In Mesopotamian mythology, Inanna is the goddess of love, sex appeal, and battle. She is also patron of what we today call Venus, the brightest planet in the sky. She was also the patron of Uruk, one of the earliest and most enduring cities. Inanna was in many ways the most influential Mesopotamian deity. In fact, she is the reason for the seasons, the ebb and flow of the rain which kept the Mesopotamians alive year after year.
The story goes thus: Inanna, ever ambitious, wishes to visit her sister Ereshkigal in the underworld and take her place as queen of the dead. Inanna leaves behind her beloved Dumuzi, shepherd god, husband, and her “honey man.”
At each of the seven gates leading to the underworld, Inanna must remove an article of jewelry or clothing. At the seventh gate, she removes her final garment and stands, naked at last, before death. Ereshkigal meets Inanna there and stares at her with the “eyes of death” and kills Inanna instantly. Back in the land of the living this is very bad news. People stop coupling, and even the animals take a break. When Inanna is restored (there are varying versions of how, exactly, she came back to life) all is not entirely well. Inanna had to promise to send someone back in her place. When Inanna returns to Uruk, she finds Dumuzi sitting on his throne, looking like he didn’t miss Inanna for a second. Enraged, she gives Dumuzi the glare of death which Ereshkigal gave her. He is delivered to the underworld in Inanna’s place.
Inanna realizes in time that she misses her “honey man.” She begins to grieve for him, wailing songs of lament. These become quite popular Mesopotamian songs, by the way, and are even mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. Back to our story: Inanna is missing her husband, and after pleading with her sister Ereshkigal, wins him back to live with her for half the year. To the Mesopotamians, the disappearance and reappearance of Dumuzi, thanks to the actions of his wife, was connected to the seasonal cycles of fertility and crops. The story is similar to the more-well-known Persephone in Greek mythology or Amaterasu in Japanese mythology.
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