From Heaven to the Netherworld. Reflections on the corporal representations of Inanna and Dumuzi from the iconographic and textual evidence

Abstract

In this paper, we propose to analyze the modalities established in the representation of the body and corporeality of Inanna and Dumuzi, two Mesopotamian deities linked to the vital power, but also to death, based on the contrast of the iconographic and textual evidence. In our research, we will focus on how both deities are represented in the poem Inanna’s Descent to the Netherworld, considering not only the descriptions provided by the visual imagery and the literary narrative but also the theoretical contributions of the disciplines that reflected on the notion of body in the Western thought and its application to the oriental studies.