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The Library

Forty Centuries of Christian Writing

1774 works catalogued century by century, from the literature the Bible was written among to the present — each with a note on what it is, why it lasted, and where to read it.

1700–1601 BC

The Seventeenth Century BC

1 work

c. 1700 BC; Sumerian original earlier

Akkadian

The Descent of Ishtar to the Underworld

Anonymous

Ishtar goes down to the land of no return and is stripped of one garment at each of seven gates until she stands naked before her sister and is hung on a hook. While she is below, no bull mounts a cow and no man lies with a woman, and she is ransomed only by sending Dumuzi down in her place.

Mesopotamian · MythEzekiel1 PeterPsalmsRead elsewhere