後世、ウルクでの信仰が盛んになる一方で<ref>Black, Green, 1992, page99</ref>、上メソポタミア王国のアッシリア(現在のイラク北部、シリア北東部、トルコ南東部)、特にニネヴェ、アシュスール、アルベラ(現在のエルビル)でイシュタルの信仰が盛んになった<ref>Guirand, 1968, page58</ref>。アッシュールバニパル王の時代には、イシュタルはアッシリアの国神アシュールをも凌ぐ、アッシリアのパンテオンの中で最も重要で広く崇拝される神々に成長した<ref>Black, Green, 1992, page99</ref>。アッシリアの第一神殿で発見された奉納品から、彼女が女性の間で人気のある神であったことがわかる<ref>Asher-Greve, Westenholz, 2013, p20</ref>。
伝統的な性別の二元論に反対する者は、イナンナの信仰に深く関わっていた<ref>Leick, 2013, pages157–158</ref>。シュメール時代には、イナンナの神殿でガラ(gala)と呼ばれる神官たちが働き、哀歌や嘆きを奏でたという<ref>Leick, 2013, page285</ref>。ガラになった男性は女性の名を名乗ることもあり、その歌はシュメール語のエメ・サル(''eme-sal'')という方言で詠まれた。この方言は、文学作品では通常、女性の登場人物が話すためのものである。シュメールの諺には、ガラが男性とアナルセックスをすることに定評があったことを示唆するものもあるようだ<ref>Roscoe, Murray, 1997, page65</ref>。アッカド時代、イシュタルの神殿で女装して戦いの踊りを披露したイシュタルの召使がクーガルやアシンヌである<ref>Roscoe, Murray, 1997, pages65–66</ref>。
Individuals who went against the traditional [[gender binary]] were heavily involved in the cult of Inanna. During Sumerian times, a set of priests known as ''[[gala (priests)|gala]]'' worked in Inanna's temples, where they performed elegies and lamentations. Men who became ''gala'' sometimes adopted female names and their songs were composed in the Sumerian ''[[Sumerian language#Dialects|eme-sal]]'' dialect, which, in literary texts, is normally reserved for the speech of female characters. Some Sumerian proverbs seem to suggest that ''gala'' had a reputation for engaging in [[anal sex]] with men. During the Akkadian Period, ''kurgarrū'' and ''assinnu'' were servants of Ishtar who [[cross-dressing|dressed in female clothing]] and performed war dances in Ishtar's temples.{{sfn|Roscoe|Murray|1997|pages=65–66}} Several Akkadian [[proverb]]s seem to suggest that they may have also had homosexual proclivities.{{sfn|Roscoe|Murray|1997|pages=65–66}} Gwendolyn Leick, an anthropologist known for her writings on Mesopotamia, has compared these individuals to the contemporary Indian ''[[Hijra (South Asia)|hijra]]''.{{sfn|Leick|2013|pages=158–163}} In one Akkadian hymn, Ishtar is described as transforming men into women.{{sfn|Roscoe|Murray|1997|page=66}}{{Sfn|Brandão|2019|p=63}}
Throughout the latter half of the twentieth century, it was widely believed that the cult of Inanna involved a "[[hieros gamos|sacred marriage]]" ritual, in which a king would establish his legitimacy by taking on the role of Dumuzid and engaging in ritual sexual intercourse with the high priestess of Inanna, who took on the role of the goddess.{{sfn|Kramer|1970}}{{sfn|Nemet-Nejat|1998|page=196}}{{Sfn|Brandão|2019|p=56}}{{sfn|Pryke|2017|pages=128–129}} This view, however, has been challenged and scholars continue to debate whether the sacred marriage described in literary texts involved any kind of physical ritual enactment at all and, if so, whether this ritual enactment involved actual intercourse or merely the symbolic representation of intercourse.{{sfn|George|2006|page=6}}{{sfn|Pryke|2017|pages=128–129}} The scholar of the ancient Near East Louise M. Pryke states that most scholars now maintain, if the sacred marriage was a ritual that was actually acted out, then it involved only symbolic intercourse.{{sfn|Pryke|2017|page=129}}