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In Our Time

Ishtar, the Mesopotamian goddess of love, sex and war

The Mesopotamian goddess Ishtar was transgressive and multifaceted – potentially to the point of paradox.
As the goddess of love and sex, she was responsible for the fertility of life on earth.
As the goddess of war, she was also incredibly bloodthirsty, vengeful, and violent.
Known in Sumerian language as Inanna and Ishtar in Akkadian, this goddess was worshipped throughout Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq) and beyond for over 3500 years. Ishtar's lovers were sometimes said to have met unfortunate ends, and she has dramatic cameos in some of the most famous literature of the period.

Misha Glenny and his guests discuss how Ishtar was depicted in ancient texts, and the role of religion in Mesopotamian society.
This In Our Time episode looks at why Ishtar’s seemingly contradictory portfolio as a goddess made her so powerful, and so fascinating thousands of years later.
The discussion explores Ishtar’s central role in Mesopotamian pantheon, her importance for kings throughout period, and how Ishtar relates to other deities of the ancient world like Aphrodite.

With

Martin Worthington
Leader of the European Research Council Project MesOr at the University of Pisa

Christopher Metcalf
Professor of Ancient Literature and Religion and Fellow in Classics at Queen’s College, University of Oxford

And

Selena Wisnom
Lecturer in the Heritage of the Middle East at the University of Leicester

Producer: Martha Owen

Reading List:

Was Dust Their Food and Clay Their Bread? Grave Goods, the Mesopotamian Afterlife, and the Liminal Role of Inana/Ishtar in Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions Volume 7, Issue 1 (Caitlín E. Barrett, 2007)

Myths from Mesopotamia: Creation, The Flood, Gilgamesh, and Others (Stephanie Dalley, 2008)

The Epic of Gilgamesh: A New Translation (Andrew George, 1999)

Enheduanna (Sophus Helle, 2023)

'Egyptian Herakles and Syrian Aphrodite?: Phoenician Art and Cultural Exchange in the Ancient Mediterranean', in R. G. Edmonds III, C. López-Ruiz, S. Torallas Tovar, Magic and religion in the ancient Mediterranean world: studies in honor of Christopher A. Faraone (Carolina López-Ruiz, 2023)

Three Myths of Kingship in Early Greece and the Ancient Near East: The Servant, the Lover, and the Fool (Christopher Metcalf 2025)

Ishtar (Louise Pryke, 2017)

The Library of Ancient Wisdom: Mesopotamia and the Making of History (Selena Wisnom, 2025)

In Our Time is a BBC Studios production

A world-class seminar every week. Spanning history, religion, culture, science and philosophy, In Our Time celebrates the pursuit of knowledge and the enduring power of ideas. In each episode, host Misha Glenny and expert guests explore the characters, events and discoveries that have shaped our world.

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53 minutes


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Guests and related links
Contributors:

Selena Wisnom of the University of Leicester

Martin Worthington of the University of Pisa

Christopher Metcalf of Oxford University

Related links:

Ishtar’s Descent can be read at the Electronic Babylonian Library

Inana’s Descent can be read at the University of Oxford’s Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature

Electronic Corpus of Sumerian Literature

Dumuzi's Dream and Dumuzi's Demons — a world first film in ancient Sumerian language (Trinity College Dublin, 2026)

Broadcasts

Thursday
09:00
BBC Radio 4

Today
23:00
BBC Radio 4

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https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m003339v