Ancient world ritual cleansing and sacred sex

Suse · Jun 29, 2009

I've written a chapter in my 1250 BC Mycenaean Greek WIP describing a fertility festival. I've made up the details, inspired by mention of a Festival of the Spreading of the Couch on a Linear B tablet. There are three rituals, in this order: cleansing of the king and queen, public copulation between the king and queen, a feast.

I'm wondering if I need to change the order. I have the cleansing first, rather than after the sex, in order to purify the couple for sacred intercourse. The feast follows, symbolic of the abundance the sexual union will produce.

So far as I can tell, the ancient polytheistics would not have considered sacred sex dirty. Compare temple prostitution and documented fertility rites. In fact, sex was viewed by some cultures as spiritually cleansing.

So am I right to suppose cleansing would occur before sex, if it occurred at all? I can't find any mention of it being part of sacred sex rituals, though I expect it had its place. Is it just my Biblical conditioning that's causing me to wonder if, maybe, cleansing would have occurred afterward? If it did occur after, it seems odd that the feast would be put on hold (such feasts are known to have taken place after certain sexual rites).

angeliz2k · Jun 29, 2009

From a purely practical point of view, it could be a messy thing, this copulation. I think they would clean up at least a little before eating. I mean, bodily fluids . . . It isn't that sex is "unclean" just that it can be messy.

But I think you're right about the pre-sex purification being necessary.

Maybe purification beforehand and afterwards? Or maybe the cleaning up afterwards isn't highly ritualized, it just happens as a matter of course.

Doogs · Jun 29, 2009

My knowledge of ancient polytheism doesn't really kick in until the Etruscans and Romans, so I may be entirely off base regarding Mycenaean practices, but...

As the sex is a religious rite, any purification would come beforehand. I don't know for certain it would necessarily involve cleansing/bathing, though I could certainly imagine that as part of the purification ritual. What about the dressing of the hair, the use of perfumes and oils, etc?

From a purely practical point of view, it could be a messy thing, this copulation. I think they would clean up at least a little before eating. I mean, bodily fluids . . . It isn't that sex is "unclean" just that it can be messy.

I'd imagine there'd be some "toweling off" before the king and queen join the feast. And it very well could have been ritualized too (assuming there's a similar slavish devotion to ritual that the Romans possessed).

Puma · Jun 29, 2009

In orthodox Judaism (from what I've been told) there's still ritual cleansing for women at special baths after menses and the women have to make sure they are "clean" before intercourse. I suspect the Jewish customs are probably the closest modern link you can get to what might have been the customs of the past. Puma

girlyswot · Jun 29, 2009

My guess would be that 'cleaning' and 'purifying' would be seen as two quite different things. One is in the secular sphere and the other in the religious sphere. You have to be clean before you can be purified. So definitely you would have the purification ritual first in order to make the king and queen ready for the other rituals. You might then have some 'cleaning' after the copulation ritual but I wouldn't describe this as purification. Maybe priests would wipe the altar or lay down a cloth or something before the feast is set out.

All biblical rituals have purification first. The purifying that comes after sex is because, in the Israelite cult, sex wasn't a sacred act. But in a culture where it was, I can't see that they could possibly have purification afterwards.

pdr · Jun 29, 2009

Just to think about.

Wouldn't the actual semen/and mixed fluids be regarded as sacred too? This was the sacred sign of fertility (or whatever you have in mind, Suse,) and might not there be a use for it? Perhaps then it was not cleaning up a mess (our modern thinking) but saving or sowing or bestowing the stuff somewhere?

Perhaps the presence of it brought a triumphant shout etc?

Libbie · Jul 6, 2009

Sounds like a cool WIP you've got there. I love reading about ancient cultures.

Have you read Richard Adams' book Maia? It's technically a fantasy, but it has the feel of ancient Greece, and much of the religion and sacred rituals described in Maia were based on Greek rites. There are a few different sacred and/or pre-feast sex scenes in Maia; maybe reading the book (beware: it's huge) will give you some ideas as to what has been done in fiction and how you might like to do it.

Suse · Jul 6, 2009

Thanks, Libbie. I'll check that book. It looks a little daunting, but I've always meant to read Richard Adams. The bunnies can wait.

mayamolly · Jul 16, 2009

Just a thought... Jewish women go to the mikvah (special purifying bath, filled with water from natural sources-- i.e. rainwater) not because SEX is dirty but because sex is holy... bleeding, on the other hand, is unclean so we purify ourselves before engaging in the holiness of sex. (Ha, on the other hand, we'd never have sex in front of a whole crowd... so have those crazy Greeks do whatever they want!)

I find that the idea that sex is dirty and unclean is a Christian idea, not a Jewish one... in other words, it came much later than the time period you're writing about. So I think you have it right!

Good luck!

Maya

lkp · Jul 16, 2009

Jewish priests in the Temple period had to refrain from sex a certain number of days (forget how many) before approaching the Holy of Holies. So there is definitely a notion of sexual intercourse as impure in the pre-Christian period.

Deleted member 42 · Jul 16, 2009

mayamolly said:
I find that the idea that sex is dirty and unclean is a Christian idea, not a Jewish one... in other words, it came much later than the time period you're writing about.

It is a mitzvah, a good deed, for a Jewish man to please his wife sexually--hence sex is not forbidden on the Sabbath since it is fulfilling God's commands.

Suse · Jul 16, 2009

Interesting. I figured sex being dirty is almost invariably a Christian idea. It can be confusing sometimes though. In Ancient Greece, priests and priestesses were sometimes required to take or voluntarily took vows of celibacy.

I can figure out why for women but not men. Female virginity was a dangerous and awesome thing, since the woman remained untamed by the civilising force of the male. Once a man had entered her, she absorbed something of him and a degree of her thinking and behaviour became influenced by this 'contamination'. One of the reasons the Pythia of Apollo had to remain a virgin was so only Apollo could speak through her, otherwise her prophecies would influenced by the men she slept with.

Why priests were often celibate, I don't know. Artemis's adherents, fair enough, since she was a virgin herself (and dangerous, as most virgins in mythology were, except maybe Athena who was an honourary man). Many of Artemis's priests went so far as to castrate themselves. Yet her adherents in myth often came to bad ends, and this seems to have been due to their 'unnaturalness'. Hippolytus, for example, died for his refusal to worship the love goddess, Aphrodite.

I can't think of any other reason why priests of male gods and non-virgin goddesses remained celibate, other than that sex was just a little bit dirty. In myth, the ones who break their vows are always punished horribly. Maybe different attitudes towards sex co-existed.

Deleted member 42 · Jul 16, 2009

If you look at early medical texts from the Classical era, that thing that coaches used to tell guys about "saving" it for the game? There was a belief that semen was sort of distilled male essence and conserving it by not orgasming conserved male energy. The early Classical medical texts refer to pregnancy being the union of male semen and menstrual fluid.

Women, by bleeding, were weakened by their cycle. And it made them always want sex, was the theory. This was carried over into early Christian medieval medical texts.

Suse · Jul 16, 2009

I've looked at some of those texts. Preserving the male essence could make sense, I suppose but I'm not totally convinced. I can see why priestesses shouldn't become contaminated by the male essence, if they are to be (oracular) vessels for the gods. But I wonder how losing some of your own essence could make you any less capable of serving the god. I might be looking at this too narrowly and only considering one aspect of priestly celibacy.

Deleted member 42 · Jul 16, 2009

Suse said:
I've looked at some of those texts. Preserving the male essence could make sense, I suppose but I'm not totally convinced. I can see why priestesses shouldn't become contaminated by the male essence, if they are to be (oracular) vessels for the gods. But I wonder how losing some of your own essence could make you any less capable of serving the god. I might be looking at this too narrowly and only considering one aspect of priestly celibacy.

I think possibly you're overestimating the value placed on women. Women had cash value as goods and chattel; as people, not so much.

Doogs · Jul 16, 2009

Suse said:
I figured sex being dirty is almost invariably a Christian idea. It can be confusing sometimes though. In Ancient Greece, priests and priestesses were sometimes required to take or voluntarily took vows of celibacy.

A number of early Christian thinkers (Paul, Augustine, etc) got that whole "sex is dirty" ball rolling.

Most instances of celibacy I've come across in the Ancient Greece and Rome had a different take. It was symbolic of one's absolute devotion to one's duty. It wasn't that sex was dirty, unholy, etc, it was that it was distracting. That distraction, that lack of absolute devotion, could piss off the gods something fierce, with negative consequences all around.

This belief also held sway in certain philosophical circles (see Pythagoreanism).

Also keep in mind that a lot of ancient priesthoods came with all kinds of bizarre restrictions (see Flamen Dialis) whose origins and meanings were often a mystery to succeeding generations.

Doogs · Jul 16, 2009

Medievalist said:
I think possibly you're overestimating the value placed on women. Women had cash value as goods and chattel; as people, not so much.

Depends on the women and the society.

Suse · Jul 16, 2009

Doogs said:
Most instances of celibacy I've come across in the Ancient Greece and Rome had a different take. It was symbolic of one's absolute devotion to one's duty. It wasn't that sex was dirty, unholy, etc, it was that it was distracting. That distraction, that lack of absolute devotion, could piss off the gods something fierce, with negative consequences all around.

True, true. But anyone, priest or no, having sex in a holy place - a temple, grove, outdoor altar - pissed the deity of something fierce too. Why, I wonder.

Agreed, re women not necessarily being chattel. I think there's a tendency to assume the oppression of women in Classical Athens was the norm throughout the Greek world, when the Athenians of that era simply left behind more evidence than other states.

Doogs · Jul 16, 2009

Suse said:
True, true. But anyone, priest or no, having sex in a holy place - a temple, grove, outdoor altar - pissed the deity of something fierce too. Why, I wonder.

Disrespect? After all those temples, groves, and altars are dedicated to the gods and to be used explicitly for honoring the gods. So when they weren't, dire things tended to happen, especially in mythology, aka morality plays of the ancient world.

Suse · Jul 16, 2009

That was a startlingly dumb question I asked. I'm overthinking today. I suppose you wouldn't wander into someone's house and get down to business, never mind a god's house.

Doogs · Jul 16, 2009

Suse said:
That was a startlingly dumb question I asked. I'm overthinking today. I suppose you wouldn't wander into someone's house and get down to business, never mind a god's house.

I feel like I've been overthinking for the last two weeks! My head's about to explode from it.

And it's funny...I actually typed out something to the effect that the ancient gods always reminded me of hosts who had a bad habit of just snapping on disrespectful houseguests! But then hospitality was a really big deal back then, so there's probably something to that.

Suse · Jul 17, 2009

The mortal-god relationship, to my mind, was guest-host. Greek prayer is reciprocal: 'Give me this, and I'll give you that.' Just like xenia. The Greek and Near Eastern gods were despotic hosts who tolerated their favourite people and communities until they became bored or offended. Then they sent wars, plagues and natural disasters. Explains the harsh world the ancients lived in.

ishtar'sgate · Jul 17, 2009

Suse said:
So am I right to suppose cleansing would occur before sex, if it occurred at all? I can't find any mention of it being part of sacred sex rituals, though I expect it had its place. Is it just my Biblical conditioning that's causing me to wonder if, maybe, cleansing would have occurred afterward? If it did occur after, it seems odd that the feast would be put on hold (such feasts are known to have taken place after certain sexual rites).

During the New Year Festival in ancient Babylon the bed was prepared with special perfumes etc and the woman who represented the goddess Ishtar was ritually cleansed and perfumed. The union of the 'goddess' and the king, who stood in place of the city god, was supposed to guarantee a fruitful and successful year for the city and its people. I haven't read of any ritual cleansing after copulation.

DMarie84 · Jul 20, 2009

Doogs said:
A number of early Christian thinkers (Paul, Augustine, etc) got that whole "sex is dirty" ball rolling.

I believe Paul only mentioned sex as being dirty and impure because of how it was being promoted throughout the Roman Empire. It was a time when selling children for sex slaves was considered perfectly fine. In that instance, the holy aspect of sex does become dirty.

It was following generations that ended up twisting things out of context, as has always been the case with the Bible. And many other religions have had this problem too.

Suse · Jul 24, 2009

Does anybody know how thorough cleansing was in lakes, rivers or the sea? Any culture, any period. Just a sprinkling of water over the head or a proper wash? Were vessels used to collect the water, or hands? I've drawn a blank with sources.

Ancient world ritual cleansing and sacred sex

Suse

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