The beautiful Inanna is known for her terrible deeds. Being related to the goddess of the underworld, Inanna, despite her "positions", ended her life rather badly. Then she was reborn, according to the 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 victories.
Family tree
The Sumerian goddess Inanna is the daughter of the god Nanna and the goddess Ningal. The God of the Moon and the Goddess of Dreams merged into one, 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 the air.
Symbolics
The symbol of the Sumerian goddess Inanna is a ring with a ribbon. But this is according to one data. It is known that Nanna's daughter appeared everywhere with seven ornaments. They were:
- Tape.
- Lapis lazuli necklace.
- Gold pendant.
- Goldwrists.
- Network.
- Signs of dominion and judgment.
- Bandage.
These were not only jewelry for the goddess, but these things contained her secret powers.
Character
The Sumerian goddess Inanna had a terrible, by human standards, disposition. With an unusual external beauty, her inner world was disgusting. And this despite the fact that Inanna patronized love.
A cruel goddess and very insidious. What were these traits? At least in the fact that the daughter of the god of the moon fraudulently took possession of me - installations created by the gods. She made Enki drunk 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 hell? The real betrayal. Although in this case it can still be justified. But more on that later.
Fickleness and lack of fidelity. This is evidenced by regular changes of spouses and lovers. There were no less legends about her exploits in this field than about the military prowess of the beautiful goddess.
Inanna married for convenience, in order to take possession of the lands ruled by Enki. For this purpose, marriage was carried out with his son - the god Dumuzi. Like humans, God needed an heir. And his wife persuaded him to have a child from his own half-sister. The latter refused such an honor, and then Dumuzi took possession of her 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 was of little concern to his wife. But this is just one of the legends. There is another one 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 her sister's domain. And before that, he warns his own ambassador that if she does not return in three, he will turn to the three main deities for help. They know how to revive the goddess Inanna.
Arriving in the underworld, she tells its guards that she supposedly came to honor the dead. He lets the goddess of love into the first gate and removes the necklace from her neck. To the protest of the goddess, she is offered to accept, for such are the laws of the underworld.
Inanna passes through the second gate, where she is stripped of her signs of judgment and dominion. And again he hears words about humility and the laws of the world of the dead. She has no choice but to approach the third gate. After passing them, the goddess of love and war loses her pendant.
Passing the fourth gate left her without a ribbon. The price of passing through the fifth gate was the removal of Inanna's golden wrists.
The sixth gate passed, the goddess of love is stripped of the 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.
The eighth gate she passed being completely naked. Coming to my sisterbowed before her. In anger, Ereshkigal jumped up from the throne as soon as she saw her naked sister. And then she sank back, for it was hard for her to stand. The Lady of the Underworld was about to be relieved of her burden.
But her look is death. She looked at Ereshkigal who came, screamed angrily, and Inanna turned into a corpse. The corpse that her sister hung on a hook.
Salvation
It would be the goddess Inanna dead, but Enki intervenes. 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 that moment he is trying to resolve the burden of Ereshkigal. She is in great pain, writhing and groaning, but her fetus does not come out of the womb. For without Inanna, nothing can be born, both on earth and among the Sumerian goddesses.
Demons ease the labor pains of the mistress of the underground and in return demand payment - to give them the body of the goddess of love. Sprinkling it with herbs and dousing it with water, the demons bring Inanna back to life. She returns to earth, but the gals, the demons of the underworld, follow her. For according to the laws, the goddess must find a replacement for the underworld.
Replacement
The one who replaces the goddess Inanna in the realm of the dead is Dumuzi, her husband. Why did she do this? Because, having returned to earth, she was furious that her husband not only did not mourn for his dead wife, but also found a replacement for her. In anger, the goddess of love points the Galam at him, declaring that before them is the one who will replace her in the domain of Ereshkigal.
Dumuzi tries to escape, he runs away to his sister Geshtinanna, the goddess of vegetation. But the demons of the underworld overtake him. The sister wants to alleviate the fate of her brother by going instead of him to replace Inanna. She makes a decision: for half a year her husband, a traitor, is in her sister's kingdom, and for half a year - his sister, eager to save her brother.
While Dumuzi is absent from the earth, heat and drought begin.
Facts about Inanna
She is known as Ishtar and Innin.
The personification of love and beauty, she has come down to our times. Her name is Venus - the white planet.
Inanna's companion animals were a lion and a panther. The goddess of love was often depicted standing on these predators.
Holidays in her honor were characterized by 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 she is described. However, according to the legends, this goddess was the queen of many male hearts.
