Union and the Underworld: The Presence and Development of Female Agency in the Marriages of Inanna, Ereshkigal, and Persephone

Abstract

This study investigates the female agency present or developed within the Sumerian narratives of “The Courtship of Inanna and Dumuzi” and “Inanna’s Descent into the Underworld,” the Akkadian narratives of “Ishtar’s Descent into the Underworld” and “Ereshkigal and Nergal,” and the Greek myth of “Persephone and Hades” found within the Homeric Hymn to Demeter. This study shows how agency is intrinsically linked to the identity and self-actualization of each goddess in her respective culture, painting each goddess discussed as a fully, realized, individual augmented through the maturation process and ritual of marriage, by focusing upon the transformative effects of marriage and underworld interaction upon the unions of the Sumerian goddess Inanna with the god fertility Dumuzi, the Mesopotamian underworld goddess Ereshkigal with the plague god Nergal, and the Greek goddess Persephone with the underworld god Hades. Each goddess’s relationship with the transformative energies of the underworld whether by descent, abduction and partial residence, or permanent habitation also plays a significant role in their maturation process, the execution of their authority, the balancing of their feminine energies with their spouse’s masculine energies, and in the achievement of self-actualization asserted through developed identity. The history and dynamics of marriage existent in the cultures which crafted the goddesses’ narratives, examined as historical, cultural, and social events, details the expected roles of men and women, and expresses the concepts of love, sexuality, seduction, and rape in Mesopotamian and Ancient Greek society. This study employs the lens of feminist critique and gender theory coupled with archaeological and historical context upon Jungian theories of individuation and self-actualization as a model for the process of expressing agency, as represented through active presence as the driving force in the narrative (Inanna), the execution of authority and/or influence (Ereshkigal), and the attaining or retaining of identity (Persephone). Similarly, the presence of female agency in these forms is complimented by male agency, culminating in or activated by the marriages of these goddesses with their respective spouse (Dumuzi, Nergal, and Hades).