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Inanna, a MythSource painting
Mesopotamian

Inanna

Queen of Heaven · Queen of the Great Above · Lady of the Morning

01Identity

Inanna in Mesopotamian tradition

Inanna descends to the Land of No Return, where Ereshkigal tricks her into removing her clothes, orders her killed, and leaves reproduction halted across the earth. Ea restores Inanna to life, but she must provide a substitute before leaving the Underworld. Tammuz and Geshtinanna consequently alternate residence there.

Top questions

The quick answers

  • Who is Inanna?

    Inanna is a Mesopotamian deity associated with love and sexuality; fertility and reproduction; war and conflict; kingship and political power; and Venus and the morning and evening star.
    Source

    Source

    • The Oxford Companion to World Mythology
    • Essential Visual History of World Mythology
    • Dictionary of Mythology

  • What is Inanna the goddess of?

    Inanna is associated with love and sexuality; fertility and reproduction; war and conflict; kingship and political power; and Venus and the morning and evening star.
    Source

    Source

    • The Oxford Companion to World Mythology
    • Essential Visual History of World Mythology

  • Is Inanna in Ahat Ilī - Sister of Gods?

    Yes. It is linked here to Inanna’s Descent to the Underworld.

  • What family links are recorded for Inanna?

    Father: Anu, Mother: Ningal, Spouse: Anu, 1 child, 2 siblings.

  • What happens in Inanna’s Descent to the Underworld?

    Inanna descended to the Land of No Return, where Ereshkigal tricked her into removing her clothes, ordered her killed, and left reproduction halted across the earth.
    Source

    Source

    • the ancient sources
    • Babylonian mythology
02Family

Inanna’s family, at a glance

AnuSinNingal
InannaEreshkigalShamash

with Anu, Dumuzid the Shepherd, Zababa

Shara
03The names

The names Inanna answers to

Ishtar

Akkadian name and counterpart of Inanna

SourceDictionary of Mythology

Ninanna

Lady or Queen of Heaven

SourceThe Oxford Companion to World Mythology

Ninsianna

Divine Lady of Heaven, associated with Venus

SourceThe Oxford Companion to World Mythology

Inanna of Uruk

Inanna’s principal cult form at Uruk

SourceThe Oxford Companion to World Mythology

04The myths

The myths of Inanna

4 myths, with sources recorded for each, with 2 reviewed modern reworks linked where the evidence supports it.

Inanna and Enki: The Taking of the Me

Inanna travelled to Eridu and came before Enki. She entered the feast that Enki held there. While the feast continued, Enki gave her the divine powers called the me. The me belonged to the divine order. Inanna received them during the feast. No bargain or condition accompanied the gift. Enki did not keep the me with him after he gave them to her.

Inanna gathered the me and carried them away from Eridu. She travelled towards Uruk and intended to bring the powers into her possession there. Enki did not accept their removal. He tried to recover the me from Inanna while she travelled. The attempt did not stop her journey. Inanna continued towards Uruk and carried the me with her. She reached Uruk with the divine powers, and Enki failed to take them back. The me therefore passed from Enki at Eridu to Inanna at Uruk. Inanna remained in possession of them, and the powers came under her control in Uruk.

Also told of Ishtar in the Akkadian tradition.

Inanna and Enki: The Taking of the Me, a MythSource painting of the scene

2 sources· checked 2026-08-19

  1. 1Babylonian Creation MythsT1
  2. 2the ancient sourcesT1

    Quote

    “Enki gives Inanna the me at a feast, but his attempt to reclaim them fails as she carries them to Uruk.”

    the ancient sources

Inanna and An: The Claiming of Eanna

Inanna challenged An over possession of Eanna. The challenge had no stated setting. Inanna gave no recorded speech, and An gave no answer. No action followed between the challenge and its result. The dispute was not settled through a stated agreement, force, judgement, or other act. Inanna secured Eanna and its authority for herself and Uruk. No later event followed.

An, also called Anu, was the father of the gods and the sky god. He was the upper heavens and the firmament, not the air that moved over the earth. One Sumerian genealogy made him the first-born of the primeval sea. Each city had its own protecting deity, and that deity’s house stood within the city walls. These wider traditions did not add an action, speech, or settlement to Inanna’s challenge.

In one telling of Anu’s succession, Alala ruled in heaven for nine years before his son Anu deposed him. Anu was later succeeded by Kumarbi. In another telling, Babylonian divine arrangements included Anu being bound by Marduk. These were separate struggles over divine succession, not events in Inanna’s dispute. The story ended with Inanna holding Eanna and its authority for herself and Uruk.

Also told of Ishtar in the Akkadian tradition.

Inanna and An: The Claiming of Eanna, a MythSource painting of the scene

3 sources· checked 2026-08-19

  1. 1THE EPIC OF GILGAMESH : an English version with an introductionT1
  2. 2the ancient sourcesT1

    Quote

    “Inanna obtains Eanna and its authority for herself and Uruk after challenging An.”

    the ancient sources

  3. 3THE EPIC OF GILGAMESH : an English version with an introductionT1

Inanna’s Descent to the Underworld

Inanna descended to the Underworld, the Land of No Return, to visit her sister Ereshkigal. Before she left, she instructed her vizier, Ninshubar, to perform mourning rites if she did not return within three days. She also ordered him to ask the high gods to intervene on her behalf.

At the gates, Ereshkigal sent word that Inanna could enter only if she removed her clothes. Inanna followed this instruction at each stage of her passage. The demand was a trick, and it left her naked and vulnerable. When she reached Ereshkigal, the queen of the Underworld ordered her sister killed. Inanna’s body remained in the Underworld, and reproduction ceased across the earth.

Ninshubar sought help, and the god Ea, also called Enki, intervened. Ea hastily created two beings whose sole purpose was to rescue Inanna. They entered Ereshkigal’s realm and deceived her into releasing Inanna’s body. They then used the food and drink of divine immortality to restore Inanna to life. Reproduction immediately resumed across the earth.

Inanna could not leave the Underworld permanently without finding a substitute to remain there in her place. Guarded by some of Ereshkigal’s demons, she returned to the surface and searched for a replacement. She chose her mate, Tammuz, the Sumerian Dumuzi. Tammuz’s sister, Geshtinanna, tried to rescue him, but she failed. The major parties later reached an agreement that Tammuz and Geshtinanna would alternate residence in the dark depths of the Underworld.

Also told of Ishtar in the Akkadian tradition.

Inanna’s Descent to the Underworld, a MythSource painting of the scene

In the modern world

Ahat Ilī - Sister of Gods

Music

The goddess descends to challenge the underworld ruled by her sister, restaged as a modernised, dystopian, feminist retelling.

Star Dancer

Book

Inanna's descent to the Netherworld to challenge its queen, her sister Ereshkigal, as the climax gathering multiple Mesopotamian god-and-goddess stories around her.

3 sources· checked 2026-08-19

  1. 1Babylonian mythologyT1
  2. 2the ancient sourcesT1

    Quote

    “Inanna dies in the Underworld, returns through Ea’s aid, and must provide a substitute, leading to Tammuz and Geshtinanna taking turns there.”

    the ancient sources

  3. 3Babylonian mythologyT1

Inanna and Bilulu

The supplied passage did not tell the story of Inanna and Bilulu. It told of Ishtar and Ishullanu. Ishtar invited Ishullanu to become her lover and promised him food. Ishullanu refused her. He said that his mother had baked food and that he had already eaten. He asked why he should come to Ishtar for food that was tainted and rotten. He also mocked her protection, asking when a screen of rushes had been enough to guard against frost.

Ishtar heard his refusal and struck him. She changed him into a blind mole deep beneath the earth. His desire remained beyond his reach. The passage then referred to Ishtar’s earlier lovers and suggested that she would treat Ishullanu in the same way. Ishullanu’s transformation followed his rejection of her invitation.

After this, Ishtar became bitterly enraged. She went up to high heaven to her father Anu and her mother Antum. She told them that Gilgamesh had insulted her by recounting her shameful behaviour and corrupt acts. Anu answered that she had brought the rebuke upon herself, because Gilgamesh had spoken of her behaviour and deeds. The passage ended after Anu’s reply.

Also told of Ishtar in the Akkadian tradition.

Inanna and Bilulu, a MythSource painting of the scene

2 sources· checked 2026-08-19

  1. 1THE EPIC OF GILGAMESH : an English version with an introductionT1
  2. 2the ancient sourcesT1

    Quote

    “After Bilulu and her son kill Dumuzi, Inanna finds Bilulu and changes her into a skin-bag.”

    the ancient sources

Also mentioned in

Stories elsewhere on MythSource that mention Inanna, each on that figure’s page.