Are Easter and Christmas really based upon Babylonian (or any other) paganism? A collection of research articles.

Read this first part carefully:

Ministry 101: No matter how carefully or clearly anyone expresses themselves, their intentions, and their beliefs, others will always use what you say to justify what they decide to do. If it happened to Yeshua/Jesus, Moses, Paul (who actually wasn’t all that clear), Peter, John, etc…then it will be doubly true for the rest of us. I haven’t endorsed Christmas, nor do I condemn those who celebrate. My one and only goal has been to clean up the house of God and our witness. When we distribute falsehoods in service of an agenda (and trying to take down Christmas and Easter are HUGE money-making agendas and even idols within some crowds) then we are playing by the rules of the world and we are destroying our credibility. People deserve the respect of being presented, not with manipulative horror stories of dubious authenticity, but the truth so that they can work out what they are going to do with God. When we strip them of that ability, we are subverting the authority of the Holy Spirit. I love the Body of Messiah. I love the Gospel. But I refuse to oppose anything with lies and bad information. God doesn’t need me to do that in order to accomplish His will. He desires we be truthful, that we encourage people toward righteousness, hold them responsible when they need to be held accountable and then to get out of His way. Just FYI, as a free ministry, I in no way profit from any of this. My goal isn’t to prove that Christmas and Easter aren’t pagan, but to take out the trash that is tossed around twice a year by people who should instead be committed to the truth. I give them the truth so that they make make their own choices, free from manipulation and propaganda.

I believe sometimes that our desire to control the outcome (when people are committed to getting others to stop celebrating C&E in this case, at any cost) leads us to fearfully resort to the world’s tactics. But it isn’t our job to control anyone–Yahweh doesn’t even try to control us like that so how dare we with others?

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An increasing number of Hebrew Roots ministries are backing down from, and retracting, the once very common teachings about the hypothetical ancient pagan origins of Christmas and Easter. However, the memes and googled pages that lack, and sometimes falsify, any sort of substantiation for their supposed archaeological claims are probably never going away. People lifted them long before the ministries retracted them. It’s a veritable pandora’s box. And people are willing to pour huge amounts of money into ministries that support and promote this, so it will never go away entirely.

So, twice a year, a month before Christmas and a month before Easter, I have posted a list of the research from myself and some others addressing a lot of the Easter/Ishtar accusations and the Tammuz/Lent misunderstanding, where we actually probably got colored eggs (from the Jews and fron fasting, not the pagans), etc. I decided in 2019 to just go ahead and make a big note of it so people could access it whenever they wanted to but then Facebook discontinued notes in October so I had to put this all here instead. This is provided for informational purposes, and I hope no one will force this stuff onto other people’s private walls and embarrass them. I don’t work that way and so I pray you won’t use my (or anyone else’s) research that way either. Share to your own social media platforms, if you so desire, but in my experience–jumping onto someone’s meme with a thousand likes where they are feeling really knowledgable and like they are doing a service to God and publicly humiliating them just doesn’t work. It almost always backfires so let’s be gentle, wise and kind. I have never forced this information on people but over the past six years, I have seen some amazing progress in this area. These claims are dying because they are being exposed to the truth.

You all probably know I don’t celebrate Christmas or Easter but do celebrate and teach the Feasts. Please don’t believe the lie circulating out there that I ever did this to “get in good with my Christian friends and family” because they really have never seemed to care whether I celebrate or not and I move so often that I never have any friends to speak of who would care either. I stumbled across this information accidentally while researching the defiling of the Temple back in early 2015. As I studied Babylonian, Assyrian, Hittite, Egyptian and Canaanite mythologies, I stumbled across the startling fact that I couldn’t substantiate a single thing I had ever heard. When I moved on into Gero-Roman times, I also came up empty on the Mithraic and Saturnalian claims. In fact, I recently discovered that there were no claims whatsoever that Christmas had pagan roots until the 12th century. I absolutely will discuss this stuff with anyone else who has read the source material I cite. But I will ask if the material has been read so that we are sure to be on equal footing. I will not argue with opinions when we have actual facts available. This is too emotional a subject, and it is needlessly divisive for all the wrong reasons. I have ministered to people who have ruined their families over this, and even their marriages.

In general, people often just honestly don’t know how to discern a good from a bad source and so books with titles like, “101 Facts About Christmas” are mistaken for actual researched and verified works of scholarship. In actuality, anyone can publish a book that says anything these days–and you can call anything a fact. No one is going to do anything about it. The only thing you can do is refuse to pass along anything that does not pass archaeological muster, and to learn to ask polite questions about people’s sources. In general, they won’t have anything–and I don’t say this to be unkind, it hasn’t honestly occurred to them that they should have proof, or that proof is anything other than “it looks legit to me” or “it’s obvious” or “my teacher says it is true.” But 21st-century monotheists without a shared cultural worldview will never be able to correctly judge or understand anything ancient based on our modern context. People hear these things from someone they love and respect, and so you have to be careful when challenging it. Good people get caught up in believing things without asking for proof if enough people are saying it–there is always the illusion of credibility in numbers. But if we are going to teach people that they are pagans for doing something, we need to have more than opinions. This was a death penalty offense in ancient Israel, and facts were required to make such an accusation.

If you want something added to the list, please send it to me. I will only consider material that actually has legitimate sources cited–I am not likely to watch any video or listen to any podcast that isn’t from a recognized expert. Too many videos and podcasts and googles pages come with grandiose claims but isn’t enough to claim “Tertullian said such and such” without a reference to exactly where I can find it. I verify everything. (Just FYI, Tertullian never said anything about Christmas because it didn’t exist during his life).

Nimrod teachings

On my radio show for kids (airing daily on I Will Gather You Radio and weekends on Hebrew Nation Radio), we covered Nimrod as part of exploring Genesis verse by verse (although that’s going to have to change when we get to Lot and his daughters) but these teachings are still entirely based on scholarly, peer-reviewed materials:

Nimrod and the Bible https://contextforkids.com/2022/05/02/episode-56-nimrod-and-the-bible

Nimrod: The Man, the Myths, and the Legends https://contextforkids.com/2022/05/09/episode-57-nimrod-the-man-the-myths-and-the-legends/

Christmas ones are on top, Easter below.

NEW! (2023) Christmas, Paganism, and Church History https://fyreis.substack.com/p/christmas-paganism-and-church-history?

NEW! (2023)–Challenging December on Trialhttps://www.youtube.com/live/RiE9DplP7Ro?si=eWqtE3g615WBfBZA and https://www.youtube.com/live/fLwcJ9y_vpI?si=_ARvFxSExZu9pqKc

NEW! From an atheist with a Masters in History who is trying to clean up the misinformation spread by his fellow atheists https://historyforatheists.com/2020/12/pagan-christmas/

NEW! Are Christmas and Mithras related? https://historyforatheists.com/2016/12/the-great-myths-2-christmas-mithras-and-paganism/

NEW! Just How Pagan is Christmas really? https://talesoftimesforgotten.com/2019/12/08/just-how-pagan-is-christmas-really/

NEW! Origin of Christmas Trees https://talesoftimesforgotten.com/2018/12/05/the-origins-of-the-christmas-tree/

NEW! I hate Santa Claus, personally, but this is interesting https://talesoftimesforgotten.com/2019/12/07/the-long-strange-fascinating-history-of-santa-claus/

How do I personally feel about Christmas and Easter? (Don’t believe the lies and “OPINIONS” out there, get it from my own mouth, er, fingers) http://theancientbridge.com/2016/02/so-what-about-christmas-and-easter-from-my-rewrite-of-the-bridge-crossing-over-into-the-fullness-of-covenant-life/

My friend David Wilber wrote an article addressing the controversy https://davidwilber.me/articles/should-christians-celebrate-christmas

Confronting the Atheist “Many gods were born on Dec 25th” claim. (Yes I know December 25th isn’t Messiah’s birthday either but let’s not pass around Atheist propaganda) http://theancientbridge.com/2017/10/q-how-many-pagan-gods-were-born-of-virgins-or-even-born-on-december-25th-a-zero/

And another on the same topic by James-Michael Smith https://www.discipledojo.org/blog/pagan-jesus

Were Horus and Osiris really born on December 25th? http://theancientbridge.com/2016/01/this-is-the-beginning-of-months-for-you-egyptian-calendars-the-birthdays-of-the-gods-and-why-goshen-was-the-best-of-the-land/

What is Jeremiah 10 actually talking about? Should we twist Scripture to fit our anti-Christmas (or any) agendas? http://theancientbridge.com/2015/10/confronting-the-memes-pt-7-did-jeremiah-condemn-christmas-trees-or-are-we-being-anachronistic/

I covered the topic of whether Jeremiah and Isaiah were talking about Christmas trees in their idol polemics on my radio show last year http://theancientbridge.com/2019/12/episode-39-isaiah-and-the-messiah-part-6-441-23-jer-10-habbakuk-2-and-christmas-trees/

A balanced look at the origins of Christmas and the modern ethical dilemmas with celebrating https://www.derekpgilbert.com/2018/12/23/merry-non-pagan-christmas

One on December 25th
https://triablogue.blogspot.com/2008/12/december-25-and-paganism.html

Hippolytus, in the third century, made a comment about December 25 being the date of the birth of Messiah in his commentary on Daniel. This article explores his comment and context further. Please note, this is not posted here as a defense of that date but as historical context to the date. https://www.facebook.com/groups/233047447490355/permalink/581281752666921?sfns=mo

Is Christmas really tied to Sol Invictus? https://web.archive.org/web/20140721141415/http://chronicon.net/blog/christmas/sol-invictus-evidently-not-a-precursor-to-christmas/

Are Obelisks (or Christmas trees for that matter) really Phallic symbols? http://theancientbridge.com/2015/06/confronting-pseudo-archaeological-memes-pt-2-are-obelisks-really-well-you-know/

This is actually well researched and I am familiar with many of his cited sources and the scholarship of the works he cites https://web.archive.org/web/20170128161856/http://historum.com/blogs/sankari/621-december-25-no-connection-tammuz-saturnalia-sol-invictus-mithras.html

How did the early Church come up with December 25th? Well, it’s actually pretty interesting https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-topics/new-testament/how-december-25-became-christmas/

Is Christmas based on Saturnalia? https://www.idolkiller.com/post/is-christmas-based-on-saturnalia

Usener’s Christmas – an article by Roman Historian Stephen Hijmans, an undisputed expert in Roman history and all things related to Sol Invictushttps://www.academia.edu/987479/Useners_Christmas_A_Contribution_to_the_Modern_Construct_of_Late_Antique_Solar_Syncretism_in_M._Espagne_and_P._Rabault-Feuerhahn_edd._Hermann_Usener_und_die_Metamorphosen_der_Philologie._Wiesbaden_Harrassowitz_2011._139-152

Dr Heiser’s take on whether Christmas is pagan https://nakedbiblepodcast.com/podcast/naked-bible-195-is-christmas-a-pagan-holiday/
and a transcript of the podcast here: http://nakedbiblepodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/NB-195-Transcript.pdf

Easter/Lent articles

NEW!! From an atheist with a Masters in History who is trying to clean up the misinformation spread by his fellow atheists https://historyforatheists.com/2017/04/easter-ishtar-eostre-and-eggs/

Was there really an Ishtar Sunday? Did the Queen of heaven dip eggs in baby blood? http://theancientbridge.com/2015/10/who-was-the-queen-of-heaven-and-did-she-really-dip-eggs-in-the-blood-of-infants-ezekiel-8-in-context-part-2/

Is Lent related to Tammuz? What do we know about Tammuz? http://theancientbridge.com/2015/09/who-was-tammuz-and-why-and-when-were-the-women-weeping-for-him-ez-8-from-the-ancient-near-eastern-context/

Did we get Hot Cross Buns from Ishtar? http://theancientbridge.com/2016/04/wwie-what-would-ishtar-eat-baking-cakes-for-the-queen-of-heaven-jeremiah-7-in-context-part-2/

Atheists debunking the Eostre/Ishtar myth. https://historyforatheists.com/2017/04/easter-ishtar-eostre-and-eggs

A balanced, responsible article relating the origins of Easter and the Passover vs Resurrection question: http://theancientbridge.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Americas_Favorite_Holidays_Candid_Histories_-_3._Easter-1.pdf

Is Easter from Ishtar? by Tim Hegg https://torahresource.com/does-easter-come-from-ishtar/

From an admitted pagan who actually does some really creditable research into her own religion https://bellejar.ca/2013/03/28/easter-is-not-named-after-ishtar-and-other-truths-i-have-to-tell-you/

Another pagan who went looking for deep roots and didn’t find them http://cavalorn.livejournal.com/502368.html?thread=7943520

How abstaining from eggs gave the world Easter eggs–after having chickens for two years this made total sense. http://www.christianitytoday.com/history/2010/february/how-fast-of-lent-gave-us-easter-eggs.html

How the 33rd Day of the Counting of the Omer might have given us egg hunts (I learned a lot of ancient near eastern context from the book “An Egg at Easter” by Venetia Newell – impeccably researched and very easily had online). https://www.facebook.com/tyler.rosenquist/posts/10213621802363307

Miscellaneous articles

A very well researched video from Andre-Philippe Therrien covering the problem with using Hislop’s The Two Babylons, and all books based on it, as sources https://youtu.be/MM3rhY5vGPc

Before anyone counters with Hislop or any works based on Hislop (which would be anything making Nimrod associations), please read this article from Ralph Woodrow, who made a career, and a lot of money, off of writing a book he never researched himself (called Mystery Babylon) based entirely on Hislop’s writings. http://www.equip.org/article/the-two-babylons/

Everything we do know about Nimrod historically and in literature throughout the ages. Everything else is late date urban legends. Van der Toorn is an incredible scholar. http://www.godawa.com/chronicles_of_the_nephilim/Articles_By_Others/Van_der_Toorn-Nimrod_before_and_after_the_Bible.pdf

Does neo-paganism have deep roots, as many adherents claim? A great and honest article by a neo-pagan http://www.patheos.com/blogs/allergicpagan/2015/06/07/a-brief-history-of-neo-paganism/

Excellent scholarly book on the history of the Christian calendar and celebrations https://www.amazon.com/dp/0391041231

How can we tell if an observance is pagan, or just cultural? http://theancientbridge.com/2015/12/pagan-or-cultural/

Resources from Matthew Higdon (I haven’t checked out most of these but I am very familiar with some of the scholars)

For Christmas:

Andrew McGowan, Ancient Christian Worship: Early Church Practices in Social, Historical, and Theological Perspective (Baker Academic, 2014), 249–59.
Stephen Nissanbaum, The Battle for Christmas (Vintage, 1997).
Susan K. Roll, Toward the Origins of Christmas (Kol Pharos, 1995).
Paul Bradshaw and Maxwell Johnson, The Origins of Feasts, Fasts, and Seasons in Early Christianity (Liturgical Press, 2011).
Martin Connell, “The Origins and Evolution of Advent in the West” in “Between Memory and Hope: Readings on the Liturgical Year,” ed. John Baldovin and Maxwell Johnson (Liturgical Press, 2000), 349–71.
Joseph F. Kelley, “The Origins of Christmas” (Liturgical Press, 2014).
Thomas J. Talley, “The Origins of the Liturgical Year” (Liturgical Press, 1991).

Tom Holland, “The myth of ‘pagan’ Christmas,” Unherd: https://unherd.com/2020/12/the-myth-of-pagan-christmas

For Easter:
N. T. Wright, The Resurrection of the Son of God (Fortress, 2003).
Christopher Bryan, The Resurrection of the Messiah (Oxford, 2011).
Pinches Lapide, The Resurrection of Jesus: A Jewish Perspective (Wipf and Stock, 2002).
Dale C. Allison, Jr., Resurrecting Jesus: The Earliest Christian Tradition and Its Interpreters (T&T Clark International, 2005).
Paul Bradshaw, Passover and Easter: Origin and History to Modern Times (U Notre Dame, 2000).
Then there’s the usual fare by William Lane Craig, Mike Licona, and Gary Habermas.
Personally, I’ve found the most fruitful books on this to be scholarly dialogues: “Jesus’s Resurrection: Fact or Figment?: A Debate Between William Lane Craig and Gerd Ludemann” and “The Resurrection of Jesus: John Dominic Crossan and N. T. Wright in Dialogue.” They furnish the reader with a sense of the relative strengths and weaknesses of each position.



¿QCI? (¿Qué comió Ishtar?) Tortas hechas para la Reina del Cielo: Jeremías 7 en Contexto Parte 2

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Thanks so much to my English readers for being so understanding about receiving Spanish translations in the mail from time to time – this allows me to reach 10% of the readers in the world instead of only 5%. I pray someday to have a committed Spanish blog but that will be a long time away 🙂

Gracias a Lisa Velazquez por traducir este articulo. Puede escucharla a traves de Teshuva.tv los Domingos a las 6pm en el programa radial: Caminando en Obediencia.

Por lo tanto, esto no era lo que estaba estudiando. Yo estaba buscando el culto a Moloc desde el punto de vista del Culto Imperial y la prostitución de culto a la luz de la parashá de esta semana – y luego me topé con esto por accidente. Y era demasiado prometedor, no para cavar explorar y compartir.

“Oh Istar, diosa misericordiosa, he venido a visitarte. Te he preparado una ofrenda, la leche pura, una torta cocida en cenizas (kamanu tumri), me he puesto de pie para ser un recipiente para tus libaciones, escúchame y actúa favorablemente hacia mí. “- Un himno de Ishtar (ha habido muchos himnos diferentes conservados), citado en Ackerman.

¿Qué es kamanu tumri? Es un pan sin levadura fino hecho de harina y cocido en cenizas – literalmente una “torta de ceniza” (en comparación con el pan hecho en un horno formal, el pan tumru se hace a toda prisa). De hecho, todavía los árabes lo hacen en nuestros días. (1) ¿Qué es un pastel puro? Creo al llamársele una “torta pura” probablemente sería un reflejo del hecho de que no había tenido tiempo de leudarse.

No inmediatamente un un elemento de cambio hasta que nos fijamos en Jeremías 7:18:

¡Los hijos recogen la madera, los padres encienden el fuego, las mujeres amasan la masa para hacer tortas (kawwanim) a la reina del cielo; y, sólo para provocarme, ellos derraman ofrendas de bebida a otros dioses! (2)

Kawwanim es una palabra de anticipo derivada de la palabra acadia kamanu (3) y el único otro lugar en la Escritura en el que la vemos es Jeremías 44:19:

[Entonces las esposas añadieron,] “¿Somos nosotras las que ofrecemos incienso a la reina del cielo? ¿Derramamos libación a ella? ¿Acaso le hicimos tortas marcadas con su imagen para ella y derramamos libación a ella sin nuestros esposos?” (4)

En el contexto Jeremías 44 se refiere al retorno de los judíos a la adoración de la Reina del Cielo, ya que se consideraron que habían sido maldecidos por haberla abandonado. Volviendo a la primera cita del Himno de Ishtar, la única razón por la cual el himnito ofrecía leche, pasteles y vino era con el fin de ser oído y bendecido.

ishtar owl

Note la frase única en Jeremías 44:19 – marcadas con su imagen – l’ha’asibah. El único otro lugar en el que vemos en las Escrituras es cuando Job está hablando de ser formado por las propias manos de Dios en Job 10:8. Así que vemos pan sin levadura, harina, pasteles finos delgados ya sea formados a la imagen de Ishtar o que llevaban su marca. Su “marca” o la forma moldeada, como sabemos por los abundantes hallazgos arqueológicos (incluyendo todo su templo excavado en Nínive y un gran número de tabletas que nos da una increíble riqueza de conocimiento sobre su culto – demontres, ¡incluso sabemos que sus sacerdotes eran travestis!), habría sido una de cuatro cosas posibles – la estrella de ocho puntas, el león, el búho, o tal vez estaban moldeadas en la forma de su cuerpo que de alguna manera ella era una especie única de diosa de la fertilidad sin ser una diosa madre (diosa de los almacenes y de las prostitutas, como si tuviese un trabajo de día y un trabajo de noche).

Entonces, ¿qué comió Ishtar? Tortas delgadas, de flor de harina, sin levadura modeladas o estampadas con su símbolo – combinadas con una buena copa de Chianti. (Está bien, probablemente no era Chianti)

¿Quiere esto decir que el pan sin levadura es de alguna manera pagano? ¿O el vino derramado sobre el altar? Por supuesto que no – no más que la carne, pan leudado, miel, sal, leche y otros alimentos. El pan sin levadura es simplemente pan hecho sin esperar a que el proceso de fermentación ocurra, que en la antigüedad era un proceso largo y complicado.

Al final, una ofrenda pagana requiere un objetivo e intención paganos. La forma y función de trabajar contiguos para el propósito específico de acercarse a otra deidad. Nada de lo ofrecido a los dioses paganos era, de por sí, pagano – pero moldearlo o estampar una torta sin levadura plana con la imagen de Ishtar y luego intencionalmente ofrecerlo a ella, eso Sí, es pagano. El contexto y la intención cambian todo – y sobre todo cambia la forma en que leemos e interpretamos la Biblia.

Biografía y Fuentes de Referencia

(1) Barrows, E. P., The Manners and Customs of the Jews: pg 99; also Luzac’s Semitic Texts and Translation Series, Vol. 15, The Devils and Evil Spirits in Babylonia, p 19

(2) The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2001). (Je 7:18). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

(3) Ackerman, Susan, “And the Women Knead Dough: The Worship of the Queen of Heaven in Sixth Century Judah” in Bach, Alice, Women in the Hebrew Bible (1999) pp 21-32

(4) The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version. (1989). (Je 44:19). Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.




WWIE? (What Would Ishtar Eat?) Baking Cakes for the Queen of Heaven: Jeremiah 7 in Context Part 2

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So, this is not what I was studying. I was looking into Molech worship from the vantage point of Emperor Cult and cult prostitution in the light of this week’s Torah Portion – and then I stumbled upon this by accident. And it was way too cool not to dig into, explore and share.

“Oh Istar, merciful goddess, I have come to visit you. I have prepared for you an offering, pure milk, a pure cake baked in ashes (kamanu tumri), I stood up for you a vessel for libations, hear me and act favorably towards me.” – A hymn of Ishtar (there have been many different hymns preserved), quoted in Ackerman

What is Kamanu tumri? It is a thin unleavened loaf of fine flour baked in ashes – literally called an “ash cake” (as opposed to bread made in a formal oven, tumru bread is made on the go, in haste). In fact it is still made by Arabs to this day. (1) What is a pure cake? I believe that calling it a “pure cake” would probably be a reflection of the fact that it hasn’t had time to become leavened.

Not immediately a game changer until you look at Jeremiah 7:18

The children gather wood, the fathers kindle fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes (kawwanim) for the queen of heaven. And they pour out drink offerings to other gods, to provoke me to anger. (2)

Kawwanim is a loan word derived from the Akkadian kamanu (3) and the only other place we see it in scripture is Jer 44:19

And the women said, “Indeed we will go on making offerings to the queen of heaven and pouring out libations to her; do you think that we made cakes for her, marked with her image, and poured out libations to her without our husbands’ being involved?” (4)

In context, Jeremiah 44 concerns the return of the Jews to the worship of the Queen of Heaven as they feel they had been cursed since abandoning her. Going back to the first quotation from the Hymn of Ishtar, the entire reason the hymnist was offering milk, cakes and wine was in order to be heard and blessed.

ishtar owl

Look at that unique phrase in Jer 44:19 – marked with her image – l’ha’asibah. The only other place we see this in scripture is when Job is speaking of being fashioned by God’s own hands in Job 10:8. So we have unleavened, thin, fine flour cakes either fashioned in the image of Ishtar or bearing her mark. Her “mark” or fashioned shape, as we know from the plentiful archaeological finds (including her entire Temple excavated in Ninevah and a great many tablets giving us an incredible wealth of knowledge about her cult – heck, we even know that her priests were cross-dressers!), would have been one of four possible things – the eight pointed star, the lion, the owl, or perhaps they were fashioned in the shape of her body in some way as she was a unique sort of fertility goddess without being a mother goddess (goddess of the storehouse and of prostitutes, go figure – kinda like having a day job and a night job).

So what would Ishtar eat? Thin, fine flour, unleavened cakes fashioned or stamped with her sign – paired with a nice glass of Chianti. (well okay, probably not Chianti)

Does this mean that unleavened bread is somehow pagan? Or wine poured out on the altar? Of course not – no more so than the meat, leavened bread, honey, salt, milk and other foods. Unleavened bread is simply bread made without waiting for the leavening process, which in ancient times was a long and complicated process.

In the end, a pagan offering requires a pagan target and pagan intent. Form and function working together for the specific purpose of drawing near to another deity. Nothing offered to pagan gods was, in and of itself, pagan – but shaping or stamping a flat unleavened cake with the image of Ishtar and then purposefuly offering it up to her? Yeah that’s pagan. Context and intent change everything – and they especially change how we read and interpret the Bible.

(1) Barrows, E. P., The Manners and Customs of the Jews: pg 99; also Luzac’s Semitic Texts and Translation Series, Vol. 15, The Devils and Evil Spirits in Babylonia, p 19

(2) The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2001). (Je 7:18). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

(3) Ackerman, Susan, “And the Women Knead Dough: The Worship of the Queen of Heaven in Sixth Century Judah” in Bach, Alice, Women in the Hebrew Bible (1999) pp 21-32

(4) The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version. (1989). (Je 44:19). Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.

 

 




¿Quién fue la Reina del Cielo? ¿Realmente ella pintó huevos en sangre de bebés? Jeremías 7 en Contexto

Gracias a Lisa Velazquez por traducir este articulo. Puede escucharla a traves de Teshuva.tv los Domingos a las 6pm en el programa radial: Caminando en Obediencia.

ishtarlove(En la foto, Ishtar como diosa velada / patrona del amor y la pasión con sus emblemas habituales de leones, así como búhos, que denotan su posición como patrona de las prostitutas)

Ha llegado a mi conocimiento que algunas personas piensan que no soy consciente de que Ishtar es una diosa pagana. Volví a leer mi blog y estoy seriamente luchando en imaginarme el por qué alguien podría pensar que estoy creyendo que ella es real. Este es un estudio del contexto bíblico y estoy enseñando el contexto AMO [Antiguo Medio Oriente] quién es ésta Ishtar y el por qué se adoraba junto a Dios en Su templo. Por favor lea, y si usted tiene alguna pregunta – eche un vistazo al resto de mi blog o deme el respeto al preguntarme sobre ello. Incluso he mencionado al Mesías en mi blog. No sé cómo más clara pueda ser.

Estoy escribiendo esto como una continuación de mi blog acerca de Tamúz, y otra vez, publico una pedido en favor a la civilidad. Escribí un libro que incluía la frase “domingo de Ishtar” sin hacer mis debidas investigaciones. Más de 70,000 palabras de referencias bíblicas cuidadosamente investigadas y lo arruiné todo por simplemente repetir algo que “todo el mundo” sabía. Muchas personas que yo respetaba como maestros y líderes en los últimos diez años dijeron que tomé su veracidad por sentado. La información que presento viene en una pérdida de mi propia facha, pero sólo después de una gran cantidad de investigación sobre la evidencia arqueológica e histórica que tenemos de Ishtar y su adoración durante el cuarto hasta mediados del primer milenio. Tenemos a nuestra disposición, epopeyas y rituales de culto en tablillas cuneiformes, esculturas, estelas, sellos, descripciones contemporáneas de su culto durante su período de tiempo, templos excavados – en verdad tenemos más información sobre Ishtar que cualquier otra deidad mesopotámica. Incluso sabemos los detalles minuciosos de su administración de templo. Ella fue la diosa más amada y poderosa en el panteón mesopotámico por miles de años – incluso alcanzando la esfera hebrea a la altura del poder de Babilonia a mediados del primer milenio. Sabemos quién la adoraba y el por qué, sabemos de sus cónyuges – hombres, dioses e incluso varios animales. Sabemos cómo se celebraba su culto, y cómo se ataviaban sus sacerdotes. Sabemos más acerca de su vida sexual más de lo que yo desearía saber. Sabemos de sus símbolos de culto, y tenemos evidencia de su culto a lo largo de cuatro milenios separados. Presento esta evidencia como un mea culpa, admitiendo mi complicidad en la perpetuación de algo que yo misma no había estudiado. Esta presentación será breve y sólo cubrirá los aspectos más destacados – Podría escribir un libro sobre ella, pero me abstendré de hacerlo.

Lo que presento puede hacerte enojar, pero daré todas mis fuentes, y si después de repasarlas todavía no está de acuerdo conmigo, entonces no puedo hacer nada al respecto, pero les advierto que no reaccionen con enojo a mis conclusiones honestas. Esto no se presenta en contra de ningún ministerio (excepto tal vez el mío), pero en la búsqueda de la verdad – que siempre debemos buscar y nunca conformarnos con menos pues no seremos mejores que cualquier religión que decimos habernos apartado de. Recuerden por favor que soy su hermana, y no alguien a quien insultar. Lo que voy a presentar es tan reñido como con lo de Alexander Hislop de Las Dos Babilonias en todos los aspectos (vea el blog de Tamuz para más información sobre el reverendo Hislop), de hecho, no he encontrado ni siquiera una pizca de evidencia de las afirmaciones que muchos ministerios hacen sobre su supuesta conexión con los rituales de Easter. Si hay algo de verdad en las afirmaciones de Hislop en el siglo 19, por ahora alguien habría encontrado algo. Su libro fue desacreditado en la década de 1920 y todavía sigue siendo uno de los favoritos entre los que quieren pruebas contra cosas que están asociadas con la Iglesia Católica. Que quede registrado, no tengo amor por la Iglesia Católica, ya que arrojaron a mi abuela halándola por su oreja, después de que su marido la abandonó y se divorció de ella con tres niños en la década de 1950 – pero yo no los odio suficiente para no aclarar las cosas. Así pues, aquí les dejo un breve resumen de mis conclusiones, seguido de una extensa bibliografía.

Ishtar (acadio) e Inanna (sumerio) eran diferentes nombres de la misma diosa mesopotámica – ella era la reina indiscutible de los cielos, no hubo otra diosa en cualquier cultura, incluso que igualara su destreza. Ella era originalmente la diosa del comercio y la fertilidad asociada a él, se convirtió en la diosa encargada de darles a los reyes su autoridad, y en días posteriores era la diosa de la guerra, la pasión y las prostitutas. Ella era – como Inanna, representada como la hija virginal y joven ávida novia, entonces como Ishtar, que se caracterizó por su larga lista de relaciones desastrosas (como se detalla en la epopeya de Gilgamesh donde enumera sus múltiples amantes que llegaron a extremos maléficos). Su famoso matrimonio con Dumuzi (Tamúz) bajo el nombre de Inanna a veces se pinta en tonos amables, como cuando él fue asesinado por bandidos que amortiguaron su cabeza, mientras le robaban su ganado, y a veces en tonos brutales, como cuando ella contrató a demonios para llevárselo al inframundo con el fin de intentar sin éxito robarle el trono de su hermana. Ella o ayudaba a su hermana, la diosa de la vid, junto a su madre en la búsqueda de su marido asesinado, o era la causa que su madre y su hermana lo buscaban a él.

ishtargilgameshExtrañamente, en un mundo donde las diosas son retratadas de manera rutinaria como madres –  ella no lo fue. Ishtar fue la novia virginal, o la amante apasionada o en tiempos posteriores la patrona de las prostitutas o – de los travestis. Aquí la vemos junto a los otros dioses del Poema de Gilgamesh.

La adoración a Ishtar tomó varias formas – se instituyeron lamentos, tal vez, en nombre de su esposo Tamúz, así como el ritual del matrimonio sagrado en que los reyes de Mesopotamia promulgaban su matrimonio real con Ishtar como una forma de consolidar su derecho al trono. En estos últimos días, sus sacerdotes se travestían y se comportaban como travestis durante sus festivales muy extraños – festivales que participan en la práctica de juegos de niños, a la edad en general, estatus y confusión de género. No había impregnación de vírgenes, y la religión babilónica no se incluía el sacrificio humano en algún cuento que pude hallar – a pesar de tener una gran cantidad de información. E incluso si, en algún un momento, se había incluido el sacrificio humano – Crassus lo proscribió en los años 90 AEC por todo el Imperio Romano, y señaló que sólo se llevaría a cabo antes de esa rara y en relación con las artes mágicas, y no en el culto regular de dioses o diosas (Pliny the Elder, Natural History XXX). El sacrificio humano fue considerado como bárbaro y “no-romano,” la misma actitud que tenían hacia la práctica del aborto.

El sacrificio de animales era común en la adoración de Ishtar – pero entonces era común en todas las formas de adoración en el Antiguo Medio Oriente y el Primer siglo. Los dioses y diosas tenían templos por una razón principal – para que sus siervos humanos atendiesen sus necesidades físicas mientras ellos realizaban sus funciones cósmicas. Ishtar tenía que proteger al rey, ella supervisaba el almacén, evitando el hambre – si Ishtar pasaba tiempo en la recolección de alimentos y bebidas para ella, entonces ella podría distraerse y el caos sobrevendría. Éste fue el punto de vista antiguo de toda adoración a los dioses – cuidar de ellos. En la parte superior de su zigurat había una pequeña casa – en el interior había habitaciones. El ídolo que proporciona acceso a la esencia de la deidad se le despertaba por la mañana, se bañaba y se vestía con sus mejores galas, se alimentaba con las partes más selectas, se le adoraba, y luego se le volvía a poner en la cama por la noche. Mientras se atendía a Ishtar, ella era libre de hacer su trabajo importante del cuidado de sus funciones en el universo. El sacrificio de animales era simplemente una manera de proporcionarle el alimento que necesitaba para sobrevivir. Ella no tenía ningún vínculo con la adoración del domingo o fiestas que se celebran en ese día – como todos los dioses y diosas, ella era adorada y cuidada todos los días. Ella tenía dos festivales que se celebraban en la salida y la puesta del planeta Venus en el invierno y el verano, ocho meses de diferencia – pues ella era también conocida como la estrella de la mañana y la tarde.

ishtarwarLos símbolos de Ishtar eran el león y la estrella de seis puntas (a veces de ocho puntas) dentro de un círculo (que no se parece a la estrella de David en la mayoría de los casos) y, a veces la estrella de ocho puntas (la imagen de la izquierda no es el mejor ejemplo, por desgracia, el Museo Británico tiene una excelente impresión de sello cilíndrico pero no está disponible en línea). Ella a menudo es representada ya sea de pie, o montando un león, o con una maza león de dos cabezas y una espada enganchada llamada harpe. Ella nunca se representa con conejos ni huevos ni tampoco ninguno de sus rituales o leyendas hacen mención de ellos. Ella a menudo es representada desnuda, como la diosa del amor y la pasión, o llevando un extraño sombrero puntiagudo junto con las armas de guerra como la Dama de Batalla. Para el tiempo del Mesías, el culto a Ishtar era prácticamente inexistente.

Ella nunca se menciona en referencia a Semiramis, la reina mesopotámica del siglo 12 que vivió poco antes del rey David, la cual no estuvo casada con Nimrod, ni tuvo un hijo llamado Tamúz – pero eso es para otro blog.

Sólo por causa de información – No utilizo a Heródoto como una fuente fiable para cualquier cosa fuera de la cultura griega, como fue notorio por simplemente escribir todas las historias de segunda mano que él oyó. Sus escritos sobre Egipto, por ejemplo, no sólo han ido sin fundamento, pero han sido refutados en gran medida.

Soy consciente de que este blog es corto, pero Ishtar es demasiada compleja para ser cubierta de manera adecuada en un blog y no sería apropiado entrar en gran detalle de todos modos. Usted tiene mis recursos, que se enumeran a continuación – estoy bastante segura de que los enlisté todos, pues mi biblioteca está hecha un reguero en el momento.

Bibliografía

(Estos son todos los libros y artículos que he leído, además de los relacionados con Tamúz porque todas las historias sobre él hablan también de ella – asegúrese de revisar cada referencia a Inanna, Ishtar (o Istar), Dumuzi y Tamúz Pero una advertencia al lector, la literatura de Ishtar es a menudo de naturaleza sexual atroz)

The Treasures of Darkness: A History of Mesopotamian Religion, Thorkild Jacobsen (PhD en Asiriología, el individuo incluso enseñó en Harvard, durante su vida y hasta ahora se le considera uno de los principales expertos en el Antiguo Medio Oriente)

The Babylonian World, Gwendolyn Leick, Ed – He descargado esto desde scribd.com, lo cual ha valido la pena la suscripción $50 al año. Capítulos 7 y 22-24 fueron especialmente útiles.

A Dictionary of Ancient near Eastern Mythology, Gwendolyn Leick, (PhD Asiriología)

The Ancient Near East: An Anthology of texts and Pictures, James B Pritchard, Ed (todos los libros de Pritchard tienen pedigríes impresionantes y éste no es diferente – es la obra de diecisiete estudiosos serios del AMO)

The IVP Bible Background Commentary, John Walton et al. Comentario sobre Ezequiel 8

Myths from Mesopotamia, Stephanie Dalley

Handbook of Life in Ancient Mesopotamia, Stephen Bertman

Interpreting the Past: Near Eastern Seals, Dominique Collon

The Ishtar Temple at Ninevah, Julian Reade, Irak, Vol 67, No 1, Nínive. Los trabajos de la 49ª Recontre Assyriologique Internationale, la segunda parte (primavera de 2005) paginas 347-390

Ishtar, the Lady of Battle, Nanette B Rodney, Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin (esto se puede encontrar en línea si se busca por título y autor, pero como no he visto cualquier otro artículo serio o de igualación a Ishtar con Astarté, deje que el lector tenga cuidado en ese punto)

Inanna-Ishtar as Paradox and a Coincidence of Opposites, Rivka Harris, History of Religions, Vol 30, No 3 (Febrero 1991), paginas 261-278 (artículo muy bueno, sino más bien chocante, que detalla algunos de sus festivales)

A New Ishtar Epithet in the Bible, Joseph Reider, Journal of Near Eastern Studies, Vol 8, No 2 (Abril 1949) paginas 104-107

On the Entymology of Ishtar, George A Barton, Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol 31, No 4 (1911) paginas 355-358 (lo incluyo porque lo leí pero es realmente sólo será interesante si le gusta la lingüística)

The White Obelisk and the Problem of Historical Narrative Art of Assyria, Holly Pittman, The Art Bulletin, Vol 78, No 2 (junio 1996), paginas 334-355 (sólo escobillas sobre Ishtar, pero si usted está interesado en obeliscos asirios del primero y segundo milenio de la arqueología asiria, lo encontrará fascinante)

Toward the Image of Tammuz, Thorkild Jacobsen History of Religions, vol. 1, No. 2 (Winter, 1962), paginas 189-213 (disponible en JSTOR.org)

Tammuz and the Bible (éste fue genial), Edwin Yamauchi, Journal of Biblical Literature Vol. 84, No. 3 (Septiembre 1965), paginas 283-290 (también disponible en JSTOR.org)




Who was the Queen of Heaven and did she really dip eggs in the blood of infants? Jeremiah 7 in Context

ishtarlove

(Pictured, Ishtar as the evening star/patron goddess of love, war, and sexuality with her customary lion emblems as well as the owls who denote her position as patroness of prostitutes)

It has come to my attention that some folks are thinking that I am not aware that Ishtar is a pagan goddess. I reread my blog and I am seriously struggling to imagine why anyone would think that I am believing she is real. This is a Biblical context study and I am teaching the ANE (Ancient Near Eastern) context of who this Ishtar was who was being worshiped alongside God in His Temple. Please read it, and if you have any questions – check out the rest of my blog or give me the respect to ask me about it. I even mentioned Messiah in my blog. I don’t know how more clear I can be.

I am writing this as a follow up to my blog on Tammuz, and again, I post a plea for civility. I wrote a book that included the phrase “Ishtar Sunday” without doing my homework. Over 70,000 words of carefully researched Biblical references and I blew it simply repeating something that “everyone” knew. So many people who I respected as teachers and leaders over the last ten years had said it that I took its veracity for granted. The information I am presenting comes at a loss of face to myself, but only after a great amount of research into the archaeological and historical evidence we have on Ishtar and her worship in the fourth through mid-first millennium BCE.  We have at our disposal epics and cult rituals in cuneiform tablets, carvings, steles, seals, contemporary descriptions of her cult from those during her time period, temples excavated – in truth we might have more information on Ishtar than any other Mesopotamian deity. We even know the minute details of her temple administration. She was the most beloved and powerful goddess in the Mesopotamian pantheon for thousands of years – even reaching into the Hebrew sphere at the height of Babylon’s Power in the mid-first millennium. We know who worshiped her and why, we know her spouses–men, gods, and even various animals. We know how her cult was celebrated, and how her priests were attired. We know more about her sex life than I wish we did. We know her cult symbols, and we have evidence of her cult throughout four separate millennia. I present this evidence as a mea culpa, admitting my complicity in perpetuating something I had not studied out myself. This presentation will be brief and will only cover the highlights–I could write a book on her but will refrain from doing so.

What I present might make you angry but I will give all of my sources, and if after going through them all you disagree with me then I can’t do anything about that, but I caution you not to react angrily to my honest findings. This is not presented against any ministry (except maybe my own), but in the pursuit of truth–which we must always search for and never settle for anything less or we are no better than any religion that we claim to be set apart from. Please remember that I am your sister, and not someone to be lashed out at. What I am going to present is as odds with Alexander Hislop’s The Two Babylons in every respect (see the Tammuz blog for more information on Reverend Hislop), in fact, I have found not even a shred of evidence of the claims that many ministries are making about her supposed connection to Easter rituals. If there was any truth in Hislop’s claims in the 19th century, then by now someone would have found something. His book was debunked in the 1920s and yet remains a favorite among those who want evidence against things that are associated with the Catholic Church. For the record, I have no love for the Catholic Church as they tossed my grandmother out on her ear after her husband abandoned and divorced her with three kids in the 1950’s–but I don’t hate them enough to not set the record straight. So, here is a brief summary of my findings followed by an extensive bibliography.

Ishtar (Akkadian) and Inanna (Sumerian) were different names of the same Mesopotamian goddess–she was the undisputed Queen of Heaven, no other goddess in any culture even came close to matching her prowess. She was originally the goddess of the storehouse and the fertility associated with it, became the goddess in charge of giving kings their authority, and in later days was the goddess of war, passion, and prostitutes. She was–as Inanna, portrayed as the virginal daughter and eager young bride, then as Ishtar, characterized by her long list of disastrous relationships (as detailed in the Gilgamesh epic where he lists her multiple paramours who came to bad ends). Her famous marriage to Dumuzi (Tammuz) under the name Inanna is sometimes portrayed in kind tones, as when he is killed by brigands who club him over the head while stealing his livestock, and sometimes in brutal tones, as when she contracts demons to steal him away to the Underworld in order to take her place after unsuccessfully trying to steal the Underworld throne from her sister! She either helps his sister, the goddess of vines, and mother search for her own murdered husband, or is the cause of his mother and sister searching for him.

ishtargilgamesh

Strangely, in a world where goddesses are routinely portrayed as mothers – she is not. Ishtar is the virginal bride, or the passionate lover or in later times the patroness of prostitutes or–of transvestites! Here (to the left) we see her alongside the other gods of the Gilgamesh Epic.

Ishtar worship took various forms–she instituted wailing, perhaps on behalf of her husband Tammuz, as well as the ritual of sacred marriage when Mesopotamian kings would enact their royal marriage to Ishtar as a way to solidify their claim to the throne. In latter days, her priests would cross-dress and behave as transvestites during her very strange festivals–festivals that involved the playing of children’s games, and general age, status, and gender confusion. There was no impregnating of virgins, and Babylonian religion did not involve a human sacrifice in any accounts that I can come up with–despite having a wealth of information. And even if, at one point, it had included human sacrifice–Crassus outlawed it in the 90’s BCE throughout the Roman Empire and noted that it was only done before then rarely and in connection with the magic arts, not in the regular worship of gods or goddesses (Pliny the Elder, Natural History XXX). Human sacrifice was considered to be barbaric and “un-Roman,” the same attitude they had towards the practice of abortion. The Carthaginian worship of Cronos in Africa seems to be a notable exception within the Empire, and the Romans slandered them much for it.

Animal sacrifice was common in Ishtar worship–but then it was common in all forms of worship in the Ancient Near East and First Century. Gods and goddesses had temples for one primary reason–for their human servants to care for their physical needs while they performed their cosmic functions. Ishtar had to protect the King, she was the overseer of the storehouse, preventing starvation–if Ishtar had to spend time gathering food and drink for herself then she might become distracted and chaos would ensue. This was the ancient view of all of the worship of gods–to care for them. At the top of their ziggurat was a little home and inside there were rooms. The idol that provided access to the essence of the god was woken up in the morning, bathed and dressed in finery, fed the choicest portions, worshiped, and then put back to bed at night. As they cared for Ishtar, she was free to do her important job of caring for her functions in the universe. Animal sacrifice was simply a way to provide her with the food she needed to survive. She had no link to Sunday worship or festivals celebrated on that day–like all gods and goddesses, she was worshiped and cared for every single day. She did have two festivals that were celebrated at the rising and setting of the planet Venus in the winter and summer, eight months apart–being that she was also known as the morning and evening star.

ishtarwar

Ishtar’s symbols were the lion and the six or eight-pointed star within a circle (which did not look like the star of David but more like a spiny starfish) and sometimes the eight-pointed star (the image to the left is not the best example, sadly, the British Museum has an excellent cylinder seal imprint but it is unavailable online). She is often pictured either standing on or riding a lion, or with a two-headed lion mace and a hooked sword called a harpe. She is never pictured with rabbits or eggs (which were not fertility symbols in the ancient Near Eastern world) nor do any of her rituals or legends make mention of them. She is often pictured in the nude, as the goddess of love and passion, or wearing a strange pointed hat (kinda like the 80’s band Devo) along with the weapons of war as the Lady of Battle. By the time of Messiah, Ishtar worship was pretty much nonexistent.

She is also never mentioned in reference to Semiramis, the 12th century Mesopotamian Queen who lived shortly before King David but who was not married to Nimrod, nor did she have a son named Tammuz – but that’s for a later blog.

Just for information sake – I do not use Herodotus as a reliable source for anything outside of Greek culture, as he was notorious for simply writing every second-hand story he heard. His writings on Egypt, for instance, have not only gone unsubstantiated but have been largely disproven.

I realize this is short, but Ishtar is far too complex to be covered adequately in a blog and it would be inappropriate to go into great detail anyway. You have my resources, listed below – pretty sure I put them all in but my library is quite the mess at the moment.

Bibliography

(these are all the books and articles I read, in addition to those related to Tammuz because all of the stories about him are also about her – be sure to hit every reference to Inanna, Ishtar (or Istar), Dumuzi and Tammuz. But let the reader be warned, Ishtar literature is often egregiously sexual in nature)

The Treasures of Darkness: A History of Mesopotamian Religion, Thorkild Jacobsen (Ph.D. Assyriology, the guy even taught at Harvard, during his lifetime and even now he is considered one of the foremost experts in the Ancient Near East)

The Babylonian World, Gwendolyn Leick, Ed – Chapters 7, and 22-24 were especially helpful.

A Dictionary of Ancient near Eastern Mythology, Gwendolyn Leick, (Ph.D. Assyriology)

The Ancient Near East: An Anthology of Texts and Pictures, James B Pritchard, Ed (all of Pritchard’s books have impressive pedigrees and this one is no different – being the work of seventeen serious ANE scholars)

The IVP Bible Background Commentary, John Walton et al. commentary on Ezekiel 8

Myths from Mesopotamia, Stephanie Dalley

Handbook of Life in Ancient Mesopotamia, Stephen Bertman

Interpreting the Past: Near Eastern Seals, Dominique Collon

The Ishtar Temple at Ninevah, Julian Reade, Iraq, Vol 67, No 1, Ninevah. Papers of the 49th Recontre Assyriologique Internationale, Part Two (Spring 2005) pp 347-390

Ishtar, the Lady of Battle, Nanette B Rodney, Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin (this can be found online if you search under title and author but as I have not seen any other serious articles or accounts equating Ishtar with Ashtoreth, let the reader beware on that one point)

Inanna-Ishtar as Paradox and a Coincidence of Opposites, Rivkah Harris, History of Religions, Vol 30, No 3 (Feb 1991), PP 261-278 (very good article, but rather shocking, details some of her riske festivals)

A New Ishtar Epithet in the Bible, Joseph Reider, Journal of Near Eastern Studies, Vol 8, No 2 (Apr 1949) pp 104-107

On the Entymology of Ishtar, George A Barton, Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol 31, No 4 (1911) pp 355-358 (I include it because I read it but it is really only interesting if you are into linguistics)

The White Obelisk and the Problem of Historical Narrative Art of Assyria, Holly Pittman, The Art Bulletin, Vol 78, No 2 (Jun 1996), pp. 334-355 (only brushes on Ishtar, but if you are interested in Assyrian obelisks and first/second Millenium Assyrian archaeology, this is fascinating)

Toward the Image of Tammuz, Thorkild Jacobsen History of Religions, Vol. 1, No. 2 (Winter, 1962), pp. 189-213 (available on JSTOR.org)

Tammuz and the Bible (this one was great), Edwin Yamauchi, Journal of Biblical Literature Vol. 84, No. 3 (Sep., 1965), pp. 283-290 (also available on JSTOR.org)