Creation and Ishtar
Mesopotamian Mythology
•Enuma Elish means “In the
beginning
•Apsu (god of primordial
waters) and Tiamat (goddess of
the sea) are the father and
mother of the other gods
•The new generations of gods
are too noisy, and their noise
troubles Apsu. He plots to
destroy them, though Tiamat
objects.
•But Ea, god of sweet water,
destroys him and gains
authority over the gods.
Enuma Elish
What is Tiamat’s role so far?
•Ea and his wife create
Marduk.
The other gods convince
Tiamat to destroy the new
gods. She creates a race of
monsters.
Enuma Elish
Four were his eyes, and four
were his ears; when his lips
moved, fire blazed forth…
[his eyes] perceived
everything. Highest among
the gods, his form was
outstanding.
•Qingu is the chief
monster who assails
the younger gods
•Ea fails to defeat
him.
•Anu, an authority
figure among the
gods, fails to defeat
him
•Marduk is called
upon to try. He
asks for kingship of
the gods in return.
They agree.
Enuma Elish
Marduk makes his weapons and
prepares for battle
Enuma Elish
Marduk, a storm god, encircles
Tiamat with a net and blows her
into pieces to defeat her.
From these pieces, earth is made.
He sliced her in half like a fish for
drying; half of her he put up to
roof the sky…[he opened up
gates in her ribs … with her liver
he locatedthe heights … he
placed her head, heaped up …
opened up springs, water gushed
out …
He opened the Tigris and
Euphrates from her eyes,
…piled up clear-cut
mountains from her udder
… he set up her thigh to
make fast the sky; with half
of her he made a rook, and
fixed the earth.
Then Marduk defeats
Qingu. From Qingu’s
blood, human beings are
formed, to do all the work
so the gods can be at
leisure
Enuma Elish
Enuma Elish
Marduk’s last
act (of the
Enuma Elish)
is to have a
ziggurat
constructed,
as a sign of
human
worship of
the gods
(and himself,
as the gods’
new king).
Ishtar
Ishtar (Sumerian Inanna) was
the city goddess of Uruk.
In Sumerian tradition, she
appeared in several important
stories:
•Story of the me (decrees
which represent the key
elements of Sumerian
civilization)Inanna visits Enki
(same as Ea) – here her father.
He gets drunk, she steals the
me, and thus confers power on
Uruk.
Ishtar
In another story, she got the hero Gilgamesh to chase a demon
from her hulupu tree, and make her a throne – a story which
shows a good relationship between the powerful king of Uruk and
the city’s patron goddess..
Ishtar
and played a key
role in civic cult, in
a sacred marriage.
She was
worshipped in
ornate temples . . .
Ishtar
Here she takes a king by the hand
and leads him, a sign of divine
favor.
Ishtar is goddess of prostitutes
but the idea that there was
“sacred prostitution” at her
temples is a western misreading
of the evidence – blame
Herodotus.
But it’s possible that in a yearly
sacred marriage, Ishtar’s priestess
had a ritual (real or symbolic?)
sexual union with the city’s king,
to insure fertility for the coming
year.
Ishtar’s Descent
Ishtar decides to visit the
Underworld . . .
Ishtar daughter of Sin was
determined to go – to the dark
house, to the house which those
who enter cannot leave, where
those who enter are deprived of
light, where dust is their food,
clay their bread . . .
Ereshkigal is angry that Ishtar has
come.
Ishtar’s Descent
What brings her here? What
has incited her against me?
Surely not because I eat clay for
bread, drink muddy water for
beer? I have to weep for young
men forced to abandon their
sweethearts. . .
As Ishtar enters each of the
underworld’s seven gates, the
gatekeeper takes away an item of
her high-status adornment:
crown, earrings, jewelry, and
finally “the proud garment of her
body.”
“Go in, my lady. Such are the
rites of the Mistress of Earth.”
Ishtar’s Descent
Ishtar hangs like a corpse on a stake
for three days (the Sumerian version)
During this time all fertility on the
earth stops.
Ea sends a “pleasure boy” to the
underworld who apparently performs
the right action to get Ishtar released.
But a substitute must be found. In
the longer more complete Sumerian
version, it is Dumuzi. He is taken
down into the underworld to take
Ishtar’s place. But he too is a fertility
god (young herd animals), and
cannot remain under ground forever.
Apparently his sister
Belili (goddess of vines)
takes his place, and trades
off parts of the year with
him.
Ishtar’s Descent
•How is this story like the
Greek underworld myths we
have encountered (Demeter
and Persephone, Orpheus,
Heracles, etc.)?
•How is it different?
•How similar are the ideas of
the underworld and its deities?
•What underlying meanings
are there – are they similar to
the ideas about human fate
you see in the Mysteries at
Eleusis?
finis