Part III

The goddess Ishtar, as the great mother goddess, ^[1] is the goddess of vegetation in nature, as of fertility among mankind and animals. She is pictured as spending half the year on earth, when nature is in bloom and animals throw off their young, while during the remaining half, when nature seems dead, she is imprisoned in the lower world known as Aralu.

The story of her descent to Aralu is, therefore, a nature myth, symbolizing the change from the summer to the winter season, while her release is the corresponding change from winter to summer.

The story, as related in the following poem, ^[2] appears to have had attached to it as a moral the faint possibility of a revivification of the dead ; it may have been composed in connection with a ritual in honor of the old Sumerian god Tammuz or Dumu-Zi-Apsu "the child of the spirit (or life) of the Deep", ^[3] the sun-god of the springtime whose departure was mourned and whose return was hailed with appropriate ceremonies. In other tales Tammuz is pictured as the lover of Ishtar, slain by the goddess because of his rejection of her love.

"To the land of no return, the land of (darkness [ ?] )
Ishtar, the daughter of Sin ^[4] (directed) her thought, ^[5]
Directed her thought, ^[6] Ishtar, the daughter of Sin,
To the house of shadows, the dwelling of Irkalla, ^[7]
To the house without e: it for him who enters therein,
To the road whence there is no turning,
To the house without light for him who enters therein,
The place where dust is their nourishment, clay their food. ^[8]
They have no light, in darkness they dwell.
Clothed like birds, with wings as garments,
Over door and bolt, dust has gathered. ^[9]
Ishtar on arriving at the gate of the land of no return,
To the gate-keeper thus addressed herself:

'Gate-keeper, ho, open thy gate!
Open thy gate that I may enter!
If thou openest not the gate to let me enter,
I will break the door, I will wrench the lock,
I will smash the door-posts, I will force the doors.
I will bring up the dead to eat the living. ^[10]
(And) the dead will outnumber the living. '

The gate-keeper opened his mouth and spoke,
Spoke to the lady Ishtar:

'Desist, O lady, do not destroy it.
I will go and announce thy name to my queen Ereshkigal.' ^[11]

The gate-keeper entered and spoke (to Ereshkigal):

'Ho! here is thy sister, Ishtar . . .
Hostility of the great powers ( ?) . . .'

When Ereshkigal heard this,
As when one hews down a tamarisk (she trembled [ ?] )
As when one cuts a reed, (she shook [?]):

'What has moved her heart, what has (stirred) her liver? ^[12]
Ho there, (does) this one (wish to dwell [ ?] ) with me ?
To eat clay as food, to drink (dust [?]) as wine?
I weep for the men who have left their wives.
I weep for the wives (torn) from the embrace of their husbands;
For the little ones (cut off) before their time. ^[13]
Go, gate-keeper, open thy gate for her,
Deal with her according to the ancient decree.' ^[14]

The gate-keeper went and opened his gate to her:

'Enter, lady, let Cuthah ^[15] greet thee.
Let the palace of the land of no return rejoice at thy presence!'

He bade her enter the first gate which he opened wide, and took the large crown off her head:

'Why, gate-keeper, dost thou remove the large crown off my head?'

'Enter, lady, such are the decrees of Ereshkigal.'

The second gate he bade her enter, opening it wide and removed her earrings:

'Why, gate-keeper, dost thou remove my ear-rings?'

'Enter, lady, for such are the decrees of Ereshkigal.'

The third gate he bade her enter, opened it wide and removed her necklace:

'Why, gate-keeper, dost thou remove my necklace?'

'Enter, lady, for such are the decrees of Ereshkigal.'

The fourth gate he bade her enter, opened it wide and removed the ornaments of her breast:

'Why, O gate-keeper, dost thou remove the ornaments of my breast?'

'Enter, lady, for such are the decrees of Ereshkigal.'

The fifth gate he bade her enter, opened it wide and removed the girdle of her body studded with birthstones. ^[16]

'Why, gate-keeper, dost thou remove the girdle of my body, studded with birth-stones?'

'Enter, lady, for such are the decrees of Erishkigal.'

The sixth gate, he bade her enter, opened it wide and removed the spangles off her hands and feet.

'Why, gate-keeper, dost thou remove the spangles off my hands and feet?'

'Enter, lady, for thus are the decrees of Ereshkigal.'

The seventh gate he bade her enter, opened it wide and removed her loin-cloth. ^[17]

'Why, gate-keeper, dost thou remove my loin-cloth?'

'Enter, lady, for such are the decrees of Ereshkigal.'

Now when Ishtar had gone down into the land of no return,
Ereshkigal saw her and was angered at her presence.
Ishtar without reflection threw herself at her. ^[18]
Ereshkigal opened her mouth and spoke,
To Namtar, her messenger, she addressed herself:

'Go Namtar, ^[19] (imprison her) in my palace.
Send against her sixty diseases, ^[20] (to punish [?] Ishtar.)
Eye disease against her eyes,
Disease of the side against her side,
Foot-disease ^[21] against her foot,
Heart disease against her heart,
Head-disease ^[22] against her head,
Against her whole being, against (her entire body [?]).'

After the lady Ishtar had gone down into the land of no return,

The bull did not mount the cow, the ass approached not the she-ass,
To the maid in the street, no man drew near,
The man slept in his apartment,
The maid slept by herself."

The gradual disrobing of Ishtar, her ornaments and garments being taken away as she passes from one gate to the other, symbolizes the gradual decay of nature after the summer has waned until at last Ishtar enters the lower world naked, and cold, bare winter has set in. It is a time when not only nature seems dead, but when among animals and men all desire for new life ceases. Copulation among animals has stopped, and even the sexual passion among men is stilled to symbolize the interruption in the course of things on earth.

The gods mourn the departure of Ishtar from the surface of the earth and devise plans for her return that life may not perish altogether. The second half of the poem continues as follows:

"The countenance of Papsukal, the messenger of the great gods fell, his face (was troubled).
In mourning garbs he was clothed, in soiled garments clad.
Shamash ^[23] went to Sin, his father, weeping,
In the presence of Ea, the king, he went with flowing tears.

'Ishtar has descended into the earth and has not come up.
The bull does not mount the cow, the ass does not approach the she-ass.
The man does not approach the maid in the street,
The man sleeps in his apartment, The maid sleeps by herself.'

Ea in the wisdom of his heart formed a being, ^[24]
He formed Asu-shu-namir, ^[25] the eunuch.

'Go, Asu-shu-namir, to the land of no return direct thy face!
The seven gates of the land without return be opened before thee,
May Ereshkigal at sight of thee rejoice!
After her heart has been assuaged, her liver quieted,
Invoke against her the name of the great gods,
Raise thy head, direct (thy) attention to the khalziku skin.' ^[26]

'Come, lady, let them give me the khalziku skin, that I may drink water out of it. '

When Ereshkigal heard this, she struck her side, hit her finger,

'Thou hast expressed a wish that cannot be granted.
Go, Asu-shu-namir, I curse thee with a great curse,
The sweepings of the gutters of the city be thy food,
The drains of the city be thy drink,
The shadow of the wall be thy abode,
The thresholds be thy dwelling-place;
Drunkard and sot strike thy cheek!' ^[27]

Ereshkigal opened her mouth and spoke,
To Namtar, her messenger, she addressed herself.

'Go, Namtar, knock at the strong palace, ^[28]
Strike the threshold of precious stones,
Bring out the Anunnaki, seat (them) on golden thrones.
Sprinkle Ishtar with the waters of life and take her out of my presence.'"

The gods at the instance of Ea thus form a plan to release Ishtar, demanding of Ereshkigal to give the messenger of Ea, the eunuch Asu-shu-namir, the skin ( ?) out of which he is to drink, and thus to secure the power to fetch Ishtar out of the nether world.

Ereshkigal sees through the strategy, and in her rage curses Asu-shunamir, but, nevertheless, realizing that Ishtar must be released proceeds to do so of her own free will and in her own way, by asking the messenger Namtar to sprinkle the goddess with water of life, that when thus filled with new vigor, Ishtar may pass through the seven gates encompassing the palace of the nether world and at each gate receive back the ornaments and garments that she was obliged to leave there.

The gradual resuscitation of nature after the imprisonment is thus symbolized, until when the last gate is passed, Ishtar emerges into the world in all her beauty and glory. The poem continues as follows:

"Namtar went, knocked at the strong palace,
Tapped on the threshold of precious stones.
He brought out the Anunnaki and placed them on golden thrones,
He sprinkled Ishtar with the waters of life and took hold of her.
Through the first gate he led her out and returned to her her loin cloth.
Through the second gate he led her out and returned to her the spangles of her hands and feet.
Through the third gate he led her out and returned to her the girdle of her body, studded with birth-stones.
Through the fourth gate he led her out and returned to her the ornaments of her breast.
Through the fifth gate he led her out and returned to her her necklace.
Through the sixth gate he led her out and returned to her her ear-rings.
Through the seventh gate he led her out and returned to her the large crown for her head."

The following lines are in the form of an address — apparently to some one who has sought release for a dear one from the portals of the lower world.

"'If she (sc. Ishtar) will not grant thee her release, ^[29]
To Tammuz, the lover of her youth, ^[30]
Pour out pure waters, (pour out) fine oil;
.With a festival garment deck him ^[31] that he may play on the flute of lapis lazuli,
That the votaries ^[32] (may cheer) his liver.' ^[33]

Belili ^[34] had (gathered) the treasure,
With precious stones filled her bosom ( ?).
When Belili heard the lament of her brother, (she dropped [ ?] ) her treasure,
She scattered the precious stones (before her[?]).

'Omy only brother do not let me perish!
On the day when Tammuz plays for me on the flute of lapis lazuli, playing it for me with the porphyry ring.
Together with him, play ye for me, ye weepers and lamenting women! ^[35]
That the dead may rise up and inhale the incense.'"

The closing lines are obscure. We lack the key to their interpretation, imt it is a plausible conjecture that the poem, composed for and perhaps sung at the festival of Tammuz, when, as the prophet Ezekiel (8, 14) tells us, it was the custom of women to wail for the lost Tammuz, closed with instructions to those who in commemorating the departure of Tammuz thought of their own dead, who like Ishtar "had gone to the land of no return," to turn in prayer to Tammuz, pour out libations of pure water and oil to him, honor him that he may at least regale the dead by letting them hear the sound of his magic flute.

There is a reference here to some rite on Tammuz day — which was also a time of commemorating the dead in general. Perhaps the six lines beginning with "Belili" represent a Tammuz lamentation of which we have quite a number, ^[36] to be sung at the Tammuz festival, with the last line as expressing the hope that the dead will be for a time at least revivified by the song and by the incense. If this interpretation is justified, the poem would thus hold out a faint hope for some joys for the unhappy dead in their dark and gloomy prison.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

79. Above, p. 232.

[2]:

Cuneiform Texts, XV, PI. 45-48. See further, Jastrow, Religion of Babylonia and Assyria (Boston, 1898), chap. XXV. The poem consists of lines of two hemistichs, with three beats to each hemistich.

[3]:

Tammuz is the Hebrew form of the Sumerian Dumuzi, "child of life," which is itself an abbreviation of the fuller name "Dumu-Zi-Apsu." This name is an allusion to the sun's rising every morning out of the ocean, on which the earth, according to Babylonian notions, floats.

[4]:

The moon-god.

[5]:

"Literally "fixed her ear."

[6]:

Note the characteristic repetition of the lines as above pointed out p. 434, note 17.

[7]:

Another name for the nether world.

[8]:

i.e., of the inhabitants.

[9]:

The nether world is pictured as a plane filled with dust, and guarded by seven gates through which one must pass before reaching it.

[10]:

Based on the belief in vampires and other monsters, who as spirits of the dead return to earth to destroy the living.

[11]:

The goddess of the nether world, pictured as Ishtar's sister, just as life and death are frequently pictured as brothers in popular poetry. The name signifies "lady of the great palace", i.e., of Aralu.

[12]:

Heart and liver as the seat of the intellect and of the emotions respectively. See above, p. 215.

[13]:

With Ishtar in the nether world, the living are without protection ; they die, as does all nature, and Ereshkigal is moved with pity for their fate.

[14]:

i.e., treat her as the dead are dealt with.

[15]:

The old city of which Nergal, the god of pestilence, was the patron becomes a poetical name for Aralu. See above p. 206, teq.

[16]:

It is appropriate for Ishtar, as the goddess who presides over the new life, to have her girdle studded with birth-stones, i.e., stones that have the power to secure an easy delivery for women. The "birth-girdle" appears elsewhere in folk customs.

[17]:

Literally "the garment of the pudenda of the body."

[18]:

The two sisters fly at each other in a rage.

[19]:

The god or demon of pestilence.

[20]:

The diseases are personified through demons supposed to be their cause.

[21]:

Rheumatism.

[22]:

Fevers and headaches.

[23]:

i.e., the sun-god.

[24]:

Zikru, "a male".

[25]:

The name signifies "His exit is resplendent" clearly a ymbolical allusion to the rising sun of the springtime.

[26]:

An obscure word perhaps the name of some kind of a bag, made of skin, containing the waters of life.

[27]:

i.e., the lowest of the low show their contempt for thee.

[28]:

 Or "the just palace" where the Anunnaki, the minor group of gods, dwell, acting as judges of the dead.

[29]:

i.e., the release of the loved one through the mediation of Ishtar.

[30]:

i.e., Ishtar 's lover.

[31]:

i.e., deck Tammuz 'a statue with a festival garment.

[32]:

Shamkhate, one of the class of votaries, attached to the Ishtar cult. See above, p. 307.

[33]:

i.e., his spirit.

[34]:

Sister of Tammuz.

[35]:

The professional mourners who sing the lament for the dead, to the accompaniment of musical instruments.

[36]:

See Zimmern, Sumerisch-Babylonische Tammuzlieder (Berichte der Phil. Hist. Klasse der Kgl. Saechs. Akad., d. Wiss., vol. lix, pp 201-252).