door, tying NU . ZU (which cannot be GAL 4 NU . ZU because the logo-
the whole concept of virginity to notions of individual and gram for uru “vulva” is always GAL 4 . LA) .
78
national honor. But contrary to Locher 1986: 237, this is Maul 1994: 54, discusses the criteria for animals used
probably not due to a desire to set Israel apart from surround- in ritual offerings. But unlike the use of terms denoting
ing peoples, but rather ought reflect the values of Israel’s virginity in humans, the use of such terms for animals
closer neighbors and rural-pastoral tradition. probably implies sexual immaturity.
74 79
Böck 2000: 35. There may be some additional material CAD s.v. ardatu. Note, too, the ritual use of “the pubic
in early Sumerian proverbs about daughters and adoles- hair of an old woman” (like the ardatu, the old woman
cent girls (si ki l, for later k i- si kil; see n. 3) published in would be assumed to be sexually inactive) (CAD s.v.
Alster 1991/92, but they are quite difficult. šartu). For the use of a virgin (batultu) in a royal ritual,
75
Böck 2000: 35, and cf. najjakat “she is a fornicator” see n. 91.
80
(37), as well as the references in CAD s.v. aššatu n) and See Radner 1997: 147f and the dictionaries. The equ-
nâku. ations gu ruš -t ab, gu ruš -t ab nu -zu = ba-du-lu, pre-
76
There is no monographic treatment of the Assyrian ceded by g uru š = e#lum, gur uš- di li = edu, found only
harem. The Middle Assyrian Palace Decrees (Roth 1995: in Lu III iii 81f (MSL 12 126), probably have nothing to
Chap. 11) argue for an almost pathologically strict seclu- do with the Ur III worker designation gur uš- ta b, but
sion and surveillance of the palace women, but Garelli rather originated in a scribal restoration of a broken
1998 points out that the more important royal women, at gur uš- tu r, where the TUR was damaged so that all that
least, were active economically and had authority even was visible were two parallel horizontal strokes. Or, the
over male employees who were not eunuchs. OB Lu 313-15 sequence gur uš, gur uš -di li, g uru š- AŠ (=
77
The Sumerian is usually rendered GÌŠ NU. ZU “not GE 23 ) was altered or misread/misreconstructed into the
having known a penis,” but in view of Laws of Hammu- sequence gur uš, gu ruš -d il i, gur uš- ta b.
rabi §130 (Roth 1995: 106) ša zikaram la idû “who has

102
 COOPER VIRGINITY IN ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA

although adolescent boys weren’t required (and) the hair of an e#lu who has not
to remain chaste until marriage, neither did [known] a woman.” The word ardatu im-
they necessarily plunge headlong into sex- plies virginity, but e#lu has no such conno-
ual adventures as soon as they were able. tation and must be modified to indicate it.
There certainly were adolescent males who Because virginity per se was not ex-
were virgin, that is, sexually inexperienced, pected of the unmarried young man, there is
even if this male virginity lacked the moral no mention of sexual innocence in the case
character of female virginity. When male of the E#el-lilî, incubus, the male counter-
virginity was desired for purposes of ritual part of the Ardat-lilî discussed at this
purity, it had to be specified, as in the cita- paper’s beginning:8 1
tion above calling for “the hair of an ardatu

A lad who married no wife, who raised no child,

A lad who has never felt sensuality in his wife’s lap,
A lad who has never stripped off the/(his) clothes in his wife’s lap,
A lad who was expelled from his wedding chamber,
A lad who [ (text breaks off) ]

This is a lad who has never experienced the of the transition from adolescence to adult-
joys of marriage and fatherhood, but hood for the e#lu, so Enkidu’s initiation
whether or not he has had sexual inter- began his transition from the animal world
course is not worthy of mention, unlike the to human society.
description of Ardat-lilî, which begins by If there is no special moral value attached
telling us she died a virgin. 82 For another, to male virginity, it, like female virginity,
highly abbreviated, description of adoles- still has ritual value. Thus, in the rituals of
cents cut down before enjoying the plea- STT 73 85 LÚ . TUR ša MUNUS NU ZU “a boy
sures of mature life, see Excursus B, and who has not known a woman” is required to
note, too, the g u r u š - t u r and k i - s i k i l - t u r grind grain, light incense and draw water.
“who never stripped off a garment in his/her In CT 39 24:30 grain is ground by a GURUŠ.
spouse’s lap,” prematurely dead and seen TUR , a batulu, without further specification.
by Enkidu in the netherworld. 83 The only If, as seems probable, what is meant is a
explicitly virgin male in Mesopotamian bel- virgin male, then batulu could, after all,
les lettres is Enkidu in the Akkadian Epic connote sexual inexperience, at least in a
of Gilgamesh, whose sexual initiation as a ritual context. 86 And, like their female
fully mature adult is an erotic masterpiece. 84 counterparts, virgin male animals, or rather,
Just as the transition from sexual innocence sexually immature male animals, are speci-
to sexual experience was an important part fied for some offerings (see above).

81
Lackenbacher 1971: 124 i 15-23. 1994: 255f. See n. 52 for the resemblance of Enkidu’s
82
The E#el-lilî passage begins by describing the lad’s initiation to that of Ereshkigal, also as a fully mature
miserable fate, before telling of his unmarried state. The adult.
85
lines in the break are unlikely to have mentioned his Studied and transliterated in Reiner 1960.
86
sexual experience; in the Ardat-lilî incantation, the lines Is it also possible that the use of LÚ . TUR in STT 73
after the “expulsion from the wedding chamber” tell of and GURUŠ. TUR in CT 39 24 means that LÚ. TUR can
her premature death and phantom existence, and the E#el- sometimes be used to write batulu, as MUNUS. TUR is
lilî description probably did the same. sometimes used instead of MUNUS.GURUŠ. TUR for batul-
83
Gilgameš and the Netherworld 275 and 277. tu? Cf. AMT 61 5:12 (CAD s.v. idû 2b) šumma LÚ. TUR
84
The most recent translations are George 1999 and ša MUNUS NU ZU miqit irri irši “If a boy who has not
Foster 2001, and see the sensitive interpretation of Leick known a woman has a prolapse of the rectum.” Here and

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COOPER VIRGINITY IN ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA

6. Why Virginity?
The virginity of a girl at the time of her first child she bears is her husband’s, but a bride-
marriage is not a universal expectation. The to-be needs to be guarded only in the time
broad range of attitudes toward premarital between her last menstrual period and the
sexual activity can be represented by two consummation of her marriage. Prior sexual
extreme cases: For the Nuku Hiva in Eas- activity is irrelevant to the paternity of
tern Polynesia, premarital sexual encounters children born in her marriage. 9 1
begin before puberty and are numerous and Another reason often given is that when
frequent in adolescence; rural Egyptians men acquire a wife, they want her to be new,
cover girls in shapeless garments and veil not used, like a suit of clothes, 92 but men
their faces, practice clitoral excision, and hardly demand that the real estate they buy
marry daughters soon after puberty, allow- be unused. If difficulty in sexual penetration
ing no time for any possible deviation from and a bride’s inexperience and pain highten
the chaste norm. 87 The Egyptian extreme erotic pleasure for a bridegroom, it can only
typifies the Circum-Mediterranean region, be in response to the cultural value already
which “diverges sharply from other world placed on virginity. The defloration of a
areas … in its emphasis on prohibiting sex virgin bride becomes the assertion of the
during the premarital period.” 88 If the Med- very patriarchal domination that causes vir-
iterranean area has particularly strong sanc- ginity to be prized in the first place. 93 Thus,
tions and safeguards against the sexual ac- Gilgamesh’s defloration of newlywed
tivity of unmarried girls, the virginity of a brides in the Akkadian Epic of Gilgamesh
bride as an ideal is hardly confined to that demonstrates to the populace that the auth-
region, but rather seems to be characteristic ority of the king, at the apex of the patriar-
of most patriarchal societies, correlating chal male power structure, can supersede the
closely with patrilineal kinship and inherit- patriarchal authority of any other male in the
ance, and patrilocal residence. 89 hierarchy. Once again, women’s virginity is
Why do men want their brides to be vir- an object of male contention; Gilgamesh’s
gin? 90 The most common reason offered, to droit de seigneur has little to do with the
insure that their children are their own,can joys of deflowering virgins, and much to do
be readily dismissed. A wife’s marital fi- with assuring that their husbands know
delity may be essential to be certain that any who’s the biggest patriarch of all. 94

91
in STT 73, it makes little sense to talk about a “boy” See Frymer-Kensky 1998: 81. The batultu who has
$ehru who has not had sexual relations, since by defini- intercourse with the king in a royal ritual is selected only
tion a $ehru becomes a batulu once he has matured just before the ritual, so her virginity insures that her
sexually. Or, perhaps these passages want to be very child will be the king’s, and thus a vector for eliminating
specific and are telling us they mean “a boy, (that is,) one the king’s pollution (see Cooper 1996: 53).
92
who cannot yet have sexual relations.” E.g. de Beauvoir 1989: 154, but especially to the point
87
Frayser 1985: 202f. is Pitt-Rivers 1977:27 on Andalusia: “honor requires that
88
Frayser 1985: 203. See Frymer-Kensky 1998 for a one mary a virgin since otherwise one becomes a retro-
discussion of various anthropological theories that at- active cuckold.”
93
tempt to explain this areal emphasis on virginity, and see Cf. Frymer-Kensky 1998: 81f.
94
also Mitterauer 1985. Cassin 1987: 353, certainly influenced by Freud’s
89
Frayser 1985: 338-54, Mitterauer 1985, Goody 1976. 1918 essay “Taboo of Virginity” (Freud 1963: 60-76),
90
The answers to this question discussed in what follows thinks Gilgamesh’s prerogative goes back to the chief’s
ignore that aspect of virginity which has become a spiri- obligation to perform an act – defloration – that was
tual ideal in Christianity, with Mary and Christ himself originally considered to be fraught with danger. Cf. also
as models, or in Buddhism and other belief systems Lambert 1960: 339f, who also seems to assume that
which preach asceticism and renunciation. defloration was a dangerous act that the bridegroom

104
 COOPER VIRGINITY IN ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA

There are at least two logical reasons for And of hir owene vertu, unconstreyned,
a patriarchal society to restrict women’s She hath ful ofte tyme syk hire feyned,
For that she wolde fleen the compaignye
premarital sexual experience. 95 The first,
Where likly was to treten of folye,
mentioned earlier, is to prevent the self- As is at feestes, revels, and at daunces,
selection of marriage partners, both by young That been occasions of daliaunces.
women, and by young men who may seek Swich thynges maken children for to be
economic advantage by seducing a girl from To soone rype and boold, as men may se,
a wealthy family. 96 The second reason is Which is ful perilous, and hath been
yoore. 101
that pre-marital chastity is excellent train-
ing for marital chastity, and a woman’s Carried to the extreme, the same logic leads
marital chastity is essential if her husband to excision and infibulation,102 but not in
wants to have confidence in the paternity of Ancient Mesopotamia.
his children. 97 Best to confine women’s sex- When preparing this paper, I happened to
uality from its very beginning, so that vir- have dinner with the sex educator at my
ginity and an unsullied reputation become daughter’s school, and mentioned to her that
an indicator of potential marital fidelity. I was struggling with virginity. She looked
This is the “fence around the law” logic that up and said, “It’s all about control.” Tikva
leads to the veiling and seclusion of women, Frymer-Kensky has said the same thing:
because the danger of illicit intercourse is Virginity is prized because it provides “a
greater outside the home. A potentially specific purpose towards which the patriar-
promiscuous woman in the Laws of Ham- chal urge to dominate can be directed, and a
murabi is described as wa$iat “a woman way in which it can be measured.” 103 I would
who goes out,” 98 and the potential places have to agree. The only two good reasons for
where a young woman might have a sexual valuing virginity that I have been able to
encounter are defined in the Middle Assyr- discover – the prevention of self-selection
ian Laws as “within the city or in the of mates and training for marital fidelity –
countryside, at night in the main thorough- make sense only within a system of patriar-
fare, or in a granary, or during the city chal domination like the one that was firmly
festival.” 99 The eponymous 14-year old Vir- in place in ancient Mesopotamia.
ginia is described thusly by Chaucer:100

98
originally arranged for someone else to perform. While Roth 1995: 108 §143.
99
most Assyriologists today would accept, correctly, I be- Roth 1995: MAL §55.
100
lieve, that Gilgamesh was exercising the droit de seig- Chaucer 1985: vol. 3 pp. 4f.
101
neur in ancient Uruk, medievalists have deemed the droit Moved by her native virtue, unconstrained,
de seigneur in Europe to be pure myth (like Gilgamesh!); She’d often pretend illness to avoid
see Boureau 1998. All company where there was likelihood
95
Another reason is peculiar to the extreme form of Of indecorum, as there is in places
patrilineal descent and ancestor veneration in China: an Where people go to flirt: feasts, dances, parties.
illegitimate child born to an unmarried woman would not Such things make children brazen and mature
be part of a patrilineage, and hence could not be inte- Too early on, which is the great danger,
grated into society. See Linck-Kesting 1985, and other As we all know; and so it’s always been.
102
essays in Müller 1985 that deal with the social problems See, e.g., Cloudsley 1984.
103
caused (or not) by illegitimacy. The question of illegit- Frymer-Kensky 1998: 85, and for a very different
imacy in Mesopotamia is not well-investigated; for child- time and place, cf. Wyatt-Brown 1982: 234, according to
ren of prostitutes being donated to a temple or adopted, whom the purpose of the stereotype of Southern lady-
see SAA 12 92, and Joannès 1997: 125f. hood, “the glorification of motherhood, the sanctity of
96
E.g. Wyatt-Brown 1982: 233. virginity, and the noble self-sacrifice of the matron,” was
97
But there are other than rational reasons that made to insure submission to male will. By turning handicaps
adultery the capital crime that it was in the Ancient Near into virtues, it “made the ascriptive disadvantages of the
East; see Westbrook 1990: 564. gender more bearable.”

105
COOPER VIRGINITY IN ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA

Excursus A: A Note on Some Terms for Female Genitalia

In section 3 above, it was suggested that ( diš té š?) = handuttu “clitoris” 108 and a -
Akkadian šišitu “membrane” in Hh. 15: d u mu = edamukku “amniotic fluid, am-
224-28 (MSL 9 12f) could designate the niotic sac.” 109 Nevertheless, the presence of
hymen. Although the second millennium g a l 4 - l a = uru in Hg. 4:23 (MSL 9 34), be-
forerunners of Hh. 15 inventory cuts of tween lipiššatu and handuttu (all three ex-
meat and animal body parts, 104 the first mil- plained in the third column by bi$$uru) sug-
lennium canonical tablet 15 has been ex- gests that this word may turn up in an as yet
panded to include body part terms used only undiscovered Hh. 15 manuscript tradi-
for humans (e.g. l. 203 h á š - g a l = šapulu tion. 11 0
“groin, inner thigh”) and in a greatly ex- The place of both uru and bi$$uru is taken
panded section on the genitals has Sumerian in Hh. 15:210-214 (MSL 9 12) by lipiššatu,
terms which seem to be the equivalent of the whose Sumerian “equivalents” include
slang or pet names humans use for their own k u r - p a - p a h “sanctuary mound,” p a - p a h
or their lovers’ genitalia (e.g. l. 206 l u g a l “sanctuary,” and m ì n - é “twin temple ? ,”
s i - s á “upright king” = išaru “penis;” l. 211 suggesting the labia together with the vagi-
k u r p a - p a h “sanctuary mound” = lipiššati na. It may have originally referred to the
“vulva”). 105 labia, if it derives from lipištu, which CAD
Most surprising in Hh. 15 is the absence defines as “an abnormal fleshy or membran-
of g a l 4 - l a = uru “vulva” (i.e. the labia ous substance.” In the so-called Love Lyrics
together with the vagina), the most common for Ishtar of Babylon, 111 Group I uses remu
designation for female genitalia in Sume- “womb” as a general term for female geni-
rian, with the Akkadian attested already in talia, whereas in Group IV, bi$$uru is the
the Old Akkadian love incantation, 106 and most frequent term, supplemented by remu
the word used in incantations and medical and lipiššatu. In the Manungal letter pub-
texts of all periods. In Old Babylonian let- lished by Grayson (1983), the goddess ?
ters, legal documents, and one proverb, the opens her lipiššatu, asks that her handuttu
same role is played by bi$$uru, 10 7 also not in “clitoris” be stroked, and compares her
Hh. 15, unless both uru and bi$$uru were in bi$$uru to a colocynth, a plant known for its
Gap B after l. 217 (MSL 9 12), which is bitter, smelly fruit. This would support a
unlikely, since the transition from external more specific meaning “labia” for lipiššatu
to internal organs lies between 216 DIŠ. UR and “vagina” for bi$$uru.

104 108
Civil 1989: 17; Veldhuis 1997: 68f with n. 218. Correctly identified by Grayson 1983 on the basis of
105
The Old Babylonian list of human body parts, ugu- its only occurrence in context maha$ handutti “stroke my
mu (MSL 9 49-73), is not very forthcoming for our clitoris!” (Grayson 1983 146:5 ′).
109
purposes. The section covering genitalia is in the gap Etymologically the word should designate a fluid, but
before l. 260 (MSL 9 58), and has been reconstructed by the only reference in context is in a first millennium ritual
M. Civil and J. Westenholz, who have kindly shared their in which the edamukku covers a drum, and hence is a
reconstruction with me. membrane (CAD s.v.).
106 110
Cf. Foster 1996: 59f. But note that it is not in the NB Kish ms. published
107
E.g. AbB 12 181:7 ′; ARM 26/2 488:34-37 (see by Gurney, MSL SS 1 pl. VIII.
111
above); Flor. Marianum 1 117:35-37; PBS 5 156:2-4; Lambert 1975.
Alster 1991/92: 10:3

106
 COOPER VIRGINITY IN ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA

Excursus B: guruš á nu-lá

The ghosts of young women and men who ki-sikil nu-un-zu-àm = ardatu la lamittum
died before they had experienced sexual guruš á nu-lá-e = e#lu la muš-te-en-nu-ú
fulfillment and/or family life were among
the malevolent spirits to be warded off or The young woman here is “inexperienced”
exorcized, as we have seen in the elaborate or “innocent.” Falkenstein understood e#lu
descriptions of the Ardat-lilî and E#el-lilî la muš-te-en-nu-ú as la muštenû (from enû),
cited above from incantations and rituals meaning “unchanged,” that is, pre-pubescent,1 17
directed specifically against them. The sex- and this meaning has been accepted by the
ually unfulfilled also appear in broader lists dictionaries and subsequent scholars. 11 8
of demons in incantations eventually incor- However, since k i - s i k i l/ardatu and g u r u š/
porated into the series known as udug-hul e#lu refer precisely to post-pubescent young
“Malevolent Demons.” An Old Babylonian women and men (section 1, above), Falken-
forerunner to the series cites the follow- stein’s interpretation is oxymoronic. There
ing:112 can be no such thing as an ardatu or e#lu
who is not sexually mature. The ardatu la
ki-sikil dam nu-un-tuk-a
suklultu is not “immature,” but rather “in-
guruš dam nu-un-tuk-a
ki-sikil šu nu-du7 -a complete” in the sense of “unfulfilled,” that
guruš á nu-lá-a is, bereft of sexual and family experience,
ki-sikil šeš-a ak-a an almost exact parallel to the ardatu la
guruš šeš-gal du11 -ga lamittu. But what is the g u r u š á n u - l á - a?
In a fragmentary passage of a Sumerian
The first pair are the young women and love song, we read that before going to a
young man who never married. The last pair festival
is puzzling and without parallel. 11 3 The
middle pair, found as well in another fore- ki-sikil tur-ra SUH m[u? -un? -kéš ?]
guruš tur-ra túg níg-lá mu-[un-lá]119
runner, 114 occurs with Akkadian transla-
tions in an unpublished first millennium Young maidens adorned themselves,
incantation cited by Falkenstein. 115 There, Young lads fastened on their sword belts.
k i - s ik i l š u n u - d u 7 - a is rendered ardatum
la šuk[lultu] and g u r u š á n u - l á - a is trans- Likewise, in the grand parade before Inana
lated e#lu la $um[mudu]. Falkenstein, and in the Iddindagan sacred marriage hymn, 1 20
following him Geller, understood the first there are “fine men” and “proud ladies”
as “nicht gereift,” and the second, based on marching with spindles (for the ladies) and
túg
the parallelism, as “nicht mannbar.” 11 6 n íg- l á á mè da - d a - r a - šè mu - du 11 “they
A slightly different version of the pair is (the men) gird themselves with sword belt
found in CT 16 10 iv 45f. // 50 18-21: and battle arms.” The tú g n í g - l á (= $imdu) is

112
Geller 1985: 142:75 ′-80 ′. For la $ummudu, Geller refers to the use of $ummudu for
113
Falkenstein 1931: 38 n. 2 suggests they are involved yoking oxen to the seeder plow; hence, the e#lu here
in “unnatürlicher Geschlechtsverkehr;” Geller 1985: 147 would not yet be capable of insemination.
117
suggests for the last “a lad ordered (to be) ‘tutor’(?).” Falkenstein 1931: 38 n. 2.
114 118
Geller 1985: 36:313f. Geller 1985: 103; Böck 2000: 153, where a woman
115
Falkenstein 1931: 38 n. 2. said to be muštenât is “heiratsfähig.”
116
Falkenstein 1931: 38f with n. 2; Geller 103, where 119
Sefati 1998: 312:17 ′f.
120
the k i- si kil šu nu- du 7 -a (and the gur uš, too) is pre- Römer 1965: 128ff; Reisman 1973.
pubescent, but cf. 36 where he translates “virgo intacta!”

107
COOPER VIRGINITY IN ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA

a belt which holds a sword or other wea- muš-te-na-at tar$at

pon. 121 Our g u r u š á n u - l á - a is “a lad who muš-te-na-at u musappihat
has never strapped on ($ummudu) arms.” As
such, he has never fulfilled his destiny as a The first is clearly “she is quarrelsome but
young man; according to childbirth incanta- an accumulator.” What she accumulates is
tions from as early as 2600 BC , a newborn unclear, but it is certainly positive, the op-
girl’s destiny was symbolized by a spindle posite of the musappihat, “one who scat-
and garment pin, a boy’s by his weapons. 12 2 ters, squanders, a wastrel.” The second
The meaning of e#lu la muš-te-en-nu-ú is terms of the next three apodoses contrast
more difficult, but if it is to reflect the musappihat “wastrel” with tar$at “honest.”
martial meaning of the Sumerian, it must be The first term, muš-te-na-at, would be a
a participle of šanû B Gtn “to be in conflict” perfect parallel to mu$$alat if it were also
(cf. CAD muštannû “enemy”), which would understood as a Gtn participle of šanû B,
also better account for the doubled n. 1 23 So, muštennât “she is contentious.” We would
we would have “a lad who has never been then have on the one hand a woman “who is
in combat,” but how this Akkadian transla- contentious and a wastrel,” and on the other
tion for g u r u š á n u - l á was arrived at re- one “who is contentious but honest,” much
mains a mystery. All, then, that is left of like the one “who is quarrelsome but an
CAD’s muštenû “having reached puberty, accumulator.” The previous suggestions,
nubile” are the occurrences from three con- “nubile and a wastrel/honest” make little
secutive lines in the physiognomic omens. sense, especially because apodoses in the
A series of four apodoses reads: 124 physiognomic omens never contain visible
physical states, which are found only in the
mu$$alat mupahhirat
protases.
muš-te-na-at musappihat

121
Klein 1993: 99; Durand 1984: 154 n. 30. thoughts,” from šanû A Dtn, not enû or šanû B (as
122
See most recently Cunningham 1997: 74, 107; Kre- apparently CAD s.v. šaplâtu). The text is describing an
bernik 1984: 44f. honest man in this line; cf. Foster 1996: 536, 539.
123 124
For muštannû muštennû, cf. Lambert BWL 132:123 Böck 2000: 152:3-6.
muš-ten-nu-ú šaplâti “who always relates his innermost

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