Above To The Great Below

“From the Great Above to the Great Below” is a story the majority of modern cultures are unfamiliar with. Being written in cuneiform, the text originates in ancient Mesopotamia, specifically Sumer. Thus, the text we have now is a translation, yet to the best of their ability the translators attempt to replicate the style and content of the original story. Because of this I find that the style the myth is written in creates some distance between the myth and a modern audience. For me, being able to study the myth in an academic setting helped with understanding the cultural background and overall history behind “From the Great Above to the Great Below” and changed how I perceived the text. To observe the impact and meaning this text would have
This first happened with Ereshkigal’s physical reaction to being told that Inanna was in the underworld, “When Ereshkigal heard this, /She slapped her thigh and bit her lip./She took the matter into her heart and dwelt on it” (56). This point of the text caused the participants to have two different interpretations. Participant one felt that this was a reaction out of anger at Inanna for coming to the underworld, while participant two felt that Ereshkigal was laughing at Inanna for the attempt, and realizing that she now had a chance to pull one over on heaven. While the interpretations of the motivations of Ereshkigal change how the participants might see her as a character, both ideas show an assumption of a negative relationship between the heavens and the underworld. This was brought up before Ereshkigal killed Inanna, and therefore while the theme is present in the story, I find that this assumption is influenced by modern western culture’s view on the relationship between heaven and hell. Overall the mythology of this character raised many questions with the participants. Another point that shows this was the confusion caused in them after Enki described that Ereshkigal would be crying and moaning “with the cries of a woman about to give birth” (64). They didn’t understand why, and I did not have the knowledge at the time to explain, and told them such. This led to the participants talking among themselves discussing if she was having birth or if she was faking the noises to draw attention and sympathy. While not impossible to understand the text without it, I feel that the participants and my own confusion surrounding Ereshkigal’s motivation and mythology, that outside context and information are useful in bridging the gap of understanding of different