Inanna Research Articles

Whipping-Tops in Ancient Mesopotamia

Abstract This contribution discusses the Mesopotamian (ešemen2 =) keppû-game, often connected to the violent behaviour of the goddess Inanna / Ištar, and other (male) characters of Mesopotamian mythology, such as Enmerkar and Gilgamesh. Through a close review of all relevant attestations, we show that the (still) prevailing translation “skipping rope” as well as a recently proposed alternative “toy rope” are untenable and that the only acceptable meaning of the word is “whipping-top”. This equivalence has been tentatively advanced in the past but the lack of a systematic lexical assessment has so far hindered general acceptance.

〈모아나〉에 나타난 여성 영웅 서사 구조와 어머니 여신 원형(原型)의 양가성

This study examines the Disney animation <Moana>(2016) as 9 stages of a female hero narrative model based on the ancient Sumerian Inanna goddess archetype, and analyzes the ambivalence of the Great Mother Goddess archetype. Moana dreams of sailing far away from the rules of the tribe, and wants to go out to sea like the her ancestors who were sailors. In the course of her quest to return the heart of Te Fiti, goddess of creation and life, with the aid of her mother goddess. With the help of the Mother Goddess, Moana sets out on an adventure to return the heart of Te Fiti, the goddess of creation and life. In the process, she takes on the lead role as a pure warrior and navigator, although she is helped by the male hero Maui. In the narrative of <Moana>, 9 stages of a female heroic narrative are implemented based on the myth of the descent of the goddess Inanna. In <Moana>, the goddess Te Fiti, the lava monster Te Kā, and the ‘sea’ show the ambivalence of the great mother goddess archetype. Moana is the mediator who unites and reconciles the ambivalence of the great goddess. She is also a mythical female hero who sets the world order right by restoring her original identity overturned by masculinity.

Achaemenid Decoration with an Eight-Pointed Star from Filippovka 1

The article is devoted to the publication of a piece of jewelry with an eight-pointed star – a symbol of the goddess Inanna / Ishtar. The main decorative elements (an eight-pointed star, a filigree made of braids and smooth wire, an end with pyramids of four grain balls, additional elements of chains in the form of wires ending in pyramids of grain on which beads were strung, and drop-shaped pendants decorated with pyramids of four grains, four-bladed pendants, consisting of two thin almond-shaped plates bent at right angles, soldered together along the fold line), as well as the use of cloisonne enamel technique by the master and the method of attaching round eyelets soldered to the underside of the plate, have numerous parallels among Achaemenid jewelry. We can assume that the decoration was sewn on the upper part of the headdress, which was a trun-cated cone, the top of which was beveled back. In this case, chains of medium length could be lo-cated in front, and short chains – behind, dropping to the same level. Along with other Achaemenid prestige values, it fell into the hands of the Southern Urals nomads as payment for their participation in the suppression of the Inaros' revolt in Egypt in 456–454 BC and then for several decades it existed in a nomadic environment. Taking into account the available analogies and the historical context of the find, the decoration can be dated to the last quarter of the 6th – the first half of the 5th century BC.

EL MITO DE INANNA Y ŠUKALETUDA: VIOLENCIA SEXUAL EN SUMER

The following article analyzes a case of sexual violence through a Sumerian myth known as Inanna and Sukaletuda, where Sumerian goddess Inanna is raped by the bad gardener, Sukaletuda, establishing a parallelism between the sexual crime committed against the goddess, and those that are being standard practice in the various Middle East armed conflicts, especially in Syria. The myth also explores the ill-fated dissociation between the concepts of being and nature, in which we understand feminine condition is intrinsically added, represented by goddess Inanna.

Cultural and Mathematical Meanings of Regular Octagons in Mesopotamia: Examining Islamic Art Designs

The most common regular polygon in Islamic art design is the octagon. Historical evidence of the use of an 8-star polygon and an 8-fold rosette dates back to Jemdet Nasr (3100-2900 B.C.) in Mesopotamia. Additionally, in ancient Egypt, octagons can be found in mathematical problem (Ahmose papyrus, Problem number 48), household goods (papyrus storage), architecture (granite columns) and decorations (palace decorations). The regular octagon which is a fundamentally important element of Islamic art design, is widely used as arithmetic objects in metric algebra along with other regular polygons in Mesopotamia. The 8-point star polygon has long been a symbol of the ancient Sumerian goddess Inanna and her East Semitic counterpart Ishtar. During the Neo-Assyrian period, the 8-fold rosette occasionally replaced the star as the symbol of Ishtar. In this paper, we discuss how octagonal design prevailed in the Islamic region since the late ninth century, and has existed in Mesopotamia from Jemdet Nasr to the end of third century B.C. We describe reasons why the geometric pattern of regular polygons, including regular octagons, developed in the Islamic world. Furthermore, we also discuss mathematical meanings of regular polygons.

Eine mannshohe Leier im altbabylonischen Ištar-Ritual aus Mari (FM 3, no. 2)

AbstractThe Old Babylonian Ištar ritual from Mari (FM 3, no. 2) has been the focus of much discussion since its primary edition in 1938 by G. Dossin. This article offers a new analysis of the passage mentioning the

Ameryka w poezji Anny Frajlich

AMERICA IN ANNA FRAJLICH’S POETRY This article focuses on the representations of the United States in Anna Frajlich’s autobiographical work. Selected poems explore the transformations in her perception of their country of immigration. At first, the poet introduces America as a place of banishment after the events in Poland in March 1968, as a country where it is possible to live but difficult to feel at home. Later, she emphasises the beauty and delight over the American landscape and culture, and of New York in particular. Finally, she presents America as her new home and the place where she has put down new roots. However, this is not the end of the pilgrimage for the poet because for the Jewish nation that she is part of, this end never comes. Therefore, in the last volume of poetry, New York is referred to as “a boat and a haven” rather than a port. A change in thinking about herself and her life is the result of the transformation of the subject’s perception of America. The banished woman gradually accepts her fate, gets used to it and decides to live in the present. However, she does not reject the past which has largely determined her identity. If it had not been for her Jewish origin she would not have been banished from Poland. It leads the poet to a better self-understanding, to a new definition of herself as a human being, a woman, a Jew, a Pole and an American.

A New Source of a Stone Cylinder Describing the Rebuilding of the Temple of Ištar at Nineveh by Šamši-Addu I

This article publishes a stone cylinder that bears an inscription of Samsi-Addu I, founder and ruler of the kingdom of Upper Mesopotamia. The object was discovered during University of Mosul excavations directed by Ali. Y. Aljuboori in the palace of the Neo-Assyrian king Assurbanipal in Nineveh.

Eski Mezopotamya'da Nevruz kutlamaları

Ancient Mesopotamians were holding many ceremonies depending on their beliefs. Among these ceremonies, marriage ceremony of Love Goddess Inanna and Shepherd God Dumuzi was very important. From myth describing marriage of Love Goddess Inanna and Shepherd God Dumuzi, we learn how these ceremonies that were celebrated before Sumerians according to archaeological findings, were started to be celebrated. It is understood from these written documents that Mesopotamians identified God Dumuzi’s going underground with arrival of autumn, his meeting with Inanna by coming earth with arrival of spring. As a requirement of this belief, arrival of spring was celebrated with representative portrayal of this holy marriage ceremony by king and mother superior in that time every year. This period was also regarded as the beginning of the new year. Holy marriage ceremony, in other words, New Year ceremony was adopted by the Semitic tribes coming to Mesopotamia after Sumerians.

Symbols of Fertility and Abundance in the Royal Cemetery at Ur, Iraq

Fertility and abundance are important themes of ancient Mesopotamian texts and images. The goddess Inanna and her consort Dumuzi personify these ideas in texts of the second millennium B.C.E. Excavated by Leonard Woolley in the 1920s, the Royal Cemetery at Ur dates to the mid third millennium B.C.E. Among the tombs, that of Queen Puabi yielded many ornaments of gold, carnelian, and lapis. Some of the pendants realistically depict identifiable animals. Others are more stylized depictions of clusters of apples, dates, and date inflorescences. Apples and dates are both associated with the goddess Inanna, who is associated with love and fertility. Twisted wire pendants in the same group of objects are not so readily identified. I propose here that the twisted wire pendants in the Puabi assemblage may literally represent rope, symbolically reference sheep, and narratively evoke the flocks of the shepherd Dumuzi. Pairing symbols of Inanna and Dumuzi evokes life in a place of death.

Ecology of the Erotic in a Myth of Inanna

Ecology of the Erotic in a Myth of Inanna

Sexuality and Religion in Mesopotamia

AbstractIn ancient Near Eastern thought, religion permeated all aspects of life. Sexual desire was considered a divine force that ensured the continuity of generations, of gods, of humans, and all other animate beings. The article looks at archaeological evidence and current interpretations of material culture from the prehistoric periods, beginning with the Neolithic, and in more detail, the epigraphic sources written in cuneiform from Mesopotamia. Topics such as the ideology of kingship, sacred and divine marriage, myths concerning the love affairs of deities, the goddess Inanna, as well as notions of the sacred, ritual purity and death are considered in the light of texts from the mid‐third to the mid‐first millennium bc.

Iraq's Cultural Heritage: Monuments, History, and Loss

Between April 12 and 15, 2003, the Iraq Museum in Baghdad was looted, and many of the most important objects in the collection were stolen. Among them were the famous monumental Uruk Vase of 3300 B.C. that appears in every art survey textbook and is one of the earliest narrative works of art, and the beautifully carved marble female head, perhaps representing the great Sumerian goddess Inanna, also from the sacred precinct at Uruk in southern Iraq and of the same period.1 Thousands of works of Mesopotamian and Islamic art and artifacts were stolen from the Iraq Museum, but that is not all: in the days before and after, the majority of other museums and libraries in the country were also looted, burnt, and destroyed. For thinking people all over the world, this was a great tragedy.

Ancient Mesopotamian House Gods

AbstractThe gods of the Mesopotamian house appear to have been Gula, Ištar, Išum, and the Pleiades, as well as toilet demon 'Šulak, the gate-guarding Kusarikku, and the divine protectors of other, lesser, parts of the house.

Who were the Authors before Homer in Mesopotamia?

Mesopotamian works are usually anonymous; at best the names of some copyists are known. Some significant exceptions, such as Saggil-kênam-ubbib, the author of Théodicée babylonienne, Kabti-ilî-Marduk, author of the ‘myth of Erra’, and Shamash-muballit, the son of Warad-Sîn, who may have been the author of a hymn to the goddess Inanna, do not make up for this lacuna.

Greek myths and Mesopotamia: parallels and influence in the Homeric hymns and Hesiod

This book investigates the nature and extent of Mesopotamian influence in Greek myths of the early archaic period. Beginning with myths of the goddess Inanna, her consort Dumuzi and the heroic warrior god Ninurta, the author examines major Greek works in the light of central Mesopotamian ideas, principally those incorporated in the journeys of the gods. Connections between Mesopotamian ideas and motifs shed light on the Homeric hymns to Apollo, Demeter and Persephone, Aphrodite and Athena, and on Hesiod's Theogony and Works and Days.

Nippur and the Inanna Temple During the Ur III Period

Compte-rendu de l'ouvrage de R. L. Zetler (The Ur III temple of Inanna at Nippur. The operation and organisation of urban religious institutions in Mesopotamia in the late third millenium B.C., Berliner Beitrage zum Vorderen Orient II, Berlin, 1992) consacre aux fouilles du temple d'Inanna a Nippur (Ur III), a l'interpretation du role economique de ce temple grâce a l'etude des donnee archeologiques, d'une part, et a celle des archives, d'autre part

The Sumerian Goddess Inanna (3400-2200 BC)

Of the myriad Sumerian deities that have emerged from the cuneiform records of ancient Mesopotamia perhaps the most famous - but least understood - is the goddess Inanna, the' lady of heaven'. As a patron of sexuality and aggression she appears in many ancient myths and legends and continues to exert a fascination over contemporary minds. Southern Mesopotamia, called Sumer, witnessed the development of the world's oldest writing system during the Late Uruk period. However, there are few references to Inanna in the extant cuneiform records before the Dynasty of Akkad. Any reconstruction of the cult of Inanna at the dawn of history must, therefore, rely initially on textual evidence of much later periods: the vast repertoire of myths, hymns and prayers to the goddess have been attributed to the 3rd Dynasty of Ur III and the Isin-Larsa Dynasties. Certain details in these stories may reflect beliefs and practices from earlier periods but, these elements are difficult to identify. However, the archaeological record of the late fourth and third millennia has revealed evidence for numerous temples dedicated to Inanna, testifyingto an important and widespread cult. This paper first discusses the archaeological record, before going on to attempt to define the role of Inanna and investigate a proposed syncretism of the goddess wi th the Semitic deity Ishtar.

The Sumerian Goddess Inanna (3400-2200 BC)

Of the myriad Sumerian deities that have emerged from the cuneiform records of ancient Mesopotamia perhaps the most famous - but least understood - is the goddess Inanna, the' lady of heaven'. As a patron of sexuality and aggression she appears in many ancient myths and legends and continues to exert a fascination over contemporary minds. Southern Mesopotamia, called Sumer, witnessed the development of the world's oldest writing system during the Late Uruk period. However, there are few references to Inanna in the extant cuneiform records before the Dynasty of Akkad. Any reconstruction of the cult of Inanna at the dawn of history must, therefore, rely initially on textual evidence of much later periods: the vast repertoire of myths, hymns and prayers to the goddess have been attributed to the 3rd Dynasty of Ur III and the Isin-Larsa Dynasties. Certain details in these stories may reflect beliefs and practices from earlier periods but, these elements are difficult to identify. However, the archaeological record of the late fourth and third millennia has revealed evidence for numerous temples dedicated to Inanna, testifyingto an important and widespread cult. This paper first discusses the archaeological record, before going on to attempt to define the role of Inanna and investigate a proposed syncretism of the goddess wi th the Semitic deity Ishtar.

A Hymn to Inanna and Her Self-Praise

A Hymn to Inanna and Her Self-Praise