In the myth of Inanna's descent, Inanna, in order to console her grieving sister Ereshkigal, who is mourning the death of her husband Gugalana ( gu, bull, gal, big, ana, sky / heaven ), slain by Gilgamesh and Enkidu, sets out to visit her sister.

In the story Inanna and Shukaletuda, Shukaletuda, the gardener, set by Enki to care for the date palm he had created, finds Inanna sleeping under the palm tree and rapes the goddess in her sleep.

Enki, as the protector of whomever comes to seek his help, and as the empowerer of Inanna, here challenges the young impetuous goddess to control her anger so as to be better able to function as a great judge.

According to the myth of Inanna's descent to the underworld, represented in parallel Sumerian and Akkadian tablets, Inanna ( Ishtar in the Akkadian texts ) set off for the netherworld, or Kur, which was ruled by her sister Ereshkigal, perhaps to take it as her own.

Inanna / Ishtar immediately set her accompanying demons on Dumuzid / Tammuz.

Finally, Inanna relents and changes her decree thereby restoring her husband Dumuzi to life ; an arrangement is made by which Geshtinana will take Dumuzid's place in Kur for six months of the year: " You ( Dumuzi ), half the year.

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

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

The female figure holds the symbol of the two twisted reeds of the doorpost, signifying Inanna behind her, while the male figure holds a box and stack of bowls, the later cuneiform sign signifying En, or high priest of the temple.

It is likely that this list reflects the report of contributions to Inanna at Uruk from cities supporting her cult.

The goddess Ishtar refers to Ereshkigal as her older sister in the Sumerian hymn " The Descent of Inanna " ( which was also in later Babylonian myth, also called " The Descent of Ishtar ").

One of these myths is the famous story of Ishtar's descent to Irkalla or Aralu, as the netherworld was called, and her reception by her sister who presides over it ; Ereshkigal traps her sister in her dark kingdom and Inanna / Ishtar is only able to leave it by sacrificing her husband Dumuzi in exchange for herself.

Enheduanna has left behind a corpus of literary works definitively ascribed to her that include many personal devotions to the goddess Inanna and a collection of hymns known as the " Sumerian Temple Hymns " that are regarded as one of the first attempts at a systematic theology.

This is detailed in her composition ' The Exaltation of Inanna ' or ‘ nin me sar2-ra ’ details her expulsion from Ur and eventual reinstatement ( Franke 1995: 835 ).

Not only are they stored in a prominent location in the E-abzu, but Inanna is able to display them to the people of Uruk after she arrives with them in her boat.

The earliest texts ( 7 archaic tablets ) come from the E Temple dedicated to the goddess Inanna at Uruk, from a building labeled as Temple C by its excavators.

Today several versions of the Sumerian death of Dumuzi have been recovered, " Inanna's Descent to the Underworld ", " Dumuzi's dream " and " Dumuzi and the galla ", as well as a tablet separately recounting Dumuzi's death, mourned by holy Inanna, and his noble sister Geštinanna, and even his dog and the lambs and kids in his fold ; Dumuzi himself is weeping at the hard fate in store for him, after he had walked among men, and the cruel galla of the Underworld seize him.

A large number of similar sealings were found from the slightly later Early Dynastic I phase at Ur, in a slightly different order, combined with the rosette symbol of Inanna, that were definitely used for this purpose.

The temple complexes at their cores became the Eanna District and the Anu District dedicated to Inanna and Anu, respectively.

Hanson and G. f. Dales, The Temple of Inanna Queen of Heaven at Nippur, Archaeology, vol.

According to Sumerian text Inanna's descent to the netherworld, there was a temple of Inanna named E-shar at Adab during the reign of Dumuzid of Uruk.

Brick stamps, found by Banks during his excavation of Adab state that the Akkadian ruler Naram-Suen built a temple to Inanna at Adab, but the temple was not found during the dig, and is not known for certain to be E-shar.

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.

It also evokes the seven gates of hell that Inanna passed through, required to partially disrobe at each one before finally being presented to the Queen of the Underworld, her own sister, Ereshkigal.

The myth Enki and Inanna tells the story of the young goddess of the É-anna temple of Uruk, who visits the senior god of Eridu, and is entertained by him in a feast.

In historic literature, Susa appears in the very earliest Sumerian records, e. g. in Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta it is described as one of the places obedient to Inanna, patron deity of Uruk.

4000 – 3100 BC ), Inanna was associated with the city of Uruk.

Especially in the Uruk period, the symbol of a ring-headed doorpost is associated with Inanna.

Relief on the front of the Inanna temple of Karaindash from Uruk

He also, in the epic Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta, constructs the Eanna ( Sumerian: E < sub > 2 </ sub >- ana, ' House-of-Heavens ') temple for the goddess Inanna in the Eanna District of Uruk.

It is clear Eanna was dedicated to Inanna from the earliest Uruk period throughout the history of the city.

The temple of Inanna continued functioning during this time in a new form and under a new name, ' The House of Inanna in Uruk ' ( Sumerian: e < sub > 2 </ sub >-< sup > d </ sup > inanna < sup > unu </ sup > ki-ga ).

Dilmun appears first in Sumerian cuneiform clay tablets dated to the late third millennium BC, found in the temple of goddess Inanna, in the city of Uruk.

There is no direct connection implied in the mythological cycle between this poem and that which is our main source of information on the mes, " Inanna and Enki: The Transfer of the Arts of Civilization from Eridu to Uruk ", but once again Inanna's discontent is a theme.

The attempt fails and Inanna triumphantly delivers them to Uruk.

Kuturnahunte I of Elam, seizing the opportunity left by Samsu-iluna's attack on Uruk, marched into the ( now wall-less ) city and plundered it, among the items looted was a statue of Inanna which wouldn't be returned until the reign of Ashurbanipal 11 centuries In Assyria, a native vice regent named Puzur-Sin ejected Asinum who had been a vassal king of his fellow Amorite Hammurabi.

The Warka Vase or the Uruk Vase is a carved alabaster stone vessel found in the temple complex of the Sumerian goddess Inanna in the ruins of the ancient city of Uruk, located in the modern Al Muthanna Governorate, in southern Iraq.

Sargon was claimed to be the son of La ' ibum or Itti-Bel, a humble gardener, and possibly a hierodule, or priestess to Ishtar or Inanna.

Sargon, throughout his long life, showed special deference to the Sumerian deities, particularly Inanna, his patroness, and Zababa, the warrior god of Kish.

In later traditions, one became an ensi by marrying the goddess Inanna, legitimising the rulership through divine consent.

Her known works include hymns to the goddess Inanna, the Exaltation of Inanna and In-nin sa-gur-ra.

: Enheduanna depicts Inanna as disciplining mankind as a goddess of battle.

She likens Inanna to a great storm bird who swoops down on the lesser gods and sends them fluttering off like surprised bats.

In his connections with Inanna, Enki shows other aspects of his non-Patriarchal nature.

Next morning, with a hangover, he asks his servant Isimud for his Me, only to be informed that he has given them to Inanna.

In classic Enkian fashion, the father advises Shukaletuda to hide in the city where Inanna will not be able to find him.

Ishtar ( Inanna ) was the main goddess of Babylonia and Assyria.

Outside of Jewish tradition, Lilith was associated with the Mother Goddess, Inanna – later known as both Ishtar and Asherah.

In The Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh was said to have destroyed a tree that was in a sacred grove dedicated to the goddess Ishtar / Inanna / Asherah.

In the syncretism during Late Antiquity of Hellenistic and late Babylonian (" Chaldean ") elements, Hecate was identified with Ereshkigal, the underworld counterpart of Inanna in the Babylonian cosmography.

En-hedu-ana, a priestess in Ancient Iraq who dedicated herself to the Sumerian goddess Inanna, has the distinction of signing the oldest-surviving signed poetry in history.

* Inanna ( 2003 ) texts by Hal Hartley, Theo J. H.

Similarities have been noted also with the story of Ishtar's or Inanna's descent into the underworld, Ishtar and Inanna being associated with the planet Venus.