Descent of Inanna
Inanna descends to the underworld to confront her sister Ereshkigal, is killed and hung on a hook, and returns only by sacrificing her husband Dumuzi.
Inanna set her mind on the Great Below. She abandoned heaven, abandoned earth, and descended to the underworld.
The Seven Gates
At each of the seven gates, Inanna was forced to remove a piece of her divine regalia: crown, lapis necklace, breastplate, golden ring. She arrived before Ereshkigal naked and powerless.
Death
Ereshkigal fixed on Inanna the eye of death. She struck her and turned her into a corpse, which she hung on a hook on the wall.
"She who enters the underworld does not return."
Rescue
After three days, Enki, the only god who responded, created two beings from the dirt under his fingernails and sent them to revive Inanna with the food and water of life.
The Price
But the underworld demands a substitute. Demons followed Inanna back to the surface. When she found Dumuzi sitting on her throne, not mourning her death, she chose him. Dumuzi was dragged below.
Participants
Sources & References
- Inanna, Queen of Heaven and Earth (1983)
- The Treasures of Darkness (1976)
- Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature Visit