When looking at analyses of archaeological religious finds from the time of Enoch (3300 to 3000 BC) and later textual developments of beliefs from that time you often come across the idea of “Death of the god”. Interestingly Wikipedia articles about this fashion of analysis show it was common a century ago but has been debunked more recently. The analysts took stories such as those about goddess Inanna deacending into the Underworld which seem to come from the time of Enoch or at least relate to that time and they characterise them as part of a supposed religious theme continuing right up until the death and resurrection of Christ and feasts like Easter. However the idea of there having been such a theme through religious history has been debunked because tales such as those about Inanna descending into the Underworld are not a matter of the death of Inanna who as a goddess or high angel is considered immortal. It goes to show that in studying the archaeology of Enoch’s time and analysis of it we need to look at how that analysis changes over time. It is often tinged by ways of thinking in other areas of society such as higher criticism of the nineteenth century. Fortunately such trends go just as they come and taking a long term view of archaeological trends can sometimes sort the chaff from the wheat. However the feast of Easter does have parallels between Christian and ancient Mesopotamian beliefs at its heart. It seems to be named after Inanna by her later name variant Ishtar. It occurs at the time of year of the feasts of Ishtar. It looks at how the cycle of the dying and rising sun in winter then spring has a lesson for our lives that death or descent into the Underworld is not the end but a beginning of another phase when the dead will return for this new phase. The philosophical religious leaders of the Roman Empire saw fit to merge the message of the Christ entering into death and rising from it into the existing ancient feast. Yet these two stories on closer analysis are distinct. Christ is not really a parallel of Ishtar. He died as a sacrifice for sins as the cross of Christ and its ancient meaning shows. He actually died a mortal’s death having become flesh first. His resurrection is a literal event involving the miraculous returning to life of dead body tissue which therefore gives hope to mortal humans everywhere. Inanna or Ishtar on the other hand merely entered the Underworld while alive and was ransomed from that state of imprisonment there by her human consort’s death. Yes there is redemption by death in both stories but they are not parallel.
