creation

the hero

Monsters
Herakles
Theseus
Perseus
The Trojan War and Achilles
After Troy
The Foundations of Rome
Krishna
The Arthurian Legend
Sigurd and Beowulf


goddesses

gods

tricksters

afterlife

love

Ishtar and Tammuz


Vishnu

Inanna, or Ishtar in the Akkadian version, is the supreme goddess of sexual love and fertility, and also goddess of war, "the lady of battles". The most important myth in which she is the central figure is that of he descent to the underworld.

No reason is given for the goddess's descent to the nether world: possibly she wishes to extend her power there. Before setting out she instructs her vizier Ninshubur that he should go in turn to three gods for their help in the event of her not reappearing. In the underworld, she has to pass through seven gates, at each of which she must remove one item of clothing and jewelry, so that finally she is naked, denuded of all the powers her garments symbolized. She confronts the goddess Ereshkigal, ruler of the underworld and her own sister, and tries to seize her throne, but she is condemned to death and her corpse hung on a nail in a wall. Suspecting some disaster, Ninshubur goes to the god Enki who, from the dirt of his fingernails, creates two sexless beings and gives them the Pland and Water of Life. They penetrate to Ishtar and revive her, but she is allowed to leave only on condition that she will provide a substitute for herself. Sheleaves the underworld, accompanied by fierce demons, and nominates her husband Dumuzi as her susbstitute. The poem ends with a speech ordaining that Dumuzi will spend half a yea in the underworld and his sister Geshtinanna, "Lady of the Grape Vine", the other half.