Religion and Humanity in Mesopotamian Myth and Epic

Sexuality
The religious significance of sexuality in Mesopotamian life has been well established.
31 
Sexuality, with all of its creative potential and power, was a divine force, one that was primarily 
identified with the goddess of love and war, Inanna (Semitic Ishtar). For humans, sex fulfilled the 
necessary function of the continuation of life, yet sexual activity is not presented in literary texts 
as a purely practical experience. Both genders were entitled to sexual pleasure, a shared aspect of 
life linked to intimacy and happiness.
32
In contrast, for deities (the protagonists of divine myth), sex was not a necessary precursor to the 
creation of life, yet sex involving divine figures occurs with reasonable frequency in myth. Deities 
are presented as capable of becoming pregnant and giving birth to other deities (for example, in 
the myth of 
Enki and Ninmah
). In myths with an emphasis on narrative plots, sexuality involving 
deities is at times violent, nonconsensual, and destructive. The presence of violence and rape in 
myths should not be taken as entirely representative of Mesopotamian thoughts on divine 
sexuality, as other literature (which references mythic narratives) gives a different picture—for 
example, the tender and loving sexuality between deities (such as Inanna and her bridegroom, 
Dumuzi), portrayed in Sumerian hymns.
29
30
31 
32

---

Religion and Humanity in Mesopotamian Myth and Epic
Page 
10
of 
23
Printed from Oxford Research Encyclopedias, Religion. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a 
single article for personal use (for details see Privacy Policy and Legal Notice).
date: 22 December 2022
In the Sumerian myth of 
Inanna and Shukaletuda
, the goddess is raped by the son of a gardener 
(who is himself a gardener). In her anger, she sends three curses against the land—a blood 
plague, a dust storm, and a traffic jam—with destructive consequences for the mortal 
community. All of the goddess’s punitive actions relate to religious pollution, and combined with 
the supernatural quality of her revenge, the religious nature of the crime is emphasized.
33
The Sumerian myth of 
Enki and Ninhursaga
contains sexual violence and incest involving 
divinities, alongside the usually human concerns of birth and illness. While several of Enki’s 
sexual encounters with goddesses in this myth are incestuous, it is difficult to be certain how 
many of them can be considered nonconsensual.
34
 The distress of Enki’s daughter, Uttu, 
following their sexual interaction is strongly suggestive of rape (see parallels with Inanna’s 
distress over her physical mistreatment in the myth of 
Inanna and Shukaletuda
). It is interesting 
to note that the encounter with Uttu is also Enki’s only sexual act in 
Enki and Ninhursaga
that does 
not result in the pregnancy of a goddess
35
—an outcome that also parallels the lack of pregnancy 
following Shukaletuda’s rape of Inanna.
Instead of the distressed goddess Uttu becoming pregnant in 
Enki and Ninhursaga
, it is Enki 
himself who is impregnated, after ingesting some vegetables sown with his own semen, through 
a trap set for him by Ninhursaga. The scene involving Enki’s predatory consumption of the 
plants, which are the product of his own issue, mirrors his earlier sexual encounters with the 
goddesses.
36
This section of the myth, where Enki is pregnant and deeply unwell because he is 
incapable of delivering the offspring inside him, functions as an etiology for the birth of several 
deities, whom Ninhursaga, pitying Enki (after initially cursing him), delivers. The myth 
emphasizes Ninhursaga’s competence over Enki in the creative practice of birth. Enki’s illness 
after his encounter with Uttu presents incestuous rape as having undesirable outcomes for the 
perpetrator. The use of vegetation and gardening imagery strengthens the impression of usually 
positive activities having a negative result because of the illicit nature of Enki’s actions. Whereas 
agricultural symbols in Mesopotamian literature often represent concepts of fecundity and 
abundance linked to positive sexual encounters, in this myth vegetation that Enki himself has 
unwittingly poisoned instead causes sickness and distress.
The sexual relationship between Enlil and the goddess Ninlil in 
Enlil and Ninlil
has also been the 
subject of scholarly analysis regarding the consensualism of the interactions between the two 
deities. Although Enlil is banished following his impregnation of Ninlil owing to his “ritual 
impurity,” he is followed by Ninlil, who has intercourse with him another three times. Enlil’s 
failure to marry Ninlil after intercourse, following the loss of her virginity, has been suggested as 
the cause of his impurity,
37
 but attention has also been drawn to the difference between the initial 
sexual encounter between Enlil and Ninlil, where Enlil coerces Ninlil into sex, and his later use of 
disguise to gain access to her in this Sumerian myth.
38
The exact nature of the sexual relationship 
of the two deities in 
Enlil and Ninlil
is complicated, and there is a lack of scholarly consensus on its 
meaning.
33
34
35
36
37
38

---