hieros gamos

hieros gamos
(Greek: "sacred marriage") Sexual relations of fertility deities enacted in myths and rituals, characteristic of societies based on cereal agriculture (e.g., Mesopotamia, Phoenicia, and Canaan).

At least once a year, people dressed as gods engaged in sexual intercourse to guarantee the fertility of the land. The festival began with a procession to the marriage celebration, which was followed by an exchange of gifts, a purification rite, the wedding feast, preparation of the wedding chamber, and a secret nocturnal act of intercourse.

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▪ primitive religion
      (Greek: “sacred marriage”), sexual (sexual intercourse) relations of fertility deities in myths and rituals, characteristic of societies based on cereal agriculture, especially in the Middle East. At least once a year, divine persons (e.g., humans representing the deities) engage in sexual intercourse, which guarantees the fertility of the land, the prosperity of the community, and the continuation of the cosmos.

      As ritually expressed, there are three main forms of the hieros gamos: between god and goddess (most usually symbolized by statues); between goddess and priest-king (who assumes the role of the god); and between god and priestess (who assumes the role of the goddess). In all three forms there is a relatively fixed form to the ritual: a procession that conveys the divine actors to the marriage celebration; an exchange of gifts; a purification of the pair; a wedding feast; a preparation of the wedding chamber and bed; and the secret, nocturnal act of intercourse. In some traditions this appears to have been an actual physical act between sacred functionaries who impersonate the deities; in other traditions it appears to have been a symbolic union. On the following day the marriage and its consequences for the community are celebrated.

      Some scholars have applied the term hieros gamos to all myths of a divine pair (e.g., heaven–earth) whose sexual intercourse is creative. The term, however, should probably be restricted only to those agricultural cultures that ritually reenact the marriage and that relate the marriage to agriculture, as in Mesopotamia, Phoenicia, Canaan, Israel (the Song of Solomon (Solomon, Song of) has been suggested to be a hierogamitic text), Greece, and India.

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  • Hieros gamos — of Hera (shown with Iris) and Zeus, 1900 drawing of a fresco at Pompeii. Hieros gamos or Hierogamy (Greek ἱερὸς γάμος, ἱερογαμία holy marriage ) refers to a sexual ritual that plays out a marria …   Wikipedia

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  • Hieros gamos — Hierogamia de Zeus y Hera …   Wikipedia Español

  • Hieros Gamos — Bei der Hierogamie (griechisch ιερογαμία, ierogamía, „die heilige Hochzeit“) oder dem Hieros gamos (griechisch ιερός γάμος, ierós gámos, wiederum „die heilige Hochzeit“) handelt es sich um einen religiösen Ritus, der nach Art eines christlichen… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Hieros gamos — Bei der Hierogamie (griechisch ιερογαμία, ierogamía, „die heilige Hochzeit“) oder dem Hieros gamos (griechisch ιερός γάμος, ierós gámos, wiederum „die heilige Hochzeit“) handelt es sich um einen religiösen Ritus, der nach Art eines christlichen… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Hieros Gamos — Hiérogamie Jupiter et Junon, estampe d Agostino Carracci Hieros Gamos ou Hiérogamie, (du Grec hieros = sacrée et gamos = mariage, accouplement), fait référence à une union sacrée, à un accouplement (parfois mariage) entre deux divinités ou entre… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Hieros gamos — Hiérogamie Jupiter et Junon, estampe d Agostino Carracci Hieros Gamos ou Hiérogamie, (du Grec hieros = sacrée et gamos = mariage, accouplement), fait référence à une union sacrée, à un accouplement (parfois mariage) entre deux divinités ou entre… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Gamos — (gr.), 1) Hochzeit; 2) Hochzeitschmaus. G. hieros, heiliges Hochzeitfest; Fest, dem Zeus u. der Here gefeiert …   Pierer's Universal-Lexikon

  • Иерогамия — Hieros gamos of Гера (shown with Ирида) и Зевс. Зарисовка 1900 г. фрески из Помпей. Иерогамия ( …   Википедия

  • Hierogamie — Die Hierogamie (griechisch ιερογαμία, ierogamía, „die heilige Hochzeit“) oder dem Hieros gamos (griechisch ιερός γάμος, ierós gámos, wiederum „die heilige Hochzeit“, auch Theogamie) beschreibt die Hochzeit zweier Götter[1]. Manchmal wird der… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

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