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In the Sumerian poem Gilgamesh and the Bull of Heaven, Gilgamesh and Enkidu slay the Bull of Heaven, who has been sent to attack them by the goddess Inanna, the Sumerian equivalent of Ishtar. [4] [5] [6] The plot of this poem differs substantially from the corresponding scene in the later Akkadian Epic of Gilgamesh. [7]
When he disdainfully refuses, she unleashes the Bull of Heaven, resulting in the death of Enkidu and Gilgamesh's subsequent grapple with his own mortality. Inanna's most famous myth is the story of her descent into and return from the ancient Mesopotamian underworld, ruled by her older sister Ereshkigal.
The name Gugalanna may also be interpreted as the "Bull of Heaven." Furthermore, Inanna requests entry into the Underworld on the pretext of sharing the mourning of Gugalanna with her sister. [24] It appears that Ereshkigal's negative response to Inanna's arrival is related to what she may perceive as a pretext on the part of her sister.
Wolkstein, Diane; Kramer, Samuel Noah (1983), Inanna: Queen of Heaven and Earth: Her Stories and Hymns from Sumer, New York City, New York: Harper&Row Publishers, ISBN 0-06-090854-8 This article relating to a myth or legend from the ancient Middle East is a stub .
Finally, Inanna demands, with threats, from her father the Bull of Heaven to kill Gilgamesh. The bull is released in Uruk, whose insatiable hunger destroys crops and rivers. Enkidu grabs the bull by his tail and Gilgamesh smashes its head. Finally they distribute the meat among the poor and transform the horns into cups for ointments for the Eanna.
Bull of Heaven: The Bull of Heaven is a mythical being representing the constellation known today as Taurus. [107] After being unleashed by Ishtar, the bull rampages in Uruk, but Gilgamesh and Enkidu manage to defeat him. [108] An earlier version of this episode is recorded in the Sumerian poem Gilgamesh and the Bull of Heaven. [109]
In the Sumerian poem, Inanna remains aloof from Gilgamesh, but in the Akkadian epic she asks him to become her consort. [42] Also, while pressing her father An to give her the Bull of Heaven, in Sumerian Inanna threatens a deafening cry that will reach the earth, while in Akkadian she threatens to wake the dead to eat the living. [44]
Queen of Heaven was a title given to several ancient sky goddesses worshipped throughout the ancient Mediterranean and the ancient Near East. Goddesses known to have been referred to by the title include Inanna, Anat, Isis, Nut, Astarte, and possibly Asherah (by the prophet Jeremiah). In Greco-Roman times, Hera and Juno bore this title. Forms ...