The Myth of Tammuz and Ishtar

• The myth of Tammuz took on many forms, spanning cultures. The Akkadian version from the Late Bronze Age tells of the goddess Ishtar descending into the underworld to retrieve her lover, Tammuz.
  
  

The Sumerian Tammuz

• A more elaborate version of the Tammuz myth comes from the Sumerian culture of the third millennium B.C. Dumuzi (Tammuz) dies each year and is carried off to the netherworld during the barren, hot summer. His lover, Inanna (Ishtar), mourns him and brings him back to life each fall, and they consummate their reunion.
  
  

The Greek Tammuz

• Tammuz and the Greek myth of Adonis have commonalities. Aphrodite, who shares features with Ishtar and Inanna, loves Adonis, but Persephone traps him in the underworld. Adonis must spend half the year in the world of the living and half in the underworld.
  
  

Tammuz in the Bible

• God shows the prophet Ezekiel the abomination of women "weeping for Tammuz." Tammuz was known as a women's cult, as women mourned Ishtar's widowhood. (See references 2)
  
  

The Month of Tammuz

• The Hebrew month of Tammuz falls in June-July. The 17th of Tammuz is a minor fast commemorating various travails of the Jewish people, including the breach of Jerusalem's walls by Nebuchadnezzer in 586 B.C.