Apr 10, 2016
Mesopotamian Bovine Statuette, Early Dynastic I , C. 2800-2700 BC
Made of black steatite with calcite inlays.
This type of figurine was probably left at a temple as an offering to the goddess Inanna (Inana), the most important female deity of ancient Mesopotamia. She was the goddess of sexual love, fertility, and warfare, and goddess of the E-ana temple at the city of Uruk, her main center. There were many other temples dedicated to her along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. In later times Inanna was syncretized with the East Semitic Akkadian, Assyrian and Babylonian goddess Ishtar and the Northwest Semitic Aramean goddess Astarte.
