The Descent of Ishtar and the Exegesis of the Soul
Taking as a starting point a very interesting article by Professor Simo Parpola published by the University of Helsinki Press, named above, complete work found in the States Archives of Assyria, volume IX, I kindly invite you to join our discussions on this complex text. The material can be acquired or found in renowned bookshops and university libraries.
As an aid for our discussions, the text will be posted here in short. All rights naturally belong to Professor Parpola and the illustrious board of editors of the States Archives of Assyria. The material will be posted here as an aid for research and further studes only.
From the Depths and To the Heights to share in all spheres
Re: The Descent of Ishtar and the Ascent of the Soul (1)
THE DESCENT OF ISTHAR AND THE ASCENT OF THE SOUL
Sourse: Parpola, Simo (Editor in Chief) (1997) The Descent of Ishtar and the Ascent of the Soul. In: Assyrian Prophecies, States Archives of Assyria, Volume IX. Publishd by the Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project of the University of Helsinki, in co-operation with Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft, 1997. Editorial board: Frederick Fales, Simo Parpola, Nicholas Postgate, Julian Reade, Robert M. Whiting. All rights reserved to authors. Text reproduced here for aid in research and studies only
To understand the Descent of Ishtar correctly, it is essential to realize that it has nothing to do with “fertility” or “seasonal growth and decay” but, like the gnostic myth of the Fall of Sophia, addresses the question of man´s salvation from bondage of matter. Its protagonist is the “Neoplatonic” Cosmic Soul, personified as the goddess Hekate in the Chaldean Oracles. The first half of the myth presents the soul´s heavenly origin and the defilement in the netherworld, i.e. the material world, the latter half outlines Her way of salvation. Like Sophia and Hekate Soteira, the goddess of the myth thus is a “two-faced” entity. Descending, She is the Holy Spirit entering the prison of the body; ascending, She is the penitent soul returning to Her celestial home. This double role explains Her contradictory figure, which combines the image of the Holy Spirit with that of a prostitute.
The affinity of the Gnostic Sophia myth and the Descent of Ishtar is borne out by several considerations, most importantly by a Nag Hammadi treatise entitled the Exegis of the Soul. This text has been taken as a rephrasing of the Valentinian myth of Sophia; in actual fact, however, its narrative much more closely follow that of the Descent of Ishtar, to the extent that it could be considered a rumming commentary or a paraphrasis of the latter. In contrast with most gnostic texts, it is written in easily comprehensible language, clearly meant to explain rather than conceal. It thus offers a most valuable interpretive parallel to the Descent of Ishtar, whose heavily metaphorical and allegorical language served just the opposite purpose.
The descent of Ishtar is presented in terms of a stripping metaphor. She leaves her home as the Queen of Heaven, the wise, chaste and pure daughter of the moon, dressed in her regal attire. At each gate of the netherworld, She has to take off one piece of her clothing until She in the end arrives at the netherworld completely naked, stripped of all her virtues and powers. Her later ascent is expressed by reversing the metaphor: at each of the seven gates, She gets back a piece of clothing in na order mirroring that of their removal.
In the Exegis of the Soul, we read: As long as the soul was alone with the father, She was virgin in form and androgynous. But when She fell down into a body and came to this life, She fell into the hands of many robbers. Some made use of Her [by force], while others did so by seducing her. In short, they defiled her and she lost her virginity. And in her body she prostituted herself”. Even though no reference to the removal of garments is actually made in the text, both the context and the use of the word robbers imply that the stripping metaphor underlies this passage too.
The same metaphor is also found in Jewish mysticism, where the Torah revels herself by a process of undressing, while man ascends to higher world through a process of dressing. A student of the Torah aspires to become a bridegroom of the Shekhnah, and one who diligently studies the Torah clothes the Shekhinah, for She is naked in Her exile in this world. Conversely, every sinner is thought of as one who disrobes the Shekhinah, and in so doing prologes her exile.
The gates through which Ishtar has to pass on her way back from the netherworld corresponds in the Kabbalah to th gates of the sefirot, through which the soul must pass in order to reach the Divine King. In Gnosticism, and in the mysteries of Mithras, they correspond to the seven planetary heavens or spheres. In each case, they are implicitly linked to a clear-cut doctrine of salvation, which we shall now consider.
In the Exegis of the Soul, the way to salvation is opened up by repentance, mouning, prayer and mercy. Recognizing her miserable condition, the soul begins to call with all her heart upon the name of her father: “Save me, my father, for behold I will render na account for thee, for I abandoned my house and fled from my maiden´s quarters. Restore me to thyself again.” The text adds “When the father, who is above, sees her in such a state, then he will count her worthy of his mercy upon her”
In the Descent of Ishtar, the same idea is expressed through the penitent figure of Papsukkal, who weps before Ishtar´s father, and through the creation of the affeminate assinnu, who releases Ishtar from Ereshkigal´s thrall. The assinn corresponds to the gnostic helper sent by the father to the suffering soul to comfort it, awaken it, and to provide it with the food and water of life, the word (logos) of salvation. The sprinkling of Ishtar with the water of life corresponds to the baptism which in Exegisis of the Soul effects the rebirth and cleansing of the Soul.
In the Exegisis of the Soul, the ascent of the soul – the restitution of her original unity with God – is presented in terms of a wedding allegory. The soul is a bride adorning herself for the arrival of the bridegroom, her man and her brother, to whom She was joined when she was with the father. The text then explicitly states: “This is the ransom for captivity. This is the upward journey of ascent to heaven. This is the way of ascent to the father.... Then when she will become young again she will ascend, praising the father and her brother, by whom she was rescued. “
The ascent of Ishtar, too, requires a ransom: Tammuz, her brother and the husband of her youth, must be given to the netherworld as her substitute. The sacrifice of Tammuz – a metaphor for the death of the king as Son of God – constitutes the culmination of the whole myth and must be regarded as a functional equivlanet of the redemptory death of Christ. As in Christianity, it paradoxically becomes a promise of eternal life for man. At the end of the myth, we are told: “When Tammuz rises, the lapis lazuli pipe and the carnelian ring will rise with him, the male and female mourners will rise with him” May the dead rise and smell the incense!”
Follows Part 2
From the Depths and To the Heights to share in all spheres
Re: The Descent of Ishtar and the Ascent of the Soul (1)
The religions of pre-Persian and pre-Greek Mesopotamia seem far removed from the ideologies of the Gnostic cosmos, IMHO. Although this may seem strange, the ancient religions of Sumer and Akkad are better embodied by the historic Middle Eastern religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, which do recognize the immanence of the sacred realm. The divine force is at home and active in this empirical world. Obviously, the extreme centralization of the divine realm in the Middle Eastern religions represents a substantial break with the Mesopotamian world view, but at least they don't make divinity totally alien to the empirical world. A more fruitful line of comparison might be between the Descent of Ishtar and Shinto stories of Amaterasu. The Gnostic Redeemer does not seem very close to Ishtar or Dumuzi, IMHO. Just a few musings from an old Sumerian scribe who thinks we should not treat our Existenz here as such an alien place as the Gnostics would recommend.
Re: The Descent of Ishtar and the Ascent of the Soul (1)
Agree in degree, gender and number with you, Dubsar, and this is why I am adressing the issues of Professor Parpola´s analyses to the board. IMHO, I think Professor Parpola used Gnosticism to justify Ishtar, something that can´t be done because Ishtar cannot be understood in terms of later Gnosticism.
However, it is going to be interesting to do a full account of the Wisdom in the Bible, the active Beloved of the Prophets, who is described in such a passionate language, and the Wisdom through Experience embodied in Inanna/Ishtar.
I made an informal interview with my brother, a great business man and the owner of the French bistrot I normally have lunch at. What are the virtues of an entrepreneur and leader, a person who started his/her own business? Look at what I got:
1) Determination;
2) Will-Focus;
3) Initiative;
4) Courage-Guts;
5) Belief in Oneself;
6) Analysis of present and immediate future circumstances;
7) the ability to learn from one´s own mistakes; to be aware of the market and the needs of one´s business and time.
The entrepreneur is very much the one who learns from experience and brings the wealth of his/her past and present life into the sum of his or her achievements. Very much the Wisdom embodied by Inanna/Ishtar.
People in general and the Bible equate Wisdom to Reflexive Knowledge. It is also wisdom, but there is also the way we incorporate experience into our lives, or the kind of active Learning through Hands-On experience to trespass and open new horizons.
Thanks a million for your input, Dubsar!
Tomorrow, I will post the second part of the text. Tonight,
I will look into the concept of righteous living as embodied in the life of Ur-Nammu, the founder of the Third Dynasty of Ur, builder of temples and palaces, whose journey to the Underworld shows that a righteous life deserves equally great rewards. Intend to get Jacobsen as well.
We can go beyond this text together!!! a Great group achievement, because... Professor Parpola is a great Assyriologist as well!!!
Cheers to us all,
Lishtar
From the Depths and To the Heights to share in all spheres
Re: Virtue in Mesopotamia
Your use of the word "virtue" is interesting, Lishtar. This word calls to mind the Victorians of England who are not remembered fondly if at all by most people in the United States. Nevertheless, Eliade would urge us, I think, to find through our experience of the sacred enduring values rather than merely temporary shifting "values," the code word used in the United States by those who value winning at any cost. The Mesopotamians understood better than most Americans the virtue of community spirit and perseverance in tradition. To the virtues of the entrepreneur perhaps we can add some ideas about creative use and responsibility to one's traditions. Strictly utilitarian ethics are subject to immense abuse and brutality. I would include National Socialism as an example of the misuse of utilitarian perspectives. Hope this does not sound too harsh. Ishtar's aggressiveness did not rip her out of the corporate traditions and responsibilities of the Mesopotamian world views which her worship supported. Just a few controversial ramblings to engage and encourage Lishtar in her search and leadership in virtue!
Re: Virtue in Mesopotamia
Agree in gender, degree and number with you again, dearest Dubsar! Could you please give me the source, if possible, of the thoughts by Eliade you mentioned? I love Eliade as well!!
Yesterday I was reading in bed The Good Life by Jacobsen (in the Intellectual Adventure of Ancient Man). I will post thoughts about it tomorrow. The righteous life, respect to the elders and the traditions, as you said so well mentioning Eliade, were at the core of Mesopotamian code of conduct and life.
I guess the value of Professor Parpola´s article on the Descent and Gnosis lies in his findings on how much the Gnostics made their own the Myth of the Descent of Ishtar Professor Parpola may have scored very high here. But not in the other way round. I would like to explore futher the vision of sexuality as something desirable especially for couples, because as Leick pointed out so well in Sex and Eroticism in Mesopotamia (Routledge, 1994), it provided a foundation for long and healthy relationships, both human and divine. The joyous language of the poems of the Inanna and Dumuzi cycle as well as the numerous poems involving other divine couples (Nabu and Tashmetum, Nergal and Ereshkigal, etc.) show that sex was important and sacred. On top of everything else, we don´t have records of adultery and philandering in the Mesopotamian pantheon.
Because this is a chapter by a first-class Assyriologist and from a text which is hard-to-get, I posted it here to discuss issues with you.
I find it very exciting to see that the scholarly static sages of the Bible found an active etheric Goddess of Wisdom to wed in the astral at least. The feminine is never totally alienated in the Old Testament Bible, although it comes veiled in many instances. But it is there nevertheless for those who have eyes to see.
rushing to meet brother who is lieaving with wife and kids for ten days,
Lishtar
From the Depths and To the Heights to share in all spheres
Re: The Descent of Ishtar and the Exegesis of the Soul (2)
In sum, it seems certain that the Descent of Ishtar contained the basic tenets of na ecstatic mystery cult promising its followers absolution from sins, spiritual rebirth and resurrection from the dead. These rewards were in store for thosew who were ready to follow the path of the Goddess from prostitution and suffering to the wedding in heaven. In the words of the Gnostic document, Thunder Perfect Mind:
I am the first and the last.
I am the honoured and the despised.
I am the prostitute and the holy
I am the wife and the virgin
I am the mother and the daughter
I am the voice whose sound is manifold
And the logos which has many images.
I am shame and boldness...
I am war and peace...
I am the union and the dissolution
I am what is beneath and to me will they come up
I, I am sinless and yet the root of sin derives from me
Give heed then, O listeners....
For many are the sweet forms which exist in numerous sins and incontinence, and disgraceful passions,
And fleeting pleasures, which people embrace,
Until they become sober and go up to their place of rest.
And they will find me there,
And live and not to die again.
We are poorly informed about the practical details of this cult. As in the ancient mystery cults, those who embarked on it were pledged by oath to lifelong secrecy. The main lines of it can, however, be reconstructed from the available evidence.
The overall goal of the cult was the purification of the soul so that it would regain its original unity with God.ç This goal was encoded in the Assyrian sacred tree, meditation on which certainly played na important part in the cult. The trunk of the tree, represented as na stylized date palm standing on a rock, symbolized Ishtar as the power bridging the gap between heaven (the crown of the tree) and the material world (the base of the tree). The union of the mystic numbers of crown (1) and the base (14) equals the mystical number of Ishtar (15).
For a spiritually pure person, union with God was believed to be posible not only in death but in life as well. This belief provides the doctrinal basis of Assyrian prophecy: when filled with Divine spirit, the prophet not only becomes a seat for the Goddess, but actually one with Her, and thus can foresee future things.
To achieve this union, one had to emulate the Goddess, particularly Her sufferings and agony, which provided the starting point her Her Salvation.
One way of doing this was self-inflicted bodily pain, whipping onseld to the point of fainting, stinging oneself with ponted spindles, cutting oneself with swords and flint knives, even turning oneself into a eunuch in a frenzied act of self-mutilation. This ghastly act was widely practiced not only in Mesopotamia but all over the Ancient Near East, and illustrates the tremendou power that the cult of Ishtar exerted upon its initiates. The purpose of the act - which was certainly the result of a long process of spiritual preparation - was to turn the devotee into a living image of Ishtar: na androgynous person totally beyond teh passions of flesh.
Another important way of emulating the Goddess was incessant weeping, sighing and lamenting. This method was directly prescribed int he Descent of Ishtar, and its significance wa powerfully augmented by a passage in the Mesopotamian Flood story, where the Goddess bewails the Fate of Her perishing creations.
Any of these practices , particularly when continued to the point of exhaustion, is liable to lead to paranormal states and experiences. From the viewpoint of Assyrian prophecy, the prominence of methods involving agitation of the eye (weeping) and the mouth (lamenting) is of particular interest for these also play a prominent role in Jewish mysticim and ecstatic Kabbalah.
In his book Kabbalah: New Perspectives, Moshe Idel has analized in detial the mystical techniques used by kabbalists to induce the mystical untion. He reviews several cases of self-inflicted suffering, weeping and prayer leading to experiences of Shekhinah, and then kaes na important observation (p. 84f):
In the cases of Abraham Berukhim, Hayyim Vital, Levi Isaac and Safrin, weeping preceeded the appearance of the Shekhinah. .. The activation of the eye there ends in a visual experience. In the case of Karo and Alkabez by contast, the organ activiated was teh lips: indeed, this time the Shekhinah spoke from the throat of Karo... The correlation between the technique and the nature of the revelation is striking.
The apparition of the Shekhinah as either a vision or a voice, depending on the organ stimulated by the mysticis indeed striking, and all the more so inasmuch as the same situation is encountered in Assyrian sources, which distinguish between visions nad dreams received by seers and oracles spoken by prophets. While male gods, too, could be seen in visions and dreams, only Ishtar and other goddesses speak from the mouth of the prophet.
The evidence collected by Idel establishes a similar strong link between prophecy and the Shekhinah. Accoding to R. Moses, Azrield bem Eleazar há-Dashan, "whoever knows the divine name and prays using it, the Shekhinah dwells upon him and he prophesies like the ancient prophets". Na anonymous source quoted by Moses de Cordovero expresses the same in another way:
"Some of the ancient commented that by the combination and permutation of the name... after a great concentration, the righteous will receive a revelation of na aspect of a Bat Kol... until a great influx will descend upon him , on the condition that whoever deals with this will be a well-prepared vesel to receive the spiritual force"
Commenting on this passage, Idel notes that in texts written in the ecstatic vein of the Kabbalah and Hasidism... main is regularly viewd as a temple or a vessel receiving the Shekhinah.
This is no place for a serious discussion of the comples figure of the Shekhinah, but certainly She shares many features with Ishtar and gnostic Sophia. Like the latter, She is a virgin of light, perceived in visions as a beautiful feminine apparition; She is the supernal holy soul with whom the mystic seeks to unite; She is the presence of God in man; She is the Word of God; She is the Love of God, and she is also known as the Supernal Mother and the Infernal Mother, the upper Shekhinah and the lower Shekhinah, paralleling the role of the Soul in the Descent of Ishtar and Sophia´s fall.
In Jewish esotericism, the Shekhinah is closely associated with Malkuth, or kingdom, the receiver and transmitter of the divine influx into the lower worlds. This association corresponds to the special relationship between Ishtar and the king in Assyrian Religion, which we shall now consider in detail.
Here ends the article on the Descent of Ishtar and the Ascent of the Soul. Tomorrow, I will apprach the Good Life and add up some bits and pieces of my own. There is another piece from the Assyrian Prophecies I may post, and it is related to Ishtar as the Holy Spirit, for Hers is the voice spoken by the prophet in the Assyrian Prophecies. This article is better than the Descent posted here.
back to my spreadsheets,
Lishtar
From the Depths and To the Heights to share in all spheres
Mesopotamia - The Good Life (1)
MESOPOTAMIA - THE GOOD LIFE
Source: Jacobsen, Thorkild (1977) Mesopotamia - The Good Life. Chapter VII of the book The intellectual Adventure of Ancient Man. First published in 1946 and paperback edition of 1977, by the University of Chicago Press, printed in the USA. @All rights reserved to author and text reproduced here for aid in research and studies only.
THE PRIME VIRTUE: OBEDIENCE
In a civilization which sees the whole universe as a state, obedience must necessarity stand out as a prime virtue. It can cause no wonder, therefore, to find in that in Mesopotamia the good life was the obedient life. The individual stood at the center of ever wider circles of authority which delimited his freedom of action. The nearest and smallest of these circles was constituted by authorities in his own family: father and mother, older brother and older sister. We possess a hymn which describes a coming golden age, and we find that age characterized as one of obedience as:
Days when one man is not insolent to another, when a son revers his father,
Days when respect is shown in the land, when the lowly honor the great,
When the younger brother... respects his older brother
When the older child instructs the younger child and s/he abides by his decisions
The Mesopotamian is constantly admonished: "Pay heed to the word of thy mother as to the word of thy god"; "Revere thy older brother"; "Pay heed to the word of thy older brother as to the word of thy father";"Anger not the heart of thy older sister".
But obedience to the older members of one’s family is merely a beginning. Beyond the family lie other circles, other authorities: the state and society. There is the foreman where one works, there is the bailiff who oversees agricultural works in which one takes part, there is the king. All these can and must claim absolute obedience. The Mesopotamian looked with disapproval and pity, but also with fear, on teh crowd which had no leader: "Soldiers without a king are sheep without their shepherd."
Lishtar´s Note 1: I guess obedience as described by Jacobsen was essential to conquer the land for the people in Mesopotamia. Without centralized authority and integrated efforts, agriculture, irrigation and the cities could have not been built between the Twin Rivers.
A crowd with no leader to organize and direct it is lost and bewildered, like a flock of sheep without a shepherd. It is also dangerous, however; it can be destructive, like waters which break the dams that hold them and submerge fields and gardens if the canal inspector is not there to keep the dam in repair: "Workmen without a foreman are waters without a canal inspector."
Finally, a leaderless, unorganized crowd is useless and unproductive, like a field that brings forth nothing it it is not plowed:"Peasants without a bailiff area field without a plowman".
Here an orderly world is unthinkable without a superior authority to impose his will. The Mesopotamian feels convinced that authorities are always right: "The command of the palace, like the command of Anu, cannot be altered. The king´s word is right; his utterance, like that of a god, cannot be changed." And, as there were circles of human authority in family, society and state, to circumscribe the freedom of the invidual, so there are circles of divine authority which may not be trespassed upon. Here again we find more immediate and more remote ties of allegiance. For the ties of the individual to the great gods were – at least in the third millennium – of somewhat remote character. Man/woman served the gods as a member of his/her community rather than as na individual; s/he worked their states for them, with his/her neigbors and compatriots, s/he obeyed their laws and decrees, and s/he took part in their yearly festivals as na spectator. But, just as the sef rarely has intimate personal relations with the lord of the manor, so the individual in Mesopotamia looked uopn the great gods as remote forces to whom he could appeal only in some great crisis and then only through intermediaries. Close and personal relations – relations such as the individual had with the authorities in his family: father, mother, older brother and sister – the individual had only to one deity, to his/her personal god.
Lishtar´s Note 2: I may say that it is the agnostic eminent professor speaking in the following paragraph. The relationship with the divine is always close and personal, and many personal gods are leading deities in the pantheon, appearing in heartfelt prayers of their worshippers.
The personal god was usually some minor deity in the pantheon who took a special interest in a wo/man´s family or had taken a fancy to the person him/herself. In a sense, and probably this is the original aspect, the personal god appears as the personification of a wo/man´s luck and success. Success is interpreted as na outside power which infuses itself into a person´s doings, and makes man and woman produce results. It is not wo/man´s own ability which brings results, for wo/man own ability which brings results, for wo/man is weak and has no power to influence the course of the universe to any appreciable degree. Only a god/dess can do that; therefore, if things come out as wo/man had hoped, it mus needs be that some god/dess has hoped, or even better, it must needs be that some god/dess has taken na interest in him/her and brought him/her success. The Mesopotamian expression for success is "she or he acquired a god/dess" . This original aspect of the personal god/dess as the power behind a wo/man´s success stands out clearly in such sayings as
Without a personal god, man cannot make his living,
The young man cannot move his arm heroically in battle.
And in the way the personal god is linked with forethought and planning:
When thou dos plan ahead, thy god is thine;
When thou dos not plan ahead, they god is not thine.
Or, only when you plan ahead, you have a chance to succeed. Only then your god is with you.
Since the personal god is the power which makes a wo/man´s actions succeed, it is quite natural that s/he shoud also carry a moral responsibility for those actions. When Lugalzagesi, the ruler of Umma, had attacked and partly destroyed the city of Lagash, the people of Lagash put the blame unhesitantly on Lugalzagesi´s deith:" May his personal goddess, Nisaba, bear this crime on her neck!". That is, may the proper divine authorities who rule the universe hold Her responsible for what She has aided and abetted.
To his/her personal god, the, before any other, a wo/man owed worship and obedience. In every house there was a small chapel for the personal god, where the owner of the house worshiped and brought his daily offerings:
A man must truly proclaim the greateness of his god;
A young man must wholeheartedly obey the command of his/her god/dess.
Lishtar´s note 3: To acquire a god/dess is an incredible sign of luck still in our days. The personal god/dess can be likened to the integrated and whole views of one´s deepest values and virtues. May I kindly remind you that one of the tenets of Jungian psychology is to find a myth and a god/dess that reflects the best in oneself... in the knowledge that the myth and the god/dess are beacons of light who help us to transcend our limits... this time... one more time.
Tomorrow, the Rewards of Obedience
best,
Lishtar
PS: We are talking as well about Trust and Faith, the preconditions for Success as we experience life as something that should be built day by day here and now. Totally different from the idea of fallen matter and life as suffering until we unite with the Divine, as embodied in the myth of Sophia in Gnosticism.
From the Depths and To the Heights to share in all spheres
to be aware of the market and the needs of one´s business and time. 
a Great group achievement, because... Professor Parpola is a great Assyriologist as well!!!
Email This To a Friend
Topic Commands
Click to receive email notification of replies 
Click to stop receiving email notification of replies