Facts about Ishtar: Descent into the Underworld

1. 05

   A cuneiform tablet containing the Akkadian version of Ishtar's Descent into the Underworld was discovered among the library of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh.

   Ishtar: Descent into the UnderworldJun 6shareancientmesopotamianmythology
2. 04

   Assyriology scholars classify the Descent of Ishtar into the Underworld as belonging to the genre of katabasis, a narrative of a deity journeying to the realm of the dead.

   Ishtar: Descent into the UnderworldJun 6sharemythologyancientmesopotamian
3. 03

   Ereshkigal, queen of the underworld, orders Ishtar struck with disease and imprisoned until the god Ea intervenes to secure her release.

   Ishtar: Descent into the UnderworldJun 6sharemythologyancientmesopotamian
4. 02

   In the myth, Ishtar's descent causes all sexual reproduction on Earth to cease while she is imprisoned in the underworld by Ereshkigal.

   Ishtar: Descent into the UnderworldJun 6sharemythologyancientmesopotamian
5. 01

   The Akkadian myth of Ishtar's Descent into the Underworld parallels the earlier Sumerian myth of Inanna's Descent, with Ishtar passing through seven gates and surrendering a garment or ornament at each.

   Ishtar: Descent into the UnderworldJun 6sharemythologyancientmesopotamian