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123-549: The Khalkotauroi are two immense bulls with bronze hooves and bronze mouths through which they breathe fire . In the Argonautica , Jason is promised the prized fleece by King Aeetes if he can first yoke the Khalkotauroi and use them to plough a field. The field is then to be sown with dragon's teeth . Jason survives the burning flames of the bronze bulls by rubbing on his body a magical potion that protects him from

246-454: A different myth, The Return of Dumuzid Inanna instead mourns over Dumuzid's death and ultimately decrees that he will be allowed to return to Heaven to be with her for one half of the year. Dina Katz notes that the portrayal of their relationship in Inanna's Descent is unusual; it does not resemble the portrayal of their relationship in other myths about Dumuzi's death, which almost never pin

369-549: A distinct goddess linked to Ningishzida rather than to Ishtar. Another epithet highlighting this aspect of Ishtar's nature was Anunitu ("the martial one"). Like Irnina, Anunitu could also be a separate deity, and as such she is first attested in documents from the Ur III period. Assyrian royal curse-formulas invoked both of Ishtar's primary functions at once, invoking her to remove potency and martial valor alike. Mesopotamian texts indicate that traits perceived as heroic (such as

492-651: A female deity who presided over the arts of love. Among the Akkadians, Assyrians, and Babylonians, the name of the male god eventually supplanted the name of his female counterpart, but, due to extensive syncretism with Inanna, the deity remained as female, although her name was in the masculine form. Inanna has posed a problem for many scholars of ancient Sumer due to the fact that her sphere of power contained more distinct and contradictory aspects than that of any other deity. Two major theories regarding her origins have been proposed. The first explanation holds that Inanna

615-658: A festival for Hera, Dionysus is also invited to come as a bull, "with bull-foot raging." "Quite frequently he is portrayed with bull horns, and in Kyzikos he has a tauromorphic image," Walter Burkert relates, and refers also to an archaic myth in which Dionysus is slaughtered as a bull calf and impiously eaten by the Titans . For the Greeks, the bull was strongly linked to the Cretan Bull : Theseus of Athens had to capture

738-589: A fixture of near-eastern cultures. Solomon 's " Molten Sea " basin stood on twelve brazen bulls. Young bulls were set as frontier markers at Dan and Bethel , the frontiers of the Kingdom of Israel . Much later, in Abrahamic religions , the bull motif became a bull demon or the "horned devil" in contrast and conflict to earlier traditions. The bull is familiar in Judeo-Christian cultures from

861-450: A giant dove emerging from a palm tree in the temple of Ishtar, indicating that the goddess herself was sometimes believed to take the form of a dove. Inanna was associated with the planet Venus , which is named after her Roman equivalent . Several hymns praise Inanna in her role as the goddess or personification of the planet Venus. Theology professor Jeffrey Cooley has argued that, in many myths, Inanna's movements may correspond with

984-715: A god list from the Early Dynastic period , a hymn of Ishme-Dagan relaying how Enlil and Ninlil bestowed Inanna's powers upon her, a late syncretic hymn to Nanaya , and an Akkadian ritual from Hattusa . While some authors assert that in Uruk Inanna was usually regarded as the daughter of the sky god An , it is possible that references to him as her father are only referring to his status as an ancestor of Nanna and thus his daughter. In literary texts, Enlil or Enki may be addressed as her fathers but references to major gods being "fathers" can also be examples of

1107-533: A graving tool and made it into a molten calf; and they said, 'This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt'." Nehemiah 9:18 reads "even when they made an idol shaped like a calf and said, 'This is your god who brought you out of Egypt!' They committed terrible blasphemies." Calf-idols are referred to later in the Tanakh , such as in the Book of Hosea , which would seem accurate as they were

1230-429: A heavily armed warrior goddess with a lion as one of her attributes. Doves were also prominent animal symbols associated with Inanna/Ishtar. Doves are shown on cultic objects associated with Inanna as early as the beginning of the third millennium  BCE . Lead dove figurines were discovered in the temple of Ishtar at Aššur, dating to the thirteenth century  BCE and a painted fresco from Mari, Syria shows

1353-470: A king's ability to lead his troops and to triumph over enemies) and sexual prowess were regarded as interconnected. While generally classified as a goddess, Inanna/Ishtar could seem at times to have ambiguous gender. Gary Beckman states that "ambiguous gender identification" was a characteristic not just of Ishtar herself but of a category of deities he refers to as "Ishtar type" goddesses (such as Shaushka , Pinikir or Ninsianna ). A late hymn contains

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1476-496: A new deity in itself. Among the Twelve Olympians , Hera 's epithet Bo-opis is usually translated "ox-eyed" Hera, but the term could just as well apply if the goddess had the head of a cow, and thus the epithet reveals the presence of an earlier, though not necessarily more primitive, iconic view. ( Heinrich Schlieman , 1976) Classical Greeks never otherwise referred to Hera simply as the cow, though her priestess Io

1599-505: A nobleman of ancient Moirang realm, pretended to be an oracle and falsely prophesied that the people of Moirang would lead to miserable lives, if the powerful Kao (bull) roaming freely in the Khuman kingdom, wasn't offered to the god Thangjing ( Old Manipuri : Thangching ), the presiding deity of Moirang . Orphan Khuman prince Khamba was chosen to capture the bull, as he was known for his valor and faithfulness. Since to capture

1722-481: A plough of indurated steel, all in one piece. This article relating to Greek mythology is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Bull (mythology) Cattle are prominent in some religions and mythologies . As such, numerous peoples throughout the world have at one point in time honored bulls as sacred. In the Sumerian religion , Marduk is the "bull of Utu ". In Hinduism , Shiva 's steed

1845-497: A religious ceremony in Gaul in which white-clad druids climbed a sacred oak , cut down the mistletoe growing on it, sacrificed two white bulls and used the mistletoe to cure infertility: The druids—that is what they call their magicians—hold nothing more sacred than the mistletoe and a tree on which it is growing, provided it is Valonia oak . … Mistletoe is rare and when found it is gathered with great ceremony, and particularly on

1968-537: A reputation for engaging in anal sex with men. During the Akkadian Period, kurgarrū and assinnu were servants of Ishtar who dressed in female clothing and performed war dances in Ishtar's temples. Several Akkadian proverbs seem to suggest that they may have also had homosexual proclivities. Gwendolyn Leick, an anthropologist known for her writings on Mesopotamia, has compared these individuals to

2091-594: A valuable, and probably sacred beast, would have represented an offering to the gods'. For Matthews, the Bull-running at Tutbury, mentioned in another Robin Hood ballad, may have had similar significance. Ishtar Inanna is the ancient Mesopotamian goddess of love, war, and fertility. She is also associated with sensuality, procreation, divine law , and political power. Originally worshipped in Sumer , she

2214-460: A war deity. Inanna's twin brother was Utu (known as Shamash in Akkadian), the god of the sun and justice. In Sumerian texts, Inanna and Utu are depicted as extremely close; some modern authors even perceive their relationship as bordering on incestuous . In the myth of her descent into the underworld, Inanna addresses Ereshkigal , the queen of the underworld, as her "older sister," yet

2337-639: A winged animal with a human head is common to the Near East, first recorded in Ebla around 3000 BCE. The first distinct lamassu motif appeared in Assyria during the reign of Tiglath-Pileser II as a symbol of power. " The human-headed winged bulls protective genies called shedu or lamassu, ... were placed as guardians at certain gates or doorways of the city and the palace. Symbols combining man, bull, and bird, they offered protection against enemies. " The bull

2460-457: Is Gavaevodata , which is the Avestan name of a hermaphroditic "uniquely created ( -aevo.data ) cow ( gav- )", one of Ahura Mazda 's six primordial material creations that becomes the mythological progenitor of all beneficent animal life. Another Zoroastrian mythological bovine is Hadhayans, a gigantic bull so large that it could straddle the mountains and seas that divide the seven regions of

2583-751: Is Nandi , the Bull. The sacred bull survives in the constellation Taurus . The bull , whether lunar as in Mesopotamia or solar as in India, is the subject of various other cultural and religious incarnations as well as modern mentions in New Age cultures. Aurochs are depicted in many Paleolithic European cave paintings such as those found at Lascaux and Livernon in France. Their life force may have been thought to have magical qualities, for early carvings of

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2706-571: Is also an astrological sign in Indian horoscope systems, corresponding to Taurus The storm god Rudra is called a bull as are the Maruts or storm deities referred to as bulls under the command of Indra, thus Indra is called "bull with bulls." The following excerpts from The Rig Veda demonstrate these attributes: "As a bull I call to you, the bull with the thunderbolt, with various aids, O Indra, bull with bulls, greatest killer of Vrtra ." — Atri and

2829-464: Is an inscription was carried out at Mactar in Numidia at the close of the 3rd century. It was performed in honor of the emperors Diocletian and Maximian . Another Roman mystery cult in which a sacrificial bull played a role was that of the 1st–4th century Mithraic Mysteries . In the so-called " tauroctony " artwork of that cult ( cultus ), and which appears in all its temples, the god Mithras

2952-475: Is attested in the most ancient texts from both Ebla and Mari . He considers her, a moon god (e.g., Sin ) and a sun deity of varying gender ( Shamash / Shapash ) to be the only deities shared between various early Semitic peoples of Mesopotamia and ancient Syria, who otherwise had different not necessarily overlapping pantheons. Gwendolyn Leick assumes that during the Pre-Sargonic era, the cult of Inanna

3075-472: Is both a religious concept of life-force/power and the word for bull. Andrew Gordon, an Egyptologist, and Calvin Schwabe, a veterinarian, argue that the origin of the ankh is related to two other signs of uncertain origin that often appear alongside it: the was -sceptre , representing "power" or "dominion", and the djed pillar, representing "stability". According to this hypothesis, the form of each sign

3198-476: Is drawn from a part of the anatomy of a bull, like some other hieroglyphic signs that are known to be based on body parts of animals. In Egyptian belief semen was connected with life and, to some extent, with "power" or "dominion", and some texts indicate the Egyptians believed semen originated in the bones. Therefore, Calvin and Schwabe suggest the signs are based on parts of the bull's anatomy through which semen

3321-668: Is emphasized in the later standard Akkadian version of the Epic of Gilgamesh in which Gilgamesh points out Ishtar's infamous ill-treatment of her lovers. However, according to assyriologist Dina Katz, the portrayal of Inanna's relationship with Dumuzi in the Descent myth is unusual. Inanna was also worshipped as one of the Sumerian war deities. One of the hymns dedicated to her declares: "She stirs confusion and chaos against those who are disobedient to her, speeding carnage and inciting

3444-456: Is eventually permitted to return to heaven for half the year, while his sister Geshtinanna remains in the underworld for the other half, resulting in the cycle of the seasons. Scholars believe that Inanna and Ishtar were originally separate, unrelated deities, but were conflated with one another during the reign of Sargon of Akkad and came to be regarded as effectively the same goddess under two different names. Inanna's name may derive from

3567-571: Is fully grown. The tree grows and matures, but the serpent "who knows no charm", the Anzû -bird, and Lilitu (Ki-Sikil-Lil-La-Ke in Sumerian), seen by some as the Sumerian forerunner to the Lilith of Jewish folklore, all take up residence within the tree, causing Inanna to cry with sorrow. The hero Gilgamesh , who, in this story, is portrayed as her brother, comes along and slays the serpent, causing

3690-635: Is hazardous to project Greek tradition directly into the Bronze Age ." Only one Minoan image of a bull-headed man has been found, a tiny Minoan sealstone currently held in the Archaeological Museum of Chania . In the Classical period of Greece, the bull and other animals identified with deities were separated as their agalma , a kind of heraldic show-piece that concretely signified their numinous presence. The religious practices of

3813-419: Is seen to slay a sacrificial bull. Although there has been a great deal of speculation on the subject, the myth (i.e. the "mystery", the understanding of which was the basis of the cult) that the scene was intended to represent remains unknown. Because the scene is accompanied by a great number of astrological allusions, the bull is generally assumed to represent the constellation of Taurus . The basic elements of

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3936-515: Is specially associated to the feast of Saint Charalambos . This practice of kourbania has been repeatedly criticized by church authorities. The ox is the symbol of Luke the Evangelist . Among the Visigoths , the oxen pulling the wagon with the corpse of Saint Emilian lead to the correct burial site ( San Millán de la Cogolla, La Rioja ). Taurus ( Latin for "the Bull") is one of

4059-454: Is the better choice for a husband, arguing that, for every gift the farmer can give to her, the shepherd can give her something even better. In the end, Inanna marries Dumuzid. The shepherd and the farmer reconcile their differences, offering each other gifts. Samuel Noah Kramer compares the myth to the later Biblical story of Cain and Abel because both myths center around a farmer and a shepherd competing for divine favor and, in both stories,

4182-606: Is the most frequently invoked deity. In the Old Babylonian period, her main cult centers were Uruk, Zabalam, Agade, and Ilip. Her cult was also introduced from Uruk to Kish. During later times, while her cult in Uruk continued to flourish, Ishtar also became particularly worshipped in the Upper Mesopotamian kingdom of Assyria (modern northern Iraq , northeast Syria , and southeast Turkey ), especially in

4305-475: Is the result of a syncretism between several previously unrelated Sumerian deities with totally different domains. The second explanation holds that Inanna was originally a Semitic deity who entered the Sumerian pantheon after it was already fully structured, and who took on all the roles that had not yet been assigned to other deities. As early as the Uruk period ( c.  4000–3100  BCE ), Inanna

4428-492: The Anzû -bird and Lilitu to flee. Gilgamesh's companions chop down the tree and carve its wood into a bed and a throne, which they give to Inanna, who fashions a pikku and a mikku (probably a drum and drumsticks respectively, although the exact identifications are uncertain), which she gives to Gilgamesh as a reward for his heroism. The Sumerian hymn Inanna and Utu contains an etiological myth describing how Inanna became

4551-683: The Biblical episode wherein an idol of the golden calf ( Hebrew : עֵגֶּל הַזָהָב ) is made by Aaron and worshipped by the Hebrews in the wilderness of the Sinai Peninsula ( Book of Exodus ). The text of the Hebrew Bible can be understood to refer to the idol as representing a separate god, or as representing Yahweh himself, perhaps through an association or religious syncretism with Egyptian or Levantine bull gods, rather than

4674-654: The Donn Cuailnge and the Finnbhennach are prized bulls that play a central role in the epic Táin Bó Cúailnge ("The Cattle Raid of Cooley"). Early medieval Irish texts also mention the tarbfeis (bull feast), a shamanistic ritual in which a bull would be sacrificed and a seer would sleep in the bull's hide to have a vision of the future king. Pliny the Elder , writing in the first century AD, describes

4797-488: The Early Dynastic period . Many god lists compiled by ancient scribes contained entire "Inanna group" sections enumerating similar goddesses, and tablet IV of the monumental god list An-Anum (7 tablets total) is known as the "Ishtar tablet" due to most of its contents being the names of Ishtar's equivalents, her titles and various attendants. Some modern researchers use the term Ishtar-type to define specific figures of this variety. Some texts contained references to "all

4920-532: The Huluppu Tree", found in the preamble to the epic of Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Netherworld (ETCSL 1.8.1.4 ), centers around a young Inanna, not yet stable in her power. It begins with a huluppu tree, which Kramer identifies as possibly a willow , growing on the banks of the river Euphrates . Inanna moves the tree to her garden in Uruk with the intention to carve it into a throne once it

5043-537: The Iberian Peninsula and southern France are connected with the legends of Saturnin of Toulouse and his protégé in Pamplona , Fermin . These are inseparably linked to bull-sacrifices by the vivid manner of their martyrdoms set by Christian hagiography in the third century. In some Christian traditions, Nativity scenes are carved or assembled at Christmas time. Many show a bull or an ox near

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5166-638: The Janapada kingdoms, and continued by the Magadhan and Mauryan empires. In additional to the bull, many karshapana contain taurine symbols of the mark left by the bulls hoof, also referred to as a nandipada (Nandi's foot) symbol which appears in Vedic, Hindu, Jain and Iranic iconography. Kushan empire (c.30-275 CE) coins and those of the Kushano-Sasanian Kingdom (230-365) depict

5289-529: The Old Babylonian period Bau , introduced from Lagash , became his spouse (an example of a couple consisting out of a warrior god and a medicine goddess, common in Mesopotamian mythology ) and Ishtar of Kish started to instead be worshipped on her own. Inanna is not usually described as having any offspring; however, in the myth of Lugalbanda , as well as in a single building inscription from

5412-520: The Puranas as the primary vahana (mount) and the principal gana (follower) of Shiva . Nandi figures depicted as a seated bull are present at Shiva temples throughout the world. The humpbacked Zebu bull ( bos indicus ) appears on the coinage of the Indian subcontinent from the Iron Age to the modern day. Bull symbols appear regularly on silver karshapana , or punchmarked coins, first issued by

5535-515: The Rathore dynasty on copper and billon (alloy) coins. Upon independence from colonial rule, the bull reappeared in modern coins of the Indian rupee on the reverse of the 2 Anna coin in 1950. Kao (bull) , a supernatural divine bull, appears in ancient Meitei mythology and folklore of Ancient Manipur ( Kangleipak ). In the legend of the Khamba Thoibi epic, Nongban Kongyamba ,

5658-613: The Roman Empire of the 2nd to 4th centuries included the taurobolium , in which a bull was sacrificed for the well-being of the people and the state. Around the mid-2nd century, the practice became identified with the worship of Magna Mater , but was not previously associated only with that cult ( cultus ). Public taurobolia, enlisting the benevolence of Magna Mater on behalf of the emperor, became common in Italy and Gaul, Hispania and Africa. The last public taurobolium for which there

5781-423: The Sumerian phrase nin-an-ak , meaning "Lady of Heaven", but the cuneiform sign for Inanna ( 𒈹 ) is not a ligature of the signs lady ( Sumerian : nin ; cuneiform: 𒊩𒌆 SAL.TUG 2 ) and sky (Sumerian: an ; cuneiform: 𒀭 AN). These difficulties led some early Assyriologists to suggest that Inanna may have originally been a Proto-Euphratean goddess, who was only later accepted into

5904-492: The Sumerian pantheon . This idea was supported by Inanna's youthfulness, as well as the fact that, unlike the other Sumerian divinities, she seems to have initially lacked a distinct sphere of responsibilities. The view that there was a Proto-Euphratean substrate language in Southern Iraq before Sumerian is not widely accepted by modern Assyriologists. The name Ishtar occurs as an element in personal names from both

6027-470: The Third Dynasty of Ur ( c. 2112 – c. 2004  BCE ), the warrior god Shara is described as her son. She was also sometimes considered the mother of Lulal , who is described in other texts as the son of Ninsun . Wilfred G. Lambert described the relation between Inanna and Lulal as "close but unspecified" in the context of Inanna's Descent. There is also similarly scarce evidence for

6150-533: The constellations of the zodiac , which means it is crossed by the plane of the ecliptic . Taurus is a large and prominent constellation in the northern hemisphere 's winter sky. It is one of the oldest constellations, dating back to at least the Early Bronze Age when it marked the location of the Sun during the spring equinox . Its importance to the agricultural calendar influenced various bull figures in

6273-778: The sacred stag , survived in Hurrian and Hittite mythology as Seri and Hurri ("Day" and "Night"), the bulls who carried the weather god Teshub on their backs or in his chariot and grazed on the ruins of cities. Bulls were a central theme in the Minoan civilization , with bull heads and bull horns used as symbols in the Knossos palace. Minoan frescos and ceramics depict bull-leaping , in which participants of both sexes vaulted over bulls by grasping their horns. The Iranian language texts and traditions of Zoroastrianism have several different mythological bovine creatures. One of these

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6396-406: The seven judges of the underworld deem her guilty and strike her dead. Three days later, Ninshubur pleads with all the gods to bring Inanna back. All of them refuse her, except Enki, who sends two sexless beings to rescue Inanna. They escort Inanna out of the underworld but the galla , the guardians of the underworld, drag her husband Dumuzid down to the underworld as her replacement. Dumuzid

6519-422: The sixth day of the moon ….Hailing the moon in a native word that means ' healing all things ,' they prepare a ritual sacrifice and banquet beneath a tree and bring up two white bulls, whose horns are bound for the first time on this occasion. A priest arrayed in white vestments climbs the tree and, with a golden sickle , cuts down the mistletoe, which is caught in a white cloak . Then finally they kill

6642-515: The Biblical book of Jeremiah , the prophet condemns Judean female refugees for worshipping the Queen of Heaven (a syncretism of Ishtar and Asherah) by baking cakes with the goddess's image upon them and pouring libations to her (Jer. Ch. 7 and 44). The women and their husbands defy him, and state that they will follow the practices of their ancestors, who performed these acts "in the towns of Judea and

6765-424: The Bull and seized it by the horns. The Bull of Heaven foamed in his face, it brushed him with the thick of its tail. Enkidu cried to Gilgamesh, "My friend we boasted that we would leave enduring names behind us. Now thrust your sword between the nape and the horns." So Gilgamesh followed the Bull, he seized the thick of its tail, he thrust the sword between the nape and the horns and slew the Bull. When they had killed

6888-465: The Bull of Heaven they cut out its heart and gave it to Shamash , and the brothers rested. In Ancient Egypt multiple sacred bulls were worshiped. A long succession of ritually perfect bulls were identified by the god's priests, housed in the temple for their lifetime, then embalmed and buried. The mother-cows of these animals were also revered, and buried in separate locations. Ka , in Egyptian,

7011-565: The Bull of Heaven to destroy Gilgamesh. Fill Gilgamesh, I say, with arrogance to his destruction; but if you refuse to give me the Bull of Heaven I will break in the doors of hell and smash the bolts; there will be a confusion of people, those above with those from the lower depths. I shall bring up the dead to eat food like the living; and the hosts of the dead will outnumber the living." Anu said to great Ishtar, "If I do what you desire there will be seven years of drought throughout Uruk when corn will be seedless husks. Have you saved grain enough for

7134-734: The Iranian god Wēś beside a bull, sometimes holding a trident and beside a Nandipada symbol. The silver "bull and horseman" Jital of the Kabul or Hindu Shahi (850-1000) depicts a recumbent bull with a trishula on rump and the Nāgarī script legend above: "Sri Samanta Deva (Radiant Samanta the God). This design was copied by later Rajput dynasties including the Tomaras of Delhi , the Chauhan dynasty and

7257-631: The Ishtars" of a given area. In later periods Ishtar's name was sometimes used as a generic term ("goddess") in Babylonia, while a logographic writing of Inanna was used to spell the title Bēltu , leading to further conflations. A possible example of such use of the name is also known from Elam , as a single Elamite inscription written in Akkadian refers to " Manzat -Ishtar", which might in this context mean "the goddess Manzat". The poem Enki and

7380-409: The Last Sun "He the mighty bull who with his seven reins let loose the seven rivers to flow, who with his thunderbolt in his hand hurled down Ruhina as he was climbing up to the sky, he my people is Indra." — Who is Indra? "I send praise to the high bull, tawny and white. I bow low to the radiant one. We praise the dreaded name of Rudra." — Rudra, father of the Maruts. Nandi later appears in

7503-408: The Levant; two examples are the 16th century BCE (Middle Bronze Age) bull calf from Ashkelon , and the 12th century BCE (Iron Age I) bull found at the so-called Bull Site in Samaria on the West Bank . Both Baʿal and El were associated with the bull in Ugaritic texts, as it symbolized both strength and fertility. Exodus 32:4 reads "He took this from their hand, and fashioned it with

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7626-493: The Sumerians in the region. She was especially beloved by the Assyrians , who elevated her to become the highest deity in their pantheon, ranking above their own national god Ashur . Inanna/Ishtar is alluded to in the Hebrew Bible , and she greatly influenced the Ugaritic goddess Ashtart and later the Phoenician goddess Astarte , who in turn possibly influenced the development of the Greek goddess Aphrodite . Her cult continued to flourish until its gradual decline between

7749-530: The Sun, for many days at a time, and then reappears on the other horizon), some cultures did not recognize Venus as a single entity; instead, they assumed it to be two separate stars on each horizon: the morning and evening star. Nonetheless, a cylinder seal from the Jemdet Nasr period indicates that the ancient Sumerians knew that the morning and evening stars were the same celestial object. The discontinuous movements of Venus relate to both mythology as well as Inanna's dual nature. Modern astrologers recognize

7872-473: The World Order ( ETCSL 1.1.3 ) begins by describing the god Enki and his establishment of the cosmic organization of the universe. Towards the end of the poem, Inanna comes to Enki and complains that he has assigned a domain and special powers to all of the other gods except for her. She declares that she has been treated unfairly. Enki responds by telling her that she already has a domain and that he does not need to assign her one. The myth of "Inanna and

7995-410: The ancient Mesopotamians regarded as a symbol of power. Her associations with lions began during Sumerian times; a chlorite bowl from the temple of Inanna at Nippur depicts a large feline battling a giant snake and a cuneiform inscription on the bowl reads "Inanna and the Serpent", indicating that the cat is supposed to represent the goddess. During the Akkadian Period, Ishtar was frequently depicted as

8118-415: The ancient Near East worshipped Ishtar by dedicating to her cakes baked in ashes (known as kamān tumri ). A dedication of this type is described in an Akkadian hymn. Several clay cake molds discovered at Mari are shaped like naked women with large hips who are clutching their breasts. Some scholars have suggested that the cakes made from these molds were intended as representations of Ishtar herself. In

8241-468: The ancient sacred bull of Marathon (the "Marathonian bull") before he faced the Minotaur (Greek for "Bull of Minos"), who the Greeks imagined as a man with the head of a bull at the center of the labyrinth . Minotaur was fabled to be born of the Queen and a bull, bringing the king to build the labyrinth to hide his family's shame. Living in solitude made the boy wild and ferocious, unable to be tamed or beaten. Yet Walter Burkert 's constant warning is, "It

8364-423: The aurochs have also been found. The impressive and dangerous aurochs survived into the Iron Age in Anatolia and the Near East and were worshipped throughout that area as sacred animals; the earliest remnants of bull worship can be found at neolithic Çatalhöyük . The Sumerian guardian deity called lamassu was depicted as hybrids with bodies of either winged bulls or lions and heads of human males. The motif of

8487-427: The baby Jesus , lying in a manger. Traditional songs of Christmas often tell of the bull and the donkey warming the infant with their breath. This refers (or, at least, is referred) to the beginning of the book of the prophet Isaiah, where he says: "The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib." (Isaiah 1:3) Oxen are some of the animals sacrificed by Greek Orthodox believers in some villages of Greece. It

8610-417: The blame for it on Inanna, but rather on demons or even human bandits. A large corpus of love poetry describing encounters between Inanna and Dumuzi has been assembled by researchers. However, local manifestations of Inanna/Ishtar were not necessarily associated with Dumuzi. In Kish , the tutelary deity of the city, Zababa (a war god), was viewed as the consort of a local hypostasis of Ishtar, though after

8733-413: The bull without killing it was not an easy task, Khamba's motherly sister Khamnu disclosed to Khamba the secrets of the bull, by means of which the animal could be captured. In Cyprus , bull masks made from real skulls were worn in rites . Bull-masked terracotta figurines and Neolithic bull-horned stone altars have been found in Cyprus. Bull figurines are common finds on archaeological sites across

8856-499: The cities of Nineveh , Aššur , and Arbela (modern Erbil). During the reign of the Assyrian king Assurbanipal , Ishtar rose to become the most important and widely venerated deity in the Assyrian pantheon, surpassing even the Assyrian national god Ashur . Votive objects found in her primary Assyrian temple indicate that she was a popular deity among women. Individuals who went against the gender binary were heavily involved in

8979-540: The city of Agade. A hymn from that period addresses the Akkadian Ishtar as "Inanna of the Ulmaš" alongside Inanna of Uruk and of Zabalam. The worship of Ishtar and syncretism between her and Inanna was encouraged by Sargon and his successors, and as a result she quickly became one of the most widely venerated deities in the Mesopotamian pantheon. In inscriptions of Sargon, Naram-Sin , and Shar-Kali-Sharri , Ishtar

9102-497: The conjunction, seven more days elapse before Venus appears as the morning star, corresponding to the ascent from the underworld. Inanna in her aspect as Anunītu was associated with the eastern fish of the last of the zodiacal constellations, Pisces . Her consort Dumuzi was associated with the contiguous first constellation, Aries . The Sumerians worshipped Inanna as the goddess of both warfare and love. Unlike other gods, whose roles were static and whose domains were limited,

9225-421: The contemporary Indian hijra . In one Akkadian hymn, Ishtar is described as transforming men into women. Throughout the latter half of the twentieth century, it was widely believed that the cult of Inanna involved a " sacred marriage " ritual, in which a king would establish his legitimacy by taking on the role of Dumuzid and engaging in ritual sexual intercourse with the high priestess of Inanna, who took on

9348-568: The cosmos. In one litany, Iškur is proclaimed again and again as " great radiant bull, your name is heaven " and also called son of Anu , lord of Karkara; twin-brother of Enki, lord of abundance, lord who rides the storm, lion of heaven. The Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh depicts the horrors of the rage-fueled deployment of the Bull of Heaven by Ishtar and its slaughter by Gilgamesh and Enkidu as an act of defiance that seals their fates: Ishtar opened her mouth and said again, "My father, give me

9471-426: The cult of Inanna. During Sumerian times, a set of priests known as gala worked in Inanna's temples, where they performed elegies and lamentations. Men who became gala sometimes adopted female names, and their songs were composed in the Sumerian eme-sal dialect, which, in literary texts, is normally reserved for the speech of female characters. Some Sumerian proverbs seem to suggest that gala had

9594-482: The devastating flood, clothed in terrifying radiance. It is her game to speed conflict and battle, untiring, strapping on her sandals." Battle itself was occasionally referred to as the "Dance of Inanna". Epithets related to lions in particular were meant to highlight this aspect of her character. As a war goddess she was sometimes referred to with the name Irnina ("victory"), though this epithet could be applied to other deities as well, in addition to functioning as

9717-500: The earliest collection of Vedic hymns (c. 1500-1000 BCE), Indra is often praised as a Bull (Vṛṣabha – vrsa (he) plus bha (being) or as uksan , a bull aged five to nine years, which is still growing or just reached its full growth). The bull is an icon of power and virile strength in Aryan literature and other Indo-European traditions. Vrsha means "to shower or to spray", in this context Indra showers strength and virility. Vṛṣabha

9840-479: The earth , and on whose back men could travel from one region to another. In medieval times, Hadhayans also came to be known as Srīsōk (Avestan * Thrisaok , "three burning places"), which derives from a legend in which three "Great Fires" were collected on the creature's back. Yet another mythological bovine is that of the unnamed creature in the Cow's Lament , an allegorical hymn attributed to Zoroaster himself, in which

9963-440: The eight-pointed star. On boundary stones and cylinder seals , the eight-pointed star is sometimes shown alongside the crescent moon , which was the symbol of Sin (Sumerian Nanna) and the rayed solar disk , which was a symbol of Shamash (Sumerian Utu). Inanna's cuneiform ideogram was a hook-shaped twisted knot of reeds, representing the doorpost of the storehouse, a common symbol of fertility and plenty. The rosette

10086-430: The first and sixth centuries CE in the wake of Christianity . Inanna appears in more myths than any other Sumerian deity. She also has a uniquely high number of epithets and alternate names, comparable only to Nergal . Many of her myths involve her taking over the domains of other deities. She is believed to have been given the mes , which represent all positive and negative aspects of civilization, by Enki ,

10209-522: The former two reflecting the phases of her associated planet Venus . Her most prominent symbols include the lion and the eight-pointed star . Her husband is the god Dumuzid (later known as Tammuz), and her sukkal (attendant) is the goddess Ninshubur , later conflated with the male deities Ilabrat and Papsukkal . Inanna was worshipped in Sumer at least as early as the Uruk period ( c.  4000 – 3100 BCE ), and her cultic activity

10332-523: The god of wisdom. She is also believed to have taken over the Eanna temple from An , the god of the sky. Alongside her twin brother Utu (later known as Shamash), Inanna is the enforcer of divine justice ; she destroyed Mount Ebih for having challenged her authority, unleashed her fury upon the gardener Shukaletuda after he raped her in her sleep, and tracked down the bandit woman Bilulu and killed her in divine retribution for having murdered Dumuzid. In

10455-478: The goddess of sex. At the beginning of the hymn, Inanna knows nothing of sex, so she begs her brother Utu to take her to Kur (the Sumerian underworld), so that she may taste the fruit of a tree that grows there, which will reveal to her all the secrets of sex. Utu complies and, in Kur, Inanna tastes the fruit and becomes knowledgeable. The hymn employs the same motif found in the myth of Enki and Ninhursag and in

10578-424: The goddesses Nanaya, Kanisurra , Gazbaba , and Bizila , all of them also associated with each other in various configurations independently from this context. In addition to the full conflation of Inanna and Ishtar during the reign of Sargon and his successors, she was syncretised with a large number of deities to a varying degree. The oldest known syncretic hymn is dedicated to Inanna, and has been dated to

10701-460: The heat. The potion has been provided by Medea , King Aeetes' own daughter, who has fallen in love with Jason. The Khalkotauroi were a gift to King Aeetes from the Greek gods' blacksmith, Hephaestus . He Hephaistos had also made for him Aeetes king of Kolkhis Bulls with feet of bronze the Khalkotauroi and bronze mouths from which the breath came out in flame, blazing and terrible. And he had forged

10824-473: The heavens, but, by the Old Babylonian Period ( c. 1830 – c. 1531  BCE ), it had come to be specifically associated with the planet Venus , with which Ishtar was identified. Starting during this same period, the star of Ishtar was normally enclosed within a circular disc. During later Babylonian times, slaves who worked in Ishtar's temples were sometimes branded with the seal of

10947-461: The later Biblical story of Adam and Eve . The poem Inanna Prefers the Farmer (ETCSL 4.0.8.3.3 ) begins with a rather playful conversation between Inanna and Utu, who incrementally reveals to her that it is time for her to marry. She is courted by a farmer named Enkimdu and a shepherd named Dumuzid . At first, Inanna prefers the farmer, but Utu and Dumuzid gradually persuade her that Dumuzid

11070-462: The love goddess Nanaya being regarded as her daughter, but it is possible all of these instances merely refer to an epithet indicating closeness between the deities and were not a statement about actual parentage. Inanna's sukkal was the goddess Ninshubur , whose relationship with Inanna is one of mutual devotion. In some texts, Ninshubur is listed right after Dumuzi as a member of Inanna's circle, even before some of her relatives; in one text

11193-579: The mountains, replicating the rising and setting of Inanna to the West. In Inanna and Shukaletuda , Shukaletuda is described as scanning the heavens in search of Inanna, possibly searching the Eastern and Western horizons. In the same myth, while searching for her attacker, Inanna herself makes several movements that correspond with the movements of Venus in the sky. Because the movements of Venus appear to be discontinuous (it disappears due to its proximity to

11316-510: The movements of Venus across the sky. In Inanna's Descent to the Underworld , Inanna, unlike any other deity, is able to descend into the netherworld and return to the heavens. The planet Venus appears to make a similar descent, setting in the West and then rising again in the East. An introductory hymn describes Inanna leaving the heavens and heading for Kur , what could be presumed to be

11439-534: The mythologies of Ancient Sumer , Akkad , Assyria , Babylon , Egypt , Greece , and Rome . In his book 'Robin Hood: Green Lord of the Wildwood' (2016), John Matthews interprets the scene from the ballad in which Sir Richard-at-Lee awards, for the love of Robin Hood , a prize of a white bull to the winner of a wrestling match as seeming 'to hark back to an ancient time when the presentation of such

11562-600: The name of Inanna are known, such as a bead in the name of King Aga of Kish c.  2600  BCE , or a tablet by King Lugal-kisalsi c.  2400  BCE : For An , king of all the lands, and for Inanna, his mistress, Lugal-kisalsi , king of Kish , built the wall of the courtyard. During the Akkadian period ( c.   2334–2154  BCE ), following the conquests of Sargon of Akkad , Inanna and originally independent Ishtar became so extensively syncretized that they became regarded as effectively

11685-415: The original patron deity of this fourth-millennium BCE city was An . After its dedication to Inanna, the temple seems to have housed priestesses of the goddess. Next to Uruk, Zabalam was the most important early site of Inanna worship, as the name of the city was commonly written with the signs MUŠ 3 and UNUG, meaning respectively "Inanna" and "sanctuary". It is possible that the city goddess of Zabalam

11808-566: The people and grass for the cattle?" Ishtar replied "I have saved grain for the people, grass for the cattle."...When Anu heard what Ishtar had said he gave her the Bull of Heaven to lead by the halter down to Uruk. When they reached the gates of Uruk the Bull of Heaven went to the river; with his first snort cracks opened in the earth and a hundred young men fell down to death. With his second snort cracks opened and two hundred fell down to death. With his third snort cracks opened, Enkidu doubled over but instantly recovered, he dodged aside and leapt onto

11931-417: The phrase "Ninshubur, beloved vizier" appears. In another text Ninshubur is listed even before Nanaya , originally possibly a hypostasis of Inanna herself, in a list of deities from her entourage. In an Akkadian ritual text known from Hittite archives, Ishtar's sukkal is invoked alongside her family members Sin, Ningal, and Shamash. Other members of Inanna's entourage frequently listed in god lists are

12054-422: The phrase "she [Ishtar] is Enlil, she is Ninil" which might be a reference to occasionally "dimorphic" character of Ishtar, in addition to serving as an exaltation. A hymn to Nanaya alludes to a male aspect of Ishtar from Babylon alongside a variety of more standard descriptions. However, Ilona Zsolnay only describes Ishtar as a "feminine figure who performed a masculine role" in certain contexts, for example as

12177-521: The pre- Sargonic and post-Sargonic eras in Akkad, Assyria, and Babylonia. It is of Semitic derivation and is probably etymologically related to the name of the West Semitic god Attar , who is mentioned in later inscriptions from Ugarit and southern Arabia. The morning star may have been conceived as a male deity who presided over the arts of war and the evening star may have been conceived as

12300-419: The report of contributions to Inanna at Uruk from cities supporting her cult. A large number of similar seals have been discovered from phase I of the Early Dynastic period ( c.  2900–2350  BCE ) at Ur , in a slightly different order, combined with the rosette symbol of Inanna. These seals were used to lock storerooms to preserve materials set aside for her cult. Various inscriptions in

12423-432: The role of the goddess. This view has been challenged, however, and scholars continue to debate whether the sacred marriage described in literary texts involved any kind of physical ritual enactment at all and, if so, whether this ritual enactment involved actual intercourse or merely the symbolic representation of intercourse. The scholar of the ancient Near East Louise M. Pryke states that most scholars now maintain, if

12546-468: The sacred marriage was a ritual that was actually acted out, then it involved only symbolic intercourse. The cult of Ishtar was long thought to have involved sacred prostitution , but this is now rejected among many scholars. Hierodules known as ishtaritum are reported to have worked in Ishtar's temples, but it is unclear if such priestesses actually performed any sex acts , and several modern scholars have argued that they did not. Women across

12669-469: The same. The Akkadian poet Enheduanna , the daughter of Sargon, wrote numerous hymns to Inanna, identifying her with Ishtar. As a result of this, the popularity of Inanna/Ishtar's cult skyrocketed. Alfonso Archi, who was involved in early excavations of Ebla, assumes Ishtar was originally a goddess venerated in the Euphrates valley, pointing out that an association between her and the desert poplar

12792-470: The soul of a bovine ( geush urvan ) despairs over her lack of protection from an adequate herdsman. In the allegory, the cow represents humanity's lack of moral guidance, but in later Zoroastrianism, Geush Urvan became a yazata representing cattle . The 14th day of the month is named after her and is under her protection. Bulls appear on seals from the Indus Valley civilisation . In The Rig Veda ,

12915-468: The standard Akkadian version of the Epic of Gilgamesh , Ishtar asks Gilgamesh to become her consort. When he disdainfully refuses, she unleashes the Bull of Heaven , resulting in the death of Enkidu and Gilgamesh's subsequent grapple with his own mortality. Inanna's most famous myth is the story of her descent into and return from the ancient Mesopotamian underworld , ruled by her older sister Ereshkigal . After she reaches Ereshkigal's throne room,

13038-403: The stories of Inanna describe her as moving from conquest to conquest. She is portrayed as young and impetuous, constantly striving for more power than had been allotted to her. While she was worshipped as the goddess of love, Inanna was not the goddess of marriage, nor was she ever viewed as a mother goddess. Andrew R. George goes as far as stating that "According to all mythology, Ištar

13161-406: The story of Inanna's descent into the underworld as a reference to an astronomical phenomenon associated with retrograde Venus. Seven days before retrograde Venus makes its inferior conjunction with the sun, it disappears from the evening sky. The seven day period between this disappearance and the conjunction itself is seen as the astronomical phenomenon on which the myth of descent was based. After

13284-413: The streets of Jerusalem" (Jer. 44:15-19). In Ezekiel 8:14, the prophet has a vision of the women of Jerusalem weeping for Tammuz. Inanna/Ishtar's most common symbol was the eight-pointed star, though the exact number of points sometimes varies; six-pointed stars also occur frequently, but their symbolic meaning is unknown. The eight-pointed star seems to have originally borne a general association with

13407-414: The tauroctony scene were originally associated with Nike , the Greek goddess of victory. Macrobius lists the bull as an animal sacred to the god Neto/Neito , possibly being sacrifices to the deity. Tarvos Trigaranus (the "bull with three cranes") is pictured on ancient Gaulish reliefs alongside images of gods, such as in the cathedrals at Trier and at Notre Dame de Paris . In Irish mythology ,

13530-444: The two goddesses almost never appear together elsewhere in Sumerian literature and were not placed in the same category in god lists. In some Neo-Assyrian sources, Ishtar is also associated with Adad , with the relationship mirroring that between Shaushka and her brother Teshub in Hurrian mythology . The most common tradition regarded Nanna and his wife Ningal as her parents. Examples of it are present in sources as diverse as

13653-542: The two twisted reeds of the doorpost, while the male figure holds a box and stack of bowls, the later cuneiform sign signifying the En , or high priest of the temple. Seal impressions from the Jemdet Nasr period ( c.  3100–2900  BCE ) show a fixed sequence of symbols representing various cities, including those of Ur , Larsa , Zabalam , Urum , Arina , and probably Kesh . This list probably reflects

13776-403: The use of this word as an epithet indicating seniority. Dumuzid (later known as Tammuz), the god of shepherds, is usually described as Inanna's husband, but according to some interpretations Inanna's loyalty to him is questionable; in the myth of her descent into the Underworld, she abandons Dumuzid and permits the galla demons to drag him down into the underworld as her replacement. In

13899-691: The victims, praying to a god to render his gift propitious to those on whom he has bestowed it. They believe that mistletoe given in drink will impart fertility to any animal that is barren and that it is an antidote to all poisons. Bull sacrifices at the time of the Lughnasa festival were recorded as late as the 18th century at Cois Fharraige in Ireland (where they were offered to Crom Dubh ) and at Loch Maree in Scotland (where they were offered to Saint Máel Ruba ). The practice of bullfighting in

14022-515: Was already associated with the city of Uruk . During this period, the symbol of a ring-headed doorpost was closely associated with Inanna. The famous Uruk Vase (found in a deposit of cult objects of the Uruk ;III period) depicts a row of naked men carrying various objects, including bowls, vessels, and baskets of farm products, and bringing sheep and goats to a female figure facing the ruler. The female stands in front of Inanna's symbol of

14145-574: Was also associated with the storm and rain god Adad, Hadad or Iškur. The bull was his symbolic animal. He appeared bearded, often holding a club and thunderbolt while wearing a bull-horned headdress. Hadad was equated with the Greek god Zeus ; the Roman god Jupiter, as Jupiter Dolichenus ; the Indo-European Nasite Hittite storm-god Teshub ; the Egyptian god Amun . When Enki distributed the destinies, he made Iškur inspector of

14268-472: Was another important symbol of Inanna, which continued to be used as a symbol of Ishtar after their syncretism. During the Neo-Assyrian Period (911 – 609  BCE ), the rosette may have actually eclipsed the eight-pointed star and become Ishtar's primary symbol. The temple of Ishtar in the city of Aššur was adorned with numerous rosettes. Inanna/Ishtar was associated with lions, which

14391-530: Was known by the Akkadian Empire , Babylonians , and Assyrians as Ishtar (and occasionally the logogram 𒌋𒁯 ). Her primary title is "the Queen of Heaven" . She was the patron goddess of the Eanna temple at the city of Uruk , her early main cult center. In archaic Uruk she was worshipped in three forms: morning Inanna (Inana-UD/hud), evening Inanna (Inanna sig) and princely Inanna (Inanna NUN),

14514-414: Was not   [...] temperamentally disposed" towards such functions. Julia M. Asher-Greve has even championed the significance of Inanna specifically because she is not a mother-goddess . As a love goddess, she was commonly invoked by Mesopotamians in incantations. In Inanna's Descent to the Underworld , Inanna treats her lover Dumuzid in a very capricious manner. This aspect of Inanna's personality

14637-536: Was originally a distinct deity, though one whose cult was absorbed by that of the Urukean goddess very early on. Joan Goodnick Westenholz proposed that a goddess identified by the name Nin-UM (reading and meaning uncertain), associated with Ishtaran in a zame hymn, was the original identity of Inanna of Zabalam. In the Old Akkadian period, Inanna merged with the Akkadian goddess Ishtar, associated with

14760-475: Was rather limited, though other experts argue that she was already the most prominent deity in Uruk and a number of other political centers in the Uruk period . She had temples in Nippur , Lagash , Shuruppak , Zabalam , and Ur , but her main cult center was the Eanna temple in Uruk , whose name means "House of Heaven" (Sumerian: e 2 -anna ; cuneiform: 𒂍𒀭 E 2 .AN). Some research assumes that

14883-488: Was relatively localized before the conquest of Sargon of Akkad . During the post-Sargonic era, she became one of the most widely venerated deities in the Sumerian pantheon, with temples across Mesopotamia . The cult of Inanna/Ishtar, which may have been associated with a variety of sexual rites , was continued by the East Semitic -speaking peoples ( Akkadians , Assyrians and Babylonians ) who succeeded and absorbed

15006-417: Was so literally a heifer that she was stung by a gadfly, and it was in the form of a heifer that Zeus coupled with her. Zeus took over the earlier roles, and, in the form of a bull that came forth from the sea, abducted the high-born Phoenician Europa and brought her, significantly, to Crete. Dionysus was another god of resurrection who was strongly linked to the bull. In a worship hymn from Olympia , at

15129-551: Was thought to pass: the ankh is a thoracic vertebra , the djed is the sacrum and lumbar vertebrae , and the was is the dried penis of the bull. We cannot recreate a specific context for the bull skulls with horns ( bucrania ) preserved in an 8th millennium BCE sanctuary at Çatalhöyük in Central Anatolia. The sacred bull of the Hattians , whose elaborate standards were found at Alaca Höyük alongside those of

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