𒂍𒆍𒀭𒈹𒅗𒋛 𒁲𒈠𒃶𒈨𒂗𒍣𒂗
​Welcome to The Ishtar Gate!

This page is dedicated to the customs, practice, and worship of ancient Mesopotamia, as first codified by the Sumerians, inherited by the Babylonians and Assyrians, and highly influential on many cultures of the ancient and modern world. Their faith, culture, and language endured in the land of Mesopotamia for over three millennia, and connects us directly with the origins of human society, civilisation, and writing.

 

This site is intended as a resource for anyone seeking further information on how the religion is practiced in the modern day, to provide a template for those who may wish to develop their own system of practice based around Sumerian traditions, and to serve as a focal point of contemplation for the mysteries and traditions of the spiritual line of Uruk and Babylon.

Site Sections

If you are looking for information on Sumerian worship and practice, Sumerian gods, or what we believe, start with our Faith and Beliefs section.

 

A variety of articles on articles around wider subjects of Sumerian language and civilization can be found on our Society and Culture page.

(returning shortly)

The Calendar page explains the modern ritual calendar used by The Ishtar Gate and how it was adapted from calendars used in Mesopotamia.

The House of the Adornment of Heaven is a virtual shrine to the Sumerian goddess Inana, maintained by The Ishtar Gate.

Site News

2023-03-15: We are about a week away from the Sumerian New Year (it occurs on March 23rd in timezones UTC+2 and greater, and March 22nd everywhere else). In the past, I have released Sumerian year calendars based on calculations for Toronto, where The Ishtar Gate is based. This is useful for my purposes, but the dates can be off by a day or two for an observer located in a distant part of the world.

This year, I'm releasing a perpetual calendar which can be personalised to a city anywhere in the world.

The calendar app can be found at https://apps.theishtargate.com/calendar.

To use it, simply append a city: https://apps.theishtargate.com/calendar/uruk

Or append a city and a whole date: https://apps.theishtargate.com/calendar/babylon/2021/12/31

At the time of writing, there are only 16 cities in the app's database (you can see which ones by going to the calendar main page, or entering a city not in the database). It's easy for me to add new cities one by one, but adding every city in the world would take a lot of time. So, if there's a city you'd find useful to be added to this tool, please contact me and I will add it right away.

 

2023-03-13: The site is coming back online with a slightly revamped look following a day's downtime for maintenance and a hosting transition. I feel confident that I have a stable, reliable host with a litany of features that will enable me to make improvements to the site coming soon.

For now, though, the focus is on getting each section of the site back online. The basic framework of the site, and the calendar page, are online, as is the House of the Adornment of Heaven, which has a new URL. I still have to import the Sumerian faith and culture articles, and I wish to proofread these articles as I import them.

I'll be doing this over the next 24 hours but wished to bring the site back online sooner rather than later.

 

2022-10-31: I'd like to apologise to all site visitors who have been experiencing security errors in the past few days. This is (was?) an ongoing hosting problem which I am assured is now resolved.

2022-08-01: I am delighted to open August with the dedication of the House of the Adornment of Heaven, a virtual temple sacred to Inana, who has a place of primacy amongst the gods of my heart and who I first encountered at the beginning of my Sumerian path. May it be a place of contemplation and reflection for all who pass this way in search of her.
To mark the occasion, The Ishtar Gate has published a modern rendition of the ancient Ode to Ninsiana (= "Red Lady of Heaven", an epithet of Inana).