Tag: interpret your OC as a deity of your choice that fits your OC. Pick any pantheon or mythology.
Thank you @optimisticgrey @gortashsrighthand and @scoldingdarjeeling for the tag 🖤It was actually quite easy for me to choose, because my inspiration for Ellith was more or less based on a specific myth.
In the Mesopotamian mythology, Ishtar/Inanna was a complex and powerful deity, often associated to war and power, but also to sexuality and physical love. As the patroness of alehouses, she also protected prostitutes, in a cult for which prostitution was probably considered as sacred; according to some scholars (not all of them) her cult could have included temple prostitution.
But she was also associated with political power and divine law. Among the Assyrians, she became the highest divinity of the pantheon, and she is often said to have taken over the domains of other gods, as she was constantly fighting for power. One of the hymns dedicated to her declares:
"She stirs confusion and chaos against those who are disobedient to her, speeding carnage and inciting the devastating flood, clothed in terrifying radiance. It is her game to speed conflict and battle, untiring, strapping on her sandals."
It was even said that every battle was “The Dance of Inanna”.
The bas-relief (kept in the British Museum) called “The Queen of the night” (or the Burney Relief) probably represents Ishtar/Inanna. The description reads:
“She holds a rod and ring, symbol of justice, while the horned crown signals her divinity. Usually, she appears naked with taloned feet, possibly alluding to her temporary descent to the underworld, during time all sexual activity ceased on earth. "
Some scholars assume that, in this relief, "her wings, bird talons and owls show that Inanna is pictured in her aspect of Owl goddess and goddess of harlots", while others argue that "while owls have been mentioned in tales concerning the goddess, they were never a part of her iconography."
Among her other symbols, there’s the eight-pointed star, associated to planet Venus, the lion which representing warfare and power, and the dove.
Her cult was deeply related to non-binary/non-gender conforming people, such as her priests who would sometimes adopt female names, wear female outfits and use a dialect that was usually reserved for women. Some texts also seem to suggest that those priests would engage in sexual activity with men. A few hymns dedicated to Instar/Inanna even mentions that she had the power to turn males into females and females into males. She was herself rather ambiguous in terms of gender. Some hymns refer to her male characteristics, but it’s unclear if she was actually seen as both male and female, or as a female who performed masculine roles.
As for women, they honoured their goddess by baking cakes cooked in ashes, shaped like a naked woman with breasts and large hips. That said, Ishtar was never seen as a mother goddess; her domain was sexual love, not marriage or parenthood.
(sources: Wikipedia, Britannica, worldhistory.org and the British Museum)
No pressure tags: @theya-art @missfortunetherogue @elceewunjo @unovafarm @burnt-by-marigolds @wasteful-sam @cursed-nyxan @carnivaley @echoechowhiskey @lilhumanoid @spillingteanotpermitted @liubovricci @ejoym @immren @alliskit
Divider by @saradika-graphics
