Adoration and Worship of Inana

Inana, lady of the myriad domains, counts among those domains the concept of liminality, transcendence and change. It is she who holds sway over the space between the living world and the nether world, as evidenced by her famous journey to the underworld and back again; it is she who protects those on the margins of society, as illustrated by her well known role as a protector of prostitutes and sex workers, and it is she who transcends concepts of masculinity and femininity, for which we have a great deal of textual evidence.

The composition "Inana I" contains the following lines which serve as an example of Inana's gender liminality:

"When I [Inana] sit in the alehouse,
I am a woman, [yet] truly I am a joyful young man."

This speaks of Inana as a representative not of the "divine feminine", as Wiccan and other eclectic thought might have it, but of a "divine androgyne", who gives her blessings to those whose lived experiences encompass a diverse range of the gender spectrum.

Inana's oversight of the margins of gender also marks her as a protector of those whose gender identity transgresses normative social boundaries. Perhaps most notably, the Inninšagura Hymn (known as "Inana C" in modern scholarship) lists a multitude of Inana's domains and powers (me), among which:

𒍑𒊩𒊏 𒊩𒍑𒊏 𒆭𒆭𒉈 𒀭𒈹 𒍝𒄰
nita munusra, munus nitara, kukude Inana zakam
"To turn a man into a woman, to turn a woman into a man, are yours, Inana."

This power is associated with a ceremony, the "head-overturning-rite", sacred to Inana, in which a person whose gender identity did not match their assigned sex would be ritually transformed and given implements that were socially representative of their gender identity.

Further reading of literature related to Inana reveals a diverse composition of individuals in her priestly entourage whose gender identity can be similarly understood in a liminal fashion. They are identified by Sumerian and Akkadian words like assinnu, gala(tura), pilipili, and kurĝarra.

Much scholarly analysis has been attempted in order to understand exactly what positions these individuals held in society. Regrettably, we know of no text that clearly establishes that fact, and any other speculation is exactly that. What we do have are a series of references to such individuals in the Mesopotamian religious corpus; perhaps the most famous is that of Inana's Descent.

In the Sumerian version of the tale, while Inana's corpse hangs on a hook in the nether world, her vizier Ninšubur seeks the assistance of Enlil and Nanna, who both refuse to render aid, blaming Inana for her own predicament. Ninšubur then pleads with Enki for aid, and in his wisdom, Enki creates the kurĝarra and galatura from the dirt beneath his fingernails. He gives them the plant of life, and the water of life, and sends them to the nether world to rescue Inana. This they are able to do, slipping through the gates of the nether world "like phantoms", their liminality allowing them to pass through those gates undetected.

The Akkadian account of the same story sees Enki create an assinnu named Asušunamir ("one whose face is radiant"), who similarly spirits Inana out of the nether world, and is cursed by Ereškigal to dwell in shadow and on thresholds, which further places these figures in a liminal space in the world, and yet sees them accorded the honour and blessings of Inana.

This provides the mythological explanation for the origins of these cultic personnel of Inana. The galatura and assinnu would eventually become established as a singer of laments, especially in the balaĝ and eršemma genres, almost certainly related to the balaĝ and šem drums. The kurĝarra, conversely, is often depicted in the form of a warrior, and almost always appears with a spear.

In this way, the assinnu and kurĝarra are often understood as mirror images of each other, the assinnu representing Inana's feminine aspects, emotional and lyrical, while the kurĝara stands for her martial, warlike attributes. Yet, between them they embody the duality and wholeness of Inana, and there is considerable overlap to be found in the roles they play in the cultic drama.

A brief mention of the kurĝarra and assinnu is made in the Epic of Erra, in a passage regrettably misunderstood in much of the existing scholarship. They are described as having their "masculinity transformed into femininity, to cause šupluhu in the hearts of the people".

We know from bilingual Sumerian-Akkadian lexical lists that šupluhu is one of the many words Akkadian speakers used to translate 𒉎 ni. Some existing translations would have it that šupluhu is supposed to represent fear and terror - that the kurĝarra are being punished for their transgressions and made an example of! This is, of course, wholly incompatible with what we already know of their role, beloved of Inana, in her rescue and her cultic entourage. More accurately, ni is the feeling of overwhelming awe and splendour invoked by being in the presence of the works of the Divine. The kurĝarra here are meant to invoke amazement amongst the people as they gaze upon the transformation wrought by Inana.

The passage continues by saying that those who carry swords, razors, knives and flints - very likely the martial kurĝarra - delight the heart of Inana. How? Some translations posit "by committing abominations" or similar, but the truth lies once more in the liminality of the kurĝarra. It makes no sense for Inana to be delighted by any sort of "abominations", as the Anuna gods stand for the righteous cosmic order of the Universe, but a more appropriate translation such as "by transgressing taboos" is exactly what we know Inana looks favourably upon.

The Inninšagura Hymn also provides evidence of a transformation as a blessing; although the relevant lines in the original cuneiform texts are fragmentary, the pilipili is described as a young woman (ki-sikil) who has a great curse removed, is blessed by Inana and is given weapons "as though having the heart of a man". Following such a ritual, the pilipili, in this and other texts, often appears with the epithet "transformed". Further references to the pilipili are limited, although they are often to be found accompanying Inana, such as in the tale of Inana and Šukaletuda.

One of the best texts for illustrating the various dichotomies embodied by these cultic personnel is the praise poem "Iddin-Dagan A", which describes a festival wherein temple functionaries and the whole people of Sumer parade before Inana.

The saĝursaĝ, another class of gender-ambiguous cultic functionaries, adorn their hair with coloured cloth and wear the "skin of divinity". The ones who beat the soothing balaĝ drums (as evidenced above, likely a reference to the gala) parade before her, but they are clad in martial attire and clutching spears; they are lamentation singers who sing in emesal, a feminine-aligned dialect of Sumerian, but they also carry weapons, the domain of the masculine, embodying the liminal space that they, by their very nature, exist within.

The same text then describes people - who may also be gala, but this is unclear - who dress with male clothing on their right side, and female clothing on their left side, to parade before Inana, which is another clear reference to the subversion of expected norms and the way in which they cross established social boundaries, all of which delights the heart of Inana.

Aside from religious texts, assinnu and gala(tura) appear as transcendent, liminal figures in Babylonian omens, where they invariably link the mundane to the Divine, serving as a marker of divine presence and containing the power to overturn evil.

It also bears mention that - although the idea has, thankfully, largely vanished from modern scholarship - lazy characterisations of the assinnu and other similar figures as exclusively eunuchs or crossdressers do exist, and are patently untrue, derived from translations created through a parochial view of the world. The position of modern academia has come a long way regarding our understanding of these figures, and placing them in a Sumerian religious context helps us understand the place they occupied in the cosmic order as representative of the complex character of Inana.

It therefore also should be stated that we should avoid imposing modern gender theory on the Mesopotamian understanding of the world. Sumerian had no direct equivalent for identities we might consider trans, non-binary or third-gender in the modern day.

However, the roles of these ancient cultic functionaries serve to illustrate the protection promised by Inana to those whose lived experiences go beyond their assigned gender. Such experiences, transcending social norms, are sacred in the eyes of Inana, and it is a delight in her eyes whenever such individuals are empowered to present in a way that truly fulfills their conception of their own role in society.

𒀭𒈹 𒍠𒊩
𒊩𒌆𒉎𒂟𒈾 𒍠𒊩
𒌓𒊬𒊏 𒌓𒁹𒄰 𒌗𒆥𒀭𒈹 𒈬𒄭𒐞𒐕𒐐𒐊

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