MYTHOLOGY MEME || OTPS (3/5) ↬Inanna and Dumuzi

In Sumerian mythology, Inanna (known as “Ishtar” in Akkadian) was the goddess of love, fertility, and warfare, whereas Dumuzi (also known as “Tammuz”) was a god of agriculture and vegetation. A number of poems and songs told of their love, but the most famous account of their relationship was in “Inanna’s Descent to the Netherworld.” In that aforementioned epic, Inanna travels to Irkalla, the domain of her sister, Ereshkigal. There, Inanna dies and is confined in Irkalla for three days and three nights. Eventually, however, Inanna’s handmaid, Ninshubur, begged the other gods for help. Of them, Enki agreed to help and struck a deal with Ereshkigal: Inanna could return to life if she found someone to take her place.

Inanna found her servants and sons mourning her demise. But when she saw her husband, Dumuzi, in good spirits. In anger that her husband was not mourning, Inanna selected him to take her place. Later, Inanna regretted her rashness and mourned the loss of her beloved husband. His sister, Geshtinanna, agreed to take Dumuzi’s place for half of the year. When Dumuzi in the Underworld, Inanna mourns and the world withers.