Ancient Sumerian depiction of the marriage of Inanna and Dumuzid[1]
Abode
Heaven (for half the year); Kur (for the other half)
Personal information
Parents
Enki and Duttur
Siblings
Geshtinanna (sister), Amashilama (not usually, but in some texts said to be his sister)
Consort
Inanna (later known as Ishtar)
Equivalents
Greek equivalent
Adonis
East Semitic equivalent
Tammuz
Levantine equivalent
Tammuz/Adonis
Dumuzid or Dumuzi or Tammuz (Sumerian: 𒌉𒍣, romanized: Dumuzid; Akkadian: Duʾūzu, Dûzu; Hebrew: תַּמּוּז, romanized: Tammūz),[a][b] known to the Sumerians as Dumuzid the Shepherd (Sumerian: 𒌉𒍣𒉺𒇻, romanized: Dumuzid sipad)[3] and to the Canaanites as Adon (Phoenician: 𐤀𐤃𐤍; Proto-Hebrew: 𐤀𐤃𐤍), is an ancient Mesopotamian and Levantine deity associated with agriculture and shepherds, who was also the first and primary consort of the goddess Inanna (later known as Ishtar). In Sumerian mythology, Dumuzid's sister was Geshtinanna, the goddess of agriculture, fertility, and dream interpretation. In the Sumerian King List, Dumuzid is listed as an antediluvian king of the city of Bad-tibira and also an early king of the city of Uruk.
In Inanna's Descent into the Underworld, Inanna perceives that Dumuzid has failed to properly mourn her death and, when she returns from the Underworld, allows the galla demons to drag him down to the Underworld as her replacement. Inanna later regrets this decision and decrees that Dumuzid will spend half of the year in the Underworld, but the other half of the year with her, while his sister Geshtinanna stays in the Underworld in his place, thus resulting in the cycle of the seasons. In the Sumerian poem Inanna Prefers the Farmer, Dumuzid competes against the farmer Enkimdu for Inanna's hand in marriage.
Gilgamesh references Tammuz in Tablet VI of the Epic of Gilgamesh as the love of Ishtar's youth, who was turned into an allalu bird with a broken wing. Dumuzid was associated with fertility and vegetation and the hot, dry summers of Mesopotamia were believed to be caused by Dumuzid's yearly death. During the month in midsummer bearing his name, people all across Mesopotamia would engage in public, ritual mourning for him. The cult of Dumuzid later spread to the Levant and to Greece, where he became known under the West Semitic name Adonis.
The cult of Ishtar and Tammuz continued to thrive until the eleventh century AD and survived in parts of Mesopotamia as late as the eighteenth century. Tammuz is mentioned by name in the Book of Ezekiel (e.g., Ezek. 8:14–15) and possibly alluded to in other passages from the Hebrew Bible. In late nineteenth and early twentieth century scholarship of religion, Tammuz was widely seen as a prime example of the archetypal dying-and-rising god, but the discovery of the full Sumerian text of Inanna's Descent in the mid-twentieth century appeared to disprove the previous scholarly assumption that the narrative ended with Dumuzid's resurrection and instead revealed that it ended with Dumuzid's death. However, the rescue of Dumuzid from the underworld was later found in the text Return of Dumuzid, translated in 1963.
^Lung 2014.
^Mitchell 2005, p. 169.
^"The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature". etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 2015-09-08. Retrieved 2017-08-29.
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Dumuzid, titled the Fisherman, was a legendary Sumerian king of Uruk listed originating from Kuara. According to legend, in the one-hundredth year of...
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who was revered as the patron god of shepherds. In his role as Dumuzid sipad ("Dumuzid the Shepherd"), he was believed to be the provider of milk, which...
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Levantine version of the earlier Mesopotamian myth of Inanna (Ishtar) and Dumuzid (Tammuz). In late 19th and early 20th century scholarship of religion,...
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Lugalbanda of Uruk Lugalbanda in the Mountain Cave Lugalbanda and the Anzud Bird Dumuzid and Gilgamesh of Uruk Dumuzid tablets Epic of Gilgamesh tablets v t e...
ending with Dumuzid's resurrection as had long been assumed, the text actually ended with Dumuzid's death. The discovery of the Return of Dumuzid in 1963...
number.: 85–86 Several extant poems describe the galla dragging the god Dumuzid into the underworld.: 86 The later Mesopotamians knew this underworld...
of the underworld responsible for the abduction of the vegetation god Dumuzid to the realm of death. The name is derived from Sumerian 'gal5-lá', which...
priestess would choose for her bed a young man who represented the shepherd Dumuzid, consort of Inanna, in a hieros gamos celebrated during the annual Duku...
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such as Enki, Enlil (including Enlil and Ninlil), Inanna, Inanna and Dumuzid, and Ninurta (including Lugal-e and Angim) Other myths such as the Eridu...
Dynastic Period II (2700–2600 BCE) Zamug, Tizqar, Ilku Iltasadum Lugalbanda Dumuzid, the Fisherman Enmebaragesi ("made the land of Elam submit") Aga of Kish...
Dynastic Period II (2700–2600 BCE) Zamug, Tizqar, Ilku Iltasadum Lugalbanda Dumuzid, the Fisherman Enmebaragesi ("made the land of Elam submit") Aga of Kish...
Dur-Sharrukin, now held in the Louvre Reign c. 2900–2700 BC (EDI) Predecessor Dumuzid Successor Ur-Nungal Issue Ur-Nungal Father Lugalbanda (in Sumerian poetry)...
Mesopotamian stories, especially the Sumerian myth of the Courtship of Inanna and Dumuzid. A question arising early in the story is why God rejected Cain's sacrifice...
Among the kings mentioned in this section is the ancient Mesopotamian god Dumuzid (the later Tammuz). "After the flood had swept over, and the kingship descended...
(underworld), ruled by her sister Ereshkigal, in search of her faithless lover Dumuzid. Inanna had to divest herself of the mysterious "seven mé" (conjecturally...
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