esides looking at “Homosexuality in Ancient Egypt” (see earlier supplement by this title in this "Jonathan and David Series"), how was this viewed to the north, in the rest of the ancient Near East? There was continual interaction between God’s people and the larger world in which they lived. The Bible records how Abraham came from Ur (Gen 11:31), a city of the Sumerians in Mesopotamia. During a famine, he migrated to Egypt (Gen 12:10); and when he returned to Canaan, he bought a tomb from the Hitittes, “the people of the land” (Gen 23:1-4). His sons and grandsons chose wives, for the most part, from among the Aramaeans, bedouins (desert nomads) who lived in the region of Syria (cf. Haran, Gen 11:31, 24:1-4, 28:1-2,10). Joseph, his brothers and their descendents (Gen 46:26-27) lived among the Egyptians for generations, until the Exodus. Back in the Promised Land, Samson and David lived a good portion of their lives among the Philistines (Judg 14:1-2, 16:4-5; 1 Sam 27:1-6), a people who settled along the southern coast of Canaan and dominated the area from ca. 1200-1000 B.C. From the beginning, the Babylonians (including the Sumerians, Akkadians, and Chaldeans) and Assyrians built great cities (Gen 10:10-11) and dominated the Mesopotamian valley through the 3rd-2nd millennia B.C. Tom Horner points out that the sexual mores of the Bible must have been influenced – tremendously influenced – by the sexual mores of the peoples and nations in whose midst this same Bible was produced – and among all the above-named peoples and nations, homosexuality existed alongside heterosexuality to a greater or lesser degree…” But what does this mean exactly and more precisely?
Vern Bullough notes that these law codes had a great influence on later law codes, were intended to deal with specific deeds (not general moral principles), and seem not to have been observed in all cases or at all times. The Hittites, who flourished in eastern Anatolia (Turkey) and Syria ca. 1700-700 B.C., had one law that stated,“If a man violates his son, it is a capital crime” (section 189c). The same judgment was declared on father-daughter incest and mother-son incest. As Hittitologist Harry Hoffner, Jr., observed, “a man who sodomized his son is guilty ofurkel [illegal intercourse] because the partner is his son, not because they are of the same sex.” Later, he added, “[I]t would appear that homosexuality was not outlawed among the Hittites.”
Two laws from a Middle Assyrian code, from Assur (12th century B.C. but probably copies or extensions of earlier laws going back to at least the 15th century B.C.), also mention homosexuality. They speak of a “seignior,” someone of high social rank in the community, and his “neighbor,” someone of equal social status who lived in the vicinity. Later scholars simply view these laws as applying to any Assyrian man.Table A, paragraph 19 reads (translated by Theophile Meek):“If a seignior [an Assyrian man]started a rumor against his neighbor [another citizen living nearby]in private, saying, ‘People have lain repeatedly with him,’ or he said to him in a brawl in the presence of (other) people, ‘People have lain repeatedly with you; I will prosecute you,’ since he is not able to prosecute (him) (and) did not prosecute (him), they shall flog that seignior fifty (times) with staves (and) he shall do the work of the king for one full month; they shall castrate him[lit. ‘shall cut off’] and he shall also pay one talent of lead.” Harsh punishment was often decreed in ancient times, e.g. in this law code including death and cutting off ears, noses, lips and fingers (Cf. A,5,9,12). The meaning ofigadimus (“shall cut off”) is ambiguous and has also been translated as “he shall be cut off” from the community (G.R. Driver and J.C. Miles, 1935) and “they shall cut off” his beard or hair as a form of branding (Chicago Assyrian Dictionary,gadamu, G, 8) The preceding prohibition (A,18) in this law code deals with false (or unproven) rumors spread about a man’s wife sleeping around (like a prostitute); and its wording and punishment are very similar to A,19, except there is no “cutting off” and less blows are specified. In both cases, the lord’sreputation was at stake in the face of a grave slur that had been circulated against him.
This describes a situation where a man has forced sex upon a local resident or business partner, who then has the option of bringing a charge against him. Noticeably, the perpetrator is punished while the victim is not; so the crime here is rape. Homosexuality itself is not condemned, nor looked upon as immoral or disordered. Anyone could visit a prostitute or lay with another male, as long as false rumors or forced sex were not involved with another Assyrian male. Still, both of these laws suggest that for a male to take the submissive woman’s role in same-sex intercourse was looked down upon as shameful and despised.
(Lesbian love is not mentioned, probably because of the low status of women in ancient times, when women were basically considered property, and adultery was considered a trespass against the husband’s property. A husband was free to fornicate, but a wife could be put to death for the same thing.)The Summa alu, a manual used to predict the future, sought to do this in some cases on the basis of sexual acts, five of which are homosexual:
Gilgamesh was a real king of Uruk, a Sumerian city-state, ca. 2600 B.C., whose exploits and glory elevated him to supernatural rank shortly after his death. Five legends about him survive in Sumerian, composed around 2000 B.C. However, after the Akkadians took Babylon and prospered under rule of Hammurabi (ca. 1750 B.C.), an unknown author of the period (c. 1600 B.C.) assembled a composite and far-reaching account uniting the earlier tales about Gilgamesh. This literary text was esteemed enough to be translated into Hurrite (spoken in N/NW Mesopotamia), it was abridged by the Hittites of Anatolia (Syria and E. Turkey), and remains have been found in Palestine. The fullest text available today is sometimes called the ‘Ninevite’ version, because it utilizes 35 manuscripts found in the great library at Nineveh of the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal (mid-7th century B.C.), along with other fragments found elsewhere. The story basically goes as follows:
Norman Sussman explains that “male and female prostitutes, serving temporarily or permanently and performing heterosexual, homosexual, oral-genital, bestial, and other forms of sexual activities, dispensed their [sexual] favors on behalf of the temple. The prostitute and the client acted as surrogates for the deities,” representing both fertility and sexuality in an erotic sense.
In fact, “It is widely believed that one of the principal uses of the Upper Paleolithic caves [with its scenes of running bulls, boy attendants, and acrobatic leaping] may have been the initiation of children [most likely boys] into the technique, lore, and mystery of the hunters’ way of life.” Added to the awe and fear could also have been the pain of circumcision and the initiates’ sexual use by the men present. “The homosexual emphasis in the relationship between Gilgamesh and Enkidu is an inheritance of an older life-style, of the dominant partner inducting his younger partner and companion” into the ways of the world; and in this story, as well, they have to face the mighty bull of heaven.
In fact, William Naphy notes that a striking feature of the ancient Near East was “how few cultures seem to have any significant ‘moral’ concern about same-sex activities. … Most cultures seemed to accept that males might have sexual relations with other males” – although for a male to assume the passive position in intercourse (unless he was an adolescent) was thought somehow to make him less than a male thereafter. Laws only banned certain negative forms of homosexuality, namely, slander, rape and incest. Kings had male lovers along with their wives, warriors developed romantic attachments, and ordinary men customarily had anal intercourse with male and female cultic personnel. Also, the tradition of youthful rite of passage comes down from prehistoric times. Tom Horner described three types of individuals who engaged in homosexual activity in ancient Biblical times: (1) military heroes, manly types, who shared a noble love; (2) cult prostitutes, often effeminate and eunuchs, who offered themselves to worshippers at pagan shrines; and (3) average citizens, who engaged in casual same-sex relationships, even though one or both of them might have been married.
Now, a quarter of a century later, new findings can be reported that further clarify this possibility. But first, who were the Philistines? Battle scenes and inscriptions at Medinet Habu (near Thebes) in Egypt describe the victory of Ramesses III over certain “Sea Peoples,” who ca. 1175 B.C. attacked Egypt, including five groups, with the Philistines named first. Rebuffed, these Sea Peoples then settled (shortly after 1200 B.C.) along the southern Mediterranean coast of Canaan, where they set up a federation with five capital cities (Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Gath and Ekron) and took the name of their dominate group, the Philistines. (Genesis 21 and 26 record an earlier wave of “Philistines” who came to Canaan, but this term probably refers only to other “sea peoples.”) Comparisons of the Philistines’ dress, arms and ships at Medinet Habu point to the Philistines coming from the region of the Aegean Sea, including the western coast of Anatolia (modern Turkey), the island of Crete, and the Greek mainland (specifically the locale of Athens and Mycenae, 50 miles to the west). The distinctive Philistine feathered headdress, pictured at Medinet Habu, has been found on objects dug up at sites south of Troy (Caria, Lycia and the Ionian islands), as well as on Crete and Cyprus.
that this is probably why Samson could move freely back and forth among the Philistines (Judg 14:1-5a), visiting a prostitute and then taking up with Delilah (16:1-4). At the beginning of the first millennium B.C., the Philistines had contained Saul and established themselves as the leading political and commercial power in Canaan, where they flourished on an agricultural economy and from overland trade and ships that stopped along their coast.
Clearly, the Israelites believed that the Philistines (or a notable part of them) lived on Crete before they migrated to the southern coast of Canaan.
On the front, it displays two slender youths, both wearing necklaces and other jewelry, short kilts, and tall boots, who stand looking at each other. Dated ca. 1650-1500 B.C.,this cup was found at a large villa (estate) at Ayia Triada, located on a river near the south-central coast of Crete. By studying ancient Cretan hairstyles, Koehl noted that the youth on the left, with his hair tied in a topknot but short in the back, is the younger one (perhaps just having reached puberty). The youth on the right, with long hair flowing down the back and with front curls (along with his taller stature and better attire) is an older, more mature youth. Various interpretations have been offered for this pair, e.g. that they represent a god and a priest, a king and a commander, or children impersonating dignitaries.
However, when an older young man, called aphiletor (“lover”), saw a youth who attracted him by his beauty, courage, and manners, he would “capture” his chosen one, called aparastatheis, with the consent of his parents and help of his friends. Taking him to the localandreion (male dining club) where he was a member, the suitor would give the youth presents and then take him into the country (accompanied by some of the boy’s friends), where they spent two months hunting and feasting. Thereafter, returning to the dining club, the beloved would tell whether he was happy with how his lover had treated him; and the lover, if accepted, would present the youth withmilitary garb, an ox, and a drinking cup, along with other costly gifts. After that, the youth was calledkleinos (“famous”), wore distinctive clothing, and was given special seats at dances and races and other honors. All the new “famous” youths were then married in a mass wedding. This same-sex tradition displays all of the familiar elements of a rite of passage: initiation into a select group, seclusion for a time during which an older male teaches a younger male special skills, and then return to society where the initiate receives a new status and special garments. Excavation of the villa complex where the Chieftain Cup was found showed that it included a dining area with benches and a hearth in the middle (for cooking and sacrifice), along with adjacent rooms for cooking, storing food and cookingware, and sleeping (a bedroom with a raised platform). Male dining clubs like this have been documented in every town in later Cretan history.
Very likely, Dorian Greeks who settled on Crete (according to Plato, Ephorus and Aristotle) absorbed this tradition and then returned it to Sparta and Greece.
Here and only here on Crete, chalices shaped like the Chieftain Cup but in stone and clay, have been found from the same period. Angeliki Lembessi found bronze figures of youths from the Minoan period (before 1100 B.C.), showing that this was a long-standing sanctuary site. But later bronze cut-out figures (8th-7th centuries B.C.) found here are also significant. One (Louvre Museum, Paris) shows an older youth with a beard pulling toward him a younger male with long, flowing hair and curls in front – the pair a bit older than the two depicted on Chieftain Cup. The older youth carries a horn and partly-finished bow (made from horn) and the younger male carries a slain goat on his shoulders – while their legs and feet touch and the genitals of the younger male are exposed. Lembessi’s team also found a bronze piece, dated ca. 750 B.C. (Heraklion Museum), which shows two helmeted but otherwise nude males, both with erections, who stand beside each other holding hands.Still another bronze cutout (7th century B.C.) shows a lad, nude except for a long, decorative cape and sandals, holding a bow and quiver. These pieces document that this Cretan initiatory tradition continued over many centuries and that later offerings left by pairs of lovers at this shrine became more elaborate and erotically explicit.
Yet, puberty was an important milestone, when a child became an‘elem (boy) or‘alma (girl) who was old enough to marry and start a family. Israelite boys became full adults at the age of twenty (Lev 27:1-8), when also they were eligible for military service (Num 1:3). Although the Israelites had no homoerotic initiation rites like the Cretans (and perhaps the Phoenicians), in which youths were trained to hunt and fight, one would expect that Israelite youths sometimes learned military skills from older experienced warriors in some location away from the home.
Early in 1 Samuel, we read that the sons of Eli, the priest at Shiloh, stole from the Lord’s offerings (2:12-17) and “slept with women [fertility cult prostitutes? – see footnote in the REB Oxford Study Bible, 1989] who served at the entrance to the [Lord’s] tent of meeting” (v. 22). No more than several generations after the reign of David, under Rehoboam, son of Solomon and the first king of Judah (in the Divided Kingdom period), the Israelites “built for themselves high places, pillars, and sacred poles on every high hill and under every green tree; there were also male prostitutes in the land.” (1 Kings 14:23-24, NRSV; and cf. 15:12, 22:46; 2 Kings 23:4-7). Of course, there were devout Israelites through this whole period who loved and served God as best they knew how (including Gideon, Ruth, Naomi, Hannah, Samuel, Jonathan, David, and others); but Israel was still a syncretic society, which absorbed influences from the cultures all around them.