Source recordAncient text

Descent of Inanna

Anonymous Sumerian poet · c. 1900-1600 BCE (Old Babylonian copies) · Sumerian

Ancient text

Descent of Inanna

Anonymous Sumerian poet

c. 1900-1600 BCE (Old Babylonian copies)

Sumerian poem of Inanna's passage through the seven gates into the underworld ruled by her sister Ereshkigal, her death and revival, and Dumuzi taken in her place.

About this work

Sumerian poem of Inanna's passage through the seven gates into the underworld ruled by her sister Ereshkigal, her death and revival, and Dumuzi taken in her place.

Stories drawn from it

Retellings in the atlas that quote or cite this work.

Inanna's Descent to the UnderworldmythThe Queen of Heaven descends to the underworld to confront her sister Ereshkigal, passing through seven gates where she is stripped of her power at each one. She dies and hangs upon a hook, and is only revived through cunning intervention.

About this record

By Elizabeth Stein for Mythos Atlas. About the author. Editorial notes are grounded in the site's cited sources and can be challenged through the contact page.

Dates and authorship follow standard scholarly references; for many ancient works both are approximate or disputed.