The Return (of Inanna)

The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature

(Texts: All Artifacts, Color Coding, & Writings in Bold Type With Italics Inside Parenthesis, are Added by Editor R. Brown, not the Authors, Translators, or Publishers!)

(gods in blue)

Narrator:

A lament was raised in the city:

My lady weeps bitterly for her young husband

Inanna weeps bitterly for her young husband

Woe for her husband! Woe for her young love!

2b - Dumuzi the shepherd  (Dumuzi the Shepherd, Enki‘s & Ninsun‘s son; Dumuzi & Inanna)

Dumuzi was taken captive in Uruk

He will no longer bathe in Eridu

He will no longer soap himself at the holy shrine

He will no longer treat the mother of Inanna as his mother

He will no longer compete with the young men of the city

He will no longer raise his sword higher than the high priests

Great is the grief of those who mourn for Dumuzi.”

Inanna:

            (young lovers Dumuzi & naked Inanna)

Gone is my husband, my sweet husband!

Gone is my love, my sweet love.

My beloved has been taken from the city.

My beloved bridegroom has been taken from me

5a - Dumuzi is dead (Dumuzi found dead, his body water-logged)

Before I could wrap him with a proper shroud.”

Narrator:

But Inanna does not grieve alone.

Geshtinanna, Dumuzi‘s sister,

Wandered about the city, weeping for Dumuzi.

Geshtinanna:

             (Geshtinanna, scribe, singer of songs, Dumuzi’s sister)

I grieve for my brother, lady, I grieve for the king

Where is the Shepherd Dumuzi, my favorite kin?”

Narrator:

When she saw the sister’s grief,

When Inanna saw the grief of Geshtinanna

She spoke to her gently:

Inanna:

Your brother’s house is no more

Dumuzi has been carried away by the galla.

I would take you to him

But I do not know the place.”

Narrator:

1a-inanna-dumuzi  (young lovers, Inanna & her spouse Dumuzi The Shepherd)

Then a fly appeared, the holy fly circled the air above Inanna‘s head

It told the goddess where Dumuzi had been taken, where Dumuzi was

6 - Inanna, Dumuzi, & the Underworld  (Inanna & Geshtinanna at the steppe / gate to the Under World)

Inanna and Geshtinanna went to the edges of the steppe.

They found Dumuzi weeping.

Inanna then took Dumuzi by the hand and said:

Inanna:

You will go to the Underworld half the year

Your sister, since she has asked, will go the other half

On the day you are called, that day you’ll be taken.

On the day Geshtinanna is called, that day you’ll be set free.’

(Inanna places Dumuzi and Geshtinanna in the hands of Ereshkigal, bows and lends graces to her Holy Sister):

Inanna:

Holy Ereshkigal (Inanna‘s sister, Nergal‘s spouse)! Great is your renown!

Holy Ereshkigal! I sing you praises!”



2 - Ereshkigal (Ereshkigal, Queen of the Lower World / Under World / Nether World, & spouse Nergal)

Ereshkigal:

I accept this Mortal man and woman as Initiates of Inanna and Ereshkigal.”

(Ereshkigal and Inanna hug each other)