The Bloomsbury Handbook of Religion, Gender, and Sexuality in the Ancient Near East

Cutting across disciplinary boundaries and challenging traditional understandings of historical cultures, this handbook examines the ways in which gender, sexuality, and religion were mutually constructed and negotiated in ancient Near Eastern societies. Chapters look at ritual and ceremonial practices, iconographic representations, mythological and divinatory texts, personal beliefs, and piety. The book explores these topics by adopting religion as a category of inquiry to understand gender roles and the intersections of sexualities with religious worldviews. With a focus on particular case studies, this volume provides a broad and interdisciplinary overview of key areas and issues across the study of religions, genders, and sexualities in the ancient Near East. Each section is introduced by the editors with a discussion of relevant terminology, as well as convergences and divergences of rituals, beliefs, practices, and themes among the contributions. Ranging from in-depth discussions of single texts to cross-cultural anthropological and sociological comparisons, the international contributions showcase the latest work of established scholars as well as emerging voices.