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.

Shawna Dolansky is Associate Professor of Humanities at Carleton University, Canada. She is the author of Now You See It, Now You Don't: Biblical Perspectives on the Relationship Between Magic and Religion (2008) and co-author of The Bible Now (2011).

Sarah Shectman is the Managing Editor of The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization and the author of Women in the Pentateuch: A Feminist and Source-Critical Analysis (2009).