Thoughts on the Resurrection of Tabitha

Hola darlings!  It's Saturday, and I've been enjoying it despite the unseasonably cool, clammy weather.  June 8th and it didn't get up to 70 today; night-time temperatures tonight will drop into the 40's once again.  Sigh.  And tomorrow, rain.  More rain...

I visited Biblical Archaeologal Review's website this evening to see what's new and came across this very interesting article on the resurrection of Tabitha, also known as Dorcas, one of the few female disciples of Jesus Christ mentioned in the New Testament. 

Tabitha in the Bible
A Disciple Known for Doing Good

Robin Gallaher Branch • 05/28/2013

 

The article by Dr. Branch is very interesting.  I can't say I was familiar with the story of Tabitha a/k/a Dorcas, although I may have learned of it perhaps back in catechism classes many many moons ago!  I highly recommended Branch's account of the resurrection and how excellently she gives a feel for the time and place surrounding the biblical account.

 

Here is summary of the resurrection account from another source:

 

DORCAS

(Dor′cas) [Gazelle].
A Christian woman in the Joppa congregation abounding in “good deeds and gifts of mercy,” evidently including the making of inner and outer garments for needy widows. (Ac 9:36, 39) “Dorcas” corresponds to the Aramaic “Tabitha,” both names meaning “Gazelle.” Possibly Dorcas was known by both names, as it was not uncommon then for Jews, especially those living in a seaport such as Joppa with its mixed population of Jews and Gentiles, to have a Hebrew name as well as a Greek or Latin name. Or, Luke may have translated the name for the benefit of Gentile readers.

 

Dorcas is the only woman mentioned in the Scriptures as having the feminine form of the word “disciple” applied to her. This, however, does not mean that she held a special position in the congregation, for all Christians were actually disciples of Jesus Christ. (Mt 28:19, 20) Though her death in 36 C.E. caused much weeping among the widows who had apparently benefited greatly from her kindnesses, the fact that no mention is made of sorrow on the part of a husband suggests that Dorcas was unmarried at the time.

At her death the disciples at Joppa prepared her for burial and, on learning that Peter was in Lydda, about 18 km (11 mi) SE of Joppa, sent for him. Undoubtedly they had heard about Peter’s healing the paralytic Aeneas there, and this may have given them a basis for reasoning that the apostle might resurrect Dorcas. On the other hand, they may have turned to Peter simply for consolation.—Ac 9:32-38.

Following a procedure similar to that used by Jesus in resurrecting Jairus’ daughter (Mr 5:38-41; Lu 8:51-55), Peter, after dismissing everyone from the upper chamber, prayed and then said: “Tabitha, rise!” Dorcas opened her eyes, sat up, and took Peter’s hand to rise. This is the first reported resurrection performed by an apostle, resulting in many becoming believers throughout Joppa.—Ac 9:39-42.
http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1200001214
http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/s/r1/lp-e?q=Tabitha&p=par

 

After reading Dr. Branch's article I immediately turned to Babara G. Walker's The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets, but did not find anything in it about Tabitha, Dorcas or "gazelle."  The first "Tabitha" who came to mind was from the popular old t.v. show "Bewitched," LOL!  Sort of the antithesis of the idea of the saintly biblical Tabitha, heh? 

 

I also recalled that the traditional and yet quite extraordinary female warriors of the Pesians and Arabs, "The Hind of Hinds," were named after a gazelle.  Isn't it interesting that Islam, a religion that today so denigrates females and relegates them to lives spent permanently covered up head to foot in chadors and such should, in its early history, feature such striking warrior women!  I've written plenty about the Hind of Hinds:

 

Thursday, February 28, 2008 The Hind of Hinds

 

Friday, February 29, 2008

The Hind of Hinds - Continued

 

Friday, February 29, 2008The Hind of Hinds - Continued

 

Friday, February 29, 2008

The Hind of Hinds - Continued

 

Friday, February 29, 2008

The Hind of Hinds - Continued

 

Saturday, March 1, 2008

Hala Sultan Tekke: Shrine of the Mother's Breast

 

Saturday, March 1, 2008

The Black Stone at Mecca

 

Sunday, August 7, 2011

A "Jewish" Warrior Queen: Kahena

 

I snipped these interesting bits of information about the semitic fondness for gazelles in a 1923 book during a google search "Studies in Biblical and Semitic Symbolism" by Maurice H. Farbridge.  This first snip is from page 70:

 

 

This second snip is from page 71:

 

 

The footnote on page 71:  1. Rel. of the Semites, p. 444. 

A "Jewish" Warrior Queen: Kahena

I've written before about the tradition of warrior women (hinds) in Arabia and environs.  Here's a short history of one the Berber queen Kahena. 

His/Her Story: A Jewish warrior queen
08/05/2011 16:18 By RENÉE LEVINE MELAMMED

The story of the Jewish Berber queen, her success as a warrior, and her own destruction.

With the rise of Islam in the seventh century, Arab tribes sought to conquer North Africa and continue to Europe via Spain. The major obstacle to a conquest of the Magreb was the presence of a Berber queen in the mountains of present day Algeria. Her tribe, the Gerawa, had converted to Judaism earlier in the century; their queen, Dahia al-Kahena, daughter of Mathia ben Tifan, either converted with them or was Jewish by birth.

A map of the Maghreb (modern-day)

This era signaled the end of the Byzantine dynasty in a geographical area that was home to Byzantines, Arabs and Jews, as well as Christian Berbers. The fathers of Kahena’s two sons were equally diverse, for one was Berber and the other Greek.

Kahena was a formidable warrior commanding a strong army. Hassan ibn Ne’uman, an Arab Egyptian prince, successfully defeated the Byzantines in Carthage in 687 and set forth to meet her in battle; she defeated him in Tunisia. Arabic lore relates that at the time of her victory, she released all hostages except one, whom she adopted in order to gain his loyalty. (In one version, she breastfed this new son in order to cement his loyalty to her; if he was a soldier, this would have been extremely odd.) Hassan returned to Egypt, where he awaited reinforcements for about five years.

In the meantime, Kahena initiated an unusually cruel policy, ordering the destruction of villages, cities and strongholds in her own kingdom. The rationale for this was to discourage the Arabs from entering this territory. Most likely it reflects the traditional enmity between the Berber nomads and the permanent city-dwellers. (See H. Z. Hirschberg, “The Berber ‘Kahena,’” Tarbiz (Hebrew), 26 (1957).) It stands to reason that this policy paved the path for her downfall.

Interestingly enough, Kahena is sometimes referred to as an augur; according to Arab lore, Hassan was destined to destroy a Jewish soothsayer before he could proceed apace. The meaning of this queen’s name has been debated for years, as to whether it means catastrophe, a major problem or a sly person. “Kahena” could be derived from “kohen,” and thus would refer to a priestess, a prophetess or even a wizard. Perhaps she indeed lived up to her names.

At any rate, most likely at the end of the century, Hassan decided to encounter this warrior once again, having strengthened his forces and having heard that local discontent was widespread. He was confident that he would be victorious this time. Meanwhile, Kahena supposedly foresaw her own demise, including her death in battle; thus she entrusted the lives of her two sons to their “adopted” brother Halid, who supposedly served as a fifth column for Hassan, providing him with information enabling this crucial victory.

The story of the Jewish Berber queen is filled with fact and fiction; lack of contemporary sources makes it rather difficult to always be precise. There are contradictions in different versions: either her sons were killed with her in the battle near a well called Bir al-Kahina, or they remained with their adoptive brother, converted to Islam and conquered Spain together in 711. The latter version seems to be a much more romanticized one befitting medieval Arab historiographical trends. Her age and the duration of her rule are uncertain, although the shortest rule attributed to her is 35 years.

Yet even after peeling away the romanticization, certain facts remain undisputed and are supported by a Judeo-Arabic poem written by local Jews damning her for having created such devastation for her own people. Her success as a warrior stood her in good stead until she chose a selfdefeating means of withstanding a second attack by a strengthened Arab army. Her poor judgment led to her own destruction and that of Byzantine North Africa. The defeat that she suffered cleared the way for the Arab conquest of Spain in 711, the only country in Western Europe to experience Islamic rule.

The writer is a professor of Jewish history and dean at the Schechter Institute as well as academic editor of the journal Nashim. She has published books and articles on Sephardi and Oriental Jewry and on Jewish women.

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Interesting, the speculation about Kahena possibly being an augur and the meaning of her name.  My first thought was that Kahena is a variation of the word hind, after Kore-Diana, the ancestral goddess of the Koreshite tribe.(1)  Alternatively, seeing as she was called Dahia al-Kahena - "the Kahena" ("of Kahena") points to "Kahena" possibly being a title or a descriptive term - perhaps, then, "Dahia the Augur" (or "Dahia of [the] Augur", possibly pointing to a family role or position as tribal augurs). 

An unusual take on this warrior queen can be found at The Afrocentric Experience.  It quotes a description of Kahena as having "dark skin, a mass of hair and huge eyes" - the comment referring to her hair may refer to an afro or perhaps dreadlocks.  Well, that's one interpretation.  Personally, this description just sounds like a typical derrogatory description of a "wild woman" - as my mom says, 'Wild Eyed and Bushy-Haired" = and that's a reference to the very scary Baba (a crone witch or sorcerer) who is of Slavic origin, not a black African.  It has some interesting commentary. 

Wikipedia has an entry on this warrior woman and gives several spelling variations of her name: 

Her real name was said to be Dihyā, Dahyā or Damiya (the Arabic spellings are difficult to distinguish between these variants)^[1]. al-Kāhinat (the female soothsayer) was the nickname used by her Muslim opponents because of her reputed ability to foresee the future.

Of actual biographical facts - basically none.  She had sons - two?  Three?  One of her sons may have had a Greek father.  She took over as a leader of her tribe possibly in the 680's.  Was she of the Jewish faith?  From what I've read, it's extremely unclear. 

That's about .  Did this woman actually exist?  She obviously did because the battles took place, but what her real name was we won't ever know.  According to Wikipedia:  Searching for another enemy to defeat, he was told that the most powerful monarch in North Africa was "the queen of the Berbers" (Arabic: malikat al-barbar)(2) al-Kāhinat.  She may simply have been called Malikat or Queen and, as words often change over time, it became Kahinat.

Unfortunately, the legend of this woman who led a Berber tribe nearly 1400 years ago has been used for various nefarious purposes since people first began writing about her, and it continues to this day.  I think if Kahena could come back, she'd make short work of those who have usurped her name.

Notes:

(1) Walker, Barbara G., The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets, Hind al-Hunund, at 414.
(2) Arabic malikat brought to mind the child-eating god Melkart or Moloch mentioned in the Bible. 

The Writing on the Wall

Prior post. It ain't over 'til it's over... The Lede at The New York Times and Nico Pitney at The Huffington Post (continual) have been blogging about the election and its aftermath in Iran. MENE MENE TEKEL PARSIN... Tonight the NYT carried this story - and lead photograph (copyright Associated Press). Here is a quote from the story: ... A young woman, her clothing covered in blood, ran up Kargar Street, paused for a moment and said, “I am not scared, because we are in this together.” The tradition of the pre-islamic warrior woman is alive and well in Iran.

Modern Take on Joan of Arc/The Hind of Hinds

From the front page of The New York Times earlier this evening, a modern "battle queen" leading men into war: Civil Wars: The Fights That Do Not Want to End (Image: TO WAR At the outbreak of the three-year Spanish Civil War in 1936, a woman led men through Madrid. Rolls Press/Popperfoto — Getty Images)

*********************************************

My thought is that whenever wars were fiercely serious (that is, other than boys-will-be-boys raiding each other's cattle or stealing wives for exercise and amusement), women were intimately involved. From thus arose the myriad legends of the Amazons, for instance. When survival was on the line, women went to war beside their men or led men into war. We all have heard about Cleopatra, Zenobia, Bodiccea, Joan d'Arc and Elizabeth I.

Spain, with its unique historical blend of Christianity on the one hand, and several centuries under Islamic rule on the other hand, would have had several models to draw upon for women warriors. The Islamic tradition is the Battle Queen, the epitomy of which was the Hind of Hinds. The Christian tradition of warrior women in Spain reveals several strong females who either inherited their rulership upon the death of husbands, fathers, brothers; those who ruled as regents for minor sons; and those who, like Queen Isabella of Castile, inherited her own kingdom and ruled in her own right:

• Toda Asnarez of Navarre (d. 970), widow of Sancho Garces, King of Pamplona (d. 925)
• Ermessenda, countess of Barcelona (d. 1058), widow of Count Ramon Borrell (d. 1017)
• Reign of Urraca, queen of Leon-Castile (d. 1126)
• Reign of Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon (1474-1504)(Their marriage joined the two kingdoms and, together, they drove the last of the Moorish forces from Spain)

(Information from Birth of the Chess Queen by Marilyn Yalom)

The Chess Queen in Spain: Hebrew Evidence

During the twelfth century, the chess queen would make her first definite appearance in Spain. Her reception on the board was largely determined by local custom and religious belief. The Muslim world was uninviting: chess figures continued to be represented abstractly, and the vizier did not give way to the queen. European Christianity, in contrast, both allowed and actively encouraged the representation of humans, animals, and the divine, including easily identifiable queens. Jews found themselves somewhere in the middle. On the one hand they, too, were prohibited from making "graven images," but they were less rigid on the matter than Muslims. And while the queen never gained admittance to Muslim chess, she made her way into the hands of Jewish players, as evidenced by three Hebrew texts of Spanish origin.

First, in a poem written by the Spanish rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra (1092 - 1167), we see the Arab-style game played without a queen. Ibn Ezra was a renowned mathematician, astronomer, scriptural exegete, and poet, greatly respected by Jews, Muslims, and Christians alike. His "Verses on the Game of Chess" lovingly describe the moves of each piece, as summarized below.

The chariot (rook) moves across the board's whole length and breadth in a straight line. The horse (knight) moves three squares along a "crooked path" - two squares in a straight line and one at right angles. The elepahant (bishop) moves diagonally three squares at a time. The vizier, called paraz in Hebrew (ibn Ezra's equivalent for the Arabic firz), moves diagonally one square at a time. The king steps to any contiguous square. The foot soldier (pawn) advances in a straight line, but to take a piece, he moves diagonally. If he advances to the eighth row, then he can return in any direction (like a "queened" pawn today).(7)

Comparing the lowly foot soldier with his modern counterpart, one sees that he has not made any progress over the centuries. Similarly, the king, the rook, and the knight already had the moves they have today. But the ancestor of the bishop - the elephant - could move no more than three squres at a time, instead of the whole length of the board as he does in modern chess. The vizier, though, bears little resemblance to today's queen since he could move only to the adjacent diagonal square, except on his initial move when he could move three paces, including the square of departure.

A second Hebrew poem on chess that may also have been written by ibn Exzra, after he left his native Toledo, reveals the existence of the chess queen. Now the king has at his side the Shegal (Hebrew for "queen") instead of the vizier or general. Otherwise the pieces are the same.

The king and the Shegal at his side And the elephants and horses next to them And [you also have] two chariots And [warriors] in front of them. ... And the king [and likewise] the Shegal And their steps [are not very different].(8)

Presumably, in the course of his lifetime and travels, which took him to many parts of Spain, Western Europe, and the Near East as far as Persia, Rabbi ibn Ezra played with both Muslim and European-styled chess pieces. What did he think when he first saw a chess queen? I like to imagine that, after his initial surprise, he welcomed her to the game. In spite of the misogyny that permeated medieval Judaism, there were enough powerful women in the Old Testament, including the judge and war leader Deborah, to warrant the rabbi's respect. "What! A woman on the chessboard? Well, why not!"

A third Spanish Hebrew text, attributed to Bonsenior ibn Yehia, possibly twelfth century, possibly later, lines up the chess pieces like mighty armies with "the king in his glory" and the queen [Shegal] at his right hand":

She sits at the top of the high places above the city. She is restless

and determined. She girds her loins with strength. Her feet stay

not in her house. She moves in every direction and into every corner. Her evolutions are wonderful, her spirit untiring. How comely are her footsteps as she moves diagonally, one step after another, from square to square!

And the King, dressed in black robes, stands on the fourth square, which is white. His queen stands on the square next to him, which is black. He draws near to the pitch darkness; his eye is upon her, for he has taken an Ethiopian woman [as his consort]. There is no difference between them as they come towards you. They set out towards you along the same path, at the same pace and by the same route. When the one dies, so does the other.(9)

This passage, recalling Proverbs 31 and the Song of Songs in the Bible, is an amazing tribute to the chess queen and to women in general, bringing together the Jewish wifely virtues of beauty and energy with a warrior's strength. And it presents the king and queen as loving equals, who cannot live without each other.

Notes:

(7) Keats, Chess in Jewish History, pp. 67-72. Professor Robert Alter of the University of California at Berkeley also provied help with this poen.

(8) Keats, Chess in Jewish History, p. 73.

(9) Ibid., pp. 77-78.

"Temporary" Marriage: Hand-Fasting and Mu'tah

This article is fascinating itself - Iranian Blogosphere Tests Government’s Limits (from The New York Times) - but it's this paragraph from the article that caught my eye: What gets filtered out is not entirely predictable either. Even some religious topics are deemed unacceptable. The government blocked the site of a blogger advocating the Shiite Muslim custom of temporary marriage, which is legal and considered a way for the young to relieve their sexual frustration without breaking religious laws. Whoa! What's this - temporary marriage? A concept still existing today - among the Muslims, no less? Interesting, verrrrryyyy interesting. Through my reading over the years, I became a little acquainted with an old Scottish custom called "hand-fast" - which was a form of temporary marriage. If the couple decided at the end of the period that they would not permanently marry, no shame was attached to either for walking away from the relationship, although after a year of living together it was more than likely the woman was no longer a "virgin" (patriarchal society at the time placed much value upon an intact hymen). Here's an interesting note from Wikipedia: One historical example of handfastings as trial marriages is that of "Telltown marriages" - named for the year and a day trial marriages contracted at the yearly festival held in Telltown, Ireland. The festival took place every year at Lughnasadh (August 1), and the trial marriage would last until the next Lughnasadh festival. At that time, they were free to leave or continue the union as they desired. Telltown was evidently named after the god Lugh's "step-mother:" Tailtiu. More from Wikipedia: In Celtic mythology, the Lughnasadh festival is said to have been begun by the god Lugh, as a funeral feast and games commemorating his foster-mother, Tailtiu, who died of exhaustion after clearing the plains of Ireland for agriculture. The first location of the Áenach Tailteann was at the site of modern Teltown, located between Navan and Kells. Historically, the Áenach Tailteann gathering was a time for contests of strength and skill, and a favored time for contracting marriages and winter lodgings. A peace was declared at the festival, and religious celebrations were also held. A similar Lughnasadh festival was held at Carmun (whose exact location is under dispute). Carmun is also believed to have been a goddess of the Celts, perhaps one with a similar story as Tailtiu. From Barbara Walker's "A Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets:" Lug (var. Lugd, Lud) Celtic god, son or reincarnation of the Dagda, eponymous founder of the cities of Lyons and London - formerly Lugdunum, the stronghold of Lug. His temple stood on Ludgate Hill.(1) "Lud's Gate" was a great stone called Crom Cruaich, the Bloddy Crescent, apparently a symbol of the menstruating Moon-goddess to whom Lug was married in suggestively Tantric style.(2) Lug was Christianized as several saints: St. Lugad, St. Luan, St. Eluan, and St. Lugidus, depending on local dialects. Irish legendary history called him a King Lugadius martyred by a lance-thrust from a druidic priest - a story taken quite directly from ancient cults of the sacred-king/dying-god. Lug perished after marrying the Great Goddess called "the Sovereignty of Erin until the day of doom."(3) Lug's special festival was Lammas Eve, formerly Lugnasad, "the Games of Lug." The pagan rites of Lugnasad were kept to a very late date at Taillten in Ireland, where the Goddess had been worshipped as a local Earth-mother, Tailltiu. At the annual Taillten Fair, men bought bridges in a custom reminiscent of the Goddess's ancient rites of sacred promiscuity and defloration. The hill where payments were collected was known as the Hill of the Buying.(4) Taillten was so notorious for promiscuity that any casual sexual affair came to be known as a Taillten marriage.(5) Taillten marriages were actually legal up to the 13th century. They were supposed to last the period specified by the old lunar calendars, a year and a day.(6) Lug's curious name may have come in some remote past time from Mesopotamia, where the title of a sacred king, the Goddess' spouse, was lugal.(7) Notes: (1) Squire, 254. (2) Briffault 3, 75. (3) Spence, 66, 102. (4) Joyce, 439. (5) Spence, 101. (6) Pepper & Wilcock, 273. (7) Campbell, Or.M., 107. Part of the old hand-fasting ceremony was the tying together of the couple's hands with a rope in a knot. The knot is suggestive of Isis' "knot" and also of the intercrossing of arms of a man and a woman ending in clasped hands in Tantric tradition (forming a "figure 8", the symbol of the goddess and today a symbol, still, of "infinity" - which is the "figure 8" laying on its side). "Temporary marriage," "trial marriage" etc. is a concept found all around the world from the most ancient societies up to today. Fascinating - a way for a woman to achieve sexual independence and not be bound forever to a man. It was the universality of the practice that was most enlightening to me! From the most restrictive patriarchal societies (Christian and Islamic) to the so-called "pagan" cultures. But - getting back to the subject of the Shiite form of trial marriage: Marriages entered into for a fixed period are found ... the ancient Arabs too, according to Ammianus Marcellinus, marriages were often contracted for a term of definite length, after which the wife might withdraw if she pleased. Somewhat of the same character is a temporary form of marriage which still exists in certain parts of Arabia. The Shi'ah Moslems recognise as legal marriages contracted for a certain limited period—a day, a month, a year, or any other specified term. Such a temporary contract of marriage, which is called ntut`ah, creates no right of inheritance in either party, although the children born of the union are legitimate and inherit from their parents like the issue of a permanent contract. The wife is not entitled to any maintenance unless it is expressly stipulated; the husband is entitled to refuse procreation, which he cannot do in ordinary marriages; and there is also this difference between a permanent and a temporary marriage, that in the case of the latter the husband has no power to divorce his wife, although the marriage may be dissolved by the mutual consent of the parties before the fixed period has expired. This temporary form of marriage exists in Persia to the present day, but is held to be unlawful by the Sunnis. Unfortunately, the article from which I quoted the material above did not provide an author's name or source. All I can tell you is that it is from an article purportedly published in 1936 and republished, without proper attribution, at Antiques Digest (a/k/a oldandsold.com) It did, though, give me this term: ntut`ah (mu'tah, mutah, muta) - to do further research. A website listing a number of article that are against mu'tah, see "The Revealing of Truth - the Marriage of Mu'tah" (scroll down for list). A website providing many links and information on Mu'tah "How Do I Do Mutah?" I wouldn't be surprised if the roots of this practice go all the way back to the ancient "goddess marriage" practices of ancient Mesopotamia. Just like the warrior woman tradition, which was particularly prevalent in ancient Persia, and the Arab tradition of the Lady of Victory, they are echoes of ancient times and practices (see prior posts for further information on the Lady of Victory, warrior women, and the Hind of Hinds: http://goddesschess.blogspot.com/2008/03/hala-sultan-tekke-shrine-of-mothers.html#links; http://goddesschess.blogspot.com/2008/03/black-stone-at-mecca.html#links; http://goddesschess.blogspot.com/2008/02/hind-of-hinds-continued_9486.html#links; http://goddesschess.blogspot.com/2008/02/hind-of-hinds-continued_9732.html#links; http://goddesschess.blogspot.com/2008/02/hind-of-hinds-continued_29.html#links; http://goddesschess.blogspot.com/2008/02/hind-of-hinds-continued.html#links; http://goddesschess.blogspot.com/2008/02/hind-of-hinds.html#links.

The Hind of Hinds - Continued

I came across information about the "battle queens" of Arabia on the internet perhaps a couple months back, and was fascinated by the subject – so much so that after doing some further research, I laid out some $$$ to buy a couple of books that promised to provide further information on the subject. I was able to get them "used" at great prices and they will add enormously to my fledgling library of research and reference materials.

The books are: The Woman’s Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets, Barbara G. Walker, paperback edition published by HarperSan Francisco © 1983, ISBN 0-06-250925-X – and – Women Warriors, A History, David E. Jones, paperback edition published by Brassey’s, Washington, © 1997, first paperback edition 2000, ISBN 1-57488-206-6.

Last night, I posted information on the "Hind of Hinds" – Hind al-Hunud, who battled Mohammed and the spread of his matricidal religion, Mohammedism (a/k/a Islam). Hind al-Hunud was one of the great battle queens. A brief note on the meaning of "hind" – in the Bible, in the Song of Solomon, "hind" was a reference to a particularly beautiful and delicate female deer and was used as a metaphor for the beautiful young shepherd girl for whom King Solomon had the hots. "Hind" also refers to the "hind-quarters" – that is, the rear-end or buttocks or ass (in the vernacular) of an animal, and probably a human, too. (A personal observation, many modern men are "ass" men – they appreciate a large rear-end on a woman, just as some are "boob" (breast) men, some are "eye" men and some are "leg" men).

Geographically, "Hind," is an area that encompassed, on today’s map of the world, parts of northwestern India, southwestern Pakistan and southeastern Afghanistan, along the northwestern coast of the Arabian Sea.  This area is reputed to be where the game of chess was – perhaps – first invented.

What follows in the next post is from Walker’s Woman’s Encyclopedia, which will give you a wealth of background information and details about the cultures that gave rise to the cult of the Lady of Victory. The material is so rich, I hardly know where to begin to even form a commentary on it – but the easiest and probably the wisest thing to do is to just let you read and you can form your own conclusions.

See also:

The Hind of Hinds, February 28, 2008, Goddesschess blog

The Hind of Hinds - Continued

From Woman’s Encyclopedia, pages 51-54: Arabia

Before Islam arrived in the 7th century A.D., Arabia was matriarchal for over a thousand years of recorded history. The Annals of Ashurbanipal said Arabia was governed by queens for as long as anyone could remember.(1)

The land’s original Allah was Al-Lat, part of the female trinity along with Kore or Q’re, the Virgin, and Al-Uzza, the Powerful One, the triad known as Manat, the Threefold Moon.(2) [Side Note: Annals of Ashurbanipal – Assyrian royal chronicles on cuneiform tablets, dating form the 7th century B.C., found in the king’s famous library at Nineveh by 19th-century archaelogists.]

At Mecca the Goddess was Shaybah or Sheba, the Old Woman, worshipped as a black aniconic stone like the Godess of the Scythian Amazons.(3) The sacred Black Stone now enshrined in the Kaaba at Mecca was her feminine symbol, marked by the sign of the yoni, and covered like the ancient Mother by a veil.(4) No one seems to know exactly what it is supposed to represent today. [Yeah, but all those Arab dudes still kiss it as part of their worship ritual!]

The Black Stone rests in the Haram, "Sanctuary", cognate of "harem," which used to mean a Temple of Women: in Babylon, a shrine of the Goddess Har, mother of harlots.(5) Hereditary guardians of the Haram were the Koreshites, "children of Kore," Mohammed’s own tribe.(6) The holy office was originally held by women, before it was taken over by male priests calling themselves Beni Shayban, "Sons of the Old Woman."(7)

Mohammed’s legends clearly gave him a matriarchal family background. [He would not have been seen as legitimate, otherwise, by the people of the time unless he HAD the necessary matriarchal lineage!]  His parents’ marriage was matrilocal. His mother remained with her own family and received her husband as an occasional visitor. Mohammed lived with his mother until her death, because she was his true parent according to the ancient system; "children belonged to the woman’s family … paternity in the biological sense was relatively unimportant."(8) She may well have been one of the "aged priestesses" who served the temple in Mecca.(9) The traditions of such priestesses may well date back to Assyro-Babylonian um-mati or "mothers," the only people permitted to enter the Holy of Holies. Archaic Arabian shrines were usually served by seven high priestesses, recalling the lawgiving Seven Sages, who were women.(10) The first collection of the books of law called Koran – the Word of Kore, or Q’re – was attributed to them. [Side Note: Seven Sages – Legendary figures in both Greek and Arabian lore, identified with a variety of seers and philosophers, the earliest ones usually female, confused with the Seven Sisters, or Pleiades.]

Pre-Islamic Arabia was dominated by the female-centered clans. Marriages were matrilocal, inheritance matrilineal. Polyandry – several husbands to one wife – was common. Men lived in their wives’ homes. Divorce was initiated by the wife. If she turned her tent to face east for three nights in a row, the husband was dismissed and forbidden to enter the tent again.(11)

Doctrines attributed to Mohammed simply reversed the ancient system in favor of men. A Moslem husband could dismiss his wife by saying "I divorce thee" three times. As in Europe, the change from matriarchate to patriarchate came about only gradually and with much strife.

Many Koreshites remained faithful to the Goddess and to their queen, Hind al-Hunud: the Hind of Hinds, similar to the title of Artemis. She was also called Lady of Victory. But her victories came to an end with one of the last queens, whose husband betrayed her and surrendered her city of Makkah to the enemy.

Legend claims the stepdaughter of the divine Hind married Mohammed himself.(12) However, the history of early-medieval Arabia is nearly all legend. Like Buddha, Confucius, Jesus, and other founders of patriarchal religions, Mohammed lacks real verification. There is no reliable information about his life or teachings. Most stories about him are as apocryphal as the story that his coffin hangs forever in mid-air "between heaven and earth," like the bodies of ancient sacred kings.(13)

Footnotes omitted. 

See also The Hind of Hinds, February 28, 2008, Goddesschess blog. 

The Hind of Hinds

From Mary Beard's Woman as Force in History: A Study in traditions and Realities (1946).

The work she cited is Woman and the State on the Eve of Islam (1941), by Nabia Abbott (1897-1981), the first woman invited to the staff at the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago in 1933, where she worked for the next 30 years until her retirement in 1963:

The love of power and strife that motivated Zenobia likewise characterized women of Arabia in the Islamic age. With a fury that may fairly be described as tigerish, women waged holy wars for and against the faith proclaimed by Mohammed. While the Prophet was still alive, one of his fiercest foes was a woman of a great clan called Hind, Hind al-Hunud, “the Hind of Hinds.” [I seriously doubt any of these women "loved" power and strife so much that it was their primary motivation in life!  This sounds to me like a woman brain-washed by the overwhelming sexist rubbish of the time, just after WWII, a massive exercise in testerone that resulted in the deaths of 50 million (or more) people world wide.]

According to Nabia Abbott, in an article on “Woman and the State on the Eve of Islam,” Hind al-Hunud lived in the kingdom of Kindah, founded in the fifth century A.D. She sprang from a people known as the Quraish, who had long been dominant at Mecca, the great city of the Prophet.

Tradition depicts her “as a woman holding to the heathen practices of Arabia, a wife whose virtue was not above suspicion, a mind that was quick to decisive actions.”

One of the heathen traditions to which she adhered was the cult of the Lady of Victory. Its function was to incite patriotism and lash patriots into ferocious fighting. The Lady of Victory was a woman of high social standing about whom the feminine cult members, likewise of high rank, gathered in the pavilion sacred to the local or tribal deity, within sight of the warriors whom they stirred to martial fervor by their war songs which they accompanied on their lutes. Around the Lady of Victory and her retinue the battle raged until it was lost or won.

In an armed contest between the Quraish and the forces of Mohammed, several of Hind al-Hunud’s relatives were engaged. That battle occurred at Badr. Her father, her uncle, and a brother were slain. But her husband, Abu Sifyan, survived and, with him, she prepared to wreak vengeance. When the time for the assault was ready, she as the Lady of Victory took her position in a sacred pavilion with fourteen or fifteen aristocratic women at her side. In the presence of these women the men were expected to fight, win or die. This time the Quraish were victors. The story then runs to the effect that, standing on a rock, among the corpses of the foe, the Hind of Hinds “exultantly flaunted in the face of the fallen enemy the general victory and her personal revenge, in spontaneous satirical verse which drew answer from the women of Mohammed’s party and later from Hassan ibn Thabit.”
Despite this triumph, the Hind of Hind’s husband afterward surrendered the city of Makkah to Mohammed. For that offense she wanted to kill her mate. But her husband defended himself by appealing to his people with the cry: “O people, become Moslems and be saved!” It was not long until Hind al-Hunud had to accept the Prophet’s religion herself. And her step-daughter, Ramlah bint Abi Sufyan, married Mohammed, as did other women, to forward their political designs or his, at least in part.

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You can find Beard's Woman as Force in History transcribed in full here.  Make what you wish of the Marxist line, which I believe is pure bullshit, but thanks to their organization's volunteer(s) for transcribing this book for publication online. See also: Distinguished Women of Past and Present Nubian Queens in the Nile Valley and Afro-Asiatic Cultural History, Carolyn Fluehr-Lobban (page 6, under "Lady of Victory Cult")

See The Hind of Hinds, February 29, 2008, Goddesschess blog.