Inanna / Ishtar
The most complex deity of ancient Mesopotamia — goddess of love, war, and the morning star, worshipped from Uruk to Nineveh for over three millennia.
Inanna (Sumerian) / Ishtar (Akkadian) is arguably the most important and multifaceted deity in the Mesopotamian pantheon. She embodies seeming contradictions — love and war, fertility and destruction, order and chaos — and her cult persisted from the Uruk period (c. 4000 BCE) through the fall of Babylon. No other Mesopotamian deity generated so much literary, theological, and artistic attention.[6]
Domains and Symbols
- Love and sexuality — patroness of sexual desire, prostitution, and fertility
- War and combat — depicted armed, with lions, trampling enemies
- The planet Venus — the morning and evening star; her dual nature (appearing and disappearing) mirrors her dual domains
- The me — Inanna held divine powers (me) governing civilization, which she acquired from Enki in the myth Inanna and the Me[6]
Her primary symbol was the eight-pointed star (representing Venus). Her sacred animal was the lion, and her cult city was Uruk, where the great Eanna (“House of Heaven”) temple complex served both An and Inanna.[6]
Key Myths
Inanna and the Me
Inanna visits Enki in Eridu, gets him drunk, and persuades him to give her the me (divine decrees of civilization). She loads them onto her boat and brings them to Uruk. Enki sobers up and sends monsters to retrieve them, but Inanna prevails.[6]
The Descent of Inanna
The most powerful Inanna myth. She descends to the underworld to confront her sister Ereshkigal. At each of the seven gates she is stripped of a garment or ornament (symbols of her power). Naked and powerless, she is killed and hung on a hook. Through Enki’s intervention she is resurrected — but must provide a substitute. She chooses her husband Dumuzi (Tammuz), who failed to mourn her absence.[6]
See Descent of Inanna for the full entry.[6]
The Courtship of Inanna and Dumuzi
A collection of love poetry celebrating the sacred marriage (hieros gamos) between Inanna and the shepherd-god Dumuzi. These poems — joyful, sensual, and ritualistic — were likely performed during the New Year festival.
Enheduanna’s Hymns
Enheduanna (c. 2285–2250 BCE), daughter of Sargon of Akkad and high priestess of Nanna at Ur, composed the earliest literature attributed to a named author. Her works include:
- The Exaltation of Inanna (nin me šár-ra) — a passionate appeal to Inanna during a political crisis
- Inanna and Ebih — Inanna’s conquest of the rebellious mountain
- The Temple Hymns — A cycle praising 42 temples across Sumer
Enheduanna portrays Inanna as a terrifying, all-powerful, boundary-crossing deity — “the lady of all the me.”
Ishtar in Akkadian Tradition
As Ishtar, she became central to Akkadian, Babylonian, and Assyrian religion:
- Agušaya Hymn — celebrates Ishtar as a warrior
- Ishtar’s Descent — Akkadian version of the underworld myth
- The Amarna Letters show Ishtar of Nineveh sent to Egypt as a diplomatic healer
- Neo-Assyrian kings invoked Ishtar of Arbela as a war oracle
Primary Sources
- The Descent of Inanna (ETCSL 1.4.1)
- Inanna and the Me (ETCSL 1.3.1)
- The Exaltation of Inanna (ETCSL 4.07.2)
- The Courtship of Inanna and Dumuzi (ETCSL 4.08)
- Standard Babylonian Ishtar’s Descent
Further Reading
- Harris, Rivkah. “Inanna-Ishtar as Paradox and a Coincidence of Opposites.” History of Religions 30.3 (1991): 261–278.
- Wolkstein, Diane and Samuel Noah Kramer. Inanna, Queen of Heaven and Earth. Harper & Row, 1983.
- Bahrani, Zainab. Women of Babylon: Gender and Representation in Mesopotamia. Routledge, 2001.
- Hallo, William W. and J.J.A. van Dijk. The Exaltation of Inanna. Yale University Press, 1968.
See also: Mesopotamian Pantheon · Descent of Inanna · Epic of Gilgamesh
References
- ↑ Harris, Rivkah. "Inanna-Ishtar as Paradox and a Coincidence of Opposites." History of Religions 30.3 (1991): 261–278.
- ↑ Wolkstein, Diane and Samuel Noah Kramer. Inanna, Queen of Heaven and Earth. Harper & Row, 1983.
- ↑ Bahrani, Zainab. Women of Babylon: Gender and Representation in Mesopotamia. Routledge, 2001.
- ↑ Hallo, William W. and J.J.A. van Dijk. The Exaltation of Inanna. Yale University Press, 1968.
- ↑ The Descent of Inanna (ETCSL 1.4.1)
- ↑ Inanna and the Me (ETCSL 1.3.1)
- ↑ The Exaltation of Inanna (ETCSL 4.07.2)
- ↑ The Courtship of Inanna and Dumuzi (ETCSL 4.08)