The name Ishtar is Semitic for the goddess Inanna of Sumeria. sacred “prostitution” was part of the religion as Ishtar was the courtesan of the gods”...Ishtar possessed a litany of weapons and one of her totems was the lion...Ishtar was called the Lady of Battles, the Queen of Attack, The Lady of Victory, Queen of Hand-to-Hand Fighting and the Guardian of Law and Order; all linking her to the planet Mars.
Again, in her aspect of Warrior Queen, Ishtar held a labrys, scepter or a staff with either one or two snakes coiled around it. In this aspect, the snake stood for the ability to take a life. It seems that this staff/scepter started out with only one snake and then ended up with two. The healing god Ningishzide, who goes back to Mesopotamia, was a lover of Inanna/Ishtar. He carried a single-serpent wand, but this snake had two heads and both male and female sex organs in the one body. This kind of Mesopotamian snake was called a Sachan, and was Ningishzide’s symbol. Regardless as to how many snakes, there were, the staff, which became the healing caduceus of Hermes, was a symbol of Inanna/Ishtar’s power to grant life, to heal, or to take life away. Before it became the Greek caduceus, this staff had a solar disc on top with two snakes that looked like horns (see below for “cow”). Later, Hermes came to own the staff, by this time it had two snakes intertwined around it, and this was his symbol as the Psychopomp, the Conductor of Souls.
Inanna/Ishtar was known as the Eye Goddess and she had Eye Temples. One of the oldest of these Eye Temples, dating back to about 3000 BCE, is at Tell Brak in eastern Syria. Found inside were thousands of figurines of the Eye Goddess, each with staring, wide, owl-like eyes which are coiled like snakes. It is thought that these eyes that stare are eyes that see justice.
A larger version of the serpent, Ishtar was shown with dragons by her sides when she was in her aspect of the Goddess of War or when protecting her people. Inanna was one of the three main deities involved with a major battle between good and evil. The evil was known as he dragon Kur.
COWS Like Isis and Hathor of Egypt and Io and Ionia, Inanna/Ishtar was a Cow Mother Goddess. She, like Kybele/Cybele, was pictured with bovine horns or as cows with lunar horns. Inanna/Ishtar, because of her association with the Moon, is also linked to the horns of a bull. These bull horns also link her to fertility, due to their similarity in shape to the fallopian tubes. Some myths have Inanna/Ishtar giving birth to bulls or golden calves.
Taken from http://www.whale.to
Again, in her aspect of Warrior Queen, Ishtar held a labrys, scepter or a staff with either one or two snakes coiled around it. In this aspect, the snake stood for the ability to take a life. It seems that this staff/scepter started out with only one snake and then ended up with two. The healing god Ningishzide, who goes back to Mesopotamia, was a lover of Inanna/Ishtar. He carried a single-serpent wand, but this snake had two heads and both male and female sex organs in the one body. This kind of Mesopotamian snake was called a Sachan, and was Ningishzide’s symbol. Regardless as to how many snakes, there were, the staff, which became the healing caduceus of Hermes, was a symbol of Inanna/Ishtar’s power to grant life, to heal, or to take life away. Before it became the Greek caduceus, this staff had a solar disc on top with two snakes that looked like horns (see below for “cow”). Later, Hermes came to own the staff, by this time it had two snakes intertwined around it, and this was his symbol as the Psychopomp, the Conductor of Souls.
Inanna/Ishtar was known as the Eye Goddess and she had Eye Temples. One of the oldest of these Eye Temples, dating back to about 3000 BCE, is at Tell Brak in eastern Syria. Found inside were thousands of figurines of the Eye Goddess, each with staring, wide, owl-like eyes which are coiled like snakes. It is thought that these eyes that stare are eyes that see justice.
A larger version of the serpent, Ishtar was shown with dragons by her sides when she was in her aspect of the Goddess of War or when protecting her people. Inanna was one of the three main deities involved with a major battle between good and evil. The evil was known as he dragon Kur.
COWS Like Isis and Hathor of Egypt and Io and Ionia, Inanna/Ishtar was a Cow Mother Goddess. She, like Kybele/Cybele, was pictured with bovine horns or as cows with lunar horns. Inanna/Ishtar, because of her association with the Moon, is also linked to the horns of a bull. These bull horns also link her to fertility, due to their similarity in shape to the fallopian tubes. Some myths have Inanna/Ishtar giving birth to bulls or golden calves.
Taken from http://www.whale.to