With the publication of this book, we have for the first time in any modern literary form one of the most vital of ancient myths -- that of Inanna (known to the Semites as Ishtar), the world`s first goddess of recorded history and the beloved deity of the ancient Sumerians. In this groundbreaking work, Samuel Noah Kramer, the preeminent living expert on Sumer, and Diane Wolkstein, a gifted storyteller and folklorist, have retranslated, ordered, and combined the fragmented cuneiform tablets comprising the Cycle of Inanna to create an authentic portrait of the goddess from her adolescence to her completed womanhood and "godship." Illustrated with visual artifacts of the period, the images guide the reader through Inanna`s realm on a journey parallel to the one evoked by the text. And the carefully wrought commentaries at once explicate and amplify the power, wonder, and mystery embedded in these ancient tales. Tender, erotic, and compassionate, Inanna is a compelling myth that is timely in its rediscovery. This is an admirable translation, a great masterpiece of universal literature. -- Mircea Eliade A splendid mutual accomplishment and a great gift to mythology.... Inanna is a book to be cherished. -- P. L. Travers In the myth of Inanna, Wolkstein and Kramer give us back the totality of woman, the ruler-wife-lover-redeemer, whom all worshiped and from whom all life flowed. It is a thrilling rediscovery. -- Olivier Bernier Wolkstein has been able to convey in English the rich metaphor, the erotic fullness, and the ritual pacing of these ancient stories.... Taken together with the illustrations, historical discussions, and textual commentaries, this book is worth a tower of scholarly tomes....Such a feat is remarkable and rare. -- Barre Toelken, Director of Folklore and Ethnic Studies, University of Oregon. I felt shivers of recognition reading these ancient lines that proclaim Inanna`s discovery of her prowess.... Kramer and Wolkstein make us love their awesome goddess whose stormy complexities have been concealed in cuneiform tablets for thousands of years. -- Nor Hall