edit carefully as we discuss.”
Dr. Shaw began with her first question, “Jason, why do you think ‘The Descent of Inanna’ is our first reading assignment?”
“Because it’s the oldest story,” came the immediate reply.
“Is it?” asked the teacher.
“Well, it is the oldest literature. I guess it might not be the oldest story.”
“How do you know that?”
“It’s got lots of parts that repeat the same phrase over and over, and you can often see that it’s following a formula. The book says that shows that whoever wrote the story down was working from an oral, traditional story that is much older.”
“Good, Jason. Rachel, why is ‘The Descent of Inanna’ the oldest literature in our anthology?”
Rachel answered, “It was written in cuneiform on clay tablets, so it didn’t rot.”
“Right, but what did the clay tablets do that makes things difficult for scholars today?”
“They broke easily. The way the book talks about our translation sounds like the scholars are making a quilt. A piece from here and a piece from there, and there are still gaps in the story.”
“Good observation, Rachel. Matthew, are there any parts of the story in which you are confident that you got the whole thing?”
“Yes, the part about the kurgarra and the galatur seemed very complete.”
“What made you think so?”
“Well, it started with their creation, and they did everything they were told to do in a repeated formula, so I knew I was getting it all. They were successful, so it felt like an ending.”
“What do we know about the kurgarra and the galatur?”
“They don’t have a sex.”
“Why do you suppose that is such an important detail?”
“I don’t know, but Enki sounds just like my counseling professor. He’s always telling us to treat people as individuals and not as part of any class of people, to make sure the person knows they’ve been heard, to empathize, and never to be judgmental. I’m sure my counseling professor would say that the kurgarra and the galatur were good active listeners.”
“I wonder what their sexual ambiguity has to do with treating people as individuals?”
“Well, if they don’t have a sex, they might be less likely to treat people according to sexual stereotypes.”
Nodding her head, Dr. Shaw said, “Perhaps. Can anybody think of any other mythological characters whose sexual ambiguity helped them communicate?”
Ted Mullins interjected, “The Greek messenger-god Hermes wasn’t really sexually clear, and his son, Hermaphroditus, was both sexes. He was like the kurgarra and the galatur crossing from the realm of the living to the realm of the dead either because they are sexless or androgynous. Maybe it’s important to try to look at things first from a just plain human perspective, not first as a man or woman, if one wants to be a good communicator. Maybe we’re supposed to think about what the message actually means before we reference ourselves? Maybe we should understand before we judge.”
“Good point, Ted, but perhaps easier said than done. What word do we use to refer to the science of interpreting literature that comes from that Greek idea?”
A few seconds of silence pass as the mental cabinets are searched. Then Ted’s eyes light up. “Oh yeah! Hermeneutics.”
In a smiling pause Dr. Shaw ponders the unanswerable question “Why doesn’t everybody in the world want to be a teacher?” Then she says, “Let’s return to our main character. In the pagan polytheism of Ancient Sumeria, how important was Inanna?”
Servat speaks up. “Inanna was the most important deity of all. Because of her, because she was a goddess rather than a god, regular Sumerian women had some status. They were involved in temple business; they owned property; they negotiated for themselves.”
“Good, Servat. There does seem to be a connection. The patriarchal institutions of the second millennium BCE, with gods like Marduk or Enlil, almost eliminated women’s participation in public life. And Inanna was demoted to a mere fertility goddess. But, what about Inanna’s place in her own marriage? Who is her consort?”
Drew now enters the conversation with some energy. “Dumuzi just gets bossed around by Inanna. The galla abuse him. He cries like a wimp. Inanna is a great goddess, and she’s married to a lowly human shepherd. In this story she has the superior status.” The speech contained a palpable undercurrent of contempt for the dominated Dumuzi.
“Right, I wouldn’t like to be in Dumuzi’s place,” responded the professor. “I have just been wondering if any of you heard about Inanna before this reading assignment?”
Crystal joins in with, “When I was visiting my sister in Raleigh, she took me to a pretty radical feminist meeting, and we sang a hymn to Inanna. I didn’t really get it then, but I think I do now.”
“Thanks, Crystal, Inanna is still very important in many strains of feminism. Hymns to Inanna are popular videos on YouTube. What about other powerful goddesses in our culture?”
Travis pipes up, “People today are just past that. We are more rational than those primitive cultures.”
“So you don’t see goddesses in your daily life?”
“No way.”
Dr. Shaw hesitates for a moment. “I see you grabbed a cup of coffee on your way to class. That Starbuck’s logo on your cup is an almost omnipresent image in our society; is it not?”
Travis agrees, “Yea, it’s everywhere.”
“Could you describe it for us?”
“Well, I guess so. I’m not sure I know what it actually is.”
“Is it feminine or masculine?” asks the teacher.
“Definitely feminine. It has long hair.”
“Does anything in the image imply she is a sovereign?”
“For sure, she’s wearing a crown.”
“Is there any image above her crown to suggest what she might be ruler of?”
“I see a star; maybe she’s ruler of the heavens?”
“Is there anything in the image that implies she’s mythical?”
“Wow, I never noticed that she has fins. Why, she’s a mermaid with two tails.”
“Yes, she’s sometimes called a siren, a kind of goddess in myths, and the fact that she has two tails makes her particularly powerful.”
Chapter 4
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