Page "Ishtar" Paragraph 14

Formerly, scholars believed that the myth of Ishtar's descent took place after the death of Ishtar's lover, Tammuz: they thought Ishtar had gone to the underworld to rescue Tammuz.

However, the discovery of a corresponding myth about Inanna, the Sumerian counterpart of Ishtar, has thrown some light on the myth of Ishtar's descent, including its somewhat enigmatic ending lines.

According to the Inanna myth, Inanna can only return from the underworld if she sends someone back in her place.

Demons go with her to make sure she sends someone back.

However, each time Inanna runs into someone, she finds him to be a friend and lets him go free.

When she finally reaches her home, she finds her husband Dumuzi ( Babylonian Tammuz ) seated on his throne, not mourning her at all.

In anger, Inanna has the demons take Dumuzi back to the underworld as her replacement.

Dumuzi's sister Geshtinanna is grief-stricken and volunteers to spend half the year in the underworld, during which time Dumuzi can go free.

The Ishtar myth presumably has a comparable ending, Belili being the Babylonian equivalent of Geshtinanna.