The myth of love and death in Mesopotamia
The legend says that the god Tammuz fell in love with the goddess of fertility, love, and beauty, Ishtar. After competing with many of her suitors and courtesans, Tammuz succeeded in convincing Ishtar to marry him.
The two lived in bliss and their house was called the “House of Life,” as this sacred marriage brought together the goddess of love and fertility and the god of grazing and plants (food), thus summarizing the basis of life, hence the name.
In an ill-considered adventure, Ishtar placed her crown on her head, carried her famous scepter, wore all her jewelry, and descended into the underworld.
Ishtar descended the seven layers of the underworld, and at each of the seven gates the guards removed some of her jewelry and clothing from her, until she arrived completely naked at the court of Ereshkigal, where she was sitting on her throne surrounded by her seven judges.
The judges of the underworld issued their ruling on Ishtar's death, and she was transformed with a look from her sister into a lifeless corpse.
But Ishtar's loyal minister, Ninchpur, begins a long journey to the great gods to convince them to save his lady. After failed attempts, he reaches the god Enki, the god of wisdom and knowledge, and succeeds in convincing him to save her from the world of the dead.
Enki begins to help Ishtar, so he sprinkles her with the water of life and sprinkles the food of life on her body, so that Ishtar wakes up from her death.
But the judges of Ereshkigal stand guard over her, as this is the world of death and governed by special laws, and it is not possible to return from it, so they issue their ruling that Ishtar must find an alternative to replace her in the world of the dead.
To ensure that Ishtar implemented the decision of the judges of the underworld, the demons of this world accompanied her on a journey to search for an alternative.
After going through a number of potential alternatives, Ishtar chose her husband and lover, Tammuz, to take her place in the underworld. Her decision came after she saw him sitting on her throne, and she did not notice any indication of his grief for her when she died. Ishtar, angry at Tammuz’s indifference, was only to hand him over. For the demons of the underworld.
After desperate attempts to escape from the demons, Tammuz ends up in the underworld, the world of the dead from which there is no return.
But Ishtar regrets her decision when her anger subsides, and she wants to save her lover and husband because the “house of life” has become desolate in the absence of July and he must return for “life” to return.
After a long debate, Ishtar succeeds in convincing the judges of her sister Ereshkigal to allow Tammuz to ascend to earth six months of every year, provided that he spends the other six months in the underworld.
July and the symbolism of the myth
Regarding man’s embodiment of nature in human form as a form of symbolism, researcher George Kader says: “Humans have deliberately simulated the changes experienced by the seasons and matched them with the human mood. They created many festive rituals to suit the seasons. In the fall, wailing and wailing prevail, in imitation of the howling winds. In winter there are tears, in spring there is love, fertility and beauty, and in summer there is birth.”
The myth of July and its absence in the underworld for six months a year is nothing but an embodiment of the succession of seasons. Kader adds: “The story of July and Ishtar is the story of life, death, and resurrection again, and their permanent symbolic meeting in the spring gives this season its meanings embodied in fertility, love, and reproduction.”
He goes on to say: “And after birth comes summer, which is the season in which Tammuz dies, embodying the idea of harvesting wheat, that is, cutting the stalks of wheat, and then threshing it.”
He explains: “After the death of Tammuz, man plants that grain of wheat (dry and dead) in the womb of the earth and after that it returns to life and becomes a threshing floor, the embodiment of the emergence of life from death, just as Tammuz is resurrected every year from the womb of the kingdom of death in the depths of the earth, and returns to the bosom of Ishtar, the home of life, and thus the cycle of life is completed, Six months in the world of the living (the spring and summer seasons) and six months in the world of the dead (the fall and winter seasons).”
Source: websites