Innana

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Author:Laxman Burdak, IFS (R)

Inanna is an ancient Mesopotamian goddess associated with love, booty, sex, war, justice and political power. She was originally worshiped in Sumer under the name "Inanna", and was later worshipped by the Akkadians, Babylonians, and Assyrians under the name Ishtar.

Variants of name

  • Inanna = /ɪˈnɑːnə/; Sumerian: 𒀭𒈹 Dinanna, also 𒀭𒊩𒌆𒀭𒈾 Dnin-an-na[1][2]
  • Ishtar = /ˈɪʃtɑːr/; Dištar[3]

Jat clans

History

There is also evidence that Inanna was a worshipped deity of Armenians of Hayasa-Azzi.[4] She was known as the "Queen of Heaven" and was the patron goddess of the Eanna temple at the city of Uruk, which was her main cult center. She was associated with the planet Venus and her most prominent symbols included the lion and the eight-pointed star. Her husband was the god Dumuzid (later known as Tammuz) and her sukkal, or personal attendant, was the goddess Ninshubur (who later became conflated with the male deities Ilabrat and Papsukkal).

Inanna was worshiped in Sumer at least as early as the Uruk period (c. 4000 BC – c. 3100 BC), but she had little cult activity before the conquest of Sargon of Akkad. During the post-Sargonic era, she became one of the most widely venerated deities in the Sumerian pantheon,[5] with temples across Mesopotamia. The cult of Inanna/Ishtar, which may have been associated with a variety of sexual rites, was continued by the East Semitic-speaking people (Akkadians, Assyrians and Babylonians) who succeeded and absorbed the Sumerians in the region. She was especially beloved by the Assyrians, who elevated her to become the highest deity in their pantheon, ranking above their own national god Ashur. Inanna/Ishtar is alluded to in the Hebrew Bible and she greatly influenced the Ugaritic Ashtart and later Phoenician Astarte, who in turn possibly influenced the development of the Greek goddess Aphrodite. Her cult continued to flourish until its gradual decline between the first and sixth centuries AD in the wake of Christianity.

Origins and development

Inanna has posed a problem for many scholars of ancient Sumer due to the fact that her sphere of power contained more distinct and contradictory aspects than that of any other deity. Two major theories regarding her origins have been proposed.[6] The first explanation holds that Inanna is the result of a syncretism between several previously unrelated Sumerian deities with totally different domains.[7]

The second explanation holds that Inanna was originally a Semitic deity who entered the Sumerian pantheon after it was already fully structured, and who took on all the roles that had not yet been assigned to other deities.[8]

As early as the Uruk period (c. 4000 – c. 3100 BC), Inanna was already associated with the city of Uruk.[9] During this period, the symbol of a ring-headed doorpost was closely associated with Inanna.[10] The famous Uruk Vase (found in a deposit of cult objects of the Uruk III period) depicts a row of naked men carrying various objects, including bowls, vessels, and baskets of farm products,[11] and bringing sheep and goats to a female figure facing the ruler.[12] The female stands in front of Inanna's symbol of the two twisted reeds of the doorpost,[13] while the male figure holds a box and stack of bowls, the later cuneiform sign signifying the En, or high priest of the temple.[14]

Seal impressions from the Jemdet Nasr period (c. 3100 – c. 2900 BC) show a fixed sequence of symbols representing various cities, including those of Ur, Larsa, Zabalam, Urum, Arina, and probably Kesh.[15] This list probably reflects the report of contributions to Inanna at Uruk from cities supporting her cult. A large number of similar seals have been discovered from phase I of the Early Dynastic period (c. 2900 – c. 2350 BC) at Ur, in a slightly different order, combined with the rosette symbol of Inanna. These seals were used to lock storerooms to preserve materials set aside for her cult.[16]

Various inscriptions in the name of Inanna are known, such as a bead in the name of King Aga of Kish circa 2600 BC, or a tablet by King Lugal-kisalsi circa 2400 BC:

"For An, king of all the lands, and for Inanna, his mistress, Lugal-kisalsi, king of Kish, built the wall of the courtyard."
— Inscription of Lugal-kisalsi.[17]

During the Akkadian period (c. 2334 – 2154 BC), following the conquests of Sargon of Akkad, Inanna and originally independent Ishtar became so extensively syncretized that they became regarded as effectively the same.[18] The Akkadian poet Enheduanna, the daughter of Sargon, wrote numerous hymns to Inanna, identifying her with Ishtar.[19]Sargon himself proclaimed Inanna and An as the sources of his authority. As a result of this,the popularity of Inanna/Ishtar's cult skyrocketed. Alfonso Archi, who was involved in early excavations of Ebla, assumes Ishtar was originally a goddess venerated in the Euphrates valley, pointing out that an association between her and the desert poplar is attested in the most ancient texts from both Ebla and Mari. He considers her, a moon god (e.g. Sin) and a sun deity of varying gender (Shamash/Shapash) to be the only deities shared between various early Semitic peoples of Mesopotamia and ancient Syria, who otherwise had different not necessarily overlapping pantheons.[20]

Jat History

According to Bhim Singh Dahiya the goddess, Nana/Nina/Naina/Nannai, is at least 4,000 years old and originally was a Babylonian goddess. Her statue was installed in a temple at Uruk (the Uruga desha of the Puranas ?). In 2287 B.C. she was carried off to Susa, after the defeat of Babylonia, 1,635 years later, i.e. 652 B.C. Asur Banipal sacked Susa and took away the statue of the goddess back to Uruk, and installed her in her own temple. She came to India with the Jats and is now enshrined in a temple in Himachal Pradesh. Here too, her name remains as Naina Devi (Goddess). [21]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Heffron, Yağmur (2016), "Inana/Ištar (goddess)", Ancient Mesopotamian Gods and Goddesses, University of Pennsylvania Museum,
  2. ↑ "Sumerian dictionary". oracc.iaas.upenn.edu.
  3. ↑ Heffron, Yağmur (2016), "Inana/Ištar (goddess)", Ancient Mesopotamian Gods and Goddesses, University of Pennsylvania Museum,
  4. ↑ Petrosyan, Armen. The Indo-European and Ancient Near Eastern Sources of the Armenian Epic. Washington D.C. 2002.
  5. ↑ Wolkstein, Diane; Kramer, Samuel Noah (1983), Inanna: Queen of Heaven and Earth: Her Stories and Hymns from Sumer, New York City, New York: Harper&Row Publishers, ISBN 978-0-06-090854-6, p. xviii.
  6. ↑ Vanstiphout, H. L. (1984), "Inanna/Ishtar as a Figure of Controversy", Struggles of Gods: Papers of the Groningen Work Group for the Study of the History of Religions, Berlin: Mouton Publishers, 31, ISBN 978-90-279-3460-4,p.228.
  7. ↑ Vanstiphout, H. L. (1984), "Inanna/Ishtar as a Figure of Controversy", Struggles of Gods: Papers of the Groningen Work Group for the Study of the History of Religions, Berlin: Mouton Publishers, 31, ISBN 978-90-279-3460-4,p.228.
  8. ↑ Vanstiphout 1984, pp. 228–229.
  9. ↑ Black, Jeremy; Green, Anthony (1992), Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia: An Illustrated Dictionary, The British Museum Press, ISBN 978-0-7141-1705-8,p.108
  10. ↑ Black, Jeremy; Green, Anthony (1992), Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia: An Illustrated Dictionary, The British Museum Press, ISBN 978-0-7141-1705-8,p.108
  11. ↑ Suter, Claudia E. (2014), "Human, Divine, or Both?: The Uruk Vase and the Problem of Ambiguity in Early Mesopotamian Visual Arts", in Feldman, Marian; Brown, Brian (eds.), p.551
  12. ↑ Suter 2014, pp. 550–552
  13. ↑ Suter 2014, pp. 550–552
  14. ↑ Suter 2014, pp. 552–554.
  15. ↑ Van der Mierop, Marc (2007), A History of the Ancient Near East: 3,000–323 BC, Blackwell, ISBN 978-1-4051-4911-2,p.55
  16. ↑ Van der Mierop 2007, p. 55.
  17. ↑ Maeda, Tohru (1981). ""KING OF KISH" IN PRE-SAROGONIC SUMER". Orient. The Society for Near Eastern Studies in Japan. 17: 1–17. doi:10.5356/orient1960.17.1. ISSN 1884-1392.p.8
  18. ↑ Collins, Paul (1994), "The Sumerian Goddess Inanna (3400-2200 BC)", Papers of from the Institute of Archaeology, 5, UCL, pp. 110–111.
  19. ↑ Collins 1994, p. 111.
  20. ↑ A. Archi, The Gods of Ebla [in:] J. Eidem, C.H. van Zoest (eds.), Annual Report NINO and NIT 2010, 2011, p. 3
  21. ↑ Jats the Ancient Rulers (A clan study), Book by Bhim Singh Dahiya, IRS, First Edition 1980, Publisher: Sterling Publishers Pvt Ltd, AB/9 Safdarjang Enclave, New Delhi-110064, p.199
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