Women at Work in the Deuteronomistic History - International Voices ...

HIDE AND SEEK: MISCELLANEOUS WOMEN | 197
Orchestra—a large ensemble of vertical and horizontal harps, pipes, drum and
possibly singers/dancers—celebrating the accession of Ummanigash, the
emperor’s appointee after the defeat of Teuman… 107
This use of arts for ideological purposes during the Assyrian empire is also
attested by Assante in her study of lead erotic reliefs found in what had been
Tukulti-Ninurta’s New Palace Terrace’s workshops. 108 The majority of these
depict couples or groups of two men and a woman in sexually-explicit positions.
She demonstrates that, in contrast to the terracotta figures (found in all kinds of
settings and across all archaeological levels and places), intended to prevent evil
magic, these had the purpose of furniture decoration: “Their primary function
was visual pleasure, although they carried political messages.” Assante has been
able to locate some reliefs in “the milieu of professional entertainment” due to
“the inclusion of sexual props, musical instruments and what [she] recognize[s]
as dancers’ garments…” 109
In short, information is not abundant considering the span in time and
geography; and it is subject to constraints put by their society’s taboos and
artistic conventions; and written documents are reluctant because male scribes
tended to be conservative and lessen women’s “significance and recognized
presence.” 110 This reluctance repeats itself throughout time and space and it is
not necessary to abound on it now, for it is the very reason that we are looking
for hidden women throughout the Bible. It is true that pre-exilic sources—
particularly pre- and early-monarchic—attribute to women an important role as
musicians and singers, especially in exalting YHWH. The prime examples are
Miriam and Deborah, introduced as prophetesses and authors of victory songs.
107
John Franklin, “‘A Feast of Music’: The Greco-Lydian Musical Movement on the Assyrian
Periphery,” in Anatolian Interfaces: Hittites, Greeks and their Neighbors: Proceedings of an
International Conference on Cross-Cultural Interaction, September 17–19, 2004, Emory University,
Atlanta, GA. (ed. Billie J. Collins, M. R. Bachvarova & I. Rutherford. Oxford: Oxbow (2008), 195.
Cited 8 August 2010. Online: http://www.kingmixers.com/FranklinPDFfilescopy/FeastofMusicWeb
.pdf.
108
Julia Assante, “The Erotic Reliefs of Ancient Mesopotamia” (Ph.D. diss., Columbia University,
2000), 179–209 (chapter V), especially conclusions on p. 208–9. Also Franklin, “Feast of Music,”
196, speaking of the “famous relief of Ashurbanipal reclining in a one-man symposium among his
women,” states that “ …it is striking that all of the musical representations—with the exception of
the banquet scene itself—feature Assyrian male musicians in the overtly public and nationalistic
contexts of triumph, hunt, and religious ritual. If one may assume that the musical imagery is
consistent with the ideology of the larger composition … there emerges a picture of Assyrian music,
with its classical Mesopotamian basis, in a dominant position. The music of subject nations,
represented in large part by captive female musicians, is gathered, mingled fertilized by the emperor
himself.”
109
Assante, “Erotic Reliefs,” 2 and 4. More on her work below (on beer brewing).
110
Gosline, “Female Priests,” 34.