Gugalanna

Gugalanna is a name that appears at exactly one hinge and a story that appears at another, and whether they are the same bull is an old argument. In the Descent, Inanna tells the gatekeeper that she has come for the funeral of Gugalanna, her elder sister's husband — a lie, or at least a pretext, but one that requires the bull to be dead and Ereshkigal to be mourning. In Tablet VI of the epic, Ishtar, refused by Gilgamesh, demands the Bull of Heaven from Anu and looses it on Uruk, and Gilgamesh and Enkidu kill it. Read together, the goddess kills her sister's husband twice over. The registry keeps the identification as reported and flags that it is disputed.

Domains

• sky

Relations

• consort of: Ereshkigal
• enemy: Enkidu

Sources

• Descent of Inanna; Epic of Gilgamesh, Tablet VI.
• Reference treatment of Gugalanna as the Bull of Heaven and first husband of Ereshkigal, and of the scholarly debate over that identification.