The Gala (Sumerian: gala, Akkadian: kalû) were priests of the Sumerian goddess Inanna , significant numbers of the personnel of both temples and palaces, the central institutions of Mesopotamian city states , individuals with neither male nor female gender identities. Originally specialists in singing lamentations, gala appear in temple records dating back from the middle of the 3rd millennium BC.Hartmann 1960:129–46; Gelb 1975; Renger 1969:187–95; Krecher 1966:27–42; Henshaw 1994:84–96 According to an old Babylonian text, Enki created the gala specifically to sing "heart-soothing laments" for the goddess Inanna.Kramer 1982:2 Cuneiform references indicate the gendered character of the role.Gelb 1975:73; Lambert 1992:150–51 Lamentation and wailing originally may have been female professions, so that  men who entered the role adopted its forms. Their hymns were sung in a Sumerian dialect known as eme-sal, normally used to render the speech of female gods,Hartmann 1960:138; Krecher 1966; Cohen 1974:11, 32 and some gala took female names.Bottéro and Petschow 1975:465 Homosexual proclivities are clearly implied by the Sumerian proverb that reads, "When the gala wiped off his anus [he said], ‘I must not arouse that which belongs to my mistress [i.e., Inanna]’".Gordon 1959, no. 2.100 In fact, the word gala was written using the sign sequence UŠ.KU, the first sign having also the reading giš3 ("penis"), and the second one dur2 ("anus"), so perhaps there is some pun involved.Steinkeller 1992:37 Moreover, gala is homophonous with gal4-la "vulva". However, in spite of all their references of their effeminate character (especially in the Sumerian proverbs), many administrative texts mention gala priests who had children, wives, and large families.Rubio 2001:270; Michalowski 2006 In addition, some gala priests were cisgender women.al-Rawi 1992
The Gala (Sumerian: gala, Akkadian: kalû) were priests of the Sumerian goddess Inanna . They made up a significant number of the personnel of both temples and palaces, the central institutions of Mesopotamian city states . These were thought in modern times to have been individuals with neither male nor female gender identities. Originally specialists in singing lamentations, gala appear in temple records dating back from the middle of the 3rd millennium BC.Hartmann 1960:129–46; Gelb 1975; Renger 1969:187–95; Krecher 1966:27–42; Henshaw 1994:84–96 According to an old Babylonian text, Enki created the gala specifically to sing "heart-soothing laments" for the goddess Inanna.Kramer 1982:2 Cuneiform references indicate the gendered character of the role.Gelb 1975:73; Lambert 1992:150–51 Lamentation and wailing may have originally been female professions, so that the men who entered the role adopted its forms. Their hymns were sung in a Sumerian dialect known as eme-sal, normally used to render the speech of female gods,Hartmann 1960:138; Krecher 1966; Cohen 1974:11, 32 and some gala took female names.Bottéro and Petschow 1975:465 Homosexual proclivities are implied by the Sumerian proverb which reads, "When the gala wiped off his anus [he said], ‘I must not arouse that which belongs to my mistress [i.e., Inanna]’".Gordon 1959, no. 2.100 In fact, the word gala was written using the sign sequence UŠ.KU, the first sign having also the reading giš3 ("penis"), and the second one dur2 ("anus"), meaning that might be a pun involved.Steinkeller 1992:37 Moreover, gala is homophonous with gal4-la "vulva". In spite of all their references of their effeminate character (especially in the Sumerian proverbs), many administrative texts mention gala priests who had children, wives, and large families.Rubio 2001:270; Michalowski 2006 In addition, some gala priests were cisgender women.al-Rawi 1992
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