Goddess Inanna Queen of Heaven Goddess of love and beauty

Queen of Heaven

Goddess of love, beauty, sex, desire, fertility, war, combat, and political power

Inanna was the Sumerian goddess of love, beauty, sex, desire, fertility, war, combat, and political power, equivalent to the Akkadian and Babylonian goddess Ishtar. She was also the patron goddess of the Eanna temple at the city of Uruk, which was her main cult center. She was associated with the planet Venus and her most prominent symbols included the lion and the eight-pointed star.

Inanna was, by far, one of the most widely adored and venerated deities in the ancient Sumerian pantheon, appearing in nearly every story that they told. Many of her myths involved her taking over the domains of other deities. She was believed to have stolen the mes, which represented all positive and negative aspects of civilization, from Enki, the god of wisdom. She was also believed to have taken over the Eanna temple from An, the god of the sky, thereby becoming the Queen of Heaven. Inanna, however, was not always portrayed positively; she also had a fierce temper. She was believed to have destroyed the kur of Ebih out of jealous pride and to have unleashed mass chaos upon the world after being raped in her sleep by the gardener Shukaletuda.

Her most famous myth, however, is the story of her descent into and return from Kur, the ancient Sumerian underworld, a myth in which she attempts to conquer the domain of her sister Ereshkigal, the queen of the Underworld, but is instead deemed guilty of hubris by the seven judges of the Underworld and struck dead, before being brought back to life three days later through the intervention of the god Enki due to the fervent pleading of her sukkal, or personal attendant, Ninshubur, even after all the other gods reject her. Her husband Dumuzid is dragged down to the Underworld by the galla, the guardians of the Underworld, as her replacement, but 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.

Origins

Copy of the Uruk Vase in the Pergamon Museum

One of the longest lasting Goddesses from the ancient world is Sumer’s Inanna, who was revered in the Middle East for over 4,000 years. And even today in modern Islamic Iraq Inanna’s emblems of the reed knot and the date palm continue to have meaning to the people.

Inanna was the most prominent female deity in ancient Mesopotamia. As early as the Uruk period (ca. 4000–3100 BC), Inanna was associated with the city of Uruk. 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. This figure is ornately dressed for a divine marriage, and attended by a servant. The female figure holds the symbol of the two twisted reeds of the doorpost, signifying Inanna behind her, while the male figure holds a box and stack of bowls, the later cuneiform sign signifying En, or high priest of the temple. The symbol of a ring-headed doorpost was closely associated with Inanna, especially during the Uruk period.

In the early days of Her worship Inanna was still seen as the all-encompassing Mother Goddess. She was still revered as the source of the Upper and Lower Waters, as the Queen of Heaven, Earth AND the Underworld. As human consciousness – probably due to external factors – changed over the millennia, Inanna’s powers diminished. At first She was split into the Goddess of Life, represented by Inanna, and the Goddess of the Underworld, represented by Her sister Ereshkigal. Eventually She would be given a father who was said to have given Her Her powers.
Seal impressions from the Jemdet Nasr period (ca. 3100–2900 BC) show a fixed sequence of symbols representing various cities, including those of Ur, Larsa, Zabalam, Urum, Arina, and probably Kesh. This list probably reflects the report of contributions to Inanna at Uruk from cities supporting her cult. A large number of similar seals have been discovered from the slightly later Early Dynastic I phase at Ur, in a slightly different order, combined with the rosette symbol of Inanna, that were definitely used for this purpose. These seals were used to lock storerooms to preserve materials set aside for her cult.

The myth of Inanna's assumption of the me from Enki, has been interpreted as a late addition to Sumerian mythology, possibly associated with the archaeologically confirmed eclipse in the importance of Eridu and the rise of the importance of Uruk at the end of the Ubaid period. Inanna's primary center of worship was the Eanna temple in Uruk, which seems to have originally been dedicated to Anu, the head of the Sumerian pantheon prior to the rise of Enlil of Nippur.
Etymology

Inanna's name derives from the Sumerian phrase nin-an-ak, meaning "Lady of Heaven." The cuneiform sign for Inanna, however, is not a ligature of the signs lady and sky. These difficulties led some early Assyriologists to suggest that Inanna may have originally been a Proto-Euphratean goddess, possibly related to the Hurrian mother goddess Hannahannah, who was only later accepted into the Sumerian pantheon, an idea supported by Inanna's youthfulness, and 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.

Worship

Part of the front of Inanna's temple from Uruk

Inanna was one of the most widely venerated deities in the Sumerian pantheon. Many shrines and temples dedicated to Inanna were built along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Her main cult center was the Eanna temple, whose name means "House of Heaven" in Uruk. The original patron deity of this fourth-millennium city was probably An. After its dedication to Inanna, the temple seems to have housed priestesses of the goddess. According to Gwendolyn Leick, an anthropologist known for her writings about Mesopotamia, persons of asexual or hermaphroditic bodies and feminine men were particularly involved in the worship and ritual practices of Inanna's temples.

Iconography

One version of the star symbol of Inanna/Ishtar

Inanna's symbol is an eight-pointed star or a rosette. She was associated with lions – even then a symbol of power – and was frequently depicted standing on the backs of two lionesses. Her cuneiform ideogram was a hook-shaped twisted knot of reeds, representing the doorpost of the storehouse (and thus fertility and plenty).

Inanna as the planet Venus

Much like the Greco-Roman goddesses Aphrodite and Venus, Inanna was associated with the planet Venus, which at that time was regarded as two stars, the "morning star" and the "evening star." Several hymns praise Inanna in her role as the goddess of the planet Venus. Theology professor Jeffrey Cooley has argued that, in many myths, Inanna's movements may correspond with the movements of the planet Venus in the sky. In Inanna's Descent to the Underworld, unlike any other deity, Inanna 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, 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 seemingly 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 single entity, but rather regarded the planet as two separate stars on each horizon as the morning and evening star. The Mesopotamians, however, most likely understood that the planet was one entity. A cylinder seal from the Jemdet Nasr period expresses the knowledge that both morning and evening stars were the same celestial entity. The discontinuous movements of Venus relate to both mythology as well as Inanna's dual nature. As both the goddess of love and war, with both masculine and feminine qualities, Inanna is poised to respond, occasionally with outbursts of temper.

Inanna 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.

Character

Ancient Akkadian cylinder seal depicting Inanna resting her 

foot on the back of a lion while Ninshubur stands in front of her 

paying obeisance, c. 2334-2154 B.C.

Inanna's character was oftentimes portrayed in an extremely contradictory manner. The Sumerians worshipped her as the goddess of love, but she was not seen as a role model for how lovers ought to behave. A description of her from one of her hymns declares, "When the servants let the flocks loose, and when cattle and sheep are returned to cow-pen and sheepfold, then, my lady, like the nameless poor, you wear only a single garment. The pearls of a prostitute are placed around your neck, and you are likely to snatch a man from the tavern." In the later Akkadian Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh points out the goddess Ishtar's infamous ill-treatment of her lovers. Inanna, the Sumerian precursor to the Akkadian Ishtar, also has a very complicated relationship with her lover Dumuzid in Inanna's Descent to the Underworld.

Somewhat paradoxically, Inanna was also worshipped as one of the Sumerian war deities. One of her hymns 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."

Mythology

Through the work of the Akkadian poet and high priestess Enheduanna (2285-2250 BCE), daughter of Sargon of Akkad (2334-2279 BCE), Inanna was notably identified with Ishtar and rose in prominence from a local vegetative deity of the Sumerian people to the Queen of Heaven and the most popular goddess in all of Mesopotamia. The historian Gwendoly Leick writes:

Inanna was the foremost Sumerian goddess, patron deity of Uruk. Her name was written with a sign that represents a reed stalk tied into a loop at the top. This appears in the very earliest written texts from the mid-fourth millenium B.C. She is also mentioned in all the early god lists among the four main deities, along with Anu, Enki, and Enlil. In the royal inscriptions of the early Dynastic Period, Inanna is often invoked as the special protectress of kings. Sargon of Akkad claimed her support in battle and politics. It appears that it was during the third millenium that the goddess acquired martial aspects that may derive from a syncretism with the Semitic deity Ishtar. Inanna's main sanctuary was the Eanna (`House of Heaven') at Uruk, although she had temples or chapels in most cities.

THE GODDESS APPEARS IN ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIAN MYTHS IN WHICH SHE BRINGS KNOWLEDGE AND CULTURE TO THE CITY OF URUK.

The goddess appears in many ancient Mesopotamian myths, most notably Inanna and the Huluppu-Tree (an early creation myth), Inanna and the God of Wisdom (in which she brings knowledge and culture to the city of Uruk after receiving the gifts from the god of wisdom, Enki, while he is drunk), The Courtship of Inanna and Dumuzi (the tale of Inanna’s marriage to the vegetation-god), and the best known poem The Descent of Inanna (c. 1900-1600 BCE) in which the Queen of Heaven journeys to the underworld.

Besides these works and short hymns to Inanna, she is also known through the longer, more intricate hymns written by Enheduanna in honor of her personal goddess and the patroness of Uruk: Inninsagurra, Ninmesarra, and Inninmehusa, which translate as 'The Great-Hearted Mistress’, The Exaltation of Inanna’, and 'Goddess of the Fearsome Powers’, all three powerful hymns which influenced generations of Mesopotamians in their understanding of the goddess and elevated her status from a local to a supreme deity. Her personal ambition is attested to in a number of the works which feature her. Dr. Jeremy Black writes:

Violent and lusting after power, she stands beside her favourite kings as they fight. In a Sumerian poem, Inanna campaigns against Mount Egih. Her journey to Eridu to obtain the meh and her descent to the underworld are both described as intended to extend her power. (108)

This ambition can also be seen through her manipulation of Gilgamesh in the tale of the Huluppu Tree: when she cannot handle the problem of the pests which infest the tree, and fails to find help from her brother Utu/Shamash, she attracts the attention of Gilgamesh who takes care of the situation for her. Still, her intentions in this story are true. She only wants to cultivate the tree in order to harvest the wood and cannot handle the serious and threatening pests which make it their home. Her gift of the sacred drum and drum sticks to Gilgamesh for helping her eventually result in Enkidu's journey to the underworld to retrieve them and the fascinating revelations his spirit brings back to Gilgamesh.

Facade of Inanna's Temple at Uruk

In the famous Sumerian/Babylonian poem The Epic of Gilgamesh (c. 2700 - 1400 BCE) Inanna appears as Ishtar and, in Phoenician mythology, as Astarte. In the Greek myth The Judgment of Paris, but also in other tales of the ancient Greeks, the goddess Aphrodite is traditionally associated with Inanna through her great beauty and sensuality. Inanna is always depicted as a young woman, never as mother or faithful wife, who is fully aware of her feminine power and confronts life boldly without fear of how she will be perceived by others, especially by men.

In The Epic of Gilgamesh, as Ishtar, she is seen as promiscuous, jealous, and spiteful. When she tries to seduce Gilgamesh, he lists her many other lovers who have all met with bad ends at her hands. Enraged at his rejection, she sends the husband of her sister Ereshkigal, Gugulana (the Bull of Heaven) to destroy Gilgamesh's realm. Gugulana is then killed by Enkidu, the best friend and comrade-in-arms of Gilgamesh, for which he is condemned by the gods to die. Enkidu's death is the catalyst for the famous quest Gilgamesh undertakes to discover the meaning of life. Inanna, then, is central to the story of one of the greatest of ancient epics.

The huluppu tree

This myth, found in the preamble to the epic of Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Netherworld, 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 is fully grown. The tree grows and matures, but the serpent "who knows no charm," the Anzû-bird, and Lilitu, the Sumerian forerunner to the Biblical Lilith, 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 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.
Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta

Inanna has a central role in the myth of Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta, which centers around the rivalry between the rulers of Aratta and Uruk for the heart of Inanna. Ultimately, this rivalry results in natural resources coming to Uruk and the invention of writing. The text describes a tension between the cities:

The lord of Aratta placed on his head the golden crown for Inana. But he did not please her like the lord of Kulaba. Aratta did not build for holy Inana — unlike the Shrine E-ana.

The city Aratta is structured as a mirror image of Uruk, only Aratta has natural resources that Uruk needs, such as gold, silver, and lapis lazuli. Enmerkar, king in Uruk, comes to Inanna requesting that a temple be built in Uruk with stones from Aratta, and she orders him to find a messenger to cross the Zubi mountains and go to the Lord of Aratta demanding precious metals for the temple. The messenger makes the journey and all the peoples he passes along the way praise Inanna. He makes his demands, and the Lord of Aratta refuses, saying that Aratta will not submit to Uruk. He is upset, however, to learn that Inanna is pleased with the Eanna shrine. The Lord of Aratta issues a challenge to Enmerkar to bring barley to Aratta because Aratta is currently experiencing a severe famine. Enmerkar mobilizes men and donkeys to deliver the food. Still, the Lord of Aratta will not submit. He orders Enmerkar to complete a series of riddles or challenges. Enmerkar, with the wisdom of Enki, succeeds at every task. Eventually, the Lord of Aratta challenges Enmerkar to have a champion from each city fight in single combat. By this point, however, the messenger is tired. Enmerkar gives him a message, but he is unable to repeat it verbally so, instead, he inscribes the message on a tablet, thus inventing writing.

The Lord of Aratta cannot read the text, but the god Ishkur causes it to rain, ending the drought in Aratta. The Lord of Aratta decides that his city has not been forsaken after all and the champion of Aratta dresses in a "garment of lion skins," possibly in honor of Inanna. The end of the text is unclear, but it seems that the city of Uruk is able to access Aratta's resources.

Theft of the mes

Akkadian cylinder seal from sometime around 2300 B.C. 

depicting the deities Inanna, Utu, Enki, and Isimud.

One of the most important myths involving Inanna is a myth that comes from an ancient Sumerian epic poem entitled "Inanna and Enki," which tells the story of how Inanna stole the sacred mes from Enki, the ancient Sumerian god of culture. In ancient Sumerian mythology, the mes were sacred documents or tablets that contained all of the blueprints for human civilization. Each me embodied one specific aspect of human culture. These aspects were very diverse and the mes listed in the poem include abstract concepts such as Truth, Victory, and Counsel, technologies such as writing and weaving, and also social constructs such as law, priestly offices, kingship, and prostitution. The mes were believed to grant power over, or possibly existence to, all the aspects of civilization, both positive and negative.

In the myth, Inanna travels from her own city of Uruk to Enki's city of Eridu, where she visits his temple, the E-Abzu. Inanna is greeted by Enki's sukkal, Isimud, who offers her food and drink. Inanna starts up a drinking competition with Enki. Then, once she has gotten Enki thoroughly intoxicated, Inanna cunningly persuades Enki into giving her the mes using clever rhetoric. Inanna flees from Eridu in the Boat of Heaven, taking the mes back with her to Uruk. Enki wakes up to discover that the mes are gone and asks Isimud what has happened to them. Isimud replies that Enki has given all of them to Inanna. Enki becomes infuriated and sends multiple sets of fierce monsters after Inanna to take back the mes before she reaches the city of Uruk. Inanna's sukkal, Ninshubur, however, fends off all of the monsters that Enki sends after them. Through Ninshubur's aid, Inanna successfully manages to take the mes back with her to the city of Uruk. After Inanna escapes, Enki reconciles with her and bids her a positive farewell.

It is possible that this legend may represent a historic transfer of power from the city of Eridu to the city of Uruk. It is also possible that this legend may be a symbolic representation of Inanna's maturity and her readiness to become the Queen of Heaven.

Destruction of Ebih

Sumerian clay tablet of "Inanna and Ebih,"

which is currently housedin the Oriental Institute

University of Chicago

This myth comes from a 184-line-long poem entitled "Inanna and Ebih," which describes Inanna's confrontation with the Kur of Ebih. In the poem, the exact meaning of the word Kur is somewhat unclear since the word had many different possible meanings. The word usually referred to the Zagros mountain range (Jebel Hamrin, which is located in modern-day Iraq). The same word, however, was commonly used in Sumerian mythology to refer to the first dragon.

The poem begins with an introductory hymn praising Inanna. The goddess then journeys all over the entire world, until she comes across Mount Ebih, and becomes infuriated by its glorious might and natural beauty, considering its very existence as an outright affront to her own authority. She rails at Mount Ebih, shouting:

Mountain, because of your elevation, because of your height,

Because of your goodness, because of your beauty,

Because you wore a holy garment,

Because An organized(?) you,

Because you did not bring (your) nose close to the ground,Because you did not press (your) lips in the dust.

Inanna petitions to An, the Sumerian god of the heavens, to allow her to destroy Mount Ebih. An responds by giving Inanna a lengthy and detailed account of all the terrible mischief that the mountain has inflicted against the gods. Ultimately, however, An warns Inanna against attacking the mountain, but Inanna ignores his warnings. She then proceeds to attack and destroy Mount Ebih regardless, utterly annihilating it and leaving massive destruction in her wake. In the conclusion of the myth, she explains to Mount Ebih why she attacked it. In Sumerian poetry, the phrase "destroyer of Kur" is occasionally used as one of Inanna's epithets.

Samuel Noah Kramer interprets the poem as an account of Inanna slaying a dragon. He identifies two earlier myths also describing the slaying of a dragon. In the two earlier versions of the myth of the destruction of the Kur, the hero responsible for the slaying of the Kur is either Enki or Ninurta. The possibility that, in this myth, Inanna plays the role of the dragon-slayer is highly unusual since the hero of a dragon-slaying myth is almost always male.

Inanna and Shukaletuda

"Inanna and Shukaletuda" begins with a hymn to Inanna, praising her as the planet Venus. It then introduces Shukaletuda, a gardener who is terrible at his job and partially blind. All of his plants die, except for one poplar tree. Shukaletuda prays to the gods for guidance in his work. To his surprise, the goddess Inanna sees his one poplar tree and decides to rest under the shade of its branches. Shukaletuda removes his clothes and rapes Inanna while she sleeps. When the goddess wakes up and realizes she has been violated, she becomes furious and determines to bring her attacker to justice. In a fit of rage, Inanna unleashes horrible plagues upon the Earth, turning water into blood, to punish and identify her rapist. Shukaletuda, terrified for his life, pleads his father for advice on how to escape Inanna's wrath. His father tells him to hide in the city, amongst the hordes of people, where he will hopefully blend in. Inanna searches the mountains of the East for her attacker, but is not able to find him. She then releases a series of storms and closes all roads to the city, but is still unable to find Shukaletuda in the mountains, so she asks Enki to help her find him, threatening to leave her temple in Uruk if he does not. Enki consents and allows Inanna to "fly across the sky like a rainbow." Inanna finally locates Shukaletuda, who vainly attempts to invent excuses for his crime against her. Inanna rejects these excuses and kills him.

Theology proffessor Jeffrey Cooley has cited the story of Shukaletuda as a Sumerian astral myth, claiming that the movements of Inanna in the story correspond with the movements of the planet Venus. He has even suggested that, while Shukaletuda was praying to the goddess, he may have been looking toward Venus on the horizon.

Humbling of Gudam

This fragmentary myth focuses on the actions of Gudam, who is described as a fierce warrior, who dines on flesh and drinks blood instead of beer. Gudam walks through Uruk, killing many and damaging the Eanna temple, until a "fisherman of Inanna" turns his axe against him and defeats him. Gudam, humbled, pleads to Inanna for forgiveness, promising to praise her through words and offerings.

Takeover of the Eanna Temple

This myth, also fragmentary, begins with a conversation between Inanna and her brother Utu in which Inanna laments that the Eanna temple is not within their domain and resolves to claim it as her own. The text becomes increasingly fragmentary at this point in the narrative, but appears to describe her difficult passage through a marshland to reach the temple while a fisherman instructs her on which route is the best to take.

Ultimately, Inanna reaches her father An, who is shocked by her arrogance in attempting to capture the Eanna temple for herself, but nevertheless concedes that she has succeeded and that it is now her domain. The text ends with a hymn expounding Inanna's greatness. This myth may represent an eclipse in the authority of the priests of An in Uruk and a transfer of power to the priests of Inanna.

According to earliest records from the 4th millennium BCE Inanna’s grandmother is Nammu, the primordial Goddess of the Sea. The Babylonians knew Her as Tiamat. Nammu created Heaven and Earth and gave birth to Ningal / Ninmah, the Goddess as the Moon. Ningal / Ninmah Herself created the first people. She also gave birth to Inanna who manifests as the planet Venus, and as Inanna is the daughter of Ninagal / Ninmah, so is Venus the daughter of the Moon.

True to Her heritage, Inanna is the Goddess of the Morning and Evening Star as well as the Moon. Her imagery include the lunar crescent horns and the 8-pointed star, the rosette, which represents the planet Venus. Her headgear consists of a horned crown enclosing a cone, which is symbolic for the sacred mountain.

Inanna is often depicted with wings and a serpent-entwined staff. This imagery tells of Her roots as an ancient Bird and Snake Goddess, the Creatrix of the Upper and Lower Waters and the Goddess of Life, Death and Renewal.

Inanna is often dressed in blue which, just as Her lapiz jewels, reflects the blue of the Upper Waters or “The Deep” as the Sumerians referred to space. In fact they saw the sky as being a manifestation of the Goddess with the clouds being Her breasts and the rain Her milk. Inanna’s necklace is described as the rainbow and Her girdle as the zodiac.

Inanna is associated with the gate to cow-byres and sheepfolds, the gate representing Her vulva and the cow-byre or sheepfold Her womb. In ancient Sumer two bundles of reeds with curved ends (“Inanna’s Knot”) were placed at the entrance of Her storehouses and later Her temple Eanna in Uruk (Erech) to symbolise the Goddess.

Inanna’s sacred animals include the lioness and the cow, the former representing Her powers – She is able to tame wild lions! – and revealing Her as Goddess of the Animals, while the latter represents Inanna’s life-giving and nurturing aspect.

In her life-giving aspect Inanna’s birds include the white lunar dove and the swallow. In Her aspect as Death-Bringer She is associated with the viper and the scorpion, but also the owl, one of Her names being “nin-ninna” or “Divine Lady Owl”

Family of Inanna

An ancient Sumerian depiction of the

marriage of Inanna and Dumuzi

Although Inanna is a Goddess of Life and Death, later mythology passes Her dark moon aspect on to Her sister Ereshkigal who once having been a Corn Goddess becomes the Goddess of the Underworld. This changeover has much to do with a changing attitude towards death and the life cycle. While during the Neolithic and the early Bronze Age life was seen as cyclical with death not being the final end but rather a resting stage before rebirth, in later years as humanity distanced itself more and more from the natural world, the understanding of the Underworld changed from it being the womb of the Goddess to a place of no return. Ereshkigal is the Ruler over the Sumerian Underworld. However, some of the old cyclical beliefs remained even during the later Bronze Age, as late Sumerian mythology tells of how Ereshkigal gives birth to new life.

In Her capacity as life-giving Goddess Inanna is all about fertility and abundance. This is the aspect of Her that today we most associate with the Goddess as Venus.

As Queen of Earth Inanna is Goddess of grain, vine, date palms, cedar, the sycamore fig, the olive and the apple tree. Her temple towers known as ziggurateswere large storehouses from where Her priestesses would watch over the fields, fisheries and livestock. They would accept donations from the people and share them with everyone. All in-comings and outgoings would be recorded by them on clay tablets using reed styluses.

The High Priestess or Entu was seen not just as Inanna’s representative on Earth, but as the Goddess’s incarnation. Every autumn at the new year she would select a young man as her lover-consort to celebrate the Sacred Mating (Greek “Hieros Gamos” = Sacred Marriage). Through the love-making of the Entu and the man, who would become the king for the next year, the fertility of all life on Earth would be assured. Any children that were born of this union were considered to be half divine and half human, just as the hero Gilgamesh was thought to have been.

Just as Inanna is the Hierodule of Heaven, so were Her priestesses the hierodules of Earth. Hierodule is a Greek word that means “sacred work” or “servant of the holy”. Fertility and life is how the Goddess manifests Herself on Earth. [In most cases] Sexuality is the means by which fertility and thus new life comes about. In order to honour Inanna and to help keep the Earth a rich and flourishingh place, Her priestesses would re-enact the sacred act of lovemaking with Inanna’s worshippers at Her temples. The feelings of ecstasy experienced were seen as a divine state of bliss. Unfortunately, when Sumer with her long-hidden secrets was discovered not so long ago, the worldview of the archaeologists and anthropologists was clouded by Christian teachings who misunderstood the sacred role of hierodule and called Inanna’s priestesses “temple prostitutes” or “harlots”.

Inanna is the Queen of Heaven, her celestial manifestations being the Moon and the planet Venus. Like Isis in Egypt the star Sirius is sacred to Her as are the constellations Virgo and Scorpio.

Inanna is the Goddess of Death and Destruction. She is a Goddess of the Storm who represents the raw, unbridled destructive power of nature. Inanna is also known as “the Dragon” and is depicted as such with venom spewing from its mouth. In Her capacity as Destructress She is also represented by a lion-headed thunder bird known as “Imdugud”.

Inanna is the Goddess of Natural Law and Justice. She is the Bringer of the “me”, the Sumerian Tablets of the Law. Inanna is just and compassionate. Her gifts to humankind include civilisation, wisdom and prophesy.

As said before, at the start of the Bronze Age humans still saw themselves as being completely part of nature and therefore the Goddess. However, as time went by and our consciousness and self-awareness increasingly developed we felt more and more separate from the source. While initially humans saw death not as an end but just as another step on the cycle of life, with the increasing separation from nature came the realisation that while life in general continues indefinitely, the inidividual life will not. The Ancients described this in terms of a permanent life source – Kasoul or Zoe – and the many varieties of temporary life – Ba soul or Bios – the latter of which was believed to return to the source after death. The permanent life source was experienced as the Goddess and that of the temporary life force that is born from Her and returns to Her after death was represented by Her son-lover-consort. The life and death of the son-lover contains the lunar myth of birth, growth, decay and death. It also represents the Wheel of the Year with the god or son-lover being symbolic for the vegetation that grows and dies with the seasons. By the end of the Bronze Age rebirth was no longer envisioned for the individual but reserved only for goddesses and gods.

In Sumerian mythology this story is told through the birth and death of Dumuzi, the son-lover of the Goddess Inanna. His name literally means “faithful son”, but being a vegetation god he was also referred to as “The Green One”. He is a shepherd, “Lord of Life” and “Lord of the Net”. As “Bull of Heaven” the bull is sacred to him, but so are the ram and the goat. In Sumer the date palm which was the Tree of Life was associated with Dumuzi, as were grains, especially barley. Inanna’s son-lover was identified with the harvest and all the produce that was stored inside Her temples.

Every year in the autumn when in Mesopotamia the fertile raining season started, Inanna would join with Dumuzi in the rites of the sacred mating / marriage. This would ensure the fertility of the land. At the onset of the summer in July when the Sun would dry up the land and burn the crops, Dumuzi would die and enter the Underworld.

The story of Dumuzi’s death is interlinked with Inanna’s Descent. As said before, at some point during the Bronze Age people stopped believing in the uninterrupted cycle of life and death for themselves. The Underworld no longer was the womb of the Goddess, but instead became “The Land of No Return”. However, Inanna’s priestesses were aware of this split between the Upper and Lower Waters. Just as in ancient Greece every year many Sumerians would re-enact the descent of the Goddess into the Underworld in order to reunite their own consciousness with their unconscious and regain completion. It was a shamanic journey for both the Goddess and Her initiates.

The story of Inanna’s Descent involves the Goddess visiting and re-uniting with Her dark self or sister Ereshkigal. It is very much a lunar myth of the dark moon. On the way Inanna encounters seven gates – the number of days of the waning moon – where She has to give up the seven regalia of Her office. When She finally meets Her sister, She dies and has to hang on a hook for three days – the number of days of the dark moon. During that time Ereshkigal, the Dark Moon Goddess or Inanna’s dark moon aspect, gives birth to new life. Eventually the Queen of the Underworld agrees to let Inanna return to the world above, but only on the condition that She can find a replacement for Herself. Inanna returns to Heaven and Earth where She finally chooses Her Son-Lover Dumuzi to take Her place, as unlike everyone else he did not grieve for Her and instead enjoyed his time on Inanna’s throne.

Much of Sumerian mythology was adopted by the Babylonians where She was known as Ishtar and Her son-lover as Tammuz. Eventually the story of the Goddess and Her son would make its way into Christianity where to this day millions of people celebrate the birth of Jesus at Christmas and his death and resurrection at Easter. Mary to this day is celebrated by many as the Mother of God.
Courtship of Inanna and Dumuzi

"Courtship of Inanna and Dumuzid"

This myth 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 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 Biblical story of Cain and Abel because both myths center around a farmer and a shepherd competing for divine favor and, in both stories, the deity in question ultimately chooses the shepherd.


The poem in full

The brother spoke to this younger sister

The Sun God, Utu, spoke to Inanna, saying:

‘Young Lady, the flax in its fullness is lovely,

Inanna, the grain is glistening in the furrow.

I will hoe it for you, I will bring it to you

A piece of linen, big or small, is always needed.

Inanna, I will bring it to you.’

‘Brother, after you’ve brought me the flax, who will comb it for me?

Sister, I will bring it to you combed.’

‘Utu, after you’ve brought it to me combed, who will spin it for me?

‘Sister, I will bring it to you spun.’

‘Brother, after you’ve brought the flax to me spun, who will braid it for me?

‘Sister, I will bring it to you braided.’

‘Utu, after you’ve brought it to me braided, who will warp it for me?’

‘Inanna, I will bring it to you warped.’

‘Brother, after you’ve brought the flax to me warped, who will weave it for me?’

‘Sister, I will bring it to you woven.’

‘Utu, after you’ve brought it to me woven, who will bleach it for me?’

‘Inanna, I will bring it to you bleached.’

‘Brother, after you’ve brought my bridal sheet to me,

Who will go to bed with me?

Utu, who will go to bed with me?’

‘Sister, your bridegroom will go to be with you

He who was born from a fertile womb,

He who was conceived on the sacred marriage throne

Dumuzi, the shepherd! He will go to bed with you.’

Inanna bathed and anointed herself with scented oil.

She covered her body with the royal robe

She arranged her precious lapis beads around her neck

She took the royal seal in her hand

Dumuzi waited expectantly

Inanna opened the door for him

Inside the house she shone before him

Like the light of the moon

Dumuzi looked at her joyously

He pressed his neck close against hers

He kissed her

‘Let the bed that rejoices the heart be prepared!

Let the bed that sweetens the loins be prepared!

Let the bed of kingship be prepared!

Let the bed of queenship be prepared!

Let the royal bed be prepared!’

‘The bed is ready!’

‘The bed is waiting!’

‘What I tell you, let the singer weave into song

What I tell you, let it flow from ear to mouth

Let it pass from old to young.

‘My vulva, the horn, the Boat of Heaven,

Is full of eagerness like the young moon

As for me, Inanna, who will plow my vulva?

Who will plow my high field?

Who will plow my wet ground?

As for me, the young woman, who will plow my vulva?

‘Great Lady, the king will plow your vulva.

I, Dumuzi, the King, will plow your vulva!’

‘Then plow my vulva, man of my heart!

Plow my vulva!’

‘O Lady, your breast is your field

Inanna, your breast is your field.

Your broad field pours out plants

Your broad field pours out grain.

Water flows from on high for your servant

Bread flows from on high for your servant

Pour it out for me, Inanna,

I will drink all you offer!

‘I bathed for the wild bull

I bathed for the shepherd Dumuzi

Now I will caress my high priest on the bed

I will caress the faithful shepherd Dumuzi

I will decree a sweet fate for him!’

The Queen of Heaven who was presented the Sacred Measures by Enki

Inanna, the first daughter of the moon, decreed the fate of Dumuzi.

‘In battle, I am your leader

In combat, I am your armor-bearer

In the assembly, I am your advocate

On the campaign, I am your inspiration

You, the chosen shepherd of the holy shrine

You, the king, the faithful provider of Uruk,

You, the light of An’s great shrine

In all ways you are fit

To hold your head high on the lofty dais

To sit on the lapis lazuli throne

To cover your head with the holy crown

To wear long clothes on your body

To bind yourself with the garment of kingship

To race on the road with the holy sceptre in your hand

And the holy sandals on you feet

You, the sprinter, the chosen shepherd

In all ways I find you fit

May your heart enjoy long days.

That which An determined for you – may it not be altered

That which Enlil has granted – may it not be altered

You are the favorite of Ningal

Inanna holds you dear.’

Ninshubur, the faithful servant of the holy shrine of Uruk

Led Dumuzi to the sweet thighs of Inanna and spoke:

‘My queen, here is the choice of your heart

The king, your beloved bridegroom

May he spend long days in the sweetness of your holy loins

Give him a favorable and glorious reign!

O my Queen of Heaven and Earth

Queen of all the Universe

May he enjoy long days in the sweetness of your holy loins!’

The king went with lifted head on the holy loins

Dumuzi went with lifted head to the loins of Inanna

He went to the Queen with lifted head

He opened his arms to the holy Priestess of Heaven
Descent into the Underworld

A modern illustration depicting Inanna/Ishtar's descent 

into the Underworld taken from Lewis Spence's Myths

 and Legends of Babylonia and Assyria (1916)

The story of Inanna's descent to the underworld is a relatively well-attested and reconstructed composition.

In Sumerian religion, the Kur was conceived of as a dreary, dark place; a home to deceased heroes and ordinary people alike, ruled by Inanna's sister, the goddess Ereshkigal. While everyone suffered an eternity of poor conditions, certain behavior while alive, notably creating a family to provide offerings to the deceased, could alleviate conditions somewhat.

Inanna's reason for visiting the underworld is unclear. She tells the gatekeeper of the underworld that she wishes to attend the funeral rites of Ereshkigal's husband Gugalanna, but, in The Epic of Gilgamesh, Gugalanna is the Bull of Heaven, who is killed by Gilgamesh and Enkidu. To add further confusion, Ereshkigal's husband is typically the plague god Nergal.

Before leaving, Inanna instructs her minister and servant Ninshubur to plead with the deities Enlil, Nanna, Anu, and Enki to rescue her if she does not return after three days. The laws of the underworld dictate that, with the exception of appointed messengers, those who enter it may never leave.

Inanna dresses elaborately for the visit, with a turban, a wig, a lapis lazuli necklace, beads upon her breast, the 'pala dress' (the ladyship garment), mascara, pectoral, a golden ring on her hand, and she held a lapis lazuli measuring rod. These garments are each representations of powerful mes she possesses. Perhaps Inanna's garments, unsuitable for a funeral, along with Inanna's haughty behavior, make Ereshkigal suspicious.

Following Ereshkigal's instructions, Neti, the gatekeeper of the underworld, tells Inanna she may enter the first gate of the underworld, but she must hand over her lapis lazuli measuring rod. She asks why, and is told, "It is just the ways of the Underworld." She obliges and passes through. Inanna passes through a total of seven gates, at each one removing a piece of clothing or jewelry she had been wearing at the start of her journey, thus stripping her of her power. When she arrives in front of her sister, she is naked:

"After she had crouched down and had her clothes removed, they were carried away. Then she made her sister Erec-ki-gala rise from her throne, and instead she sat on her throne. The Anna, the seven judges, rendered their decision against her. They looked at her – it was the look of death. They spoke to her – it was the speech of anger. They shouted at her – it was the shout of heavy guilt. The afflicted woman was turned into a corpse. And the corpse was hung on a hook."

Three days and three nights pass, and Ninshubur, following instructions, goes to the temples of Enlil, Nanna, Anu, and Enki, and pleads with each of them to rescue Inanna. The first three deities refuse, saying Inanna's fate is her own fault, but Enki is deeply troubled and agrees to help. He creates two asexual figures named gala-tura and the kur-jara from the dirt under the fingernails of the deities. He instructs them to appease Ereshkigal and, when she asks them what they want, ask for the corpse of Inanna, which they must sprinkle with the food and water of life. When they come before Ereshkigal, she is in agony like a woman giving birth. She offers them whatever they want, including life-giving rivers of water and fields of grain, if they can relieve her; nonetheless they take only the corpse.

The gala-tura and the kur-jara sprinkle Inanna's corpse with the food and water of life and revive her. Galla demons sent by Ereshkigal follow Inanna out of the Underworld, insisting that she is not free to go until someone else takes her place. They first come upon Ninshubur and attempt to take her, but Inanna stops them, insisting that Ninshubur is her loyal servant, who had rightly mourned her while she was in the underworld. They next come upon Cara, Inanna's beautician, still in mourning. The demons attempt to take him, but Inanna insists that they may not, as he too had mourned her. They next come upon Lulal, also in mourning. The demons try to take him, but Inanna stops them once again.

Finally, they come upon Dumuzid, Inanna's husband. Despite Inanna's fate, and in contrast to the other individuals who were properly mourning Inanna, Dumuzid is lavishly clothed and resting beneath a tree, or upon her throne, entertained by slave-girls. Inanna, displeased, decrees that the demons shall take him, using language which echoes the speech Ereshkigal gave while condemning her. The demons then drag Dumuzid down to the Underworld.

A depiction taken from an ancient Sumerian cylinder seal

showing Dumuzid being brutally tortured in the Underworld 

by the galla demons

In other recensions of the story, Dumuzid tries to escape his fate, and is able to flee from the demons for a time, as Inanna's brother Utu, the god of the Sun, repeatedly intervenes and transforms Dumuzid into a variety of different animals, enabling him to escape. Nonetheless, the galla eventually capture Dumuzid and drag him down to the Underworld. However, Geshtinanna, Dumuzid's sister, out of love for him, begs to be taken in his place. Inanna decrees that Dumuzid will spend half the year in the underworld with Ereshkigal, but that his sister will take the other half. Inanna, displaying her typically capricious behavior, mourns Dumuzid's time in the underworld. This she reveals in a haunting lament of his deathlike absence from her, for "[he] cannot answer . . . [he] cannot come/ to her calling . . . the young man has gone." Her own powers, notably those connected with fertility, subsequently wane, to return in full when he returns from the netherworld each six months. This cycle then approximates the shift of seasons.

Interpretations of the Descent into the Underworld

Folklorist Diane Wolkstein interprets the myth as a union between Inanna and her own "dark side": her twin sister-self, Ereshkigal. When Inanna ascends from the Underworld, it is through Ereshkigal's powers, but, while Inanna is in the underworld, it is Ereshkigal who apparently takes on the powers of fertility. The poem ends with a line in praise, not of Inanna, but of Ereshkigal. Wolkstein interprets the narrative as a praise-poem dedicated to the more negative aspects of Inanna's domain, symbolic of an acceptance of the necessity of death in order to facilitate the continuance of life. Joseph Campbell interprets the myth as being about the psychological power of a descent into the unconscious, the realization of one's own strength through an episode of seeming powerlessness, and the acceptance of one's own negative qualities.

Conversely, Joshua Mark argues that the most likely moral intended by the original author of the Descent of Inanna is that there are always consequences for one's actions: "The Descent of Inanna, then, about one of the gods behaving badly and other gods and mortals having to suffer for that behavior, would have given to an ancient listener the same basic understanding anyone today would take from an account of a tragic accident caused by someone’s negligence or poor judgment: that, sometimes, life is just not fair."

Another recent interpretation, by Clyde Hostetter, holds that the myth is an allegorical report of related movements of the planets Venus, Mercury, and Jupiter; and those of the waxing crescent Moon in the Second Millennium, beginning with the spring equinox and concluding with a meteor shower near the end of one synodic period of Venus. The three-day disappearance of Inanna refers to the three-day planetary disappearance of Venus between its appearance as a morning or evening star. The fact that Gugalana is slain refers to the disappearance of the constellation Taurus when the sun rises in that part of the sky, which in the Bronze Age marked the occurrence of the vernal equinox.

Influence on other pantheons

The cult of Inanna influenced the cult of the Akkadian and Babylonian goddess Ishtar to such a profound extent that the two goddesses were widely considered to be the same. The cult of Ishtar, in turn, gave rise to the cult of the Phoenician goddess Astarte, which either gave rise to or at least heavily influenced the later cult of the Greek goddess Aphrodite. The cult of Inanna may also have influenced the deities Ainina and Danina of the Caucasian Iberians mentioned by the medieval Georgian Chronicles.

Role in modern feminism

Inanna has become an important figure in modern feminist theory largely due to the fact that she is one of the few major female deities in the otherwise male-dominated Sumerian pantheon. Gavin White has even gone so far as to claim that Inanna was once regarded in parts of Sumer as the mother of all humanity.

In January 2012 the Israeli feminist artist, Liliana Kleiner, presented in Jerusalem an exhibition of paintings of Inanna inspired by the myths described above. Inanna is one of the names on the Heritage Floor of The Dinner Party by American feminist artist Judy Chicago as a related woman to Ishtar, who has a seat at the table.

Author and historian Anne O Nomis has cited the Sumerian myth of "Inanna and Ebih" as an early example of the archetype of a powerful female displaying dominating behaviors and forcing gods and men into submission to her. She describes Inanna's rituals as "imbued with pain and ecstasy, bringing about initiation and journeys of altered consciousness; punishment, ecstasy, lament and song, participants exhausting themselves with weeping and grief."

Abode: Heaven
Planet: Venus
Symbol: Sky, Clouds, Wars, Birth, Skin
Consort: Dumuzi or Tammuz
Children: Lulal and Shara
Parents: Nanna and Ningal
Siblings: Utu, Ishkur and Ereshkigal

Equivalents

Greek equivalent Aphrodite
Canaanite equivalent Astarte
Babylonian equivalent Ishtar

Inanna, the Great Mother Goddess of the Sumerians has many titles such as:

“Queen of Heaven and Earth”
“Priestess of Heaven”
“Light of the World”
“Morning and Evening Star”
“First Daughter of the Moon”
“Loud Thundering Storm”
“Righteous Judge”
“Forgiver of Sins”
“Holy Shepherdess”
“Hierodule of Heaven”
“Opener of the Womb”
“Framer of All Decrees”
“The Amazement of the Land”
“The Green One”
“She of the Springing Verdure”
“Queen of Stall and Fold”