Geshtinanna

Geshtinanna
Scribe of the Underworld
Fragment of a marble bowl from Uruk inscribed with the name of Geshtinanna, currently housed in the British Museum
Major cult center	Sagub
Personal information
Parents	Duttur
Siblings	Dumuzi, Belili
Consort	Ningishzida (in Lagash) Amurru (rarely)
Equivalents
Akkadian equivalent	Belet-Seri

Geshtinanna was a Mesopotamian goddess best known due to her role in myths about the death of Dumuzi, her brother. It is not certain what functions she fulfilled in the Mesopotamian pantheon, though her association with the scribal arts and dream interpretation is well attested. She could serve as a scribe in the underworld, where according to the myth Inanna's Descent she had to reside for a half of each year in place of her brother.

Evidence for the worship of Geshtinanna is mostly available from Early Dynastic state of Lagash, where she had her own cult center, Sagub. She was also present in the pantheons of other cities, for example in Uruk and Tell al-Rimah. She ceased to be venerated after the Old Babylonian period, though even later on she was still mentioned in god lists and in literary texts, some of which were still copied during the period of Seleucid rule over Mesopotamia.