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Inanna [a] is the ancient Mesopotamian goddess of love, war, and fertility. She is also associated with sensuality, procreation, divine law, and political power.Originally worshipped in Sumer, she was known by the Akkadian Empire, Babylonians, and Assyrians as Ishtar [b] (and occasionally the logogram đđŻ).
In the words of the esteemed researcher Simo Parpola, the myth of Descent of Ishtar into the Underworld serves as the inspiration for the initiatory rites of the priests of the Ishtar sanctuary in Arbela, Assyria. During these rites, the endless worship of the goddess facilitates the attainment of a mystical union with the god Assur.
The "Ishtar Vase", early 2nd millennium BCE, Larsa. Note how the schematic depiction of the goddess' feet corresponds to the feet of the birds walking above her. Louvre, AO 1700. The frontal presentation of the deity is appropriate for a plaque of worship, since it is not just a "pictorial reference to a god" but "a symbol of his presence". [1]
The oldest attestations of Išá¸Ťara from Ebla, such as these in documents from the reign of Irkab-Damu, indicate she was a tutelary goddess of the royal house. [32] Her role differed from that of Kura and Barama, who were also connected to the royal family, but seemingly functioned as a divine reflection of the reigning monarch and his spouse, rather than as dynastic tutelary deities. [4]
[54]: 78 The worship of Inanna/Ishtar, which was prevalent in Mesopotamia could involve wild, frenzied dancing and bloody ritual celebrations of social and physical abnormality. It was believed that "nothing is prohibited to Inanna", and that by depicting transgressions of normal human social and physical limitations, including traditional ...
In late sources Nanaya and Ishtar sometimes appear as goddesses of equal status. [192] In neo-Babylonian Uruk she was one of the most important deities, and retained this status under Persian rule as well. [193] There is also evidence for her worship continuing in Seleucid and Parthian times, as late as 45 CE. [194] Nanshe: Lagash [85]
Inanna/Ishtar, Mesopotamian goddess of sex and fertility, depicted on a ceremonial vase. Sacred prostitution, temple prostitution, cult prostitution, [1] and religious prostitution are purported rites consisting of paid intercourse performed in the context of religious worship, possibly as a form of fertility rite or divine marriage (hieros gamos).
The view that there was a Proto-Euphratean substrate language in Southern Iraq before Sumerian is not widely accepted by modern Assyriologists. [16] In Sumer Inanna was hailed as "Queen of Heaven" in the third millennium BC. In Akkad to the north, she was worshipped later as Ishtar.