Facts about Ishtar's Descent to the Underworld

1. 06

   A version of Ishtar's Descent to the Underworld was found among the tablets excavated at Nineveh in the library of the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal.

   Ishtar's Descent to the UnderworldJun 8shareancientmesopotamiamythology
2. 05

   Preserved on clay tablets, Ishtar's Descent to the Underworld is written in Akkadian and represents a later adaptation of the older Sumerian literary tradition.

   Ishtar's Descent to the UnderworldJun 6shareancientmesopotamianliterature
3. 04

   After Ishtar's release in the myth, a substitute must be sent to the underworld in her place, a motif linked by scholars to the god Tammuz.

   Ishtar's Descent to the UnderworldJun 6sharemythologyancientmesopotamian
4. 03

   Ereshkigal, queen of the underworld, is identified as Ishtar's sister in Ishtar's Descent to the Underworld, and it is she who orders Ishtar stripped and killed.

   Ishtar's Descent to the UnderworldJun 6sharemythologyancientmesopotamian
5. 02

   In Ishtar's Descent to the Underworld, the goddess's imprisonment in the underworld causes all sexual reproduction on Earth to cease until her release.

   Ishtar's Descent to the UnderworldJun 6sharemythologyancientmesopotamian
6. 01

   The Akkadian myth of Ishtar's Descent to 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's Descent to the UnderworldJun 6sharemythologyancientmesopotamian