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Descent of Inanna into the Underworld

The Descent of Inanna into the Underworld (or, in its Akkadian version, Descent of Ishtar into the Underworld) or Angalta ("From the Great Sky") is a Sumerian myth that narrates the descent of the goddess Inanna (Ishtar in Akkadian) into the Underworld to overthrow its ruler, her sister Ereshkigal, the "Queen of the Dead." But following the removal of her adornments, she perishes and her corpse is suspended on a nail. The god Enki intervenes indirectly, restoring Inanna to life.

Archaeologist Edward Chiera (1924), who found the second piece of the Istanbul tablet at the University museum in Philadelphia.The Sumerian version, entitled Descent of Inanna into the Underworld, comprises 400 lines and is the modern designation for the myth. While the narrative remains largely consistent with the Sumerian version, with the names of the deities undergoing alterations – Inanna becomes Ishtar, Nanna becomes Sin, Enki becomes Ea, Dumuzi becomes Tammuz, and Geshtinanna becomes Belilli – the text is considerably more concise, with numerous passages being omitted, including those about the goddess's grooming rituals and her discourse with Nishubur. In 1949 the American mythologist and lecturer Joseph Campbell elucidated the plot of the myth of Descent of Inanna into the Underworld as an allegorical representation of the necessity to disarm the Ego of its social defenses and adornments—the seven adornments of Inanna—that encumber it before confronting the Shadow.

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