The Descent of Inanna: A Sumerian Tale of Injustice (opens in new tab)

Modern Jungian interpretations of the Descent of Innana assert that Inanna, through her descent into darkness, the shedding of the trappings of her former self, confrontation with her "shadow", death of who she was, and final rebirth, is now a complete individual, wholly aware. However, the moral that an ancient hearer of the poem might take away from it, far from a "symbolic journey of the self to wholeness" is the lesson that there are consequences for one's actions, and, further, they migh...