Inanna's Descent to the Underworld
The great Sumerian myth of 'Inanna's Descent to the Underworld': Inanna descends to the underworld to attend the funeral of her sister Ereshkigal (the underworld-goddess). At the seven gates of the underworld, Inanna is stripped of her powers (her crown, her weapons, her jewelry) one by one. At the bottom, Ereshkigal kills Inanna (she is hung on a peg as a corpse). Enki (the wisdom god) is moved to pity and sends a being (the 'galatur' or the 'keshig') to bring Inanna back. Inanna is restored, but must send a 'stand-in' (her consort Dumuzi) to the underworld in her place [S4]S4 · Inanna's Descent to the Underworldc. 1900-1700 BCE (Sumerian)textOpen source ↗[S5]S5 · etcl.mca.edu — Electronic Text Corpus of cuneiform (transliterations + translations)corpus (Sumerian/Akkadian texts)corpusOpen source ↗.
Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian, and Assyrian traditions are one layered, continuous religious world. Sumerian names survive inside Akkadian texts; the succession of 'supreme' gods (An → Enlil → Marduk) is presented as political history, not mythic replacement.
The 'Descent' myth has multiple versions (Sumerian c. 1900-1700 BCE; later Akkadian versions); the details vary [S4]S4 · Inanna's Descent to the Underworldc. 1900-1700 BCE (Sumerian)textOpen source ↗.
The Descent
The Seven Gates
The Killing
The Restoration
The Stand-in
Variants of this story (1)
In the Akkadian (Ishtar) version, the details vary (the 'stand-in' is sometimes not Dumuzi) [S4]S4 · Inanna's Descent to the Underworldc. 1900-1700 BCE (Sumerian)textOpen source ↗.