ABSTRACT
Inanna (in Sumerian) and Ishtar (in Akkadian) were the most revered and populargoddesses of ancient Mesopotamia. As it says in the Great Prayer to Ishtar: ‘Where is not your name, where are not your daises, where are not your powers?’ (Boghazköy version lls. 17′–18′, Zgoll 2003: 57). Despite their notoriety, these goddesses present an enigma. Controversy surrounds the figures of Inanna and Ishtar both in scholarly and popular literature. Although there is consensus concerning the factual evidence, scholars differ greatly on the interpretation of that evidence. The etymology of their names,1 their genealogy, consorts, children, and manifestations are all unsettled and debatable topics.
