Inanna: Mesopotamian Sex Goddess

The Ancients

History Hit

History

4.7 • 3.5K Ratings

🗓️ 25 September 2025

⏱️ 47 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Tristan Hughes is joined by Dr. Kate Lister to take us on a journey through the fascinating history of Innana, an ancient goddess of love, war, fertility, and political power. They delve into her evolution from a humble agricultural deity to one of the most powerful and complex figures in ancient mythology, revered in Mesopotamia and beyond. This one goddess influenced millennia of religious and cultural history, possibly extending even to Persephone and the Virgin Mary.

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Presented by Tristan Hughes. Audio editor is Aidan Lonergan and the producer is Joseph Knight. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.

All music courtesy of Epidemic Sounds

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Transcript

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1:02.5	Hey guys, I hope you're keeping well. I'm doing all right. I am a bit under the weather at the
1:07.3	moment, so I'm just sitting in my living room, I'm drinking a cup of tea, and let my current condition not take anything away from how excited I am for today's release.
1:15.6	Because it's a history hit crossover episode.
1:18.6	We are talking with the host of the Betwixt the Sheets podcast, the sex historian Dr. Kate Lister.
1:25.3	She's a lot of fun, and she's here on the show today to take us back
1:29.3	initially more than 5,000 years to explore the story of a deity, a goddess of sex and so much
1:37.2	more called Inanna. I really do hope you enjoy. Let's go. She was a goddess of love, war, fertility and political power.
1:59.0	She was worshipped for thousands of years by different peoples
2:03.3	and under different names across ancient Mesopotamia and beyond. From Uruk and ancient
2:10.0	Sumer to Ishtar at Babylon to Aphrodite, the island of Cyprus and the Greco-Roman world.
2:17.9	Her story is one filled with myths and movement over millennia.
2:23.1	This is the story of Inanna, with our guest, Dr. Kate Vista.
2:39.5	Kate, it is wonderful to have you back on the podcast. It has been too long.
	...

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