Inanna

Original digital drawing for still-life painting reference.

The Descent of Inanna

From the Epic of Gilgamesh (Epic Poem)

Sumerian origin, Ancient Mesopotamia

Written est. 2100-1600 BCE

“From the Great Above she opened her ear to the Great Below.

From the Great Above the goddess oepned her ear to the Great Below.

From the Great Above Inanna openend her ear to the Great Below.

My Lady abandoned heaven and earth to descend to the underworld.

Inanna abandoned heaven and earth to descend to the underworld.”

(Wolkstein - Kramer Translation)

Inanna descends from her realm in the sky to visit her sister Ereshkigal, Queen of the Dead, and attend the funeral of the Queen’s late husband, The Bull of Heaven, who’s death Inanna is the direct cause of, along with 200 innocent mortals.

So, Inanna gathers the seven me (the seven divine powers) for her trip. She adorns herself in the small lapis beads, double beads at her breast, and “the shugurra, the crown of the steppe,” with her “dark locks of hair carefully arranged” and drapes herself in royal robes. She’s wears ointment on her eyes, and a special breast plate called ‘come, man, come!’ A gold ring on her wrist and a lapis rod to carry.

Inanna is accompanied to the gates by her faithful servant and trusted advisor, Ninshubur. Inanna instructs her, if she does not return from her trip, Ninshubur is to mourn and lament for her death. She is to call upon Father Enlil, at his temple in Nippur, to save her from the Underworld. Or in Ur, to the temple of Nanna, ask Father Nanna to save her. Or, lastly to Eridu, and the temple of Enki, the God of Wisdom, “surely he will not let me die.”

At the gate of the underworld, Inanna instructs Ninshubur to go. She knocks loudly and calls for Neti, the gatekeeper, to let her in. She explains who she is and why she wishes to enter the gate of no return. Neti goes to his Queen to tell her the news.

When she hears of Inanna’s arrival, The Queen of the Underworld “slapped her thigh and bit her lip.” Ereshkigal instructs Neti to let Inanna through each gate one at a time, stripping her of each royal garment as she passes through.

Neti returns to Inanna and lets her through the first gate, removing the crown from her head. When Inanna questions this, Neti only replies,

“Queen Inanna, the ways of the underworld are perfect. They may not be questioned.”

With every gate, Neti removes another article of Inanna’s possession, saying the same thing each time. Until finally, Neti removes her robes and she passes through the seventh and smallest gate, to enter the throne room naked and bowed low before her sister.

Inanna is immediately surrounded by the Annuna, judges of the underworld. They passed judgment against her and “Ereshkigal fastened upon her the eye of death.”

“She spoke against her the word of wrath.

She uttered against her the cry of guilt.

She struck her.”

(Wolkstein - Kramer Translation)

And just like that, “Inanna was turned into a corpse, a piece of rotting meat, and hung from a hook on the wall.”

When Inanna did not return in three days time, Ninshubur began her lament as instructed. She dressed in a beggars sack, went to the crowds, went to the temples, tore at her face and body, beating a drum for Inanna. She petitioned first Father Enlil in Nippur, who would not help. Then to Father Ur of Nanna, who blamed Inanna for her own troubles, and would not help. Finally to Eridu, to call upon Enki, God of Wisdom.

Father Enki was troubled and grieved for his daughter, Holy Priestess of Heaven. He brought from his own fingernail a bit of dirt, and fashioned it into a creature ‘neither male or female’ called the Kurgarra. From his other hand he took a bit of dirt and turned it into a creature ‘neither male or female’ called the galatur. He gave the kurgarra the food of life and the galatur the water of life and told them to enter the underworld like flies.

Father Enki tells them that they will find the Queen in the throws of labor pain. He tells them, when she cries out “oh, oh, my insides!” They should cry out with her “oh, oh, your insides!” That she will be pleased and offer them a gift.

With further instruction, the Kuragarra and the Galatur sneak into the underworld as flies. They find the Queen in labor as Enki said she’d be. They began to moan and sigh with her in chorus of her labor pains. She is pleased and offers them a gift. First, a river whole, or fields of golden grain, but they turn her down. They wish only for the corpse on the wall.

She agrees.

The Kuragarra sprinkles the food of life over the corpse, the Galatur sprinkles her with the water of life, and Inanna rises from the dead.

Before she can make her escape, she is stopped by the Annuna, the judges of the underworld. They tell her she can only return home if she provides someone else in her place. She agrees, and makes her ascent accompanied by two galla. Two demons of underworld, described as being the size of a small and, a slightly bigger, fence post, one armed with a scepter and the other a mace.

The galla escort Inanna first to Ninshubur, and then her two sons Shara and Lulal, asking to take each in her place. Inanna says no, she defends all three, for they are in sack cloths of mourning for her death. Then they come to her husband, Dumuzi. They find him in his royal robes and lounging on his royal thrown. Inanna is enraged. The demons go wild, trashing the room and beating Dumuzi. Inanna fastens Dumuzi with the eye of death and command the galla to take him away.

Dumuzi cries out for the God of Justice, Utu, to save him. Utu heeds Dumuzi’s cries, turning Dumuzi’s hands and feet to snakes in attempt to help him escape his captors. It’s of no use, Dumuzi is eventually caught and dragged to the underworld. Dumuzi’s sister, Geshtinanna, even tries to save him, volunteering to go in his place. It is decreed that each will live half the year in the underworld. It is in this way, like the Greek myth of Persephone, that the change of seasons are explained in ancient Mesopotamia.