Beauty Inanna is known for her terrible deeds. Being related to the goddess of the underworld, Inanna, in spite of her "posts", ended her life pretty badly. Then she was reborn, according to Sumerian myths.
Who is she?
Inanna is a goddess central to Sumerian mythology. She was considered the patroness of love, fertility and war. According to other sources, she was responsible for fertility, harvest and victory.
Family tree
The Sumerian goddess Inanna is the daughter of the god Nann and the goddess Ningal. The Moon God and the Goddess of Dreams merged together, and this was the beginning of the birth of the life of a new goddess. Since Inanna is their daughter, she is the granddaughter of Enlil - one of the three great gods responsible for air.
Symbolism
The symbol of the Sumerian goddess Inanna is a ring with a ribbon. But this is according to one source. It is known that the daughter of Nunn appeared everywhere with seven decorations. These were:
- Tape.
- Lapis lazuli necklace.
- Gold pendant.
- Golden wrists.
- Network.
- Signs of dominion and court.
- Bandage.
These were not only jewelry for the goddess, but these things contained her secret powers.
Character
The Sumerian goddess Inanna was distinguished by a terrible, by human standards, disposition. With unusual external beauty, her inner world was disgusting. And this despite the fact that Inanna patronized love.
Cruel goddess and very insidious. What were these features manifested in? At least in the fact that the daughter of the god of the moon fraudulently took possession of the me - installations created by the gods. She drank Enki for these purposes - one of the three main deities, the patron of wisdom. Is this an honest act?
And the fact that the goddess Inanna sent her own husband to the underworld? The real betrayal. Although in this case it can still be justified. But more on that later.
Volatility and lack of fidelity. This is evidenced by regular shifts of spouses and lovers. Legends circulated about her exploits in this field no less than about the military prowess of the beautiful goddess.
Inanna married by calculation, in order to take possession of the lands on which Enki ruled. For this purpose, a marriage was carried out with his son, the god Dumuzi. Like humans, God needed an heir. And the wife persuaded him to have a child from his own half-sister. The latter refused such honor, and then Dumuzi took possession of it by force. It was too much even by the standards of the Sumerian gods, whose views on life were not distinguished by chastity.
Dumuzi was arrested, which worried his wife a little. But this is only one of the legends. There is one more that says that Inanna herself sent him to the underworld.
Goddess Inanna in the Underworld
Here her sister, Ereshkigal, completely ruled. The goddess of love pursues certain goals - to become the mistress of the kingdom of the dead. The Queen of Heaven, adorning herself with things with secret powers, descends into the possession of her sister. And before that he warns his own ambassador that if in three she does not return, he will turn for help to the three main deities. Those know how to revive the goddess Inanna.
Arriving in the underworld, she tells his guard that she supposedly came to honor the dead. He misses the goddess of love at the first gate and removes a necklace from her neck. To the protest of the goddess, they offer her to reconcile, for such are the laws of the underworld.
Inanna passes into the second gate, where she loses her marks of judgment and dominion. And again he hears the words of humility and the laws of the world of the dead. She had no choice but to approach the third gate. Passing them, the goddess of love and war loses its pendant.
The passage of the fourth gate left her without a ribbon. The price for passing through the fifth gate was the removal of the golden wrists from Inanna's hands.
Sixth gates are passed, the goddess of love is deprived of a net. And the seventh gate completely exposed the one that came to the kingdom of her sister with evil intentions against the latter. Inanna lost her loincloth.
She passed the eighth gate, being completely naked. Having come to her sister, she bowed before her. In anger, Ereshkigal jumped up from the throne, she barely saw her naked sister. And then she sank back, for it was hard for her to stand. The mistress of the underworld was about to resolve herself from the burden.
But her look is death. She looked at Ereshkigal, who came, cried out angrily, and Inanna turned into a corpse. The corpse that her sister hung on a hook.
The rescue
So it would be to remain the goddess Inanna dead, but Enki intervenes in the matter. He creates two demons from the mud, supplies them with revitalizing herbs and water. And then he sends him to the world of the dead, where at this moment he is trying to resolve Ereshkigal from the burden. She experiences strong torment, writhes and groans, but her fetus does not come out of the bosom. For without Inanna, nothing can be born, both on earth and among the Sumerian goddesses.
Demons facilitate the birth pains of the mistress of the underground and in return require payment - to give them the body of the goddess of love. Sprinkling it with herbs and sprinkling water, the demons bring Inanna back to life. She returns to earth, but she is followed by gala - the demons of the underworld. For according to the laws, the goddess must find a replacement for the underworld.
Replacement
Those who replace the goddess Inanna in the kingdom of the dead become Dumuzi - her husband. Why did she do that? Because, having returned to the earth, she was furious that the husband not only did not grieve for his dead wife, but also found a replacement for her. In anger, the goddess of love points to him Galam, stating that in front of them is the one who will replace her in the possessions of Ereshkigal.
Dumusi is trying to escape, he runs away to his sister Gestinanna - the goddess of vegetation. But the demons of the underworld overtake him. The sister wants to ease her brother’s fate by going to replace Inanna instead. She makes a decision: for half a year in the kingdom of her sister there is a husband - a traitor, and half a year - his sister, eager to save her brother.
While Dumuzi is absent on earth, heat and drought begin.
Inanna Facts
She is known by the names of Ishtar and Innin.
The personification of love and beauty, it has come down to our times. Her name is Venus - a white planet.
Animals - companions of Inanna - were a lion and a panther. The goddess of love was often portrayed standing on these predators.
Holidays in her honor had the character of rampant debauchery.
Conclusion
We learned about the central female deity of the ancient Sumerians. In the photo, the goddess Inanna does not look as beautiful as they describe her. However, judging by the legends, this goddess was the queen of many male hearts.