Inanna

Inanna (^DINANNA ; 𒀭𒈹 ) is the Sumerian goddess of sexual love, fertility, and warfare. Alternative Sumerian names include Innin, Ennin, Ninnin, Ninni, Ninanna, Innina, Ennina, Irnina, Innini, Nana and Nin, commonly derived from an earlier Nin-ana "lady of the sky", although Gelb (1960) presented the suggestion that the oldest form is Innin (^DINNIN) and that Ninni, Nin-anna and Irnina are independent goddesses in origin. Her Akkadian name is Ishtar.

Character

The goddess of love and war, who was seen swaggering around the streets of her home town, dragging young men out of the taverns to have sex with her. Despite her association with mating and fertility of humans and animals, Inanna was not a mother goddess, and is rarely associated with childbirth. Inanna was also associated with rain and storms and with the planet Venus.

Origins

As early as the Uruk period (ca. 4000 to 3100 BC) it would appear 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, bowls, vessels and baskets of farm produce, and bringing sheep and goats, to a female figure facing the ruler, 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, whilst the male figure holds a box and stack of bowls, the later cuneiform sign signifying En, or high priest of the temple.

She figures prominently in one of the earliest legends, Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta, in something like a kingmaker role, transferring her personal abode and favour, and thus hegemony, from the court of Aratta's king to that of Uruk.

Seal impressions from the Jemdet Nasr period (3,100-2,900 BCE) show a fixed sequence of city symbols including those of Ur, Larsa, Zabalam, Urum, Arina and probably Kesh. It is likely that this list reflects the report of contributions to Inanna at Uruk from cities supporting her cult. A large number of similar sealings were found 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. They had been used to lock store-rooms to preserve materials set aside for her cult.

Inanna's name is commonly derived from Nin-anna "Queen of Heaven" (from Sumerian NIN "lady", AN "sky"), although the cuneiform sign for her name (Borger 2003 nr. 153, U+12239 𒈹) is not historically a ligature of the two. In some traditions Inanna was said to be a granddaughter of the creator goddess Nammu or Namma.. These difficulties have led some early Assyriologists to suggest that Inanna may have been originally a Proto-Euphratean goddess, possibly related to the Hurrian mother goddess Hannahannah, accepted only latterly into the Sumerian pantheon, an idea supported by her youthfulness, and that, unlike the other Sumerian divinities, she at first had no 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

Along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers were many shrines and temples dedicated to Inanna. The temple of Eanna, meaning "house of heaven" or "house of An" in Uruk was the greatest of these. The god of this fourth-millennium city was probably originally An. After its dedication to Inanna the temple seems to have housed priestesses of the goddess. The high priestess would choose for her bed a young man who represented the shepherd Dumuzid, consort of Inanna, in a hieros gamos or sacred marriage, celebrated during the annual Akitu (New Year) ceremony, at the spring Equinox. In late Sumerian history (end of the third millennium) kings established their legitimacy by taking the place of Dumuzi in the temple for one night on the occasion of the New Year festival.

Iconography

Inanna's symbol is an eight-pointed star or 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).

Myths

Inanna and the mes

According to one story, Inanna tricked the god of culture, Enki, who was worshipped in the city of Eridu, into giving her the 'Mes'. The 'Mes' (pronounced "mays") represented everything from truth to weaving to prostitution. Inanna traveled to Enki's city Eridu, and by getting him drunk, she got him to give her hundreds (the exact number is unknown, because the text breaks off) of Mes, which she took to her city of Uruk. Upon sobering up, Enki sent mighty Abgallu (sea monsters, from Ab, sea or abyss + Gal, great + Lu, man) to stop her boat as it sailed the Euphrates and retrieve his gifts, but she gave him the slip. This story may represent the historic transfer of power from Eridu to Uruk.

Inanna's descent to the underworld

Most curious is perhaps the story of Inanna's descent to the underworld. In Sumer the Underworld was a dreary, dark place; a home to deceased heroes and ordinary people alike. Based on their behavior they could be afforded better treatment or positions in the underworld.

Inanna's reason for visiting the underworld is unclear. The reason she gives to the gatekeeper of the underworld is that she wants to attend her brother-in-law Gud-gal-ana's funeral rites. However, this may be a ruse; Inanna may have been intending to conquer the underworld. Ereshkigal , queen of the underworld and Inanna's sister, may have suspected this, which could explain her treatment of Inanna.

Before she left, Inanna instructed her minister Ninshubur plead with the gods Enlil, Nanna, and Enki to save her if anything went wrong.

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. Perhaps Inanna's garments, unsuitable for a funeral, along with Inanna's haughty behaviour make Ereshkigal suspicious.

Following Ereshkigal's instructions, the gatekeeper 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, each removing a piece of clothing or jewelry she had been wearing at the start of her journey. In Sumerian mythology some forms of burials included burying the deceased with gifts for the gatekeepers and judges of the Underworld to win their favor. Items could also be used as an amulet or protective device so stripping Inanna of each item would leave her more vulnerable to any type of attack.

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."

Ereškigal's hate for Inanna could be referenced in a few other myths. Ereškigal is seen as an accidental 'black sheep' of sorts. She can not leave her kingdom of the Underworld to join the other 'living' Gods and they can not visit her in the Underworld or else they can never return. Inanna symbolized love (in the sense of eros) and fertility and was the polar opposite of Ereškigal.

Three days and three nights passed and Nincurba following instructions went to Enlil, Nanna, and Enki's temples and demanded they save the Goddess of Love. The first two gods refused saying it was her own mess but Enki was deeply troubled and agreed to help. He created two sexless figures (neither male nor female) named gala-tura and the kur-jara. He instructed they were to appease Ereškigal and when asked what they wanted they were to ask for Inanna's corpse and sprinkle it with the food and water of life.

Things went as Enki said and the gala-tura and the kur-jara were able to revive Inanna. Demons of Ereškigal's followed Inanna out of the underworld and demanded she wasn’t free to go until someone took her place. They first came upon Nincurba and asked to take her. Inanna refused saying she had helped her as she had asked. They next came upon Cara, Inanna's beautician, still in mourning. The demons said they would take them but Inanna refused for he had been there for her. They next came upon Lulal also in mourning. The demons offered to take him but Inanna refused.

They next came upon Dumuzi, Inanna's husband. He was sitting in nice clothing and enjoying himself despite his wife supposedly still being missing in the underworld. Inanna wasn't happy and said they could take him.

Dumuzi tried to escape his fate but a fly told Inanna and the demons where he was. It was then decreed that Dumuzi spent half the year in the underworld and his sister take the other half.

Interpretations of the Inanna descent myth

According to some interpretations, Inanna's three-day disappearance in the underworld may point to her origin as a moon goddess, since the moon is dark for three days before the first crescent of the new moon-month appears. The early date of the Inanna descent myth is shown by the fact that it was linked to the Akitu New Year ceremony, at a time when the sun's light obscures the constellation Taurus, in this case known as Gugalanna (The Great Bull of Heaven). It was to console her grieving sister at the death of this "husband" that led Inanna to make the descent in the first place.

A popular interpretation is that she may have been associated with the vegetation God. Inanna symbolized life, love, and fertility. When she went to the underworld the crops ceased to grow and the animals ceased to procreate. Her death was similar to 'winter' when the crops had not grown yet. They were in essence 'dead'. Diane Wolkstein's version suggests that the 2 creatures Enki sent to free her symbolized 'water' and 'fertilizer' as to revive the plants and make them grow again. With Inanna's rebirth the crops began to grow and live.

In Babylonian Mesopotamia Dumuzi's Akkadian name Tammuz was absorbed by the Jewish religion during the Babylonian exile of the Jews. In both the Babylonian and the Hebrew calendar Tammuz is the fourth month that of the summer solstice, when, in Mesopotamia, the force of the sun would kill the vegetation and the harvest could begin. It was also the period when the sun began its slow movement along the horizon toward the southern hemisphere. Thus the time of the sun's greatest power is also that of its decline. The period from July to the end of December was that of Geštianna's (i.e. Inanna of the Grape, Dumuzi's sister) life and Dumuzi's death; the period from January to the end of June was that of Dumuzi's life and Geštianna's death. Each winter solstice staged the birth of a new or renewed sun. Clearly the harvest of the grape and of the grain occurred in six monthly cycles, six months apart.

The Inanna and Dumuzi story prefigures those of Cybele and Attis, of Aphrodite and Adonis, of Demeter and Persephone, of Hadad and Anat, of Osiris and Isis and is similar to the story of Nanna (Suen) and Ninlil — all of them tales of a young god or goddess who dies, and a mother or spouse goddess who mourns him.

While the story of her descent into the underworld and the relationship that she has with Dumuzi/Tammuz is similar to some of the aforementioned mythological pairs (especially the Cybele/Attis cycle), her story is unique in that she is not primarily a mother-figure. Inanna's attributes (such as her capricious, war-like ways) are particularly at odds with Isis, the cult of which shared many similarities with the Virgin Mary in Hellenized Alexandria and in other places of political import in the early Roman Empire. Inanna as envisioned by the ancient Mesopotamians did not stand for the feminine or woman as she existed as a domestic partner; other goddesses embodied these qualities (Frymer-Kenskey, 49). Tikva Frymer-Kenskey, in her book "In the Wake of the Goddesses", explores Inanna in detail. Talking about the courtship and marriage of Inanna to Dumuzi, she says, “It is significant that the prime figure of this drama is not a ‘fertility’ or ‘mother-goddess’. Instead the ritual [of sacred marriage] involves sexual union with the goddess who represents that lust which allows for sexual union,” (Frymer-Kenskey, 56). While some texts name her as the mother to a pair named Shara and Lulal, her identity in most of the extant mythology is not dependent on her ability as a mother. She remains essentially childless (Frymer-Kenskey, 27). Inanna was the powerful, all-consuming force of attraction, essential for the continuation of the world.

The Akkadian priestess Enheduanna says that Inanna is “mightiest among the great gods,” because she “makes their verdicts final”(Enheduanna, 4-9). Other gods and goddesses may outrank her in the Mesopotamian pantheon, but it is Inanna who has the final word for it is she who makes their divine will manifest on Earth. She is the force of action and change, a dynamic current running through the affairs of mankind.

While the mythology concerning Inanna’s marriage to Dumuzi shows the sensual side of this cosmic force, she is often a terrifying goddess full of wrath and vengeance. Enheduanna says that those who dare to reject her are destroyed, their lands cursed and infertile, the rivers running thick with blood (Enheduanna, 1-19). Gilgamesh experiences her wrath after he rejects her advances and humiliates her, calling her, among other insulting things, a “shoe that mangles its owner’s foot” (Mitchell, 132). He details the undeserved things that she has done to half a dozen of her lovers (citing some myths that are lost to us and some that are known)– she leaves one to die when she is tired of him, changes the gardener into a toad, turned the shepherd into a wolf, etc. “Your price is too high,” Gilgamesh says hoping to avoid a similar fate, only to pay later for his rejection with the death of his soul mate, Enkidu (Mitchell, 133). Even Dumuzi/Tammuz feels her wrath when he is 'elected' to take her place in the underworld. Horrible things repeatedly happen to her lovers and those who refuse to worship her meet with nasty deaths under the strain of war and famine. As much as she is sexual attraction, she is rage, strength and raw power.

The story of the descent of Inanna was widespread throughout the area. In Ezekiel 8:14, the prophet castigates Jerusalem women for celebrating the cult (Fulco).

Related deities

Inanna is the daughter of the moon god Nanna, and sister to the sun god Utu and the rain god Ishkur. Her sister is Ereshkigal, Queen of the Underworld.

As the goddess of the planet Venus, Inanna was identified by the Akkadians with their own Venus deity, who may have been male. Although the Akkadian name for the goddess was Ishtar, the Akkadians used Sumerian as a religious language; so their hymns, written in Sumerian, use the name Inanna.

References

• Wolkstein, Diana & Kramer, Samuel Noah (1983) Inanna: Queen of Heaven and Earth (Harper Perennial) ISBN 0-06-090854-8
• George, Andrew, translator (1999) The Epic of Gilgamesh (Penguin Books) ISBN 0-14-044919-1
• Inana's descent to the nether world: translation. The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature. University of Oxford Library.
• Frymer-Kensky,Tikva. In the Wake of the Goddesses. New York: MacMillan, 1992.
• Fulco, William J., S.J. "Inanna." In Eliade, Mircea, ed., The Encyclopedia of Religion. New York: Macmillan Group, 1987. Vol. 7, 145-146.
• Jacobsen, Thorkild. The treasures of darkness: a history of Mesopotamian religion. Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 1976.
• Mitchell, Stephen. Gilgamesh:A New English Translation. New York: Free Press (Div. Simon & Schuster), 2004.
• Enheduanna. “The Exaltation of Inanna (Inanna B): Translation”. The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature. University of Oxford Library. 2 December 2004.

Further reading

• Jeremy Black, Graham Cunningham, Eleanor Robson, and Gábor Zólyomi (2004) The Literature of Ancient Sumer (Oxford University Press) ISBN 0-19-926311-6
• The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature
• Halloran, John A. Sumerian Lexicon Version 3.0
• voorbij de zerken: a Dutch book which "contains" both ereshkigal and inanna.

External links

• Clickable map of Mesopotamia