 | Inanna: Encyclopedia - Inanna
Inanna
Adonis | Anat | Asherah | Astarte | Ba'al | Berith | Dagon | El | Elyon | Elohim | Hadad | Mot | Salem | Shaddai | Yaw
Adonai | El | Elohim | Elyon | Shaddai | Shekinah | YHWH
Adad | Amurru | An/Anu | Anshar | Asshur | Abzu/Apsu | Enki/Ea | Enlil | Ereshkigal | Inanna/Ishtar | Kingu | Kishar | Lahmu & Lahamu | Marduk | Mummu | Nabu | Nammu | Nanna/Sin | Nergal | Ninhursag/Damkina | Ninlil | Tiamat | Utu/Shamash
Inanna was one of the most revered of goddesses among later Sumerian mythology. She was said to descend from the ancient family of the creator goddess Nammu, who was her grandmother. Inanna held "full power of judgment and decision and the control of the law of heaven and earth." Her sacred planet was Venus, the evening star.
She was often symbolized as a lioness in battle.
Along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers were many shrines and temples dedicated to Inanna. The temple of E Anna, Inanna's House of Heaven, in Uruk, was the greatest of these. This temple was 5000 years old and had been built and rebuilt many times to hold a community of sacred women who cared for the temple lands. The high priestess of Inanna would choose for her bed one she would appoint as shepherd. He would represent Dumuzi, sacred son/lover of Inanna, if he could prove his worth.
In later times, Inanna's lost some of her attributes, which were then said then to have been given her by Enki, rather than by her grandmother Nammu and her mother Ningal. The myth states that Inanna traveled to Eridu and was given the one hundred Mes, which were the gifts of culture such as truth and justice, as well as practical skills such as weaving and pottery-making. Though Enki regretted his drunken decision to release the Mes to her and sent mighty sea monsters to stop her boat as it sailed the Euphrates, she was able to defeat them and bring the knowledge back to Uruk.
Category: Sumerian goddesses
Other related archivesAbzu/Apsu, Adad, Adonai, Adonis, Amurru, An, Anat, Anshar, Anu, Asherah, Asshur, Astarte, Ba'al, Berith, Dagon, Dumuzi, El, Elohim, Elyon, Enki, Enki/Ea, Enlil, Ereshkigal, Eridu, Euphrates, Hadad, Ishtar, Kingu, Kishar, Lahamu, Lahmu, Marduk, Mes, Mot, Mummu, Nabu, Nammu, Nanna, Nergal, Ningal, Ninhursag/Damkina, Ninlil, Salem, Shaddai, Shamash, Shekinah, Sin, Sumerian goddesses, Sumerian mythology, Tiamat, Tigris, Uruk, Utu, Venus, YHWH, Yaw, culture, justice, lioness, planet, pottery, sea monsters, truth, weaving
 Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Inanna", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki |
