Persian Literature, Ancient and Modern - Elizabeth A. Reed

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of rose and myrtle.

      Ishtar of Nineveh appears as the imperious queen of love and beauty, and was undoubtedly the original of the Latin Venus. Indeed, Anthon says, “There is none of the Olympians of whom the foreign origin is so probable as this goddess, and she is generally regarded as being the same with the Astarte (Ashtaroth) of the Phœnicians.”[106] We find upon the tablets a beautiful legend concerning her visit to Hades. She went in search of her husband Tammuz, as Orpheus was afterward represented as going to recover his wife, when the music from his golden shell stopped the wheel of Ixion, and made Tantalus forget his thirst. So also Hermöd, the son of Odin, in the mythology of the Northmen rode to Hel upon the fleet-footed Sleipnir in order to rescue his brother Balder.

      It was doubtless through the Phœnicians that this legend reached the Greeks, and was there reproduced in a form almost identical with the fable of the tablets. Adonis, the sun-god, who was the hero, was killed by the tusk of a wild boar, even as Tammuz, the sun-god of Assyria, was slain by the boar’s tusk of winter. Venus, the queen of love and beauty, was inconsolable at his loss, and at last obtained from Proserpina, the queen of hades, permission for Adonis to spend every alternate six months with her upon the earth, while the rest of the time should be passed in hades. Thus also the Osiris of the Egyptians was supposed to be dead or absent forty days in each year, during which time the people lamented his loss, as the Syrians did that of Tammuz, as the Greeks did that of Adonis, and as also the Northmen mourned for Frey.

      Ishtar is represented as going down to the regions of darkness wearing rings and jewels, with a diadem and girdle set with precious stones, and this fact would seem to indicate that the ancient city, which afterward came under the rule of Persian kings, was the home of the idea that whatever was buried with the dead would go with them to the other shore. Hence India, for ages, burned the favorite wives, with the dead bodies of her rajas, while other tribes placed living women in the graves of their chiefs, and our own Indians provide dogs and weapons for the use of their braves when they reach the “happy hunting grounds.” We give the following legend complete, as it is found upon the tablets:

      THE DESCENT OF ISHTAR.

COLUMN I.
“1.To the land of Hades, the region of her desire,
2.Ishtar, daughter of the moon-god Sin, turned her mind.
3.And the daughter of Sin fixed her mind (to go there).
4.To the house where all meet, the dwelling of the god Irkalla,
5.to the house men enter but cannot depart from,
6.to the road men go but cannot return,
7.the abode of darkness and famine,
8.where the earth is their food; their nourishment clay;
9.light is not seen; in darkness they dwell;
10.ghosts like birds flutter their wings there,
11.on the door and gate-posts the dust lies undisturbed.
12.When Ishtar arrived at the gate of Hades,
13.to the keeper of the gate she spake:
14.Oh keeper of the entrance! open thy gate!
15.Open thy gate! I say again that I may enter.
16.If thou openest not thy gate and I enter not,
17.I will assault the door; I will break down the gate,
18.I will attack the entrance, I will split open the portals,
19.I will raise the dead to be the devourers of the living!
20.Upon the living the dead shall prey.
21.Then the porter opened his mouth and spake
22.and said to the great Ishtar,
23.Stay, Lady! do not shake down the door.
24.I will go and tell this to Queen Nin-ci-gal.
25.The porter entered and said to Nin-ci-gal
26.These curses thy sister Ishtar (utters)
27.blaspheming thee with great curses.
28.When Nin-ci-gal heard this
29.she grew pale like a flower that is cut off,
30.she trembled like the stem of a reed.
31.I will cure her of her rage, she said, I will cure her fury,
32.these curses will I repay her.
33.Light up consuming flames, light up blazing straw.
34.Let her groan with the husbands who deserted their wives.
35.Let her groan with the wives who from their husband’s sides departed.
36.Let her groan with the youths who led dishonored lives.
37.Go, porter, open the gate for her,
38.but strip her, like others at other times.
39.The porter went and opened the gate.
40.Enter, Lady of Tiggaba[107] city. It is permitted.
41.The Sovereign of Hades will come to meet thee.
42.The first gate admitted her, and stopped her; there was taken off the great crown from her head.
43.Keeper! do not take off from me the great crown from my head.
44.Enter, Lady! for the queen of the land demands her jewels.
45.The second gate admitted her and stopped her; there were taken off the earrings of her ears.
46.Keeper! do not take off from me the earrings of my ears.
47.Enter, Lady! for the queen of the land demands her jewels.
48.The third gate admitted her and stopped her; there were taken off the precious stones from
her head.
49.Keeper! do not take off from me the precious stones from my head.
50.Enter, Lady! for the queen of the land demands her jewels.
51.The fourth gate admitted her and stopped her; there were taken off the small lovely gems from her forehead.
52.Keeper! do not take off from me the small lovely gems from my forehead
53.Enter, Lady! for the queen of the land demands her jewels.
54.The fifth gate admitted her and stopped her; there was taken off the emerald girdle of her waist.
55.Keeper! do not take off from me the emerald girdle from my waist.
56.Enter, Lady! for the queen of the land demands her jewels.
57.The sixth gate admitted her and stopped her; there was taken off the golden rings of her hands and feet.
58.Keeper! do not take off from me the golden rings of my hands and feet.
59. Enter, Lady! for the queen of the land demands her jewels.
60.The seventh gate admitted her and stopped her; there was taken off the last garment from her body.
61.Keeper! do not take off from me the last garment from my body.
62.Enter, Lady! for the queen of the land demands her jewels.
63.After that mother Ishtar had descended into Hades.
64.Nin-ci-gal saw her and derided her to her face.
65.Ishtar lost her reason and heaped curses upon her.
66.Nin-ci-gal opened her mouth and spake
67.to Namtar, her messenger, a command she gave:
68.Go, Namtar
69.Bring her out for punishment.[108]
COLUMN II.
1.The divine messenger of the gods lacerated his face[109] before them.
2.He tore his vest (or vestments). Words he spake rapidly;
3.the Sun approached, he joined the Moon, his father.[110]
4.Weeping, they spake thus to Hea the king:
5.Ishtar descended into the earth and she did not rise again.

      (Here follow a few lines which are unworthy of repetition, as they very coarsely describe the pitiable condition of the world when forsaken by the goddess of love.)

11.Then the god Hea in the depth of his mind laid a plan;
12.he formed for her escape a figure of a man of clay.
13.Go to save her, Phantom! present thyself at the portal of Hades:
14.the seven gates of Hades will open before thee;
15.Nin-ci-gal will see thee and will come to thee.
16.When her mind shall be grown calm and her anger shall be worn off
17.name her with the names of the great gods!
18.Prepare thy frauds! On deceitful tricks fix thy mind!
19.The chiefest deceitful trick! Bring forth fishes of the waters out of

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