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Between Text And Icon A Survey of Ishtar In the Ancient
Near East
Due to the lack of captions of art and iconography in the ancient near east,1
discovering the nexus between between texts and material culture becomes especially
necessary for a full understanding of Ancient Mesopotamian religion. It is obvious that
utilizing the texts alone or utilizing using the art and artifacts alone will give a one sided
picture of what religion looked like. What is less obvious but equally true is that a
thorough analysis of the relationship between texts and artifacts is necessary in
understanding a phenomenon of Ancient Mesopotamia.
Jean Bottéro writes that the
only knowledge we may discuss in relation to Ancient Mesopotamian Religion is a
‘Historical Knowledge’ as opposed to an ‘immediate knowledge.’2 Following these
guidelines, one shouldn't jump to conclusions of the immediate, detailed knowledge of
Ancient Mesopotamian Religion. However "the spirit and the broad outlines of
Mesopotamian religion," as Bottéro put it, which requires less specific claims, can be
contributed to through rigorous research. The following research aims to analyze and
breakdown theories regarding the origins of certain artifacts, like the attributing of a
miniature corbel to the ‘Hand of Ishtar’, as well as to confirm theories which are backed
1
Black, Jeremy, Anthony Green, and Tessa Rickards. Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient
Mesopotamia . London: British Museum Press, 1992. Introduction.
2
Religion in Ancient Mesopotamia (trans. Teresa Lavender Fagan;
Jean Bottéro, Chicago:The University
of chicago Press, 2001), P. 26 .
up by substantial evidence, such as the Stele which represents Ishtar. While the
miniature corbel, especially because of its lack of detailed inscription or imagery, needs
a leap of imagination to be linked with the goddess Ishtar, the stele can be reliably
interpreted to be related to Ishtar based on the links between the texts and iconography.
Ishtar, or in her Sumerian form known as Inanna, was the most popular god or
goddess in ancient Mesopotamia
. As Wolkstein points out, “Inanna played a greater role
in myth, epic, and hymn than any other deity, male and female.”3 Ishtar was a major
figure within the pantheon of deities in Ancient Mesopotamia, and has had many
personality aspects, partially because of her popularity and the differences that arose
from her different temples throughout Ancient Mesopotamia. Her earlier Sumerian
name was Inanna, and Ishtar/Inanna’s personality was probably syncretized form many
local cults including Inanna of Uruk, Inanna of Zabala, Inanna of Agade, Inanna of Kis,
Ishtar of Nineveh and Ishtar of Arba’il.4
According to Black and Green, Ishtar’s many personalities can be broken into
three main strains.5 Ishtar is the patron deity of love and sexual behavior, and
specifically regarding prostitution. There are many textual proofs for this, chief among
them when Gilgamesh refuses her advances, noting that she had destroyed her many
previous lovers before him.6 A second trait of Ishtar’s profile is her war lust and and love
of battle, as will be described below. Lastly, Ishtar is seen as an astral deity, specifically
3
Wolkstein, Diane, and Samuel Noah Kramer. Inanna: Queen of Heaven and Earth: Her Stories and
Hymns from Sumer . London: Rider, 1984.
4
Black, Jeremy, Anthony Green, and Tessa Rickards. 1992. 108109.
5
Black, Jeremy, Anthony Green, and Tessa Rickards. 1992. 108109.
6
Gilgamesh: A New English Version
The Epic of Gilgamesh, VI.733, 4279. Stephen Mitchell, (NY: Free
Press, 2004), VI.1291, 1305.
related to the morning and evening star. With this background of Ishtar’s profile, the
related iconography and textual sources will now be explored through specific artifacts.
The first artifact in relation to Ishtar that will be explored with regards to religion
in text and art is the ‘Stele representing the goddess Ishtar’7. The artifact was discovered
in the ruins of the ancient city of Til Barsip, capital of BitAdini, an Aramaean kingdom
of northern Syria (Louvre website.) The stele portrays a figure standing on the back of a
lion, with weapons coming out of the figures back and shoulder, with what looks like
arrows and a sword. The figure wears a head covering with curved horns, the symbol of
a deity in Mesopotamian religion. The head covering is topped with a spherical object,
and if one inspects closely, inside the sphere seems to be a star. The figure has in it’s
hand the leash of the striding lion, upon which the figure stands, and is garbed with the
front leg free. What connects this figure to Ishtar?
One connecting text we have is the Agushaya poem, a poem in which Ishtar acts
assertively toward Ea, and wins the argument. In this poem, she is described as warlike
and mighty:
Let me praise the greatest one, the warrior among the gods, The daughter of
Ningal’s might and fame let me extol! Ištar, the greatest one, the warrior among the
gods, The daughter of Ningal, let me tell of her might! Her grandeur is manifest, her
ways hard to fathom, She is always in battle, cunning is her str[atagem]...8
7
"
Stele Representing the Goddess Ishtar." Stele Representing the Goddess Ishtar. Accessed December 14,
2015. http://www.louvre.fr/en/oeuvrenotices/stelerepresentinggoddessishtar?sous_dept=1.
8
The Agushaya Poem, (Benjamin R. Foster, Before the Muses: An Anthology of Akkadian Literature
[Bethesda, Md.:
CDL Press, 2005]), 96‐106. Lines 1‐6, Tablet 1.
Ishtar is introduced twice as a warrior goddess, and is ‘always in battle’.
In the
poem ‘Self Praise to Ishtar9,’ the poet furthers this point by describing Ishtar’s
destructive side: “I rain battles down like flames in the fighting, I make heaven and
earth shake with my cries, the mountains lie low when I tread on the earth, I, Ishtar, am
queen of heaven and earth….. I destroy what remains of the inhabited of the world, I
devastate the lands hostile to Shamash.”
In ‘A Syncretistic Hymn to Ishtar,’10 line 14, Ishtar is linked explicitly to a bow and
arrow, as is seen stemming from the back of the figure in the stele:
“Goddess of bow,
arrow and quiver, who dances in battle like a tornado Ištar of Akkad
.” Her warring
nature exhibited in the text is symbolized on the stele by her weapons and dominant
pose over the lion, as well as her forward striding posture.
A second textual source for Ishtar’s connection to weapons can be found in ‘Great
Prayer to Ishtar,’ in lines 16:
‘Ishtar...Inanna…. you are the luminary of heaven… Who brandishes weapons.
”
11
Ishtar is mentioned as a lioness is many Ancient Mesopotamian texts, as she is in the
“The lioness Ishtar quieted, her heart was appeased.”12
last line of this Agushaya poem,
The significance of the leading of the lion and standing on top of the lion could show the
defeat and subduing of a former enemy who now serves the deity13. The lion was seen as
9
Ibid. 95.
10
Lambert, W. G.. 2003. “A Syncretistic Hymn to Ištar”. Archiv Für Orientforschung 50. Archiv für
Orientforschung (AfO)/Institut für Orientalistik: 21–27.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/41668613 .
11
Ibid. 599605.
12
Ibid. 106.
13
Wiggermann F.A.M. 1994. s.v. Mischwesen A. Philologisch. Mesopotamien. Reallexikon der Assyriologie
8:222244.
a fearsome part of nature, and was hunted by the kings in an arena14 to demonstrate that
the king had control over nature. Some scholars draw a direct link from this conquering
of the lion by the king and nature to the linking of the lion to Ishtar.15 The general
symbolic idea of the lion is that it represents the total and complete power and warring
ability, as is ascribed to Ishtar in the texts.
All these connections between the texts relating to Ishtar and the connections to
the relief here helps identify who the figure in the stele is; Namely, Ishtar. However, just
showing that the figure is warlike isn’t enough to tell the viewer that the deity is Ishtar,
as many divine figures were warlike, and were associated with weaponry. Also, the lion
as a symbol wasn’t exclusively associated with Ishtar.16 An understanding of this artifact
from the perspective of Black and Green’s third personality trait of Ishtar, Ishtar's
relation and connection to the morning and evening star, would really show that the
figure in this stele is indeed Ishtar. Ishtar is known to be connected to the celestial
bodies from a few texts. First, she is referred to as ‘luminary of heaven’ in the first line of
‘Against Impotence’.17 Second, in the poem ‘To Ishtar’, which is a poem praising Ishtar,
the poet says in the eighth stanza, ‘All of them bow down before her; They go to her in
her radiance, women and man fear her too.’18 Foster understands this as a reference to
Ishtar’s quality as queen of heaven. The third group of texts, which are the most directly
14
Black, Jeremy, Anthony Green, and Tessa Rickards. 1992. 118119
15
Ornan, Tallay, Shlomit WekslerBdolah, Shua Kisilevitz, Benjamin Sass, שועה ,וקסלרבדולח שלומית ,אורנן טלי
קיסילביץ, and גליפטיים וממצאים ,מירושלים בחותם אלוהי כסמן האריה :(2:1 )עמוס "ישאג מציון ’"ה .2012 .זאס בנימין
המערבי הכותל רחבת מחפירות אחרים / "the Lord Will Roar from Zion" (amos 1:2): The Lion as a Divine Attribute
on a Jerusalem Seal and Other Hebrew Glyptic Finds from the Western Wall Plaza Excavations”. 'atiqot /
72 עתיקות. Israel Antiquities Authority / 13–*1 :העתיקות *רשות. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23465792.
16
Strawn B.A. 2005. What is Stronger than a Lion? Leonine Image and Metaphor in the Hebrew Bible and
the Ancient Near East (OBO 212). Fribourg Gottingen.
17
Benjamin R. Foster, 2005. 676.
18
Ibid. 85.
related to Ishtar’s astral nature, are two Sumerian royal hymns, ‘The Lady of the
Evening’ and ‘The Lady Who Ascends Into the Heavens.’ In the former, the hymn
concludes with “Inanna, the lady of the evening, is radiant. I sing your praises, holy
Inanna. The lady of the evening is radiant on the horizon.”19 20 In the latter, the poet
begins with the following: “My Lady, the Amazement of the Land, the Lone Star, The
Brave One who appears first in the heavens all the lands fear her.”21
How does this connect to the image of the figure in the stele? The stardisk or
sphere on top of the figures headdress is noted by scholars to symbolize Ishtar’s astral
nature.22 Each aspect of the stele points to another aspect of Ishtar that can be gleaned
from various texts. All the iconography links with the texts to provide a piece of the
picture for Ishtar's profile, and thus the evidence points, with a large amount of
certainty, to this stele being a portrayal of Ishtar.
An artifact that is much more dubiously related to Ishtar is the Miniature Corbel,
(Hand of Ishtar) in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.23
There are over 170 clay hands
that have been discovered in 7 cities, with a third of them being inscribed. Of the
inscriptions, all but one tell us they belong to Ashurnasirpal II24. This hand in specific
has clearly delineated lines as fingers, curled inward like a fist, with nails prominently
etched in. Attached to the hand is an unfinished arm, which probably was placed inside
19
Wolkstein, Diane, and Samuel Noah Kramer. 1984. 101.
20
It is important to note that here an important blurring of the lines between Black and Greens personality
happens; In this poem, along with night comes the young man making love with his beloved. Ishtar’s
personality of love blends with her astral qualities.)
21
Ibid, 105
22
Benzel, Kim. Art of the Ancient Near East: A Resource for Educators. New York: Metropolitan Museum
of Art, 2010. 3940.
23
Miniature Corbel (." "hand of Ishtar"). Accessed December 20, 2015.
http://www.metmuseum.org/collection/thecollectiononline/search/324624.
24
Frame, Grant. "Assyrian Clay Hands." Baghader Mitteiliungen , no. 22 (1991): 33581.
the wall and not seen from the outside. The inscription on this hand tells the viewer that
this hand belonged to Ashurnasirpal II, and the slightly damaged last line informs the
reader that the hand is the property of the god Enlil.
It is important to note that the hand in Ancient Mesopotamia (as it is today)
generally connotes seizure, control, or possession. The hand, as we humans use it, is our
way of asserting ownership. When people are diseased, they have lost control, they are
possessed by another. Ancient Mesopotamians thought that when they were sick they
must be possessed by the hand of some god, godess, disease or spirit (Black and Green.)
Thus, in the relevant Akkadian literature there are many uses of the phrase Hand of ‘X’,
where ‘X’ can be a ghost, god or goddess 25. In very few instances the hand can mean
protection, but the overwhelming majority of usage of ‘hand’ means plague and disease.
26
A clear example of this is in Atrahasis, where Enki advise Atrahasis to save the people
from the plague by giving a loaf of bread to the god Namtar, and when Atrahasis does,
he proclaims27 ‘May he be shamed by the gift and withdraw his hand.' The meaning of
this is that Atrahasis wants Namtar to withdraw his plague, which is synonymous here
with his hand.
Another instance of this is in the poem of the righteous Sufferer, Ludlul Bel
Nemeqi, which is a long narrative poem about a man who feels he has been forsaken by
the gods and is beset with many diseases, but ends up cured. In the beginning of the
third tablet, the diseased man says ‘his hand was heavy upon me, I could not bear it!’
25
The Bible and the Ancient Near East: Collected Essays.
Roberts, J. J. M. "The Hand of Yaweh." In
Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2002. 96.
26
Ibid.
27
Benjamin R. Foster, 2005. 676, line 399.
This usage of hand refers to disease from a god, supporting the assertion that hand in
the Ancient Near East is associated with disease and plague.
The hand of Ishtar specifically can refer to a number of different diseases. Some
scholars say it refers to some sort of psychological diseases28 but this doesn’t seem to be
the case. In the Mari text ARM X 87, a woman by the name of Sattukiyazi complains
because Zimrilim sent her to Saragatum, and she says that she is sick, and that the
hand of Ishtar is strong on her.29 The hand of Ishtar is the most common disease named
in Ancient Mesopotamian texts.30 In the many incantations against diseases and
medicinal texts the ‘Hand of Ishtar’ could refer to a fever and burning of the liver,
stomach, and phallus, which is realized by the text as a venereal disease.31 It could also
refer to any sexual disease, deafness, numb skull, headache or head ailment, jaundice,
gnashing of teeth and loss of feeling in limbs, hurting neck or throat, black feet. While it
follows that venereal disease is part of the diseases that one can have from Hand of
Ishtar due to Ishtar’s profile as the goddess of prostitution and sex, the rest of the
illnesses seem rather arbitrarily ascribed to ‘Hand of Ishtar’.
Why would an object that is associated with disease and plague, a symbol for the
‘Hand of Ishtar’, be found in the temple? It could be that the corbel was used as some
type of amulet or cure for disease. However, this seems unlikely due to the fact that one
gets cured from the disease of the Hand of Ishtar and from other diseases in Ancient
Mesopotamia not through holding an amulet of the hand of Ishtar, but rather by
28
Black, Jeremy, Anthony Green, and Tessa Rickards. 1992. 102.
29
Roberts, J. J. M. 2002. 96.
30
Münnich, Maciej. The God Resheph in the Ancient Near East.
203
31
Scurlock, Jo Ann. Sourcebook for Ancient Mesopotamian Medicine . First Edition. SBL Press, 2014. 189.
incredibly bizarre and unique rituals, such as this one “You mix dough and flour and
make the figurine of a man and women and put them by the foot of the person's bed and
recite the presentation 7 times. Then, you take the person’s figurines and put them in
front of a pig If the pig approaches it is the hand of Ishtar, if not, sorcery afflicts that
person.”32
There doesn’t seem to be any Hand of Ishtar in reference to the archaeological
decorative aspect of the Palace walls. The hand that is written of in the texts is not an
actual hand but rather a symbol for possession or control. The Hand of Ishtar appears to
be associated with a wide range of diseases, and one that is not cured by having an
amulet or an actual physical hand of Ishtar. In addition, there is no symbol on this hand
which relates to any of Ishtar's symbols or emblems. So on what basis is this artifact
called Hand of Ishtar?
Jeremy Black and Anthony Green actually suggest that the ‘Hand of Ishtar’ is just
a clenched fist that may have had some magical powers of protection, but may also just
have been decorative aspects to the temple, and most importantly has nothing to do
with Ishtar33. J.E Curtis and J.E Reade think similarly and suggest that this hand was
entirely a decorative piece in the palace at Nimrud.34
What was the thinking that led to this hand having to do with the Hand of Ishtar?
Scholars have suggested35 that this Assyrian hand was the source for the custom of using
a symbol or amulet of a hand, the Hamsa, as a protection from the evil eye, but this is
32
Ibid, 692.
33
Black, Jeremy, Anthony Green, and Tessa Rickards. 1992.
34
Art and Empire: Treasures from Assyria in the British Museum.
Curtis, John, and J.E Reade. New York:
Metropolitan Museum of Art :, 1995. 55.
35
Frame, Grant. 1991. 33581. He mentions specifically R. Campbell Thompson.
unproven and has no textual basis. In three incantations against the evil eye,36 there is
no mention of the hand or amulet as a cure. It could be that the Middle Eastern custom
of using the ‘hamsah’ as an amulet originates in Ancient Mesopotamia, but there is no
textual or archaeological basis for it.
Ultimately, the hand could have had many uses in the palace, including the
holding up of beams, water drainage, or the marking of the treasury of Assurnasirpal II
during the temple and palace renovations when the capital was moved from Assur to
Nimrud, where this artifact was found.37 It also may have started off as an object for
functional use and was then used for decoration. The essential point is that this is an
example of a text and an artifact which don’t speak to each other to create a greater
understanding of Mesopotamian religion.
Religion in Ancient Mesopotamia has much to offer to the scholar of history and
religion. How one goes about reconstructing this ancient religion and its symbols goes a
long way towards determining what the religion will look like to the 21st student century
student. The above analysis has demonstrated that in certain areas scholars can
confidently express an understanding of religion in Ancient Mesopotamia, and in some
cases scholars can’t. It is the wish of the author that scholarly analysis continue to rely
upon critical analyses and the utilization of all resources, specifically both textual and
archaeological findings, for the future analyses of Ancient Mesopotamian Religion.
36
Benjamin R. Foster, 2005. 65,176,962.
37
Frame, Grant. 1991. 33581.