Ishtar Descent into the Netherworld – Ereshkigal’s Deadly Vengeance

Ishtar and Tammuz: A Divine Love Story

The Sumerian heritage surrounding Tammuz and Inanna formed the foundation of the mythology of Tammuz and Ishtar in Babylon, Assyria, and earlier in Akkad. However, many modifications were made to this mythology.

Babylonian myths do not provide much information about the beginning of Tammuz and Ishtar's relationship. In these myths, Ishtar acquired the attributes of the mother goddess, making her a symbol of fertility, and she is often depicted as if she is nursing the world from her breasts.

Tammuz and Ishtar

Tammuz, the firstborn son of Ea, would rise from the river with joy. From the river, Ea, the god who holds sacred vessels in his hands, would emerge, bringing forth fountains. The god with flowing locks, with three braids draping over his shoulders, his beard spreading like a fan. In his childhood, Tammuz slept in a mysterious boat, and when he grew older, he submerged himself in the wheat fields and slept there. The beautiful god, whom Ishtar loved, melted her heart with his charms. 

The Abduction of Tammuz by Ereshkigal

One of the fundamental differences between the Sumerian and Babylonian myths regarding Tammuz and Ishtar is how and why Tammuz descended into the Netherworld. In the Babylonian version, it is said that Ereshkigal kidnapped Tammuz, making Ishtar appear devoted to him—contrary to the Sumerian myth.

The Babylonians placed Tammuz in the underworld from the outset, based on an established Mesopotamian tradition dating back to Sumer. Thus, they depicted Ishtar descending into the Netherworld to rescue her husband. Her desire to bring him back remained buried within her and was expressed in her repeated threats in Babylonian texts—to raise all the dead so that Tammuz would be among them and could return to her.

The myth continues to explain why Ereshkigal kidnapped Tammuz:

One spring day, Tammuz emerged, singing and playing his flute. His beauty enchanted Ereshkigal, the goddess of the Netherworld. She envied Ishtar for having such a handsome and radiant lover, envied her sister for possessing Tammuz, whose songs were sweet and pure. So, she sent a boar from the Netherworld to attack him in the wilderness.

The beast, emerging from the abyss, charged at him and struck him down. The god whose songs brought forth spring spilled his blood upon the earth. His lifeblood drained, and he vanished from the upper world. The shepherd king fell into the Netherworld, captured by Ereshkigal's minions—those who ensnared gods as birds are ensnared in a net. The fields turned red with Tammuz’s blood, and the land mourned. The pastures and valleys wept, and Ishtar heard their lamentations.

The underworld had regained its power, and something had to be done. Her beloved had been taken to the realm of the dead. The boar was no ordinary beast—it was a monster from the abyss. The Netherworld had struck her lover and spilled his blood. The lord of greenery had departed from the earth.

Babylonian Gods: Wisdom and Power in Myth

Ishtar’s Descent: A Daring Invasion of the Underworld

It was believed that Inanna descended to the underworld in the month of August, but the Babylonians associated this event with the month of Tammuz instead. This month was known to them as the "Month of Tammuz’s Defeat."

They considered this month as the time when Ishtar descended into the Netherworld — not the month of Tammuz’s death. In their view, he was always in the underworld. Consequently, Ishtar’s absence caused infertility, gradual decay, and drought in nature. Her mission to retrieve Tammuz would have failed, and she would have perished there if not for the intervention of Ea.

In the Sumerian version, her descent was driven by a desire to seize control of the Netherworld. However, the Babylonian version builds upon the Sumerian narrative, making her descent a mission to rescue Tammuz.

This mission required her to don war garments and weapons.

Ishtar (Inanna) wears her weapons of war with her assistant Ninshubur

The myth narrates:

Ishtar remained alone, drowned in sorrow, mourning for a long time. But at last, she turned her gaze toward the land of no return and resolved to storm the Netherworld. 

The daughter of the god Sin fixed her eyes upon the realm of her sister, Ereshkigal, the abyss of deep darkness. She looked toward Irkalla’s domain, her sister’s kingdom—the house from which none return, the path with no way back, the land whose inhabitants see no light nor sun. 

Their food is dust, and their sustenance is dirt. They swim in darkness, without a glimmer of light. Their wings flutter like birds through their desolate home, whose doors and gates are covered in dust.

When Ishtar reached the gate of the land of no return, she called to the gatekeeper of the Netherworld and said:

"Open the gate, O gatekeeper, open the gate and let me enter! If you do not open the gate for me, I will break it down, smash its locks, shatter its beams, and tear off its doors! I will unleash the dead upon the surface of the earth. They will devour the living, and their numbers will swell!"

The gatekeeper opened his mouth and said:

"Wait, my lady! Do not destroy the gate! I will go to the queen, Ereshkigal, and inform her of your arrival."

The gatekeeper then went to his mistress and said:

"Your sister Ishtar stands at the gate. She who governs the greatest rituals and stirs the lower waters before Ea has arrived."

Ereshkigal’s Fear of Ishtar’s Arrival

Ereshkigal’s words suggest that she fears death, despite being the goddess of the dead and ruling over the underworld. It seems that death might strip her of her power and reduce her to the status of a mere spirit among the dead, who eat dust and drink foul water.

The clay tablets say:

Ereshkigal heard these words, and her face turned pale, like a felled tree. Her lips darkened, turning as blue as a reed.

"What has brought her heart to me? What has led her soul here? What has guided her thoughts toward me? Will I now be forced to drink water like the other Anunnaki? Instead of food, will I consume dust? Instead of beer, will I drink foul water? Then I will mourn the young maidens torn from their lovers’ arms, lament the weak child who died before his time, and grieve for the husbands who left their wives behind. Ishtar will take her Deadly Vengeance me and set them free. Then who will bring me offerings? What will I eat and drink?"

She turned to the gatekeeper and ordered:

"Go, open the gates for her! But treat her according to the eternal laws of the Netherworld."

The Seven Gates: Ishtar’s Passage into the Underworld

The process of stripping Ishtar of her clothes, ornaments, and laws indicates two things: first, stripping her of her divine power and making her weak and powerless, and second, the necessity for her to enter the underworld naked, which indicates the necessity for every being to enter the realm of death naked.

Because her sister was naked in the Netherworld, she had to be naked as well, perhaps to prepare for death or to receive the sixty diseases that would be unleashed on her and turn her into a corpse.

Ishtar's descent into this world was the cause of the war

in the world but the lamentation was on Tammuz due to the continuation of the Sumerian tradition.

Ishtar (Inanna) enters the underworld

The legend says

The guard went on and opened the door for her:

“Enter, my lady, the underworld greets you with pleasure, and the palace of no return will rejoice over you.

The guard opened the first gate for her and lifted the great crown from her head, and Ishtar became angry

and shouted at him

- “Why, O guard, have you lifted the great crown from my head?

- Enter, my lady, for these are the laws of the underworld.

When he passed through the second gate, he took her earrings from her ears.

- “Why, O guard, have you taken my earrings from my ears?

- Enter, ma'am, for these are the laws of the underworld.

And when he passed through the third gate, he took away her necklaces.

- Why, gatekeeper, have you taken away my necklaces?

- Enter, ma'am, for these are the laws of the underworld.

When he passed through the fourth gate, he removed the ornaments from her bosom.

- Why, O gatekeeper, have you taken off my breast ornaments?

- Enter, ma'am, for these are the laws of the underworld.

When he passed through the fifth gate, he took from her waist the sash of the birth amulet set with birth jewels.

- Why, gatekeeper, have you taken from my waist the jeweled sash of the birth amulet?

- Enter, my lady, for these are the laws of the underworld.

When he passed through the sixth gate, he removed the bracelets from her hands and feet.

- Why, gatekeeper, did you remove the bracelets from my hands and feet?

- Enter, ma'am, for these are the laws of the underworld.

When he passed through the seventh gate, he took away the clothes from her body.

- Why, O gatekeeper, have you removed my clothes from my body?

- Go in, my lady, for these are the laws of the underworld.

The Sixty Diseases and Ishtar’s Death in the Underworld

The release of sixty types of diseases meant death, because this number represents perfection and the end or cycle of things. The death of the goddess Ishtar by disease meant the end of the living half that corresponds to the dead half represented by Ereshkigal. Thus, the higher forms of life are folded into a deep underground hibernation.

The legend says

When Ishtar became in the heart of the Netherworld, Ereshkigal's gaze fell on Ereshkigal and her anger flared, but Ishtar rushed towards her without thinking, and Ereshkigal opened her mouth to her minister (Namtar):

- “Go, Namtar, drag her into my palace and fire against her. He unleashed against Ishtar sixty diseases, eye diseases on her eye, gut diseases on her gut, head diseases on her head, skin diseases on her skin. Then it will end with Ishtar's death.