Analysis Of Inanna

Utu, Inanna, Ninurta, and Enki are gods and goddess in ancient Mesopotamia. Based on Jacobsen's analysis in chapter 2, he describes Utu as the brother of Inanna, and in one of the courtship stories of chapter 2, he chooses a bridegroom for her. He is also the sun god, which is a crucial part that the earth needs to survive. The sun guides the growth of the planet. Inanna is the sister of Utu, and in some parts of the text in chapter 2 she is said to be spoiled, rich and noble. This description of her means she is free from any responsibilities other people have. Later on, she becomes destruction itself when she disappears into the underworld. She was saddened when the other people begged for her return to the world and were lamenting, all wanting

Lastly, Ninurta is the god of thundershowers and the plow, but, I will be focusing more on Inanna's iconography. Inanna has various aspects of her character; she is the goddess of fertility, water, sex, and destruction. In the Seal of Adda, it looks as if Inanna is holding a weapon, and this relates to her role as destruction itself. An example of her destructive character is in "Descent of Inanna," when she doomed him to be in the netherworlds, "Inanna set her heart from the highest heaven/on earth's deepest ground...Inanna abandoned heaven, abandoned earth, went down to Hades//" ("Descent of Inanna" qtd. in Jacobsen 56). She went to the netherworlds and brought her fate upon herself. Inanna is brought back to life for a substitute to replace her in the netherworlds, and she chooses Dumuzi as her sacrifice because of his lack of grieving from her time of death, "She looked at him it was a look of death/ spoke to them, it was a word of wrath/ cried out

This image of battling a man could also symbolize her role as the rain goddess, which can sometimes be an obstacle for people. For instance, as mentioned before, she became upset with Gilgamesh because he insulted her, and she sent a Bull of Heaven to kill him. Her commanding presence as the rain goddess is portrayed in a major hymn as well. "O destroyer of mountains/ you lent the storm wings/ O beloved one of Enlil/ you came flying into the country/attended to the instructions of An/ O my lady, at your roar you made the countries bow down//" (Jacobsen 136). The humans can see how powerful she is because nature can be unpredictable at times depending on how the humans treat nature. This is why the Inanna in the Seal of Adda could also be the relationship between humanity and the weather. When there are thunderstorms, it could mean Inanna/ nature is demonstrating its dominance over the finite humans, and this is why they bow down to