Inanna

From Wikinfo

Innana was one of the most revered of Goddess names among the later Sumerian peoples. She was descended from the ancient family of the Creator Goddess Nammu, who was her grandmother. Inanna was said to hold "full power of judgment and decision and the control of the law of heaven and earth" and her sacred planet was Venus, the evening star. She was often symbolized as a serpent, Ama Usum Gal Ana, Mother Serpent Great of Heaven, or as a Lioness in Battle.

Along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers were many shrines and temples dedicated to Inanna. The temple of E Anna, Inanna's House of Heaven, in Erech, was the greatest of these. This temple was 5000 years old and had been built and rebuilt many times to hold a community of sacred women who cared for the temple lands. The High Priestess of Inanna would choose for her bed one she would appoint as shepherd. He would become Dumuzi, sacred son/lover of Inanna, if he could prove his worth.

In later times, the Goddess lost some of her powers, which were said then to have been given her by Enki, rather than by her grandmother Nammu and her mother Ningal. The legend tells that Inanna traveled to Eridu, and was given the one hundred Me's, which were the gifts of culture such as truth and justice, as well as practical skills such as weaving and pottery-making. Though Enki regretted his drunken decision to release the Me's to her, and sent mighty sea monsters to stop her boat as it sailed the Euphrates, she was able to defeat them and bring the knowledge back to Erech.

References

• Adapted from the Wikipedia article, "Inanna" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inanna, used under the GNU Free Documentation License