Holy Handmaiden

Paperback

Felicity Edwards

In this book, the prologue sets the scene with an insight into the world of King Sargon.

When King Sargon’s fifth child and only daughter, Hama, is born, he promises to dedicate her to his sponsor goddess. She and her suckle sister Gemeti, the child of her wet nurse, enjoy an idyllic childhood. One of their childhood scrapes includes requesting a goldsmith to make a gold bead for the Queen and each girl. The Queen orders the golden beads to be included in necklaces of small carnelian beads. She presents one to each girl while they explain the purpose of the larger gold bead was to be a gift to the Queen for her naming day.

Following Hama’s coming of age ceremony, the King whispers to her. She and Gemeti will leave at dawn on a vessel sailing south along the Euphrates to the city of Ur in Sumeria, where they enter the temple to be trained. Hama as a full priestess and Gemeti as a holy handmaiden.

Hama is wracked with anxiety. She wonders how she can help her father meld the south Sumeria and the north Akkadia into one state. The girls encounter hostility and threats at the temple, particularly from a local girl, Genka. Her father wants his daughter installed as the high priestess, which would give him access to the temple’s wealth and prestige. Another girl, Ettu, befriends them. As she is low born, she is not allowed to rise above the rank of a junior priestess. She remains loyal to them throught out their lives.

Eventually Hama become the Enheduanna (High Priestess). To offset potential resentment, Gemeti suggests appointing Genka as second in charge. She is satisfied, but her father is not pleased.

The warlord of the area surrounding Ur, Lugal-Ane, seizes control of the city. He banishes the Enheduanna and all the temple people and establishes a male-oriented religion. The god they serve requires human sacrifice, often babies and women. He unleashes a reign of terror where he decrees all women are second-class citizens and relegates them to their homes. If they go out without a male relative, they are subjected to rape and beatings, usually leading to their death.

Lugal-Ane’s banishment of Hama and Gemeti forces them into the desert. Fortunately, Gemeti foresees the possibility of expulsion, strips the temple treasury and food stores, and sends their wealth ahead of them into the wilderness, where a religious community is established, including an alfresco temple. Hama suffers a depressive episode and a loss of confidence, imagining the Goddess has deserted her. To encourage Hama, Gemeti writes a poem to Innana.

The deaths of King Sargon and later two of his sons spark widespread rebellions against the power from the north. However, when Hama’s nephew Naram-Sin ascends the throne, things change. Like his grandfather, he wins back many city-states, and he restores his aunt Hama as the high priestess at Ur.

All their lives, Gemeti and Hama, split the duties of the priestess. . Hama deals with the spiritual and ritual obligations while Gemeti takes care of the literary work required of a priestess as well as the administrative responsibilities of the temple itself, plus the farming affairs. On returning to Ur, Gemeti writes a series of hymns for the gods and goddesses of the main temples. They embark on a tour of the country to deliver these to each temple. This approach reinforces the concept of the unity of the north and the south. It entrenches the Goddess Innana as the supreme deity throughout the land.

The end of the book is a flash-forward to 2030, when archaeologists discover a tomb containing the body of a high priestess and her handmaiden, both wearing carnelian necklaces with a single gold bead. They also find the original clay tablets of all the hymns and poems, some of them signed, thus confirming the authorship of Enheduanna.