Ishtar
Updated: Jan 16, 2022
The unconsecrated foe entered my courts,
Placed his unwashed hands upon me,
And caused me to tremble.
Putting forth his hand
He smote me with fear.
He tore away my robe.
And clothed his wife therein.
He stripped off my jewels.
And placed them upon his daughter.
Like a quivering dove upon a beam, I sat.
Like a fleeing bird from my cranny
Swiftly I passed
From my temple
Like a bird
They caused me to fly.
Roetzheim, W. H. (2014). The giant book of poetry. Jamul, CA: Level 4 Press.
Background Information
A Babylonian cuneiform is a writing format invented close to 33000 BC, Mesopotamia, today Syria to Turkey through some parts of Iran. Inscribed on clay tablets, It was a technological invention of their time which includes the use of geometric tokens for counting and cylinder seals to guarantee transactions. The poem was translated from a Babylonian cuneiform by Lewis Spence, a Scottish writer, folklorist and journalist.
Ishtar is a mythological god, called the queen of heaven by the people of Mesopotamia, a female deity in their pantheon. To her followers, she is a multifaceted god; god of love, god of sexuality and fertility, goddess of war, morning and evening star. Back then, many temples were built for mythological goddesses of the time, a popular temple constructed around 575CE by the King Nebuchadnezzar II, was the “Ishtar Gate”.