Published: Acta Sum 18(1996) 93-103

HOW DUMUZI BECAME INANNA'S VICTIM: ON THE FORMATION

OF "INANNA'S DESCENT"

Dina KATZ - Leiden

The Sumerian myth "Inanna's Descent" (ID) tells about a journey that Inanna
made to the Netherworld. It ends with the confinement of her husband Dumuzi and his
sister Ge!tinanna in the Netherworld as Inanna's replacements. A literary analysis of the
myth suggests that two of its central episodes may actually be a later addition. The
purpose of this article is to take another look at the plot of ID, and to propose that while
its first part was originally an Inanna myth that ended with her release from the
Netherworld through Enki's trick, the intervention of the Anuna gods in Inanna's release
was added later for the purpose of integrating the Inanna myth with a Dumuzi myth.
The idea that the Sumerian myth "Inanna's Descent" (ID) is a combination of
two or three separate myths is not new. In light of the similarity between the last part of
ID and the myth "Dumuzi's Dream" (DD)
1
, Sladek commented in his edition of ID on
the dichotomy in ID and suggested that the myth is a combination of two independent
myths.
2
Wilcke goes even further by identifying the last part of ID as a short version of
DD, and stating that ID is secondary to DD.
3
The myth was viewed by Jacobsen as "no
less than three separate myths". According to him, each dealt with a dying and reviving
god, and their combined form in ID created a causal sequence of death and revival of
these gods.
4
Jacobsen's reconstruction of the separate myths comprising ID may be
possible. Yet it remains indecisive mainly for his interpretation of the interchange
between Dumuzi and Inanna in the spring and for the very use of the last lines of ID to
reconstruct an applicable Dumuzi - Ge!tinanna myth.
5

It stands to reason that if one part of a narrative is known in an independent
version (or versions), the other part (or parts) may have been independent as well.
However, whereas a part of ID is indeed known as an independent myth recounting the
capture and death of Dumuzi, we have no independent counterpart for Inanna. The
question is, therefore, whether the first part of ID was an independent myth about
Inanna, what its background was, and how the components of ID were assembled to
form one comprehensive myth.

1. The plot of ID: an outline

To make it easier for the reader to follow our argument, we shall start with a
brief outline of the plot. The myth begins with an introduction that foreshadows the
events by stating Inanna's intention and listing the places and offices she left behind, and
thus hinting at the outcome (ll. 1-13). Only then actually begins the account of the
events that took place. The first episode describes Inanna's preparations for the risky
trip: her donning of her divine attire and her instructions to Nin!ubur in case she would
be trapped in the Netherworld (ll. 14-67). The instructions end with the assertion that
Enki would save her life (l. 67). This episode concludes with a report that Inanna went
to the Netherworld but told Nin!ubur who followed her to stay and observe her
instructions (ll. 68-72). In the following episode we find Inanna at the gate of the
Netherworld. This episode proceeds in three stages: The argument between Inanna and
the gate keeper, then the report given by the gate keeper to Ere!kigal and her
instructions about how to let Inanna in, and finally Inanna's entrance into the
Netherworld during which she is gradually undressed at each gate according to
Ere!kigal's plan (ll. 73-164). The next episode takes place inside the Netherworld, in
front of Ere!kigal its queen. As Inanna entered she tried to throw Ere!kigal off her
throne and to establish herself on it. As a result of her attempt of usurpation she is
judged by the seven great gods, the Anunna, and put to death. This episode ends with a
dry statement that she turned into a corpse and was hanged from a nail (ll. 165-172).
The following episode describes the rescue operation. It begins with Nin!ubur's efforts
to save Inanna, a repetition of the instructions Inanna gave her (ll. 173-221). It then
recounts Enki's plan to trick Ere!kigal and its realisation. This episode ends with the
assertion that Inanna came out of the Netherworld as a result of Enki's help (ll. 222-
284). Precisely as Inanna predicted in her instructions to Nin!ubur (l. 67), she was
indeed rescued from the Netherworld by Enki.
Seemingly Inanna's adventure came to its happy end. But no, the story goes on.
At this point the myth takes a surprising turn. The following episode takes place as
Inanna leaves the Netherworld: the Anunna appear and demand of her to provide a
substitute for herself. Consequently she is escorted by a number of galla who are to
execute the Anunna's demand. The episode ends with the formulaic description of the
galla as demons (ll.285-306). The following episode relates the search for a substitute.
In each of its four parts, Inanna and the galla encounter a divinity whom the galla seize
as a possible candidate. The first three, Nin!ubur, ara and Lulal, were mourning Inanna
and were thus released upon her request. The fourth, Dumuzi, was celebrating in a
majestic fasion; seized with rage,
6
Inanna order the galla to take him. The end of this
episode parallels the previous one: the galla, described as demons, escort Dumuzi (ll.
307-367). At this point begins the story of Dumuzi's flight from the galla (ll. 368-ca.
400)
7
. This story is known from a number of myths but mainly from "Dumuzi's Dream".
The concluding episode narrates the fate decreed for Dumuzi and Ge!tinanna to stay in
turn for a half year in the Netherworld (ll. 401-414).
Thematically, ID consists of four parts. The first part, ll. 1-284, deals with
Inanna's decent to and ascent from the Netherworld and the second part, ll. 285-367,
deals with the Anunna's demand and the search for a substitute. The third part, ll. 368-
ca. 400 is the Dumuzi myth and the last part ll. 401-414 concludes the story with a
cosmological outcome, and thus provides the literary framework of the myth. This
division suggests that ID:1-284 was originally an independent Inanna myth.
Furthermore, that the second part, consisting of ID:285-367, was composed especially
for the purpose of incorporating ID:1-284 and the Dumuzi myth to form one
comprehensive plot. The fourth part which gives a cosmological meaning to the
combined myths, seems to unify the first (Inanna) and the third (Dumuzi) parts in a
purposeful conclusion. Therefore, it may have been added to ID when the composite
plot was designed. The validity of these suggestions will be tested by an analysis of the
content and the outlines of the second part. The analysis should demonstrate the
relationship of the second part to the first (Inanna) and the third (Dumuzi) parts of the
myth, that is to say, it should determine whether the second part originally belonged to
an independent Inanna myth and brings it to a satisfactory conclusion, or whether it
should be separated from the first part and constitutes a link between two myths.
8


2. The literary materials of the second part

The second part of ID (ll. 285-367) consists of two episodes which thematically
subdivide this part into two literary units
9
: ll. 285-306 and ll. 307-367. The first, ll. 285-
306, is a closed literary unit of 22 lines. The beginning and the end of this unit are
defined by l. 285/306
d
Inanna kur-ta e
11
-da-ni, "As Inanna was rising from the
Netherworld", a temporal clause which serves as a literary and chronological framework
for the events narrated in it. This unit describes the intervention of the Anunna in
Inanna's release from the Netherworld, in which they stipulate that Inanna must bring a
substitute for herself. Following this the unit describes the galla who were assigned to
fulfil the Anunna's demand. With regard to its materials, this unit combines an element
of the first part of the myth with an element taken from its third part. Namely, it links
the Anunna, who brought the story of Inanna's descent to its climax (Inanna's death),
with the galla who will play a central role in the following story, (the capture of Dumuzi
and his death). The Anunna's demand constitutes the condition for Inanna's ascent and it
links up with the former story about her descent. The Anunna's dispatch of the galla
serves to fulfil the condition and it is linked with the pursuit, capture and death of
Dumuzi, which also form the theme of independent traditions. With regard to the plot,
this literary unit unites the Anunna and the galla on a functional level, and thereby
conjoins the story of Inanna's descent and death with the story of Dumuzi's death in a
causal relation.
The second literary unit, ll. 307-367, is characterised by its structure. This unit
describes the encounter of the galla and Inanna with Nin!ubur, ara, Lulal and Dumuzi
during the search for a substitute, and it ends with the handing over of Dumuzi to the
galla. The same phrasing is used to describe part of the encounter with each of the
aforementioned divinitis so that ll. 307-311, 327 (Nin!ubur) = 330-334, 337 (ara)= 340-
344, 346 (Lulala). Thus, this unit is structured as three parallel episodes and a fourth
one, while paralleling the others at its beginning, then digresses and moves toward a
climax. The climax reached by the fourth episode would lead to the next story -
Dumuzi's myth. Two elements in this unit pertain to the story of Inanna's descent. The
first element is Inanna's plea for Nin!ubur's life, recounting Nin!ubur's part in her rescue
from the Netherworld (compare ll. 34-67 and 176-216 with ll. 313-326). The second is
the formula describing Inanna's reaction to Dumuzi's appearance, a repetition of the
formula used to describe the Anunna prosecuting Inanna (ll. 168-170=354-356). Three
elements of this unit pertain to the Dumuzi myths. These elements are the portrayal of
Dumuzi as a king, naming him a shepherd, and the description of the spilling of the milk
(ID:351) which alludes to the destruction of the sheepfold
10
. Thus, each of the literary
units (or episodes) that form the second part of ID integrates elements from the first part
of the myth which narrated Inanna's descent and the third part which narrates the capture
and death of Dumuzi. Both literary units, which constitute the second part of ID, end
with the description of the galla as Netherworld demons.
11
This way, the author
paralleled the structure the two units and tied them together.
One can still claim that the second part was an integral component of an Inanna
myth, and that elements of the Dumuzi myth were inserted into it at the stage when the
two myths were harmonised. However, in that case one will have to name another
young god destined to die, who belongs to Inanna's circle, and who conforms with the
pattern of the three divinities who mourned her. Otherwise, the second part of ID cannot
form the end of an Inanna myth.


3. The boundaries of the second part

The second part of ID begins in l. 286, directly after Enki's rescue plan has been
accomplished. The rescue action ended in l. 281
d
Inanna ba-gub, "Thus Inanna arose",
that is revived. However, in Ur ms. S
12
we find additional three lines which emphasise
the success of Enki's rescue plan. In ll. 282-283 Ere!kigal tells Enki's creatures to take
Inanna, and l. 284 states:
d
inanna inim-
d
en-ki-[ga-! k]ur-ta e
11 -
"Inanna
,
in accordance
with Enk[i's] word, was ascending from the [Net]herworld". These lines clearly bring
Inanna's adventure to its conclusion, and from a literary point of view they seem like a
closure formula. Thus, ID:284 could represent the end of an independent Inanna myth.
In an article concerning the myth "Inanna and Enki" Alster points to a fixed
pattern in the plots of myths that evolve around Inanna.
13
According to this pattern,
Inanna leaves heaven for a journey from which she returns (or is rescued) thanks to
Enki's magic powers. The first part of ID, ending with l. 284, conforms the pattern
indicated by Alster. This conformity supports the suggestion that ID:1-284 was
originally a separate myth although it was not preserved independently. Inanna's astral
image as the star Venus provides a possible mythological background for this myth. The
star Venus disappears twice in a cycle of 584 days and it may have been concieved as
going to the Netherworld.
The second part of ID ends in l. 367, directly before the beginning of Dumuzi's
story, the third part of ID. This story describes the hunt for and the capture of Dumuzi
by the galla and the death of the god. Dumuzi's story is not unique to ID, but exists
independently in DD and in er!emma no. 97
14
. The first line of the Dumuzi's story is
ID:368 (note that ID:368=DD:152):
d
dumu-zi-d r im-da-p sig
7
-sig
7
-g-g, "Dumuzi
began to weep and turned very pale". The story then continues with Dumuzi's prayer to
Utu (ID:369-375). This prayer is already a part of the earlier Dumuzi myth, and not
related to ID. Thus is apparent from two facts. Firstly, the prayer makes no mention of
Inanna's activities in ID. On the contrary, it links Dumuzi's right for help with his merits
as Inanna's husband. Therefore the prayer did not derive from the plot of ID.
15

Secondly, apart from ID the prayer appears in similar versions in DD:164-173 and
er!emma no. 97: 68-76
16
. In DD there is no connection between the death of Dumuzi
and Inanna.
17
Moreover, she is not even mentioned in it.
The capture and death of a young god, including Dumuzi, are the theme of some
other literary compositions. Those who captured the young god are described in the
literature either as evil men, as bandits, or as galla. Within the compositions which
evolve around the capture and the death of Dumuzi there are two main traditions, one
which links the cause for his death with Inanna, such as ID, and a second in which she is
not involved at all, such as DD. An overview of the texts dealing with the death of
Dumuzi shows that actually only ID and "Dumuzi and Ge!tinanna" pin the blame on
Inanna, and that in the rest she either is searching for him or not mentioned at all.
Since the description of the capture and the death is not necessarily connected
with Inanna's activities or even restricted to Dumuzi's myth, but a motive which forms
the framework for other myths concerning the death of a young god (Damu and
Ningi!zida), it appears that ID:368-400
18
constitutes a part of an independent myth. The
correspondence between the beginning of Dumuzi's story in ID:368 and DD:152 is
significant here. It may indicate that the story teller indeed used DD as the source of
Dumuzi's story, as Wilcke observed. Yet, the omission of DD:1-151 is due to their
irrelevance to the combined myths (ID). The events narrated in DD:1-151 represent
Dumuzi's death as a foreordained misfortune of an innocent victim. Therefore, they
could not harmonise with Inanna's story in a causal relation and therefore had to be
omitted.
The end of ID, ll. 401-end, describes how Inanna decrees the fate of Dumuzi and
Ge!tinanna to stay in turn, a half year each, in the Netherworld. Yet, except for ID not
one of the compositions about the death of a young god, including Dumuzi, refers to
their resurrection.
19
Therefore, the seasonal resurrection represents an innovation
introduced to Dumuzi's myth at a later stage. Since ID is also unique in providing a
reason for Dumuzi's fate (as a substitute for Inanna) as well as in incriminating him (for
misconduct during her death), ID:401-end corresponds to the second part of ID (ll. 285-
367) in which these two innovations were introduced and form its main theme. It seems,
therefore, that ID:401-end is not a part of the original Dumuzi's myth, but a concluding
framework story. Since it describes the consequence of the integrated stories it was
probably composed in order to endow the combined myth with a cosmological meaning.

4. The significance of the second part of ID

The ability to establish the first and the third parts of ID as two independent
myths disengages them from one another and isolates the second part of the myth. The
central theme of ID's second part, Inanna's ascent from the Netherworld by means of a
substitute
20
, conforms with the principles of Sumerian theology (see the myth "Enlil and
Ninlil"). However, it contradicts the course of the story of the first part. An important
theme of the first part is Inanna's rescue from the Netherworld due to Enki's wisdom and
magic power, as predicted by the very detailed instructions Inanna gave Nin!ubur, and
the assertion that Enki would save her (ID:29-67).
21
Thus, the intervention of the
Anunna and their condition introduces a dramatic turn from the plot of Inanna's myth.
At the same time, the search for a substitute and especially the incrimination of Dumuzi
introduce a deviation from the typical Dumuzi myth. These two elements are absent
from the myths of the young dying gods, including those of Dumuzi. The captors,
whether they are named galla, evil men or bandits, search only for the very young god
who is doomed to go to the Netherworld. The dying young god is always portrayed as
an innocent victim of cruel figures. The above mentioned features are unique to ID.
Thus thematically, the second part of ID provides for the first time the reason for
Dumuzi's capture and death, and links it with Inanna.
Structurally, the outlines of ID's second part are well defined: its begining is
defined through the framework of its first literary unit (ID:285/306), and its end by a
line common to ID and DD (ID 368=DD:152). Further, the second part is located
between two stories which can exist independently, and its content represents a
deviation from the plots of these stories. A literary analysis reveals that it is composed
of elements pertaining to both an Inanna story and a Dumuzi story. The combination of
these elements made the second part of the myth compatible with each of these stories.
Introducing Dumuzi's guilt on the one hand, and stipulating Inanna's ascent from the
Netherworld by providing a substitute on the other, is an instrument to harmonise them.
It seems, therefore, that the intervention of the Anunna gods was added to Inanna's myth
as a means of introducing Dumuzi's myth. Dumuzi's guilt and arrest by the galla were
designed in order to adapt a version of Dumuzi's myth to Inanna's myth.
The possibility that ID is a combination of two independent and pre-existent
myths explains some inconsistencies found in the Sumerian mythology:
1. The episode describing Inanna handing Dumuzi over to the galla
contradicts the many compositions devoted to their love and their marriage, to her
search for the dead Dumuzi and to her bitter laments (see especially "Inanna and
Bilulu", and CT 15, 18). It also contradicts Dumuzi's epithet "the beloved husband of
Inanna" (see: "Death of Ur-nammu, l. 103, and Dumuzi's prayer to Utu which focuses
on his rights as her husband).
2. According to the end of ID Inanna visited the Netherworld only once,
and then Dumuzi and Ge!tinanna took turns there of half a year each. Yet, according to
the list of Inanna's me's she descended to and ascended from the Netherworld
22
, and
therefore it seems that she made regular visits to the Netherworld. A descent to the
Netherworld can be attributed to Inanna in her astral image as the star Venus, which
disappears twice during a cycle of 19 months. Venus's cycle could explain the first part
of ID according to which she descended to the Netherworld and came out of it with
Enki's help. However, since Venus does not have a yearly cycle, it does not correspond
with the yearly cycle of Dumuzi, which forms the conclusion of the third part of ID.
Therefore, it cannot explain his role as Inanna's substitute as stated in the second part of
this myth.
It seems that, whereas the biographies of both gods share a common motive, a
descent to the Netherworld, each of them underwent a different mythological reality.
The close relationship between Inanna and Dumuzi in Sumerian Mythology created the
possibility of combining the two different mythological events that share a similar motif
into one myth. The separation of the first part of ID from its third disengages a myth
about Inanna's visits to the Netherworld
23
from the myth of Dumuzi's death and descent
to the Netherworld and thus eliminate the above mentioned contradictions.
The composition of the second part and the concluding literary framework
integrated the two mythological events in a causal relation, and created a new myth
which explains the death of Dumuzi and his seasonal revival.



1
B. Alster, Dumuzi's Dream, Copenhagen, 1972. I am thankful to Prof. T. Abusch for
reading the manuscript and making useful comments.
2
W.R. Sladek, Inanna's Descent to the Netherworld. Diss. John Hopkins University
(University Microfilms, Ann Arbor, 1974), 26-27.
3
C. Wilcke in Kindlers Literatur Lexikon (1974) 9092, s.v. Sumerische Mythen. It is
unclear whether he means that ID is a combination of two separate myths, or a version
of DD extended to give it clear cosmological meaning.
4
Th. Jacobsen, The treasures of Darkness, A History of Mesopotamian Religion (New
Haven and London, 1976), 62.
5
As for the background of each myth, Jacobsen maintained that the end of ID (ll. 401-
414) deals with Ge!tinanna as the power in the grape and the wine and with Dumuzi in
his aspect as the power in the grain and the beer, and not as shepherd. The different
seasons of the year in which the barley and grapes are harvested and processed into beer
and wine stand for their successive stay in the Netherworld. Jacobsen further suggested
that Inanna symbolises the storehouse which becomes empty in the winter and fills up in
the spring signifying her death and revival, respectively. Correspondingly, Dumuzi
represents the shepherd whose lambs' and kids' meat fills the storehouse in the spring
and thus signifies his death. For Jacobsen's full reconstruction see n. 4, pp. 62-63.
Jacobsen's interpretation can be replaced by some alternative interpretations. Even if we
accept Inanna as the storehouse, the spring brings to mind revival for Dumuzi as well,
since it is the parturition season and a period of abundant grass, milk and cream, and
from the Old Babylonian period on we have evidence that Dumuzi's death was mourned
not in the spring but in the summer, see R. Kutscher, "The cult of Dumuzi/Tammuz" in
P. Artzi AV (1990) 40-43. More problematic is the use he made of 4 lines at the end of
the myth. These lines paraphrase a section of er!emma 165 in which Inanna decrees the
fate of the fly. Comper M. Cohen, Sumerian Hymnology: The Er!emma (1981) 87-89,ll.
19-25, with ID:401-414. This er!emma describes the search for Dumuzi's body by both
Inanna and Ge!tinanna. Although it mentions the alehouse, and according to her name
Ge!tinanna represents the power in the wine, she is described in the er!emma as the one
who brings milk and cream, and Dumuzi appears in it as a shepherd. Therefore, it is not
at all clear that the alehouse signifies their powers in nature, and relates to their
successive stay in the Netherworld. Rather, it seems to relate to the mythological role of
the fly. Furthermore, whatever the mythological background of the er!emma may be, it
is not certain that the brief mention of Ge!tinanna indeed indicates that the editor of ID
had a third myth in mind. Since a current theme in the laments for the young dying god
describes his sister or mother searching for him and following him to the Netherworld,
an alternative interpretation is that in ID the Dumuzi myth was adapted to this theme,
and that Ge!tinanna functions here simply as the sister who search for her dead brother.
In that case the paraphrased passage from e!remma 165 was chosen from the Dumuzi
er!emmas for its conformity with this current theme. Another alternative is that this
passage was used because it describes Inanna decreeing a fate, as she was actually doing
for Dumuzi and Ge!tinanna in ID, that is to say, not for mythological reasons, but for its
associative literary function.
6
The description of her rage is the same as the death sentence pronounced against
Inanna herself by the Anunna, comper ll. 168-170.
7
See now the end of ms. S in Kramer, PAPS 124 (1980) 305. The numberig of the last
part of ID follows Kramer's edition.

8
There is still another possibility, that the first part, narrating Inanna's descent to and
escape from the Netherworld, was composed together with the second part in order to
enlarge Dumuzi's myth and give it both an explanation and a cosmological meaning.
This possibility simplifies the problems stemming from inconsistencies in Inanna-
Dumuzi myths, since we do not have to look for an independent Inanna myth. Therefore
it does not need a separate detailed discussion.
9
In the above described outlines of the plot I refer to these units as episodes. The
change in the terminology stems from the nature of the discussion.
10
Compare with DD:64, where spilling the milk, symbolising Dumuzi's death, is
followed by the common motive of the bound hand and arms. ID:351 is also connected
to the description of seven galla who destroyed Dumuzi's sheepfold in er!emma no. 97,
See Cohen (n. 5) 71-83, especially ll. 40' ff. Since ll. 28-end of this er!emma are closely
related to ID, whereas they contradict the content of ll. 1-27, we cannot refer to specific
details of the description, as they might have been influenced by ID. However, Dumuzi's
designation as a shepherd and the destruction of the sheepfold is a motive common to all
the compositions which recount Dumuzi's death. Not all the myths and laments of
Dumuzi refer to him as lugal, yet we find such references both in the Badtibira tradition
("Inanna and Bilulu", Jacobsen, JNES 12[1953], 174:77,79) and the Uruk tradition
(er!emma 97:50, DD:110). The image of king is quite understandable since the
historiographic tradition knows two kings by the name Dumuzi, one in Badtibira who is
also a shepherd (SKL, p. 73, col. i:15-16), and the second in Uruk (SKL, p. 89, col iii:14-
15).
11
Since the description of the galla who accompanied Dumuzi appears in DD as well,
we could assume that it is a part of the Dumuzi myth. However, in Ms. S of ID (UET
6/1 no. 10 + Kramer, PAPS 124[1980], pp. 303-305) we don't find the long description
of the galla who accompanied Dumuzi, but an adapted repetition of the introduction to
their description in relation to Inanna, ms. S ll. 78-79=l. 24. This could mean that the
formulaic description of the galla as demons originally belongs to the description of
Inanna's exit from the Netherworld in the second part of ID, and that it's appearance
with relation to Dumuzi is a later addition. If this is the case, then Ms. S is an early
version of the complete ID. The assumption that the second part of ID was composed
especially to integrate a Dumuzi myth with an already existing Inanna myth, raises a
problem with regard to the origin of the galla motive in Sumerian literature. If the
assumption mentioned above is correct, then the galla motive originated in ID and then
it was included in other texts either in full or just to identify the captures of the young
dying god. In principle, there is a radical difference between a death by a galla and a
death by bandits. Whereas the galla represents the arm of the law and therefore his
action implies that the young dying god committed some offence, a death by bandits
implies that he was an innocent victim. This observation suggests that the galla motive
indeed originates in ID and not in the independent Dumuzi myth according to which he
was captured by a group of galla but was their innocent victim.
12
See n. 7. The text published by Kramer joins UET 6/1 no. 10 at the bottom.
13
B. Alster, "On the Interpretation of 'Inanna and Enki'", ZA 64(1974), 30.
14
See Cohen (n.5) 71-83.
15
In Dumuzi and Ge!tinanna" which is based on ID and derived from its materials, the
prayer is indeed revised and the blame for Dumuzi's misfortune is pined on Inanna (UET
6/1, no. 11:22-32; Sladek, see n. 2 227:23-26).
16
Cohen, (see n. 5) 77. The different versions of the prayer were discussed by B.
Alster (see n. 1) 114-116.

17
See also "Inanna and Bilulu" , Jacobsen (see n. 10) and er!emmas no. 88 and no.
165, Cohen (see n. 5) 84-89.
18
For the line numbers of the very last part of the myth I follow Kramer (see. n. 7)
308.
19
ID is the only Sumerian myth which specifically refer to Dumuzi's seasonal journey
to the Netherworld. Neither DD nor er!emma 97 mention Dumuzi's resurrection.
20
Afansieva, ZA 70(1980) 161-169.
21
In fact, ascent due to providing a substitute or due to magic or trick are mutually
exclusive, either she provides a substitute or uses a trick.
22
G. Farber-Flugge, Der Mythos 'Inanna und Enki" unter besonderer Beruksichtigung
der Liste der ME (Rome, 1973), pp. 54-55:19-20.
23
Although such myth is not known to us in an independent version, it could have
existed while either not have been revealed yet or not have been survived in writing.