Gala (priests): Difference between revisions

The '''Gala''' ([[Sumerian language|Sumerian]]: {{script|Xsux|𒍑𒆪}} ''gala'', [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]]: ''kalû'') were [[priest]]s of the [[Sumerian goddess]] [[Inanna]],. They made up a significant numbersnumber of the personnel of both temples and palaces, the central institutions of [[Mesopotamia]]n city states, individuals with neither male nor female gender identities.

Originally specialists in singing [[lament]]ations, gala appear in temple records dating back from the middle of the 3rd millennium BC.<ref>Hartmann 1960:129–46; Gelb 1975; Renger 1969:187–95; Krecher 1966:27–42; Henshaw 1994:84–96</ref> According to an old Babylonian text, [[Enki]] created the gala specifically to sing "heart-soothing laments" for the goddess Inanna.<ref>Kramer 1982a1982:2</ref> Cuneiform references indicate the gendered character of the role.<ref>Gelb 1975:73; Lambert 1992:150–51</ref> Lamentation and wailing originally may have originally been female professions, so that the men who entered the role adopted its forms. Their hymns were sung in a Sumerian dialect known as ''[[emesal|eme-sal]]'', normally used to render the speech of female gods,<ref>Hartmann 1960:138; Krecher 1966; Cohen 1974:11, 32</ref> and some gala took female names.<ref>Bottéro and Petschow 1975:465</ref> Homosexual proclivities are clearly implied by the Sumerian proverb that reads, "When the gala wiped off his anus [he said], ‘I must not arouse that which belongs to my mistress [i.e., Inanna]’{{thin space}}".<ref>Gordon 1959, no. 2.100</ref> In fact, the word ''gala'' was written using the sign sequence UŠ.KU, the first sign having also the reading giš₃ ("penis"), and the second one dur₂ ("anus"), so perhaps there is some pun involved.<ref>Steinkeller 1992:37</ref> Moreover, gala is homophonous with gal₄-la "vulva". However, in spite of all their references of their effeminate character (especially in the [[Sumerian religion#Parallels|Sumerian proverbs]]), many administrative texts mention gala priests who had children, wives, and large families.<ref>Rubio 2001:270; Michalowski 2006</ref> In addition, some gala priests were [[cisgender]] women.<ref>al-Rawi 1992</ref>