The Descent of Inanna

Queen of Heaven and Earth

The Descent of Inanna, written in Sumerian approximately 2100 BC, is the oldest recorded narrative of death and resurrection in human history. The goddess Inanna, Queen of Heaven and Earth, decides to descend into the Great Below — the underworld ruled by her sister Ereshkigal. At each of seven gates, she is stripped of one of her divine attributes until she arrives naked before her sister’s thron