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It has been suggested that this article be merged with Tammuz (deity). (Discuss) Proposed since June 2008.

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Not to be confused with Dumuzid, the Fisherman

Dumuzid, called the Shepherd, from Bad-tibira in Sumer, was the 5th pre-dynastic king on the Sumerian king list. The list places these predynastic kings in the legendary period before the Deluge, and says that Dumuzid ruled for 36,000 years.

Dumuzid the Shepherd is the subject of a series of epic poems in Sumerian literature. However, he is sometimes described in these tablets as king of Uruk, the title given by the king list to Dumuzid, the Fisherman — a distinct figure who ruled sometime after the flood, in between Lugalbanda "the Shepherd", and Gilgamesh.

Among the mythical compositions involving Dumuzid, the Shepherd are:

• Inanna's descent to the netherworld. Inanna, after descending to the underworld, is allowed to return, but only with an unwanted entourage of demons, who insist on taking away a notable person in her place. She dissuades the demons from taking the rulers of Umma and Bad Tibira, who are sitting in dirt and rags. However, when they come to Uruk, they find Dumuzid the Shepherd sitting in palatial opulence, and seize him immediately, taking him into the underworld as Inanna's substitute.
• Dumuzid and Geshtinanna. Inanna gives Dumuzid over to the demons as her substitute; they proceed to violate him, but he escapes to the home of his sister, Geshtinanna. The demons pursue Dumuzid there, and eventually find him hiding in the pasture.
• Dumuzid and his sisters. Fragmentary; Dumuzid's sister seems to be mourning his death in this tablet.
• Dumuzid's dream. In this account, Dumuzid dreams of his own death and tells Geshtinanna, who tells him it is sign he is about to be toppled in an uprising, by evil and hungry men who are coming to Uruk for the king. No sooner does she speak this, than men of Adab, Akshak, Uruk, Ur, and Nibru are indeed sighted coming for him with clubs. Dumuzid resolves to hide in Alali district, but they finally catch him. He escapes them and gets to the Kubiresh district, but they catch him again. Escaping again to the house of Old Woman Belili, he is again caught, then he escapes again to his sister's home. There he is caught a last time, hiding in the pasture, and killed.
• Inanna and Bilulu. This describes how Inanna avenges her lover Dumuzid's death, by killing Old Woman Bilulu (or Belili).

Later poems and hymns of praise to Dumuzid indicate that he was later considered a deity. He also became a precursor to the Babylonian god Tammuz. In tablet 6 of the Standard Akkadian Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh rebuffs Ishtar (Inanna), reminding her that she betrayed Tammuz (Dumuzid) through seduction after only three years.

See also

• History of Sumer
• Bad-tibira
• Sumerian king list
• Mesopotamian mythology

External links

• ETCSL: Texts and translations of Dumuzid myths (alternate site)

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