Inanna
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Inanna (𒀭𒈹 DINANNA), the original "Holy Virgin," as the Sumerians called her, is the first known divinity associated with the planet Venus. This Sumerian goddess became identified with the Semitic goddesses Ishtar and later Astarte, Egyptian Isis, Greek Aphrodite, Etruscan Turan and the Roman Venus.
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[edit] History
Inanna's name may originally have been Nin-anna "lady of the sky" (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. It sounds very close to "Nanna" the name of the Sumerian moon god, which indicates that the two deities may at one time have been one, or they may have a common origin. Inanna's name is also similar to that of the Hurrian and Hittite goddess Hannahanna (although the latter has no etymological connection, being derived from the Hittite word hannas "grandmother"). In some traditions Inanna was said to be a granddaughter of the creator goddess Nammu or Namma.
Inanna's permanent status as "maiden" was irrespective of her behavior. The goddess of love and war, if she wasn't strapping on her battle sandals,[1] she was seen swaggering around the streets of her home town, dragging young men out of the taverns to have sex with her.[2]
In Sumerian art she was associated with lions — even then a symbol of power — and was frequently shown standing on the backs of two lionesses. This gives her iconographic similarity with the Anatolian Cybele. Her cuneiform ideogram was a hook-shaped twisted knot of reeds, symbol of divine authority, ancestor of the crozier later carried by Catholic bishops.
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"[3] in Uruk[4]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 priestess-prostitutes 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 Dumuzid in the temple for one night on the occasion of the New Year festival.
[edit] Myths
[edit] Inanna and the mes
According to one story Inanna tricked the cultures from the culture god Father Enki who was worshipped in the city of Eridu. These 'cultures' were known as 'Mes' and represented everything from 'truth', to weaving, to prostitution. The myth goes that Inanna traveled to Enki's city Eridu, and by getting him drunk he 'gave' her hundreds (the exact number is unknown because the text breaks off) of Mes that she took to her city of Uruk. Enki, sobering up, sent mighty Abgallu (sea monsters from Ab = sea or abyss, Gal = Great, Lu = Man) to stop her boat as it sailed the Euphrates to retrieve his gifts, but she gave him the slip. This story may represent the historic transfer of power from Eridu to Uruk.
[edit] Inanna's Descent to the Underworld
Most curious is perhaps the story of Inanna's descent to the underworld. In Sumer the Underworld was not necessarily a place like a 'hell' but it was not a heaven. When humans and heroes died that is where they headed. However based on their behavior they could be afforded better treatment or positions in the underworld.
The Sumerian version (there was also a Babylonian version written for Ishtar that varies a bit) starts off with no particular reason for Inanna's ('The Goddess from the Great above (heaven)') visit 'to the great below' (underworld). With the Sumerian version it is generally believed she set her mind to being all powerful (heaven, earth, and the underworld.) However other versions take the line, "Holy Inana answered him: "Because lord Gud-gal-ana, the husband of my elder sister holy Erec-ki-gala, has died; in order to have his funeral rites observed, she offers generous libations at his wake -- that is the reason." to mean that she was doing just that; mourning her sister's loss. One must remember, though, that Inanna was a great trickster (see the mes story) and it would be quite odd for Ereckigala to treat her as she does once she arrived.
Whatever reason Inanna had set her mind and prepared to head for her sister Ereshkigal's or Ereckigala[5] kingdom in the Underworld.
She abandoned all her offices of power and took her 7 divine powers. She dressed for the occasion by wearing 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. Before she left she instructed her minister Ninshubur to travel behind her. She instructed that if she did not return that traditional mourning be carried out for her such as lacerations on the eyes, nose and buttocks. Then she asked that Enlil, Nanna, and finally Enki be asked to save her if something goes wrong.
She arrived at the first gate of the underworld and was asked why she had come. In some versions of the story she replies that if she is not let in she will bust down the gate and let the dead outnumber the living, but in another version she claims to have come to send her condolences over the loss of Ereškigal's husband Gudgalana (possibly the bull of heaven) though in other stories Ereshkigal is married to Nergal. Whatever her answer the gatekeeper runs to Ereškigal and tells her Inanna is outside. Ereškigal isn’t happy with her visit and instructs her gatekeeper to let Inanna through each gate separately and then they would deal with her. When the gatekeeper returns to Inanna he tells her she may pass through but has to 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. She passed through a total of 7 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."
Ereckigala's hate for Inanna could be referenced in a few other myths. Ereckigala 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 (see Ereshkigal's page for more information on this myth.) Inanna symbolized love, fertility and was the polar opposite of Ereckigala. Sibling rivalry could be seen as part of this.
3 days and 3 nights passed and Nincurba following instructions went to Enlil, Nanna, and Enki's temples and demanded they save the Goddess of Love. The first 2 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 having a good ol time 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.
[edit] Interpretations of the Inanna Descent myth
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 most popular interpretation is 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 Jewish calendarTammuz 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 (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.
The Inanna and Dumuzi story prefigures those of Cybele and Attis, of Aphrodite and Adonis, of Osiris and Isis — all of them tales of a young god who dies, and a goddess who mourns him.
[edit] Notes
- ^ "She stirs confusion and chaos against those who are disobedient to her, speeding carnage and inciting the devastating flood, clothed in terrifying radiance. It is her game to speed conflict and battle, untiring, strapping on her sandals." ETCSL translation: t.4.07.3. See link to ETCSL
- ^ "When the servants let the flocks loose, and when cattle and sheep are returned to cow-pen and sheepfold, then, my lady, like the nameless poor, you wear only a single garment. The pearls of a prostitute are placed around your neck, and you are likely to snatch a man from the tavern. As you hasten to the embrace of your spouse Dumuzid, Inana, then the seven paranymphs share the bedchamber with you." ETCSL translation: t.4.07.4
- ^ é-an-na = sanctuary ('house' + 'Heaven'[='An'] + genitive) [John Halloran's Sumerian Lexicon v. 3.0 -- see link below]
- ^ modern-day Warka, Biblical Erech
- ^ (Ereš = queen, lady; Ki = earth, Gal = great)
[edit] 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
- http://www-etcsl.orient.ox.ac.uk/section1/tr141.htm (Myth of Inanna and the Underworld)
[edit] Further reading
- Clickable map of Mesopotamia http://oi.uchicago.edu/OI/IS/SANDERS/PHOTOS/meso_map.html
- The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature http://www-etcsl.orient.ox.ac.uk/
- John Halloran's Sumerian Lexicon Version 3.0 http://www.sumerian.org/sumerlex.htm
