90 i Flora Unveiled
make up the agricultural food chain. At the very bottom, a pair of wavy lines wrap around
the base of the vase. These lines represent water, and their placement at the bottom of the
vase expresses the scientifically sound observation that water is the basis of agriculture and,
indeed, of all life on earth. The first register, or band, above the water sign, represents green
plants— the ultimate source of food for all life on earth.^15 Wheat or barley alternate with
some other type of stylized plant, which seems to bear small fruits on the ends of its three
short branches.
The next register up shows a row of sheep, with horned males alternating with females.
Since the sheep feed on the plants, we could label this register “Herbivores.” The presence of
both rams and ewes suggests the ideas of sexual reproduction and fecundity, foreshadowing
the idea of the sacred marriage, which is to be the culmination of the procession. The plant
register below contains no hint of sexuality, indicating that whatever notions of plant sex
the farmers of Uruk may have gleaned from cultivating date palms, they did not apply it to
other plants. The third register shows men bearing baskets, amphoras containing wine or
beer, and other types of containers full of the produce of the field. The men are nude, indi-
cating either that they are of low rank or that they are participating in a religious ceremony.
This register represents the domain of ordinary people, agriculturalists who depend on both
plants and animals for their sustenance.
In the upper register, the procession of tribute- bearers ends with the king (only partly
visible due to damage) presenting, through his servant, the first basket of produce to
the Goddess Inanna, who stands before a pair of ring- posts, her iconographic symbols
(Figure 5.2B). Here, we leave the material realm of agriculture and enter the spiritual plane,
where Inanna occupies the highest niche. Here, she represents two sacred realms, the astral
and the vegetal. In her astral aspect, she embodies the all- embracing power of the heavens
and celestial light. In her vegetal aspect, Inanna causes plants to grow, which, as the Warka
vase illustrates, is the source of all crops and livestock.
Inanna is typically portrayed as a sexually charged young woman at the peak of her repro-
ductive powers— a metaphor for the fertility of the earth. Her icon is the filled storehouse,
the symbol of abundance. Before her awesome powers, kings must exhibit appropriate
respect, humility, and submission, otherwise they risk bringing the goddess’s wrath down
upon themselves and their kingdom. Thus, the king leads a procession of tribute bearers in
the Warka Vase. In turn, the goddess demonstrates her acceptance of the king’s rule through
the ritual of the “sacred marriage” (from the Greek, hieros gamos)^16 enacted by the king and
a priestess who serves as the incarnation of Inanna.^17 In this way, the king takes the part
of Inanna’s lover, Dumuzi, and is thereby elevated from a mere mortal to a god- like status,
capable of mediating between the earthly and heavenly planes.
A major source of information about the details of the sacred marriage ritual is the Old
Babylonian royal hymn, usually referred to as Iddin- Dagan A, which was probably com-
posed around 1974 bce.^18 Iddin- Dagan A appears to describe a two- day festival and is
divided into ten sections. After a joyous musical procession that includes cross- dressing and
other types of carnival- like behavior, the storehouse is filled, the participants feast on the
bounty of the harvest, engage in sexual activity, and fall asleep on the rooftops. Inanna
appears to them in their dreams and pronounces judgment upon them. Just before day-
break, the participants rise, gather various offerings, and form another procession to a loca-
tion beyond the city walls where the sacred marriage ritual takes place. The ninth section of
the hymn describes the ritual as follows: