About to Introduce something I’ve been working on with my friends for a looooong while.
It’s a worldbuilding/book idea that I’ve been making, in a Universe where the gods are both real and tangible, where they walk alongside mortals, and govern massive amounts of territory in real-space. Mortals pray to the gods and empower them, and in-turn different Pantheons watch over them and protect, both from the various monsters of mythology… and against each other.
It’s a universe that explores how gods affect everything political, economic and biological, alongside the backdrop of civilizations rising from the backdrop of the ruins of a long-fallen galactic empire.
Currently contemplating making a sub-tumblr for this, but we’ll see!
This is meant to resemble “David and Saul” by Julius Kronberg.
Ninshubur is a well attested sukkal (basically a vizier or servant) of Inanna. I have drawn her once before during inktober, but I still haven’t quite settled on her design. Sometimes she is bald, here she gets a ponytail. Not sure what I was thinking when I drew stars on her robe, and her staff is missing also.
I’m trying to get better at drawing backgrounds! The perspective and coloring here is a bit dodgy, but I think I’m happy with it.
By the name of Šamaš, Ereškigala, and the Anunnaki, the great gods of the underworld: Through death, the destiny of all living things overtook Iabâ the queen and she went to the path of her ancestors.
Whoever in the future - be it a queen who sits on the throne or a court woman, beloved of the king - removes me from my tomb or puts anyone else in with me, and reaches his hand toward my jewelry with evil intent or whoever breaks open the seal of this tomb;
above, let his spirit roam outside under the rays of the sun in thirst. And below in the underworld, may he not receive offerings with the Anunnaki. No libations of water, first-draft beer, wine or flour! May Ningišzida and Bituh the chief gatekeeper, the great gods of the underworld, afflict his corpse and ghost with eternal restlessness.
The grave inscription of queen Iabâ who was queen from 744 to ca. 722 BCE.
Source:Women’s Writing of Ancient Mesopotamia by Charles Halton and Saana Svärd.
Inanna was the goddess of war, sex, and the dispensation of justice in the ancient kingdom of Sumer in Mesopotamian mythology. One particular Sumerian hymn details how she became a goddess of sexual love, particularly for women. In the story, Inanna asked her twin brother Utu(god of the sun) to accompany her to a magical place called the Kur, where sacred plants grew because she was forbidden from traveling alone. When they arrived, she wanted to eat a sacred fruit of knowledge so that she could learn the secrets of intimacy, telling Utu “What concerns women namely, men I do not know. What concerns women lovemaking I do not know.” Utu relented and allowed her to eat the fruit, and so Inanna then became aware of the power of her own sexuality. Over time though she merged with the figure of Ishtar in the ancient world, and they are often portrayed as one and the same.
(Zuhair Murad Spring 2020 Haute Couture Collection)
