hierodulic

English

Etymology

From hierodule +‎ -ic.

Adjective

hierodulic (not comparable)

1. Pertaining to hierodules.
   • 1885, Julius Wellhausen, John Sutherland Black, Allan Menzies, Prolegomena to the History of Israel:

     From this passage two things are to be learned. First, that the systematic separation of that which was holy from profane contact did not exist from the very beginning; that in the temple of Solomon even heathen (Zech. xiv. 21), probably captives, were employed to do hierodulic services which, according to the law, ought to have been rendered by Levites, and which afterwards actually were so rendered.

   • 1927, Robert Briffault, The Mothers: A Study of the Origins of Sentiments and Institutions:

     With the priestesses of goddesses the considerations which tend to lay upon the wife-priestesses of a god the tabu of chastity have no application, and their hierodulic character is retained.

   • 1993, Randy P. Conner, Blossom of bone: reclaiming the connection between homoeroticism and the sacred:

     That Enkidu enters the city of Uruk wearing the garment of a priestess and that his adoption by Ninsun is linked to that of the hierodulic priestesses corroborates this interpretation.