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Goin' Down
Dec. 28th, 2006 12:09 pmWhy did Inanna descend to the Netherworld? To me, this is a riddle to rival the Zen question of why Bodhidharma came from the West. Despite numerous guesses from scholars and lay persons, Her motive is not at all clear.
There are two versions of the story: the Sumerian Descent of Inanna, and the later, briefer Akkadian version, The Descent of Ishtar to the Underworld. Neither version tells us the goddess' reason for visiting the realm of the dead: Ishtar is only said to be "determined" to go. It's "a most unusual decision", points out David Kinsley, "because only the dead travel and dwell there" - not the living, not even the gods. This is "the house which those who enter cannot leave... the road where travelling is one way only".
So why? ( Read more... )
__
Bolen, Jean Shinoda. Illness as a mythic descent and turning point. Journal of Women and Religion 18 2000 pp 23-34.
Dalley, Stephanie. Myths from Mesopotamia. OUP 1989. [The link I give above to "Descent of Ishtar the Netherworld" is to Dalley's translation, although the Web site doesn't acknowledge her.]
Foley, Helene P. A Question of Origins: Goddess cults Greek and modern. Women's Studies 23 1994 pp 195-215.
Fulco, William J. "Inanna". In The Encyclopedia of Religion. New York, N.Y : Macmillan, c1987.
Kinsley, David. The Goddesses' Mirror: Visions of the Divine from East and West. State University of NY Press, Albany, 1989.
Starhawk. The Spiral Dance. Harper-Collins, New York, 1989.
Pritchard, James B. (ed) "Inanna's Descent to the Nether World". In Ancient Near Eastern texts relating to the Old Testament, 3rd ed. Princeton : Princeton University Press, 1969, pp 52-27.
There are two versions of the story: the Sumerian Descent of Inanna, and the later, briefer Akkadian version, The Descent of Ishtar to the Underworld. Neither version tells us the goddess' reason for visiting the realm of the dead: Ishtar is only said to be "determined" to go. It's "a most unusual decision", points out David Kinsley, "because only the dead travel and dwell there" - not the living, not even the gods. This is "the house which those who enter cannot leave... the road where travelling is one way only".
So why? ( Read more... )
__
Bolen, Jean Shinoda. Illness as a mythic descent and turning point. Journal of Women and Religion 18 2000 pp 23-34.
Dalley, Stephanie. Myths from Mesopotamia. OUP 1989. [The link I give above to "Descent of Ishtar the Netherworld" is to Dalley's translation, although the Web site doesn't acknowledge her.]
Foley, Helene P. A Question of Origins: Goddess cults Greek and modern. Women's Studies 23 1994 pp 195-215.
Fulco, William J. "Inanna". In The Encyclopedia of Religion. New York, N.Y : Macmillan, c1987.
Kinsley, David. The Goddesses' Mirror: Visions of the Divine from East and West. State University of NY Press, Albany, 1989.
Starhawk. The Spiral Dance. Harper-Collins, New York, 1989.
Pritchard, James B. (ed) "Inanna's Descent to the Nether World". In Ancient Near Eastern texts relating to the Old Testament, 3rd ed. Princeton : Princeton University Press, 1969, pp 52-27.
