YeOfLittleFaith

Putting The ‘Pre’ In ‘Preamble’ 

A few days ago, a friend drew my attention to an absurd tragedy: not only was Ishtar losing a vote in a competition for who gives better head, she was losing forty to sixty. I use the term absurd tragedy because it is absurd to imagine that Ishtar could lose a competition on giving head and because what it suggests about how familiar most people are with her actual mythology is tragic. 

I think it’s time somebody stepped in to correct these misconceptions. While there are many who could take up the torch, I think it is my duty as Ishtar’s self-proclaimed third-strongest soldier—after Enheduana and Samuel Noah Kramer—and someone who’s read an obsessive amount of her mythology, academic commentaries on her mythology, and even most Fate fanfiction that features her (just in case) to take up the torch. 

In this essay, I will establish the mythological grounding behind Ishtar’s potent sexuality and sexual prowess (including, specifically, with giving head), demonstrate that she was the subject of appeal for those who wished for sexual success or who wished to deny sexual success to others, and conclude with a discussion of specific myths that are powerfully relevant to her inevitable victory in sexual contests.       

So let’s begin. 

The Heroine With A Thousand Faces

For those of you who don’t know, Inanna is the ‘original’ Sumerian version of Ishtar, which is her Akkadian name. 

It is beyond the scope of this essay to explain this in much detail, or indeed to discuss her variants at all—just believe me that for the purposes of this essay “the similarities between Ishtar and Inanna are sufficiently significant to allow them to be analysed jointly” (Pryke, 2017). 

If it helps, Fate/Grand Order (FGO) clearly thinks so too: Archer Ishtar’s primary Noble Phantasm is explicitly referencing the Sumerian myth of Inanna and Ebih. Which fucks hard, by the way: “because you did not put your nose to the ground, because you did not rub your lips in the dust, I have killed you and brought you low.” (152–159) is one banger among many.  

What Do You Mean, She Invented That Shit? 

There’s a Sumerian myth that goes by the name Inanna and Enki.1 To briefly summarise, it tells the story of Inanna drinking her ‘mentor’ Enki, the god of wisdom, under the table in order to obtain many of the me2, the “building blocks of civilisation in both its positive and its negative aspects” (Helle, 2023), and her successful escape with them back to Uruk. 

I bring Inanna and Enki up because anyone who believes Ishtar would lose a head competition to any but a select few clearly hasn’t read any of its extant translations. Why? Because among the many me that Ishtar wins from Enki, we get this little passage, which is repeated again toward the end of the myth. 

"Where are the standard, the quiver, sexual intercourse, kissing, prostitution, …… running (?)?" "My master has given them to his daughter." (Seg. F, 29–30)

"You have brought with you the standard, you have brought with you the quiver, you have brought with you sexual intercourse, you have brought with you kissing, you have brought with you prostitution, you have brought with you …… running (?)." (Seg. I, 35–40)

In short: some of the me in Ishtar’s hands include “sexual intercourse”, “kissing”, and “prostitution”. But wait. There’s more. Some translations—Wolkstein and Kramer in Inanna, Queen of Heaven and Earth, echoed by Helle in Enheduana: The Complete Poems of the World’s First Author—render “kissing” as “kissing of the phallus” (Wolkstein and Kramer, 1983)  or “kissing of the penis” (Helle, 2023). 

In other words, depending on translation, Ishtar either ‘only’ has sole possession and mastery of the original concepts of sex, kissing, and prostitution, or she has sole possession and mastery of the original concepts of sex, blowjobs, and prostitution. 

Regardless, you’re beginning to understand why it’s so ridiculous to me that anyone could see Ishtar on the other side of somebody like Bedivere (who, to be clear, is my fucking boy) or the Queen of Sheba and go “yeah they could totally take her”. 

They are up against a goddess, who, in Fate terms, effectively has the Authority of sloppy toppys—and even if not, has the Authority over not just fucking but getting paid for fucking. Why do you think they call her the Queen of Heaven3, if not because that’s where she’ll send you once she’s finished going down?  

But that’s not all. There’s another myth involving Enki we need to talk about: Enki and the World Order. It’s extremely long but the very short summary is that it’s about Enki organising the world so everyone does what they’re supposed to do. At the end, Inanna comes to him to complain that she’s been given nothing to do, to which he responds in surprise—the thrust of his reply is that she “was just too important in the pantheon to be assigned to a particular limited task” (Averbeck, 2003). 

As part of this reply, Enki describes Ishtar’s many qualities and spheres of influence. He praises her desirability, persuasive talents, command of battle and war, and, quite interestingly, also says this: 

Inana, you destroy what should not be destroyed… (445–450). 

That’s right. 

You’d better add mindbreak to the list of tags of any Ishtar doujin from now on, because you’re gonna be throwing up the peace signs and moaning that you’ll never be able to go back to normal after this once she’s finished with you. 

It Was The Sumer Of ‘69

If you’re lost in the sauce of this essay so far, don’t worry. There’s just one thing I really want you to keep in mind for this section: Inanna-Ishtar was “the most prominent protagonist in Sumerian erotic compositions” (Leick, 2008). 

By that, I mean that there are too many texts for me to directly quote where her sexual desire, sexual prowess, and sexual relationships are central to or foregrounded in their narratives. So I’m just going to provide some of the highlights, in service of demonstrating that our girl is really ahead of the game when it comes to going down. 

One of the more prominent is the story of the courtship between Inanna and Dumuzi, her erstwhile husband. Throughout it, we regularly hear from both Inanna and Dumuzi—but most commonly Inanna—about their sexual relationship and how joyous it is for both of them. 

For example, we are told that Dumuzi “had you [Inanna] lie down on a bed dripping with honey” (Dumuzi-Inanna D), which might be an odd comparison until you realise that honey as a symbol of eroticism is so apparent throughout the story that it appears seven times in Dumuzi-Inanna B alone. (Put in a pin in how often the phrase “honey-mouthed” is repeated; I’ll come back to that later.) For now, I want to emphasise that while the “bed dripping with honey” is an obvious metaphor for sexual desire, the Sumerians really, really wanted us to know our two lovers were having (a lot of) really good sex, because they get far more explicit than that—consider that after Inanna tells Dumuzi “My sweet, let us delight ourselves on the bed.” (Dumuzi-Inanna G), and Dumuzi proposes in return that “May you pass a sweet day there with me in voluptuous pleasure.” (Dumuzi-Inanna H), we eventually escalate to lines like “Plough in my genitals, man of my heart!” (Dumuzi-Inanna P).4 

It’s true: dirty talk has not become any less ridiculous in six thousand years. 

While there’s an entire essay just interrogating sexual desire in the courtship, I’m going to come back to something a little more relevant in it—the pin I put in “honey-mouthed”. See, this essay is ostensibly about correcting the sheer disrespect Ishtar is getting in the head game competition, and, well, that means I really ought to get around to talking about her mouth. 

Because the truth is this: Ishtar’s mouth really is something to be proud of. I’ve already covered how often it’s praised just in Dumuzi-Inanna B, but I can talk about how there’s an entire erotic scene that involves “each of them in turn kissing with the tongue” (Dumuzi-Inanna D), or raise that a fervent compliment offered to Inanna is that “Her genitals are as sweet as her mouth. Her mouth is as sweet as her genitals.” (Dumuzi-Inanna Y). 

(This isn’t quite a Sumerian story, but the Babylonian hymn To Ishtar ensures the audience are aware that “in her [Ishtar’s] lips she is sweetness, vitality her mouth” (Foster, 1996), in case you wanted a little more evidence.) 

Regardless, I promised far more than just one or two myths, so let’s consider a few others. I wasn’t joking when I said all across Sumerian mythology is an emphasis on Ishtar’s sexual escapades—a number of her hymns are devoted to foregrounding her sexuality as an expression of the idea that sexuality in general was  “a vital force that emanates… from Inanna/Ishtar in particular” (Leick, 2008).  

Below are some examples to illustrate what I mean. 

They cannot compete with you, Inana. As a prostitute you go down to the tavern and, like (?) a ghost who slips in through the window, you enter there.

…

The pearls of a prostitute are placed around your neck, and you are likely to snatch a man from the tavern. As you hasten to the embrace of your spouse Dumuzid, Inana, then the seven paranymphs share the bedchamber with you.

(A hymn to Inana as Ninegala, 95–115)

As you rest against the wall, your patient heart pleases. As you bend over, your hips are particularly pleasing.5

My resting against the wall is one lamb. My bending over is one and a half giĝ. Do not dig a canal, let me be your canal. Do not plough a field, let me be your field. Farmer, do not search for a wet place, my precious sweet, let this be your wet place. ……, let this be your furrow. ……, let this be your desire! 

(A balbale to Inana as Nanaya, 16–20)

When I sit by the gate of the tavern, I am a prostitute familiar with the penis; the friend of a man, the girlfriend of a woman.

(A šir-namšub to Inana, 16–22)

The king goes with lifted head to the holy loins,

Dumuzi goes with lifted head to the holy loins of Inanna.

He lies down beside her on the bed. 

(The Joy of Sumer: The Sacred Marriage Rite, Wolkstein and Kramer, 1983)

In the bedchamber dripping with honey let us enjoy over and over your allure, the sweet thing. Lad, let me do the sweetest things to you. My precious sweet, let me bring you honey.

…

I know where to give physical pleasure to your body -- sleep, man, in our house till morning. I know how to bring heart's delight to your heart -- sleep, lad, in our house till morning.

(A balbale to Inana for Šu-Suen, 9–21)

The king goes proudly to the holy loins. He goes proudly to the holy loins of Inana. She goes proudly to the loins of Iddin-Dagan. Amaushumgalanna takes her to bed and caresses the holy loins. After the lady has made the bed joyful with her holy loins, after holy Inana has made the bed joyful with her holy loins, she intimately declares: “O Iddin-Dagan, you are my beloved.”6

(A šir-namursaĝa to Ninsiana for Iddin-Dagan; tr. Jones, 2003.) 

I’m going to stop there, but I think my point has been amply demonstrated: Ishtar’s sexual desire, sexual prowess, and ability to bring joy and pleasure through sexual acts is predominate throughout her mythology. She’s a goddess where, when you say “her mythology fucks hard”, you are correct in both senses of the phrase.  

Therefore, dear reader, I would put it to you that the voting trends in Ishtar’s competitive head-game matchups are proof that the simulation is falling apart, as there’s no other reasonable explanation for how so many people could be so wrong about her capabilities. 

So That’s Why They Call It ‘Worshipping at the Temple’ 

Did you know that Ishtar often made appearances in spells and charms designed to attract lovers and sexual attention in general? Well, I guess if you didn’t, you wouldn’t be surprised after the previous section made it quite clear exactly how deeply sex falls under her purview. Either way, it’s important to understand that in a competition on giving head, it is Ishtar’s favour that would decide who won and who lost among the contestants.  

How so? Consider the following examples. 

In an untitled Old Akkadian love charm, the speaker notes that the physical charm they have prepared is 

seated upon her [Ishtar’s] thighs, in the sapflow of the incense-tree 

and finishes the accompanying incantation (in aid of another) with 

I have seized your mouth for love-making! 

By Ishtar and Ishara I conjure you: 

May you find no release from me 

Till your neck and his neck lie close beside!

(Love Charm, Foster, 1996)

In Horns of Gold, an Old Babylonian love charm, the speaker ensures that they have 

“placed in Ishtar’s heart” 

the love charm they have prepared to guarantee the object of their affection

“fall[s] at my clamor, at my shout”

(Horns of Gold, Foster, 1996)

In Look At Me!, an Old Babylonian spell aimed specifically at attracting sexual partners, the speaker declares that they 

“hold you in restraint, as Ishtar held Dumuzi” 

 in the opening lines of an incantation that by the end contains phrases like 

“Mount me like a dog!”

(Look At Me!, Foster, 1996)

In Get Up!, an Assyro-Babylonian love charm, Ishtar’s power is inherent to ensuring that the subject is made ready for a tryst. The magician initially seizes the woman by declaring 

As Ishtar to Ekur hold fast,

I have seized you and I will not let you free!

and the final command of the charm is  

May the ground say to you "Get up!" 

[At the com]mand spoken by the Capable Lady, Ishtar.

(Get Up!, Foster, 1996)

to ensure that the subject moves to the arms of their lover. 

In I Have Made A Bed, another Assyro-Babylonian love charm, the speaker reveals that they

have made a bed for potency! 

What Ishtar does for Dumuzi

as part of a hilariously explicit incantation which begs that 

[Let his penis stand erect]! 

May his ardor not flag, night or day! 

By command of the Capable Lady, Ishtar

(I Have Made A Bed, Foster, 1996)

By this point, it should be clear where I’m going with this. Ishtar is so deeply intertwined with sexual performance, maintaining sexual relationships, and seeking sexual joy that it is inconceivable to imagine that she would lose a competition on giving head: she is the person the other people in the competition would pray to for success. 

In fact, they wouldn’t just pray to her for success—they’d pray to her to curse the other participants with sexual misfortune, because at times Ishtar was also invoked in maledictions whose specific elements included targeting the virility of the subject and whose language choices associated themselves with sexual performance.

For example, against kings, she was called upon to “cause his potency to pour-out”, a general statement about martial valour which was constructed from specific Sumerian words and phrases extremely suggestive of intercourse (Zsolnay, 2010). Indeed, the closing lines of that same curse declare “may she [Ishtar] break his weapon”, and in another curse directed at another king she is asked to “break his spear”—in the latter, the language used in the original Sumerian borrows from imagery that would “frequently signify erection” (Zsolnay, 2010).

Now that you’ve had a chance to consider all of this, I make my argument thus: Gilgamesh7 might have the Gate of Babylon, but Ishtar has the Head of Babylon, and it’s ranked EX for Explicit. 

I Don’t Think That’s What They Meant By The ‘Climax’ Of The Narrative Arc

I promised you a discussion of a couple of specific myths and how they assured Ishtar’s victory in any challenge where “how well do you give head” is the primary criteria, but I lied, just a little: I’m going to do that and slide into Pseudo-Servant DMs for a brief moment to conclude my demonstration that, as Enkidu once said in-game, for Ishtar “the very concept of defeat simply does not exist” (Interlude: Return of Ishtar, Arrow 1). 

Speaking of indefatigable, ineluctable victory, one of my favourite texts about Ishtar is an Akkadian hymn called Ishtar Will Not Tire. It’s short enough that I’m going to quote it in full here—you will understand why almost immediately. Just keep in mind that, in the hymn, (refrain) indicates the repetition of the refrain “The city’s built on pleasure!” after each line. 

Here it is. 

One comes up to her ... (refrain)

“Come here, give me what I want . . ." (refrain) 

Then another comes up to her, (refrain)

"Come here, let me touch your vulva." (refrain) 

"Since I'm ready to give you all what you want, (refrain) 

"Get all the young men of your city together, (refrain) 

"Let's go to the shade of a wall!" (refrain) 

Seven for her midriff, seven for her loins, (refrain)

Sixty then sixty satisfy themselves in turn 

upon her nakedness. (refrain) 

Young men have tired, Ishtar will not tire. (refrain) 

"Get on with it, fellows, for my lovely vulva!" (refrain) 

As the girl demanded, (refrain) 

The young men heeded, gave her what she asked for. (refrain)

(Ishtar Will Not Tire, Foster, 1996)

Let that sink in a little. 

So, there are a few important things to consider here. Each is fairly obvious, but let’s discuss them directly so I can really belabour the point. 

First, Ishtar is sexually promiscuous enough to organise a public gangbang between herself and “all the young men” of a city as an enthusiastic participant who “demanded” and was granted “what she asked for”.  

Next, Ishtar’s sexual stamina is such that she not only isn’t tired but in fact “will not tire” even after a hundred and twenty men in a row have satisfied themselves with her body to the point of exhaustion—rather, she’s merely impatient, insisting that the rest “get on with it”. 

Finally, a key motif in the composition is that of sexual satiation; the constant repetition of “The city’s built on pleasure!”, combined with the opening expressions of desire in the men’s questions and their resultant satisfaction and the closing insistence that Ishtar is receiving what she wanted, emphasises that the experience is thoroughly enjoyed by every participant. 

In other words…

If you’re getting head from Ishtar, you’re getting head from someone who’s fucked more people in one day than you have ever meaningfully met, never runs out of stamina, and enjoys sexual experiences so much that you’ll slowly surface out of your sixth ahegao only to realise the title said this was Volume 1 of 12. 

Remind me again how she barely scraped past the second round and is losing the third?  

Don’t worry about answering at the moment. We still need to go deeper.  

Quite literally, in fact, because we’re off to the Underworld! 

If you’re familiar with FGO Ishtar, you’ve probably played the Babylonia singularity, which means you should recognise the The Descent of Ishtar to the Netherworld: the story of Ishtar entering the Underworld, dying due to her arrogance, and being revived by her preparations against this very fate with ample assistance from her minister Ninshubur and—you guessed it—our long-suffering lad Enki. 

There are a number of versions of the Descent, with varying events but similar themes, but I would draw your attention to a particular version. Specifically, the Akkadian version, which has a fascinating passage that appears twice, in identical words, throughout the myth.  

After the lady Ishtar [went down] to the netherworld, 

The bull would not mount the cow, 

[the ass would not impregnate the jenny], 

The [young man would not impregnate] the girl 

in the thoroughfare, 

The young man slept in [his bedroom?], 

The girl slept [by herself].

(Descent of Ishtar to the Netherworld, 76–80, Foster, 1996)

Yes. You read correctly. 

Ishtar is so intimately tied to sex and desire that when she is trapped in the Underworld, all sexual activity on Earth ceases. You know what that means: without her you cannot even give the clit a good old lickety-split, and no matter how many similes for cock you torture, nobody’s going to suck it unless our girl is around. 

So I ask you this: how can anyone possibly argue she’d struggle in a competition for giving head when she’s a precondition to the competition existing at all? 

It boggles the mind nearly as hard as the doujins and comics and art pieces that present Ishtar and Ereshkigal as blushing maidenly virgins instead of godly sex marathoners—Ishtar Will Not Tire and Nergal and Ereshkigal spring to mind—who are also borrowing the body of a girl who’s explicitly fucked on-screen with both members of her bisexual harem.8

But that’s yet another essay entirely. (How many are we up to by this point?)

It does, however, segue me nicely into one last little point of order. See, some of you might argue that a significant proportion of my evidence is slanted towards sex—whether oral or otherwise—with men: where’s Ishtar’s Michelin star mastery of eating pussy? Well, if you ignore everything I’ve noted about her associations with sex, pleasure, and delight in general, there’s still one tiny little thing that remains. 

See, we’re discussing FGO Ishtar here. That means we’re talking about the Ishtar who’s pseudo-Servanting into Rin Tohsaka’s body. The Ishtar who says “She and I have become one.” (Seventh Singularity: Babylonia, Section 10). The Ishtar who draws no distinction between them: Rin is Ishtar, and Ishtar is Rin. 

And my girl’s Rin’s head game bagged her King fucking Arthur. 

You ever give head so nasty they call it cultural inappropriation? 

That was before she had six thousand years of sex goddess sitting behind her tongue. 

I rest my case, Your Honour.

It’s An Instant Loss—For You 

So, what was the purpose of everything I’ve covered here so far? 

It was to establish these key principles. 

First, Ishtar’s nature and Authorities as a divinity explicitly extend into the sexual arts, including specifically oral sex, and in this regard she is arguably the OG as far as gods go. She embodies these aspects so thoroughly that if she dies, the art of going down is lost from the world and nobody can ever give head again. 

Second, Ishtar’s sexual hunger and sexual prowess is attested across her mythology, and was a direct subject of praise by other deities as well as her worshippers and the citizens of her lands. Further, in those same texts, she is strongly associated with general pleasure and delight as both giver and receiver. 

Third, Ishtar’s adherents would call upon her when they themselves were struggling with love and sex or when they wanted someone else to struggle with love and sex, positioning her as the final arbiter of doing the dirty and whether anyone involved would enjoy it. 

What does all of this mean? 

Ishtar is so vastly overqualified for a competition on giving head that it is genuinely unfair to the other participants to enter her into it. She sweeps anyone but the real heavy hitters—I’m talking Kiara-tier here if you want to give her a fight—and should probably be disqualified and installed as the judge instead, a fitting position given not just her authority and expertise in the matter but also because one of her other aspects is as a goddess of justice and arbiter of the cosmic order9. 

But if she is, nonetheless, in a competition for giving head, and in that competition she’s somehow losing significantly? 

Nah, fam. 

That just ain’t it. 

When it comes to a championship on giving head, I turn to the words of Inanna-Ishtar’s number one fan—our old friend Enheduana—to most succinctly summarise how it would really go down. 

Queen, outstanding

on earth, who can

rob you of your rule? 

Now that the serious side of my argument is over, I have a confession. 

Regrettably, I haven’t actually written much fiction about Inanna-Ishtar—a one-shot retell of Babylonia from her perspective and a cameo in my post-FGO murder mystery are my only public contributions. I’m just a tad too apprehensive to try and go all out: I’m no Mordin Solus to be worried about someone else getting it wrong when I’m right here to get it wrong for them. 

However, I do happen to have a little something that’s been sitting around in my private drafts, written as a gift for a friend’s “sexy Moon Cell” AU. I haven’t shared it publicly until now, but if I’m going to harness my power level for this essay then I shall follow the spirit of Ishtar herself and hold nothing back. 

So here you go. This, my friends, is what it would really be like to have a sexual encounter with Ishtar: 

The Empress and the Falcon. 

Enjoy.  

A Foot(note) Brings Me Pleasure10

1 fun fact: this myth is likely one of the—several, to be clear—reasons behind Archer Ishtar’s ‘Shining Majestic Crown’ skill, which “expresses one among the many Authorities of the Goddess Ishtar” (Nasu, 2017, tr. Kinalvin). Given how many me she obtains in this myth, as well as her other escapades across her mythology—such as claiming the sky from An—it’s quite fitting that she has a skill to represent how many Authorities she would actually have in her complete form. 

2 it would take an entire and entirely different essay to explain how much we don’t really understand about the me, and honestly, if you’re someone who noticed how quickly and unsatisfyingly I skipped over it, you’re likely far more qualified to write it than I am. 

3 the actual origin of the title comes, as you might expect, from her mythology. See, as two among many examples, the derivation of her name from the word nin-an-na, which means ‘Lady of Heaven’ (Pryke, 2017) or the title of the Akkadian hymn Ishtar Queen of Heaven (Foster, 1996).  

4 I couldn’t fully get into how explicit this myth actually is in the essay, but I want you all to know that there are times in it where Ishtar spends three stanzas wondering who will “plow her vulva” (Wolkstein and Kramer, 1983). Girl knows what she wants. 

5 in case it is unclear from context, these are most likely allusions to sexual acts offered by prostitutes at the time; you can see how Ishtar even names prices for each one. 

6 I prefer the flow of the translation as presented in Phillip Jones’ article Embracing Inana: Legitimation and Mediation in the Ancient Mesopotamian Sacred Marriage Hymn Iddin-Dagan A, which is what I have quoted, but as the article is not publicly available I have linked the Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature variant.

7 I haven’t really talked about Gilgamesh in this essay, but I think it’s important to note here that even in the Epic of Gilgamesh, where he is at his most hostile toward her, while he asks “Which of your lovers lasted forever?” and “Which of your masterful paramours went to heaven?” (Dalley, 2008) and generally insults her for nearly half a tablet, not once does he call into question her sexual prowess. I posit that this is because Enkidu learned how to fuck from Shamhat, a servant of Ishtar, and as such Gilgamesh has broken too many bedframes with Enkidu to ever question Ishtar’s sexual skills.    

8 if you’re interested in the subject of Rin Tohsaka’s harem, I recommend making your first recourse reading faith and a sense of truth by Whatwefightfor on AO3, a lovely, smutty exploration of the throuple which to this day remains the only fic on AO3 to be actually tagged “Rin Tohsaka’s Harem”. Tragic, I know.

9 Ishtar is almost defined by the breadth of her aspects and the width of her role; I could write several essays digging into her in terms of war and battle, or a kingship, or cosmic order, or social relationships, or contradiction and chaos, or… well, you get the drift. She is, as Thorkild Jacobsen once said, “all women and of infinite variety” (qtd. in Pryke, 2017), and I cannot emphasise enough how much of her mythology I had to leave out just to write this.

10 the title of this section is drawn from the aforementioned A balbale to Inana as Nanaya, which, if you didn’t read it in full yet, contains the line “a foot brings me pleasure” about Ishtar. That’s right: my girl also gave footjobs several thousand years before anyone would even be able to say “Magery, none of these words are in the Bible”. 

Oh? You’re Sourcing Me? 

I am not a genuine historian or scholar of religion—my Bachelor is in writing, and my Master is in secondary education—so my sources are generally scrounged from JSTOR (whether at first search or by chasing up references in other books and articles), friends in academia, or my own personal library. I’ve linked what I know is publicly accessible, but most of the rest is stuck in a folder on my computer or scattered across my desk. 

I have also been very lax with my sourcing conventions; I’m not sure I would have made it through the essay if I had to do it properly, so I made the executive decision to slack off when it came to formatting my citations and bibliography. 

Nevertheless, here is the list of the sources I have referred to in this essay. 

Ishtar (Gods and Heroes of the Ancient World) by Louise M. Pryke, 2017. 

Enheduana: The Complete Poems of the World’s First Author by Sophus Helle (which has an accompanying website), 2023. 

Inanna, Queen of Heaven and Earth: Her Songs and Hymns from Sumer by Diane Wolkstein and Samuel Noah Kramer, 1983. 

Myth, Ritual, and Order in “Enki and the World Order” by Richard E. Averbeck, Journal of the American Oriental Society, 2003.

Sexuality and Religion in Mesopotamia by Gwendolyn Leick, Religion Compass 2.2, 2008.

Before The Muses: An Anthology of Akkadian Literature by Benjamin R. Foster, 1996. 

Embracing Inana: Legitimation and Mediation in the Ancient Mesopotamian Sacred Marriage Hymn Iddin-Dagan A by Philip Jones, Journal of the American Oriental Society, 2003.

Ištar, “Goddess of War, Pacifier of Kings”: An Analysis of Ištar’s Martial Role in the Maledictory Sections of the Assyrian Royal Inscriptions by Ilona Zsolnay, Language in the Ancient Near East, Proceedings of the 53e Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale Vol. 1, Part 1, 2010. 

Fate/Grand Order by TYPE-MOON, Aniplex, and Lasengle, 2015. 

Myths from Mesopotamia: Creation, The Flood, Gilgamesh, and Others by Stephanie Dalley, 2000. 

Inanna and Ebih at the Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature.

Inanna and Enki at the Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature. 

Enki and the World Order at the Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature. 

The Courtship of Inanna and Dumuzi at the Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature.

A hymn to Inana as Ninegala at the Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature.

A balbale to Inana as Nanaya at the Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature.

A šir-namšub to Inana at the Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature.

A balbale to Inana for Šu-Suen at the Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature.

A šir-namursaĝa to Ninsiana for Iddin-Dagan at the Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature.

This video by the BBC India bureau is pretty distressing and summarises the issue quite effectively: supplies, infrastructure, vaccines.

A crowdsourced list of fundraisers to donate (<FF> for campaigns that accept foreign funds, I'm also matching donations upto Rs 20000, DM)

If you have time this weekend: volunteer to collect information of the status of beds

Unfortunately, money will not solve all of India's problems. This is the activism I'd encourage you to pursue if you're not Indian:

1. The United States refuses to lift a export raw material ban on vaccine products even temporarily. Note that India exported 60 million doses of Astra Zeneca abroad before this crisis.

2. Angela Merkel threatens future retaliation against India for focusing on domestic vaccines.

3. There's also a WTO bill that would waive patent monopolies *temporarily* in addressing COVID

I call all of this genocidal colonialism by another name. Please organise. India is the producer of vaccines and pharma that is intended to go to middle and low income countries, as long as the crisis continues here, it will have knock on effects in South America and Africa. The virus mutating through 1 billion people will get deadlier and find you too, so it's probably in your self interest.

Campaign #PeoplesVaccine to support the WTO bill

Countrywise:

If you live in the US: find your reps here & email them, alternatively (thanks @ataratah) Text "SIGN PKSLVL" to the RESISTBOT (50409) to get on the petition and send a letter to your reps to lift the embargo. It's super quick and you don't have to be eloquent or talk to a single human!

If you live in Australia: find your reps here & email them

If you live in Canada: find your reps here & email them

If you live in the UK: petition to sign (on 500/10000 signatures)

If you are a citizen of the EU: (thanks @kureha-fujishima) Sign this initiative before 1/05/2021, more details here

I made this a long time ago and was very nervous about posting it to Tumblr. I can’t really think of a good caption~ everything I wanted to say is in the little blurb at the beginning. 

‘God of Arepo’ Fan-made graphic novel 

I’m here to post a collection of donation drives that I’ve gathered online. If we can’t help them physically, we can at least make sure they have monetary assistance, food and clothing once they’re evacuated.

This is how Cagayan looks, from recent photos (not mine)

TW: screams and shouts for help

HOW TO HELP

DONATION DRIVES

Please feel free to add on this post for any other ways to help.

For context:

The Philippines has been hit by three consecutive typhoons this month alone: Quinta, Rolly (Goni internationally) and Ulysses. It’s been hitting nearly the same areas, which has made them even more vulnerable now that they’re still recovering from the previous typhoons. Our mountain ranges couldn’t shield us from this due to heavy quarrying and deforestation.

That said, these aren’t the only places in need of assistance. But these are the places in urgent need of help. And we’re trying to do as best as we can with what little we have.

I’ll update this post from time to time for full transparency.

Here’s an FB post of different donation drives from youth orgs, NGOs and other volunteer groups. 

Here’s a Twitter thread of donation drives affected by Typhoon Ulysses. Another thread of donation drives.

You can donate hygiene kits, food, & shelter to people affected by the typhoon via LazadaForGood. 

There is a full on war happening that was started by Azerbaijan and supported by Turkey. War isn’t the right word though, a war has two sides. Azerbaijan and Turkey are outright massacring Armenians… again.

Turkey is responsible for the 1915 Armenian Genocide, where they massacred 1.5 million Armenians.

In July, THIS YEAR, the Turkish president said they would finish what their ancestors started.

Please consider donating to the following organizations, even $5 or $10 goes so far.

Armenia Fund www.armeniafund.org

Armenia Support Fund www.armeniasupportfund.org

The Paros Foundation www.parosfoundation.org

My Step Foundation www.mystep.foundation/en

If Azerbaijan and Turkey are not stopped and held responsible for the lives they’ve taken, this conflict could reach far beyond the region.

to white folks, this is a time for you to celebrate as well, but things are far from over. reach out to your poc and trans friends, particularly your black and trans friends, and check on them and make sure they feel safe. DO NOT STOP DONATING TO PAYPALS AND GOFUNDMES. CONTINUE SHARING RESOURCES AND INFORMATION. CONTINUE PARTICIPATING IN COMMUNITY AID. electing biden did not simultaneously wipe out the issues many marginalized communities are facing. YOUR PART IN THIS IS NOT OVER BECAUSE THIS FIGHT IS NOT OVER. continue spreading

to succinctly sum up the energy we need to cultivate going forward:

An human rights worker named Reina Mae Nasino was jailed and wrongfully accused for owning firearms. She was pregnant by the time she was jailed and gave birth in prison.

At this point, Reina Mae Nasino wasn’t given proper care in prison and was only given one medical visit. Reina gave birth to a girl named River but the lack of prenatal care caused the child to have a low weight and skin discoloration. Nasino also had difficulty breastfeeding her and wasn’t getting any assistance for her child. The counsels asked for the baby to be transferred to a hospital for her care but it was denied by the court.

On October 9, River died due to acute respiratory distress syndrome. She was only 3 months old.

Reina Mae Nasino was supposed to have 3 days to say goodbye but the Court Judge revised it and made it 6 hours, 3 hours for the wake and 3 hours for the funeral. She wasn’t allowed a peaceful grieving as dozens of police and jail guards swarmed the area. On October 14, Reina Mae attended River’s wake in full PPE and handcuffs, surrounded by guards because she was labelled a high profile criminal. The guards tried to cut her time with her child short as they tried to drag her away 2 hours before the visiting time was up. She was also not allowed to take off her handcuffs.

October 16, the day River was to be buried. The funeral wasn’t peaceful or respectful as the police swarmed and guarded the area. The car carrying River sped to the cemetery, not giving time for her family and supporters to catch up. The relatives begged on their knees for the guards to remove Reina’s handcuffs so she can hold her child one last time but they refused.

She wasn’t allowed a peaceful goodbye to her child.

She never even heard her child laugh once.

Reina Mae Nasino is not a criminal. She is a political prisoner and an activist who was treated terribly by the police and the justice system.

They killed her child.

There are over 600+ political prisoners like her in the Philippines that are subject to inhumane treatment due to the Duterte Administration and its disregard for the poor and disenfranchised. Baby River is not the only child who died due to the lack of care by the government.

Activists in the Philippines are getting killed, red tagged and treated as terrorists.

Not to be an anarchist on main but the answer is always:

Connect with your local communities to share resources and make sure everyone is safe.

learn new skills whenever you can, especially survival, communication, and first aid skills. Look for CERT trainings as a good source of free classes and hands-on education.

join and support unions whenever possible.

look to the activists of the past for guidance: if the ACA is overturned start staging die-ins (and if you’re a medical professional then now is the time to work with your colleagues to figure out how you’re going to provide care to people who are going to lose their medical coverage)

work local; the supreme court isn’t something that you can control, but maybe you can have an impact on your city’s zoning policies or on whether or not unused land becomes a community food garden.

do jail support, film cops, and listen to cop communications so that you can report on their movements to the people they threaten.

feed the hungry.

hack the planet.

If not you then who? If you see a need, fill it.

Take care of yourself and take care of each other.

You wanna do something that’s legal, easy, and unambiguously good? Download whatever driving/traffic app is popular in your area and warn people when you see cops.

Warning people about speed traps and hidden cops prevents deportations, prevents theft-by-cops under the name of civil forfeiture, prevents poor people from losing their job or facing eviction or jailtime as a result of suspended licenses and lost wages.

“Indian staff from the Indian Space Research Organisation celebrate after the Mars Orbiter Spacecraft entered Mars’s orbit.

On November 5, 2013, a rocket launched toward Mars. It was India’s first interplanetary mission, Mangalyaan, and a terrific gamble. Only 40 percent of missions sent to Mars by major space organizations—NASA, Russia’s, Japan’s, or China’s—had ever been a success. No space organization had succeeded on its first attempt. What’s more, India’s space organization, ISRO, had very little funding: while NASA’s Mars probe, Maven, cost $651 million, the budget for this mission was $74 million. 

This was not the only success of the mission. An image of the scientists celebrating in the mission control room went viral. Girls in India and beyond gained new heroes: the kind that wear sarees and tie flowers in their hair, and send rockets into space.”

FUCK YES. THIS IS THE TYPE OF REPRESENTATION I’VE BEEN HERE FOR!!

Hi, Anon! I’ll definitely try my best. Horns are a little tricky since they’re so subjective and the styles/textures vary so drastically.

Mostly I’m going to be talking about texture here and I’ll try to keep it simple since they’re time consuming to draw.

Smooth horns are great and easy, can come in any and all shapes, but if you want to add more interest and character to the horns, it all comes down to how you texture them.  Here’s a simple smooth horn. It’s okay, it’s basic, but it works and will especially work better once it’s colored if it has a sheen or a matte look.

You can add simple lines to it to give it a bit more interest, but you can take it farther than just the cylinder look like drawn here. The lines give it the easy, quick illusion of being more dimensional, but it’s not the most interesting or dynamic.

You can play with the lines however you like to give the horns more uniqueness, such as a line down the center to sort of pinch it inwards. Still more dynamic than the smooth horn, but more interesting than the rounded one.

You can leave the lines as they are for an easier horn, or take it a step farther and use them as guides to texture them. This is where it gets fun, but time consuming. Definitely look up references of what you want to go for if you’re not sure. I highly recommend Ram, Ibex or Antelope references, Antelope being my favorite. They have so much texture to them in the forum of smaller and larger ridges, so here’s a horn based loosely (artistic liberties taken) off a mix of Ram and Antelope.

Getting into plates which are my favorite, there’s little to reference off of. Here’s a more dynamic, spiky look with plates using the guide lines as a base to get an ideal direction you want the horn to shape into.

Just take your guide lines and then extend outward. Add as little or as much wear, tear and damage as you want. Horns can get dry and crack, they can take a hit and break, age can cause grooves, your imagination’s the limit.

Outside of plates, you can look up any horned animal to get ideas for texture, anything from steer to deer and elk (if you want to get more into the antlered look), or mix and match textures from a few horn styles you like. Hope this helps! Sorry I can’t go more in depth, but I tried to explain it as best as I know how. Good luck with your horns!

https://twitter.com/LiamODellUK/status/1288869766980042752

and you know what the fucking bullshit is  they’re replacing it with a ~6 months free of a subscription to a third party captions provider~ which of course you’d have to pay for after those 6 months are up and you KNOW random youtuber #9039 isn’t going to bother to keep paying for that either because they won’t have the money or they just won’t care. and youtube’s going to act like that’s a perfectly fine alternative that won’t result in the majority of the site suddenly going from “more or less accessible” to “Fuck You If You’re Disabled” 

“citing low usage” are you fucking kidding me nearly every worthwhile video i watch uses community captions. sometimes they’re kind of janky cuz they were made by some 14 year old who thought it’d be funny to put their own irrelevant jokes and commentary in there but that wasn’t a reason to ditch the feature entirely when its so useful and important

i’m not even hard of hearing and i rely on them to watch videos in other languages…this is literally how people have been making english subs for japanese songs and the like for years and it was great because you didn’t have to reupload the videos yourself and take away views from the original creators. many creators don’t allow reprints of their work whatsoever so if they go through with this (which unfortunately they seem pretty deadset on because lololol moneyyyyyy) it’s entirely likely that there just won’t be a way to watch that content with captions

there’s a petition to keep community captions…i don’t know if it’ll really do anything since they’re already going ~oh but we have Paid Alternatives!~ but don’t just let this pass by this should be a huge deal but i’ve barely seen anyone talking about it (not that i expect people to talk about things of any particular importance on tumblr but it’s not even getting attention on twitter beyond that one thread and like 2 other posts)

Those takes are incorrect.

This is, at its very core, the basis of land being returned to us. We don't want to make all white people/non native people leave the land or whatever. This is just step one, but it's also important to recognize that this is fundamentally what the LandBack movement has been trying to achieve. As far as I can tell? This is the first step to granting Indigenous people autonomous control over our own nations and land once more. I don't know much about how US law works, but I'm intimately aware of the aim and goals of the Indigenous (read: my) community.

So: please listen to actual native people on this. So so many of us have been sobbing tears of joy over this, crying and being in shock, because we can barely believe that we got SUCH an incredible and major win. This is what we want. Do not write over that with your white misinterpretations of what it is we mean by Land Back.

Please Keep Signing! 

(New petitions in bold)

George Floyd - change.org

George Floyd - amnesty.org

George Floyd - colorofchange.org

Get The Officers Charged

Charge All Four Officers

Breonna Taylor - moveon.org

Breonna Taylor - colorofchange.org

Breonna Taylor - justiceforbreonna.org

Breonna Taylor - change.org

Breonna Taylor - thepetitionsite.com

Ahmaud Arbery - change.org

Ahmaud Arbery - change.org 2

Ahmaud Arbery - change.org 3

Justice for Oluwatoyin Salau

Pass The Georgia Hate Crime Bill

Defund MPD

Life Sentence For Police Brutality

Regis Korchinski - change.org

Tete Gulley - change.org

Tony McDade - change.org

Tony McDade - actionnetwork.org

Tony McDade - thepetitionsite.com

Joao Pedro - change.org

Julius Jones - change.org

Belly Mujinga - change.org

Willie Simmons - change.org

Hands Up Act - change.org

National Action Against Police Brutality

Kyjuanzi Harris - change.org

Alejandro Vargas Martinez - change.org

Censorship Of Police Brutality In France

Sean Reed - change.org

Sean Reed - change.org 2

Kendrick Johnson - change.org

Tamir Rice - change.org

Tamir Rice - change.org 2

Fire Racist Criminal From The NYPD

Jamee Johnson - organizefor.org

Darius Stewart - change.org

Darius Stewart - moveon.org

Abolish Prison Labor

Free Siyanda - change.org

Chrystul Kizer - change.org

Chrystul Kizer - change.org 2

Andile Mchunu (Bobo) - change.org

Eric Riddick - change.org

Amiya Braxton - change.org

Emerald Black - change.org

Elijah Nichols - change.org

Zinedine Karabo Gioia - change.org

Angel Bumpass - change.org

Sheku Bayoh - change.org

Angel DeCarlo - change.org

Sandra Bland - change.org

Sherrie Walker - change.org

Darrien Hunt - change.org

Cornelius Fredericks - change.org

Elijah McClain - change.org

James Scurlock - change.org

Darren Rainey- change.org

Kendrick Johnson- change.org

Darrius Stewart- change.org

LaVena Johnson- change.org

Kenneka Jenkins- change.org

Sam Dubose- change.org

Philando Castile- change.org

Philando Castile - signmoveon.org

Natasha McKenna- change.org

Freddie Gray- change.org

The Freddie Gray Law - Assess, Treat, and Safely Transport -signmoveon.org

Samuel DuBose- change.org

Kimani Gray- care2petitions 

Kenneth Chamberlain Sr- signmoveon.org

Sean Bell- change.org

Jennifer Jeffley- change.org

Oliver Campbell- change.org

Bruce Greenway- change.org

Dominique Fells - change.org

Rayshard Brooks - change.org

Alfred Wright - change.org

Mubarak Soulemane- change.org

Byron Williams- change.org

Mitrice Richardson- change.org

AJ Mitchell (a boy with autism) - change.org

Merci Mack- change.org

Lakeith Smith + A’Donte Washington- change.org

Malik Thomas- change.org

Matthew Tucker- change.org

Malik Williams (paraplegic man shot at 84 times)- change.org

http://www.pb-resources.com/

https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/

PLEASE REBLOG! THIS IS AN UPDATED LIST! 

DON’T IGNORE US!

you may have seen a lot lately about how things have gotten even worse in Yemen. Do NOT donate to or boost UNICEF. Find out more and how you can help here: https://endtheyemenwar.carrd.co/

On June, 20th the JURI of European Parliament approved of the articles 11 and 13 of the new Copyright Law. These articles are also known as the “Link Tax” and the “Censorship Machines” articles.

Articles 13 in particular forces every internet platform to filter all the contents we upload online, ending once and for all the fandom culture. Which means you won’t be able to upload any type of fandom works like fan arts, fan fictions, gif sets from your favourite films and series, edits, because it’s all copyrighted material. And you won’t also be able to share, enjoy or download other’s contents, because the use of links will be completely restricted.

But not everything’s lost yet. There’s another round of voting scheduled for the early days of July.

What you can do now to save our internet, is to share these informations with all of your family members and friends, and to ask to your MEP (the members of the European Parliament from your country) to vote NO at the next round, to vote against articles 11 and 13.

Here you can find more news and all the details to contact your MEP:

https://saveyourinternet.eu

Also, sign and share this petition:

https://www.change.org/p/european-parliament-stop-the-censorship-machinery-save-the-internet?recruiter=50668942&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=psf_combo_share_initial

We have just a couple of weeks to stop this complete madness, don’t let them dictating the way we enjoy our internet.

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:52016PC0593

https://creativecommons.org/2018/06/20/european-parliaments-legal-affairs-committee-gives-green-light-to-harmful-link-tax-and-pervasive-platform-censorship/?utm_source=social&utm_medium=twitterfacebook&utm_content=JURI-vote-june-20

https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/article-13-european-parliament-internet-censorship-copyright-a8408531.html?amp&__twitter_impression=true

https://amp.theguardian.com/technology/2018/jun/20/eu-votes-for-copyright-law-that-would-make-internet-a-tool-for-control?__twitter_impression=true

http://www.wired.co.uk/article/eu-meme-war-article-13-regulation

Also ao3 has spoken out about this

https://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/10637

here's how we can help them. sign these petitions and donate money

Kalsuma's Yemen crisis appeal - Emergency food aid - donate money

Stop the war and end the famine in Yemen - petition

Yemen emergency appeal - donate money

Yemen Crisis: Save Lives Before its Too Late! - donate money

Iftiak's Emergency Yemen Appeal - donate money

DONATE TO PROTECT CHILDREN IN YEMEN

Stop selling weapons to Saudi Arabia. They help fuel the Yemeni civil war - petition

SUPPORT OUR YEMEN HUMANITARIAN APPEAL - donate money

Yemen Food Appeal - donate money

Yemen is starving - donate money