http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishtar
Ishtar
Ishtar is a mother goddess, fertility goddess, the goddess of spring, a
storm goddess, a warrior goddess and goddess of war, a goddess of the
hunt, a goddess of love, goddess of marriage and childbirth, and a
goddess of fate.
She was also an underworld deity, her twin sister being Ereshkigal, the
Goddess of Death, but her dominant aspects are as the mother goddess of
compassion and the goddess of love, sex and war.
As the goddess of love, Ishtar was irresistible. Her lovers were legion
and she was the matron of courtesans and prostitutes. Ishtar herself was
the 'courtesan of the gods' and she was the first to experience the
desires which she inspired. Sovereign of the world by virtue of love's
omnipotence, Ishtar was the most popular goddess in Assyria and
Babylonia.[citation needed]
Detail of the reconstructed Ishtar Gate.
Detail of the reconstructed Ishtar Gate.
Name
In late Babylonian astrology, the goddess Ishtar was related to the
planet Venus and was the divine personification of the planet.[citation
needed] As the most prominent female deity in the late Babylonian
pantheon, she was equated by the Greeks with either Hera (Latin Juno) or
Aphrodite (Latin Venus), hence the current name of the planet. (A
continent on Venus is named Ishtar Terra by astronomers today.) The
double aspect of the goddess may correspond to the difference between
Venus as a morning star and as an evening star. In Sumerian the planet
is called "MUL.DILI.PAT" meaning "unique star".
The name Ishtar derives from the Babylonian word for "star." The name is
Semitic in origin, and is cognate with Canaanite `Ashtoreth (e.g.
Biblical Hebrew ?????). She is referred to in the Bible as Ashtoreth or
Anath, and the name Esther is an apparent late borrowing of Akkadian
"Ishtar" into Hebrew. Some who seek to trace Christian practices to
pagan origins claim that Eostre, an Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring (whose
name later gave rise to modern English "Easter") may be etymologically
connected to that of Ishtar, though there is no linguistically-
meaningful evidence to support such a link. "Like all the church's
'moveable feasts,' Easter shows its (P)agan origin in a dating system
based on the old lunar calendar...the first Sunday after the first full
moon after the spring equinox." [p. 267 'The Women's Encyclopedia of
Myths and Secrets' by Barbara G. Walker]
Descent into the underworld
One story involving Ishtar, and one of the most famous, is the story of
her descent to the underworld. Ishtar, who was already regarded as the
queen of the living due to her status as supreme goddess, desired to
rule the underworld. She began to journey to the underworld, and offered
a false explanation to the underworld's gatekeeper as to why she desired
to enter the Land of No Return. The gatekeeper accepted her explanation,
but also made sure to tell Ereshkigal, the Queen of the Dead and sister
of Ishtar, of Ishtar's visit. Ereshkigal's face grew dark, and although
she gave permission for Ishtar to enter, she warned that ancient rites
would have to be followed.
At all seven gates, Ishtar, like the souls of the dead, had to remove an
article of clothing, at the seventh taking off her beautiful dress. When
Ishtar arrived at the palace of Ereshkigal, cold and naked, she
complained to her sister of her treatment, but Ereshkigal silenced her
and told her that when she visited the underworld, she would have to
follow underworldly rituals. Ishtar then grabbed Ereshkigal, pulling her
off her throne and sitting in her place, but the Annunaki, the seven
demon-gods of the underworld, sentenced her to death. Immediately after
their judgement was announced, Ishtar turned into a green, decaying slab
of meat, which Ereshkigal hung on a slab in her bedchamber. However, Ea,
the cunning uncle of Ishtar, managed to get Ereshkigal to let Ishtar
live again provided she sent a substitute.
Ishtar was greeted by minor deities upon her return, who had been
wearing only rough sacks and groveling in the dirt for days mourning for
Ishtar, and so Ishtar decided that she couldn't send any of them.
However, when she reached her palace, she found her lover Tammuz wearing
brilliantly colored clothes and sitting upon her throne, and, in her
rage, sent him to the underworld in her place. However, she later missed
him and sent Tammuz's half-sister for six months every year to take
Tammuz's place.
There is also another version of this story, which says that Ishtar was
rescued from the underworld by a being named Asushunamir.[citation
needed]
Temples
In all the great centres Inanna and then Ishtar had her temples: E-anna,
"house of An", in Uruk; E-makh, "great house", in Babylon; E-mash-mash,
"house of offerings", in Nineveh. Ishtar was the guardian of
prostitutes, and probably had priestess-prostitutes to serve her. She
was served by priests as well as by priestesses. The (later) votaries of
Ishtar were virgins who, as long as they remained in her service, were
not permitted to marry. Inanna was also associated with beer, and was
the patroness of tavern keepers, who were usually female in early
Mesopotamia.[citation needed]
In Mesopotamian culture
Ishtar is also a significant figure in the epic of Gilgamesh. She
appears also on the Uruk vase, one of the most famous ancient
Mesopotamian artifacts. The relief on this vase seems to show Inanna
conferring kingship on a supplicant. Various inscriptions and artifacts
indicate that kingship was one of the gifts bestowed by Inanna on the
ruler of Uruk.
On monuments and seal-cylinders Inanna/Ishtar appears frequently with
bow and arrow, though also simply clad in long robes with a crown on her
head and an eight-rayed star as her symbol. Statuettes have been found
in large numbers representing her as naked with her arms folded across
her breast or holding a child. The lion, bull, serpent and dragon are
sacred to Ishtar.[citation needed]
As part of a triad
Together with the moon god Nanna or Suen (Sin in Akkadian), and the sun
god Utu (Shamash in Akkadian), Inanna/Ishtar is the third figure in a
triad deifying and personalizing the moon, the sun, and the earth: Moon
(wisdom), Sun (justice) and Earth (life force). This triad overlies
another: An, heaven; Enlil, earth; and Enki (Ea in Akkadian), the ocean.
References
* Powell, Barry. Classical Myth: Fourth Edition. Upper Saddle River,
NJ: Prentice Hall, 2003.
--
Devil's Advocate
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