Who can tell me about Ishtar, the Mesopotamian goddess?

Question

What do you know? :)

Answer 1

The origin of this babylonian-assyrian main goddess was a semitian vegetation- and moon goddess with lower influence, but when these tribes arrived at the land of the sumerian kingdom, her cult reached the sumerian capital Uruk. The sumerian people identified Ishtar easily with their own goddess Inanna. After some time Ishtar became in the second millenium the highest and widest worshipped goddess of the Babylonians. The myths of Inanna became the myths of Ishtar:

Myths: see Gilgamesh and Inanna's Descent into the Underworld

Ishtars reign was not depending on a male consort, she reigned absolute on her own and united in her all the aspects of femininity. Her position in the Babylonian pantheon was the highest, but her family relations are a bit confusing: Ishtar was daughter of the moon goddess Ningal and her consort Nanna (akk. Sin), who were the Citygods of Uruk. In other traditions she appears to be the daughter of the sky god Anu, later she also became his wife.

She was also the sister of the sun god Utu/Marduk and the underworld goddess Ereschkigal ("Mistress of the great under"). She appeared in person wearing a zodiac belt together with hunting dogs like Diana or riding on a lion, her holy animal.

She was the Queen of heaven (Scharrat Schame) and the mother, who had born the world and still remained a virgin.

Her consort or husband was Tammuz ( sum.: Dumuzi), river god of Euphrates and Tigris, who was meanwhile also her son and her brother. When the world began, Tammuz (faithful son) came together with Ishtar in the world. She bore him, she made love with him and she remained a virgin. When Tammuz died in the summer and all vegetation died with him, Ishtar was looking for him all over the world. She finally found him in the underworld and brought him back to life (see Celtic believe). Tammuz was reborn and the vegetation could flourish again. Then the ritual-festival of the "Holy Marriage" was celebrated at the time of the autumn equinox, when in the Near-East the first rain fell again.

For the assyrian people she was mainly a war goddess (Lioness of the battle), but also the love and the sexual life belonged to her realm of influence. Moreover she was the Goddess of justice and healing.

Answer 2

There weren't many Gods back then, so many had dualities as part of their "portfolios." Ishtar was botha Goddess of the harvest, but also of war. She was a hearth Goddess, but encompassed the defense and masculine duties of the home as well, not just the "feminine" jobs. Essentially, she represents all the warm and fuzzyness of being at home with your kids and your wife, but also the ferocity and pride with which you defend them from invaders.

Answer 3

Ishtar is the Assyrian counterpart to the Sumerian Inanna and to the cognate northwest Semitic goddess Astarte. Anunit, Astarte and Atarsamain are alternative names for Ishtar. Inanna, twin of Utu/Shamash, children of Nanna/Sin, first born on Earth of Enlil. The first names given are Sumerian, the second names derive from the Akkadians, who are a Semitic people who immigrated into Sumeria. Adding an [sh] to a name is typical Akkadian, as Anu to Anush.

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 desires 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 Inanna to enter, she warned that ancient rites would have to be followed. At all seven gates, Inanna, like the souls of the dead, had to remove an article of clothing, at the seventh taking off her beautiful dress. When Inanna 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, Inanna 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.

Answer 4

Wow. In a nutshell, men love her and women hate her!