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Ishtar is the ancient goddess of love, war, and fertility worshipped in the Akkadian Empire, by the Babylonians, and Assyrians. She was originally worshipped in Sumer as Inanna. She is also associated with beauty, sex, divine law, and political power. The Ishtar Gate was the eighth gate to the inner city of Babylon, which was constructed in around 575 BCE under the orders of Nebuchadnezzar II. Individuals who went against the traditional gender binary were heavily involved in the cult of Inanna. During Sumerian times, a set of priests known as gala worked in Inanna's temples, where they performed elegies and lamentations. Men who became gala sometimes adopted female names and their songs were composed in the Sumerian eme-sal dialect, which, in literary texts, is normally reserved for the speech of female characters. Some Sumerian proverbs seem to suggest that gala had a reputation for engaging in anal sex with men. Photographer: Travis McHenry |
