In Sumerian folklore, the goddess Inanna is talked about more than any other god. She is from ancient Mesopotamia. What is now Iraq used to be home to the old city of Sumer. Inanna is portrayed in different stories as either passionate and feminine, or violent, sexual, or even hostile at different points in her life. Inanna is the goddess of love, war, fertility, and power. She is known to loom over other gods. There were many people who liked her, but the farmers Enkimdu and Dumuzi stood out.

Even though Inanna first liked Enkimdu, her brother Utu eventually persuaded her to pick him instead. After that, she married Dumuzi, but their marriage was pretty rough. After seeing that her leaving didn’t change his behavior, she finally made him take over her job from now on. Ishtar was also very important to the Akkadians and the Assyrians. You could connect her to Astarte, a goddess from the West Semitic people. They thought Ishtar was so great that they put her on the same level as or even higher than Ashur, their most important god. About 2300 BCE, the maker first used the name Ishtar, which comes from the Akkadian language.

Throughout mythology, she took on many roles. As a goddess of opposites, like love and war, she was linked to death and disaster. She was a protector for prostitutes, and prostitution was freely done in temples that were dedicated to her. Ishtar was a lot like Inanna in a lot of ways, but she also showed up in her own special ways. Ishtar is adored as a goddess of love, sexuality, and fertility, but she is never shown as a caring parent. She rules over battle. That’s why pictures of her generally show wings and weapons. At first, it wasn’t clear if Inanna also came from a Semitic background. So, there was no link between the two spirits. They were thought to be the same god with different names during the reign of the Akkadian king Sargon.

Like the Roman goddess of the same name, Inanna had a close connection to Venus. Another possibility is that Ishtar’s place as a goddess of heaven plays a part in this. In many historical reports, she is seen as the Earth herself. People have linked the story of Inanna’s trip to the underworld to the way Venus, Mercury, and the Sun move around the sun every year. Because of this, she was worshiped as Venus and Ninshubur as Mercury. In ancient Mesopotamia, Venus was already linked to Inanna long before it was named as a constellation. With this information, we might be able to guess how long ago Mesopotamians first learned to recognize stars.

A lot of experts have different ideas about where the names of some Mesopotamian gods came from. There are questions about more than just Inanna’s name. This is because the thing she’s meant to represent isn’t as clear-cut as the things other gods represent. The Sumerian goddess Inanna was thought to be one of the seven most important gods. The other six were An, the sky god, the wind and storm god, the woman who made man, the sun and justice, and the moon and knowledge. On the other hand, we don’t know much about her Sumerian heritage. No one ever said who her mother was, and different myths about her father’s life give different versions of what happened. Some have said that the goddess was the child of the gods Nanna, Enlil, and Enki, while others have said that she was the child of the sky goddess An. But in all of these stories, Utu was his brother. In other stories, she was his twin sister Ereshkigal.

As a goddess with many sides, Inanna is shown by many things, even ones that don’t seem to go together, like love and war. She used the lion, the dove, the butterfly, the bat, the snake, flowers, fruits, veggies, and things that aren’t alive. As signs, she also used colors, stones, metals, and perfume scents.

Besides her connection to the afterlife, these images also show that she is a woman and that she is wise, brave, and bold. People have looked to Inanna for a long time as a sign of wealth and new life. For this reason, a bundle of spiral reeds, which is a common sign for farmers, is the most common goddess symbol for Inanna. Some people say that Inanna had. Ancient Mesopotamian writing was full of stories about Inanna, the goddess of love and beauty. In some of them, she seemed to take on the parts of other gods. This story is about a time when Inanna was still learning how to be a strong leader. On the banks of the Euphrates River, a huluppu tree once sparked the whole project. As Inanna soaked the tree in water, she thought about the day she would finally get a chair and a soft bed.

As they grew up, the Anzu bird, the “who cannot be charmed” snake, and the evil spirit Lilith lived in the trees. The thought of this made Inanna very sad, and she started to cry. She asked her brother Utu to help her scare the animals off the tree, but he said no. After another cry, Inanna called for Gilgamesh, who came and killed the snake. When the bird with Lilith saw this, it took off. Gilgamesh had the tree cut down, and then his servants used the wood to make him a throne and a bed. To thank Gilgamesh for being brave, Inanna gave him a drum with drumsticks.

After she told Inanna how happy she was about her “wonderful vulva,” she gave her the crown as a sign of respect for how grown up she was. She knew how great she was and set out to help Enki claim the “me,” which is the powerful list of both good and bad traits that make society work. Enki’s sukkah, Esimud, received her with open arms, and the two of them ate and drank until Enki was drunk. Enki began to toast and promised Inanna many things, such as the seat of kingship, the priesthood, the godhood, the truth, a trip into the underworld, a journey out of the netherworld, sexuality, and more. Fourteen times, they raised their glasses, and each time, he offered Inanna seven “mes,” which she gladly took.

After accepting the mess, Inanna was smart and got on the Boat of Heaven, taking all the gifts that Enki had given her while he was drunk. When Enki woke up and realized what was going on, he told his helper to leave with the goddess and the powers. There were several times they tried before the Boat from Heaven got to Uruk, but each time they failed. The people were then given the mes that Inanna had brought with her. Enki said that Uruk’s holy shrine would be where the stolen mes would be kept.

A lot of people think that this poem or song is one of the oldest pieces ever written about love. It was most likely written around 2800 BCE. Here, we learn about the ways that Inanna’s future husband, Dumuzi, tried to win her love. The poem also talks about a society that relied on farming and how farming got better so that people could get food.

This story is linked to the song “Inanna Prefers the Farmer” because Utu wrote it to tell his sister Inanna that she was going to marry a farmer. A farmer named Enkimdu was chosen over a hunter named Dumuzi at first. But Utu and Dumuzi were able to persuade her by showing her all the ways he was better than Enkidu. When Inanna finally chose Dumuzi, their happy ending in marriage was written about in a series of sensual love poems. The next story, “The Descent of Inanna,” is about a love story that doesn’t end happily.

Ereshkigal, the Queen of the Underworld, had just lost her husband, and the song tells of Inanna’s trip to the netherworld to comfort her. It was important for Inanna to hear her sister’s sad groans, even though she knew that the future was a place from which there was no way back. Nine days and nights later, she didn’t come back. She told Ninshubur, her sukkah, or private servant, that if she hadn’t, he should mourn in the ruin mounds, drum at the shrine, and pray to Enlil, Nanna, and Enki to bring her back.

As you might expect, Ereshkigal was wary of Inanna when she first came into the underworld. Ereshkigal told Neti, who was in charge of the gates, to keep Inanna from having power or clothes by making her leave one me at each gate. Ereshkigal saw her for the first time while she wasn’t dressed. Once Inanna had pushed her sister off the chair, she sat down on it herself. Anna told her she was wrong, and her sister killed her in the end. Her dead body was hanging from a hook.

Ninshubur would have done what she was told and gone to Enlil, Nanna, or Enki if Inanna hadn’t come back after three days. As the only one who cared about Inanna, Enki went outside and began gathering dirt to make messengers who brought food and water to Inanna. These animals were able to bring Inanna back to life. The judges, on the other hand, said she should be changed. They came up from the depths, even the demons, looking for someone to replace her. Dumuzi was sitting on the chair in a beautiful robe and didn’t seem to notice that Inanna wasn’t there. So, Inanna picked Dumuzi to take over after her.

Gilgamesh, the hero-king of Uruk, is the main character of this story. He faces death in his search for meaning and becomes the first hero in world literature. Anyone who has ever wondered why they were born after their death can understand Gilgamesh’s pain and the problems that his friend’s death caused.

The story about Inanna, especially in the poem “Gilgamesh as well as the Bull of Heaven,” talks about how she forced her father to let the bull of heaven go. What took place after Gilgamesh turned down Inanna’s love advances? In the afterlife, she went to An and told him she would have the dead eat the living if my father didn’t give her her Bull of Heaven.

The fact that Enkidu helped Gilgamesh kill the bull made Inanna even more angry. In the meantime, Enkidu had a dream that the gods had decided that he or Gilgamesh would die because they killed the bull. After that, Enkidu got sick and died. She is different from other gods and deities of the same kind, though, because she has many sides to her.

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Ninmah, which is how Ninhursag’s name was first written, means “Magnificent Queen.” Ninurta, her son, changed her name from Ninmah to Ninhursag after he made the mountains. Nintu, which means “mother of creation,” and Belet-ili, which means “lady of the gods,” were two other names for her. In ancient Babylonia, she was called Ninmenah and played a big role in putting the king in power. The Sumerian goddess of fertility was also called Damgalnuna, and she was the beau of the prince. Damkina meant “real wife,” which made her role as Enki’s (the god of knowledge and creation) wife even clearer. “Goddess of the womb” is how her name, Shassuru, comes from, since she is so important to giving birth. Tabsut-ili, which means “mother of the gods,” was given to her because all other gods were thought to have come from her.

Ninhursag was linked to the Sumerian goddess of the earth Ki. Ninmah and Ninmenna were gods in ancient Babylon. They had devoted followers and holy places named after them. But as time went on and the two societies mixed, the Ninhursag goddess ate everything up.

Before she became the goddess of all of Mesopotamia, Ninhursag was the prosperity goddess of the town of Mal gum. In those places, people called her Damalguna and Damkina. Her husband was the god Sul-pa-e, and their home was the underworld. Malgum Ninhursag was the mother of three gods: Asgi, Lisin, and Lil. She was the goddess of prosperity. Not long after, Ninhursag began to be worshiped instead of Nammu, who was the goddess of the land’s prosperity. During the Ubaid Period, the Sumerians had already been worshiping a prosperity goddess for a long time, as shown by records from Mesopotamia. During Sumerian history, many female gods played the part of Mother Goddess.

In mythology, mother goddesses are female gods who are linked to life-giving events like birth, reproduction, and creation. After some time, another mother goddess stood in her place. From 2600 to 2334 B.C.E., Sumer worshiped Nammu as the goddess of fertility. Ninhursag, the mother goddess, probably took power around 2600 B.C. Ninhursag was once respected as Ki. You could also call her Kishar. She was the Sumerian goddess of the earth mother. Many people believed that she made babies in the womb, so most of her followers were mothers who prayed to her as Kishar for help taking care of their new babies.

The god of magic and understanding, Enki, is said to have married Ninhursag. Nisar is the plant god. He is the child of Enki and Ninhursag. Enki and Ninsar had a daughter named Ninkurra, who was the god of meadow. Enki and Ninkura had two daughters. The second was Uttu, who was known as the Queen of Weaving.

Uttu left because she thought Enki didn’t love her, and she never came back. Her great-grandmother Ninhursag told her to put Enki’s seed in the ground. The first eight plants to ever grow came from those seeds. In the end, the eight plants gave rise to eight more gods. People worshiped eight different gods: Abu, Nintulla, Ninkasi, Nanshe, Azimua, Emshag, and Ninti. People respected Abu, the god of plants, and Nintulla, the god of the Sumerian region of Makan. Ninsitu, Ninti, and Azimua are goddesses of healing. Ninkasi is a goddess of beer, and Nanshe is a goddess of magic and knowledge. People in Dilmun, which is in eastern Arabia, worshiped Enshag as their god.

Ninhursag used a mark that looked a lot like the Greek letter Omega. In most pictures of her, she had hairstyles that were based on the omega sign or a crown with the omega sign in the middle. There were several reasons given for why Ninhursag decided to use the omega symbol. Some scholars think that the upside-down belly, which represents the Omega, showed that she was a mother. It was normal to hold up a knife next to the omega symbol to show that it was the knife used to cut the umbilical cord during birth. Sometimes she is shown holding an omega-shaped staff and a leash with a lion cub connected to it. She has wings and a skirt with layers.

The goddess was the one who made both gods and people. She was an important goddess in almost all Sumerian stories, and she was one of four groups of creator goddesses in the Sumerian universe. The Sumerians thought that Ninhursag was the “Great Mom” who was in charge of everything and helped people grow. She is one of the four gods who are said to have created the world. She was a mother, so one of her main jobs was to keep other women and children safe. In addition, she was in charge of the whole birth process, from getting pregnant to giving birth. Figurines of her were made with a baby on her left breast. Many women prayed to her for help while they were pregnant, and many saw her as a protecting goddess.

She is best known for making people and gods, as we now know. She was often shown as an equal author who grew and developed the plot. To put it simply, she played a big role in making all living things. Ninhursag’s job was to shape eggs into babies inside women who were pregnant.

The story of Ninhursag and Enki says that the world began in a garden called Dilmun. It was like being in the Garden of Eden in Dilmun. The code says that after Ninhursag helped make the world, he went back to the park in the winter to rest. Enki was the god of magic and science, and Ninhursag was young and full of life when she met him. The two fell in love.
As soon as spring came around, Ninhursag went back to being the maker and left Enki and their daughter alone. Enki started to miss his wife Ninhursag because of this. One day, Enki was walking through the woods when he saw his daughter. He felt lustful for her right away. His wife Ninhursag came back to him in the form of Ninsar, he thought. He has been trying to get her to marry him for a few days before Ninsar finds out she is pregnant. Ninsar’s father eventually got her pregnant, and she and her husband named their daughter Ninkurra, after the Hindu goddess of mountain plants.

Ninkurra became a woman after only nine days, just like her mother did. Ninkura’s beauty made Enki fall in love with her right away. He tried to seduce them because the young Ninkurra made him think of his wife. Not long after that, Ninkurra got pregnant. She and her husband named their daughter Uttu.

It only took Uttu nine days to become an adult, and Enki had no trouble swaying him. Uttu was confused by Enki, who thought she was Ninhursag, his wife. Enki left Uttu behind when he learned she wasn’t Ninhursag and went back to Earth to do his job there. Uttu, whose heart was broken, turned to Ninhursag for comfort. Ninhursag told Uttu that she could help Uttu by getting some of Enki’s seeds ready to plant at Dilmun. Eight plants with different looks grew from the source. Enki saw the plants as he walked by and told Isimud, his vizier, to choose one. It was Ninhursag who asked for the rest of the crop after tasting the first plant and liking it.

Ninhursag was very angry when she got back because Enki had been eating all the plants. Ninhursag cursed her husband and ran away from the yard and everyone else. After that, Enki got very sick, and no amount of medical care could save him. As his health got worse, the other gods started to cry over him. She was the only one who could heal him, but no one knew where she was. A fox, which was one of Ninhursag’s animals, rescued the goddess Ninhursag out of the blue. When she got back, she was touched by how her husband’s health was getting worse. She sat down next to Enki and asked him where he was hurt.

The pain that Ninhursag took from Enki’s body at the spot where he felt it became a new god. Eight times of this were done, and one of Enki’s illnesses turned into an unknown Creator. The eight gods that were born from them were Abu, Nintulla, Ninsitu, Nanshe, Azimua, Emshag, and Ninti.

In response, Enki asks the people of Uttu to forgive him for eating their plants and getting the women to sleep with him. Ninhursag doesn’t care about Enki’s laziness or sexual urges. Enki and Ninhursag made peace with each other and went back to their jobs as gods of creation. The Sumerians thought Ninhursag was so powerful that he could both sicken and heal Enki, who was seen as a god.

Experts have found links between the Ninhursag and Enki story and the story of how the world was made in the Bible. It is thought that the Sumerian story and the Bible’s account of how the world was made are related. People say that Dilmun, which was a garden haven, was like the Garden of Eden. People thought that the story of Ninti being born from Enki’s rib gave them the idea for Eve being born from Adam’s rib.

It was in Enki’s ribs that he got sick, and Ninhursag made the god Ninti to ease the pain. Ninety-Two and Eve both mean “one who brings life.” Because of these similarities, some people think that the story of Ninhursag may have had an effect on the Hebrew author of Genesis.

The two origin stories are very different, though. As an example, Adam and Eve did not have heavenly or creative powers like gods like Enki and Ninhursag. In the Sumerian story of how the world began, Enki had children by seduction, but Adam did not. Adam’s mistake meant that he needed to be forgiven, but it didn’t make him sick and in need of treatment.

Another famous creation story in Babylonia was the story of Enki and Ninmah. It has been looked into a lot that Ninmah was also the name of Ninhursag. Ninhursag’s status in the story of Enki and Ninmah went down over time until she was finally pushed to second place, behind Enki. It got old for the smaller gods in the story to do all kinds of things all day and night.

Some of these jobs were digging, farming, and gathering. All of these weaker gods were worn out and begged Enki for help. Enki was resting because he was tired from his artistic work and wasn’t hearing their screams. So, Nammu, Enki’s mother, woke him up when she heard the smaller gods crying out.

After she brought the younger gods’ plea to Enki, he agreed to their terms. Along with Ninmah and other fertile gods, Enki told his mother to give birth to people. People were made to help the gods with their daily tasks. While the gods were still making people, Enki threw a big party.

The gods thanked Enki at the event for coming up with new ideas that made their lives easier. There was a table that Ninmah and Enki shared where they drank beer. While they were both drunk, Ninmah challenged Enki to a game. The task was simple: Ninmah would create something that wasn’t right, and Enki would have to fix it.

Since Ninhursag had made the man with crippled hands, Enki made his luck better by helping the king. This meant he didn’t have to steal to take care of himself. Ninhursag then made a man who was blind, but Enki made his life better by teaching him how to play music for the king. No matter how many times they go up against each other, Enki always wins.

Ninhursag finally made a humanoid that didn’t have any parts and challenged Enki to smile at it. Enki took the man up on his dare and made him a barber in the king’s court. Ninmah threw her clay on the floor because she didn’t like Enki’s answers. Enki then took the clay as a dare from Ninhursag.

In response, Enki challenged Ninhursag to find a way to make the future better for whatever creature he had made. The trouble began when he summoned a being and sickened it with different things. In the beginning, Ninmah tried to feed the thing but failed. That same night, she tries everything she can to make it work, but it doesn’t. Ninhursag gave up after a long fight and started yelling about Enki’s creation, saying it wasn’t alive or dead. She told Enki that he was being unfair when he set such a high standard that could not be met.

Then Enki told him about all the times she had put him to the test and he had done well every time. The part of the story where Ninhursag answers Enki has been lost to history. The rest of the story, though, says that Enki won and Ninmah gave up. Ninmah lost her position as a co-deity with Enki when she did this. Even so, her followers still saw her as a strong goddess they could pray to in times of trouble.

An old Akkadian tale called the Atrahasis talks about Ninhursag as the Great Mother who created people. Her main art form was pottery, which she improved with things like understanding and blood that she got from God. According to Akkadian legend, Enki made people to serve the lesser gods. The story says that the god Enlil let out the Great Flood, which destroyed everything. Ninhursag is shown in the Atrahasis crying over the death of her children.

There were stories that said Ninhursag was Anu, the sky-good wife and co-creator. In other myths, the god is linked to the Akkadian god Kishar. During her growth, Ninhursag was seen as one of the most important gods.

Ninhursag’s worship was so common that her temples sprang up all over Sumeria. Ninhursag had two temples in ancient Sumeria. One was in the town of Adab, and the other was in the city of Kesh, where she was known as Belet-ili of Kesh. She also had temples in Mari, Ur, Uruk, Lagash, and Ashur, all of which were important towns at the time. There wasn’t a weekly ceremony to honor the god’s worship. But every year, celebrations were held to honor the goddess. Her fans quietly praised her at home and only let everyone know how much they loved her at festivals. In the first thousand years B.C.E., both the Ninhursag faith and the worship of female gods went downhill.

In Mesopotamian faith, male gods started to take the lead around this time. The rise of male gods like Ashur made the female spirits Innana and Ereshkigal less important. People have always looked up to these women as powerful gods. Things in the Ninhursag cult started to slow down around 612 BCE.

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Gula was first seen in the time of Ur III and became known as the Sumerians’ “great physician.” It was said that she could heal people, so people called her “Lady of Health,” “Great Healer,” and “Great Physician.” Because she was so important, her name was found in old healing practices and books. The ancient people of Mesopotamia knew that Gula was the worldwide symbol of a dog surrounded by stars because he had healed so many people. People who knew her respected her great name.

Keep in mind that the dog’s name comes from her look; the Sumerians called her Bau, or Baba, the goddess of dogs. People who lick dogs’ wounds and then wash them with their spit often heal faster. After this finding, people started to think that dogs might naturally be able to heal. The people of Isin respected her and called her Ninisina, which means “Lady of Isin” in English. She was the city’s patron saint. You should know that many gods and goddesses have worshiped her. It was called Ninnibru, which means “Queen of Nippur,” and it showed how powerful she was in the city. People began to think she was the famous hero Ninurta because she was so well-liked.

No one was shocked when Gula became king. You can’t avoid her because she is the daughter of the goddess Anu. The god Ninurta, the doctor, was her husband. He had a lot of different names, some of which were more well known, like Abu, the God of Agriculture, and Pabilsag, the Supernatural Judge. It’s clear that her husband won three awards. Since they both worked in farming, that might be why she was picked out for praise in the medical field. To do this, you have to honor her children, who were also healing gods. Two of her children were boys: Ninazu and Damu. Gunurra was her only daughter.

Damu was a famous Sumerian god who used both mythical and scientific methods to heal people. He was also the father of several of her children.

It is through his connection with Tammuz or Dumuzi, another god, that he is tied to the cycle of life, death, and rebirth. Inanna was an ancient Sumerian love goddess and fertility goddess. Gula often calls on Damu’s name and includes him in his chants and healing practices because he is known as the best healer. By sending her healing power through Damu, Gula was able to help more doctors.

Ninazu was Gula’s second son. He was honored with snakes, which stood for change, the underworld, healing, or total transformation. In a painting of him, he was carrying a stick with two snakes wrapped around it. You may remember that the Egyptians used this sign for many gods, including Hermes in Greek mythology and Heka, their goddess of magic. These days, you can see this staff in any hospital or room because it has come to mean medicine. It’s also the mark of Hippocrates, who is known as the “father of medicine,” and it was made for him.

People have long thought of Mesopotamia as the birthplace of medicine because it was so important in the development of healthcare there. The city became famous because of two different types of doctors who worked there at the time. The Asu, or doctors who were trained in the West, stood for the scientific method to health care. On the other side were the faith healers, who were called Asipu. They healed people through rituals that were full of magic. In the past, doctors taught these two groups how to become vets, dentists, and surgeons.

That nurses, not doctors, were usually the ones who gave birth back then. There are records that show doctors asked for money bonuses every time they had a boy. History says that Asu would use herbs to help the laboring mother while Asipu relied on prayers and chants to ward off the bad spirits that come with giving birth.

They would have the woman who was giving birth wear amulets to keep the monster Pazuzu away. This added to the idea that therapists in Asipu are witch doctors. It wasn’t important to these doctors to win. Instead of insulting each other, both sides agreed on how good the other person was. People can also choose their own doctor if they want to. Some praised Asu, but most were on Asipu’s side. Their goal was the same: to help people get better, but they did it in slightly different ways. The focus for Asipu was on using magic, while the focus for Asu was on taking notes and using science.

In the past, doctors usually set up shop in the courtyards of nearby churches, but they would sometimes come to people’s homes too. A lot of people admired Gula because she was so good at healing people in the city of Isin, which was the center of her medical influence and where doctors from all over the kingdom learned how to treat sick people. Since there were more women doctors, you could say that Gula, the female doctor, was to blame for this case.

The ancient Mesopotamians were sure that their gods would make them sick if they didn’t do what the gods wanted them to do. Sicknesses could have been a warning or punishment from the gods for people who disobeyed them. Also, people felt bad if they forgot to honor their gods in some way. There are academics who say that the hieroglyphics show that people have always worshiped gods who were strict and jealous.

It is possible for a deity to punish a person by making them sick if they forget to make a gift to that deity. They thought that the spirits’ tricks caused sickness, and people were afraid that certain bad or demonic spirits would kill them. Also, think about how hard it must have been to figure out what was making someone sick in the past, when even dead people were thought to be able to make someone sick.

Many people thought that Gula, the god of health, could heal people in amazing ways. She was very good at healing and could help women who couldn’t have children. To protect the safety of your loved ones, Gula was a powerful friend that you could call on. She had the power to protect the healthy and safe people she cared about and make the unhappy people she hated happy. It was very hard for people who dared to say bad things about her. A lot of people knew that Gula was scary, and they were right to think that.

People must honor Gula. When people disobeyed Gula, bad things happened. Because of this, the ancient people showed an unimaginable amount of loyalty. If you don’t listen to her, you should get ready to leave quickly. With prayers, rituals, and offerings, her priests and priestesses promised to make her happy. People saw Gula as a scary goddess because of her spiritual power, even though she wanted to help people.

The people worshiped Gula because they thought she was the goddess of health, childbirth, and getting healthy again. The ancient Mesopotamians thought very highly of her. In this piece of art, she was shown sitting on her chair with a dog as a mascot. Her three kids—boys Damu and Ninazu and daughter Gunurra—all did a lot to make the neighborhood a better place. A lot of people gave up a lot for them because they thought they were unbeatable.

Even though Gula has done great things, you should remember that she can also cause disaster if she gets angry about not being worshiped and prayed to. Because of this, Gula needed to be worshiped and adored all the time. In the past, people could see doctors who could treat illness and promote good living. In ancient times, there were two types of doctors: those who used magical methods and those who used science.

People thought that their illnesses were caused by a bad spirit or were punishments from God for doing wrong. Some people saw sickness as a moral flaw, and others did too. Because the doctor had to be involved, it would take a long time to help the sick. Because of this, Gula’s story and impact are some of the most famous in Mesopotamian history. The Mesopotamians may have created the first goddess of health who was worshiped by everyone.

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Many people respect Ereshkigal and call him by different names and titles. The Akkadians worship the goddess as the Queen of the Great Below and call her both Irkalla and Allahu. Many books have been written about the old gods of Mesopotamia and how they lived. One of the most famous goddesses, Ereshkigal, is respected for being friendly to people. Ereshkigal is a very important person in Mesopotamian mythology. She is known as the Queen of the Dead. Anyone who hears her name should be scared, because being around her means certain death or endless punishment. It was her job to keep the dead safe in the underworld and keep the living from finding out about the future. This is a big and important job, and Ereshkigal really cared about it. Her connection to death made her a scary figure, even though she was also linked to giving life.

The goddess Ereshkigal gave birth to the god Ninazu. She was married to Gugalanna, the same Great Bull of Heaven. After Gugalanna died, Ereshkigal married the god Enlil. They had a son named Namtar. His name meant “destiny.” Ereshkigal had a girl with a third wife. She named her either Nungal or Manual. Last but not least, Nergal, her fourth husband, was the only person who decided to go to heaven with her. In Mesopotamian mythology, Ereshkigal is shown to have had a lot of different partnerships. One of her sons, Namtar, stayed true to her and finally became her minister. People in Mesopotamia worshiped Inanna, who was her younger sister and was also known as Ishtar.

Even though they were related, Ishtar and Ereshkigal had a very bad relationship. The older sister, Ereshkigal, is the guardian of the dead. Sister Ishtar, on the other hand, is a goddess of love and fertility who lives in heaven. You can also figure out that there is a big gap between them because their powers are opposite and cover both life and death. The goddesses finally ended their long-running fight after many deaths and tragedies.

It is true that Ereshkigal is the goddess of the underworld in Mesopotamian legend. Ganzir, her main palace, stands at the abyss gate and is watched over by Neti, her loyal helper. The whole domain, which can be reached through seven portals, is run by her and Negal, her husband who offered to rule the nether for six months a year. You can also guess that people respect her as Queen of Night Relief, which is a term that has been used for both the good goddess Inanna and the evil goddess Lilith.

He lives in a place deep below the Earth’s surface called Kur, which is also known as Irkalla. It is clear to those who have died here that Ereshkigal has changed the rules of life. The main thing is that their life at Kur always mirrors their life on earth. Even though they aren’t punished in Kur, how well they do in the next life depends on how well they were buried. It’s likely that they’re not having a good time at Kur since all they have to eat and drink is dry dust, unless their live relatives remember them by pouring prayers and drinks for them.

Everyone hates Kur because he is a lowly member of Mesopotamia’s underground. There is a story that there is a staircase in the Zagros Mountains that goes to the cold gates of the underworld. As you might expect, these stairs that lead to Kur are much deeper than Abzu, the body of water below the top of the Earth. Some people think Kur refers to a land that is empty or a scary place that no one has ever been. The ancients couldn’t give you a clear picture of the underworld, Kur, because no one had ever been there. You could only believe rumors and small pieces of evidence that have been passed down from generation to generation. For each spirit to get to this holy place, they have to go on a long trip. Seven gates with heavy bolts keep people out. Neti, Kur’s guardian, leads the dead to their final resting places in the underworld.

This place is completely dark and by itself. But at night, Utu, the sun god, would go through the whole area and light the way for the people who lived there. He would then go back to his post in the east to get ready for the next day. In Kur, it probably wasn’t just his job to take care of things; a lot of people thought he had to go around the area telling people what he thought about the future. The god Anunnaki shared this job with him. The Anunnaki also spoke about the afterlife for people who had died.

You should know that Utu started his daily journey to the underworld in the yard of the sun god. Some of the trees in this yard may have grown fruit with valuable stones inside it. Inanna, who was Utu’s sister, really wanted to go to that yard and eat the gem fruit. When she ate the fruit, she had a lot of private sexual thoughts, and she became the goddess of lust.

There are many well-known symbols that belong to Ereshkigal, the goddess of death. To begin, she is made of wood, which shows that she is temporary. Wood is a metaphor for how everything will finally break down and grow again. It’s a sobering reminder that no matter how healthy we are, we will all die eventually. A lioness or lion cub stands for her power in the underworld. Lapis lazuli, her valuable stone, was used to build her shrine.

She was shown as a naked goddess to show that being open at birth and at death is something everyone goes through. Two lions are sitting on either side of the figure of Ereshkigal, and two owls are sitting on either side of her shoulders. It is said that she is not wearing any clothes at all and that her thick, curly hair falls over her bust. In Akkadian folklore and literature, the number seven, which is sacred to her, means completion. She is also represented by a horse that stands for death, which many people took to mean a sign that they were going to die. A lot of people were scared to see the horse at the end because they thought it was Ereshkigal’s way of letting them into her world where they could never go back.
People were also scared of the stream of death, which was how she took the dead to the underworld. The Babylonians had a clear mental picture of a river called death that people had to accept when they were invited to do so. The ship represents the trip the dead will take to get to the underworld after they die.

In the end, the rainbow garden is a warm and friendly place for the dead to rest. It’s hidden as a magical rainbow garden so as not to scare people, but it makes you think that everyone will have a place to live after they die. The Ereshkigal sign shows a person kneeling on a horse that stands for death. People who see this will know it is time to leave this world.

Out of all the relationships Ereshkigal has with the gods, her friendship with Nergal is the most exciting. That’s when she saw the need to be free from the gods Anu, Enlil, and Ea, who were all connected to her. The gods in heaven have sent a messenger to invite her and her helper to a party in heaven. As expected, she sent Namtar, who was a trustworthy messenger, to the future. He finally reached the top of the long stairs that led to heaven’s gates. Nergal, the god of war and sickness, was the only one who didn’t meet him warmly. The other gods thought Nergal’s actions were rude. After Nergal did something wrong, the other gods told him he had to make amends by going to the underworld. Ea sent seven demons with strong orders not to accept Ereshkigal’s hospitality or kindness to go with him and watch out for him.

The first and most important rule was to never try to sex with Ereshkigal. When Nergal saw Ereshkigal taking off her clothes for a bath, he gave in to her charms because he wanted to do his job without question. Nergal fell in love with her because she was naked, and they were together for six days, until he left her asleep and went back to his throne in heaven. When Ereshkigal found out she had been left alone, she was heartbroken and furious.

Her screams of pain could be heard in the clouds as she talked about her life as the young guardian of the underground, living alone and away from her family. Every sound of pain she made showed how broken her heart and spirit were. When the gods didn’t answer her, she made her threat public: she would bring the dead back to life and crush the living. Nergal, meanwhile, tried to find safety in the sky but was turned away.

After having an intense makeout session, Ereshkigal gave Nergal a big hug. He promised to stay with her for six months if he came back. She said she would send him and his demons to the greatest world. Nergal stands for both pride and modesty. He is so full of himself that he looks down on people lower than him, but he shows humility by giving up and going back to the underground. His behavior was pleasantly realistic, like how real people act. Others are hurt by people who want recognition, but few people look forward to failing. Ereshkigal’s later meeting with Inanna gives us more information about how people really are.

She had spent a lot of time and effort in the underworld, but no one could save her now that she was stuck there. Not even the gods close to her could visit her. Because of this, she has dated many gods. If you were living in the underground, you could understand how bored she is.

Inanna or Ishtar, her sister and the goddess of love and war, was worshiped and feared by the ancients, but she was praised for all the good things about her. A lot of people thought Ishtar was selfish and unreliable, but her writings can be read to find out what kind of person she really was. She is shown to be a complicated person whose life is full of sadness, hate, and loss.

Gugalanna, Ereshkigal’s first husband, was the first man to die. She planned and schemed to have him killed. Because this event caused so much trouble in her relationship with her older sister, Ereshkigal killed her. Planned to meet up with the other gods or her demons, she was brought back to life by her uncle Ea. Ishtar liked sensual meetings, just like the Greek goddess Venus, who made people want to be with someone. So, the women were safe because her cult looked out for them. As Queen of the Universe, she is shown to be self-centered, and she doesn’t think twice about giving up other people to get what she wants. She wasn’t worried about whether or not what she was doing caused chaos. The world was really thrown into chaos because of what she did.

The biosphere was put into chaos because she wasn’t paying attention. The rate of failure was scary for all living things, including people and other animals. Because of this, both animals and people quit having babies. The beings in heaven were worried about this, but they blamed Ishtar for what she did. Instead of punishing the careless goddess, they want the quarrel settled. But you have to wonder who was brave enough to speak up and calm things down. It was her uncle Ea who helped the two goddesses stop being mean to each other.

Ishtar was set free, but she had to find someone else to stand in for her. When she got back to her house, she found her husband, Dumuzid or Tammuz, the Babylonian god of grain, sitting back and relaxing on her throne. With one swift move, she became enraged and grappled him, dragging him into the underworld to serve as her substitute for the next six months.

For the first time, you can blame for winter lasting so long squarely on her anger. Ereshkigal triumphed because she could preserve the Land of The no Return and maintain her throne inside the underworld. Mythologists will tell you that the sisters represent the opposites of one another. In contrast to her older sister, Ereshkigal, the goddess of the Underworld, Ishtar is the Goddess of Heaven.

Because of their envy and avarice, they fought bitterly, resulting in the murder of Ereshkigal’s husband, Gugalanna and the annual six-month banishment of Ishtar’s husband, Dumuzid, to the underworld. A tragic tale like this would represent the inherent nature of man.

Faithful to their gods and deities, the Mesopotamians learned a valuable lesson from Ereshkigal. She personifies the truth of the afterlife in all its glory. Her experience proves that death occurs at the proper time and that afterlife travel is needed. Since the dawn, you have known that death is nothing to be feared and that the cycle of life’s birth and death occurs naturally. Death goddess Ereshkigal isn’t a terrifying figure.

She is universally recognized as representing the inextricable link between life and death. Another allegory that describes the seasons is her feud with Ishtar. The six-month winter that Dumuzid spends in Hades is a metaphor. In the meantime, Ereshkigal’s heavenly attendant in Hades was the god Namtar, the offspring of her union with Enlil. He was the mastermind behind the proliferation of sickness and demonic entities and had complete command over the bugs that might cause havoc for humanity. He has the power to instigate harmful actions that impact others. You should also be aware that Ereshkigal isn’t the only deity who calls the underworld home. According to Mesopotamian mythology, many demons also made their home there.

In Mesopotamian mythology, Ereshkigal plays a pivotal role as the goddess of death. Considering her control over the ancient people’s ultimate fate, her impact on their daily lives was monumental. Wood, a lioness, and a lion cub represent her, as do the horse of mortality, the river for death, a boat, and a rainbow garden, all of which convey the idea that everyone must face death in this world at some point. Among the ancient Mesopotamians, the number seven represented completion; hence, she was often associated with this number.

Ereshkigal had a string of unsuccessful relationships before meeting and falling in love with Nergal, a God of War & Diseases, who visited her realm and then abandoned her. He left her, only to discover himself unable to enter heaven. After realizing his sins would prevent him from entering the realm of the gods, he returned to Ereshkigal, but this time he asked to be made underworld king. Power in the underworld was shared between Nergal and Ereshkigal. However, Ereshkigal had a younger sister named Inanna, who was always at odds with her.

Ancient prostitutes revered Inanna, also known as Ishtar, since she is the deity of battle and sexual love. She was presumably crowned Queen of the Universe because she had a large fan base in Mesopotamia. Even though Ereshkigal is associated with death, she is the essence of kindness, as seen by her tears whenever she had to take a life and watch her victim die.

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