Inanna

Inanna is the <a href="/facts/List_of_Mesopotamian_deities/AK1y5oN9">ancient Mesopotamian goddess</a> of love, war, and fertility. She is also associated with sensuality, procreation, <a href="/facts/Divine_law/ALSJkb7n">divine law</a>, and political power. Originally worshipped in <a href="/facts/Sumer/bxRz093q">Sumer</a>, she was known by the <a href="/facts/Akkadian_Empire/kWx9zFF6">Akkadian Empire</a>, <a href="/facts/Babylonian_religion/HM0REmEr">Babylonians</a>, and <a href="/facts/Assyria/n9pMP48S">Assyrians</a> as Ishtar (and occasionally the <a href="/facts/Logogram/wWYAITGc">logogram</a> 𒌋𒁯). Her primary title is <a href="/facts/Queen_of_Heaven_(antiquity)/KY5kIzRj">"the Queen of Heaven"</a>.
She was the patron goddess of the <a href="/facts/Eanna/paPE7jPI">Eanna</a> temple at the city of <a href="/facts/Uruk/8VY9FLDW">Uruk</a>, her early main <a href="/facts/Cult_(religious_practice)/2Slz1GeL">cult</a> center. In archaic Uruk, she was worshipped in three forms: morning Inanna (Inana-UD/hud), evening Inanna (Inanna sig), and princely Inanna (Inanna NUN), the former two reflecting the phases of her associated planet <a href="/facts/Venus/pADnueP6">Venus</a>. Her most prominent symbols include the <a href="/facts/Lion_of_Babylon/E75GHYd4">lion</a> and the <a href="/facts/Star_of_Ishtar/nT52EVbh">eight-pointed star</a>. Her husband is the god <a href="/facts/Dumuzid/ky1CmtJt">Dumuzid</a> (later known as Tammuz), and her <a href="/facts/Sukkal/jT69AG4G">sukkal</a> (attendant) is the goddess <a href="/facts/Ninshubur/466xUIT1">Ninshubur</a>, later <a href="/facts/Conflate/ru3nDY96">conflated</a> with the male deities <a href="/facts/Ilabrat/r3fII33g">Ilabrat</a> and <a href="/facts/Papsukkal/fEbNtE3k">Papsukkal</a>.
Inanna was worshipped in Sumer at least as early as the <a href="/facts/Uruk_period/sKwwPGj3">Uruk period</a> (c. 4000 – 3100 BCE), and her cultic activity was relatively localized before the conquest of <a href="/facts/Sargon_of_Akkad/F4WkV2w6">Sargon of Akkad</a>. During the post-Sargonic era, she became one of the most widely venerated deities in the Sumerian pantheon, with temples across <a href="/facts/Mesopotamia/f0mmbhTK">Mesopotamia</a>. The cult of Inanna/Ishtar, which may have been associated with a variety of <a href="/facts/Sexual_ritual/HFJATSbF">sexual rites</a>, was continued by the <a href="/facts/East_Semitic/ot6b9nSy">East Semitic</a>-speaking peoples (<a href="/facts/Akkadians/kWx9zFF6">Akkadians</a>, <a href="/facts/Assyrian_people/qfHqDhDc">Assyrians</a> and <a href="/facts/Babylonians/J4jjdUua">Babylonians</a>) who succeeded and absorbed the Sumerians in the region.
She was especially beloved by the <a href="/facts/Assyrian_people/qfHqDhDc">Assyrians</a>, who elevated her to become the highest deity in their pantheon, ranking above their own <a href="/facts/National_god/EU8Ywapd">national god</a> <a href="/facts/Ashur_(god)/atcEeY0N">Ashur</a>. Inanna/Ishtar is alluded to in the <a href="/facts/Hebrew_Bible/y8yblF9f">Hebrew Bible</a>, and she greatly influenced the <a href="/facts/Ugarit/Sf1o8AuK">Ugaritic</a> goddess <a href="/facts/Ashtart/a0W6Y7CD">Ashtart</a> and later the <a href="/facts/Phoenicia/6GXLneNU">Phoenician</a> goddess <a href="/facts/Astarte/a0W6Y7CD">Astarte</a>, who in turn possibly influenced the development of the Greek goddess <a href="/facts/Aphrodite/xW0TH9tC">Aphrodite</a>. Her cult continued to flourish until its gradual decline between the first and sixth centuries CE in the wake of <a href="/facts/Christianity/nKyJHlqq">Christianity</a>.
Inanna appears in more myths than any other Sumerian deity. She also has a uniquely high number of epithets and alternate names, comparable only to <a href="/facts/Nergal/78zSBYDc">Nergal</a>.
Many of her myths involve her taking over the domains of other deities. She is believed to have been given the <a href="/facts/Me_(mythology)/cEEmw8wB">mes</a>, which represent all positive and negative aspects of civilization, by <a href="/facts/Enki/4PySeAYJ">Enki</a>, the god of wisdom. She is also believed to have taken over the Eanna temple from <a href="/facts/Anu/0mVuI1q2">An</a>, the god of the sky. Alongside her twin brother <a href="/facts/Utu/WyyXl31T">Utu</a> (later known as Shamash), Inanna is the enforcer of <a href="/facts/Divine_judgment/pk2o7Lju">divine justice</a>; she destroyed Mount Ebih for having challenged her authority, unleashed her fury upon the gardener Shukaletuda after he <a href="/facts/Rape/7RLDwHCN">raped</a> her in her sleep, and tracked down the bandit woman <a href="/facts/Bilulu/vMhBDvqP">Bilulu</a> and killed her in <a href="/facts/Divine_retribution/wdrjXgPr">divine retribution</a> for having murdered Dumuzid. In the standard <a href="/facts/Akkadian_literature/NG16NMCN">Akkadian</a> version of the <a href="/facts/Epic_of_Gilgamesh/38VrUaDY">Epic of Gilgamesh</a>, Ishtar asks <a href="/facts/Gilgamesh/SBkxhxad">Gilgamesh</a> to become her consort. When he disdainfully refuses, she unleashes the <a href="/facts/Bull_of_Heaven/BG7tCsyg">Bull of Heaven</a>, resulting in the death of <a href="/facts/Enkidu/byQQuGnk">Enkidu</a> and Gilgamesh's subsequent grapple with his own mortality.
Inanna's most famous myth is the story of her descent into and return from the <a href="/facts/Ancient_Mesopotamian_underworld/xfjRsqsT">ancient Mesopotamian underworld</a>, ruled by her older sister <a href="/facts/Ereshkigal/Jv4HHVBX">Ereshkigal</a>. After she reaches Ereshkigal's throne room, the <a href="/facts/Anunnaki/jdxTrz2G">seven judges of the underworld</a> deem her guilty and strike her dead. Three days later, Ninshubur pleads with all the gods to bring Inanna back. All of them refuse her, except Enki, who sends two sexless beings to rescue Inanna.
They escort Inanna out of the underworld but the <a href="/facts/Gallu/EkMdr5SQ">galla</a>, the guardians of the underworld, drag her husband Dumuzid down to the underworld as her replacement. Dumuzid is eventually permitted to return to heaven for half the year, while his sister <a href="/facts/Geshtinanna/rFND1QYw">Geshtinanna</a> remains in the underworld for the other half, resulting in the cycle of the seasons.

Inanna open-in-new

Inanna