Consanguinous Marriages in the Ancient World

Abstract

CONSANGUINOUS marriages are often mentioned in historical and literary texts, as well as in mythologies from the ancient Middle East. They are also found among the Inca dynasty of Peru in the New World. It is proposed to consider certain aspects of these marriages in countries of the ancient Near East and in ancient Greece only. Mesopotamia. Although the ancient cuneiform texts are unfortunately both scanty and badly preserved, we do know that consanguinous marriages were consummated by the deities of ancient Mesopotamia. The great god Enlil committed incest with his mother Ki in order to create life on earth,' and his colleague Enki cohabited with the goddesses Ninmu, Ninkurra and Uttu, who were respectively his daughter, grand-daughter and great-grand-daughter.2 The god Ninurta cohabited with his mother Gula, and normal children resulted from this union. He also had incestuous relationships with his sister Ninudzalli and half-sister Nintulla. The god Tammuz was consort of his sister IMtar. No children were born from these latter unions. It is known that Ninurta was assimilated to the gods Ningirsu and Enlil. All Sumerian deities were anthropomorphic. These Sumerian myths are known from written records dated to the early part of the third millenium B:C., but were probably passed down in oral tradition from much earlier times. These deities had a wide following throughout Mesopotamia for many centuries, and certainly continued to be worshipped there at least until the time of the Persian Empire in the 6th century B.C. Egypt. Consanguinous marriages were also celebrated among the deities of ancient Egypt. The god Shu married his sister Tefnut who gave birth to the twins Geb and Nut. They in turn married and had five normal children. Of considerable importance were the incestuous relationships between Osiris and his sister Isis, and between Set and his sister Nephthys. The Osiris myth was certainly known by the time of the first dynasty of Egypt (c.3000 B.C.),' for Horus, son of Isis and Osiris, was worshipped by tribes in Egypt at that time, while Set was worshipped in an area of Upper Egypt adjacent to the Wadi el Hammamat, one of the principal routes used for trading with ports on the Red Sea.4 It is significant that Horus was soon assimilated to the sun-god Re'. The pharoah was considered to be divine, and funerary boats associated with the graves of the early pharaohs at Sakkara clearly show that even the first pharaoh, Hor-aha,must have accompanied other celestial gods in their journey in a solar boat across the heavens.5 Early records of the pharaohs are incomplete; nevertheless it appears probable that the marriages of the pharaohs of the first and second dynasties were made for political reasons and were not consanguinous, but by the time of the fourth dynasty (c.2600 B.C.) we are informed that consanguinous marriages were being