Inanna (deity)

Symbols: Reed bundle; reed gatepost; lion; eight-pointed star

Culture: Mesopotamia

Mother: Ningal

Father: Nanna

Siblings: Utu; Ereshkigal

Children: Lulal; Shara

Inanna was both a prominent deity in the Mesopotamian pantheon and also the most important goddess. She was the goddess of love and warfare, two contradictory traits that nonetheless suggested her passionate nature. The myths show that she was as fond of making love as she was of making war.

As the goddess of war, she displayed a warrior-like character, and she was compared to a roaring lion. The rumble of her chariot was said to sound like thunder, so she also took on the role of the goddess of thunderstorms. Inanna was said to spread confusion and chaos among those who disobeyed her, and she took revenge on those who angered her.

As the goddess of love, Inanna was a fertility figure and the patron goddess of prostitutes and alehouses. She loved to seduce mortal men and was said to have had many lovers. Temple prostitution was a part of her cult worship. In her astral aspect, Inanna also took the form of the planet Venus, which was both the evening star and the morning star.

Inanna was the daughter of the moon god Nanna and the goddess Ningal; her twin brother, Utu, was the sun god. Together with this brother and the moon god, Nanna, Inanna was part of an important secondary triad of Mesopotamian deities. Her consort was the shepherd god, Dumuzi. In the Akkadian tradition, the goddess’s name was Ishtar.

Early iconography depicted her as a reed bundle or doorpost. On the Uruk Vase, Inanna is shown standing before two reed doorposts. When depicted as a lover, the goddess is often nude, or she is exposing herself by holding open a cape. When depicted as a warrior, she is dressed in a robe, sometimes with weapons coming out of her shoulders and sometimes with weapons in her hands. Her symbol when depicted as a warrior was the lion; she would either be standing on the lion, or she would have placed a foot on the wild cat. She is also symbolized by the eight-pointed star, with the colors red and a cool blue being used to symbolize the various aspects of the goddess.

In Mythology

While popular myths state that Inanna was daughter of the moon god Nanna and the goddess Ningal, others state that she was the daughter of the supreme god Anu or the powerful god Enki/Ea.

According to a myth, the shepherd god Dumuzi and the farmer god Enkimdu both loved Inanna and fought for her hand in marriage. Inanna preferred Enkimdu (for his ability to grow), but she choose Dumuzi after her brother, the sun god Utu, interceded on the suitor’s behalf. The rivalry between Dumuzi and Enkimdu was said to represent the strain between shepherds and farmers who both vie for fertile land and hard-to-find water.

In another myth, Inanna decided to leave the world up above and to travel to the underworld. As she traveled through the seven gates, the decree of Ereshkigal, the goddess of the underworld and Inanna’s sister, required that the goddess be stripped of all her clothes. Thinking Inanna was there to usurp her power, Ereshkigal killed her sister when she finally arrived. The other gods intervened and set up a divine tribunal to look into the matter. They decreed that once dead, individuals could not depart from the underworld unless they left behind a substitute. Inanna’s search for a substitute took her to her husband Dumuzi; she saw that he was unaffected by her death and also that he was taking part in revelry. Angry, Inanna named Dumuzi as her substitute. Dumuzi tried to flee but was located by the underworld demons. His sister Geshtinanna tried to save Dumuzi by offering herself as the substitute. And so it was decided that the brother and sister would each take turns living in the underworld for six months. Inanna, showing her capricious nature, subsequently repented and wailed a haunting lament bemoaning her husband’s absence. This myth, like the Greek tale of Persephone, seems to explain the change in seasons; Inanna’s powers (especially those related to fertility) waned while Dumuzi resided in the underworld, but they were restored when her husband returned to the world above.

In the famous poem The Epic of Gilgamesh, it is said that Inanna invited the hero Gilgamesh to be her lover. But Gilgamesh rebuffed her with insults and listed the lovers Inanna had had whose lives she had destroyed. Angry, Inanna went to the supreme god Anu and insisted he give her the Bull of Heaven so that she could punish Gilgamesh by unleashing it on his land.

Origins and Cults

Inanna remained an important Mesopotamian deity throughout the third, second, and first millennia BCE. As a key deity, she was worshipped everywhere—but especially in cities such as Adab, Babylon, Akkad, Bad-tibira, Girsu, Kazallu, Isin, Larsa Kish, Sippar, Ur, and Umma. Inanna’s biggest cult center was located in the ancient southeastern city of Uruk. Her temples were called Eannas (the residence of Inanna), and there was a special Eanna District in Uruk devoted to her worship. Uruk enjoyed prosperity and royal patronage because of its religious prestige.

As part of Inanna’s worship, Mesopotamians celebrated a sacred marriage ceremony during the New Year festival. In the ceremony, the king took on the role of the god Dumuzi and consummated the marriage with a priestess (an incarnation of Inanna), thereby assuring fertility, prosperity, and abundance during the coming year. This ceremony was practiced in the late third and early second millennia BCE, and it hinted at the relationship that connected the mortal king and the immortal divinity. The kings therefore also considered themselves Inanna’s spouses, thus giving their rule greater legitimacy and the goddess political power. The kings also attributed their military victories to the support they received from the war goddess Inanna, increasing her political importance twofold.

Bibliography

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Bertman, Stephen. Handbook to Life in Ancient Mesopotamia. Oxford and New York: Oxford UP, 2003. Print.

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