by Colleen Mart

Created on: April 17, 2010

Mesopotamian mythology: The goddess, Ishtar 

Considered to be the goddess of fertility, love, sex and war, Ishtar was worshipped by the Assyrians and Babylonians. Myths said that Ishtar governed the cycles of the moon and was an earth goddess.  Other cultures in the north-west Semitic region worshipped the goddess Astarte who possessed the same powers and attributes.  It is believed that

Ishtar and Astarte were the equivalent of the same lunar goddess known by different names in different cultures.  The sacred symbol for Ishtar is an eight pointed star. 

The worshippers of Ishtar practiced “sacred prostitution” to honor their goddess of sex and fertility. Ishtar had many lovers whom she pursued aggressively and whom she treated cruelly when she tired of them.  In the myths it was common for the jilted lover to die or be imprisoned in some form.  The king of her holy city Uruk, Gilgamesh, soon became the one she desired to be her lover.  Knowing her cruel treatment of her former lovers Gilgamesh refused.  Ishtar took revenge upon the king by sending the Bull of Heaven to destroy Gilgamesh and bring plagues and drought to the kingdom.  In tablet six of the Epic of Gilgamesh, a story is told of how Gilgamesh with the aid of a friend kills the Bull of Heaven thus averting the revenge of the rejected Ishtar.  In her grief over the loss of the Bull of Heaven, Ishtar gathered her cult together in tribute to the bull which is honored with singing and dancing. 

Mythology about Ishtar is unclear whether Ishtar was the mother or sister of the god Tammuz but is more likely to have been his mother according to ancient texts.  When Tammuz became a man, he also became Ishtar’s lover.  Tammuz was killed by a wild pig and entered into the underworld from which it was believed that he would be resurrected each year in the spring bringing new life to the crops.  Ishtar was said to enter the underworld each year as the crops died to search for Tammuz.  As an earth goddess, Ishtar returned to the land of the living and she too is believed to have been responsible for the regeneration of plants and crops in the spring.  

The goddess Ishtar seems to have been the origin of many of the traditions of Easter.  From the decorated eggs to the Easter ham the customs are strikingly similar to the festivals of Ishtar.  The 40 day period of lent also is based on the period of sorrow that Ishtar demanded her followers to observe in remembrance of Tammuz. 

Although the recognized cult of Ishtar died out before the birth of Christ, many of the rituals of the cult remain with us today when we observe Easter, May Day and other spring festivals.  So has the myth of Ishtar truly died out?  It doesn’t appear so.

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