Who was Inanna/Ishtar?

Inanna, later known as Ishtar, was the Mesopotamian goddess of love, fertility, and war. She was one of the most important deities in Sumerian and Akkadian mythology.

What is the descent of Inanna?

The descent of Inanna is a myth where the goddess travels to the underworld, is stripped of her powers, killed, and later revived. Her return symbolizes fertility and renewal on earth.

Who was Inanna’s lover?

Inanna’s chief lover was Dumuzi (Tammuz), a shepherd king. When she returned from the underworld, she chose Dumuzi as her substitute, causing him to spend half the year in the realm of the dead.

What was Ishtar’s role in the Epic of Gilgamesh?

In the Epic of Gilgamesh, Ishtar proposes marriage to the hero, but when rejected, she unleashes the Bull of Heaven upon Uruk, demonstrating her volatile and destructive power.

World Mythology

Inanna/Ishtar: Queen of Heaven and the Underworld

Updated On Sep 8, 2025 16 min Read

Table of Contents

The Dual Goddess

Among the many gods of Mesopotamia, none shone brighter or more dangerously than Inanna, known to later Akkadians as Ishtar. She was called the Queen of Heaven, radiant and adorned, yet also the fierce goddess of war and storms. Unlike other deities tied to one domain, Inanna embodied contradictions: she was love and lust, fertility and destruction, mercy and vengeance.

Her most famous myth, her descent into the underworld, reveals not only her boldness but also the precarious balance between life and death, passion and loss.

The Power of Inanna/Ishtar

Inanna ruled over many domains:

Love and sexuality, igniting desire in gods and mortals alike.
Fertility, blessing the land with abundance.
War and conquest, leading armies and determining the fates of kings.

She was worshipped as both a giver of life and a bringer of chaos. Her temples, such as the great temple at Uruk, became centers of ritual and devotion.

The Lovers of Inanna

The goddess’s relationships reflected her power and volatility. In myths, she pursued lovers passionately but punished them cruelly when they failed her. This duality reached its fullest expression in her relationship with Dumuzi (Tammuz), the shepherd king.

At first, she elevated Dumuzi to her side, granting him kingship. Yet in her descent to the underworld, it was Dumuzi who suffered in her place, condemned to spend half the year in the realm of the dead. This myth explained the seasonal cycle of fertility and barrenness in Mesopotamian agriculture.

The Descent into the Underworld

Inanna’s most daring act was her decision to descend into the underworld, ruled by her dark sister, Ereshkigal.

She clothed herself in her finest regalia: the crown, beads, scepter, and garments of power. At each of the seven gates of the underworld, she was forced to surrender one item. By the time she reached the throne of Ereshkigal, she stood naked and vulnerable.

There, the judges of the underworld condemned her, and Ereshkigal struck her down. For three days and nights, Inanna’s lifeless body hung on a hook, and all fertility ceased on earth.

But the gods could not allow the world to wither. Through the intervention of Enki, the god of wisdom, Inanna was revived and allowed to return. Yet the laws of the underworld demanded a substitute. She chose her lover Dumuzi, sealing his fate and instituting the eternal rhythm of death and rebirth.

Inanna as Goddess of Contradictions

The myth of Inanna reveals her paradoxical nature:

She was fearless, daring to enter the realm no god had conquered.
She was merciless, condemning Dumuzi with little pity.
She was essential, for her return meant the renewal of fertility on earth.

In this way, Inanna embodied the truths of life itself: beauty entwined with tragedy, passion bound to loss, and creation inseparable from destruction.

Ishtar in the Akkadian World

As cultures shifted, Inanna was absorbed into Akkadian mythology as Ishtar, but her essence remained unchanged. She became the patron goddess of mighty Babylon, invoked in hymns and prayers as both a warrior and a lover. Kings sought her favor for victory in war, and common people prayed to her for fertility and protection.

In the Epic of Gilgamesh, it is Ishtar who proposes marriage to Gilgamesh — only to be scorned, leading her to unleash the Bull of Heaven. This episode shows both her cosmic power and her fiery temperament.

Legacy and Influence

The legacy of Inanna/Ishtar spread beyond Mesopotamia. Elements of her myths echo in the goddesses of other cultures:

Aphrodite/Venus, goddesses of love.
Athena, in her warlike qualities.
Persephone, in the descent and return from the underworld.

Her descent remains one of the earliest recorded journeys of death and rebirth, influencing myth and religion across the ancient world.

Conclusion — Queen of Contradictions

Inanna/Ishtar stands as one of the most complex figures in mythology. She is passion and fury, creator and destroyer, lover and warrior. Her descent into the underworld captures the eternal truth of human existence: that life and death are inseparable, and renewal is born from loss.

Her myths, inscribed in clay thousands of years ago, still echo with power today. She is not simply the Queen of Heaven, but the mirror of life’s contradictions, fierce, beautiful, and enduring.

Mesopotamian Mythology