When Ishtar wants Gilgamesh, she’s quite forward about it, but she is not married to another. While both Inanna and Ishtar have had many lovers and many bad relationships, their seduction does not break with social convention.

A better example of the seductress in Proverbs would be Aphrodite (since you mentioned the Greeks). She has Hephaestus as a husband but is still running around with other gods and humans. Not that I think that the Greek myths have a direct influence here, just that she is truer to the picture of a seductress. Unfortunately, none of the goddesses at Ugarit seem to conform to this picture, or we could more easily make the leap to the Hebrew text. Still, if you can think of one, let me know!

I hadn’t thought of the Sarah of Tobit as an example of the Inanna/Ershkigal internal conflict. Asmodeus is a male demon who might want Sarah for her own and kills all her suitors on their wedding night. I’ve always thought of her more as a woman fighting of an incubus. Seeing Asmodeus as Sarah’s dark side is a fun reading. Asmodeus would be her Lilith/Ershkigal. Hmmm….

My question is, how do we relate gods and humans to each other? The intersection of theology and anthropology is more interesting than mere comparisons of traits and features of various goddesses / demons, from Inanna to Lilith.

For example, since Ishtar convenes “the cult women, prostitutes, harlots,” is she their patron saint of sorts? More generally, is she the patron saint of all seductresses? If so, features in the book of Proverbs’ depiction of the seductress of young men are illuminated.

Following a long-standing Italian tradition, I read excerpts of the Iliad and the Odyssey to my children in their growing-up years. The dialogues therein between gods and humans are marvelous. The question keeps popping up: it’s all about patronage, and conflicting lines of patronage. Or should we say matronage.

Funny thing, when I think of Ishtar, I think of Sarah – not the one you are thinking of, but the one in Tobit. It’s easy to connect Ishtar with Lilith, but it is also interesting, by way of contrastive analysis, to connect her with Sarah and the demon she cannot shake.