Commentary on Rick Strelan, Paul, Artemis, and the Ephesians, 1996

Another piece about the way Greek patriarchy changed Artemis:

I had read years ago a reference that said that women were barred from the sanctuary of the Artemision in Ephesus. I've been trying to track down the source, Artemidorus of Ephesus, and finally found something online. Still not the full text, which hasn't been translated, but here's the scoop.

It has to do with the maiden/virgin focus of Artemis, turned around against women. The cites are Artemidorus, Oneirocritica 4.4 (that much i knew so far) and Achilles Tatius 7.13.3. I still don't have direct quotes, not being able to read Greek, but found this in Rick Strelan's _Paul, Artemis, and the Ephesians_ 1996 (quite a good book, really pagan friendly, takes care to debunk Christian assumptions, and you can read quite a few pages from it on Google Books):

"Married women were excluded from the sacred shrine under penalty death--while men and parthenoi were permitted access." [Strelan, 72] So this is very much along the lines of Olympic games, even to the death penalty. Note that there was no onus on men, who could enter whatever their status, only on married women (who were of course the great majority of women) and as the below makes clear, on any women who had sex. This is a distressing development for a temple said to have been founded by the Amazons. The preference for women not to be bound in marriage was turned into oppression of women. There don't appear to be any other sources that discuss this female exclusion, so we may never know how it came to be instituted, other than that it represents basic patriarchy.

Strelan continues:
"Artemidorus draws attention to "a local custom at Ephesus which concerns the admission or otherwise of certain women into the temple. A prostitute dreamt that she entered the holy place. The result of her dream was that she was set free and gave up her profession 'for she would not enter the temple unless she were to abandon her profession" (Oneiro. 4.4). The same writer mentions a married woman (and therefore one in sexual relations) who dreamt she entered the temple and ate there. She subsequently died, since death was the penalty for such a transgression (2.12)."

The Tatius novel reiterates "that being en hiero means there is no sex" (5.21.4) and reiterates this about the Artemis temple (8.10.6). But of course it really means, no sex for women. So what i had earlier read that women were barred from the sanctuary, is mostly true, but not across the board.

I'd put this rule down to the Greek takeover of the sanctuary of Upis. Now i'm trying to track down whether the older name is related to the Hurrian goddess Hepatu/Hebat, with a Greek feminine ending.

Max Dashu