Editing Inanna (section)

==Iconography==
===Symbols===
{{multiple image
  | direction = vertical
  | width     = 200
  | header    = 
  | footer    = 
  | image1    = Kudurru Melishipak Louvre Sb23 n02.jpg
  | alt1      = 
  | width1    = 
  | caption1  = The eight-pointed star was Inanna/Ishtar's most common symbol.{{sfnp|Black|Green|1992|pp=156, 169–170}}{{sfnp|Liungman|2004|page=228}} Here it is shown alongside the [[solar symbol|solar disk]] of her brother [[Shamash]] (Sumerian Utu) and the [[crescent|crescent moon]] of her father [[Sin (mythology)|Sin]] (Sumerian Nanna) on a [[kudurru|boundary stone]] of [[Meli-Shipak II]], dating to the twelfth century&nbsp;BCE.
  | image2    = Pergamon Museum Berlin 2007112.jpg
  | alt2      = 
  | width2    = 200
  | caption2  = Lions were one of Inanna/Ishtar's primary symbols.{{sfnp|Black|Green|1992|page=118}}{{sfnp|Collins|1994|pages=113–114}} The lion above comes from the [[Ishtar Gate]], the eighth gate to the inner city of [[Babylon]], which was constructed in around 575&nbsp;BCE under the orders of [[Nebuchadnezzar II]].{{sfnp|Kleiner|2005|page=49}}
}}

Inanna/Ishtar's most common symbol was the [[eight-pointed star]],{{sfnp|Black|Green|1992|pp=156, 169–170}} though the exact number of points sometimes varies;{{sfnp|Liungman|2004|page=228}} six-pointed stars also occur frequently, but their symbolic meaning is unknown.{{sfnp|Black|Green|1992|page=170}} The eight-pointed star seems to have originally borne a general association with the heavens,{{sfnp|Black|Green|1992|pages=169–170}} but, by the [[First Babylonian dynasty|Old Babylonian Period]] ({{circa}} 1830 – {{circa}} 1531&nbsp;BCE), it had come to be specifically associated with the planet [[Venus]], with which Ishtar was identified.{{sfnp|Black|Green|1992|pages=169–170}} Starting during this same period, the star of Ishtar was normally enclosed within a circular disc.{{sfnp|Black|Green|1992|page=170}} During later Babylonian times, slaves who worked in Ishtar's temples were sometimes branded with the seal of the eight-pointed star.{{sfnp|Black|Green|1992|page=170}}{{sfnp|Nemet-Nejat|1998|pages=193–194}} On [[kudurru|boundary stones]] and [[cylinder seals]], the eight-pointed star is sometimes shown alongside the [[crescent|crescent moon]], which was the symbol of [[Sin (mythology)|Sin]] (Sumerian Nanna) and the rayed [[solar symbol|solar disk]], which was a symbol of [[Shamash]] (Sumerian Utu).{{sfnp|Liungman|2004|page=228}}

Inanna's [[cuneiform]] [[ideogram]] was a hook-shaped twisted knot of reeds, representing the doorpost of the storehouse, a common symbol of fertility and plenty.{{sfnp|Jacobsen |1976}} The [[rosette (design)|rosette]] was another important symbol of Inanna, which continued to be used as a symbol of Ishtar after their syncretism.{{sfnp|Black|Green|1992|page=156}} During the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire|Neo-Assyrian Period]] (911 – 609&nbsp;BCE), the rosette may have actually eclipsed the eight-pointed star and become Ishtar's primary symbol.{{sfnp|Black|Green|1992|pages=156–157}} The temple of Ishtar in the city of [[Aššur]] was adorned with numerous rosettes.{{sfnp|Black|Green|1992|page=156}}

Inanna/Ishtar was associated with lions,{{sfnp|Black|Green|1992|page=118}}{{sfnp|Collins|1994|pages=113–114}} which the ancient Mesopotamians regarded as a symbol of power.{{sfnp|Black|Green|1992|page=118}} Her associations with lions began during Sumerian times;{{sfnp|Collins|1994|pages=113–114}} a chlorite bowl from the temple of Inanna at Nippur depicts a large feline battling a giant snake and a cuneiform inscription on the bowl reads "Inanna and the Serpent", indicating that the cat is supposed to represent the goddess.{{sfnp|Collins|1994|pages=113–114}} During the Akkadian Period, Ishtar was frequently depicted as a heavily armed warrior goddess with a lion as one of her attributes.{{sfnp|Black|Green|1992|pp=119}}

Doves were also prominent animal symbols associated with Inanna/Ishtar.{{sfnp|Lewis|Llewellyn-Jones|2018|page=335}}{{sfnp|Botterweck|Ringgren|1990|page=35}} Doves are shown on cultic objects associated with Inanna as early as the beginning of the third millennium&nbsp;BCE.{{sfnp|Botterweck|Ringgren|1990|page=35}} Lead dove figurines were discovered in the temple of Ishtar at Aššur, dating to the thirteenth century&nbsp;BCE{{sfnp|Botterweck|Ringgren|1990|page=35}} and a painted fresco from [[Mari, Syria]] shows a giant dove emerging from a palm tree in the temple of Ishtar,{{sfnp|Lewis|Llewellyn-Jones|2018|page=335}} indicating that the goddess herself was sometimes believed to take the form of a dove.{{sfnp|Lewis|Llewellyn-Jones|2018|page=335}}

===As the planet Venus===
Inanna was associated with the planet [[Venus]], which is named after [[Venus (mythology)|her Roman equivalent]].{{sfnp|Black|Green|1992|pages=108–109}}{{sfnp|Nemet-Nejat|1998|page=203}}{{sfnp|Black|Green|1992|pages=108–109}} Several hymns praise Inanna in her role as the goddess or personification of the planet Venus.{{sfnp|Cooley|2008|pages=161–172}} Theology professor Jeffrey Cooley has argued that, in many myths, Inanna's movements may correspond with the movements of Venus across the sky.{{sfnp|Cooley|2008|pages=161–172}} In ''Inanna's Descent to the Underworld'', Inanna, unlike any other deity, is able to descend into the netherworld and return to the heavens. The planet Venus appears to make a similar descent, setting in the West and then rising again in the East.{{sfnp|Cooley|2008|pages=161–172}} An introductory hymn describes Inanna leaving the heavens and heading for {{transliteration|sux|Kur}}, what could be presumed to be the mountains, replicating the rising and setting of Inanna to the West.{{sfnp|Cooley|2008|pages=161–172}} In ''Inanna and Shukaletuda'', Shukaletuda is described as scanning the heavens in search of Inanna, possibly searching the Eastern and Western horizons.{{sfnp|Cooley|2008|pages=163–164}} In the same myth, while searching for her attacker, Inanna herself makes several movements that correspond with the movements of Venus in the sky.{{sfnp|Cooley|2008|pages=161–172}}

Because the movements of Venus appear to be discontinuous (it disappears due to its proximity to the Sun, for many days at a time, and then reappears on the other horizon), some cultures did not recognize Venus as a single entity;{{sfnp|Cooley|2008|pages=161–172}} instead, they assumed it to be two separate stars on each horizon: the morning and evening star.{{sfnp|Cooley|2008|pages=161–172}} Nonetheless, a [[cylinder seal]] from the [[Jemdet Nasr period]] indicates that the ancient Sumerians knew that the morning and evening stars were the same celestial object.{{sfnp|Cooley|2008|pages=161–172}} The discontinuous movements of Venus relate to both mythology as well as Inanna's dual nature.{{sfnp|Cooley|2008|pages=161–172}}

Modern astrologers recognize the story of Inanna's descent into the underworld as a reference to an astronomical phenomenon associated with retrograde Venus. Seven days before retrograde Venus makes its [[inferior conjunction]] with the sun, it disappears from the evening sky. The seven day period between this disappearance and the conjunction itself is seen as the astronomical phenomenon on which the myth of descent was based. After the conjunction, seven more days elapse before Venus appears as the morning star, corresponding to the ascent from the underworld.{{sfnp|Caton|2012}}{{sfnp|Meyer|n.d.}}

Inanna in her aspect as Anunītu was associated with the eastern fish of the zodiacal constellation, [[Pisces (constellation)|Pisces]].{{sfnp|Foxvog|1993|page=106}}{{sfnp|Black|Green|1992|pages=34–35}} Her consort Dumuzi was associated with the contiguous constellation, [[Aries (constellation)|Aries]].{{sfnp|Foxvog|1993|page=106}}

<gallery mode="packed" heights="180px">
File:Ishtar Eshnunna Louvre AO12456.jpg|Babylonian terracotta relief of Ishtar from [[Eshnunna]] (early second millennium&nbsp;BCE)
File:Deesse au vase (Mari).jpg|Life-sized statue of a goddess, probably Ishtar, holding a vase from [[Mari, Syria]] (eighteenth century BCE)
File:Winged goddess-AO6501-IMG 0638-black.jpg|Terracotta relief of Ishtar with wings from [[Larsa]] (second millennium&nbsp;BCE)
File:Ishtar - stele of Shamsh-res-usur, governor of Mari and Suhi.jpg|Stele showing Ishtar holding a bow from [[Ennigaldi-Nanna's museum]] (eighth century&nbsp;BCE)
File:IshtarDamascusMuseum.jpg|[[Hellenistic art|Hellenized]] bas-relief sculpture of Ishtar standing with her servant from [[Palmyra]] (third century CE)
</gallery>