Ishtar is the Mesopotamian goddess of love and war. Her Sumerian name is Inana (sometimes spelled Inanna). As I mentioned in my Intro, I’m not actually sure who Ishtar’s father is; various stories and tablets list multiple gods as her father. Some of these tablets openly contradict one another, with a possible father from one tablet being Ishtar’s consort in another. Whoever he is, Ishtar’s father is definitely one of the more important gods in the Mesopotamian pantheon. Ishtar also has a sister: Ereshkigal, queen of the Underworld.
There’s an interesting story that revolves around Ishtar and Ereshkigal. For some reason, Ishtar decides that she wants to go to the Underworld. Rather than politely asking her sister if she can come and visit, Ishtar demands entrance, threatening to break down the gates of hell if she is not allowed in. (This is pretty much par for course with Ishtar. She isn’t exactly a sweet, kind goddess...)
Ereshkigal is understandably infuriated by Ishtar’s threats. She tells her servants to allow Ishtar to enter, but to do so in the most humiliating manner possible. At each of the seven gates of the Underworld, Ishtar is forced to remove a piece of clothing - leaving her stark naked by the time she passes through the last gate. (I imagine this looking rather like Cersei Lannister’s walk of shame in A Dance With Dragons. This is interesting, because Cersei and Ishtar have another thing in common - the Lannister crest and the symbol of Ishtar are both lions. Was this deliberate on George R. R. Martin’s part?)
Ishtar is quite peeved by the time she comes face to face with her sister. She insults Ereshkigal without thinking of the consequences. The Underworld goddess immediately orders Ishtar to be tortured and killed as punishment. (No love lost in that relationship!)
With the goddess of love dead, all mortal beings on earth stop having sex. Ea, king of the gods, is quite worried by this development. He sends an emissary to the Underworld to ask for Ishtar’s life to be returned to her. Ea makes sure to warn the emissary to follow the proper protocol and to be very respectful of Ereshkigal.
Ereshkigal is angered by the emissary’s request, but she can find no fault in his actions. This prevents her from denying his request. Ereshkigal grudgingly brings Ishtar back to life. The goddess ascends from the Underworld, with a piece of her clothing being returned to her at each of the seven gates.
The story does not end there; to be returned to the world of the living, Ishtar must find someone to take her place in the Underworld. To ensure that Ishtar complies with this rule, Ereshkigal sends an enforcer squad of demons along with her.
To Ishtar’s credit, she does not damn the first person she sees. Every person she runs into turns out to be a true friend, someone who honestly grieved for her while she was dead. In growing desperation, Ishtar returns home - where she finds her husband Tammuz (also called Dumuzi) seated on her throne with dry eyes. He had not mourned her passing. As revenge for his lack of compassion, Ishtar turns him over to the demons, who drag him back to the Underworld as her replacement.
Luckily, Tammuz had someone in his life who mourned for him. His sister Belili (Sumerian: Geshtinanna) was so struck with grief by his passing that she begged to be allowed to take his place. The gods eventually decided to split the year between the two siblings - each would spend six months in the Underworld per year, leaving the other to live freely during that time.
As you can probably tell from this story, Ishtar is not the most loving of goddesses - which seems strange for a goddess of love. She hates her sister, has a seemingly loveless marriage with Tammuz...perhaps it would be more accurate to call Ishtar a sex goddess than a love deity. Scholars believe that prostitution was a form of worship at Ishtar’s temple, which might back up this idea of sex rather than love. (Such a thing was not uncommon; the Greek goddess Aphrodite had a temple where one could worship by buying a prostitute.)
I’ll talk a little bit more about Ishtar and her many conquests in a few posts, when we get into the Epic of Gilgamesh. Until then, I’d love to know what you think of her! Feel free to comment below or email me. If you missed my special post on Valentine’s Day, you can check it out here - it talks about Lovesick, my second book, which is coming out this November!
I plan on doing three posts dealing with the Epic of Gilgamesh, beginning on Friday. The first will talk about Gilgamesh and Enkidu; the second, Gilgamesh’s response to Ishtar propositioning him; the third, Gilgamesh and his search for eternal life. I hope to see you then!
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