Ishtar, how is she the goddess of love and war? First, of all, she doesn't love. She only lusts. She lusts after Gilgamesh in The Epic of Gilgamesh. She claims she wants to marry him , but Gilgamesh rejects her. He says that everyone who is with her will be destroyed. She is greedy. She is promiscuous. So how is she the goddess of love?
She may have been better at once, but since her descent into the underworld, she has gone downhill. She gave up everything to become less human, allowing her to enter the underworld. Why in the world would she go if she had a choice not to? But then again, she is a "goddess." She was more innocent and vulnerable before her descent into the underworld. She had no control, and no say in her matters. She quietly sat back behind the scenes, allowing others to make decisions for her. After her return, she used people. She had control over people, and that power made her less vulnerable. It makes me feel like she used people and let them get hurt, so she wouldn't.
Realizing this, I was able to understand how she was the goddess of love and war. She acted as if she loved people to gain control over them. As Gilgamesh said she destroyed people's lives, the war comes in. She tore people apart, and ruined lives, pretending she loved them.
But when you come to think of it, she isn't all that bad. If you was in her situation, unhappy all the time, wouldn't you just want to do something to change your way of life? Wouldn't you want to have a say in your matters and to not be pushed around all the time? Ishtar just wants to live her life without being vulnerable. This caused her to be less vulnerable and some looked at her with shame.
Overall, I was able to see that there were two ways to look at her. I can see her as promiscuous, or I can look at her as a priestess. She is just like Shamhat. We don't exactly know what a priestess was in Mesopotamian society. We don't know if they were all respected, yet promiscuous. If we look at her as priestess, we can gain a perspective, a whole new dimension. But if we look at her as a promiscuous character, we lose the meaning of a section of the story. We have a flat image, with no room for other ideas, so we should learn about Ishtar's personality before we judge her. We should see her rationale for her actions before deeming her as something she isn't.
She may have been better at once, but since her descent into the underworld, she has gone downhill. She gave up everything to become less human, allowing her to enter the underworld. Why in the world would she go if she had a choice not to? But then again, she is a "goddess." She was more innocent and vulnerable before her descent into the underworld. She had no control, and no say in her matters. She quietly sat back behind the scenes, allowing others to make decisions for her. After her return, she used people. She had control over people, and that power made her less vulnerable. It makes me feel like she used people and let them get hurt, so she wouldn't.
Realizing this, I was able to understand how she was the goddess of love and war. She acted as if she loved people to gain control over them. As Gilgamesh said she destroyed people's lives, the war comes in. She tore people apart, and ruined lives, pretending she loved them.
But when you come to think of it, she isn't all that bad. If you was in her situation, unhappy all the time, wouldn't you just want to do something to change your way of life? Wouldn't you want to have a say in your matters and to not be pushed around all the time? Ishtar just wants to live her life without being vulnerable. This caused her to be less vulnerable and some looked at her with shame.
Overall, I was able to see that there were two ways to look at her. I can see her as promiscuous, or I can look at her as a priestess. She is just like Shamhat. We don't exactly know what a priestess was in Mesopotamian society. We don't know if they were all respected, yet promiscuous. If we look at her as priestess, we can gain a perspective, a whole new dimension. But if we look at her as a promiscuous character, we lose the meaning of a section of the story. We have a flat image, with no room for other ideas, so we should learn about Ishtar's personality before we judge her. We should see her rationale for her actions before deeming her as something she isn't.
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