== 信仰 ==
グウェンドリン・レイクは、前サルゴニア時代にはイナンナの崇拝はむしろ限定的であったと仮定しているが<ref>Leick, 1998, page87</ref>、他の専門家は、ウルク時代にはすでにウルクや他の多くの政治的拠点でイナンナは最も著名な神であったと主張している<ref>Asher-Greve Westenholz, 2013, p27, Kramer, 1961, p101, Wolkstein Kramer, 1983, pxiii–xix, Nemet-Nejat, 1998, p182</ref>。ニップル、ラガシュ、シュルパク、ザバラム、ウルに神殿があったが<ref>Leick, 1998, page87</ref>、主な信仰の中心はウルクのエアンナ神殿で、その名は「天国の家」(シュメール語:e2-anna、楔形文字:𒂍𒀭 E2.AN)を意味する<ref>''é-an-na'' means "sanctuary" ("house" + "Heaven" ["An"] + genitive)(Halloran, 2009)</ref>。
Gwendolyn Leick assumes that during the Pre-Sargonic era, the cult of Inanna was rather limited, though other experts argue that she was already the most prominent deity in Uruk and a number of other political centers in the [[Uruk period]]. She had temples in [[Nippur]], [[Lagash]], [[Shuruppak]], [[Zabalam]], and [[Ur]],{{sfn|Leick|1998|page=87}} but her main cult center was the [[Eanna]] temple in [[Uruk]],{{sfn|Leick|1998|page=87}}{{sfn|Black|Green|1992|pages=108–109}}{{sfn|Harris|1991|pages=261–278}}{{efn|modern-day Warka, Biblical [[Erech]]}} whose name means "House of Heaven" (Sumerian: e<sub>2</sub>-anna; Cuneiform: {{cuneiform|𒂍𒀭}} E<sub>2</sub>.AN).{{efn|''é-an-na'' means "sanctuary" ("house" + "Heaven" ["An"] + genitive){{sfn|Halloran|2009}}}} Some researches assume that the original patron deity of this fourth-millennium BCE city was [[Anu|An]].{{sfn|Harris|1991|pages=261–278}} After its dedication to Inanna, the temple seems to have housed priestesses of the goddess.{{sfn|Harris|1991|pages=261–278}} Next to Uruk, Zabalam was the most important early site of Inanna worship, as the name of the city was commonly written with the signs MUŠ<sub>3</sub> and UNUG, meaning respectively "Inanna" and "sanctuary."{{sfn|Asher-Greve|Westenholz|2013|p=42}} It is possible that the city goddess of Zabalam was originally a distinct deity, though one whose cult was absorbed by that of the Urukean goddess very early on.{{sfn|Asher-Greve|Westenholz|2013|p=42}} [[Joan Goodnick Westenholz]] proposed that a goddess identified by the name [[Nin-UM]] (reading and meaning uncertain), associated with [[Ishtaran]] in a ''zame'' hymn, was the original identity of Inanna of Zabalam.{{sfn|Asher-Greve|Westenholz|2013|p=50}}
In the Old Akkadian period, Inanna merged with the Akkadian goddess Ishtar, associated with the city of Agade.{{sfn|Asher-Greve|Westenholz|2013|p=62}} A hymn from that period addresses the Akkadian Ishtar as "Inanna of the Ulmaš" alongside Inanna of Uruk and of Zabalam.{{sfn|Asher-Greve|Westenholz|2013|p=62}} The worship of Ishtar and syncretism between her and Inanna was encouraged by Sargon and his successors,{{sfn|Asher-Greve|Westenholz|2013|p=62}} and as a result she quickly became one of the most widely venerated deities in the Mesopotamian pantheon.{{sfn|Leick|1998|page=87}} In inscriptions of Sargon, [[Naram-Sin of Akkad|Naram-Sin]] and [[Shar-Kali-Sharri]] Ishtar is the most frequently invoked deity.{{sfn|Asher-Greve|Westenholz|2013|p=172}}