2005-10-16T18:24:00.000-07:00

Around four thousand years ago, in the fertile crescent of Sumer (ancient Iraq),
temple scribes marked sacred texts onto clay tablets. One of these stories was of the death and resurrection of a much revered, powerful and beautiful goddess.
She who set out to explore the deepest mysteries of embodiment in a human form.

From the Great Above to the Great Below

2005-10-16T17:41:00.000-07:00

From the Great Above she opened her ear to the Great Below.
From the Great Above the goddess opened her ear to the Great Below.
From the Great Above Inanna opened her ear to the Great Below.

She gathered together the seven sacred memes. She took them into her hands. With the memes in her possession, she prepared herself. She placed the shugurra, the crown of the steppe, on her head. She arranged the dark locks of hair across her forehead. She tied the small lapis beads around her neck, let the double strand of beads fall to her breast, and wrapped the royal robe around her body. She daubed her eyes with ointment called Let him come, Let him come, Bound the breastplate called Come, man, come around her chest, slipped the gold ring over her wrist, and took the lapis measuring rod and line in her hand.

Inanna set out for the underworld. Ninshubur, her faithful servant, went with her. Inanna spoke Ninshubur, my constant support, my warrior. If I do not return, Set up a lament for me by the ruins. Beat the drum for me. Circle the houses of the gods. Go to the holy shrines of my fathers and cry out “Do not let your daughter be put to death in the underworld.”

When Inanna arrived at the outer gates of the underworld. She knocked loudly. She cried out in a fierce voice Open the door, gatekeeper! I alone would enter! Neti, the chief gatekeeper, asked Who are you?

She answered I am Inanna, Queen of Heaven, On my way to the East. Neti said If you are truly Inanna, Queen of Heaven, On your way to the East. Why has your heart led you on the road from which no traveller return? Inanna answered Because. of my older sister Ereshkigal. Her husband Gugalanna the Bull of Heaven has died. I have come to witness the funeral rites. Neti entered the palace of Ereshkigal, the Queen of the Underworld, and said My queen, a maid as tall as heaven, as wide as the earth, as strong as the foundations of the city wall, waits outside the palace gates. She has gathered together the seven memes, she has prepared herself.

When Ereshkigal heard this she took the matter into her heart and dwelt on it. Then she spoke, Bolt the seven gates of the underworld. Then, one by one, open each gate a crack. Let Inanna enter. As she enters, remove her royal garments. Let the holy priestess of heaven enter bowed low. Neti heeded the words of his queen. He bolted the seven gates. He said Come, Inanna, enter.

When she entered the first gate, from her head, the shugurra, the crown was removed. Inanna asked What is this? She was told Quiet, Inanna, the ways of the underworld are perfect, they may not be questioned.

When she entered the second gate, from her neck the small lapis beads were removed. At the third gate, from her breast the double strand of beads was removed. At the fourth gate, from her chest the breastplate called Come, man, come! was removed. When she entered the fifth gate, from her wrist the gold ring was removed. When she entered the sixth gate, from her hand the lapis measuring rod and line was removed. When she entered the seventh gate, from her body the royal robe was removed.

Naked and bowed low, Inanna entered the throne room. Erishkigal rose and fastened on her the eye of death. She struck her. Inanna was turned into a corpse, a piece of rotting meat, and was hung from a hook on the wall.

When, after three days and three nights, Inanna had not returned, Ninshubur set up a lament for her by the ruins. She cried out: O Father Enlil, O Father Nanna, do not let your daughter Be put to death in the underworld. Do not let your bright silver be covered with the dust of the underworld. Do not let your precious lapis be broken into stone for the stoneworker Do not let your fragrant boxwood Be cut into wood for the woodworker... Father Enlil and Father Nanna answered angrily: She who receives the meme of the underworld does not return. She who goes to the Dark City stays there.

Ninshubur cried out to Father Enki Do not let the high priestess of heaven Be put to death in the underworld. Father Enki replied with concern What has my daughter done? I am troubled. From under his fingernail Enki brought forth dirt. He fashioned the dirt into the kurgurra and the galatur, creatures neither male nor female. He gave the food of life to the kurgarra and the water of life to the galatur.

The creatures set out for the underworld. Like flies, they slipped through the cracks of the gates. They entered the throne room of the Queen. Ereshkigal was moaning with the cries of a woman about to give birth. They moaned with her. She sighed and they sighed with her. Ereshkigal stopped and looked at them. She offered to bless them or give them a gift.

They answered We wish only for the corpse that hangs from the hook on the wall. The corpse was given to them. The kurgurra sprinked the food of life on the corpse. The galatur sprinkled the water of life on the corpse. Inanna arose.

Abridged & adapted: From the Great Above to the Great Below – Inanna Queen of Heaven and Earth. By Diane Wolkstien and Samuel Kramer

My commentary on this story - "The Perennial Philosophy of the Goddess Inanna" published in the International Humanities Journal can be found here: http://sarahnicholson.cgpublisher.com/product/pub.25/prod.61

inanna's descent

From the Great Above to the Great Below