/

The Courtship of Inanna and Dumuzi

Inanna Prefers the Farmer

Filters

Explore More

Looking for more content like this? Explore other texts in the Ancient Near East collection or try searching for similar themes in our tag library.

Summary

Date: 1900 B.C.E.

The Sumerian text The Courtship of Inanna and Dumuzi tells of the goddess Inanna, queen of heaven and patron of love, fertility, and power, as she must decide between two suitors. The Sun God Utu, her brother, urges her to choose Dumuzi, a shepherd favored by the gods, over the diligent farmer who works the soil. The story unfolds as a contest between pastoral and agricultural life, culminating in a divine marriage that unites heaven and earth, love and harvest, goddess and king.

More Books

In the same collection

Go to Intertext