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Ishtar in Ancient Sumerian Religion and the Representation of Ishtar in Gilgamesh

Introduction

The Goddess Inanna also known as Ishtar was the most important goddess in the Sumerian religion. She was the daughter of the moon god called Nanna and symbolized the might of sexual reproduction. Ishtar bears some similarities with Persephone. She sets off to the Underworld where she is apprehended for the reason that she is assassinated. After slaughtering her, Ereshkigal hangs Ishtar on the wall (Johnston, p.313). Enki interferes to save Ishtar's life, which then results in replacements for Ishtar, her spouse Dumazi and his sister Geshtinanna, each spending a period of half the year in the Underworld. The changes bring about the alterations in seasons (Johnston, p.315).

Discussion

Contemporary with the foundation of the Anceint Kingdom in Egypt, the Sumerians settled in Mesopotamia at the other end of the Middle East and put up their civilization of city-states. Incorporated in and centralized by the first kingdom in 2800 BCE, the Sumerians organized a highly developed irrigation system on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers for agricultural development (Lewis, p.147). Mesopotamia was also known as Aram Naharayim in the Hebrew Bible, which like its Hellenic-Roman equivalent, meant “the land between two rivers.” Trade also developed among the Sumerian cities Ur, Lagash, Uruk, and with neighboring Babylonian and Assyrian cities (Lewis, p.149). The Sumerians also engaged in seafaring commercial activity from their Basra port to the coastlines of the Indian Ocean. Cuneiform writing, conceivably the earliest form of record keeping, originated in the Sumerian citystate Uruk, ruled by the legendary king Gilgamesh. Sumerian society had strong hierarchical differences and was established by the ruling elite, the clergy, and the producers. The wealthy Sumerian civilization sustained attacks by Elam and Akkadian forces in 2100 BCE, who then captured the rule of Sumerian cities. Northern Mesopotamia was established by the Babylonians and Assyrians, who established their own warring empires around 1850 BCE. In the first half of the 18th century BCE, the monarch Hammurabi ruled the Babylonians and oversaw the first codification of law, which was named after him. The Assyrians and Babylonians were rivals until Babylonia won over the Assyrians in the 7th century BCE, and Nebuchadnezzar II became king in Babylonia in 605 BCE (Lewis, p.151). The Babylonians reached the Mediterranean in 586 BCE, conquered the indigenous Jewish kingdoms, and expelled the Israelites to Babylonia as slaves. Babylonia was militarily defeated by the Persians in 539 BCE.

The Sumerians developed astronomy and mathematics; they also had numerous natural gods and a belief in an afterlife. The Sumerian kings erected enormous temples and built enormous stepped pyramids (ziggurats), and the priests wrote numerous religious tablets. The Sumerian goddess Ishtar was believed to animate nature and to cause creatures to live and die. Ishtar was the owner of the skies; her symbol was Venus, the evening star (Johnston, p.320). As Magna Mater (the mother goddess), Ishtar provided fertility and was represented in statues as breastfeeding a child in her lap. As a young ...