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Auguries of Hegemony: The Sex Omens of Mesopotamia
Author(s) -
Kessler Guinan Ann
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
gender and history
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.153
H-Index - 30
eISSN - 1468-0424
pISSN - 0953-5233
DOI - 10.1111/1468-0424.00071
Subject(s) - omen , eroticism , hegemony , divination , agency (philosophy) , assertion , gender studies , hierarchy , sign (mathematics) , identity (music) , power (physics) , sociology , psychology , history , philosophy , literature , aesthetics , art , political science , human sexuality , law , social science , mathematics , mathematical analysis , archaeology , computer science , quantum mechanics , programming language , physics , politics
Ancient Mesopotamian scholars examined problematic aspects of male erotic desire within the discourse of divination. They documented an array of sexual acts, reading each as an omen, a sign signifying an aspect of the future. Guinan shows that the omens are informed by a coherent perspective and, in general, are concerned with the impact of erotic desire on notions of male identity and expectations of gender hierarchy. The omens oppose masculine hegemony and male/female eroticism in such a way that the denial of one is the assertion of the other. In these omens, masculine power and agency are both expressed and preserved by the disavowal of erotic interactions with women.