Wearing the beggar’s single robe of soiled sackcloth, then, go to the temple of the Lord Ilil in Nippur.

Tear at your eyes, your mouth, your thighs. Pound the drum for me in the assemblies where the unkin gather and around the houses of the gods. If I do not return then sound a lamentation for me in the ruins. “Lady Shubur,” said Inanna, “my sukkal who gives wise consul, my steadfast support, the warrior who guards my flank, I am descending to the Kur, the underworld. Inanna set out for the Kur, her faithful servant, Lady Shubur, with her. She slipped a golden bracelet over her soft hand, onto her slender wrist, and took a lapis rod and line in hand.Īnd finally, she furled her royal robe around her body. Around her chest, she bound a golden breastplate that called quietly to men and youths, come to me, come, with warm, metallic grace.

She fastened tiny lapis beads around her neck and let a double strand of beads fall to her breast. Her lashes painted black with kohl, she laid the sugurra, crown of the steppe, upon her head, and fingered locks of fine, dark hair that fell across her forehead, touched them into place. She gathered up the seven me into her hands, and with them in her hands, in her possession, she began her preparations. In Uruk and in Badtibira, in Zabalam and Nippur, in Kish and in Akkad, she abandoned all her temples to descend into the Kur. She gave up heaven and earth, to journey down into the underworld, Inanna did, gave up her role as queen of heavens, holy priestess of the earth, to journey down into the underworld. From the Great Beyond Inanna heard it, coming from the Deep Within. From the Great Beyond the goddess heard it, coming from the Deep Within. From the Great Beyond she heard it, coming from the Deep Within.

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