DESCENT OF THE GODDESS ISHTAR INTO THE LOWER WORLD. Return to Ancient Near East index Return to Main Index DESCENT OF THE GODDESS ISHTAR INTO THE LOWER WORLD [From The Civilization of Babylonia and Assyria, M. Jastrow, 1915] To the land of no return, the land of darkness, Ishtar, the daughter of Sin directed her thought, Directed her thought, Ishtar, the daughter of Sin, To the house of shadows, the dwelling, of Irkalla, To the house without exit for him who enters therein, To the road, whence there is no turning, To the house without light for him who enters therein, The place where dust is their nourishment, clay their food.' They have no light, in darkness they dwell. Clothed like birds, with wings as garments, Over door and bolt, dust has gathered.
Ishtar on arriving at the gate of the land of no return, To the gatekeeper thus addressed herself: "Gatekeeper, ho, open thy gate! Let the palace of the land of no return rejoice at thy presence! [The second half of the poem, the reverse of the tablet, continues is follows:] Sumerische gottheit - Google. Sumerischer gott - Google. Enlil - Google. Enki - Google. Erechkigal - Google. Mythologie sumérienne - Google. Sumerian Mythology FAQ. By Christopher Siren, 1992, 1994, 2000 cbsiren at alum dot mit dot edu This FAQ used to be posted on the third of every month to alt.mythology.
An older text copy of this FAQ is available via anonymous ftp pending *.answers approval at: rtfm.mit.edu at /pub/usenet/news.answers/mythology/sumer-faq last changes: July 27, 2000: complete revision including incorporating Kramer's Sumerian Mythology and Black & Green's God's Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia. Adapa (Dan Sullivan) has constructed a more complete Sumerian-English dictionary at: (Restored! I have constructed a rudimentary Sumerian-English, English Sumerian glossary using Kramer's The Sumerians and Jacobsen's Treasures of Darkness, although parties interested in the Sumerian language may be better served at the prior two pages. note: This FAQ is partly based on an anthropology paper which I wrote in 1992, using some of the sources detailed below.
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