The Female “Sage”

in Mesopotamian
Literature
(with an Appendix
on Egypt)

Group 1 Report
 General Outline
1. Fundamental Question
2. Context: Mesopotamia
3. Definition of the term “Sage”
4. Proofs of “Women Sages”
5. Sages in Egypt
7. Conclusion
8. Guide/Key Questions
1. Fundamental Question
• Where there women
Sages?
• What is the relevance
of searching the roles
of women in the
Wisdom movement?
2. Context: Mesopotamia
 2. Context: Mesopotamia
 Roles: Culture
• As a traditional PATRIARCHAL culture
• Men – assumed leadership in the community
• Women – muted group yet central and crucial at
home, family, and domestic life.
• Education: significant avenue to power and
status
 Finding:
• Questionable: Women “Sages”? (even a
contradiction in Ancient Near East world)
 3. Definition of the Term “Sage”

• One who has composed a book or

piece belonging to the wisdom
literature of the ANE (J. Gammie &
L. Perdue)
• Scribe as bureaucrat, poet, and
scholar (R. Harris)
 3. Definition of the Term “Sage”
• Any person who routinely performs one
or more of the following tasks
associated with the wisdom tradition:
authorship, scribal duties (copying,
collecting, editing) counseling,
management of economic resources,
conflict resolution, teaching, and
healing. (C. Fontane)
• Therefore, it has something to do with
WISDOM.
 3. Definition of the Term “Sage”
• Sages – used for MEN ONLY since
women are hidden and not culture
creators.
• Yet we find activities of some female
“sages” though in varied degrees.
• Solution: Exploration of the various
meanings of the term WISE / WISDOM
might help in unveiling matters about
female “Sages”.
 3. Definition of the Term “Sage”
• WISDOM:
– nēmequ – means knowledge, experience,
wisdom (referring to the body of
experiences, knowledge, skills and
traditions which are the basis of a craft or
occupation, or form the basis of civilization
as a whole), skill, cunning. (CAD - Chicago Assyrian
Dictionary)

• emqu (Adj.) – means experienced, skilled,

educated, wise, wily.
• emiqtu & emuqtu – “housekeeper”; imply that
the woman who manages a household is a
prudent woman.
 3. Definition of the Term “Sage”
• WISDOM:
– mētis (Gk) – implies a complex but very
coherent body of mental attitudes and
intellectual behavior which combine flair,
wisdom, forethought, subtlety in mind,
deception, resourcefulness, vigilance,
opportunism, various skills and
experiences acquired over the years. (CAD)
– hokmâ (Heb) – has incorporated a similar
diversity of meanings.
 3. Definition of the Term “Sage”
• WISDOM:
– Hence, though sporadically and meagerly, it
can be attested that female “sages” or its
counterpart existed.
– It is therefore within the parameters of the
manifold connotations of the wise/wisdom
vocabulary that the activities of the female
“sage” are accessible to us in varrying
degrees.
 4. Various Activities of Female
“Sages”
4.1.) As Bureaucrat
4.2.) As Poetess
4.3.) As Scholar
4.4.) As Performing Artist
4.5.) As Healers
4.6.) As Mantics
4.7.) As Counselors
4.1. As Bureaucrat
– The bureaucrat is connected
with two great organizations:
• Palace
• Temple
– These two require mastery of
reading and writing.
– Evidence: A goddess Nisaba
• The patron goddess of scribes and
scribal art
• A lady with cunning intelligence
4.1. As Bureaucrat
– Evidence/ reference to female scribe:
• She was a slave girl who belong to the temple
force.
• The “naditu” women of the cloister (gagu) of
Sippar who served as scribes (as recorders and
witnesses); daughters of scribes.
• Acted as recorder of and witnesses to the
transactions of naditu women only (During the
Old Babylonian period)
• Naditus also served in other official capacities in
the cloister administration.
• According to the Mari text:
– 10 women did serve as scribes (work in the
harem, probably as slaves or low status)
4.2. As Poetess
– Rarely attested to in the texts.
But there are some considered
as poetess such as:
– Enheduanna:
• High priestess of the moon god
Nanna, the remarkable daughter
of Akkadian ruler Sargon
• She wrote and compiled a
collection of Sumerian hymns to
temples
4.2. As Poetess
– Four centuries later, another
princess/ priestess/poetess was
Ninshatapada
• A daughter of Sin-Kashid who was
founder of Old Babylonian dynasty of
Uruk.
• She composed the letter prayer and
wrote to Rim- Sin of Larsa
• Later this letter became part of the
Scribal curriculum.
– The women of Sumer:
• A moving lament to Ur- Nammu,
composed by his widow.
4.2. As Poetess
– The wife of king Shulgi of
Ur:
• Possible author of a lullaby to
her son, the future king.
– Lullabies and love songs,
domain of women. The
question remains whether
women would have been
able to write down all these?
4.3. As Scholar
– A fragment of the vocabulary
text Proto á= A is known from
its colophon to have been
written by a female scribe
named Belti-remenni.
• She was a nadītu of the Sippar
cloister.
• Probably she wrote an extant
literary tablet.

• The naditu scribes did not only serve the needs of their cloister
nadītus but also other celibates such as the entu priestesses
Enheduanna and Nidhatapada who lived outside of the embroilment
of wifely and motherly demand. They devoted to learning and
scholarship as did many medieval nuns.
4.4. As Performing Artist

– In dance and music

– The playing of complex musical instrument
and the composing of songs as part of
learning.
– The royal and upper class women received
instruction in singing and playing musical
instruments as part of their education.
4.5. As Healers
– Female healer here considered as
informal practitioners to operate within
the home and not fit to our modern
medical knowledge.
– Mesopotamian medicine was a type of
folk medicine which composed of native
herbs of many kinds.
– There were two kinds:
• Scientific (more for male)
• Practical (more for female)
4.5. As Healers
– Very rare reference to female physician (asātu), only
found in:
• In the palace at Larsa (Old Babylonian period)
• In a Mari letter
– The status and training of midwife was undoubtedly
important throughout Mesopotamian history but not
known. In Babylon, they are known as “wise women”
– Late Babylonian poem mentioned the naditu women
who with skill saved the foetus, but it is unknown if the
naditu is a midwife or not.
– Could be equivalent to modern gynecologist/
obstetrician/ Pediatrician…
– Taught by mothers to daughters/ relatives.
4.6. As Mantics
– The rubric of female “sage’ is the
mantic.
– Men: divination and profession of diviner
(baru) are central.
– Diviner’s lore, the wisdom (nemēqu) of
the gods Shamash and Adad, was
closed to women
• Goddess Gula: wise woman, diviner, an
exorcist
4.6. As Mantics
– One old Assyrian reference to a group of female
diviner (bariatu).
• Ninsun, divine mother of Gilgamesh, dream interpreter
• however, this was “more interpretive than technical,” hence
did not require scribal training.
• Goddess Nanshe: patroness of dream interpretation.
– Later Assyrian period: women might have a far
greater propensity for sorcery than do men. A rich
vocabulary exists for witches and sorceresses who
were thought to possess great powers and esoteric
knowledge.
4.7. As Counselors
– Role of women of
intelligence and cunning;
advising and assisting
men in their activities and
enterprise.
– Women of Mari
– Kiru: the princess giving
advice to her father on
political matters.
 5. Female “Sage” in Egypt
• R. J. Williams:
– Girls in Egypt received training in specialized arts like singing,
dancing, and playing of musical instruments.
– Received the same type of education as boys yet no evidence that
they attended schools alongside the boys. Maybe Private tutoring.
• J. Baines
– Not more than 1 percent of the population was literate. Women
were not included because it was presumed.
• C. J. Eyre
– No normal iconographic or textual context in which women would
be presented as writing.
• Betsy M. Bryan
– Some women played typical public roles:
• Hatshepsut – Queen of Egypt (1486-1468 BCE)
• Tiy – Queen and Wife of Amenhotep III
• Nefertiti – 14th Century BCE, Queen of Egypt and Wife of Akhenaton
 5. Female “Sage” in Egypt
• As Bureaucrat ( Baines, Eyre, & Bryan) :
– Are prepared to allow for literate women’s
contribution to “high culture” and accept the
possibility that women wrote letters and
composed poetry.
• As Scribe:
– Goddess Seshat: patroness of scribes and
writing.
• As Performing Artist:
– Songstresses of Hathor, goddess of love.
 5. Female “Sage” in Egypt

• As Healers:
– meager evidence exists. There was a naming of
an overseer female physician – Peseshet.
• As Mantics (and healing):
– Goddess Isis: healed her injured son Horus.
• Refers to herself as the knowing one who was taught by
her father how to dispel the poisonous snake by her oral
powers.
• Diviner and healer in Egyptian society.
6. Conclusions
 7. Guide/Key Questions
• Why is it difficult to ascertain definitively that
there were women “sages”?.
• How would you describe the status of women
in Ancient Mesopotamia?
• What were the different Roles of Women that
we can ascribe as activities of “Sages”?
• Can you find common characteristics among these
roles? Which role could be closest to the truth?
5. Did women “sages” play the same roles as
those in Mesopotamia?
6. What is the relevance of ascribing women as
sages (wisdom figure)?
Maraming Salamat!

Thank you
very much!

Daghang Salamat!