Ištar in Enūma elîš: a Silent Displacement

Abstract

On the surface of the text, Ištar is absent from Enūma elîš. She is never mentioned by name, yet there is circumstantial evidence of her presence in three parts of the epic: the enthronement of Kingu, the first elevation of Marduk, and the catasterism of Marduk’s bow. The article is a detailed analysis of these three passages using the techniques of hyleme analysis, among others. Based on these observations, it is here argued that the epic seems to undertake a radical redefinition of the goddess by splitting off individual aspects of her personality and then transforming each aspect separately through transformation and recontextualization. In this way, Enūma elîš delegitimizes Ištar’s legitimizing role in the political concept of the sacred marriage; it devalues her famous descent into the netherworld, and it has Marduk absorb her qualities as a heroine and goddess of war. The assault on Ištar is compounded subsequently by the additional application of damnatio memoriae. It is furthermore argued that Enūma elîš is part of a pattern in mythical narratives that depict and promote the displacement of female deities from their traditional roles in the ancient Mesopotamian pantheon. The analysis of Ištar’s displacement in Enūma elîš is, as a side effect, helpful in identifying a new supra-divine status that has a disrupting effect on the hierarchy of the pantheon and is a key factor in Marduk’s ascent to and eventual seizing of the throne. The ontic levels (divine, supra-divine) of the key players along with their gender, determine their success or failure in the course of the narrative.