In Mesopotamian mythology , Ereshkigal ( Sumerian : 𒀭𒊩𒌆𒆠𒃲 EREŠ . KI . GAL , lit. "Queen of the Great Earth") was the goddess of Kur , the land of the dead or underworld in Sumerian mythology . In later myths, she was said to rule Irkalla alongside her husband Nergal . Sometimes her name is given as Irkalla , similar to the way the name Hades was used in Greek mythology for both the underworld and its ruler, and sometimes it is given as Ninkigal, lit. "Lady of the Great Earth".
114-567: 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 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
228-608: A Proto-Euphratean goddess, who was only later accepted into 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
342-511: A boat to slay the Kur. The Kur defends itself by pelting Enki with rocks of many sizes and by sending the waves beneath Enki's boat to attack Enki. The poem never actually explains who the ultimate victor of the battle is, but it is implied that Enki wins. Samuel Noah Kramer relates this myth to the ancient Greek myth of the abduction of Persephone , asserting that the Greek story is probably derived from
456-626: 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 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
570-400: A couple likely developed out of a need to reconcile the two traditions. Ereshkigal's sukkal (vizier or messenger) was Namtar. While obscure in cultic texts, Ereshkigal was prominent in mythical literature. Examples of myths where she plays an important role include: In this poem, the goddess Inanna descends into the underworld, apparently seeking to extend her powers there. Ereshkigal
684-628: A deity's melam has on a human is described as ni , a word for the " physical creeping of the flesh ". Both the Sumerian and Akkadian languages contain many words to express the sensation of ni , including the word puluhtu , meaning "fear". Deities were almost always depicted wearing horned caps, consisting of up to seven superimposed pairs of ox-horns. They were also sometimes depicted wearing clothes with elaborate decorative gold and silver ornaments sewn into them. The ancient Mesopotamians believed that their deities lived in Heaven , but that
798-626: A deity's cult statue would be transported to the location of a battle so that the deity could watch the battle unfold. The major deities of the Mesopotamian pantheon were believed to participate in the "assembly of the gods", through which the gods made all of their decisions. This assembly was seen as a divine counterpart to the semi-democratic legislative system that existed during the Third Dynasty of Ur ( c. 2112 BC – c. 2004 BC). The Mesopotamian pantheon evolved greatly over
912-646: 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
1026-704: 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
1140-643: A god's statue was a physical embodiment of the god himself. As such, cult statues were given constant care and attention and a set of priests were assigned to tend to them. These priests would clothe the statues and place feasts before them so they could"eat". A deity's temple was believed to be that deity's literal place of residence. The gods had boats, full-sized barges which were normally stored inside their temples and were used to transport their cult statues along waterways during various religious festivals . The gods also had chariots , which were used for transporting their cult statues by land. Sometimes
1254-514: 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 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
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#17327914293611368-530: 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 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,
1482-502: A loyal subordinate to them. However, when she discovers that her husband, Dumuzid , has not mourned her death, she becomes ireful towards him and orders the demons to take him as her replacement. Diane Wolkstein argued that Inanna and Ereshkigal represent polar opposites: Inanna is the queen of heaven , but Ereshkigal is the queen of Irkalla. This myth tells the story of the origin of Ereshkigal's marriage to Nergal . Two versions are known, though they differ only in details related to
1596-544: 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 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
1710-535: A male deity with the masculine title of katte (king), started to be viewed as a goddess instead due to conflation with Allani and Ereshkigal. In later times, the Greeks appear to have applied the name Ereshkigal (Ερεσχιγαλ) to their own goddess Hecate . In the heading of a spell in the Michigan Magical Papyrus , which has been dated to the late third or early fourth century A.D. (and as such
1824-459: A nymph over the course of the journey. Finally, once she has gone through all seven gates, she finds herself naked and powerless, standing before the throne of Ereshkigal. The seven judges of the underworld judge Inanna and declare her to be guilty. Inanna is struck dead and her corpse is hung on a hook in the underworld for everyone to see. Inanna's minister, Ninshubur , however, pleads with various gods and finally Enki agrees to rescue Inanna from
1938-469: 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
2052-400: A result of this, Ereshkigal demanded Nergal to be sent to the underworld to atone. In one version, she planned to kill Nergal upon arrival in the underworld, but this detail is absent from the other versions. Nergal travels under the advice of Ea , who warns him not to sit, eat, drink or wash while in the underworld, as well as not to have sex with Ereshkigal. At his advice Nergal travels to
2166-607: A senior status among the underworld deities, ruling over the category of so-called "transtigridian snake gods" (such as Ninazu, Tishpak , Ishtaran , and the Elamite god Inshushinak , in Mesopotamia known almost exclusively in the afterlife context), while Nergal, who fulfilled analogous functions in the north in Sumerian times, had an entourage of minor war gods and disease demons instead. The idea of Nergal and Ereshkigal as
2280-460: A significant ruler of the land of the dead in Sumerian imagination at a later point in time. However, beliefs related to this sphere were somewhat amorphous, and it is possible there was initially no single universally-agreed-upon version of relevant mythical and cultic concepts, with various deities, both male and female, ruling over the underworld in the belief systems of various areas and time periods. In later Babylonian god lists, Ereshkigal held
2394-511: 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 the ancient Mesopotamians regarded as a symbol of power. Her associations with lions began during Sumerian times;
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#17327914293612508-654: A variety of sexual rites , was continued by the East Semitic -speaking peoples ( Akkadians , Assyrians and Babylonians ) who succeeded and absorbed 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
2622-411: A very limited scope. No personal names with "Ereshkigal" as a theophoric element are known. In the ancient Sumerian poem Inanna's Descent to the Underworld , Ereshkigal is described as Inanna 's older sister. However, this is a cultural artifact since the Sumerians used terms such as sister as a way to place each other on the same level in hierarchy The two main myths involving Ereshkigal are
2736-520: Is a text entitled An = Anum , a Babylonian scholarly work listing the names of over 2,000 deities. While sometimes mistakenly regarded simply as a list of Sumerian gods with their Akkadian equivalents, it was meant to provide information about the relations between individual gods, as well as short explanations of functions fulfilled by them. In addition to spouses and children of gods, it also listed their servants. Various terms were employed to describe groups of deities. The collective term Anunnaki
2850-474: 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
2964-452: Is described as being Inanna's older sister. When Neti , the gatekeeper of the underworld, informs Ereshkigal that Inanna is at the gates and demanding to be let in, Ereshkigal responds by ordering Neti to bolt the seven gates of the underworld and to open each separately, but only after Inanna has removed one article of clothing. Inanna proceeds through each gate, removing one article of clothing at each gate, and also loses her magic items to
3078-643: Is divided into seven tablets. The surviving version of the Enûma Eliš could not have been written any earlier than the late second millennium BC, but it draws heavily on earlier materials, including various works written during the Akkadian, Old Babylonian, and Kassite periods in the early second millennium BC. A category of primordial beings common in incantations were pairs of divine ancestors of Enlil and less commonly of Anu. In at least some cases these elaborate genealogies were assigned to major gods to avoid
3192-465: Is first attested during the reign of Gudea ( c. 2144 – 2124 BC) and the Third Dynasty of Ur. This term usually referred to the major deities of heaven and earth, endowed with immense powers, who were believed to "decree the fates of mankind". Gudea described them as " Lamma (tutelary deities) of all the countries." While it is common in modern literature to assume that in some contexts
3306-566: 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
3420-521: Is listed right after Dumuzi as a member of Inanna's circle, even before some of her relatives; in one text 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
3534-486: Is mentioned near the end of this composition. The vegetation god Ningishzida presumably has to descend to her kingdom each year. Ereshkigal is listed alongside other underworld deities. Nergal is described as her husband in this text. In some versions of the myths, Ereshkigal rules the Underworld by herself, but in other versions of the myths, she rules alongside a husband subordinate to her named Gugalana . Gugalana had no fixed identity. In Inanna's descent he dies before
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3648-404: 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 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
3762-451: 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,
3876-604: 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 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
3990-602: 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
4104-422: 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
4218-432: 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, 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
4332-485: 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
4446-505: 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), 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)
4560-483: 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
4674-526: 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
Inanna - Misplaced Pages Continue
4788-606: 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 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
4902-576: The Anunnaki as a distinct group have yet been discovered, although a few depictions of its frequent individual members have been identified. Another similar collective term for deities was Igigi , first attested from the Old Babylonian Period ( c. 1830 BC – c. 1531 BC). The name Igigi seems to have originally been applied to the "great gods", but it later came to refer to all the gods of Heaven collectively. In some instances,
5016-463: 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
5130-584: 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 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:
5244-572: 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
5358-521: The Third Millennium B.C. Samuel Noah Kramer proposed that, according to the introductory passage of the ancient Sumerian epic poem, " Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Netherworld ," Ereshkigal was forcibly abducted, taken down to the Underworld by the Kur , and was forced to become queen of the Underworld against her will. In order to avenge the abduction of Ereshkigal, Enki, the god of water, set out in
5472-529: 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
5586-411: 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
5700-402: The ancient Sumerian story. This view, and even the idea of Kur being a single well-defined monster rather than a vague term referring to mountains, foreign lands or the underworld, are not supported by modern scholars. The passage mentioned is interpreted as Enlil and Anu assigning a dowry to Ereshkigal. [REDACTED] This article incorporates text from a publication now in
5814-417: 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 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
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#17327914293615928-496: 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
6042-536: 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
6156-418: 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
6270-427: The context of Inanna's Descent. There is also similarly scarce evidence for 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
6384-408: The course of its history. In general, the history of Mesopotamian religion can be divided into four phases. During the first phase, starting in the fourth millennium BC, deities' domains mainly focused on basic needs for human survival. During the second phase, which occurred in the third millennium BC, the divine hierarchy became more structured and deified kings began to enter the pantheon. During
6498-477: 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
6612-488: The deity in question ultimately chooses the shepherd. List of Mesopotamian deities Deities in ancient Mesopotamia were almost exclusively anthropomorphic . They were thought to possess extraordinary powers and were often envisioned as being of tremendous physical size. The deities typically wore melam , an ambiguous substance which "covered them in terrifying splendor" and which could also be worn by heroes, kings, giants, and even demons. The effect that seeing
6726-506: 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 , 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
6840-440: 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 was another important symbol of Inanna, which continued to be used as
6954-451: The events of the myth; in some inscriptions he is the father of Ninazu; eventually this name became a title of Nergal as well. In Sumerian mythology, Ereshkigal is the mother of the goddess Nungal . In a fragmentary text translated by Jeremiah Peterson, Nungal appears alongside Ereshkigal and the healing goddess Nintinugga . In one late magical text her son with Enlil was her vizier Namtar . The Hurrian underworld goddess Allani
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#17327914293617068-522: 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 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
7182-423: The god list An = Anum Gula, Ninkarrak and Nintinugga all figure as separate deities with own courts. Dogs were associated with many healing goddesses and Gula in particular is often shown in art with a dog sitting beside her. Various civilizations over the course of Mesopotamian history had many different creation stories . The earliest accounts of creation are simple narratives written in Sumerian dating to
7296-423: 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
7410-419: 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
7524-554: The gods," possibly reflecting the existence of a similar belief connected to him among his clergy too, though unlike the doctrine of supremacy of the moon god, accepted by Nabonidus , it found no royal support at any point in time. In Zabban, a city in the northeast of Babylonia, Hadad was the head of the pantheon. In the first millennium BCE Marduk became the supreme god in Babylonia, and some late sources omit Anu and Enlil altogether and state that Ea received his position from Marduk. In some neo-Babylonian inscriptions Nabu 's status
7638-465: 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 the eight-pointed star. On boundary stones and cylinder seals ,
7752-525: 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 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
7866-532: The implications of divine incest. Figures appearing in theogonies were generally regarded as ancient and no longer active (unlike the regular gods) by the Mesopotamians. Ereshkigal Ereshkigal was only one of multiple deities regarded as rulers of the underworld in Mesopotamia. The main temple dedicated to her was located in Kutha , a city originally associated with Nergal, and her cult had
7980-477: 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, 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
8094-630: The late third millennium BC. These are mostly preserved as brief prologues to longer mythographic compositions dealing with other subjects, such as Inanna and the Huluppu Tree , The Creation of the Pickax , and Enki and Ninmah . Later accounts are far more elaborate, adding multiple generations of gods and primordial beings. The longest and most famous of these accounts is the Babylonian Enûma Eliš , or Epic of Creation , which
8208-456: 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
8322-586: 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 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
8436-460: The motivation of the deities involved and both the plot structure and ultimate outcome are the same. Once, the gods held a banquet that Ereshkigal, as queen of the underworld, could not come up to attend. Kaka, one of the messengers of Anu (analogous to Papsukkal or Ninshubur ) invited her to send a messenger, and she sent her vizier Namtar in her place. He was treated well by most, the exception being Nergal, who treated Namtar with disrespect. As
8550-402: The myth of Lugalbanda , as well as in a single building inscription from 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
8664-625: The myth of her descent into the underworld, Inanna addresses Ereshkigal , the queen of the underworld, as her "older sister," yet 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
8778-600: 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
8892-412: 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
9006-500: 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 the devastating flood, clothed in terrifying radiance. It is her game to speed conflict and battle, untiring, strapping on her sandals." Battle itself
9120-516: 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
9234-500: 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 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
9348-416: 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
9462-426: 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
9576-461: 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
9690-415: The same version in which Ereshkigal planned to kill Nergal, when he gets to the throne he knocks over Namtar and drags Ereshkigal to the floor. He is about to kill her with his ax when she pleads for her life; she promises to be his wife and to share her power with him. He consents. However, Nergal must still leave the underworld for six months, so Ereshkigal gives him back his demons and allows him to traverse
9804-461: 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
9918-417: The story of Inanna's descent into the Underworld and the story of Ereshkigal's marriage to the god Nergal . Other myths also associate her with gods such as Ninazu , originally regarded as her husband but later as a son, and Ningishzida . In Sumerian mythology, Ereshkigal was the queen of the underworld . Some researchers believe that Ninazu originally fulfilled this function, with Ereshkigal only becoming
10032-410: 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
10146-409: 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 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
10260-402: The term was applied to a class of distinct, Hurrian, gods instead. Anunnaki are chiefly mentioned in literary texts and very little evidence to support the existence of any distinct cult of them has yet been unearthed due to the fact that each deity which could be regarded as a member of the Anunnaki had his or her own individual cult, separate from the others. Similarly, no representations of
10374-460: The term was instead applied to chthonic Underworld deities, this view is regarded as unsubstantiated by assyriologist Dina Katz, who points out that it relies entirely on the myth of Inanna's Descent , which doesn't necessarily contradict the conventional definition of Anunnaki and doesn't explicitly identify them as gods of the Underworld. Unambiguous references to Anunnaki as chthonic come from Hurrian (rather than Mesopotamian) sources, in which
10488-449: The terms Anunnaki and Igigi are used synonymously. Samuel Noah Kramer , writing in 1963, stated that the three most important deities in the Mesopotamian pantheon during all periods were the deities An , Enlil , and Enki . However, newer research shows that the arrangement of the top of the pantheon could vary depending on time period and location. The Fara god list indicates that sometimes Enlil, Inanna and Enki were regarded as
10602-499: The third phase, in the second millennium BC, the gods worshipped by an individual person and gods associated with the commoners became more prevalent. During the fourth and final phase, in the first millennium BC, the gods became closely associated with specific human empires and rulers. The names of over 3,000 Mesopotamian deities have been recovered from cuneiform texts. Many of these are from lengthy lists of deities compiled by ancient Mesopotamian scribes. The longest of these lists
10716-608: The three most significant deities. Inanna was also the most important deity in Uruk and a number of other political centers in the Uruk period. Gudea regarded Ninhursag , rather than Enki, as the third most prominent deity. An Old Babylonian source preserves a tradition in which Nanna was the king of the gods, and Anu, Enlil and Enki merely his advisers, likely a view espoused by Nanna's priests in Ur , and later on in Harran . An Old Babylonian personal name refers to Shamash as "Enlil of
10830-516: The tutelary deity of the city, Zababa (a war god), was viewed as the consort of a local hypostasis of Ishtar, though after 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
10944-480: 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
11058-430: The underworld along with 14 demons. When he arrives, the gatekeeper Neti gets orders from Ereshkigal to allow him through the seven gates, stripping him of everything before arriving in the throne room, but at each gate, Nergal posts two demons. Although Nergal has no problem with respecting all the other warnings, the god succumbs to the temptation and lies with the goddess for six days. At the seventh, he escapes back to
11172-454: The underworld but the galla , the guardians of the underworld, drag her husband Dumuzid down to the underworld as her replacement. Dumuzid 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
11286-399: The underworld. Enki sends two sexless beings down to the underworld to revive Inanna with the food and water of life. These beings escort Inanna up from the underworld, but a horde of angry demons follow Inanna, demanding to take someone else down to the underworld as Inanna's replacement. They initially want it to be Ninshubur, but Inanna rebukes this order, stating that she would not hand over
11400-445: The upper world for that time, after which he returns to her. In the other version, known from two copies, the myth has a less violent ending: according to Assyriologist Alhena Gadotti, "the two deities seem to reunite and live happily ever after," and the myth concludes with the line "they impetuously entered the bedchamber." In both versions, Nergal ends up becoming a king of the underworld, ruling alongside Ereshkigal. Ereshkigal
11514-429: The upper world, which makes Ereshkigal upset. Namtar is then sent to bring Nergal back, but Ea disguises Nergal as a lesser god and Namtar is fooled. Ereshkigal ultimately realizes the deception and demands Nergal to return again, threatening to open the gates of the underworld and allow the spirits of the dead to swarm the world of the living if her demands are ignored. The gods agree to hand Nergal over to her again. In
11628-489: The use of Ereshkigal's name served no purpose other than "furnishing the Greek Netherworld goddess with a mysterious-sounding, foreign name," and that the people who "composed, transmitted and used these texts had either little interest in or little knowledge of (or both) the Mesopotamian traditions associated with Ereškigal." In his 1944 book, Sumerian Mythology: A Study of Spiritual and Literary Achievement in
11742-581: 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 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
11856-503: 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 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 ,
11970-567: 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 a king's ability to lead his troops and to triumph over enemies) and sexual prowess were regarded as interconnected. While generally classified as
12084-511: 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
12198-477: Was believed to be the planet Venus , Utu was believed to be the Sun, and Nanna was the Moon. However, minor deities could be associated with planets too, for example Mars was sometimes called Simut , and Ninsianna was a Venus deity distinct from Inanna in at least some contexts. Eventually Gula became the preeminent healing goddess, and other healing goddesses were sometimes syncretised with her, though in
12312-629: Was conflated with Ereshkigal in Mesopotamia, and with the Sun goddess of the Earth among the Hittites and Luwians . While Allani was originally introduced in Mesopotamia as an independent figure, receiving offerings in Ur during Shulgi's reign under the name Allatum (alongside other foreign deities such as Ishara and Belet Nagar ), she gradually became little more than a title of Ereshkigal. The Hattian death god Lelwani , originally described as
12426-459: Was equal to that of Marduk. In Assyria, Assur was regarded as the supreme god. The number seven was extremely important in ancient Mesopotamian cosmology. In Sumerian religion , the most powerful and important deities in the pantheon were sometimes called the "seven gods who decree": An , Enlil , Enki , Ninhursag , Nanna , Utu , and Inanna . Many major deities in Sumerian mythology were associated with specific celestial bodies: Inanna
12540-450: 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 a distinct goddess linked to Ningishzida rather than to Ishtar. Another epithet highlighting this aspect of Ishtar's nature
12654-534: 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
12768-467: 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
12882-400: 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 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
12996-447: Was written after the art of reading cuneiform texts was lost), Hecate is referred to as "Hecate Ereschkigal" and is invoked using magical words and gestures to alleviate the caster's fear of punishment in the afterlife. Further study of Greek texts which mention the name of Ereshkigal revealed that none feature motifs of Mesopotamian origin in any meaningful capacity, the symbols used are ones associated with Hecate rather than Ereshkigal,
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