Geshtinanna- Mesopotamian GodDeity"Scribe of the Underworld"
Also known as: Ngeshtin-ana and Ĝeštinanna
Description
When the galla demons seized her brother Dumuzi for the underworld, she alone refused to betray his hiding place, then volunteered to share his sentence, descending into death for half of each year so he could walk among the living.
Mythology & Lore
Dumuzi's Dream
In "Dumuzi's Dream," her brother came to her with terrible visions. Rushes were rising around him. A single reed trembled. His drinking cup fell from its peg. Geshtinanna read the symbols and understood their meaning: the galla demons were coming. Her brother's death had been decreed. Her knowledge could not save him, but she saw what was approaching before anyone else did.
The Galla Demons
When the galla demons pursued Dumuzi to claim him for the underworld, Geshtinanna sheltered him at great personal risk. The demons came seeking information, offering bribes and threatening torture. She refused everything and remained silent. A companion of Dumuzi's revealed his hiding place, but Geshtinanna never wavered, not even when the demons tracked Dumuzi to her own sheepfold.
The Bargain with Death
The myth reaches its resolution when Geshtinanna volunteered to share Dumuzi's fate. Rather than allowing her brother to spend the entire year in the underworld, she offered to take his place for half the time. The powers of death accepted. Each sibling would spend six months below and six months above.
Her name means "Vine of Heaven," and some traditions placed her in Ereshkigal's court as a scribe, recording the names of the dead who entered the land of no return. She who had read her brother's death in his dreams now recorded the deaths of all who followed him down.
Relationships
- Associated with