oracles[1467] may be instanced in
Babylonia as well as in Assyria, and we have also references to female
musicians as late as the days of Ashurbanabal. A specially significant
role was played by the priestesses in Ishtar's temple at Erech, and
probably at other places where the cult of the great mother goddess was
carried on. The Ishtar priestess was known by the general term of
Kadishtu,--that is, 'the holy one,'--or Ishtaritum, 'devoted to Ishtar';
but, from the various other names for the sacred harlot that we come
across,[1468] it would appear that the priestesses were divided into
various classes, precisely like the priests. That in the ceremonies of
initiation at Erech, and perhaps elsewhere, some rites were observed
that on the surface appeared obscene is eminently likely; but there is
no evidence that obscene rites, as instanced by Herodotus, formed part
of the _regular_ cult of the goddess. Except in the case of the Ishtar
worship, the general observation may be made that the position of the
priestess is more prominent in the early period of Babylonian history
than in the days when the culture and power of Babylonia and Assyria
reached its zenith.

Sacrifices and Votive Offerings.

The researches of Robertson Smith[1469] and of others have shown that
the oldest Semitic view of sacrifice was that of a meal, shared by the
worshipper with the deity to be honored or propitiated. Dependent as we
are in the case of the Babylonian-Assyrian religion for our knowledge of
sacrifices upon incidental references in historical or religious texts,
it is not possible to say how far the Semitic dwellers of the Euphrates
Valley were influenced by the primitive conception of sacrifice.
Historical and votive inscriptions and a religious literature
belong to a comparatively advanced stage of culture, and earlier views
of sacrifice that may have existed were necessarily modified in the
process of adaptation to later conditions. The organization of an
elaborate cult with priests and numerous temple servitors changes the
sacrifices into a means of income for the temple. The deity's
representatives receive the share originally intended for the deity
himself; and, instead of sanctifying the offering to a god by contact
with the sacred element fire, the temple accepts the offering for its
own use. It is likely, however, that among the Babylonians, as among the
Hebrews, certain parts of the animal which were not fit to eat[1470]
were