Priest

==Historical religions==
[[File:Vestalin-2.jpg|thumb|[[Vestal Virgin]] priestess of [[Ancient Rome]]]]
[[File:Romans murdering Druids and burning their groves cropped.jpg|thumb|Roman soldiers murdering [[druid]]s and burning their groves on [[Anglesey]], as described by [[Tacitus]]]]
{{Further|Vedic priesthood|Druid}}
In historical [[polytheism]], a priest administers the [[sacrifice]] to a deity, often in highly elaborate [[ritual]]. In the [[Ancient Near East]], the priesthood also acted on behalf of the deities in managing their property.

Priestesses in antiquity often performed [[sacred prostitution]], and in Ancient Greece, some priestesses such as [[Pythia]], priestess at [[Delphi]], acted as [[oracle]]s.

===Ancient priests and priestesses===
* [[Sumerian language|Sumerian]] {{smallcaps|[[EN (cuneiform)|en]]}} ({{lang-akk|entu}}), including [[Enheduanna]] ({{Circa|23rd century BCE}}), were top-ranking priestesses who were distinguished with special ceremonial attire and held equal status to high priests. They owned property, transacted business, and initiated the [[hieros gamos]] with priests and kings.<ref>{{cite book |first=Sarah |last=Dening |year=1996 |title=The Mythology of Sex – Ch.3 |publisher=Macmillan |isbn=978-0-02-861207-2 |url=https://archive.org/details/mythologyofsexan0000deni |url-access=registration}}</ref>
* [[Nadītu]] served as priestesses in the temples of [[Inanna]] in the city of [[Uruk]]. They were recruited from the highest families in the land and were supposed to remain childless, owned property, and transacted business.
* The Sumerian word {{smallcaps|[[NIN (cuneiform)|nin]]}}, {{smallcaps|EREŠ}} in Akkadian, is the sign for "lady." {{smallcaps|nin.[[dingir]]}} (Akkadian ''entu''), literally "divine lady", a priestess.
* In Sumerian epic texts such as "[[Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta]]", {{smallcaps|nu-gig}} were priestesses in temples dedicated to Inanna and may be a reference to the goddess herself.<ref>{{cite book |first=Jeremy |last=Black |year=1998 |title=''Reading Sumerian Poetry'' |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=0-485-93003-X |page=142 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jj3bi8QAm1AC&pg=PA142}}</ref>
* [[Puabi]] of [[Ur]] was an Akkadian [[queen regnant]] or a priestess. In several other Sumerian city-states, the ruling governor or king was also a head priest with the rank of {{smallcaps|[[ensi (Sumerian)|ensi]]}}, such as at [[Lagash]].
* Control of the holy city of [[Nippur]] and its temple priesthood generally meant hegemony over most of Sumer, as listed on the ''[[Sumerian King List]]''; at one point, the Nippur priesthood conferred the title of queen of Sumer on Kugbau, a popular taverness from nearby [[Kish (Sumer)|Kish]] (who was later deified as [[Kubaba]]).
* In the [[Hebrew Bible]], {{lang-he|קְדֵשָׁה}} ''qědēšā'',<ref name="blueletterbible">{{cite web |url=http://cf.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=H06948&t=kjv |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120710120059/http://cf.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=H06948&t=kjv |url-status=dead |archive-date=2012-07-10 |title=Hebrew Lexicon :: H6948 (KJV)|publisher=cf.blueletterbible.org |access-date=2015-07-25}}</ref> derived from the root [[Q-D-Š]]<ref name="kedeshah">{{cite web |title=Strong's H6948 |url=https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?t=kjv&strongs=h6948 |website=[[Blue Letter Bible]] |language=en |access-date=2018-08-29 |archive-date=2018-08-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180829175407/https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?t=kjv&strongs=h6948 |url-status=dead }}, incorporating [[Strong's Concordance]] (1890) and [[Wilhelm Gesenius|Gesenius]]'s Lexicon (1857).</ref> were sacred prostitutes usually associated with the goddess [[Asherah]].
* ''Quadishtu'' served in the temples of the Sumerian goddess [[Qetesh]].
* ''Ishtaritu'' specialized in the arts of dancing, music, and singing and they served in the temples of [[Ishtar]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Prioreschi |first=Plinio |title=A History of Medicine: Primitive and ancient medicine |journal=Mellen History of Medicine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MJUMhEYGOKsC&pg=PA376 |year=1996 |volume=1 |publisher=Horatius Press |isbn=978-1-888456-01-1 |page=376 |pmid=11639620}}</ref>
* In the ''[[Epic of Gilgamesh]]'', priestess [[Shamhat]], a temple prostitute, tamed wild [[Enkidu]] after "six days and seven nights."
* ''[[Gerarai]]'', fourteen [[Athens|Athenian]] matrons of [[Dionysus]], presided over sacrifices and participated in the festivals of [[Anthesteria]].

===Ancient Egypt===
In [[ancient Egyptian religion]], the right and obligation to interact with the [[ancient Egyptian deities|gods]] belonged to the [[pharaoh]]. He delegated this duty to priests, who were effectively bureaucrats authorized to act on his behalf. Priests staffed [[Egyptian temple|temples]] throughout Egypt, giving offerings to the [[cult image]]s in which the gods were believed to take up residence and performing other rituals for their benefit.<ref>{{cite book |last=Sauneron |first=Serge |author-link=Serge Sauneron |title=The Priests of Ancient Egypt |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J9yureoueAEC |year=2000 |publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=0-8014-8654-8 |pages=32–36, 89–92}}</ref> Little is known about what training may have been required of priests, and the selection of personnel for positions was affected by a tangled set of traditions, although the pharaoh had the final say. In the [[New Kingdom of Egypt]], when temples owned great estates, the high priests of the most important cult—that of [[Amun]] at [[Karnak]]—were important political figures.<ref>{{cite book |last=Sauneron |first=Serge |author-link=Serge Sauneron |title=The Priests of Ancient Egypt |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J9yureoueAEC |year=2000 |publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=0-8014-8654-8 |pages=42–47, 52–53}}</ref>

High-ranking priestly roles were usually held by men. Women were generally relegated to lower positions in the temple hierarchy, although some held specialized and influential positions, especially that of the [[God's Wife of Amun]], whose religious importance overshadowed the [[High Priest of Amun|High Priests of Amun]] in the [[Late Period of ancient Egypt|Late Period]].<ref>Doxey, Denise M., "Priesthood", in ''The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt'' (2001), vol. III, pp. 69–70</ref>

===Ancient Rome===
{{See also|College of Pontiffs}}
In [[ancient Rome]] and throughout Italy, the ancient sanctuaries of [[Ceres (mythology)|Ceres]] and [[Proserpina]] were invariably led by female ''sacerdotes'', drawn from women of local and Roman elites. It was the only public priesthood attainable by Roman matrons and was held in great honor.

A Roman matron was any mature woman of the upper class, married or unmarried. Females could serve public cult as [[Vestal Virgin]]s but few were chosen, and then only from young maidens of the upper class.<ref>[[Barbette Stanley Spaeth]], ''The Roman goddess Ceres'', University of Texas Press, 1996, pp. 4–5, 9, 20 (historical overview and Aventine priesthoods), 84–89 (functions of plebeian aediles), 104–106 (women as priestesses): citing among others Cicero, ''In Verres'', 2.4.108; Valerius Maximus, 1.1.1; Plutarch, ''De Mulierum Virtutibus'', 26.</ref>

===Ancient Greece===
* The [[Pythia]] was the title of a priestess at the very ancient temple of [[Delphi]] that was dedicated to the [[Earth Mother]]. She was widely credited for her [[prophecy|prophecies]]. The priestess retained her role when the temple was rededicated to [[Apollo]], giving her a prominence unusual for a woman in the male-dominated culture of [[classical Greece]].
* The [[Phrygian Sibyl]] was the priestess presiding over an [[Apollo]]nian [[oracle]] at [[Phrygia]], a historical kingdom in the [[Anatolia]]n highlands.