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SPEAKER_03: Hello, from Wonder Media Network, I'm Jenny Kaplan, and this is Womanica. This month, we're talking about goddesses, mythical figures who've shaped culture, history, and imagination around the world. Many, many thousands of years ago, Gilgamesh was propositioned by a woman. She was beautiful and ethereal. The thing was, she also had a history. There was her first love, who she'd raised to divinity only to sacrifice for her own good. A lion-like lover she dropped in a pit once she got bored. The gardener, who she'd turned into a mole after she'd had her fun. And of course, the shepherd boy she'd seduced for his delectable bread and then promptly turned into a wolf. Gilgamesh rattled off all these reasons not to accept her offer. And the ethereal woman entered a bitter rage. Sure. Gilgamesh was right. But did he have to be so rude about it? She ascended to the heavens where she used her godly powers to release a punishment equal to Gilgamesh's harsh judgment, the bowl of heaven. It wasn't easy being a goddess's ex-lover, but you should also know better than to get on Inanna's bad side. Inanna, the queen of heaven, has gone by many names. She's also commonly known as Ishtar in her Akkadian form, and elements of her mythology were also incorporated into the goddesses Aphrodite and Venus. Inanna likely existed before the written word and even before Gilgamesh. She appeared in art as far back as 3000 BCE. When she's rendered on vases or statues, Inanna is often depicted nude, sometimes dramatically wearing a cape she holds open. Sometimes she has a beard to depict her masculine side, and she's represented by a red carnelian and the vibrant blue of lapis lazuli. From the start, Inanna's story is plenty complicated. In some versions of her earliest myths, she was a young girl placed into an arranged marriage by her family. In others, she has a youthful romance but convinces her lover to propose to her before they sleep together. And yet, by the time she meets Gilgamesh, she's racked up a slew of past lovers and ways to torment them. Across all of her iterations, Inanna is a goddess of sexuality. People could pray to her for help with unrequited love or in case of impotency. She was also the patron goddess of sex workers. Her temples housed sacred sex workers of all genders. Her clergy included cis and transgender people. The non-binary nature of gender in her temples may have had a connection to Inanna's most well-known adventure. In the epic poem The Descent of Inanna, the Queen of Heaven travels to the underworld to visit her sister, the Queen of the Dead. When she tries to return, she gets stuck between life and death. Her father creates beings, neither male nor female, to aid in bringing Inanna back to the world of the living. At Inanna's temple, sex was part of ensuring the continued fertility of the earth and prosperity of communities. But for Inanna, sex and motherhood were not connected. Unlike other fertility goddesses, Inanna is never portrayed as a mother. She's a wife, but mostly in a ritualistic sense. Inanna is also a goddess of war, especially when used to secure political power. Kings of Sumeria called her to their side in battle, and she's often described as ambitious and spiteful. In her own stories, Inanna is usually finding ways to extend her power without having to do too much work herself. She convinces Gilgamesh to rid the hulupu tree of pests so she can harvest the wood. When she releases the Bull of Heaven as retaliation for Gilgamesh's rejection, she sets an ancient epic into motion and watches it all unfold from the sidelines. Inanna is independent, and every story she does as she pleases. Often getting her way includes manipulating, threatening, or seducing others. But at the end of the day, she doesn't care much about what others think of her. She's the almighty Queen of Heaven, after all. All month we've been talking about goddesses. For more information, find us on Facebook and Instagram at Womanica Podcast. Special thanks to Liz Kaplan, my favorite sister and co-creator. We'll be back tomorrow with a brand new theme. Talk to you then!
SPEAKER_01: to Womanica.
