A Sumerian goddess whose name is read "heavenly grapevine", sister of the shepherd god Dumuzi and, in several texts, a skilled interpreter of dreams, called on by Dumuzi himself to read the nightmare that foretells his death. Her defining myth is an act of self-sacrifice: after Dumuzi is seized by underworld demons in Inanna's place, Geshtinanna searches for her brother, refuses to reveal his hiding place under torture, and ultimately offers to take his underworld sentence upon herself for half of each year so that he need not remain there permanently, an arrangement "The Return of Dumuzi" and related texts present as the origin of the seasonal alternation the two share.
Facts
Open Questions
Attributes and IconographyNo independently identifiable image of Geshtinanna, distinguished from the generic Mesopotamian goddess type by an attribute or an inscription naming her, has been identified. 1 No image of Geshtinanna that can be distinguished from the generic figure of a Mesopotamian goddess by an attribute or by an inscription naming her has been identified in the surviving glyptic or sculptural record. Sumerian art rarely labels its figures, and dedicated reference studies of the period's deities have not been able to isolate a scene or attribute as distinctively hers, in contrast to figures such as her brother Dumuzi or her rival Inanna, who are identifiable from repeated attributes across many surviving objects. This is a documented gap in the reference literature on Mesopotamian iconography, not merely an absence of research attention. Function
Domain / Function Attributions
Mythic AssociationThe half-year exchange with Dumuzi in "The Return of Dumuzi": each sibling spends six months in the underworld and six above, Geshtinanna's willing substitution explaining the alternating absence and return that later tradition reads onto the agricultural year. 1 Belief
TheologyPolytheistic: many gods 1 Sister of the shepherd god Dumuzi in the Sumerian pantheon, matching the reading already carried by Inanna, Dumuzi and Enki. Attestation
Era of Attestation Veneration TodayHistorically attested; no continuous cult 1 Origins
Origin of the NameGeshtinanna's name is read heavenly grapevine, a fitting name for a goddess associated with wine and with the fertility of the vine alongside her role as her brother Dumuzi's protector. 1 Correspondences & Relations
Connections
Associated With
This source names Dumuzi directly: "grapevine", sister of the shepherd god Dumuzi and, in several texts, a skilled interpreter of dreams, called on by Dumuzi himself to read the nightmare that foretells his death."
Source Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia: An Illustrated DictionaryJeremy Black and Anthony Green
This source names Sumerians directly: "A Sumerian goddess whose name is read "heavenly grapevine", sister of the shepherd god Dumuzi and, in several texts, a skilled interpreter of dreams, called on by Dumuzi himself to read the..."
Source Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia: An Illustrated DictionaryJeremy Black and Anthony Green
Worshipped In
Source Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia: An Illustrated DictionaryJeremy Black and Anthony Green
Sources
1. Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia: An Illustrated Dictionary
2. Ancient Mesopotamian Gods and Goddesses
Nicole Brisch (ed.), Oracc / Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus, University of Pennsylvania, 2011Geshtinanna, SumerianView the Source Open Questions (1 open question)
Does Any Identifiable Image of Geshtinanna Survive?
Sumerian art rarely labels its figures, and reference studies of Mesopotamian iconography have not been able to isolate a scene or attribute as distinctively Geshtinanna's, unlike her brother Dumuzi or her rival Inanna, both identifiable from repeated attributes across many surviving objects.
What would resolve this A securely inscribed or otherwise firmly identified image of Geshtinanna, distinguishing her from the generic Mesopotamian goddess type, turning up in excavation or in a museum collection reassessment of unattributed glyptic art.
Assyriology, Mesopotamian art history and archaeologyJeremy Black and Anthony Green, Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia: An Illustrated Dictionary
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