singing, and the gala, the so-called ‘lamentation priest’ who was responsible for the
major ritual compositions that were sung during temple rituals, state ceremonies, city
observances and particularly lamentations at funerary rites (Cooper 2006 ) and possibly
marriages (Michalowski 2006 ). Both these musical specialists, thus, were not restricted
to temple rituals but also functioned outside the sacred sphere, particularly in the
palace for which the earliest evidence is that of Sˇuruppak (modern Fara). In fact, the
earliest documented context for the gala’s performance is funerary where he is
accompanied by women lamenters.
The divine origin of these two musical specialists were given in etiological myths.
As mentioned above, the galawas created by the god Enki to appease Inana, while the
narwas created by happenstance. In the myth Enki and Ninmah
̆
,during the banquet
to celebrate the creation of humankind, the inebriated god Enki and goddess Ninmah
engage in a battle of wits. Ninmah ̆
̆
will create handicapped individuals for whom Enki
will find an appropriate place in society: ‘Second, she fashioned one who turned back
[?] the light, a man with constantly opened eyes [?]. Enki looked at the one who turned
back [?] the light, the man with constantly opened eyes [?], and decreed his fate
allotting to it the musical arts [nam-nar], making him as the chief [musician] in the
king’s presence’ (lines 62 – 65 , ETCSL 1. 1. 2 ). It is also evident from this myth, that the
narwas created to be a court rather than a sacerdotal musician.
Whereas most of the third-millennium records provide evidence of their functions
outside of the temple, there exist administrative documents (mostly laconic allocation
rosters) of these specialists as cultic performers (Gelb 1975 ). The lists of these specialists
in the temples of Lagasˇ give the proportion of 135 narto 29 galain the service of
Ningˆirsu and BaU in Girsu. Other temples of the state of Lagasˇ have similar
proportions of musical specialists. Infrequent citations reveal the service of the gala; for
instance, galasserved in the temples of Nirah
̆
, Nergal-mah
̆and Alla in Adab during the
Sargonic period. In Ur III, the gender of the officiant is sometimes indicated. Whereas
in the Temple of Inana at Nippur, a nar-nita‘male singer’ occurs in the lists (Zettler
1992 : 158 ), a text from Puzrisˇ-Dagan (TRU 41 ) gives a list of female nar-singers on the
occasion of the èsˇ-èsˇ-festival of the New Moon. While the narseems always to be a
professional musician, the galacan be either temporary or permanent as well as
amateur or professional in the Ur III period.
The physical features and gender identity of the galahave been widely discussed in
Assyriological literature. Textual and iconographical evidence have led many scholars
to assume that the galawas of unique gender identity. Gabbay ( 2008 : 530 ) advocated
the opinion that the galabelonged to a third gender, and consequently, he was not
confined by the boundaries which limited the activities of the first and second genders
and thus could act as a mediator between human and divine worlds, lamenting and
praying over individuals and communities, who did not possess the ability to cross the
boundary separating the two worlds. Accordingly, the galacould act as their messenger
and assuage the angry hearts of the gods for them. However, in the third millennium,
the gender of the galais not so delimited; both male and female galaare attested in
presargonic Girsu (Sallaberger and Huber Vulliet 2003 – 2005 : 634 § 5. 8. 1 , 636 § 6. 4. 1 ;
Cooper 2006 : 43 ). Further, the galais not merely a ridiculous figure of uncertain
sexuality but a respected cleric with wife and children in many documents. As Cooper
has suggested ( 2006 : 43 – 44 ), if women’s songs were the origin of lamentations and
women at one time performed with galasin cultic lament and galaswith women at
–– The ministering clergy ––