Inanna
Mythic, worshipped in Sumer (modern-day Iraq), circa 3500–2500 B.C.E.
Inanna was a Sumerian virgin goddess of love and war, literally “Lady of Heaven,” and she is identified with Ishtar, Astarte, and Aphrodite. She was a daughter of the sky god An or the moon god Nanna (depending on the myth). The most famous Inanna legend recounts her descent into the underworld, which was ruled by her sister, who killed her, causing all the crops on earth to die. Enki intervened and restored Inanna on the condition that someone take her place in the underworld. She chose her lover, Dumuzi.
