Inanna

[Artemis84]

What does anyone know about Inanna? All I know is that she is a Sumerian goddess.

[Amethyst Rose]

Innana is actually one of my favorite goddesses. :) She's the Sumerian goddess of Love and War. (I just love that combination!) Here's what the Encyclopedia Mythica (http://www.pantheon.org) has to say about her:

Inanna is the most important goddess of the Sumerian pantheon in ancient Mesopotamia. She is a goddess of love, fertility, and war. Inanna figures prominently in various myths, such as 'Inanna's descent to the underworld'. In this particular myth she travels to the realm of the dead and claims its ruling. However, her sister Ereshkigal, who rules the place, sentences her to death. With Inanna's death, however, nature died with her and nothing would grow anymore. Through the intervention of the god Enki she could be reborn if another person took her place. She choose her beloved consort Dumuzi, who would from then on rule the underworld every half year.

Inanna is regarded as a daughter of the sky-god An, but also of the moon-god Nanna. A variation of her name is Ninnanna, which means 'queen of the sky'. She is also called Ninsianna as the personification of the planet Venus. Inanna is portrayed as a fickle person who first attracts men and then rejects them. She is depicted as richly dressed goddess or as a naked woman. Her symbol is the eight-pointed star. Important sanctuaries of Inanna were in Uruk, Zabalam, and Babylon. The Akkadians called her Ishtar.

[Mnemosyne]

Good info, Amethyst Rose! If you want to know more about a deity, Encylopedia Mythica at www.pantheon.org is an excellent site.

Some believe that Inana is the most important goddess in the Sumerian pantheon. She is the goddess of war, love, heaven and earth. Wow! In Babylon, she goes by the name of Ishtar. As Amethyst Rose, Inana's famous myth involves how her husband Dumazi and his sister Geshtinnana must each spend a half year in the underworld. When Dumazi spends the half year with Inana, the crops grow. While he is away, the crops are barren.

If you really want to know more about Inana, I recommend reading Poems of Heaven and Hell from Ancient Mesopotamia