Mythology in "Inana's Descent", or lack thereof

“Inana’s Descent”, though a mythological tale, seems to be more concerned with the deconstruction of gods than the glorification of them. Though the opening analysis before the poem points out some of the mythological connections in the story, it is clear that classic mythology was not important for the writers. On multiple occasions, the footnotes mention that in this story the normal relationships between gods are skewed or just simply ignored. Moreover, not only is the mythology twisted, but deglorification seems to be a recurring theme. After Inana has donned all of her royal, intimidating accessories, her symbols of power, they are stripped from her one at a time and each time she is instructed to “be quiet.” Even after Inana’s ascension, she is never shown to put these accessories back on, which is notable considering the significant amount of repetition in this poem. Dumuzi and his sister are both deglorified at the hands of the officers of Hades. Despite the last line of the poem, it is clear that mythology and praise were not the central focus of the writer.

The story was designed more for entertainment and moral purposes than anything. The end of the story sends a clear moral message: Dumuzi and his sister are rewarded with a significantly reduced sentence in Hades, to say the least, because of their love of their family. However, other parts of the story seem to muddle an argument for moral purposes. Inana, clearly the most immoral character in the story, never suffers retribution for her acts. In fact, Dumuzi is still forced to suffer the brunt of her retribution, though to a lesser extent. This may be a commentary on how they viewed their gods and their hierarchy, in which higher gods such as Inana are free to do as they please and those below them are forced to suffer. Regardless, entertainment was clearly the dominant motive behind this story, as shown by the repetition mentioned above. Only the most major characters have original lines, in that they are lines that are not spoken verbatim by another character. Examples include the young elegist and the myrmidon’s repetition of the lines spoken to them by Enki, Ninshubur’s repetition of the plea spoken to her by Inana, and Enlil and Nanna’s repetition of the response to Ninshubur’s plea. This makes it obvious that the plot was the driving force of the story, and the characters were streamlined to facilitate the plot. Were this a religious text, such important gods would be given more original lines.