Epics and the Otherworld
Epics and the Otherworld
ENG2043 Unit 2
Part 1: What is an epic?
An epic is a long na
ative poem about an adventure of some kind - usually, but not always, a journey. Furthermore, an
epic must tell a story of great significance, like the origin or destiny of a nation, a culture, or the cosmos. Homer's great
war epic, The Iliad, focuses on the doom of Troy. The Odyssey explores the aftermath of that war. Virgil's Aeneid, which
was inspired by Homer's work, looks back at the mythological origins of Rome. The Greek and Roman gods intervene in
the events of all three poems, so the stories have cosmic as well as human significance. Later epics, like Dante's Divine
Comedy and Milton's Paradise Lost, also explore the relationship between humanity and the divine, but within a
Christian rather than a pagan framework.
Epics are not an exclusively Western genre, though. India produced major epics like The Ramayana and The Bhagavad
Gita. Epics like Sunjata provide insight into pre-colonial African cultures. Across cultures, the epic hero is exceptional in
some way. In the older, mythological epics, an association with divinity serves as the marker of this exceptional status.
Achilles from The Iliad and Aeneas from The Aeneid are the sons of goddesses. Arjuna from The Bhagavad Gita has the
god Krishna as his chariot driver. In Korean shamanist ballads, which are epic in scope, the legendary Princess Bari
transforms into a goddess.
Part 2: Inanna and Sumeria
Some of the world's oldest epics were written in Mesopotamia, or modern-day Iraq, which was home to the great
Sumerian and Babylonian civilizations. From these cultures we have the Epic of Gilgamesh and the even older hymns to
the goddess Inanna. We still have access to this ancient literature because, as Anne Trubek put it in an article fo
Smithsonian Magazine, the Sumerians wrote their literature on "iPhone-sized clay tablets" that could survive fo
millennia if not
oken. The Sumerian gods were depicted as having emotions similar to those of humans: love, rage,
jealousy, and regret. The Inanna hymns, then, give us a human-like goddess as an epic heroine, in contrast to the late
godlike humans.
Inanna frequently comes off as a trickster goddess in the Sumerian mythology. One poem, for example, tells of a visit
with Enki, the god of wisdom. Inanna gets the older god drunk and convinces him to give her a collection of magical
objects that symbolize his wisdom and power. When Enki sobers up the next morning, he regrets what he has done and
sends his servant to chase after Inanna. She nevertheless escapes with her loot (ETCSL XXXXXXXXXXUnlike the Greek
goddess of wisdom Athena, who springs fully formed from the head of her father Zeus, Inanna must plot to claim he
power. Stories like this one portray Inanna as an ambitious goddess working her way up the Sumerian pantheon.
Part 3: Inanna's Descent
The most famous Inanna tale, though, describes her descent into the underworld. This may also be the oldest surviving
written epic. The use of repetition at the beginning of this poem suggests that this work has oral and ritual roots. That is,
it was chanted or sung before ever being written down. Nevertheless, the poem soon moves into a truly, well, epic
adventure. Inanna descends from heaven to the underworld to attend the funeral of her
other-in-law, the Bull of
Heaven. Her sister Ereshkigal, however, does not welcome Inanna. Instead, Ereshkigal forces Inanna to strip off he
garments of power. Then Ereshkigal puts Inanna on trial and ultimately has her executed. Afterward, the goddess'
corpse is hung on a wall hook (ETCSL 1.4.1).
Inanna knows in advance, though, that her sister's reception might prove unfriendly. Even before her descent, Inanna
puts in place a scheme for her own resuscitation and rescue. Inanna's plan works, but it comes with a price: someone
must take her place in the realm of the dead. Inanna refuses to sacrifice anyone who is mourning for her. However, she
finds her own husband, Dumuzi, sitting happily on his throne. In her fury, Inanna sends the underworld demons afte
him. The tablet containing the last piece of this story is damaged, but we are able to fill in the plot details from othe
sources (ETCSL XXXXXXXXXXThe demons catch Dumuzi, but his sister, Geshtinanna, agrees to take her
other's place fo
half of the year. Since Geshtinanna is an agricultural goddess, this contributes to the cycle of the seasons (Mark).
Part 4: Interpretation
What are we to make of this story? Diane Wolkstein and Noah Kramer provide a great deal of guidance for us in the
commentary portions of Inanna: Queen of Heaven and Earth, but you can read their book at your leisure. As a
supplement, though, let's consider Joshua Mark's intriguing article "Inanna's Descent: A Sumerian Tale of Injustice" from
the Ancient History Encyclopedia. Mark acknowledges the popular Jungian archetypal interpretation of this story: namely
that Inanna must confront her "shadow," go through a process of death and rebirth, and ultimately emerge as a more
complete person.
Mark doubts, though, that the epic would have meant this for the original Sumerian audience. Instead, Mark draws
attention to an episode in the related Epic of Gilgamesh. There, Inanna's pride sets in motion the events that lead to the
Bull of Heaven 's death. That is, Inanna
ings about the death of Ereshkigal's husband, and the latter goddess seeks to
avenge him. Thus, according to Mark, this is a tale about how Inanna escapes justice and transfers the consequences of
her i
esponsible behavior onto others.
To be clear, this is hardly the final word on the subject. For example, the philosopher James Cunningham acknowledged
Mark's central point, but argued that Inanna nevertheless functions as the romantic heroine of the story (211).
Structurally, the epic is Inanna's story, not her sister's.
When weighing different interpretations of any literary work, we must understand that literary criticism is different from
arithmetic - for literature generally doesn't lend itself to a single co
ect solution. Instead, there may be multiple plausible
interpretations of a story. Critics must make the case for their favored readings. That is, critics must show why thei
interpretations are plausible and how they contribute to our understanding.
Part 5: Underworld and Otherworld
Inanna's epic is a classic example of an otherworld adventure. In her case, the otherworld is an underworld. Descent,
though, is only one passageway into the otherworld. In some Native American folklore, the otherworld is not down, but
up. That is, there is another world in the sky. We see this in some of the Winnebago tales collected by Paul Radin.
Let's consider, for example "The Orphan Boy Who Was Captured by Some Bad Thunde
irds." Like Inanna, the hero is
taken prisoner by hostile spirits in the otherworld. Like Inanna, he must be purged before the hostile spirits can kill him -
although rather than su
endering his clothing, they want him to empty his stomach. Like Inanna, he receives assistance
and escapes in the end.
The Winnebago folktales, of course, aren't epics. For one thing, at least in the versions Radin collected, they're prose
ather than poetry. However, like the Inanna hymns, they reflect their culture's fundamental mythology. There are a
surprising number of parallels between these ancient tales from opposite sides of the globe, and together they help
emind us how much our earliest literature is connected to the world of myth.
(CSLO 1.2, 1.2.1, 1.2.2, 1.3, 1.3.1, 1.4, 1.4.1, 1.4.2, 2.1, 2.1.1, 2.1.2, 2.1.3, 2.1.4, 2.2.2, 2.2.3, 2.2.4, 2.2.5, 2.2.6, 3.1,
3.1.1, 3.1.2, 3.1.3, 3.1.4, 3.1.5, 3.1.6, 3.2, 3.2.1, 3.2.2, 3.2.3)
References
The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (ETCSL). University of Oxford. 30 November 2016.
Mark, Joshua J. "Inanna's Descent: A Sumerian Tale of Injustice." Ancient History Encyclopedia. 23 Fe
uary 2011.
Radin, Paul. "Winnebago Tales." The Journal of American Folklore XXXXXXXXXX), pp XXXXXXXXXX.
Trubek, Anne. "What the Heck is Cuneiform, Anyway?" Smithsonian Magazine. 20 October 2015.
Wolkstein, Diane. Inanna, Queen of Heaven and Earth: Her Stories and Hymns from Sumer. Harper, 1983.