Ishtar's Descent to the Underworld

First-millennium BCE Akkadian mythological poem (~145 lines) titled from its opening clause Ana Kurnugê qaqqari lā târi ("To the Land of No Return"), preserved on tablets from the Library of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh and from Assur. Compacting the older Sumerian Inanna's Descent into the Netherworld, it recounts how Ishtar descends into the realm of her sister Ereshkigal, is afflicted with sixty diseases by the vizier Namtar, and is released after Ea (Enki) sends the assinnu Asushu-namir to sprinkle her with the water of life before the Anunnaki Judges of the Underworld.

Core Themes

• Cessation of all sexual reproduction on earth during Ishtar's captivity in Kurnugû ("the bull did not mount the cow, the ass did not impregnate the jenny"), reported to Shamash and Sin by the divine herald Papsukkal.
• Enthronement of the Anunnaki upon golden thrones when Namtar brings Ishtar forth to be sprinkled with the water of life.
• Concluding ritual instructions for the annual mourning rites of Tammuz (Dumuzi) and his sister Belili (Geshtinanna).

Primary Text & Editions

• Untranslated Akkadian (cuneiform & transliteration): electronic Babylonian Literature (eBL) — Descent of Ishtar (Nineveh & Assur Recensions)
• English translation & lemmatized edition: Oracc CAMS/GKAB — Descent of Ištar; eBL Parallel English Translation
• Primary tablet witness (CDLI): Nineveh Tablet K.162 (British Museum / P393758) on CDLI
• Critical edition: Lapinkivi, P. 2010. The Neo-Assyrian Myth of Ištar's Descent and Resurrection (SAACT 6). Helsinki; Foster, B. R. 2005. Before the Muses, pp. 498–505.

Related Concepts & Sources

Ishtar (Akkadian goddess of love and war), Ereshkigal (Queen of the Land of No Return), Namtar (vizier of the underworld), Ea (creator of Asushu-namir), Judges of the Underworld (enthroned Anunnaki), Inanna's Descent into the Netherworld (Sumerian predecessor)