manticoreimaginary:[MYTHOLOGY MEME]  2/6 Myths - Inanna’s DescentFrom the great heav

manticoreimaginary:[MYTHOLOGY MEME]  2/6 Myths - Inanna’s DescentFrom the great heaven Inanna set her mind on the great below. My mistress abandoned heaven, abandoned earth, and descended to the underworld.In Sumerian mythology, there is a story of the goddess Inanna and the journey she makes into Irkalla, the dreary and dark underworld ruled over by her sister, Ereshkigal.To the gatekeeper of the underworld, Inanna gives her reasoning as coming to the funeral of her sister’s husband, Gud-gal-ana, the Bull of Heaven. But despite her claims she has dressed herself up in all her finery and jewels, her makeup elaborate, her queenly sceptre in hand. This is not mourning attire.Her entry is allowed, but there are seven gates she must pass through first. At each of these gates she is forced to abandon something of her clothing or jewellry, stripping her of her power as she goes. It is an arrogant endeavour on Inanna’s part, as any who enter the underworld are never allowed to leave, just as Ereshkigal - as a denizen of Irkalla - is never allowed to go to the surface to be with the other gods.By the time she reaches Ereshkigal, Inanna is naked and powerless. Despite that, she forces Ereshkigal to get off the throne so that she can take it for herself and the judges of the underworld then take action against her: Inanna is turned into a corpse and hung upon a hook.Before Inanna left the living world, she gave clear instructions to the goddess Ninshubur (her second-in-command, vassal, and friend) that if Inanna didn’t return then Ninshubur was to plead to the other gods to save her from Irkalla. After three days, this was what Ninshubur does, going to Enlil, Nanna, and Enki, demanding them each in turn to help Inanna. Only Enki agree, and with the dirt from under his fingernails he creates two figures named the gala-tura and the kur-jara. They are instructed to go to Ereshkigal and ask for Inanna’s corpse to revive.With their help, Inanna ascends from Irkalla but demons accompany her; Inanna cannot be truly free of the underworld until she finds someone else to take her place. The first person they come upon is Ninshubur and when the demons try to take her, Inanna refuses as Ninshubur is her loyal servant and has mourned her loss and fought for her life.They come upon two more people who are deep in mourning for Inanna and so she refuses to let them be taken.The fourth person they come upon is Inanna’s husband, Dumuzi, who is dressed lavishly and lounging beneath a tree without a care. Inanna tells the demons to take him.Out of love for him, Dumazi’s sister begs to be allowed to take his place. It comes to be that each of them spends half a year in the underworld, and during the time that Dumazi is gone, Inanna mourns him (despite being the one that put them there). The end of this myth can then be read as an explanation for the changes in seasons, with the goddess of fertility mourning her lover and making the earth less abundant because of it. -- source link

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