Inanna's walk into the underworld

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Inanna's walk into the underworld is a story of the Sumerians and was written in Sumerian .

Lore

For this story, in which the Sumerian goddess Inanna tries to extend her sphere of influence to the underworld , numerous text representatives from different epochs of the Mesopotamian high culture have been found, none of which is complete. Nevertheless, the text was almost completely reconstructed. Over twenty versions are known to date, including:

  • Sumerian version
    • a text reconstructed from many fragments, mainly from Nippur , which breaks off with the invocation of Utus by Dumuzi (Ni 368 + CBS 9800 (A), CBS 13932 (B), CBS 12368 + 12702 + 12752 (C), Ni 2279 (D) , CBS 13908 (E), Ni 4034 (F), CBS 11064 + 11088 (G), Ni 9685 (H), PBS V 24 (I), CBS 15212 (J), Wi 4200 (K), Wi 2762 (L ), YBC 4621 (M), CBS 13902 (N), CBS 15162 (O).
    • a fragment from Ur
    • BM 100046 with a report on Dumuzi's death
  • Assyrian version

reception

The story experienced a long history of reception in the ancient Near East and was the model for the Akkadian story Ištar's journey into the underworld or Ištar 's journey into hell . In today's religious studies, no clear motive can be presented for the much discussed myth of Inanna's walk into the underworld , which results from the inadequate comparison of the early dynastic and neo-Sumerian worlds of gods to this day.

Inanna's walk into the underworld

Departure to the underworld

Inanna was the queen of heaven, but she also wanted to rule the underworld. She gave up her temples and got ready for the trip. She put on her jewelry and regal robes and took the seven ME ribbons with her. Before she left, she instructed her servant Ninsubur (a), if she did not return after three days, to start a complaint for her in the meeting hall of the gods. Then she should go to Nippur and ask Enlil for help so that Inanna would not be put to death in the underworld. If Enlil refuses, she should go to Ur and ask Nanna for help. If this also doesn't work, she should ask for the help of Enki in Eridu , who knows the water of life and will certainly come to her aid.

So armed, Inanna went to the gate of the Ereškigal's Lapis Lazuli Palace and asked to be admitted, she did not ask, she gave orders. She told the gatekeeper, Neti, that she had come to mourn her husband Gugalanna, who had recently passed away, with her sister Ereškigal, ruler of the underworld . She was admitted, but robbed of one of her symbols of power at each of the seven gates (diadem, lapis lazuli stone, egg pearls, breast jewelry, arm jewelry, measuring stick and measuring ropes, and garment). Although naked and without power, she knew no humility and desired the throne of the underworld, which she was denied by the seven underworld judges ( Anunnaki ). They looked at her with the eyes of death and hung her as a pale piece of meat on a pole .

Inanna is resurrected

Ninšubura waited in vain for three days and three nights for her mistress to return. So, one by one, she went to the gods Enlil , Nanna and Enki , asking for help. But only Enki heard her. He created Kurgarra and Kalatur, to which he entrusted the “food of life” and the “water of life”, which they are to bring to Irkalla to Ereškigal, who was sick and mournful. They should show compassion for Ereškigal's afflictions [and presumably cure them], but in no case should they accept their gifts, food or drink. Instead, they should ask for the corpse, which is hanging from a nail, and sprinkle it with the water of life and the food of life, thus resuscitating Inanna.

The saying of the Anunnaki

The ruse succeeded, but the seven judges of the underworld decreed that someone else must take Inanna's place. Inanna returned to earth, but the heartless galla, demons of the underworld, accompanied her with the order to bring her back to Irkalla if she could not provide a replacement. Inanna first visited Umma and Bad-tibira . Sarra and Lulal were terrified of their arrival, covered themselves in sackcloth and ashes, and threw themselves in the dust in front of her. When the galla tried to drag her into the underworld, she intervened. Then she traveled on to Uruk, where instead of weeping her husband Dumuzi had put on regal robes and sat high on a throne. Inanna looked at him with the eye of death. Dumuzi begged Utu to save him, but to no avail.
This breaks off this text.

The original fragment begins with Inanna sitting on the throne in Uruk when the galla arrive and want to drag her into the underworld. Obviously it is a somewhat different tradition.

Inanna refers them to Dumuzi, whom they seize, wound with their axes and torture. Dumuzi asks Utu to turn him into a sag-kal snake so that he can get to his sister Geštinanna and ask her for help. Utu listens to him and "like a bird that escapes a falcon" Dumuzi flees to Geštinanna. She hides him and is now tortured by the galla themselves .

Dumuzi is taken to the underworld in Inanna's place. What Inanna hadn't considered was that now that the god of grain and beer had died, no grain could grow on earth and no beer could be brewed. Inanna meanwhile mourned her lover very much and one day she decided to trade in for Dumuzi. Dumuzi should live in the underworld for half a year and she herself for half a year.

An Akkadian variant with an alternate ending

A slightly less known variant from fragments from Ur tells the ending differently.

Dumuzi has to suffer terrible agony in the underworld. He asks the god Utu to turn his arms and legs into snakes in order to spare him the pain of torture. When his sister Geštinanna heard of these torments, she asked Inanna to help him. However, Inanna does not exchange herself for Dumuzi, but decrees that his sister Geštinanna must take on this burden. Since Dumuzi is the god of grain, after his death all grain wither and the beer becomes stale. Only through his sister's salvation will the grain come back. However, after the exchange with Geštinanna, all fruits wither and the wine becomes sour, since Geštinanna is the goddess of fruits and wine. So Inanna decrees that Dumuzi and Geštinanna have to alternate every six months and so the different seasons arise.

Ištar's journey into hell

The Babylonian variant, which has been preserved in Assyrian copies in the archive of the Aššur-bāni-apli in Niniveh , is unmistakably based on the original Sumerian story. However, the goddess Ištar , who takes on the role of Inanna, has other insignia of power that she must surrender at the seven gates: tiara, earrings, necklace, robe pin, belt with birthstones, bracelets and anklets and robe.

As the goddess of war, Ištar threatens to tear down the gates of the underworld if she is not allowed in, whereupon Namtar lets her in, removes the insignia on the gates and later, at the behest of Ereškigal, afflicts her with 60 diseases, from which she dies.

Since the goddess of love Ištar can no longer go about her work, neither animals nor humans reproduce. Therefore, the god Ea creates the pleasure boy Aṣu-šu-namir (' his rising is light '), who is supposed to beguile Ereškigal and so steal the corpse of Ištar, whose skin has meanwhile been processed into a water sac, from the underworld. Aṣu-šu-namir steals the corpse, but Ereškigal curses and castrates him for his betrayal. Ereškigal then revives Ištar with the water of life, but forbids her to ever re-enter her realm. Ištar has to admit her arrogance and ascends again to heaven.

The parts with Dumuzi / Tamuz and the barter with the underworld are missing in the Babylonian version. It is only mentioned that Tamuz is celebrating Ištar's return. However, from mentions of other cuneiform texts from Babylonian times, one can conclude that the Babylonians also knew the barter between Tamuz and Ištar or at least compared it to Inanna and Dumuzi.

interpretation

In modern times, Dumuzi, sent to the underworld, was often referred to as an annually dying and resurrecting god, for which the Babylonian tradition offers no reference whatsoever. Only on a fragmentary version from Ur is there a reference to such a " Demeter cycle " for the Sumerian period .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Samuel Noah Kramer: Inanna's Descent to the Nether World. continued and corr. In: Journal of Cuneiform Studies. 5/1, 1951, p. 1.
  2. ^ Thorkild Jacobsen: The Harps that Once ...: Sumerian Poetry in Translation. Yale 1997.
  3. ^ Samuel Noah Kramer: The Death of Dumuzi: A New Sumerian Version. In: Anatolian Studies 30 (Special Number in Honor of the Seventieth Birthday of Professor OR Gurney) 1980, 5-13
  4. ↑ Otto Kaiser (Ed.): Texts from the environment of the Old Testament. Gütersloh 1982-1997.
  5. ↑ Wolfram von Soden: Propylaea world history. Volume 1, p. 560.
  6. ↑ Wolfram von Soden: Propylaea world history. Volume 1, p. 562.
  7. ^ Samuel Noah Kramer, Cuneiform Studies and the History of Literature: The Sumerian Sacred Marriage Texts. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society. (Cuneiform Studies and the History of Civilization) 107/6, 1963, pp. 490-493.
  8. ↑ Otto Kaiser (Ed.): Texts from the environment of the Old Testament. Gütersloh 1982-1997.
  9. ^ Thorkild Jacobsen: The Harps that Once ...: Sumerian Poetry in Translation. Yale 1997.
  10. ↑ Otto Kaiser (Ed.): Texts from the environment of the Old Testament. Gütersloh 1982-1997
  11. ↑ Wolfram von Soden: Propylaea world history. Volume 1, p. 562.
  12. ^ Samuel Noah Kramer : The Death of Dumuzi: A New Sumerian Version. In: Anatolian Studies. 30 (Special Number in Honor of the Seventieth Birthday of Professor OR Gurney) 1980, pp. 5-13.

literature

Web links

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