ABSTRACT
Nakedness is often associated with the figure of Ishtar, as has already been noted in the case of her descent into the underworld. It has even been suggested that the story of Ishtar's descent into the underworld was recited as an incantation to cure the sick, the ordeal and rebirth of the goddess in fact reflecting the sufferings and convalescence of the ill. On seeing the hero Gilgamesh, King of Uruk, dressing Ishtar is attracted to him and asks him to become her lover, offering him gifts and honours in return. As for the dominance of the colour green, in a poem devoted to the sea it seems that this has to be explained not as a reference to the goddess's fertile role but by a marine vision of Ishtar, yet again related to Venus Anadyomene. The myth of Ugarit again emphasizes the bond that links creation and destruction, life and death in the personality of Ishtar.
