THE DESCENT OF INANNA - Humanities Institute

HUMANITIES INSTITUTE
THE DESCENT OF INANNA
Frederic Will, Ph.D.
The Descent of Inanna
Oldest Written Literary Document. The Descent of Inanna was carved into clay
tablets, by scribes, early in the second millennium B.C., though the narrative material
inscribed there may well go back to the middle of the fourth millennium B.C. We probably
have, here, mankind’s oldest written literary document. It is a fascinating window into the
culture of Sumeria, the primal culture to have settled in the Tigris-Euphrates River valley,
the culture in which writing, so called cuneiform –wedge shaped incisions in clay marking
this phonetic alphabet—was first employed.
Mother Goddess and the Descent. What strikes us most, about The Descent is that the
earthly goddess Inanna is the central god figure of the Sumerians. Inanna and her evil
sister Ereshkigal, who is the Queen of the Underworld, form part of a triple-goddess team,
‘the goddess in triple form’: as a virginal maiden, a sexy mother, and an old hag. (The
reader may be interested in the relation of this conception to the Feminist Neopagan
movement, which emphasizes the earthly power of the ‘great goddesses’ in world myth, and
takes as its Bible Robert Graves’ The White Goddess, 1948) The world-governing powers
ascribed to Innana and her sisters is the trademark of The Descent, which marks the highwater point of Mother religion in Sumeria. Patriarchal Mesopotamian mythography gains the
ascendancy by the second millennium B.C.; male deities, and for that matter male social
supremacy, rapidly gaining ascendancy. In that development Sumerian culture heralds the
not too distant advent of the Abrahamic religions of the Near East; the Hebrew, Christian,
and Islamic worship systems which have held the field since their inception.
The narrative development. The tale of The Descent both intrigues the contemporary
imagination, and leaves us gasping with surprise. The central theme is descent to the
underworld, that dark and powerful zone below us constantly erupting into our
social/cultural world. Inanna descends into the darkness, where she encounters her dark
sister Ereshkigal, and is not only rebuffed but stripped and hung up on the wall by her
sister:
Inanna was turned into a corpse,
A piece of rotting meat,
And was hung from a hook on the wall.
Inanna’s friend, Ninshubur, goes to Father Enki, who is appalled by what is happening to his
daughter, and who creates ‘forces’ which manage to free his daughter, who returns to earth
and to her palace. The problem facing Inanna, now, is that someone must be found to
replace her as the earth’s submissive tribute to the power of the underworld. Inanna turns
to her husband, the handsome shepherd she had first made love with:
Inanna fastened on Dumuzi the eye of death.
She spoke against him the word of wrath.
She uttered against him the cry of guilt:
‘Take him! Take Dumuzi away!
Dumuzi is sent to the underworld, where he will pass six months of every year, returning in
the spring with the flowering power of nature, bringing back life to the earth; thus
embodying, one might say, the male power of fructifying the earth, while Inanna remains
Queen of the deities in the upper world. The reunion of Dumuzi with his mate, Inanna, may
well have been celebrated, in the palace of Sumer, by ritual mating between the King and
Queen of the state, whose action puts the seal of growth and health on the returning season
of floods and new crops.
What does this myth mean? In broad terms The Descent of Inanna takes its place with
the worldwide myth-interest in the cycles of nature, and the ever returning fertility of the
land after—in many regions of the world—a period of darkness, intemperate climate, and
hunkering down. The reader will find, however, that the Sumerian tweak on this theme is
rich, unexpected, and at times brutal.
Reading
Primary Source Reading
Read ‘The Descent of Inanna,’ Bedford I, pp. 23-39
OR
http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/section1/tr141.htm
an electronic version of the same text
Secondary Source Reading
Kramer, Samuel and Wolkstein, Diane, Inanna, Queen of Heaven and Earth: Her Stories and
Hymns from Sumer, 1983.
Further Reading
Baring, Anna and Cashford, Jules, The Myth of the Goddess: Evolution of an Image, 1991.
Suggested paper topics
Is The Descent of Inanna literary as well as mythical? Do you see here the work of the
artist’s creative imagination?
What kind of mythical process do you see in the efforts of Father Enki—The Descent of
Inanna, Bedford, I, pp. 34-35, ll. 183-213—to free Inanna from imprisonment in the
Underworld?
EXCERPT from the Descent of Inanna:
http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/section1/tr141.htm
From the great heaven she set her mind on the great below. From the great heaven the
goddess set her mind on the great below. From the great heaven Inana set her mind on the
great below. My mistress abandoned heaven, abandoned earth, and descended to the
underworld. Inana abandoned heaven, abandoned earth, and descended to the underworld.
She abandoned the office of en, abandoned the office of lagar, and descended to the
underworld. She abandoned the E-ana in Unug, and descended to the underworld. She
abandoned the E-muc-kalama in Bad-tibira, and descended to the underworld. She
abandoned the Giguna in Zabalam, and descended to the underworld. She abandoned
the E-cara in Adab, and descended to the underworld. She abandoned the Barag-durjara in Nibru, and descended to the underworld. She abandoned the Hursaj-kalama in Kic,
and descended to the underworld. She abandoned the E-Ulmac in Agade, and descended to
the underworld. (1 ms. adds 8 lines: She abandoned the Ibgal in Umma, and descended to
the underworld. She abandoned the E-Dilmuna in Urim, and descended to the underworld.
She abandoned the Amac-e-kug in Kisiga, and descended to the underworld. She
abandoned the E-ecdam-kug in Jirsu, and descended to the underworld. She abandoned
the E-sig-mece-du in Isin, and descended to the underworld. She abandoned
theAnzagar in Akcak, and descended to the underworld. She abandoned the Nijin-jarkug in Curuppag, and descended to the underworld. She abandoned the E-caghula inKazallu, and descended to the underworld.)
She took the seven divine powers. She collected the divine powers and grasped them in her
hand. With the good divine powers, she went on her way. She put a turban, headgear for
the open country, on her head. She took a wig for her forehead. She hung small lapis-lazuli
beads around her neck.
She placed twin egg-shaped beads on her breast. She covered her body with a pala dress,
the garment of ladyship. She placed mascara which is called "Let a man come, let him
come" on her eyes. She pulled the pectoral which is called "Come, man, come" over her
breast. She placed a golden ring on her hand. She held the lapis-lazuli measuring rod and
measuring line in her hand.
Inana travelled towards the underworld. Her minister Nincubura travelled behind her.
Holy Inana said to Nincubura: "Come my faithful minister of E-ana, my minister who speaks
fair words, my escort who speaks trustworthy words (1 ms. has instead: I am going to give
you instructions: my instructions must be followed; I am going to say something to you: it
must be observed).
On this day I will descend to the underworld. When I have arrived in the underworld, make
a lament for me on the ruin mounds. Beat the drum for me in the sanctuary. Make the
rounds of the houses of the gods for me.
Lacerate your eyes for me, lacerate your nose for me. (1 ms. adds the line: Lacerate your
ears for me, in public.) In private, lacerate your buttocks for me. Like a pauper, clothe
yourself in a single garment and all alone set your foot in the E-kur, the house of Enlil.

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