Hollywood Ending

Stories are Truer than The Truth.

....with a Hollywood Ending.

“Why do we hate those guys [The Police] when we put them there?

Why do we hate ourselves for creating this society?

Why are so many people in America obsessed with Marilyn Manson; corpses; dead people; misery; John Wayne Gacy… John Wayne Gacy’s a fucking prick. Y’know, he killed a few people and did some shitty paintings. What’s that? Why should we be engaged with that? And yet that has become.. what, “Apocalypse Culture“?

Where do we go from there, that isn’t that? Where do we go that isn’t playing with our own shite?

The Answer… back to the individual.

If the individual doesn’t work – if Patrick McGoohan was wrong; Number 6 was wrong to stand on that beach screaming “I am not a number, I am a free man!” – what do we have left?

Because ultimately the guy who’s not a number and not a free man experiences neurosis, the longer he goes down that path. I’m sure there’s a bunch of people here, like me, who eventually… you’ve worked your way through this stuff; you’ve read the books, you’ve done this shit; you’ve taken the drugs; you’ve been there, you’ve seen it. We’ve all experienced enlightenment in little bits. You know it’s out there; you know this stuff is True: the consensus doesn’t explain our lives. 

But what does?”

Let Me Tell You a Story.....

I, Herodotus of Halicarnassus, am here setting forth my history, that time may not draw the color from what man has brought into being, nor those great and wonderful deeds manifested by both the Greeks and the barbarians, fail of their report, and together, with all of this, the reason why they fought one another.

"Don't you remember what I said about The Truth? 

Stories are Truer than The Truth."

It turns out “Jest” doesn’t mean “Joke” —

A Jester is a disguised Bard passing for a Fool.

It turns out “Jest” means “narrative” — or “history”, or “ideology”, or “WorldView”.

" And I want to quote for you, to you, from the oldest history book in Western Civilisation. 

Not just because it’s a book, but I think this is a point one can make about any history course, it doesn’t matter what the subject is. 

It can be Social History, Political History, Intellectual History, any history. 

It can be the History of Ancient Rome, it could be Post-1945 United States, it could be any history. 

But any history course ought to do the two things that Herodotus named in the opening sentence of the oldest history book we have. 

This is Herodotus, The History. 

Isn’t it great when you’re writing the first book, what are you going to call it? The History! 

No subtitles, nothing fancy, just — 

“I, Herodotus of Halicarnassus, am here setting forth my history, that time may not draw the color from what man has brought into being, nor those great and wonderful deeds manifested by both the Greeks and the barbarians, fail of their report, and together, with all of this, the reason why they fought one another.”

I don’t know how closely you listened to that, but what has Herodotus just said? He’s basically said history is two things. 

It’s The Story, it’s the color, it’s the great deeds, it’s the narrative that takes you somewhere; 

But it’s also The Reason Why, it’s also the explanations. 

That’s what history does. It’s supposed to do both of those things. 

Some of us are more into the analysis, and we’re not so fond of Story. 

Some of us just love stories and don’t care about the analysis — 

“oh, stop giving me all that interpretation, just tell me the good story again.” 

This is what goes on, of course, out in public history all the time: 

“just tell us the old stories and just sing us the old songs, make us feel good again. 

Stop interpreting, you historians, and worst of all, stop revising.” 

You notice how that word ‘revision’ has crept into our political culture? 

When politicians don’t like the arguments of people who disagree with them they accuse them of being revisionist historians. 

It was even a poll-tested word for a while when Condoleezza Rice was using it. 

“Revisionist, revisionist.” 

As though all history isn’t revisionist.

My favorite story about revisionism is my buddy, Eric Foner, was on a talk show once. 

About 1992. He was on one of those shouting talk shows with Lynne Cheney, who at that — Dick Cheney’s wife — who was then head of the NEH. 

And this was a time — you won’t remember this — we were having this national brouhaha over what were called National History Standards. 

And Lynne Cheney, if you remember, a real critic of these National History Standards. She didn’t particularly like some of the ideas that the historians were coming up with. 

So on this talk show — it was Firing Line where you get two people on and they just shout at each other for an hour, or a half hour, and the producers love it. 

And Foner is pretty good at rapid fire coming back, he’s pretty good at it. 

Anyway they had this set-to and she kept accusing him and other historians of being “revisionist.” 

And Eric says the next morning he got a phone call from a reporter at Newsweek and she said, 

“Professor Foner, when did all this revisionism begin?” 

And Foner said, 

“Probably with Herodotus.” 

And the Newsweek reporter said, 

“Do you have his phone number...?” 

Never underestimate the ignorance of the American people.

 H.L. Mencken

The Dreamer and The Dream

'I want to quote for you, to you, from the oldest history book in Western Civilization. 

Not just because it's a book -

but I think this is a point one can make about any history course, it doesn't matter what the subject is. 

It can be Social History, Political History, Intellectual History, any history. 
It can be the History of Ancient Rome, it could be Post-1945 United States, it could be any history. 

But any history course ought to do the two things that Herodotus named in the opening sentence of the oldest history book we have. 

This is Herodotus, 
The History. 

Isn't it great when you're writing The First Book, 
what are you going to call it? 

The History; 

no subtitles, nothing fancy, just-- 

"I, Herodotus of Halicarnassus, am here setting forth my history, that time may not draw the color from what Man has brought into being, nor those great and wonderful deeds manifested by both the Greeks and the barbarians, fail of their report, and together, with all of this, the reason why they fought one another."

I don't know how closely you listened to that, but what has Herodotus just said? 

He's basically said 

History is two things. 

It's The Story, it's the color, it's the great deeds, it's the narrative that takes you somewhere; 

but it's also The Reason Why,

it's also the explanations. 

That's what history does. 

It's supposed to do both of those things. 


Destiny is Male,

Fate is Female

JOSEPH, 

Father of Ben :

I heard about Quentin Swofford. 

I'm sorry.

Benjamin SiSKO : 

Look, Dad, I know I haven't been very good company the last few days.

JOSEPH, 

Father of Ben : 

I didn't come here to be entertained. 

I came to see you and Jake.

Benjamin SiSKO : 

Well, you certainly picked an interesting time to take your first trip away from Earth.

JOSEPH, 

Father of Ben : 

Well, I figured it was now or never. 

Besides, I've been worried about you. 

Last couple of times we've talked it seemed like you were carrying the weight of the entire Alpha Quadrant on your shoulders.

Benjamin SiSKO : 

Sometimes it certainly feels that way, Dad.

JOSEPH, 

Father of Ben : 

Just say it, son.

Benjamin SiSKO : 

I don't know how much more I can take. 

I don't know how many more friends I can lose. 

Every time I achieve a real victory, something like this happens and everything seems to turn to ashes.

JOSEPH, 

Father of Ben : 

So what do you want to do?

Benjamin SiSKO : 

Maybe it's time for me to step down, let someone else make the tough calls.

JOSEPH, 

Father of Ben : 

I see. 

No one is indispensable, son. 

Not even you. 

Whatever decision you make, I'll support. 

Of course, if Quentin Swofford was here I'd bet he'd have a few things to say to you.

Benjamin SiSKO : 
But he's not here, 

and that's The Whole Point.

JOSEPH, 

Father of Ben : 

I'd say you have some thinking to do, 

and I've got a dinner date with my grandson,

so you'd better get to it.

[Magazine office]

KAY:
What about, 

It Came From Outer Space.

JULIUS:
It's a smashing title. 

Wish I'd thought of it.

(Benny is let in.)

HERBERT:
Hey, Benny. 

Long time no see.

BENNY, 

Meaning 'Son of' :
Is it here?

JULIUS:
Not yet. 

Pabst is still at the printers.

KAY:
We're waiting for his return with baited breath.

ALBERT:
We heard that you were

KAY:
We heard they beat the hell out of you.

BENNY,
Meaning 'Son of' : 

I'm okay.

ALBERT:
Glad to see that you're, you know, up and about.

DARLENE:
Tell him the good news, Albert.

ALBERT:
Oh, it's nothing.

KAY:
Nothing? 

He sells a novel to Gnome Press 

and he says it's nothing.

BENNY, 

Meaning 'Son of' :
A novel. Albert, congratulations!

ALBERT:
Thank you.

BENNY, 

Meaning 'Son of' :
Robots?

ALBERT:
What else?

(Pabst enters.)

JULIUS:
It's about time.

HERBERT:
Douglas? Magazine?

PABST:
There isn't any magazine. 

Not this month anyway. 

Mister Stone had the entire run pulped.

BENNY, 

Meaning 'Son of' :
He can't do that.

PABST: 

Oh, he can and he did. 

He believes, quote, 

‘This issue did not live up to our usual high standards’, 

unquote.

BENNY, 

Meaning 'Son of' :
What's that supposed to mean?

PABST:
It means he didn't like it. 

Which means the public will simply going to have to get along without any Incredible Tales this month.

BENNY, 

Meaning 'Son of' :
What exactly is it that he did not like? 

The artwork, the layout? 

What high standards is he talking about?

KAY:
Take it easy, Benny.

BENNY, 

Meaning 'Son of' :
No, it's about my story, isn't it? 

That's what this is all about. 

He didn't want to publish my story and we all know why. 

Because My Hero is a coloured man.

PABST:
Hey! This magazine belongs to Mister Stone. 

If he doesn't want to publish this month, 

we don't publish this month. 

End of story.

BENNY, 

Meaning 'Son of' :
That doesn't make it right and you know it.

PABST:
Don't tell me what I know. 

Besides, it's not about What's Right, it's about What Is. 

And I'm afraid I've got some more bad news for you, Benny. 

Mister Stone has decided that your services are no longer required here.

HERBERT:
What!

BENNY, 

Meaning 'Son of' :
You're firing me?

PABST:
I have no choice, Benny. 

It's his decision.

BENNY, 

Meaning 'Son of' :
Well, you can't fire me. 

I quit. 

To hell with you, and to hell with Stone.

JULIUS:
Try to stay calm, Benny.

BENNY, 

Meaning 'Son of' :
No. I'm tired of being calm. 

Calm never gotten me a damn thing.

PABST:
I'm warning you, Benny. 

If you don't stop this I'm going to call The Police.

BENNY, 

Meaning 'Son of' :
You go ahead! Call them! 

Call anybody you want. 

They can't do anything to me. 

Not anymore. 

And nor can any of you. 

I am a Human Being, damn it. 

You can deny me all you want but you cannot deny Ben Sisko. 

He exists! 

That Future, that Space Station, all those people, they exist in here. 

In My Mind, I created it. 

And every one of you know it. 

You read it. 

It's here. 

You hear what I'm telling you? 

You can pulp A Story 

but you cannot destroy An Idea. 

Don't you understand? 

That's Ancient Knowledge. 

You cannot destroy An Idea. 

That Future, I created it, 

and it's Real. 

Don't you understand? 

It is Real! 

I created it and it's Real! 

It's Real! Oh, God.


(Benny collapses, sobbing.)

[New York Street]


AMBULANCE MAN:
Easy.

(Benny is wheeled out to a very old ambulance even by 1953 standards.)

AMBULANCE MAN:
One, two three.

[Ambulance]

(Benny is in Starfleet uniform. He puts on his glasses.)

PREACHER:
Rest easy, Brother Benny. 

You have walked in The Path of The  Prophets. 

There is no greater glory.

BENNY, 

Meaning 'Son of' :
Tell me, please. Who am I?

PREACHER:
Don't you know?

BENNY, 

Meaning 'Son of' :
Tell me.

PREACHER:
You're The Dreamer and The Dream.

(There are stars streaking past the rear windows.) 




[Isolation Ward]


(Benny Russell has been writing on the walls of his padded cell)

WYKOFF:
I said, put down the pencil. Put it down, Mister Russell.


BENNY, 

Meaning 'Son of' :
But I haven't finished my story yet. Captain Sisko has found the Orb of the Emissary. 
But he hasn't opened it yet.

WYKOFF:
Mister Russell, you promised not to write on the walls.

BENNY, 

Meaning 'Son of' :
No one will give me any paper.

WYKOFF:
I thought we agreed that you weren't going to write at all. That you needed to rest.

BENNY, 

Meaning 'Son of' :
No, I don't need to rest. I need to tell my stories.

WYKOFF:
You were doing so well, Benny. 
Making real progress. 
We were all so proud of you.

BENNY, 

Meaning 'Son of' :
I need to go home. 

I don't belong here.

WYKOFF:
We're going to send you home as soon as you're well.

BENNY, 

Meaning 'Son of' :
I'm fine.

WYKOFF:
But you're not fine. 

People who are fine don't write on walls.

BENNY, 

Meaning 'Son of' :
Then get me a typewriter.

WYKOFF: 

You're not listening.
The stories have got to stop, Benny. 

They're too dangerous.

BENNY, 

Meaning 'Son of' :
Too dangerous to whom?

WYKOFF:
To you. This world you've created, this Deep Space Nine. Captain Sisko and Kira and the others. None of it is real.

BENNY, 

Meaning 'Son of' :
Oh, it is to me. 

If I don't finish My Story, if Captain Sisko doesn't open the Orb box, then he cannot contact the Prophets.

WYKOFF:
It doesn't matter, Benny. 

The Prophets don't exist either. 

They're all figments of your imagination. 

Get rid of them. 

It's the only way that you're going to get well. 

Now give me the pencil, Benny.

BENNY, 

Meaning 'Son of' :
But My Story!

WYKOFF:
It's over. Just let it go.


[Desert]

(Sisko is sitting with his hands on the box.)

EZRI DAX, 

or ENKIDU, The First Friend :
Benjamin, what are you waiting for? 

Open it. That's why we're here, right?

JAKE, 

Son of Ben Sisko :
He can't hear you.

(Jake puts his hands on his father's and is thrown backwards)

EZRI DAX, 

or ENKIDU, The First Friend :
Jake! Jake, are you all right?

JAKE, 

Son of Ben Sisko :
Yeah.


[Isolation Ward]

(The doctor is offering Benny a roller of white paint.)

WYKOFF:
Take it, Benny.

BENNY, 

Meaning 'Son of' :
What for?

WYKOFF:
I'm offering you an opportunity few people ever get. 
You can wipe away all your mistakes.

BENNY, 

Meaning 'Son of' :
You want me to paint over My Story?

WYKOFF:
They're only words.
Meaningless words that no one cares about.
Get rid of them and you can walk out of here a free man.

(The last line on the wall says 'Sisko reaches for the Orb box and...' )

WYKOFF:
Go ahead. 
Save yourself.

(Benny holds the paint roller close to the writing.)

[Desert]

EZRI DAX, 

or ENKIDU, The First Friend :
Ben?

Ben SISKO : 

Got to cover it up. 

Bury it.

EZRI DAX, 

or ENKIDU, The First Friend : 

Ben, what are you doing?

[Isolation Ward]

WYKOFF:
It's for your own good, Benny. 

Wipe away the words. 

Destroy them before they destroy you.

[Desert]

EZRI DAX, 

or ENKIDU, The First Friend :
Ben, stop.


(Sisko raises his shovel to smash down on the box.)

EZRI DAX, 

or ENKIDU, The First Friend :
No!

Ben SISKO : 

Get out of my way.

EZRI DAX, 

or ENKIDU, The First Friend :
Ben, you came here to find The Prophets, remember?

Ben SISKO :
Move!

EZRI DAX, 

or ENKIDU, 

The First Friend :
No, listen to me. 

You promised Jadzia you would make things right.

Well now is your chance. 

Open the box, Ben.

(Sisko raises the shovel, Benny holds the roller. They both drop them.)

[Isolation Ward]

WYKOFF:
No!

(Benny punches Wykoff and the male nurse, picks up his pencil and writes 'Opens it.')

[Desert]

(Sisko obeys. The glow of the crystal orb shoots of into space, then)

[Limbo]

(Sisko watches the energy shoots past DS9 and WHOOSH! the wormhole reopens.)


[Limbo]

Ben SISKO :
Show yourselves. 

I've come to speak with you.

[Sisko's restaurant]

(The baseball rolls off the piano and is picked up by)

SARAH, 

meaning 'My Princess' : 

The Sisko has completed His Task.

Ben SISKO : 

Sarah?

SARAH, 

meaning 'My Princess' :
The Kosst Amojan no longer threatens us.

Ben SISKO :
You mean the Pah wraith? 

It's no longer in the wormhole?

SARAH, 

meaning 'My Princess' :
I have cast it out.

Ben SISKO :
Is that why The Prophets sent me to Tyree? 

To release you from The Orb?

SARAH, 

meaning 'My Princess' :
The Kosst Amojan tried to stop you with a False Vision. 

But you did not waver. 

You fulfilled Your Destiny.

Ben SISKO :
My Destiny? 

You talk as if My Life was over.

SARAH, 

meaning 'My Princess' :
The Sisko must still face many Tasks.

Ben SISKO :
I don't suppose you'll tell me what they are.

[Sisko's restaurant - alley]

SARAH, 

meaning 'My Princess' :
The Emissary is Corporeal. Linear.

Ben SISKO :
Linear or not, I need some answers.

SARAH, 

meaning 'My Princess' :
The Sisko is intrusive.

Ben SISKO :
Are you Sarah Sisko? 

Are you My Mother?

SARAH, 

meaning 'My Princess' :
Sarah Sisko was corporeal. 

For a time, I shared her existence.

[Sisko's restaurant]

Ben SISKO :
You took over her body, made sure she married My Father so that she'd give birth to Me.

SARAH, 

meaning 'My Princess' :
The Sisko is Necessary.

Ben SISKO :
And once you didn't need her anymore, you left her. 

No wonder she walked out on My Father. 

She didn't chose him, you did.

SARAH, 

meaning 'My Princess' :
The Sisko would prefer different answers.

Ben SISKO :
What you're telling me isn't easy to accept. 

You arranged my birth. 

I exist because of you?

SARAH, 

meaning 'My Princess' :
The Sisko's Path is a difficult one.

Ben SISKO :
But Why Me? 

Why did it have to be Me?

SARAH, 

meaning 'My Princess' : 

Because it could be 

No One Else.

[Desert]

(Sisko closes the Orb box.)

EZRI DAX, 

or ENKIDU, The First Friend :
Benjamin? That must have been some Orb experience.

Ben SISKO :
I'll tell you about it someday.

 

We Have a History

Him and Wolverine —They Have a History Together.

“

“And I want to quote for you, to you, from the oldest history book in Western civilization. Not just because it's a book....  Any history course ought to do the two things that Herodotus named in the opening sentence of the oldest history book we have. 

This is Herodotus, The History. Isn't it great when you're writing the first book, what are you going to call it? “The History” — no subtitles, nothing fancy, just--

“The History.”

"I, Herodotus of Halicarnassus, am here setting forth MY History, that time may not draw the color from what Man has brought into being, nor those great and wonderful deeds manifested by both the Greeks AND the barbarians, fail of their report, and together, with all of this — 

The Reason WHY They fought one another."

"I Know What it Says, What Does it Mean ?" - An Answer to Sam Harris and Movement Atheism

"I Know What it Says , What Does it Mean ?"

Sam Harris can't seem to comprehend the distinction between what is True and What is Factual.

Between what is Story (Mythos) and what is (or what purports to be) History (Historia - "I, Herodotus of Helicarnassas, am here setting forth forth MY History, that Time may not draw the colur from what Man has brought into being....")

Religious Stories, Folklore  and Myths  Were Never/Are Not/Will Not Ever be intented to provide a  paleo-scientific, rational Factual Description for the Phenomenon of Life and Creation - not ever, in any culture (save for the most baroque and self-deluded  elites and the administrative, managerial class beholden to them) - their fuction is to Explain these things in such a way as to render them Understandable to both The individual within a particular Community, and to The Community itself, by virtue of the establishment of Narrative and Continuity, mediated according to a Higher, SupraHuman, Supernatural Hierarchy and Codes of Law


he Atheists always alwaya mis-state or misunderstand, or at any rate habitually mischaracterise the problem with rejecting an externally imposed and mediated system of Eternal Values, why that implies a moral abscess or ethical vaccuum in their doctrinal beliefs, by choosing not to believe in the teachings of their native tradition -

Nobody needs the instruction of a system mythic moral to educate them why not commit murder (except for psychopaths, who will ignore the lesson anyway, provided circumstances exist sufficient to convince them they will not likely get caught) - Human Beings are hardwired not to kill other human beings in almost every instance, and to take every alternative measure possible not to have to take human life, even up to the point where the indiviual's own life is placed in danger by their failure to murder (unless/until that protection has been bypassed or systematically dismantled over an extended period of time).


What Human Beings have to be taught is Why They Ought Not Allow Another Person to Suffer and Die, if they have the power to act and relieve them of at least some measure of their agonies, when it is clearly not necessary for them to suffer so.

Barbarian History

"I, Herodotus of Halicarnassus, am here setting forth my History, that Time may not draw the color from what Man has brought into being, nor those great and wonderful deeds manifested by both The Greeks and The Barbarians, fail of their report, and together, with all of this, the reason why They fought one another."

In a speech in 1878--like many other speeches he gave in the last third of his life--Frederick Douglass was at that point, 1878, already fed up with Lost Cause arguments about what the war had been about.

He was also already, early in the process, fed up with the ways in which Americans were beginning to reconcile this bloody, terrible conflict around the mutual valor of soldiers, and in his view forgetting what the whole terrible thing might have even been about. 

And at the end of a magnificent speech he gave at a veterans reunion he said this: 

"The Civil War"--this is Frederick Douglass--"was not a fight between rapacious birds and ferocious beasts, a mere display of brute courage and endurance, it was a war between men of thought, as well as of action, and in dead earnest for something beyond the battlefield." He went on and on and on then to declare that the war had been about ideas, and he described the difference between those ideas, as he put it, was the difference between, quote, 

"Barbarism and Civilization."

Chapter 1. Introduction: The Southern Memory of the Civil War

Professor David Blight: Well, go South with me today. We're going to take up this question initially of — it's an old, old, old American question — how peculiar, or distinctive, or different is the American South? That used to be a question you could ask in quite some comfort. The "Dixie difference," as a recent book title called it, or "Dixie rising" as another recent book title called it. 

The South, of course, is many, many, many things and many, many, many peoples. There are so many South's today that it has rendered this question in some ways almost irrelevant, but, in other ways, of course not. 

We still keep finding our presidential elections won or lost in the South. Name me a modern American president who won the presidency without at least some success in the states of the old Confederacy. Look at the great realignments in American political history. They've had a great deal to do with the way the South would go, or parts of the South would go. 

We're on the verge now of the first southern primary in this year's election, in South Carolina, and everybody is wondering, is there a new modern South Carolina or not?


Now, this question is fun to have fun with in some ways because it's fraught with stereotypes, isn't it? The South: hot, slow, long vowels, great storytellers, and so on. Oh, and they love violence and football and stockcar racing, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Well I grew up in Michigan and I can assure you that Michiganders love all those things too and probably even more. But the idea of Southern stereotypes is very, very old. It isn't a product of the Civil War by any means. 

The South as an idea, the South and its distinctiveness was very much there even in the Colonial Period. Travelers from England and elsewhere, France, who would come to the American colonies and would travel throughout the colonies, would often comment on this, that somehow Southerners were different culturally, attitudinally, behaviorally.

And none other than Thomas Jefferson himself left this famous description of characterizations of Southerners and Northerners. He wrote this in the mid-1780s. He was writing to a foreign — a French — correspondent. And Thomas Jefferson described the people of the North — this was in the 1780s now, this is before the cotton boom and all that — he described the people of the North this way. 

Jefferson: "Northerners are cool, sober, laborious, persevering, independent, jealous of their own liberties, chicaning, superstitious, and hypocritical in their religion." Take that Yankees. 

But Southerners, he said, "they are fiery, voluptuous, indolent, unsteady, independent, zealous of their own liberties" — he changed jealous to zealous there. If we're doing close readings we might go into that for twenty minutes, but we're not. He's not over: "zealous of their own liberties but trampling on those of others, generous, candid and without attachment or pretensions to any religion but that of their own heart." 

Now we can debate what Jefferson got right or wrong there, or what's held up, but do note how he said both sides were either jealous or zealous of their own liberties. That could be an epigraph on this course, if you like, because in the end when this Civil War will finally come both sides will say over and over and over again that they are only fighting for liberty. 

Everybody in the Civil War will say they're fighting for liberty.

In one of the greatest books ever written on the South, by a Southerner, in particular Wilbur Cash's great classic in 1940 called The Mind of the South, he did something similar to Jefferson, although he's focusing only on Southerners here. Cash was a great journalist, intellectual historian in his own right, deeply critical of his beloved South. In fact it was Cash who wrote a book called The Mind of the South in which he argued, in part, that the South had no mind. He didn't really mean it. He said Southerners are "proud, brave, honorable by its" — The South is "proud, brave, honorable by its lights, courteous, personally generous, loyal, swift to act, often too swift, but signally effective, sometimes terrible in its actions. Such was the South at its best," said Cash, "and such at its best it remains today." 

Then comes a "but." But the South, he says, is also characterized by, quote, "violence, intolerance, aversion, suspicion toward new ideas, an incapability for analysis, an inclination to act from feeling rather than from thought, attachment to fictions and false values, above all too great attachment to racial values and a tendency to justify cruelty and injustice."

Zuul

THERE IS NO DANA ONLY ZUUL

"The Babylonians have one most shameful custom. Every woman born in the country must once in her life go and sit down in the precinct of Venus, and there consort with a stranger. Many of the wealthier sort, who are too proud to mix with the others, drive in covered carriages to the precinct, followed by a goodly train of attendants, and there take their station. But the larger number seat themselves within the holy enclosure with wreaths of string about their heads- and here there is always a great crowd, some coming and others going; lines of cord mark out paths in all directions the women, and the strangers pass along them to make their choice. A woman who has once taken her seat is not allowed to return home till one of the strangers throws a silver coin into her lap, and takes her with him beyond the holy ground. When he throws the coin he says these words- "The goddess Mylitta prosper thee." (Venus is called Mylitta by the Assyrians.) The silver coin may be of any size; it cannot be refused, for that is forbidden by the law, since once thrown it is sacred. The woman goes with the first man who throws her money, and rejects no one. When she has gone with him, and so satisfied the goddess, she returns home, and from that time forth no gift however great will prevail with her. Such of the women as are tall and beautiful are soon released, but others who are ugly have to stay a long time before they can fulfil the law. Some have waited three or four years in the precinct.[*] A custom very much like this is found also in certain parts of the island of Cyprus.

Such are the customs of the Babylonians generally. There are likewise three tribes among them who eat nothing but fish. These are caught and dried in the sun, after which they are brayed in a mortar, and strained through a linen sieve. Some prefer to make cakes of this material, while others bake it into a kind of bread."

* This unhallowed custom is mentioned among the abominations of thereligion of the Babylonians ** in the book of Baruch (vi. 43).

** Sumerian, Not Babylonian.

Did Prostitution Really Exist in the Temples of Antiquity?

"Holy harlots" in Jerusalem, temple sex in the service of Aphrodite? Many ancient authors describe sacred prostitution in drastic terms. Are the accounts nothing but legends? Historians are searching for the kernel of truth behind the reports.

Matthias Schulz

Sex in the Service of Aphrodite

Corbis

Friday, 3/26/2010   03:13 PM 

The "ugliest custom" in Babylon, the historian Herodotus wrote (who is believed to have lived between circa 490 to 425 B.C.), was the widespread practice of prostitution in the Temple of Ishtar. Once in their lifetimes, all women in the country were required to sit in the temple and "expose themselves to a stranger" in return for money.

"Rich and haughty" women, the ancient Greek historian railed, arrived in "covered chariots."

The Persians on the Black Sea were apparently involved in similarly nefarious activities. According to the Greek geographer Strabo, "virgin daughters," hardly 12 years old, were dedicated to cult prostitution. "They treat their lovers with such friendliness that they even entertain them."

There are many such reports from classical antiquity. Tribes from Sicily to Thebes are believed to have indulged in perverse religious customs.

The Jews were also involved in such practices. There are about a dozen passages in the Old Testament that revolve around "Qadeshes," a word for female and male cult practitioners. The Bible calls them "lemans" and "catamites." In the Fifth Book of Moses, male prostitutes are prohibited from donating their "dogs' money" to the House of Yahweh.

Twentieth-century researchers eagerly seized on the references, which were often mysterious. Soon it was considered a fact that priests in the Eastern World performed forced defloration. It was said that there was "dowry prostitution" and "sexual copulation at the cult site."

Temple sex, according to the "Encyclopedia of Theology and the Church," was a "moral and hygienic plague spot on the body of the people."

But is this true? More and more academics are now questioning the erotic fables of the ancients.

Were Erotic Tales Exaggerated?

Newly discovered cuneiform tablets paint a more defused picture, and it is becoming increasingly clear that the academics of earlier decades exaggerated the subject. For example, there is not a single piece of evidence proving that the ritual of forced defloration existed.

A fraction of female gender researchers take a more radical view. They dispute holy prostitution altogether, calling the whole thing a pack of lies.

According to a new book on the subject, it all began when a few Greek writers concocted defamatory, dirty customs about foreign peoples, as evidence of their moral "damnability." In the modern age, the author writes, this filth developed into a "research myth."

Julia Assante, an American scholar of the ancient Orient and the leader of the movement, is convinced that sacred whores are merely products of "male fantasy."

But for moderate scholars, this interpretation goes too far. Although they also question some of the overblown academic opinions of the past, they insist that the phenomenon existed. They believe that there were once:

Temples that operated brothels on the side; 

Temples in which girls held the highest offices of the priesthood, even before their first menstruation; 

Professional harlots who donated their own money to cult sites, such as a site devoted to the goddess "Aphrodite Porne."

A bitter debate is unfolding, as Assyriologists with feminist leanings squabble with old-school professors. While the former consistently denounce the theories of temple prostitution as nothing but lies, the latter, citing Sumerian grammar, seek to defend their supposedly "patriarchal perspective."

Street Prostitution in Ancient Times

There is, however, agreement on the subject of ordinary street prostitution in ancient times. Wearing garish makeup and yellow shawls, the whores of Athens advertised their charms at the foot of the Acropolis. Special "flute girls" offered to play the aulos for their customers before boldly getting down to business.

Rome's street prostitutes charged four aces (the equivalent of about €10, or $14). Messalina, a famous call girl, became empress when she married the Emperor Claudius.

Page 2 of 3

Sex in the Service of Aphrodite

Part 2: Mesopotamia Was Particularly Known for its Loose Morals

Corbis

Friday, 3/26/2010   03:13 PM 

The pious land of the Pyramids also offered sinful pleasures. Its prostitutes rubbed ointment onto their customers' bodies. "Your phallus is in the Chenemet women," an ancient papyrus text reads. "A man can copulate better than a donkey. It is only his purse that holds him back."

Mesopotamia was particularly known for its loose morals. A whore named Shamhat ("The Voluptuous One"), who appears in the Gilgamesh epic, beguiles the wild man Enkidu: "She unclutched her bosom, exposed her sex, and he took in her voluptuousness."

There were few objections to the profession in the Euphrates Valley. A clay tablet tells the story of a young woman who receives her customers in the house of her parents. She was paid with the meat of a piglet.

The Whore of Babylon

But what happened at the holy sites? What happened behind the walls of the Temple of Ishtar? This is a source of contention among scholars.

The Orient devoted enormous buildings to its goddess of sex and love. Hymns praised her as a "Mistress of Women" with "seductive charms." "In lips she is sweet; life is in her mouth" -- Whore of Babylon.

The Ishtar cult soon spread to the north, first to Cyprus, where Greek settlers came into contact with the goddess and renamed her Aphrodite. According to Greek myth, the beautiful Aphrodite rose from a bloody spot in the sea, where the water was colored red and full of sperm. It was the spot where Cronos, the ruler of the Titans, had thrown his father's severed genitalia into the sea.

The goddess, "born of the sea foam," was never innocent, but filled with lust and an orgy of the senses. In Uruk, an orgiastic Carneval-like festival was celebrated in her honor 5,000 years ago. Ancient lists show that female dancers and actresses worked in the Temple of Ishtar.

No Signs of Sex Acts at the Altar

Nevertheless, there are no signs that sex acts and fertility rites took place directly at the altar, as scholars once claimed. "There is no evidence whatsoever of such magical practices," explains Gernot Wilhelm, an Orientalist at Julis Maximilian University in Würzburg, Germany.

Did Herodotus invent his story of forced sex among the women of Babylon? Gender researchers think so.

Nevertheless, there is probably more to the story than meets the eye. The temple of the sex goddess also included a special cult personnel, the "Harimtu," or "prostitutes."

Some time ago, Wilhelm discovered a fascinating legal document. It is about 3,300 years old, and it recounts how a man delivered his own daughter to the Temple of Ishtar to serve as a Harimtu.

According to the document, the man wanted a loan from the priests and was offering his daughter as collateral.

But what exactly did the pawned daughter do for her new employers? Wilhelm speculates that the young girl worked as a prostitute, "but outside the temple."

As evidence, the professor cites the "Book of Baruch" in the Old Testament. It describes prostitutes standing "along the paths" between the dusty houses of Babylon. They too were somehow associated with a sacred organization.

An Academic Dispute

The skeptics are having none of it. Harimtu doesn't mean prostitute, says gender studies scholar Assante. She claims that Assyriologists simply translated the word incorrectly for 150 years.

Instead, says Assante, the word refers to a "single woman," who served as a cultish official and was not part of a male household.

Assante's adversaries cringe at her interpretation, accusing Assante of transferring her own social status into the pre-Christian era.

Her reinterpretation of the word Harimtu doesn't make semantic sense, says economic historian Morris Silver. He insists that the Harimtu were clearly "professional prostitutes with cultic connections," who offered a "sexual service" on behalf of the temple. Priests acted as pimps and collected some of the profits.

These sacred brothels probably also existed in Greece, specifically, as scholars believe, at the Temple of Aphrodite in Corinth. It was perched on a rocky promontory 575 meters (1,890 feet) above the sea.

Sex Workers, Flimsy Dresses, Garish Makeup

It is indisputable that the city itself was a raucous place. Corinth was a hub of maritime trade, with hundreds of ships docked at its jetties. Sex workers, wearing flimsy dresses and garish makeup, were lined up along the docks to offer their charms.

But the temple to the goddess of love, high up on the cliff, also appears to have been a hub of sexual activity. "The Temple of Aphrodite was so rich that it owned more than a thousand temple slaves, courtesans," Strabo writes.

Hordes of sailors and sea captains, "hungry for sex," clambered up to the cliff temple, says British academic Nigel Spivey.

Tanja Scheer, a professor of ancient history at the University of Oldenburg in northern Germany, now proposes a better solution: "The reports of a sacred brothel in Corinth are all based on an ode by Pindar," she explains. Pindar writes that a wealthy Olympic champion dedicated the temple to a "hundred-limbed" throng of prostitutes in 464 B.C.

But, as Scheer points out, it is unlikely that the prostitutes lounged directly at the altar. Instead, she says, the wealthy athlete probably offered the temple financial assistance in the form of female slaves. "The proceeds from the sale of their bodies could serve as a regular and ongoing source of income for the temple."

Scheer's theory is supported by the fact that the Athenian statesman Solon, who established government houses of pleasure in Athens around 590 B.C., imposed taxes on the prostitutes. The city used the revenues to build a temple to the goddess of love.

As a fragment from an old comedy reveals, very young girls apparently lived in the brothel. The text describes the "foals" of Aphrodite standing naked in a line," and notes: "From them, constantly and securely, you may purchase your pleasure for a little coin."

It is also possible that things were even worse for child prostitutes in the ancient world. Some scholars speculate that there may have been sacred sex between children.

Again, the trail leads to Babylon and its 91-meter, pyramid-shaped tower, one of the wonders of the ancient world. According to some sources, there was a shrine at the top of the tower that contained a bed, where a chosen girl slept at night, constantly prepared for a "sacred wedding" -- the symbolic sex act with the god Marduk.

Child Abuse on the Nile?

Farther afield, in the main temple of Thebes, in the land of the Pharaohs, there was a "godly consort of Amun."

This priesthood was occupied by "a maiden of greatest beauty and most illustrious family," Strabo writes, "and she prostitutes herself, and cohabits with whatever men she wishes until the natural cleansing of her body takes place" (menstruation).

Child abuse on the Nile? There are many historical clues that have led to speculation among academics, particularly now that a new document has fueled the debate even further.

It is a worn fragment of an Egyptian scroll, which also addresses the subject of young priestesses.

According to the text, girls are permitted to work in the temple until their first menstruation. After that, however, "they are cast out from their duties."

Translated from the German by Christopher Sultan