Ishtar

Anunnaki deity, Akkadian goddess of love, war, and fertility, equivalent to Inanna.

Core Themes

• Love, war, and divine power.
• Linked to Ishtar's Descent.

Related Concepts & Sources

Inanna (alternate name), Akkadian Mythology (context), Underworld (narrative)

Scholarly entry: Inana/Ištar (goddess), Ancient Mesopotamian Gods and Goddesses (Oracc, University of Pennsylvania).

Attestations in Cuneiform Corpora

• The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature
• The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Royal Inscriptions
• The Corpus of Ancient Mesopotamian Scholarship
• Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (search)

References

• Abusch, T. 1986 "Ištar's proposal and Gilgamesh's refusal: an interpretation of the Gilgamesh Epic Tablet 6, lines 1-79." History of Religions 26 : 143-187.
• Abusch, T. 2000. "Ištar." Nin 1 : 23-7.
• Alster, B. 1975. "On the interpretation of the myth 'Inana and Enki'." Zeitschrift für Assyriologie 4 : 20-34.
• Bahrani, Z. 2000. "The Whore of Babylon: truly all woman and of infinite variety." Nin 1 : 95-106.
• Barrelet, M.-T. 1955. "Les déesses armées et ailées." Syria 32 : 222-266.
• Barret, C. E. 2007. "Was dust their food and clay their bread? Grave goods, the Mesopotamian afterlife, and the liminal role of Inana/Ištar." Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions 7 : 7-65.
• Beckman, G. 1998. "Ištar of Nineveh reconsidered." Journal of Cuneiform Studies 50 : 1-10.
• Böck, B. 2004. "Überlegungen zu einem Kultfest der altmesopotamischen Göttin Inana." Numen 51 : 20-46.
• Biggs, R. D. 1967. ŠÀ.ZI.GA: Ancient Mesopotamian Potency Incantations . Texts From Cuneiform Sources, 2. Locust Valley, NY: J.J. Augustin.
• Colbow, G. 1991. Die Kriegerische Ištar: Zur Erscheinungsform bewaffneter Gottheiten zwischen der Mitte des 3. und der Mitte des 2. Jahrtausends. Münchner Vorderaisatische Studien, 8. Munich: Profil.
• Cooley, J.L. 2008. "Early Mesopotamian astral science and divination in the myth of Inana and Šukaletuda." Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions 8 : 75-98.
• Farber, W. 1997. Beschwörungsrituale an Ištar und Dumuzi . Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner.
• Gelb, I.J. 1960. "The name of the goddess Innin." Journal of Near Eastern Studies 19 : 72-79.
• Glassner, J.-J. 1992. "Inana et les me ." In M. deJ. Ellis (ed.), Nippur at the Centennial: Papers Read at the 35e Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, Philadelphia 1988 , pp. 55-86. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Museum.
• Groneberg, B. 1986. "Die sumerische-akkadische Inana/Ištar: Hermaphroditos?" Welt des Orients 17 : 25-46.
• Groneberg, B. 1997. Lob der Ištar: Gebet und Ritual an die altbabylonische Venusgöttin . Groningen: Styx.
• Harris, R. 1991. "Inana-Ištar as paradox and a coincidence of opposites." History of Religions 30 : 261-78.
• Jacobsen, T. and S.N. Kramer 1953. "The myth of Inana and Bilulu." Journal of Near Eastern Studies 12 : 160-188.
• Jones, P. 2003. "Embracing Inana: legitimation and mediation in the ancient Mesopotamian sacred marriage hymn Iddin-Dagan A." Journal of the American Oriental Society 123 : 291-302.
• Karahashi, F. 2004. "Fighting the mountain: some observations on the Sumerian myths of Inana and Ninurta." Journal of Near Eastern Studies 63 : 111-118.
• Kramer, S.N. 1969. "Inana and Šulgi: a Sumerian fertility song." Iraq 31 : 18-23.
• Lambert, W.G. 2004. "Ištar of Nineveh." Iraq 66 : 34-39.
• Leick, G. 1994 Sex and Eroticism in Mesopotamian Literature . London: Routledge.
• Porter, B.N. 2004. "Ištar of Nineveh and her collaborator, Ištar of Arbela, in the reign of Assurbanipal." Iraq 66 : 41-44.
• Pinker, A. 2005. "Descent of the goddess Ištar to the Netherworld." Vetus Testamentum 55 : 89-100.
• Reade, J.E., 2005. "The Ištar temple at Nineveh." Iraq 67 : 347-90.
• Szarzyńska, K. 2000. "Cult of the goddess Inana in archaic Uruk." Nin 1 : 63-74.
• Selz, G.J. 2000. "Five divine ladies: Thoughts on Inana(k), Ištar, In(n)in(a), Annunītum, and Anta, and the origin of the title 'Queen of Heaven'." Nin 1 : 29-62.
• Sjöberg, A. 1975. "in-nin šà-gur 4 -ra: a hymn to the goddess Inana by the en -priestess Enheduanna." Zeitschrift für Assyriologie 65 : 161-253.
• Sweet, R.F.G. 1994. "A new look at the 'sacred marriage' in ancient Mesopotamia." In E. Robbins and S. Sandahl (eds.), Corolla Torontonensis: Studies in Honor of Ronald Morton Smith , pp. 85-104. Toronto: Tsar.
• Van Driel, G. 1995. "Nippur and the Inana Temple during the Ur III period." Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 38 : 393-406.
• Vanstiphout, H.L.J. 1984. "Inana/Ištar as a figure of controversy." In H.G. Kippenberg et al. (eds.), Struggles of Gods , pp. 225-238. Berlin: de Gruyter.
• Westenholz, J. G. 2000. "King by Love of Inana—an image of female empowerment?" Nin 1 : 91-94.
• Wilcke, C. 1976-80. "Inana/Ištar (Mesopotamien)." Reallexikon der Assyriologie und vorderasiatischen Archäologie 5 , pp. 74-78. Berlin: de Gruyter.