In the desert of Iraq where the Euphrates moves toward the Persian Gulf, the barest remains of ramparts and towers are visible in the moving sands.

Inanna descended through seven gates, each of whose guards removed one piece of her royal raiment.

Inanna's journey led her down the steps to the underworld, the domain of her dark sister Ereshkigal.

At the seventh gate she is stripped of her robe, killed by her sister and hung from a hook.

Her maidservant, worried by her absence, sneaks down, finds the body, sprinkles it with the Water of Life and revives Inanna.

When Inanna reemerges, the world which has withered in her absence, greens and is fruitful again.