Ishtar, the passionate goddess of love and war from ancient Mesopotamia has had a long life, historically speaking, and she continues to be a popular object of fascination for historians and of reverance for pagan revivalists. Today our focus is on Ishtar as she was worshipped in the ancient world. Less here about myth and far more about the ideas that Ishtar worshippers kept in their minds about their goddess. We are going to read a lot of hymns and praise poems, which do lose a bit in the transition from Akkadian into English, but still often have powerful imagery and are interesting as both examples of ancient literature and as windows into ancient religion.
This is Ishtar as she is depicted in the gatcha and Anime of Fate/Grand Order, specifically the delightfully titled Fate/Grand Order – 絶対魔獣戦線バビロニア – Absolute Demon Front Babylonia. Those anime folks sure can write titles lol. It gets her personality down pretty well, the whole spoiled arrogant rich girl thing is actually a pretty common anime trope, and her oversized personality fits the genre well. I have actually been playing Fate/Grand Order recently, and while I can’t really recommend it to anyone, I will admit to being unable to quite put it away. The anime though, was pretty mediocre. I was hoping for a lot more from the first Babylonian themed anime.And here are some actual, ancient Mesopotamian images of Ishtar for reference.
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