A tutelary deity of Ebla in northwest Syria, Ishara has cryptic and erotic aspects. In Mesopotamia Ishara is sometimes connected to the Queen of Heaven Goddess Ishtar (Inanna) as well as the Underworld Goddess Ereshkigal. Ishara first appears in records in the 3rd millenium BCE.
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In Ebla (not be be confused with the Greek island, Elba), Ishara and Ishtar are seen as equals, a divine duo. One temple ritual, performed by royals, depicts Ishtar with head of a lioness, her sacred animal. She's called Labutu from her Akkadian epithet lābatu (lioness).
In Syria the Goddess Astarte (Attart), a Hellenic equivalent of Ishtar, appears with Ishtar and Ishara on god lists or kaluti of Ugarit. The god lists or offering lists determine which gods receive worship in which cities, their deific rank.
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They also include any sukkals, family members or entourage. The lists itemize the sacrifices made to each personage and how often. Ishara has her own house of worship at Ebla, and is one of the deities to be worshipped in other temples as well.
Portrayed as a youthful goddess, Ishara is like the flower of love blossoming in spring, or the object of desire. In a the Hurrian epithet she's šiduri or young woman. Ishara represents feminine beauty and eternal youth.
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Ishara is sometimes romantically linked to the God Dagan, King of the Gods, but this seems for ritual purposes only. She's occasionally seen in the company of male God figures, possibly for political or synchronization reasons. Ishara remains unmarried and has no children.
From Old Assyrian texts comes a connection between Ishara and the north Mesophotamian medicine goddess Ninkarrak, known as the Divine Physician. Dogs are sacred to Ninkarrak. Her main cult centers are in Sippar, in today's Iraq and Terqa, Syria.
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Ishara is invoked for the swearing of fealty, political, adminstrative and other important oaths. She's called šarrat māmīti or Queen of the Oaths. If a person breaks a sworn oath Ishara inflicts disease upon the miscreant, a punishment known as the Hand of Ishara or Ishara illness.
She's a goddess of love and death. Symbols of Ishara include the scorpion and snakes, which carry both venom and powers of healing. Snakes symbolize medicine, rebirth, fertility, sensuality and prosperity.
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In the first millennium BCE Ishara is often represented in scorpion form. One of her symbols is Bašmu, a horned snake with forelegs and wings.
As her cult spreads north and east, Ishara associated almost entirely with love in its many forms including desire, lust, passion, libido, sensual love, sexual relationships. She relates to physical aspects of love more than the spiritual, with some exceptions.
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In Hurrian belief Ishara is considered an Underworld Goddess. The Death or Underworld Queen in this region is the Goddess Allani, a powerful sensual deity. While idolized as a Goddess of Love in other regions, Ishara is an Underworld Goddess in Hurrian lore and sometimes Allani and Ishara are invoked together.
Other Death and Desire Goddesses include Ereshkigal, widely worshipped in Babylon and other parts of Mesopotamia. In Ugaritic mythology the Goddess Asray is Ruler of the Underworld and groundwater.
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The sukkal of Ishara is Tašme-zikru (Akkadian: "She answered my word" or "She answered the word"). A minor goddess, Tasme-zikru appears in the god lists of the city of Isin, about 20 mi (32k) south of Nippur in today's Iraq.
A further Mesopotamian deity associated with her is Ningirima. She's a Goddess of incantations and purification, connected to snakes and 'scorpion star'. In Kizzuwatna, birthplace of Hittite Queen Puhudepa, other minor gods join her entourage.
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