Ishtar and Tammuz: A Babylonian Myth of the Seasons

This ancient story, predating Biblical tales, is beautifully illustrated and poignantly told. Ishtar's all too human jealousy leads her to have Tammuz killed, and when people suffer for Ishtar's rash decision, she realizes her mistake and travels to the underworld to see her sister Allatu and try to regain her son. The importance of Ishtar's journey, where she is gradually stripped of all of her royal symbols until she has nothing left of her power and comes before the queen of the underworld humbled has great relevence in today's world as well. This is a wonderful book to help a child see that there are stories older than the ones told in the Bible and to see the links between various cultures and mythologies, as this Babylonian myth explains the change of seasons in a manner similar to the Greek myth of Persephone and Hades.