The Whore of Astarte
Keywords: The, Astarte, of, Whore,
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Now that she might serve as a temple prostitute herself, Tia wasn't sure if there wasn't something wonderfully exciting about it in a wicked sort of way. On the one hand she was horrified, but on the other... To be the conduit of a Goddess, to feel her power and beauty in your own body, that was something she was frankly quite curious about. She didn't reject it out of hand as Kheneb thought she did.
Now, walking along with her noble elder brother, dressed in her new things and made-up by Hathor's own priests, she felt very beautiful and desirable. Cosmetics and perfume were also sacred to Hathor, and there was no doubt in Tia's mind that she was one of the most beautiful women in the entire town. The thought of sex with a total stranger-- someone strong and handsome and exotic--was not unappealing. It almost seemed like her due.
They turned off the side street and headed west towards the Avenue of Osiris that ran along the banks of the Nile, just in time to see the last edge of the sun sink below the vividly green palms on the far side of the river, flooding the facades of the buildings with fiery light. The moment of sundown always moved an Egyptian's heart, and the party paused while Kheneb pronounced a quick thanksgiving and prayer for the safe journey of Ra through the subterranean land of Duad below their feet. As always, darkness fell as quickly as the sun, and before they had gone very far, two of the guards trotted off into a beer-shop to borrow a flame for the lamps they carried.
"Tia," Kheneb said tenderly, "You do not have to do anything you don't want to do, you know that, don't you?"
"Of course I do, my brother."
He stared at her, apparently waiting for her to tell him that she was unwilling to go through with this, but Tia just looked with perfect equanimity across the tops of the palm trees to the broad swath of the Nile, where a royal barge painted in blue and gold could now be seen racing down river, brightly lit with numerous lanterns. From the sound of their laughter Tia knew they could not be slaves. Most likely it was one of Pharaoh's sons: perhaps Nekhet himself, who, as the prospective betrothed of the Mitanni princess, was overseeing the building of Astarte's temple. He was reputed to be a dashing and fearless young man, given to acts of valor and gallantry and known for the reckless way he handled a chariot and for taking his barque racing along the Nile. Tia watched it for a while, but she could not make out who was at the helm. She waited, enjoying her brothers discomfiture at her silence.
Kheneb finally made a sound of exasperation and turned away. More than she, he was of two minds about this arrangement. He wanted the political victory that would come of allying the new goddess with Hathor, and yet he feared entrusting his little sister to the barely civilized influences of the foreign goddess. He loved her dearly.
The guards came back bearing their lamps on poles, and the little party started out again, headed towards the Avenue of Osiris.
"Now, you will let me do the talking,," Kheneb said, bending close to her in a final inspection, "And you will remember to sit or stand erect, and not fidget. The priestess's name is Illana, and she speaks fine Egyptian like a normal human being, not all that coughing and throat-clearing of the Mitanni. She was brought to Egypt as a child, and has served Great Pharaoh's ministers as an interpreter and counselor. She knows many in the Great Double House herself, and is not without considerable influence. She is also a consecrated priestess of the foreign goddess, so don't fail to show her respect."
They at last stepped out into the wide Avenue of Osiris, the finest in the city, running along the banks of the Nile and fronted on both sides by stone temples and buildings of the Pharaoh's government. There was a ceremony going on in the great Temple of Amun, the Hidden One, and the glow from many oil lamps spilled through the maze of pillars and out into the street where a loose crowd of undesirables milled about, not allowed in the Temple but eager for the God's blessing. The sight of the golden lamplight among the blue and purple shadows stirred Tia's heart. Kheneb ceased his brotherly chatter and drew himself up into his priestly posture once again, taking a moment to arrange the heavy jewelry around his neck. He glanced into the Temple of Amun with professional interest as they passed, gauging the size of the crowd and nodding to a priestly acquaintance on the steps, then fixed his eyes ahead. They were almost there.
Work had already begun on the promised Temple to Astarte on a patch of ground overlooking the river, but was proceeding slowly, funds being tight as Kheneb had said. The pillars were in place and the stairs half-finished, but the wooden scaffolding of the stone masons was still in place and there was as yet no roof, making it hard to visualize the finished structure. While the temple was being built, the Foreign Goddess was housed in a large yet simple mud-brick temple close by. An older woman and a girl of Tia's age or less stood with two servants outside the gate waiting for them.
"That is she," Kheneb whispered out of the side of his mouth. "The girl must be from the temple of Isis."
"I bid you good evening, your sacred lordship," the woman said as they approached, and she bowed gracefully. The two servants dropped to their knees in the Mitanni fashion.
"The blessings of all the gods upon you and your people," Kheneb said, switching to the hieratic tongue used by the priests. "And upon your noble temple. How fine it is looking!"
"And so this is Tianefhet," the woman said smiling. "What a lovely creature. A grace upon the earth." She turned to the other girl, who was dressed in a simple robe trimmed with green, the color of Isis. "This is Hafertiri, our new novice. She comes to us from the temple of Isis the Protectress."
Tia made her bows, and looked up at the priestess Illana. She was a handsome woman of middle age, but younger than Tia had expected, and with an air of self-possession and composure that Tia had not thought a Mitanni capable of, they being such an excitable and uncivilized people. She had long hair that fell to her shoulders in the eastern fashion, in tight, crimpy waves, like ripples on shallow water, and her eyes were especially beautiful: dark and deep, with long lashes; calm and knowing. She wore the clothes of an Egyptian, and in the darkness her white linen robe seemed to glow as if lit from within.
Hafertiri was smaller and, now that they could see her, obviously younger than Tia, not as womanly, and indeed seemed to violate the principle that a priestess of Astarte be a fully developed woman, for she was still given to inappropriate giggling. Her hair was plaited into braids and hung with precious stones in the Isis manner, and the diadem of the Wife of Osiris circled her brows. She had an elfin face, and seemed to have some trouble holding still. Her eyes invited Tia to share her private joke, but Tia was not going to be bated. She felt much more mature than that.
"Please, my lord," Illana said to Kheneb, "let us go within. I must ask your pardon for this simple dwelling, but it is only temporary while the new temple is being built."
Kheneb gave her some conciliatory words, and they proceeded into the temple, followed by Hafertiri and Tia, leaving the servants to wait outside. Inside, Illana dismissed Hafertiri, sending her up to her room in the gatehouse now that the introductions had been made.
The temple had apparently once been a noble house, for the trees and vines that grew around the pond in the courtyard were well-tended and mature, and the garden itself redolent with the smells of hibiscus and water lotus in bloom, as well as the fragrance of ripe grape and oranges. Tia glanced into the still waters of the pond and saw the fish there stirring slowly among the stands of papyrus and water lily, and then her eyes were drawn to the back of the temple, where the actual sanctuary of the goddess stood. The building had been modified, the roofline lifted to well over twice the height of a man, and through the widened doorway she could see a portion of the large image of Astarte, the foreign goddess, standing behind a deep blue veil of the sheerest fabric and illuminated by the orange-yellow glow of oil lamps.
"On behalf of the priests and the clergy of the Great Goddess Hathor," Kheneb said, beginning his formal introduction and prepared speech, but Illana's eyes were on Tia, watching her intently, and she gently silenced him, holding up her hand. Kheneb followed her gaze and they both watched Tia, who was walking towards the image of the goddess as if drawn to it, her eyes wide, her hands unmoving at her sides.
The goddess was half again as large as a person, and commanded the space within the sanctuary. Her bodice was open, and her perfectly spherical breasts bulged forth, obviously gorged with milk. She held her hands at shoulder level, and in each was the figure of a writhing snake.
But it was her face that drew Tia. The nose of the goddess was long and Semitic and she had the same tightly-waved hair as her priestess, but her eyes were soft and knowing, and much more human than the eyes of the gods and goddesses that Tia knew, the "neter" of Egypt. She stood on an altar of plain mud brick and looked down benevolently at Tia. The goddess's lips were full and sensual, but with a smile upon them, a smile of indulgence or perhaps forgiveness. It was a very human smile, surprisingly human to Tia, whose own native gods never smiled.
Tia stared into that face, the face of a goddess, and yet a woman not unlike herself. The idea that a god or goddess could smile captivated her, and she searched the image's face for an explanation. Astarte had perhaps known pain and loss, and love too, like Isis, but obviously she was no stranger to joy too, the happiness and completeness of spirit associated with Hathor.
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Keywords: The, Astarte, of, Whore,