Interesting Observations on Kingship

I've had reason recently to dip back into Barbara G. Walker's incredibly informative "The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets" and I came across this entry on KINGSHIP.  Here is a part of it, verbatim, that I typed word for word from my 1986 edition.

If you want to read the entirety of the lengthy and very informative/interesting entry online, you can find a scanned edition of "The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets" online at archive.org (also in various formats, including PDF and in various zip formats, that you can read online or download).  It is the complete 2007 edition with footnotes and Bibliography.  I have found this book to be an invaluable resource in doing my research over the years and it is a treasure trove of information.

Kingship

In early Asiatic civilizations, kingship depended on the choices of women.  There was no law of primogeniture.  Kings were rarely succeeded by their sons.  Kings of Sumeria and Assyria were of unknown fatherhood.  King Esakhuruna was called "the son of Nobody." (1)  Women were the kingmakers in the land he ruled. (2)

Marriage with the earthly representative of the Goddess, in the form of the queen, was essential to the position of kingship; this was the original meaning of "holy matrimony" (hieros gamos).  Akkadian kings apparently went on military expeditions chiefly to prove themselves worthy of the sacred marriage. (3)

Ashurbanipal said he ruled by the grace of the Goddess Ishtar, he was he king "whom her hands created."  Shamash-shum-ukin of Babylon said he was chosen for kingship by the same Goddess under her title of Eura, Queen of the Gods.  King Esarhaddon of Assyria said he was "beloved of Queen Ishtar, the goddess of everything, the unsparing weapon, who brings destruction to the land of the enemy." (4)  Ishme-Dagan, king of Isin in 1860 B.C., said he was "he whom Inanna, queen of heaven and earth, has chosen for her beloved husband.(5)  The Bronze Age King Iion of Thessalian Lapithis married the Mother of the Gods after killing her former mate, described as his father-in-law, because each king's successor was supposed to call his defeated rival "father."(6)  The queens were the same as Goddess, or Mother of God.  The pharaoh Amenhotep III built a temple for his wife Ti, who was worshipped as the Goddess. (7)

The goddess-queen's choice largely depended on the candidate's sex appeal.  If she tired of the king's lovemaking, he could be deposed or killed, for the queen's sexual acceptance of him determined the fertility of the land.  In many early societies the old king was killed by the new king, usually called a "son," though he was no blood relative.  Hence the unbroken chain of Oedipal murders that puzzled modern scholars before it was known that the words "father" and "son" were used in a different sense.  A Babylonian tablet says:

Haharni laid claim for himself to lordship over Dunnu.  Earth raised her face to her son Anakandu, "Come let me make love to you,"she said to him; in Dunnu, which he loved, they laid him to rest.  And Anakandu took over his father's lordship and Nether Sea, his sister, he took (as wife).  Lahar, son of Anakandu, came and Anakandu he killed and in Dunnu in the (tomb) of his father he caused him to rest.  Nether Sea, his mother, he took (as wife). (8)

After this Lahar's son killed Lahar and took his sister River as wife; he in turn was killed by his son, who married his sister Ningesh-tinna, "Lady of the Vine of Heaven," a shortened name of the Goddess Nin-gest-inanna.  Sovereignty passed from mother to the daughter, beginning with Earth, the Goddess Dunnu herself, foundress of the line - the same as Crete's Danuna, Anatolia's Danu, Greece's Danae, the Gaulish Diana.  Kings were expected to kill their predecessors or pseudo-fathers, "Son" meant "successwor," and "wsister" was synonymous with "wife." (9)

The length of a king's reign was often predetermined, because people thought the Goddess needed the refreshment of a new lover at stated intervals.  Up to 1810 A.D., kings of Zimbabwe were ceremonially strangled to death by their wives at the moon temple every four years. (1)  Kings of ancient Thebes reigned for seven years; so did kings of Canaan.  Myths suggest a similar seven-year period for each king of Crete.  Cretan kings were never allowed to grow old, they always died in the full bloom of youth. (11)  More recently, Nigerian kings were strangled after the queen's pregnancy was established, which meant each king fulfilled his role in life by begetting one royal offspring. (12)

White explorers in Africa spoke of tribal "kings," but rarely mentioned that the real rulers of the tribes were queens.  "In the oldest times there were no reigning princes in Africa, but the negroes had large kingdoms [sic] which were ruled by goddesses. (13)  Ghana was governed by kings of matrilineal succession whose divine right passed through sisters' sons.  The Lovedu were ruled by a female "king" who took a series of lovers but always left the government to one of the royal princesses. (14)  Angola was ruled by women until the Portuguese invasions.  Ashanti was ruled by queens until the British Protectorate in 1895.  Its kings were subject to the queen mothers; its princesses took no husbands but kept a series of lovers.  Similar customs obtained in Loango, Daura, the country of the Abrons, and other African nations.  The queen of Ubemba was called Manfumer, "Mother of Kings," and did all the governing. (15)

The Gospels' "Candace queen of the Ethiopeans" (Acts 8:27) was not a single individual but the hereditary title of queen mothers who governed the Nubian states. (16) Ethiopian kings were ritually slain from the earliest times.  Regicide was still the custom of Nubian Kassites of the Upper Nile in the 1st century B.C.  Diodorus said only one Ethiopian monarch escaped the kingly fate because he was educated in Greece and dared to disobey tribal law.  He led a party of soldiers into the sanctuary and killed all the priests before they could kill him. (17)

The Javanese Singasari dynasty had matriarchal queens similar to Candace, typified by Queen Dedes whose statues show her as a beautiful Shakti of wisdom.   She married a number of new kings after they killed her previous consorts, each apparently holding office for a seven-year period. (18)

Legends consistently associate kingship with ceremonial death.  A seal from Lagash shows the Goddess taking her new kin by the hand, while he raises a weapon to slay the old king, prostrate under the queen's feet. (19)  King Sennacherib of Assyria was "beaten to death with stauettes of the gods," in the temple at Nineveh.  Perpetrators of the deed were his "sons," one of whom succeeded him as King Esarhaddon.  Upon his succession, Esarhaddon proclaimed"  "I am powerful.  I am omnipotent.  I am a hero, I was gigantic, I am colossal!" (20)

Sometimes, kings had to proclaim they were embodiments of the Goddess herself so as to rule with the same authority as queens.  Antiochus of Commagene announced that he could rule because he was the Goddess. (21)  A king's investiture used to mean putting on female robes, so the king could be displayed as a transvestite Goddess (see Transvestism).

In the ancient Middle East generally, kings were not so much governing figures as ceremonial ones, primarily concerned with dedication of temples and other religious responsibilities. (22)  Sometimes they were also war leaders, able to preserve their lives in time of danger by convincing the people that no one else could defeat the enemy.  In such a case, a surrogate victim might be found - a real or adopted son, a prophet, a condemned criminal, or a divine animal.

A war leader of Carthage "clothed his best and most beloved son in royal robes and crucified him as a sacrifice" to secure the blessing of Baal on his military campaigns. (23)  Similarly, the god-king Isra-El clothed his only-begotten son Ieud in royal robes and sacrificed him "according to the custom of the Jews," as Philo said. (24)   The king became Jesus, "king" of the Jews (John 18:33).  Since a king was God, any king's real or adopted son was naturally the Son of God, and Yahweh himself was embodied in the Jewish king.  "In the early period of the Hebrew monarchy the central element of the annual New Year festival was the ritual enthronement of Jahveh as King. (25)

Son-killing was a habit, not only of the Jewish god-king but of many other god-kings who modified the old custom by shedding the blood of someone else in the proper season.  A Swedish king named Aun extended his reign for nine years by sacrificing one of his nine sons each year to ransom his own life. (26)

Footnotes and Bibliography for the material above:

1.  Assyr. & Bab. Lit., 198.
2.  Bachofen, 215.
3.  Hooke, S. P., 49.
4.  Assyr. & Bab. Lit., 91, 114, 130.
5.  Gray, 59.
6.  Campbell, C. M., 422.
7.  Budge, D. N., 83.
8   Albright, 94.
9.  Albright, 94, 128.
10.  Lederer, 132.
11.  Campbell, Oc. M., 59.
12.  Stone, 132.
13.  Briffault 3, 26-32.
14.  Hays, 296, 312.
15.  Hartley, 161.
16.  Briffault 3, 41.
17.  Campbell, P. M., 200.
18.  Campbell, M. I., 216-17.
19.  Campbell, Oc. M., 42.
20.  de Camp, A. E, 64.
21.  Cumont, M. M., 95.
22.  Hooke, S. P., 49.
23.  de Lys, 450.
24.  Frazer, G. B., 341.
25.  Hooke, S. P., 110.
26.  Frazer, G. B., 337.

1.  Assyrian and Babylonian Literature, Selected Translations, New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1901.
2.  Bachofen, J. J., Myth, Religion and Mother Rite, Princeton, N. J.: Princeton University Press, 1967.
3.  Hooke, S. H., The Siege Perilous, Freeport, N. Y.:  Books for Libraries Press, 1970.
4.  Assyrian and  Babylonian Literature, Selected Translations, Ibid.
5.  Gray, John, Near Eastern Mythology, London: Hamlyn Publishing Group Ltd., 1963.
6.  Campbell, Joseph, The Masks of God: Creative Mythology, New York; Viking Press, 1970.
7.  Budge, Sir E. A. Wallis, Dwellers on the Nile, New York: Dover Publications, 1977.
8.  Albright, William Powell, Yahweh and the Gods of Canaan, New York: Doubleday & Co., 1968.
9.  Albright, William Powell, Yahweh and the Gods of Canaan, Ibid.
10.  Lederer, Wolfgang, The Fear of Women, New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Inc., 1968.
11.  Campbell, Joseph, The Masks of God: Occidental Mythology, New York:  Viking Press, 1964.
12.  Stone, Merlin, When God was a Woman, New York: Dial Press, 1976.
13.  Briffault, Robert, The Mothers (3 vols.), New York: Macmillan, 1927.
14.  Hays, H. R., In the Beginnings, New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1963.
15.  Hartley, C. Gasquoine, The Truth About Woman, New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1913.
16.  Briffault, Robert, The Mothers (3 vols.,) Ibid.
17.  Campbell, Joseph, The Masks of God: Primitive Mythology, New York: Viking Press, 1959.
18.  Campbell, Joseph, The Mythic Image, Princeton, N. J.: Princeton University Press, 1974.
19.  Campbell, Joseph, The Masks of God: Occidental Mythology, Ibid.
20.  de Camp, L. Sprague, The Ancient Engineers, New York: Ballantine Books, 1960.
21.  Cumont, Franz, The Mysteries of Mithra, New York: Dover Publications, 1956.
22.  Hooke, S. H., The Siege Perilous, Ibid.
23.  De Lys, Claudia, The Giant Book of Superstitions, Secaucus, N. J.: Citadel Press, 1979.
24.  Frazer, Sir James G., The Golden Bough, New York: Macmillan, 1922.
25.  Hooke, S. H., The Siege Perilous, Ibid.
26.  Frazer, Sir. James G., The Golden Bough, Ibid.

My Notes:

1.  Frazer's The Golden Bough (my edition is a 1963 paperback issued by Collier Books of Macmillan Publishing Company, New York) has an entire chapter devoted to "The Killing of the Divine King" (Ch. XXIV) and consisting of:  I.  The Mortality of the Gods; II.  Kings Killed When Their Strength Fails; and III.  Kings Killed at the End of a Fixed Term.

There are also separate chapters devoted to:  Ch. XXV -- Temporary Kings; and Ch. XXVI -- Sacrifice of the King's Son (also cited in Walker's "The Woman's Encyclopedia...").  This would be considered a form of "substitute" King sacrifice.

2.  Wikipedia has an interesting entry on the ancient Egyptian Sed festival or "Jubilee," that tested the stamina and physical/mental fitness of the Pharaohs.  You may want to follow-up on Footnote 4 in the Wikipedia entry:

3.  For some "light" reading (har!), check out Human Sacrifice in Jewish and Christian Tradition by Karin Finsterbusch Amin Lange at Google Books online starting on page 21 under "5.3.  Ritual of the Substitute King."

The Goddess and the Palm Tree

From Barbara Walker's "The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets." (Image: 12th century CE, Byzantine representation of Inanna, the Tree of Life -- a date palm) Palm Tree In the Babylonian myth of the primal garden, the palm tree was the Tree of Life, a dwelling-place of the Goddess Astarte. The Hebrew version of her name was Tamar, "Palm Tree."(1) Her male counterpart was Baal-Peor, or Phoenix, the god of Phoenicia whose name meant "Land of the Palm." As a phallic deity, Baal-Peor was symbolized by a palm tree between two large stones. Sexual orgies in the temple celebrated his union with the Goddess in Phoenicia and in Israel until priests of Yahweh killed the celebrants in the midst of their rites (Numbers 25:8): [Here's the story in the Bible, from the "Living Bible" translation: Numbers 25:1: While Israel was camped at Acacia, some of the young men began going to wild parties with the local Moabite girls. (2) These girls also invited them to attend the sacrifices to their gods, and soon the men were not only attending the feasts, but also bowing down and worshipping the idols. (3) Before long, all Israel was joining freely in the worship of Baal, the god of Moab; and the anger of the Lord was hot against his people. (4) He issued the following command to Moses: "Execute all the tribal leaders of Israel. Hang them up before the Lord in braod daylight, so that his fierce anger will turn away from the people." {such a kind, loving god, ahem...} 5) So Moses ordered the judges to execute all who had worshipped Baal. {If ALL of Israel was joining freely in the worship of Baal, who would be left to continue the nation of Israel after Moses had them all killed??? - What is being talked about here is the MEN of Israel, that is, dudes old enough to copulate.} (6) But one of the Israeli men insolently brought a Midianite girl into the camp, right before the eyes of Moses and all of the people, as they were weeping before the door of the Tabernacle. (7) When Phineas (son of Eleazor and grandson of Aaron the priest) saw this, he jumped up, grabbed a spear, (8) and rushed after the man into his tent, where he had taken the girl. He thrust the spear all the way through the man's body and into her stomach. So the plague was stopped, (9) but only after 24,000 people had already died. {Okay, so after ordering Moses to have his priests kill the Israelites because they had ALL SINNED, Yahweh changes his mind - without telling Moses - and decides to kill the Israelites more slowly, with a plague, and they were gathered around the Tabernacle praying for their lives as Yahweh was no doubt sitting on his throne up on Jupiter or wherever laughing his butt off; and then one Israelite dude decides to bring a girl into camp to screw in his tent, right under the eyes of everyone??? Yeah, right. If they were that stupid, it was better their genes were killed than passed on to children!

What I want to know is why the priests did not carry out Yahweh's orders to kill ALL of Israel immediately after the order was issued? Did their arms get tired? And is Moabite the same as Midianite? Moses MARRIED a Midianite woman himself!} (10, 11) Then the Lord said to Moses, "Phineas (son of Eleazar and grandson of Aaron the priest) {I guess the Lord had to let Moses know just who the good guy was in case Moses didn't understand which Phineas killed the bad guy and his gal} has turned away my anger for he was angry with my anger, and would not tolerate the worship of any God but me. So I have stopped destroying all Israel as I had intended. (12, 13) Now because of what he has done - because of his zeal for his God, and because he has made atonement for the people of Israel for what he did - I promise that he and his priests shall be priests forever." (14) The name of the man who was killed with the Midianite girl was Zimri, son of Salu, a leader of the tribe of Simeon. (15) The girl's name was Corbi, daughter of Zur, a Midianite prince. (Emphasis added). [Summary: Yahweh got his BLOOD SACRIFICE of both an Israelite prince and a Midianite princess, and thus his blood lust was temporarily satisfied. This is classic substitute king sacrifice, in this case, the "king" being Moses, who was raised in the Egyptian rites. Being a relatively new Hebrew religion, the priests added the "bad girl" into the blood sacrifice because she represented a much older tradition of the Temptress Goddess, which was a great threat to the upstart god Yahweh's authority, and therefore she had to be diminished in some way. What better way than to kill her off with a "spear" (phallic symbol) through her "stomach" (a euphenism for her female parts) while she was copulating with the sacrificial male victim, who himself was a substitute for the very same god that ordered his death?] Still, the feminine connotations of the palm tree remained. The Goddess was often embodied in a Mother-palm, giving the food of life in the form of coconut milk or dates. A complicated biblical myth shows Tamar the Palm-tree as the mother of a slain "firstborn of Judah;" and as a veiled sacred harlot decorated with the signet, staff, and bracelets of the nation of Judah; and as a widow (Crone) to whom offerings of goats were made; and as an idol "by the wayside," whom priests of Yahweh wanted to burn (Genesis 38). She gave birth to the rival twins Pharez and Zarah, Hebrew counterparts of Osiris and Set. The spirit of the palm tree was still the Great Mother in the tradition of early Christians, who gave the title of Holy Palm (Ta-Mari) to the virgin Mary.(2) Yet Egyptians continued to call a man's penis his "palm tree."(3) Notes: (1) Graves, W.G., 197. (2) Hughes, 55. (3) Book of the Dead, 518. Compare Ta-Mari to this Walker entry on Ta-Mera: "Land of Waters," an old name of Egypt. Mera or Mara was an archaic name for the Goddess of the primordial sea [thus, for instance, all those "Mares" {"sea of"} names on the face of the Moon and Mars - named by male scientists, by the way, lol!] In Egypt she was even coupled with the sun god as an androgynous deity, Meri-Ra. Among the meanings of Mera were such female symbols as a water-course, ditch, pit, sea, and lovingness.(1) Notes: (1) Budge, E.I., 76. ********************************************************************** Just why is it that female horses are called MARES, and in xiang qi (Chinese chess) the horse is called "ma?" It couldn't have anything to do with "sea horses," could it? And I'm not talking about those cute little critters one keeps in an aquarium. Staunton's model for his knight was reputedly the horses of the Elgin Marbles stolen from the Greek Parthenon. But we all know where the Greeks got their inspiration from...

Kingship: The Ritual Murder of Absalom

See tonight's earlier blog on Abishag for background about ritual sacrifice and the substitute sacrifice for the king. This information is also from Walker's The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets. Absalom The Bible presents Absalom as either David's son or David's neighbor (2 Samuel 12:11) because biblical writers couldn't decide just where he came from. He was important only as a surrogate "king" of the Jews. His name, Father Salm [from abra- father and salom- peace], was a widely distributed sacred-king name, also rendered Salma, Salem, Salomon, or Solomon; in Assyria, Shalmaneser; in Crete, the "son of God" Salmoneus.(1) The name meant Prince of Peace, which was synonymous with Lord of Death because "Peace" was the Lord's word of farewell as he descended into the underworld. [Note: I don't buy this explanation that Prince of Peace and Lord of Death are synonymous. I think her explanation is rather ingenious, actually, since we today link "death" with "peace", but give me some Semite etymology that links the two concepts.] Canaanites worshipped Father Salm at the city of Salem, whose Palestinian counterpart was Jeru-salem, "House of Salem." Kings of David's ancestral tribe, the Kenites, took the sacred name when ruling in Jerusalem. [Note: I thought "bethel" was the word for house in Hebrew - what is this Jeru stuff?] Probably several of these kings were called Solomon, including the biblical one whose real name was Jedidiah, according to 2 Samuel 12:25. Absalom received the sacred name and died as a surrogate for the incumbent king, David, whose mourning for him was really a liturgical formula. he called Absalom "my son, my son," and cried "Would God I had died for thee" to disguise the fact that the victim really had died in his place. Among ancient Semites generally, someone had to die for the king at regular intervals, to preserve the fertility of the soil and the people with his blood. See Kingship. Time-honored precedent dictated the format of the drama. The chosen victim sat on the throne, and publicly copulated with the royal women under a marriage canopy (2 Samuel 16:22). See Huppah. [Note: Being totally irreverent here, is this the etymological root for the concept of "hubba hubba?" -okay, never mind...] After this, Absalom was declared a god and his phallic spirit was immortalized by an erect pillar (2 Samuel 18:18). He was hung on a sacred oak "between heaven and earth," like all victims offered to deities of the air and sky.(2) He was pierced through the heart by three darts, like the Egyptian god Set. He was dismembered by ten men in priests' livery (2 Samuel 18:14-15). According to the old custom, pieces of him were then distributed to the fields and vineyards to encourage the growth of crops. Notes: (1) Graves, W.G., 363-64. (2) Angus, 173. ******************************************************************************* Interesting bit at the end - sounds rather like the death and cutting up of Osiris and the "salting" of his body parts around the "nomes" of Egypt, doesn't it? Except the great goddess Isis came along and ruined everything by putting "Humpty Dumpty" back together again, despite all the King's horses and all the King's men's best efforts to prevent her from doing so. And thus Osiris was resurrected and restored to life (well, at least a form of life - he's King of the Egyptian Underworld and by some accounts can only come out into daylight in the sacred sungod chariot where he flies across the arc of the sky) - that's something that Walker did not talk about in her Absalom tale, the fact that king sacrifice was intimately linked with the concept of resurrection/rebirth. I'm much more intrigued about the biblical account of the rape of Absalom's beautiful sister, Tamar, by Absalom's half-brother Amnon. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, Amnon was born to King David's first wife; Absalom was David's third-born son but, evidently, quite a favorite with the people of the day. Jewish tradition traces "Jewishness" through the line of the mother: if your mother is a Jew, you are a Jew. This echoes and appears to be a somewhat faded remembrance of the ancient right of matrineal "king" succession that held sway from earliest recorded history throughout the middle east and in Egypt. Kingship was determined by THE MOTHER, not order of birth. I'm certainly no scholar when it comes to matrineal descent! But it is not a stretch to believe that Absalom may have been the heir presumptive despite being David's third son, because Absalom's mother's descent may have given him the heads-up. Therefore, if Amnon (rather sounds like an Egyptian name, doesn't it?) coveted David's throne for himself, he had to get rid of the heir presumptive (Absalom). And so he schemed and came up with a way to send Absalom over the edge. He raped Absalom's beloved sister, the beautiful and highly desirable Tamar. Perhaps the rape was a two-edged sword because by raping Tamar, Amnon may have been asserting a direct right to the throne through Tamar, not just "egging on" Absalom to attempt to take revenge against him. The biblical narrative relates the eventual outcome of Tamar's rape, but it takes some time to unfold. Ultimately, Amnon is killed at the hands of Absalom's agents, and Absalom flees from David's wrath. Eventually, a civil war ensues, and Absalom is killed. Here is the account from the Catholic Encyclopedia: Shielded by a forest, David's men proceed and meet Absalom's unguarded forces on the edge of the woods which fringe the circular plain at a point marked by the present site (presumably) of Mukaah. A frightful slaughter ensues, and the disorganized rebel party is quickly routed. Absalom madly flies. Suddenly he finds himself stunned by a blow while his head is caught in the fork of the low hanging branches of a terebinth tree. At the same time his long loose hair becomes entangled in the thick foliage, whilst the frightened animal beneath him rushes on, leaving him suspended above the ground. Before he is able to extricate himself he is espied by one of the soldiers, who, mindful of the King's words, "Spare me the life of Absalom", directs Joab's attention to the plight of the hapless youth. The old general, less scrupulous, and eager to rid his master of so dangerous a foe, thrice pierces the body of Absalom with his javelin. When the news of Absalom's death is brought to David, he is inconsolable. "My son Absalom, Absalom my son: would to God that I might die for thee, Absalom my son, my son Absalom." One of the old forms and symbol of the goddess was a sacred tree, and her places of worship was often sited in a grove of trees. So, it appears that in the case of Amnon and Absalom, the goddess got back her own and Barbara Walker's Woman's Encyclopedia offers some amazing insight. One other note tonight, for it's very late and I'm very tired, and I have to be up at 6 to meet the new day, yikes! Mukaah. is this a cognant of Maacha? According to the Catholic Encyclopedia entry cited above, [Absalom's] mother was Maacha, daughter of Tholmai, King of Gessur. I don't know where this is - just wondering if it could possibly be related to Mecca? Mecca was a very ancient site of worship of the triple goddess in pre-Islamic times, and the sacred shrine of the goddess, the Kaabah (various spellings), survives to this day as a holy shrine of Islam, where worshippers (mostly male) kiss the sacred black stone of the goddess, conveniently outlined in the form of a yoni symbol of the goddess upon which the worshippers center their smooches. I find this topic fascinating. I will continue with more on sacred kingship as time permits.

Kingship: Abishag and the King

From Barbara Walker's The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets: Abishag The Bible claims the maiden Abishag was chosen for her beauty, to engender "heat" in the aged King David (1 Kings 1:2). This "heat" was not mere warmth, but the sacred fire of sexual potency, without which no king could be allowed to rule. [Side note: I wonder if this was also part of the test in the Egyptian heb sed festival?] If an impotent king were kept in office, his land would become barren. Hence, when David failed to "know" Abishag, a more virile prince (Adonijah) immediately prepared to assume the throne, and "exalted himself, saying, I will be king" (1 Kings 1:5). David's death occurred with sugggestive promptness after his failure of the virility test. Abishag's name might be related to the Hindu abhiseka ceremony, the annointing of kings with the sacred fluid of the Goddess Sarasvati.(1) From China to the Mediterranean, ancient kings derived their legitimation from a mating with the Goddess through her priestess-surrogate.(2) Mesopotamian kings and their deified souls, the gods, were constantly described as "beloved" of the Goddess known as creatress of the earth and "maker of fate, she who decrees the fate of the men and gods."(3) Like the eastern Goddess, Abishag represented the land in the same way as Solomon's bride, whose mating was chronicled in the requisite intimate detail by the Song of Solomon. After David's death, the queen mother chose between rival candidates Solomon and Adjonijah. She crowned Solomon with her own hands (Song of Solomon 3:11), after the custom of the royal women whose business it was to ehthrone or depose kings, as in India, Egypt, and the lands of the Fertile Crescent.(4) However, Adonijah still had designs on the throne, as shown by his request for the hand of Abishag in marriage. To prevent this symbolically and politically significant marriage form taking place, Solonon had Adonijah murdered (1 Kings 2:17-25). The Bible fails to explain Solomon's strangely violent reactin to Adonijah's request; but it can only have meant that the crown was at stake. This in turn shows that a sexual union with Abishag was a prerequisite for royal office. See Kingship. Notes: (1) Gaster, 514. (2) Boulding, 191. (3) Pritchard, A.N.E. 1, 65; 2, 17, 21, 135, 202. (4) Boulding, 210. ************************************************************************************ Solomon's mother, Bathsheba, had entered into an adulterous affair with King David while her husband was off fighting one of David's foreign wars. When Bathsheba became pregnant, David schemed to have Bathsheba's husband killed and he then took her as one of his wives. Their first child - a son - died - supposedly as punishment by Yahweh for David's adultery - thereby proving the biblical adage "the sins of the fathers are visited upon the sons." Of course, there is no way to reconcile this harsh divine judgment upon an innocent baby when Yahweh is also supposed to be a merciful and just god, kind to widows and orphans and the foreign resident in the midst of his people. Abishag was the goddess' representative and her intercourse with the king (or future king) was crucial to justifying his reign. If the goddess should withdraw her favor from the king, havoc would rule and the king could be (and sometimes was) overthrown in favor of a more likely candidate, one upon whom the goddess might smile. This casts new light to the importunings of some of the Pharaohs of Egypt recorded in ancient prayers inscribed on monuments for the flooding of the Nile to occur. We in the west often assume that the flooding of the Nile occurs every year like clockwork; but prior to the construction of the modern-day dams along the Nile, that annual flooding did not always occur. When it did not, famine stalked the land. Who was to blame for such a catastrophy? Pharoah, who had lost the favor of the great mother Goddess, she withdrawing her favor - literally - from the land and cursing its crops to whither and die. Now, there's some interesting stuff under Kingship in Walker's Encylopedia. I recall that we often speculated about and did much research about substitute king sacrifice in The Weave (preserved at Goddesschess). Walker brings an entirely new light to the subject for me. Wow!