The Dying God (Dumuzi / Tammuz)

When Inana returns from the netherworld, the demons who escort her demand a substitute, and her own consort Dumuzi is taken in her place — though a yearly arrangement lets him and his sister alternate, half a year each below. Dumuzi (Tammuz in Akkadian) thus becomes the god who dies and returns, his disappearance mourned with bitter lament in the summer month that bears his name. The theme touches the rhythm of the seasons and the pain of loss, and the wailing for Tammuz was remembered for millennia — even reaching a famous mention in the book of Ezekiel.