History Myth / MesopotamianMythology

** Inverted. The Greek goddess, [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Aphrodite]], is usually assumed to be an expy of Astarte, a Canaanite version of Inanna.

* HumanMomNonHumanDad: Inverted: Inanna was married and had two sons (Lulal and Shara) with the human Dumuzi. Gilgamesh was the son of the goddess Ninsun and Lugalbanda, who was either a human deified after death or a demi-god himself (in which case it's played straight for him, as those myths depict him as the son of the sun god Shamash and a human woman).

* ShesAManInJapan: Inverted. Inanna's second-in-command, Ninshubur, is female in the Sumerian myths but was turned into a male in the later Assyro-Babylonian versions.

* {{Tsundere}}: Inanna was usually Type A. She also seems to cross over into {{Yandere}} territory.

* BrokenRecord: Sumerian poems love to repeat passages verbatim, a lot. Justified, as the repetition made it easier for both storytellers and scribes to remember the contents, and also served as a chorus to the chanting that would have accompanied performances. This aspect is somewhat LostInTranslation as the rhyme and meter are left out.

* ParentalIncest: A bit of that, yes.

* ServantRace: Humanity were explicitly created to be slaves to the gods.

* SiblingYinYang: Among others, Utu and Nergal.

* StarCrossedLovers: Inanna and Dumuzi.

* BadassBoast: Several, both among gods and kings. Unusually, this boast of [[BigBadassBirdOfPrey Anzud]] is an invitation rather than a threat that qualifies, nevertheless.

Sumer began to decline in the 3rd millennium BCE. Like the collapse of any superpower, there were a lot of reasons for this, but the primary cause, it seems, was that they were displaced by Akkadians and various other Semitic peoples. After Sumer's decline, there arose the Akkadian Empire, who "borrowed" the Sumerian gods in a similar fashion to the way the Romans borrowed the Greek gods. The Akkadian Empire was not as fortunate as Sumer had been, though, and its rule collapsed after about a century. But the Akkadians proved to be a plucky lot, founding new cities of their own and retaking their old lands, only to be continually reconquered by their neighbors, restarting the whole process). They would eventually regroup into the united Babylonian civilization, establishing a stronger empire more organized and advanced than their predecessors for more than a thousand years.

Sumer, as you might have learned in your World History classes, is probably the oldest human civilization. It flourished from the 5th to the 3rd millennia BCE. Sumer began and ended as a collection of city-states in what is now Iraq. It's usually assumed that Sumerians were responsible for the invention of year-round agriculture, writing, the wheel, irrigation, and beer. Since the Sumerian language has no known cognates, it's anyone's guess where they came from. Some writers take this a step further and argue that the Sumerians were either [[AncientAstronauts assisted by aliens]] or aliens themselves.

The term "Mesopotamian mythology" covers the ancient religions of Sumer, the Akkadian Empire, Assyria, and Babylon. Obviously, Mesopotamia figures heavily in the Bible; Abraham and his kin were, mostly likely, natives of the Sumerian city of Ur.

Sumer began to decline in the 3rd millennium BCE. Like the collapse of any superpower, there were a lot of reasons for this, but the primary cause, it seems, is that they were displaced by Akkadians and various other Semitic people. After Sumer's decline, there arose the Akkadian Empire, who "borrowed" the Sumerian gods in a similar fashion to the way the Romans borrowed the Greek gods. The Akkadian Empire was not as fortunate as Sumer had been, though, and its rule collapsed after about a century. But the Akkadians proved to be a plucky lot and managed to regroup and build new cities (only to be continually reconquered by their neighbors, restarting the whole process). They kept this up until they were all conquered in 539 BCE by the Persians, [[ShaggyDogStory which rendered the whole thing pretty moot]].

Studying Mesopotamian mythology, in general, is a little bit easier than studying most Indo-European mythologies because the Mesopotamians were literate. Even so, there's a lot of conflicting information. The most likely reason is an evolution of their religion over time.

* AlwaysChaoticEvil: The Allu, Asakku, Gallu and Rabisu

* BelligerentSexualTension: The courtship of Ereshkigal and Nergal. Ironically, when they finally liberate their tension, it only complicates their story even more.

* {{Chickification}}: Can be observed from looking at the oldest Sumerian myths to its later derivatives. One example is Nammu, who went from the sole creator goddess in Sumerian myths to her more well-known Babylonian version Tiamat, a co-creator who after the death of her husband became a tyrant who is probably the UrExample of GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Sumerian Ereshkigal was the sole ruler of the underworld, but in later Assyro-Babylonian myths she was subdued by Nergal, or at least shared her power with him. Several other goddesses are known to us mainly as [[SatelliteLoveInterest Shallow Love Interests]] are also believed to have held more prominent roles in prehistory.

* DeathBySex: Happens to all of Inanna's lovers eventually. This is why [[Literature/TheEpicOfGilgamesh Gilgamesh]] turns her down.

* DivineParentage: The only humans who figure at all in the myths have this.

* DragonsPreferPrincesses: In one myth, a dragon named Kur kidnaps the beautiful goddess Ereshkigal and takes her to the Netherworld, forcing her to become the queen of the plane for the eternity. In a twist, although the dragon is defeated by Enki and she later gains some heroic development with Nergal, she is technically never rescued from her prison.

* EvilVersusEvil: The demon Pazuzu was often invoked to ward off Dimme.

** Inverted. The Greek goddess, [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Aphrodite]], is usually assumed to an expy of Astarte, a Canaanite version of Inanna.

* GenderBlenderName: A decent number of obviously-male gods have names that start with "Nin" (like Ninurta above)--translated as "lord" when it applies to them, this word is otherwise exclusively feminine, meaning "lady" and "sister". Then you have [[ShesAManInJapan the issue with]] the priestess Ninshubur mentioned below, and it makes you wonder...

* TheGloriousWarOfSisterlyRivalry: Inanna and Ereshkigal had quite of one.
* TheGreatFlood: Possibly the TropeMaker

* {{Hermaphrodite}}: [[DependingOnTheWriter Depending on the writer]], the supreme god, Anu, was sometimes portrayed as this.
* HeroAntagonist: The monsters slain by Ninurta in his travels receive the interesting collective name of the Slain Heroes. It's unknown why are they supposed to receive this appellative.

* JerkassGods: Indeed.
** That said, ancient mesopotamian reccords show the first known prayers expressing love or otherwise positive psychology between humans and gods, so whatever the gods did, they did it right.

* LovableSexManiac: Enki had the rather disturbing habit of seducing his own ([[ParentalIncest grand]])daughters, but was usually one of the friendlier, wiser and more good-natured gods.

* DragonsPreferPrincesses: In one myth, a dragon named Kur kidnaps the beautiful goddess Ereshkigal and takes her to the Netherworld, forcing them to become the queen of the plane for the eternity. In a twist, although the dragon is defeated by Enki and she later gains some heroic development with Nergal, she is technically never rescued from her prison.

* TheGloriousWarOfSisterlyRivalry: Inanna and Ereshkigal

* HeroAntagonist: The monsters slain by Ninurta in his travels receive the interesting collective name of the Slain Heroes.
* HornyDevils: Lilitu, Dimme, and Dimme-kur were sometimes portrayed this way as well.

* ImAManICantHelpIt: In his forced travel to the underworld, Nergal is warned by Enki not to eat, drink, wash or copulate there, as he would cause unspecified troubles by doing so. He resists successfully most of them, but coming to the last, he succumbs when he sees Ereshkigal taking a bath (in other versions, she is a bit naughtier and actually allows him to see her), and they end up sharing a bed for six days.

* KungFuProofMook: Enki created two eunuchs or sexless beings out of clay and send them to rescue Inanna from the Underworld. As the plane is ruled by a seductive goddess and apparently you cannot have sex there without danger, it's probable that Enki made them so in order to prevent them from [[IncrediblyLamePun screwing]] things further.

* LovableSexManiac: Enki had the rather disturbing habit of seducing his own ([[ParentalIncest grand]])daughters, but was usually one of the friendlier and more good-natured gods.

* OurMermaidsAreDifferent: A mermaid called Kulianna is believed to have fought and been slayed by Ninurta, but given that we don't know what the ancient Sumerians exactly meant with the term mermaid, it is unknown how different she was, or even if she was different at all to the classic archetype.

* UnholyMatrimony: Thematically speaking, the matrimony of Ereshkigal and Nergal united the queen of the Netherworld with the god of plagues and war. Averted otherwise, however, because none of the two was actually evil and their union put a HappyEnding to a cosmic conflict.

* {{Chickification}}: Can be observed from looking at the oldest Sumerian myths to its later derivatives. One example is Nammu, who went from the sole creator goddess in Sumerian myths to her more well-known Babylonian version Tiamat, a co-creator who after the death of her husband became a tyrant who is probably the UrExample of GodSaveUsFromTheQueen. Sumerian Ereshkigal was the sole ruler of the underworld, but in later Assyro-Babylonian myths she was subdued by Nergal, or at least shared her power with him. Several other goddesses are known to us mainly as [[SatelliteLoveInterest Shallow Love Interests]] are also believed to have held more prominent roles in prehistory.

* Ereshkigal (Allatu, Irkalla), the ruler of the underworld, older sister of Inanna and wife of Nergal. They're the daughters of either Anu or Nanna.

* BelligerentSexualTension: The courtship of Ereshkigal, Queen of the Netherworld and Nergal, god of plagues and fire.

* {{Chickification}}: Can be observed from looking at the oldest Sumerian myths to its later derivatives. One example is Nammu, who went from the sole creator goddess in Sumerian myths to her more well-known Babylonian version Tiamat, a co-creator who after the death of her husband became a tyrant who is probably the UrExample of GodSaveUsFromTheQueen. Sumerian Ereshkigal was the sole ruler of the underworld, but in later Assyro-Babylonian myths she was subdued by Nergal and forced to share her power with him. Several other goddesses are known to us mainly as [[SatelliteLoveInterest Shallow Love Interests]] are also believed to have held more prominent roles in prehistory.

* DarkIsNotEvil: Though moody and demanding, most of the gods of the Netherworld weren't really ''evil'', per se.

* EvilVersusEvil: The demon, Pazuzu was often invoked to ward off Dimme.
* {{Expy}}: Inverted. The Greek goddess, [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Aphrodite]], is usually assumed to an expy of Astarte, a Canaanite version of Inanna.

* LoveRedeems: Ereshkigal is first portrayed as a quite callous goddess, but she notably warms up after meeting Nergal and falling in love with him, to the point she breaks down when he escapes from her kingdom after their six-day idyll. It goes in the other direction as well, as Nergal is at first willing to dethrone her to prevent the troubles she threatened to cause if the gods didn't send Nergal to her again, but at the end, he accepts their love and marries her.
* MakingASplash: Enki, god of rivers and lakes. Also his daughter, Nanshe.

* StarCrossedLovers: Inanna and Dumuzi

* TokenGoodTeammate: Enki, who is the only god who was against the plan to exterminate humanity, and rescued humanity multiple times. He is also said to protect anyone, who seeks his help.
* {{Tsundere}}: Inanna was usually Type A.
** She also seems to cross over into {{Yandere}} territory
* TheVamp: Lilitu, who was ordered by the gods to attempt to lead men astray.

* ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' and its franchise.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: Innana/Ishtar, goddess of love and fertility, was originally the mother of humanity and a female role model, but successive iterations decayed her character to a vengeful, man-destroying wench (most epically summarized in Gilgamesh's rant against her), a StrawFeminist alone in a mostly patriarchal pantheon, who sends plagues on humanity to get the one man who raped her in her sleep.

The term "Mesopotamian mythology" covers the ancient religions of Sumer, the Akkadian Empire, Assyria and Babylon. Obviously, Mesopotamia figures heavily in the Bible; Abraham and his kin were, mostly likely, natives of the Sumerian city of Ur.

Sumer, as you might have learned in your World History classes, is probably the oldest human civilization. It flourished from the 5th to the 3rd millennia BCE. Sumer began and ended as a collection of city-states in what is now Iraq. It's usually assumed that Sumerians were responsible for the invention of year-around agriculture, writing, the wheel, irrigation, and beer. Since the Sumerian language has no known cognates, it's anyone's guess where they came from. Some writers take this a step further and argue that the Sumerians were either [[AncientAstronauts assisted by aliens]] or aliens themselves.

Sumer began to decline in the 3rd millennium BCE. Like the collapse of any superpower, there were a lot of reasons for this, but the primary cause, it seems, is that they were displaced by Akkadians and various other Semitic people. After Sumer's decline, there arose the Akkadian Empire, who "borrowed" the Sumerian gods in a similar fashion to the way the Romans borrowed the Greek gods. The Akkadian Empire was not as fortunate as Sumer had been, though, and its rule collapsed after about a century. But the Akkadians proved to be a plucky lot, and managed to regroup and build new cities (only to be continually reconquered by their neighbors, restarting the whole process). They kept this up until they were all conquered in 539 BCE by the Persians, [[ShaggyDogStory which rendered the whole thing pretty moot]].

Studying Mesopotamian mythology in general is a little bit easier than studying most Indo-European mythologies, because the Mesopotamians were literate. Even so, there's a lot of conflicting information. The most likely reason is evolution of their religion over time.

* Enlil (Ellil) The god of wind and the sky. Often identified with Jupiter.

* Ninurta, god of agriculture, healing and destruction. Often identified with Saturn.

* Marduk, water, vegetation, judgment and magic; son of Enki and Damkina. As the patron deity of Babylon who was created to justify the Babylonians' dominance, you could call him an UrExample of a MartyStu.

* {{Chickification}}: Can be observed from looking at the oldest Sumerian myths to its later derivatives. One example is Nammu, who went from the sole creator goddess in Sumerian myths to her more well-known Babylonian version Tiamat, a co-creatrix who after the death of her husband became a tyrant who is probably the UrExample of GodSaveUsFromTheQueen. Sumerian Ereshkigal was the sole ruler of the underworld, but in later Assyro-Babylonian myths she was subdued by Nergal and forced to share her power with him. Several other goddesses known to us mainly as [[SatelliteLoveInterest Shallow Love Interests]] are also believed to have held more prominent roles in prehistory.

-->"Tears, lament, anguish, and depression are within me. Suffering overwhelms me. Evil fate holds me and carries off my life. Malignant sickness bathes me."

* HardDrinkingPartyGirl: Ninkasi, Siris and Siduri, goddesses of beer.

* HornyDevils: Lilitu, Dimme and Dimme-kur were sometimes portrayed this way as well.

* ImAManICantHelpIt: In his forced travel to the underworld, Nergal is warned by Enki not to eat, drink, wash or copulate there, as he would cause unspecified troubles by doing so. He resists succesfully most of them, but coming to the last, he succumbs when he sees Ereshkigal taking a bath (in other version she is a bit naughtier and actually allows him to see her), and they end up sharing a bed for six days.

* LoveRedeems: Ereshkigal is first portrayed as a quite callous goddess, but she notably warms up after meeting Nergal and falling in love with him, to the point she breaks down when he escapes from her kingdom after their six-day idyll. It goes on the other direction as well, as Nergal is at first willing to dethrone her to prevent the troubles she threatened to cause if the gods didn't send Nergal to her again, but at the end he accepts their love and marries her.

* MixAndMatchCritters: Aqrabuamelu (scorpion men), Shedu (winged lions and bulls), Sirrush (dragon-like creature with eagle talons and the forelegs of a cat), Zu (eagles with lion heads).

* OurDemonsAreDifferent: Most Middle Eastern demons in general are flat-out nasty, though they can PetTheDog now and then.

* ShesAManInJapan: Inverted. Inanna's second-in-command, Ninshubur, is female in the Sumerian myths, but was turned into a male in the later Assyro-Babylonian versions.

* TokenGoodTeammate: Enki, who is the only god who was against the plan to exterminate humanity, and rescuded humanity multiple times. He is also said to protect anyone, who seeks his help.

* In ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' (set in a ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' RPGMechanicsVerse) Babylonian deities are one of the three pantheons of gods who created the world, their worshippers mostly found on the Western Continent. Tiamat is a five-headed dragon and Queen of the Underworld, Nergal a lion-headed god of "death and destruction". Ereshkhagal, Ishtar and Marduk have also been mentioned in passing.

* In ''Manga/AnatoliaStory'', after proving good skills at war and "mystical knowledge" (which is stuff that's [[ScienceMarchesOn basic stuff in modern times]]), Yuri is believed to be either a gift from or an incarnation of Ishtar. Eventually almost everyone takes to calling her "Yuri Ishtar" or simply "Ishtar".

* {{Chickification}}: Can be observed from looking at the oldest Sumerian myths to its later derivatives. One example is Nammu, who went from the sole creator goddess in Sumerian myths to her more well-known Babylonian version Tiamat, a co-creatrix who after the death of her husband became a tyrant who is probably the UrExample of GodSaveUsFromTheQueen. Sumerian Ereshkigal was the sole ruler of the underworld, but in later Assyro-Babylonian myths she was subdued by Nergal and forced to cede her power to him. Several other goddesses known to us mainly as [[SatelliteLoveInterest Shallow Love Interests]] are also believed to have held more prominent roles in prehistory.

* MixAndMatchCritters: Aqrabuamelu (scorpion men), Shedu (winged lions and bulls), Sirrush (dragon-like creature with eagle talons and the forelegs of a cat), Zu (eagles with lion heads)

* SlapSlapKiss: The Courtship of Inanna and Dumuzi

* Alternate CharacterInterpretation: Innana/Ishtar was originally the mother of humanity and a female role model, but successive iterations decayed her character to a vengeful, man-destroying wench (most epically summarized in Gilgamesh's rant against her), a StrawFeminist alone in a mostly patriarchal pantheon, who sends plagues on humanity to get the one man who raped her in her sleep.

* [[CopyCatSue Copy Cat Stu]]: In the lost Sumerian version of Enuma Elish, Enlil was probably responsible for vanquishing Nammu/Tiamat. In the Babylonian version, this honor was given to Marduk.

* [[HoYay Les Yay]]: Inanna and Ninshubur, full stop.

* {{Expy}}: Inverted. The Greek goddess, [[ClassicalMythology Aphrodite]], is usually assumed to an expy of Astarte, a Canaanite version of Inanna.