How is the story of Tammuz and Ishtar related to changing seasons?

Question

Discussion question.

Answer 1

This myth is told in beautifully vivid ways, and centers around a very important Mesopotamian goddess. For this reason, I feel that the answer's simplicity is rather disappointing: it relates to the necessity of death in order to make way for new life. When Ishtar's husband, Tammuz, is substituted for her in Hades, she is able to reemerge into the world of the living. As Ishtar is the goddess of love and sex, (among other things), it is fitting that the time of "rebirth," for Christians, that occurs in the season of new birth, spring, is named after her: Easter.