Quotes on Ishtar and Marduk

From Mary Baker Eddy, The Prophetic and Historical Perspective, A Biography, by Paul R. Smillie, page 49

Amos, a Jew, prophesied between 776-763 B.C. in the northern kingdom of Israel. Amos prophesied that the “Lord will roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem.” (Amos 1:2) The Lord did utter his voice from Jerusalem and the world recognized this first appearing of the Christ idea. But the world has not yet accepted the roar from Zion voiced through the daughter of Zion.

“Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountain of Samaria, which are named chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel came!” (Amos 6:1) Amos says, “For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel [the ten tribes] among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth.” (Amos 9:9) The Israelites were soon to be taken into captivity, and lost to the world. Even so, Amos clearly saw that God would preserve the identity of Israel and every Israelite, even unto the latter days.

In the 8th century B.C., in the northern kingdom of Israel, internal corruption reared its ugly head and terrible social abuses accompanied it. All of this came close on the heels of a period of financial prosperity. The prophet Amos dealt with religious, moral, and political degeneracy. As a political and spiritual statesman, Amos, like all prophets, attempted to break self-satisfaction and corruption.

However, the people and their leaders were in a deep sleep and would not listen.

The prophets sternly denounced the wicked systems of sex-worship, the antithesis of the true spiritual idea of womanhood. The sex worship of Astarte contributed greatly to the downfall of Israel’s young men and women.

Womanhood was further degraded by mother- goddess worship under the names of Ishtar, Isis, Nannarsin, Diana, Aphrodite, Venus, and Ashteroth. Israel took them all to her bosom.

Hosea the prophet said of weak and foolish Israel, “Ephraim also is like a silly dove without heart,” and how they hated Hosea. He mocked their military strength, “… Ye have eaten the fruit of lies: because thou didst trust in thy way, in the multitude of thy mighty men.” (Hosea 10:13) He heaped scorn on their idols, “Let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves.” (Hosea 13:2) Hosea saw that Israel was spiritually bankrupt and could not survive. Her existence depended upon her spirituality alone, even as ours does today.

Economic instability and inflation, worldly standards, effeminate men, womanhood debauched, national spirit dissipated, superficiality, moral and political degeneracy, seductive sensualism, self-satisfaction, pride, exploitation of the poor, false prosperity, luxury, impurity, conceit of control, mad ambition, oppression, self-indulgence, and centralized control, were the causes of Israel’s downfall, and all stemmed from the debauchery of womanhood. Woman’s primary function is to advance mankind through spirituality, — true strength that resists mere physical and emotional attraction. Mary Baker Eddy says, “From lack of moral strength empires fall. Right alone is irresistible, permanent, eternal.” (Mis. 268:27)

Hosea warned, “Ephraim … hath mixed himself among the people.” (Hosea 7:8) The northern kingdom of Israel had a system of diplomacy based upon vacillation instead of principle and in the wake of this stupidity, pagan empires could easily institute their national policies based upon seduction, coercion, and brute force.

The Israelites were not yet ready to carry the correct concept of God to the world. Just as the twelve tribes had wandered in the wilderness with Moses for forty years, so would the ten tribes of Israel wander for centuries and lose their identity until repossessed through spiritual-mindedness. It was to be a mental journey of correction.

“Recent Discoveries in the Ancient Homes of the Hittites” from the Feb. 28, 1901 Christian Science Sentinel

THREE thousand years before the birth of Christ a mighty nation ruled with the strong hand in Syria and Mesopotamia. Its influence extended far beyond the borders of the realm, and made itself felt among the outside nations, enduring long after the nation itself had ceased to be. This was the Hittite nation, the mystery and baffling puzzle of archaeology. What little is known of the Hittites is derived from the Bible and from Assyrian and Egyptian inscriptions. …

It is in this more ancient part of the city that a large amount of Babylonian and Assyrian remains have come to light, consisting not only of ancient walls, but also of many cylinders inscribed in cuneiform characters, numerous ornaments and votive figures, besides a building, the top story of which contains stamped bricks of the time of Nebuchadnezzar. The lower portion must be much older, but it is only now being uncovered. Here, too, have been found, upon some of the seal cylinders, pictures of the god of thunder and lightning, Hadad, much like that of the Hittite deity; and one of Marduk, a chief deity in the Babylonian pantheon.

The representation of Marduk is of especial interest, because here he stands in all his glory, with “wide open” eyes and ears, the symbol of omniscience, and with a powerful right arm, the symbol of omnipotence. On the cylinder to the left of the figure are eight lines of inscription, as follows:—

“For Marduk, the great lord, the powerful, the exalted, lord of all, lord of lords, mighty judge, who decides the fate of nations, lord of the lands, lord of Babylon, who dwelleth in Esakkil has Marduk-nadin-schum, king of all, the sublime, his worshiper, dedicated this seal, so that he may live, that his family may prosper, that he may live long and his rule be established, that he may destroy the land of his foe, he has given this seal of shining lapis-lazuli, covered with beauteous gold, an ornament for his shining neck.”

From the inscription on this precious amulet it is evident that it was a gift to Marduk, and was placed about the neck of one of his statues, or was worn about the neck of that Babylonian king who was aided by Salmanezzar II. (858-824 B.C.),

the Assyrian monarch, who helped him to take away the throne from his brother, Marduk-bel-usate. It was in the eighth year of his reign that Salmanezzar came to the assistance of Marduk-nadin-schum, putting his brother to flight, and afterwards slaying him in the mountains. In this way the discovery even of small amulets confirms great historical occurrences or legends, or gives us bits of ancient history unsuspected before. The value of the German discoveries grows with each month, and it is probable that when the work is finished at old Babylon we shall have a more complete view of the palaces and temples, and of the life of the Assyrians before their fall from power, than has yet been presented to the world in the case of any other nation buried under the dust of ages.

“Two Women with Wings” by Eleanora Burdett Carr, from Christian Science Sentinel, Vol. 24, No. 33, April 15, 1922

THE improved status of women, as seen in the world of to-day, can legitimately be deemed a great improvement after the centuries of widely fluctuating thought about them; and an interesting study may be made in tracing their gradual emancipation from bondage to a greater freedom of thought and action. It may, however, be asked whether sufficient consideration has been given to an aspect of the subject which seems from very early times to have had an influence in determining the position of dependence in which women were held,—the fact that to the ancients woman on the one hand stood for the greatest good, and on the other hand was supposed to represent unlimited power for evil, power which it was believed she both could and did use. The result of this dual conception of woman’s nature very naturally bred in men a definite fear of the evil genius, which reflected itself in their treatment of women for untold centuries.

These two aspects of the ancient belief in goddesses have been preserved in the mythology of almost every race since the dawn of the world’s history. The Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Phoenicians, Canaanites, Sidonians, and Moabites, all bowed down to their female deity under different names; the Ashtaroth of the Old Testament, who was continually leading the Jews astray from worshiping the one God, is the Babylonian goddess Ishtar, the great nature-

goddess of fertility, reproduction, and immortality; other names for Ishtar are, Astarte, Ashtar, Ascalon, and Atar-gatas. In later times, the worship of the goddess appeared in the cult of the Oriental-Greek-Roman Cybele, becoming in her turn Artemis, Aphrodite, Diana, Juno, and Venus, bringing not only the earth, its fruits and creatures, but the heavens, sun, moon, and stars, under her influence. Under all these guises the goddess had two aspects: she was supposed to bring forth every joy of nature, clothing the earth with gladness; but she could also refuse her smile, and then the earth withered into barrenness. This was the grim goddess, cruel and destructive, the goddess of war, conflict, and the chase, showing herself not only as the life-giving but also as the life-depriving power.

It is, of course, unnecessary to emphasize the fact that the faithful Jews utterly disclaimed this idolatry under any name or guise, although they were familiar with its presentation in every form. They were in fact surrounded, tempted, haunted, by its lure; and the Old Testament is full of the temptations and frequent falls of the Jews and their rulers, including their great king Solomon, to the worship of the Babylonish goddess, Ashtaroth. The rites, myths, and astrology connected with this cult are described therein again and again; and, while recognizing that the element of protection always enters into the Easterner’s treatment of women, we may yet surmise whether the above- mentioned aggressive cult of the dual-natured goddess may not have also contributed an influence of which the Jews were almost unconscious.

Mankind has ever striven to define to itself an idea of God; and for a long time it got no farther than the process of inflating human qualities—some good, some the very reverse—into superhuman personalities, and calling these imaginary beings “gods.” The Jews made a long stride forward when they discerned God as the I AM, who was also the just lawgiver; but this revelation was still quite incomplete, for God must come to be known not only as Lawgiver, but as divine Love itself. It remained for the man, Jesus, to define God as Love through his unparalleled works of regeneration and healing; and then, centuries after, came the faithful woman witness to the truth, giving us in Christian Science the final revelation of God as the Father-Mother and of the perfect man of His creation, both male and female.

While the Jews had no scientific grasp of these great facts of being, they were by no means without beautiful glimpses of the meaning of true womanhood. There is a little parable about women in the fifth chapter of the book of Zechariah which the reader might pass over without understanding unless something drew him to a more careful study of the passage. Before turning to the chapter, it is interesting to remember that the prophet Zechariah was born in captivity during the seventy years when the flower of the Jewish race were exiled in Babylon; he was, therefore, perfectly familiar with the idolatry of the Babylonians. He accompanied his grandfather, Iddo, head of one of the priestly Jewish families, back to Jerusalem (whither the exiles were allowed to return under Cyrus the Great), and at once set about stirring up his nation to rebuild the ruined temple and to cast out all idolatry and wickedness.

In the chapter referred to we find Zechariah communing with an angel who shows him an ephah, or large barrel, shut down with a large leaden disk. Upon opening this, a woman is discovered inclosed in the barrel; whereupon the angel declared the nature of this visionary being, and cast “wickedness” into the barrel, shutting it up again immediately with the weight of lead. Zechariah then looked up and saw two women flying with the wings and speed of a great bird, the wind rushing through their wings, and “they lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heaven, … to build it an house in the land of Shinar [Babylon]: and it shall be established, and set there upon her own base.” We may surely see here the prophet’s divine insight as to the way in which redemption should come to woman, releasing her from the prison house of materiality and bondage, and bringing to her the true spiritual idea.

Mrs. Eddy tells us that “Jesus was the offspring of Mary’s self-conscious communion with God” (Science and Health, p. 29); and speaking of divine Science she says, “Woman must give it birth” (Retrospection and Introspection, p. 26).

Was not Zechariah’s angel a message prophesying that two spiritually minded women should bear away the false beliefs about man, and give birth to the Christ, Truth?

In her Communion Address for 1899 (Miscellany, p. 126), Mrs. Eddy speaks of “the Babylonish woman” referred to in Revelation as the “mystery of iniquity,” the would-be poisoner of the so-called human mind just at the moment when the truth is about to dawn on consciousness. The Revelator uses the same metaphysical simile that Zechariah employed centuries before him, where he lifts up the persecuted woman idea upon “two wings of a great eagle,” that she may escape from all the false mental suggestion of the mortal senses and unfold to perfection in peace and purity.

Mankind can scarcely be grateful enough to the faithful woman who showed to humanity this supreme truth. Mary Baker Eddy was indeed a woman with “wings,” for by her uplifted understanding of Love she cast “wickedness” into a “barrel,”—lifted it off the heart of poor, suffering humanity, and set it far away in its own place on its own foundation, illusion based on nothingness. Mankind could then see more clearly the Father-Mother God, divine Love, reflected by His child, man, the perfect male and female of God’s creating.

From “The Perfect Revealer” By J. Morley Wyard, in The Christian Science Journal, Vol. 29, No. 3, June 1911

Whether known as Baal or Osiris, as Astarte or Isis, as BelMarduk or Ahura- Mazda, the best of the world-deities only signified the reproductive powers of nature and the worst of them the pantheon of human lusts.

These Hebrew seers of the unseen were for the most part plain people, shepherds and herdsmen, rough soldiers or children of captivity, formal ritualists, temple officials, household servants, with only here and there among them a royal leader or a recognized scholar; but their literary remains, the tenderness and pathos, the sweetness and charm, the rhythm and flow of their message, have passed into the literature of all Bible peoples; and the later races have grown clean and wise and strong and commanding as they have appropriated and assimilated the gracious revealings of this understanding of the one true God. Because they had clearer ideas of the creating Mind than had been reached by any other tribe or nation, they had also a more perfect appreciation of the things that He had made, and in the most devotional spirit they could look up through nature to nature’s God. Baal might be musing, or gone aside, or on a journey, or peradventure sleeping, indifferent, erratic, unreliable, undivine; but, though they were not always true to Him, they knew that “the Eternal,” their God, was alive, awake, alert, responsible for the safe-keeping of the world and manifesting parental and perpetual interest in His own peculiar people. This was the dominant strain in their singing, the diapason of their purest life, the undercurrent of their sanest and truest moods, the supreme motif of their prophecy, the very genius and inspiration of their laws.

From “Liberty and License” from The Christian Science Monitor, Feb. 9, 1918 (reprinted in May 11th, 1918 Christian Science Sentinel)

The human mind, having no knowledge of Principle, has no positive criterion by means of which it can scientifically separate good from evil. It is, in other words, ignorant of law, and so is incapable of judging righteous judgment. Thus it separates the tares from the wheat by human decisions which it terms moral or state laws, but which are proved not to be law by the exceedingly simple fact that they change or vary from decade to decade, or as frontiers are crossed. Three and a half centuries ago men and women were being burned as heretics in England; a couple of centuries ago witches were being hanged in Salem. To-day polygamy is legal and customary in the East, but in the West indulgence in it makes a man a criminal. What is it then that separates the reign of “Bloody” Mary from that of George V, or the Massachusetts of William of Orange from that of Woodrow Wilson? Principle has not changed, law cannot change, God remains God. The difference, then, is simple but subtle. It is that men have learned in a measure that liberty is not license, and are learning, however unwillingly, the further lesson that where there is license there is no liberty. In a word, that license is slavery.

In the twilight of history, when Romulus and Remus were supposed to have been suckled by a wolf, and when the human being was actually little better than the brute, license was practically regarded as a synonym for liberty. What separated Caesar, in his great palace on the Palatine, from the coppersmiths and cobblers, hammering and sewing in the dark little shops round the Forum, was the ability of the one to do as he pleased, and the necessity of the others to do as they were bidden. The gulf between Herod, building his great pleasure house at Capernaum, and the fishermen, straining at their oars out on the great lake, or the shepherds watching their sheep under the stars on the hills of Judah, was the opportunity of the first to gratify without restriction his sensual appetites, and the compulsion of the others to eat the bread and drink the water of poverty and toil. Pilate put the whole position, in all its naked selfishness and bru-tality, to Jesus, when he demanded, with half angry, half sur-prised curiosity, ” Knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee?” and was ren-dered speechless by Jesus’ reply, which he could not confute, and yet did not in the least understand, “Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above.”

Behind those words, so mystical to the sensual tyrant, lay the simple statement of scientific Christianity, of Truth, the statement that real power and consequently liberty, was summed up in the laying down of license, and in the conse-quent realization of the liberty of the sons of God. “The likeness of God,” Mrs. Eddy writes on page 315 of Science and Health, “we lose sight of through sin, which beclouds the spiritual sense of Truth; and we realize this likeness only when we subdue sin and prove man’s heritage, the liberty of the sons of God.” This realization was first achieved, no matter in how slight a degree, and this proof, no matter how feebly, was first given, by the patriarch Abraham. And for the purpose of the Bible, the purpose of illustration, it mat-ters nothing at all whether Abraham was merely the type of the friend of God, or whether he was the first human being who made himself the friend of God, or obedient to Principle, in a degree sufficient to enable him to walk so far, at any rate, with God, as to put aside, in a measure, his self-will or love of license, and so gain that freedom from the flesh which is the only true liberty.

What the story of Abraham means is something very simple. He had come with his father, Terah, and his wife, Sarai, to live in Haran, the Babylonian city, high up the Belikh as it rolls southward into the Euphrates. Here was the seat of the worship of Sin, the Assyrian moon god, with all its bestial rites, and here God spoke to the patriarch. Here, in other words, in the midst of the licentious ceremonies which were to be spread over the civilized earth in the name of Astarte, of Ishtar, or of Venus, Abraham got his first glimpse of Principle, which showed him that indulgence in license, in the lusts of the flesh, ultimates in sin, disease, and death. He realized that if he abandoned himself to this license, he would become the prisoner of the flesh, but that if, on the other hand, he abandoned this license, he would begin to gain that liberty which is freedom from the flesh. Therefore, he shook the dust of license off his feet, at the gates of Haran, at the very feet of the zikkurats, and went out from his country, and his kindred, and his father’s house, and crossed the great river, the river Euphrates, the name of which Mrs. Eddy has defined, on page 585 of Science and Health, in the words, “Divine Science encompassing the uni-verse and man; the true idea of God; a type of the glory which is to come; metaphysics taking the place of physics; the reign of righteousness.”

Centuries later there came a man who had made the crossing of this mental Euphrates, this dividing line between license and liberty, far more effectually than Abraham, and yet who said of Abraham, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.” Jesus the Christ realized how, in the streets of Haran, in the very midst of the scenes of license which had accompanied the worship of the zikkurat, Abraham had dimly seen the Christ, or Truth, and in that first dim glimpse had found the spir-itual hammer which was to strike from off him the heaviest fetters of license, and so enable him to seek, in the land of promise, the liberty of the sons of God.

This vision of the Christ, which to the end remained to Abraham something of a glorious ideal, was reduced to terms of proof, or demonstration, by Jesus the Christ, when, in the temptations in the wilderness, he put the flesh, the world, and the devil under his feet, as the preliminary to showing to the world that liberty is the very opposite of license, that it is, indeed, entire freedom from the passions of the physical senses, and from the limitations of the flesh. This liberty frees a man from sickness and death, and shows him how he may heal the sick and raise the dead, or how he may anni-hilate matter as Jesus did when he fed the multitudes and walked upon the lake. But it can be won only in the way Abraham strove to walk, and as Jesus of Nazareth did walk, in the path of the Christ, which leads over the Euphrates into the promised land. Therefore, surely, was it that Mrs. Eddy wrote, on page 267 of Science and Health, “The robes of Spirit are ‘white and glistering,’ like the raiment of Christ. Even in this world, therefore, ‘let thy garments be always white.’ ‘Blessed is the man that endureth [over-cometh] temptation: for when he is tried, [proved faithful], he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath prom-ised to them that love him.'”

Ishtar (according to an online source)

https://www.worldhistory.org/ishtar/

Ishtar (Inanna in Sumerian sources) is a primary Mesopotamian goddess closely associated with love and war. This powerful Mesopotamian goddess is the first known deity for which we have written evidence. While largely unknown in the modern day, this powerful ancient deity had a complex and influential role in the religions and cultures of the Ancient Near East.

In the ancient world, it is difficult to overstate the importance of Inanna/Ishtar. As the most famous Mesopotamian goddess, her substantial influence was embedded in many aspects of her worshippers’ lives, and she was revered across the broad geographical reach of the Ancient Near East for a period of history spanning thousands of years. Ishtar comes from a very early time in the history of complex civilisations, with her cult attested at Uruk as early as the late 4th millennium BCE.

Importance

Evidence for Ishtar comes from Mesopotamia, an area of the Ancient Near East generally considered to be placed geographically between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Although there is much debate about Mesopotamia’s exact territorial extent, it is considered to roughly correspond with modern-day Iraq,

Kuwait and parts of Syria, Iran, and Turkey. Mesopotamia was home to many of the world’s first great empires, including the Akkadian, Babylonian and Assyrian Empires.

Ishtar had a significant impact on the images and cults of many later goddesses, including the famous Greek goddess of love, Aphrodite, and other well-known goddesses such as Astarte. Many goddesses from the Classical period, such as Aphrodite, Artemis, and Athena, have continued to function as important cultural symbols. Ishtar, comparatively, has not enjoyed similar longevity to her image.

From being among the most commonly attested of ancient Mesopotamian deities, she has fallen into almost complete obscurity.

Ishtar’s slide into modern-day anonymity likely resulted from a variety of causes but can be most plausibly connected to the disappearance of the cuneiform writing system. For over 3,000 years, cuneiform was the primary means of communication throughout the Ancient Near East and into parts of the Mediterranean. It fell from use by around 400 CE, although the processes involved in this change remain enigmatic. Ishtar’s influence in the ancient world subsided alongside the script used to record her myths and prophecies.

Sources

Inanna/Ishtar is frequently presented anthropomorphically in myths. In Sumerian love poetry, she is depicted as a young woman who lives at home with her mother, Ningal, and her father, Nanna (the Mesopotamian moon god, Sin). Her twin brother is Utu (Semitic Shamash), the solar deity, who is connected to the concept of justice. Ishtar herself is also associated with a celestial body: Venus, the morning and evening star. The goddess’s courting partner is Dumuzi (Semitic Tammuz), who appears in myths as a shepherd king. Dumuzi’s mother is the goddess Duttur, and his sister is Geshtinanna.

Ishtar Clay Mould

The ancient sources for Ishtar, while extensive, are fragmentary, incomplete, and difficult to contextualise. The problematic nature of the evidence for Ishtar is surprising when considered in light of the goddess’ elevated status, and her enduring influence in the ancient world. The difficulties with the evidence can be considered largely (although not exclusively) the result of the goddess’ antiquity. Among the ancient literary sources, the goddess is best known for her appearance in two of the most famous myths from Mesopotamia: the Epic of Gilgamesh, and Ishtar’s Descent to the Netherworld.

The Epic of Gilgamesh

The Epic of Gilgamesh is one of the world’s earliest known works of epic literature, surviving in numerous versions. The story tells of the journey of the young hero Gilgamesh, semi-divine king of the city of Uruk. In the Standard Babylonian Version of the Epic of Gilgamesh, Ishtar appears most prominently in Tablet VI. Here, Gilgamesh is described bathing and cleaning his weapons after doing battle with the Forest Guardian, Humbaba, at an earlier point in the narrative. Ishtar sees the young king’s beauty and looks at him covetously. She proposes marriage and offers some nice inducements to sweeten the deal.

Gilgamesh, it seems, does not want to marry Ishtar, and he makes the questionable choice of rejecting her in harshly unflattering terms.

Pendant of Ishtar

In his refusal of Ishtar’s proposal, Gilgamesh compares the goddess to a drafty back door, a faulty battering ram, and a shoe which bites the feet of its owner. This last insult may be viewed as ominous, as in ancient divination, an abrasion from an ill-fitting sandal was considered to be a portent with potentially fatal consequences.

Ishtar is shown as greatly distressed by Gilgamesh’s cruel rejection. She travels to the heavens to visit the sky deity, Anu. Through the use of threats and emotional blackmail, the goddess persuades the elder god to loan her the Bull of Heaven.

Her plan is to use the mighty bovine warrior to seek revenge on Gilgamesh. When Anu eventually agrees, Ishtar leads the Bull back to earth. The cosmic Bull (associated with the constellation, Taurus) battles against Gilgamesh and his companion, Enkidu. The two heroes are able to kill the great beast, and Ishtar mourns over its body with the women of the city.

Ishtar’s Descent to the Netherworld

Ishtar and her shepherd husband, Tammuz (Sumerian Inanna and Dumuzi), are the divine protagonists of one of the world’s oldest known love stories. Despite having an intimate and loving relationship in Sumerian poetry, the romance does not end in lasting happiness for the pair. Once Ishtar and Tammuz have united, they are soon separated by disloyalty, death, and some underworld demons.

The myth of Ishtar’s Descent to the Netherworld tells the story of the goddess’s journey to the underworld, the home of her sister, Ereshkigal. While numerous reasons have been suggested for Ishtar’s journey, it seems most likely that she is motivated by the ambitious desire to increase her own powers. The goddess travels through the seven gates of the underworld, removing an item of clothing at each gate. Ishtar finally arrives naked before her sister, Ereshkigal, who is the Queen of the Netherworld, and is killed.

The death of the goddess of love leaves her trapped in the underworld and requiring rescue. With the assistance of her faithful companion, Ninshubur, Ishtar is revived through the clever plotting of the god of wisdom, Ea (Sumerian Enki).

Ishtar’s place in the underworld cannot be left empty, and the deity rises along with a group of demons to search for a replacement. Following a long search, her consort, Tammuz, is sent to the underworld in her place.

Other Myths

Beyond the Descent myth and Gilgamesh lies a wealth of further textual evidence for the deity. Inanna/Ishtar appears in royal hymns, several myths, prophetic texts, magic spells, and even proverbs. The earliest poems to Inanna/Ishtar were written by Enheduanna, the world’s first known author to be individually identified. Enheduanna (circa 2300 BCE) is generally considered to have been a historical figure living in Ur, one of the world’s oldest urban centres. She was a priestess of the moon god and the daughter of Sargon of Akkad (“Sargon the Great”, 2334-2279 BCE). Many of the lesser known myths involving Inanna have only been published in the last 50 years or so. It was only as recently as 1983 CE, with the publication of Inanna, Queen of Heaven and Earth, that the goddess began to become more widely known outside of scholarly circles.

Representation in Art

In artistic works, the imagery of the goddess is a dominant motif of grave goods, and she appears alongside kings in royal iconography. Barrett has convincingly argued that the famous Burney Relief, with its depiction of the nude, winged goddess, represents an “underworld form” of Ishtar. Several features of the Relief indicate that the goddess is being presented in the context of her visit to the underworld. The deity holds the rod and ring of leadership, a turban and a necklace, and is possibly wearing a wig. The double row of oval-like shapes at the base of the Relief represent mountains, which have associations with death, as do the owls. While not a part of the myth, the positioning of the figure on the back of two lions strengthens the connection to Ishtar, as does the figure’s frontal presentation. The goddess’ nudity suggests the stage in the myth of the Descent where she is close to death—perhaps on her way back from the realm of the dead. The talons and wings of the figure may show the goddess returning from the Netherworld in pursuit of vengeance—leading to the death of her lover, Tammuz. In many myths, the goddess is closely associated with vengeance, justice, and the maintenance of cosmic order.

Ishtar in portraiture may be accompanied by her emblematic animal, the lion, and she often carries weapons. Sumerian Inanna, in particular, is often represented with a lion or standing on top of a lion. She also appears in iconography in her celestial aspect, as an eight-pointed star, and is associated in visual sources with rosettes. Ishtar’s star is often depicted alongside a sun-disk and a crescent-shaped moon symbol, representing her brother, the solar deity Shamash (Sumerian Utu), and her father, the moon deity Sin (Sumerian Nanna). Ishtar’s association with the astral emblem of an eight-pointed star is found on cylinder seals from the Early Dynastic Period (2900-2300 BCE) and remains closely linked to the deity through thousands of years of Mesopotamian history, up to the Neo-Babylonian period.

The goddess is at times presented alongside scorpion imagery, such as on Babylonian cylinder seals. This artistic connection to scorpions can also be seen in literary sources, where Inanna battles a giant scorpion in a Sumerian myth depicting her usurpation of the god of heaven, An (Semitic Anu). Ishtar may be pictured alongside the Mesopotamian king, and she is shown taking part in religious rituals or ceremonies. This type of scene is famously presented on the Warka Vase, a carved alabaster vessel discovered in Inanna’s temple complex in Uruk. The vase shows the goddess standing at the doorway of the temple, receiving a procession, and is one of the oldest known examples of narrative relief sculpture, dating around 3000 BCE.

Ishtar had a special relationship with the human rulers of Mesopotamia. In her association with Mesopotamian kings, Ishtar/Inanna is represented as spouse, lover, sister, and mother—sometimes all within a single composition. Although her role shows flexibility, the textual evidence is thematically linked through an emphasis on the goddess’ physicality, especially her feminine form. The affections of the goddess held a legitimising function for kings, with the concept of “king by love of Inanna” able to be traced back to the earliest origins of political hierarchy.

The goddess’ affections were deemed to protect those she cared for, binding together families, communities, & empires in powerful ties that persevered even beyond death.

Ishtar is not well-known in the modern day, and what remains of her image has been frequently obscured by historiographical biases. The controversy around Ishtar’s modern image can be most overtly seen in the distorted fixation on the goddess’s sexuality found in much 20th-century CE scholarship. While Ishtar’s sexuality is a vital aspect of her image, the emphasis on her erotic side has overshadowed many of the other important elements of the deity’s image, such as her connection to warfare and the dispensing of justice, her association with music, joy, and abundance, and her religious ties to death and vengeance.

The obscurity of the goddess’ myths in the present day has, generally speaking, resulted in her image being found primarily in works with particularly strong mythical input, particularly the genres of science fiction and fantasy. Glimpses of the ancient deity may be found in television series such as Stargate, SG-1, Hercules, the Legendary Journeys, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Myths of Ishtar also appear in the written works of Neil Gaiman, Richard Adams, and Robert A. Heinlein.

In the present day, one of the world’s most ancient known deities has been reimagined as a character in modern comics. Inanna appeared in comics for the first time in Marvel’s 1974 CE comic, Conan the Barbarian #40, “The Fiend from the Forgotten City.” In the comic, the barbarian hero Conan is assisted by the goddess while fighting against looters in an ancient “forgotten city.” Marvel’s Inanna holds similar powers to her mythical counterpart, including the ability to heal. Ishtar has also appeared in DC Comics, along with her husband, Tammuz. In Madame Xanadu Special #1.1 (1981 CE), the ancient lovers are resurrected—but only temporarily.

Love & Social Connections

Ishtar, the world’s first known goddess of love, is connected to many forms of emotional intimacy. While this association certainly includes sexual love, it encompasses a variety of other types of loving bonds. The goddess has caring relationships with her divine family, and her maidservant, Ninshubur. Love connected the goddess to the historical Mesopotamian king, in a unique bond that blended the roles of mother, wife, and sister. The goddess’ affections were deemed to protect those she cared for, binding together families, communities, and empires in powerful ties that persevered even beyond death.

In myths, Ishtar uses her status as the goddess of love and her extraordinary skills for social networking to enhance her power. While not generally listed among the most dominant of great Mesopotamian gods (at different times, these would be more likely Enlil, Ea, Marduk, Assur, or Anu), Ishtar’s competence in using social connections in the service of her ambitions gave her a distinctive role in the pantheon. Indeed, the deity’s remarkable capacity for social networking is one of the most constant aspects of her image. Ishtar’s identity as a powerful female deity, alongside her mastery of social networking, makes the appreciation of this ancient goddess particularly topical for modern day audiences.

Marduk (according to an online source)

Marduk was the patron god of Babylon who presided over justice, compassion, healing, regeneration, magic, and fairness, although he is also sometimes referenced as a storm god and agricultural deity. His temple, the famous ziggurat described by Herodotus, is considered the model for the biblical Tower of Babel.

The Greeks associated him with Zeus and the Romans with Jupiter as he was known as the Babylonian King of the Gods. He is depicted as a human in royal robes, carrying a snake-dragon and a spade. Marduk seems to have originated from a local deity known as Asarluhi, a farmer’s god symbolized by the spade, known as a marru, which continued as part of his iconography. Marduk’s name, however, though linked to the marru, translates as ‘bull-calf,’ although he was commonly referred to simply as Bel (Lord). Far from the local deity he sprang from, Marduk would become one of the most prestigious gods of the Mesopotamian pantheon.

He was the son of the god of wisdom Enki (also known as Ea, considered a creator god in some myths) who was also associated with fresh, life-giving water. Marduk’s association with Enki is no doubt linked to the earlier regional deity Asarluhi who had the same relationship and shared many of Marduk’s characteristics. Marduk’s wife was the fertility goddess Sarpanitu (though in some myths his wife is Nanaya), and their son was Nabu, the patron god of scribes, literacy, and wisdom.

From a regional agricultural deity, Marduk took on increasing significance for the city of Babylon (and later the Assyrian and Neo-Assyrian Empire) becoming finally the most important and powerful god of the Babylonian and wider Mesopotamian pantheon and attaining a level of worship bordering on monotheism. He was regarded as the creator of the heavens and earth, co-

creator with Enki of human beings, and originator of divine order following his victory over the forces of chaos led by the goddess Tiamat, as told in the Enuma Elish. Once he legitimized his rule, he conferred upon the other gods their various duties and responsibilities and organized both the world and the netherworld.

Marduk in the Enuma Elish

The Babylonian creation myth, Enuma Elish, tells the story of Marduk’s rise to power. In the beginning of time, the universe was undifferentiated swirling chaos which separated into sweet fresh water, known as Apsu (the male principle) and salty bitter water known as Tiamat (the female principle). These two deities then gave birth to the other gods.

From a regional agricultural deity, Marduk became the most important & powerful god of the Babylonian pantheon, attaining a level of worship bordering on monotheism. Tiamat loved her children, but Apsu complained because they were too noisy and kept him up at night while distracting him from his work during the day. Eventually, he decided to kill them and Tiamat, horrified, told her eldest son Enki about the plan. Enki then considered the best possible course of action, put his father into a deep sleep, and killed him.

From Apsu’s remains he created his home, the earth, in the marshy region of Eridu. Tiamat never expected her son to kill his father and so declared war on her children, raising up an army of chaos to assist her. At the head of her forces she placed the god Quingu, her new consort, who is victorious over the younger gods in every battle.

Enki and his siblings begin to despair when the young god Marduk steps forward and says he will lead them to victory if they will first proclaim him their king. Once this is accomplished, Marduk defeats Quingu in single combat and then kills Tiamat by shooting her with an arrow which splits her in two; from her eyes flow the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and, from her corpse, Marduk forms the heavens and completes the creation begun by Enki of the earth (in some myths Enki is not mentioned and Marduk is the sole creator of the world). In consultation with Enki,

Marduk then created human beings from the remains of the defeated gods who had encouraged Tiamat to wage war on her children. The defeated Quingu is executed, and his remains used to create the first man, Lullu.

Marduk then regulates the workings of the world which includes humanity as co- workers with the gods against the forces of chaos. Henceforth, Marduk decrees, humans will do the work which the gods have no time for, freeing the divine to concentrate on higher purposes and care for human needs. As the gods will care for humans and supply all their needs, humans will respect and heed the will of the gods, and Marduk will reign over all in benevolence.

Marduk’s Reign in Babylon

This reign was centered, not in the heavens, but in the temple – the Esagila – in Babylon. Deities in ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, and elsewhere were thought to literally reside in the temple built for them, and this was as true for Marduk as any other deity. Marduk came to prominence in Babylon during the reign of Hammurabi (1792-1750 BCE). Prior to the elevation of Marduk, Inanna – goddess of sexuality and warfare – was the principal deity worshiped in Babylon and elsewhere throughout Mesopotamia; afterwards, although Inanna continued to be widely venerated, Marduk was the supreme deity of the city and his worship spread as Babylon conquered other regions. Scholar Jeremy Black writes:

The rise of the cult of Marduk is closely connected with the political rise of Babylon from city-state to the capital of an empire. From the Kassite Period, Marduk became more and more important until it was possible for the author of the Babylonian Epic of Creation to maintain that not only was Marduk king of all the gods but that many of the latter were no more than aspects of his persona. (128)

The golden statue of Marduk, housed in the inner sanctum of his temple, was considered a vital aspect of the coronation of kings. A new king needed to ‘take the hands of Marduk’ to legitimize his rule, a practice which seems to have been initiated during the Kassite Period (1595-1155 BCE) when the Kassites made Babylon their capital after driving out the Hittites.

Some scholars maintain that the new king had to literally take the hands of the statue – and this seems to be corroborated by ancient texts on the subject – while others claim ‘taking the hands of Marduk’ was a symbolic statement referring to submitting to the guidance of the god. It seems likely, however, based on the ancient written evidence, that the statue needed to be present at the succession of a new ruler and that the king needed to actually touch the statue’s hands.

Marduk Prophecy

The importance of the statue is attested by the ancient work known as The Akitu Chronicle which relates a time of civil war in which the Akitu Festival (New Year’s celebration) could not be observed because the statue of Marduk had left the city. On New Year’s day, it was customary for the people to carry the statue of Marduk through the city and out to a little house beyond the walls where he could relax and enjoy some different scenery.

During those times when the statue was carried off by hostile nations, the Akitu festival could not be observed because the patron god of the city was not present. Further, disaster was thought imminent when the god was not in the city as there was no one to stand between the people and the forces of chaos. This situation is depicted clearly in the document known as The Marduk Prophecy (c.

713-612 BCE, though the story is probably older) which relates Marduk’s ‘travels’ when his statue is stolen from the city during various eras. Scholar Marc van de Mieroop comments:

The absence of the patron deity from his or her city caused great disruption in the cult [of that deity and city in general]. The absence of the divinity was not always metaphorical but often the result of the theft of the cult statue by raiding enemies. Divine statues were commonly carried off in wars by the victors in order to weaken the power of the defeated cities. The consequences were so dire that the loss of the statue merited recording in the historiographic texts. When Marduk’s statue was not present in Babylon, the New Year’s festival, crucial to the entire cultic year, could not be celebrated. (48)

The Marduk Prophecy relates how the Hittites, Assyrians, and Elamites all captured Marduk’s statue at one time or another and how it was finally returned to the city when King Nebuchadnezzar I (r. 1121-1100 BCE) defeated the Elamites. The document is written as though Marduk himself chose to visit those foreign lands – except for Elam – and how it was prophesied that a great Babylonian king would rise and bring the god back from the Elamites.

The Marduk Prophecy was most likely written as a propaganda piece during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar I, although the only extant copy is a much later Assyrian copy. This work, as well as the Akitu Chronicle and others, make clear how vital Marduk’s presence in the city was to the people. Without their divine protector the people felt helpless, knowing that they and their city were left vulnerable to widespread and also personal attacks.

Marduk the Protector

Although Marduk is referenced in a number of works throughout Mesopotamian literature, two of them make especially clear how dangerous life was for a person or city once one’s god was absent. The Ludlul-Bel-Nemeqi (c. 1700 BCE) and The Wrath of Erra (c. 800 BCE) treat of the individual’s problem and a city’s suffering respectively, both making clear the necessity of a protector deity.

The Ludlul-Bel-Nemeqi is a treatise on suffering, on why a good person should seemingly be punished for no reason, framed as a long complaint by Tabu-utu- bel, an official of the city of Nippur, another city in which Marduk was worshiped. The speaker relates how he has called out for help from his goddess but has not heard back from her. Marduk, from afar, tries to send him help but nothing can alleviate the suffering.

The speaker lists all of the good gifts Marduk tries to help him with, but none of them do any good and, possibly this is because Marduk is not close at hand. The Ludlul-Bel-Nemeqi has often been compared to the biblical Book of Job in examining the problem of suffering and the seeming absence of one’s god. The work never explicitly claims that Marduk has left the person but certainly implies that Marduk is ‘far off’ and can only send what meager help is available.

The Wrath of Erra is a very different work in which the war god Erra (also known as Irra or Nergal) becomes bored and falls into a lethargy which he feels can only be cured by attacking Babylon. He is urged to abandon his plan by other gods but ignores them. He travels to Babylon where he distracts Marduk by telling him that his clothes have become shabby and he should really attend to his wardrobe.

Marduk protests that he is too busy, but Erra assures him that all will be well and he, Erra, will watch over the city. Once Marduk leaves to have a new suit of clothes made, Erra destroys the city, killing the people indiscriminately until he is stopped by the other gods and called to account (in some versions he is stopped by Marduk’s return). The piece ends with praise for Erra, god of war, who decided to spare a remnant of the city so it could be repopulated.

Marduk the protector was so important to Babylon’s sense of security and personal identity that when the city revolted against Persian rule c. 485 BCE, the Persian king Xerxes I (r. 486-465 BCE) had the statue destroyed when he sacked the city. After Alexander the Great defeated the Persians of the Achaemenid Empire in 330 BCE, he made Babylon his capital and initiated efforts to restore the city to its former glory but died before this could be accomplished. Worship of Marduk declined as the city steadily lost prestige and power. By the time the Parthians ruled the region in 141 BCE, Babylon was a deserted ruin and Marduk had been forgotten.

From Watches, Prayers, and Arguments, given by Mary Baker Eddy, page 43

WATCH — Mother said, write it on tablets; begin with the law: Thou shalt have no other gods before me. This revelation seems like the transfiguration, where Moses, the law, Elias, prophecy, Christ, Science, were revealed. Mother said, in the old way mortal belief had one devil; now it had many, but we must not call it they, but evil.

She said, when we take up our watch, we do not help her with our thought; we simply clear our own thought of the belief of evil, and this is getting rid of our thought and getting out of God’s way, so the light can shine through, and this blessed light helps us and all in its shining. This is the blessed, blessed way from sense to Soul.