Inanna

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.

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.

No meeting took place between Inanna and Utu in the account that remained. Inanna made no request, and Utu granted no transformation. The account did not state why Inanna approached him, what experience she sought, or what change she wished to undergo. It gave no form for the requested transformation and preserved no exchange between the two siblings.

Utu appeared elsewhere as a judge of the nether regions. He turned the dark places to daylight and judged a case there. He also acted with Nanna as a judge below the earth, and the two gods issued decrees that could affect the living. These events belonged to other traditions and did not describe an encounter between Utu and Inanna.

The composition called Inanna and Utu was identified, but its story was not given. No purpose belonged to Inanna in the account that remained. No answer belonged to Utu. No transformation followed, and no consequence came after an exchange between them.

The events of the myth therefore ended before Inanna’s request, before Utu’s response, and before any change took place. Names, motives, actions, and outcomes beyond these limits could not be established.