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Ishtar, Lady of Heaven
"It is known in literature as that of Venus and Adonis,
or, to use the traditional Phoenician names, Astarte and Eshmun, the same
pair in Babylonia appearing as Ishtar and Tammuz,
and in Egypt as Isis
and Osiris."
-
Donald Harden, The Phoenicians
"Each of the goddesses [Inanna, Hathor, Anat, Athena and
Kali among others] is explicitly described as a celestial body,
identifiable with the planet Venus; and the imagery surrounding each
goddess is consistent with that universally associated with comets (e.g.,
long, dishevelled hair; serpentine form; identification with a torch;
association with eclipses of the sun;
etc.)."
- Efemeral Research Foundation,
"Exploring the Saturn Myth"
"The Goddess Inanna or Ishtar was the most important
female deity of ancient Mesopotamia at all periods. Her Sumerian name
Inanna is probably derived from a presumed Nin-ana, 'Lady of Heaven', it
also occurs as Innin. The sign for Innana's name (the ring-post) is found
in the earliest written texts. Ishtar (earlier Estar), her Akkadian name,
is related to that of the South Arabian (male) deity 'Ashtar' and to that
of the Syrian goddess Astarte (Biblical Ashtoreth), with whom she was
undoubtedly connected.
"The principal tradition concerning Inanna made
her the daughter of An [the sky god and father of all gods], and closely
connected with the Sumerian city of Uruk.
According to another tradition she was the daughter of the mood god Nanna
(Sin) and sister of the sun god Uta (Samas). She was also regarded as
daughter of Enlil ['King of the Foreign Lands'] or even of Enki
[the water god] in variant traditions....The fact that in no tradition
does Inanna have a permanent male spouse is closely linked with her role
as the goddess of sexual love. Even Dumuzi,
who is often described as her 'lover', has a very ambiguous relationship
with her and she is ultimately responsible for his death. Nor were any
children ascribe to her (with one possible exception, Sara).
"It seems
likely that with the persona of the classical goddess Innana/Ishtar a
number of originally independent, local goddesses were syncretized. The
most important of these was certainly the Innana of Uruk, where her
principal shrine E-ana ('House of heaven) was
located."
- Black and Green, Gods,
Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia
"Sovereign goddess, lady of the nether abyss, mother of
gods, queen of the earth, queen of fecundity....As the primordial
humidity, whence proceeded all, Belita is Tamti, or the sea, the mother of
the city of Erech, therefore, an infernal goddess. In the world of stars
and planets she is known as Ishtar or
Astoreth."
- M. P. Blavatsky, Isis
Unveiled
"The story of her [Inanna/Ishtar's] descent into the
underworld in search presumably for the sacred elixir which alone could
restore Tammuz to life is the key to the ritual of her mysteries."
"At
the first gate the great crown is removed from her head, at the second
gate the earrings from her ears, at the third gate the necklace from her
neck, at the fourth gate the ornaments from her breast, at the fifth gate
the girdle from her waist, at the sixth gate the bracelets from her hands
and feet, and at the seventh gate the covering cloak of her body. Ishtar
remonstrates as each successive article of apparel is taken from her, but
the guardian tells her that this is the experience of all who enter the
somber domain of death. Enraged upon beholding Ishtar, the Mistress of
Hades inflicts upon her all manner of disease and imprisons her in the
underworld.
"As Ishtar represents the spirit of fertility, her loss
prevents the ripening of the crops and the maturing of all life upon the
earth...The gods, realizing that the loss of Ishtar is disorganizing all
Nature, send a messenger to the underworld and demand her release. The
Mistress of Hades is forced to comply, and the water of life is poured
over Ishtar."
- Manly P. Hall,
Masonic, Hermetic, Quabbalistic & Rosicrucian Symbolical
Philosophy
The myth about Innana and her descent "deals with the
time of year when food supplies are at their most critical point, which is
late winter when the stores in the storehouse dwindle and finally come to
an end....Her actual death, the final inability of the storehouse to
function as food supply, the myth dramatically symbolizes by the cut of
tainted meat into which she is turned in the netherworld"
"Thus, at its
simplest, we would see the death of Inanna in the emptying of the
storehouse, her revival and the resultant death of Dumuzi in the
replenishing of the storehouse with fresh meat when the flocks return from
the desert and its withering pasturage in late spring and early
summer."
- Thorkild Jacobsen, The
Treasures of Darkness
"In art, Innana is usually represented as a
warrior-goddess, often winged, armed to the hilt, or else surrounded by a
nimbus of stars. Even in this aspect she may betray - by her posture and
state of dress - her role as goddess of sex and prostitutes. In
Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian art, a female, shown full frontal and
nude, or nude from the waist down, who has wings and wears the horned cap
of divinity, probably depicts Ishtar more specifically in her sexual
aspect.
"Ishtar's beast was a lion. Her usual symbol was the star or
star disc. She may also have been symbolized for a time by the
rosette."
- Black and Green, Gods,
Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia
Ishtar "was a very complex deity. She was the goddess of
fertility and sexual activity, the goddess of war, and in her astral
manifestation, she was the Venus star in the
sky."
- Magnus Magnusson, BC - The
Archaeology of the Bible Lands
"Ishtar is clothed with pleasure and love,
She is laden with vitality, charm and voluptuousness.
In lips she is sweet, life is in her mouth.
At her appearance rejoicing becomes full.
She is glorious; veils are thrown over her head.
Her figure is beautiful; her eyes are brilliant.
The goddess - with her there is counsel.
The fate of everything she holds in her hand.
At her glance there is created joy,
Power, magnificence, the protecting deity and guardian spirit..."
- Hymn of Ishtar
"On Middle Assyrian lead figurines depicting intercourse,
the man stands and the woman always rests upon a high structure, usually
interpreted as an altar. These figurines may very likely represent ritual
intercourse, although definitely not the earlier Sacred
Marriage, which involved a bed, and not an altar. Instead they are
probably in some way associated with the cult of Ishtar as goddess of
physical love and prostitution, and were, in fact, found in her temple at
Assur."
- Black and Green, Gods,
Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia
"...At the temple of Aphrodite (Ishtar) in Cyprus it was
the custom for women to prostitute themselves to strangers prior to their
becoming married. Frazer tells us in The Golden Bough that in
Babylon, regardless of their social status, women were obliged to submit
themselves to strangers at the temple of Mylitta (Ishtar), and money
received for these services was donated to the goddess."
- David Wood, Genisis
"The jeweled maidens on the cushioned seats,
Now babbling hailed the King, and each entreats
For sacred service, silver or of gold,
And to him, all, their sweetest charms unfold."
- The Epic of Ishtar and Izdubar, Tablet IV, Column III
"Herodotus, writing about Babylon in the fifth century
BC, state that every woman once in her life had to go to the temple of
'Aphrodite', i.e. Ishtar, and sit there waiting until a stranger cast a
coin in her lap as the price of her favors. Then she was obliged to go
with him outside the temple and have intercourse, to render her duty to
the goddess. The story is probably highly imaginative. However, the
second-century AD writer Lucian describes, apparently from personal
knowledge, a very similar custom in the temple of 'Aphrodite' (probably
Astarte) at Byblos in Lebanon."
- Black
and Green, Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia
"In the sanctuary of the great Phoenician goddess Astarte
at Byblos at the annual mourning for the dead Adonis, the women had to
shave their heads, and such of them as refused to do so were bound to
prostitute themselves to strangers and to sacrifice to the goddess with
the wages of their shame. Though Lucian, who mentions the custom, does not
say so, there are some grounds for thinking that the women in question
were generally maidens, of whom this act of devotion was required as a
preliminary to marriage."
- Sir James
George Frazer, The Illustrated Golden Bough
"The servers included religious prostitution, both women
and boys. Such a practice was common form in Phoenician sanctuaries, at
least in the east. Herodotus records it in Cyprus, and the early fathers
have much to way of it in Phoenicia. It also existed in the west, for
representations of 'temple boys' occur more than once on Carthage
stelae.
- Donald Harden, The
Phoenicians
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