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I've spent a fair amount of time studying ancient Sumerian culture and religion as a hobby, and the often repeated claim that "Easter comes from Ishtar" just do

I've spent a fair amount of time studying ancient Sumerian culture and religion as a hobby, and the often repeated claim that "Easter comes from Ishtar" just doesn't hold up to even minimal scrutiny. It's one of those internet factoids that sounds plausible on the surface but completely falls apart under actual historical or linguistic analysis. There's no serious academic support for a connection between the Christian holiday of Easter and the Mesopotamian goddess Inanna/Ishtar. The religious practices, beliefs, and festivals associated with Inanna bear no resemblance superficial or otherwise to Easter. They differ entirely in form, function, and meaning. The only myth from that tradition that bears a remote resemblance is Inanna’s descent into the underworld: she's stripped of her powers, confronts her sister Ereshkigal, is executed, and later resurrected. It’s a compelling narrative, and yes, there's a resurrection motif but it serves a totally different purpose. It was a cosmological myth, tied to the movement of Venus in the night sky, not a theological cornerstone or community wide festival. Inanna's rituals were centered on themes like war, sexuality, and divine kingship. Easter, by contrast, is about death and rebirth in a very different theological context. The comparison isn’t apples to oranges, it’s apples to machine learning models. Also worth noting that the whole "Easter sounds like Ishtar" thing is shaky at best. The similarity is phonetically weak, especially when you consider historical pronunciations. Plus, "Ishtar" isn't even the most common or original name for the goddess Inanna (Sumerian) and Astarte (Phoenician/Canaanite) were more widespread depending on the period and region. The connection between Easter and Ishtar is a modern myth. It s based more on a coincidence in English phonetics than on anything rooted in actual history or comparative religion.

rat87 2y ago
Note https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%92ostre https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%92ostre not Ishtar. While we don't have much evidence for a goddess called Eostre she appears to have been the origin for the name of Easter in English and maybe German. That is according to an 8th century English Monk(don't have any other sources, so I think it might not be universal believed by historians). But on the other hand there's not much evidence much besides the name (and only in English and maybe German) transferred and despite claims of some bunnies and eggs appear to be much later customs. Also in most languages Easter is related to the name for Passover which is the religous holiday most linked to Easter (in English we also have Paschal which can refer to both holidays)
- bee_rider 2y ago
  It will always confuse me, that people decided to convert away from Polytheism, with all of these interesting gods to tell stories about.
jltsiren 2y ago
But this was about Eostre. Whatever the name meant and wherever it came from, it was pretty clearly the origin of the word "Easter". And there is reasonable evidence of a Germanic goddess with a name something like Eostre or Ostara, related to various Indo-European dawn goddesses, such as Eos, Aurora, and Ushas.
- anon291 2y ago
  The 'evidence' of a Germanic goddess named Eostre comes from Christian writings who concede that this is where the name comes from. This entire 'conspiracy' is utterly made up
  - jltsiren 2y ago
    You need to look at the bigger picture. The English word "east", and the equivalent words in most European languages, ultimately mean something related to the dawn or sunrise. There is plenty of evidence for various Indo-European dawn goddesses with names linguists generally consider related to Eostre. Dawn goddesses were generally part of an older layer of mythology that became less relevant over time. They were often replaced with other deities that inherited some of their aspects, or they gained new aspects while keeping the name. We know that both Old English and Old High German had one of the spring months named after something related to the east and/or dawn. We know that European agricultural societies tended to have spring festivals. We know that as Christinanity spread, it absorbed pagan festivals and pagan traditions, and sometimes even kept the names. Such as something similar to "Yule" instead of "Christmas" or "Navidad". Maybe Anglo-Saxons never had a goddess specifically called Eostre, and maybe their spring festivals were not specifically about worshipping a particular god. But some European languages chose to use a Germanic name for the Paschal season, and that name seems to be connected to some pagan spring festivals. Whose names are ultimately related to a dawn goddess their distant ancestors worshipped.
    - tptacek 2y ago
      The Greek and Latin term for Easter is "Pascha". People are right to flag the noodling on the Germanic/English term as basically irrelevant.
croes 2y ago
And why the eggs and the Easter Bunny?
AStonesThrow 2y ago
Okay let's all forget that there's actually a Book in the Old Testament named "Esther" which is named after a Queen of the Hebrews, renowned for her heroic virtue, not to mention exceptional beauty, chastity, and modesty. Esther saved her people, the Israelites, from genocide and destruction. Esther represents a New Passover [Pesach] for her people in the Promised Land. Esther should have been contemporarily famous and renowned, several millennia B.C.; let's just ignore and forget Esther??? And thus, Ishtar Ruins Easter: https://youtu.be/Qd-wvVNEfNk?si=oJqkKALfn4xBX-zb https://youtu.be/Qd-wvVNEfNk?si=oJqkKALfn4xBX-zb

rat87 2y ago

Note https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%92ostre https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%92ostre not Ishtar. While we don't have much evidence for a goddess called Eostre she appears to have been the origin for the name of Easter in English and maybe German. That is according to an 8th century English Monk(don't have any other sources, so I think it might not be universal believed by historians). But on the other hand there's not much evidence much besides the name (and only in English and maybe German) transferred and despite claims of some bunnies and eggs appear to be much later customs. Also in most languages Easter is related to the name for Passover which is the religous holiday most linked to Easter (in English we also have Paschal which can refer to both holidays)

bee_rider 2y ago
It will always confuse me, that people decided to convert away from Polytheism, with all of these interesting gods to tell stories about.

jltsiren 2y ago

But this was about Eostre. Whatever the name meant and wherever it came from, it was pretty clearly the origin of the word "Easter". And there is reasonable evidence of a Germanic goddess with a name something like Eostre or Ostara, related to various Indo-European dawn goddesses, such as Eos, Aurora, and Ushas.

anon291 2y ago
The 'evidence' of a Germanic goddess named Eostre comes from Christian writings who concede that this is where the name comes from. This entire 'conspiracy' is utterly made up
- jltsiren 2y ago
  You need to look at the bigger picture. The English word "east", and the equivalent words in most European languages, ultimately mean something related to the dawn or sunrise. There is plenty of evidence for various Indo-European dawn goddesses with names linguists generally consider related to Eostre. Dawn goddesses were generally part of an older layer of mythology that became less relevant over time. They were often replaced with other deities that inherited some of their aspects, or they gained new aspects while keeping the name. We know that both Old English and Old High German had one of the spring months named after something related to the east and/or dawn. We know that European agricultural societies tended to have spring festivals. We know that as Christinanity spread, it absorbed pagan festivals and pagan traditions, and sometimes even kept the names. Such as something similar to "Yule" instead of "Christmas" or "Navidad". Maybe Anglo-Saxons never had a goddess specifically called Eostre, and maybe their spring festivals were not specifically about worshipping a particular god. But some European languages chose to use a Germanic name for the Paschal season, and that name seems to be connected to some pagan spring festivals. Whose names are ultimately related to a dawn goddess their distant ancestors worshipped.
  - tptacek 2y ago
    The Greek and Latin term for Easter is "Pascha". People are right to flag the noodling on the Germanic/English term as basically irrelevant.

croes 2y ago

And why the eggs and the Easter Bunny?

AStonesThrow 2y ago

Okay let's all forget that there's actually a Book in the Old Testament named "Esther" which is named after a Queen of the Hebrews, renowned for her heroic virtue, not to mention exceptional beauty, chastity, and modesty. Esther saved her people, the Israelites, from genocide and destruction. Esther represents a New Passover [Pesach] for her people in the Promised Land. Esther should have been contemporarily famous and renowned, several millennia B.C.; let's just ignore and forget Esther??? And thus, Ishtar Ruins Easter: https://youtu.be/Qd-wvVNEfNk?si=oJqkKALfn4xBX-zb https://youtu.be/Qd-wvVNEfNk?si=oJqkKALfn4xBX-zb