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JessiBeans β Ishtar
Published: 2006-12-12 18:41:02 +0000 UTC; Views: 47849; Favourites: 1156; Downloads: 643
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Part 3 of 6Ishtar was the ancient Sumero-Babylonian goddess of love and fertility. She is often described as the daughter of Anu, the god of the air. In most of the myths concerning her, she is described as an evil, heartless, women who destroyed her mates and lovers.
In the great epic of Gilgamesh, she tried to make Gilgamesh her husband, but he refused her and reminded her of her former lovers, whom she mercilessly killed or left injured. She reported this to her father, Anu, and he gave her the mystical bull of heaven to avenge herself. Gilgamesh and his friend Enkidu stopped and killed the mighty creature and threw its headless body at her feet. They also insulted her, and she responded by sending disease to kill Gilgamesh's best friend Enkidu.
This is the third of a six piece portfolio for Independent Study in Digital Drawing, with piece examining a uniquely feminine trait as represented by a goddess. Ishtar represents jealousy.
Adobe Photoshop 7.0, Illustrator 10.0.3 and my Precioussssss
Image Β© ME!!! 2006
Textures from [link]
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Comments: 55
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Cool pose, and nice flowing design to her robes. The patterns on the walls and the lamp(?) make for a nice Near Estern touch.Β
Calling Ishtar "good" or "evil" would not really match her characteristics, though. She is a goddess of love and fertility, as well as war - perhaps signifying how creation and destruction are two sides of the same coin. She can shower a mortal with love and favours in one moment and smite them in the next.Β Β
She's like a fifty-fifty in the morality department.Β
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This image drew me in. The colors alone are fantastic.
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Fuck yes! Β Not gonna say much, except that I enjoy (and idolize, since I'm a wannabe-succubus...shh...) dangerous girls, so someone like her is right up my alley 
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isn't she referred to as Innana in the epic of Gilgamesh?
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Inanna is one of her other names, yes.
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OOH I am working on a novel about Semiramis, and have encounter Ishtar in the readings....I love this!
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Gorgeous. Dramatic, colourful, and authentic. I'm in love ^^
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Excellent & then some !! So many of the ancient heroine figures & goddesses have so much in common that it's hard to believe there's not some common ground somewhere.
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totally awesome pic, love the middle-eatern style (: would almost say arabian, but that is the wrong area ^^ totally wish i could do art like this :/ but that is something else....complete fave! *thumbs up*
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Also, it does not have Sumarian period clothing... This is more Arabic or Persian.
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I first heard about this goddess/Queen when i was curious about the true beginings of Easter. She came up as some believe the easter egg is derived from how she claimed to be born. She claimed not to have a mother and was born from an egg that came to earth on the rays of the moon. It was of course called Ishtar's Egg, and Ishtar is suppodly pronounced Easter. It did say some other stuff, but i've forgot most of it, i really must try and read Gilgamesh.
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Sorry, but that's incorrect. Β What you're referring to is a pseudohistorical conspiracy theory advanced in a book called "The Two Babylons":Β en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Two_β¦ . Β Somewhat disappointingly, it's not true at all. Β Take it from someone who is actually a Babylonian neo-pagan, who considers Lady Ishtar (yes, "Lady") her patron, and who would be swiftly excommunicated from the Church if she were Catholic due to her views on sexual morality.
The real story (as well as more refutation of Hislop's "magnum opus") on Easter is here:Β rationalwiki.org/wiki/Easter
(yes I know this comment is almost 7 years old but after learning about this I promised myself that, as an Ishtar worshiper, I'd do what I could to debunk it. Β But even if you now know this, that doesn't mean everyone coming here will, so I'm saying this just as much for third parties who read the comments on here)
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Lovely piece. I think it's pretty cool to see artists doing a set of different goddesses of mythology.
Also, I actually don't think it was Ishtar who decides to kill Enkidu. I believe it was Enlil's decision as punishment for killing Humbaba and the Bull. The bull itself was sent on her wishes though. Yeah, she was more often portrayed negatively as you said. Although at the end of Utnapishtim's flood story, she is the god who seems upset the most about humanity's destruction.
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"Although at the end of Utnapishtim's flood story, she is the god who seems upset the most about humanity's destruction."
Ehh...I don't know...I'm pretty sure that was Enlil (you know, the guy who WARNED Utnapishtim about the Flood?). Β Ishtar was never really portrayed as anything besides a spoiled brat. Β Unless I'm missing something, and she was as angry about it as Enlil.
I'll admit, though, I'm kinda drawn to her, but I also kinda need an Alternate Character Interpretation to really accept her (basically, I focus on her as a powerful woman proud of her own sexuality, like Bayonetta, rather than her historical "spoiled brat" characterization)
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You really did your homework for her. One thing about Inanna / Ishtar and An / Anu, The term father was often used as a term of respect meaning that she looked up to him as greater than her. In general her father is considered to be Nanna the god of the moon.
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Its gorgeous! but in most of the stories I've heard (Assyrian), she's the Goddess of war as well
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The other day I was reading about her siter
(Ereshkigal) who rulled the underworld and she is even more badass with talons instead of feet and wings. When Ishtar came there she barely escaped untouched.
Anyways nice pic although it remainds me more of the 1001 nights climates
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Love the power in her pose and the rich, intense colors.
-A.C.
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Leave it to men to put a vicious spin on things. The only reason She was supposed to have killed the lovers She had was that the Kings for the Day were sacrificed to Her in Her Temples after the Holy Orgies. The true King was never meant to be slain so another was made "king for a day" in his place, thus the hundreds of thousands of men slain for Ishtar (also known as Astarte)
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I remember that tale in my Western Civ 1 class. I wasn't actually sure what she looked like though. I do remember that several people died because of that bull, then again, I might be... thinking of something else.
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haha. I've just finished the Gilgamesh segment in my English class. This is really nice, with very clear emotions.
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I'm amazed! You actually know the story of Ishtar! And you portrayed it so beautifully too! ^_^
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Wow, I love your style!
Beautiful coloring job
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this is wonderfull
can I ask one thing?How do U put those patterns on her clothes?Like on her scarf for e.g
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I really like the different methods you've used to color this. It gives the whole piece an edge.
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You made her really beautiful and a good depiction of the myth. 
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Amazing! The carrion birds are awesome! Her expression especially captures the eye.
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This is fantastic!! I'm reading the Epic of Gilgamesh right now... kind of funny how that works.
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what excellent timing
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Somehow I thought the green would figure more prominently in her apparel, har har. I guess that would be too trite.
I admire your work in this series--there's a stylized quality that is appropriate to the subject matter, and the light and color choices are compelling--and I haven't posted on all of them, but they are all beautiful pieces.
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haha... maybe pink is the new color of envy.
Thank you!
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Wow. She was one mean lady. But wonderful work in drawing and coloring her.
~ Koki
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this series is very visually stunning - I can't wait to see all of them done!
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You have a lot of time on your hands to be halfway through so quickly and have them all look amazing!
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oh no... lol I've been working on these all semester, they're finally due tomorrow, so I'm finishing and posting. I *wish* I worked that fast...
Thanks!
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very pretty colors and patterns! Gotta love mythology
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Strangely, although Ishtar is quite evil, she's one of my favourate godesses.
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Nice! As strange as this may sound, one of the things I really like was the shading on the green part of her dress. There's a lot of definition here in terms of shading and the juxtaposition with the patterns you've used here is really interesting, while still maintaining thematic unity with the rest of the pictures.
Excellent work! I really like the thought you put into these.
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