Lecture IV. The Sun-God And Istar. 313
moon. But in the Babylonian system the triad of Istar, Sin, and
Samas was not made, they were deities that were born. Before [341]
them was the older and higher triad of Anu, Bel, and Ea,—the
sky, the earth, and the water,—the three elements of which the
whole universe was formed.
How the spirit of the evening star came in time to be the
goddess of love, is not difficult to understand. Even modern
poets have sung of the evening as the season of lovers, when the
work and business of the day are over, and words of love can
be whispered under the pale light of the evening star. But this
alone will not explain the licentious worship that was carried on
at Erech in the name of Istar. It was essentially Semitic in its
character, and illustrates that intensity of belief which made the
Semite sacrifice all he possessed to the deity whom he adored.
The prostitution that was practised in the name of Istar had the
same origin as the sacrifice of the firstborn, or the orgies that
were celebrated in the temples of the sun-god.
At Erech, Istar was served by organised bands of unmarried
maidens who prostituted themselves in honour of the goddess.
The prostitution was strictly religious, as much so as the
ceremonial cannibalism formerly prevalent among the South
Sea Islanders. In return for the lives they led, the“handmaids
of Istar”were independent and free from the control of men.
They formed a religious community, the distinguishing feature
of which was the power of indulging the passions of womanhood
without the disabilities which amongst a Semitic population
these would otherwise have brought. The“handmaid of Istar”
owned allegiance only to the goddess she served. Her freedom
was dependent on her priesthood, but in return for this freedom
she had to give up all the pleasures of family life. It was a
self-surrender which placed the priestess outside the restrictions
of the family code, and was yet for the sake of a principle which [342]
made that family code possible. Baal, the lord of the Semitic
family, claimed the firstborn as his right, and Istar or Ashtoreth