Ishtar

Religion in NetHack
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In NetHack, Ishtar is the neutral goddess of the Caveman pantheon.

Origin

Inanna, known by the Akkadian Empire, Babylonians and Assyrians as Ishtar, is the ancient Mesopotamian goddess of love, war, and fertility whose primary title was "the Queen of Heaven". She is also associated with sensuality, procreation, divine law, and political power. Inanna was worshipped in Sumer at least as early as the Uruk period (c. 4000 BCE – 3100 BCE), and during the post-Sargonic era she became one of the most widely venerated deities in the Sumerian pantheon, with temples across Mesopotamia. The cult of Inanna/Ishtar continued by the Akkadians, Assyrians and Babylonians, and the Assyrians in particular elevated her to become the highest deity in their pantheon above their own national god Ashur; her cult continued to flourish until its gradual decline between the first and sixth centuries CE in the wake of Christianity.

Inanna had a uniquely high number of epithets and alternate names, comparable only to Nergal, and appears in more myths than any other Sumerian deity, with many of them involving her taking over other deities' domains: She was believed to have been given the mes, which represented all positive and negative aspects of civilization, by the god of wisdom Enki, and was also believed to have taken over the Eanna temple from her father An (or Anu), the god of the sky. Inanna and her twin brother Utu (later known as Shamash) were enforcers of divine justice.

Inanna's most famous myth is the story of her descent into and return from the ancient Mesopotamian underworld, ruled by her older sister Ereshkigal - upon reaching Ereshkigal's throne room, the seven judges of the underworld deem her guilty and strike her dead; three days later, when Ninshubur pleads with all the gods to bring Inanna back, they all refuse her except for Enki, who sends two androgynous beings to rescue Inanna. One of her other most famous appearances is in the Epic of Gilgamesh, where she asks Gilgamesh to become her consort. When he disdainfully refuses, Inanna convinces Anu to give her the Bull of Heaven and sends it after Gilgamesh, but he slays the bull with the help of his friend Enkidu - this results in Enkidu being condemned to death by the gods, and the rest of the epic is dedicated to Gilgamesh's subsequent grapple with his own mortality.

Variants

dNetHack

In dNetHack and notdNetHack, Ishtar is a neutral god of holy holiness, and her minions consist of the Coure Eladrin, movanic devas, monadic devas, astral devas, and sons of Typhon.

Encyclopedia entry

Ishtar (the star of heaven) is the Mesopotamian goddess of
fertility and war. She is usually depicted with wings and
weapon cases at her shoulders, carrying a ceremonial double-
headed mace-scimitar embellished with lion heads, frequently
being accompanied by a lion. She is symbolized by an eight-
pointed star.

[ Encyclopedia of Gods, by Michael Jordan ]