A Childlike Goddess: The Derivation of Toy and Game Imagery in "The Elevation of Ištar"

This article examines the derivation of toy and game imagery in "The Elevation of Ištar." I argue that the presence of these metaphors in a first-millennium text represents a late stage in the development of Ištar’s characterization as a childlike goddess. Tracing this development from Sum...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Thompson, Shane M. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Interlibrary Loan:Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany)
Published: 2024
In: JAOS
Year: 2024, Volume: 144, Issue: 2, Pages: 369–379
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
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Summary:This article examines the derivation of toy and game imagery in "The Elevation of Ištar." I argue that the presence of these metaphors in a first-millennium text represents a late stage in the development of Ištar’s characterization as a childlike goddess. Tracing this development from Sumerian mythological and lexical texts into the Sumero-Akkadian and Akkadian traditions reveals Inanna/Ištar’s well-known attribute of violent rage in a different manner. This suggests that the characterization of the goddess as childlike existed over a significant period of Mesopotamian history as shown by the inclusion of toy and game language in a variety of texts.
ISSN:2169-2289
Contains:Enthalten in: American Oriental Society, JAOS
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.7817/jaos.144.2.2024.ar015