Inanna is the principal goddess of ancient Sumer, worshipped in Mesopotamia from at least the fourth millennium BCE. She was the goddess of love, sexuality, and fertility, but also of war, political power, and justice, a combination that made her one of the most complex and widely venerated deities of the region. Her main cult center was the E-anna temple in the city of Uruk.

She is often called the “Queen of Heaven” and was associated with the planet Venus, the morning and evening star. Later Akkadian, Babylonian, and Assyrian cultures absorbed her worship under the name Ishtar, and she is thought to have influenced goddesses such as the Phoenician Astarte and possibly the Greek Aphrodite.

Her best-known myths include Inanna’s Descent to the Underworld, in which she journeys to the realm of her sister Ereshkigal and is killed and later revived, and her courtship and marriage to the shepherd god Dumuzi. She also appears in stories about acquiring the me, the divine decrees of civilization, from the god Enki. Inanna is also notable as one of the earliest named figures to be the subject of poetry, thanks to hymns attributed to Enheduanna, the high priestess of Ur and the first known author in history. 

SOURCES:

World History Encyclopedia, “Inanna”: https://www.worldhistory.org/inanna/. It covers her domains (love, fertility, war), her title Queen of Heaven, the Eanna temple at Uruk, Enheduanna’s role in raising her prominence, her major myths (the Descent, Dumuzi, Enki and the me), and her identification with Ishtar and Astarte.

Wikipedia, “Inanna”: https://wikipedia.com/wiki/Innin. It covers her worship from the Uruk period, her merging with Ishtar under Sargon of Akkad, and the possible influence of Astarte on Aphrodite.