ABSTRACT
The prayers and hymns that were written to Inanna, or rather Ištar in the Akkadian language, often follow Sumerian prototypes. Ištar is still the ‘lady of heaven’, according to the Sumerian interpretation of her name, 1 she is exalted as the ‘greatest of the Igigi’, and she is still in charge of love and sexual attraction, as in this Old Babylonian hymn, composed for king Amiditana (c. 1683–1647): She of joy, clothed with love, Adorned with seduction, grace, and sex-appeal. Ištar is clothed in joy and love, She is seduction, grace and sex-appeal. 2 Honey-sweet are her lips, life is her mouth; Adorned in laughing femininity. 3 She is magnificent, (….) is put on her head, Her colouring is beautiful, her eyes are shining and bright. Wherever she looks, there is gaiety, Life, power, protection. The young women she calls, finds a mother (in her) She (whom she) calls among people, she gives her a name. She, who is exulted among the gods, her word has weight, (Yet) She is more amenable than them. She is their queen, they receive her commands, They all bend their knees before her. In their assembly, her pronouncement has exceeding power, Equal to Anum, their king, she sits amongst them. Through insight, deep wisdom and intelligence she is wise. They confer among each other, she and her husband. They occupy the throne dais together, On the high temple, the abode of exultation; The gods stand before them both, taking heed of their pronouncements. The king, their favorite, the beloved of their hearts, Keeps offering them splendid sacrifices. Amiditana prepares for their fulfilment, the pure sacrifice of His hands, bulls and sheep, only fattened ones. Thereupon, she asks her Anum, her husband, for enduring, long life for him, Many years of life, did Ištar give Amiditana, and kept on giving him. Through her command, she subdued the four corners of the world for him, Put the totality of settlements under his yoke. What her heart desires, the song of her grace, is right for his mouth, He fulfils thereby the command of Ea for her. He heard how he praised her, rejoiced over him: ‘May the king live!’—for ever may she love him! May Ištar grant Amiditana, the king who loves you, long enduring life! May he live! The first passage reiterates the standard Sumerian epithets of the goddess’ beauty and seductiveness. She is love and charm personified. The salient words here are: inbu, taken from horticultural terminology, literally ‘fruit’, in the context of love poetry it is ‘ce qui donne la jouissance sexuelle’—as Thureau-Dangin explained (1925:174). 4 kuzbu, according to the lexical lists and other textual passages, is the closest Akkadian equivalent to hi-li; and we encounter the same difficulties in finding an adequate translation in English— ‘seductiveness’, ‘sex-appeal’, irresistible attraction’, ‘voluptuousness’ are some of the common renditions, although the word could also stand for ‘orgasm.’ 5 Ištar’s epithet as belet kuzbim summarizes her sexual potential, lalû is a similar concept; often used synonymously, it is usually translated as ‘lust’. 6
