Description
Painting x Gen AI x Mosh
This piece is my tribute to Inanna, The Ancient Sumerian Queen of Heaven & Earth: goddess of love, war, sensuality & that raw power that just refuses to break.
Inanna is a figure I have studied extensively & draw inspiration & solace from ever since University when I learned of her in my Ancient Near Eastern studies. In the oldest story humanity ever wrote down & committed to stone thousands of years ago, humanity's deepest lore is a tale of endurance of how strong, powerful & sovereign women are & the amount of self sacrifice they will endure to achieve what seems the impossible.
The Seventh Gate is where Inanna is stripped bare before she sees her sister, Ereshkigal, the goddess of the underworld. When entering the chambers, the seven judges of the underworld deem Inanna guilty of trying to take over the Underworld (she was), & Ereshkigal fastens the "eye of death" on her, turning her to rotting meat & hanging her corpse on a hook. She hangs there for three days & three nights while the world above turns barren. Her loyal servant Ninshubur follows the instructions she had given her earlier, because Inanna didn’t return in three days, beating the drum & begging the gods for help.
After few Gods said no cause she brought it on herself, Wise Enki, the powerful lord who knows the life-giving plant & water, creates 2 sexless beings, the kurgarra & the galatur, from the dirt under his fingernails. The creatures enter the underworld & find Ereshkigal in agony, suffering from grief manifesting as labor pains. They sympathize with her, & she is so pleased that she offers them gifts. They refuse her gifts & ask only for the "corpse" hanging on the wall. They sprinkle it with the food & water of life, resurrecting Inanna. However, Ereshkigal dictates that no one can leave the underworld without providing a substitute.
Inanna was permitted to leave the Underworld only on the condition that she provide a substitute to take her place. She returned to the upper world accompanied by the galla (demons), who were tasked with finding this replacement. Upon reaching Uruk, the demons first encountered Ninshubur (her loyal servant) & her two sons, in deep mourning, wearing sackcloth, & distraught over her death. Inanna refused to let the demons take them.
Inanna then found her husband, Dumuzi, on their throne wearing magnificent clothing & celebrating rather than mourning her death. Enraged, she decreed "He shall go to the place of the dead in my stead." Dragged into the dark, Dumuzi eventually receives mercy through Geshtinanna's, his sister, pleas, willing sacrifice, & ultimately Inanna's forgiveness to allow him back. To balance the scales of heaven & earth & underworld, it was settled that Dumuzi spends half the year in the Underworld, marking the death of nature & the coming of winter, returning only when the sun rises again in Spring.
Contrary to modern interpretations that solely focus on empowerment, the original Sumerian text presents her descent as a risky, possibly arrogant attempt to expand her dominion to her sister Ereshkigal’s realm. While she goes to the underworld to assert power (taking the "Me" of the Underworld), some interpretations try to minimize her ill intent, but in the text, she certainly acts as an invader against her sister's realm. Her death & subsequent resurrection act as a lesson that even Gods are bound by laws of the Underworld & that hubris has consequences. While she failed in taking over the Underworld, her return signifies the triumph of her and her sister's specific roles & positions as Goddesses.
When Inanna returns to the upper world, she is transformed & possessing a deeper, mature understanding of shadow & death. The two sisters, while they still hold great enmity toward each other, they are both sisters & equally hold great love. They both grow from the situation & journey in a way that helps restore the cosmos. Inanna becomes better by having her hubris shattered, integrating her celestial light with the heavy reality of mortality & accepting of self-sacrifice. This journey transforms her from a restless, power-seeking ruler into a tempered & wise sovereign of the complete human & divine experience. Ereshkigal becomes better by having her pain acknowledged, integrating her role with the upper world & eventually in other Sumerian & Akkadian myths, she finds companionship with Nergal, which transforms her from a purely isolated, vilified figure of death into a necessary, just & ultimately respected Queen.
The 2 together hold equal power that maintains Cosmic balance. The conflict is resolved by Inanna acknowledging the power of the underworld respecting the rules of Ereshkigal’s domain instead of trying to take it for herself. This gesture helps work for the best interests of existence & life as a whole, because ultimately if there is no life, there is no death; if there is no death, there is no life.